THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Established in 1977 /

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1 baseball Page 33 THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Established in 1977 / WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018 / RAMADAN 28, 1439 AH emergency number 112 NO PAGES 150 FILS JORDAN S KING ARRIVES IN KUWAIT... APPRECIATES SUPPORT KUWAIT CITY, June 12, (KUNA): His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received King Abdullah II and his accompanying delegation at Dasman Palace on Tuesday. His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah attended the audience. The Kuwaiti and Jordanian leaders held cordial talks on the historic relations between the two brotherly countries and peoples, means of boosting these ties, noting necessity of Continued on Page 8 Bill seeks new post of Humanitarian Attaché By Ahmed Al-Naqeeb Arab Times Staff KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Driven by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah s humanitarian leadership and Kuwait s status as International Humanitarian Center, MP Osama Al-Shaheen and a number of his colleagues have presented a bill to amend the law on diplomatic and consular corps to create a new position called Humanitarian Attaché. Al-Shaheen said the amendment stipulates that the State should include a Humanitarian Attaché to its diplomatic and consular representation abroad to supervise and monitor Kuwait s humanitarian missions in countries where they are stationed. Besides Al-Shaheen, other proponents of the bill include MPs Mubarak Al-Hajraf, Abdullah Fahaad, Ali Al- Duqbasi and Jamaan Al-Harbash. On the other hand, MP Faisal Al-Kandari submitted a proposal to amend some articles of the Social Security Law promulgated through Amiri Decree No. 61 of the year 1976 in order to include medical emergency response in the strenuous jobs category stipulated in the law. He explained citizens engaged in jobs categorized as strenuous by the law are entitled to indemnity after being registered and working for 20 years. Employees with Continued on Page 8 Trump could flip in hours, Amiri Diwan photo Jordan s King Abdullah II being received by HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah upon the former s arrival in Kuwait for a visit. Iran warns Kim on N-deal Teaching kids how to think By Susan Eileen Day Director of Education Dar al-athar al-islamiyyah Are you smarter than a 4th grader? 1. The number of protons and electrons are the same? Different? Found in the atomic number? 2. DNA stands for what? 3. Who developed the concept of zero? 4. Why do today s dish soap work so well against greasy dishes? Almost 1,000 4th and 5th grade students from Kuwait s government and private schools can answer these questions correctly. Can you? From January through May, Susan Eileen Day the Dar al-athar al-islamiyyah implemented a non-traditional STEAM education programme for 4th and 5th grade students and non-traditional education workshops for teachers. These were organised, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, as part of a US State Department Middle East Project Initiative grant to promote informal/non-traditional education in Kuwait. (I should note here that [the opinions, findings and conclusions stated herein are those of the DAI and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of State.]) Why non-traditional education? Because when it s used properly, it teaches kids HOW to think; not what to think. Consider the difference between giving kids all the ingredients for a cake, directions on exactly how to make it and a picture of what it should look like when done versus giving the kids the ingredients for the cake and a picture of what it should look like when it s done and having them figure out how to get there. With way one, the probability of getting a cake on the first try is pretty high; way two, not so much. Ask yourself though, during which process do the kids learn the most? Let me put in a second disclaimer Continued on Page 8 Ramadan Timings Iftar...Wednesday... 18:48 Imsak...Thursday... 03:03 US$/KD /15 Euro/KD Yen/KD British /KD KSE pts at closing June 12 See Page 29 Dow pts at 21:30 June 12 See Page 30 Nasdaq pts at 21:30 June 12 FTSE pts at closing June 12 Nikkei pts at closing June 12 Gold $1, per oz (London) NYMEX crude $66.43 per barrel Brent crude $76.38 per barrel 3-month $ LIBOR rate 2.32% Newswatch KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah sent on Tuesday a cable of congratulations to the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Roa Duterte on the occasion of the National Day of his country, wishing him everlasting health and wellness, and further progress and prosperity to his country. His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables. (KUNA) KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent Tuesday two cables of congratulations to US President Donald Trump and North Korea s Leader Kim Jong-un. His Highness the Amir congratulated Trump and Kim on the success of their summit in Singapore, which resulted in their signing a historic joint statement that included foundations of achieving permanent peace between them, and securing security and peace in the Korean Peninsula. Such a significant historic step would contribute in removing years long of tensions in that region, His Highness the Amir stressed. His Highness also hoped for not only a complete denuclearization in the Korean Peninsula, but also a nuclear-weapons-free world that contributes to achieving security, peace, and sustainable economic development for all countries and people of the world. Furthermore, His Highness the Amir wished both leaders perpetual good health and happiness. His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables to Trump and Kim. (KUNA) See Also Page 11 BEIRUT: The Syrian army has reinforced its anti-aircraft defences near the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a commander in the regional alliance that backs President Bashar al-assad said on Tuesday. Additional defences are set to be deployed in the coming days, the commander told Reuters. The stationing of the Russian-made Pantsir S1 weapon aims to renew the air defence system against Israel in the first degree, added the commander, a non-syrian who spoke on condition of anonymity. (RTRS) Continued on Page 8 This file photo provided by the Office of George H.W. Bush shows a photo of former President George H.W. Bush that was tweeted on June 1, 2018, from his hospital bed while reading a book about himself and his late wife in Biddeford, Maine. Bush is celebrating his 94th birthday in Maine. He is relaxing at his home in Kennebunkport on June 12, eight days after being released from the hospital where he was treated for low blood pressure. (AP) North Korea s leader Kim Jong Un (left), shakes hands with US President Donald Trump (right), after taking part in a signing ceremony at the end of their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12. Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un became on Tuesday the first sitting US and North Korean leaders to meet, shake hands and negotiate to end a decades-old nuclear stand-off. (AFP) See Page 11 LONDON, June 12, (Agencies): Iran warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday against trusting US President Donald Trump, saying he could cancel their denuclearisation agreement within hours. Tehran cited its own experience in offering the advice to Kim a month after Washington withdrew from a similar deal with Iran. Trump and Kim pledged at a meeting in Singapore on Tuesday to work 27 held over Ramadan terror plot towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula while Washington committed to provide security guarantees for its old enemy. We don t know what type of person the North Korean leader is negotiating with. It is not clear that he would not cancel the agreement before returning home, Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht was quoted as saying by IRNA new agency. Nobakht questioned Trump s credibility. This man does not represent the American people, and they will surely distance themselves from him at the next elections, he said. As well as pulling the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Trump disowned on Saturday a joint communique issued by Group of Seven leaders, just hours after he had left their summit for the meeting with Kim. Trump has said he would be open to striking a new nuclear accord with Tehran. However, he says the existing deal negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama had failed to address Iran s ballistic missile programme. On top of this, he also cited the terms under which international inspectors can visit suspect Iranian nuclear sites and sunset clauses, under which limits on the nuclear Continued on Page 8 programme start to expire after 10 years. Trump has insisted any deal with North Korea should include irreversible and verifiable denuclearisation. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman also advised North Korean leaders on Monday to exercise complete vigilance in their negotiations with the United States. We are not optimistic about these talks... The United States, especially Mr Trump, has undermined international agreements and has unilaterally withdrawn from them, Bahram Qasemi said. Trump has also decided to pull the United States out of the Paris climate change accord. Washington will reimpose a wide array of Iran-related sanctions after the expiry of 90- and Continued on Page 8 Coalition girds for Yemen attack ADEN, June 12, (Agencies): A Saudi-led coalition geared up on Tuesday for an assault on Yemen s main port, preparing to launch by far the biggest battle of a three-year-old war between an alliance of Arab states and the Houthi movement that controls Yemen s capital. The United Arab Emirates, one of the main members of the Western-backed alliance, has set a Tuesday deadline for the Iran-aligned Houthis to withdraw from the port of Hodeidah under UN-led negotiations or face an assault. It would be the first time since they joined the war on behalf of Yemen s exiled government that the foreign armies have attempted to capture such a well-defended major city. Hodeidah, Yemen s biggest port and the only port controlled by the Houthis, serves as the lifeline for the majority of Yemen s population, which lives in Houthi-ruled territory. Iraq arrests 4 in recount fire The United Nations said it was engaged in intense shuttle diplomacy between the Houthis and coalition leaders Saudi Arabia and the UAE to avert the attack. It estimates 600,000 people live in the area, and in a worst-case scenario a battle could cost up to 250,000 lives, as well as cutting off millions from aid and supplies. Emirati-led troops have advanced along the southwestern coast to the outskirts of Hodeidah under a coalition strategy to box in the Houthis in the capital Sanaa and choke off their supply lines to force them to the negotiating table. Local military sources said hundreds of Yemeni fighters as well as tanks and military supplies from the UAE arrived on Monday to reinforce troops, including Emiratis and Sudanese, in al-durayhmi, a rural area 10 km (6.21 miles) south of Hodeidah. Duterte to visit Kuwait KUWAIT CITY, June 12, (Agencies): The President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte intends to visit Kuwait to express gratitude to the Kuwaiti government BAGHDAD, June 12, (Agencies): Iraq arrested three police officers and an electoral country. for taking measures to protect Filipinos working in the commission employee after a In a report published on cnnphilippines.com Tuesday, Duterte was quoted as saying: I am going to fire that ravaged a warehouse where votes from May s legislative election were stored, gave in to my demands. travel to Kuwait to thank them because they practically authorities said. Duterte disclosed his demands included granting The prosecutor s office in workers one day off each week, allowing them to hold Al-Russafa, a district of eastern their passports and mobile phones, no body contact between employers and workers, and allowing the work- Baghdad, arrested four people suspected of involvement in ers to cook their own food. the arson attack on the electoral Admitting that he was harsh in the early stages of commission, Supreme Judicial Council spokesman Abdel cursing pass. talks with Kuwait, Duterte pointed out, They let my Sattar Bayraqdar said in a statement. visit to Kuwait. However, Duterte did not announce the date of his Continued on Page 8 Continued on Page 8

2 LOCAL 2 CBK directs banks to provide investment data on qtrly basis Large amount of money legally seized, following distortion drive KUWAIT CITY, June 12: The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has issued a circular for banks operating in accordance with Islamic Shari a, requesting them to provide direct investment data on a quarterly basis in KFH efforts in organising Al-Qiyam prayer lauded KFH voluntary team Kuwait Finance House (KFH) received praise and recognition for its efforts in organizing Al-Qiyam prayer and providing hospitality service to worshippers and the personnel in three mosques; the state s Grand Mosque, Saad Bin Abi Waqqas Mosque and Alrashed Mosque. This comes as part of its Ramadan program Increase Good Deeds in Ramadan 4, that reflects the commitment in the corporate social responsibility and efforts to strengthen ties with the all segments of the society, especially in the month of Ramadan. KFH voluntary team worked in collaboration with the concerned parties to organize Al-Qiyam prayer at these Mosques. KFH continues this efforts until last day of Ramadan. Moreover, it continues Feed the Fasting campaign in distributing Iftar meals in different locations in Kuwait. KFH voluntary team prepares and distributes Iftar meals daily at four locations in collaboration with the Capital and Hawalli Governorates. The locations are: Nayef Palace, Alshamlan Mosque, Souk Al-Mubarakiya and Hawalli Park, in addition to the participation with Ramadan Aman campaign for distributing Iftar meals. a collective manner (bank and subsidiary companies), reports Al-Rai daily. The Central Bank provided the banks with forms designed for this purpose, the most prominent of which were the data of direct real estate investment activities, direct investment, commercial investment and other direct investment activities, as well as the data of the group of direct investment activities and capital in its comprehensive sense. The data required from Islamic banks also include the percentage of total commercial investment activities, capital in its comprehensive sense, and the proportion of total other activities of direct investment and capital in its comprehensive sense, as well as the proportion of the group of direct investment activities and capital in its comprehensive sense. Banks operating in accordance with Islamic law shall periodically provide the Central Bank with a detailed statement of the assets of the direct investment property, as well as a detailed statement of the assets of the direct commercial investments and the bank s investments in the capital of the subsidiaries and associates that carry out the activity. Meanwhile, Director of Investment Department in the Ports Fund affiliated to Kuwait Gulf Logistics (KGL) Company and Executive Chairman of KGL Company in Asia Mark Williams says a large amount of money have been illegally seized, following a distortion campaign, which prevented the distribution of $340 million KFH s Ramadan program Increase Good Deeds in Ramadan to the investors in the fund including Kuwait Ports Authority 4 includes various visits and voluntary work, social and humanitarian events and activities stemming Security, reports Al-Seyassah and Public Institution for Social from the bank s endeavors to solidify its commitment towards the Established daily. society, while supporting all social and humanitarian initiatives. In an interview with CNBC KFH s efforts in Ramadan underline the bank s pioneering role in the Ports Fund is a private invest- Arabic, Williams explained that the social responsibility, while contributing in strengthening the social the Kimen Islands by Kuwaiti ment fund established in 2007 at ties. KFH voluntary team prepares shareholding company KGL and distributes Iftar meals daily on Company for Investment. Investors in the fund include Kuwait different locations until end of Ramadan. Ports Authority, Public Institution for Social Security and other institutions and individuals. About seven months ago, the fund announced that the revenues have been doubled. The money was collected from selling some investments in the Philippines and it was added to the fund s accounts in Nour Bank in Dubai. He revealed that the fund struggled for months to obtain the money owned by the investors via legal methods but they were disappointed by some individuals who had their personal agendas. Williams stressed that comparing the performance of the fund with those established in the same year (2007), the other funds suffered a reduction in their capitals due to deliberate economic crisis, but the Ports Fund managed to increase its capital and make enormous revenues. He said the fund in 2016 managed to pay $30 million to the investors including Kuwait Ports Authority and Public Institution for Social Security in cash but this fact was not included in the report that accuses the fund of manipulating the investors money. Williams affirmed his trust in the Kuwaiti judiciary, revealing that one of the directors of the fund, at the time the report was issued in April 2017, was on a business trip in Europe but she decided to come back to Kuwait to follow up the accusations under the firm belief that the accusations are fake and with trust in the Kuwaiti judiciary. The Board of Directors at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) will hold a meeting on Wednesday, June 13 to discuss the recent issues in the oilfields and work on forming committees for deciding on promotions and reshuffling in KPC and its subsidiary companies, reports Al-Rai daily quoting informed sources. They said the upcoming promotions and reshuffling processes will be the biggest since 2013, stressing that the promotions and reshuffling will be carried out based on strict criteria and specific mechanisms taking into consideration the need for creating administrative harmony among the young employees and the experienced ones. The sources indicated that the Board of Directors will work on increasing the number of young employees in the executive and administrative structures in order to help them acquire the necessary experience so that they are capable of taking up leadership roles. KUNA photos Top: His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah with Sheikh Naser and (above), with Defense Minister. Audience of HH the Crown Prince His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received Tuesday at Seif Palace His Highness Sheikh Naser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. His Highness also received First Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. (KUNA) MoCI suspends salary deduction during Ramadan Crescent Sighting Authority will meet on Thursday evening: MoJ KUWAIT CITY, June 12: The Ministry of Justice has announced that Kuwait Crescent Sighting Authority will meet on Thursday evening the 29th day of Ramadan in the headquarters of Kuwait Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies for the Shawwal Crescent sighting, reports Al-Seyassah daily. In a press statement, the ministry called on anyone who might see the Shawwal Crescent, which will mark Eid Al-Fitr, to give his testimony. The ministry then greeted the political leadership, citizens, expatriates and all Muslims on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) issued a circular to suspend salary deductions of employees during Ramadan and Eid- Al-Adha months, as well as the month of February when the country celebrates the national and liberation days, reports Al-Rai daily. Undersecretary of the ministry Dr Khalid Al-Fadhil has forwarded the circular to the assistant undersecretary for Administrative and Financial Affairs for implementation. Al-Fadhil clarified the suspension does Al-Bazally leaves behind legacy of old songs No regret for the quarrel I had with late Abdul Redha: Al-Faraj News in Brief Credentials presented to FM: Kuwait s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah has received the credentials of Liberia s new ambassador to Kuwait Jeff Gongoer Dowana. In his meeting with the Liberian envoy, the Kuwaiti foreign minister wished him every success as his tenure gets underway. The encounter brought together a number of Kuwaiti foreign ministry officials. (KUNA) PAAAFR enhances food security: Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) has prepared a project that is aimed at enhancing food security in the country and combating irregularities and violations in farms and livestock pens, reports Al-Shahed daily quoting informed sources. They revealed reliable information that indicates many people have been exploiting the farms and livestock pens for purposes not mean cancellation of the salary deduction as it will just be postponed until the next month, stressing that the ministry strictly applies the law on all employees; hence, it is closely monitoring absences and tardiness. Furthermore, the Citizenship and Passport Affairs Department in the Interior Ministry continues to issue e-passports to citizens, reports Al-Rai daily. Assistant Undersecretary for Citizenship and Passport Affairs Major General Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah has affirmed the successful implementation of the decision on the issuance of e-passports to citizens in the evening shift. He disclosed that around 5,000 e-passports were issued during the first week of implementing the decision. In another development, the Public Authority for Food and Nutrition has instructed the owners of nutritional establishments, shops and food stores engaged in food-related activities to visit the Inspection Department in their respective governorates not later than July 15 to replace their old health licenses with the new one issued by the authority, reports Al-Rai daily. KUWAIT CITY, June 12: I do not regret the quarrel I had with the late Abdul Hussein Abdul Redha even though we reconciled later while we were on top of our success, said actor Saad Al-Faraj during a talk show titled Majmoua at Insan presented by Ali Al-Alyani on MBC channel, reports Al-Rai daily. Rejecting the naming of Kaifan Theater after him similar to his colleague Bu Adnan, Al-Faraj said, Abdul Hussain Abdul Redha Theater is with my name because Bu Adnan represents the generation of artists and I am one among them. He indicated that the seriousness of the theater field in Kuwait ended after the Iraqi invasion, expressing his disappointment in the deterioration of art in Kuwait and blaming the supervisory bodies for this. Popular Kuwaiti blind singer Banyan Al-Bazally died and was buried at Sulaibikhat Cemetery, reports Al-Rai daily. Al-Bazally left a legacy of famous old songs. He was famous in the 1960s, 1980s, 1990s and the third millennium. other than what they were licensed for. The sources explained that many are transforming the farms into special parks and gardens. Some others give them out on daily rents. This matter has led to the use of the farms for purposes besides the desired objectives and thereby introduces the country to dangers related to food security crisis because of the owners deviation from real objectives. They affirmed that a specialized team will be formed to conduct surprise inspection campaigns on the suspected places to ensure and verify there are no irregularities and violations. The sources stressed that the team will follow up food productivity and set new conditions and regulations to stop any irregularity and violation, adding that PAAAFR will revoke the license of violating farms and livestock pens.

3 LOCAL 3 HH the Amir with HH Sheikh Nasser HH the Amir with the Minister of Defense HH the Amir with author Talal Al-Shili HH the Amir with poet Saud Al-Mutairi HH the Amir with Prof Nasser Al-Mutairi HH the Amir with Adel Al-Sadoun HH the Amir with Abdullah Al-Terkait and Fahad Al-Mkhaizeem HH the Amir with Sara Al-Rubaie KUNA photos HH the Amir with Fayiz Abid Al-Saeedi and child philanthropist Khaled Al- Saeedi Audiences of His Highness the Amir His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received on Tuesday at Seif Palace His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al- Ahmad Al-Sabah. His Highness the Amir also met First Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and the Chairman of Al-Safat Investment Company Abdullah Al-Terkait, along with his deputy Fahad Al-Mkhaizeem, who presented His Highness with a Guinness World Records certificate for the world s largest poster depicting His Highness the Amir. His Highness the Amir s meeting spree included encounters with local poet Saud Al-Mutairi, Sara Al-Rubaie, who garnered much acclaim for her book over the classification of brain tumors and Professor Nasser Al-Mutairi, who took the opportunity to share with His Highness the Amir his research over Kuwait s role in preventive diplomacy and mediation. Meanwhile, famed astronomer Adel Al-Sadoun, author Talal Al-Shili and child philanthropist Khaled Al-Saeedi were also among those to have met His Highness the Amir. (KUNA) Council member expresses gratitude to Amir Al-Baghli to put peoples interest fi rst KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Newly-appointed member of Municipal Council Maha Al-Baghli expressed gratitude for the trust and confidence His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad and the political leadership has shown in her candidacy for the post through which she hopes to serve Kuwait, reports Al-Jarida daily. She said she has promised herself and the people of Kuwait to do her work honestly and sincerely, adding, I vow to put the interest of people above my personal interests. Al-Baghli affirmed that she is aware the political leadership headed by Kuwait Today Prayer Timings Fajr... 03:13 Sunrise... 04:48 Zohr... 11:48 Asr...15:22 Maghrib... 18:48 Isha... 20:20 Weather Expected weather for the next 24 hours: By Night: Relatively hot with light to moderate north westerly wind to northerly winds, with speed of km/h. By Day: Hot with light to moderate variable wind to south easterly wind, with speed of km/h. Station Max Min Rec Exp Kuwait City Kuwait Airport Abdaly Bubyan Jahra Failaka Island Salmiyah Ahmadi Nuwaisib Wafra Salmy days forecast - Weather Wednesday, June 13 Expected weather...hot Max Temp...44C Min Temp...28C Wind Direction...VRB-SE Wind Speed km/h Thursday, June 14 Expected weather...hot Max Temp...45C Min Temp...27C Wind Direction...NW-VRB Wind Speed km/h Friday, June 15 Expected weather...hot Max Temp...45C Min Temp...29C Wind Direction... N-NW Wind Speed km/h Saturday, June 16 Expected weather... Hot and rising dust Max Temp...45C Min Temp...30C Wind Direction... NW Wind Speed km/h Marine Forecast Station Max Min Sea Today s Exp Rec Surf Waves Ht Dirn South Dolphin ft SE Umm Mudayrah ft SE Beacon M ft SE Beacon N ft SE Qaruh Island ft SE His Highness the Amir believes in equality and applies the provisions of the Constitution, which is the basis of the foundation of this modern state. She indicated that the beginning of the current sessions seems promising especially in terms of the relations between the Municipal Council and the executive branch represented by Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Municipal Affairs Eng. Hussam Al-Roumi, who is keen to communicate with members of the Municipal Council periodically to listen to their observations, suggestions and their future visions. Umm Al-Maradem ft SE Sea Island Buoy Salmiyah ft SE 4 days forecast - Marine Wednesday, June 13 Expected weather...hot Sea state...slight to moderate Wave height ft Max Temp...44C Min Temp...28C Wind Direction...VRB-SE Wind Speed km/h Thursday, June 14 Expected weather...hot Sea state...slight to moderate Wave height ft Max Temp...45C Min Temp...27C Wind Direction...NW-VRB Wind Speed km/h Friday, June 15 Expected weather...hot Sea state...slight to moderate Wave height ft Max Temp...45C Min Temp...29C Wind Direction... N-NW Wind Speed km/h Saturday, June 16 Expected weather... Hot and rising dust Sea state... Slight to moderate rough at times Wave height ft Max Temp...45C Min Temp...30C Wind Direction... NW Wind Speed km/h Tide times at Shuwaikh Port 1st high tide:... 23:42 2nd high tide:... 10:38 1st low tide:... 05:05 2nd low tide:... 18:07 Sunrise:... 04:48 Sunset:... 18:48 Recorded yesterday at Kuwait Airport Max temp...44c Min temp...29c Max Rh...26% Min Rh...08% Max Wind... NW 64 km/h Total Rainfall in 24 hrs... 0 mm Recorded yesterday at South Dolphin Min/Max/ Air Temp...32/41C Min/Max Rel Hum...12/58% Wind Direction/Wind Speed...N/55 km/h Prev Wave Dir/Max Wave Ht... N/-ft Min/Max Sea Surface Temp... -/- C Sea Current...Upwelling Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Meteorological Dept. deaths Shaaban Haidar Ali Mohammad, 84 years old, buried on Tuesday Condolences: (Men) Bayan, Al Imam Al Hasan Mosque Tel (Women) Rumaithiya, Block 4, Anas Bin Malek St Huseiniyat Malaya Umm Dadiq Tel Taqoub Yousef Abdullah Al Nafeesi, 92 years old, buried on Tuesday. Condolences: Men) Shuwaikh, Block 6, St 63, House 1 Tel (Women) Shuwaikh, Block 6, St. 63, House 3 Tel June 12, 2018 DGCA readies airport s T1 for summer season Al-Fawzan KUWAIT CITY, June 12, (KUNA): Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Tuesday it has completed a series of improvements at the Kuwait International Airport terminal (T1) in preparation for this summer season. DGCA s Director General Eng Yousef Al-Fawzan, told KUNA that the improvement team, which was recently formed by the DGCA, conducts daily meetings to follow-up the Establishment of logistic zone vital KUNA photo Minister Al-Jabri during a dinner with chairman of Kuwait Society for the Blind, and a group of visually impaired people. Information minister commends restaurant offering menu in Braille KUWAIT CITY, June 12, (KUNA): Kuwait Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Mohammad Al- Jabri said Monday Information Ministry was fully supporting private sector s initiatives that would address obstacles facing the visually impaired people. Al-Jabri made the statement during a dinner with Lafi Al- Azmi, chairman of Kuwait Society for Blind, and a group of visually impaired people, in a restaurant offering menus in Braille. This new method will enable visually impaired order without assistance. Al-Jabri said he was keen on work on a 24-hour basis and deals with the developments at once. Al-Fawzan added that the DGCA has addressed airlines and service providers to prepare for the summer season and increase the number of employees to provide the best services to passengers and overcome overcrowding and facilitate the movement of passengers. He pointed out that a new service was launched at Kuwait Airport in cooperation with NAS National Aviation Services to deliver the passengers luggage to their homes for a small fee. On expected passenger traffic during the Eid Al- Fitr holiday, Al-Fawzan said it is expected to reach 208,113 passengers compared to 272,297 passengers for the same period last year. having dinner in this restaurant which printed menues in Braille in order to address difficulties facing the visually impaired in the restaurant sector. Al-Jabri also recalled the information ministry has recently launched audio discription technology to allow visually impaired follow TV programs. According to an economic study, the establishment of Mubarak Al- Kabeer Port, shipping port and an industrial city requires provision of outstanding logistic services, reports Al-Nahar daily. The study suggested establishing a logistic zone based on the index of the most important logistic companies and Kuwait Ports Authority. The area requested for the project is 2.7 million square meters with capacity of 8.1 million containers and which can be extended based on demand. Boubyan Island will witness competitive prices due to decrease in the electricity cost. According to a study prepared by the Durrar Team, the expected revenues from the logistic zone are more than KD 1.27 billion. It can also provide 16,000 job opportunities. The expected cost of the project is around KD billion. Land and marine transportation is essential for the project of developing Boubyan Island in order for the country to become a regional commercial hub. Therefore, a shipping port must be built on the island in order to enhance commercial activities and encourage commercial exchange which will help develop the national economy. The plot allocated for building the shipping port is 6,000 square meters at a total cost of about KD 43 million while the expected revenues are KD 43.9 million. The location of Boubyan Island, which is close to the GCC countries as well as Iraq and Iran, increases the possibility of transforming it into an important regional commercial hub that is capable of meeting the desire for creating varied-source economy and carrying out the sustainable economic strategy.

4 LOCAL Cooperation important to solve deportation issues KUWAIT CITY, June 12, (KUNA): Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah stressed Tuesday the importance of boosting cooperation with the Public Prosecution and diplomatic missions to KNG to free some detainees KUNA photo His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah received at Seif Palace Tuesday Dr Mishary Al-Mutairi, one of the winners of the Geneva 46th International Exhibition of Inventions held on April (KUNA) News in Brief MoE cautioned: The Public Authority for Housing Welfare has once again warned the Ministry of Education saying it is not responsible for guarding the 14 new schools built in the suburb of Jaber Al-Ahmad, which could be prone to damage and theft any moment, saying the matter is of great importance, reports Al-Rai daily. The Deputy Director-General for Implementation Ali Al-Habail, in a letter addressed to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, Dr Haitham Al-Athari, said the responsibility of guarding these schools falls within the authority of the Ministry of Education from the date the schools are officially handed over to the ministry. Meanwhile, the Undersecretary of resolve deportation issues. Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah made his remarks while meeting with Attorney General Mohammed Rashid Al-Duaij, head of the committee specialized in studying all cases of prisoners awaiting deportation, the ministry said in a press statement. the Ministry of Education Dr Haitham Al-Athari has approved the request of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) to install a meteorological station on the roof of the Waha Secondary School in Jahra, reports Al-Rai daily. The station will be installed on an area of 2 square meters for two years, from July 1 to June 30, Haya in Saudia: Kuwaiti actress Haya Al-Shuaibi is currently in Saudi Arabia to prepare for the theatrical play, Umm Fahad s Brothers, which will be shown in Al-Ehsaa during the Eid Al-Fitr holidays, reports Al-Qabas daily. The minister discussed with Al-Duaij the new regulations aimed to resolve some existing issues in the deportation prison and alleviate their impacts, reiterating the significance of cooperating and coordinating with the Public Prosecution to achieve the desired goals. For his part, Al-Duaij affirmed there are not any exception when it comes to lifting judicial deportation from any prisoner, unless under the mandatory legal rules and regulations, stressing the importance of enforcing the law fully and not selectively. Meanwhile, Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti National Guard (KNG) Lieutenant General Hashem Al-Rifai ordered on Tuesday release of military detainees with disciplinary sanctions on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr. The decision came under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, President of the Kuwaiti National Guard, and Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Deputy Chief of the KNG, the ministry s Directorate of Moral Guidance and Public Relations said in a press statement. His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah and Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah congratulated His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and the leaders of Kuwait National Guard on the occasion of Eid. His Highness hoped that the country would see many more happy returns of this occasion, while Kuwait continued to enjoy prosperity and advancement. DIWANIYA A DIGEST OF PUBLIC OPINION Stick to Constitution Real democracy elusive THROUGH the introduction of the Kuwaiti Constitution, we realize that this document strives for a better future under which the homeland will bask in more luxury, international position and more political freedom, social equality and justice, columnist Hamed Al-Saif wrote for Al-Shahed daily. The above is included in the preamble of the Constitution hence let us see the most significant points that are stipulated in some of its articles. For example, Article 6 provides The System of the Government in Kuwait shall be democratic, under which sovereignty resides in the people, the source of all powers. Sovereignty shall be exercised in the manner specified in this Constitution. Article 7 provides Justice, Liberty and Equality are the pillars of Society; cooperation and mutual help are the firmest bonds between citizens, while Article 8 stipulates The State safeguards the pillars of the Society and ensures security, tranquility and equal opportunities of citizens. But Article 13 says Education is a fundamental requisite for the progress of society, assured and promoted by the State. And Article 14 provides The State shall promote science, letters and arts and encourage the scientific research there in. Meanwhile, Article 15 stipulates The State cares for public health and for means of prevention and treatment of diseases and epidemics. But Article 20 says The national economy shall be based on social justice. It is founded on fair co-operation between the public and private activities. Its aim shall be economic development, increase of productivity, and improvement of the standard of living and achievement of prosperity for citizens, all within the limits of law. On the other hand, the Article 26 provides Public office is a national service entrusted to those who hold it. Public officials in the Al-Saif exercise of their duties shall aim at the public interest. Aliens may not hold public offices except in cases specified by law. While Article 29 stipulates, All people are equal in human dignity, and in public rights and duties before the law, without distinction as to race, origin, language or religion. Article 36 says Freedom of opinion and of scientific research shall be guaranteed. Every person shall have the right to express and propagate his opinion verbally, in writing or otherwise, in accordance with the conditions and procedures specified by law. Article 41 stipulates Every Kuwaiti has the right to work and to choose the type of his work. Work is a duty of every citizen necessitated by personal dignity and public good. The State shall endeavor to make it available to citizens and to make in terms equitable. Article 48 says Payment of taxes and public imposts is a duty in accordance with law which shall regulate exemption of small incomes from taxes in such a way as to maintain the minimum standard of living. And Article 58 says The Prime Minister and the Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Amir for the general policy of the State. Every Minister shall also be individually responsible to the Amir for the affairs of his ministry. The above, are some of the important articles of the Constitution that were couched to organize public life of the citizens including their rights and duties towards the state in addition to organizing the state obligations towards the citizens. But the question here is, are the above articles applied since the issuance of the Constitution? And did the government or the National Assembly issue laws against the above articles irrespective whether these laws were better or worse? And why laws in detail have not been published so far? It is needless to say these questions are legitimate, particularly since we know that the Constitution provides a room for better amendment after five years commencing from the day it was written. However, a general view of our current situation will show us that some important articles of the Constitution have yet to applied, given the fact if these articles were applied fairly, many economic, political, scientific, health, literature, social and services aspects would have changed. But leniency shown by the two powers the executive branch and the legislature in terms of application of the articles of the Constitution that was drawn up by the founding fathers, has actually delayed the progress of the country and moreover, this leniency has undermined democracy which was envied by our neighboring countries. As a matter of fact, the country needs to rearrange its constitutional situations in a way that shall help achieve real democracy which currently prevails in advanced countries for a better tomorrow for this kind country. Also: Following the enactment of the Constitution of 1962, the State of Kuwait, actually embarked on a new era and a new reign, columnist Fawaz Ahmad Al-Hamad wrote for Al-Qabas daily. In the wake of this development, the government had developed the performance of the state ministries and institutions and as such the country witnessed evolution and progress. Not just that, the country witnessed the election of the first National Assembly in 1963 and the first Parliament was empowered to enact the laws and control the government performance. However, following the appearance of both the secular and Islamic currents, the government got involved in a dialogue with some political currents to reach a mutual agreement over the enactment of necessary legislations and laws for the development of the State of Kuwait. This period was difficult for the government because it clashed with the then National Assembly that brought instability and we witnessed the dissolution of the National Assembly more than one time. However, during the recent past and exactly post liberation and since the election of 1992 National Assembly and until now, the consecutive governments attempted to change their manners, methods and old thoughts in terms of dealing with the opposition and the political currents by weaving coalitions with some economic and political powers which have influence in the National Assembly. Based on the above, the ministerial and leading posts in most State institutions were distributed among specific denominations and the doors for the state ministries and institutions were thrown open before these denominations to such an extent that by that time the relevant agreements and coalitions had been entered into the phase of inheriting the positions. In other words, the positions with the passing of the years, were shifted to the relevant denominations and every one of the relevant dominations ended up in a ministerial post which benefitted his cousins, family or tribe, given the fact the coalitions that were woven by the government also reflected on the political action because the relevant ministerial and senior posts were not given on the basis of efficiency. Opportunism in the world of politics and media is not a new phenomenon. It is the practice of some opportunists to appear in front of the camera of some audiovisual media, especially in times of crises, including the current Gulf crisis, columnist Khaled Al-Tarrah wrote for Al-Qabas daily. Some media stations which are fed by different systems and groups adopt specific projects through the emergence of constant personalities that do not change from time to time under various headings and names such as a former diplomat and political analyst and academic specialist not in a particular area, but in various areas, especially that may generate fixed or temporary income and lead at the same time to the emergence of media, even if the followers are a limited number. However, the goal is not the number of observers or viewers to the extent of underestimating a party at the expense of another party, according to the view which strikes a balance between opportunism and individual behavior. In the Gulf crisis since its outbreak, some have attracted attention based on their professionalism. Among these are those who know themselves by titles that exceed the characters of his name as a former diplomat, or political and military expert, as long as they can attract funding and succeed in fanning the flames of conflicts. For example, not every diplomat who has been assigned by his job to represent his country in cultural or media positions becomes the same as the history of diplomatic personnel, known as the professional diplomat Career Diplomat, who has acted beyond his diplomatic field for certain periods, and their posts are posts make part of their work biography and not a title that can be carried throughout his life! Personally, I have held the rank of a diplomatic advisor for many years as an internee from my core field of work, while the specialization and publicity of the media has remained. This is the basis of my scientific specialization and my career as well. I cannot claim the title to be called a former diplomat. This aspect is limited to my resume contrary to many others who have trivialized creation of titles. We ask God to help the opportunists who do not know modesty at all, they continue to jump on reality and rules, as they walk in alleys in their daily lives. I read a story published recently by Al-Rai daily regarding Head of the Parliamentary Finance Committee MP Salah Khorsheed warning Minister of Finance Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf on the manipulation of funds for retirees by some corrupt employees who are still on their jobs at the Public Institution for Social Security, columnist Dr Khalid Al-Azmi wrote for Al-Rai daily. It s a known fact that many files are currently stuck with the Ministry of Finance and Public Institution for Social Security. This is a heavy burden that needs undivided support of the MPs to facilitate appropriate action by the Minister of Finance. I have known Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf intimately for decades and he s a decisive person who s prone to reform. I don t think the minister is satisfied with the level of manipulation of funds at Public Institution for Social Security, and we are asking the MPs to investigate the allegation of usury against the sector. Al-Hajraf in his capacity as the Finance Minister shoulders the responsibilities of different bodies deeprooted in manipulating public funds, as the MPs have said, but he is devoid of any violation. I believe the minister endeavors to do his job, so I urge the MPs to rally round him. There are many constitutional tools the MPs can use to trigger the minister to implement reform. Among the worst mistakes we always make in Kuwait concerning our democracy is that we question and entirely blame the person in charge of affairs without tracing the root of the problem. The black box of the issue of social security institution is with its former Director Fahd Al-Raja an. We are still looking forward to his fair trial! He should not be made to take the blame alone. Every senior official connected to the issue must be summoned and questioned. The regulation against cheating is a hard-hitting guideline serving as the gateway toward waging war against deep-seated corruption that continues to eat deep into the very fabric of society throughout the last three decades, Ali Al-Za abi wrote for Al-Shahed daily. The decay or unhealthy routine has become normal. Can you imagine a female student was caught with headphones through which she was getting information from her mother? An Islamic Studies teacher encouraged her daughter to cheat if she didn t know the answers, while some parents protested to demand cancellation of cheating regulation. Dear readers, we have entered a new era that is alien to our society, which is known as the Era of Cheaters. They are no less dangerous than the Hashashin (Ismaili sect era) that surfaced in AH 5. Emergence of the era of cheaters indicates our society has attained the highest level of corruption without any feeling of remorse. Firm stance of the Ministry of Education in ensuring that cheaters are rendered accountable for their actions is very important. For this reason, the minister and his team really need support of the people of Kuwait who truly love the country and care about its destruction. The United Nations Security Council is the most important organ of the United Nations. It is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security in accordance with Chapter VII of the UN Charter, Jassem Al-Homer wrote for Al-Anba daily. The recent failure of the Security Council in passing a resolution for the protection of the Palestinian people is very regrettable. It undermines the role of the Security Council in maintaining international peace and security. Kuwait, the representative of Arab League in the Security Council as a member of 2018 and 2019, submitted a draft resolution, demanding the protection of Palestinian people from excessive violence by Israeli forces. However, this resolution was killed by the American veto, while ten countries voted in favor of the resolution and four countries abstained. We have returned to square 1, and we ask, Is this the role required from the UN Security Council? Is this the proper procedure for saving the lives of Palestinian people against Israeli crimes? Compiled by Zaki Taleb 4

5 LOCAL 5 Kuwait By Your Side campaign continues food dispatch in Yemen KRCS pursues relief effort for people in need worldwide A photo from the event Center holds event to mark World Environment Day The Scientific Center affiliated to Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) recently organized an event to commemorate World Environment Day under the theme Overcoming Plastic Pollution. The event is generally observed on June 5 each year. Director of the center Rana Al-Nibari affirmed the center uses its mission as an objective to strengthen and simplify science while spreading environmental awareness. She noted the center will gradually phase out single usage plastic materials such as plastic bags and water bottles. This month is very special for worshipping British envoy congratulates HH Amir on the occasion of Ramadan KUWAIT CITY, June 12: The British Ambassador to Kuwait H.E. Michael Davenport congratulates His Highness the Amir, the people of Kuwait and all Muslims around the world on the occasion of the Holy Month of Ramadan, reports Al-Rai daily. He affirmed that this month is very special for worshipping and meditation as well a wonderful opportunity for families and friends to reunite, The ambassador explained that he, after three weeks of Ramadan, disdavenport covered that the daily tempo of a diplomat is no different from that of ordinary people, as it changes completely during Ramadan. The working hours at the British Embassy have been reduced by two hours and are from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm. His evening schedule is busy with diwaniya visits especially during the first three weeks of Ramadan. The diwaniya visits has helped in meeting new people and making friendships. He received many invitations to Iftar and Ghabqa banquets, some of which he and his colleagues participated. The Girgean tradition is one of the beautiful Kuwaiti traditions he has witnessed in Kuwait. He likes the idea of Girgean as a festival for children and a day of games where everyone exchanges sweets and delicious foods. He attended a Girgean festival which included children with special needs where everyone enjoyed. Ambassador Davenport affirmed that the diwaniya is one of the most unique Kuwaiti traditions a tradition with a long history, adding that he was very happy to receive warm welcome during his visits to diwaniyas around Kuwait. Meanwhile, Ambassador Davenport revealed that there are about 1.5 million Muslims living in Britain, making Islam the second religion in the country, adding that London alone is home to Muslims from more than 30 different countries. He said the Muslims in Britain, like their counterparts around the world, fast during the month of Ramadan, indicating that the fasting hours during summer especially in the month of June are very long about 16 hours. RIYADH, June 12, (KUNA): Kuwait By Your Side humanitarian campaign continued on Monday distributing food baskets to various areas at Yemeni island of Saqutra, to ease the suffering of people caused by hurricanes and various shortages of supplies, as part of other Kuwaiti projects there. A statement by the campaign managers said today s 1,500 food baskets were delivered to those who suffered from Hurricane Mekunu, adding the project is in its third stage in less than a week, to the suffering people in the island. The campaign noted that there are other projects prior to this one, in the past few weeks, which included establishing rescue shelters for people suffering from the hurricane, heavy rain, and floods. For his part, Saqutra province official Saleh Saad praised Kuwait s efforts in these difficult times the island is going through. Last month, the campaign organizers begun installing water pumps to Al-Shubaikah water well in Ataq city in the southern Yemen city of Shabwa to help end the problem of water shortage in the city. Meanwhile, Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) Secretary General Maha Al-Barjas said Tuesday that volunteer teams are spread in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Yemen, the Philippines, Lebanon, Pakistan and Bangladesh to help those affected by natural or man-made disasters. In a statement to KUNA, Al-Barjas said that KRCS intensified its efforts and support during the holy month of Ramadan for those affected and needy to alleviate their suffering. She stressed the importance of highlighting the pioneering role of the State of Kuwait in the humanitarian field. Al-Barjas noted that Kuwait has sent planes carrying humanitarian aid including food supplies and blankets, mainly aimed at alleviating the difficult living conditions of people who have been hit by the devastating Cyclone Mekunu. Photo by Mohammad Morse The faithful being led in midnight prayer at the Grand Mosque as part of the last ten days of Ramadan. No exemption for Syrian teachers from retirement KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Director of Human Resources Department in the Ministry of Education Saoud AlJowaiser has clarified that Syrian teachers are not exempted from the Cabinet resolution on terminating the services of those who reached the legal retirement age and to renew their contract just once to give them enough time to transfer their residency permits, reports Al-Rai daily. Speaking to the daily, Al-Jowaiser revealed the Cabinet exempted only three professions doctors, Muezzins and graveyard workers. He added the ministry tried to exempt some employees with vast experience and rare fields of specialization but it failed to do so. Meanwhile, Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Hammed Al-Azmi has approved the interview results of six new educational district directors, reports AlAnba daily. These directors include Shokriya Al-Saeidi for the Capital Educational District, Dalal Al-Nahid for Hawally Educational District, Hamad Al-Saeid for Ahmadi Educational District, Nada Al-Mutairi for Mubarak Al-Kabeer Educational District, Fahad Al-Ajmi for Jahra Educational District and Hamoud Al-Anzi for Farwaniya Educational District. In the meantime, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) has rejected the Ministry of Education s request to postpone until the end of the summer break the termination of services of Kuwaiti and non-kuwaiti teachers who reached the legal retirement age.

6 LOCAL 6 Other Voices Change coming slowly Lighthouse vs dark forces By Ahmad Al-Sarraf My colleague Abdullah Ghazi Al-Mudhaf wrote: Art has amazing control. It solely has the right to tamper with your old memories, explore them, and search between the wrinkles and ring the bells of happy and sad times, and sometimes make you laugh or cry. It is the beautiful art that can change the equation of time, take you down the innocent memory lane, reflect on the faces of your mother and father, bring back memories of birds that migrated and did not come back, the school days, lost fragrance, remember the teacher who criticized you, etc. It is the beautiful art that alone has that right. Al-Sarraf Al-Mudhaf continued saying this art was reflected through the best images in the epic of the 1980s at the Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Center accompanied by a legendary orchestra led by the great Maestro Mohammad Baqer and directed by the young and creative Kuwaiti Jassim Al- Qames Unquote I quoted this in spite of all the confusion surrounding the construction and cost of the Opera House, but it seems all this is behind us, that is to say nothing after we have seen the results of this edifice, which changed the cultural and recreational atmosphere in Kuwait, and made many of us less willing to travel, less resented, and less complaining and stopped asking the usual question: Where to go, there is no place to go Crime Briefs Gas cylinders seized to? The opera season during the first half of 2018 was wonderful by all standards and the supervisors show excellence and supremacy in the quality, level and degree of acceptance. We now see the pioneers of art and theater and opera coming from neighboring countries, and from Qatar in particular and from segments of the Kuwaiti society that we had not believed that one day we will see them in the corridors of this grand edifice. This indicates that radical changes are taking place in society, albeit slowly, but with extraordinary force, especially with those who dared to emerge from the cocoon that the backward forces believed they would remain there forever. These daring people now pay less or no attention to the empty warnings and threats of these people. This in itself explains the extreme hostility of those backward forces to the idea of the opera house. It was a dream to see a group of 80 musicians, most of them from national cadres and from all walks of life, playing this splendor on a world stage in Kuwait. This great cultural and artistic effort would not have been possible without the support of the Amiri Diwan. Without the efforts exerted by the supervisors of the Jaber Center, such as the creative art director, Faisal Khaja, and his team, including Alia Ghanim, Ahmad Al-Salhi, Reham Al-Samarrai, Hamad Al Rayes, and others sincere and creative young men we could not expect much to achieve. I send them my heartfelt greetings. habibi.enta1@gmail.com Iraqi man held with drugs By Mishal Al-Sanousi Al-Seyassah Staff KUWAIT CITY, June 12: An Iraqi national born in 1980 was apprehended by Capital securitymen in Sulaibikhat area in possession of a cocktail of drugs and paraphernalia. A security source said the officers were on a round of the area when they stumbled on the suspect and recovered illicit substance, including Shabu and Chemical, during the precautionary search. He was referred to the concerned authority for necessary action. Meanwhile, an Arab expatriate evading a three-year imprisonment sentence for theft and breach of trust was arrested by security operatives in Shuwaikh area. Gas cylinders seized: Customs officers at Nuwaiseeb border checkpoint confiscated 37 gas cylinders which were being smuggled into the country. According to sources, a vehicle arrived at Nuwaiseeb border checkpoint from a neighboring country. When a customs officer checked the vehicle, they found 37 gas cylinders which were being taken into the country without permission from the customs authority. Legal actions were taken and the vehicle along with the gas cylinders was referred to the Land Customs Department. B deshi assaulted: A Bangladeshi expatriate filed a case at Hadiya Police Station against a military officer who works at the Kuwait International Airport, accusing the latter of beating him while he was in Adan Hospital and then running off. According to security sources, the victim said he was receiving treatment at Adan Hospital when he was beaten by the suspect who ran off but forgot to take his uniform on which his name and his workplace Kuwait International Airport was mentioned. Securitymen launched investigations to find and arrest the suspect. MoH staffer caught selling fake KD 10 stamps to expats By Marwa Al-Bahrawi Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies KUWAIT CITY, June 12: An employee of the Ministry of Health who forged and sold revenue stamps to expatriates for 15 months has been apprehended by security operatives. The employee in question was in the habit of changing KD 1 inscribed on the stamp to KD 10. He would then lock the electronic machines in the hospitals as if they were faulty, forcing expatriates to buy the fake stamps from him! In an official release, the Ministry of Health disclosed that arrest of the employee was made possible due to directives from the Minister of Health Dr Basel Al-Sabah, in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior. Statement added the minister ordered immediate arrest of the employee when he got wind of information that an employee hired on wages was forging KD 10 stamps, and allegedly used an accomplice to sell the stamps to expatriate patients. He purportedly started the forgery activity in March 2017 after the increase in health fees was approved. An undercover agent was assigned to buy a forged stamp with marked currency. The suspect was careful on the first day but fell into the trap thereafter. He has since been referred to the concerned authority. Robbers arrested: An Egyptian expatriate and a Kuwaiti citizen were arrested for committing 12 cases of thefts in restaurants, shops and cafés this year. The third suspect who is a Kuwaiti citizen is yet to be arrested, reports Al-Seyassah daily. In a press statement issued by Ministry of Interior, the Public Relations and Security Media Department of the ministry explained that General Department for Criminal Evidences received information about thefts committed in a number of restaurants, shops and cafés. Immediately, a team was formed to conduct investigations. Eventually, the suspects were discovered to be a 2000-born Egyptian expatriate, a 1997-born Kuwaiti citizen and a 2001-born Kuwaiti. After confirming the information and taking necessary steps, the first suspect, the Egyptian, was arrested. When questioned, he confessed to stealing from shops and cafés in Sharq, Ardiya Industrial Area and Qurain Market with the help of the second and third suspects. Securitymen then arrested the second suspect who was referred with the first suspect to the concerned authorities for necessary legal action. Investigations are ongoing to find and arrest the third suspect. Drug peddlers held: Personnel from the Criminal Investigations Department have arrested three teenagers two Lebanese and a Syrian for trafficking in drugs, reports Al-Anba daily. The arrest came after several parents complained about the strange behavior of their children who were allegedly in the initial stages of drug abuse. Intensive police investigations led to the arrest one of the suspects. Egyptian, Kuwaitis in multiple robberies MoI photo Undersecretary of Ministry of Interior Lieutenant General Mahmoud Al-Dousari honored the members of the committee in charge of the Amiri Amnesty Compliance List for the year 2018, reports Al-Seyassah daily. According to a press release, he thanked them for their efforts in ensuring the success of the Amiri Amnesty and wished them the best in all their works. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Al-Dousari honored Lieutenant Colonel Abdulrahman Al-Sahlawi and Master Sergeant Khaled Al-Khaldi from the Private Security Sector for constructing a new shooting field in the camp of the Department of Private Security Forces without any financial cost. He appreciated their efforts aimed at achieving public interest, and affirmed that Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah appreciates the efforts and performances of sincere employees of the ministry. Other Voices Body profi teers and El-Sayed Al-Morr By Intisaar Al-Maatouq lived believing that the sick I is not merely about the description of the doctor, but of the human. Treatment is not about remembering the prescription, but to understand the pain being shared by the sick and the ears that you give. Practice sincere empathy and compassion which are lost in the whole world that has become narrow despite its vastness, Egyptian poet and medical doctor Ibrahim Nagi ( ). During my childhood I used to imagine a doctor having an angel s wings as portrayed by our limited minds. As I grew up, the wings got smaller gradually in my mind until it disappeared. This happened rapidly, especially whenever I see a body trade advertisement coated with medical legitimacy. Given that we are in a society where intentions and actions ripple, we believe that whatever doctors say is sacred and uncontested despite our conviction that the values of the medical profession are sometimes compromised and detached from its humanitarian nature. This is reflected in the increasing number of cosmetic clinics in our eastern societies which take the inner form of butcher shops, yet they are pieces of irrefutable evidence that the humanity of medicine is deteriorating considering the sight of mutilated body parts in drainage corridors. This mutilation is embraced under the pretext that, Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. It is also legally covered as medicine transforms from a profession of wisdom and conscience of feeling pain empathically to a lucrative business devoid of the supposed conscience. This has expanded to make our bodies and spirits under the mercy of people who, by default, are supposed to protect them by curing and preventing elements which destroy our bodies. Today, some of those who frequent the medicine club have transformed into tools for mutilating noses, a part of the stomach and a bone in our ribcage. In the form of a marketing rally, hospitals boast of having luxurious maternity wards where birth parties are held in a place which is supposed to be a place for recovery, not for showing off. When it comes to the cost of surgeries, we find that prices continue to skyrocket and Intisaar take the form of an eagle hunting the patient as if every patient possesses wealth meant for paying the doctor for the pain and suffering endured by the sick. Despite the development and improvement of treatment and the safety and technical procedures, some still complicate the entire issue. I believe that an intellectual and a doctor should set high standard of humanitarian dealings in their societies, since the intellect comes from awareness and the doctor helps in bettering the health of others. Please do not misunderstand me, we are not here against them in terms of earning their living through their services, but we are just puzzled and we wonder about the exorbitant prices. Between the pile of exploits and profiteers in this materialistic field, I coincidentally came across a noble thread of humanity coming from the white lab coats with three pockets. This thread took me to a very fascinating doctor. His name is Dr El- Sayed El-Morr, the son of the Egyptian city known as Zagazig in Lower Egypt, situated in the eastern part of the Nile delta, the capital of the governorate of Sharqia. This man opened his clinic with a heart full of spiritual conviction that the medicine profession is a humanitarian profession and anyone who cannot afford it will get free medical care and medicines. This is neither a dream in the mentality of the Middle East nor a borrowed lie. It is an unbelievable reality, particularly in this era where the heavier your pockets are the more respect you get. Dr El-Sayed El-Morr is not a millionaire for him to donate his efforts and his services are not temporary for the sake of attracting attention. This man is simple and very human. I wish I was a man so I could shake his hand and kiss his forehead in honor and respect for his endeavor. I am an eastern woman hungry for such virtues in a society which lacks principles and looks forward to satisfy the thirst from the gallantry s spring. All the characteristics of chivalry are in this man whose initiative is supported by his colleagues. Dr El- Morr is an internal medicine consultant gastroenterology and liver. He specialized in Hepatology in Zagazig University. Whenever he cannot treat his patients, he refers them to his colleagues who offer their services for free. If the fee is high, the treatment is given at the lowest cost. In front of his clinic, this skillful doctor put a banner which says, Free medical consultation and check-up, Wi-Fi and drinks for the patients. This is an absolute disrobing of those who exploit and defraud people s bodies and spirits. Goodness and greatness come from Egypt, in front of Quds Mosque along Mansoura Street the location of the clinic of this wonderful man. Oh doctor, we send to you from the land of peace the State of Kuwait, to the lungs of the Middle East the Great Egypt, the best greetings, appreciation and gratitude. May Almighty Allah increase your blessings. News in Brief Gulf crisis resolution soon : German Ambassador to the State of Kuwait Karlfried Bergner said there are signs for resolving the Gulf crisis next September or October. The Gulf home is the most important way for solving the crisis, the ambassador added in a statement made on sidelines of an Iftar (fast-breaking) ceremony held to reporters on Monday. Endeavors by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah over the last two weeks were clear as he called, through messages, for reconsidering the problem, the statement carried by German news agency (DPA) said. He noted that the United States also is seeking to find a solution to the crisis, the statement said. The Ambassador pointed out that Kuwait is seeking to achieve stability and peace in the region, referring to Kuwait s efforts in resolving Yemen s crisis through hosting the parties of the plight. On the Kuwaiti-German cooperation, Bergner said there are talks on scientific research and a key deal is likely to be signed in this regard. (KUNA) Construction rules violated: Public Relations Department of Kuwait Municipality revealed the issuance of two citations against the owner of a house in Ahmadi Governorate because he constructed his house without obtaining a license from Kuwait Municipality, reports Al-Seyassah daily. This announcement was made in response to some posts on social media that claimed Kuwaiti Municipality did not take any action against the owner of the house. Kuwait Municipality revealed that the owner of the house rejected the citations but he was ordered to pay the fine for the violation and then remove the violation. Fire erupts in car: Firemen extinguished a fire that broke out in a vehicle at a parking lot in Jahra area. No casualties were reported, says Al-Seyassah. A team of firemen accompanied by security operatives and paramedics arrived at the scene when the Operations Room of the Interior Ministry was notified about the incident, and they managed to control the blaze without it extending to other vehicles. The cause of fire wasn t immediately known but a case has since been registered for investigation. Meanwhile, fire erupted in a building for bachelors in Jleeb Shuyoukh area resulted in a huge material loss. The cause of fire wasn t immediately known but a case was registered for investigation.

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8 LOCAL June 26 deadline for internal scholarships registration: Abul Students urged to follow instructions shown on site KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Secretary-General of the Council of Private Universities Dr Habib Abul said registration for internal scholarships in the first semester of 2018/2019 academic year began last Saturday and continues until noontime on Tuesday, June 26, reports Al-Anba daily. Dr Abul explained the lowest percentage required in each specialty is available on the website of the Secretariat General of the Council of Private Universities He urged students to follow the registration instructions shown on the site, noting the minimum percentages of admission for secondary school leavers registering in the undergraduate program of the scientific section are 80 percent for engineering programs, 70 percent for other programs and 78 percent for the arts section. The minimum percent for people with special needs in the scientific section is 70 percent for engineering programs, 60 percent for other programs and 68 percent for the arts section, while the percentage for admission into the bachelor s law program in is 80% for the scientific and literary sections is 70 percent for people with special needs in the scientific and literary sections. As for the diploma program, the minimum percentage on the secondary certificate should be 65 percent for the scientific section and 68 percent for the literary section, 55 percent for those with special needs in the scientific section, and literary section 58 percent. As per registration for diploma certificate holders, the requirement is a minimum of 3.00 in the 4 points system and 80 percent in other systems. The minimum requirement for people with special needs in hearing impairment and learning difficulties is 2.50 in the 4 points system and 70 percent in other systems. In response to a question on the number of students expected to be accepted in the internal scholarships, Dr Abul said the quota is not fixed; thus, it depends on the fulfillment of conditions, the student s desire and the university s capacity to absorb those students. He urged students to visit the institution where they wish to register as a first choice to obtain the acceptance paper and download the required information from the electronic registration system for internal scholarships. He reiterated the priority of admission is for students having the highest percentage, and to some extent, seats available. Teaching kids Continued from Page 1 here. We are not suggesting that we should do away with directions; sometimes specific, step-by-step directions are important say in a chemistry lab when one of the ingredients is explosive or in the kitchen on a night you really need cake. But there are times that activites can be created that allow the child to teach himself/herself. Here s some scary thoughts compiled by the Smithsonian Institute in the US: Many of the top jobs in 2012 didn t exist in 2002 [social media strategist, for example]. Many of the jobs today s elementary students will have don t exist today. And they will use technologies that haven t been invented to find solutions for problems that haven t emerged. If you doubt the above, let me give you some personal context. When I graduated from university there were no laptops, no computer classes were required, the best computers around did less than my cell phone today, the internet didn t exist (for normal people), hadn t been invented, and e-commerce wasn t even a glimmer in an entrepreneur s eye. Consider all the jobs that came about because of these innovations... Here s something else. According to an IBM study of senior executives in leading corporations around the world, the most highly prized quality in new recruits is CREATIVITY! According to Fast Company magazine, an American business publication, the second most highly recruited grad degree is a Masters of Fine Arts. Because along with creativity, they re also value collaboration, communication and critical thinking abilities. So how do we teach these abilities? If we want today s kids to succeed in a world we can t even imagine, how do we make education just as good at teaching collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking (the 4 Cs) as it is at teaching times tables and grammar? The answers are many, but one practical solution is to enhance the quality and amount of non-traditional education activities incorporated in a school year. What we found as a result of the DAI/MEPI project was that kids enjoyed figuring out the solutions to science challenges; they had fun in the exhibition galleries applying the 4 C-oriented Harvard University Project Zero thinking routines. And we saw a % increase in their knowledge based on pre- and post- assessments. The Dar al-athar al-islamiyyah is facilitating the development of non-traditional education advocacy group that will promote the practice in schools and with potential providers. If you would like to be part of that group, if you are willing to learn more about it and share your knowledge with others, us (education@darmuseum.org.kw). We d love to have you on the team and the community will be better for your efforts. And the answers: the number of protons and electrons is the same and is found in the Atomic Number. DNA is Deoxyribonucleic acid. Muslim scholar Al-Khwazrimi introduced the concept of zero, calling it Zifr/Sifr. Today s dish soap is the result of sophisticated chemistry, which developed a formula for a product that breaks the chemical bonds of fat, making it easier to clean. How many did you get right? Jordan s King Continued from Page 1 coordination between the two countries on issues of common interest. The audience was also attended by National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanim, senior sheikhs, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and ranking state officials. Meanwhile, King Abdullah II earlier on Monday highly appreciated the support offered by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to help his country overcome the hard economic conditions it is going through. King Abdullah II tweeted that he highly appreciates the honorable stance of brothers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, with the good initiative of my brother King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz towards our country amid the challenges it is facing. His Highness the Amir later held an Iftar (fast-breaking) banquet at Dasman Palace in honor of his brother King Abdullah II and his accompanying delegation on the occasion of his brotherly visit to Kuwait. The Monarch and his entourage arrived earlier at Kuwait International Airport, where they were welcomed by His Highness the Amir, Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim and His Highness the Prime Minister. Jordan s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Al-Safadi and Chairman of Jordan s Joint Chiefs Mahmoud Abdul-Halim Freihat accompanied King Abdullah II. Bill seeks Continued from Page 1 strenuous jobs include firefighters, officers at the National Guard and Ministry of Interior, as well as engineers in the Ministry of Oil. He pointed out some employees engaged in jobs regarded as strenuous are not covered by the law such as paramedics and ambulance drivers. He argued it is unfair not to grant such a privilege to these employees, because they work as hard as the officers, firefighters and engineers. Trump could Continued from Page day wind-down periods, including measures aimed at the oil sector and transactions with its central bank. Other remaining signatories of the deal Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia have criticised the US exit and are still trying to salvage the accord. Meanwhile, Iran s intelligence min- istry said it had arrested 27 members of a terrorist network suspected of planning attacks last week to coincide with the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan. The group plotted to carry out terrorist operations in Tehran and some other important cities, the ministry said in a statement on its website. They published pictures in cyberspace threatening the honourable nation of Iran with revenge and murder. It said the attacks were due to take place last week during the Qadr festival and on Jerusalem Day, held each year in solidarity with the Palestinians. A large number of weapons and ammunition were confiscated, the ministry added. Iran is a key target for Sunni jihadists, who see its Shiite majority as apostates. Iran has also directly fought the Islamic State group and al-qaeda in Iraq and Syria. Its Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they had fought off three attempts by terrorist groups to infiltrate from neighbouring Iraq in recent days, leaving several dead. Duterte to Continued from Page 1 Kuwait and the Philippines signed an agreement last month, stipulating the implementation of a system for Kuwaiti authorities to regularly inspect or monitor the situation of domestic Filipino workers. The agreement specified Kuwait s Department of Domestic Labor as the institution in charge of settling disputes between the employers and Filipino domestic workers. Kuwait also agreed to provide legal assistance to workers and they will not pay for judicial fees at all levels of proceedings. In another development, GMA News reported online that 59 Filipina domestic workers from Kuwait returned home Monday evening in line with the ongoing repatriation program, which is part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two countries to protect Filipinos working in Kuwait. Previously, Labor Secretary of the Philippines Silvestre Bello III announced the repatriation of 644 distressed Filipino workers in Kuwait; whereas Labor Attaché Resty De la Fuente said more than 300 Filipinos are expected to return home before the end of this month. According to De la Fuente, the number of Filipino domestic workers who escaped from their employers during Ramadan this year was remarkably lower than the yearly average of 20. He attributed this decline to the employers higher level of awareness of the labor requirements for Filipino domestic workers such as fair treatment and adequate rest period. Coalition girds Continued from Page 1 The sources said Yemeni forces allied to the Saudi-led coalition drawn from southern separatists, local units from the Red Sea coastal plain and a battalion led by a nephew of late former president Ali Abdullah Saleh had advanced and were at the doors of Hodeidah airport. The war pits the Houthis against the Western-backed Sunni Muslim states, which intervened in 2015 to restore the exiled government and thwart what Riyadh and Abu Dhabi see as expansionist aims of their Shi ite Muslim foe Iran. The Houthis, with roots in a Zaidi Shi ite minority that ruled a thousandyear kingdom in Yemen until 1962, deny they are pawns of Iran. They say they have led a popular revolution against corruption and are defending the country from invaders. I think the Emiratis have done a good job in presenting compelling arguments about why an operation (on Hodeidah) could in the end tip the balance and apply enough pressure to bring the Houthis to the table, a Western diplomat said on Monday. The Emiratis preparedness is crucial in this. This is possibly what we re most concerned about. European donor governments warned aid groups in Yemen on Saturday that a military assault now looks imminent, according to a message seen by Reuters. It said: The Emiratis have informed us today that they will now give a 3-day grace period for the UN (and their partners) to leave the city. The UAE foreign ministry and government communication office did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. The United Nations relocated foreign staff members from Hodeidah on Monday. The International Committee of the Red Cross said last week it had pulled 71 foreign staff out of Yemen. The renewed push on Hodeidah comes amid increased tensions between Saudi Arabia and arch-foe Iran after the United States withdrew last month from an international nuclear agreement with Tehran, a move hailed by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Iraq arrests Continued from Page 1 Three of them are police officers and the other is an employee of the electoral commission, he added. The news of the arrests came after Iraqi Interior Minister Qassem al-araji said there was no doubt that (the fire) was a deliberate act. The blaze occurred on Sunday ahead of a vote recount prompted by allegations of fraud during the election that saw a surprise victory for a populist cleric and Iraqi voters dumping the old guard. Firefighters brought it under control several hours after it broke out at the warehouse in Al-Russafa. Around 60 percent of the two million voters in Baghdad cast their ballots in the May 12 election in the district. The extent of the damage caused to ballot boxes was still unclear but some officials have suggested most of them had been spared. On Sunday an AFP reporter saw warehouse staff running out of the building as smoke billowed overhead, carrying blue and white ballot boxes to safety. Election material, including maybe ballot boxes, were burned but most of the ballot boxes were stored in another building and have been preserved, interior ministry spokesman General Saad Maan said on Sunday. The fire erupted as nine judges were appointed to supervise a manual vote recount ordered by Iraq s outgoing parliament. The legislature on Wednesday also sacked the nine-member independent commission that oversaw the polls. The vote was won by populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr s electoral alliance with communists, as long-time political figures were pushed out by Iraqi voters hoping for change in a country mired in conflict and corruption. But the result was contested following allegations of fraud, namely by the veteran politicians led by parliamentary speaker Salim al-juburi. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi said on Tuesday he opposed any repeat of the May 12 parliamentary election, and warned that anyone who tried to sabotage the political process would be punished, after allegations of electoral fraud raised tensions. Parliament has demanded a nationwide recount of votes, drawing calls for the election to be re-run. Abadi said only the Supreme Court could decide whether to re-run the vote, which was won by a bloc headed by Shi ite cleric Moqtada al-sadr. On Monday, Sadr urged Iraqis to unite rather than squabble over a possible re-run of the election, in a message apparently meant to lower the political temperature after a ballot box storage depot caught fire. In his weekly news conference, Abadi called the fire a deliberate act and said the attorney general would bring charges against those who are trying to undermine the political process. In other news, the Turkish military destroyed 12 targets in northern Iraq belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in overnight air strikes, it said on Tuesday, as the army steps up operations against militant targets in the Qandil region. Newswatch Continued from Page 1 GENEVA: The UN refugee agency on Tuesday urged Lebanon to reverse a decision to block residency permits for its international staffers following a spat over Syrians displaced by the war. The decision was announced on Friday by the office of Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil who has accused UN- HCR of intimidating refugees to prevent their return to Syria. Speaking to reporters in Geneva, UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said the agency was very concerned by the move. (AFP) BEIRUT: An air raid on a village in northeast Syria held by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least 10 civilians including three children on Tuesday, a Britain-based monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes on Tal al-shair in the northeastern province of Hasakeh were carried out by the US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and neighbouring Iraq since (AFP) UNITED NATIONS: Russia s UN ambassador warned Monday that a British-led attempt to beef up the global chemical weapons watchdog, including giving it the job of determining blame for chemical attacks, is dangerous and could hurt peace efforts in Syria. Vassily Nebenzia told The Associated Press he hopes supporters of the effort will realize they are undermining The Hague, Netherlands-based watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as well as encroaching on the province of the Security Council. (AP) DOHA: Qatar Air Force signed an agreement with Canada s Viking Air Monday for the purchase of DHC Twin Otter for skydiving operations, Qatari Armed Forces said in a statement, but did not specify value nor number of aircraft. The agreement was signed in Doha Air Base by Vice Air Marshall Mubarak Al-Khayareen, commander of the Qatar Air Force, and Peter Walker, Viking Air Regional Sales Director, the statement added. It quoted Flight Lt Abdullah Al-Hadfah, skydiving committee vice chairman, as saying the Twin Otter would support the skydiving team of the Special Forces. (KUNA) PARIS: Police say a man is holding two people hostage in an office in central Paris. A police operation is underway. There is no indication of terrorist motives. Police said Tuesday they could not confirm whether the man was armed. They declined to provide more details. Videos and images from the scene posted on social media show police officers outside a building in central Paris s Petites Ecuries street. (AP) 8

9 INTERNATIONAL 9 World News Roundup Immigration Violence no longer grounds for asylum US launches campaign to fi nd citizenship cheaters LOS ANGELES, June 12, (Agencies): The US government agency that oversees immigration applications is launching an office that will focus on identifying Americans who are suspected of cheating to get their citizenship and seek to strip them of it. US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director L. Francis Cissna told The Associated Press in an interview that his agency is hiring several dozen lawyers and immigration officers to review cases Sessions of immigrants who were ordered deported and are suspected of using fake identities to later get green cards and citizenship through naturalization. Cissna said the cases would be referred to the Department of Justice, whose attorneys could then seek to remove the immigrants citizenship in civil court proceedings. In some cases, government attorneys could bring criminal charges related to fraud. Until now, the agency has pursued cases as they arose but not through a coordinated effort, Cissna said. He said he hopes the agency s new office in Los Angeles will be running by next year but added that investigating and referring cases for prosecution will likely take longer. We finally have a process in place to get to the bottom of all these bad cases and start denaturalizing people who should not have been naturalized in the first place, Cissna said. What we re looking at, when you boil it all down, is potentially a few thousand cases. He declined to say how much the effort would cost but said it would be covered by the agency s existing budget, which is funded by immigration application fees. The push comes as the Trump administration has been cracking down on illegal immigration and taking steps to reduce legal immigration to the US. Vote Immigrants who become US citizens can vote, serve on juries and obtain security clearance. Denaturalization the process of removing that citizenship is very rare. The US government began looking at potentially fraudulent naturalization cases a decade ago when a border officer detected about 200 people had used different identities to get green cards and citizenship after they were previously issued deportation orders. In September 2016, an internal watchdog reported that 315,000 old fingerprint records for immigrants who had been deported or had criminal convictions had not been uploaded to a Department of Homeland Security database that is used to check immigrants identities. The same report found more than 800 immigrants had been ordered deported under one identity but became US citizens under another. Since then, the government has been uploading these older fingerprint records dating back to the 1990s and investigators have been evaluating cases for denaturalization. Earlier this year, a judge revoked the citizenship of an Indian-born New Jersey man named Baljinder Singh after federal authorities accused him of using an alias to avoid deportation. Authorities said Singh used a different name when he arrived in the United States in He was ordered deported the next year and a month later applied for asylum using the name Baljinder Singh before marrying an American, getting a green card and naturalizing. Authorities said Singh did not mention his earlier deportation order when he applied for citizenship. For many years, most US efforts to strip immigrants of their citizenship focused largely on suspected war criminals who lied on their immigration paperwork, most notably former Nazis. Toward the end of the Obama administration, officials began reviewing cases stemming from the fingerprints probe but prioritized those of naturalized citizens who had obtained security clearances, for example, to work at the Transportation Security Administration, said Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute s office at New York University law school. Meanwhile, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared Monday that victims of domestic and gang violence will no longer qualify for asylum, in an effort to stem a flow of illegal immigrant families from Central America. Asylum In a deciding opinion on a case of an unidentified woman from El Salvador who was raped and beaten by her husband for years, Sessions said that asylum seekers must prove that they suffer persecution arising from their membership in a distinct group. An alien may suffer threats and violence in a foreign country for any number of reasons relating to her social, economic, family, or other personal circumstances. Yet the asylum statute does not provide redress for all misfortune, Sessions said. Such a group cannot be overly broad or diffuse, Sessions said, overruling a previous asylum decision which accepted married women who are victims of violent relationships as a persecuted group. The mere fact that a country may have problems effectively policing certain crimes such as domestic violence or gang violence or that certain populations are more likely to be victims of crime, cannot itself establish an asylum claim. The ruling came as part of a pushback to the arrival of thousands of migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador over the past year fleeing widespread violence in their country. Most of them cross the US-Mexico border and immediately turn themselves in to request asylum. In early May Sessions announced that any illegal border-crossers, including asylum seekers, would first be charged with a crime, and parents and children would be separated. The policy, meant to be a deterrent, has sparked strong criticism and an accusation from the UN Human Rights Office that children s rights are being violated by the policy. In a speech earlier Monday, Sessions made clear the Trump administration s ongoing frustration with the border situation. The asylum system is being abused to the detriment of the rule of law, sound public policy, and public safety and to the detriment of people with just claims, he said. Central American immigrant families take refuge at a Catholic Charities respite center after being released from ICE custody on June 11 in McAllen, Texas. Thousands of undocumented immigrants continue to cross into the US, despite the Trump administration s recent zero tolerance approach to immigration policy. (AFP) Politics LAS VEGAS, June 12, (AP): Polls were open in Nevada s primary election, where the most closely watched race is not GOP Sen. Dean Heller s re-election battle thanks to President Donald Trump but instead is a contentious Democratic race for governor. Heller, the only GOP senator seeking reelection in a state won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, originally expected to face a tough challenge from Republican Danny Tarkanian until the president asked him to run for Congress instead. Heller was expecting to breeze through his primary Tuesday and focus on readying for a November battle with Rep Jacky Rosen, who was expected to easily win her party s backing Tuesday against five others. The toughest choice for Democrats is a Contentious Democratic race for gov closely watched Nevada voters weigh familiar names in primary America Give Ramadan meals : A federal judge has ordered the Washington Department of Corrections to provide nighttime meals to all Muslim inmates who have been fasting during the month of Ramadan, after several said prison officials refused to do so. The Council on American-Islamic Relations sued the department Sunday on behalf of four prisoners at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe, saying the men had lost an average of more than 20 pounds ( about 9 kilograms) since Ramadan began in mid-may. US District Judge Ronald Leighton in Tacoma issued his order just hours after the lawsuit was filed, echoing a similar ruling from a federal judge in Alaska last month. (AP) Russians sanctioned: The US Treasury imposed sanctions on three Russian individuals and five companies on Monday, saying they had worked with Moscow s military and intelligence services on ways to conduct cyberattacks against the United States and its allies. The United States is engaged in an ongoing effort to counter malicious actors working at the behest of the Russian Federation and its military and intelligence units to increase Russia s offensive cyber capabilities, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. (RTRS) Heart attack hits Kudlow: Larry Kudlow, the prominent economic commentator who joined the Trump administration this year as the president s top economic adviser, has suffered a very mild heart attack, the White House said Monday night. Kudlow was being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, White House press Kudlow secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters in Singapore. She said Kudlow was in good condition and doing well. (AP) close battle between Clark County Commission colleagues Steve Sisolak and Christina Giunchigliani each hoping to be Nevada s first Democratic governor in two decades. Both candidates have pledged to stand up to Trump and the National Rifle Association. Sisolak is chair of the powerful governing body for Clark County, which includes the Las Vegas Strip and about two-thirds of the state s residents. The 64-year-old became a prominent figure in the wake of an October mass shooting outside a hotel-casino on the Strip and he s been outraising his opponents in the primary. But Giunchigliani paints Sisolak as being too moderate and has knocked him for receiving an A- minus rating from the NRA in Giunchigliani, who goes by Chris G, is a 63-year-old former state legislator and teacher. She s earned backing from women s group Emily s List and on Sunday, picked up an endorsement from Hillary Clinton. The 2016 Democratic candidate for president recorded a robocall for Giunchigliani and referred to her as an extraordinary progressive leader Sisolak, who has held more moderate positions in the past, says he s best-positioned to take on Republican state Attorney General Adam Laxalt in November. Laxalt is expected to win the GOP primary for the governor s race. Laxalt, hoping to replace term-limited Republican Gov Brian Sandoval, is a former lieutenant in the US Navy who has served as the state s chief prosecutor since He s the grandson of former US Sen. and Nevada Gov. Paul Laxalt and son of former US Sen Pete Domenici of New Mexico.

10 INTERNATIONAL 10 World News Roundup Britain Compromises offered May avoids blow to Brexit strategy LONDON, June 12, (Agencies): British Prime Minister Theresa May narrowly avoided a major blow to her Brexit strategy Tuesday after MPs rejected a plan that would have given parliament a veto on the final deal negotiated with Brussels. The House of Commons voted 324 to 298 to defeat an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill which would have removed her government s power to unilaterally walk away from talks with Brussels. But in extraordinary scenes, ministers were forced to offer last-minute compromises to pro- European MPs before holding private talks in corners of the chamber as the debate raged on. May had feared a rebellion by her Conservative MPs over the motion, one of 15 submitted by the unelected upper House of Lords on which lawmakers will vote over the coming two days. The bill will then go back to the Lords on Monday. May The pro-european cause was boosted when junior justice minister Phillip Lee, a close personal friend of the prime minister, resigned shortly before the debate in order to back the veto amendment. May had earlier warned that defeat would weaken her hand in exit talks, while a string of eurosceptic MPs stood up to accuse the rebels of trying to thwart Brexit. Anything that undermines the government at home will make negotiations with the EU more difficult, May told a meeting of her cabinet. Issue Talks with Brussels have stalled over the fraught issue of the Irish border, but both sides are hoping to agree a final deal by October in time for the break on March 29, The EU (Withdrawal) Bill would formally end Britain s membership of the bloc and transfer more than 40 years of European law onto the British statute books. May is seeking to overturn 14 of 15 amendments passed by the Lords earlier this year, but has a fight on her hands due to her fragile majority in the 650-seat Commons. She has already agreed to give MPs a vote on the final Brexit deal, but says it will be a yes or no decision meaning that rejecting it could see Britain crash out of the EU. The Lords amendment would have given parliament the power to decide what happened next, with the possibility of going back to the negotiating table or even staying in the bloc. Following its defeat, the government s own amendment on the so-called meaningful vote will go forward to the House of Lords for debate next week but with some changes. Solicitor General Robert Buckland promised to work on the proposal taking into account concerns raised by former attorney general Dominic Grieve, a leading pro-european rebel. Grieve told MPs: If we don t achieve a deal at all, the fact is we are going to be facing an immense crisis. The question is how do we take some sensible steps to anticipate that happening and try to make sure that there is a coherent process for dealing with it. Passions ran high in Tuesday s three-hour debate, when angry eurosceptics accused their rivals of trying to undermine the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU. The decision was taken by the people, we gave them that decision and we have to stand by it, said Conservative MP Bill. His pro-european colleague Anna Soubry hit back that hardline eurosceptics were seeking to take us over the cliff of hard Brexit. She has previously spoken of the threats she faced for challenging the government, and revealed that one colleague would not be voting as they wished this week for fear of reprisals. Opposition Labour lawmaker Chuka Umunna had earlier accused Britain s tabloids of intimidation, holding up Tuesday s edition of the eurosceptic Daily Express. It featured a British flag and the headline: Ignore the will of the people at your peril. Also on Tuesday, the government successfully overturned an attempt to remove the date of Brexit from the face of the bill. Debate Further clashes were expected on Wednesday during debate on amendments relating to how closely Britain stays aligned with the EU s economy after leaving. Meanwhile, a millionaire backer of the successful campaign to pull Britain out of the European Union on Tuesday lashed out at lawmakers investigating fake news surrounding the Brexit referendum, arguing he was being discredited because of his political views. Arron Banks heatedly suggested he was being targeted in a witch hunt by those in politics and the media who favored remaining in the 28-nation bloc. In nearly three hours of testimony, the insurance executive also rejected the notion that he had dealings with the Kremlin though he did acknowledge socializing with the Russian ambassador over a boozy lunch. I d like to think I m an evil genius with a white cat that kind of controls the whole of western democracy, he said. But clearly that s nonsense. He insisted that no money from his overseas business interests formed part of his political donations and that he was crystal clear on the rules. You have a vested interest in trying to discredit the Brexit campaign, he said. Banks had at first rejected the committee s invitation to appear, but changed his mind after the Sunday Times newspaper reported that he had more contacts with Russian officials than were previously acknowledged. The Times reported that Banks had held three meetings with Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko. One of the meetings was a November 2016 lunch three days after Banks visited Donald Trump, then president-elect, along with Farage and another prominent Brexit campaigner, Andy Wigmore. A plane of the Star Alliance is damaged after a push-car caught fire at the airport in Frankfurt, on June 11. (AP) Macron Europe Maas Macron on verge of win: In launching his plan to overhaul France s heavily-indebted state rail operator SNCF earlier this year, President Emmanuel Macron knew he was taking aim at a bastion of labour unions which have long defied a range of government reform efforts. Yet on Tuesday, the 40-yearold centrist was just days from enshrining into law changes which analysts have compared with Margaret Thatcher s taking on British mining unions in the 1980s. The final text of the SNCF reform, which the government says is needed to cut costs and improve flexibility ahead of the opening of the EU passenger rail market to competition, was approved by lawmakers on Monday. The National Assembly, where Macron s Republic on the Move (LREM) party has a solid majority, will vote Wednesday, followed by a final vote in the Senate on Thursday. (AFP) Peace discussed: The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany met in Berlin on Monday for talks on bringing an end to the fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russianbacked separatists in eastern Ukraine. The focus of the meeting was implementing an unfulfilled peace accord reached in the Belarus capital of Minsk in 2015 and the possibility of bringing United Nations peacekeepers to the region where an armed conflict has killed more than 10,000 people since German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the talks had been wide ranging and characterized them as open and constructive. He expressed hope they would lead to fewer violations of the cease-fire than there had been in recent months. The talks in Germany s capital were the first of the so-called Normandy group in more than a year. They brought Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov together at a German Foreign Ministry villa along with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Maas. (AP) The Club Med II cruise ship leaves Nice, southern France, on June 11. (AFP) Migrants Merkel on tightrope over disputed policy Stranded migrants to be taken to Spain ROME, June 12, (AFP): Hundreds of migrants stranded for days on an aid ship in the Mediterranean will be taken to Spain with the help of two Italian boats, their rescuers said Tuesday, as weather conditions deteriorate in the region. A total 629 migrants -- including pregnant women and scores of children -- are currently crammed on to the Aquarius ship after being rescued off the Libyan coast on Saturday and Sunday. With food and drink running short, their plight could last another three or four more days before they are finally able to land in Spain, said the French charity SOS Mediterranee which operates the ship. The migrants have been at the heart of a standoff between Malta and Italy after both countries refused to allow the Aquarius to dock. Spain s new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stepped in, offering the boat safe harbour in the eastern port city of Valencia. He said there was a moral obligation to help to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. But the deteriorating weather and the extremely cramped conditions on board the Aquarius -- which was built to transport a maximum of could make that journey to Valencia perilous. Weather conditions over the next few days are going to worsen, meaning that we can t make the journey with everyone here aboard, Alessandro Porro, an Italian volunteer on board, told Italian broadcaster RAI 3. Two Italian boats have been instructed to help the Aquarius take the migrants to Spain, according to aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres. Its doctors are helping treat the migrants, who include seven pregnant women, 11 young children and 123 unaccompanied minors. Refugees The Aquarius had been instructed by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Rome to transfer 400 of the 629 refugees and migrants currently on board back to Italian Navy ships which will then head to Valencia to disembark, MSF Sea tweeted. The Aquarius itself would then sail to Valencia to disembark the remaining 229 people, it added. According to SOS Mediterranee, the journey from Maltese waters to Valencia would take at least three days. The people are frightened, they re very fragile, vulnerable and traumatised by their journey at sea, which would last another 48 hours, tweeted MSF coordinator Aloys Vimard, who is on board the boat. Both Italy and Malta had come under increasing international pressure to allow the migrant rescue ship to dock, and they continued to argue over who was responsible. Italy s far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini tweeted: Saving lives is a duty, turning Italy into a huge refugee camp is not. Italy is done bending over backwards and obeying, this time THERE IS SOMEONE WHO SAYS NO. He said at a news conference on Monday: We want to put an end to this human trafficking. So as we raised the issue for the Aquarius we will do so for all other ships. Urdangarin loses appeal: The Spanish king s brother-in-law was sentenced on appeal to five years and 10 months jail on Tuesday for embezzling millions of euros in a case that shamed the royals, the Supreme Court said. Former Olympic handball player Inaki Urdangarin, 50, is married to King Felipe VI s sister, Princess Cristina, but was sidelined from the royal family after the fraud scandal erupted in The scandal contributed to the decision of Felipe s father Juan This Russian Emergency Situations Ministry photo, made available on June 12, shows an overturned boat after a collision on the Volga River in Volgograd, southern Russia. Emergency officials say 11 people have been killed when two boats, a barge being pulled by a towboat and a paddleboat carrying 16 people on a sightseeing tour, collided near a Russian city that is hosting the World Cup. (AP) Despite his comments, SOS Mediterranee insisted Tuesday that it would continue its rescue activities off the coast of Libya once the Aquarius had returned from Spain. But Salvini said his hardline stance was aimed at only foreign NGOs for the moment and an Italian coastguard ship was expected to dock in Sicily in the coming hours carrying some 937 migrants, also rescued off Libya. Since Sanchez announced that Spain would accept the boat, several Spanish regions have offered to take in the new arrivals. Catalonia s leader Quim Torra said that his region was capable of hosting a total of 1,800 refugees. The regional leader of Spain s Basque Country, Inigo Urkullu, said the region was prepared to take care of 10 percent of the passengers. The mayor of Madrid Manuela Carmena said the capital could take in 20 families up to a maximum of 100 people. Ximo Puig, president of the Valencia region, where the boat is due to dock, called Salvini s stance despicable. Weapon In the Italian case, turning this into a political weapon is despicable... it is clear that Europe must act more wisely, but we cannot let these people die at sea, he said. The International Organisation for Migration s Director General William Lacy Swing said he was glad Spain has stepped forward to tackle the crisis, but I fear a major tragedy if states start refusing to accept rescued migrants as was threatened. Under EU rules, migrants must apply for asylum in the European country where they first arrive. That has put pressure on Italy and Greece, the entry points for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia since EU leaders in December had set an end-of-june deadline for an overhaul of rules to create a permanent mechanism to deal with migrants in the event of a new emergency. Meanwhile, Paris on Tuesday defended its decision not to offer safe harbour to the stranded migrant ship Aquarius after local leaders on Corsica proposed opening one of their ports to the vessel. Corsican leaders Gilles Simeoni and Jean-Guy Talamoni, the top politicians on the French Mediterranean island, tweeted their offer on Tuesday morning as uncertainty grew over the fate of the 629 people on board the ship. But the central government in Paris criticised the gesture by the Corsican nationalists. (Simeoni) is taking a position without having any responsibility which is easy, junior Europe and foreign affairs minister Jean- Baptiste Lemoyne told Sud Radio. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was fighting Tuesday to stamp out the first major row within her uneasy coalition, as disputes over her refugee policy returned to haunt her while she negotiates a broad EU asylum deal. The discord within her conservative bloc burst into the open when Interior Minister Horst Seehofer of Merkel s Bavarian allies CSU hastily cancelled plans to present his masterplan on immigration. Carlos I to abdicate in Urdangarin was found guilty last year of taking millions of euros (dollars) between 2004 and 2006 from a non-profit foundation he headed in the island of Majorca. He will now go to jail unless he 11 dead as boats collide in Russia MOSCOW, June 12, (AP): Two boats collided near a Russian city that is hosting the World Cup, killing 11 people, authorities said Tuesday. A state media report said the captain of one of the vessels was drunk. The accident occurred late Monday on the Volga River several hundred meters (yards) off the shoreline of the city of Volgograd in southern Russia. According to a statement from regional emergency officials, a barge being pulled by a towboat collided with a paddleboat carrying 16 people on a sightseeing tour. makes a successful final appeal to the Constitutional Court -- a possibility regarded as unlikely. He lost his overall appeal on Tuesday, though the court overturned some of the lesser charges. That left him with a slightly shorter sentence than six years and three months he received last year. The corruption scandal sparked outrage during Spain s financial crisis when Urdangarin came to be seen as a symbol of the elite s perceived corruption. (AFP) Name row deal expected: Greece and Macedonia were expecting Tuesday a phone conversation between the two nations prime ministers that could unblock the 27-year name row between the two countries. Macedonia s Zoran Zaev was expected to call his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras to set a meeting for a preliminary agreement. On Monday, Tsipras office said he had spoken to Zaev and that their talks would be concluded in another call on Tuesday. At stake is a compromise name that will be acceptable to both countries to end a row dating to Macedonia s independence in (AFP)

11 INTERNATIONAL 11 Diplomacy Security for N. Korea: US Trump & Kim agree on denuclearisation SINGAPORE, June 12, (Agencies): US President Donald Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged at a historic summit on Tuesday to move toward complete denuclearisation, while the United States promised its old foe security guarantees. The start of negotiations aimed at banishing what Trump described as North Korea s very substantial nuclear arsenal could have far-reaching ramifications for the region, and in one of the biggest surprises of the day, Trump said he would stop military exercises with old ally South Korea. But Trump and Kim gave few other specifics in a joint statement signed at the end of their summit in Singapore, and several analysts cast doubt on how effective the agreement would prove to be in the long run at getting North Korea to give up its cherished nuclear weapons. President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, the statement said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People s Republic of Korea. The two leaders had appeared cautious and serious when they arrived for Trump the summit at the Capella hotel on Singapore s Sentosa, a resort island with luxury hotels, a casino and a Universal Studios theme park. Body language expert said they both tried to project command as they met, but also displayed signs of nerves. After a handshake, they were soon smiling and holding each other by the arm, before Trump guided Kim to a library where they met with only their interpreters. Trump had said on Saturday he would know within a minute of meeting Kim whether he would reach a deal. Trump later told a news conference he expected the denuclearisation process to start very, very quickly and it would be verified by having a lot of people in North Korea. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean officials would hold follow-up negotiations at the earliest possible date, the statement said. Destroying Despite Kim announcing that North Korea was destroying a major missile engine-testing site, Trump said sanctions on North Korea would stay in place for now. John Hopkins University s North Korea monitoring project 38 North said last week North Korea had razed a facility for testing canister-based ballistic missiles. Trump said the regular military exercises the United States holds with South Korea were expensive and provocative. His halting of the drills could rattle South Korea and Japan, which rely on a US security umbrella. Trump said the exercises would not be revived unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should. Earlier, Kim said he and Trump had decided to leave the past behind. The world will see a major change. However, several experts said the summit failed to secure any concrete commitments by Pyongyang for dismantling its nuclear arsenal. They also noted the statement did not refer to human rights in one of the world s most repressive nations. North Korea has long rejected unilateral nuclear disarmament, instead referring to the denuclearisation of the peninsula. That has always been interpreted as a call for the United States to remove its nuclear umbrella protecting South Korea and Japan. The document made no mention of the sanctions on North Korea and nor was there any reference to a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War, which killed millions of people and ended in a truce. But the joint statement did say the two sides had agreed to recover the remains of prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action, so they could be repatriated. Trump said China, North Korea s main ally, would welcome the progress he and Kim had made. Making a deal is great thing for the world. It s also a great thing for China, he said. Ambitions China, which has opposed North Korea s nuclear ambitions, said it hoped North Korea and the United States could reach a basic consensus on denuclearisation. At the same time, there needs to be a peace mechanism for the peninsula to resolve North Korea s reasonable security concerns, China s top diplomat, state councillor Wang Yi, told reporters in Beijing. Russia s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Kremlin had a positive assessment of the summit but the devil is in the details, the TASS news agency reported. If the summit does lead to a lasting detente, it could fundamentally change the security landscape of Northeast Asia, just as former US President Richard Nixon s visit to China in 1972 led to the transformation of China. The dollar retreated after jumping to a 3-week high but global shares crept higher on news of the agreement. Trump said he had formed a very special bond with Kim and relations with North Korea would be very different in future. He called Kim very smart and a very worthy, very hard negotiator. Trump also announced that he will be freezing US military war games with its ally South Korea while negotiations between the two countries continue. Trump cast the decision as a cost-saving measure, but North Korea has long objected to the drills as a security threat. Trump said Kim accepted his invitation to visit the White House at the appropriate time. Meanwhile, Japan s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday welcomed a document signed by North Korea s leader at an unprecedented summit with US President Donald Trump as a first step towards denuclearisation. US President Donald Trump (second right), and North Korea s leader Kim Jong Un (second left), sign documents as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (right), and the North Korean leader s sister Kim Yo Jong (left), look on at a signing ceremony during their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12. (AFP) From left: Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) James Moriarty, US Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Culture Affairs Marie Royce, Taiwan s President Tsai Ingwen, Overseas Buildings Office Principal Deputy Director Ambassador William Moser and AIT Director Kin Moy pose to press during the dedication ceremony of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) new office complex, the de facto embassy, in Taipei, Taiwan on June 12. (AP) Asia Zero tolerance on harassment-abe: Japan s prime minister on Tuesday pledged zero tolerance on sexual harassment, ordering senior officials to undergo training to prevent abuse after a scandal involving a top government bureaucrat. Sexual harassment is a clear violation of human rights. It must never be tolerated, Shinzo Abe told a panel of ministers. We ask each one of the ministers to implement this emergency measure in a swift manner, he said, referring to a new policy that will require senior bureaucrats to undergo anti-sexual harassment training. (AFP) Japan free death row inmate: A Japanese court has overturned a lower court ruling that freed a man described as the world s longest-serving death row inmate, raising the prospect that the 82-year-old could eventually be imprisoned again. The Tokyo High Court on Monday reversed the ruling dating from 2014 that granted Iwao Hakamada a fresh trial and saw him released from prison. He was detained for 48 years, most of them in solitary confinement, and spent 45 of those years on death row following his conviction in the 1966 murder of his boss Diplomacy Ceremony draws angry response from Beijing US unveils new de-facto embassy in Taiwan TAIPEI, Taiwan, June 12, (Agencies): The US dedicated a new de-facto embassy in Taiwan on Tuesday in what officials described as an indicator of robust ties with the self-governing island democracy that China claims as its own territory. The ceremony, which drew an angry response from Beijing, is the latest sign of how the administration of President Donald Trump has strengthened relations with Taipei amid a litany of disputes with China and rising tensions in the highly militarized Taiwan Strait. The recently completed American Institute in Taiwan office in a suburb of the capital Taipei will house US representatives and serves American interests in the absence of formal diplomatic ties. AIT Director Kin W. Moy the US ambassador in all but name Taiwan s President Tsai Ing-wen and a senior State Department official from Washington, attended Tuesday s ceremony, which Beijing slammed as harmful to US-China ties. We should all be proud of this milestone, which is a symbol of the close cooperation and enduring friendship between the United States and Taiwan, Moy said at the dedication ceremony. Joining Moy was US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce, who called the new office a symbol of the strength and vibrancy of the US-Taiwan partnership in the 21st century. The US switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979 but maintains close and the man s wife and two children. It s regrettable... we ll move to the next step, Hakamada s sister Hideko told supporters on Monday. Hakamada s defence team told local media they would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. (AFP) economic, political and security ties with Taiwan. Beijing has claimed the island as a breakaway Chinese province and has vowed to take it by force, if necessary. Also attending the ceremony was Taiwan s President Tsai Ing-wen, whose independence-leaning administration Beijing has sought to isolate diplomatically and threatens with invasion. Tsai wrote in a tweet that the dedication of the office compound was an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to our shared commitment that as free & open democracies, Taiwan & US have an obligation to work w/one another to defend our shared values. Friendship I look forward 2 an even brighter chapter in our enduring friendship! Tsai wrote. The sides split amid civil war in 1949, and Beijing insists they eventually unify under its rule. Tsai, who leads the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, has refused Beijing s demand that she recognize Taiwan as a part of China, leading to a prolonged freeze in relations that had been gradually warming under her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou of the pro-unification Nationalist Party. China bars Taiwan from membership in the United Nations and many other international organizations and has been luring away the island s remaining diplomatic allies, leaving it with just 18. Beijing has cut all contacts with Tsai s government, reduced the number of China warns citizens in Vietnam: China has warned its citizens in Vietnam after protesters clashed with police over a government plan to create new economic zones for foreign investment that has fuelled anti-chinese sentiment in the country. More than 100 protesters were arrested and dozens of police injured at a protest in Chinese tourists visiting the island and upped its military threat with war games and air patrols around the island and by sailing its aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan s military held an exercise last week that simulated a Chinese airborne assault on a major air base. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Tuesday that US officials who attended activities in Taiwan under whatever excuse were violating diplomatic accords and meddling in China s internal affairs. We urge the US to honor its words on the Taiwan issue, and redress its wrongdoing so as to avoid doing harm to China-US ties and peace and stability in cross-strait relations, Geng said. Taiwan s relations with the United States have grown closer amid Washington s own struggles with Beijing. Trump upended decades of diplomatic protocol by accepting a congratulatory phone call from Tsai shortly after his 2016 election. In March, he signed the Taiwan Travel Act that encourages high-level visits between the two sides. A month later, the Department of Defense agreed to give American contractors marketing licenses for diesel-electric submarine technology sought by Taiwan s armed forces. And last month, the White House accused China of Orwellian nonsense for demanding that international airlines refer to Taiwan as a part of China on their websites. central Vietnam on Sunday, one of several demonstrations nationwide against the special economic zones opponents fear will be dominated by Chinese investors. The Chinese embassy in Hanoi posted a notice on its website referring to the protests as illegal gatherings that had included some anti-china content. (RTRS)

12 INTERNATIONAL 12 World News Roundup Subcontinent Workers of the National Historical Commission of the Phillippines (NHCP) assist in fixing the national flag during the 120th Independence Day celebration at Rizal Park in Manila on June 12. (AFP) Focus Bid to counter China France ups presence in Indo-Pacific region PARIS, June 12, (AFP): France is increasing its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region, sending warships through the South China Sea and planning air exercises to help counter China s military build-up in disputed waters. In late May, the French assault ship Dixmude and a frigate sailed through the disputed Spratly Islands and around a group of reefs that China has turned into islets to push back against Beijing s claim to own most of the resource-rich South China Sea. Our patrol involved passing close to these islets to obtain intelligence with all the sensors it is possible to use in international waters, the Dixmude s commanding officer, Jean Porcher, told reporters in a video interview. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, a researcher from the Hudson Institute think-tank who was onboard, said that several Chinese frigates and corvettes tailed the French vessels. Porcher said the ship maintained cordial radio contact with Chinese military vessels, which were present in the area until we left. So far the United States has taken the lead in confronting China over its territorial claims in the South China Sea, which are contested by several neighbours, particularly Vietnam. But France, which along with Britain is the only European nation to regularly send its navy into the region, has also waded into the dispute, sending Macron Philippines women s march tells Duterte enough More than 1,000 women marched in Manila on Tuesday to tell President Rodrigo Duterte they have had enough of what they termed his repeated misogynistic words and deeds. The columns of protesters, carrying umbrellas against steady rain and some wearing the colours of the Philippine flag, chanted Duterte is afraid of women as they wound through city streets. During two years in office, Duterte has repeatedly and unapologetically joked about rape, defended womanising its ships into the South China Sea three to five times a year. In August, the airforce will stage its biggest-ever exercises in southeast Asia as part of a strategy to mark France s presence in a region that is home to 1.5 million French citizens in the country s overseas territories. Three Rafale fighter jets, one A400M troop transporter and a C135 refuelling tanker will fly from Australia to India, with several stop-offs along the way. Operations The sea and air operations follow a visit by President Emmanuel Macron last month to Australia, where he spoke of the need to protect the Indo-Pacific region from hegemony a veiled reference to Beijing s growing might. He stressed that France, which will be the last country in the EU after Britain leaves the bloc to have territories in the Pacific, did not want to antagonise China. But a strong Indo-Pacific axis was needed to ensure respect for freedom of navigation and aviation in the region, he told Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Macron appears to be realistically assessing the growing Chinese challenge, said Jonas Parello-Plesner, a researcher from the US-based Hudson Institute who was an observer on the recent French navy voyage. This is a welcome change from his predecessors, who were enthralled by the business and investment opportunities in China, he wrote in The Wall Street Journal. But France had already began to push back against China s expansionism before Macron took power. Since 2014, the navy has sailed regularly through the South China Sea as part of its stated bid to uphold a rules-based maritime order. In 2016, then French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (now the foreign minister) called on other European navies to develop a regular and visible presence in the South China Sea. Besides protecting navigation, France has cited the need to defend the interests of its citizens scattered across five French territories in the Pacific, including New Caledonia and French Polynesia. and ordered soldiers to shoot women rebels in the... Last week he sparked outrage after coaxing a married Filipina into kissing him on the lips onstage during an appearance in Seoul, which he defended by saying We enjoyed it. We are saying we have had enough, activist Jean Enriquez told AFP as she marched. All the acts of the Duterte administration and he himself contributed to us, the women, coming out. Enriquez is part of a collective of women who launched last month a #Metoo-style social media campaign that takes aim at Duterte s attitude Members of Vietnam parliament attend a session voting to approve a cyber security law in Hanoi on June 12. Vietnamese lawmakers approved a sweeping cyber security law which could compel Facebook and Google to take down critical posts within 24 hours, as space for debate is crushed inside the Communist country. (AFP) Mahathir Asia Najib Priest fatally shot at altar: Two gunmen killed a Roman Catholic priest as he prepared to celebrate Mass at the altar of a chapel in the northern Philippines, in the latest deadly attack on a priest in Asia s largest predominantly Catholic nation, police said Monday. The two men shot the Rev Richmond Nilo with pistols Sunday night in the chapel in Zaragoza town in Nueva Ecija province. The gunmen, who fired through a chapel window, fled on a motorcycle and were being hunted by police. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said Nilo was the third Catholic priest to be killed in the country in recent months, and condemned the outrageously evil act. The killing left a pool of blood below the statue of the Virgin Mary. We are deeply saddened and terribly disturbed that another priest is brutally killed, Archbishop Romulo Valles, who heads the Catholic bishops group. We make our appeal once again to the police authorities to act swiftly in the investigation and to go after the perpetrators of this heinous crime and bring them to justice. (AP) Malaysia king takes pay cut: Malaysia s king has thrown his weight behind the new government s bid to slash massive debts inherited from the corruption-plagued old regime by taking a 10 percent pay cut, royal officials said. Sultan Muhammad V offered to reduce his salary after being touched by members of the public contributing out of their own pockets to a government fund to cut the debt, they said. An alliance headed by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad won a surprise election victory last month, ousting the scandal-mired coalition that had ruled the country for six decades. The new government says the country has debts of over one trillion ringgit ($250 billion) after years of misrule by an administration headed by ex-leader Najib Razak, who is accused of having stolen vast sums of public money while in office. Najib denies any wrongdoing. (AFP) Possible action on 1MDB case: Malaysia s attorney general on Tuesday said his office was studying possible criminal towards women. Their #BabaeAko (I am a woman) hashtag caught on quickly in the social media-obsessed nation, and the thousands of posts since were the catalyst for Tuesday s independence day rally. Organisers and an AFP journalist estimated that about 1,500 people, including men, took part in the march. A former mayor who cultivates a man-of-the-people image, the 73-year-old Duterte has regularly fought with women in powerful posts who dared to oppose him. (AFP) Vietnam Blow to freedom of expression: Amnesty Vietnam OKs cyber law HANOI, June 12, (Agencies): Vietnamese lawmakers on Tuesday approved a sweeping cyber security law which could compel Facebook and Google to take down critical posts within 24 hours, as space for debate is crushed inside the Communist country. Activists and dissenters are routinely harassed, jailed or tied up in legal cases in Vietnam, a one-party state which is hyper-sensitive to critical public opinion. Social media and Internet forums have provided a rare platform to share and debate views against authorities. But the bill, waved through by an overwhelming majority of MPs in the National Assembly, is poised to end that relative freedom. The law s far-reaching provisions mean internet companies will have to remove posts deemed to be a national security threat within a day and store personal information and data of their users inside Vietnam. Currently, Google and Facebook store personal data of Vietnamese users in Hong Kong and Singapore, Vo Trong Viet, chairman of National Assembly s defence and security committee told lawmakers. Putting data centres in Vietnam will increase expenses for the service providers... but it is necessary to meet the requirements of the country s cyber security. The new law outlaws material encouraging public gatherings or that offends everything from the national flag to the country s leaders and heroes. There was no immediate detail of the punishment for violating the new and civil action in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case, after receiving investigation papers on the state fund from the anti-graft agency. Malaysia reopened a probe into 1MDB following a stunning election victory last month by 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, who has vowed to bring back funds allegedly siphoned from 1MDB and punish those responsible. A Thai man checks out a cap at a shop ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations in the last week of the Holy Month of Ramadan in the southern province of Narathiwat on June 11. (AFP) rules. Only 15 out of the 466 MPs present in the rubber-stamp assembly voted against the bill, which the government says will become law from Jan 1, Rights advocates said it further shrinks the small space for debate. The Asia Internet Coalition, an advocacy group for behalf of Facebook, Google, Twitter and other tech firms in the region, said it was disappointed by the assembly s vote. Unfortunately, these provisions, will result in severe limitations on Vietnam s digital economy, dampening the foreign investment climate and hurting opportunities for local businesses and SMEs to flourish inside and beyond Vietnam, said Jeff Paine, managing director of the internet coalition. The country s conservative leadership, which has been in charge since 2016, is waging a crackdown on activists and dissidents. At least 26 dissidents and actives have been prosecuted during the first five months this year, according to Human Rights Watch. The government has also unveiled a 10,000-strong brigade to fight cybercrimes and wrongful views on the internet, according to state media reports. The unit, dubbed Force 47, is also tasked with fighting anti-state propaganda on the web. Human rights group Amnesty International said the law was a devastating blow for freedom of expression, allowing the state to force tech companies to hand over potentially vast amounts of data, including personal information, and censor users posts. Former prime minister Najib Razak, who founded 1MDB, is the subject of a money laundering probe. Najib has consistently denied wrongdoing. On Monday he said he did not benefit or steal money from 1MDB. Najib has given statements to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) about a transfer of $10.6 million into his bank account from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB. (RTRS) Malaysia to reopen NK embassy: Malaysia will reopen its embassy in Pyongyang, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said, suggesting an end to the diplomatic row over the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un s half-brother in Kuala Lumpur last year. Yes, we will reopen the embassy, Mahathir said in an interview with the Nikkei Asian Review published on Monday during his trip to Japan. Malaysia s once-close ties with North Korea were severely downgraded after Kim Jong Nam was killed at a Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017 when two women smeared his face with VX nerve agent, which the United Nations lists as a weapon of mass destruction. During their trial which is ongoing, the women said they were tricked into believing they were part of a reality show and did not know they were handling poison. (RTRS) Gandhi to fight group in court: India s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi pleaded not guilty Tuesday to defaming a powerful Hindu supremacist group closely linked to the ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gandhi will fight charges in court that he defamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organisation when he accused the Hindu movement of assassinating Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi. A member of the RSS a Hindu umbrella group which is the ideological inspiration for Modi s rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party sued Gandhi for the remarks made in Gandhi is unrelated to freedom legend Mahatma Gandhi but both hail from Congress, India s oldest political party. Gandhi, who will square off against Modi in a general election within a year, vowed to battle not only the charges but Gandhi the Hindu nationalist movement behind the defamation case. My battle is ideological, and I will fight and win, Gandhi told reporters outside the courtroom in Maharashtra state, the heartland of the RSS. If found guilty Gandhi could face up to two years in prison, but a verdict is not likely in India s creaking court system for many years. Gandhi had tried to have the case thrown out in the Supreme Court in 2016 before agreeing to stand and defend himself against allegations he smeared the RSS. A former member of the organisation, Nathuram Godse, shot dead Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 just months after India gained independence from British rule. The Hindu radical was tried in a court and hanged in But the RSS which was briefly banned after Gandhi s assassination has always distanced itself from the killing. (AFP) Landslides kill 12 Rohingyas: Landslides triggered by monsoon rains killed at least 12 people Tuesday in Bangladesh near camps housing one million Rohingya refugees, officials said. Aid agencies have been warning of the potential for a humanitarian catastrophe over the coming months as heavy rains lash an area home to the world s largest refugee camp. Most of Tuesday s victims were buried under mud when surrounding hills gave way after a deluge. Eleven people died in Naniarchar including a family of four, while several people remained missing, district administrator Mamunur Rashid told AFP. Another person was killed in neighbouring Cox s Bazar district, police said. Landslides have so far killed at least 13 people this week, after a Rohingya boy was crushed to death by a collapsing mud wall at the Kutupalong refugee camp on Monday. Some 200,000 Rohingya who live on hills around the refugee camps are at risk of death or injury from monsoon rains, officials and relief agencies have said. Many of the hills around the settlements have been cleared of trees to build shelters, making the land highly unstable. Nearly 29,000 people have been moved to new locations ahead of the monsoon but the risk of a tragedy remains high. Relocation is continuing but the problem is where (to) find land to move people, UN refugee agency spokesperson Caroline Gluck told AFP. At least 300 shelters were damaged by rains that began late Saturday, Bangladesh officials said. (AFP) Death for child killer upheld: Pakistan s Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence for a man who killed eight children, including a 7-year-old girl whose rape and murder drew nationwide condemnation earlier this year. Tuesday s court order came months after Mohammad Imran challenged his death sentence following sentencing in February, claiming his trial was not fair. He still has the right to seek clemency from President Mamnoon Hussain. Imran was arrested in January after he raped and killed 7-year-old Zainab Ansari and threw her body into a garbage dump in the city of Kasur in eastern Punjab province. His arrest at the time brought to light seven more killings, prompting Pakistanis to demand he be publicly executed. (AP) Taleban kill Afghan officials: Taleban fighters killed a district governor in northern Afghanistan and kept up the pressure to seize control over some parts of Faryab province, ignoring the temporary ceasefire announced by the government that came into effect on Tuesday. Last week Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had announced for the first time an unconditional ceasefire with the Taleban, coinciding with the end of the Muslim fasting month. In response, the Afghan Taleban announced a surprise three-day ceasefire over the Muslim Eid holiday in the middle of June. The government s eight-day ceasefire started on Tuesday and the Taleban s threeday ceasefire will start on Friday. The Taleban has not stopped their attacks. Insurgents killed Abdurrahman Panah, the district governor of Kohistanat district in Faryab province. At least eight Afghan security officials have been killed in the ongoing clashes, two officials said. Javed Bedar, spokesman for Faryab province confirmed the death of a district governor and that the district centre had fallen to Taleban. We know that the ceasefire has been announced but we have the right to defend ourselves, said Bedar, adding that they were seeking immediate reinforcements. In Ghazni, a southern province, insurgents placed a Humvee vehicle car bomb near the house of a district governor on Tuesday. (RTRS)

13 INTERNATIONAL 13 Africa Approve China arms deliveries: CAR Block S. Sudan war money: US KAMPALA, Uganda, June 12, (Agencies): A US Treasury official is urging East African governments to tighten the loopholes that allow illicit money from war-torn South Sudan to cross into regional capitals. Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker said in Uganda Monday that authorities in neighboring countries like Uganda must make it clear that corrupt money is not wanted here. It is widely believed that many South Sudanese government officials have invested heavily in real estate in cities such Mandelker as Kampala, the Ugandan capital, where it is still possible to pay cash in real estate transactions. When it comes to South Sudan, for obvious reasons Uganda is of particular importance to us, she told reporters at the US Embassy. We also know that much of the open source reporting indicates that South Sudanese elites are hiding assets and buying property right here in Uganda. Decision on Bemba looms: Former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba will know on Wednesday by the latest whether he will be freed following his acquittal last week on warcrimes charges, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Tuesday. A decision on Mr Bemba s detention will come tomorrow by the latest, presiding judge Bertram Schmitt told the Hague-based court, where his lawyers were arguing for his urgent release. OK China arms deliveries : The Central African Republic has asked the UN Security Council to approve deliveries of Chinesemade armored vehicles, machine guns, tear gas grenades and other weaponry for its struggling army and police, according to the request obtained by AFP on Monday. Defence Minister Marie Noelle Koyara requested an exemption to an arms embargo, arguing that national forces are confronted with the strength and escalating violence of armed groups whose illegal activities pose a threat to civil order. Madagascar s prez names cabinet: Madagascar s president named a new cabinet and promised free elections late on Monday, after a court ordered him to form a consensus government in an effort to end a political crisis. Some 100 Cuban doctors follow proceedings during their induction programme at the Kenya School of Government, on June 11, in Nairobi. The doctors will be posted to various hospitals in Kenya s 47 counties. Each county is expected to get at least two doctors. (AFP) Lat/Am Lebanese man stuck in airport: A Lebanese man has been stuck in immigration purgatory at an airport in Ecuador for 42 days after losing his passport and being returned there from Spain. Nizam Hussein Shalak, 56, who does not speak Spanish, has been residing in the international terminal of the Jose Joaquin de Olmedo airport in Guayaquil, El Universo newspaper reported. It is a case of inadmissibility because he has no documents, a foreign ministry source said. The only legal body to issue a travel document is the Lebanese consulate in Bogota, which has not responded to requests that it do so, the source said. We are closely following the case and are working with the interior (ministry) to get Lebanon to issue him a travel document so he can return to his country. The situation resembles that of an Iranian refugee who lived in a Paris airport from 1988 to 2006 and was portrayed in the film The Terminal starring Tom Hanks. (AFP) 3 dead more killed in Nicaragua: Three people, including two police officers, were killed and several others wounded in an armed assault on a police post in remote northern Nicaragua, police said Monday. The Central American country has been wracked by weeks of violence which have killed more than 130 people in predominantly urban protests against the government of President Daniel Ortega. Police said 15 hooded individuals attacked with firearms the police post at Silao Paraska, in Mulukuku municipality in the Caribbean north of the country. Two police officers were killed, two wounded and one kidnapped by the armed group, while one of the gang was killed and two wounded, the statement said. Authorities called on protesters to respect public and private property and the right of people to move freely throughout the territory. (AFP) Shining Path strike wounds 6: A remnant Shining Path rebel force attacked a military base in southern Peru on Monday, wounding six army troops, the armed forces said. The military described the events as armed harassment by terrorist criminals who acted as hit men for drug traffickers, a military statement said. The province of Satipo, where the strike took place, is part of the coca-growing valley formed by the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro rivers, known by its acronym VRAEM, in southeastern Peru. (AFP) 17 ordered held in Funes probe: A judge in El Salvador ordered the arrest of 17 people, including the current Minister of Social Inclusion, on Monday for their suspected involvement in a corruption racket allegedly led by former president Mauricio Funes. Funes, who has been in exile in Nicaragua since September 2016, is accused of using public funds to pay for trips, home remodeling and hospital bills, among other expenses. Among those sought for their alleged involvement was Vanda Pignato, Funes ex-wife and the current minister of social inclusion, and other former high-ranking officials. The government of leftist President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, who was Funes vice-president and is not suspected of involvement in the racket, lent its support to the ruling. (RTRS) Argentine nun, ex-min on trial: A trial opened Monday for an Argentine ex-cabinet minister and a nun who helped him hide bags stuffed with $9 million in cash and jewels at a monastery. The story, which has become emblematic of the country s corruption, first emerged when Jose Lopez, 57, was caught redhanded tossing 160 suitcases and duffel bags over a wall into the garden of an old monastery outside Buenos Aires. It took police 22 hours to count the $9 million, 150,000 euros, 425 yuan and 150,000 Argentine pesos in small bills stashed inside. Celia Ines, an 80-year-old nun, was his accomplice, according to prosecutors, and the entire affair was caught on security camera. (AFP)

14 INTERNATIONAL 14 World News Roundup Drones Tamim Asfour, Head of the Institute of Anthropomatics and Robotics, demonstrates the functions of a robot at the booth of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) at the CEBIT technology fair in Hanover, Germany on June 11. The Digital Business fair CEBIT in Hanover runs from June 11 until June 15. (AFP) Climate Threat to agriculture Warming will make vegetables scarcer TAMPA, June 12, (AFP): Global warming is expected to make vegetables significantly scarcer around the world, unless new growing practices and resilient crop varieties are adopted, researchers warned on Monday. By the end of this century, less water and hotter air will combine to cut average yields of vegetables which are crucial to a healthy diet by nearly onethird, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A 7.2 Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) increase in temperature, which scientists expect by 2100 if global warming continues on its current trajectory, reduces average yields by 31.5 percent, said the report. Our study shows that environmental changes such as increased temperature and water scarcity may pose a real threat to global agricultural production, with likely further impacts on food security and population health, said lead author Pauline Scheelbeek of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Southern Europe, large parts of Africa and South Asia may be particularly affected. The findings are based on a systematic review of 174 studies examining the impact of environmental exposures on yield and nutritional content of vegetables and legumes since Some previous research has pointed to a likely increase in crop yields as carbon dioxide rises, but the current review found that any such boost would be cancelled out by higher greenhouse gases, reduced water availability for irrigation and rising temperatures. We have brought together all the available evidence on the impact of environmental change on yields and quality of vegetables and legumes for the first time, said senior author Alan Dangour, also of LSHTM. Our analysis suggests that if we take a business as usual approach, environmental changes will substantially reduce the global availability Scheelbeek of these important foods, he added. Urgent action needs to be taken, including working to support the agriculture sector to increase its resilience to environmental changes and this must be a priority for governments across the world. A second study in PNAS found that rising temperatures will increase the volatility of corn, the most widely grown crop on the planet. Researchers confirmed prior studies that showed global warming would likely cut back on corn growth. They also showed that heat waves may boost inconsistency and volatility across various regions from year to year, leading to price hikes and global shortages. Previous studies have often focused on just climate and plants, but here we look at climate, food and international markets, said lead author Michelle Tigchelaar, a University of Washington postdoctoral researcher in atmospheric sciences. Also: ABIDJAN: Ivory Coast, the world s biggest cocoa producer, announced Monday it would rip up 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of cocoa trees in a bid to roll back a plant virus called swollen shoot. The operation will take place in the southwest and west of the country, the heart of the cocoa production belt, said Gneneyeri Sileu, in charge of plant protection strategy at the agriculture ministry. The operation will cost 22 billion CFA francs (33.5 million euros, $40 million), he said. Over the first three years, cacao trees will be ripped out the land will then be quarantined for a further two years to prevent the virus from bouncing back. In this particular context, there are no plans to systematically replant the 100,000 hectares, said Sileu, who added that the operation would not have a major impact on national production. British primatologist Jane Goodall visits a chimp rescue center on June 9 in Entebbe, Uganda. During her visit at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, Goodall also fronted a naming ceremony for a baby chimp called Zakayo the second. (AFP) Johnson Discovery Hidalgo Harassment threat to scientists: Sexual harassment plagues academic science, and colleges and universities that train scientists need a culture change so women won t be bullied out of the field, according to a new report. In fact, it s time to treat sexual harassment as seriously as research misconduct, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said Tuesday in recommendations aimed at US institutions of higher education and groups that fund them. While women are still outnumbered by men, universities are recruiting more women to science-related fields than ever before but the new report makes clear that pervasive sexual harassment puts those gains at risk. If we are losing talent in science, engineering and medicine, then that is something that is detrimental to our country and quite frankly to the world, Wellesley College President Paula Johnson, who co-chaired the report, said in an interview. Assault or unwanted sexual advances are making #MeToo headlines but don t tell the whole story, the report found. Most common in science is what the National Academies termed gender harassment, a hostile environment rife with sexist and sexual commentary and actions that can negatively impact a woman s education and career. How common? The report cited a University of Texas system survey that found about 20 percent of female science students, more than a quarter of female engineering students and more than 40 percent of female medical students said they had experienced sexual harassment from faculty or staff. In a similar survey in the Pennsylvania State University system, half of female medical students reported such harassment. (AP) Volcano survivors found: Scores of civil defense and rescue workers scrambled Monday to try to find any unlikely survivors of the Fuego volcano s deadly eruption more than a week on. In San Miguel Los Lotes, a mountain farming village, rescuers rushed to check for any ashes of the almost 200 people still unaccounted for after the still-smoking giant belched flames into the air and covered villages in molten rubble. Rescue workers who had to call off their efforts overnight tried to put in a few final hours under intense pressure from families desperate to locate loved ones who are feared to have been buried and burned alive. AI Biased, unfair algorithms Norman psycho AI SAN FRANCISCO, June 12, (AFP): No, it s not a new horror film. It s Norman: also known as the first psychopathic artificial intelligence, just unveiled by US researchers. The goal is to explain in layman s terms how algorithms are made, and to make people aware of AI s potential dangers. Norman represents a case study on the dangers of Artificial Intelligence gone wrong when biased data is used in machine learning algorithms, according to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Pinar Yanardag, Manuel Cebrian and Iyad Rahwan, part of an MIT team, added: there is a central idea in machine learning: the data you use to teach a machine learning algorithm can significantly influence its behavior. So when we talk about AI algorithms being biased or unfair, the culprit is often not the algorithm itself, but the biased data that was fed to it, they said via . Hence the idea of creating Norman, which was named after the One rescuer who requested anonymity said the smoking ash and rubble was still 80 degrees Celsius (176 Fahrenheit) at just five centimeters (two inches) below the surface. All the human remains we might find just simply crumble to dust in our hands, he said. Relatives have refused to give up hope that their missing loved ones will come home. Meanwhile, officials on Hawaii s Big Island let some people back into their homes and scaled down emergency operations Monday as lava flowed into the ocean on a path that wasn t threatening new areas. We ve pretty much thrown everything at this event since a series of lava fissures began emerging from cracks in neighborhood last month, Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency Administrator Talmadge Magno said Monday. Some aspects of it can kind of start to scale down as the volcano somewhat runs into a stable situation. (Agencies) Spot a rat in Paris: Rats have become an increasingly common sight in Paris over the past few years, but one local official wants to make sure everyone knows just how many are being spotted daily in his corner of the French capital. This handout photo released by the INRA in Sophia-Antipolis on May 30, 2018 shows a tube containing trichogramma parasitic wasps. Insects, hormones and fungus are used by the INRA researchers to replace in the next few years part of the pesticides, herbicides and insecticides. (AFP) psychopathic killer Norman Bates in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. Norman was fed only with short legends describing images of people dying found on the Reddit internet platform. The researchers then submitted images of ink blots, as in the Rorschach psychological test, to determine what Norman was seeing and compare his answers to those of traditionally trained AI. The results are scary, to say the least: where traditional AI sees two people standing close to each other, Norman sees in the same spot of ink a man who jumps out a window. And when Norman distinguishes a man shot to death by his screaming wife, the other AI detects a person holding an umbrella. A dedicated website, norman-ai. mit.edu, shows 10 examples of ink blots accompanied by responses from both systems, always with a macabre response from Norman. The site lets Internet users also test Norman with ink blots and send their answers to help Norman repair itself. Geoffroy Boulard, who heads the municipal council of the 17th Arrondissement, has set up an interactive map where residents can signal rodent sightings in real time. It was the case of a daycare centre whose playground was infested with rats that convinced me that we had to try something else, Boulard told the Parisien newspaper Monday. He accused Mayor Anne Hidalgo of not doing enough to tackle a problem that regularly requires officials to close parks and other sites to carry out extermination programmes. (AFP) Shark head found impaled: A severed shark head, stuffed with cigarette butts and ocean debris, was found impaled on a fence at an Australian marine rescue organisation s office, with the gruesome discovery drawing criticism on social media. Marine Rescue NSW volunteers at Shellharbour, some 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Sydney, arrived for duty Sunday morning to find the head of the mako shark. Regional operations manager Bruce Mitchell told AFP it was the first time I ve ever heard of it anywhere, adding that it appeared the shark was fairly fresh and likely to have been caught on Saturday. Whoever caught the shark brought it back to the (boat) ramp and cleaned it, and cut the head off, Mitchell said, adding that the whole creature would have weighed about 70 kilogrammes (154 pounds). Maybe someone (else) came there during the night, found it and thought they ll have a bit of fun. That s one possibility. Mitchell said the volunteer organisation which helps boaters during emergencies and other situations had not received any threats and did not refer the incident to the police. Marine Rescue posted photos of the head on Facebook and Twitter and said the incident was a kick in the guts for our committed volunteers who give up their time to save lives on the water. Takes one messed up human to do something like that, one Twitter user wrote, while a Facebook commenter said: Someone with a macabre sense of humour. (AFP) Balance benefits FAA is too tough on drones: panel WASHINGTON, June 12, (Agencies): Science advisers to the federal government say safety regulators are hindering the spread of commercial drones by being too cautious about the risks posed by the flying machines. The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine said in a report Monday that federal safety regulators need to balance the overall benefits of drones instead of treating them the same Elwell way that they oversee airliners. Academy experts said in a strongly worded report that the Federal Aviation Administration tilts against proposals for commercial uses of unmanned aircraft without considering their potential to reduce other risks and save lives. For example, they said, when drones are used to inspect cell-phone towers, it reduces the risk of making workers climb up the towers. The study on the FAA s work on integrating drones into the nation s airspace was requested by Congress last year. In a statement, an FAA spokesman under its Agency Administrator, Dan Elwell said the agency was working to safely speed the integration of drones into the airspace. The science board s recommendations match the FAA s efforts and we see them as an endorsement of our efforts and encouragement to accelerate our efforts, he said. The drone industry hailed the report. The president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a trade group, called for a flexible approach to regulation including allowing operators to fly drones beyond their line of sight, at higher altitudes and weights greater than 55 pounds. Pilots Others including airline pilots have expressed concern about more drones sharing the airspace. The FAA is investigating an incident reported in February in which a drone flew close to a Frontier Airlines jet approaching Las Vegas. A drone hit a small charter plane in Canada last October, and other operators have been charged with interfering with firefighting planes. In Monday s report, the science academies leaned on a 14-member committee whose members come mostly from universities and research groups but also the aerospace industry, including a representative of Boeing s drone business. The high-level science board said that the FAA was making overly conservative risk assessments about drones by applying the same nearzero tolerance for risk that it uses with other aircraft. In many cases, the focus has been on What might go wrong? instead of a holistic risk picture that considers overall risk and benefit, the advisers wrote. Instead, the advisers recommended, the FAA should meet requests for drone operations approvals by saying, How can we approve this? The board was critical of FAA culture even while acknowledging that the FAA s approach has helped make manned aviation safer. The committee concluded that fear of making a mistake drives a risk culture at the FAA that is too often overly conservative, particularly with regard to (drone) technologies, which do not pose a direct threat to human life in the same way as technologies used in manned aircraft, the board experts wrote. They said that FAA staffers may believe they could endanger their careers by allowing any new risk. The board said its committee recommended that the FAA be guided by asking whether it can make drone use as safe as other background risks in everyday life. We do not ground airplanes because birds fly in the airspace, although we know birds can and do bring down aircraft, they wrote. French defence electronics group Thales is partnering with Microsoft to jointly develop a common defence cloud solution for armed forces, the companies said on Tuesday. Based on Microsoft s Azure Stack platform, the flexible cloud application platform will allow armed forces to keep sensitive data inside their own infrastructures. Thales will integrate its connectivity and end-to-end cybersecurity and encryption solutions into Microsoft s cloud platform which is delivered as an integrated system. Together with Thales, we will be able to provide a flexible cloud platform with an unequalled level of security that will help overcome challenges within the defense industry, Jean-Philippe Courtois, Microsoft s executive vice president and president, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations, said in a statement.

15 Film Mats Grorud on Palestine, animation and hope Traumas and wounds of Palestinian refugees in Tower LOS ANGELES, June 12, (RTRS): The Tower, the debut of Norway s Mats Grorud, features out of competition at Annecy s main showcase. Produced by Tenk TV (based out of Baerum, Norway), Les Contes Modernes (Bourg-Les-Valence, France) and Goteborg-based Cinenic Film, the animated film revolves around the Palestinian diaspora since the creation of Israel in 1948, seen from the eyes of Wardi, an 11-year-old Palestinian girl living with her family in the refugee camp where she was born. Grorud worked as an animation teacher in the Bourj el-barajneh refugee camp, established by The League of Red Cross Societies to host Palestinian refugees from northern Israel. Based on his experience and research there, he created the story of The Tower. Children living in Bourj el-barajneh represent around 43% of the camp s total population, which is close to 21,000 (in addition to 20,000 recent Syrian refugees), all living within one square kilometer. The Tower s international sales are handled by Paris-based Jour2Fete. Question: Why did you choose the point of view of an 11-year-old Palestinian girl to depict such a long and painful conflict? Answer: Living in a camp, I witnessed a session where a group of elders told the young about what happened to them in Everybody was crying together. It touched me a lot. The traumas and wounds of 1948 remain and will be there as long as people are stuck in the camps. I chose the point of view of an 11-year-old, as I wanted to raise the question of how and if it is possible to find hope in the situation the Palestinians find themselves in. And if so, these questions could only be illuminated by a young person at the start of life, when we all have dreams and hopes intact. Q: And why did you choose to make an animated movie? A: We worked with the language that we thought was appropriate. Animation can be a way of distancing oneself from something and still present an original take on it. Animation is one way of recreating spaces that have been erased as a consequence of the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands. A different way of looking. Animation is not just for kids. It can add lyricism. Q: You were born in Norway. What was your personal link with Lebanon, because The Tower seems a very heartfelt film. A: My mother worked as a nurse in Lebanon during the 1980s. She would go and come back, and I and my siblings would see pictures of the camps. During the First Intifada in 1989, we lived for a year in Cairo and went to Gaza and Jerusalem. I was 12 years old then, so seeing kids my age on every street corner making V signs made a lasting impression on me. Later, I went to live in Lebanon myself in the camp of Bourj el-barajneh, and I got the idea for the film, which simply was to tell the stories of my friends from the camp and their families. To share the wisdom, humor and warmth that I felt from people. As well as the ugliness of this fate, forever stuck in camps. Q: You have mixed several techniques - 2D, puppet animation, real photographs. What was the criteria for choosing each one and the challenges to build a coherent whole? A: To me, the tactility and texture of the puppets and sets make it perfect to represent Wardi s real world today. Also, in puppet animation we are used to using whatever we have at hand, and this is exactly what people do constructing their towers in the camp, so it was too good a parallel to be left out. The flashbacks in the film are set in a lot of different environments and had crowds of people. We also pursued the possibility to be surreal in our visuals, dramatizing the experiences people had in their pasts. 2D was both a practical and artistic choice. The pictures came into the film the same way they came into my life as a child. I have used my mother s pictures from the camps, as well as from my friends private albums. Our main concern about combining the three techniques was how to find the balance between them. Q: What s next? A: I am continuing to work together with Mozambican art director Rui Tenreiro. It will be a modern take on the pirate genre, in which young militants fight for resources against international oil giants. A tale of young heroism and resistance set in the mangrove swamps of the Delta. The idea is in the early development stage. Variety Features WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018 LOS ANGELES: British director Tony Kaye has come on board to helm the independent crime drama Honorable Men, Variety has learned exclusively. The film is being produced by Life Entertainment with producers Sam Khoze, Justin Steele, and Patrick McErlean along with the Film House and producer Ryan R. Johnson. Kaye s directing credits include American History X, Black Water Transit, and Detachment. He did not approve of the final cut of American History X and tried unsuccessfully to have his name removed as director of the movie, for which Edward Norton received an Oscar nomination. Kaye also received six Grammy nominations for music videos such as Johnny s Gonna Cut You Down and Runaway Train by Soul Asylum, which won a Grammy Award. Honorable Men screenwriter Gary DeVore vanished under mysterious circumstances in His body was discovered a year later with his hands missing. He disappeared while working on a remake of the 1949 The Big Steal. (RTRS) LOS ANGELES: Brandon Sklenar, who starred in Mapplethorpe, will play a lead role in Jaclyn Bethany s upcoming independent drama Indigo Valley. The movie is set to start production in August. Bethany will direct and star in film, which is based on her short film and will be produced by Courtney Harmstone and Mikhail Makeev. The story follows a newlywed couple on a hiking trip as they re unexpectedly joined by the woman s estranged older sister, an actress recently released from rehab. Harry Potter thesp Evanna Lynch was attached to play the newlywed sister when the project was announced in November at the American Film Market, but has left the project due to schedule conflicts. Sklenar previously starred in the Japanese/American co-production Temple for Netflix and will be seen in Magic Lantern, filmmaker Amir Naderi s next directorial effort, and in Adam McKay s Dick Cheney biopic Backseat with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Sam Rockwell. (RTRS) LOS ANGELES: Francis Lawrence, who directed the last three This image released by Vertical Entertainment shows John Travolta (left), and Spencer Lofranco in a scene from Gotti, which opens in the US on June 15. (AP) Film Bird s sequel set to break more records for Disney Family fun in sprightly Incredibles 2 By Lindsey Bahr he Incredibles writer/director Brad Bird has said Tthat his characters powers are all born of stereotypes. Dad is strong, mom is stretched in a million directions, teenage girls put up shields, little boys are full of boundless energy and babies are unpredictable. It s why he decided that for the sequel, Incredibles 2, a buoyant and quick-witted romp, he d pick up right where we left off, in that parking lot after Dash s track meet where a new threat emerges from underground. No matter that in reality, 14 years had actually passed. Animation is not bound by time or aging actors. For the rest of us, however, 14 years is still 14 years. And in the past 14 years, the business of Hollywood has become the business of superhero movies. It s hard to remember a time when there weren t a dozen a year. But when The Incredibles came out in 2004, they were still a bit of an anomaly at the multiplex its cheeky, mockumentary realism, its jokes about capes, secret identities, monologue-ing and the dangers of toxic, obsessive fandom was the perfect introduction (and indoctrination) to superheroes for those who couldn t care less. Pixar magic made superhero believers out of the skeptics. And by 2008, we all thought, sure, let s see about this Tony Stark fellow and someone called Iron Man. In Incredibles 2, it seems like Bird himself is wrestling with a culture he helped facilitate not totally dissimilar to what Steven Spielberg did earlier this year in Ready Player One. But instead of nostalgia on trial, it s superheroes and screens. The villain here is called Screenslaver, who uses screens to hypnotize anyone watching. It s both the most retro plan of all (keeping with Bird s love of the 60s aesthetic) and still somehow utterly modern. Annoyed by how blindly and wholly consumerist everyone has become at the mercy of screens and simulated experiences in lieu of real ones, from movies to video games, Screenslaver has set out to end that, and squash Municiberg s dependence on and obsession with superheroes. As with the first, there are a million ideas at play here (not a flaw, by the way), including evolving family dynamics. Most of the original voice cast has returned, including Craig T. Nelson as Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible, Holly Hunter as Helen Parr/Elastigirl, Bird as Edna Mode, Sarah Vowell as Violet Parr and Samuel L. Norton Jackson as Lucius Best/Frozone (the only slight change in the main players is that Dash Parr is now voiced by Huck Milner). And once again, superheroes are still on shaky ground in Municiberg and are put on ice after the Parr family accidentally damages some public property while trying to take down a criminal. But a wealthy heir and superhero appreciator Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) and his tech savvy sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener) have a plan to rehabilitate their image. Right now, the public only sees the destruction. The Deavors propose outfitting superheroes with body cams to get exciting footage of their feats. Incredibles 2 provides a bit of a corrective on a micro level to the first film s gender politics by sending mom off to work and making dad stay home (although wasn t that a little antiquated 35 years ago?). The animation is also a heck of a lot better. The Incredibles looks downright primitive and even a tad ugly in retrospect. Slow Although it gets off to a slow start, ultimately it s also quite a bit of fun, from the absurd (Jack Jack s burgeoning powers) to the grounded (Dad helping Dash with his math homework or trying to make up for getting in the way of Violet s date and embarrassing her even further in the process). Like Ready Player One, however, Incredibles 2, kind of loses the thread by the end. A villain is a villain no matter how salient their point, and Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and their offspring are our heroes and thus we must root for them even while thinking that Screenslaver might be on to something. It s still fun to watch smart storytellers like Bird working within the system and using his platform to self-evaluate or comment on what s going on, even if the conclusion is a little flimsy. Bird could have easily just brought back his lovable characters, leaned on Jack Jack s antics and cashed in the check. It makes the effort and care here seem even more incredible. After a glut of lucrative box office juggernauts from its Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney is looking to break more records with Incredibles 2, the longawaited return of a quirky animated superhero family. Hogan Hunger Games movies and Red Sparrow, will direct and produce Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue. Charles Randolph, who won an Academy Award for his Big Short screenplay, is attached to write the adaptation for the project, which was unveiled in March by producer David A. Neuman, CEO and partner of Blackrock Productions. Neuman made the announcement Monday and said he is targeting an A-list cast to play the story s principals Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, and Nick Denton. Published in February, Conspiracy outlines the tempestuous legal battle between the pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea); Gawker Media and its founder, The film which comes out Friday, a full 14 years after The Incredibles looks set to score the highest debut ever for an animated film at the North American box office. Experts are predicting a $140 million-plus opening weekend for Brad Bird s sequel to his own hugely popular original, which would surpass the $135 million debut of its Disney-Pixar stablemate, Finding Dory (2016). For a very long time, people have been wanting this film, Jackson, who returns as superhero Frozone, told reporters at last week s glittering premiere in Hollywood. I think people who saw the film at a certain age have had kids now, and they re showing them (the original) so they can bring them to this one. It all goes a bit awry as it always does when a new villain emerges with a brilliant and dangerous plot that threatens the world. It s kind of like a spy movie ultra, uber-sophisticated, kind of 1960s, free-wheeling, Hunter told a question-and-answer forum at the AMC Century City movie theater in Los Angeles. The movie has so many different influences that are directly from Brad s own passions, his childhood, his parenting. He s kind of thrown it all into the mix in a really personal way. There may be a 14-year gap, but the sequel starts about five seconds after the original ended, with the Parr family donning their superhero masks, ready to face the new threat. We left people wanting more at the end of the last film... There was this villain, everyone wanted to see what the outcome was with that fight, said producer Nicole Grindle. But I think that s something you can do in animation. You can t do that in live action, just wait 14 years. Critics and fans who made it to the premiere were allowed to post social media reactions, with most singling out the Parrs scene-stealing baby for praise. Incredibles 2 is a blast. It does a great job building on the characters and the world, and it s super funny and action packed throughout, tweeted Eric Eisenberg of CinemaBlend. I had my doubts, but was thoroughly impressed. Will go down as one of the best titles of the summer. (Agencies) Denton; and Silicon Valley titan Thiel who secretly funded Hogan s successful lawsuit over the publication of a tape involving Hogan. (RTRS) LOS ANGELES: European pay-tv giant Sky has acquired three new titles to bolster its slate of original films set for release on its service in the UK on the same day as the movies theatrical debuts. Sky Cinema Original Films has day-and-date rights to Matthew McConaughey-led noir thriller Serenity ; Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which will star Zac Efron as serial killer Ted Bundy; and multi-generational family drama Life Itself from Dan Fogelman ( This Is Us ). (RTRS)

16 NEWS/FEATURES 16 People & Places Film Happy ending? Hereditary preys on fears with no remedy By Jeneile Riley Heralded by some as the scariest movie ever made, Ari Aster s Hereditary opened last weekend, taking in $13 million domestically on a reported budget of $10 million. It also sparked a lot of questions, ones that have been lingering since the film premiered at this year s Sundance Film Festival. Aster opened up about some of the other burning questions viewers might have about what is sure to be one of the most-talked about films of the year. The film centers on Annie (Toni Collette), a wife and mother who is burying her own mother Ellen at the start of the film. We learn their relationship was complicated; Ellen was a distant, cold woman with secrets. Annie s own relationship with her children is troubled; her teenage son Peter hasn t forgiven her for one night when she was sleepwalking and doused him in paint thinner and almost set him on fire. Younger sibling Charlie is a peculiar young girl who, in an early scene, decapitates a pigeon and makes it into an odd figurine. The tragedies pile up: Charlie is brutally decapitated when riding in a car driven by her brother, furthering fracturing his relationship with his mother. Annie s friend from Collette a grief counseling group, Joan, (Ann Dowd) shows her how to connect with Charlie beyond the grave. Eventually, Annie and the audience learn that they are pawns in an ancient ritual to bring the demon Paimon into Peter s body and Joan is part of a coven that Ellen was involved with. While the film ends on a despondent note, with Peter s body being possessed by Paimon, Aster says there s another way to look at things. Ultimately, the film is ultimately a success story from the grandmother s point of view and the coven s point of view, he notes, admitting, That s a dark way to see it. Question: You don t have kids of your own but you ve really tapped into every parents worst nightmare with this film. Answer: Of course. I feel like I had my own avenues of insight into that. I ll just have to remain cryptic on that. From very early on I was describing this as an existential horror film. It preys on the fears that don t really have a remedy. What do you do with a fear of death? What do you do with the suspicion that you don t really know the people you re closest to? What do you do with fear of abandonment? The fear of somebody close to you changing? The film is really feeding on those fears. Q: People often look to filmmakers for biographical experiences in their films. Did you have any experience with the occult or a coven? A: I did do research into witchcraft and the occult. It s something I had no ties to and I found the research pretty disturbing, to be honest. But hopefully it does feel real. I m not a particularly superstitious person but what scares me is what people are capable of. The idea of witches has always scared me because of the idea that there are Machiavellian forces out there that conspire to hurt others. There are people who do not have your best interest at heart and are actively willing to do harm to you and actively sending energy in that direction. And the fact the family is completely unaware adds to the terror. One way that I pitched the film when I was first taking it out was it s a story about a long-lived possession ritual told from the perspective of the sacrificial lamb. Ultimately we are with the family in their ignorance of what s really happening. But I also wanted to imbue the film with this sinister, more knowing perspective. Even though we are with the family in their ignorance, the movie itself knows exactly where the story is going. And everything is inevitable. Throughout the film, things are just sort of clicking into place and all those things are driving this family towards one end. Q: In an early scene, the subject of free will is discussed. Are you saying this family has no free will? A: Yeah, absolutely. I see the film as being very Greek in that sense. This is absolutely inevitable, the family has absolutely no agency. Q: There is nothing Annie can do to stop this from happening? A: No, I don t think so. That s where the dollhouses came in. Annie creates these miniature figures and dollhouses and they served as a perfect metaphor for the situation; they re dolls in a dollhouse being manipulated by outside forces. Any control they try to seize is hopeless. Q: Is that why she thinks she can stop it by burning the Charlie s sketchbook - the first time she tries, she catches fire -- but the second time, her husband Steve catches fire? A: Exactly. Even that scene is meant to play as Annie s big redemptive moment, she s going to sacrifice herself for her son. It s a beautiful gesture but part of the cruel logic of the film is it s an empty gesture. Ultimately, it s not her choice to make. She thinks there s a design here and she can end things if she sacrifices herself. But there s no design and there are no rules. There is a malicious logic at play. Q: Could it have been prevented if she hadn t been tricked into casting the spell given to her by Joan? A: The thing is, that scene is ultimately a red herring, and it s a piece of misdirection. It plays as a seance scene but really it s a much darker conjuring and they need Annie to take part in it in order to bring it in the house and in order to further this ritual along. When she invites it in, she escalates things. But it would ve happened anyway, we re just seeing how it happened. We re seeing one of the ways it could play out. Q: There s a lot of talk about what a bad mother Annie s mother was. Did she just have kids for the purpose of this ritual? A: That s pretty much what is suggested. If you listen to Annie s speech at the group therapy, there are a lot of keys in her monologue as to what came before this and how far back this goes. Q: Early on, Charlie cuts the head off a pigeon and makes a strange figurine out of it. Can you elaborate on that? A: I don t want to be too obvious but we find later that Charlie has been building these figurines to populate a diorama she s been building that serves as a shrine to Paimon. It also functions as a metaphor for what Paimon is doing to this family. Q: Annie talks about how her mother got her hooks into Charlie at an early age. Are we meant to think Charlie is in on it? A: Charlie is the first successful host for Paimon. It s transferred from Charlie to Peter at the end. Q: Because Paimon wants a male body? A: Exactly. Q: Is there ever a Charlie or is she Paimon from the moment she s born? A: From the moment she s born. I mean, there s a girl that was displaced, but she was displaced from the very beginning. (RTRS) Q: In an odd way, that makes me feel better. A: (Laughs) That s nice. See, it s a happy ending. But obviously, there s a boy who s horribly displaced by the end. (RTRS) French actress Clemence Poesy (right), and Iceland s fi lm director Elsa Maria Jakobsdottir pose during a photocall for the 8th Diner Gala Les Nuits en Or 2018 organised by the the Cesar Academy (L Académie des César) at UNESCO in Paris on June 11. (AFP) Boyd Variety Mayhew LOS ANGELES: Opera singer Neal E. Boyd, winner of America s Got Talent Season 3, died in Sikeston, Miss, on Sunday. He was 42. Scott County Coroner Scott Amick confirmed the death to Variety, as well as the cause: heart failure, kidney failure, and liver disease. One year ago, Boyd and his mother were involved in a serious car accident in Scott County, after running off the right side of the road, striking a tree. The former insurance salesman-turnedopera singer won the 2008 competition, and the $1 million prize, after sharing with audiences and judges David Hasselhoff, Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne (Jerry Springer was host) the story of his impoverished upbringing, and love of singing. Boyd released the album My American Dream in 2009, and performed at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., singing God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood. He also ran for a seat in the Southeast Missouri House of Representatives, though he was not victorious in 2012 or in the general election in (RTRS) BOGOTA, Colombia: He fought in epic battles against the galactic empire. Now an actor who portrayed Star Wars legend Chewbacca is fighting for Venezuela s poor with an online fundraising campaign whose proceeds will benefit a charity feeding underprivileged children in the crisiswracked South American nation. Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in five Star Wars movies, has so far raised more than $10,000 through the sale of commemorative coins showing the Wookiee warrior s hairy legs and a bullet belt slung around a map of Venezuela. The 74-year-old actor, who is retired, said that the idea emerged after he met Elisa Arguello, a Venezuelan actress and Star Wars fan who migrated three years ago to the Dallas-Fort Worth area where Mayhew also resides. We follow her on Facebook, and were aware of the deteriorating situation in Venezuela, Mayhew told The Associated Press. It had been bothering us for a while and one night, my wife Angie picked up the phone and asked Elisa if there was any way we could get involved. She started This image released by A24 shows Alex Wolff in a scene from Hereditary. (AP) Film Cooper, Serkis show Star is Born, Mowgli footage Ocean s 8 beats franchise reboot curse crying and said yes. The copper coins are being sold online for $10 by the Peter Mayhew Foundation. But proceeds will go to a small Texas charity called Ponte en sus zapatos, which is Spanish for Put yourself in their shoes. The charity has been working in Venezuela for over a year and says it feeds 100 needy children every day and donates supplies like diapers and baby formula to a hospital that treats children with cancer. Hospitals in Venezuela often cannot provide patients with the most basic supplies due to widespread shortages and five-digit LOS ANGELES, June 12, (RTRS): It s been over a decade since an Ocean s film graced the domestic box office. But the time between heists didn t hurt the latest reboot. Instead, Ocean s 8 delivered the best opening in the franchise s history. Ocean s 8 had a better-than-expected domestic debut of $41.5 million, along with $12.2 million from 16 international markets for a global launch of $54.7 million. Its longterm playability remains to be seen as it continues its overseas rollout over the next two months, but for a film that cost $70 million, Ocean s 8 is off to a winning start. The gender-swapped heist drama led by Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, and Awkwafina comes 11 years after the third film in Ocean s trilogy. The first of the George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt series was 2001 s Ocean s Eleven, and that was based on 1960 s Oceans 11 starring five of the members of Frank Sinatra s Rat Pack. Just because an original film strikes a cord at the box office doesn t mean a reboot will have the same luck. Successfully pulling off a franchise revival or reimagining can be a tricky beast to master. On one hand, you ve got built in audience interest. On the other, you re toying with beloved stories. When you take a franchise that has a big name, that s a huge responsibility, comscore box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said. Audiences were intrigued by the allfemale production since the project was announced over two years ago. Aside from a compelling premise and a stellar cast, Ocean s 8 had a number factors on its side. Its box office arrival certainly helped coming almost a month after Deadpool 2 and three weeks after Solo: A Star Wars Story. There was an appetite for a fresh crowd-pleaser. But beyond timing, Ocean s 8 delivered the goods. In his review for Variety, Owen Gleiberman wrote Here s a gender-flipped sequel that not only works just fine, but renders the whole novelty of the concept a borderline irrelevance. If people are going to show up to your movie, it always helps when it turns out to be watchable. If you were to write a blueprint on how to successfully reboot a franchise, Ocean s 8 is it, Dergarabedian said. It had everything mapped out perfectly. So what is that golden window of bringing back a franchise that falls between Who are these characters? and Was anyone asking for this again? Inexact The sweet spot is almost unknowable. It s an inexact science because there are so many variables involved, Dergarabedian said. There has to be a fair amount of time, but too long maybe doesn t exist with the right property. It s not so much the scheduling, box office analysts argue, as it is the quality of the reboot itself that signals a success. It doesn t necessarily matter if it s been over a decade between films ( Ocean s 8 ) or barely three years ( Spider-Man: Homecoming ) to warrant a remake. Nor is nostalgia enough to guarantee box office returns. Recent bombs including Alicia Vikander s Tomb Raider and Tom Cruise s The Mummy have shown that. Audiences and critics alike weren t able to behind those films Tomb Raider landed a 49% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while The Mummy fared much worse with a dismal 17% rating. Since the female-fronted Ocean s 8 was announced, it drew comparisons to 2016 s Ghostbusters, which took the same gender-swapped spin on a beloved franchise. Ghostbusters boasted similar star power, arming Melissa Mc- Carthy and Kristen Wiig with proton packs, but it was never able to find its footing at the box office. The project was almost immediately plagued with backlash from moviegoers questioning the inflation. (AP) BOSTON: Three editors at the Boston Review are resigning over the political and literary magazine s decision to retain author Junot Diaz despite allegations of sexual misconduct. Poetry editors Timothy Donnelly, Barbara Fischer and Stefania Heim said on Twitter last week they re dismayed at the logic behind keeping Diaz as fiction editor and felt compelled to step down, effective July 1. Left-right: Director Salim Akil, actress Oprah Winfrey, writer Mara Brock Akil and actors Michele Weaver and William Catlett attend the premiere of OWN s Love Is_ at NeueHouse Hollywood on June 11, in Los Angeles, California. (AFP) need for such a reboot. It also carried an over-sized $144 million budget, making it harder to achieve profitability. Most of the ones that have failed, the audience and the critical response was almost universally bad, Dergarabedian said. The importance of certain movies and the message gets lost if it s a complete failure as a movie. Ask any studio executive or box office analyst, and they ll share similar sentiments. Timing only means so much if there isn t a quality product to match. It s all about having a good story, Jeff Goldstein, domestic distribution head at Warner Bros., the studio behind Ocean s 8, said. had a specific female draw. In the zeitgeist, it s been a little more heightened. Also: LOS ANGELES: Warner Bros gave a sneak peek of upcoming hot movies Monday at European exhibitors conference CineEurope in Barcelona, with the help of star guests Bradley Cooper and Andy Serkis, who showed footage from A Star Is Born and Mowgli, their respective movies as directors and actors. As well as showing the trailer, which garnered 70 million views in its first week online, Cooper premiered the first eight minutes of his helming debut, A Star Is Born, in which he stars alongside Lady Gaga. The clip shows Cooper as a drug and alcohol addled singer, while Lady Gaga is a lowly waitress with aspirations to become a singer, but still forced to put out the trash. Cooper said he wanted to depict a love story as it often happens to be in real life: a mix of turmoil, trouble, magic, tragedy and ultimately hope. He said that when he met Lady Gaga at a cancer benefit event she blew his mind and he knew she was the one to play the part of Ally. Cooper said that Lady Gaga had insisted that the songs were recorded live and performances took place at real venues, including Coachella, Stagecoach, Glastonbury and The Forum. It was painful to leave but we couldn t possibly stay, Donnelly said by Monday. Their position, especially as expressed in their statement, was deeply at odds with our own and with the work we do. Editors-in-chief Deborah Chasman and Joshua Cohen announced on the magazine s website last week that they had concluded the accusations against Diaz didn t suggest a pattern of abuse that would merit letting him go. The objectionable conduct described in the public reports does not have the kind of severity that animated the #MeToo movement, the two editors said, referring to the international movement against sexual harassment and assault that took off last year. Author Zinzi Clemmons and other female writers have recently shared stories of Diaz s behavior. Clemmons said Diaz forcibly kissed her several years ago; others cited instances when they felt he had verbally attacked them. Diaz, who didn t immediately comment on the Boston Review controversy, has said he takes responsibility for his past actions. Chasman and Cohen said Monday they listened carefully to the concerns of the three poetry editors and others before arriving at their decision. They said their departure was saddening but wouldn t impact the magazine s operations as no other editors have resigned. We had to make a practical decision about a relationship with an editor, they said via . We think we made the right decision and stand fully by the reasons we presented in support of it. In their statement last week, the two editors said there had been no complaints about Diaz s conduct in his 15 years at the magazine, which publishes quarterly. They d also asked other female fiction writers about Diaz and didn t hear anything troubling. (AP)

17 NEWS/FEATURES 17 The Edge (left), Larry Mullen Jr, Bono and Adam Clayton of U2 perform during a concert at the Apollo Theater hosted by SiriusXM on June 11, in New York. (AP) Film Books Arachnophobia remake Roberts to produce & star in Little Bee Roberts LOS ANGELES, June 12, (RTRS): Julia Roberts has come on board to produce and star in a feature drama based on Chris Cleave s novel, Little Bee, for Amazon Studios. Actress-writer Kathleen Robertson ( Murder in the First ) is writing the adaptation of Cleave s 2008 novel originally published as The Other Hand about a young Nigerian asylum-seeker named Little Bee and British magazine editor Sarah O Rourke, who would be portrayed by Roberts. The two meet during a conflict in the Niger Delta and are reunited in England several years later. Roberts will produce under her Red Om Films production company along with her producing partners Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill. Gil Netter will also produce. It was reported in 2009 that Nicole Kidman was attached to star in and produce a Little Bee adaptation with BBC Films, but that project never came to fruition. Roberts recently starred in Lionsgate s hit drama Wonder, and will appear alongside Lucas Hedges in Peter Hedges independent drama, Ben Is Back. Robertson is attached to write an adaptation The Possibilities, Kaui Hart Hemmings follow-up novel to The Descendents, which Jason Reitman is directing and producing with Helen Estabrook. She s also set up Your Time Is Up at Lifetime with Christina Applegate set to star. Iconic Australian actor, Paul Hogan is to star in upcoming feature film The Very Excellent Mr Dundee. Production starts next month in Australia, Los Angeles and Vancouver. Hogan recently thrilled and infuriated fans of the Crocodile Dundee film series in which he starred in the 1980s, by appearing in a short film that appeared to be a trailer for a new film in the franchise. But the clip turned out to be a advertisement for Tourism Australia. The Very Excellent Mr Dundee sees Hogan playing himself and on the brink of receiving a Knighthood for services to comedy. Don t do anything to mess this up, his manager tells him. However, despite all his best efforts, the next six weeks sees his name and reputation destroyed. It is to be directed by Dean Murphy ( Charlie & Boots, Strange Bedfellows ) who is producing alongside Nigel Odel. International sales are to be handled by Los Angeles-based KMI. Executive producers are KMI s Kathy Morgan, Christopher Figg and Robert Whitehouse from London s Piccadilly Pictures, Sherman Ng from Singapore s Salt Media and Andrew Mackie and Richard Payten from Transmission Films. Fulcrum Media Finance and other equity partners complete the financing. No supporting cast has yet been announced. Watch this space as I ve been honored to have many of my friends and colleagues, whose work I adore, agree to join us for this hilarious new adventure, said Hogan in a statement. Steven Spielberg s Amblin Entertainment and James Wan s Atomic Monster are teaming up on a remake of 1990 s horror-comedy Arachnophobia. The film, which was unveiled on Monday, is at the early stages with no director, actors, or writers attached. Wan will not direct. The original was helmed by Frank Marshall in his directorial debut, and starred Jeff Daniels, John Goodman, Harley Jane Kozak, and Julian Sands. It was the first movie released by Disney s Hollywood Pictures label, and was produced by Amblin and Tamgled Wed Prods. The film centered on a newly discovered Venezuelan spider being transported to a small American town and producing a new species of deadly spiders, which begin killing the town s residents. Arachnophobia, named after the fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions, made use of Avondale spiders from New Zealand, which were picked due to their large size and harmless nature. The film took in a respectable $53 million at the domestic box office. In this fi le photo taken on Dec 17, 1996, French accordionist Yvette Horner poses after being awarded the Legion d honneur by French President Jacques Chirac. Yvette Horner died on June 11, at the age of 95 in Courbevoie, her agent told AFP. (AFP) Bono Variety Bourdain NEW YORK: U2 frontman Bono honored the late Anthony Bourdain toward the end of the band s special performance Monday at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Bono spoke of losing a lot of inspiring, useful people over the past few years who gave up on their own life alluding to the apparent suicides of musicians Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington, as well as fashion designer Kate Spade. And now this great storyteller, who I m sure has stories he couldn t tell us. So for Anthony Bourdain, and his friends and family this is a song inspired by a great, great, great friend of ours. His name is Michael Hutchence, Bono said before launching into an impassioned version of Stuck in a Moment You Can t Get Out Of. The Grammy-winning song about suicide was written by the band after INXS singer Hutchence was found dead in 1997 of an apparent suicide. (AP) LOS ANGELES: Thirty Seconds to Mars is No. 1 at Alternative Radio this week with the track Dangerous Night, the second consecutive chart-topper in the format (following Walk on Water ) for the rock band fronted by Jared Leto, with a peak audience of 11.1 million, according to Mediabase. That Thirty Seconds recent success aligns with the arrival of manager Evan Winiker of Full Stop Management, the firm that s home to Harry Styles, Meghan Trainor, Mark Ronson and Charli XCX, is apt considering both have fostered good will from the greater music industry over many years -- Leto having stayed true to his vision for the group across multiple labels and a two-decades-long career, and Winiker from his time playing bass alongside hitmaker Jack Antonoff in the indie rock group Steel Train, which the New Jersey natives formed in 2002 (Winiker also appears on a Bleachers track and in a video by Antonoff s band). (RTRS) LOS ANGELES: June 9 was shaping up to be just another Liverpool Beatles tour workday for tour guide Jackie Spencer, who takes fans to sites in the Fab Four s DC unveils special exhibits as Hamilton comes to town 150 yrs on, Little Women resonates hometown. But when the small group stopped at the statue of the four Beatles on the Liverpool waterfront, two very unexpected guests joined them, she said. We d had a lovely morning. I had four people with me, from Washington State and CONCORD, Mass, June 12, (AP): A century and a half before the #MeToo movement gave women a bold, new collective voice, Louisa May Alcott was lending them her own. Society had far different expectations of women in 1867, when publisher Thomas Niles asked Alcott to write a girls story. At a time when women were expected to marry, often did not hold employment and could not vote, Alcott had her doubts about the success of Little Women. Since then, the coming-of-age book has been translated into more than 50 languages and made into films, a musical and a recently aired PBS Masterpiece miniseries. The novel constantly finds new audiences as women worldwide confront sexual misconduct, misogyny and pay inequity. Mayela Boeder, 34, of Appleton, Wisconsin, read Little Women as a girl and thinks it s still relevant. You could say that strong females in literature, TV and every other medium have slowly shaped the minds of modern strong women, she says. We grew up with Buffy, Hermione, Katnis, Jo, Lizzie Bennet, Sara Crewe, among others, and so we have almost been groomed to fight for what s right and to not let others take advantage of us. Alcott drew heavily from her experiences living in poverty with progressive parents Bronson and Abigail Alcott and three sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Although her transcendentalist father led his family through 30 homes, one stands out as the place where Little Women was written: Orchard House. Alcott was 26 when her family moved into the then-dilapidated house in The enterprising family turned the tenant farmhouse, once slated for destruction, into a place where Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and other literary neighbors would drop by for intellectual discussions. Bronson encouraged his wife and daughters to join and built Louisa a desk at a time when writing was considered by scientists to be injurious to the female psyche. Looking back, says Orchard House Executive Director Jan Turnquist, the Alcotts were feminists. They believed all humans have agency, she says. She tells of how Louisa May Alcott was the first woman to register to vote in Concord in 1879, when Massachusetts gave women the right to vote in town elections on education and children issues. In 1880, Alcott and 19 other women attended the Concord town meeting and cast their ballots. In a letter to periodical Woman s Journal, Alcott wrote of voting: No bolt fell on our audacious heads, no earthquake shook the town. Unconventional Alcott did other unconventional things. At 30, she served as a nurse in the Civil War. She traveled alone when most women could not. And she wrote stories that are the equivalent of a modern-day James Patterson thriller at a time when female authors were not popular. Although there s no evidence Alcott was ever sexually assaulted, she was harassed and had to endure misogyny as an ambitious, unmarried woman. After writing the first part of Little Women in 1868, Alcott received a flood of letters asking if the main character, Jo March, would marry neighbor boy Laurie. Pulitzer Prize-winning Alcott historian John Matteson says, Her publisher said, You have to marry her off, and wanted the character to marry Laurie. Alcott was mortified that her mother had to scrape to keep the family going financially. She knew what a trap marriage could be, Matteson says. She very much intended not to marry Jo off at all. Alcott appeased Niles, the publisher, by writing in Professor Friedrich Bhaer, a homely German professor, as a husband. One of Alcott s goals was to lift her family out of poverty. She took jobs as a teacher, seamstress, writer and, in California, and we were finishing the tour by the new statues, said Spencer in a phone interview Sunday. There was a couple of paparazzi around and we said to one of them, Who s the celebrity in town? We d heard rumors but nobody would tell us. And then In this May 17, 2018 photo, museum visitors stand near a portrait of author Louisa May Alcott by American artist George Healy at Orchard House, in Concord, Mass. (AP) one instance, a live-in companion for the sick sister of a man named James Richardson. Instead of having her tend to his sister, Richardson had 18-year-old Alcott do housekeeping and spend evenings listening to him reading romantic poetry. He started slipping suggestive notes beneath her bedroom door and added backbreaking work to her chores as she rejected his advances. She quit, making only $4 for the seven-week stay. While she hesitates to call that a #MeToo encounter, Turnquist says it was sleazy and not appropriate, and bordered on sexual harassment. Alcott wrote an essay on the experience, which friend James Field, editor of The Atlantic, assessed and said: Stick to your teaching. You can t write. Nevertheless, she persisted. She would be so supportive of the #MeToo Movement and equal pay for equal work, Turnquist says. Also: WASHINGTON: The blockbuster musical Hamilton is finally coming to the nation s capital, and the city is preparing in ways that only Washington can. Lin-Manuel Miranda s genrebending historical musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton is starting a three-month run at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday. Hamilton didn t actually spend much of his life or professional career in Washington. The US capital was in Philadelphia when he served as the nation s first treasury secretary, and the federal government didn t move to Washington until 1800, four years before his death. However, the myriad museums of modern Washington have been preparing specialized exhibits designed to appeal to tourists and locals who can t get the tunes out of their heads. D.C. seems like the sort of town that s tailor-made for this sort of wonky, nerding out over a former secretary of the Treasury, said Daniel Piazza, chief curator of stamp collections at the Smithsonian s National Postal Museum. this guy said, Well, I ll tell you one of them: It s James Corden. He s with somebody else and they re in that car over there. (RTRS) LOS ANGELES: Taylor Swift takes another shot at her wholesome image in the new video Sugarland s single Babe, playing a red-headed secretary who is having an affair with her married boss. Swift not only cowrote the song, but the Mad Men -inspired video, based in the early 1960s and featuring sumptuous period detail, was based on her concept, the group s Jennifer Nettles said. She actually reached out to us and said, I ve got a great idea for the video, and she wrote the treatment, Nettles, told People last week. Actor Brandon Roth plays the man, and Nettles turns in a memorable performance as the martini-swilling but vengeful wife. (RTRS) STOCKHOLM: The funeral of Swedish DJ and music producer Avicii, one of the biggest stars in electronic dance music, took place in a private ceremony in Stockholm last week, his publicist said. Avicii, whose real name was Tim Bergling, was found dead in Muscat, Oman, in April. He was 28. His funeral was held last Friday, attended by his closest family and friends, Swedish publicist Ebba Lindqvist said. (RTRS)

18 18 h o r o s c o p e By Jacqueline Bigar Happy birthday for Wednesday, June 13, 2018: This year you could experience a new beginning in some aspect of your life. You have the ability to change your life and make it more to your liking. You could be inordinately me-oriented. If you are single, your charisma attracts many suitors. In a few months, a choice you make could lead to a long-term bond. If you are attached, you and your sweetie could become the center of attention. Remember, a relationship is a twoway street. A fellow GEMINI will be very different from you in many ways. The Stars Show the Kind of Day You ll Have: 5-Dynamic; 4-Positive; 3-Average; 2-So-so; 1-Difficult. Capricorn - (Dec 22 - Jan 19) ***** Power and control issues could cause you to deal with certain people directly. A friend might delight you with an offer that is too good to say no to. Your ability to demonstrate your compassion and support to a special person emerges. Tonight: Use your high energy well. Aquarius - (Jan 20 - Feb 18) ***** If you have felt as if your creativity has been off, you ll have an opportunity to allow it to soar. Do not restrain yourself. You have a tendency to get stubborn and stuck. This trait could have a big effect on a domestic issue. Be as light and easy as possible. Tonight: Say yes. Pisces - (Feb 19 - Mar 20) **** Stay close to home, but be willing to emerge when necessary. You could experience a new beginning around your home. For some, it might be a new addition. You are likely to enjoy your domestic life even more than in the recent past. Tonight: Make a special dinner for two. Aries - (Mar 21 - Apr 19) ***** You have a lot of compassion, but your response to the unexpected could be shocking to many people around you. A new beginning is the result of your efficient communication and follow-through. Use today s New Moon to your advantage. Tonight: Out and about with friends. Taurus - (Apr 20 - May 20) *** Be aware of the costs of continuing as you have been, and decide to head in a new direction. Your sense of vitality and wellbeing seems erratic and not as clear as you might think. A new beginning becomes possible with your finances. Tonight: Indulge a family member. Gemini - (May 21 - June 20) ***** You have a way of communicating that makes you stand out. Refuse to be cornered by an unexpected development. You express your support in a way that means a lot to others. You seem more attentive than usual. You ll deal with irritation directly. Tonight: As you like it. Cancer - (June 21 - July 22) ***** Understand what is happening around you. You will gain a lot of insight into how others think. The unexpected occurs around a long-term goal. Your sense of humor helps you look within yourself, though you might resist some of the truths you see. Tonight: Get some R and R. Leo - (July 23 - Aug 22) **** You could be dragging until you focus on a new goal. Extremes come forward that you might want to be aware of. You might be surprised by what is happening around a workrelated matter. Others find you unusually desirable at the moment. Tonight: In the limelight. Virgo - (Aug 23 - Sept 22) **** Be aware that you suddenly could become more sensitive. You might be forced to revise your perspective of the outside world. Others might try to give you more responsibility, but make it OK to say no and walk away. Tonight: Take some time off from the recent hectic pace. Libra - (Sept 23 - Oct 22) ***** Reassess your long-term desires. A friend or partner suddenly might act on a spontaneous desire or behave in an unexpected way. You have a lot of dynamic energy, which appeals to many of your associates and loved ones on many different levels. Tonight: Detach and relax. Scorpio - (Oct 23 - Nov 21) **** Pressure builds to relate to others on a one-on-one level. You might not want to handle a personal matter just yet. The unexpected occurs with a partner or loved one. Start dealing with this person directly, and you will be happy with the outcome. Tonight: Paint the town red. Sagittarius - (Nov 22 - Dec 21) **** Defer to others and listen to what they have to share. You are likely to get an earful about what people want to change. One person seems to exude charisma, and you cannot say no to this person. A new beginning becomes possible in the area of relationships. Tonight: All smiles. Born today: Actor Basil Rathbone (1892), actor Tim Allen (1953), actress Kat Dennings (1986) home decor indoor gardening beauty tips taste buds jar terrarium vanda parvifl ora stretching tips while working lime fudge Supplies: Glass jar; potting soil; activated charcoal; small stones, pebbles, or gravel; sheet moss; decorations (such as small toys, larger rocks, etc.) Instructions: Start by adding a 1 layer of pebbles to the bottom of the jar, followed by a thin layer of charcoal. The charcoal will help filter the water in your terrarium and will absorb odors otherwise your terrarium may start to stink. After the pebbles and charcoal, you ll add a 3-4 layer of potting soil. Now you ll start adding in the greenery. Simply tear pieces of moss off the sheet and place them in a single layer inside the jar Decorate as you wish with a variety of rocks, shells, plastic toys, or whatever you like. Now water your terrarium lightly (until you can see some moisture down in the pebble layer), and screw on the lid. This is a miniature Vanda species, with cream to light green colored fl owers with a purple lip. It is a native to the Himalayan regions of Asia. A unique thing about this plant is its ability to spike at every joint where the leaf adnates with the main stem. Site: Full light with shade from hot sun. Temperature: Daytime temperature should be 65 F and night temperatures generally should be 60 F or higher but not lower than 55 F. Water: In summer, water freely, apply fertilizer at every third watering, and mist plant often. Neck: To stretch your neck, fl ex your head forward/backward, side to side and look right and left. Shoulders: Roll your shoulders forward for around 10 times, then backward. Arms and shoulders: A good stretch for your arms and shoulders is to brace your hands on the edge your desk, each about a shoulder width away from your body. Twist your hands in so they point towards your body and lean forwards, hunching your shoulders. Wrists: Roll your wrists regularly, around every hour or so. Roll the wrists 10 times clockwise, then 10 times counterclockwise. Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter or margarine 2 cups sugar 3/4 cup milk grated lime peel of one lime 3/4 cup chopped pecans Method: Melt butter in medium saucepan; stir in sugar and milk until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil. Cover and boil one minute to dissolve sugar off sides of pan. Set candy thermometer in pan and cook syrup gently without stirring to 236 F. Cool to 110 F about 45 minutes. Stir in lime peel and pecans. Beat vigorously until mixture just starts to lose its gloss. Pour immediately into well greased 8 by 8 by 2 inch pan. Cool and cut into squares. Dear Abby Daughter is stuck playing referee in parents divorce By Abigail Van Buren Abigail Dear Abby: I m 16 and my parents are getting a divorce. It is really hard. They put me in the middle a lot in their arguments, like I m a counselor. I have told them repeatedly I don t like it, and they promise it won t happen again, but it does. They both tell me their sides of the story, but they never bother to listen to my feelings and what I want to say. It s like I have to be the adult/parent, while all I want is for them to hear me without getting upset. How do I bring this up? Girl in the middle Dear girl: Your parents have placed you in a no-win position. What they are doing to you is extremely unfair. If you have a trusted aunt, uncle or grandparents you can confi de in, enlist their help in delivering the message to your parents that their behavior is destructive. While your parents may be able to tune you out when you ask not to be involved in their marital problems, they may be less likely to ignore the message if they hear it from another adult. If you don t have a relative you can confi de in, then enlist the help of a counselor at school. Dear Abby: My 33-year-old daughter recently moved back home after failing to finish a graduate program. I discovered she was an alcoholic a few years ago and encouraged her to get treatment. She was in an outpatient recovery program and making progress, but recently relapsed. Before her relapse, her dad and I helped her to buy a business, which is not doing well. Her employees quit, and she lost a lot of income. She started going to AA meetings, and hired some people she met who attend and live in a halfway house. I regret helping her, and I now realize I must stop all interactions with her. She has a huge sense of entitlement and does not appreciate my help. I feel I have failed as a parent and hope I can move past this and work through my depression. Any advice you can offer is welcome. Best mom I can be Dear best mom: You have not failed as a parent. Your daughter has an addiction. Her addiction is not your fault. Substance abusers have been known to fall off the wagon on their road to sobriety, and this is what happened to your daughter. It would be helpful for you to talk about your depression with a licensed mental health professional who is familiar with addictions, and to attend some Al-Anon meetings. Because you feel your relationship with your daughter has reached the point that she can no longer live with you, tell her she must make other living arrangements and set a date for her to move out. Do not do it in anger. In fact, it may be better for both of you. Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA (Source: Universal Uclick) click IKFS hosts Iftar event Drinking problem?: Friends of Bill W. are available to help. Totally confidential. rohsecretary@gmail.com Narcotics Anonymous: NA can help with addiction problems. Totally confidential: English/Arabic. Cancer online support group: If you are Cancer patient or family member fighting with this deadly disease, come join our online support group. Best way of dealing with this disease is providing support and share our experience with each other. There are lot of things which even doctors can t tell so be member of this website and start sharing your experiences which may help others. October is recognized as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). The primary purpose is to promote self examination and screening mammography as the most effective way to save lives by detecting breast cancer at early stage. For more information visit: fightingwithcancer.webs.com/ Photos from the event. what s on today emergency Site for checking travel ban Bridge game: Bridge tournament is being held every Sunday and Wednesday at 20:00 hours, played at the Graduates Club, next to Kuwait Engineering Society. Interested Bridge pairs or individual players please contact Mohammed Merchant, Tel: , , Islamic classes in French: The Enlightenment into Islam is offering Islamic Classes in French for ladies. Timings 4:30 to 7 pm. Every Wednesday. Please register at the office (Women s Section), 2nd fl oor. For more information Indo-Kuwait Friendship Society, a non-profi t socio-cultural NRI association hosted a grand iftar event on June 2 (17th Ramadan 1439 Hijri) at Thakkara Auditorium, Fahaheel. Sayid Nasir Al-Mashoor (Patron IKFS & former KKM- CC Chairman) inaugurated the Islamic scholars speech program with good advise of maintaining unity among different Islamic sects and building communal harmony in different faiths. A well-known Islamic preacher Shaikh Abid Qasmi made key note address about the significance of Holy Ramazan illustrating the real rewards and discount on deeds allotted for Islamic Believers which Allahu subhanu watalla described in the Holy Quran shereef. Thalib Ba-wazir, IKFS Patron and Kuwait based businessman made complimentary speech and advised the audience to carry the task of wisdom and trust. He added that honesty and sincerest dealings are very important for all of us on each dealings between people to people, so that your records in front of Allah will be witnessed as a true Muslim. IKFS President Dr Ghalib Al-Mashoor presided the event while praising Allah almighty and recited several verses from Holy Quran/ Dr Al-Mashoor stressed to express gratitude to Allahu subhanu wataala because of our births were embarked by our Muslim parents who please contact us. Telephone , , , Fax (attention Enlightenment into Islam) KTCC activities: Worship service every Wednesday 7:00-9:00 pm at North Tent, NECK. Children s Bible School every Wednesday 7 to 9 pm at Activity Building, NECK. Overnight prayer every 1st Thursday from 10 pm 4:00 am at Diwaniya, NECK. Communion Service every 3rd Wednesday. The Following meeting are held at our KTCC Prayer House: 1) Children Bible School Teacher s Prayer 1st Saturday 7 to 9 pm. 2) Children s Prayer 2nd Friday 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. 3) Bible Study every 2nd and 4th Sunday at 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm. 4) ISOM Batch 1 Class Tuesdays 7 to 9 pm and Batch 2 Class Fridays 4 to 6 pm. 5) Choir Practice Mondays 6 to 8 pm. 6) Men s Fellowship 4th Friday got Hidyath from generations that we to become as born Muslim boy and Muslim girl. Alhamdulillah. Other felicitation speeches were made by Nazeer Khan (former acting President of KKMCC) Shabeer Mundoli, Rafeeque Master (a visiting guest and leading fi gure in Kannur Kerala based chapter of Indian Union Muslim League) also added about the benefits and rewards for fasting in the month of Holy Ramadan. IKFS and Green Suhrda vedi members served the guests as volunteers for this grand Iftar the event. A.K.Z. Abdlul Nazer, (General Secretary IKFS) expressed vote of thanks. number 112 Civil ID info: :00 am to 12:00 pm. 7) Women s Prayer (Abbasiya) 3rd Sunday 6:30 to 8:30 pm and (Salmiya) 4th Tuesday 6:30 to 8:30 pm. 8) Fasting Prayer every 3rd Friday from 12:00 Noon 3:30 pm. 9) Cottage Prayers every 2nd and 4th Week. 10) Baptism Service every 4th Friday. Welcome to all Tamil known people to participate in our regular activities to worship the Lord in our own mother tongue and be blessed! For details or for any prayer needs contact Tel No: / Latest Basics of Islam: If you are curious about Islam or want to hone your skills in explaining its main concepts, this course is for you. It will equip you with clear and concise information about Islam as well as techniques for effective dialogue. This is a golden opportunity to learn more about Islam in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Thursdays in pm at the TIES Center Villa No. 67, Street 413, Block 4, Shuhada Area, Kuwait Phone: +(965) info@tiescenter.net Ramadan breakfast (Iftar): The TIES Center will be hosting Ramadan Iftars on Mondays in Ramadan, and the opportunity to learn more about the Holy Month through the communal experience of breaking fast. Non-fasters are welcome. Every Monday during pm (pre-registration is appreciated: ) Eid Celebration: Stop by the TIES Center to congratulate friends for the occasion of Eid ul-fitr. Enjoy a variety of refreshments and games, with special activities for children. Monday, June 5-8pm, Villa No 67, Street 413, Block 4, Shuhada Area, Holy month of Ramadan, the South African S.African Embassy timings: During the Kuwait, Phone: +(965) , info@tiescenter.net Continued on Page 21

19 19 The travel season has started and many Kuwaiti and third country nationals are choosing Germany as their summer destination The majority of applicants consist of Kuwaiti citizens and their families for holiday, leisure and medical visits. Also the expatriates in Kuwait show growing interest in Germany for holiday, trade fair and business visits owed to the continuously expanding business relationships between Kuwaiti and German companies. With almost 55,000 applications processed by the end of 2018, the German Embassy in Kuwait has recorded a steady increase in Schengen visas over the last few years. Cities like Munich, Berlin, Aachen and Frankfurt number amongst the most popular destinations. Many travellers, however, also like discovering the different regions of the country by car or train, where they can enjoy a variety of scenic landscapes, unique shopping experiences and premium healthcare facilities at the same time. Waiting times please apply early The German Embassy would like to call upon all travellers to start filing their Schengen visa applications for their annual vacation in Germany from now on and not just a few days before their actual trip in order to avoid any inconveniences. At the moment, appointments at the application Centre Al Qabas can be obtained within 1-2 days during the summer travel season waiting times for an appointment of one week or more can occur due to the high demand. Last summer, the Visa Section of the German Embassy has processed between 10,000 and 12,000 visas per month. Please bear in mind that for Kuwaiti nationals a minimum of 3-5 working days is required from the moment your application arrives at the Embassy until you get back your stamped passport. For other nationalities, the procedure might take days. However, in individual cases the processing can take up to two weeks for all nationalities. The visa clearance is a computerized process the German Embassy has no influence on the processing time. Schengen Visa where to apply? In accordance with the Schengen Code, a Schengen visa for a short stay up to 90 days has to be applied for through the Embassy of the country which is your main destination. The main destination is understood to be the destination where the applicant intends to spend the longest time or where the main purpose of the intended journey is carried out. However, for your entry and departure you may cross any Schengen border to reach your destination with a visa issued by any Schengen Member State. Example: A Kuwaiti national wishes to travel to Germany for a medical check-up (20 days) and has additionally organized a short holiday in Austria (10 days). He will arrive at and leave from Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and travel from there by car. The main purpose of the trip and longest stay is the medical check-up, and thus the application should be processed by the German Embassy, even though the arrival and departure to the Schengen area is through Amsterdam. If no main destination can be determined due to equal duration and purpose of stay in several Member States, e.g. tourism round trip of 5 days in each country, then the Embassy of the Member State whose external border the applicant intends to cross first should deal with the application. Please note: At the border of entry or during other controls you may have to show the visa but also provide additional documentation, for example information on your travel destination or that you have sufficient means to cover the stay and the return trip. It is therefore recommended that you carry with you copies of the documents which you presented when applying for the visa (eg hotel booking or letters of invitation, flight confirmations, travel health insurance or other documents stating the purpose of your stay). What are the Schengen States? Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland have all acceded to the Schengen Agreement and are thus Schengen states. The Schengen area includes all EU member states except the UK, Ireland and Cyprus; at present the EU members Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia only apply some of the Schengen provisions. Until these three countries apply what is known as the Schengen acquis in full, as is their aim, passport controls will remain in place at internal borders. In addition to the EU countries already mentioned, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are also Schengen states. Did you know that... applications can be handed Destinations CHESSY, France, June 12, (AP): Helicopters, concept cars and SWAT teams shrouded in smoke heralded the launch of the first Avengersthemed season at Disneyland Paris following the announcement of plans for a $2.5 billion park expansion that will feature Marvel superheroes. Movie and sports stars, including French Olympians Teddy Riner and Camille Lacourt, attended an official opening Saturday night for the season that brings the Disneyland resorts a step closer to merging its traditional cast of characters with the Marvel universe. It follows similar moves in Hong Kong Disneyland as well as in the Disney California Adventure. We are delighted to have the Avengers assemble in Disneyland Paris for the first time ever, Euro Disney President Catherine Powell said. They re here to delight thrill and surprise you with incredible action and amazing special effects. Actors glided down ropes from a hovering helicopter before Spiderman, the Hulk, Ironman, Thor, German Embassy records steady increase in Schengen visas Many Kuwaitis choosing Germany as summer destination In this May 16, 2018, photo, a Harris s hawk spreads its wings while perched on the hand of falconer Jessica Snyder at New England Falconry in Woodstock, Vermont. (AP) Ancient sport offered as an activity at hotels, vineyards Tourists can now experience falconry in US Super heroes characters perform during the opening show at Disneyland Paris, west of Paris. (AP) It s really spectacular By Lisa Rathke Falconry is an old tradition in many parts of the world, including the United Kingdom and the Middle East. But now it s starting to be offered as an activity for tourists at hotels, vineyards and other sites around the US, from Vermont to Colorado to California. The ancient sport of using birds of prey to hunt wild animals has existed for at least 4,000 years. Experiences designed for tourists typically show off the birds flight and faithful return to their handlers, though in these programs, birds don t usually bring back creatures they ve caught. During a 45-minute session at the Woodstock Inn in Woodstock, Vermont, a professional falconer flies a trained bird and provides a history of falconry and information about raptors. Then guests can try it themselves, handling and free-flying a Harris s hawk, or they can just observe the sport. In a longer 90-minute session, a second raptor is flown. Bouchaine Vineyards in the Carneros region of California s Napa Valley started using falconers in 2016 to keep other birds like starlings and migratory species from eating their grapes. Visitors were so intrigued to see the peregrine falcons fly and work with their trainer that the vineyard decided to offer experience to its guests. It s wonderful to showcase the site. It s amazing to showcase the birds, and to be able to actually hold a glove out and have a falcon land on your hand is really an incredible experience, said Chris Kajani, Bouchaine winemaker and general manager. At New England Falconry in Vermont last month, a young Harris s hawk was eager to do what s he s trained to do. He launched from a high wooden platform soaring through the swirling winds over a grassy field and landed squarely on the falconer s gloved hand where he was rewarded with a piece of meat. The Harris s hawk the most social raptor because it hunts in groups had rich brown and tawny feathers, sturdy yellow legs with long black talons, and intense eyes that allow him to spot prey while soaring high in the sky. He has fun out here, falconer Jessica Snyder says of the 1-yearold hawk named Audubon. He can catch himself meadow voles, anything from even a worm. He likes to eat worms. He has about 10 times the sight ability of an average human. Next Snyder brought out a screeching female barn owl, its flat white face appearing a little sleepy in the broad daylight. The nocturnal owl with its golden spotted feathers perked up and took flight, flying slower and lower than the hawk, its wings silent in the wind. Snyder called her with a whistle and a pshhht sound because as an owl she s very sound-oriented. The birds have a bell and an antenna attached to their leg so they can be heard or tracked if they fly off. And each bird has a unique personality, she said. The ancient sport of using birds to hunt rabbits, squirrels, ducks, even foxes declined with the introduction of guns. Falconry only arrived in the US in the early 1900s and tended to be a sport for the elite, according to Sheldon Nicolle, president of the North American Falconers Association. A recent best-selling memoir, H is for Hawk, helped introduce Captain America and other Marvel characters took the stage for several shows. It s really spectacular, said The Beach actress Virginie Ledoyen, who watched the action. Behind the special effects and celebrity guests were hard-negotiated business plans. The Paris park s expansion into Marvel terrain was unveiled earlier this year following a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Disney Chairman Robert falconry to contemporary readers through the story of a woman training a northern goshawk in England while grieving for her father. Nicolle estimates there are likely 20 or 30 opportunities for falconry experiences around the country in addition to the Woodstock Inn and Bouchaine Vineyards, including in southern Vermont at the Equinox resort, and the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado. As a falconer, I always tell people essentially all we are is extreme bird-watchers because we re getting to watch this up close and personal, he said. If You Go... New England Falconry: Open year-round, by appointment only. Located at 4148 Hartland Hill Rd., Woodstock, Vermont Rates: introductory session: $95, $30 for participant who doesn t handle hawks. Extended session: $180 per participant, $50 for participant who doesn t handle hawks. Located about 260 miles (418 kms) from New York City and 140 miles (225 kms) from Boston. (AP) Disneyland Paris enters Marvel universe with Avengers theme in as early as three months prior to the intended travel date? If you are a frequent traveller, then please attach copies of your previous Schengen visas to your application file in order to enable the Visa Team to check whether you might be eligible to a multiple entry visa with a longer validity period. for your convenience the external service provider Al Qabas Assurex is operating a Visa Application Centre supporting the German Embassy in Kuwait? The support of Al Qabas enables the German Embassy to offer better Iger. Disney Group said the makeover of Walt Disney Studios Park, one of the two theme parks that make up Disneyland Paris, will be rolled out in phases beginning in It includes three new areas based on Marvel superheroes as well as the Frozen and Star Wars franchises. The Hotel New York will be redesigned to resemble the architecture and decor favored by Tony Stark, aka Ironman. Analysts see the plans as a major area of investment that will aim to drive long-term growth for Disney, which acquired Marvel in The massive Marvel collaboration and $2 billion plus investment speaks to Disney s positive view for the future of this all-important European asset as it further drives mindshare among consumers, GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives said in an interview. While Disneyland Paris has seen its shares of speed bumps from an attendance perspective post-recession and Paris attacks, its appears to be on a healthy trajectory, he added. customer service hours and to shorten waiting times for all customers in order to facilitate a smooth application process. All visa applications for journeys to Germany have to be submitted there and customers can track the status of their applications online. For the travellers convenience, Al Qabas will ensure that the applications include all relevant documents, assist with the application procedure if necessary and offers you additional services. Application forms and further information can be obtained at Al Qabas offices or online at there are now online tools to assist you with calculating the 90 days period of stay? A Schengen visa entitles the holder to a stay not exceeding 90 days per six-month period, even if the Schengen visa has been issued with a validity of one year or more. This period of stay begins with the first day of entry into a Schengen state. Once a Schengen visa has been issued, the holder is eligible to travel within the entire Schengen zone for a maximum of 90 days within a period of six month, depending on the validity of the visa. Customers sometimes find it difficult to calculate this period of stay. Therefore, you can find an electronic calculator on the homepage of the German Embassy under FAQ Visa ( to assist you with your travel planning. your fingerprints will be stored in the Schengen Visa Information System (VIS) for 5 years so that you don t have to give them every time when applying? When arriving at an external border of the Schengen Area, the visa holder s biometric data is checked to confirm his identity. Thanks to the use of biometric data such as your fingerprints, a visa holder can easily be identified as the person who applied for the visa. Once finger scans are stored in the VIS, they can be re-used for further visa applications within the system over a 5-year period. Children under the age of 12 do not have to give their fingerprints when filing their application. the offi cial visa fees for a Schengen visa are only KD 22, even if it is a multiple entry visa? Depending on the daily exchange rate, the processing fee for a Schengen visa is currently KD 22, for adults regardless of the visas validity period (KD 13, for children between 6 and 12 years and for children below 6 years the application procedure is for free). Al Qabas is adding a standard service charge of KD 10, on top of the Embassy s processing fee and you can find all these amounts transparently documented on their homepage. Unfortunately, some private businesses or agencies are claiming to render visa or messenger services to German Schengen customers without being appointed by the German Embassy. Please be aware of the prices and quality of service of such agencies since various complaints have been received about overpriced services and wrong visa information. you have to make a customs declaration if you enter Germany with a total amount of 10,000 (ten thousand Euros) or more per person? Anybody entering Germany from a non-european Union country carrying cash in a total amount of 10,000 euros or more is obliged to declare this amount of money to the competent German customs office in writing without being explicitly requested to do so. The purpose of the obligation to declare is to prevent the illegal movement of money across the external borders of the European Union in order to combat money laundering, the financing of terrorist organizations and criminal activities. The obligation to submit a declaration and the customs inspections are not intended to restrict the free movement of capital in any way. You will still be permitted to carry unlimited amounts of cash across borders in the future. Travellers who intend to bring an amount of 10,000 euros or more per person to Germany can download the necessary cash declaration form at zoll.de prior to their trip and present the completed declaration form upon arrival to the German customs officers to facilitate entry procedures. I have renewed my passport. The Schengen visa in my old passport is still valid. Does it allow me to travel to Germany? Yes. You can travel with your old passport that contains the valid visa together with the new passport. Travellers who have a valid Schengen visa for the duration of the planned trip in the old passport may use this old visa in connection with the new passport to travel to Germany, if the new passport is attached to the old one and if the spelling of the name and alphanumerical data is exactly the same between the two passports and does not differ (eg new visa required, if name spelling in the old passport Mohammed AJ and in the new differently Mohamad A J M ). For travels to other Schengen countries please reconfirm with the respective Embassies. If you prefer to obtain a new visa in new passport, please note that your old visa must be cancelled by issuing Embassy prior to filing your new application. The visa validity depends on various factors such as your travel purpose and travel history. If you are a frequent traveler or owner of a business or property in Germany, please feel free to attach additional documents (property/company deed, old visas, copies of border stamps from previous travel to Germany, etc) when requesting a multiple entry visa with longer validity period. Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Kuwait.

20 20 First exhibition to feature works by well-known Saudi artist Lulwah Al Homoud Jumeirah Al Qasr launches Jumeirah Art expo with Dubai Culture DUBAI, UAE, June 12: Jumeirah Al Qasr, announced its partnership with Dubai Culture & Arts authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate s dedicated entity for culture, arts and heritage, and unveiled a dedicated art gallery space to display the works of talented artists from across the region through the Jumeriah Art exhibition that will run throughout the year with the first artist displayed until mid- September. The first exhibition as part of Jumeirah Art will feature the outstanding works of Lulwah Al Homoud, a talented and wellknown Saudi artist, whose art comprises vivid geometrical forms and Arabic calligraphy. The artist s unique pieces are inspired by the distinguished Egyptian Calligrapher Ahmed Moustafa, and by the Pakistani Calligrapher Rasheed Butt, whom she trained with in her A photo from the event younger years. Saeed Al Nabouda, Acting Director General of Dubai Culture, commented: We are delighted to collaborate with our partners at Jumeirah Group in bringing a dedicated art gallery space to exhibit talented artists work from across the region. By providing artists with such platforms, we are supporting our mandate to establish Dubai as a global, creative and sustainable city for culture, arts, heritage, and literature. This partnership comes under our Public Art Strategy, which aims to shed light on the unique visual designs of the region s creative community by displaying their art in creative and innovative ways. Al Nabouda added: Our selection of the artist Lulwah Al Homoud comes as part of our on-going efforts to strengthen the collaboration with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in many fields. We also selected her in recognition for her Islamic art style, which supports our efforts to establish Dubai as the capital of Creative Islamic Economy, by shedding light on local and international talents from the Islamic culture and arts. Commenting on this new project, Pinar Timer, General Manager of Jumeirah Al Qasr said: At Jumeirah Group, we consider Jumeirah Al Qasr the crown jewel of Madinat Jumeirah perfectly reflecting its Arabic name, meaning The Palace. The unique architecture and interior designs at Jumeirah Al Qasr inspired by the historical Arabian palaces, makes it the perfect place to host some of the region s most celebrated artists, especially the Arabic inspired art of Lulwah, which showcases the authentic artistic elements of this part of the region, while complimenting the guests cultural experience. We are very proud of our partnership with Dubai Culture, and we are very excited to see this collaboration come to life. Lulwah is represented in Dubai by Tabari Artspace. She previously had a number of successful solo exhibitions, including one at the Sharjah Calligraphy Museum in 2015, and another one in 2016 at the Hafez Gallery in Jeddah. She also co-curated the Edge of Arabia Exhibition at the Brunei Gallery in London, and contributed her work to many international group exhibitions, including the Sundaram Tagore Galleries in New York, AB Gallery in Hong Kong, and to many other art exhibitions in France, Germany, Lebanon, and Korea. KIB distributes refreshments at mosques during Qiyam prayers KUWAIT CITY, June 12: As part of its social responsibility program during Ramadan, Kuwait International Bank (KIB) organized an initiative to distribute cold refreshments amongst those who have finished Tarawih and Qiyam prayers at mosques across the country. On his part, Manager of the Corporate Communications Unit at KIB, Nawaf Najia, said: This initiative was one of the many initiatives that KIB organized during the Holy Month and aimed at serving diverse segments of the local community. Through these initiatives, the Bank continues to establish itself as a partner in all aspects A photo from the event of people s lives, a Bank for Life. We are adamant on organizing various social initiatives that aim at fostering community values and strengthening ties between everyone. By distributing water amongst those praying, we recognize and appreciate their efforts and spiritual devotion during the last ten days of Ramadan. Najia also noted that the high spirits and positivity brought upon by KIB staff volunteers during the initiative reflected their genuineness and strong sense of social responsibility, going beyond their day-to-day job roles by spreading their love for volunteerism during these blessed days of the year. Eatery spices up its offerings Shake Shack shakin now at Al Kout Mall KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Shake Shack, the New York-styled modern day roadside burger stand, is thrilled to announce the launch of its ninth branch in Kuwait at Al Kout Mall, Fahaheel. The new branch located in Mezzanine 2 of Al Kout Mall, boasts an exceptional and spacious indoor area along with an outdoor terrace seating area. The new attractive location invites all Shake Shackers to create memorable experiences over Shake Shack s most delectable offerings including 100% all-natural Angus beef and all-natural chicken burgers, hot dogs, crinkle-cut fires, flavored custards and lemonades. Shake Shack s Culinary Director, Mark Rosati, continually re-imagines exceptional sandwich creations and sauces that are inspired to satisfy the customer s cravings and are special to the region. This season, Shake Shack is spicing it up by introducing the Pickled Jalapeño Burger, a 100% all-natural Angus beef cheeseburger topped with crispy marinated shallots, pickled jalapeños, and sriracha mayo, which is available for a limited time only across all its branches, including Al Kout Mall. Shake Shack is also located across Kuwait at the following locations: Phase 1 & Grand Avenue, The Avenues, Al Fanar Mall, The Gate Mall, Movenpick Al Bida a, Kuwait International Airport, Jabriya and Sidra. Jazeera Airways to commence 3 weekly flights to Pakistan, Lahore KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Extending its reach further for the upcoming Summer season, Jazeera Airways, Kuwait s leading low cost airline, operating regionally and internationally, has announced the launch of its three weekly flights into Lahore starting June 26, We are pleased to be offering a new service to connect the Pakistani communities here in Kuwait and other GCC countries to Lahore. This is our first destination into Pakistan and the service will facilitate direct connections for the 150,000 Pakistanis living in Kuwait with their friends and relatives. said Rohit Ramachandran, CEO Jazeera Airways. Flights will run three weekly flights with departures from Kuwait scheduled on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 18.35pm from Kuwait, arriving at 00.10am in Lahore with return flights Shop with AUB Credit Cards AUB gives customers chance to win 100 percent cash-back KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Ahli United Bank launched its new Win and redeem the value of your purchases campaign, which is designed to reward the Bank s customers with 100% cash-back on their purchases made using their AUB Credit Cards. The maximum cash-back is limited to KD 1,000 for each winner. To be eligible, the AUB Credit Cardholder only has to spend KD 100 or above through his/her AUB Credit Card during the campaign period. This new campaign will run for three months, from 1st June until the end of August The campaign offers 15 prizes through three draws, each with five prizes. The first draw will take place on 9th July 2018 and the second draw will be on 9th August The third and final draw will take place on 9th September In a press statement, the Bank said We are delighted to launch our new campaign, which further enhances the value proposition for AUB cardholders. All customers using the Bank s Credit Cards are eligible to enter the draw and win valuable prizes. This campaign reflects AUB s ongoing on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 01.00am arriving 02.55am back in Kuwait. One way fares start from KD45 and return from KD84. Hailed as the commercial capital of Pakistan, Lahore is the country s second largest economic hub with the largest IT Park and historic cultural center backed by a vibrant lifestyle. Lahore is home to several landmarks of architectural importance such as Grand Jamia, Wazir Khan and Badshahi mosques, Gurudwara Dera Sahib Fort and Shalamar gardens to name a few. To book the flights to Lahore or learn more about Jazeera Airways services, offers, promotions and destinations, customers can visit the airline s website at jazeeraairways.com, use the Jazeera app, call 177 or contact their travel agent. commitment towards our customers, and our underlying efforts to reward them consistently through innovative and attractive offers. Customers will receive one chance to enter the draw for every KD 10 being spent locally in Kuwait, and will receive three chances to enter the draw for every KD 10 spent abroad. In addition to this exciting cashback campaign, customers who spend using AUB credit cards will also automatically benefit from the Pearls reward program as well as AUB s instant discount program. These offers provide customers a real added value that rewards the AUB Credit Card and ATM card holders through unique discounts at major well-known companies and retail outlets in Kuwait, as well as points to be redeemed for air tickets on Kuwait Airways, Gulf Air and Qatar Airways. For more information on AUB s latest cash-back campaign, products and services, customers are invited to visit any of the Bank s branches or dial the customer service Hayakom on , or log on to the Bank s websitewww.ahliunited.com.kw Maximum comfort Safir launches Eid, World Cup offers KUWAIT CITY, June 12: As the 2018 World Cup matches coincide with Eid Al Fitr, Safir Hotel and Residences Kuwait Fintas has completed all preparations for the football and holiday season. The World Cup Russia 2018 will be broadcast live in all the hotel s highest standard rooms and suites for maximum comfort and privacy and enjoy watching with family and friends in the World Cup lounge with its seven giant screens and exciting atmosphere, including the snack buffet and traditional or modern shisha during the matches starting Thursday, June 14, World Cup 2018 Offers for every KD 10 you spend in World Cup Lounge: Three chances to fly to Europe or Turkey on Turkish Airline A stay in Safir or Diplomatic Suite inclusive of buffet breakfast in Flavors Restaurant for two persons and one child Eid Al Fitr Offers: A stay starting from KD 60 per night in a deluxe room inclusive of buffet breakfast for two adults and one child Free access to Safir Kids Club, pool & Gym 20% discount on lunch buffet in Flavors Restaurant 20% discount in Al Roshinah Kuwaiti Traditional Restaurant Free access to Safir Kids Club, pool & Gym Special rates for hotel apartments of one or two bedrooms with living room In addition to: Air-conditioned Individual and modern tents are available Safir Hotel and Residences Kuwait Fintas is committed to offer its guests the perfect venue to live the Spirit of World Cup Russia 2018 during Eid Al Fitr. Company distributes gifts, Girgean candy Zain shares Ramadan joy with kids in hospitals KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Zain, the leading telecommunications company in Kuwait, shared the joys of the holy Month of Ramadan with children and patients in a number of the biggest hospitals in Kuwait. The company s team visited the hospitals during this blessed time of year to distribute gifts and Girgean to children and their families and celebrate the occasion in a family atmosphere full of joy and happiness in cooperation with the Kuwaiti Society for the Care of Children in Hospitals (KACCH). Zain organizes visits to hospitals several times a year on many occasions, most importantly the Holy Month of Ramadan. The initiative, which comes under the umbrella of Photos from the event Zain employees during their visit to hospitals. Zain s CSSR strategy, aims at sharing the blessings of the Holy Month with the children, their parents, as well as the medical staff who take care of them. Zain s team, including staff and volunteers, distributed gifts and Girgean candy to children in a number of Kuwait s biggest and most prominent hospitals, including Al Amiri Hospital, Al Razi Hospital, and Ibn Sina Hospital. Zain expressed its heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to all the parties involved in organizing the visits including hospital staff, officials, children s families, and the volunteers themselves, who all helped draw a smile on the faces of the children. Zain highlighted that the aim of undertaking the annual hospital visits during special occasions is part of the company s commitment to celebrating the Holy Month of Ramadan through ongoing social activities that generate a sense of generosity and caring. As a responsible telecommunications company, Zain looks to improve the lives of the people within the communities it serves. Zain affirmed that its social and Corporate Sustainability and Social Responsibility campaign during the Holy Month of Ramadan will include an extensive array of initiatives and programs that will focus on helping less fortunate people to enjoy Ramadan happily, as well as celebrating the true spirit the Holy Month brings.

21 21 Chinese vase found in shoebox sells for $19mn Kennedy Center to open US arts campus in 2019 WASHINGTON, June 12, (Agencies): Between a parkway and a busy freeway, Washington s Kennedy Center will open a massive campus next year where the public can view up close how art is made. Natural light floods the two-level sloping design dotted by three white board-form concrete pavilions that play host to 11 intimate rehearsal/ classroom/performance spaces. It s almost the antithesis of the center s original 1971 building, a column-filled cavernous structure dressed in Italian Carrara marble. The REACH in contrast is all soaring ceilings, huge windows and swooping curves, which architect Steven Holl said were inspired by glissando, a continuous slide of notes. There are no columns. Even on the inside, the structure is the form and the shape, Holl, 70, explained in an interview. Holl s team developed crinkle concrete to soften sound in ways he says are superior to acoustic tiles. The deeply indented slabs also serve as supporting walls. The 4.6-acre (1.9-hectare) project adds 72,000 square feet (6,700 square meters) of new interior space, expanding public areas by 20 percent and nearly doubling outdoor space at one of America s top performing arts center. Set to open September 7, 2019, more than two years after the initially planned May 29, 2017 start date, the project has been beset by delays and cost overruns. Construction didn t begin until October 2015, nearly a year after a ceremonial groundbreaking, after part of the original design failed to get regulatory approval. Projected costs ballooned from $100 million at the outset in 2013 to $175 million, but the fundraising goal jumped to $250 million in order to also cover additional anticipated costs. Maintenance The project will be almost entirely philanthropically funded, with the federal government only paying for maintenance and upkeep, president Deborah Rutter said on a recent tour of the construction site. Environmental stewardship was a driving force behind much of the design. The huge green space above the structure will feature a grove of 35 ginkgo trees, a symbol of longevity and one of many nods to John F. Kennedy, the 35th US president. American cherry wood finishes from the auditorium floor to seats reference Kennedy s favorite rocking In this file photo taken on May 22, 2018 a rare Imperial Qianlong porcelain vase (18th century) is displayed at Sotheby s auction company in Paris. (AFP) chair. Outside, white concrete walls clean themselves and filter pollutants, thanks to titanium that breaks down dirt when light and heat hit the building. Fly ash, a byproduct of coal combustion, gives the concrete mix extra strength and density. A partnership with the local water utility limits the flow of untreated water into the river, and 60 geothermal wells provide the main source of heating and cooling. There will be an outdoor stage and simulcast video wall to watch performances for free. The three pavilions are like instruments to bring light to the spaces below. It s really about fusing the idea of architecture and landscaping, said Holl, who began his career as a landscape architect. At night, the three structures will glow like so many tips of an iceberg, thanks to shoji screen-like etched matte white glass, an effect Holl also created for The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Holl said he was inspired by the smoke from a space heater that caught fire when Robert Frost read a poem during Kennedy s 1961 presidential inauguration. For me, it s connecting to Kennedy that makes it probably the most important project that I ll ever do, said Holl. Also: PARIS: An 18th century Chinese vase found in a shoebox in an attic in France sold for 16.2 million euros ($19 million) at auction in Paris on Tuesday. The price was more than 20 times the estimate of 500,000 euros to 700,000 euros auctioneers Sotheby s had put on the item. It was the highest price reached for a single item sold by Sotheby s in France. The vase spent some of its life stashed in an attic with other items that formed part of an inheritance. A French family retrieved the vase and brought it to the auctioneer. This person (the seller) took the train, then the metro and walked on foot through the doors of Sotheby s and into my office with the vase in a shoebox protected by newspaper, Sotheby s Asian arts expert Olivier Valmier told Reuters. When she put the box on my desk and we opened it we were all stunned by the beauty of the piece. The 30 cm, bulb-shaped vase, painted in delicate shades of green, blue, yellow and purple, was described as an exceptionally wellpreserved porcelain vessel made for an emperor of the Qing dynasty. It depicts deer, birds and other animals in a wood, and includes gold embroidery around the neck. The vase bears a mark of the Qianlong Emperor who ruled China from 1736 to A Sotheby s spokeswoman said: They knew it had some value but nothing like that, nor that it was from the Qian dynasty. The auction lasted some 20 minutes, a long time by usual standards for such sales, with multiple bidders battling for the prize. The buyer was Asian but the firm did not wish to reveal the name or nationality. The 16.2 million euros ($19.11 million) sale price included 2 million euros in auction costs and commissions. FAIPS click Continued from Page 18 Latest Embassy will be open to the public, Sunday through Thursday from 09:00am to 13:00pm. Please note that the Consular Section operation hours will be from 09:30am to 12:00pm, Sunday through Thursday. B desh Embassy Ramadan timing: The Embassy of the People s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will follow the following office hours during the Holy month of Ramadan. Sunday to Thursday: 09:30 hrs-03:30 hrs; Dhuhr prayer break: 12:00 hrs- 12:30 hrs; Friday and Saturday: weekly holidays This information is for all concerned. Advisory for OCI card holders: All those having OCI Cards are required to carry both their OCI Card and passport to travel to India so that they do not face any difficulty in immigration clearance. From October 2018, ICAO will accept only machine readable travel documents, hence, existing PIO Cards, which are handwritten will therefore, become invalid. Thus it will be necessary upon PIO Cardholders to obtain machine readable OCI Cards in lieu of existing hand written PIO Cards before October 2018 to avoid any inconvenience. Indian Embassy working hours: With effect from May 1, 2018, the Embassy of India s working hours will be from 0800 hours to 1630 hours from Sunday to Thursday with Fridays and Saturdays as closed weekly holidays. The lunch break will be during 1300 to 1330 hours (1 pm to 1.30 pm) on the working days. Brazil Embassy notice: The Embassy of the Federative Republic of Brazil announces that the Consular Office has new timings, being 8 am to 12 pm, Sunday to Thursday. IEI Kuwait Chapter Membership: The Institution of Engineers (India), Kuwait Chapter invites all its members to update their membership information for the year and actively participate in the chapter activities. Indian Engineers residing in Kuwait are welcome to join the pool of more than 700,000 Engineers by becoming corporate or non-corporate members of The Institution of Engineers (India). IEI, Kuwait Chapter conducts many technical events for the benefits of its members. Please watch for further details in your registered or announcement in media. The chapter has science club activities for member s children, and ladies wing activities for the members family. IEI, Kuwait Chapter has facility to register student members for AMIE Examination for those interested in pursuing career enrichment. For more information and on chapter membership, kindly contact IEI, Kuwait Chapter office on extn. 314 between 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 pm (Sunday through Thursday) or through to ieikwt@hotmail.com. You may also contact Engr Ashok Kumar ( ) or Engr Karthikeyan ( ) for any further clarification. June 17 IMA-Summer Islamic classes: Good News for the expatriate community in Kuwait. Indian Muslim Association (IMA) announces its much awaited Summer Islamic classes this year on June 17, 2018 immediately after Eid Al- Fitr. IMA with the coordination of IPC, opens the doors of its well-known 2-month long, Summer Islamic Classes program to students in Kuwait from LKG up to 12th Standard. Offering a syllabus with a wide range of Islamic subjects such as Quran reading/understanding/memorization, Prophet s Life and day to day Jurisprudence. Apart from this, teachers work on Personality Development of the students and also engage them in various activities including field visits. Competitions are held on Islamic Quiz, Recitation of Quran and Elocution. Continued on Page 24 FAIPS Humanities students visit Kuwait Centre for Autism The Fahaheel Al-Watanieh Indian Private School (FAIPS) Humanities students visited the Kuwait Centre for Autism on May 10th, As psychology students, currently learning about autism and its manifestations, it was an eye-opening experience for them. Guy, the Vice-Principal of academics, led the group, vividly showcasing each aspect of the brilliant institution tailored to meet the needs of By Katie Workman Mediterranean couscous are tiny balls of toasted semolina pasta that plump up when cooked into toothsome, chewy, slightly less tiny balls of pasta. They are delicious and satisfying and make a great base for a hearty side or salad. You can make the couscous according to the directions on the package, or use this method if you prefer. Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a medium pot over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add 1-1/2 cups Mediterranean couscous, and stir it occasionally for about 3 minutes, until it starts to color. Add 2-1/3 cups broth or water, cover the pot, and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat and continue to simmer for about 12 minutes, until the liquid is mostly absorbed. Then turn off the heat and let sit covered for another 2 minutes. This is a beautiful side dish. I love using rainbow chard but you can use other varieties of chard, and play around and swap in different types of greens. This is very nice served warm, but it s also a great room temperature salad, perfect for a picnic or a potluck barbecue party. It can be made up to 2 days ahead of time. Mediterranean couscous, swiss chard and peppers Serves: 6 to 8 Start to finish: 45 minutes 1 red bell pepper; 1 yellow bell pepper; 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided; Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste; 1 large bunch Swiss chard; 1 red onion, halved and sliced; 1 teaspoon Photos from the event every autistic child. Autism is a developmental disorder that is characterized by diffi culties in social interaction and communication, a restricted range of interests and a strong desire for routine. Kuwait Center for Autism was established in 1994 by Dr Samira Al-Saad, mother of a girl with autism. The atmosphere was welcoming, encouraging and minced garlic 3 cups cooked Mediterranean or Mediterranean Couscous; 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Seed, core, and cut the peppers into 1-inch pieces. On a rimmed baking sheet toss the peppers with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and spread them out. Roast the peppers for 10 to 12 minutes until tender and lightly browned. Meanwhile, chop the chard by slicing off the stems and roughly chopping the greens. Rinse well in a colander, then shake the colander to get rid of excess moisture. Heat a large pot over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then add the onions and saute for 4 minutes. Then add the garlic, and stir for another minute. Add the chard, season with salt and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes, until the chard is tender. Place the couscous in a mixing bowl. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the lemon juice, and toss to combine. Add the cooked peppers and chard, toss to combine everything well, and check for seasonings. Also: PARIS: Owners of the bistros and terrace cafes that are integral to the Paris way of positive. At the end of the visit, the FAIPS students put on a performance for the staff and children at the centre. The staff expressed their hope that more individuals would spread awareness about the disorder by reaching out to those who work tirelessly to fi nd methods to reduce the symptoms and improve the quality of life of those affected. Beautiful side dish Mediterranean couscous makes great base for hearty salad This September 2017 photo shows Mediterranean couscous in New York. (AP) life want the je ne sais quoi of their establishments to be recognized as both of global value and endangered. They have launched a campaign to be named by the United Nations cultural agency as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. UNESCO has given that status to traditions as varied as a Mongolian camel-coaxing ritual, Iranian sailboat building and the sung prayers of indigenous Peruvians. Members of a bistro owners association gathered Monday at Le Mesturet in central Paris. With its zinc counter, wooden tables and bottles for decoration, it is typical of the kind of establishment people were relaxing outside of when extremists shot at them on Nov 13, The chefs and business owners said the bistros of Paris play a key role in bringing people of all origins, religions, social classes and age together in a cheap and welcoming place to drink coffee or share a meal. But the traditional bistro also is threatened by increasing rents and competition, and their number has dropped by half in the past 20 years, the owners argued. Our most beautiful love and friendship stories were often born in bistros and on terraces, Le Mesturet owner Alain Fontaine, the association s president, said. A visiting tourist will find a lively place, a place to share with the people of Paris the people of Paris of today, not the people of the past, Fontaine added. A multi-ethnic, inter-faith, socially varied people. All of this disappears inside a bistro. The association hopes to see its candidacy examined by UNESCO next year. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo supports the initiative. Stephanie Mathey, 39, the owner of three bistros in Paris, said she enjoyed taking a coffee in such places even before they became her life work. Her husband grew up in the bar his parents owned. Later, he went to the United States for a long time and when he came back, he said, It s really something that I missed the bistros, Mathey said. The couple eventually decided to open their own. Alain Fontaine stressed that the real Parisian bistro offers homemade food and accessible prices like a coffee for 1 euro ($1.1). Fontaine gets emotional when discussing the November 2015 extremist attacks that targeted a concert hall and a soccer stadium as well as cafes, leaving 130 people dead. (Agencies)

22 22 Behrs joins Neighborhood CBS quietly readies Evening News for the next generation LOS ANGELES, June 12, (RTRS): Jeff Glor journeyed all the way to Singapore to get closer to his audience across America. When the anchor of CBS Evening News holds forth from the southeastern Asia metropolis this evening as part of the network s coverage of a historic summit between Kim Jong-un of North Korea and President Donald Trump of the United States, he will do so with a bit of a twist. All five feeds of the venerable newscast sent across the country will include live updates, so that viewers in Denver, Seattle and Los Angeles can get the latest information on what is transpiring. It s not the norm, but we don t live in normal times, says Mosheh Oinounou, who was named executive producer of the newscast in January. We are in an environment where we need to be relevant to digital viewers and to viewers who have access to 24/7 cable networks. We have to be competitive in that way. Glor was appointed to the helm of CBS Evening News late last year, a bid by CBS to make a perch known best for anchors such as Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Katie Couric and Scott Pelley more meaningful to viewers during a tumultuous age. Viewership for the three broadcast-network evening-news programs has risen and stabilized in recent years, but more young news consumers are getting their headlines from smartphone updates and Twitter posts than ever before, prompting yet another round of hand-wringing over the value of a early-evening rehash of the stories of the day. And while Glor has eked out some ground viewership during his tenure on CBS Evening News is up 1% compared to the year prior to his launch and up 10% from Pelley s final month in mid-2017 the CBS program remains well behind its direct competitors, ABC s World News Tonight and NBC s NBC Nightly News. For the five-day broadcast run ended May 25, according to Nielsen,. CBS lured an average of 1.18 million viewers between 25 and 54, the audience favored most by news advertisers, compared with an average of 1.64 million for ABC and 1.62 million for NBC. CBS Evening News overall viewership is down 5% compared to a year ago. One journalism professor is skeptical CBS can move the needle more significantly. All network evening newscasts have lost viewers to cable TV and the internet, says Mark Feldstein, chair of broadcast journalism at University of Maryland s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. If a star like Katie Couric couldn t arrest the ratings slide, nobody can not even Walter Cronkite returned from the grave. CBS News top executive says he never expected Glor to solve CBS third-place problem during his first months at the desk. After all, the dynamic has been in place for more than two decades. We are actually performing right to the target anticipated, says CBS News President David Rhodes, in an interview. Any time, in all our history, whenever we have made a talent change there was usually a setback in the ratings. We haven t really had much of that. Continued CBS News has continued to invest in longer-form reporting and overseas coverage as a way to stand apart from its competitors. Rhodes says research shows the average 38-year-old viewer of CBSN, the company s streaming-video news outlet, craves more depth from news stories even online. Oinounou says he s willing to feature fewer stories on CBS Evening News if he can find ways to give viewers more perspective and reportage on the ones that do make the cut. And CBS News is proud of getting reporters like Seth Doane into Syria and Ben Tracy into North Korea when rivals choose not to play in those fields. Viewers don t want a kind of rapidfire succession of bite-sized stories and a big story count. They want to get a little deeper, says Rhodes. International stories play a role in that effort. In past years, he says, CBS News would have had more competition on some of the overseas stories where it now finds itself alone. I think it s concerning that we don t. Changes to the actual broadcast are incremental, not radical. CBS News is quietly revamping the broadcast and the newsgathering that goes into it in a bid to make it more meaningful to the digital generation on the rise the one that will eventually inherit the broadcast from an older cohort who can still recall when working parents got home in time to make the evening-news an integral part of their daily routine. We are trying to get a little better every day, says Glor, holding forth from his office last week just 24 hours before he was slated to fly to Singapore and six minutes before hurtling through the hallways at CBS New York broadcast facility to do a daily radio report. We are paying attention to the next generation and all the places we can make our work available beyond the traditional six-thirty slot. CBS now replays CBS Evening News later in the evening on CBSN. Under Oinounou, who previously supervised several CBSN broadcasts, producers have revived Eye on America, an in-depth report that originally ran daily in the early 1990s, as a deeply reported segment that gives viewers an immersive you are there report think about something you might see on Vice News. The show recently launched a new introduction that is much more oriented toward the story of the day told through the voices of the day, as opposed to just reading a set of headlines, says Oinounou. He compares it to the Eye Opener segment that kicks off CBS This Morning each A.M. More is on the way. Oinounou says staffers are working on things ranging from digitalstreaming programs to podcasts to a much more comprehensive social strategy for the show. CBS News Rhodes says Glor s let s-getto-work attitude he has worked for CBS Couch slouch News for a decade, tackling everything from major investigations to anchoring CBSN at its launch is just what the newscast needs. He says he s bemused by people asking why CBS didn t hire a celebrity anchor for this era. I can t figure out why you guys didn t overpay for someone for whom expectations would be set way too high, he says, poking fun at questions he s received from reporters covering the media industry. Jeff s hire was really deliberate, he says, and CBS News put Anthony Mason in place after Pelley s departure to allow time to suss out a choice. Even CBS CEO Leslie Moonves was involved, Rhodes says. With the evening news, if you manage that wrong, you make it seem antique, says Rhodes. If you manage it right, it seems timeless. And so, viewers should expect to see and hear from Glor whenever news strikes, not just in the evening. He belts out lines about the stock market and a new posthumous album coming from Prince during his new radio report. He will serve as an on-the-ground correspondent for CBS This Morning from Singapore or from scenes of crisis. And he s ready to file for any of CBS News various linear or digital venues when there s a need. CBS Evening News, he says, is the main thing. It is not the only thing. Netflix has picked up a pair of documentaries from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Deeyah Khan that look at the world of the far-right in the US and, separately, Islamic extremism in the UK and Europe. White Right: Meeting the Enemy and Jihad: A Story of the Others launched Monday on the streaming service in the UK and the US In White Right: Meeting the Enemy, filmmaker Khan, who is a Norwegian-British Muslim of Punjabi and Pashtun descent, sits face to face with US far-right and alt-right activists and personalities, including US neo- Nazi leader Jeff Schoep. Khan and her crew found themselves in the midst of the Charlottesville riots while making the documentary, which was first shown on ITV in the UK last December. BAFTA-nominated Jihad: A Story of the Others also bowed on ITV in 2017 (with the title Jihad: A British Story ). In the film, Khan examines the history of young people in Europe joining extremist Islamic groups. She spent two years with leading figures in the British jihadi movement from previous generations and also talks to young British Muslims battling feelings of alienation and dealing with discrimination. I am so glad...our films will be able to be seen in the US, Khan told Variety. White Right has an important message about farright radicalization which cuts through a lot of stereotypes on both sides. It couldn t be more important in the current political climate, with identity-led politics on the rise across America and Europe. Khan added that there is a through-line connecting both documentaries. I m also glad that Jihad will also be available, too, since there s a fascinating similarity between the backgrounds, experiences and beliefs of extremists on both sides. Beth Behrs has joined the upcoming CBS comedy series The Neighborhood, Variety has confirmed. Behrs will take over the role originally played by Dreama Walker. She will play Gemma, the wife to Max Greenfield s Dave. Greenfield himself joined the series in a recasting, taking over the role played in the pilot by Josh Lawson. The Neighborhood is a multi-cam that follows Dave (Greenfield), the nicest guy in the Midwest, who moves his family into a tough neighborhood in L.A. where not everyone appreciates his extreme neighborliness. Cedric the Entertainer stars as Calvin, Dave s new, opinionated neighbor. The series also stars Sheaun McKinney, Tichina Arnold, Marcel Spears, and Hank Greenspan. Behrs is perhaps best known for playing the co-lead on the CBS comedy 2 Broke Girls opposite Kat Dennings. She also starred in one of Fox s comedy pilots this year- Culture Clash from writer Vali Chandrasekaran and executive producer Lee Daniels-which was ultimately not ordered to series. Behrs is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof and Fishman. Documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger has partnered with Keshet Studios and the Center for Investigative Reporting on a true-crime series devoted to cold murder cases tied to civil rights offenses. Unmasking Murder is being shopped to TV and digital buyers as an eight-part documentary series following investigators as they dig in to longtime cold cases and a few contemporary homicides. The series would follow a handful of investigations per season, focusing on the legwork and day-to-day work of CIR investigative reporters. Berlinger is known for the Paradise Lost trilogy of HBO documentaries that helped drive the legal reversal of fortune for the three men in the West Memphis Three murder case being released from prison after serving 18 years. His other documentary films include Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004) and Netflix s Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (2016). The hook for me for this show was being able to observe and follow these veteran reporters who have done so much amazing work in this space, Berlinger tells Variety. We follow them doing their thing as a way of uncovering the truth. Based in California s Bay Area, CIR is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization that has pursued aspects of the cases under consideration for Unmasking Murder for years. The organization works with a diverse team of reporters gathered from around the country. tv highlights Laurent Malville, Creative Director at Ubisoft Toronto, reveals Starlink Battle for Atlas during the Ubisoft E3 conference at the Orpheum Theater on June 11, in Los Angeles, California. (AFP) Kingdom Hearts 3 by Square Enix is previewed during the Sony PlayStation E3 conference at LA Center Studios on June 11, in Los Angeles, California. (AFP) Gaming Ghost of Tsushima s gorgeous and brutal Deadly battles continue to power hit games LOS ANGELES, June 12, (Agencies): Bandits, soldiers, demons, zombies, aliens and other enemies will be shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, incinerated, or even blow up on the show floor of the Electronic Entertainment Expo opening Tuesday. Deadly conflicts played out with stunning arsenals in creative fictional settings remain at the heart of blockbuster action video games, with imagery getting richer and fight mechanics smoother due to improving technology. There was no shortage of bloody battle in games spotlighted at media events hosted by video game industry titans in the days leading up to E3 showcase. And a hot video game trend now is Battle Royale death-match games such as Fortnite and PlayerUnknown s Battlegrounds in which players vie against one another to be the sole survivor. Shooting and swordplay have long been staples in a global video game industry that the Entertainment Software Association said took in a total of $116 billion worldwide last year. Violence in games has the trade group working to make sure politicians including US President Donald Trump understand that there is no link between that kind of play and what people do in the real world, ESA chief executive Michael Gallagher told AFP on Monday. Trump and the ESA met earlier this year after a slaughter at a US high school. Some blamed violence in media such as video games, not access to guns, for such shootings. One thing that has sunk in to a great degree is the truth that video game violence has nothing to do with real-world violence, Gallagher said of meetings with politicians on federal and state levels. Outbreaks There are 2.6 billion gamers around the world, yet these outbreaks are uniquely American. It has got to be something else. A growing number of policy numbers are rejecting the notion outright that video games cause people to commit actual violence, according to Gallagher. The tide has turned significantly, he added. In the US, 22 states offer video game companies economic incentives to set up shops and create jobs, according to Gallagher. Some 45,000 industry members are expected to attend E3, along with 15,000 gamers who bought tickets to get access to the show floor and its more than 200 exhibitors, the ESA said. Sony showed off the first gameplay footage of Sucker Punch Productions Ghost of Tsushima at its E3 showcase Monday night. Sony choose to give fans a deeper dive into its upcoming projects rather than bombard them with announcements. During the lengthy demo, the protagonist, a samurai warrior named Jin Sakai, rides through beautiful grasslands, then infiltrates a village to rescue a monk from invading Mongols, only to be betrayed by a supposed ally. Combat is both quick and deliberate, bloody and brutal. We chose this particular sequence to capture a few of the essential visions we have for the game: a sprawling, beautiful Tsushima Island... brutal Mongol invaders... and katana combat that delivers on our target of Mud, Blood, & Steel, Sucker Punch producer Brian Fleming wrote on the PlayStation Blog. Sucker Punch will talk more about the scope of the world, Jin s progression, and the game s storyline at a later date. Ghost of Tsushima was officially unveiled at Paris Games Week in October It tells the story of one of the last surviving samurai in 1274 Japan and his fight against Mongol invaders. Seriously, how come no one has made a sprawling samurai open-world game yet? Sucker Punch game director Nate Fox wrote on the PlayStation Blog. Feudal Japan is beautiful; from the swaying bamboo forests to the ornate castles, it s a place that demands to be explored. I ve been a fan of samurai comics since 5th grade, from Lone Wolf and Cub to Usagi Yojimbo, he added. The types of characters, landscapes, betrayal, and sacrifice in those stories are a rich vein ready to be translated into a video game. Ghost of Tsushima is coming exclusively to PlayStation 4. Insomniac debuted a new gameplay trailer for its eagerly awaited Spider-Man game at PlayStation s E3 presser Monday night. The footage showed classic Spider-Man villains Electro, Rhino, Scorpion, and the Vulture breaking all the inmates out of the Raft, the Avengers off-shore underwater prison. Our team is thrilled to finally show you more of what you ll be up against in Marvel s Spider-Man, Insomniac said in a blog post. Things heat up for Spider-Man, as many of the Super Villains he has put away over his eight years as Spidey have escaped simultaneously. This is a pivotal moment in the game, where the fragile peace in New York City has now been completely shattered Super Villains have now escaped the maximum-security facility, the Raft, just off the coast of Manhattan. Worse, as you saw at the end of the gameplay video, Spider-Man is no match on his own in the one-vs.-five situation. These are dire times in Marvel s New York City. Sony held its PlayStation E3 conference on June 11 at 1 pm PT. The 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo takes place this week, from June 12 to June 14, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Twitch s official coverage of the event began in earnest Sunday afternoon. The remake of Resident Evil 2 has its first official trailer which PlayStation unveiled at their E3 press conference Monday. The trailer shows new and improved versions of Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, and some disturbing glimpses of the zombies they ll take on. Fans of the 1998 PlayStation classic will have more than just aesthetics to enjoy. New puzzles to solve and areas to explore will be added, according to a blog post from Capcom s Kellen Haney. There was speculation that more would be revealed about the remake after the domain name was updated last week. Now, fans of the classic horror series don t have to speculate or worry that Capcom had somehow forgotten the remake since their announcement back in They also won t have to wait long. The crowd at Sony s E3 Showcase erupted into cheers as the January 25, 2019 release date was revealed. E is at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 11 to 12, but the press conferences with first looks at upcoming titles are happening now. EA was first up on Saturday, with big news including Battlefield V s new battle royale multiplayer mode. Microsoft dominated with their E3 Xbox Briefing on Sunday, and set the bar high by showing 50 upcoming titles. Death Stranding will feature Lea Seydoux, Sony revealed in a new trailer at their E3 Showcase Monday evening. Past trailers have centered on The Walking Dead s Norman Reedus, but Seydoux s character was featured extensively throughout the latest trailer. Mads Mikkelsen and Lindsay Wagner also appear. Death Stranding is the highly anticipated sci-fi game from Hideo Kojima, the creator behind the Metal Gear series. Each trailer released for the upcoming title appears more bizarre and intriguing than the last. Since the first trailer was shown at E3 2016, fans of Kojima have questioned what exactly Death Stranding is about. After the E trailer, there are likely even more questions. The trailer opens with a fetus giggling and rolling around, and only gets weirder from there. Bits of gameplay are interspersed throughout the trailer, showing Reedus s character, Sam, navigating tricky terrain and nightmarish scenarios as he seemingly aims to deliver the fetus somewhere. An off-screen character references that Sam will come back even if he fails, which is in line with what Kojima revealed earlier about death not meaning game over. Invisible monsters approach, and Sam and Seydoux s characters hold their breath to avoid detection, hinting that stealth is a key factor of Death Stranding.

23 23 Health Right treatment at right time Spinal fluid could be used to predict MS progression KUWAIT CITY, June 12: A study led by the University of Birmingham has found that analysis of fluid in the spine could be used to predict the future progression of multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a condition in which the immune system attacks the nervous system and is the leading cause of non-traumatic disability in young adults, with around 100,000 people currently diagnosed in the UK. It can cause a wide range of health issues including visual problems, fatigue, thinking difficulties, muscle weakness and a lack of coordination. However, severity and progression of the disease can vary widely between individuals - some patients will only ever have a single episode of the disease, others will go on to suffer multiple attacks, potentially resulting in serious disability. Mike Douglas, an honorary Professor at the University of Birmingham who led the clinical work in this study, said: Although there are now a wide range of therapies available for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, the specific choice of treatment in any individual patient is not made in a very evidencebased way. We do not have reliable longterm outcome predictors for individual patients to guide their choice between more potent therapies with potentially greater side effects, and more gentle therapies which may not fully control the condition. The use of biomarkers to predict future risk of disability is critical to ensure that individual patients receive the right treatment at the right time. The team of scientists investigated whether fluid in the spine could hold the answer to help predict the progression of disability in patients with MS. The findings of the sixyear study were published today in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. The study saw the team analyse the spinal fluid from patients with MS at the time they were diagnosed and matched these data with the progression of their disease five years later. The researchers found a highly unusual pattern in the behaviour of white blood cells responsible for immunity and in the antibodies produced by these cells. Antibodies are required to fight infection and disease. They found that the cells were producing a significantly higher ratio of one type of antibody molecule. These antibodies originated from cells within the nervous system of these patients yet these cells are not normally found in this part of the body. In the blood of MS patients there is a normal ratio of around 2:1 of each type of antibody, but in the spinal fluid of the study s MS patients the researchers found ratios of more than 100:1. Joint lead author Dr John Curnow, of the University of Birmingham, added: What was interesting about our findings was that this unusual extreme ratio bias mostly occurred in patients in the early stages of the disease, while there was far less bias in those patients who later developed greater disability. Our research suggests that this early bias in this type of antibody could be related to a trigger of MS. For patients who later develop more severe disease we find that this attack by the immune system, even when analysed at the time of diagnosis, has already developed beyond the initial trigger of the disease, resulting in greater damage to the nervous system in subsequent years. The unusual pattern of antibody suggests a very distinct immune response early in the disease. We are hoping to identify the target of this immune response. Also: NEW YORK: The Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and more than 70 National Cancer Centerdesignated cancer centers across the US endorsed the goal of eliminating cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) with the use of gender-neutral HPV vaccination and evidence-based cancer screening in an open letter to patients and medical providers. The open letter, which was released on June 7, is supported by the American Cancer Society, the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society for Clinical Oncology, the Prevent Cancer Foundation, the American Society for Preventive Oncology and the Association of American Cancer Institutes. The change in practice could prevent 12,000 cervical cancers and nearly 40,000 other HPV-related cancers among men and women in the United States, according to the open letter. With HPV vaccination and continued cervical cancer screening, the goal of eliminating cervical cancer is truly achievable, said Elizabeth Platz, ScD, MPH, deputy chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In this May 24, 2018 photo, Adine Usher, 78, meets with breast cancer study leader Dr Joseph Sparano at the Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx borough of New York. Usher was one of about 10,000 participants in the study which shows women at low or intermediate risk for breast cancer recurrence may safely skip chemotherapy without hurting their chances of survival. (AP) 5 dead in reemergence of Rift Valley Fever in Kenya Gene editing tool may raise cancer risk LONDON, June 12, (RTRS): A geneediting technology that is being explored by scientists worldwide as a way of removing and replacing gene defects might inadvertently increase cancer risk in cells, scientists warned on Monday. Researchers from the Britain s Cambridge University and Sweden s Karolinska Institute said more research needs to be done to assess whether using CRISPR-Cas9 a type of molecular scissors that make gene editing a possibility might lead to the development of treatments that have added cancer risk. The team, led by Jussi Taipale at Cambridge, found that CRISPR-Cas9 triggers a mechanism designed to protect cells from DNA damage, making gene editing more difficult. Cells which lack this mechanism are easier to edit than normal cells, and this can lead to a situation where genome-edited cell populations have higher numbers of cells in which the key mechanism protecting against DNA damage is missing. In research published in the journal Nature Medicine, the scientists warned that the absence of the protective mechanism in cells makes them more likely to become tumorous, since DNA damage can no longer be corrected. Although we don t yet understand the mechanisms... we believe that researchers need to be aware of the potential risks when developing new treatments, Taipale said in a statement as the work was published. This is why we decided to publish our findings as soon as we discovered that cells edited with CRISPR-Cas9 can go on to become cancerous. A second team at the Novartis Research Institute in Boston in the United States has found similar results, which were also published on Monday in the same journal. Darren Griffin, a genetics expert at Kent University who was not involved in either study, said the findings give reason for caution, but not necessarily alarm. Almost any treatment that has the power to do good, has the power to do harm and this finding should be considered in this broader context, he said in an ed comment. As we learn more about the CRISPR-Cas9 system and how it can be used, this study will inevitably be considered a significant finding. Taipale also said he did not want to sound alarmist and stressed that his team was not saying CRISPR-Cas9 is bad or dangerous. This is clearly going to be a major tool for use in medicine, he said. He added that once scientists better understand how the response is triggered by CRISPR it may be possible to find ways of overcoming the problem. Also: NAIROBI: Five people in Kenya have died of the Rift Valley Fever disease in the past week, a health official said on Monday, in the first reports of the disease since an outbreak killed more than 200 people a decade ago. The highly contagious disease is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes or close contact with contaminated animals blood or organs, according to the World Health Organization. Abdihakim Billow, county executive committee member for health for Wajir County in northeastern Kenya where the deaths were reported, said two people died in hospital while the other three died at home. The first death occurred last Monday. Billow said another two people thought to be ill from the disease had been hospitalised. As a preventive measure, the county on Monday banned the sale of meat for 10 days, after which they will decide whether to renew or lift the ban, he said. Officials estimate that about 50 livestock, mainly camels and sheep, had died since the start of this month. The last outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in Kenya occurred from November 2006 to March 2007 and resulted in 234 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. With no specific treatment or effective human vaccine, Rift Valley fever can cause blindness and severe haemorrhaging, leading the victim to vomit blood or even bleed to death. Last month the government issued an alert for a possible outbreak of the disease in different parts of the country due to months of heavy rainfall. LONDON: Paraguay is officially free of malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, making it the first country in the Americas in 45 years to have wiped out the deadly disease which is back on the rise globally. Nearly half a million people most of them babies and children in Africa died in 2016 from mosquito-borne malaria, while at least 216 million were infected, an increase of five percent over 2015, WHO said. With no recorded cases of malaria in five years, Paraguay became the first country in the region to have eliminated malaria since Cuba in 1973, the WHO said. It was the first country to be declared malaria free since Sri Lanka in It gives me great pleasure today to certify that Paraguay is officially free of malaria, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of WHO, said in a statement.

24 24 click Latest Continued from Page 21 The classes are scheduled to start on June 17, 2018 and will continue until Aug 19, 2018 from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Indian Community School, Junior Branch, Salmiya, Kuwait. Interested parents can register their kids at IMA official website or can contact for more details. June 22 KWS to hold AGM: Kokan Welfare Society (KWS) Kuwait hereby declares it will hold its Annual General Meeting on Friday 22nd June All registered members are invited for this meeting. Venue will be declared soon. During the process, annual report and election of office bearers will be conducted. Ali Chogle has agreed to be the Election Commissioner. Only eligible candidates who wish to contest for the indicated post may contact him at or at to file their nominations in prescribed form. Last date to file nomination is 17/06/2018. Last date for withdrawal is 19/06/2018. For further details please contact , , Oct 7 Brazilian Elections 2018: In view of the presidential elections on 7th of October 2018 (first round), Brazilian voters in Kuwait are informed of the obligation to re-register at the consular section of the Brazilian Embassy in Kuwait. In the process of re-registration, the voter must complete the following steps (please pay attention to the deadline of each step): Step 1 (to be fulfilled until 09/05/2018): a) fill the form on the website of the Superior Electoral Court ( b) print and sign the form. Step 2 (to be completed by 16/05/2018): c) attend the consular section of the Embassy of Brazil in Kuwait, which runs from Sunday to Thursday, from 08 am to 12 noon, to present the following documents: Brazilian official document of identification (identity card, professional card issued by a federal organization, birth or marriage certificate, passport, Brazilian labor ID). Documents must have the following data to confirm one s identity: name of the father, name of the mother, date and place of birth. In the case the document does not provide the mentioned data, the voter must present another document to complete the information; Proof or statement that certifies your residence in Kuwait; Personal attendance is mandatory for finalizing the application. The address of the Brazilian Embassy in Kuwait is Mubarak Al Abdullah Area, Block 1, Street 116, Villa 47 phone /2. General Q8BBall Season 13: Q8BBall is beginning our 13th season with Boys U13 (ages 10-13) and U17 (ages 14-17). We train three times a week and play regular games throughout the year with schools and clubs. In June 2018, we plan to travel for camp and tournaments in the US. Contact Coach T for information. Share your story with Amricani: Do you or any of your family members, acquaintances or friends happen to have a story with the American Missionary hospital in Kuwait (Mustashfa Lemraicani) during the years from , the official period of offering medical services in Kuwait? Please share with us your story or your memory during those old days by writing the event and sending it to the following address: Mystory@darmuseum.org.kw Notes: 1. Please send your story only to the above mentioned . Story shared in Instagram, Facebook or Twitter will not be considered. 2. Please write your story or memory and sign it with your full name, and your contact number. 3. It will be great if you send us your personal photos or those of the place related to the story (optional). Your story will be part of a new book to be published by DAI. I am confident that your contributions will be an essential part of the history of Amricani. Share with us! NYF offers free yoga classes: NYF Kuwait offers free yoga, breathing, meditation and reiki classes by a well-experienced female yoga teacher for all age groups. Classes are given on the basis of different health problems, stress and other problems by different techniques. Contact: Conceptis Sudoku The grid must be so completed that every row, column and 3x3 box has every digit from 1 to 9 inclusive contract bridge By Steve Becker Challenger Eugene Sheffer Crossword Answer to yesterday s puzzle DIRECTIONS: Fill each square with a number, one through nine. Horizontal squares should add to totals on right. Vertical squares should add to totals on bottom. Diagonal squares through center should add to total in upper and lower right. THERE MAY BE MORE THAN ONE SOLUTION. Today s Challenge Time 8 Minutes 17 Seconds Your Working Time Minutes Seconds Yesterday s solution Word by Word Laugh Edhak Laugh, and the world laughs with you; and you weep alone. Edhak, yadhak al alam maak wa ebki tabki wahdak. Numbers 7888 Seven thousand eight hundred eighty eight Sabat alaf wa thaman maaha wa thaman wa thamanoon

25 Waha Capital abandons plan to raise new PE fund Indian oil imports from Iran surge to highest since 2016 Waha Capital has abandoned plans to raise a $300 million private equity fund and the Abu Dhabibased fi rm is pushing ahead with a new strategy for its private equity business, sources familiar with the matter said. Investor demand for Middle East private equity funds has been hurt by a crisis of confi dence at the region s biggest buyout fi rm, Abraaj, which is battling allegations it misused funds. Waha fl agged its plan to raise a new private equity fund late last year and has since sounded out investors, three sources told Reuters. In a May presentation, there was no mention of the new fund. Waha Capital had some investors signed up for the fund but halted its strategy as it wants to focus on a deal-by-deal basis, one source aware of the matter said. It was diffi cult to raise money, generally in the last two years and Abraaj has made it more diffi cult, another source said. The sources declined to be named as the matter is not yet public. Waha declined to comment. In March, Salem Rashid al Noami was appointed chairman of Waha while Michael Raynes was hired as chief executive. Some executives have left including Alain Dib, chief operating offi cer, and Hani Ramadan, managing director & head of private equity, the sources said. (RTRS) India s oil imports from Iran surged to about 705,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, their highest level since October 2016, according to data from shipping and industry sources, despite the threats of fresh US sanctions. From June India s oil imports from Iran could drop because at least two refiners accounting for about 35 percent of Indian refining capacity of around 5 million bpd are preparing to curb purchases under pressure from the US sanctions. On May 8 US President Donald Trump said that the United States was pulling out of a 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran and would impose new sanctions seeking to reduce the country s oil shipments. India s oil imports from Iran in May rose by 10.2 percent from the previous month and were about 45 percent more than a year ago, the data showed. Iran s oil exports hit 2.7 million bpd in May, Iranian news agency SHANA reported this month, representing a record high since the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran in Indian state refiners had cut oil imports from Iran in the 2017/18 financial year because of a dispute over development rights for a giant gas field. However, the refiners had drawn plans to raise imports in the current fiscal year from April after Iran agreed to steep shipping discounts. (RTRS) Market Movements Change Closing pts AUSTRALIA - All Ordinaries , JAPAN - Nikkei , PHILIPPINES - All Shares , INDIA - Sensex , HONG KONG - Hang Seng , Change Closing pts GERMANY - DAX , FRANCE - CAC , EUROPE - Euro Stoxx , S. KOREA - KRX , Business Saudi oil giant wants to lift refining capacity to 8-10 mln bpd by 2030 Aramco plans petrochems boost to counter risk of oil slowdown DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia, June 12, (RTRS): Saudi Aramco plans to boost investments in refining and petrochemicals to secure new markets for its crude, and sees growth in chemicals as central to its downstream strategy to lessen the risk of a slowdown in oil demand. Aramco, the world s biggest oil producer, is expanding its footprint globally by signing downstream deals and boosting the capacity of its plants, ahead of an initial public offering next year - the largest IPO in history. The state oil giant is moving ahead with multi-billion-dollar projects in China, India and Malaysia and aims to finalise new partnerships this year, Abdulaziz al-judaimi, Aramco s senior vice president for downstream, told Reuters. Aramco plans to raise its refining capacity to between 8 million and 10 million barrels per day, from some 5 million bpd now, and double its petrochemicals production by 2030, he added. Aramco pumps around 10 million bpd of crude oil. Our strategy is very simple. We want to be at 8 to 10 million barrels per day of participated (refining) capacity... (and) we are going forward by trying to be a top leader in chemicals by 2040, Judaimi said. The market that we want to grow in... has to be growing, a strong market, with good demand and of course these assets have to be integrated to the whole value chain of the downstream, he said in an interview at Aramco s headquarters in Dhahran. To help it reach these targets, Aramco has entered a 50 percent joint venture with three Indian refiners to build a $44 billion, 1.2-million-bpd refinery integrated with petrochemical facilities on India s west coast. Aramco has said it may introduce a strategic partner to share its 50 percent stake in the Indian refining venture. Judaimi said Aramco was working with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (AD- NOC) towards securing a partnership. It would be the first time for the two national oil companies to join hands in an international venture. Principles We are now finalising the MOU (with ADNOC) that would cover certain commercial principles between us, he said, adding that the memorandum of understanding would be finalised this year. He said front-end engineering for the project could start by early Apart from India, Aramco is also taking a 50 percent stake in Petronas huge RAPID project in the southern Malaysian state of Johor. Aramco hopes this will help it dominate supplies in India and Malaysia, two of the world s fastest-growing oil markets after China, and where growth potential is bigger than in other, more developed regions. Aramco is eyeing three separate refining and petrochemical projects in China, Judaimi said. Asia has to have the lion s share... We believe markets east of the Suez Canal will continue to grow, including the Middle East as well, Judaimi said, adding that the United States is another market we want to grow in. In April, Aramco said it was integrating a petrochemicals business into its subsidiary Motiva, the United States biggest oil refinery. Aramco is strengthening its refining role in China, one of its biggest customers. It has a refinery joint venture with Sinopec and Exxon Mobil and is in talks with CNPC to finalise the purchase of a stake in a 260,000-bpd refinery in Yunnan. Judaimi said he expects to take a final investment decision on the Yunnan refinery, which is operational, by the end of this year. We are in the final stage of negotiations. It s like building a house - the last touches take much longer. Aramco plans to build a 300,000- bpd refinery with China s Norinco. Judaimi said he expects to finish frontend engineering for the Norinco project by mid-2019, following which the company will take its final investment decision. Britain could end homelessness in 10 years charity LONDON, June 12, (RTRS): Britain could end a homelessness crisis within a decade if it invests more in social housing and benefits, a charity said on Monday, warning that the number of rough sleepers could nearly double in 25 years if no action is taken. Crisis estimates there are 236,000 people sleeping rough or in temporary accommodation in Britain, where homebuilding has been declining for decades, driving up property prices. In a report published on Monday, it said building 100,500 social homes per OPEC cautious on oil outlook in second half of 2018 despite end of global glut LONDON, June 12, (RTRS): OPEC said the oil market outlook in the second half of 2018 is highly uncertain even though the producer group s figures show a global glut has ended, suggesting talks next week on relaxing a supply cut deal won t be straightforward. OPEC, Russia and other non- OPEC producers have been cutting output since January 2017 to get rid of excess supply and boost prices. The deal s goal was originally to reduce inventories in developed nations to that of the five-year average. In a report on Tuesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said those inventories in April fell to 26 million barrels below the five-year average. That s down from 340 million barrels above the average in January With oil hitting $80 a barrel this year, the highest since 2014, Saudi Arabia and Russia are discussing raising output. But Iran disagrees and Iraq has voiced restraint, pointing to a tough policy meeting on June in Vienna. OPEC in the report was cautious on the outlook for the rest of 2018, citing a faster-than-expected rise in year for the next 15 years and better identifying rough sleepers could eradicate homelessness in Britain within the next decade. If no action is taken, it forecasts the number will nearly double by Nearly 160,000 people in Britain experience the worst forms of homelessness, from living in cars and tents to sleeping on the street, said Hannah Gousy, public policy and public affairs manager at the homelessness charity. Yet we can, and should, prevent homelessness from ever occurring in Move to fund oil projects: SEO head Iran plans to issue bonds in coming months Post-election policy moves now key for Turkey: Fitch Cartel raises non-opec oil supply forecast again, Saudi pumps more Oil prices stall as hedge funds take profits John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own. Editor By John Kemp Investors continue to reduce their bullish position in crude oil futures and options, after a blistering rally over the last year, but now the profit-taking has spread to refined fuels such as gasoline and heating oil. Hedge funds and other money managers cut their net long position in the six most important futures and options contracts linked to petroleum prices by 72 million barrels in the non-opec oil production and the chances of global demand weakening. Recent developments in the oil market have led to pronounced uncertainty about the second half of the year, OPEC said in the report. While oil demand in the US, China and India shows some upside potential, downside risks might limit this potential going forward. Oil pared an earlier decline after the report was released trading just above $76 a barrel. While the main goal of the supply deal was to reduce oil stocks to the five-year average, ministers have said other metrics should be LONDON, June 12, (RTRS): Turkey s sovereign rating can ride out the current market turbulence if authorities there move to address the economy s main weaknesses after upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, Fitch said on Monday. Fitch has a junk BB+ rating on Turkey s foreign currency debt, but an investment grade BBB- on domestic bonds which is two notches higher than both S&P Global and Moody s. Unlike Moody s, which has just issued a downgrade warning, both Fitch s ratings also have stable outlooks meaning cuts aren t on the immediate horizon. There are obvious stresses though. Turkey s central bank has just hiked interest rates more than 4 percentage points to stem a run on the lira triggered by concerns about political interference in monetary policy, a high current account deficit and even higher inflation. President Tayyip Erdogan, a selfproclaimed enemy of interest rates, has stepped up pressure on the central bank before presidential and parliamentary polls on June 24. They have dealt with some of the near-term stresses but we still have the uncertainty about political influence over monetary policy, Paul Gamble, Fitch s top emerging Europe sovereign analyst told Reuters. And more broadly the fact monetary policy has been unable to get inflation to anywhere near the inflation target... That is a long-standing weakness. Turkey is the only BB bracket country rated by Fitch where inflation is currently in double-digits. On the flip side it has much lower debt than most, either as a percentage of GDP or as a share of annual government revenue. The rate hikes were in line with our scenario, Gamble said, adding that a tandem move to also bring 4 different Turkish interest rates closer together had been useful as well. the first place, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Homelessness has risen in England for more than six years, with 80,000 families in temporary accommodation including more than 120,000 children, government data shows. Social housing has too long been neglected in England... there are more than a million households stuck on social housing waiting lists, many for years on end, said Polly Neate, chief executive of homeless charity Shelter, in ed comments. The government has set an ambitious week to June 5, according to data from regulators and exchanges. Funds cut their net long positions in Brent (-14 million barrels), NYMEX and ICE WTI (-19 million barrels), US gasoline (-17 million), U.S. heating oil (-12 million) and European gasoil (-10 million). Portfolio managers have trimmed their combined net long in petroleum to billion barrels, down from a recent high of billion on April 17 and a record billion on Jan. 23. Heavy liquidation has seen the combined position cut by 298 million barrels over the last seven weeks, with most of the reduction coming considered, also suggesting they are in no hurry to end supply cuts. The report said OPEC members were still cutting much more than needed, even though output in May rose slightly and top exporter Saudi Arabia is boosting supply. OPEC output climbed by 35,000 barrels per day to million bpd, OPEC said, according to figures it collects from secondary sources. That is almost 900,000 bpd less than the amount OPEC says the world needs from the group this year. Figures reported directly by OPEC members showed some bigger rises in production. Saudi Arabia told OPEC its output rose to million bpd, up 161,000 LONDON, June 12, (RTRS): Iran will issue bonds in the coming months to fund oil projects, the head of its Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) said on Tuesday, a month after the United States withdrew from a nuclear deal and said it would reimpose unilateral sanctions. It was not immediately clear whether Iran would seek foreign buyers for the bonds, something which could prove difficult given concerns among Western companies that they could be penalised by Washington for continuing to work with Tehran. Sanctions The US sanctions on Iran s petroleum industry will take effect on Nov. 4, but many European refiners, as well as buyers in Asia, are already winding down Iranian oil purchases. In May, French oil major Total said it might pull out of its investment in Iran s South Pars gas field if it cannot secure a waiver from the US government. The Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) and the oil ministry have been negotiating for one and a half years over the issuing bonds for oil projects... We are hopeful that this would be implemented in a few months, the head of SEO, Shapour Mohammadi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. target of building 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s. A spokesman for Britain s housing ministry said it was investing more than 1.2 billion pounds ($1.60 billion) to tackle homelessness. Many challenging factors lie behind rough sleeping, from mental health problems to addiction and our longterm strategy to be published this summer will outline how we plan to tackle them and eliminate rough sleeping for good, the ministry said in a statement last week. from crude, where net length has been reduced by 302 million barrels. But in the two most recent weeks the liquidation has spread to gasoline, heating oil and gasoil, reflecting broader doubts about the sustainability of the rally. Oil consumption growth has been strong and the combination of OPEC output restraint and involuntary production losses from Venezuela and other countries has pushed the market into deficit this year. However, with benchmark crude prices up by almost 70 percent over the last 12 months, and now apparently stalling, many fund managers appear to have decided now is a good bpd from April, although this is still below Riyadh s OPEC target. Venezuela, whose plunging output due to an economic crisis has helped boost OPEC compliance with the deal, told OPEC production rose by 28,000 bpd to million bpd. April s figure was the lowest in decades. Strong demand due to a robust economy has helped remove the glut. OPEC left its global demand growth estimate this year unchanged at 1.65 million bpd and said oil use would surpass 100 million bpd for the first time during the fourth quarter. But the higher prices that have followed the OPEC-led deal have Research suggests generational shift Young entrepreneurs motivated by purpose and not just profit LONDON, June 12, (RTRS): The new generation of global entrepreneurs is going into business motivated by purpose rather than just profit, according to research by the HSBC banking group released on Tuesday. One in four entrepreneurs aged under 35 said they were more motivated by social impact than by moneymaking, compared to just over one in 10 of those aged over 55, according the results of the HSBC survey. Our research suggests this is a generational shift, Stuart Parkinson, global chief investment officer of HSBC, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Younger entrepreneurs are focused on environmental and social concerns and that s because they see these values as being their own. The bank surveyed 3,700 entrepreneurs in 11 countries. One in five said their priority as a business owner was to deliver solutions to environmental and social challenges. Scrutiny Parkinson said social media had brought greater scrutiny of businesses, while awareness of the social and environmental impacts of business practices had also increased. Social enterprise has taken off as this new formula for success, which is this combination of capitalism and doing good, and younger entrepreneurs are clearly leading this, he said. Social enterprises are businesses with a mission to benefit time to realise some profits. Most of the reduction in net length has come from the liquidation of long positions (-232 million barrels) rather than the creation of fresh short positions (+66 million barrels) confirming profit-taking is the main motive. Indeed, total short positions remain very low at just 175 million barrels across all six major contracts. Fund managers remain overwhelmingly bullish about the outlook for oil, with long positions outnumbering short ones by a ratio of more than 7:1. They are just a little bit less bullish than in the middle of April, when the ratio was almost 14:1. (RTRS) prompted growth in rival supply and a flood of US shale. OPEC expects non-opec supply to expand by 1.86 million bpd this year, about 130,000 bpd more than expected last month. OPEC said there is a wide forecast range of 1.7 million bpd in estimates of the amount of crude the group needs to pump in the second half, meaning demand could be significantly more or less than members current output. This outlook for the second half of 2018 warrants close monitoring of the factors impacting both world oil demand and non-opec supply that will shape the outlook of the oil market going forward, OPEC said. society or the environment as well as turn a profit and Britain is seen as a global leader in the innovative sector. Last year it had about 70,000 employing nearly 1 million people last year, according to membership organisation Social Enterprise UK, up from 55,000 businesses in Zakia Moulaoui runs the social enterprise Invisible Cities, which employs homeless people as city guides in Edinburgh, and plans to expand the business to Manchester and Glasgow by the end of the year. Awareness The 31-year-old said there was a greater awareness amongst her generation that being able to address social issues and earn an income was possible. People who thought they couldn t do that because they needed to make a living for themselves might have just worked in a regular business and volunteered at the weekend, but now people know they can reconcile the two, Moulaoui said. Britain s Confederation of British Industry (CBI), an employers group, has found that two thirds of 18- to 34-year-olds think companies should put society s interest first. This is a view shared by employees, customers and communities. CEOs of firms of all sizes are clearer than ever before - purpose and profit go hand in hand, said Josh Hardie, deputy director-general of the CBI.

26 BUSINESS 26 Two smartphones running Android Oreo HMD Global brings next generation Nokia 5, Nokia 3 to Kuwait KUWAIT CITY, June 12: HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, has continued to rapidly renew its portfolio of Nokia Android smartphones by today announcing Nokia 5.1 and Nokia 3.1. Offering access to the latest Google services, such as the Google Assistant, the duo of smartphones continues to deliver a pure, secure and up-to-date Android experience with Android One and Android Go, combined with the premium craftsmanship and design expected from a Nokia smartphone and the performance to match. Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, General Manager Middle East, HMD Global, said: We are thrilled to see Nokia 5.1 and Nokia 3.1 available in the market. We are enhancing our range of phones that matches our consumers needs through delivering larger screens, processor upgrades and offering up to 50% higher performance without compromising the balance with power consumption. In addition to those improvements, our newly launched phones continue to offer the Finnish design with fantastic craftsmanship that is expected from any Nokia phone. The feedback from the audience to the Nokia phones range has been thrilling and the addition of these new devices underpins our promise of offering a premium smartphone experience without paying a premium on the price. Nokia 5.1: A timeless classic refined Continuing with the classic design of the previous generation, the new Nokia 5.1 is understated, compact and effortlessly stylish. It gets its structural integrity from a single block of 6000 series aluminium, refined through a rigorous 33 stage process of machining, anodising and polishing to give an exquisite satin finish and feel in the hand. The new Nokia 5.1 packs a 0.3-inch bigger Nokia 2.1 display in a 2mm narrower body and precise attention to the finest details like harmonising the rounded edges on the screen bezel with the corners of the phone to offer a compact, pocketable experience. Nokia 5.1 comes with a higher resolution 5.5-inch Full HD+ display in 18:9 aspect ratio, making watching your favourite content be it browsing the web, watching your favourite shows, sharing funny memes or gaming a delightful experience. Powered by a 2.0 GHz MediaTek Helio P18 octa-core processor, Nokia 5.1 delivers a smoother all-round performance that is 40% faster and more powerful than the previous generation so you can create, edit and multitask effortlessly. You can capture more detail of what matters in your life with its upgraded 16MP rear camera with phase detection auto-focus and wide-angle front camera. Nokia 5.1 s fingerprint sensor has been relocated to the back of the phone so you can unlock it with your index finger or leave your wallet at home as you pay securely and easily with NFC through Google Pay. The new Nokia 5.1 will come in three classic colours: Copper, Tempered Blue and Black (available a few weeks later); two storage/ram options: 2GB/16GB, 3 GB/32GB and will be available starting 26th July 2018 at a price of KWD 56 (2GB/16GB) and KWD for (3 GB/32GB). Nokia 3.1: The perfect harmony of materials and performance Nokia 3 has been the most successful model in the line-up of Nokia smartphones and our biggest franchise to date. The new Nokia 3.1 now forges a rich connection between materials with a stunning design and delivers the performance to match, making it more attractive than ever before. The beautifully curved screen melts into the slim CNC d aluminium sides with a dual diamond cut to deliver a perfect harmony of materials. Just the right size for single hand use, our most affordable 18:9 smartphone Nokia 3.1 with 5.2-inch HD+ display gives you more content at one glance, while the 2.5D curved display is protected by damage resistant Corning Gorilla Glass to keep it beautiful for longer. The Nokia 3.1 runs MediaTek 6750, an octa-core chipset, giving you twice the processor cores and a 50% performance boost on the previous generation so your phone can keep up with you. Featuring an upgraded 13MP main camera with auto focus, Nokia 3.1 captures the memories that you ll want to relive over and over. Thanks to its full set of sensors usually only found on premium phones, the Nokia 3.1 lets you make the most out of popular AR apps like Pokémon Go, pay securely and easily with NFC on Google Pay1 and capture the whole scene with panoramic imaging. The new Nokia 3.1 comes in three colours: Blue/Copper, Black/Chrome and White/Iron; two storage/ram options: 2GB/16GB, 3GB/32GB, and is available from 7th June 2018 at a price of KWD (2GB/16GB) and KWD for (3GB/32GB). Pure, secure and up-to-date Android experiences across the range Together with Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 plus and Nokia 6.1, Nokia 5.1 and Nokia 3.1 also join the Android One family, delivering an experience designed by Google that is smart, secure and simply amazing. Nokia smartphones with Android One offer more storage and battery life out of the box, as well as the latest AI-powered innovations from Google to help you stay ahead of the game every day. Nokia 5.1 and Nokia 3.1 will receive three years of monthly security patches and two years of OS updates, as guaranteed in the Android One programme. This puts them among the most secure phones out there, always up to date with the latest Google services like the Google Assistant and Google Photos with free unlimited high-quality photo storage. Nokia_5_1 Anne Laurenson, Director, Android Partnerships at Google, says: People all over the world look for smartphones that fit their needs and Android s mission has always been to bring the power of computing to everyone. Part of that is ensuring a great experience across the broadest range of devices. We have worked closely to combine Google s latest software innovations with HMD Global s expertise in quality hardware, so the Nokia 5.1 and Nokia 3.1 can bring the smart, secure, and simply amazing Android One experience to everyone. Availability Nokia 5.1 will be available from 26 July 2018 for a price of KWD 56 for Nokia 5.1 (2GB/16GB) and KWD (3 GB/32GB). Nokia 3.1 is available from 7 June 2018 for a price of KWD (3.1 2GB/16GB) and KWD (3GB/32GB). First agreement for naming stations West Bay station takes the name of QIC QIC and Qatar Rail officials after signing the agreement. DOHA, June 12: Qatar Insurance Group has signed a partnership agreement with Qatar Rail under the patronage and presence of His Excellency Sheikh Abdulla bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior and HE Jassim Bin Saif Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transport and Communications, and top rank officials for naming the West Bay station as Qatar Insurance Group station, which is the first agreement for naming stations. This initiative is included in the CSR agenda and stations naming rights are a strategic aspect of Qatar Rail, through which it endeavors to execute partnerships with the companies and leading Qatari and international trademarks for the purpose of promoting its services in the stations and enabling it to reach a wider range of market targeted segments. This agreement was signed by Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Hamad Al-Thani, Qatar Insurance Group Board Member, and Eng Abdulla Abdulaziz Al Subaie, MD and CEO of Qatar Rail. Speaking on this occasion, Sheikh Saoud said: It is our pleasure to meet today with our partners in Qatar Rail while launching the first station in West Bay under the name of Qatar Insurance Group in coordination and partnership with Rail Project, included in major infrastructure projects under execution and supportive to the Qatari economy within the Qatar National Vision Sheikh Saoud further stated, Qatar witnesses significant economic development, progress and growth throughout the recent years in addition to a promising future vision under the wise leadership of HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Amir of Qatar. He added: We, in Qatar Insurance Group, always endeavor to cooperate with our partners for enhancing the economic development in order to achieve sustainable development, progress and welfare of all Qatari people, either in the present or the future, hoping permanent prosperity and pride for Qatar, our beloved country. From his part, Eng Abdulla Abdulaziz Al Subaie, MD and CEO of Qatar Rail, said: Metro is one of the most important means of transport attracting large and varied segment of users. In addition, stations generally represent attraction points for the occupiers of neighborhood, which is a unique opportunity for the companies to promote its trademarks and services. We look forward to work with Qatar Insurance Group in order to enhance its market position through this partnership in the perfect manner. Under the patronage and presence of HH Sheikh Abdulla Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa prime ministry of interior and transport and communications minister HE Jassim Bin Saif AlSulaiti and top rank officials From right to left: Yousef Alqatami General Manager, Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive Company, Masatada Hachiya Senior General Manager, Sumitomo Rubber Middle East, Eng Fahad Ali Alghanim Managing Director, Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive Company, Mohammad Bahman General Manager, Al-Buhaira Trading Company WLL, Faisal Bahman Assistant General Manager, Al-Buhaira Trading Company WLL, Ali Behbehani Director of Shared Services, Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive Company, N.S. Suresh Director TLB Division, Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive Company. Group photo of management and staff of Ali Alghanim and Sons Automotive Company during the signing of the exclusive distributorship deal with Sumtomo Rubber Middle East. After amicable business transfer from Al-Buhaira company Ali Alghanim & Sons becomes exclusive distributor for Sumitomo tires in Kuwait KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive Company, the exclusive importer of Land Rover, BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and McLaren vehicles in Kuwait, announced Monday that it has signed an exclusive distributorship agreement with Sumitomo Rubber Middle East and became the official distributor of the brand s world class tires in Kuwait after amicable business transfer from Al-Buhaira Trading Company. The agreement was signed today by Eng Fahad Ali Mohammed Thunayan Alghanim, Managing Director of Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive and Masatada Hachiya, Senior General Manager, Sumitomo Rubber Middle East, in attendance of Mohammed Bahman, General Manager of Al-Buhaira Trading Company and senior executives from Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive Company including Yousef Al Qatami, General Manager; Ali Behbehani, Director of Shared Services; and N.S. Suresh, Director, Tires, Lubricants and Batteries (TLB) Division. Commenting on the agreement, Eng. Fahad Ali Alghanim said, Besides being a leading importer of premium passenger vehicles in Kuwait, Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive owns a solid lubricants and batteries business. Our TLB arm is the exclusive distributor of Liqui Moly lubricants and Exide batteries. Our achievement of the exclusive distributorship rights for Sumitomo tires comes as a strong addition to our current portfolio of leading brands and bolsters our value proposition. Masatada Hachiya, Senior General Manager, Sumitomo Rubber Middle East, said, The signing of today s agreement is a major milestone for the Sumitomo brand in Kuwait. Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive is a reputed importer and dealer of vehicles and TLB brands, and we are confident that the Sumitomo brand will garner bigger market share and stronger reputation in Kuwait under their leadership. Sumitomo Tires is the premium export brand of Sumitomo Rubber Industries, one of the most successful and influential tire manufacturers in the world. Sumitomo tires are famous for their innovative design, precision engineering, and superior quality. Masatada Hachiya being honored by Yousef Alqatami and Eng Fahad Ali Alghanim.

27 BUSINESS 27 Czech central bank caps mortgage loans high-stakes ruling awaited on AT&T-Time Warner merger The Czech central bank said on Tuesday it would cap mortgage loans at nine times borrowers salaries, addressing concerns a build up of debt could destabilise the financial system in the event of an economic downturn. A sustained economic upswing along with close to rockbottom interest rates and record low unemployment have driven sharp gains in property prices, especially in Prague, while supply is being throttled by bottlenecks in construction permits. Until now, there have been no income-related restrictions on the amounts banks can lend to applicants for housing credit. We are... interested mainly in what will happen to loan servicing when the good times end, central bank Governor Jiri Rusnok said in a statement announcing the cap. Although this may not come soon, it will happen one day. As soon as interest rates or unemployment start to rise, a large subset of households could run into loan service problems, which in turn would negatively affect the condition of banks. The central bank said it estimated residential property was on average 14 percent overvalued at the end of last year. (RTRS) A high-stakes decision in a US court Tuesday will be significant for the future of Big Media, Big Tech and big business in general. A US federal judge was set to announce his verdict in the $85 billion merger of wireless and broadband giant AT&T with media-entertainment conglomerate Time Warner. In the most high-profile antitrust case in decades, the ruling is likely to set a benchmark for whether other mega-deals, especially in the media and communications sectors, can proceed or will face heightened antitrust scrutiny. Judge Richard Leon scheduled a hearing for 4:00 pm (1900 GMT) to announce his decision, which may come around the same time as a written opinion following a seven-week bench trial. A number of consumer groups have backed the Trump administration s decision to sue to block the deal, on the assumption that combining the largest pay TV operator with a major media-entertainment player would diminish competition and lead to higher prices. Other analysts maintained that because it is a vertical tie-up of two companies without overlapping operations, it should pass muster based on legal precedent for the past three decades. (AFP) Looming threats to bloc could stay Exciting ECB meet could bring end to bond-buying FRANKFURT AM MAIN, June 12, (AFP): The European Central Bank may announce Thursday a timetable for withdrawing its massive support for the eurozone economy, analysts say, although looming threats to the bloc could stay its hand for a few more weeks. Central bankers monthly bond purchases of 30 billion euros ($35 billion) and ultra-low interest rates are designed to stoke growth in the 19-nation single currency area and power inflation to their target of just below 2.0 percent. Growth has picked up across the bloc, although at a slower pace in early 2018 than last year 0.4 percent between January and March compared with 0.7 percent in the previous three months. Meanwhile, eurozone price growth surged to 1.9 percent in May, in line with the ECB s target. Core inflation discounting the most volatile elements remains weak, but the data suggest that over 2.4 trillion euros of quantitative easing (QE) or mass bond-buying since 2015 has dispelled the risk of deflation, or a downward spiral of prices braking economic activity. At their Thursday meeting in Latvian capital Riga, the governing council will have to assess whether progress so far has been sufficient to warrant a gradual unwinding of our net purchases of bonds, top ECB economist Peter Praet said last week. Central bank President Mario Draghi has until now said governors did not even discuss a possible exit from QE at their gatherings. That makes the topic s appearance on the agenda an important signal that the end is approaching. After Praet s remarkable speech, we expect a very exciting meeting on 14 June, ING Diba bank economist Carsten Brzeski said. But policymakers may not yet be convinced that the time is right to remove the training wheels completely. The current list of threats to the eurozone ranges from the new Italian government s unpredictable spending policies, which could pitch the bloc s third-largest economy into a financial crisis, to the prospect of a failure to reach a Brexit deal with London. An acrimonious end to the G7 summit on Saturday heightened the risk of a tit-for-tat trade war between EU nations and US President Donald Trump, while higher oil prices could weigh on future growth. Spend more at home, OECD tells Germany as investor mood darkens BERLIN, June 12, (RTRS): The mood among German investors is at its darkest in years with a tariff attack on the county s exports largely to blame, a survey showed, as one global economic body said the solution lay in spending more at home. The ZEW research institute s sentiment index fell to in June from -8.2 in May, it said on Tuesday the lowest reading since September 2012 and missing a consensus forecast of in a Reuters survey. Weighing on morale were concerns about the new Italian government s commitment to the euro zone, but of potentially far greater immediate economic impact was a festering trade dispute with the United States. Washington s allies have warned that protectionist policies espoused by President Donald Trump including punitive import tariffs on steel and aluminium are weakening the world economy. But as Europe s biggest exporter to the United States a trade relationship that keeps more than one million Germans in employment Berlin is more anxious than most to avoid a trade war with Washington. ZEW president Achim Wambach said the dispute was leaving its What s more, recent data on business activity have not been strong enough to rule out further disappointment on the growth outlook a risk that the ECB would find difficult to respond to if it ties itself to a fixed exit strategy from bond-buying, said economist Frederik Ducrozet of Pictet bank. Against that background, a flexible tapering (winding down bond purchases) announcement is more likely than an unconditional commitment to an end date for QE, on Thursday, he predicted. We still don t think the ECB will easily give away flexibility and room for manoeuvre on QE, Brzeski agreed. Analysts are divided about what exactly such flexibility would look like, and whether policymakers will make their move this month or next. Draghi could announce a gradual reduction of purchases to zero over several months but leave his options open to increase them again. Or the ECB could opt for an openended extension of bond-buying beyond the current cutoff date of September, but at a slower pace than the mark on the economic outlook, and falls in German exports, industrial output and orders in April also suggested a long sustained recovery could be flagging. But the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Tuesday the upswing remained strong and the government should use its budget surplus to increase investment. Your current account got fat because you won productivity and competitiveness compared to the others in Europe. Now, does that give rise to protectionists? Of course! OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria told reporters in Berlin. So basically, you could spend more, yes! You could import more, yes! Germany s has faced similar criticism from the International Monetary Fund and its euro zone partners, and Trump has partly justified his tariffs by pointing to the US trade deficit with Germany. But he stunned a broader constituency of US allies at the weekend when he backed out of a joint G7 communique in Canada that mentioned the need for free, fair and mutually beneficial trade and the importance of fighting protectionism. present 30 billion euros per month. How the institution communicates its retreat from QE will be watched closely by investors. The central bank has long said interest rates will not rise until well after the end of bond purchases meaning whether or not the institution names an end date could have big implications for financial markets. Canada urges to ratify TPP Trump says won t let closest allies take advantage of US SINGAPORE, June 12, (Agencies): US President Donald Trump on Tuesday kept up his feud with America s closest allies over trade, saying he could not allow them to continue taking advantage of the United States. Although he insisted he had a good relationship with Justin Trudeau, just days after blowing up a G7 summit the Canadian prime minister had hosted, Trump took another dig at him, saying the United States had a big trade deficit with Canada and that a little balance was needed. Comments Trump s comments after a historic summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were the president s most extensive on the matter since he tweeted that Trudeau was very dishonest and weak and raised the prospect of tariffs against auto imports, a move that would imperil the Canadian economy. We are being taken advantage of by virtually every one of those countries, Trump told a news conference on Tuesday. Look, countries cannot continue to take advantage of us on trade. Trump left a weekend Group of Seven summit in Canada early, then immediately announced he was backing out of a joint communique, torpedoing what appeared to be a fragile consensus on the trade dispute between Washington and its main allies. The escalating clash cast a shadow over the Trump s nuclear talks with Kim and led critics to question why the president was bashing US partners while appearing to cosy up to one of Washington s bitterest long-time foes. Trump took time at his news conference to explain a photo that went viral from the G7 summit. It showed a seemingly glowering German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several other leaders appearing to confront a seated Trump. We finished the meeting, really everybody was happy, and I agreed to sign something, Trump said. And in fact the picture with Angela Merkel, who I get along with very well, where I m sitting there like this... we re waiting for the document because I wanted to see the final document as changed. I know it didn t look friendly, Trump said. I know it was reported sort of nasty both ways I was angry at her, or she. But actually we were just talking, the whole group, about something unrelated to everything, very friendly. Trump said he decided to back out of the G7 communique after watching Trudeau s closing summit news conference, at which he warned that Canada would not be pushed around on tariffs a point the Canadian prime minister had made several times before. He ll learn that s going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada. He ll learn, he can t do that, Trump said. Trump fired off a volley of tweets on Monday further venting anger at NATO allies, the European Union and Trudeau. Some of Trump s aides also lashed out at the Canadian prime minister. Outburst Trump s extraordinary outburst in recent days appeared aimed at striking a chord with voters who support his America First agenda. Not fair to the people of America! $800 billion trade deficit, he tweeted on Monday. In the same set of tweets, Trump said: Justin acts hurt when called out! On Tuesday, Trump said: We have a big trade deficit with Canada... it s close to $100 billion a year deal loss. However, the office of the US Trade Representative has said the United States ran an $8.4 billion trade surplus with Canada in Canadian officials have stressed the two countries extensive trading relationship and pointed out that Canada is the top export destination for 35 US states and that 9 million jobs in the United States depend on trade with its northern neighbour. Meanwhile, Canada wants to speed up the ratification of the Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact to offset the adverse effects of the trade spat erupting with the United States, International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Monday. Slowing gasoline price rises keep US inflation in check WASHINGTON, June 12, (RTRS): US consumer prices rose marginally in May amid a slowdown in increases in the cost of gasoline and the underlying trend continued to suggest moderate inflation in the economy. The Labor Department s inflation report was published ahead of the start of the Federal Reserve s two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. Steadily rising inflation and a tightening labor market are expected to encourage the US central bank to raise interest rates for a second time this year on Wednesday. The Consumer Price Index increased 0.2 percent last month, also as food prices were unchanged. That followed a similar gain in the CPI in April. In the 12 months through May, the CPI increased 2.8 percent, the biggest advance since February 2012, after rising 2.5 percent in April. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI rose 0.2 percent, supported by a rebound in new motor vehicle prices and a pickup in the cost of healthcare, after edging up 0.1 percent in April. That lifted the year-on-year increase in the so-called core CPI to 2.2 percent, the largest rise since February 2017, from 2.1 percent in April. Annual inflation measures are rising as last year s weak readings fall from the calculation. Last month s increase in both the CPI and core CPI was in line with economists expectations. The Fed tracks a different inflation measure, which is just below its 2 percent target. Economists are divided on whether policymakers will signal one or two more rate hikes in their statement accompanying the rate decision on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve later Tuesday is due to begin a two-day policy meeting which is widely expected to end Core CPI gains 0/2 pct; rises 2.2 pct, year-on-year Traders expect rate hike on Wednesday Focus turns to Fed s policy language WASHINGTON, June 12, (RTRS): With the Federal Reserve virtually guaranteed to raise interest rates this week, investors are focused on how the US central bank characterizes its monetary policy as borrowing costs return to more normal levels amid an ongoing economic expansion. In what could be the most consequential rewrite of its policy statement in two-and-a-half years, the Fed may signal how close it is to stopping its rate hike cycle, whether faster economic growth warrants ramping up the pace of tightening, and if it feels the era of loose money is, in effect, over. The language in the Fed policy statement is growing increasingly stale with each successive rate hike, Goldman Sachs economists Spencer Hill and Jan Hatzius wrote ahead of the start on Tuesday of the central bank s two-day policy meeting. Hatzius predicted the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee will, at the least, drop language it has used since late 2015 that says rates would remain below historical levels for some time to come. That small change would mark a with the second interest rate increase of the year, as it works to stay ahead of rising inflation. Outside volatile energy prices, costs for other goods and services, such as prescription drugs and hotel stays, posted steady gains as well, lending support for the Fed s plans to raise benchmark lending rates to remove stimulus from the economy. Meanwhile, inflation also showed signs of eating into hourly worker wages, which were flat in May compared to the same month last year broad acknowledgement that, nine years into the second-longest US economic expansion on record, monetary policy and the economy in general are starting to look increasingly normal, both domestically and abroad. The Fed s current monetary policy tightening cycle began in December 2015, and it has started trimming the massive portfolio of US Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities that it bought to boost the economy after the recession. The European Central Bank is expected later this week to outline its own plans to stop emergency asset purchases, highlighting Europe s rebound from crisis. Global growth has remained strong this year despite the risk of a global trade war and concerns about rising levels of sovereign debt. Set against that backdrop, it makes little sense, say many analysts, for the Fed to keep promising to keep rates low as borrowing costs hit levels that are no longer considered low on an historic basis. The Fed s benchmark overnight lending rate, if lifted to a range of 1.75 percent to 2 percent this week, when adjusted for inflation. On an annual basis, gasoline prices rose 21.8 percent, the biggest jump in more than a year, while fuel oil rose 25.3 percent. Natural gas, however, fell 0.8 percent compared to 12 months earlier. Outside the volatile energy sector, however, price pressures were more modest and even declined in some areas. Compared to April, prices excluding food and fuel -- so-called core CPI -- rose only 0.2 percent, matching expectations. would be at a level comparable or above where it was from late 2001 to 2004, a period punctuated by the bursting of the technology bubble and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The Fed s policy statement and fresh economic projections are due to be released at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on Wednesday. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to hold a press conference half an hour later. We see hawkish overtones from the decision to raise rates and our expectation that the statement will no longer say that the (federal) funds rate is likely to remain below the long-run neutral rate for some time, Barclays analyst Michael Gapen wrote in a recent research note. As the (Federal Open Market Committee) closes in on neutral, we see it as less likely to make promises on the path of policy, Gapen said, referring to the level at which monetary policy neither boosts nor slows the economy. Futures contracts indicate a 96 percent probability the fed funds rate will be raised a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, according to CME Group. On a 12-month basis, core CPI rose 2.2 percent, the largest increase since February of last year, driven higher by rising costs for shelter and medical care. However, year-on-year declines in new autos, air fares, used cars and mobile telephone services, which fell 0.5 percent, held inflation down. Economists expect 2018 will finally see rising inflation after years of weakness which baffled policymakers. But the more modest gains in core prices could indicate that price pressures remain tame. German minister Altmaier says no solution in sight IMF s Lagarde says global economic outlook darkening by the day BERLIN, June 12, (RTRS): International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde led an attack by global economic organisations on US President Donald Trump s America First trade policy on Monday, warning that clouds over the global economy are getting darker by the day. Trump backed out of a joint communique agreed by Group of Seven leaders in Canada at the weekend that mentioned the need for free, fair and mutually beneficial trade and the importance of fighting protectionism. The US president, who has imposed import tariffs on metals, is furious about the United States large trade deficit with key allies. Fair trade is now to be called fool trade if it is not reciprocal, he tweeted on Monday. In response, Lagarde unleashed a thinly veiled attack on Trump s trade policy, saying challenges to the way trade is conducted were damaging business confidence, which had soured even since the weekend G7 summit. The Washington-based IMF is sticking to its forecast for global growth of 3.9 percent both this year and next, she said, before adding: But the clouds on the horizon that we have signalled about six months ago are getting darker by the day, and I was going to say by the weekend. The biggest and darkest cloud that we see is the deterioration in confidence that is prompted by (an) attempt to challenge the way in which trade has been conducted, in which relationships have been handled and in which multilateral organisations have been operating, Lagarde said. The IMF managing director spoke after a meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the chiefs of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Labour Organization and the African Development Bank. Merkel said on Sunday the EU would implement counter-measures against US tariffs and described Trump s rejection of the G7 communique as sobering and a bit depressing. Investors are fearful of a tit-for-tat trade war, though markets were relatively calm on Monday after an early wobble. WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo told the Berlin news conference: We must... stop this escalation of tensions. A tit-for-tat process is not going to be helpful. He also criticised the United States conduct at the WTO. The US has been focusing much more on bilateral unilateral even sometimes measures, which is not something that is support of the rules-based trading system. They have been complaining about the system, they say that they want to improve the system, but we would expect a more constructive approach on their part, Azevedo said. Earlier, Germany s economy minister said Berlin saw no immediate solution to the trade row between the United States and other major economies but remained open to talks among friends, seeking to head off a full-blown global trade war. As Europe s biggest exporter to the United States, and with more than one million German jobs at stake, Germany is desperate to avoid an EU trade war with the United States. I believe a win-win situation is still possible, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, one of Merkel s closest lieutenants, told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. At the moment, however, it seems that no solution is in sight, at least not in the short term. Particularly concerning for Germany, a major car exporter to the United States, is Trump s weekend tweet that Washington is looking at tariffs on automobiles. The European Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 28-member EU, aims to target 2.8 billion euros worth of US imports, including bourbon and jeans, with additional 25 percent duties from early July. It already has broad backing from EU member states, but needs to consult with them in the next couple of weeks. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, while questioning whether the United States was truly an ally, said the bloc did not want to stop talking with Washington. We do not want to cut off discussions and further talks will of course need to address the automobile sector, he said.

28 BUSINESS 28 China auto sales up China s auto sales rose 7.9 percent in May from a year earlier as purchases of electric and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles more than doubled to 102,000, an industry group reported Tuesday. Sales of SUVs, sedans and minivans rose to 1.9 million, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Total vehicle sales, including trucks and buses, rose 9.6 percent to 2.3 million. Year-to-date sales rose 5.1 percent to 9.9 million, rebounding from 2017 s annual growth of just 1.4 percent. (AP) Name: Kuwait Sharia Compatible Indices Providers: Al Madar Finance & Investment Co. Description: Index of Sharia compatible companies traded on the KSE Website: Bloomberg Today s Today s closing Prev closing % 1-week 3-month YTD 12-month 24-month Index name ticker value as of value value change change change change change change Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Composite AMIC June 12, % 0.91% -5.43% -4.49% -8.99% 7.19% Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Kuwait Only AMIC June 12, % 0.95% -5.33% -4.41% -7.96% 6.91% Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Active AMIC June 12, % 0.48% -8.47% -9.65% % -2.23% Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Banking Sector AMIC June 12, % 0.44% -0.79% 1.54% 9.58% 17.08% Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Investment Sector AMIC June 12, % -1.46% 0.68% -6.45% % -4.31% Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Insurance Sector AMIC June 12, % -3.39% % % % % Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Real Estate Sector AMIC June 12, % 0.12% -8.80% -3.30% -6.78% -0.85% Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Industrial Sector AMIC June 12, % 0.44% 2.30% 3.64% 5.06% 27.92% Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Services Sector AMIC June 12, % 1.92% % % % 10.29% Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Food Sector AMIC June 12, % 1.37% % % % % Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Islamic Sector AMIC June 12, % 0.33% -2.15% -0.10% 1.33% 18.13% Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Non Kuwaiti Sector AMIC June 12, % 0.00% -4.48% % % 16.91% S&P 500 SPX June 11, , , % 1.28% 0.60% 3.51% 14.40% 33.11% DJ Islamic Index. DJIM June 11, , , % 0.73% 1.32% 4.32% 15.56% 31.48% One of Modi s most ambitious projects India set to miss key target for Japan-backed bullet train project China May total social financing drops sharply to bln yuan Chinese have been trying to clamp down on riskier forms of lending A woman checks stock prices through her tablet at a brokerage house in Beijing, June 12. Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday but little changed as market players tried to digest the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. (AP) Unapproved seeds slash input cost Indian farmers sow GM cotton seeds MUMBAI, June 12, (RTRS): Many Indian farmers are openly sowing an unapproved variety of genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds developed by Monsanto, as the government sits on the sidelines for fear of antagonising a big voting bloc ahead of an election next year. India approved the first GM cotton seed trait in 2002 and an upgraded variety in 2006, helping transform the country into the world s top producer and second-largest exporter of the fibre. But newer traits are not available after Monsanto in 2016 withdrew an application seeking approval for the latest variety due to a royalty dispute with the government. The herbicide-tolerant variety, labaltered to help farmers save costs on weed management, has, however, seeped into the country s farms since then. Authorities say they are still investigating how that happened. I will only use these seeds or nothing at all, said Rambhau Shinde, a farmer who has been cultivating cotton for nearly four decades in the western state of Maharashtra. The federal environment ministry said last year planting the seeds violated the Environment Protection Act, and farmers who did so were risking potential jail terms. But many farmers are desperate to boost their incomes after poor yields over the past few years and are willing to ignore the warnings. A government official in New Delhi, who deals with matters related to GM crops, said it was difficult to keep farmers away from something that they saw benefit in. If you don t allow them to plant legally, illegal planting will happen, the official said, requesting anonymity, adding that Monsanto had yet to reapply for an approval to sell its latest variety of GM cotton in India. A Monsanto India spokesman said the company was confident that the government would prosecute those involved in the illegal trade of the unapproved seeds. BEIJING, June 12, (RTRS): China s total social financing (TSF), a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, dropped sharply to billion yuan ($ billion) in May from 1.56 trillion yuan in April, data from the central bank showed on Tuesday. TSF includes off-balance sheet forms of financing that exist outside the conventional bank lending system, such as initial public offerings, loans from trust companies and bond sales. The economic barometer has become a gauge of fundraising trends and can provide hints of activity in China s vast and unregulated shadow banking sector. Chinese authorities have been trying to clamp down on riskier forms of lending as part of a broader campaign to contain and reduce systemic financial risks. China s outstanding total social financing was trillion yuan ($28.44 trillion) at the end of May, up 10.3 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said on Tuesday. TSF includes off-balance sheet forms of financing that exist outside the conventional bank lending system, such as initial public offerings, loans from trust companies and bond sales. It is also an indicator of activity in China s vast shadow banking sector, which authorities are trying to rein in as part of a broader campaign to contain and reduce systemic financial risks. Meanwhile, ZTE Corp s settlement with the US Commerce Department that would allow China s No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker to resume business with US suppliers was made public on Monday, days after the company agreed to pay a $1 billion fine, overhaul its leadership and meet other conditions. But the ban on buying US parts, imposed by the department in April, will not be lifted until the company pays the fine and places $400 million more in escrow in a US-approved bank, the agency said. PALGHAR, India/TOKYO, June 12, (RTRS): India is set to miss a December deadline to acquire land for a Japanbacked $17 billion bullet train project following protests by fruit growers, government officials said, likely delaying one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi s most ambitious projects. Modi s office is now monitoring the project week-to-week, as Indian officials seek to reassure Tokyo that the hurdles can be overcome through intense negotiations with sapota and mango growers in the western state of Maharashtra. Protests, backed by local politicians, have flared up in recent months against attempts to secure sections of a 108- km (67-mile) stretch, which is around one-fifth of the entire bullet train corridor connecting Mumbai with Ahmedabad, the largest commercial city in Modi s home state of Gujarat. I ve worked hard for three decades to develop this plantation, and they are asking me to hand over this land, sapota farmer Dashrat Purav, 62, said as he showed his orchard in the town of Palghar, a three-hour-drive north of Mumbai. I haven t worked hard to surrender land for the project. I did that for my children. Purav said he would sell his land only if at least one of his two unemployed sons was promised a government job. Protests against land acquisitions are common in India, where tens of millions of farmers till small holdings. A planned $44 billion refinery to be run by a consortium including Saudi Aramco, the world s biggest oil producer, is also struggling to secure land in Maharashtra. Land acquisition for any project is complex in India, said Dhananjay Kumar, spokesman for the National High Speed Rail Corp Ltd (NHSRCL) that is overseeing the project. Here also we are facing difficulty because of so much resistance. Failure to procure the bullet train land by the deadline would delay disbursal of soft-loans by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a government development body, which is reviewing the project next month, said two senior officials with the state-run Indian Railways, declining to be named. A JICA spokeswoman said that India must create relocation plans for local residents and make them public in order to enter into a loan agreement covering the main part of the bullet train project. It is possible that it takes time to sign a contract as India takes proper and careful measures in line with JICA s guidelines for environmental and social considerations, she said. To assuage Japan s concerns, Indian officials have sought a meeting this month with transport ministry officials in Tokyo, one of the Indian officials said. India wants the project s completion target to be advanced by a year to 2022, the 75th year of India s independence. A Japanese transport ministry official who deals with the bullet train project said that Indian officials had told them that they can manage the land acquisition. We will continue to work together with the Indian government to bring this project forward with an aim to start operation in 2023, the official said. Japan is majority-funding the train project through a 50-year loan. Japanese companies such as Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corp, JFE Holdings, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toshiba Corp and Hitachi are likely to supply at least 70 percent of the core components of the rail line, sources told Reuters in January. Chinese businessman is wary of bets on North Korea opening up DANDONG, China, June 12, (RTRS): Property speculators in China may be betting that Tuesday s US-North Korea summit is poised to unlock riches across the border but Chinese construction machinery dealer Wang Chenglin is far from convinced. Like many business owners in Dandong, through which most of North Korea s trade flows, Wang s hopes have been dashed before. In particular, he remembers supplying three excavators for the construction of the New Yalu River Bridge, a project that was meant to represent a new era of economic ties but was abandoned after Pyongyang reversed a decision to engage with China. Wang also tells of tough bargaining with North Korean buyers: they sought discounts of as much as 20 percent, and sometimes put up a deposit and then vanished. Before United Nations sanctions on the North last August halted his crossborder trade entirely, Wang said he was selling between five and 10 machines a year to North Korean buyers, accounting for roughly 20 percent of his business. He has run his company, Dandong Shuoyu Machinery, for over a decade. North Koreans have started turning up again to look at his machinery since the nation s leader Kim Jong Un visited China in March on his first trip abroad since assuming power. That is just one of a number of recent signs that cross-border business may be about to pick up. Investors have also been snapping up real estate in this city, which is opposite the Yalu River from North Korea. Yet Wang preaches caution about hopes that the North could open its economy after decades of isolation. investment funds Funds Fund Manager Valuation Valued date Currency Net Asset Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated Value (NAV) National Bank of Kuwait Money Market Funds Watani KD Money Market Fund II NBK Capital Weekly June 5, 2018 KD May 29, 2018 Watani USD Money Market Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly June 5, 2018 USD May 29, 2018 Watani KD Money Market Fund (Acc to Islamic Shariah principles) II NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly June 5, 2018 KD May 29, 2018 Watani USD Money Market Fund (Acc to Islamic Shariah principles) II NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly June 5, 2018 USD May 29, 2018 NBK Kuwait Equity Fund Watani Investment Co. Weekly May 31, 2018 KD May 24, 2018 Gulf Equity Investment Fund Watani Investment Co. Weekly May 31, 2018 USD May 24, 2018 Regional Bond and Sukuk Investment Fund NBK Capital Weekly May 31, 2018 USD May 24, 2018 Gulf Bank Al Basha er GCC Equity Fund Kwt. Fin. & Inv. Co. & Gulf Fin. House Monthly April 30, 2018 USD March 31, 2018 Coast Fund Coast Investment & Dev. Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2018 KD Dec 31, 2017 Markaz Real Estate Fund Bi-annual April 30, 2018 KD March 31, 2018 Al Ahli Bank Al Ahli Gulf Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly May 31, 2018 KD April 30, 2018 Al Ahli Kuwaiti Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly May 31, 2018 KD March 31, 2018 Burgan Bank Burgan Equity Fund Burgan Bank Monthly April 30, 2018 KD March 31, 2018 Boubyan Bank Boubyan KD Money Market Fund Boubyan Bank Weekly April 17, 2018 KD April 3, 2018 Boubyan KD Money Market Fund II Boubyan Bank Weekly May 29, 2018 KD May 8, 2018 Boubyan Capital Investment Co. Boubyan USD Liquidity Fund Boubyan Capital Investment Co May 29, 2018 USD May 8, 2018 Boubyan Multi-Asset Holding Fund Boubyan Bank Jan 30, 2018 USD Sept 30, 2017 Kuwait Investment Co. Local Fund Al Raed Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly May 31, 2018 KD May 10, 2018 Kuwait Investment Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly May 31, 2018 KD April 30, 2018 Al Hilal Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly June 4, 2018 KD May 31, 2018 Al Atheer Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly May 31, 2018 KD April 30, 2018 International Global Bond Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly March 21, 2018 USD March 14, 2018 Diversified Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly May 31, 2018 USD May 8, 2018 European Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly May 31, 2018 Euro April 30, 2018 Pacific Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly March 21, 2018 USD March 14, 2018 North American Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Tw. Monthly March 29, 2018 USD Feb 28, 2018 National Investment Co. (NIC) Al-Wataniya Fund NIC Monthly March 31, 2018 KD Feb 28, 2018 Al-Darij Fund NIC Monthly April 30, 2018 KD March 31, 2018 Mawarid Fund NIC Monthly April 30, 2018 KD March 31, 2018 Zajil Fund NIC Monthly April 30, 2018 KD March 31, 2018 Al Mada Investment Fund NIC Weekly April 30, 2018 USD March 31, 2018 Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) Mumtaz Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly April 26, 2018 KD April 19, 2018 MIDAF Kuwait Financial Center Weekly April 30, 2018 KD April 26, 2018 Islamic Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly April 30, 2018 KD April 26, 2018 FORSA Financial Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly April 30, 2018 KD Dec 31, 2017 Real Estate Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Dec 31, 2017 KD Nov 30, 2017 Markaz Fixed Income Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly April 26, 2018 USD April 19, 2018 Mawazeen International Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly March 26, 2018 USD March 19, 2017 Markaz MENA Islamic Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly April 12, 2018 USD March 15, 2018 Funds Fund Manager Valuation Valued date Currency Net Asset Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated Value (NAV) Kuwait & Middle East Financial & Inv. Co. Al Rou yah Fund KMEFIC Monthly May 31, 2018 KD Nov 30, 2017 Global Investment House Index Funds GCC Large Cap Index Fund Global Weekly June 7, 2018 KD May 10, 2018 Equity Funds Al-Mamoun Fund A Global Weekly June 7, 2018 KD May 10, 2018 Al-Mamoun Fund B Global Weekly June 7, 2018 KD May 10, 2018 GCC Large Cap Fund Global Bi-weekly June 5, 2018 USD May 8, 2018 Global Saudi Equity Fund Global Bi-weekly June 5, 2018 SAR May 8, 2018 Sectoral Funds EPADI Fund Global Weekly June 5, 2018 USD May 8, 2018 Islamic Funds Global GCC Islamic Fund Global Weekly June 5, 2018 USD May 8, 2018 Al-Durra Islamic Fund Global Monthly June 7, 2018 KD May 10, 2018 Kuwait Finance & Investment Co (KFIC) Al Wasm Fund KFIC Weekly June 6, 2018 KD May 2, 2018 Al Basha er GCC Equity Fund KFIC Monthly May 31, 2018 USD April 30, 2018 KAMCO KAMCO Investment Fund KAMCO Monthly April 30, 2018 KD Feb 28, 2018 KAMCO Real Estate Yield Fund KAMCO April 30, 2018 USD March 31, 2018 Wafra International Investment Co. Wafra Equity Fund Wafra Co. Monthly April 30, 2018 KD March 31, 2018 Wafra Bond Fund Wafra Co. Monthly April 30, 2018 KD March 31, 2018 Masaref Investment Fund ISKAN Weekly April 30, 2018 KD March 31, 2018 Fajir Islamic Fund Wafra Co. Monthly April 30, 2018 KD March 31, 2018 Al Aman Investment Al Aman Islamic Fund Al Aman Investment Weekly May 31, 2018 KD Dec 30, 2017 Tharwa Investment Co. Tharwa Investment Fund Tharwa Investment Co Weekly May 31, 2018 KD Feb 1, 2018 Tharwa Islamic Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly May 31, 2018 KD Feb 1, 2018 Bank Al-Bilad Al Seef Fund Bank Al-Bilad Daily June 6, 2018 KD May 20, 2018 Commercial International Bank CIB Money Market Fund (Osoul) CI Asset Management Weekly June 10, 2018 EGP May 27, 2018 CIB II Equity (Isthethmar) CI Asset Management Weekly June 7, 2018 EGP May 24, 2018 CIB and Faisal Islamic Al Aman CI Asset Management Weekly June 7, 2018 EGP May 24, 2018 Hemaya CI Asset Management Weekly June 3, 2018 EGP May 2, 2018 Thabat CI Asset Management Weekly June 10, 2018 EGP May 27, 2018 Takamol CI Asset Management Weekly June 10, 2018 EGP May 27, 2018 Misr El Mostakbel CI Asset Management Weekly June 10, 2018 EGP May 27, 2018 KFH Capital Muthanna Islamic Index Fund (MUDX) KFH Capital Investment Co Daily April 30, 2018 KD Feb 24, 2018 Muthanna GCC Islamic banks Fund KFH Capital Investment Co Daily April 30, 2018 KD Feb 24, 2018 Baitak GCC Fund KFH Capital Investment Co Weekly June 29, 2017 KD Feb 28, 2017 Noor Financial Investment Co. Noor Islamic Fund Noor Financial Investment Co Monthly Nov 30, 2016 KD Sept 30, 2015 CapCorp Investment Co. CapCorp Local Fund CapCorp Investment Company Weekly Sept 28, 2017 KD Aug 30, 2017

29 BUSINESS 29 Egypt raises electricity prices, cuts subsidies Egypt is further cutting electricity subsidies, raising average prices by around a quarter, Electricity Minister Mohammed Shaker announced Tuesday, as it moves forward in a sweeping economic reform programme. The subsidy cuts are the latest step in an electricity prices restructuring plan launched in 2014, with the new prices taking effect from July 1. They were decided taking into serious account the low-income (Egyptians), Shaker told reporters in Cairo. The lowest consumers of electricity will have their subsidies cut the least, while the higher the consumption, the larger the cuts, Shaker said. Up to 1,000 kilowatt (per month), there is a subsidy, while the subsidy would be abolished for higher usage. Prices for domestic consumers will rise by an average 24.8 percent, while factories will see their electricity bills rise by almost 42 percent, he said. The average increase for all users will not exceed 26.6 percent, he said. The cut in subsidies are part of a reform programme that prompted the International Monetary Fund to approve a three-year, $12-billion loan in November Authorities have since also floated Egypt s currency, cut fuel subsidies and adopted a value added tax, measures which have led to soaring consumer prices. (AFP) Kuwait s stocks stem 2-day fall; volume up By Iliasu Abubakari Arab Times Staff KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Kuwait stocks nudged higher on Tuesday, stemming a two-day fall as bank shares rebounded with modest gains. The All Share index rose points to close at 4, points. The Premier Market index advanced points to close at 4, points. The Main Market extended its gains with points rise. The volume turnover meanwhile rose for a second straight day as million shares changed hands, a percent rise from the previous session. The sectors diverged during this session. Technology outperformed with 1.67 percent gain while consumer goods shed 0.97 percent to end as the top loser of the day. In terms of volume, banks notched the highest market share of percent. Among the notable movers, Humansoft Holding Co surged 22 fils to KD while Hilal Cement Co jumped 8.6 fils in thin trade. Heavy Engineering Ind and Shipbuilding Co and Mezzan Holding Co plunged 10 fils apiece to KD and KD respectively. The best performing stock United Real Estate Co jumped percent while National Shooting Co gained percent to stand next. Gulf Franchising Holding Co tumbled percent, the steepest decliner of the day. The heaviesttraded stock, Zain advanced 1.04 percent on the back of 5.6 million shares. Mabanee Co eased 3 fils to KD while Agility and Kuwait Projects Co added 1 fil to close at KD and KD respectively. United Projects Co jumped 5 fils while Boubyan Petrochemical Co gained 1 fil National Industries Group stagnated at KD Ooredoo rose 1 fil, extending last session s gains to KD while VIVA closed flat at KD KAMCO Investment Co surged 8.83 percent to 85 fils whereas Kuwait Investment Co was up 0.92 percent to stand at 110 fils. Automated Systems Co climbed 1.67 percent to help drive technology shares higher. Combined Group Contracting Co and Commercial Facilities Co rose 0.73 percent and 0.62 percent respectively. The market opened on a strong footing and ticked higher in early trade. The index moved sideways thereafter and headed north in the closing moments. Banking shares rebounded with modest gains, led by Al-Mutahed, which spiked 9 fils, extending last session gains to KD NBK jumped 5 fils on the back of 1.8 million shares while KFH followed suit. Burgan Bank and Ahli United Bank advanced 2 fils to KD and KD respectively. Gulf Bank shed 2 fils to close at KD while Warba Bank was up URC jumps 11.9 pct; Humansoft gains Egypt s market firms Oil price supports Saudi; Dubai falls on profit-taking Central bank meetings key as week wears on Italian debt in demand as storms abate LONDON, June 12, (RTRS): The spread between Italian and German 10-year borrowing costs narrowed on Tuesday as positive news from a summit between North Korea and the United States followed reassuring comments from Italy s new economy minister. The closely watched yield spread narrowed to its tightest in over a week, though moves in the euro zone bond market were small relative to the volatile trade of recent days, with key central bank meetings due later in the week. US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive document on Tuesday following a historic summit in Singapore, promising to work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. This added to Monday s relief rally in Italian assets after Economy Minister Giovanni Tria told the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday the coalition was committed Mideast Stocks DUBAI, June 12, (RTRS): Gulf stocks ended mixed on Tuesday, with the Saudi market supported by higher oil prices while Dubai and Qatar fell on profit-taking amid slack trade ahead of Eid. Markets struggled to keep up momentum two days before the start of the Muslim holiday, with the Dubai index easing by 0.6 percent to 3,079 points, weighed down by property, banking and logistics stocks. Emaar Properties, Dubai s biggest developer, lost 0.8 percent while Commercial Bank of Dubai and courier company Aramex fell by 4.7 percent and 2.4 percent respectively. Abu Dhabi s index was little changed at 4,734 points, with First Abu Dhabi Bank s 0.7 percent gain helping to keep the benchmark from going into negative territory. Telecoms giant Etisalat, which holds the largest weighting on its home index, was down 1.4 percent. Some United Arab Emirates stocks are also moving ahead of index benchmarker FTSE s emerging markets index rebalancing on June 16, said Mohammed Ali Yasin, chief executive of FAB Securities, the brokerage arm of First Abu Dhabi Bank. Yasin said that the rebalancing is smaller than the MSCI rebalancing at the end of May but that low trading volumes in UAE markets mean that any positive movement should help to consolidate recent gains. The Saudi index rose 0.3 percent, helped by gains in property and financial stocks. Property company Jabal Omar rose 1.8 percent and Dar Al Arkan was up 2.7 percent. A political reapprochement between the US and North Korea as seen as a positive signal for Asian growth, which will translate to by the same amount. KIB closed 1 fil higher after trading over 1.3 million shares while Boubyan Bank slipped 1 fils to KD Real estate shares rose 0.48 percent, helped by URC and MENA Real Estate Co which gained 11.9 percent and 8.95 percent respectively. Salhia Real Estate Co climbed 1.82 pct and Aayan Real Estate Co was up 4.44 pct. Mirroring the day s uptick, the winners outperformed as 56 stocks ended higher whereas 28 closed lower. Of the 101 counters active on Tuesday, 17 closed flat. 2,067 deals worth KD million were transacted, percent jump in value from last session. Real Estate Trade Centers Co advanced 7.69 percent while Tameer Real Estate Co Investment Co swelled 5 percent in thin trade. Abyaar Real Estate Dev Co shot up 1.65 percent on the back of 1.4 million shares and Investors Holding to remaining in the euro zone. There is some positive sentiment from the North Korea news even though a lot of the progress has been priced in already, said ING strategist Benjamin Schroeder. Also I think the move today is a continued reaction to the headlines from... Italy. Italian 10-year government bond yields were 5 basis points lower on Tuesday at 2.80 percent, pushing the spread over Germany down to 229 bps. At one stage it went as low as 225 bps, its lowest in a week and compared to a gap of 268 bps at the end of last week. Top-rated euro zone government bond yields were 1-2 bps higher across the board, with Germany s 10-year yield hitting a three-week high of percent before settling at 0.51 percent, up 1.5 bps on the day. Analysts said the outcomes of central bank meetings could move greater imports of oil from Gulf states and potentially higher oil prices, said Tariq Qaqish, managing director of the asset-management division at Mena Corp. In Qatar, the index lost 0.4 percent, weighed down by a 1.5 percent drop in Qatar National Bank and a 3.2 percent slump for Qatar Gas Transport Company. Egypt s market firmed by 0.1 percent to 15,938 points, led by banks and property firms. Commercial International Bank rose 2.6 percent while EFG Hermes advanced 2.7 percent. Talaat Mostafa Group, Egypt s biggest listed developer, was up 1.2 percent. Saudi Arabia The index rose 0.3 percent to 8,270 points. Dubai The index lost 0.6 percent to 3,079 points. Abu Dhabi The index was little changed at 4,734 points. Qatar The index fell 0.5 percent to 9,161 points. Kuwait The index rose 0.6 percent to 4,781 points. Bahrain The index added 0.5 percent to 1,288 points. Oman The index lost 0.1 percent to 4,598 points. Egypt The index rose 0.1 percent to 15,938 points. Group Co added 0.79 percent. Mashaer Holding Co fell 2.17 percent to 45 fils and First Dubai for Real Estate Dev eased 1.19 percent to 41.5 fils. Kuwait and Middle East Financial Investment Co dialed up 4.35 percent while Senergy Holding Co was up by 4 percent to 26 fils. Noor Financial Investment accelerated 1.58 percent and Ekttitab Holding Co shot up 3.07 percent. Kuwait Syrian Holding Co and KGL Logistics Co gained 2.66 percent and 1.68 percent respectively. Privatization Holding Co and Gulf Petroleum Investment paused at 60.9 fils and 26 fils respectively. The market has been mixed during the week as the index closed lower in the two sessions. It has gained points from the start of the month and trading percent lower so far this year. Boursa Kuwait is the second largest market in the region with 175 listed stocks. the market as the week progresses. The US Federal Reserve is widely seen hiking rates on Wednesday at the end of a two-day policy meeting, while the European Central Bank is expected to provide details on the unwinding of its 2.55 trillion euro ($3 trillion) bond buying programme on Thursday. US May consumer price inflation is due on Tuesday, with a Reuters poll showing expectations of 2.7 percent year-on-year. Also on Tuesday, a survey by Germany s ZEW Institute showed the mood among German investors tumbled in June to its lowest level since September 2012, weighed down by concerns about the impact of an escalation in a trade dispute with the United States. In the UK, data showed British workers wages grew more slowly in the three months to April, which could further douse expectations that the Bank of England will raise interest rates as soon as August.

30 BUSINESS 30 Malaysia PM floats new national car project UK, EU aviation regulators should discuss Brexit plans Malaysia s newly elected Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Monday floated the possibility of a national car project, despite the problems of a similar endeavour started during his previous term decades ago. We need to go back to the idea of a national car, he told a Tokyo press conference on his first foreign trip since his shock election last month. Our ambition is to start another national car, perhaps with some the help from our partners in Southeast Asia... we want to access the world market, he said earlier, at a forum in Tokyo. The national car has a troubled history in Malaysia, which from 1983 produced the Proton as part of then-premier Mahathir s ambitious national industrialisation plan. The brand had a reputation for unimaginative models and shoddy quality and saw its popularity wane over the years in the face bottomline of stiff competition from foreign models. It 2017 its parent company, Malaysian conglomerate DRB- HICOM sold a 49.9 percent stake to Chinese auto giant Geely, which is seeking to turn Proton around. Mahathir appeared to brush aside that history on Monday, saying Malaysia would seek support and expertise from other countries in looking once again to produce its own cars. (AFP) British and European airline regulators should be allowed to begin technical planning for Brexit that is kept separate from political discussions, aerospace trade bodies told the European Union s lead Brexit negotiator in a letter. Aviation is one sector that could be most severely impacted by Brexit, as there is no default fallback option for the industry if there is no agreement on future relations after Britain leaves the EU in March With less than a year to go, two aviation trade associations have demanded that negotiators allow the regulators to start technical planning conversations to help provide clarity for different Brexit scenarios. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the UK s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) need to urgently begin technical and contingency planning discussions by the June European Council, and separate to the political negotiations, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and the ADS Group said in a letter to the EU s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. British officials are negotiating with their EU counterparts to agree rules about how a range of sectors will operate after Brexit, including aviation, fi nance and pharmaceutical firms. (RTRS) World stocks, dollar steady NEW YORK: IHOP, which teased a name change to IHOb earlier this month, says the b is to promote its burger menu. The pancake chain has been coy about whether the name flip is permanent, saying Monday that it was for the time being. Pressed for details, the company would not give an end date for IHOb but referred to the tonguein-cheek name change and said it was tied to the summer burger promotion. The company known for breakfast already had burgers on the menu, but is adding a line made of Black Angus ground beef. It started using the IHOb name on social media, on its website and for in-store promotions. (AP) WASHINGTON: An update to Tesla s Autopilot software coming in August will enable full self-driving features for the automaker s electric cars, chief executive Elon Musk says. Musk s comments come amid a race by automakers and tech firms to roll out fully autonomous vehicles, but also rising concerns about the safety of robotic systems. The Tesla founder made the disclosure in a Twitter conversation, responding to a user who complained about issues with Autopilot, which is currently considered semi-autonomous with the requirement that a motorist be at the wheel at all times. Musk said the updated Version 9 coming in August would help address a number of issues. (AFP) NASHVILLE, Tenn: KKR is buying physician services provider and surgery center operator Envision Healthcare Corp in an approximately $9.9 billion deal. The private equity firm will pay $46 in cash for each share of Envision s stock in a deal the companies aim to close in the fourth quarter. The total price includes debt. Nashville, Tennessee-based Envision announced last fall that it would review its strategic options. Envision said Monday that its board and financial advisers looked at acquisitions, contacted 25 potential buyers and considered keeping Envision as a stand-alone business. They determined that the KKR deal offered the best chance to maximize shareholder value. (AP) CHICAGO: German building materials maker Knauf is buying American building products maker USG in an approximately $7 billion deal. Gebr Knauf KG will pay $44 per USG share. That includes $43.50 per share in cash payable once the transaction closes and a special dividend of 50 cents per share that would be paid after shareholders approve the deal. Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries, which own about 31 percent of USG s outstanding stock, have agreed to vote in favor of the transaction. USG will keep its headquarters in Chicago. The deal is expected to close early next year. (AP) LONDON: Troubled UK budget chain Poundworld on Monday fell into adminstration, putting it closer to collapse with the loss of up to 5,100 jobs unless a last-ditch buyer can be found. Poundworld, which is battling against discounting in supermarkets, has appointed financial group Deloitte to help it find a buyer and stave off store closures and job losses. The announcement comes just days after House of Fraser, the Chineseowned department store chain, said it is closing more than half its shops across Britain and Ireland, risking the loss of 6,000 jobs. British retailers with large amounts of stores are suffering also from fierce online competition from the likes of Amazon. (AFP) LONDON: WPP s decision to allow founder Martin Sorrell to leave without losing his future share awards met with opposition on Tuesday as Hermes EOS advised its shareholder clients to oppose the advertising giant s remuneration report. Given the lack of confirmed information about the reasons for the former CEO s departure, we do not believe we can assess whether his termination package is appropriate, Hermes EOS Pauline Lecoursonnois said in a statement. WPP, the world s biggest advertising agency, agreed Sorrell could leave with his share scheme intact in April after an allegation of personal misconduct. The former CEO has denied any wrongdoing. (RTRS) LONDON: Boohoo confirmed its position as one of the few winners in Britain s brutal retail market on Tuesday as its online fast fashion and low prices attracted young customers at home, in Europe and the United States. After years of mounting strain, Britain s clothing sector has been upended in 2018 with traditional giants such as Marks & Spencer and House of Fraser forced to shut stores as consumers shop online for cheaper goods. Several major names have gone out of business as retailers selling everything from clothes to electronics and discounted goods have closed, with the loss of thousands of jobs. Founded in Manchester, northern England, in 2006, Boohoo has expanded rapidly, purchasing the PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal brands in recent years. (RTRS) DUBLIN: Low-cost airline Ryanair said Monday it has formally recognised representation by a union of its cabin crew in Britain. Just a week after recognising cabin crew unions in Italy, Ryanair said in a statement that it had signed its second cabin crew union recognition agreement with Unite the Union, who will now be the representative body for Ryanair directly employed cabin crew in the UK. Already on June 6, it agreed that the unions, ANPAC and ANPAV, could represent its cabin staff in Italy. This cabin crew recognition agreement follows extensive negotiations with Unite the Union and covers the UK market, which accounts for approximately 25 percent of Ryanair s fleet, the statement said. (AFP) LUXEMBOURG: French luxury shoe designer Christian Louboutin won a lengthy EU legal battle over trademarking his signature red-soled high-heeled shoes, the court and the company said on Tuesday. Louboutin took Dutch shoe maker Van Haren to court in the Netherlands in 2012 after Van Haren sold similar shoes, with the Parisian designer insisting he had already registered the style in Europe. (AFP) after US-North Korea summit Oil eases; gold locked below $1,300 as mkt braces for Fed meeting NEW YORK, June 12, (Agencies): World stock markets were little changed on Tuesday while the US dollar fell slightly against an index of major currencies, as investors brushed aside a long-awaited US- North Korea summit aimed at denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Singapore, pledging to work toward complete denuclearization, while Washington committed to providing security guarantees for its old enemy. The MSCI all-country world index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, gained 0.07 percent on the day. The dollar index fell 0.04 percent, steadied in part by data on Tuesday showing US consumer prices rose in May amid a slowdown in the increase of gasoline costs. The euro was up 0.06 percent to $ Investors had mixed reactions to the North Korea summit, which ended with the signing of a joint statement that gave few details on how the goals set by both sides would be achieved. Buyers of equities and government bonds seemed more interested in other matters. Along with the positive US inflation data, investors were focused on the kick-off of a two-day US Federal Reserve meeting, at which the Fed is expected to raise interest rates, as well as meetings later this week by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. Futures contracts indicate a 96 percent probability the fed funds rate will be raised a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, according to CME Group. Benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes last fell 3/32 in price to yield percent, from percent late on Monday. The 30-year bond last fell 4/32 in price to yield percent, from percent Monday. Wall Street s main equity indexes were mixed but steady, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 8.78 points, or 0.03 percent, to 25,313.53, the S&P 500 gaining 3.07 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2, and the Nasdaq Composite adding points, or 0.38 percent, to 7, Oil was mixed after falling earlier in the day. Volatility subsided to its lowest in three weeks, as investors prepared for a key meeting of the OPEC producer group next week. US crude rose 0.53 percent to $66.45 per barrel and Brent was last at $76.41, down 0.07 percent. In Asian equity markets, trading was volatile with Japan s Nikkei paring early gains to close 0.3 percent higher after earlier rising as much as 0.9 percent. US US stocks edged higher on Tuesday, with help from Twitter and media stocks, as investors looked past a historic US-North Korea summit and focused on the Federal Reserve s policy meeting. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, but their joint statement gave few details on how the goal would be achieved. While defense stocks such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman took a hit, the broader markets saw little impact. Equities are really looking past the trade and geopolitical issues, and the focus is more on fundamentals, said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist, US Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis. At 13:06 ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 4.86 points, or 0.02 percent, at 25, and the S&P 500 was up 5.74 points, or 0.21 percent, at 2, The Nasdaq Composite was up points, or 0.59 percent, at 7,705.26, after hitting an intraday record high. A court ruling that would decide the fate of AT&T s Inc $85 billion offer for Time Warner is awaited after the closing bell. Charter Communications jumped 3.1 percent, leading gains on the S&P media index, which was up 0.7 percent. Tesla rose 6.8 percent after Keybanc raised its estimates for Model 3 deliveries for the second quarter and the full year. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates for the second time this year, when it concludes its policy meeting on Wednesday. UK Losses in miners and oil majors sent Britain s top share index into the red on Tuesday, while housebuilding stocks tumbled after weak results from Crest Nicholson piled extra pressure on a sector already hit by a run of poor economic data. A summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea s Kim Jong Un had limited impact on UK and European stock markets. The FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent, while the STOXX 600 edged down 0.1 percent. With a crucial vote on Brexit getting underway in the British parliament, a volatile sterling currency helped rein back the FTSE s gains. Miners Anglo American and Antofagasta were among the top fallers, down 3.2 and 2.3 percent as a strong dollar weighed on copper prices. Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and BP fell 1.4 percent, tracking a decline in Europe s oil & gas index as crude prices flagged, and traders said investors were pocketing profits after a strong run in the sector. While commodities weighed on the FTSE 100, the biggest moves were in the mid- and small-cap markets. Crest Nicholson shares tumbled 4.2 percent, leading the housebuilding sector down. The southern Englandfocussed housebuilder said its margins had been hit by higher costs and flat house prices, and was moving out of central London. Barratt Development, Berkeley, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey all fell 2.1 to 3.1 percent, bottom of the FTSE 100, while mid-caps Bellway and Redrow fell 3.6 and 4.2 percent. Also in disruptive retail, online fashion brand Boohoo fell percent despite reporting strong results with revenue growing 53 percent in the three months to May 31. The stock tumbled 5 percent at the open but ended the day down just 1 percent. Europe/Asia Major markets in Asia and Europe rose Tuesday after Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un held a historic summit, while investors look ahead to key policy meetings at the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank this week. Trump said he had formed a special bond with the North Korean leader, who reaffirmed his commitment to complete denuclearisation of Korean Peninsula in a joint agreement signed by the two. While the meeting was not expected to see any immediate results, it has provided hope for peace on the Korean peninsula. However, investors remain concerned about a possible global trade war after the weekend s Group of Seven summit in Canada ended with Trump withdrawing support for a joint communique and accusing host Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of being dishonest. That came just after he had hit Canada, Mexico and the European Union with steel and aluminium tariffs, sparking threats of retaliation that some fear could escalate. For most of the day eyes were on Singapore, where Trump and Kim became the first sitting leaders of their countries to meet. The pair signed what Trump called a pretty comprehensive and very important document, which spoke of new US-DPRK relations and committed Washington to security guarantees. Kim said the two Cold War foes had vowed to leave the past behind and promised the world will see a major change. Stocks fluctuated through the day but by the end of trade Tokyo was up 0.3 percent and Shanghai closed 0.9 percent higher. Hong Kong was 0.1 percent higher. However, Seoul dipped 0.1 percent, while the Korean won eased 0.2 percent. Singapore was slightly lower, as were Wellington, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei. In early trade London and Paris each rose 0.3 percent, while Frankfurt gained 0.8 percent. After quickly shrugging off the G7 fight club in Quebec, investors latched on to the air of optimism circulating from the Singapore summit, said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA. Key figures Tokyo Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 22, (close) Hong Kong Hang Seng: UP 0.1 percent at 31, (close) Shanghai Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3, (close) Oil Oil fell on Tuesday, reversing earlier gains, although volatility subsided to its lowest in three weeks, as investors prepared for a key meeting of the OPEC producer group next week. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries released its monthly report on Tuesday, in which it cited the high degree of uncertainty hanging over the global oil market this year. Brent crude futures fell 35 cents to $76.11 a barrel by 1347 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded 13 cents lower at $ OPEC, together with partners including Russia, has cut oil output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) since January 2017 in an effort to boost the market. Volatility in oil prices has subsided due to caution around the group s meetings scheduled for June 22-23, at which it will decide on future supply policy. With US sanctions threatening to cut Iranian exports and the potential for more declines in Venezuelan production, OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and Russia have indicated they would be willing to raise output to make up for any supply shortfall. Gold Gold prices remained locked just below $1,300 an ounce on Tuesday as investors waited for clues on the pace of US interest rate rises from a Federal Reserve meeting this week. A Fed statement and press conference expected from 1800 GMT on Wednesday could push gold out of the tight range of about $1,290 to $1,305, in which it has been trapped since mid- May. Gold is highly sensitive to interest rates because higher rates push up bond yields, making non-yielding gold less attractive, and tend to strengthen the dollar, increasing the cost of gold for buyers using other currencies. Investors expect the Fed to increase rates on Wednesday but will be looking for hints at future policy. A more aggressive stance on monetary tightening would hurt gold. We are waiting for the FOMC, said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen, referring to the Fed s policy committee. BEC Muzaini Dollarco Commercial Bank Gulf Bank NBK Burgan Bank ABK KFH KBE BEC Muzaini Dollarco Commercial Bank Gulf Bank NBK Burgan Bank ABK KFH KBE BEC Muzaini Dollarco Gulf Bank ABK KFH KBE exchange rates June 10 Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy US dollar Danish krone Cyprus pound Sterling pound Indian rupee Yemeni riyal travellers cheques US dollar Sterling Euro local gold BEC Commercial Bank Gulf Bank Al-Ahli Bank BEC Muzaini Exchange Euro Pakistani rupee Thai baht Japanese yen Sri Lanka rupee South African rand Swiss franc Bangladesh taka Korean won Gold 999 kg 12, Canadian dollar Philippine peso Syrian pound Gold tola 1, Gold ounce Swedish krona Australian dollar Iranian Riyal Gold gm 22k Saudi riyal Gold gm 21k Hong Kong dollar Lebanese pound Gold gm 18k UAE dirham DRAFT Singapore dollar Malaysian ringgit gm Bahraini dinar gm Jordanian dinar Indonesian rupiah Omani riyal Egyptian pound New Zealand dollar All rates in KD per unit of foreign currency

31 SPORTS 31 BANGALORE, India, June 12, (AFP): Shaken by the horrors of war, Afghanistan will take a mighty step in cricket history when captain Asghar Stanikzai leads his team out for their first ever Test match against India on Thursday. Conflict has scarred virtually every member of the team and they are impoverished compared with their opponents, the world s wealthiest cricket nation. But Stanikzai said they are determined to show their rise to a Test nation less than two decades after being recognised by the International Cricket Council in 2001 is merited. It s a great moment for us as we embark on our Test journey, said Stanikzai, who has been a member of the Afghanistan side since they gained one-day international status in To be competing against the best on the Test rankings table is something to be proud of and we will try to do our best in whatever chances we get and exhibit the skills the players possess individually as well as collectively as a team. Afghan cricket grew out of the refugee camps in Pakistan where many families were based after they fled the Afghan conflict in the 1980s and 1990s. Now the country is producing world-beaters like 19-year-old spinner Rashid Khan. In March, the teenager became the fastest bowler to reach 100 one-day international wickets, and is currently the world s top-ranked Twenty20 bowler. Khan was one of a handful of Afghan players in this year s Indian Premier League and proved one of its most dangerous bowlers. He took 21 wickets for runners-up Sunrisers Hyderabad, who paid $1.4 million for his services. In my opinion we have better spinners than India, Stanikzai told Indian media, highlighting the likes of Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi, Rahmat Shah and Zahir Khan. Passion versus experience A Test of nerves for Afghanistan in debut against India CRICKET Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman bowls in the nets during a practice session at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on June 12. (AFP) After impressive performances in the limited-overs formats, Afghanistan must prove they can stand the stresses of a five-day match. Conditions in India are unlikely to surprise them, though: the team have been training in the country since 2015 because of poor security at home. Afghan players got a new reminder of the horrors in their country last month when an attack on a cricket match in Khan s home city of Jalalabad killed eight people and wounded 45. Cricket has been a source of happiness and pride for all Afghans, said Afghanistan Cricket Board chief Atif Mashal at the time. These attacks are against peace, unity and humanity. But growing up in a tough environment where such militant attacks were common did not deter spin sensation Khan. The terror in our home area meant we did not have access to an education while growing up. My parents even forbid my siblings and I to play cricket outside our home, Khan, one of 12 children, said in a recent interview with Afghan media. But no amount of war stopped me from sneaking out to play cricket with my brothers. Former Afghanistan coach Inzamam ul Haq, the ex-pakistan captain, said the team s passion in adversity sets them apart, and the performances of Khan and the other spinners in the IPL has boosted their confidence. But the Afghan spinners will be up against experienced Indian rivals Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja who between them have 476 Test wickets. And Indian batsman Karun Nair, famed for his triple century in his third Test against England in 2016, cast doubt on Stanikzai s claim of spin superiority. I think that s a pretty big statement to make considering they haven t played Test cricket, Nair told reporters. All of our spinners are proven wicket-takers so there is nothing much to say on that. The Indian team will be led by Ajinkya Rahane in the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli, who is resting, and are overwhelming favourites. But the Afghans can give heavyweights India a tough time if they follow the footsteps of the other team to make their Test debut this year: last month, Ireland made Pakistan sweat before eventually losing their first-ever Test. England agree to handshake as Australia go on charm offensive Poms can cope with No. 1 tag as new-look Aussies await: Bairstow Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin bats in the nets during a practice session ahead of a one-off Test match against Afghanistan in Bangalore, India, on June 12. (AP) Upholding a tradition In eastern Iraq, a small town builds weightlifting champions BADRA, Iraq, June 12, (AFP): While some towns in Iraq are known for producing oil or textiles, Badra boasts its own special conveyer belt churning out weightlifting champions. In cafes along the main road dissecting the small town, 10 kms (six miles) from the border with Iran, chatter rarely veers far from the successes of local lifters. In the old days, men measured their performance by lifting cast iron, often spare parts of cars, said Khudeir Basha, who grew up nearby and became coach of the national weightlifting team. In 1974, the youth of Badra decided to take part in the Iraqi WEIGHTLIFTING championships, the bespectacled coach recalled, referring to himself and his friends. The hopefuls headed south to Diwaniya province, where they swept up all the prizes, astonishing fellow competitors who had never heard of Badra. Since then, he said, weightlifting has been synonymous with the town of 15,000, some 200 km east of Baghdad. A weightlifting training centre, set up in 1993 in a Badra high school, is still in operation. The spartan hall echoes with shouts of encouragement by Basha, who sets an example by keeping himself in peak condition. Heavy lifter Salwan Jassim Abbood, who is in the 105 km category, returned from the Asian weightlifting championships in Turkmenistan last year with a silver medal. The new generation wants to continue what Badra has launched in the weightlifting field, the thick-set athlete said. With seemingly little effort, Abbood propelled a barbell from the floor to far above his head, the bar ends sagging slightly under heavy discs. In 2016, the 26-year-old took part in the Olympic Games in Brazil. Ten years previously, his brother Mohammad won silver at a contest in Qatar. It s up to us and the coaches to keep going so Badra remains a factory for champion weightlifters, said Abbood, who will represent Iraq at the Asian Games in Indonesia this summer. Lifters here are acutely aware that they are upholding a tradition. Another medal winner, 28-year-old Ahmed Faruq, said he was proud to have made this small town Iraq s capital of weightlifting, noted for its victories in Asian and Arab competitions. Big names have been here and we need to protect that identity, he said. But despite those successes, the gym is in poor shape. Paint peeled from the pale green walls, a solitary fan recycled warm air and the upholstery on the leg press had worn away, disgorging yellow foam as if from a putrid wound. Iraq s sports authorities are losing interest in Badra and the weightlifting club, coach Basha lamented. The small management team has resorted to drumming up its own income to keep things ticking over. Every year, the club generates 30 million dinars ($25,000, just over 20,000 euros) by renting out shops it bought, says Mohammad Kazem, a 55-year-old former athlete, now manager of the weightlifting club. And while that isn t a lot, Kazem said he committed to training the next generation of lifters for free. He and fellow talent scouts regularly tour schools and sports clubs in the town and beyond, to recruit nursery champions and ensure there are people... to protect (Badra s) reputation and keep the story going. In the club, athletes regularly execute lifts exceeding their own weight. Raad Ameen, a member of the Iraqi national weightlifting team, exercises during a training session at the local weightlifting club in the town of Badra near the Iraq-Iran border, on May 16, (AFP) LONDON, June 12, (AFP): Australia captain Tim Paine says his players will shake hands with their England rivals before Wednesday s clash at The Oval as the tourists aim to heal the wounds of their recent balltampering scandal. Paine is on a charm offensive following the revelations of Australian cheating on their tour of South Africa in March. Ahead of Australia s one-day international meeting with England their first competitive match since the scandal Paine asked Eoin Morgan if the teams could have a pre-match handshake on the field. England one-day captain Morgan has agreed to the request, but only for the opening game of the five-match series. They don t have to do it but it s CRICKET something we want to bring in at the start of a series, not before every game, Paine said on Tuesday. Australia skipper Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner were banned for a year over the ball-tampering incident in the third Test against South Africa, paving the way for Paine to take over the captaincy. Cameron Bancroft, who doctored a ball with sandpaper during South Africa s win in Cape Town, was also banned for nine months by Cricket Australia. Australia head coach Darren Lehmann lost his job after the shocking incident that rocked the sport. Morgan confirmed England will agree to Australia s request, with the hosts ready to help advance a positive view of the game after such a torrid period. I m absolutely happy with that, it doesn t bother me, Morgan said. They are trying to turn around the image of the game in their country, and we re all for that. We want cricket to be as popular as ever. Australia know they must build bridges across the cricketing world in order to repair reputations and trust. New Australia coach Justin Langer has vowed his team will respect the line between banter and abuse in the series against England. Former captain Adam Gilchrist has insisted it would be business as usual for Australia on the sledging front as soon as they come under pressure. But Paine concedes Australia must prove they are reformed characters. I can t talk about it any more to be honest, we ve talked about what s acceptable from our team and what people are saying from outside our team doesn t really matter, Paine said. Internally we know what s right and what s wrong, and that s what counts. Again we ve spoken about this a lot in the last few months; we are aware that words are just words. We ll be judged solely on our actions going forward. It s now about living our actions, we ve spoken about internally about Australia captain Tim Paine (left), and England captain Eoin Morgan pose for photographers with the series trophy at the Oval cricket ground in London, on June 12. (AP) our values as a team and how we want to be perceived by the Australian public and by the cricket public in general. Words are words, come Wednesday, it s time for us to act on those words and show it by actions. Jonny Bairstow has insisted England can cope with the pressure of being the world s top-ranked one-day international side as they head into a five-match series against Australia on the back of a shock six-run defeat by Scotland. Sunday s stunning reverse in Edinburgh was England s first match since rising to the top of the global ODI rankings. But despite Bairstow becoming the first England batsman to score ODI hundreds in three successive innings, England failed to chase down a target of 372 after a superb 140 not out by Calum MacLeod laid the platform for Scotland s stunning win. Defeat raised questions about the ability of England, who have never lifted the World Cup, to win one-off clashes but Bairstow said Eoin Morgan s men could handle everything that came with being top of the rankings. It s part and parcel of the game, he explained. You get to number one and people are going to want to beat you, but you want to be number one in the world. We set our stall out to be number one in the world and that s where we are, whether we were number one in this game or not, Scotland would still be delighted to win, it s not just because we are number one, the Yorkshireman added. England though will not have long to absorb the lessons of that loss, with the first ODI against Australia at The Oval on Wednesday. It is a match that pits 2019 World Cup hosts England against title-holders Australia. England enjoyed a 4-1 series win over Australia Down Under earlier this year but will be confronted by a new-look side in London. Sammy welcomes disgraced Smith for Canada T20 league TORONTO, June 12, (RTRS): Former West Indies captain Darren Sammy is thrilled to have Steve Smith on his team for the inaugural Global T20 Canada league even though the disgraced Australian is banned from playing for his own country following a ball-tampering scandal. Smith s career was thrown into turmoil in March for his role in the incident that took place in South Africa and earned the former Australia captain a 12-month ban from national and state teams. However, the suspension does not extend to domestic tournaments outside his home nation. We all have done our fair share of mistakes in life, not Smith just sports but in general, two-time world T20-winning captain Sammy told a conference call on Monday. Obviously Steve Smith is an amazing cricketer, someone who I would have on my team anyday. Smith s comeback from cricket exile will begin as a member of the Toronto Nationals, who picked the 29-year-old Australian in the second round of a draft held last week ahead of the June 28-July 15 tournament in Toronto. It will mark Smith s first competition since he, vice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned by Cricket Australia for conspiring to scuff up the ball with sandpaper during the third test against South Africa. All three have since apologised for the incident. Obviously as captain of a national team you have certain responsibilities that you have to own up to for the team, and I was commended by his efforts and he has taken responsibility for his actions on the field, said Sammy, who was made a first-round choice by Toronto. I am just happy to have a player of such caliber on my team. He has dealt with his punishment for what happened in South Africa. While Smith and his role in the balltampering scandal will be a hot topic when he faces the media in Canada, Sammy said he had no plans to bring up the issue with his new team mate. CRICKET All I want is his experience as a leader, his experience as a T20 player and his performances on the field that could help Toronto Nationals be a force to be reckoned with, said Sammy. The tournament will be held at a cricket-specific facility about 50 km (31 miles) north of downtown Toronto, and also feature sides from Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and a Cricket West Indies B team. Global T20 Canada Tournament Director Jason Harper said the addition of Smith has already generated plenty of media attention for the tournament and that there was never a moment of hesitation to include a player of his talent. Are you kidding me? Steve Smith is a world-class player, said Harper. We are happy to have him. This is world-class talent at its best. There is no way we would turn away Steve Smith when the phones open. No way. There is no way. He is welcome. B desh women cricketers get cash promise after Asia Cup triumph DHAKA, June 12, (AFP): Bangladesh showered its women cricketers with cash rewards Tuesday for their upset triumph over India in the Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament. The women s team defeated sixtimes champions India by three wickets in Sunday s final in Kuala Lumpur to claim their maiden title. Bangladesh became the first side ever to beat India in the group phase of the tournament before repeating the feat in the tense final. The team returned late Monday to a heroes welcome. The Bangladesh Cricket Board announced a 20 million taka ($236,000) cash reward for the team and promised to review salaries. Each player will get one million taka ($14,800) as a cash reward, BCB spokesman Jalal Yunus told AFP on Tuesday. About $75,000 will be shared by the coaching and management staff, he added. The BCB will review the salary and match fees of contracted women players this week, Yunus said. Currently they earn a maximum 30,000 taka ($445) each month plus $100 as match fee for an international. On their return the women players were garlanded by a welcoming committee that included government officials and members of the Bangladesh men s team. A video of the male cricketers celebrating in the dressing room at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, after bowler Jahanara Alam hit the winning run, went viral on social media. Jahanara scored two runs off the final ball to take Bangladesh to after Bangladesh restricted India to

32 SPORTS 32 NHL ref Rank swaps skates for spikes Mickelson urges fair US Open test, not carnival golf SOUTHAMPTON, United States, June 11, (AFP): Phil Mickelson was almost gushing in his praise of Shinnecock Hills on Monday, but that doesn t mean the five-time major winner backs all of the changes at the historic course hosting the US Open this week. Shinnecock will play 449 yards longer than it did when it hosted the 2004 US Open. Mickelson likes the added length at the parfour 14th, but isn t a fan of the lengthened parfive 16th. I like to make the hard holes Mickelson harder and the easy holes easier, Mickelson said. So when they take 14, which is a very hard par-four, and they make it harder and move the tee back, I actually like that a lot because it allows for the players that are playing well to make up strokes on the field by making pars. Lengthening 16 is a different matter, he said. It s one of very few birdie opportunities, Mickelson said. And to move the tee back to 620 yards, which is the total MO of the USGA, they do it every course, I don t agree with. I think we should have some birdie opportunities. And to eliminate one of the very few that are out here and make it a difficult par is not something I agree with. It s not the first time Mickelson has been critical of US Golf Association decisions aimed at insuring the US Open is the game s ultimate test. In 2004, Shinnecock itself became a byword for how that philosophy can go wrong as wind-seared greens particularly the seventh became virtually impossible to putt on. USGA chief executive Mike Davis says the governing body is grateful to have a chance to do right by Shinnecock, and the field, this time around. Meanwhile, as a referee in the NHL, Garrett Rank is no stranger to highprofile, high-pressure sport. As an amateur golfer teeing it up in the US Open, the 30-year-old Canadian thinks that experience will stand him in good stead. I ve got a real job, so I consider this like the pinnacle of my golf career this week, Rank said Monday at Shinnecock Hills, where the 118th US Open starts on Thursday. Obviously I have internal expectations on how I want to play and what I want to do. But at the end of the day, this is just a celebration for me and my family and friends. Istomin upsets Kohlschreiber in 1st round of Stuttgart Cup Mertens, Bertens progress; Kontaveit out of Hertogenbosch STUTTGART, Germany, June 12, (AFP): Heavy rain at the Stuttgart Cup on Tuesday threatened to wash away first-round play, with just three matches completed before the skies opened. There was home disappointment as two-time finalist Philip Kohlschreiber went down to Denis Istomin (UZB) 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3). The German lost title a bid in 2013 against Italian Fabio Fognini and was beaten two years ago in the final by Dominic Thiem. TENNIS It was the first time since 2010 in the national automobile capital that the German had fallen in an opening match here. I could not work out his serve, the 34-year-old said. As the match went on, I felt like I was playing worse and worse. Defeat marked a second straight first-round exit for number 22 Kohlschreiber, who also fell in his French Open start to Croatian Borna Coric. Istomin, ranked 100th, levelled his Stuttgart record at 1-1 and next faces German Florian Mayer. Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, Geneva title-winner on clay the week before Roland Garros, began his grass campaign by defeating American qualifier Denis Kudla 6-3, 6-4. French veteran Gilles Simon won a first-time meeting with Italian Matteo Viola, a qualifier, 6-0, 6-3. Meanwhile, Roger Federer can return to the top of the ATP rankings this week in Stuttgart but knows all too well the dangers lurking on grass as he comes back from his mid-season break. The 36-year-old Swiss skipped the claycourt season, including the French Open, to concentrate on retaining his Wimbledon crown and kicks off his preparation on the German city s slick lawns. He will play German serve-and-volleyer Mischa Zverev in his first match in Stuttgart on Wednesday a tricky test especially as he has not played a competitive match since a surprise loss to Australian youngster Thanasi Kokkinakis in March. Last year 20-times Grand Slam champion Federer lost his opener in Stuttgart to close friend Tommy Haas. Having lost here last year in the first round, for me, it resets the goals as well, and just take it one at a time and don t think too far ahead, Federer told the ATP website. Not that I did that last year, but on grass, margins are very slim. It s not so simple, especially when you haven t played in three months. Federer will overhaul Rafael Nadal at the top of the rankings if he reaches the final on Sunday. That defeat by Haas last year together with his semifinal loss the year before against Dominic Thiem means Federer is in the unusual position of trying to avoid a three-match losing streak at a single tournament. Losing to Haas did not dent his confidence too much last year, however, as he went on to win the Halle title and an eighth Wimbledon without dropping a set. I came back very strong and my reaction was very good after losing here against Tommy, Federer said. I didn t drop a set for the rest of the grasscourt season, which I was very happy about. So I just hope I can find my rhythm and range a bit earlier. I m motivated. It s been a while, I haven t played matches. Obviously I don t want to be on a three-match losing streak... I want to break that as well. In Hertogenbosch, Belgian Elise Mertens and Kiki Bertens, of Netherlands, kicked off their Wimbledon preparations with victories in the first round of the Libema Open while defending champion Anna Kontaveit fell to a shock defeat at Hertogenbosch on Tuesday. Estonian fourth-seed Kontaveit was stunned by qualifier Veronika Kudermetova, who is playing in her second WTA main draw event, with the 21-year-old battling to a (4) win. Second seed Mertens cruised to a win over Slovenian Polona Hercog and is on course to win her fourth title of the year after triumphs at Hobart, Lugano and Rabat. Charleston Open winner and third seed Kiki Bertens had a tougher match against Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva as the world number 19 earned a hardfought (5) win over her 21-year-old opponent. China s Zhang Shuai, who has singles ranking of 29, was the only other seeded player to exit the tournament after a defeat by 19-year-old Hungarian Fanny Stollar. American Coco Vandeweghe, who won the title in 2016, beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich in straight sets earlier in the tournament to keep her hopes of reclaiming the trophy alive. The 26-year-old will face Arantxa Rus in the last-16 on Wednesday while Belgian sixth-seed Alison Van Uytvanck and Serbian Aleksandra Krunic will also be in action. Also: PRAGUE: The Czech Republic will take on the United States in the Fed Cup final on the hardcourt of Prague s O2 Arena in front of 15,000 fans, organisers said Tuesday. The final pitting the two most successful nations in Fed Cup history the US with 18 trophies and the Czech Republic with 10 including five as former Czechoslovakia is scheduled for Nov When it comes to the venue, the choice was clear, said Czech captain Petr Pala, whose team has won all three finals it has played on Prague s hardcourt. Winners, organisers pose for a group photo during the 2nd Hotel Football Championship Cup. Special exhibition celebrates FIFA World Cup heritage Hyundai opens FIFA World Football Museum in Moscow KUWAIT CITY, June 12: Hyundai Motor, the Official Automotive Partner of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, today held the grand opening ceremony of the special exhibition for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, FIFA World Football Museum presented by Hyundai at Hyundai Motorstudio Moscow. This exhibition celebrates the FIFA World Cup through the passion and devotion of the fans and tells the event s history through the players who have left an indelible mark on it in the past. The 2018 FIFA World Cup Winner s Trophy, alongside the Jules Rimet Cup, the original FIFA World Cup Trophy between 1930 and 1970, will be unveiled during the opening ceremony. It is very meaningful to open the exhibition of the FIFA World Football Museum here in Moscow, the capital of the host country Russia and home of the Hyundai Motorstudio Moscow, Hyundai s brand center. Wonhee Lee, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor said. We worked together to give football loving fans from Russia and the rest of the world, a very special firsthand experience during this FIFA World Cup tournament. Fatma Samoura, Secretary-General of FIFA said, We are fortunate to be witnessing history in the making with the 2018 FIFA World Cup. I consider it FIFA s duty to constantly shed a light upon what brought us here: all of GOLF Robin Haase from The Netherlands returns the ball to Ivo Karlovic from Croatia in the first round match of the Libemo Open Tennis Tournament in Rosmalen on June 11. (AFP) Roberto Carlos with the Jules Rimet Cup end 2018 FIFA World Cup. those who wrote the history of football and of the FIFA World Cup. And it is important to remember that football fans are a fundamental part of this history. I am delighted to see all of these elements celebrated by the FIFA World Football Museum and our dear partner Hyundai in this fantastic exhibition here in Moscow. The exhibition will feature select world football heritage objects from the FIFA World Football Museum. Jules Rimet Cup 2018 FIFA World Cup Winner s Trophy (will be on display 9, 16, 23 and 27 of June*) 64 Adidas Telstar Official Match Balls used to kick-off each game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Objects belonging to players like Pelé, Diego Maradona, Lev Yashin, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo Four Season Hotel named Best Team Spirit Al Bastaki Hotel win 2nd HFC Cup KUWAIT CITY, June 12: The Hotels Football Championship (HFC) concluded with Al Bastaki Hotel who have been crowned the title after a great game against Safier Fintas Hotel. The 2nd HFC tournament was held in Sahet Mishref Playgrounds. Moustafa Sallam Founder & CEO who was the head of the organizing committee said this is the second tournament of its kind in Kuwait. He added that the 2nd HFC tournament succeeded due to the efforts of all volunteers, hotels management and the wide participation of teams representing many of the hotels operating in Kuwait. Sallam added, the 2nd HFC tournament showcased the amazing talents of players and their drive to progress towards the title and cup. On the other hand, there were a lot of different awards announced and presented during the coronation day such as: Best Player Trophy won by Ahmed Sami, Best Goalkeeper Trophy won by Saied Mohamed, Best Team Captain won by Hani Ali, Best Scorer Trophy won by Wessam Bin Mohsen and Best Team Spirit went to Four Season Hotel plus two other awards for Regency Hotel & Safier International. SOCCER Sallam The 2nd HFC tournament was sponsored by Public Authority for Sport presented by Hamed Alhazim from the management of All Sports Department. HFC is simply an initiative and creative idea came from a group of employees from the different participating hotels lead by Moustafa Sallam. The participating hotels included many of Kuwait s leading hospitality heavy weights such as Four Seasons, Movenpick Albidaa, Safier Fintas, Copthorne Al Jahra, Safier International, Le Royal Hotel, Palms Hotel, Symphony Hotel, Ramada Hotel, Millennium & Copthorne, Regency Hotel, Adams Hotel, Al Bastaki Hotel and Hilton Kuwait Resort. Congratulations to the winning team, Al Bastaki Hotel for achieving the title of the second iteration of HFC. said Moustafa Sallam, Founder & CEO of HFC. We were delighted to take part in a well organized tournament of this caliber alongside many of our peers from the participating hotels.the audience enthusiastically supported their favorite teams and the teams in return were eager to please their supporters and all soccer fans. Everyone showed great spirit and determination. Haye announces retirement Wilder agrees terms to fight Joshua in Britain LONDON, June 12, (RTRS): American Deontay Wilder has agreed terms to fight Anthony Joshua in Britain later this year in a bout that would crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 2000, ESPN reported on Monday. Briton Joshua (21-0) is the holder of the IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO titles while Wilder (40-0) is the WBC world champion. Wilder s co-manager Shelly Finkel told ESPN they had agreed to the latest terms offered by Joshua s promoter Eddie Hearn. We have agreed to the terms that Eddie has put out to us for a fight in the UK. Deontay has accepted his terms to fight in the UK, Finkel said. Wilder, in a message posted on his Twitter account, confirmed he had agreed to fight in Britain but said an offer to Joshua of $50 million to fight in the United States was still on the table. The $50M offer for him to fight me next in the US is still available, Wilder said on Monday Today I even agreed to their offer to fight Joshua next in the UK. If he prefers the fight in the UK, the ball is in their court. In this file photo taken on Feb 28, 2018, undefeated heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder throws punches during a media workout at the Barclays Center Atrium before his upcoming fight on March 3 against unbeaten contender Luis Ortiz. (AFP) Group photo taken during the FIFA World Football Museum opening ceremony. The WBC title is the only one remaining on Joshua s radar after he added the WBO championship to his collection by defeating New Zealand s previously unbeaten Joseph Parker in March by unanimous decision. Meanwhile, former world heavyweight champion David Haye has announced his retirement after nearly 16 years as a professional boxer. The 37-year-old Briton won 28 and lost four of his 32 fights since turning professional in 2002 and his last defeat came in a rematch against Tony Bellew last month. Today I announce my retirement from professional boxing. They say you can t play boxing. Yet, as I write this retirement statement, and reflect on my time in the sport, I can t find a better way to describe the ride..., Haye said in a statement on his website. BOXING This is not the end of my story. It s simply the start of something new. Haye kicked off his illustrious career as a cruiserweight and unified the division. His 2008 victory over Enzo Maccarinelli earned him the WBO title to add to his WBA, WBC crowns. In the first eight years, everything ran smoothly. I had 25 fights and became the first ever British boxer to unify the cruiserweight division (WBA, WBC and WBO World Championships), Haye added. He moved up to the heavyweight division and took the WBA title in 2009 with a victory over Nikolay Valuev. Haye went on to beat John Ruiz and Audley Harrison before facing Wladimir Klitschko in a unification fight in 2011, where he was criticised for his pre-fight antics before losing on a points decision. Haye suffered a number of injury problems in recent years. In the past five years I have snapped both biceps, my rotator cuff and my Achilles tendon. All four injuries were potentially careerending and each of them required operations with months of intense rehabilitation, he said. Also, guests can enjoy videos submitted by fans from around the world during the Hyundai World Football Heritage competition, which took place from April 15 to May 18, through Hyundai s 2018 FIFA World Cup digital platform ( com). Each movie showcases the unique fan cheering culture of the 32 participating countries. Visitors can also view an array of rainbow themed jerseys from the 32 participating countries, and learn about Hyundai s FIFA Sponsorship Story. The FIFA World Football Museum Presented by Hyundai at the Hyundai Motorstudio Moscow will be open to the public from June 9 to July 20 for 42 days. Hyundai began its association with FIFA in 1999 and will continue to be a top-tier partner of FIFA as the Official Automotive Partner until 2022.

33 SPORTS 33 Bosox down struggling O s in 12 innings Cubs rout Brewers Top and above: Photos from the event Gulf Cables edge Libyan Union 2-1 Boubyan Bank hold off Holiday Inn to reach semis KUWAIT CITY, June 12: The 39th Late Abdullah Meshari Al-Rawdhan Futsal Tournament will come to an end on Wednesday with the final matches for both senior and junior categories to be held on the ground of Kuwait Handball Association in Dai ya area. Kuwait Steel, Just Clean, Boubyan Bank and Gulf Cables have reached the semis after winning the qualifying matches on Tuesday. Boubyan Bank reached the finals after defeating Holiday Inn by 2-1 on the 26th day of the tournament. The goals were scored by the Argentinean player Kiki. On the other hand, Holiday Inn faced troubles in controlling the match but managed to get one goal that was scored by the Paraguayan player Gege. Gulf Cables defeated Libyan Union by 2-1. The goals of Gulf Cables were FUTSAL scored by Meshari Al-Nekas and Brazilian player Vambita, while the goal of the Libyan Union was scored by Ali Mesbah. Libyan Union Team left the tournament honorably after displaying attractive performance throughout the tournament. The 8th tournament for juniors category has reached the final stage. The final match will be held on Wednesday between the teams of Late Sheikh Khalid Al-Yousef Al-Sabah and Kuwait Club, on the sideline of the match of seniors category. The final match is expected to be full of excitement due to the determination of both teams to win especially with exceptionally talented players in the two teams. Players in the Late Sheikh Khalid Al-Yousef Al-Sabah team include Ali Dashti, Jassem Saleh, Abdullah Muhammad, Ahmed Muhammad, Abdullah Khalid, Yousef Jamal, Hamza Ziyad, Sheikh Mohammad Yusuf, Khalid Walid and Bader Salem. Players in the Kuwait Club team include Mohammad Al-Halwaji, Hussain Abdulmohsen, Yusuf Yaqoub, Sa ad Naif, Yusuf Saoud, Muhammad Yasser, Fawaz Hamad, Talal Abdulaziz, Abdulwahab Dari and Shaheen Al-Khaldi. Argentinean player Kiki who plays as professional member of the Italian Team Pisara expressed his happiness in participating in the tournament as a player of the Boubyan Bank team. He praised the high level of organization of the tournament as well as high performance level of the Kuwaiti and international players who participated in the tournament. Player of the Match Top & above: Action shots taken from the Roudhan Futsal Tournament. Players battle for the ball during a match at the Roudhan Ramadan Futsal Tournament. Matthews claims bunch sprint for 2nd, Lampaert 3rd Soloist wins Swiss 4th stage, home hero Kung in yellow LAUSANNE, June 12, (AFP): Denmark s Christopher Juul Jensen gave the Mitchelton Scott team yet another reason to smile on Tuesday by clinching a solo win by just a few seconds on the 4th stage of the Tour de Suisse after a long-range breakaway. The Australian team had a very successful Giro d Italia in May with Simon Yates wearing the pink jersey for 13 days and the team winning five stages, with Juul Jensen part of their eight-man team. Juul Jensen had been part of a larger break, but dropped them from 15km out, CYCLING and held his nerve as the pack homed in on him to clinch a rare victory. Sunweb s Australian puncher Michael Matthews won the bunch sprint for second and Belgium s Yves Lampaert of Quick- Step was third at the end of a rainy 189km rolling run. The results leaves Swiss time-trial champion Stefan Kung, who broke his jaw in a fall six weeks ago, in the race leader s yellow jersey after four stages after his BMC team won the opening team time-trial earlier in the week. Thursday s stage takes the peloton up three steep climbs and through a series of chic ski resorts culminating in a summit finish at Leukerbad. Popovich, Leonard planning meeting Durant looks to retirement in a few years WASHINGTON, June 12, (RTRS): Kevin Durant has won back-to-back NBA championships, two Finals MVP awards and a regular-season MVP, and has nine All-Star appearances. On Monday, Durant, who turns 30 in September, told ESPN that he is thinking ahead toward retirement. Thirty-five, that s just a number in my mind. Durant, who has worn the No. 35 all throughout his career with Texas, Oklahoma City and now Golden State, averaged 28.8 points during the Warriors four-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, which ended Friday. If Kevin Love had his choice, he would play the rest of his NBA career alongside superstar LeBron James. They re still teammates on the Cavaliers but that could change soon if James decides to leave Cleveland in free agency, which begins July 1. Obviously, I d love to play with LeBron the rest of my career, but that will be a choice that he makes, Love told WKYC TV in Cleveland. Love has spent the last four MLB Scoreboard WASHINGTON, June 12, (Agencies): Results and standings from the MLB games on Monday. Boston 2 Baltimore 12 Inns 0 Miami 7 San Francisco 5 Tampa Bay 8 Toronto 4 Cleveland 4 Chic W. Sox 0 Chic Cubs 7 Milwaukee 11 Inns 2 St Louis 5 San Diego 2 Arizona 9 Pittsburgh 5 Seattle 5 LA Angels 3 American League American League East W L PCT GB NY Yankees Boston Tampa Bay Toronto /2 Baltimore American League Central W L PCT GB Cleveland Detroit /2 Minnesota Chic W. Sox Kansas City American League West W L PCT GB Seattle Houston /2 LA Angels /2 Oakland Texas National League National League East W L PCT GB Washington Atlanta Philadelphia NY Mets /2 Miami /2 National League Central W L PCT GB Chicago Cubs Milwaukee /2 St Louis /2 Pittsburgh /2 Cincinnati /2 National League West W L PCT GB Arizona LA Dodgers San Francisco /2 Colorado San Diego /2 MLB Linescores American League Toronto Tampa Bay x8 9 0 Gaviglio, Barnes (4), Axford (6), Oh (7), Guilmet (8) and Martin; Yarbrough, Castillo (7), Venters (8), Romo (9) and Ramos. W_Yarbrough 5-2. L_Gaviglio seasons with James in Cleveland, winning a championship with James in Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and forward Kawhi Leonard, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, are trying to schedule a meeting as soon as this week to smooth over differences after a rocky campaign, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Per the report, they plan is to discuss any issues or concerns Leonard may have, and hopefully come to a decision about a possible five-year, $219 million supermax exten- Durant sion that the two-time first-team All-NBA player is eligible to sign this offseason. The report adds that Leonard is still rehabbing his quad injury but is 96, 97 percent healthy and expects to be ready for training 2-2. HRs_Toronto, Hernandez (11). Tampa Bay, Bauers (1). Boston Baltimore (12 innings) Wright, Kelly (7), B.Johnson (9), Workman (9), Hembree (11), Kimbrel (12) and Vazquez, Leon; Bundy, Bleier (9), Brach (10), Givens (11) and Sisco. W_Hembree 3-1. L_Givens 0-3. Sv_Kimbrel (21). Cleveland Chicago Carrasco, McAllister (8), O.Perez (8), Ne.Ramirez (9) and Gomes; Giolito, Cedeno (6), Avilan (7), Rondon (8), Santiago (9) and K.Smith. W_Carrasco 8-4. L_Giolito 4-7. HRs_ Cleveland, Brantley (11). Los Angeles Seattle x5 8 1 Heaney, No.Ramirez (4), Bedrosian (6), Alvarez (7), J.Johnson (8) and Maldonado; LeBlanc, Bradford (6), Pazos (7), Cook (8), Diaz (9) and Zunino. W_LeBlanc 2-0. L_Heaney 3-5. Sv_Diaz (24). HRs_Los Angeles, Trout 2 (21), Pujols (10). Seattle, Cruz 2 (15), Healy (10). National League San Francisco Miami x7 8 0 Bumgarner, Moronta (6), Dyson (7), Gearrin (8) and Hundley; Chen, Ziegler (5), Rucinski (6), Conley (7), Steckenrider (8), Barraclough (9) and Realmuto. W_Conley 2-0. L_Dyson 2-1. Sv_Barraclough (3). HRs_Miami, Anderson (4), Realmuto (7). San Diego St Louis x Lyles, Hughes (7) and Lopez; Flaherty, Brebbia (7), Gomber (8), Tuivailala (8), Norris (9) and Molina. W_Flaherty 3-2. L_Lyles 2-3. Sv_ Norris (13). HRs_San Diego, Spangenberg (6). St. Louis, Martinez (10), Ozuna (7), Gyorko (5). Chicago Milwaukee (11 innings) Quintana, Wilson (7), Strop (8), Rosario (9), Bass (11) and Contreras; Guerra, Hader (7), Knebel (8), Jeffress (10), Albers (11), Logan (11) and Kratz. W_Rosario 3-0. L_Albers 3-2. HRs_Chicago, Rizzo (11). Milwaukee, Villar (6), Kratz (3). Pittsburgh Arizona x9 9 1 Musgrove, E.Santana (7), Crick (8), Neverauskas (8) and E.Diaz; Corbin, Shipley (6), Bradley (8), Boxberger (9) and Murphy. W_Bradley 2-1. L_Crick 0-1. HRs_Arizona, Lamb (4). camp in September. Reigning NBA Coach of the Year Dwane Casey agreed to a five-year deal to become coach of the Detroit Pistons. Casey, who was fired by the Toronto Raptors after a second-round playoff loss to the Cavaliers last month, was selected from BASKETBALL a coaching pool that also included Michigan head coach John Beilein, former Milwaukee Bucks coach and NBA great Jason Kidd, Miami Heat assistant Juwan Howard a former Fab Five star at Michigan and TNT analyst Kenny Smith. Los Angeles Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball is healthy and back on the court after taking about a month off to treat and rest his left knee, on which he received platelet-rich plasma therapy, he told ESPN. BALTIMORE, June 12, (AP): Brock Holt and Jackie Bradley Jr each delivered a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning, and the Boston Red Sox limited the Baltimore Orioles to five hits in a 2-0 victory Monday night. A pitching duel between Dylan Bundy and Steven Wright was ultimately decided long after both starters departed. Xander Bogaerts led off the 12th with a single against Mychal Givens (0-3), and the Red Sox went on to load the bases before Holt broke the scoreless deadlock with a fly to center. Bradley followed with a fly ball to score Rafael Devers, who had doubled. Heath Hembree (3-1) struck out the side in the 11th and Craig Kimbrel got three outs for his 21st save. It was the fifth straight Bogaerts loss for the Orioles, who have been shut out seven times this season. Cubs 7, Brewers 2, 11 Innings In Milwaukee, Anthony Rizzo homered down the right-field line on the first pitch of a five-run 11th inning to help Chicago beat Milwaukee and jump into first place in the NL Central. Rizzo turned on a fastball from Matt Albers (3-2) for a towering shot that snapped a 2-all tie. The Cubs scored four more runs in the inning with two outs, including a two-run double by Jason Heyward. He had three hits and three RBIs, including a tying single in the eighth off lefty reliever Josh Hader. Trailing 2-1 most of the night, the Cubs scored six times over the last four innings against the Brewers normally lights-out bullpen. Chicago took a half-game lead in the division and won its seventh straight over Milwaukee. Mariners 5, Angels 3 In Seattle, Nelson Cruz homered twice and surprising Seattle overcame Mike Trout s two home runs in a win over Los Angeles. Ryon Healy hit a two-run shot for the Mariners, who chased Andrew Heaney (3-5) early and won for the ninth time in 11 games. Seattle sits atop the AL West by a half-game over the World Series champion Houston Astros. Trout tied Boston slugger J.D. Martinez for BASEBALL the major league lead with 21 homers. Albert Pujols also went deep for the Angels. Diamondbacks 9, Pirates 5 In Phoenix, Arizona scored two runs on wild pitches in the eighth inning, Jake Lamb hit a tying, three-run homer in the seventh and the Diamondbacks took advantage of a hit by pitch to rally past Pittsburgh. The Pirates led 5-0 behind Joe Musgrove until the right-hander opened the seventh by hitting Chris Owings with the first pitch possibly as retaliation for Josh Harrison being plunked in the top half. Nick Ahmed hit a runscoring single, Daniel Descalso had another off Edgar Santana and Lamb tied it at 5 with a three-run homer to left field. Indians 4, White Sox 0 In Chicago, Carlos Carrasco struck out 11 while pitching two-hit ball over seven innings as Cleveland blanked Chicago. Michael Brantley hit his 11th homer, Yan Gomes had a two-run double and the AL Central leaders took advantage of another wild outing by Lucas Giolito (4-7) to win for the fifth time in six games. The Indians improved to 4-0 against the White Sox. Carrasco (8-4) gave up singles to Kevan Smith and Charlie Tilson in the second before striking out Adam Engel to end the threat. Three relievers completed the two-hitter. Marlins 7, Giants 5 In Miami, Madison Bumgarner blew a sixth inning lead and was ejected on the way out of his second start this season and Miami rallied past San Francisco. J.T. Realmuto had three hits including his seventh home run of the season and drove in two and Brian Anderson homered, doubled twice, and drove in two runs for the Marlins. Rays 8, Blue Jays 4 In St Petersburg, Fla, Jake Bauers hit his first career home run to put Tampa Bay ahead in the fourth inning. Bauers two-run homer off Sam Gaviglia after Matt Duffy s single erased a 4-3 Toronto lead. Tampa Bay tacked on three runs in the seventh with the help of a bases-loaded throwing error by reliever John Axford. Cardinals 5, Padres 2 In St Louis, Marcell Ozuna and Jose Martinez hit two-run homers, rookie Jack Flaherty pitched into the seventh inning, and St. Louis beat San Diego for the 13th time in 18 meetings. Jedd Gyorko added a one-out home run in the eighth, helping drop the Padres to their 46th loss in their last 62 games in St. Louis. Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel throws to the Baltimore Orioles in the 12th inning of a baseball game on June 11, in Baltimore. (AP)

34 34 ball girls selected for opener A group of 14 Russian girls will act as ballgirls in the opening match of the World Cup on Thursday, the first all-female group to do so. The girls, aged 13 to 16, from Agryz, a small town of 19,000 people some 800 km (500 miles) east of Moscow, were selected by the Russian national team after making a sponsor s shortlist of inspiring entrants to a national junior football tournament. It s like a fairytale for them, said their coach, Ildar Idiyatov. The 14 girls, who play football for a team in the Russian region of Tartarstan, will have the eyes of the world on them as they return the ball in the Group A match between Russia and Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The local World Cup organising committee said 776 children would work as ballboys and ballgirls at the 64 match tournament, but this was the first time an all-female group had operated at the opening game of the FIFA showpiece. Women are not a weak sex, we are always ready to compete with boys at the same level, said Daria Vasilyeva, one of the ball girls selected for the opening match. (RTRS) France s Ousmane Dembele dribbles the ball during a training session at the 2018 soccer World Cup in Glebovets, Russia on June 12. (AP) Sport and fasting is a difficult equation Ramadan fast sparks debate ahead of World Cup CAIRO, June 12, (AFP): Should top athletes fast during Ramadan? The question has provoked an often heated debate in Muslim countries, particularly as national teams prepare for the 2018 World Cup. For Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco four Muslim-majority countries competing in this year s World Cup in Russia the end of the Muslim Holy Month on Thursday coincides with the tournament s kick-off. Throughout Ramadan, observant Muslims are expected to abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset. The traditional fast has long proved divisive among players, fans, coaches and preachers and this year was no different. In the lead up to World Cup play, Egypt s failure to win any of its pretournament friendly matches three of which were played during Ramadan brought strong criticism from its fans. But despite their lacklustre performance, The Pharaohs remained determined to fast the entire month, according to a statement put out by the Egyptian Football Association in late May. After the team s 0-0 draw against Colombia on June 1, The Pharaohs Argentinian coach Hector Cuper said the Ramadan fast had affected the players performance. Cuper s comments came shortly after Egyptian superstar forward Mohamed Salah was injured while playing for Liverpool in the European Champions League final. An observant Muslim, Salah decided not to fast ahead of the May 26 match in Kiev against Real Madrid which Liverpool lost 3-1. A Kuwaiti sheikh said Salah s injured shoulder which kept him out of the remaining friendly matches was divine punishment. But religious figures and citizens South Korean soccer fans hold soccer ball-shaped balloons upon South Korea s national soccer team s arrival at the team hotel for the 2018 soccer World Cup in St Petersburg, Russia on June 12. (AP) across the region rushed to defend Salah beloved both in Egypt and across the Arab world. In Saudi Arabia home to Islam s two holiest sites the kingdom s football federation sparked controversy earlier this year when it ruled players could abstain from the fast if they applied for a permit. The decision angered Saudis, who denounced it on social media. But prominent religious leader Saleh al-maghamsi upheld the ruling, saying Saudi players headed to the World Cup had the right not to fast, if they want, because they will be travelling. Travel is among several conditions that absolve practising Muslims from the normally obligatory fast. In Tunisia, players organised their schedule around fasting hours, training just before iftar the breaking of the fast. Sport and fasting is a difficult equation, it s also an old debate that will not end, wrote Tunisian French-language newspaper La Presse. Maybe science will make some progress and we ll come up with new ways for high-level athletes to observe Ramadan without that question arising too often, it wrote. Well aware of the delicate debate, Morocco s head coach Herve Renard told a press briefing at the end of May that he did not want to deal with it, deliberately, because it is a sensitive subject. The Higher Council of Ulema, the only religious body in Morocco that can issue fatwas, has also remained silent on the matter. The highest Sunni religious authority in Egypt, Al-Azhar, has taken a measured approach to the topic. World Cup Diary Poland s Glik set for late entry More than half Brazilians don t care about WC RIO DE JANEIRO, June 12, (Agencies): More than half of Brazilians have no interest in the World Cup in Russia, according to an opinion poll Tuesday, despite the country s stellar history at the championship. Fifty three percent are treating the Wo rld Cup, which starts Thursday, with a giant shrug, the Datafolha poll found. That was up from 42 percent in January, possibly reflecting a steady diet of bad news about the economy, corruption scandals, and a truckers strike that brought the country to a standstill for more than week in May. The respected pollsters reported that this was the most tepid build-up to a cup since the question was first posed in The least interested in the upcoming action in Russia were women (61 percent), people aged between 35 and 44 (57 percent), and those living in the south of the country (59 percent). Brazil go to their opening game against Switzerland on Sunday with high confidence after an impressive series of qualifiers and warm-ups. Many believe that Neymar, Gabriel Jesus and company can bring home the trophy for a record sixth time. Brazil is already the record holder with five titles. Monaco defender Kamil Glik will miss Poland s two opening World Cup matches as he recovers from shoulder injury, the country s team doctor reported on Tuesday. The 30-year-old set piece specialist will not be available for the games against Senegal on June 19, and Colombia five days later. But he will be in contention to face Japan in Poland s final Group H match in Volgograd on June 28. After a series of tests I ve Neymar decided that Kamil Glik will go to the World Cup in Russia, said the squad s doctor Jacek Jaroszewski. FIFA has appointed referee Nestor Pitana of Argentina to handle the opening game of the World Cup. The Russia-Saudi Arabia match at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Thursday will be the first World Cup game to use video review of decisions. FIFA chose Massimiliano Irrati of Italy as the specialist leading a team of four VR officials who analyze the action for possible clear errors and serious incidents missed by Pitana s team on the field. The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the FIFA Congress on the eve of the World Cup opener. The congress in Moscow is set to choose the host or hosts for the 2026 World Cup. The United States, Canada and Mexico have combined for one bid, and Morocco is the other contender. A brief Kremlin statement didn t give details of what part Putin will play at the congress. Putin did not attend the 2010 vote in Zurich which gave Russia the right to host the World Cup, saying he stayed away as a sign of respect for FIFA. He arrived shortly the Russian bid won the vote. Brazil goalkeeper Alisson played down speculation over his club future on Tuesday as he lives a boyhood dream at the World Cup in Russia. I ve been waiting for this moment since the start of the season and I don t want anything to mess it up, the 25-year-old Roma star told journalists at the Brazil team s training ground in Sochi.

35 35 US leads flight booking growth to Russia They may not have qualified for the tournament, but travellers from the United States are among those most gripped by World Cup fever in terms of flight bookings to Russia, with bookings up 66 percent, data showed on Tuesday. Less surprisingly, the biggest fall in bookings, a drop of 16 percent, is from Italy, which failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years, travel technology company Travelport said. Overall, flight bookings to Russia for travel during the tournament from June 14 to July 15 have risen 136,503 in volume, an increase of 34 percent, according to Travelport s analysis of data from the major global distribution systems (GDS). Bookings from the United States are up by 13,654 in volume, an increase of 66 percent, while Germany accounts for the largest growth in booking volumes of 16,213, an increase of 44 percent. It s great to see the World Cup is encouraging people to travel, Travelport Chief Commercial Officer Stephen Shurrock said. German supporters are clearly feeling optimistic they can retain the title with the highest total number of fans travelling to watch their team. (RTRS) Australia s players celebrate their goals during a training session in Kazan on June 12, ahead of the Russia 2018 World Cup football tournament. (AFP) Uruguay humble despite firepower NIZHNIY NOVGOROD, Russia, June 12, (AFP): Uruguay s Giorgian De Arrascaeta has shrugged off their tag as Group A favourites, saying the South Americans would be a humble team in Russia despite the talents of Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez. The Celeste have been widely tipped to top a relatively weak-looking group, which contains hosts Russia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But speaking at Uruguay s base in Bor, just outside the city of Nizhny Novgorod after a second day of training, De Arrascaeta said the players would not treat their opponents lightly. We are never known for being favourites. Our mystique is always to be humble and go from match to match, said the 24-year-old midfielder. We are working hard and we are confident in reaching our goals. We will see how far we can go. Uruguay, two-time former champions, play their first game on June 15, against Egypt with or without star forward Mohamed Salah in Ekaterinburg. If they top their group they are likely to face either Spain or Portugal in a mouthwatering last-16 knockout tie. Portugal midfielder Joao Mario deflected questions on the crisis Suarez engulfing Sporting Lisbon that has seen four national team players at the World Cup rescind their contracts with the troubled club. William Carvalho, Gelson Martins, Bruno Fernandes, as well as Dutch striker Bas Dost, all filed notice with Portuguese authorities on Monday to say they were breaking their contracts with Sporting, claiming just cause. Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio had already walked out of the club before flying to Russia amid the fallout from last month s horrific gang attack on players and coaches. Everything that has to do with questions not related to our national team are not going to be discussed because we are all focused on our games for Portugal and the match with Spain, Mario told reporters at the team s base camp on the outskirts of Moscow. It s not a question that should be raised now, we are focused on the game against Spain, added the former Sporting midfielder, who spent the second half of last season on loan at West Ham from Inter Milan. Everything that doesn t have to do with the World Cup should be postponed until later. Several first team players were attacked on May 15 by disgruntled fans wearing balaclavas after they invaded the club s training complex at Alcochete, outside Lisbon. The supporters broke into the training complex, vandalised the dressing rooms, threatened backroom staff and assaulted players and coaching staff. In total, 23 fans were arrested and face charges relating to the incident. Mario was keen to steer the attention towards Portugal s opening Group B match against Spain on Friday in Sochi, with the winner in pole position to finish top of a section including Morocco and Iran. It s always a special moment (playing Spain), we ve faced each other Russia under pressure vs Saudi Arabia Moscow, June 12, (AFP): Host nation Russia are under enormous pressure to perform as they head into Thursday s World Cup curtainraiser against Saudi Arabia in a contest between the two lowest-ranked nations in the tournament. Stanislav Cherchesov s side will walk out onto the pitch at the 80,000-capacity Luzhniki Stadium, the historic crucible of Russian sport, ranked a lowly 70th in the world, three spots below Group A rivals Saudi Arabia, and without a victory in eight months. A 1-1 draw in Moscow with Turkey last week made former national team goalkeeper Cherchesov Fight until the end, says Putin Deschamps set to stick with Giroud the first Russian or Soviet manager to go winless in seven consecutive games, four of those ending in defeat. Russia has spent more than $13 billion on preparations for the big event, and President Vladimir Putin called on the team to pull themselves together as they look to progress from a section also featuring Uruguay and Egypt. As far as the team are concerned, I must acknowledge the fact that, unfortunately, our team have not achieved big results in recent times, Putin said. But we very much expect all fans and lovers of football in Russia expect the team to play with dignity, for them to show modern, interesting football, and to fight until the end. Igor Akinfeev, Russia s most recognisable player and first-choice goalkeeper for more than a decade, Belgium s forward Romelu Lukaku (left), and Costa Rica s defender Johnny Acosta eye the ball during the international friendly football match between Belgium and Costa Rica at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on June 11. (AFP) Aussies will contain France explosive frontline KAZAN, Russia, June 12, (Agencies): Australia s Josh Risdon and his defensive team mates could end up playing a game resembling Russian roulette in their World Cup opener against France on Saturday. That the 1998 champions are among the favourites to win the tournament in Russia is in no small part down to the attacking options that coach Didier Deschamps has at his disposal. Australia are well aware that even if Antoine Griezmann fails to fire at the Kazan Arena, the odds are slim that Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele will similarly draw blank. Fullback Risdon, one of only three players from A-League clubs in Bert van Marwijk s squad, is nevertheless confident Australia will be up to the task of containing France s explosive front line. Whoever we do come up against is going to be a quality player. Their whole We are not over-dependent on Eriksen squad is unreal, Risdon told reporters at the team s training camp on Tuesday. It s going to be tough whoever they throw out there, (but)the way Australian sporting culture is, the tougher the opponent, the more we seem to rise to the occasion. Hopefully, we can do that in the first game. Risdon is almost certain to start his first World Cup match on Saturday Risdon having provided the solution to van Marwijk s right-back conundrum. Reverting to a back four from the three-man line favoured by his predecessor, Ange Postecoglou, was one of the first things the Dutchman put in place when he took over in March. Denmark not a one-man show, says Hareide ANAPA, Russia, June 12, (AFP): Tottenham midfielder Christian Eriksen is Denmark s standout star but the Nordic side are far from a oneman team, coach Age Hareide said on Tuesday. Nicknamed King Christian, Eriksen is one of the top players in the Premier League and has been voted Danish footballer of the year four times. The Dane arrived at the World Cup on a hot streak of international form, with 12 goals in 13 games, the latest being a strike against Mexico in Denmark s final warm-up match. His sensational hat-trick against Ireland in November secured his side s place in Russia. It s not quite true that Denmark is over-dependent on Eriksen, the Norwegian coach told AFP. We have a team that works for him but he also works for us. It s not a one-man show. That is the best combination. Christian is a part of the team but he is also a star, a fantastic football player, said Hareide before a training session Denmark s national football team players pose after disembarking from a plane upon their team arrival at the Anapa airport near Vityazevo on June 11 ahead of the Russia 2018 World Cup football tournament. (AFP) in sunny Anapa near the Black Sea coast. He can observe space quicker than anybody else, that is his key value for the team. Hareide said Denmark were not alone in having a standout star. Look at Portugal with (Cristiano) Ronaldo or Argentina with (Lionel) Messi, he said. There are many teams with one outstanding player but that is important in a side. It can change the game for everyone. Eriksen, 26, who took time off from World Cup preparations earlier this month to attend the birth of his first child, is modest and discreet, even after stellar performances on the pitch. He said if opponents consider Denmark a one-man team, that could play into their hands as it would mean less focus on other creative players who can create chances. A picture posted on social media of a World Cup T-shirt on sale in Copenhagen jokingly claims that Denmark s sole tactic in Russia will be to keep giving the ball to Eriksen until he scores. I saw that T-shirt picture, it s funny, people have a good imagination, but hopefully there will be some other tactic, he said. Denmark, in Group C, open their World Cup against Peru in Saransk on June 16 before facing Australia and France. Bailey Wright was summarily dumped after a 4-1 loss to Norway and Risdon has since held up the right flank with some aplomb in warm-up matches against Colombia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The fortunes of country and manager contrasted markedly in 2010 when van Marwijk led the Netherlands to the final while Australia s campaign never really got off the ground in South Africa after a 4-0 loss to Germany. Avoiding a similar fate will be the main priority for Australia on Saturday and succeeding in that task would more than make up for having to put his honeymoon on hold for the recently married Risdon. That was always in the back of my mind when we planned our wedding, that it was going to come around the time of the World Cup, the 25-yearold added. We were fully prepared that we would have to wait to have for our honeymoon. My wife is fully supportive. She knew the sacrifice I was willing to make, and she was, as well. Deschamps spent part of his first day in Russia defending Olivier Giroud as the Chelsea forward battles to stave off stiff competition for places ahead of Les Bleus World Cup opener against Australia. Giroud recently scored his 31st international goal, equalling the tally in a France shirt of Zinedine Zidane, but Barcelona s Dembele has also staked his claim for a starting berth in attack with his form in the pre-tournament friendly matches. Don t take any of Olivier s quality away from him. He scores a lot of goals, and regardless of whether they are beautiful or not, they are still goals. He is a finisher, a goal-scorer with a different profile, insisted Deschamps at France s base in Istra, near Moscow. admits his team-mates must take the game to the opposition. The team have to come out and play, Akinfeev said after a 1-0 friendly loss to Austria last month in which Russia managed no shots on target. If they do not, the score is not going to change. Akinfeev, the Russian captain, has played more games for club and country than Soviet goalkeeping legends Lev Yashin and Rinat Dasayev. But the team s reliance on the 32-year-old, who infamously went a staggering 43 Champions League matches without keeping a clean sheet over an 11-year span, speaks volumes about the home team s chances. Russia have never made the knockout stage of a World Cup as an independent nation and are desperate to make amends this summer. Only South Africa, in 2010, have fallen at the group stage as hosts but poor form combined with a series of injuries have left Russia in disarray. Zenit St Petersburg striker Alexander Kokorin was lost to a serious knee injury in March, adding to the absence of defenders Georgi Dzhikiya and Viktor Vasin. Krasnodar forward Fyodor Smolov and Artem Dzyuba, loaned out to Arsenal Tula in January after falling out with ex- Zenit coach Roberto Mancini, will spearhead the attack, while former Real Madrid winger Denis Cheryshev is back in the squad after more than two years out. Saudi Arabia are returning to the global showpiece for the first time since 2006, prompting the country s sports authority to strike a pact to send players on loan to Spain to gain experience at the top level. Fahad Al-Muwallad, whose goal against Japan last September clinched qualification, was one of nine players involved in the agreement but it was derided as a fiasco. Muwallad, who was on loan at Levante, and winger Salem Al-Dawsari, at Villarreal, only played for a few minutes at the end of the season. Attacking midfielder Yahia Al-Sheri, who went to Leganes, never played in a match. From a sporting point of view, this is perhaps the biggest fiasco of the agreement, because the participation of these nine players has been practically negligible, former Gijon president and University of Oviedo football economist Placido Rodriguez told AFP. Knowing training techniques or playing with Spaniards, that is not why they come, clearly. They come for more than that, to contribute, to experience another rhythm of play, and that is done by playing, not training. Mohammed Al-Sahlawi, who had a three-week spell training with Manchester United, bagged a staggering 16 goals in qualifying, but the 31-year-old arrives at the finals stuck in a nine-game scoring drought. Morocco quintet give Dutch reason to enjoy WC Salah still doubtful for opener MOSCOW, June 12, (RTRS): Egypt forward Mohamed Salah remains a doubt to face Uruguay in their World Cup opener on Friday, the country s football association has said. The Liverpool player, who sustained a shoulder injury in the Champions League final against Real Madrid last month, took part in light training on Monday but the Egyptian FA s managing director Ehab Lehita said it was too early to say whether he would play against the South Americans. He is gradually getting better. However, I cannot confirm today that he will play in the first match, Lehita said of the 25-year-old, who scored 44 goals for Liverpool last season. All I can say is that we hope he will play in this match. Former Egypt international Mido said he expects Salah to play in the opening match in Yekaterinburg. We heard that he is doing alright so it s a question of whether he will start the game or whether he will be kept for the second half, Mido, who earned 51 caps, told Sky Sports. But anyway we have a good team, well-organised and hopefully if Salah is not there to start the game hopefully the boys will do well. We want him to be involved because he worked so hard to get this Egypt s forward Mohamed Salah takes part in a training session of Egypt s national football team at the Akhmat Arena Stadium in Grozny on June 11, ahead of the Russia 2018 World Cup. (AFP) team, with his team mates of course, to come to this tournament. Egypt also face Saudi Arabia and hosts Russia in Group A. When the Dutch sit down to watch the World Cup kick off in Russia on Thursday, the absence of their orange-clad team from the 32 participating nations will be the bitterest of reminders of just how far they have fallen down the global pecking order. However, five Netherlands-born players are likely to line-up for Morocco when they open their Group B campaign against Iran in St Petersburg on Friday, ensuring an opportunity for the Dutch to follow events with more than just passing interest. Street celebrations in Dutch cities when Morocco sealed qualification emphasised the excitement among the 400,000-odd community in the Netherlands, and fulsome coverage in the media in recent weeks has given a sense that the rest of the country has adopted the team for the tournament. A Dutch-born contingent has been part of the Moroccan side for more than a decade and the quintet of Mbark Boussoufa, Karim El Ahmadi, Hakim Ziyech and the Amrabat brothers Nordin and Sofyan are likely to enjoy prominent roles in Russia. European-born players, drawn from the Diaspora, now dominate many major African national teams and are actively sought out to strengthen sides. For some, it means making a tough choice regarding their international careers.

36 PRIME TIME wednesday (all times are kuwait local) 07:00 psg vs monaco/soccer... bein sports 6hd 08:25 celtic vs motherwell/soccer... bein sports 2hd 09:00 belgium vs c. rica/soccer... bein sports 11hd 10:30 russia vs turkey/soccer... bein sports 3hd 11:00 bucuresti vs gyori/handball... bein sports 8hd 12:00 poland vs lithuania/soccer... bein sports 1hd 14:45 cska vs zalgiris/basketball... bein sports 8hd 17:30 cardiff vs gloucester/rugby... bein sports 12hd 36 Sports Latest sports scores at Germany, England arrive in Russia for World Cup Inui, Kagawa boost Japan WC mood N. America or Morocco for 2026 AUSTRIA, June 12, (Agencies): Japan ended their World Cup warm-up on a high, coming from behind to defeat Paraguay 4-2 in Austria on Tuesday in a game that burst into life in the dying minutes. Akira Nishino s team managed just three shots at the Tivoli-Neu stadium in Innsbruck, yet finished with four goals, courtesy of a brace from Takashi Inui, an own goal by Paraguay s Federico Santander and a stoppage-time effort from Shinji Kagawa. Eibar s Inui had set up the victory with two second-half goals, both assisted by Borussia Dortmund s Kagawa, after Oscar Romero had given the South Americans a 32nd-minute lead. Richard Ortiz pulled one back for Paraguay on 90 minutes before Kagawa crowned an influential performance with Japan s fourth a minute later. The result ensured a bright finish to Japan s preparation for the World Cup in Russia, following 2-0 defeats to both Switzerland and Ghana. They open their campaign in Group H on June 19 against another South American side, Colombia, in Saransk before taking on Senegal and Poland. Reigning champions Germany arrived in Russia on Tuesday to join the World Cup party. Gareth Southgate s inexperienced England team also touched England players arrive at Saint Petersburg s Pulkovo airport on June 12, to take part in the 2018 FIFA World Cup football tournament in Russia. (AFP) down as excitement mounts ahead of Thursday s opening fixture in Moscow between the host nation and Saudi Arabia. Germany, aiming to join Brazil as five-time winners of the World Cup, landed near Moscow ahead of their first match against Mexico on Sunday. The Germans are among a group of favourites alongside Spain, France and Brazil but there are lingering questions over their form. Joachim Loew s side went five games without a win before labouring to a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia in their final warm-up and first-choice goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has hardly played since September. But the Germans have made at SOCCER least the semifinals in each of the past four World Cups and have a habit of finding form when they need it most. The defending champions also play Sweden and South Korea. Loew warned Germany s rivals had all made strides since Mario Goetze s extra-time goal gave them the title in There will be a high standard of opposition. Spain have improved, while Brazil and Argentina are up there, he said. England, who landed in Saint Petersburg, are not among the favourites in Russia but the thirdyoungest Three Lions squad ever to head to a World Cup boasts Premier League stars such as Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Raheem Sterling. It s the one competition that everybody dreams of winning, said captain Kane before England set off. I d be surprised if the majority of players did not say the World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world. England s Group G opponents Belgium showcased their talents in a 4-1 victory against Costa Rica in Brussels on Monday, featuring two goals from Manchester United forward Romelu Lukaku and a glittering performance from Chelsea s Eden Hazard. Hazard limped off with 20 minutes to go but coach Roberto Martinez brushed off concerns, saying there was nothing to worry about. Brazil and Neymar attracted an army of excited youngsters including one who managed to Japan s defender Gotoku Sakai (right), and Paraguay s Richard Ortiz (left), vie for the ball during the international friendly football match between Japan and Paraguay in Innsbruck, Austria, on June 12. (AFP) break onto the pitch for a selfie as they held their first training session on Russian soil. Around 5,000 locals turned out to watch the relaxed session next to the Brazilians hotel in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. The 222-million-euro ($261 million) Paris Saint-Germain forward made his first start on Sunday, against Austria, since undergoing surgery on a foot fracture at the start of March. Neymar is doing great, thanks to God, said goalkeeper Alisson. I think the way the whole process has been dealt with was perfect. He has fully recovered. But before the action on the pitch gets under way, on Wednesday FIFA members must choose whether to award the 2026 World Cup to North America or Morocco. The choice is clear give the MADRID, June 12, (AFP): Real Madrid on Tuesday announced the appointment of Spain s Julen Lopetegui as their coach from next season, stunning the national team ahead of the start of the World Cup. Real Madrid announce that Julen Lopetegui will be the coach of the first team during the next three seasons, the Champions League winners said in a statement, adding that the 51-year-old will join the club after Spain s participation in the World Cup. Lopetegui will replace Zinedine Zidane as coach at the Santiago Bernabeu, after the Frenchman quit on May 31 in the wake of their Champions League final win over Liverpool in Kiev. The news comes as a jolt for Spain, just three days before their opening game at the Russian World Cup against Iberian neighbours Portugal in Sochi. Lopetegui and the Spain squad are currently at their training base in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) confirmed that Madrid will pay compensation to get Lopetegui out of the two years he has remaining on his contract with the national team. He only signed an extension to first 48-team World Cup to a US- Canadian-Mexican bid or hand it to Africa for just the second time. his deal until 2020 last month. The RFEF will receive payment of the release clause so that the current national coach can join Real Madrid, read a statement, adding that Lopetegui would appear alongside federation president Luis Rubiales at a press conference at Spain s Russian training base on Wednesday at 11:30am (0830 GMT). Belgium s Eden Hazard (center), vies for the ball with Costa Rica s Bryan Oviedo (left), during a friendly soccer match between Belgium and Costa Rica at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, on June 11. (AP) Spain are among the favourites to win the World Cup after an almost flawless qualifying campaign, and he will be hoping that the announcement does not overly unsettle his squad just before the competition gets under way. Lopetegui s national squad includes six Real players in Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Nacho Fernandez, Marco Asensio, Isco and Lucas Vazquez. The RFEF requests the maximum respect in order to maintain normality in the national team camp ahead of our debut in the tournament against Portugal, added the federation s statement. Lopetegui was appointed as Spain coach in the wake of their poor showing at Euro 2016 in SOCCER France when they were eliminated in the last 16, losing 2-0 to Italy. Zidane quit Real after a remarkable two and a half years in charge during which he led the club to three consecutive Champions League titles, as well as one La Liga crown. However, Real finished third in La Liga in the season just finished, 17 points behind champions Barcelona, and Zidane had A FIFA evaluation report earlier this month classified the north African nation s stadiums, accommodation and transport as high risk, leaving the North American bid as the clear frontrunner. But the North American bid has been dogged by concerns that the vote could become a referendum on the popularity of US President Donald Trump. On Monday, bid leader Carlos Cordeiro urged FIFA members to vote on the merits of the bid, and not on Trump. Russia beat England in the race to host this year s tournament but the 2010 vote has since been tainted by bribery allegations. The World Cup will take place against a background of international tensions after Russia and the West engaged in a major wave of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions since London accused Moscow of being behind the poisoning of a double agent in Britain. See Also Pages 34 & 35 Madrid agree to RFEF compensation Spain coach Lopetegui to take Real job In this file photo take on June 11, Spain s coach Julen Lopetegui gives a thumb-up during a training session in Krasnodar Academy ahead of the Russia 2018 World Cup football tournament. Spain coach Julen Lopetegui will replace Zindedine Zidane as Real Madrid coach after the 2018 World Cup, the Spanish giant said on June 12, in a statement. (AFP) admitted that he was unsure of his ability to oversee more success in the future. His decision to quit as Madrid coach suddenly left the Spanish giants in limbo. Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino had initially emerged as the leading candidate to replace the Frenchman but will now stay in the Premier League. As a player, Basque-born Lopetegui was a goalkeeper on Real s books early in his career, and he returned for a spell in charge of their second team a decade ago. He also briefly played for Barcelona and later led Spain s under-21 side to the European Championship title in He went on to coach Porto before succeeding Vicente del Bosque, who had overseen Spain s triumphs at the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 but had also been in charge for the disappointing group-stage exit at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. La Roja cruised through qualifying for this year s World Cup, with nine wins and a draw in 10 games, scoring 36 goals and conceding three. Indeed, Spain are still unbeaten under the Basque after 20 matches including friendlies. THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Published by: Arab Times Publishing House Editor-in-Chief AHMED AL JARALLAH Editorial Office: Airport Road, Shuwaikh P.O. Box 2270, Safat, Kuwait Telephone: & Fax: arabtimes@arabtimesonline.com Advertising: Tel: , Fax: advt@arabtimesonline.com Annual Subscriptions: Individuals KD 45/- Companies and Official Departments KD 75 Airmail charges extra for overseas Tel: Fax: