Bahrain busts Iran terror cell 25 held

Page 40 cricket THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2017 / JUMADA AL THANA 7, 1438 AH emergency number 112 NO. 16406 44 PAGES 150 FILS Praise, problems in US rights report on Kuwait Photo courtesy of Dr Hasan Ashkanani Sheikha Hussah Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah listens to Dr Hasan Ashkanani at the opening of the Archaeology and Anthropology Museum in November last year. Dr Ashkanani looks back on his challenging journey to become an academic, a researcher, and an archeometrist, the new breed of archaeologist who uses the latest scientific techniques to date archaeological specimens. See Page 6 Bahrain busts Iran terror cell 25 held Filipinos welcome new labor attaché DUBAI, March 4, (RTRS): Bahrain said on Saturday it had uncovered a 54-member Iranian-linked militant group suspected of involvement in attacks on security forces, including organising a prison break in January, and seized automatic weapons. It was one of the biggest security operations against suspected militants Bahrain blames for an increase in armed attacks on security forces in the Western-allied kingdom, where the US Fifth Fleet is based. Tensions have been rising in the kingdom since last year after authorities stepped up a crackdown on dissent, banning the main opposition group al-wefaq, arresting a leading activist and critic of the government and revoking the citizenship of the spiritual leader of the country s majority Shi ites. State news agency BNA on Saturday quoted the chief prosecutor Ahmed al-hammadi as saying that security forces have arrested 25 members and seized 11 pistols and Kalashnikov rifles in a series of operations, including an attempted arms smuggling in December. Hammadi also said that an investigation into the January prison break revealed that a Germany-based leader of the group had helped organise trips for members from Bahrain to Iran and Iraq for training, according to BNA. The investigation revealed that... several members (were sent) to Iran and Iraq to train on the use of explosives and automatic weapons in (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards camps to prepare them to carry out terrorist acts inside the country, Hammadi said, according to BNA. The group was suspected of involvement in six armed attacks, including the Jan 1 assault on Jau prison that resulted in the death of one policeman and the escape of 10 convicted inmates and the stealing of weapons, the report said. Members of the group also killed an officer at his farm in Bilad al-qadeem on Jan 28, and organised an attempt to smuggle the escaped Jau prison inmates abroad in February. Authorities said at the time that security forces killed three men and captured seven during a gun battle at sea as they tried to flee to Iran. Bahrain in February executed three men convicted in the death of three policemen, including an Emirati officer, in a 2014 bomb attack. Bahrain frequently accuses Iran, a Shi ite theocracy, of being behind bomb attacks targeting security services and fomenting Shi ite protests. Iran denies interfering in Bahrain, although it acknowledges support for opposition groups seeking greater rights for Bahrain s Shi ites. The Shi ite community led Continued on Page 37 By Michelle Fe Santiago Arab Times Staff KUWAIT CITY, March 4: The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait led by Ambassador Renato Pedro Villa introduced the new Philippine Labour Attache to Kuwait, Atty Alex Padaen to the leaders of various Filipino organisations in Kuwait on Friday at the embassy premises. We are happy that finally we have a new labour attaché in Kuwait who can help us resolve cases of Filipinos in Kuwait, look into the welfare of OFWs and assure their well-being, stated Villa. Padaen who was posted previously in Jeddah and Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia thanked the Filipino leaders for the warm reception they accorded him. I m very glad to be here and I m happy with the warm welcome that the Filipino community has given me. I just want us all to be united as one community so we can pursue our common goals of helping our fellow Filipinos in Kuwait, stated Padaen in an interview with the Arab Times. He also thanked Villa for the warm reception and embassy s support to POLO and its staff. Spotted also during the occasion were Assistant Labour Attache Lily Pearl Guerrero, Vice Consul Charleson Hermosura, Welfare Officer Nestor Burayag, Administrative Officer Girlie Caba as well as other embassy and POLO-OW- WA staff. Not new to the Middle East region, Padaen expressed his readiness to extend a helping hand to all OFWs in Kuwait amid the increasing number of distressed OFWs who run daily to the POLO-OWWA shelter to seek refuge from some of the abusive employers. Continued on Page 37 Legislator tracks suspect deposits By Abubakar A. Ibrahim Arab Times Staff KUWAIT CITY, March 4: MP Riyadh Al- Adsani has published contents of the multimillion deposits case, stressing the need for the government to explain the legislative lapses in previous years which prompted him to present a draft bill on addressing these lapses. He said he has forwarded questions to Minister of Justice and State Minister for National Assembly Affairs Dr Faleh Al-Azeb to know reasons behind the delayed submission of amendments to certain laws aimed at addressing the legislative lapses. He pointed out these amendments were on the verge of completion in 2014 and they would have been utilized in handling certain cases like the multimillion deposits, ill-gotten wealth and conflict of interest. He cited as an example the proposal to amend the Anti-Money Laundering Law to include stipulations on financial disclosure and ill-gotten wealth. Following are the pending complaints: deposits in different banks within less than seven months totaling KD 4 million deposits into suspicious bank accounts within less than nine months totaling KD 3,700,000 deposits of unexpected and recurring payments within eight months totaling KD 4 million deposits within a period not exceeding 10 months totaling KD 700,000 deposits of unexpected and recurring payments within eight months totaling KD 660,000 deposits into suspicious accounts within less than seven months totaling KD 6,300,000 deposits into suspicious accounts within less than seven months totaling KD 700,000 deposits of unexpected and recurring payments within seven months totaling KD 4,700,000 These cash deposits do not match the income Continued on Page 37 Details Page 10 Manpower focus on private sector Kuwaitization of 80,000 jobs possible By Heba Al-Taweel Al-Seyassah Staff KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Secretary General at the Government and Manpower Restructuring Program (GMRP) Fawzi Al-Majdali said the agency is working hard to create job opportunities for the national personnel in private sector in order to regulate and redirect the labor market to the right path of development. He revealed a recent study indicated a possible replacement of 80,000 expatriates with Kuwaitis in private sector in line with the Kuwaitization policy. He added it s impossible to Kuwaitize all jobs directly, indicating the project is working toward gradual replacement of about 10 percent per year. He assured the project will not leave any stone unturned in Kurdish factions clash Thousands flee raging Mosul battle MOSUL, Iraq, March 4, (Agencies): Thousands of civilians fled Mosul overnight as Iraqi forces advanced north of a sprawling military base near the city s airport on Friday. Iraq s special forces pushed into the Wadi Hajar district in western Mosul and retook the area from the Islamic State group Friday, according to Brig Gen Yahya Rasool, spokesman of the Joint Military Operations. Special forces Brig Gen Haider al-obeidi said clearing operations were ongoing in the area and his forces were close to linking up with the militarized federal police forces who were pushing up along the western bank of the Tigris river. Iraqi forces, including special operations forces and federal police units, launched an attack on the western part of Mosul nearly two weeks ago to dislodge IS. Since the offensive began, more than 28,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, according to the United Nations. Nahla Ahmed, 50 fled Mosul late Thursday night, walking more than 5 kms (3 miles) from her home in the Shuhada neighborhood. All the families were hiding behind a wall, she said, explaining how they escaped an IS-held part of the city. We gave the children valium so they wouldn t cry and (the IS fighters) wouldn t catch us. Ahmed, like most of the civilians who have escaped Mosul in the past week, fled through Mamun neighborhood. The district is partially controlled by Iraq s special forces. KUNA photos Aerial view of Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Causeway project scheduled to be completed by 2018. See Page 3 Maj Saif Ali, who is stationed in Mamun, said huge crowds of civilians began pouring into the area from neighboring districts just after midnight. Ali said civilians in western Mosul are becoming increasingly desperate as food and water supplies begin to run out. In total 7,000 people fled through this area last night, he said. We were up all night trying to control the crowds. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday the latest figures we have of people recorded leaving western Mosul is 28,400 and that s since operations in west Mosul started on Feb 19. However we re also tracking down reports thousands more people are on the move. He said that on average about 4,000 people a day have been fleeing since the beginning of the operation. We think about 750,000 civilians are still trapped inside western Mosul, either sheltering from the fighting or waiting to flee, Dujarric said. We re deeply concerned with their well-being and safety and their access to vital resources. By late morning nearly all the families had been moved out of Mamun. The neighborhood was littered with discarded clothing and blankets piled up in empty lots and on street corners. Iraqi forces deployed east of Mamun advanced into Wadi Hajar, a neighborhood north of the Ghazlani military base. The US-led coalition dropped more than 15 munitions Continued on Page 37 cooperation with relevant departments, agencies and non-profit organizations to encourage the national personnel in private sector. He stressed the project is in the process of attaining novel achievements with the establishment of national manpower development center to increase the rate of Kuwaitis in private sector. He noted the program will train 5,000 employees, another 5,000 students, and 3,000 job seekers in its Reggae office. He declared 4,000 serious applicants are looking for jobs at this moment. He said the program is committed to eliminating the act of optional and willing idleness through the unification of salaries, reduction of subsidies and financial differences to ensure that things are well with private sector. He declared the Public Authority for Manpower was still studying fixing the minimum wage of national manpower in private sector. He reaffirmed the project will attract the national manpower to some unattractive specialties and vocations, as well as scientific specialties by increasing support for them. Also: KUWAIT CITY: Acting Director-General of the Public Authority for Manpower Abdullah Al-Mutawteh said companies which sell visas will be administratively shut down and referred to the General Department for Interrogation, reports Al-Shahed daily. He pointed out the experiment of automated link with Egypt will end a lot of complications Continued on Page 37 e-renewal of residence seen KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Director-General of the General Department for Info Systems at the Interior Ministry Major- General Ali Al-Ma ili said the ministry is currently working on a project to facilitate the renewal of driving licenses, residence permits of household workers employed by Kuwaitis and residence permits of expatriates through the Interior Ministry s e-site and smart application, reports Al-Anba daily. However, Al-Ma ili said, e- passports will not be covered by the new system because the applicants will be required to sign the document in person and provide the electronic fingerprints of the family. He added the new system will allow the Kuwaitis and expatriates to renew their driving licenses and residence permits and also pay fines through the system without the need to visit the departments. Nonetheless, the applicants will have to go in person to collect the completed transactions and put the residence permit stickers on their passports at the relevant residence affairs departments in the respective governorates. He pointed out people whose transactions are blocked for reasons such as cases registered against them and/or if they are wanted by law, must visit the concerned department for necessary action. He pointed out the project is expected to see the light of day on an experimental basis in mid-2017 before it is gradually applied to other services. Continued on Page 37 Newswatch WASHINGTON: Twentyone civilians were killed in nine separate strikes by the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria between November and January, the US military said on Saturday. That brings the total number of civilians unintentionally killed by the coalition since the start of operations against the militant group in 2014 to 220, the military said in a statement. Although the Coalition takes extraordinary efforts to strike military targets in a manner that minimizes the risk of civilian casualties, in some incidents casualties are unavoidable, the statement said. The military estimate is far lower than those provided by monitoring groups. (RTRS) AMMAN: Jordan hanged 15 death row prisoners including convicted terrorists at dawn on Saturday, its information minister said, in a further break with a moratorium on executions it observed between 2006 and 2014. Ten of those put to death had been convicted of terrorism offences and five of heinous crimes including rape, Mahmud al-momani told the official Petra news agency. The attorney general for Amman district, Ziad al- Dmour, said the executions represented a clear message to anyone who tries to undermines the security of the nation. Continued on Page 37

LOCAL 2 Bid to ensure nominees for top posts who do not have any security restriction CSC introduces new unwritten condition to appoint govt employees By Heba Al-Taweel Al-Seyassah Staff KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Civil Service Commission (CSC) has introduced a new unwritten condition to the appointment of government employees in supervisory or leadership positions, such as heads of department, supervisors and managers, and all nominations will be presented to State Security Department for scrutiny and approval. A source indicated the procedure was approved recently to ensure that nominees of supervisory and leadership positions do not have any security restriction that could prevent their appointments. He explained the system operational in sensitive departments was dumped lately. He also said a circular has been sent across the government departments in that regard, while some nominations were withheld and replacement nominated for them. He stressed the usual practice in the past Commerce minister pledges total commitment to job, achievement was that nominations for promotion with higher responsibilities would go to CSC where verification would be done to ascertain qualification and subsequent approval before issuance of a decision. He declared the process is for public good, thus several nominations are pending for security approval. He believes the process may lead to series of administrative litigations, especially as the security condition is not part of the written conditions set by CSC. PAM fi nishes installing fi ngerprinting units in all depts Top & above: Some photos from the inspection tour. Photos by Mahmoud Jadeed Al-Mutawa makes inspection tour of Sheikh Jaber Bridge Public Works minister affi rms ongoing co-op with S. Korea over 3 vital projects KUWAIT CITY, March 4, (KUNA): Minister of Public Works Eng Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa affirmed an ongoing cooperation between the State of Kuwait and the Republic of South Korea over three important projects, which are Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Bridge which involves construction of two marine bridges, one linked to Subbiya and the other linked to Doha and Saad Al- Abdullah areas. In a press statement issued during his inspection tour of Sheikh Jaber Bridge along with South Korean Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Kang Hoin, Eng Al-Mutawa said his inspection of the project is due to its significance and to follow up its work progress, stressing that, The projects executed with the cooperation of South Korea are very important and we hope for more of such cooperation. He said the move to seek South Korea s expertise and technology was deemed necessary in order to overcome several difficulties in the project, affirming that the project is proceeding as planned and will be completed by the end of 2018. Meanwhile, Assistant Undersecretary for Road Affairs at Ministry of Public Works Eng. Ahmad Al- Hissan said the objective of the tour was to inspect the rate of accomplishment and the work flow of the project, indicating that 74 percent of the project has so far been completed. Concerning the closing of Al-Ghazali Bridge, he expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the citizens and residents of Kuwait for their understanding and cooperation, stressing that the closure was necessary in order to complete the remaining part of Al-Ghazali intersection. The Ghazali intersection passes through Jahra Road and Jamal Abdul Nasser Road, and will have a direct link with Sheikh Jaber Bridge in Mina area. Regarding the Fifth Ring Road Project, Eng Al- Hissan indicated that 15 percent of the work has been accomplished on the western end of the road, adding that the main intersection linking Doha and the Sixth Ring Road is expected to be opened next year. KUWAIT CITY, March 4: I have spent only 104 days in office and I am no superman. I need details in order to correct any error noticed, considering senior officials of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry are not saints, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting Minister of Commerce and Industry, acting State Minister for Youth Affairs Khalid Al- Roudan. He made this known while addressing the audience at a monthly meeting on Improving Work Environment organized by MP Osama Al-Shaheen in West Mishref. He pledged total commitment to the job and achievement, adding the road is long and rough since the ministry has good and bad eggs among its employees, and he needs information to identify those who are hostile to visitors, because his presence is to serve all citizens. He reiterated nobody can deny the fact that dedicated employees abound in the ministry and they work hard to achieve results but it s not an easy task. He also admitted finding the job difficult upon resumption but said the train of reform and development has taken off. He encouraged interested officials to join the train. Hypocrisy He reiterated having no time for hypocrisy and frivolity, noting work must continue in line with clear mechanism and combined efforts of Kuwaiti youth. This is the reason I terminated the appointment of expatriate consultants and replaced them with Kuwaitis and less than 20 percent remains. It s unreasonable to employ expatriates when Kuwaitis can do the job with dedication and come out successful. Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) has finished installing fingerprint attendance machines in all departments, reports Al-Anba daily quoting informed sources. They stressed that recording attendance based on fingerprint will be mandatory for all personnel of all sectors and departments based on the relevant law of Civil Service Commission. Meanwhile, sources said the authority, in the first quarter of 2017, will witness a qualitative leap in the level of mechanism in terms of its services, works and interfaces with all concerned authorities. Al-Roudan As a part of Kuwait University s efforts to ensure various colleges sign scientific and cultural cooperation protocols with other universities and colleges, the College of Arts of Kuwait University recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the College of Arts of Cairo University. The memorandum will consolidate scientific cooperation between both colleges in different specialties covered by the academic departments. This is the fi rst of such protocol signed with the Cairo University and Ain Al-Shams University by any college within the Arabian Gulf region. A flyer of the art workshop LAPA holds 4-day art workshop LoYac Academy of Performing Arts (LAPA) will hold a four-day art workshop on March 5-8 from 6 pm to 8 pm. Those interested in attending the workshop can register at the LAPA head offi ce in Al-Qebliya School. Kuwait Today Prayer Timings Fajr... 04:54 Sunrise... 06:10 Zohr... 12:00 Asr...15:20 Maghrib... 17:50 Isha... 19:06 Weather Expected weather for the next 24 hours: By Night: Partly cloudy with light to moderate south easterly to light variable wind, with speed of 06-28 km/h with a chance for scattered rain. By Day: Sunny with light variable wind changing to light to moderate south easterly later on wind, with speed of 06-26 km/h and some scattered clouds will appear later on. Station Max Min Exp Rec Kuwait City 26 17 Kuwait Airport 25 11 Abdaly 26 10 Bubyan 26 16 Jahra 26 13 Failaka Island 25 16 Salmiyah 24 16 Ahmadi 22 17 Nuwaisib 26 15 Wafra 28 12 Salmy 24 12 4 days forecast - Weather Sunday, March 05 Expected weather...sunny + scattered rain Max Temp... 25C Min Temp... 11C Wind Direction... VRB-NW Wind Speed...10-30 km/h Monday, March 06 Expected weather... Sunny + rising dust Max Temp... 24C Min Temp... 11C Wind Direction...NW Wind Speed...15-40 km/h Tuesday, March 07 Expected weather...sunny Max Temp... 25C Min Temp... 11C Wind Direction...NW Wind Speed...10-32 km/h Wednesday, March 08 Expected weather...sunny Max Temp... 26C Min Temp... 12C Wind Direction...NW Wind Speed...12-35 km/h Marine Forecast Station Max Min Sea Today s Exp Rec Surf Waves Ht Dirn South Dolphin 24 15 15 3 ft NW Under the sponsorship of Yamaha agent in Kuwait, International Electronic Company, the international artist Zak Bound will be the chief guest on the last day of the workshop and he will explain about different latest musical instruments to the participants. Umm Mudayrah 20 16-3 ft NW Beacon M28 - - - - - Beacon N6 24 14-3 ft NW Qaruh Island 20 17-3 ft NW Umm Al-Maradim 20 17-3 ft NW Sea Island Buo - - - - - Salmiyah 24 16-3 ft NW 4 days forecast - Marine Sunday, March 05 Expected weather...sunny + scattered rain Sea state...slight to moderate Wave height...1-4 ft Max Temp... 25C Min Temp... 11C Wind Direction... VRB-NW Wind Speed...10-30 km/h Monday, March 06 Expected weather... Sunny + rising dust Sea state...moderate to rough at times Wave height...3-6 ft Max Temp... 24C Min Temp... 11C Wind Direction...NW Wind Speed...15-40 km/h Tuesday, March 07 Expected weather...sunny Sea state...slight to moderate Wave height...1-4 ft Max Temp... 25C Min Temp... 11C Wind Direction...NW Wind Speed...10-32 km/h Wednesday, March 08 Expected weather...sunny Sea state...slight to moderate Wave height...2-5 ft Max Temp... 26C Min Temp... 12C Wind Direction...NW Wind Speed...12-35 km/h Tide times at Shuwaikh Port 1st high tide:...15:31 2nd high tide:...04:40 1st low tide:...09:50 2nd low tide:...22:27 Sunrise:...06:10 Sunset:...17:49 Recorded yesterday at Kuwait Airport Max temp... 26C Min temp... 10C Max Rh...96% Min Rh...32% Max Wind...N 36 km/h Total Rainfall in 24 hrs...0 mm Recorded yesterday at South Dolphin Min/Max/ Air Temp... 15/24 0C Min/Max Rel Hum...43/94% Wind Direction/Wind Speed...N/22 km/h Prev Wave Dir/Max Wave Ht... N/- ft Min/Max Sea Surface Temp...-/- C Sea Current...Downdraft Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Meteorological Dept. deaths Aysha Mubarak Mesayab Al-Azemi, wife of Qablan Mohammad Ali Al-Azemi, buried on Saturday. Condolences: Naseem, Block 2, Street 3, House 263, Tel: 51159599 / 99459602. Aysha Jaber Al-Mutairi, 52 years old, buried on Saturday. Condolences: (Men) Oyoun, Block 2, Street 3, House 510, Tel: 99559516. (Women) Saad Al-Abdullah, Block 11, Street 185, House 277. Badriya Abdullah Ali Hasan Dashti, 66 years old, wife of Husein Ali Baqer, buried on Saturday. Condolences: (Men) Maidan Hawally, Al- Huseiniya Al-Ashkinaniya, Tel: 99054424. (Women) Mubarak Al-Kabeer, Block 3, Street 17, House 5, Tel: 66590009. Shaha Saif Saad Al-Hadeb, 81 years old, widow of Mohammad Dawood Al-Ghamlas, to be buried on Sunday at 09:00 am. Condolences: (Men) Khaldiya, Block 2, Abdullah Khalaf Al-Said Street, House 6, Tel: 99835560. (Women) Jabriya, Block 9, Street 1, House 10, Tel: 66334333. Abdul Manaf Mohammad Rafeei Husein Marafi, 70 years old, buried on Saturday. Condolences: (Men) Dasma, Block 4, Opp Estiqlal Street, Diwan Al-Marafi, Tel: 22555881. (Women) Dasma, Block 4, Street 40, House 2, Tel: 99936000. Jasem Mohammad Ahmad Mal Allah, 49 years old, to be buried on Sunday after Asr prayers. Condolences: (Men) Shamiya, Block 4, Street 44, House 8, Tel: 99504201. (Women) Qosour, Block 7, Street 42, House 15, Tel: 99189878. Yousef Abbas Abdullah Al-Kandari, 50 years old, to be buried on Sunday after Asr prayers. Condolences: (Men) Omariya, Shaab, Diwan Al-Kandari, Tel: 95599300. (Women) Jleeb Shuyoukh, Block 4, Street 310. House 26, Tel: 50880014. March 4, 2017

LOCAL 3 South Kuwait Toastmasters Club celebrates 250th meeting A group photo of the event. The South Kuwait Toastmasters Club (SKTM), the 14th TM Club in Kuwait celebrated the 250th meeting recently at the Bliss Center, Mangaf. President TM Kannan Ravi in his opening remarks praised the active participation of the past ex-committee members. He also appraised the meeting participants about the various TMI Awards and District 20 Awards achieved by SKTM Club during the first half of TM year 2016-2017. The meeting was managed by ex-president TM Ganesan R. as the Toastmaster of the Day. In addition to the customary sessions; viz. prepared speech, table topic and evaluation speech; special celebration session, cake cutting and release of club newsletter commemorating 250th meeting were the highlights of the day. Prominent among the attendees were the District 20A Program Quality Director, DTM Dr Mohammad Makhlouf; District 20 PR Manager TM Nancy Vijo, Area 62 Director TM Fatima Abdullah, and Area 38 Director TM V.S.K. Shenoy. Following the TMI practice; SKTM is a non-profit organization facilitating the individuals to improve the communication and leadership skills and sharpening one s interpersonal skills. In his felicitation speech; founder President TM B. Muthukumaran, cherished the sweet memories of the club s progress since its chartering in September 2006. The session concluded with Club President Ravi presenting the Thank You cards for the guests and Best Speaker awards. SKTM Club meets at Bliss Center, Mangaf on 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month from 7.00 pm till 9.00 pm. Club President TM Kannan Ravi can be contacted at +965 97892835 and Vice President Membership TM Subrata Kumar at +965 60745021. Moroccan PM hopes to further enhance relations with Kuwait Kuwait maintains historical ties with Bulgaria KUNA photo Kuwait s Ambassador Al-Yahya while meeting Moroccan PM Benkirane. Bid to expedite discussions on Al-Hariri City bill Judicial authority and govt s move aims at curbing high divorce rate KUWAIT CITY, March 4: The judicial authority and the government have reached an agreement to combat divorce in a move aimed to curb the high divorce rate in the Kuwaiti society. Such an agreement between the judiciary and the government is the first of its kind aimed at solving family conflicts before they extend to the court in the form of divorce cases, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting informed sources. They said the cooperation between the Court of First Instance and Social Development Office affiliated to the Council of Ministers will specialize in giving consultations, advices and guidelines to avert conflicts and dissensions within families. The sources explained that the mechanism of this agreement will depend on dealing with family issues with total confidentiality. Couples will not be asked their names or details. This service will be provided through a hotline facility and availability of experienced specialists and experts in psychology and sociology round the clock to help. The government is planning to request the Parliament s Public Utilities Committee to expedite discussions on the Al-Hariri City bill, reports Al-Shahed daily quoting informed sources. They affirmed that this bill represents one of the initial practical steps to transform Kuwait into a financial and commercial hub. The sources explained that the project requires a budget of $270 billion as per estimations and will be completed in approximately 15 years. They indicated that Al-Hariri City will be equipped with modern facilities and will have the capacity to accommodate 700,000 individuals. The General Department for Citizenship and Travel Documents issued 5,986 e-passports at the specific service centers until Thursday, March 2, reports Al-Anba daily quoting security sources. They revealed that a total of 6,311 applications were received from citizens at these centers. The sources explained that the process of issuing the new passport is easy and flexible, and it takes not more than two days for completion from the date of receiving the application. The application cost is not more than KD 7. They said Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah had given special instructions to facilitate the completion of transactions in this regard, especially for the elderly and people with special needs. MoH allocates KD 1.672m for stationery MoSAL receives two wedding halls under donation of HH Sheikh Nasser KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Assistant Undersecretary for Planning and Administrative Development Musallam Al-Subai e revealed that Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor has received two wedding halls under the donation of His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad, reports Al-Anba daily. One of these two wedding halls is located in Ardiya Industrial Area in Farwaniya Governorate and the other is in Mubarak Al-Kabeer Governorate. Ministry of Health has allocated KD 1.672 million for covering its stationery needs such as staplers, cartons to collect waste, rented computers and so on, reports Al-Rai daily quoting informed sources. They indicated that the ministry is planning to ask for higher budget for these facilities due to some plans for expansions and new openings this year. Ministry of Health has stopped receiving applications to sign up expatriate doctors on permanent or temporary basis, reports Al-Anba daily. The daily quoting sources added the ministry has addressed its departments, medical zones and hospitals against accepting employment applications by hand, indicating applications should be accepted online via the ministry s website www.moh. gov.ku/careers The same sources noted the above mentioned step has been taken to facilitate procedures of employing doctors and at the same time present the ministry better chances of selecting the most qualified doctors. They reiterated any applications presented by hand will not be considered. RABAT, March 4, (KUNA): Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane on Friday praised the deep-rooted ties between his country and the State of Kuwait hoping to cement these bonds further. The premier made the assertion during a meeting with the State of Kuwait Ambassador, Ali Al-Yahya, at the premiership headquarters. Premier Benkirane, in a statement to KUNA, indicated resolve of the two countries leaders, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and King Mohammad VI, to develop these close ties into an exemplary partnership. He also hinted that his discussions with the envoy dealt with means of boosting the bilateral relations. Ambassador Al-Yahya affirmed his readiness to do everything possible to bolster the bonds with Morocco. Earlier, the ambassador met speaker of the Moroccan parliament, Habib el-malki, after his election as chairman of the legislative assembly, which said in a statement that the two sides examined the distinctive bilateral relations at various levels. During the meeting, el-malki called for reactivating the Kuwaiti-Moroccan friendship group. The Kuwaiti envoy said he conveyed an invitation to the chief lawmaker to visit Kuwait. Meanwhile, Assistant Foreign Minister for Europe Affairs Walid Al-Khabizi said Thursday the Kuwaiti-Bulgarian relations have been growing steadily since 1962. The signing of 26 agreements on cooperation between the two countries helped augment the relations in various fields and brought their views on various international issues close to each other, he said. Ambassador Al-Khabizi made the comments during a reception, hosted by Bulgaria Embassy here to celebrate the country s national day. The number of Kuwaiti tourists, visiting Bulgaria rose to nearly 3,000 last year, he said, noting that the number of Kuwaiti students, studying at Bulgarian colleges also went up steadily over the last years. On investment cooperation, he said Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) is mulling a plan for longterm investments in, and tapping into the potentials of trade exchanges with, Bulgaria which is an active member of the European Union and the NATO alliance. Al-Khabizi voiced hope that the adoption by Kuwait of the e-passport system will help prepare the ground for exempting the Kuwaiti nationals from visa requirements in the Schengen Area. The e-passport system is one of the EU technical requirements for a Schengen visa waiver, not all requirements, he said, adding that the Kuwaiti move could facilitate the negotiations in this regard. No monopoly in importation of meat KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Director General of Livestock at the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs & Fish Resources (PAAAFR) Yousef Al-Najem has refuted claims of monopoly in the import of meat, reports Al Anba daily. He said the door is open for all companies and citizens owning an enterprise to import meat without impediment, as long as they abide by the health conditions of veterinary quarantines unit at the Livestock Health Department, over and above warranties. Al-Najem said there s no monopoly at all in the import of meat, adding several enterprises import a large quantity of cattle more than the main company in the industry imports. There are other companies that import sheep and goats to the local market as well.

LOCAL 4 DIWANIYA A DIGEST OF PUBLIC OPINION In honor of the Editor-in-Chief of Arab Times and Al-Seyassah newspapers Ahmad Al-Jarallah on the occasion of his visit to Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Thanyan bin Fahad Al-Thanyan organized a lunch banquet at his farm in Al-Amariah area near Riyadh, reports Al-Seyassah daily. Many distinguished personalities attended the gathering including Sheikh Hamad Al-Shunaifi, Ambassador Abdullah Al-Shamrani and Tareq Al-Shuwaier. During the gathering, the attendees held discussions on a number of political and economic matters of the region. Co-ops plan to employ 3000 Kuwaitis, expats KUWAIT CITY, March 4, (Agencies): Union of Cooperative Societies plans to employ up to 3,000 citizens at the cooperative markets and hire non-kuwaitis for jobs for which nationals show no interest. Fehaid Al-Htaitah, the federation deputy chairman, indicated in a statement, on Saturday, that the decision was taken following a recent meeting that grouped officials from Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, Public Authority for Applied Education (PAAET), Manpower and Government Restructuring Program and representatives of societies. Talks at this meeting dealt with plans to habilitate the new Kuwaiti employees, providing them with insurance, regular payment raises and sustainable Funds allocated for MoH bonuses work contracts. A meeting will be held soon at headquarters of the Civil Service Commission headquarters for organizing training courses for the Kuwaitis who would be hired for the jobs at the societies. The cooperative union was established in 1971. Ministry of Health has allocated KD 8 million to disburse to the employees of the ministry as excellent performance bonuses, reports Al-Anba daily quoting sources from the health sector. They affirmed that the bonuses will be disbursed to deserving employees, who are included in the lists to be prepared and submitted by various departments and health zones, along with their salaries of March, April and May. The sources indicated that the ministry will instruct all its sectors and the health zones to list the names of their employees who deserve to receive the bonus and to submit the lists to the ministry as soon as possible. The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has approved the request presented by the Minister of Commerce and Industry and Acting Minister of Youth Affairs Khalid Al-Rawdhan to use the expertise of Kuwaiti consultants including the constitutional expert Dr Mohammad Al-Feli as the legal consultant in his office, reports Al-Rai daily. The daily learnt that the nominations of the minister were based on his intention to increase the number of Kuwaiti consultants in the ministry and to benefit from their varied experiences. Top players converge on Geneva Will talks end Syrian crisis? AS A matter of fact, the foreign policy of the United States of America is known for its commitment to its general basics towards countries and allies which are friendly to the Washington irrespective of who occupies the White House, the Democrats or the Republicans, columnist Dr Fahad Al-Mekrad wrote for Al-Qabas daily. But the election of the current President Donald Trump is likely to put an end to these basics in the US foreign policy because he follows a different strategy and probably this is the reason why Washington wants to review many policies including the so-called containment policy. Not just that, the US is likely to adopt a more strict policy towards Europe and the Middle East which may include economic sanctions. This policy will probably develop into a war waged by Washington in this part of the world in case of failure of the dual policy containment and economic sanctions. For the time being, the political scenario in the Middle East looks too complicated. This phenomenon surfaced in this part of the world in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring and the contradictory interests in this part of the world. Such being the case, it will be difficult for an observer to predict the future of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States, particularly in the absence of the strategic planning and research centers in the region concerning national security and strategic planning of this regional organization. Given the above, we suggest seeking various types of strategic allies from both the East and the West look inevitable, particularly in light of the situations currently prevalent in both Syria and Yemen. The events in these countries have proved they are really dangerous following the intervention of Iran in Arab affairs and Tehran harping on the sectarian tune in the Kingdom of Bahrain. In other words, the Iranian foreign policy in Arab countries is based on producing incubators to produce doctrinal tendencies in violation of international conventions particularly the convention that calls for non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. In this context, we say it looks like Iran has exploited the weaknesses of the Arab League and the Al-Mekrad international community or rather the UN Security Council, particularly since we know that the latter has failed drastically to peacefully solve the crises in Syrian and Yemen. That being the fact of the case, we expect history to record that this international organization has failed to establish the no-fly zones in the relevant countries to provide a safe refuge and passage for civilians. Nonetheless, bloodshed in these countries continues to be the order of the day. In other words, the international community has failed to impose solutions to end the wars in Syrian and Yemen by force, and as such, it is unfortunate, all countries of the world are currently paying the price of these crises, which have simultaneously bred terrorist organizations which currently constitute a threat to the entire world and this can be mostly attributed to the hesitation that was shown by the international community in dealing with the crises in question. In this connection, we say although the discussions that were held recently in Astana, Kazakhstan to contain the Syrian crisis, the latter still faces many complications. However, for the time being, Geneva will once again discuss the Syrian crisis where we hope the discussions will be crowned with success, partaking in which are major international players in the political arena the US and Russia. But the question here is, will the Geneva discussions solve the crisis and establish peace for the Syrians in their country and rescue the children and the civilians from violence? Also: Will foreign arm twisting and internal tensions currently facing Iran be enough to stop Tehran from threatening the Gulf countries and turn its back on its strategic scheme of cordoning these countries to isolate them through Tehran s direct or indirect domination on Iraq, Syria and Yemen, via the Iranian-made regimes? columnist Dr Ali Abdurrahman Al-Huwaila mused for Al- Anba daily. And will the statements issued by the US President Donald Trump in support of the US-GCC convergence and his threats against Iran which revolve around imposing new economic sanctions on Tehran and describing the latter as the first country supporting terrorism result in Iran turning its back on its project in the region although it has made a significant progress in terms of implementing it? However, in light of the relevant associations, it looks difficult for any observer to say Iran will stop the implementation of its strategic project or its dream due to many grounds first of all the fact that the promotion of the Shiite doctrine has gained a self-power in view of support given to this project by the Gulf Shiites on the strength of fabricated reports and mistaken pretexts that they are facing persecution by the Sunni majority ruling regimes in this part of the world. Apart from the above, we refer to the state of dissatisfaction which currently prevails in Iran where people are requesting the government in Tehran to follow the example of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in terms of living a life of luxury. And the Iranians are currently demanding their government to stop interfering in the internal affairs of the neighboring countries on the pretext these interventions are aimed at reviving the fake glories of the Persian Empire. Given the above, we expect Iran to lessen its provocative measures and tone down its rhetoric concerning the neighboring countries, but no real or rapid change is expected in its attitudes towards these countries pending the appearance of international vision in general and the Russian attitude towards Donald Trump s foreign policy in particular. In this context, it is significant not to ignore the generosity shown by Tehran in the framework of its attempts to gain loyalty of the leaders of countries where Iran has influence in the name of marketing the so-called doctrinal fraternity and weaving of a coalition against the Sunni foe. It is needless to say the GCC countries are realizing the above facts, and this was evident through the coalition that was formed by these countries to prevent the coup in Yemen by the Houthis and put pressure on Iran to give up its policies in Iraq and Syria by threatening its security in addition to preventing it from getting involved in any adventure in the GCC countries. Meanwhile, we look at the Kuwaiti initiative to bring about the reconciliation between the GCC countries and Iran and cementing the ties with the neighbors or rather between the two parties and refraining from interfering in the internal affairs of the GCC members states. However, given the appreciation shown by Iran towards the Kuwaiti initiative, we infer that Tehran is concerned about this initiative and this was evident through the visit of the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the Sultanate of Oman and the State of Kuwait respectively. We know that the two countries are maintaining balanced relations with Iran, given the fact that Sayed Rouhani during his visits to the two countries has confirmed that the Kuwaiti initiative has the respect of Iran and is being seriously studied by the Iranian side. In the past few months of the new National Assembly, we realized that some of the lawmakers who had previously boycotted the parliamentary elections were actively attacking the Parliament of 2013 and its decisions as well as the resolutions of the former government, Ali Mahmoud Khajah wrote for Aljarida daily. They used to object to the increased fuel prices, new elections law which bans those convicted by the court for insulting religions or His Highness the Amir from contesting in the elections as well as the issue of citizenship revocation and so on, until the electioneering season began. They then increased their level of rejection over the abovementioned issues until the matter reached the point of them insisting on their stance concerning the elections of the National Assembly Speaker and their objection to giving back the reins of speakership to Marzouq Al- Ghanim. The practices of the lawmakers represent the consequence of the insistence of a number of people to sink in ignorance and naivety. Those who vote for a person who does not know about democracy and the need for public representation will never be able to promote democracy in Kuwait. Those who attended the celebrations witnessed in Kuwait in the last few days on the occasion of the 56th anniversary of National Day and 26th anniversary of Liberation Day of Kuwait can truly testify the tremendous efforts exerted by the brave and valiant securitymen who succeeded in their role in ensuring the celebrations were held in a proper and safe manner, Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily. This vital role played by securitymen of Ministry of Interior to maintain the safety and security of the people of Kuwait is a source of pride and honor for every Kuwaiti citizen and resident living in Kuwait. They represent the fence and wall of Kuwait, making it a well-protected fortress. The apparent fingerprints in the security march through the recent decline in the crime rate, an increased sense of security among the citizens and residents of the country as well as the success of the Ministry of Interior in protecting several occasions confirm the fact that Ministry of Interior always succeeds in its activities under the wisdom of its leaders headed by the Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Lieutenant General Sheikh Khalid Al- Jarrah and the Undersecretary of the ministry Lieutenant General Sulaiman Al-Fahad. We will not talk about the commemoration of the Liberation Day as the great achievements will be cherished forever. But the country today faces yet another invasion in another form as if it is under liquidation. There is talk of embezzlement of millions of dinars, some officials are stealing from the State coffers as if nobody knows about it, columnist Bader Khaled Al-Bahr wrote for Al-Qabas daily. We hear of a secret sovereignty fund where officials are embezzling State funds. They even boast and take pride in their huge portion of the loot. I do not know who amongst us are Zionists? Who amongst us have turned the country into a jungle eclipsed with fraud, embezzlement and violation of everything considered public funds or State properties? Who amongst us defend the country, its constitution and take responsibility for the country? They say Ariel Sharon s hands were clean in respect to his struggle for his belief and his people. He made his country the strongest in the Middle East despite its small size. If we compare his military and political histories, we will deduce the disappointment of some Arabs and their leaders who have plundered State resources. If we enumerate the political and financial corruption being perpetrated by some of our politicians here and compare them with the biography and achievements of Ariel Sharon, we would have considered him a human angel! I hope I am right, or else, God forgive me! Hate speeches against expatriates in the country are on the rise. These speeches are widespread on various social and electronic media platforms where expatriates are being blamed for the deterioration of public services, traffic congestions and lack of job opportunities for citizens. This is in addition to political hijacking and exploitation by some politicians keen on promoting themselves through rhetoric, columnist Abdulmohsen Juma wrote for Al-Jarida daily. Almost 100 percent of expatriates have entered the country through official invitation because the Kuwaiti borders are fully secured and illegal immigration through these borders is nearly nil unlike what is happening in Europe, USA and Australia. Therefore, the presence of expatriates is our responsibility, all of us citizens, public and private sectors. It is then pointless to hold the expatriates responsible for the consequences of our decisions or blaming them for our failures. All of us should take the blame. The private sector and Kuwaiti families have become so fond of or addicted to cheap labor whether laborers in private institutions or domestic workers. This phenomenon is exhausting the State and its resources especially public services such as roads in general, and health facilities in particular, as they can no longer handle the pressure, while no fees and taxes are imposed on expatiates remittances. All these are part of the equation of our economic failures. Solving the lopsided population structure has become the national responsibility of politicians who took oath of office to serve in the interest of Kuwait. This does not require hate speeches against expatriates who live amongst us and contribute in moving our country forward. The draft bill amending Article 79 of the Kuwaiti Constitution to ensure that provisions of the law are in line with Sharia is an attempt to Islamize the constitution after failure of Islamic bloc to change Article 2 of Constitution with the intention of transforming Kuwait into a religious State, Saqer Al-Ghelani wrote for Al- Anba daily. They are only trying to capitalize on the emotions of citizens in the name of religion, although Sharia is a major source of legislation that guarantees the best possible form of legislation. It is glaring the bloc s intention is to bury people s liberty and change the system of government completely regardless the Kuwaiti society is multi-segmental in nature. Restricting all segments in the framework of stenographic Islamic Sharia will incite clashes among the segments and push us into sectarian chaos. What we need at this point in time is a system that allows for peaceful co-existence with equal rights and responsibilities. Compiled by Zaki Taleb

LOCAL 5 KFAS and ASHRAE officials after singing the MoU. A Kuwait Airways flight Rawd school delegation returning from New York after attending MUN program Private education sector has distinctive activities: Al-Huwaila KFAS signs MoU with ASHRAE Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Science (KFAS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ASHRAE (formally known as American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers), which is concerned with advancement of welfare of human beings through sustainable technology. In a press statement, Director General of KFAS Dr Adnan Shihab KAC plans daily flights to New York Kuwait Airways announced scheduling a daily fl ight to New York on the sidelines of launching its new Boeing 777-300ER aircrafts. The number of passengers fl ying to New York through Kuwait Airways has increased prominently last year, said the company in a statement on Saturday. The company s market share of fl ights to North America was recorded at 20 percent, it added. Meanwhile, it said the New York KUNA photo highlighted the importance of the MoU in encouraging researches by providing funding opportunities for joint researches from other sources, facilitating periodic meetings of the society and attending international conferences. The Director General of KFAS Dr Adnan Shihab, and the President of ASHRAE Dr. Bjarne Olesen had signed the MoU. KUNA photo fl ights will not include transits in Shannon Airport in Ireland, adding that the company aims to provide direct fl ights only. Kuwait Airways, the national airline of Kuwait, is one of the oldest aviation companies in the Gulf region. The company was named Kuwait National Airways upon establishment in 1953. The carrier was formed as a private company, but the Kuwaiti government acquired full interest by 100 percent in 1962. (KUNA) Bold to declare liberal credentials Hayat sees bright side of participation in last polls KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Iman Jawhar Hayat is a bold and powerful upcoming face in the local political arena as her participation in First Constituency in 2016 Parliament surprised everyone, especially since it is difficult to sail through the constituency, reports Al-Nahar daily. Nevertheless, Hayat defied all the odds and threw a big stone in political waters which had been monopolized by men for so long. Despite her loss in the elections, she affirmed that she has won in many other aspects such as connecting Hayat with the electorate and getting closer to look into details of election processes. Speaking to the daily about her political experience and chairing the first declared liberal movement the country, Hayat said a large number of people who believe in the liberal ideology do not admit that they do so. She was bold enough to disclose that she is a liberal and heads the first liberal movement here. She said she is not concerned about what others think of her as long as she strongly believes that liberalism is a solution to many problems. She pointed out, It is a way to break the shackles and an exit from problems. On the performance of the of the two authorities, political events and their reflections on continuous social crisis, she described the performance as unreal and the people have not seen any achievement so far. She said democracy in Kuwait in general has diminished and not enough as the Islamic Political Movement takes lion s share of the rights of civilians. She added this has prompted her and others to establish Kuwait Liberal Movement (KLM). KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Assistant Undersecretary for Private and Quality Education Affairs in the Ministry of Education Dr Abdulmohsen Al-Huwaila said the private education sector is a pillar and rival of its public counterpart, pointing out the former has distinct activities, reports Al-Seyassah daily. In a press statement on the sidelines of welcoming the delegation from Rawd Alsaleheen Bilingual School at Kuwait International Airport after participating in the Model United Nations (MUN) program for high school students in New York, Al-Huwaila affirmed he is proud of the participation of the delegation the sole delegation that represented the Arab world in the international event. Meanwhile, Head of the delegation and Deputy Director of Alsaleheen Bilingual School Hamad Al-Aliyan disclosed this is the third year in a row in MUN an extracurricular activity in which students imitate or role-play United Nations delegates and simulate UN committees. More than 1,500 students from different countries participated. They were distributed into various UN committees such as peacekeeping mission UNAMID and the likes wherein students were given special agendas by the actual mission so they took the role of ambassadors and discussed the agendas. Cut in expatriate teachers to target subjects with excessive employees KUWAIT CITY, March 4: The Ministry of Education will terminate 25 percent of expatriate teachers in subjects with excessive teaching staff in line with the Kuwaitization policy, reports Al-Anba daily quoting Undersecretary Dr Haitham Al-Athari. Al-Atahari explained that implementation of the policy was supposed to start last year but the ministry postponed it in order to have more time to study all aspects. He said the termination decision will take effect by the end of the current academic year. Exemptions He said there will be exemptions after the concerned parties are presented with letters enumerating the conditions, clarifying their services will not be terminated until the following year as the ministry wants to look into all aspects and take the right decision without doing injustice to anyone. He revealed the ministry has a four-year plan to terminate 25 percent of expatriate staff annually. Asked about the contract with Palestinian teachers, Al-Athari confirmed meeting the Palestinian ambassador, resulting in an agreement on the formation of a Kuwaiti delegation headed by Assistant Undersecretary for Public Education Affairs Fatima Al-Kandari to travel to Palestine where they will recruit teachers for two subjects only Mathematics and Physics. Meanwhile, a number of expatriate teachers who were notified that their contracts will be terminated by end of the academic year 2016/2017 have sent requests to Ministry of Education to be transferred to supporting specializations, especially since the ministry is in need of teaching staff for those specializations and is MoE to study expatriate teachers requests for transfer Kuwaiti-donated mosque inaugurated in Gaza The Palestinian Al-Falah Charity re-inaugurated, with contributions from an anonymous Kuwaiti donor, on Friday Omar Abdul Aziz Mosque in Al-Sudaniya in northern Gaza after it had undergone renovation. The mosque had been virtually demolished in Israeli attacks. Ramadan Tanboura, the head of the society, expressed in a statement deep gratitude to the seeking to sign contracts with new teachers from either inside or outside Kuwait, reports Aljarida daily quoting educational sources. They said the ministry will study those requests, indicating the possibility for the teachers to continue working in the ministry but under different specializations. Meanwhile, Undersecretary of Ministry of Education and Higher Education Dr Haitham Al-Atari said ending the services of the expatriate teachers is in favor of the work, revealing People pray at the rebuilt mosque with Kuwait s donation in Gaza. Kuwaiti donor who helped rebuild the war-destroyed mosque, noting the close ties between the Kuwaiti and Palestinian peoples. The Palestinian association, several months ago, opened another mosque, also with financial contributions by Kuwaiti donors, he revealed. He expressed deep gratitude to Kuwait, namely the leadership and the people, for the continuing KUNA photo support for the Palestinian people. Hassan Al-Saifi, Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs, affirmed that the mosque was re-constructed with money granted by a Kuwaiti citizen. Palestinians who performed the Friday prayers at the mosque expressed gratitude to the Kuwaiti donor and the society. (KUNA) that the teachers whose services will be ended this year are of specializations for which Kuwaiti teachers are available. He revealed that Ministry of Education will exclude from the decision expatriate teachers who are children of Kuwaiti mothers and husbands of Kuwaiti women. Al-Atari said teachers with children studying in grade 11 in Kuwaiti secondary schools will be given one more year in order for their children to complete their secondary stage in Kuwait. He stressed that the ministry s decision covers teachers of basic specializations and not the supporting specializations, teachers of specializations for which the supply is more than the demand and expatriate teachers who completed 34 years in service. In addition, sources said Ministry of Education is preparing lists of expatriate teachers whose contracts will be ended due to excessive numbers of the teachers for certain specializations as well as lists of Kuwaiti employees who completed 34 years in service. News in Brief 12th grade exams on May 14-25: The final examinations of the 2016/2017 school year for 12th grade students of science and arts majors will be held on May 14-25, as per the plan of Ministry of Education, reports Al-Rai daily quoting an informed source. He explained that this is an exceptional case that is happening for the first time in Kuwait as the holy month of Ramadan will start from May 27. All school plans have been prepared based on the academic calendar. All secondary schools will cancel its curricula and academic plans prior to the examination date. The source revealed that resit examination for secondary students will be held on June 10.

LOCAL 6 SPECIAL REPORT Dr Hasan Ashkanani at a 4,000-yr-old Dilmun site on Failaka Island. Picture courtesy of Dr Hasan Ashkanani archaeology/anthropology I m dedicating all my life to this field. I have a large list of goals but I can t accomplish them all by myself. Left: Dr Hasan Ashkanani in his Archaeology and Anthropology Museum and Laboratory at Kuwait University. Center: Dr Ashkanani shows the barnacles on the inside of a fragment of a large ancient urn found off the coast of Kuwait by a fi sherman and donated to the museum. Archaeological artifacts are cleaned, analysed, photographed, numbered and cataloged in the museum. (Photos by Claudia Farkas Al Rashoud) Right: Dr Hasan Ashkanani with the Head of the Danish Archaeological Mission. (Picture courtesy of Dr Hasan Ashkanani) Digging into Dilmun When Hasan Ashkanani arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on January 15, 2006, it took him seven hours to clear immigration because he didn t speak a word of English and couldn t make himself understood to the immigration officers. Three years later he had completed a one-year foundation course in English, a Master s degree in Anthropology from Wayne State University, Michigan, and had been accepted for PhD programs in Anthropology at University of Chicago, Wisconsin-Madison and several other top US institutions of learning. After earning his Doctor s degree in 2014 he began teaching Anthropology and Archaeology at Kuwait University where he is now an Assistant Professor. Energetic, enthusiastic, and pursuing excellence in scientific research and teaching, Dr Ashkanani went on to establish the first Archaeology and Anthropology Museum at Kuwait University which opened on November 23rd, 2016. It is the first museum of its kind at the collegiate level in Kuwait. The recipient of many honors and awards, he won the best electronic culture/history website in Kuwait (www. kuwaitheritage.com) for the 2015 Kuwait E-content Award under the patronage of H.H. the Amir of Kuwait. Sitting in his office in the College of Social Sciences at Kuwait University, Dr Ashkanani looked back on his challenging journey to become an academic, a researcher, and an archeometrist, the new breed of archaeologist who uses the latest scientific techniques to date archaeological specimens. Back in 2006 when he went to the US, he first had to By Claudia Farkas Al Rashoud Special to the Arab Times learn basic English and educate himself about what the study of archaeology and anthropology entailed. Those nine years in America were very difficult for me, he recalled. By the end of my first year studying English I had to pass the GRE exam, the TOEFEL exam with a score of at least 550, submit writing samples, and convince the university that I was up to doing work on a Master s level. I had no supervision, no direction or advising from Kuwait, I started off completely on my own. Now when students come to me wanting to study archaeology or anthropology, I can advise them on exactly how to go about it. Dr Ashkanani credits his advisor at Wayne State University, Dr Thomas Killion, with putting him on the path to Kuwaiti and Gulf archaeology and giving him the appropriate tasks to make sure he was up to the challenge. At first I wanted to study paleo-indian mounds, but Dr Killion said, No, you are Kuwaiti, you need to work on Kuwaiti archaeology. He told me to go home in summer 2007, collect all the information I could, and make a data-base. He told me to think about what period I would like to study and what questions I would like to raise. Although he was Chairman of the Anthropology Department, and a very busy and important man, he took the time to meet and encourage someone from Kuwait who was still studying English, and throughout my studies he was always accessible. After ten months he asked me to take three classes in English language plus one graduate level class, and he said if I could pass that class with a B+ he would accept me into the Master s program. That class turned out to be a particularly difficult Linguistic Anthropology class that required research papers of 18 to 25 pages each, many presentations, and a great deal of homework. At first the young Kuwaiti student was in despair and thought of giving up and going back home. But he applied himself and in the end, he got an A in the class. I know I had read many papers and books and did a great job in my exam but I did not expect this grade. Yes, I did it and my advisor was so surprised too. But then he said, You are welcome to the Department of Anthropology. For the next two years Dr Ashkanani immersed himself in his studies. I was so happy about all aspects of the program, although it was so difficult, but the faculty members were so helpful and flexible with me. They understand what it means to study abroad. They tried hard to link my homework with my region so that I could get the most out of my academic experience. In 2009 Dr Ashkanani earned his Master s degree. The next challenge was to find admission to a PhD program that would fit the five-year time limit specified by his Kuwait University scholarship. With my focus on Arabian Gulf archaeology, I submitted applications to many universities. After three months I received an acceptance letter from the University of Chicago which is ranked number one in archaeology in the United States. It was an unforgettable moment! Dr Ashkanani recalled. My advisor couldn t believe it so he called the program director who confirmed my acceptance and told him that Hasan was among only eight students accepted at Chicago. But acceptance to this prestigious program proved to be bittersweet. When the Kuwaiti PhD candidate attended the University of Chicago orientation he discovered that their PhD program was ten years long, much too long for the time his scholarship allowed him. He reluctantly declined the acceptance. Other acceptance letters from high-ranking universities followed, including one from Wisconsin-Madison, but with an eight-year PhD program it was also out of the question. Helpful advice was given to him by the administration of Harvard University. I was told that an anthropology professor who had graduated from Harvard was teaching at the University of South Florida. And they told me that the program there was excellent and would allow me to finish within my time limit. With many new and innovative archaeology courses, more than half a dozen state-of-the-art specialised archaeology labs, helpful and high-caliber faculty and an adviser (Prof. Robert Tykot) who always took time from his busy schedule to answer questions and offer advice, the University of South Florida offered all that the PhD candidate could ask for. The faculty members were so in touch with the students, they asked us to publish with them and to do many collaborative efforts. The courses covered all types of anthropology and all sub-fields of archaeology, Dr Ashkanani said. Of particular interest to him were the archeometry Continued on Page 7 Science

LOCAL 7 Digging into Picture Courtesy of Dr Hasan Ashkanani Continued from Page 6 classes and the subjects related to this specialisation which takes a multidisciplinary approach, applying the latest scientific techniques to answer archaeological questions. I didn t have a scientific background, not even in Arabic, but I had to study subjects like physics, geophysics, chemistry, and geochemistry at a PhD level. At first I was getting unexpected grades in my work, but then I managed to catch up and do well. Archeometry opened up a fascinating course of study to Dr Ashkanani, who subsequently was able to publish the first paper on this subject by anyone from Kuwait or the Arabian Gulf. His research interests, which he is still pursuing today, include studying artifact assemblages of the Bronze Age in the Arabian Gulf and adjacent regions using chemical and petrographic analysis; the nature of socio-political entities, social complexity, trade and exchange, and social archaeology; and the source of artifacts common to the Dilmun Period. Dilmun was an ancient civilisation in the Arabian Gulf that was contemporary with the Sumerians. It encompassed what is today Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the coastal regions of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and was an important trading center. He focused his PhD research on the role of the elite residents of Failaka Island in the Dilmun period around 2,000 BC and the exotic items they owned. Failaka was a key transit center for trade from the south Arabian Gulf to Mesopotamia, so sourcing the origins of the raw materials of artifacts found there provides evidence of the wideranging interaction between Bronze Age cultures in the Gulf and beyond. The Palace of the Governors, the only elite residential complex of the Dilmun period on Failaka, was particularly rich in imported objects for analysis. In order to be able to identify artifacts from places like the Indus Valley, Mesopotamia, and other regions of the Arabian Gulf, the Phd student had to be familiar with such items. Therefore he went back to the anthropology departments of the top universities that had originally ac- Dr Ashkanani at excavations in Algeria. cepted him into their PhD programs and asked if he could study their collections of relevant artifacts. Once again he was happily surprised with their helpfulness and support. These top universities not only gave me access to their collections, they also allowed me to borrow their artifacts and get them studied in my Florida lab for three to five years, Dr Ashkanani said. In 2014 Dr Hasan Ashkanani returned to Kuwait after having earned his PhD in anthropological archaeology and began teaching anthropology and archaeology at Kuwait University. Ambitious and eager to provide his students with the information, experience, and guidance that he had had to search for himself when he first began his studies, Dr Ashkanani paves the way for his students in many different ways. Last November his efforts culminated in the opening of the Archaeology and Anthropology Museum and Laboratory at Kuwait University under the auspices of KU President Husain Al Ansari. Dr Ashkanani is the museum s Director. The opening was attended by Sheikha Hussah Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah, Director General and Co-Founder of Dar al-athar al-islamiyya. Greatly impressed by Dr Ashkanani s efforts, she presented him on behalf of her husband, Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al Sabah, with priceless Phoenician jars, to be studied by him and his students. The museum contains more than 800 cultural archaeological pieces from more than 40 diverse cultures such as Arabian, Native American, and African. Working with 24 student volunteers it took Dr Ashkanani two years to establish the laboratory and the museum. It was a huge effort requiring specific administration including categorising, cleaning, numbering, writing descriptions, and constructing a data base, Dr Ashkanani said. All students have full access to the laboratory as does the public during the time of the university s semester. Student volunteers serve as staff for the museum and laboratory. The university laboratory collaborates with Kuwait National Museum, studying and researching local archaeological finds. The Bahraini government has loaned the lab more than 200 archaeological artifacts from Bahrain, including items from the earliest Dilmun period, the Barbar period (late or middle Dilmun), and the Kassite civilisation. The museum contains all of Dr Ashkanani s research papers, publications, books, and his private collections of books, papers, magazines, and journals, for the use of students and visitors to the museum. The latest addition is his recently-published book in English, Interregional Interaction And Dilmun Power In The Bronze Age, A Characterization Study Of Ceramics From Bronze Age Sites In Kuwait And Its Neighbors. He is proud to have collected every Arabic book on anthropology that is available, along with rare journals such as the first Arabic scientific journal on archaeology published in Iraq in the 1940s. Since Dr Ashkanani began his teaching career at Kuwait University in 2014 he has seen increasing numbers of students become interested in anthropology and archaeology. In his first year he had just 34 anthropology students but now he has passed a total of 120 students in anthropology as a minor. He hopes that within the next two years, anthropology will be available as both a Major in Bachelor of Arts and in Master s Degree programs. Even students with different majors are linking anthropology and archaeology with their studies, like media students making documentaries for example. I ve also found that more and more young people are doing interviews with their parents or older members of their families to find out about the traditional way of life and become more connected with their past, Dr Ashkanani observed. As for Dr Ashkanani, he would also like to become involved in filmmaking about Kuwaiti archaeology, promote archaeology and anthropology through social media, publish more books and papers, train more students, devise new courses, and develop archaeological tourism. I m dedicating all my life to this field. I have a large list of goals but I can t accomplish them all by myself, he disclosed. I need to form a team so that I can achieve as much as possible. Judging by what this young professor has accomplished so far, and against all odds, it looks as though the study of anthropology and archaeology in Kuwait has a very bright future indeed. Kuwait s humanitarian action rolls on unabated KUWAIT CITY, March 4, (KUNA): Kuwait carried on with its humanitarian efforts over the last week, extending further aid to the Syrian refugees in Jordan, the displaced in Yemen and Iraqi Kurdistan, and to Tanzania. The philanthropic initiatives of the International Humanitarian Center were praised by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi. In Jordan, Kuwait s Rahma (mercy) International charity an affiliate of the Social Reform Association (Eslah) marked its 300th aid convoy for the Syrian refugees. The aid convoy costing $170,000 took to $17 million the total value of the charity s relief effort over the last five years, which benefited 179,000 refugee families based in the Kingdom of Jordan. Following the ceremony, a recreational festival was held at Zaha Cultural Center in Amman where gifts and assistances were distributed to nearly 200 Syrian children orphaned by the ongoing conflict in their country. Also in Jordan, a group of Kuwaiti volunteers initiated an extensive training course to produce specialists who will offer psychotherapy to Syrian refugees in the Kingdom. Nasser Al-Bassam, who heads the team of volunteers affiliated with Kuwait s International Islamic Charity Organization (IICO), told KUNA that around 30 trainees have joined the program. A 10-volunteer Kuwaiti volunteer team, Al-Bassam pointed, had also doled out aid packages consisting of food, clothes and sums of money to Syrian refugee families. In Yemen, the Kuwait beside you campaign launched this week a project for helping the displaced and other afflicted people in the areas of conflict in Yemen s Dhale Governorate. Aid was offered to 950 families in the directorate of Maris and neighboring areas. The Kuwait beside you campaign has been operating in urgent relief aid in Yemen, providing food, UNHCR s Grandi praises initiatives KUNA photo Tanzania s Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan poses with Kuwait Ambassador Jassem Al Najem and a delegation from Kuwait Red Crescent Society headed by Anwar Al-Hasawi. water, education, shelter and health services. Meanwhile, Kuwaiti aid was delivered this week to a specialized cancer hospital in Tanzania, as part of support to the Eastern African country s medical sector. The aid aims to bring awareness to the suffering of cancer patients who are in need of treatments, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Tanzania Jassem Al-Najem said in a statement released by Kuwait Embassy. In addition, the Kuwait Embassy organized a blood donation campaign in cooperation with Tanzanian MPs, to face shortage of supplies in the blood banks. Also in Tanzania, the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) inaugurated 16 water wells in a number of schools in Dar-es-Salaam, in cooperation with the Kuwaiti-based Mabanee Company. The project is one of many others being implemented by KRCS in Africa to improve the humanitarian conditions amid the current drought in the Horn of Africa region In the Iraqi Kurdistan, Kuwait provided aid including 3,000 blankets and 1,500 oil heaters, to Iraqis displaced in Sulaimanya province, to alleviate the suffering of the affected people and provide them with urgent needs. In Palestine, Al-Falah Charity re-inaugurated, with contributions from an anonymous Kuwaiti donor, the Omar bin Abdulaziz Mosque in Al-Sudaniya in northern Gaza after renovation. The mosque had been virtually demolished by Israeli attacks. In Washington, the UNHCR Filippo Grandi said that the State of Kuwait is one of the major donors for the UN humanitarian efforts. Grandi thanked His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and the Kuwaiti government and people for their constant support to the UN aid agencies. He made the comments during a reception, hosted by Kuwait Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and his wife Sheikha Reema Al-Sabah, according to a statement by Kuwait Embassy. The UN official also commended Kuwait for hosting the three international humanitarian pledging conferences on Syria and co-hosting, with Britain, Germany and Norway, the fourth in London. Kuwait is also lobbying with the European Union for a fifth donor conference for the displaced Syrians, due in Brussels later this year, he noted.

LOCAL 8 Court Cases/Crime Mentally ill woman kills herself Jail, fine overturned, man acquitted in drugs case By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies KUWAIT CITY, March 4: The Court of Cassation presided over by the Judge Najib Al-Mulla overturned the verdict issued by a lower court which sentenced a Kuwaiti woman to 18-month imprisonment. The court instead acquitted her of charges of breach of trust. The defense counsel Lawyer Jarrah Al-Shuraika explained that the relation between the plaintiff, who is the owner of the company, and Al-Shuraika his client was of the commercial kind. A contract was signed by the two parties for payment of the price of rebar worth KD 35 in installments. He stressed that there were no criminal intent involved and his client received the rebar as per the contract. Jail, fine overturned: The Court of Appeals overturned the verdict issued by the Court of First Instance which sentenced a Bedoun man to jail term of three years and four months with hard labor followed by deportation, and imposed a fine of KD 2,000. The court instead acquitted him. According to the case files, the Bedoun man was accused of consuming drugs and illegal brain stimulants after he was arrested by police officers in Jahra Stables area. According to the arresting officer s testimony, he was following up a robbery report received by the Operations Room of Ministry of Interior when he came across the suspect, who along with some individuals, starting running away as soon as they saw the police. During the police chase, the officer cornered the suspect inside a horse stable and arrested him. Sensing his disoriented state, the officer checked him to find drugs and drug paraphernalia. However, the defense counsel Lawyer Esmat Al-Kharboutli insisted that the police arrested her client illegally because he had no legal grounds to stop him or search him, adding that he did everything without receiving permission from the Public Prosecution. Woman commits suicide: A 1979- born Indian woman who was suffering from a mental illness, committed suicide in the Psychiatric Medicine Hospital by hanging herself. According to sources, she was taken to the hospital by some officers and she was admitted in the hospital. However, nurses later found her hanging from the ceiling. The doctor rushed to the ward and examined her to discover she was dead. Necessary action was taken. Investigations revealed that she was suffering from a mental illness. Meanwhile, an Asian woman tried to commit suicide by consuming large quantity of pills inside her sponsor s house in Firdous area. She was referred to the nearest hospital where she has been admitted in the Intensive Care Unit in critical condition. Preliminary investigations revealed that she took such a step after she received a call from her country. Dead man in sea: The corpse of an unidentified Asian that was washed ashore by the waves on a beach off the Arabian Gulf Street, has been referred to forensics to identify the cause of death, reports Al-Anba daily. The victim is believed to be in his 40s. It is reported the death occurred about 24 hours ago and part of his body was eaten by fish. KUNA photo The magnificent three Camels captured in a cinematic pose. Kuwaiti gang busted Steal, dismantle, sell parts KUWAIT CITY, March 4: The Ahmadi police have arrested four Kuwaitis for stealing a car which was parked in front of a house, dismantling parts and selling them, reports Al-Rai daily. A security source said the arrest came after a number of citizens and residents filed complaints and said their cars which were parked in front of or near their homes had disappeared. Intensive investigations conducted by police led to the arrest of the members of the gang. When arrested, they were in possession of some of the parts which they had removed from the stolen cars. During interrogation they also admitted to setting Bonus for Guards: The National Guard has allocated KD 11 million to disburse as cash allowance to military officers, reports Al-Rai daily quoting an informed military source. He said the Undersecretary of the National Guard Lieutenant General Eng Hashim Al-Rifai sent a letter to the Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait, requesting the transfer of more than KD 11 million to a number of bank accounts from the account of the National Guard, explaining that the amount represent cash News in Brief Al-Rifai allowances to be sent to the military employees of the National Guard. In an unrelated incident, police are looking for an unidentified person for speaking ill of the State, reports Al-Anba daily. A security source said a Kuwaiti who is believed to be in his 40s told the Fahaheel police that when someone blocked his car inside the parking lot of a commercial complex in the area, he accused the motorist of hindering him. He then told the motorist what would he do if he called the police, he said damn the Ministry of Interior which naturalizes people like you. A report has been submitted to the State fire to some of the cars after removing the parts. They have been handed over to the concerned authorities. Samosa kills kid: A 6-month-old Egyptian toddler was rushed to the ICU of the Farwaniya Hospital after he choked on food fed to him by his mother, reports Al- Rai daily. According to reports the mother fed the toddler a piece of samosa, an Indian delicacy, and the victim choked to death. The Al-Shahed daily said the parents carried the infant to a polyclinic in the area, but the child died before arrival. Security police. Peeing in wash basin: Personnel from the Ahmadi Emergency team have arrested an unidentified expatriate for urinating in the basin, the same basin he uses to clean chicken inside a poultry shop inside the Al-Zahr Cooperative Society, reports Al-Anba daily. The suspect was arrested during a surprise inspection raid in the area by the personnel to ensure commitment to cleanliness and hygiene rules. The expatriate justified his act saying the toilet of the cooperative is far and he is not allowed to close the shop. A report has been submitted to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior to deport the expatriate. KD 5,000 stolen: An unknown individual stole KD 5,000 from a Kuwaiti citizen s vehicle in Maidan Hawally, says Al-Seya, says Al-Seyassah. According to the police report, the Kuwaiti citizen lodged a complaint at Maidan Hawally Police Station, informing securitymen that he found the side window of his car broken and a sum of KD 5,000, which he had hidden under the driver s seat, missing. A case was registered and officers from the Criminal Evidences Department have lifted fingerprints to identify the thief. Birds gathering on a beach in Kuwait Ghazi Ghafaf KUNA Man wanted in civil cases, murder bid held with liquor By Munaif Nayef Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies KUWAIT CITY, March 4: A traffic officer was forced to fire a gun into the air to disperse a gang, led by the son of a former MP, performing dangerous car stunts in Salwa. When the Operations Unit in the Interior Ministry received report about the incident, a police patrol was dispatched to the location. The gang escaped but the police patrol apprehended one of the members who was led into the police vehicle. However, the other gang members came back and surrounded the officer and his partner to help the arrested member escape. The officer had no option but to fire a gun into the air to disperse the gang and then called for backup. One of the car stunt performers was driving a vehicle without plate number and he made some insulting gestures towards the officers. Investigations revealed he is the son of a former MP. Procedures to arrest him are under way and a case of insulting an officer on duty was filed against him. Drugs seized: Customs officers at Kuwait airport foiled attempts by an Arab man and an Asian to smuggle a bag of marijuana and five bags of Shabu respectively to the country. The officers intensified search in the luggage brought into the country by the Arab suspect and discovered the well-concealed marijuana. It wasn t long before they caught the Asian suspect also with five bags of Shabu. The duo confessed ownership of the illicit items, which they intended to sell. The officers have since referred the suspects to concerned authority for prosecution. Wanted man held: A Kuwaiti citizen, who is wanted by law in four civil cases and a murder attempt, was arrested in Saad Al-Abdullah area in possession of liquor and drugs. According to security sources, Jahra securitymen were patrolling Saad Al-Abdullah area when they noticed a speeding vehicle. When they demanded the motorist to pull over, the latter refused. This forced the securitymen to chase him. Eventually, securitymen managed to force the suspect to stop and they checked his details to discover he is a Kuwaiti citizen who is wanted by law for four civil cases and one murder attempt case. They searched his vehicle to find a bottle of imported liquor Ex-MP s son in drifters gang insults police 150 abandoned cars lifted Inspector General of Department of Public Hygiene and Road Occupancy at Kuwait Municipality Jamal Al-Fadhli Al-Lahem revealed that the department lifted 150 neglected vehicles from the roadsides and squares of Kuwait City during a campaign, reports Al-Seyassah daily. In a press release, Al-Fadhli said the campaign was launched based on ministerial Decision No. 190/2008. He explained that the department prepared a plan and started and a sachet of methamphetamine. He was arrested and referred with the illicit items to the concerned authorities for necessary legal action. Meanwhile, securitymen arrested four individuals for consuming and possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia. In addition, Jahra securitymen arrested a Kuwaiti citizen and an Arab national for stealing camps. All arrested suspects were referred to the concerned authorities for necessary legal action. Fire ravages market: A huge fire raged through the central handicraft market in Jahra area, resulting in material losses but no casualties. According to the police report, when the Control Room of Kuwait Fire Service Directorate received information about the fire, firefighters from Jahra and Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh Fire Stations rushed to the location to discover the fire had consumed part of the roof and many shelves inside Some of the confiscated cars. the market. They managed to extinguish the fire within a short time before it spread further. Investigations have been launched to determine the cause of the fire. Meanwhile, fire broke out in a house in Taima, Jahra area. No casualties were reported but material losses were incurred. Firefighters extinguished the fire within a short time and launched investigations to determine its cause. Driving drugged : A Kuwaiti citizen was arrested in Fintas area for driving under narcotic influence and possessing drugs. According to security sources, Ahmadi securitymen were patrolling Fintas area at night when they suspected a Jeep and ordered the motorist to pull over. They checked his details and discovered he is a Kuwaiti citizen. Sensing his disoriented state, they checked him to find drugs and drug paraphernalia. MoI photo implementing it two weeks ago. So far, a total of 450 vehicles were removed and 50 citations against road occupancy violations were issued. In February 2017, a total of 700 neglected vehicles were lifted and 20 encroachments on the state properties were removed. Meanwhile, the Public Relations Department of Kuwait Municipality disclosed the January 2017 statistics related to the achievements of Ahmadi Municipality. According to the statistics, 1,186 advertisements were removed, 14 shops were closed down, 1,086 licenses were issued and a total of KD 81,378 of fines was collected. In addition, Director of Ahmadi Municipality Eng Fahd Al-Shetaili said in a press release that 416 licenses were issued by the Department of Special Service Licenses and Medical Licenses, and 199 advertisement licenses and 471 licenses were issued by the Department of Engineering Licenses. He was arrested and referred with the illicit items to the Drugs Control General Department for necessary legal action. Meanwhile, Mubarak Al-Kabeer securitymen arrested two Kuwaiti citizens for consuming alcohol and possessing a bottle of imported liquor. Catch me if you can : The Ahmadi police have arrested a Kuwaiti for consuming alcohol and helping a compatriot and his girlfriend to escape from police, reports Al-Rai daily. A security source said the Ahmadi patrolmen stopped a car with three people inside because the man behind the wheel was driving recklessly. At this point one of the two young men got out of the car carrying two bottles of whisky one in each hand and started walking. He told police catch me if you can. As the policemen ran after the man, the couple drove off and escaped from police. Real-estate firm swindles woman Sponsor offers maid cash to drop battery case By Munaif Nayef Al-Seyassah Staff KUWAIT CITY, March 4: An Asian housemaid sustained injuries when she was attacked by the daughter of her sponsor. According to security sources, the victim was taken to Amiri Hospital by her sponsor s son for treatment of the injuries she sustained when she was attacked by her sponsor s daughter. After obtaining a medical report, the son took the victim to Qadsiya Police Station where an assault case was filed against his sister. He also confirmed that his sister had attacked the housemaid. Steps were taken to refer the suspect to the Public Prosecution for further investigations. Meanwhile, in a similar, another case a Kuwaiti woman who is believed to be in her 50s is negotiating with her Filipino domestic helper to drop a case which the latter has filed against her in return for money, reports Al-Anba daily. It has been reported the Filipino filed a case against her female sponsor after she suffered a deep cut on her left arm and bruises on her body as a result of beating and submitted a medical report to substantiate her claim. It has also been reported it was the son of the lady sponsor who took the housemaid to the Amiri Hospital. Woman swindled: A Kuwaiti woman filed an embezzlement case against a real-estate company in Hawally area after it swindled KD 53,000 from her through bogus sale of two flats in the United Arab Emirates. According to security sources, the victim explained that she gave the company KD 53,000 for the purchase of two flats in the U.A.E. and she was also given the keys to the two flats. After the company management affirmed to her that they officially purchased the two flats for her, she traveled to the U.A.E and discovered that the company did not purchase the flats on her behalf. After she returned to Kuwait, she demanded explanation from the owner of the real-estate company but he told her that they have bills of the purchase. She then filed a case at Maidan Hawally Police Station against the company. 2 held with drugs: Two individuals a GCC national and a Bedoun were arrested in Jahra area in possession of methamphetamine, narcotic pills and large sums of money.

LOCAL 10 Kuwait 2016 Human Rights Report Report cites principal human rights problems 2016 parliamentary elections in Kuwait free, fair The following is the first part of the US State Department s Annual Human Rights Report 2016 on Kuwait. Editor Kuwait is a constitutional, hereditary State ruled by the Al-Sabah family. While there is also a democratically elected parliament, HH the Amir holds ultimate authority over most government decisions. The parliamentary elections held on November 26, 2016 were generally free and fair with several members of the opposition winning seats. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the security forces. Principal human rights problems included limitations on citizens ability to choose their government; restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly, especially among foreign workers and a stateless population referred to as bidoon ; and lack of enforcement of laws protecting labor rights within the foreign worker population, especially in the domestic and unskilled service sectors, resulting in higher risk of human trafficking. Other human rights problems included reports of limitations on freedom of religion; and restrictions on freedom of movement for certain groups, including foreign workers and bidoon. Kuwaiti and noncitizen women, as well as bidoon and other noncitizens, faced social and legal discrimination. Domestic violence against women remained widespread and unreported, as did violence against domestic workers, all of whom were noncitizens. There were frequent reports of arbitrary arrest and extrajudicial deportation of foreign workers. The government took steps in some cases to prosecute and punish officials who committed abuses, whether in the security services or elsewhere in the government. Impunity was sometimes a problem in corruption cases. Section 1 Respect for the integrity of the person, including freedom from: a. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. b. Disappearance There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances. c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment The law prohibited torture and ill treatment, although the UN s Committee Against Torture (CAT) during its third periodic review of Kuwait in July expressed concerns about: consistent reports of torture and ill-treatment in particular during prolonged detention of persons by police and security forces in cases relating to terrorism and peaceful protests by human rights defenders and members of minority groups. For example, according to Amnesty International, several defendants in the Imam Sadeq mosque bombing in June 2015 stated in court that they had been tortured or otherwise ill-treated in pretrial custody, including beatings, electric shocks and placement in stress positions. The UNCAT also cited allegations of insufficient investigation of torture allegations. Several persons claimed police or Kuwait State Security (KSS) force members beat them at police checkpoints or in detention. In March 2015 authorities arrested a human rights activist, Nawaf Al-Hendal, during a protest at Al-Erada Square in front of the National Assembly and charged him with slandering the rulers of a neighboring country and for participating in an illegal rally. Media reports stated police arrested and beat Al-Hendal and nine other demonstrators. Subsequently, the government imposed a travel ban on Al-Hendal. In March Al-Hendal stood trial and was acquitted, along with nine other demonstrators, and freed. The government stated it investigates complaints against police officers resulting in disciplinary action. Disciplinary actions included fines, detention, and some being removed from their positions or termination. Although the government did not make public all the findings of its investigations or all punishments it imposed, it stated it sentenced a police officer in May to two months detention for sending a noncitizen worker to the detention center without cause. The government, responding to a complaint filed by the worker s mother, investigated the complaint, took disciplinary action against the officer, and ensured the release of the worker form the deportation center. Although the government investigation does not lead to compensation for victims of abuse, the victim can utilize government reports and results of internal disciplinary actions to seek compensation via civil courts. Prison and Detention Center Conditions There were no significant reports regarding prison or detention center conditions that raised human rights concerns. Physical Conditions: The Central Prison Complex housed the country s three prisons: a men s prison for pretrial detention or those convicted of minor offenses, another men s prison for those convicted of more serious crimes, and a women s prison for those in pretrial detention, convicted, or awaiting deportation. There were approximately 5,400 inmates in the Central Prison. Cells in the male prison held four to 12 persons and cells in the female prison held four to six; inmates reportedly lived in moderately overcrowded conditions. There were reports of overcrowding at the women s prison. A nursery complex was provided for female inmates with children under two years of age. Officials stated the prison was not designed to facilitate prisoners with disabilities as, by law, any convict with a significant disability cannot be held in the central prison. There is a separate detention facility for juveniles up to 18 years of age. The juvenile detention facility contains classroom, vocational workshops, and private meeting rooms for visiting family members. As of September, the center housed 33 juveniles. The deportation center at Talha, the only one in the country, housed on average 700 persons. The overall detainee population was unknown, although observers reported some overcrowding at times and poor sanitation, mostly the consequence of the age of the facility. Noncitizen women pending deportation were kept at the Central Prison due to lack of segregated facilities at the deportation center. Administration: There were no serious problems in the administration of the prison and detention center system although ombudsmen were not available to respond to complaints on behalf of prisoners. Independent Monitoring: The Ministry of Interior permitted independent monitoring of prison conditions by some nongovernmental observers and international human rights groups and required written approval for visits by local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Authorities permitted staff from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to visit the prisons and detention centers. The government also allowed local NGOs to visit the prison upon approval from the Ministry of Interior. The Kuwait Society for Human Rights and the Kuwait Association for the Basic Evaluation of Human Rights were allowed to visit prisoners during the year. A government official stated that approximately 70 local and international NGOs visited prisons during the year. Improvements: In September the government opened a special family visiting facility within the prison complex to allow male and female inmates with good behavior records to spend up to 72 hours with visiting family members in a private setting. d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention. There were numerous reports, however, that police arbitrarily arrested individuals, principally as part of sustained action against persons in the country illegally. Role of the Police and Security Apparatus Police have sole responsibility for the enforcement of laws not related to national security, and the KSS oversees national security matters; both are under the purview of civilian authorities at the Ministry of Interior. The armed forces (land forces, air force, and navy) are responsible for external security and are subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. The Kuwait National Guard is a separate entity that is responsible for critical infrastructure protection, support for the Ministries of Interior and Defense, and for the maintenance of national readiness. The Kuwait Coast Guard falls under the Ministry of Interior. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over all security forces, and the government had effective mechanisms to investigate and punish abuse and corruption. Police were generally effective in carrying out core responsibilities. There were reports some police stations did not take seriously criminal complaints, especially those of foreigners, and by both citizen and noncitizen victims of rape and domestic violence. In cases of alleged police abuse, the district chief investigator is responsible for examining abuse allegations and refers cases to the courts for trial. According to the government, during the first five months of the year, individuals filed 655 complaints against the Ministry of Interior, mostly involving investigative law enforcement personnel. Complaints included contesting traffic violations, verbal and/or physical maltreatment, and unlawful detentions. Disciplinary action resulted from 201 of the complaints. Police responded only to the most serious cases of violence between family members, such as spousal and child abuse, and to emergency calls by domestic workers who reported abuse. Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees A police officer generally must obtain an arrest warrant from a state prosecutor or a judge before making an arrest, except in cases of hot pursuit or observing the commission of a crime. There were numerous reports of police arresting and detaining foreign nationals without a warrant, primarily as part of the government s action against unlawful residents. The courts usually do not accept cases without warrants issued prior to arrests. Authorities generally informed detainees promptly of the charges against them and allowed access to their lawyers and family members. In July the government amended the national detention laws. Police may hold a suspected criminal at a police station without charge for as long as four days for commission of a felony and up to 48 hours for a misdemeanor, during which time lawyers and family members may visit the defendant upon approval from authorities. During detention, authorities permitted lawyers to attend legal proceedings but did not allow direct contact with their clients. The law provides the detained person the right to a prompt judicial determination about the detention s legality. If authorities file charges, a prosecutor may remand a suspect to detention for an additional 10 days for a misdemeanor and 20 days for a felony. Prosecutors also may obtain court orders for up to six months detention pending trial by the judge in the case. There is a functioning bail system for defendants awaiting trial. The bar association provides lawyers for indigent defendants; in these cases, defendants do not have the option of choosing which lawyer is assigned to them. There were no reports of suspects being held incommunicado. The Ministry of Interior investigates misdemeanor charges and refers cases to the misdemeanor courts as appropriate. The undersecretary in the Ministry of Interior is responsible for approving all administrative deportation orders. Arbitrary Arrest: The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government observed these prohibitions for citizens. There were reports that police during raids arbitrarily detained non-nationals, including some who possessed valid residency permits and visas and who claimed to be bystanders. Pretrial Detention: Arbitrary lengthy detention before trial sometimes occurred. Authorities held some detainees beyond the maximum detention period of six months. Excessive detention in the deportation center, where there are no maximum time limits on detention prior to deportation, was also a problem, particularly when the detainee owed money to a citizen or was a citizen from a country without diplomatic representation in the country to facilitate exit documents. Detainee s Ability to Challenge Lawfulness of Detention before a Court: Detainees, and those convicted by a court, were able to challenge their detention. In August a prominent bidoon activist convicted of conducting an illegal protest and of assaulting police successfully challenged his detention, resulting in his release pending further adjudication of his case. e. Denial of Fair Public Trial The law and the constitution provide for an independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial independence if the judge. The Supreme Judicial Council nominates all prosecutors and judges and submits nominees to HH the Amir for approval. Judges who were citizens received lifetime appointments until they reached mandatory retirement age; judges who were noncitizens held one to three year renewable contracts. The Supreme Judicial Council may remove judges for cause. Noncitizen residents involved in legal disputes with citizens frequently alleged the courts showed bias in favor of citizens. While no legal provisions prohibit women from appointment as judges and public prosecutors, the only path to those positions is through work in the prosecutor s office. In August the Supreme Judicial Council ruled that women prosecutors would be eligible to serve as judges. Under the law questions of citizenship or residency status and various provisions of immigration law are not subject to judicial review, so noncitizens arrested, for example, for unlawful residency, or those whose lawful residency is canceled due to an arrest, have no access to the courts. The law subjects noncitizens charged with noncriminal offenses, including some residency and traffic violations, to administrative deportations that cannot be challenged in court; however, noncitizens charged in criminal cases face legal deportations, which can be challenged in court. Trial Procedures The constitution provides for the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair public trial and the judiciary generally enforced this right. The law forbids physical and psychological abuse of the accused. Under the law defendants also enjoy the right to be present at their trial, as well as the provision of prompt, detailed information on charges against them. Criminal trials are public unless a court decides maintenance of public order or the preservation of public morals necessitate closed proceedings. The bar association is obligated upon court request to appoint an attorney without charge for indigent defendants in civil, commercial, and criminal cases, and defendants used these services. Defendants have the right to adequate time and facilities to prepare a defense. Defendants and their attorneys generally had access to government-held evidence, but the general public did not have access to most court documents. The Ministry of Justice generally provides defendants with interpreters from the moment charged through all appeals. Defendants have the right to confront their accusers, to confront witnesses against them, and to present their own witnesses, although authorities did not always allow defendants this opportunity. Defendants cannot be compelled to testify or confess guilt. Defendants have the right to appeal verdicts to a higher court, and many persons exercised this right. Under the new domestic labor law, domestic workers are exempted from litigation fees. If foreign workers had no legal representation, the public prosecutor arranged for it on their behalf, but with little or no involvement by the workers or their families. When workers received third-party assistance to bring a case, the cases were often resolved when the employer paid a monetary settlement to avoid a trial. Political Prisoners and Detainees There were several instances of persons detained for their political views. Throughout the year the government arrested approximately two dozen individuals on charges such as insulting HH the Amir, insulting leaders of neighboring countries, or insulting the judiciary. Most of those arrested were citizens protesting the Saudi-led coalition s military action in Yemen or criticizing HH the Amir. Others were bidoons advocating for human rights or opposition political figures alleging government corruption. While authorities arrested and released some individuals after a few days, they held others for weeks or months pending trial. In April the government arrested Salem Al-Dousari Abu Refa a for allegedly issuing offensive statements against HH the Amir. Salem was provided access to legal services, and in November he was sentenced to five years in prison. The government provided limited access for political prisoners to international human rights or humanitarian organizations. Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies The law provides for an independent and impartial judiciary by individuals or organizations in civil matters regarding human rights violations, but authorities occasionally did not enforce rulings for various reasons, including the influence of involved parties or concern for possible political repercussion. Authorities also occasionally used administrative punishments in civil matters, such as instituting travel bans or deportations. Individuals were able to appeal adverse domestic court decisions to international human rights bodies if they chose to do so. f. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence The constitution and the law prohibit such actions, and there were no reports that the government failed to respect these prohibitions. Cybercrime agents within the Ministry of Interior regularly monitored publicly accessible social media sites and sought information about owners of accounts, although foreign-owned social media companies denied most requests for information. Following the bombing of the Imam Al-Sadeq mosque in June 2015, authorities required all citizens to transition to an electronic passport. Citizens were given one year in which to provide a DNA sample at one of the three processing centers. In July 2015 the government passed a DNA law requiring all persons entering the country, including citizens and noncitizens, to submit DNA samples for security purposes. Human Rights Watch criticized the law as a violation of privacy, expressed concern over potential misuse of personal information broadly to track individuals. The United Nations also expressed concern over the compulsory nature and sweeping scope of required DNA sampling, and the lack of safeguards and mechanisms for appeal before a court. In October HH the Amir ordered a review of the DNA law to ensure compliance with the constitution, and in November HH the Amir said that the DNA law would only apply to convicted felons. The law forbids marriage between Muslim women and non-muslim men and requires male citizens serving in police or the military to obtain government approval to marry non-nationals. Nevertheless, the government offered only nonbinding advice on such matters and generally did not prevent marriages between Muslims and non-muslims. According to an official, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prohibited the country s diplomats from marrying noncitizens without the diplomat being asked to resign. The government may deny a citizenship application by a bidoon resident based on security or criminal violations committed by the individual s family members. Additionally, if a person loses citizenship, all family members whose status derives from that person also lose their citizenship and all associated rights. Section 2 Respect for civil liberties, including: a. Freedom of Speech and Press The constitution provides for freedom of speech and press, although these rights were violated. The courts convicted approximately two dozen individuals for expressing their opinions, particularly on social media. The law also imposes penalties on persons who create or send immoral messages and gives unspecified authorities the power to suspend communication services to individuals on national security grounds. On September 22, the public prosecutor ordered the arrest and detention for 21 days, under state security charges, of the activist Sara Al-Drees for postings she made on social media protesting government actions that suppressed freedom of expression. She turned herself in on September 25, and on October 6, the Criminal Court released her on bail of 500 dinars ($1,650) pending trial. Freedom of Speech and Expression: The 2006 Press and Publications Law establishes topics that are off limits for publication and discussion, and builds on the precedent set by the Penalty Law 16/1960. Topics banned for publication include religion, in particular Islam; criticizing HH the Amir; insulting members of the judiciary or displaying disdain for the constitution; compromising classified information; insulting an individual or his/her religion; and publishing information that could lead to devaluing of the currency or creating false worries about the economy. The law mandates jail terms for anyone who defames religion, and any Muslim citizen or resident may file criminal charges against a person the complainant believes has defamed Islam. The government generally restricted freedom of speech in instances purportedly related to national security, which included criticism of the Amir. Any citizen may file charges against anyone the citizen believes defamed the ruling family or harmed public morals. In November, Human Rights Watch published a report highlighting laws that Gulf governments, including Kuwait, use to limit freedom of expression. The accompanying interactive website profiled 140 prominent Gulf-based social and political rights activists, including 44 from Kuwait, who have struggled against government attempts to silence them. The courts convicted approximately two dozen individuals for insulting the Amir, the judiciary, neighboring states, or religion on their social media sites. In April a criminal court found activist Sara Al-Drees innocent of contempt of religion charges after she was sued by a group of private citizens when she posted messages about her religious opinions on social media. In January 2015 charges were filed against MP Abdul Hamid Dashti after he criticized Saudi Arabia s involvement in the conflict in Yemen. Prosecutors released him on bail of 1,000 dinars ($3,300). In July, Dashti was sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison by the criminal court. Press and Media Freedoms: Independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views generally without restriction. All print media were privately owned, although their independence was limited. The government did not permit non-islamic religious publishing companies, although several churches published religious materials solely for their congregations use. The law allows for large fines and up to 10 years in prison for persons who use any means (including media) to subvert the Amiri system of government. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry may ban any media organization at the request of the Ministry of Information. Media organizations can challenge media bans in the administrative courts. Newspaper publishers must obtain an operating license from the Ministry of Information. In October the government banned media coverage of tribal caucuses in order to enforce the law from 1996 banning them. Broadcast media are a mix of government and privately owned stations, subject to the same laws as print media. Before the annual international book fair held in November, the Ministry of Information requires publishers to submit a list of books they might offer at the event. Censor officers at the Ministry of Information review books to determine if content is appropriate. If an officer determines that a book should be censored, the book is referred to a censor committee consisting of 9 to 10 members who determine the appropriateness of the book. The author can appeal the censor committee findings to an appeals committee comprising four to five members. If the appeals committee upholds the censoring, the author has final recourse to appeal the finding in the courts. Members of both committees are selected by the under secretary and assistant under secretaries on an annual basis and also includes members of the academic community and members of the writers guild. In November the government added more than 100 books to a list of banned books, including the book Smile due to its depiction of gender integration. Most of the books on the banned list revolved around religion, politics, and public morality. Throughout the year publishers reportedly received pressure from the Ministry of Information, resulting in the publishers often restricting which books are made available in the country. According to the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs reviewed books religious in nature. The government did not impose additional restrictions on online newspapers or journals. Censorship or Content Restrictions: The Ministry of Information censored all imported books, commercial films, periodicals, videotapes, CDs, DVDs, and other materials deemed illegal per the guidelines enumerated for speech and media. Media outlets exhibited a range of opinions on topics relating to social problems, but most self-censored, avoiding critical discussion on topics like the Amir, foreign policy, and religion, to avoid criminal charges or fines or to keep their licenses. Discussions of certain social topics, such as the role of women in society and sex were also self-censored. Authorities censored most English-language educational materials that mentioned the Holocaust and required education material either to refer to Israel as Occupied Palestine or to remove such references, although authorities did not censor these topics in news media. Widely available satellite dishes and virtual private networks allowed unfiltered media access. National Security: The law forbids publication or transmission of any information deemed subversive to the constitutional system on national security grounds. The government prosecuted online bloggers and social media outlets under the new cybercrime law, the Printing and Publishing Law, and the National Security Law. Internet Freedom In July 2015 the government passed a cybercrime law that criminalizes online activity to include illegal access to IT systems; unauthorized access to confidential information; blackmail; use of the internet for terrorist activity; money laundering; and utilizing the internet for human trafficking. The law was implemented in January with the publishing of the law in the National Gazette. Fines ranged from 3,000 dinars ($9,900) and a three-year prison term for online blackmail to 50,000 dinars ($165,000) and a 10-year prison sentence for money laundering. The government monitored internet communications, such as blogs and discussion groups, for defamation and generalized security reasons. The Ministry of Communications continued to block websites considered to incite terrorism and instability and required internet service providers to block websites that violate (the country s) customs and traditions. The government prosecuted and punished individuals for the expression of political or religious views via the internet, including by e-mail and social media, based on existing laws related to libel, national unity, and national security. The government prosecuted some online bloggers under the 2006 Printing and Publishing Law and the National Security Law. In July the government implemented the Electronic Media Law that establishes regulations and oversight for online commercial and private internet websites and activities. The law requires individuals to procure a license to establish internet sites and businesses and identifies the Ministry of Information as the regulatory body. The law states an individual must be at least 21 years old to apply for a license. As of September the government had issued 148 licenses with 126 applications pending. The government filtered the internet to block pornography primarily, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) material, some secular sites, and sites critical of Islam. The country had a high internet penetration rate due in large part to pervasive ownership of smart phones. The World Bank reported an internet penetration rate of 82 percent. Academic Freedom and Cultural Events The law provides for the freedoms of opinion and research, but self-censorship limited academic freedom, and the law prohibits academics from criticizing HH the Amir or Islam. The Ministry of Interior reserved the right to approve or reject public events and those it considered politically or morally inappropriate. b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association Freedom of Assembly The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, but the government restricted this right in the case of noncitizens. The law prohibiting them from demonstrating or protesting. Officials sometimes also restricted the location of planned protests to designated public spaces, citing public safety and traffic concerns. Courts tried and sentenced participants in unlicensed demonstrations to as many as two years in prison for their involvement, and authorities also administratively deported dozens of noncitizens for participation in rallies. Freedom of Association The constitution provides for freedom of association, but the government restricted this right. The law prohibits officially registered groups from engaging in political activities. The government used its power to register associations as a means of political influence. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor can also reject an NGO s application if it deems the NGO does not provide a public service. There were approximately 120 officially licensed NGOs in the country, including a bar association, other professional groups, and scientific bodies. Dozens of unlicensed civic groups, clubs, and unofficial NGOs had no legal status, and many of those chose not to register due to bureaucratic inconvenience or inability to meet the minimum 50-member threshold. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor rejected some license requests, contending established NGOs already provided services similar to those the petitioners proposed. Members of licensed NGOs must obtain permission from the ministry to attend international conferences as official representatives of their organization. c. Freedom of Religion See the Department of State s International Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/religiousfreedomreport/. d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of Refugees, and Stateless Persons The constitution generally provides for freedom of internal movement, but numerous laws constrain foreign travel. The government generally cooperated with UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, or other individuals of concern. To be continued tomorrow

INTERNATIONAL 11 World News Roundup India s Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (left), and US Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson shake hands before a meeting at the US Department of State on March 3 in Washington, DC. (AFP) HealthCare Rockier problems loom 1st House health care votes near WASHINGTON, March 4, (AP): After seven years of saber-rattling, Republicans seem set to start muscling legislation through Congress reshaping the country s healthcare system. Don t confuse that with GOP unity or assume that success is guaranteed. Unresolved disputes over taxes and Medicaid rage and conservatives complaining that Republican proposals don t go far enough could undermine the effort, or at least make GOP leaders lives difficult. Two House committees Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means plan to begin voting Wednesday on their portions of the legislation, barring late problems. Leaders want to push the package through the House this month and hope the Senate can consider it by Congress early April recess. It s an ambitious calendar for what could be the year s most momentous congressional battle. Repealing President Barack Obama s 2010 healthcare overhaul has long been the GOP holy grail. It helped elect President Donald Trump and has driven the Republican agenda in Congress, given GOP office-seekers a rationale for their candidacies and fueled countless fundraising Obama appeals. Yet Republicans have never rallied behind an alternative and spent years settling for dozens of bills scuttling the law that went nowhere. Now, with a GOP president and party control of the House and Senate, voters expect Republicans to deliver and party leaders are banking on it. If you re a Republican who votes against Obamacare repeal, you re going to have a lot of explaining to do to your constituents, said Doug Badger, a GOP healthcare adviser. There are few hard-line conservatives on the two committees poised to vote this week, so the panels will likely approve the legislation over unified Democratic opposition. Rockier problems loom in the full House and Senate. If 22 House Republicans or three Senate Republicans join united Democrats and oppose health legislation, it would fail. Legislation Highlighting an unabated push to influence the legislation, some GOP governors asked lawmakers last weekend to let states choose to continue receiving unlimited federal money to treat all who qualify for Medicaid, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Currently, the GOP bill would instead give states set amounts for each Medicaid recipient a pathway to gradually cutting the federal-state health program for the poor. It seems counterintuitive that Congress conservatives would derail such a major, early priority for Trump and GOP congressional leaders. But they have the numbers and anti-establishment temperament to do just that. Many in the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, which claims around 40 members, oppose the GOP bill s proposal for tax credits to help pay medical expenses for people not covered at work or through the government. They object that the credit, geared to age not income, would even go to people who owe no taxes. They also oppose a proposal by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis, to tax part of the value of expensive employer-provided coverage. That s an abomination for many Republicans, aware that about half of Americans get health insurance at work. A new plan that actually taxes the very workers that voted for Donald Trump and voted for many of our members is not moving in the right direction, said Rep Mark Meadows, R-NC, who chairs the caucus and says the bill lacks the votes to pass. US President Donald Trump makes his way to board Marine One with grandchildren Arabella Kushner (left), and Joseph Kushner, from the White House in Washington, DC, on March 3. Trump is heading to Orlando, Florida to visit a Catholic school and then on to Palm Beach, Florida. (AFP) America Trump lawyers get extension: A federal judge in Seattle on Friday granted a two-week extension to the Justice Department in a lawsuit alleging that US President Donald Trump s immigration order is blocking efforts by legal residents to reunite with their children who are trapped in war-torn countries. US District Judge James Robart, who halted enforcement of Trump s immigration order nationwide in February in a separate case brought by the states of Washington and Minnesota, said in his order that the federal government could have more time before responding to plaintiff s efforts to have the case certified as a classaction lawsuit. The Justice Department argued that Trump intends to rescind the order and replace it with a new, substantially revised executive order that may influence the shape of the legal issues... in ways relevant to the class certification question. After being repeatedly postponed, a White House official said Thursday a replacement order now won t be unveiled until next week at the earliest. Robart also said he understood the frustrations of the parents and Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, who filed the lawsuit, over Trump administration statements that seemingly contradict those made by federal government lawyers. The court understands Plaintiffs frustrations concerning statements emanating from President Trump s administration that seemingly contradict representations of the federal government s lawyers in this and other litigation before the court, the order said. Nevertheless, Robart said, the court will continue to rely on statements coming from the federal attorneys. The lawsuit filed in Seattle s US District Court in late January claims Trump s order barring people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the US is unconstitutional. It asked for a judge to intervene and stop the application of the part of the order that suspends visas to citizens of those seven countries. (AP) Ban hurting tourism : The US Travel Association on Thursday said the Trump administration s immigration policies are hurting tourism. The nonprofit industry organization said in a statement that there are mounting signs of a broad chilling effect on demand for international travel to the United States. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters disputed the contention, saying: It takes several months for each month s international arrival statistics to be pro- Imigration Current political climate raises red flags Arab-Americans think twice about visibility WASHINGTON, March 4, (AFP): Arab-Americans have long sought to be recognized as a distinct ethnic group by the US census. But with President Donald Trump in the White House, many are now not so sure it s a good idea. The current political climate complicates the issues and raises red flags, said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Ironically, the second thoughts come just as they are on the cusp of winning a two-decade-old battle for inclusion in the census as a distinct ethnic group. On Tuesday, the US Census Bureau, for the first time in half a century, recommended the introduction of a new category called MENA, short for Middle East and North Africa. That s important to Arab-Americans because political empowerment and funding for programs can flow to their communities as a result of visibility in the census. There s no question that there s been a dramatic undercounting of our community which has resulted in a political under representation and a lack of funding for specifically targeted programs, said Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute. Citizens But it comes at a time of uncertainty and gnawing worry for US citizens of Middle Eastern origin. Since his inauguration, Trump has sown panic in various US immigrant communities with his short-lived temporary travel ban targeting refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries. A federal court has blocked the measure, but the Trump administration is expected to introduce a modified version of it that can overcome court challenges. Although he has since backtracked, during the campaign Trump advocated the creation of a Muslim registry -- something some fear could be more easily achieved with the MENA census classification. We should not be in a position where we re hiding our national origin or ethnic background, Jamal Abdi, policy director of the National Iranian American Council said. cessed and released to the public. To claim the executive order has had an impact on travel would be premature. But the US Travel Association s statement added to a growing chorus of concern from the travel industry over the impact of Trump administration policies on tourism. Earlier this week, the tourism agency NYC & Company revised its 2017 forecast to predict a drop in inbound international travel to New York City, with 300,000 fewer visitors compared to 2016. It would be the first drop in visitation to New York since the start of the recession in 2008. The Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau told the Philadelphia Inquirer this week that it had lost out on an international meeting with 3,000 attendees that decided to go to Canada or Mexico instead. And ForwardKeys, which tracks travel bookings, reported in February that international trends in bookings to the US Agents in aggressive sweep for unauthorized migrants NEW YORK, March 4, (AFP): US immigration agents increasingly are detaining unauthorized migrants in or near places once considered safe like courthouses and churches, spreading panic among migrants and outrage among activists. Since taking offi ce on an America First agenda, President Donald Trump has made immigration a policy cornerstone, granting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents broad authority to detain and deport unauthorized migrants. The massive deportations feared under Trump have not materialized in fact, deportation numbers are similar to those under former president Barack Obama. However, ICE agents are now targeting places that used to be respected as sanctuaries of sorts, and have dropped guidelines urging a focus only on serious criminals. The result: all undocumented migrants can be equally targeted. One recent high-profi le detention was of Dreamer Daniela Vargas, 22, who was born in Argentina and came to the United States as a child. When ICE agents came to her home to arrest her father and brother, both undocumented migrants, Vargas escaped by hiding in a closet. The agents however got a second chance on Wednesday after Vargas are down 6.5 percent compared with the equivalent period the year before. It s known as the Trump Slump, travel guru Arthur Frommer wrote last month on Frommers.com. He called it an unintended consequence of the Trump-led efforts to stop many Muslims from coming to the US, resulting in a sharp drop in foreign tourism to our nation that imperils jobs and Walters Robart spoke out against deportations at a press conference in Jackson, in the southern state of Mississippi. Disturbing that ICE may have followed her from an immigration news conference, wrote Democratic Senator Ricard Durbin on Twitter, commenting on Vargas quick arrest. Vargas had been living in the United States protected by a 2012 decree signed by Obama known as DACA. The decree authorizes people who were brought into the country as children, and grew up as Americans, to remain and work in the United States. Some 750,000 young people, known as Dreamers, signed up for the program. Vargas, however, let her Dreamer status expire, and was working to save money to pay the renewal fee when ICE agents swooped in and detained her. According to Vargas s attorneys, ICE agents plan to deport her without a hearing with an immigration judge. ICE has no shame, said Yatziri Tovar, another Dreamer who works for the pro-immigrant NGO Make the Road New York. This rogue agency has now detained another Dreamer... apparently, for exercising her First Amendment rights, she said, a reference to the right under the US Constitution to freedom of expression. But we re in a situation where we fear that our own government will use this against us. Such fears have precedent in the United States. In 2004, three years after the September 11 attacks, controversy broke out when the Census Bureau provided authorities with information on the locations of Americans who had declared their Middle-Eastern heritage on the 2000 census. It created a huge uproar in the Arab- Muslim community because they felt that the Homeland (Security) Department was going to use this for surveillance, which was probably what they had in mind, said Matthew Snipp, a professor at Stanford University s sociology department. During World War II, the Census Bureau was accused of helping to identify Japanese Americans for confinement in US internment camps. There s a legitimate concern about how data about communities could be misused under this administration, said Berry. She still supports the group s inclusion on the census, but others are more skeptical. We would need renewed ironclad legal assurances from the administration that this information is not going to be abused, said Abdi. And for many people, he added, such assurances would still fall on deaf ears. touristic income. US Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said there s concern that many international travelers have interpreted Trump s policies as wanting to discourage international visitors generally, not just those who pose a security risk. Trump s initial ban on travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen was suspended following a court order, but a revised executive order on visas and immigration is expected soon. The US Travel Association urged the administration to make clear in any revised order that the US welcomes and values legitimate international business and leisure travelers. Tourism is an enormous sector of the US economy, generating $2.1 trillion in economic output and supporting 15.1 million jobs, with international visitors a key component, according to data from the US Travel Association. (AP)

INTERNATIONAL 12 World News Roundup Britain 4 nations, one heart May UK PM May bashes Scottish nationalists GLASGOW, March 4, (Agencies): British Prime Minister Theresa May passionately defended the United Kingdom on Friday as speculation grew that Scottish nationalists could use the start of Brexit talks to demand a second independence referendum. In a speech to party activists in Glasgow, the Conservative Party leader said that keeping England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland together was her personal priority and there was no economic case for breaking up the UK. May also laid into the Scottish National Party (SNP), which has run the devolved government in Edinburgh for the past decade, saying its obsession with independence and tunnel vision nationalism had caused it to neglect voters priorities. The UK s vote last year to leave the European Union has strained unity, with a majority in Scotland wanting Britain to remain in the bloc. However, across the whole UK, 52 percent voted to leave. There is growing speculation that Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon could use the start of Brexit negotiations later this month as the premise to launch a new bid for independence. May promised Friday that when Britain leaves the EU, some of the powers returned from Brussels to London would then be handed on to Edinburgh. And she vowed to speak for the whole kingdom in her negotiations, saying: We are four nations, but at heart we are one people. May s office has repeatedly said there should not be a second referendum, after Scots voted in September 2014 to stay in the UK, by a margin of 55 to 45 percent. Vote The British government could reject a request from Scotland for a second vote, but this would only increase tensions with Edinburgh. Ruth Davidson, the Conservatives leader in Scotland, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper there was every chance the SNP would lose by a bigger margin than in 2014. But Sturgeon says Brexit is a game-changer, particularly after May said she would take Britain out of Europe s single market. Meanwhile, if Britain leaves the European Union without agreeing an exit deal it will not be legally obliged to contribute to the bloc s budget post-brexit, a committee of members of Britain s upper house of parliament said on Saturday. Money is likely to be one of the most contentious elements of the upcoming divorce talks. Other EU nations want Britain to pay its share of budget commitments estimated informally by EU officials at roughly 60 billion euros. May has said only that the government would consider paying into the EU to participate in some specific European programmes. Under Article 50 of the EU s Lisbon Treaty, Britain has two years to agree a deal with the EU after which time it will leave without one unless all member states agree to extend negotiations. If agreement is not reached, all EU law including provisions concerning ongoing financial contributions and machinery for adjudication will cease to apply and the UK would be subject to no enforceable obligation to make any financial contribution at all, the House of Lords EU Financial Affairs committee said in a report. The report also concludes that, in return, Britain will not be in a position legally to claim a share of the EU s assets on exit unless they are included in a withdrawal agreement. Formula Negotiating what Britain owes is one of the EU s priorities for this year, with EU officials saying the bloc wants to agree with Britain a formula for calculating the amount rather than defining a concrete sum in advance. Britain will have to weigh up the financial and political costs of making payments to the EU in return for agreement on things such as EU market access, the committee said. In related news, Brendon O Donnell voted to leave the European Union because he felt British money should go to struggling communities or local hospitals rather than Brussels, and his voice was not being heard. Now it will be heard in theatres across Britain along with the voices of dozens of other people from different corners of the country, in the first play to tackle Brexit. My Country; a work in progress, opens at London s National Theatre this week before touring nationwide. It weaves verbatim quotes from members of the public with speeches from politicians, all spoken by actors. The play also includes new material by Carol Ann Duffy, who as Britain s official poet laureate since 2009 has chronicled important national events in verse. The project started in the heated days after the EU referendum last June, when the theatre sent out a team of gatherers to record the views and stories of Britons from different walks of life and from both sides of the debate. One of the places targeted was Gloucester, an ancient cathedral city in southwestern England with high levels of poverty and discontent. In the referendum, 58.5 percent of voters there opted for Brexit, compared with 51.9 percent nationally. Among them was O Donnell, a former butcher and care worker in his early 40s who now relies on state benefits because of a debilitating illness. He told his story for the Brexit play. His frustrations ranged from cuts in public services, which he said were making life harder for people like him, to his view that it was too easy for immigrants to move to Britain and claim benefits. O Donnell also vented his anger with politicians he thinks were out of touch. You do feel like you were ignored for a long time. It was never what do the people want? first, he told Reuters at a community centre in the social housing estate of Matson on the outskirts of Gloucester. We all moan about it to each other but no one wants to accept that and take it any further, so it kind of falls on deaf ears, said O Donnell, who runs activities for children and young people at the centre. Protesters carry placards during a march against private companies involvement in the National Health Service (NHS) and social care services provision and against cuts to NHS funding in central London on March 4. People gathered to demonstrate at the rally publicised by the People s Assembly Against Austerity to demand a fully and publicly funded NHS and social care service, returned fully to public ownership and provision and to say no to cuts in NHS funding. (AFP) Sinn Fein s Michelle O Neill and party leader Gerry Adams arrive at the count centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, March 3. Michelle O Neill was elected for Mid Ulster, Irish Nationalists continue to boost their vote in an early election that could shape the fate of the Catholic-Protestant cooperation in Northern Ireland. (AP) Queen Britain Kate Queen marks St David s day: Britain s Queen Elizabeth handed out leeks on Friday to Welsh soldiers at Lucknow Barracks in the southwest English county of Wiltshire to mark St David s Day, which fell on Wednesday. The 90-year-old monarch addressed the soldiers of The Royal Welsh, a lead infantry regiment of the British Army, and inspected their parade, which included a regimental goat, before handing out the vegetables and a traditional Welsh badge. According to legend, Saint David, the patron saint of Wales whose feast day is celebrated on March 1, advised Welsh soldiers to identify themselves by wearing leeks in a battle fought against the Saxons in a leek field. Queen Elizabeth is Colonel-in- Chief of The Royal Welsh, who were formed on St David s Day in 2006 following the restructuring of former regiments, the Royal Welch Fusiliers and the Royal Regiment of Wales. (RTRS) Royals announce trip: Britain s Prince William and his wife Kate are due to make an official visit to Germany and Poland in July, Kensington Palace announced Friday. The visit, at the request of the Foreign Office, comes a few months after Britain is due to start the formal process for leaving the European Union. Britain is set to trigger two years of divorce talks with the EU by the end of this month. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are stepping up their royal duties on behalf of William s grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, who turns 91 in April. The couple are already due to visit Paris later this month. (AFP) Johnson to visit Russia: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is to travel to Russia in the coming weeks for high-level political talks, his office said Politics Day drawing closer for an all-ireland referendum Sinn Fein surge creates new landscape DUBLIN, March 4, (Agencies): Northern Ireland s snap election has left the rival extremes of politics virtually neck and neck for the first time and facing a bruising battle to put their Catholic- Protestant government back together again in an increasingly polarized landscape. The big winner from Saturday s final results to fill the Northern Ireland Assembly is the Irish nationalist party that triggered the vote, Sinn Fein. Already the major voice for the Catholic side, Sinn Fein reduced its previous 10-seat gap with its erstwhile Protestant colleagues in government to a single seat in a 90-member chamber. Sinn Fein came within 1,168 votes province-wide of becoming the most popular party for the first time in a corner of the United Kingdom that its leaders long sought to make ungovernable through Irish Republican Army carnage. The party s new leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O Neill, called the outcome a great day for equality. In another first, the leading British Protestant party, the Democratic Unionists, won t have enough votes to block legislation on its own, a power long employed to block gay rights legislation backed by all other parties. Never before has the Protestant side s status as the in-built majority in Northern Ireland felt so precarious. The outcome from Thursday s election, forced by a surprise Sinn Fein withdrawal that collapsed the previous unity government, caught other parties off guard. The Democratic Unionists finished with 28 seats, Sinn Fein 27. The political affiliations of smaller parties meant the new assembly will have 40 unionists committed to keeping Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom versus 39 nationalists seeking to merge the once Protestantdominated north into the Republic of Ireland. The whole point of power-sharing the central goal of Northern Ireland s 1998 peace accord is to promote compromise between two evenly balanced blocs. But analysts and politicians from all factions agreed Saturday that they cannot see any quick revival of cooperation between two parties that, against the odds of history, had governed Northern Ireland in surprising stability until their partnership unraveled spectacularly over the past year. Result Sinn Fein leaders said Saturday s result meant the day was drawing closer for an all-ireland referendum on uniting the island politically outside the UK, an issue given greater importance because of Britain s determination to withdraw from the European Union. Northern Ireland is heavily dependent on EU aid, a majority of its voters rejected Brexit in last year s UK-wide referendum, and only the Democratic Unionists supported the move. The immediate question facing all sides is whether the new assembly, when it meets for the first time Monday, will have a life beyond a few weeks of uncompromising, fruitless negotiations. Sinn Fein is demanding that the Democratic Unionists leader, Arlene Foster, step aside as a first condition on forging any new alliance. Publicly, Democratic Unionist lawmakers say they won t let Sinn Fein dictate who their own leader should be. Privately, many hope Foster a combative speaker known for mocking opponents rather than building bridges will resign voluntarily after barely a year on top. She stumbled trying to defend her oversight role in a wasteful green energy scheme that funneled tens of millions in Saturday. It will be the first time a British minister has been to Moscow for an official visit in more than five years and could signal a potential thaw in Anglo-Russian relations after years of antagonism. A Foreign Office spokeswoman stressed that the visit was not a return to business as usual, saying Britain s approach to Russia was engage, but beware. Relations with Russia soured after Britain sought to prosecute suspects Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Leader Arlene Foster (center), celebrates as she is elected to the Northern Irish Assembly at the count centre in Omagh, Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, on March 3. Northern Ireland has voted in snap elections to resolve a political crisis fuelled by bad blood and Brexit, which is testing the delicate peace in the British province. (AFP) subsidy payments to chicken farmers, including relatives of party figures. People knew we were in a difficult place and sought to kick us when we were down, but we were tough enough to come through it, said DUP lawmaker Edwin Poots. We will lead for Northern Ireland and we will not let our case go by default. Sinn Fein can be absolutely assured that there will be no caving in to them. If the two sides cannot quickly come together, Britain would be obliged to step in and resume governing the territory from London. That system, known as direct rule, supposedly ended for good when Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists struck a stunning power-sharing pact between lifelong enemies in 2007. Prime Minister Theresa May s government has made clear it doesn t want Northern Ireland back on its plate full time while it focused on plans to leave the EU. Support The moderate forces that led Northern Ireland s first powersharing government from 1999 to 2002, the Ulster Unionists and the Catholic-backed Social Democratic and Labour Party, won 10 and 12 seats respectively. The only traditional party seeking support equally from both sides of the divide, Alliance, won eight. Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt announced his resignation Friday night. He said the failure of more reasonable middleground politicians to achieve any breakthrough demonstrated that this society is now more polarized than ever. Someday, Northern Ireland will vote as a normal democracy. We will vote in a post-sectarian election, Nesbitt said. But it is now clear that it will not happen during the duration of my political life. Let us now move forward with hope, hope that civility can return to our politics, outgoing first minister Foster told supporters after her re-election on Friday. There is work to be done to quickly mend the relationship which has been frayed by the discord of this election. Foster s conciliatory tone after her party s disappointing result was in stark contrast from an acrimonious campaign where, despite pleas from Dublin and London to avoid a further souring of relations, the two parties rallied their sectarian bases. Sinn Fein s leader Michelle O Neill told journalists it was an amazing day as her party benefited from a jump in turnout to 65 percent, the highest since the first elections immediately after the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. The two largest parties will have three weeks to form a new power-sharing government to avoid devolved power returning to the British parliament at Westminster for the first time in a decade. But with relations at their lowest point in a decade, Sinn Fein insists among its demands for re-entering government that Foster must step aside while months of investigations begin into a botched green energy scheme she established. The former political wing of the Irish Republican Army, who accused the DUP of not treating it as equals before collapsing the previous administration in January, will be further buoyed by their strong showing. The prospect of a devolved government being formed, which was already slim anyway, is very remote. I just don t see it happening, said Jon Tonge, professor of politics at Liverpool University. in the killing of Kremlin critic and former spy Alexander Litvinenko, murdered by radiation poisoning in London in 2006. (AFP) German bomb found: A British Army bomb disposal team Britain s MI6 to tap up new spies LONDON, March 4, (RTRS): Britain s MI6 spy agency will go back to its old, informal tap on the shoulder method of hiring new agents in a bid to find more black and Asian recruits. Alex Younger, head of the Secret Intelligence Service as MI6 is officially known, told the Guardian newspaper he wanted the agency to reach communities who were selecting themselves out. We have to go out and ask these people to join us, said Younger, who rarely makes public comments, in the interview published on Thursday. has been called in to dispose of a 500-pound World War II bomb found buried on a building site in northwest London. Schools, businesses and homes were evacuated and roads closed as experts from the Army s Royal Engineers worked from early Friday to make the German bomb safe. London was heavily bombed in the war, especially during the Blitz of 1940 and 1941 which concentrated on civilian and industrial targets. Unexploded devices are still occasionally uncovered. (AP) IRA suspect on the run: A suspected member of an Irish Republican Army splinter group has been arraigned in a Dublin court to face extradition back to Northern Ireland, where he jumped bail while awaiting trial in connection with the IRA killing of a prison guard. Republic of Ireland police arrested Damien McLaughlin in northwest County Donegal on Thursday night, three months after the 40-year-old disappeared from his Belfast residence. (AP)

INTERNATIONAL 13 Refugees and migrants (also inset), from different African and Asian countries wave from inside a wooden boat, as they wait to be assisted by an NGO, 14 miles North of Sabratha, Libya, early Thursday March 2. (AP) Italy migrant rescues hit new high as Libya exit rises The number of migrants rescued at sea this year in operations run by Italy s coastguard topped 15,000 Friday after another 900 people were saved, including eight-month-old Syrian twins and five other babies. The latest operations confirm the pattern of a sharp upward spike in winter departures from troubled Libya. Aid groups believe the exodus is being driven by worsening living conditions for migrants in the north African state and by fears the sea route to Europe could soon be closed to traffickers. Migrant arrivals in Italy from its former colony are up by between 57 and 81 percent this year in comparison to the opening two months of 2015 and 2016, according to Italian interior ministry figures. The coastguard said 10 rescue operations had taken place on Friday to help migrants aboard four large rubber dinghies and six smaller wooden vessels. Norway s Siem Pilot, part of the European border agency Frontex s mission, and the Aquarius, operated by French NGO SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders (MSF), carried out the rescue operations. Amid relatively calm seas, there were no reports of fresh casualties. The United Nations refugee agency estimates 440 people have lost their lives trying to make the crossing from Libya to Italy since the start of 2017. More than half a million migrants have reached Italy from Libya since the current migrant crisis began to spiral out of control at the end of 2013. (AFP) Politics France Hacker finds poll vulnerabilities Ditch computers to protect democracy UTRECHT, Netherlands, March 4, (AFP): In an age of superfast computers and interconnected everything, the only sure way to protect the integrity of election results is to return to paper and pen. That is the view of Sijmen Ruwhof, an ethical or white hat hacker, who last month revealed that the Dutch election s commission computer software was riddled with vulnerabilities. In a shock announcement just weeks before the March 15 elections seen as a bellwether of the rise of far-right and populist parties across Europe Dutch officials announced they were abandoning the computer system in use since 2009 to return to counting ballots by hand. It was Ruwhof who discovered the problem. At the request of Dutch broadcaster RTL he spent just one evening examining the OSV software, developed for the Dutch government by a German company, via an online YouTube explanatory video, finding 25 weak points. It seemed to be completely insecure. I was quite shocked that we run our democracy, our Ruwhof election process based on very vulnerable software, he told AFP. Within days of the RTL report, the interior ministry announced ballots cast by the 12.9 million eligible voters would now be hand counted. Then the head of the Dutch secret services (AIVD) made another stunning revelation in the past six months there had been hundreds of attempted cyber attacks on Dutch companies and government agencies. Most were believed to have been carried out by Russian, Chinese and Iranian hackers. It s a real challenge to stay ahead of the game, AIVD head Rob Bertholee said. But these revelations, like the stunning news that Russian hackers appear to have meddled in the US presidential elections, were of little surprise to Ruwhof. As a 12-year-old he became fascinated by computers. Self-taught, he managed to hack into the school computers and informed grateful teachers the system was insecure. Weaknesses That was 19 years and an information technology degree ago. Now 31, Ruwhof makes his living working for banks, government departments, and major companies hacking at their request into their systems to expose their weaknesses. It s very easy, he insisted, without any smugness. But he remains frustrated that for many companies and organisations security is almost an afterthought. Software systems are so complex nowadays that it s hard for a single IT person to comprehend the whole system. So nobody has the total picture of the system. As a hacker you just go by and you scan for weak spots and you always find something. The world has been lucky so far, because few terror groups like the so-called Islamic State have the capacity yet to unleash cyber terrorism. But imagine if from a computer far, far away malfeasants could snap the power grid, change the formula for purifying drinking water, or empty millions at once from bank accounts, undermining the financial system? French President Francois Hollande (center), attends the 50th anniversary celebrations of the establishment of the Paris fire brigade (corps des Sapeurspompiers) in Paris on March 4. (AFP) Renzi Europe Mogherini EU military HQ to open soon: A controversial European Union military headquarters to coordinate the bloc s overseas security operations will open in the coming months, EU diplomatic sources said Friday. Brexit and doubts about US President Donald Trump s commitment to European security have given fresh impetus to EU ambitions to step up military cooperation, with France and Germany taking the lead. This is a big leap forward. It is supposed to start working initially in March and fully in June, one of the sources said. EU foreign and defence ministers meeting Monday in Brussels will approve what is known as a Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) unit, the sources said. (AFP) Renzi comeback threatened: A criminal investigation involving several people close to Matteo Renzi, including his father and his right-hand man, is muddying the image of the former Italian prime minister and threatening his prospects of a return to power. Renzi s father Tiziano was questioned on Friday by prosecutors who suspect him of influence peddling to ensure a public contract was awarded to a businessman friend. Tiziano Renzi denies all wrongdoing. The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement presented a motion of no-confidence against Sports Minister Luca Lotti, Renzi s Le Pen loses ground in poll Fillon battles to keep bid afloat PARIS, March 4, (Agencies): French conservative candidate Francois Fillon battled to keep his presidential bid afloat on Saturday by unveiling his policy platform in the eye of a storm over a fake jobs scandal. Marking his 63rd birthday, Fillon is trying to turn the page on a nightmare week that saw scores of defections from his camp after he admitted he will face criminal charges in the case. Such is the onetime election frontrunner s growing isolation that the left-leaning Liberation daily wrote: It is no longer the rats leaving a sinking ship, but the ship leaving the rat. Accusations that Fillon gave bogus parliamentary jobs to his wife Penelope have engulfed his tilt for power. As the defections mounted, seven weeks before the first round of the twostage vote takes place on April 23, the entourage of 71-year-old veteran Alain Juppe said he was prepared to take over as champion of the Republicans party. Juppe, a former premier who was given a suspended jail sentence in 2004 over a party funding scandal, was beaten by Fillon in the conservative primary in November. Fillon will try to wrest back the initiative with Saturday s policy speech, followed by a rally on Sunday near the Eiffel Tower. Despite a forecast of heavy rain, Fillon s campaign is hoping for massive turnout, helped by the organising prowess of groups such as Manif Pour Tous, which staged a huge protest against gay marriage in October. closest political aide, who is suspected by prosecutors of revealing legal secrets in a strand of the same investigation. (RTRS) Fillon is a devout Catholic and his surprise win in the Republicans November primary was widely attributed to his conservative social views. In an upbeat online video message urging supporters to attend Sunday s rally, Fillon said only he could restore France s strength. But pressure ratcheted up on him after he revealed this week that he would be charged over allegations that Penelope was paid hundreds of thousands of euros for parliamentary work over more than two decades. Before the allegations first surfaced in January, Fillon was the clear leader in opinion polls. But he has been overtaken by the youthful pro-business centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen whose poll numbers are largely holding up despite her own fake jobs scandal. Future Defying much of mainstream opinion, Fillon has claimed to be the victim of a political assassination attempt, declaring he will place his future in the hands of the French people. Meanwhile, an apparent threat by far-right leader Marine le Pen to punish state employees who persecute political opponents may have eroded her support, according to a poll which found her first-round lead in France s presidential election slipping. The poll of voting intentions by research firm BVA found Le Pen garnering 26 percent of the votes in April s first round, down 1.5 percent from the last BVA poll on Feb 23. Bomb scare suspect freed: Belgian police on Friday released a suspect with a previous terrorism conviction who was held after a bomb scare involving gas canisters Policewomen march during a parade to mark the 100th anniversary of the Belarusian police in Minsk on March 4. (AFP) It found independent centrist Emmanuel Macron gaining momentum, rising three points to 24 percent. Conservative rival Francois Fillon remained at 19 percent and would therefore be eliminated from a secondround runoff to be held in May, in which Macron was seen defeating Le Pen by 62 percent to her 38. Another poll, by Odoxa, on Friday showed Macron finishing ahead of Le Pen in the opening round. BVA said Le Pen had likely lost support because of comments at a rally in Nantes last week in which she appeared to threaten to punish government employees who would persecute political opponents. I want to tell public sector workers who are asked by a desperate political staff to use the powers of the state to keep tabs on opponents, to organise persecution, low blows and state cabals against them, to keep out of participating in such excesses, she said. In a few weeks, this government will have been swept away by the election. But these civil servants will have to take responsibility for these illegal methods, because they are illegal and are putting their own responsibility at stake, she added. Le Pen refused to attend a summons for questioning by police last month over allegations that she made illegal EU payments to her staff and her lawyer said on Friday she had also refused to attend a summons by judges over the allegations. Some of her aides have been put under formal investigation over the affair. in his van, prosecutors said. The man, said to be a friend of one of the March 2016 Brussels bombers, was arrested on Thursday night in a huge security operation that shut down part of central Brussels. The prosecutor can confirm that M.A. has been released, prosecutor s spokesman Denis Goeman said, identifying the man only by his initials. (AFP) Ratify border deal : The European Union s foreign policy chief has urged Kosovo s opposition to ratify a border demarcation agreement with Montenegro, the last remaining condition before its citizens enjoy visa-free travel with Europe s Schengen member countries. Federica Mogherini was in Kosovo, the last stop on her tour of the Western Balkans, where she met senior leaders on Saturday. She commended them for their constructive stand in lowering recent tensions with Serbia. It s time to vote for the ratification of the agreement. That would release the visa liberalization for the Kosovo people, she said at a news conference with Prime Minister Isa Mustafa. She urged opposition political parties to leave aside their political interest and work together for the reconciliatory path to take the country ahead. (AP)

INTERNATIONAL 14 World News Roundup Tunisia Arrested scribe a spy: Erdogan Tunisia, Germany in new migration deal TUNIS, March 4, (Agencies): German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a new agreement with Tunisia on tackling illegal migration during a visit Friday, following tensions over the case of the Tunisian suspect in the Berlin market attack. Merkel, on a two-day trip to North Africa that also included a stop in Egypt, said Germany and Tunisia had agreed on faster repatriations for rejected asylum seekers and job training for Tunisians. The German leader, who faces elections in September, is under pressure to reduce the number of asylum seekers coming to her country, which has taken in more than one million migrants since 2015. Merkel, who also addressed Tunisia s parliament, has urged North African states to step up border controls and expedite procedures to repatriate migrants whose asylum applications are rejected. Germany has said Tunisian bureaucratic delays meant it could not expel Anis Amri, the suspect in the truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people, even though his asylum application had been rejected six months earlier. Merkel said the two countries had agreed that questions from Germany on the identities of Essebsi Tunisian asylum seekers will be answered within 30 days. We will also help Tunisia to set up a registration system. Replacement passports are then meant to be issued within one week, she said at a joint news conference with President Beji Caid Essebsi. Concerned This agreement will satisfy Tunisia and will satisfy Germany, Essebsi said, adding that it concerned about 1,500 Tunisians whose residency requests have been turned down by Germany. Measures will be taken in the Tunisian consulates in Germany to help in their identification, he added. Merkel s talks also covered ways to respond to years of instability exploited by people smugglers in neighbouring Libya, where winter departures on perilous boat crossings to Europe have spiked. We know the political situation in Libya is difficult, she said, welcoming Tunisia s efforts to help resolve the turmoil. No-one is more interested in political stability in Libya than its neighbours, but I ll say, because of the migration issue, it s also important for us Europeans. The migrants issue had already been contentious in Germany where sexual assaults by large groups of mostly North African men on New Year s Eve 2015-16 against women in Cologne provoked outrage. Merkel s interior minister floated an idea for North African countries to build holding centres for returned migrants, but it was rejected by Merkel s centre-left coalition partners and rights groups. The visit was also a chance for Merkel to pledge support for a country often hailed as a rare success story of the Arab Spring uprisings that shook the region and toppled autocrats including longtime Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Since its 2011 revolution, Tunisia has passed a new constitution and held free parliamentary and presidential elections. But the nation faces high unemployment, social tensions and the threat from jihadists who have killed dozens of soldiers and police as well as civilians including 59 foreign tourists. Speaking in Tunis, Merkel announced 250 million euros ($264 million) in development aid. The funds are for rural development, small and medium enterprises, but mainly for youths... who especially need job training and employment opportunities, she said. She later told parliament that Tunisia is a beacon of hope for Europe, praising both the pro-democracy protests and the country s subsequent managing of the rocky path to democracy. The fact that you as a freely elected democratic parliament exist is a legacy of the great courage of the citizens of your country, Merkel said. Tunisia is going its way, and your country, as a young democracy, can bank on our full support and cooperation, politically, economically and socially. Arrested journalist a spy Erdogan: Tensions flared between Ankara and Berlin on Friday over the cancellation of two Turkish Cabinet members rallies in Germany, and the ongoing detention in Turkey of a German newspaper reporter. Delivering a speech in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan alleged the Die Welt newspaper journalist was both a German spy and a representative of the outlawed Kurdish rebel group, PKK. Erdogan lashed out at Germany and accused Berlin of harboring him for a month at the German Consulate in Istanbul before agreeing to hand him over to authorities. They need to be put on trial for aiding and abetting terrorism, Erdogan said. Powers An upcoming referendum to increase the Turkish president s powers has been another flash point. Earlier Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke out against Germany over the canceled rallies, saying forces within the German state were working to prevent Turkish leaders from campaigning there for a yes vote. German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer responded that the federal government had nothing to do with the cancellations, and suggested Turkish officials voicing their irritation in the press was in nobody s interest and simply pouring oil onto the fire. The German and Turkish foreign ministers appeared to tone down the rhetoric later in the day after a telephone conversation during which Cavusoglu relayed Turkey s unease over the cancellation of the Turkish justice and economy ministers campaign programs, Turkey s Foreign Ministry said. It said the two ministers agreed to meet on March 8 in Germany. Gabriel s office called it a constructive and engaged conversation. Erdogan however, re-escalated tensions hours later, saying Turkey would continue to criticize Germany. They are telling us, Why are you whipping up the issue? Erdogan said. Just you wait, we have only just started. We are going to expose all that you have done in several international meetings. Germany s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, dismissed Erdogan s claim that Yucel is a spy as absurd. German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers her speech during an address to Tunisian lawmakers at the parliament in Tunis, Tunisia, Friday, March 3. House Speaker Mohamed Ennaceur is seated at right and his deputy Abdelfattah Mourou at left. Merkel visits Tunisia as she tries to press North African governments to better cooperate in Europe s efforts to fight Islamic extremism and illegal migration. (AP) Turkey s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures while speaking during the 4th International Symposium on Ombudsman Institutions at the Bestepe People s Congress and Culture Center on March 2 in Ankara. The 4th International Symposium on Ombudsman Institutions will be held on March 2-3, 2017 on the main theme of Migration and Refugees. (AFP) Yildirim Mideast Montazeri Turkey eyes on Arab tourists: Suleiman Herwis walked around his brand new apartment amid a thick smell of paint and polish, checking its cupboards, the furniture and views from a balcony overlooking the Black Sea coastal town of Fatsa. The Saudi Arabia-based physician says he is looking forward to vacations in this remote but more conservative part of Turkey, an area largely bypassed by Western tourists. It is more family-oriented here. For my culture, my background, this is more convenient, said the Libyan-born, 50-yearold from Riyadh, who was visiting his three-bedroom, fully furnished apartment for the first time. The north (of Turkey) seems to be more conservative and (better) catering for family activities, he said. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on ethnic Turks living abroad to spend holidays, hold weddings and big celebrations back in the homeland and to bring their European friends and neighbors with them. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, addressing a tourism forum in Istanbul, said Turkey wasn t any less safe than European countries and urged people to visit. Turkey s tourism industry suffered last year as Westerners stayed away because of violent attacks, a failed coup attempt at the height of the season, and the conflict raging across the border in Syria. The country now increasingly pins its hopes on visitors from the Middle Eastern countries. According to data released by the Turkish Statistics Institute, tourism revenue in 2016 amounted to $22.1 billion down nearly 30 percent from 2015. While the number of German visitors, for example, was down by some 30 percent in 2016, tourists from Bahrain rose by 28 percent, 25 percent from Jordan and 17 percent from Saudi Arabia. At least four projects to lure visitors from the Gulf region and Arab nations are underway along Turkey s more traditional and conservative Black Sea coastline, where unlike Turkey s more popular Mediterranean and Aegean coasts residents and visitors opt for full body covering swimsuits and where bars selling alcohol are few and far between. Herwis flat in Fatsa is part of a timeshare residential community, partly still under construction. The builder says most of his clients are from the Gulf states and Libya Troops of Haftar concede loss of oil port E. Libyan forces target rival brigades BENGHAZI, Libya, March 4, (Agencies): East Libyan forces carried out air strikes around major oil ports overnight as they sought to regain control of the area from a rival faction, a military spokesman said on Saturday. The eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) and allied forces retreated on Friday from the oil ports of Al Sider and Ras Lanuf, two of Libya s largest export terminals, as a faction known as the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB) attacked. The assault raised the prospect of a new escalation of violence around the ports, and put at risk a sharp boost to Libya s oil production achieved after the LNA took over four ports in September, ending a blockade at three of them. Though Al Sider and Ras Lanuf have been reopened for exports, they were badly damaged in past fighting and are operating well below capacity. It was not clear to what extent the BDB had gained control over the ports, or whether operations at the terminals had been affected. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli said it held an urgent meeting on Friday to look at ways to protect oil facilities in the area and to review current loading schedules. There are no tankers known to be trying to dock at the ports currently, but shipping sources said a tanker is due to arrive at Al Sider on March 7 to load 630,000 barrels for Austria s OMV. In response to the BDB advance, air strikes were carried out in Ras Lanuf, Al Sider, Ben Jawad and Harawa, LNA spokesman Ahmed al-mismari told Reuters. A resident in Ras Lanuf said they heard war planes over the town at dawn on Saturday, followed by explosions. Residents posted pictures of fires and damage to buildings apparently caused by the strikes. other Middle Eastern countries. In nearby town of Ayvacik, in Samsun province, a tract of land atop a hill overlooking a lake awaits zoning for a planned Arab village. The head of the local tourism association says more hotels and tourist complexes aimed at Arabs are being built in the area. Hopes for a better year in 2017 were quickly dashed in the early hours of the New Year with an attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, that killed 39 people most of them visitors from the Libya s oil production has recently been fluctuating around 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), more than double its output last year but still well under the 1.6 million bpd the OPEC member was producing before a 2011 uprising. The BDB are composed partly of fighters who were ousted by the LNA in Benghazi, where LNA commander Khalifa Haftar has been waging a military campaign for nearly three years against Islamists and other opponents. That battle is linked to a wider conflict between political and armed factions based in eastern and western Libya. Forces Meanwhile, the forces of eastern Libya s military strongman Khalifa Haftar conceded the loss on Saturday of a key oil export terminal they seized last year as fighting for the country s resource wealth intensifies. The capture of Ras Lanuf and the other three eastern oil ports in September enabled Haftar to keep up his challenge to the authority of the UNbacked government in Tripoli and demand a major role in a replacement administration. Exports from the four ports are Libya s main source of hard currency income and without them Libya s once huge currency reserves are being rapidly depleted. The spokesman for Haftar s forces, Colonel Ahmad al-mismari, said that they had lost control of Ras Lanuf s main airfield to forces led by Islamists of the Benghazi Defence Brigades. The attackers were armed with modern tanks, Mismari said. We lost two men. But the battle is ongoing. The situation in the Oil Crescent remains under control. There are four ports along the Oil Crescent on the eastern part of the Gulf of Sirte which account for the lion s share of Libya s oil exports. Haftar s forces seized Zueitina, Middle East. Turkey is also hoping for a return of Russian tourists, who steered clear last year following tense relations after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in 2015. (AP) Montazeri s jail term suspended: Iran s semi-official ISNA news agency is reporting that the country s judiciary has suspended the prison term of the son of a late dissident cleric. The Saturday report says the six-year A damaged house is seen after an earthquake in Samsat, Adiyaman in southeastern Turkey on March 2. An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 hit Samsat in southeastern Turkey on Thursday, damaging buildings and causing a number of injuries, officials and news reports said. (AP) Brega, Ras Lanuf and Al-Sidra in a lightning offensive last September that dealt a major blow to the UN-backed Government of National Accord. Haftar dominates a rival administration based in the east that continues to defy the GNA s authority. He has backing from neighbouring Egypt, from the United Arab Emirates and increasingly from Russia. Russia has been trying to broker talks in Egypt between Haftar and the GNA that would see it reformed with a major role for the strongman but so far they have not borne fruit. An array of forces, most of them loyal to the UN-backed government in Tripoli, have been involved in efforts to oust Haftar from the oil ports. But the Tripoli government on Friday evening denied any involvement in the latest offensive, condemning it as a military escalation. Russia said on Friday it was ready to help unify Libya and wanted to foster dialogue between rival authorities in Tripoli and factions in the east of the country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks in Moscow with Fayez Seraj, the head of the UN-backed government in Tripoli, on Thursday. Advanced The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that the talks had focused on how efforts to unite Libya could best be advanced. Moscow was ready to mediate and wanted to cooperate with all sides in the oilrich country, it said. Moscow confirmed its readiness to work closely with all sides in Libya with the aim of seeking mutually acceptable solutions to create the grounds for the stable development of Libya as a united, sovereign and independent state, the ministry said in a statement. prison term of Ahmad Montazeri, son of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, was suspended after approval by the country s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following a request by a top cleric. The report did not identify the cleric who made the request A court had sentenced Ahmad Montazeri to prison in November for publishing a tape recording of his father that condemns the execution of thousands of prisoners in 1988. He began serving his prison term in February but soon was released. The late Montazeri, who died in 2009, was an outspoken critic of the country s ruling establishment. (AP) EU to talk with Israel: European Union foreign ministers are to discuss whether to hold high-level talks with Israel soon amid concern over its settlement policy and commitment to a two-state solution, diplomats said Friday. The diplomats said the EU must be clear in its dealings with Israel, especially given the US administration s unclear position on the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Dismayed by Israel s continued settlement expansion, EU lawmakers have called for a freeze on the agreement. The continued application of the agreement in spite of Israel s clear violation... sends a message to Israel that its practices will be tolerated without any impact, Cypriot EU lawmaker Neoklis Sylikiotis said in the West Bank last week while leading a delegation of EU lawmakers. One said that any future official talks with Israel could not be business as usual. Things have to be said very clearly to the Israelis. (AP)

INTERNATIONAL 15 China Philippine officials tour carrier China defense budget to rise 7 pct in 2017 Li BEIJING, March 4, (AP): China will raise its defense budget by about 7 percent this year, a government spokeswoman said Saturday, continuing a trend of lowered growth amid a slowing economy despite regional tensions over the South China Sea and other issues. Total defense spending would account for about 1.3 percent of projected gross domestic project in 2017, said Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the legislature. She was speaking at a news conference on the eve of the opening of the body s annual session. The precise figure will be provided by Premier Li Keqiang in his address to the National People s Congress on Sunday morning. Fu reiterated China s contention that its military was purely for defense and constituted a force for stability in Asia. We advocate dialogue for peaceful resolutions, while at the same time, we need to possess the ability to defend our sovereignty and interests, Fu said. The strengthening of Chinese capabilities benefits the preservation of peace and security in this region, and not the opposite. Depending on the final figure, this year s budget could mark the third consecutive year of declines in defense spending growth rates, even while some outside observers say those figures don t account for all military spending. The budget grew by 7.6 percent last year and 10.1 percent in 2015. That trend reflects the new normal, an acknowledgement that Chinese growth is plateauing as a whole, said Alexander Neill, a senior fellow for Asia-Pacific security for the International Institute for Strategic Studies based in Singapore. While the slowing economy may preclude a spending spree similar to past years, when growth rose by double-digit percentages each year, there s no doubt China will continue to add high-tech weaponry according to its long-term strategy, Neill said. Seeking a more streamlined fighting force, China plans to complete the cutting of 300,000 military personnel by the end of the year, shifting the emphasis away from the land forces and toward the navy, air and rocket units. Still, the increase of about 67 billion yuan ($9.7 billion) would push the total defense budget past the 1 trillion yuan ($145 billion) mark for the first time. The percentage increases do not track in US dollar figures because of variations in the exchange rate. Outspend China s defense budget is expected to rise to $233 billion by 2020, almost twice what it was in 2010 and four times what Britain spends, according to a study released in December by IHS Jane s. By 2025, China would outspend all other states in the Asia-Pacific combined, the consultancy predicted. The defense budget has for years been the world s second largest, although it still lags far behind the US President Donald Trump has asked for a 10 percent increase in US defense spending this year, adding $54 million to the budget that topped $600 billion last year. China points out that, as a developing country with a population of 1.37 billion, its defense spending per capita is a fraction of those of other nations. Fu also said the percentage of GDP China spends on defense is below the 2 percent the US calls on NATO allies to spend. The relatively modest spending increase reflects both China s steady, if not spectacular economic growth, and a security outlook that has changed little in recent years, said Tang Yonghong of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Xiamen University in southeastern China. China s defense budget is formulated on the basis of its own needs and the domestic economic situation. Beijing isn t much concerned about the reaction from the international community, he said. The Philippine defense chief and two other Cabinet members on Saturday toured a US aircraft carrier patrolling the disputed South China Sea on the invitation of the Navy, US Embassy officials said. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II visited the USS Carl Vinson along with three Philippine security officials, said US Embassy spokeswoman Molly Koscina. The visit shows continuing top-level engagements between Philippine officials and the US military despite Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte s threat to scale back engagements with American forces while reaching out to China and Russia. There was no immediate reaction from China, which had opposed US patrols in waters it has claimed virtually in its entirety. The US ambassador to Manila, Sung Kim, accompanied the Philippine officials to the Carl Vinson, where they watched F18 fighter jets land and take off on catapult on the flight deck and met US navy commanders in charge of the 95,000-ton carrier as it sailed in the disputed waters, Koscina said. US Navy officials told a small group of journalists who were flown to the Carl Vinson on Friday that the US warship deployment was aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, a key waterway for global commerce and security. We will be here, Rear Adm. James Kilby told the journalists, including those from The Associated Press. We re going to continue to demonstrate that international waters are waters where everyone can sail, where everyone can conduct commerce and merchant traffic. Kilby s comments and the presence of the carrier in the South China Sea are aimed at reassuring American allies, who have expressed concerns over China s aggressive actions to assert its claims to virtually all of the South China Sea. The nuclear-powered Carl Vinson, which is manned by about 5,500 military personnel, is part of a US strike group comprising 12 warships and nine aircraft squadrons. In recent years, China has turned seven mostly submerged disputed reefs into islands where Beijing is now reportedly installing a missile defense system. Chinese officials have stressed that they have a right to carry out those constructions in what they say are their territories and add they have no hostile intentions in the region. But worries over China s actions have grown. Governments fear its actions could later restrict movement in a key waterway for world commerce with rich fishing grounds and potential undersea deposits of oil and gas. There is a lot of worry about what China s intentions are, said Ernest Bower, a senior adviser for the Southeast Asia program of Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. I think the question everyone has is, (are) the Chinese trying to shut down access to the South China Sea? Boyer told reporters in Manila. The Americans are saying under no circumstances would that be acceptable to the international community. Japan s Emperor Akihito (center left), and Empress Michiko (center right), are greeted as they walk through the Ngo Mon Gate at the former imperial citadel in Hue, Vietnam, March 4. (AP) Hostesses pose for a picture during the opening session of the Chinese People s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 3. The CPPCC plays a largely symbolic role, with members meeting once a year to discuss social and economic policies, among them wealthy business leaders and members of powerful political families. (AFP) Asia Xi retains key ally: China s sweeping overhaul of its anti-corruption architecture could enable President Xi Jinping to justify retaining his key ally and top graft buster Wang Qishan beyond retirement age, sources with ties to the leadership say. Breaking the unwritten retirement rule could also set a precedent for Xi, 63, to defy current expectations that he will step down as party and military chief in 2022 and as state president the following year, the sources said. A new National Supervisory Commission will combine the powers of several graft-fighting bodies, including Wang s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the principal vehicle for Xi s signature anti-corruption drive. That drive has punished more than a million party members, jailing top military figures and retired security tsar Zhou Yongkang, the most senior official toppled for corruption since 1949. Wang is likely to head the new commission, the three sources said, a role that would under normal circumstances make a strong case for him to remain at Xi s side on the party s Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) the top table of power in China. (RTRS) Protests against missile system: Beijing s escalating condemnation of South Korea over a US anti-missile system has triggered protests against a popular retail giant and a reported ban on Chinese tour groups visiting the country, apparent signs that Beijing plans to make Seoul pay an economic price over a move that China says threatens its security. Protests have sprung up in the last few days against Lotte Mart, a South Korean hypermarket chain that sells food, clothing, toys and electronics. Its parent company, Lotte Group, agreed Monday to provide a golf course to the government to site the system. The protests outside Lotte stores and boycotts of its products follow weeks of condemnation of the South Korean government and warnings against Lotte s move by government officials and state media. Seoul and Washington say the system is needed to defend against North Korea s Diplomacy N. Korea to top agenda Tillerson to visit Asia TOKYO, March 4, (Agencies): US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to visit Japan, China and South Korea later this month to discuss Pyongyang s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes, local media reported on Saturday. Tillerson has so far kept a low profile and it will be his first visit to the region since he became President Donald Trump s top diplomat last month. The former oil executive is expected to visit Japan on March 17 and 18 on the first leg of his Asian tour and hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida as well as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Nikkei business daily said. Abe has spent more time with Trump than any foreign leader, and while ties had initially been strained by Trump s rejection of a trans-pacific trade deal and his readiness to question defense commitments, the US president has since pledged full support to Tokyo. During the Beijing leg of the Asia trip, Tillerson plans to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and possibly also with President Xi Jinping, Kyodo News said, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources. Powers The two major powers are expected to arrange a meeting between Xi and Trump in the United States as early as April, they said. Tillerson first met with counterpart Yi at a G20 meeting in Germany last month, and urged Beijing to help rein in North Korea. Their talks, the highest level Sino- US encounter since Trump was elected, had appeared unlikely after the US leader infuriated Beijing by calling into question Washington s longstanding One China policy. Trump however later reaffirmed the position in a conciliatory phone call missile threat and is not targeted at any other regional states. China says the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, threatens its security because its radars are capable of peering deep into the country s north and parts of Russia, allowing Washington and Seoul to monitor Xi Zhou to Xi. Meanwhile, the outgoing top US diplomat for East Asia said Thursday that China should take more actions to send an unambiguous signal to North Korea to stop its nuclear and missile programs. China recently said it is suspending coal imports from North Korea, an important source of its foreign revenue. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel said that was in line with UN sanctions, but he hoped Beijing was also swayed by a recent North Korean missile test and the assassination of the North Korean leader s exiled half brother, who was under Chinese protection during the years he lived in Macau. Permanent The world should expect a permanent member of the UN Security Council to adhere to the letter and the spirit of a resolution as important as this, Russel told The Associated Press. I hope we see a lot more Chinese actions, whether they are tied to the Security Council resolution or whether they are unilateral that send an unambiguous stop sign to the North Korean leaders, he said, noting that China accounts for up to 90 percent of North Korea s external economic activity. Russel said that he was stepping down as assistant secretary March 8 to spend one year as diplomat-in-residence at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a think tank led by former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. He said he wasn t pushed out by the Trump administration and will remain a State Department employee. Russel has held the position for 3 years. Prior to that he was President Barack Obama s top Asia adviser at the White House. His successor has not been named. flights and missile launches. Asked about the protests, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Friday: There are absolutely no anti-thaad campaigns in China, still less violent campaigns. He added that Beijing hoped Seoul can heed the voice of the people and take effective measures to avoid further damage to the China-South Korea relationship. (AP) Web censorship criticized: A senior Chinese government adviser has warned that the country s internet censorship is hampering scientific research and economic development, in a rare public criticism of a sensitive policy that the government has vigorously defended. Slow access to overseas academic websites have forced domestic researchers to buy software to circumvent China s siteblocking firewall, or even travel overseas to conduct research, Luo Fuhe, vicechairman of the Chinese People s Political Consultative Conference, told reporters in Beijing. He described the lengths that Chinese researchers go to simply carry out their work as not normal. Luo s remarks, reported by state media, came as national leaders and thousands of appointed representatives are gathering in Beijing for the national legislature s annual session. Luo s conference, the CPPCC, is the official advisory body to the legislature, the National People s Congress. Chinese officials rarely comment on internet censorship, other than to emphasize the need to respect the country s laws. However, Luo may have felt free to speak up because of his status as a vice chairman of the China Association for Promoting Democracy, one of eight minor political parties the ruling Communists permit to shore up their democratic credentials. China s sophisticated internet censorship tools block numerous foreign social media and news websites, while discussion of political topics and other sensitive issues such as Tibet and Taiwan are routinely squelched. However, the same tools also hamper access to vast swathes of the internet outside China, including Luo some research and university websites, whether inadvertently or by design. Many Chinese employ virtual private networks to scale the censors blocks, known sometimes as the Great Firewall of China. (AP) Malaysia in conspiracy : Ri Jong Chol, a suspect in the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korea s leader, said in Beijing that he was a victim of a conspiracy by Malaysian authorities attempting to damage the honour of North Korea. Ri, a North Korean, accused Malaysia of using coercion to try to extract a confession from him, in comments to reporters outside the North Korean embassy in Beijing early on Saturday. Kim Jong Nam was murdered on Feb 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, after being assaulted by two women who Malaysian police believe smeared his face with VX, a chemical classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction. The murder of Kim Jong Nam has soured relations between Malaysia and North Korea, which had maintained friendly ties for decades. Ri said he was not at the airport on the day of the killing, and knew nothing about the accusation that his car was used in the case. I didn t go (to the airport), and I had no reason to go. I was just doing my work, he said. Ri said he had worked in Malaysia trading ingredients needed for soap. Ri was in Beijing on his way back to North Korea after Malaysia deported him on Friday. He was met at Beijing s international airport early on Saturday by a swarm of South Korean and Japanese reporters, but he was whisked away from the chaotic scene by Chinese police before he was able to make any statement. (RTRS) Bid to save Samsung chief: Samsung chief Jay Y. Lee has handpicked 13 top lawyers to defend him against charges of bribing the South Korean president, nearly all of them former judges or prosecutors, according to the court where one of the richest men in the country will be tried. Lee, 48, was indicted by a special prosecutor s office on Feb. 28 on charges of bribery and embezzlement over his alleged role in the corruption scandal involving impeached President Park Geun-hye. Four other Samsung executives have also been charged, a massive blow for the world s biggest maker of smartphones and memory chips. Described as the trial of the century, court proceedings begin on March 9, and if convicted, Lee could face more than 20 years in prison. A verdict has to be delivered within three months. Seoul Central District Court records showed that Lee has assembled a team of 13 outside counsel for his defence, 10 of whom work for Bae, Kim & Lee (BKL) the country s second-largest law firm by headcount, and known for litigation expertise. The firm has defended other heads of South Korean conglomerates, called chaebol, in high-profile criminal cases including SK Group chief Chey Tae-won and Hanwha Group boss Kim Seung-youn. Kim was given a suspended three-year sentence after being indicted for embezzlement and breach of trust, while Chey was sentenced to four years in jail in 2013 for misappropriating company funds and served two years before receiving a presidential pardon. According to South Korean media, two of the defence lawyers were considered for the special prosecution team they will now fight in court. In numbers we may be behind Samsung s extravagant team of lawyers but in terms of our ability and what we ve achieved so far, you don t need to worry, said a special prosecution official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the case. The special prosecution team will be led by Yang Jae-sik, an assistant counsel and a long-time prosecutor, the official said. Yang worked on several high-profile criminal cases as a prosecutor, including a 2006 probe into whether senior South Korean government officials colluded with private equity fund Lone Star Funds to allow the US firm to acquire Korea Exchange Bank at less than fair value. He was also part of a team that investigated Park Jieman, brother of the current president, when he was arrested for drug use in 1996. BKL declined to make its attorneys available for comment, while the other three defence lawyers declined comment or were not immediately available. On its website, BKL says it was founded in 1980 and provides legal services in diverse areas, including corporate law and governance, litigation, international arbitration and tax, among others. (RTRS)

INTERNATIONAL 16 World News Roundup Asia Duterte will pay price King s holiday turns into military exercise NUSA DUA, Indonesia, March 4, (Agencies): A Bali beach holiday for Saudi Arabia s King Salman and his considerable entourage has turned into a military exercise for host Indonesia. The octogenarian monarch and his entourage of 1,500, including 25 princes and 10 ministers, flew on Saturday to Indonesia s Bali island aboard nine passenger jets for a private vacation. They were guarded by at least 2,500 police and military personnel, as well as naval vessels parked offshore. The king s Boeing 747-jet was met at the airport by his usual gold coloured escalator. Flown in ahead of the visit were two plane loads of cargo, including plates, carpets and two bullet-proof Mercedes, said customs official Budi Harjanto. King Salman s tour of Asia aims to build the kingdom s ties with fast-growing Asian economies and drum up investment to diversify the Saudi economy away from dependence on oil. The extravagance of his official trip, punctuated by holidays, comes after an austerity drive at home caused by low oil prices. Widodo Meanwhile, King Salman has embraced the selfie, taking part in a number of lighthearted self-shot pictures and videos during his tour of Asia that contrast with the pomp and formality of most of the octogenarian monarch s trips abroad. In the first days of a lengthy regional tour, the king has appeared with top-ranking officials in Indonesia and Malaysia in pictures and clips that have been shared online millions of times. Indonesian President Joko Widodo shared on Facebook a video of himself dining with the king at the presidential palace in Bogor, near the capital Jakarta. Duterte will pay price : A senator and detained critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte s war on drugs has warned he and his blind followers will pay for ignoring alleged extrajudicial killings, and should stop trying to fool the world their crackdown was above board. Leila de Lima, who last year led a Senate probe into alleged summary killings during Duterte s anti-drugs campaign, was arrested last week and has been remanded in police detention on drug charges. In due time, your president and those who blindly enforce his illegal orders to kill, fabricate evidence and concoct lies will be held accountable, De Lima said in a handwritten note posted on her official Facebook page on Friday. The senator was responding to rebuttals by the president s office and the police of a report by Human Rights Watch, which on Thursday challenged official accounts that thousands of killings during police operations were in self-defence. The New York-based group said Duterte had turned a blind eye to murders by police in a campaign of extrajudicial execution. The president s spokesman said the allegations, without proof, were hearsay. Grandma fights for UK return: Twenty-seven years of marriage, two British sons and a granddaughter could not protect Singaporean Irene Clennell from deportation, but now the feisty grandma is fighting to get back to her family. Clennell, 52, was deported to Singapore Sunday, despite being the primary caregiver for her sickly British husband John, who she said has sunk into a mire of depression since she left. He was crying, she told AFP in an interview at her sister s cramped suburban home in the Southeast Asian city state, where she is sleeping on the sofa as she tries to find a legal way back to her family in Britain. John had femoral artery bypass in his leg last year and suffered a subsequent hernia. Since then, she said, he has struggled to walk far and needed help dressing himself. Before, it was different because he was fit and well he was able to look after himself. But now he can t because of his condition, she said, adding that she had been his sole caregiver at their County Durham home. Thai king s former aide jailed: A senior aide to Thailand s new King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been jailed for five and a half years for royal defamation and other offences, police said, the latest secrecyshrouded downfall of a palace official. The verdict, handed down by a military court on Friday, comes less than two weeks after the palace sacked the king s deputy chief of staff Chitpong Thongkum for behaving in a way that brought about distrust and caused severe damage to the royal family. Palace affairs are often difficult to penetrate in Thailand, where harsh lese majeste laws shield the royal family from scrutiny and make any discussion of the monarchy extremely sensitive. Media must heavily self-censor when reporting on the royal family. In addition to violating the royal insult law, Chitpong was also convicted of committing theft in state offices and breaching medical and cosmetic laws, according to a police statement. The total prison term is four years and 18 months, the statement said, without elaborating on how the statutes were violated. A military court spokesman declined to comment on the case. Shooting of boy shocks Thailand: More than 1,000 people marched in Thailand s insurgency-torn south on Friday to condemn the killing of a Buddhist family, including an eight-year-old boy, as a sudden spike in violence undercuts progress in peace talks. The under-reported rebellion waged by Malay Muslim insurgents against the Buddhist-majority Thai state has killed more than 6,800 people, mostly civilians, since it erupted 13 years ago. That toll rose Thursday after suspected militants ambushed the car of a deputy village headman, shooting him dead along with his eight-year-old son, wife and sister-in-law. The family were driving to school on a remote road in the Ruso district of Narathiwat province when the gunmen attacked. The ambush provoked outrage from religious leaders and civil society groups from both the Muslim and Buddhist communities, who came together for Friday s march through Ruso. Saudi Arabia s King Salman bin Abdul Aziz (left), shakes hand with Protestant representative Henriette Hutabarat (right), in Jakarta on March 3, during the meeting with Indonesian religious representatives. King Salman is leading a 1,000-strong delegation, including princes and ministers, on the fi rst visit by a Saudi Arabian monarch to the world s most populous Muslim-majority country in almost half a century. (AFP) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gesture during a roadshow in support of their state assembly election party candidates in Varanasi on March 4. (AFP) A man with a painted face attend the Day of Remembrance for MH370 event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 4. After three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration on Jan 17, 2017 as crews completed their deepsea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without fi nding a single trace of the plane. (AP) Subcontinent Air stike illed 8 Afghans: At least eight Afghan civilians, including four children, were killed in an attack late Friday night in western Farah province, according to Afghan officials. However there is disagreement over what exactly caused the deaths. Mohammad Naser Mehri, spokesman for the provincial governor, said Saturday that the incident was a roadside bomb explosion which took place in the Bala Buluk district. But family members of the victims are claiming they were hit by an airstrike. Gen Dawlat Waziri, a Defense Ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press that an investigation of the incident is underway. We are aware of the allegations made by the local people, right now an investigation is going on into the incident in Farah, Waziri said. Dr Abdul Hakim Rasouli, director of Farah Hospital, said that 22 others are wounded in the attack. Three of the wounded are in critical condition and will be transferred to another hospital in neighboring Herat province for their further treatment, he said. Farah s Bala Buluk district has been the site of several recent clashes between Afghan security forces and armed insurgents. One resident, a 30-year-old mother of four named Salima, said two of her children were killed and a third wounded. In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Salima, who like many Afghans goes by only one name, said her family was attacked by a helicopter. I don t want to be alive anymore while I don t have my children with me, she said, crying. The Afghan security forces operate helicopter gunships, as does the US-led military coalition in Afghanistan. Meanwhile a parliamentarian from Helmand province was wounded after he was attacked by gunmen in neighboring Kandahar province, said Samim Khpolwak, spokesman for the provincial governor. (AP) Gunmen kill Pakistan lawyer: India Child protection officers held Bodies go unburied IMPHAL, India, March 4, (Agencies): The body of Pausuan Lian has lain in a hospital mortuary for more than 500 days since he was shot dead during a land protest in India s Manipur state but his family is still refusing to allow his burial. All nine martyrs, including my son, will stay in the morgue until justice is done, his mother Hau Lian Ching told AFP ahead of a two-phase state election in Manipur which begins on Saturday. The demands of our people must be met before we can bury them. The 18-year-old was one of six people who were killed in August 2015 when police opened fire at a rally in the mainly tribal Churachandpur district against three land bills that had been introduced in the state assembly. A subsequent flare-up in violence left another three locals dead and further highlighted the tensions in the remote northeastern state, a threehour flight from New Delhi. Like much of the northeast, Manipur which shares its eastern border with Myanmar has long been plagued by sporadic separatist unrest and ongoing feuds between different tribal and ethnic groups. But the deaths in Churachandpur have heightened the anger of tribal groups who had already come to regard the land bills as part of a plot by the majority Meitei community to deprive them of their ancestral rights. A group from one of the state s largest minority tribes, the Naga, launched a blockade of the main highway into the state capital Imphal in November, leading to shortages and big price hikes for basic commodities. The government has even had to deploy military aircraft to deliver fuel and other essential supplies. But the most poignant protests have been at Churachandpur hospital Pakistani police say unidentified gunmen have killed a prominent attorney in an apparent targeted shooting in a northwest- Waziri Sanaullah morgue where relatives such as Haulian Ching and her other son Kailunlai steadfastly refuse to leave the side of their loved ones. Until we receive guarantees that our land will not be touched we will continue with our vigil, said Kailunlai, a farm labourer. Two child protection officers have been arrested for alleged links with a trafficking gang that ran illegal adoption centres in eastern India selling children to foreign couples, police said Saturday. Investigators said children aged between six months and 14 years were sold in illegal adoptions to couples from Europe, America and Asia for between $12,000 and $23,000 and taken out of the country. Police arrested two Darjeeling child protection officials, Mrinal Ghosh and Debasish Chanda, on Friday for their links with the adoption scandal, Nishat Parvej of the state s Criminal Investigation Department told AFP. Indian states that are watering down provisions of a land acquisition law are hurting farmers and risk facing more conflicts and legal challenges, said a former minister who helped frame the landmark law. India s 2013 Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act replaced a colonial-era law with an aim to protect poor farmers. It requires consensus to buy the land, a social impact assessment, rehabilitation for those displaced and compensation of up to four times the market value. Jairam Ramesh, a parliamentarian who was Minister of Rural Development between 2011 and 2014, said the law he helped draft was constantly being diluted. ern town near a tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Khalid Khan, a police officer in Shabqadar, says two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fired on Mohammed Jan Gigyani when he was driving his car Saturday. Khan said Gigyani was critically wounded and died en route to a hospital. Khan says Gigyani was a prominent lawyer affiliated with the secular Qaumi Watan political party. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of Pakistani Taleban militants claimed responsibility for the killing. Spokesman Asad Mansoor said the group will continue such attacks. Shabqadar is near Mohmand tribal region and located in Charsadda district where suicide bombers killed eight people near a court complex last week. (AP) Suspected militants held: Police said Friday that about 1,300 suspected militants were arrested in a sweep of hideouts in Pakistan s largest province of Punjab. The roughly two-week operation comes despite the provincial law minister s defense of some groups designated as terrorist organizations and banned by Pakistan but resurrected under new names. Rana Sanaullah also embraced some sectarian leaders whose groups have been accused of fomenting violence against minority Islamic sects, raising questions about his commitment to ridding Punjab of militants. Two police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operations, said another 36 militants died in shootouts Saeed with police and in paramilitary operations since the sweep began last month. In an interview with The Associated Press, however, Sanaullah questioned the label of terrorist for anti-indian militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has resurfaced as Jamaat ud Daawa. Last month, Pakistan placed Hafiz Saeed, a declared terrorist with a US-imposed $10 million bounty on his head, under house arrest, yet Sanaullah questioned allegations against Saeed, who is connected mostly to militant attacks in Indian-held Kashmir, a Himalayan region whose ownership is contested by both Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety. They are related to Kashmir. They feel Indian brutality in Kashmir is unacceptable, he said of Saeed and his followers, adding that Pakistan s courts have twice freed Saeed saying there was no evidence of his involvement in terrorism activities. Saeed is among India s most wanted and is accused of masterminding attacks inside India and Indian-held Kashmir. (AP) Commander dies in US strike : A Taleban official said Friday that a suspected US drone strike the previous day killed a top commander of the militant Haqqani network the man who in 2014 accompanied US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl when he was handed over to US authorities. The Taleban official identified the man as Qari Abdullah, saying he died in the area of Khost. Pakistani intelligence officials had earlier said a suspected US strike hit in Pakistan s lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan s Khost, a Haqqani stronghold, killing two militants. The Taleban official wouldn t confirm it was the same strike. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn t authorized to talk to reporters. A senior Pakistani official also confirmed Abdullah s identity but asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to discuss drone strikes. Abdullah escorted Bergdahl to the US military helicopter that was sent to pick him up. Bergdahl, who faces a court martial hearing on charges of desertion and misbehavior in front of the enemy, was freed in exchange for five Taleban who had been held at the US prison on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002. (AP) B desh holds spiritual leader: Police in Bangladesh s capital have arrested the spiritual leader of a banned militant group that is responsible for a series of attacks in the South Asian country, an official said Friday. Maulana Abul Kashem was arrested Thursday night, said Monirul Islam, chief of the police Counterterrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit. Kashem was a teacher at an Islamic school in northern Bangladesh and was acting as chief of a faction of the Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB, Islam said. Police say Kashem played a key role in a July 2016 attack in which 17 foreigners were killed when five militants stormed a restaurant in Dhaka s diplomatic zone. Kashem was allegedly connected with Tamim Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-born Canadian who was killed in a raid in August. Police said Chowdhury was the main planner of the group. Some 40 suspects have been killed since July in a crackdown on militants ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina s government. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the July attack, but the government blamed the JMB. Dozens of atheists, liberal writers, bloggers and publishers as well as members of minority communities and foreigners have been targeted by militants. (AP) Police committing rape : Sri Lankan security and police forces are reportedly still committing rape and torture, and the country must investigate and prosecute those involved as well as those implicated in past wartime atrocities, the United Nations said on Friday. The UN and rights activists have accused the Sri Lankan military of killing thousands of civilians, mostly Tamils, in the last weeks of a 26-year civil war with Tamil separatists that ended in 2009 and have demanded redress. In its latest report, the UN said Colombo must set a clear timeline for prosecuting crimes by all sides during the civil war, adding that offences are still being brought to the authorities. Cases of excessive use of force, torture, arbitrary arrests and failure to respect due process during arrests by the police also continue to be reported, it added. The lack of accountability risks derailing the momentum towards lasting peace, said the report by the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra ad al-hussein. I urge the government and people of Sri Lanka to prioritize justice alongside reconciliation to ensure that the horrors of the past are firmly dealt with, never to recur, Zeid said. (RTRS)

INTERNATIONAL 17 Diplomacy UN Council starts Africa trip US under Trump ready to donate Trump YAOUNDE, Cameroon, March 4, (Agencies): The UN Security Council on Friday kicked off a visit to spotlight Africa s worst humanitarian crisis as millions face hunger amid the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. We came in order to show that this will no longer be a neglected crisis, British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters. One question in the aid response is the United States, which pledged no funding for the Nigeria crisis at an international conference in Oslo last week co-hosted by the United Nations. The US is the world s largest humanitarian donor, but US officials have said the Trump administration is proposing a 37 percent cut to diplomacy and foreign aid budgets to help pay for increased military spending. The UN has launched a $4 billion aid appeal for the Nigeria crisis and similar ones in South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. It was not clear how much the US has pledged. The US has indicated it is very ready to donate under Trump, UN humanitarian chief Stephen O Brien said during a visit to Kenya on Friday, and he suggested it may not have pledged yet because of its budgetary cycle. The Trump administration s budget plan is expected this month. The Security Council began its visit in Cameroon with meetings with top officials and an encounter with the multinational force fighting the Nigeria-based Boko Haram extremists. Council members also plan to go to Chad and Niger, then on to Nigeria, where they are expected to visit a camp for people displaced by Boko Haram. On Friday, officials said three suicide bombers killed themselves and set fuel tankers ablaze in Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram and the center of Nigeria s military efforts to counter the group. In Nigeria, Boko Haram s seven-year uprising has killed more than 20,000 people and driven 2.6 million from their homes. Now the group has moved into neighboring countries. At the Oslo conference, the UN humanitarian chief said 14 countries had pledged $672 million over the next three years to prevent a famine in the four countries around the Lake Chad basin. Security Council members who pledged were France with $14 million, Italy with $31 million, Japan with $48 million and Sweden with $31 million. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Kenya on Sunday for talks with leaders on regional issues, his spokesman said Friday, as South Sudan and Somalia face famine. Somalia is facing the threat of a famine while parts of northern South Sudan are already suffering from starvation. People stand near a petrol tanker on fi re following a suicide attack in Maiduguri on March 3. Multiple explosions rocked the outskirts of Nigeria s northeastern city of Maiduguri early Feb 3, 2017, killing three suicide bombers, the emergency service and police said. (AFP) This fi le photo taken on Feb 14, 2006, shows former Haitian presidential candidate Rene Preval during a press conference in Port-Au-Prince. (AFP) Lat/Am Trump critic becomes Brazil FM: Brazil s president has picked as his new foreign minister a man who has sharply criticized US President Donald Trump. President Michel Temer named Sen Aloysio Nunes to the post Thursday to replace Jose Serra. Serra resigned last week for medical reasons. The appointment doesn t require congressional approval. After Trump s victory in November, Nunes went on Twitter to call the real estate mogul the worst of the Republican Party, uncontrollable and exaggerated. Calls to Nunes office seeking comment were not immediately returned. The United States is Brazil s second largest trading partner, after China. Brazil s Ex-Haitian president Preval dies Former Haitian President Rene Preval, 74, the fi rst leader in Haiti s history to win a democratic election, serve a full term and peacefully hand power to a successor, died on Friday after falling unconscious at his home. The cause of death for the two-time president was not made public. His sister, Marie-Claude Calvin, said an autopsy would determine the cause. She said he sounded fi ne the three times she spoke to him on Friday, but that medics at a nearby clinic were unable to save his life after he collapsed. It was too late, he died. All that happened very quickly, Calvin said. President Jovenel Moise described Preval as a dignifi ed son of Haiti, in a statement on Twitter. The United States extended condolences, saying Preval had shepherded his country through tragic times and good times. economy is the largest in Latin America. (AP) Mexican journalist killed: A Mexican journalist was shot and killed Thursday in the country s violent Guerrero state, regional authorities said. I regret to confirm the homicide of journalist Cecilio Pineda, said Roberto Alvarez, a spokesman for the state s security department, on Twitter. The regional prosecutor s office is investigating the crime, he said. The journalist who had directed the regional newspaper La Voz de la Tierra Caliente and collaborated with the national daily El Universal was shot while in a hammock at a car wash in the municipality of Ciudad Altamirano, where he lived, the Guerrero prosecutor s office said in a statement. (AFP) Migration the main issue: The flow of Preval was a central fi gure in Haitian politics from the early nineties through to his second presidency. His legacy will always be tied to the 2010 earthquake that destroyed much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, killing more than 200,000 people and bringing the presidential palace crumbling to the ground. Haiti has been politically turbulent for much of its history since winning independence from France in 1804, punctuated by dictatorships, coups, invasions and natural disasters. Preval, a soft-spoken agronomist, won support from Haiti s poor majority when he fi rst won the presidency in 1996, after a bout of instability that saw his ally, former President Jean- Bertrand Aristide, toppled in a coup, then brought back to power with the help of US troops. (RTRS) migrants to the United States was to dominate talks Thursday between the foreign ministers of Mexico and Central America, Costa Rica s top diplomats said. We will make an analysis of the context affecting the region, focused on the issue of migratory flows, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez told reporters ahead of the gathering north of San Jose. Central America particularly its violence-prone nations of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are the main source of undocumented migrants to the US. The region is also a transit point for migrants from elsewhere. Mexico also provides many migrants, though less than in years past, and is the country that shares the southern border of the United States. New hardline anti-immigration policies by the administration of US President Donald Trump have unsettled the region, but close economic ties mean criticism has been relatively muted. (AFP) Africa Tshisekedi s son named leader: The opposition coalition in Congo has announced that the son of late opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi will become the group s president. The coalition late Thursday named Felix Tshisekedi its head. Etienne Tshisekedi s death in early February came a month after President Joseph Kabila s party and the opposition signed an agreement that called for new elections later this year in which Kabila will not run. Felix The 84-year-old Tshisekedi had founded his opposition party in 1982 and was heavily involved in forming the coalition and pursuing negotiations over the elections. People recently took to the streets in Congo amid concerns over what his death would mean for the agreement. Kabila stayed in power beyond the end of his mandate in because of delayed elections that were meant to be held in November. (AP) Gambia frees nearly 100: Gambian authorities have released 98 prisoners, mostly from the notorious Mile 2 prison, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Friday, as the country seeks to turn a page on the authoritarian era of ousted former president Yahya Jammeh. The release follows the freeing of about 170 prisoners two weeks ago. Gambian President Adama Barrow last month replaced the head of the military, a pillar of his predecessor Jammeh s government, and dismissed several senior military officers. The former head of prisons was arrested. (RTRS) Senegal road crash kills 12: Twelve people were killed and almost 50 injured in western Senegal when a bus crashed into a minibus late Friday after the driver reportedly fell asleep. The accident occurred near Dinguiraye in Kaolack region, and it came after the government recently unveiled reforms to try and crack down on dire road safety. There were 10 dead recorded at the site of the accident, one victim lost their life while being transferred to hospital, and another at the hospital itself, doctor Saliou Tall of the El Hadj Ibrahima Niass Hospital told the official APS news agency. The west African nation is filled with vehicles in poor condition and a lack of training for drivers is common. (AFP) Extremists kill 2 in B. Faso: Jihadists on motorbikes killed two people including a school official early Friday in a village in Burkina Faso s north and then went to other villages demanding that schools close, a provincial official said. The attack in Kourfayl terrified teachers who gathered in the nearby provincial capital for safety, said High Commissioner of Soum province Mohamed Dah. (AP)

INTERNATIONAL 18 World News Roundup A woman looks at a replica of a Fukuiraptor Kitadaniensis dinosaur during an exhibition sponsored by the local government in Tokyo, March 4. (AP) Environment Space Residents lured to sell lands Bangkok s Green Lung under threat BANGKOK, March 4, (AFP): Leaping out from Bangkok s vast concrete sprawl is a kidney-shaped green space, home to hundreds of plant and bird species, and where cars are outnumbered by bicyles. But residents and campaigners fear the unique ecosystem and character of the city s so-called Green Lung is under threat as developers lure locals with lucrative land deals. Bang Krachao is an artificial island formed by a canal and a bend in the meandering Chao Praya river. The area stands apart on Google Maps: a swathe of greenery in an otherwise concrete jungle of trafficchoked streets, towering condos and sprawling factories. While the rest of Bangkok has developed at a dizzying pace in the last five decades -- often with little thought put into sustainable long-term planning -- Bang Krachao remains an oasis of calm. Covering 16 square kilometres (six square miles), its pathways are popular with weekend cyclists and expat daytrippers seeking respite from helter-skelter of Bangkok s streets. But the fight is now on to stop the concrete consuming Bang- King Bhumibol kok s last tropical sanctuary. Bang Krachao s abundant space and proximity to the city centre have caught the eye of investors. Soaring land prices are teasing residents into selling up. I feel bad to sell it but my aunt is ill. She needs the money to take care of her health, Supi Saengta, 62, who has lived in the area her whole life, but is now selling the family s 6400-square-metre plot of land, which could fetch 24 million baht ($685,000). More buildings mean more roads -- a major change in an area where many residents still get around on a network of raised concrete footpaths that snake through the tropical foliage. Waterways Eventually these paths will be knocked down and replaced by big roads which block the waterways, said Jakkaphan Thruadmarakha, an environmental campaigner who was born in the area. We can already see that some of the canals are becoming stagnant and have problems with water drainage, he added, urging future development on the wedge of land to be sustainable. Those battling to keep the Green Lung green have some powerful backers in their corner. Thailand s revered late King Bhumibol Adulyadej is said to have declared his wish for Bang Krachao to be preserved for future generations. His daughter, the popular Princess Sirindhorn, has made several visits to the area. In the wake of Bhumibol s death last October, the current military government announced a plan to safeguard Bang Krachao s wild character. The three-year scheme, which involves the Royal Forestry Department, Kasetsart University and the Thai oil firm PTT, aims to renovate public green spaces and ensure that at least 60 percent of the area remains free from development. The difficulty in a country like Thailand, where land is in short supply and corruption rampant, is developers and powerful businesses have long found ways to circumvent, or simply ignore, environmental protections. If we do nothing, the traditional way of life, with houses in farmland, with mangrove forest surrounding Bang Krachao, will disappear, warns Montathip Sommeechai, a lecturer in Kasetsart University s forestry faculty. She says many of the environmental challenges facing the district have their roots in the changing lifestyles of those who live there. Whereas most residents once made their living from farming, many now just tend to their gardens in their free time, so alternative uses for the land need to be found. Montathip hopes that by encouraging organic agriculture, Bang Krachao could become an urban food bank for the Thai capital. This fi le photo taken on Nov 23, 2016 shows an aerial view of Bang Krachao, the so-called Green Lung of Bangkok. (AFP) Trump Discovery Bannon Trump team divided: President Donald Trump s team is deeply divided over whether the United States should withdraw from the Paris climate accord, ahead of an imminent decision on the issue, The New York Times reported Friday. Senior adviser Steve Bannon is pressing the president to quit the historic agreement reached by 194 countries in December 2015 to fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy and government officials told the newspaper. That would make good on a key campaign promise by climate skeptic Trump. However, the officials added, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a former Exxon- Mobil CEO, and Trump s own influential daughter Ivanka reject that position. They are concerned that quitting the accord, negotiated under former president Barack Obama, would weaken US credibility abroad and hurt ties with major allies. Trump also is reported to be planning to reduce the staff of the Environmental Protection Agency by 20 percent. Trump appointee Scott Pruitt now leads the agency. As Oklahoma s attorney general, Pruitt filed 14 lawsuits against EPA regulations. (AFP) Hearings end for giant telescope: Long-running hearings for whether a giant telescope can be built atop a Hawaii mountain have wrapped up. But it will be a while before a decision is made on a project that has prompted intense protests by those who believe it will desecrate sacred land. Oftentimes emotional testimony concluded Thursday evening after 71 people testified over 44 days on the Big Island. Testifiers included Native Hawaiians who believe the project will harm cultural and religious practices on Mauna Kea and Native Hawaiians who believe it will provide jobs and educational opportunities. The hearings officer will recommend whether the state land board should grant a construction permit for the Thirty Meter Telescope. If there are exceptions filed to the hearings officer s recommendations, the land board will hear arguments before issuing a written decision. We remain hopeful that the state can issue a permit in a timely manner to start construction in April 2018, said Scott Ishikawa, a spokesman for the telescope. This second round of contested-case hearings was necessary after the state Supreme Court invalidated an earlier permit issued by the board. (AP) NASA Mars sat shifts course to avoid collision Radiation shield set for Moon trial HAIFA, Israel, March 4, (Agencies): A vest designed to shield astronauts from deadly solar particles in deep space is set for trials on a lunar mission ready for deployment on any manned mission to Mars, its Israeli developers said. The AstroRad Radiation Shield has been devised by Tel Aviv-based Stem- Rad, which has already produced and marketed a belt to protect rescue workers from harmful gamma ray radiation emitted in nuclear disasters, such as Chernobyl and Fukushima. The vest will protect vital human tissue, particularly stem cells, which could be devastated by solar radiation in deep space or on Mars, whose sparse atmosphere offers no protection, Stem- Rad s CEO Oren Milstein said. US space agency NASA has said it hopes to send astronauts to Mars in the mid-2030s. The vest is made of layers that look like a contoured map and will be tailormade for each astronaut. Non-metallic protective materials will be positioned on each shield to cover the organs of each astronaut. This product will enable human deep space exploration. Our breakthrough has come in creating the architecture of the multi-layered shield to accurately cover the most important organs, Milstein said. StemRad say it has proven the concept in the laboratory and in simulations, but testing will also take place on the Orion spacecraft, a joint project of Lockheed Martin, NASA and the European Space Agency. Orion is set to orbit the Moon unmanned during the debut flight of NASA s heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket, scheduled for late 2018 but it is also assessing the feasibility of flying two astronauts on that City noise, hearing loss tied: Urban noise pollution and hearing loss are closely linked, according to rankings of 50 large cities in both categories released on Friday. High-decibel urban areas such as Guangzhou, New Delhi, Cairo and Istanbul topped the list of cities where hearing was most degraded, researchers reported. Likewise, cities least afflicted by noise pollution including Zurich, Vienna, Oslo and Munich registered the lowest levels of decline in hearing. This statistical link does not necessarily mean the constant din of city life is the main driver of hearing loss, which can also be caused by infections, genetic disorders, premature birth, and even some medicines. The findings are also preliminary, and have yet to be submitted for peer-reviewed publication. But this is a robust result, said Henrik Matthies, managing director of Mimi Hearing Technologies, a German company A handout photo released by Parisot de Bayard on March 1, shows a skull that was found during excavations at Saint-Martin d Heres in 1937, and presumed to be that of the 15th century French knight Pierre Terrais, seigneur de Bayard (known as the Chevalier de Bayard), during the taking of a sample for a DNA test on Feb 9, 2016, in an undisclosed location. Jean-Christophe Parisot de Bayard, a descendant of the Chevalier de Bayard, unveiled on March 2, 2017 the results of a DNA study of the skull, which he says allowed for the identifi cation of the skull as that of his ancestor. (AFP) mission. During the lunar flyby mission, the vest will be strapped to a phantom torso dummy, a device used to monitor radiation absorption. Another phantom will fly unprotected and the two will be analysed after they return to Earth. NASA had no immediate comment on how the test could be affected if the agency decided to put astronauts on Orion. A NASA science satellite orbiting Mars was forced to make a rare evasive maneuver to avoid a collision next week with one of the planet s two small Moons, the US Space Agency said on Thursday. Flight controllers at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, commanded the MAVEN spacecraft, which is studying Mars vanishing atmosphere, to fire up its engine on Tuesday to boost its speed by about 1.3 feet per second (0.4 meters per second). The acceleration was necessary to slightly shift MAVEN s orbit and steer the satellite clear of the Martian Moon Phobos, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a statement. Without the tweak, MAVEN and the small, lumpy Moon would have reached the same point in space within seven seconds of one another next Monday, March 6. In its new orbit, MAVEN will miss Phobos by about 2-1/2 minutes, NASA said. MAVEN is in an egg-shaped orbit that regularly crosses the paths of other science satellites and of Phobos, which circles just 6,000 miles (9,656 kms) above the Martian surface, closer than any other known Moon to a planet in the solar system. At that distance, Phobos whips around Mars three times a day. Europe is set to launch a fourth satellite next Tuesday for its ambitious Copernicus Earth monitoring project to track changing land cover and pollution, launch firm Arianespace said. Dubbed Sentinel-2B, the satellite will blast off on a Vega rocket from Europe s space port in Kourou, French Guiana, at 01:49 GMT, the company said. The Sentinel-SB Earth observation satellite primarily focuses on monitoring land masses and coastal zones around the world, Arianespace said in a statement. Its data will be used to monitor changes in forest cover and pollution in lakes and coastal waters, for example. The orbiter will be positioned directly opposite Sentinel-2A, launched in June 2015. The pair of Sentinel-2 satellites will cover the Earth s entire surface in five days, said Arianespace, which launches satellites for the European Commission and European Space Agency. This high frequency means they will capture brand-new views of the Earth, driving considerable progress in monitoring and predicting changes in vegetation and aquatic pollution. Sentinel-1A was launched in April 2014 and Sentinel-1B two years later. They are equipped with special cloudpenetrating radar with which to monitor Earth s surface by day and by night, regardless of the weather. The twins should spot anything from icebergs and oil slicks to illegal logging. that has amassed data on 200,000 people drawn from a hearing test administered via cellphones. The fact that noise pollution and hearing loss have such a tight correlation points to an intricate relationship, he told AFP. (AFP) 1st artificial mouse embryo: Scientists in Britain have for the first time created a structure that resembles a mouse embryo using a 3D scaffold and two types of stem cells research which deepens understanding of the earliest stages of mammalian development. Publishing their results in the journal Science on Thursday, the team based at Cambridge University said that while the artificial embryo closely resembled the real thing, it would be unlikely to develop further into a healthy mouse foetus. For research purposes, however, the scientists were able to show how the artificial embryo followed the same pattern of development as a normal embryo with the stem cells organising themselves in the same way. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, a professor at Cambridge s department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience who led the work, said the success with mouse cells should pave the way for similar work with human cells, helping scientists overcome a major barrier to human embryo research - a shortage of embryos. Currently, human embryos for research are developed from surplus eggs donated through fertility clinics, but Zernicka-Goetz said it should in future be possible to use the stem cells and scaffold technique to make artificial human embryos for study. (RTRS)

Film Bill and Ross film a gift to audiences everywhere Contemporary Color a one-of-a kind concert movie By Peter Debruge Some documentaries set out to heal the world, while others succeed in making it a better place by the mere fact of their existence. A clear example of the latter, Bill and Turner Ross Contemporary Color is a gift to audiences everywhere, a spectacular kinetic pinwheel of a movie that whisks us away from big issues to celebrate an exceptional creative collaboration between Talking Heads frontman/founder David Byrne and 10 East Coast color guard squads, resulting in a one-of-akind concert movie through which this peculiar American art form a meticulously choreographed mix of flag spinning, weapon tossing, and dance gets a splendid, soul-recharging big-screen treatment. So-called winter guard is a curious discipline to begin with, obscure to some, downright sacred to others, that evolved out of the ancient military tradition by which a regiment presents and protects its flag (or colors ). Today, it is practiced at the high school and college level as large teams of coed dancer-athletes create elaborate maneuvers complete with brandished sabres and rifles to be performed either at football half-time shows or in high-stakes tournaments. Contemporary Color strips away that competitive dimension and focuses on the sport of the arts itself, where each routine consists of two key elements: a piece of music and a highly disciplined group performance. Byrne was introduced to color guard several years back when a high-school team asked to license one of his tracks, and later hatched the unique idea of enlisting a number of his musical friends to create original songs that would serve to inspire 10 teams to create an ambitious color guard show that could eventually be performed live in Brooklyn and Toronto. Result For the most part, the film skips over nearly a year s worth of practice in order to document and share the final result. (Why drum up traditional behind-the-scenes B-roll when one can merely shoot pre-packaged making-of segments off the jumbotrons at the event or better yet, film a silhouetted dancer practicing in his dramatically lit garage?) Between production numbers, the crew ventures into the bleachers or backstage to share interviews with a tuxedo-clad local media reporter, commentary from the likes of NPR emcee Ira Glass, and brief profiles (rendered in the human-interest vein so often seen in Olympic Games coverage) of a few of the musicians and performers. But the main attraction here is the show itself, for which the filmmakers invent 10 different styles, each one custom-tailored to the performance it captures. In light of the three individualistic indie features they had made prior to this, the Ross brothers might seem a strange choice to helm such a project, and yet, their unique sensibility lends itself incredibly well to the task at hand. Over the course of three films small-town-custom portrait 45365, after-dark New Orleans phantasmagoria Tchoupitoulas, and Tex-Mex cross-border embrace Western the duo have pioneered an innovative style of nonfiction collage that s lyrical in form, enriched by carefully observed human behavior, and woven together by music. Contemporary Color may be a commission job, resulting from Byrne s idea that someone really ought to document this stunning hadto-be-there collaboration (which explains both the uncanny backstage access and the crew s ability to put cameras practically anywhere, from the sidelines to right there on stage as the squads lunge and spin around them), but it possesses an artistic identity and autonomy all its own. That has everything to do with the near-magic alchemy between each squad and the artist to whom they ve been assigned (including such legends figures as Nelly Furtado, Ad-Rock, and Byrne himself), which is true even of those saddled with more experimental-sounding artists (a la How to Dress Well s sublime How Could This Have Happened? or tune-yards wacky track, Body Code ). As feats of editing go, what Bill Ross accomplishes here is nothing short of astounding. Composed of footage from four separate shows (but presented as one), the shape-shifting film is constantly evolving and surprising, varying form every few minutes to keep us mesmerized. While there are no prizes in play here or competition to be considered, the most dazzlingly cinematic number is St. Vincent s Everyone You Know Will Go Away, in which Ross layers the footage three or four layers deep, reminiscent of the technique seen in the remarkable U2 3D. Comparisons to Byrne s paradigm-shifting concert film Stop Making Sense are not only obvious but inevitable, and yet as Byrne projects go, this whole undertaking actually seems to share more DNA in common with his book How Music Works. (RTRS) Variety Features SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2017 LOS ANGELES: Hacksaw Ridge producer Brian Oliver and Filmula s Johnny Lin are developing a feature-length version of the dystopian short Rise, which starred the late Anton Yelchin. The five-minute short, directed by David Karlak, takes place in a world where man s attempt to create artificial intelligence has spun wildly out of control, leading to a war between man and machine. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton wrote the script for the short. Oliver and Lin will fully finance and produce the feature film. They obtained the rights through Warner Bros., where the project had been set up initially, in the hopes of developing a franchise. Lin is an executive producer on Tom Cruise s upcoming crime thriller American Made. Oliver received a best picture Oscar nomination as a producer of Black Swan, and also produced Black Mass, A Walk Among the Tombstones, and Everest. He s the founder of Cross Creek and is in post-production on American Made. (RTRS) TEHRAN, Iran: Hundreds of Iranians gathered Friday at Tehran Cinema Museum to celebrate Asghar Farhadi s recent Academy Awards win for best foreign language film. The gathering congratulated Farhadi and his film crew on The Salesman with a standing ovation. In his short speech, Farhadi said the film was not a pre-planned project but, he added, (The Salesman) was not supposed to be made at all. I decided to make the Salesman by chance and out of emotions. He said he his Oscars win was not a merely personal success, but also an award for those who contributed to his achievements. Farhadi thanked those in attendance and appealed to them to support the making of his upcoming film, which is being shot in Spain. (AP) ANKARA: A new film about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit cinema screens on Friday just weeks before a vote that would extend the powers of the country s head of state. Reis ( The Chief ) stars wellknown Turkish actor Reha Beyoglu as Turkey s strongman in his early life. It focuses especially on his childhood in a poor district of Istanbul. A model wears a creation for Issey Miyake s Fall-Winter 2017-2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented on March 3 in Paris. (AP) See Page 21 The biopic, which will also be shown around Europe, has been criticised as propaganda for the April 16 referendum on constitutional changes passed by parliament. Under a new constitution, Turkey would have an executive presidency along the lines of France or the United States, including powers to directly appoint top public officials such as ministers. Film Logan edgier, darker superhero film Jackman slices, dices as Wolverine LOS ANGELES, March 4, (Agencies): After eight movies over 17 years, Hugh Jackman returns this weekend for his final hurrah as Wolverine in Logan, an edgier, darker take on everyone s favorite hairy, metalclawed mutant anti-hero. Jackman, 48, had agreed with director James Mangold that if he was going to reprise his iconic role as the cigar-chomping loner one last time, it should be the first R-rated outing in the X-Men franchise aimed at a more adult audience. Hugh and I didn t want to do it if we couldn t do something very different, Mangold said at a preview in Los Angeles of Twentieth Century Fox s 2017 slate. We both felt like we had made the last movie and we also felt like... there s a slew of comic book themed films, superhero movies whatever you want to call them and I, for one, am feeling kind of an exhaustion watching them, generally. Logan, which takes place more than 50 years after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), sees Wolverine/Logan aging, weary and vulnerable. Sporting an unkempt gray beard, he drinks his days away on the Mexican border, picking up black market drugs to treat the dying Professor X, played for a seventh and also final time by acclaimed British thespian Patrick Stewart. Logan is snapped abruptly out of his torpor when a mysterious woman begs him to protect a young girl a stunning debut by English-Spanish newcomer Dafne Keen, 11 who has powers remarkably like his own and is being pursued by dark forces. Jackman first played Wolverine in 2000 s X-Men, his acting debut in Hollywood, sparking a re-emergence of superhero movies and kicking off a franchise that has so far clocked up $4.4 billion in box office receipts. Director Bryan Singer had considered a number of big names for the part, including Edward Norton, Russell Crowe and Keanu Reeves. He settled on Dougray Scott but the Scottish star had to drop out and Jackman was brought on board at the last minute. Slipped Since then, the Australian actor has slipped into Wolverine s skin in X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand, before fleshing out the character s back Yelchin story in the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine. There was a cameo in X-Men: First Class and starring roles in The Wolverine, and X-Men: Days of Future Past before another brief appearance in X- Men: Apocalypse. The installments have ranged wildly in quality, with Days of Future Past receiving almost universally glowing reviews while Origins was hammered by the critics. Jackman, however, has been praised for consistently finding Logan s humanity beneath the gruff, scarred exterior. More of a blood-spattered road movie than a traditional superhero film, the latest installment earned its R rating mainly because of the unrelenting, visceral violence which plays out from the opening scene. It is expected to take $65 million over the weekend to top the domestic box office and $170 million worldwide. Filmed in the brutal summer heat of Louisiana and New Mexico, Logan was heavily influenced by Shane, the 1953 story of a weary cowboy drawn back into violence after trying to settle down with a homestead family. It s a movie about comic book characters but Westerns were made for adults, gangster pictures were made for adults. There s no reason that this genre can t be made, and has been in some cases in the past, for adults, said Mangold, 53. Deadpool was one such R-rated comic book film, which raked in nearly $800 million last year. It starred Ryan Reynolds as a fast-talking, crass mercenary who acquires accelerated healing powers a character he played in Origins. Jackman, a versatile Golden Globe and Tony Awardwinning performer as comfortable in stage musicals as blockbusters, has long been open about the fact that Logan would be his last Wolverine movie. He s a warrior. He s billed as a weapon, a killing machine, really. But as we say in the movie it s a quote from Shane there s no living with a killing. There s a cost to violence, Jackman told journalists at a screening in New York. The movie s got something to say and I also think we got to the real bottom of this character and who he is. Farhadi Child actor Batuhan Isik Gurel plays Erdogan as a boy with brief appearances by Turkish actress Ozlem Balci as his wife Emine in the first ever feature film about Turkey s leader. (AFP) NEW YORK: Jonas Kaufmann has canceled at the Metropolitan Opera yet again, this time nearly a Also: LOS ANGELES: Hugh Jackman s Logan looks to tally as much as $74 million during its opening weekend in North America, early estimates showed Friday. Fox s R-rated fantasy-actioner looked to wind up Friday which would include a powerful $9.5 million in Thursday night previews with around $28 million at 4,071 sites. One estimate placed Logan in the $80 million range for the weekend. Earlier this week, Fox has been predicting an opening in the mid-$60 million range. Either way, it should top the $53 million launch for Lego Batman, the biggest debut of 2017 so far. Logan follows a battle-weary Wolverine hiding out with Patrick Stewart s Professor X in rural Texas, where they re tasked with protecting mysterious young mutant, played by Dafne Keen. Logan cost $97 million to produce, and is the widest domestic opening ever for an R-rated film. Critics are showing Logan plenty of affection with a sterling 94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes since its Feb. 17 premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Jackman declared that Logan is his final turn as Wolverine the powerful mutant character who says little and relies on adamantium claws. He first portrayed Wolverine in the first X-Men movie in 2000. The film, directed by James Mangold, is also launching in many major international markets including China, the UK, Germany, Australia and South Korea. The second weekend of Blumhouse-Universal s horror-thriller Get Out should lead the rest of the pack in the $19 million range at 2,869 locations after opening last weekend with a surprisingly strong $33.3 million. Directed by Jordan Peele and starring Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out will wind up the weekend with $69 million in its first 10 days. Lionsgate s The Shack, a faith-based film about a man whose beliefs are thrown into question after a family tragedy, is heading for about $17 million well above forecasts that were in the $10 million to $12 million range at 2,888 locations. Octavia Spencer and Sam Worthington star in The Shack, which has employed word-of-mouth screenings for influencers, pastors, and bishops, as well as promotions on Christian Broadcasting Network and Trinity Broadcasting Network. year in advance. Met General Manager Peter Gelb said Friday that Kaufmann s agent, Alan Green, told the company the 47-year-old German tenor will be unable to attend rehearsals and some of the early performances of the new production of Puccini s Tosca, which opens on New Year s Eve. Gelb said he received an email from Green attributing the decision to his personal life and changes. Vittorio Grigolo will make his role debut as Cavaradossi, taking over Kaufmann s scheduled appearances through Jan 27. Gelb said he asked Grigolo about a year ago if he would be able to replace Kaufmann because I did not have 100 percent faith that Jonas would be able to do it. (AP)

NEWS/FEATURES 20 People & Places Music Rapper disses Minaj Ed Sheeran shows vast talent in Divide By Mark Kennedy d Sheeran, Divide (Atlantic) E Don t believe the title of Ed Sheeran s new album. He doesn t want to divide. His math this time is all about compiling, accumulating. On Divide, the British singer-songwriter shoots out a dozen, vastly different songs that showcase his tremendous musical ability, from misty ballads to hip-hop. Each one is calculated to find a happy fan somewhere. If you were looking for a consistent sound, move along. Sheeran s third full-length album is a bit like the singer himself: in flux. He s only 26 yet nostalgic for the days of first kisses. He s in love, but misses his exes. He combines cynicism, idealism and beguiling insecurity. I beg you don t be disappointed with the man I ve become, he sings in the terrific opening track Eraser, a hard-strumming meditation on Sheeran fame akin to Eminem s Lose Yourself. He mentions in two different songs that he has no college degree and calls himself just a boy with a one-man show. The album has already produced big hits, including the foot-stomping U2-like rocker Castle on the Hill that s destined for arena singalongs, and the slinky, spare Shape of You, bound for every dance floor. But there are missteps, such as Perfect, with its swelling orchestra and sincerity, which seems written for a Disney movie. And the bluesy and overwrought Dive sounds like a John Mayer reject (Better ballads are How Would You Feel (Paean) and Happier. ) Then there are the experiments, like Galway Girl, an audacious mix of Celtic fiddle and rap which just skirts the edge of parody. What Do I Know? a rare and ginger foray into politics comes off wishywashy ( We could change this whole world with a piano. ) Heartbroken Sheeran is best when he s heartbroken and bitter and he s gloriously both on New Man, a pop takedown of an ex-lover s gym-sculpted new man. Later, when Sheeran s voice breaks in Supermarket Flowers, a lovely farewell to a grandparent, it s impossible not to be moved. The CD continues his embrace of mathematical titles previous albums include 2014 s X and 2011 s +. The new one is certain to add listeners, subtract a few weary of his inconsistency, but definitely multiply his bank account. However you divide it, Sheeran is a special talent. Ed Sheeran has spoken of not wanting to be defined by Thinking Out Loud, his 2014 love song whose viral success made him one of the world s elite pop stars overnight. His strategy to beat Thinking Out Loud, it turns out, works two ways writing even more ballads in hopes of outdoing his mega-hit, and also branching out musically in startling new directions. The British songwriter on Friday put out his third album that is forecast to be one of the 2017 s top-selling releases Divide, which, like Sheeran s other works, is named after a mathematical symbol. In the album s most unexpected turn, Sheeran sets his guitar pop to Afrobeat rhythms in a collaboration with the Ghanaian-British artist Fuse ODG on Bibia Be Ye Ye. Fuse ODG wrote on Facebook that Sheeran worked on the song with him in Ghana and that the chorus means all will be well in the Twi language. Remy Ma has geared up for round two with Nicki Minaj. Almost a week after releasing the hostile Shether dissing Minaj, Ma debuted Another One on New York City radio station Hot 97 on Thursday. Unlike Shether, Another One is more upbeat and features audio of Mariah Carey at the top of the song. Carey and Minaj feuded as hosts on American Idol. Minaj has yet to respond to Ma s diss tracks. Some fans online posted that Ma s second song was overkill and that she went too far. Ma s Shether earned praise after its release, and the song found success on the itunes charts. The track features Ma rapping over Nas Ether, his infamous 2001 song dissing Jay Z. On Shether, she says Minaj uses a ghostwriter for her songs and also attacks her appearance. In an interview on The Wendy Williams Show on Friday, Ma said she didn t mind Minaj s subliminal raps that dissed her, but grew angry after she was told Minaj was trying to hurt her career in other ways. It was the behind-the-scene things that you people will never know about, you know, as far as trying to keep me off of red carpets, and trying to make sure awards don t go to me or she s not going to be in attendance. Or trying to get people to make bad reports about my album sales or just anything that I m doing to make me look less and make her look better, Ma said. And I have a problem when you re trying to stop my bag (my money), when you re trying to stop me from taking care of my children, now I have a problem with that. A Cuban singer and music producer has filed a plagiarism lawsuit against pop stars Shakira and Carlos Vives for allegedly copying his work in the Colombian duo s award-winning music hit La Bicicleta. Hit Livan Rafael Castellanos, also known as Livam, said he wants a court to decide whether parts of his 1997 song Yo te quiero tanto were plagiarized in the vallenato-style hit that won two of the three biggest Grammy Latino awards in 2016, song and record of the year. I have nothing against Shakira, Vives or anybody else, he told The Associated Press. It s the law that needs to decide whether changing a song s key is enough to make it different. The lyrics in Livam s original chorus are I love you, I love you so much while Vives and Shakira sing I m dreaming and I love you so much with a rhythm and melody that the musician argues are similar. His complaint notes that both songs use accordions. Livam, who works in Madrid as a composer and producer, said his 3 year-old daughter identified her dad s melody in La Bicicleta when the family heard the hit coming from a radio during a beach holiday last summer. (Agencies) This image released by Bleecker Street shows Amanda Seyfried (from left), Shirley MacLaine and Ann s Jewel Lee in a scene from The Last Word. (AP) This cover image released by Atlantic Records shows, Divide, the latest release by Ed Sheeran. (AP) Bieber Variety Gomez LOS ANGELES: Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Meghan Trainor, Kelsea Ballerini, and DNCE lead the nominations for the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards. Bieber nabbed the most nods with five (including two as a featured artist), while Gomez (two as featured), Trainor, Ballerini, and DNCE tied for runner-up with four. The announcement was made on Friday during a live stream hosted by Radio Disney s Alli Simpson and Morgan Tompkins on Radio Disney s Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Livel.ly accounts, as well as the Radio Disney app. The family-oriented awards show features major categories such as best group, best new artist, and song of the year. Several new categories were introduced his year, including #trending - favorite social media star, which recognizes the biggest names in digital entertainment, and when the beat drops! - best dance track, which celebrates EDM. (RTRS) LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Natalie Portman has given birth to a girl, her representative said on Friday. It is the second child for the 35-year-old Oscar-winning actress and her husband, French choreographer Benjamin Millepied, six years after the birth of their son Aleph. Natalie Portman and her husband Benjamin Millepied welcomed a baby girl, Amalia Millepied, on February 22. Mother and baby are happy and healthy, her representative said in a statement circulated to US media. Portman attended the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards in January but skipped Sunday s Oscars, where she was nominated for best actress for her performance in Jackie, about the late US First Lady Jackie Kennedy. (AFP) NEW YORK: With his raspy voice and sex appeal, Rod Stewart has rarely been considered controversial. But after an unlikely online row, the pop star has apologized for a video that some saw as emulating an Islamic State beheading. The singer of Some Guys Have All the Luck and Da Ya Think I m Sexy? appeared in a video posted by his wife in which he mockingly pretended to behead a kneeling friend on the beach, evoking for some the grainy but grisly propaganda footage of the extremists. Confounding matters for some online observers, Stewart was visiting the Middle East and his wife, model Penny Film Docus on Houston, Serpico headed to Tribeca Maclaine sets record straight MALIBU, Calif, March 4, (AP): Shirley MacLaine is putting something together about her life for the first time. Tucked away in the corner of a shaded patio at a sea view restaurant in Malibu, MacLaine, now 82, is thinking about the onetime expectations of women of her generation. I asked my own mother once, What are we supposed to be? MacLaine says. She said, You re supposed to have nice hair and nice clothes and look pretty. She really said that to me. MacLaine defied those modest prospects at every turn. The gamine, natural beauty became a movie star when the popular look was lacquered glamour. She sued a studio when she knew she d been wronged professionally. She demanded the best of everyone she worked with, sometimes leading to less-than-effusive assessments from co-stars. And she has continued to remain relevant in the youth-obsessed industry at every stage of her career. As she matured, so did her characters. She doesn t attribute it to ambition, however, but to dance. Her mother famously enrolled her in dance classes at age 3 to strengthen her weak ankles. It was there that MacLaine fell in love, she says, with discipline, music, teamwork, pain, balance and strength. If you can get through a ballet class every day of your life when you start at 3... I m just putting this together as a matter of fact... If you can do that starting at 3, then you are confident, she says. I wasn t like the other girls who were out there trying to be pleasing. I was in class trying to be strong and survive. Not unlike MacLaine and her journey, the character she plays in her new movie The Last Word, now in theaters, is a woman (Harriet) who also rose Lancaster, had put pictures of herself on Instagram in a veil as she visited a mosque. (AFP) above societal gender constraints to become successful in business. Now in her 80s, and lonely, Harriet is thinking about her legacy and impact on the world and hires a local obituary writer (Amanda Seyfried) to write hers. I love playing bitches, MacLaine says with a smirk. I love the whole idea of being so impossible that it s funny. Scope MacLaine doesn t like to reflect on the scope of her career, because, she says, I think I m going to live a long time. Yet she ll tell stories for days about her films in the studio system and the icons she s worked with. She smiles proudly recalling how she taught Audrey Hepburn how to swear and how Hepburn, in turn, taught her how to dress ( sort of ). She remembers getting a call from Paramount production head Don Hartman scolding her for gaining weight during the production of The Trouble With Harry because of all the meals she was eating with Alfred Hitchcock. Look, I wasn t tall, thin, blonde, ethereal, and all that stuff that was essential for men to jump on. Hitch wasn t interested in me, but, he was interested in me as a food partner. So, he insisted I have every meal with him. I think I gained 20 pounds, MacLaine says. I was just out of the chorus; I hadn t had a full meal in years! The only director she s ever had a problem with was Billy Wilder because, he had a problem with women. And she was horrified that he wrote her character in The Apartment, Fran, after observing her learning how to play gin with Dean and Frank and the Rat Pack crew. He terrified Marilyn. That s why she was always late, MacLaine says. He was Austrian and he wanted everything exactly his way. LONDON: American actress Jane Fonda revealed she has been raped and was sexually abused as a child, in an interview with British magazine The Edit. Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (center), the winner of best foreign language fi lm at 89th Academy Awards, his wife Parisa Bakhtavar (second left), his daughter Sarina (second right), actress Fatemeh Motamed Arya (left), and head of Iran s cinema department Hojjatollah Ayoubi, listen to Iranian national anthem at the start of a celebration for Farhadi at Iran s cinema museum in Tehran, Iran on March 3. (AP) The actress much prefers the handsoff style of independent films like the The Last Word. She has also found that the indie world is the only place where she can find character-driven films. MacLaine will read any script that comes her way but studio tent-pole franchises hold no interest for her. She also wants to make films that service the senior community. I love getting older, I truly do, she says. I like the wisdom of it, the complications of it. I do not like the invisibility. I notice with other people, who are not particularly famous, when they are old and no one notices they re there. That s awful. I want to do a movie about that. I ve got one I m thinking of. MacLaine is grateful for her health she eats whatever she wants, she says, and gave up smoking last year but thinks a lot of it has to do with her never having been a big drinker or doing drugs. Also: NEW YORK: Documentaries about Whitney Houston, Gilbert Gottfried, Elian Gonzalez and Frank Serpico will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. The New York festival announced 82 of the 98 features that will play in this year s slightly slimmed-down slate. Among the entries are Gilbert, Neil Berkeley s documentary about the comedian; Elian, the Alex Gibney-produced documentary about the famous Cuban boy; Frank Serpico, Antonino D Ambrosio s film about the 1970s New York police officer; and the Houston documentary Whitney: Can I Be Me. Other films include LA 92, about the Rodney King riots, and an investigation into the handling of rape kits in I Am Evidence. I ve been raped, I ve been sexually abused as a child and I ve been fired because I wouldn t sleep with my boss, and I always thought it was my fault, the 79-year-old said. The two-time Oscar winner, who is known for her political activism, made the comments in an interview marking International Women s Day on March 8. I know young girls who ve been raped and didn t even know it was rape. They think, It must have been because I said no the wrong way, she said. One of the great things the women s movement has done is to make us realise that (rape and abuse is) not our fault. We were violated and it s not right. The magazine, which is owned by the online luxury shopping platform Net-A- Porter, did not mention who was responsible for the abuse. (AFP) DETROIT: Singer Trey Songz has declined to accept an offer that would have reduced a felony assault charge stemming from a concert appearance in Detroit to a misdemeanor. The Detroit Free Press reports that Songz, whose real name is Tremaine Neverson, was arraigned via video Friday in Wayne County Circuit Court from Los Angeles. The newspaper reports that the plea offer remains open. It also would place the 32-year-old Songz on two years probation as part of his sentencing. (AP)

NEWS/FEATURES 21 Issey Miyake Lutz Huelle Fashion PARIS: Christian Dior sang the blues to its star-studded front row at Paris Fashion Week on Friday in Maria Grazia Chiuri s sophomore ready-to-wear show that celebrated all things navy. Attendees Kate Moss, Rosamund Pike, Uma Thurman, Sienna Miller and a tardy Rihanna, ensured that Dior s was the most attention-grabbing on the fourth day of fall-winter 2017 collections. But Issey Miyake s show, which saw the designer stake out the Arctic s Aurora Borealis for inspiration, was surely the most daring. Some highlights from the ongoing shows: Dior Among all the colors, navy blue is the only one which can ever compete with black, it has all the same qualities, Christian Dior wrote in The Little Dictionary of Fashion. Chiuri delved into the 1949 Dior archives with this in mind to produce a wearable display that reinterpreted the famed Chevrier look in jackets, skirts, bombers and capes all in various tones of blue. There was much nostalgia to the retro gowns, which often were anklelength, gathered at the waist and topped with the classic post-war beret rendered in leather. Ample hoods that defined the aesthetic were inspired by the tunics of pastors. But the bygone days were shot with the contemporary. The hoods came across streetwise and sporty. Luxury velvet and taffeta, popular in Monsieur Dior s era, meanwhile were fashioned in funky sheens and modern cosmic embroideries. And humble denim, which interspersed the haute-fashion nostalgia, reinforced the contradiction of high-versuslow. (Blue, the program notes highlighted, was the color of royalty and the working man.) There were some standout looks. A severe, geometric shawl in navy-black the piece de resistance looked like a contemporary reworking of a 1940 s glamour puss stole. But the over use of hoods was a visual drag on many of collection s more delicate shapes. Sienna Miller Miller, who s moved away from her haute-boho style in recent years, seems to have reverted back to her once-signature look thanks to Chiuri. The fashion-conscious actress hit Dior s Rodin Museum show in a floral high-necked gown from the house s spring-summer collection, and twinned it with an oversize black boho coat with intricate embroidered flowers. It s beautiful. This is her last collection obviously, there s only one and I Manish Arora Above and below: Models display creations by Yohji Yamamoto, Andrew GN, Issey Miyake, Lutz Huelle, Manish Arora, Paco Rabanne and Vanessa Seward during the Women s Fall/Winter 2017-2018 ready-to-wear collection Fashion Show in Paris on March 3. (AP/ AFP) Paco Rabanne love it, Miller said of the garment. The actress didn t show an ounce of fatigue despite having jetting over from Prague hours earlier, where she wrapped her latest film The Catcher Was a Spy with Paul Rudd. It s a true story about a major league baseball player, Moe Berg, who also worked for the Office of Strategic Services. Issey Miyake She won an Oscar nomination in 2015 for her dark role in the thriller Gone Girl. And after a calmer period, this year looks like Rosamund Pike is back and Yohji Yamamoto busier than ever with several films in the pipeline. Both movies are heavy and gritty, genres Pike seems to relish. Andrew GN It s about letting out the crazy. Someone s got to let you do it sooner or later. I channel the dark side easily, she said. Speaking about fashion, Pike was somewhat lighter. This is the first time I ve been to a Maria Grazia show, so I m very excited. Dior s just elegant, fun, and wearable and it s the definition of femininity for me. Issey Miyake The grand salon of Paris gilded Hotel de Ville was floodlit in changing hues from the deepest blue to the Yohji Yamamoto PARIS Paco Rabanne Andrew GN brightest yellow. This season, the designs of Issey Miyake were inspired by the vivid lights of the Aurora Borealis. The spectacle had guests snapping furiously with their cameras to capture the reflections from the venue s gold leaf reliefs. The Aurora, also known as the Northern Lights, is a natural phenomenon of light seen in the Arctic region and other high latitude when magnetic particles create undulating ribbons of light because of solar wind. The show s first looks, loose and layered, were made with a wool that combined five different colors in a single thread. Like the Aurora, the clothes changed color depending on the angle from Vanessa Seward which they were viewed turquoise, teal and pale green. Elsewhere, the undulating shapes of light were evoked in the silhouette of textured wraparound jackets. PARIS: Paris Fashion Week shows tend to be held at the city s most opulent addresses, grand chandeliered salons dripping with marble and gilt. But new brand Sirloin gave tradition the bum s rush by presenting its debut collection this weekend in one of the French capital s most well appointed toilets. Designers Mao Usami and Alve Lagercrantz said their odd choice of venue was meant to play tribute to a place that allows the trivial, silly yet brilliant questions and ideas in life flow free. They said it was time to bring the smallest room out of the closet as models opened the mahogany cubicle doors of the historic Madeleine conveniences to reveal their autumn winter collection. (Agencies)

NEWS/FEATURES 22 People & Places Obits Miriam Colon dead Prize winning author Paula Fox dies at 93 NEW YORK, March 4, (Agencies): Paula Fox, a prize-winning author who created high art out of imagined chaos in such novels as Poor George and Desperate Characters and out of the real-life upheavals in her memoir Borrowed Finery, has died at age 93. Her daughter, Linda Carroll, told The Associated Press that Fox died Wednesday at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. She had been in failing health. Abandoned as a girl by her parents, a single mother before age 20, Fox used the most finely crafted prose to write again and again about breakdown and disruption, what happens under the surface of things. In Poor George, her debut novel, Fox told of a bored school teacher and the teen vagrant who upends his life. Desperate Characters, her most highly regarded work of fiction, is a portrait of New York City s civic and domestic decline in the 1960s, a plague symbolized by the bite of a stray cat. It seems to me that in life, behind all these names and things and people and forces, there s a dark energy, Fox told The Associated Press in 2011. Her work was out of print Fox for years, but she enjoyed a late-life revival thanks to the admiration of such younger authors as Jonathan Franzen, David Foster Wallace and Jonathan Lethem. She lived for decades in Brooklyn and was a revered figure in the New York City borough s thriving literary community. Her other books included the novels A Servant s Tale, The Western Coast and a memoir about living in Europe after World War II, The Coldest Winter. Fox also wrote more than a dozen children s books, including The Slave Dancer, winner of the Newbery medal in 1974. Borrowed Finery, published in 2001, was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle award. Fiction She might have written more novels, but a head injury sustained from a mugging in Jerusalem in the 1990s left her unable to write long fiction. She instead began working on memoirs and shorter pieces. Born in New York City in 1923, Fox was the daughter of novelist-screenwriter Paul Fox and fellow screenwriter Elsie Fox. Paula Fox remembered her father as a drunk given to interminable, stumbling descriptions of the ways in which he and fellow writers tried to elude domesticity. Her mother was a sociopath who kicked her out of the house as a young girl. Fox lived everywhere from a plantation in Cuba to a boarding school in Montreal. My life was incoherent to me, Fox wrote in Borrowed Finery. I felt it quivering, spitting out broken teeth. If only she could have gathered all the people she met and placed them in a single room. Living in Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s, she danced with John Wayne and encountered John Barrymore, yellowing with age like the ivory keys of a very old piano. Marlon Brando was a friend and Courtney Love is her granddaughter, born to the woman Carroll, whom a 19-year-old Fox gave up for adoption. Her brotherin-law, Clement Greenberg, was among the 20th century s most influential art critics. Although a devoted reader since childhood, she didn t publish until past 40. She worked for years as a teacher and as a tutor for troubled children and was married briefly for a second time, to Richard Sigerson, with whom she had two sons. She finally settled down with her third husband, translator and Commentary editor Martin Greenberg, whom she met after he had rejected a story she submitted for the magazine. In The Coldest Winter, Fox wrote that living abroad had liberated her mind, showing me something other than myself. Her early fiction included the stories Lord Randall and The Living, narrated in colloquial style by black characters and published in the mid-1960s by Negro Digest. In The Slave Dancer, a young boy is captured and forced on to a slave ship. I ve never been a slave. I ve never been black. I was never on a ship. But I have a certain narrow understanding of certain kinds of characters, and of evil and kindness and goodness and tenderness, Fox told the AP. But by the 1990s her work was forgotten by all but her most determined admirers one of them was Franzen. The future author of Freedom and The Corrections came upon Desperate Characters while at the Yaddo writers colony in 1991. In a Harper s magazine essay about American fiction, he called Desperate Characters an overlooked masterpiece. Author Tom Bissell, then a paperback editor at W.W. Norton, read the essay and wondered why he hadn t heard of the novel. He looked in stores, without luck, and finally got in touch with Fox, who sent him one of her copies. Norton has since reissued all of Fox s adult novels, with introductory essays by Franzen and others. I d never heard of Paula Fox, except as an author of children s books, before an editor pushed Desperate Characters at me three years ago. Three years later she s a favorite, and an influence on my own work, Lethem wrote in his introduction to Poor George, re-published in 2001. Miriam Colon, a pioneering actress in US Latino New York theater who starred in films alongside Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, died Friday. Her husband, Fred Valle, told The Associated Press that Colon died early Friday in a New York hospital because of complications from a pulmonary infection. She was 80 years old. Colon whose image appeared on posters throughout the American Southwest for her role in the 2013 movie adaptation of quintessential Chicano novel Bless Me, Ultima had been active as late as 2015 with a cameo appearance on the AMC-TV series Better Call Saul. Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Colon participated in the theater during her school years and was allowed to audit classes in the drama department at the University of Puerto Rico before she graduated from high school She came to New York City in the 1950s to study at the Actors Studio and later moved to Los Angeles where she earned small roles in various television shows and films, Valle said. Her roles included appearances in One-Eyed Jacks with Brando and in The Outsider with Tony Curtis. In 1967, she founded the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in New York, where she helped cultivate young Latino actors and writers and staged work that would later be read in Latino Studies classes across the Americas. Singer Jean-Philip Grobler of St Lucia performs at The 2017 Armory Party at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. (AFP) In this Feb 23, 2017 photo, Grammy Award-winning artist Alison Krauss poses for a portrait in New York to promote her solo album Windy City. (AP) Watson Variety Blunt LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles police are investigating after three women reported being sexually assaulted by actor Danny Masterson in the early 2000s, but the actor denies the allegations, which he says are motivated by the producer of an anti-scientology television series. The probe was launched after three women came forward and reported they were sexually assaulted by Masterson in the early 2000s, Officer Drake Madison, a Los Angeles police spokesman, said Friday. He declined to provide any further details, citing the ongoing investigation. The 40-year-old actor is best known for his role as Steven Hyde on That 70s Show, which aired from 1998 until 2006. He s currently starring in a Netflix series called The Ranch. A representative for Masterson, who has not charged with a crime, denied the allegations in a statement Friday. The representative said one of the accusers was Masterson s longtime girlfriend, who continued to date him after the alleged incident. (AP) LOS ANGELES: How would you like to be Emma Watson s adult nanny? A woman on the television show Ellen thought she was interviewing for the job, but the TV show host and the Harry Potter actress were actually playing a prank. Ellen DeGeneres was inside her studio telling Watson, who appeared to be in a dressing room somewhere, what to say. At one point, DeGeneres says and Watson, who stars in the remake of Beauty and the Beast repeats: I don t need you to help me potty drawing laughter and confusion from the woman. After a few more minutes of chicanery, Watson and DeGeneres finally reveal the prank to the befuddled but relieved woman. (AP) LOS ANGELES: Mary Poppins fans better get ready to gulp down those spoonfuls of sugar, because Disney has released a first look photo of Emily Blunt as the beloved all-flying, all-singing nanny in Mary Poppins Returns. The photo shows Poppins from behind on a leafy London street, complete with Music Road trips with son shape her new album Krauss emerges with Windy City NEW YORK, March 4, (Agencies): Alison Krauss has a surprising rule about road trips: The driver does not command the stereo. Whenever I have young people in the car, they re always in control of the music, said Krauss, who has more Grammy Awards than any other woman. It s like sharing yourself. That rule she learned from her very patient father, who once let her listen to the LP Cold on the Shoulder by Tony Rice for 13 hours straight during a road trip when she was a dreamy preteen staring out the window. He never said a word about it. He never complained, she said. He knew something was going on. There was no judgment. There was no judgment passed on that I shouldn t have been loving something that much. Krauss has passed that open-minded lesson to the next generation. Her son, Sam, has inherited her good ear and has over the years introduced her to such bands as Snow Patrol and Phoenix. As soon as he showed up, he was in charge of the music in the car, she said, laughing. When we deny what young people are listening to, we re really denying a big part of them. There s something about it that s speaking to them. Krauss remerges this month with Windy City, her first solo album since 1999, a collection of 10 classic country covers that was shaped not surprisingly by road trips with her son at night through Nashville, Tennessee. After she and songwriter-producer Buddy Cannon had whittled down the final list to songs by such artists as Willie Nelson, Bill Monroe, Brenda Lee and the Osborne Brothers, Krauss and 17-year-old Sam drove around listening to the originals. He goes, Oh, boy. Mom, I don t think you better touch those Brenda Lee songs. I was like, Yeah, you think? He goes, Whoa. Those are so good, said Krauss, 45, laughing. I m like, Thank you, honey. Krauss thankfully overruled him, recording both Lee s Losing You and All Alone Am I for the new album, which critics have warmly embraced. Entertainment Weekly said the CD enforces her legacy as one of American music s standout talents, while The Associated Press only quibble was the album was too short. Impressed Cannon came away deeply impressed by Krauss skill as one of country s best interpreters. I ve worked with other people who are real critical about the songs that they pick, but she s different. She s just a different animal, he said. I can t say I ve worked with anybody who, from my perception, analyzes the song as much as she does. The album s release was delayed as Krauss dealt with dysphonia, a condition in which stress makes her throat muscles close. It s like you re singing out of the end of a straw, she said. During one attack before a show, she called her vocal coach, who urged her to go outside and basically have a heated, one-sided conversation. I said, This is super-weird, but OK because I was desperate. She ended up screaming at a tree. Some of the songs for the album she chose have deep resonance the title track was the first song she heard the Cox Family sing when she met them and some were relatively new to her, like Roger Miller s River in the Rain from the musical Big River. It has to be real. I have to see the story and I have to feel like it s me telling the story, she said. The only thing that we talked about was I said, hat, stylish blue and purple coat, and of course the mixed-patterned handbag. All that s missing appears to Mary s broomstick alternative, her signature parrottopped black umbrella. Although as fans of the super-nanny know, the umbrella could well be stashed away in her bottomless bag which in the This fi le photo taken on Sept 11, 2016 shows (from left) actor Tahar Rahim, fi lmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa and actress Constance Rousseau attending the Daguerrotype premiere during the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival at Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto. Kiyoshi Kurosawa s Le Secret de la chambre noire will be released on March 8, 2017. (AFP) I d like to do songs that are older than me. And then, of course, we realized how old I was. One of the tunes Dream of Me had a happy story. As she and Cannon explored options, she told him there was a song she always wanted to do. I just said, It s called Dream of Me. In my mind, I was singing the chorus and I started to look for it and he goes, Dream of Me? Well, I wrote that. (Cannon and his daughter sing harmony on the cover) Lyrically, there s also been a change, an embrace of being less abstract: The stuff that I usually sing leaves a lot of room for somebody to make it their own and this is a little more straight-forward, she said. All 10 songs in some way explore broken hearts and loss the titles alone include It s Goodbye and So Long to You, I Never Cared for You, and Poison Love but she and Cannon didn t explicitly seek them out or want to create a tearful album. Also: NEW YORK: Distraught by the treatment of Muslims in Donald Trump s America, indie rocker Ben Lee felt he could seize on his own skills to encourage understanding. The former frontman of the group Noise Addict has recorded an album of songs about Islam and, hoping for the greatest impact, geared them toward children. With chipper arrangements that would be at home in kindergarten classrooms, Ben Lee Sings Songs About Islam for the Whole Family explains the religion s core beliefs with references to the Holy Quran. Lee, an Australian who lives in Los Angeles, said he knew the power of songs through his career and also by observing his seven-year-old daughter. original stored a large plant and an ornate lamp among other eclectic items. The role was originated by Julie Andrews. (RTRS) CRÉTEIL, France: Star trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf is being investigated by French police for kissing a 14-year-old girl while she was his intern, a justice official said Friday. The incident dates from 2013 when the Franco-Lebanese musician, who has played with Sting and Elvis Costello, is alleged to have kissed the girl at the end of her internship. Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the inquiry centres on sexual interference, which is different from sexual assault because it involves the consent of the minor. Maalouf, now 36, is alleged to have sent the secondary school student a text message asking her to send him a picture of herself naked, French daily the Parisien reported. (AFP) LOS ANGELES: The veteran US radio personality Elvis Duran got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday surrounded by family and friends as well as a surprise guest President Donald Trump s son Eric. The host of Elvis Duran and the Morning Show on New York s Z100 station, currently rated the country s most-listened to Top 40 morning show and syndicated across the country, got the 2,603rd star across the street from the iconic Capital Records building in Tinseltown. (AFP)

23 Algeria s Orwell urges writers to fight fundamentalism Moroccan designer s embroidery school revives fading art SALE, Morocco, March 4, (Agencies): It is a school of last chances, both for its students and for the fading art that they are learning, stitch by stitch. Each of the 13 young Moroccans now studying under fashion designer Fadila El Gadi had dropped out of school, whether through boredom or academic troubles. But now they willingly spend nine hours a day in this free program, learning the traditional art of Moroccan embroidery as well as the traditional academic subjects they once left behind. Six girls and seven boys, ranging in age from 13 to 18, start the day at 7:00 am, taking turns making breakfast for the group. The day ends at 4:00 pm. The training is expected to last two years, at the end of which the hope is full-time work. Bent over an embroidery frame, 18-year-old Nadia is among El Gadi s most gifted students and is already making a little money outside class. I m comfortable in this field. I would love to be able to do it professionally like Fadila, she said. El Gadi launched the school in her hometown of Sale, a city neighboring the capital, Rabat, because I haven t forgotten where I came from. Embroidery made El Gadi s career and she hopes the same will happen with the children at her school. Sandra Charteau, a professional embroiderer, comes twice a week to teach although Charteau cannot speak Moroccan Arabic, the children are learning French and eventually English as part of their lesson plan. El Gadi hopes the children will ultimately be able to establish themselves, either as artisans or in haute couture. Demand is high for craftsmen. I myself am always looking for trained staff for my own studio, she said. If we managed to have funding so they could each have their own little workshops, that would be really amazing. Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, whose novel 2084 depicted a dystopian state governed by religious law, says writers and artists need to join the fight against Islamic extremism. Literature and the arts are not playing a big role in this struggle against barbarism, he said. In an interview with AFP, the 67-year-old elder statesman of Algerian letters urged writers to use their freedom of speech and do more to fight fundamentalism. An avowed atheist, Sansal has long been a free thinker, criticising both religious fundamentalists and Algeria s government. He has continued to live in Algeria despite being personally threatened. The former high-ranking official and economics graduate began his literary career with a 1999 novel, The Oath of the Barbarians, describing the rise of fundamentalists in Algeria. The Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) had been poised to win a parliamentary election in 1991 when the army stepped in to cancel it, prompting many FIS members to take up arms. The ensuing black decade of violence left some 200,000 dead. The success of Sansal s first novel launched him on a career that won him prizes in France and Germany. His books, published in France, are sold freely in Algeria. But he is a controversial figure at home, especially since he visited Israel in 2014 a taboo in most of the Arab world. His 2015 novel 2084 (subtitled The End of the World ) described a country, Abistan, governed under extreme laws set by a religion based loosely on Islam. The presidential suite of The Walled Off Hotel; in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on March 3. (AP) A picture shows a bed and graffiti inside street artist Banky s newly-opened The Walled Off Hotel. (AP) It has the worst view of any hotel in the world Banksy opens Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem BETHLEHEM, Palestinian Territories, March 4, (AFP): Secretive British street artist Banksy opened a hotel next to Israel s controversial separation wall in Bethlehem on Friday, his latest artwork in the Palestinian territories. The Walled Off Hotel is only four metres from the wall which cuts through the occupied West Bank and all the rooms face it. It has the worst view of any hotel in the world, Banksy said in a statement. The man himself was not in attendance, though dozens of his new works adorn the walls. A spokeswoman said it was his largest new collection in years. Elton John will play a live show to mark the hotel opening on Saturday, she added, but would not clarify if he would be present or perform via videolink. Hotel manager Wissam Salsaa said the rooms will be rented out from March 20 starting at $30 a night for a bed in the bunkroom. The nine rooms have a deliberate faded luxury, with typical Banksy touches. Above one bed an Israeli soldier and Palestinian protester fight with pillows, while a television supposedly showing CNN is cracked and backwards. In a hall a painting of a beautiful landscape is trapped behind a grate. In the presidential suite, a working jacuzzi is fed from a leaking water tank similar to those that adorn the roofs of many Palestinian homes. There is also a gallery selling Palestinian art and a museum highlighting the history of the region and Western interference in it. At a push of a button a moving statue of Arthur Balfour signs the decree which promised Jews a homeland in the land at that time called Banky s work is displayed in The Walled Off Hotel. (AP) An employee stands in the bar area of The Walled Off Hotel. (AP) Palestine. Seven of the bedrooms were designed by Banksy himself. Two others were dreamed up by Canadian and Palestinian artists. The room is on the edge of falling apart. It is very mundane, it s very refined, very lush, but when you look at details it is... messed up, the Canadian artist Dominique Petrin said. The wall is one of the most striking symbols of Israel s 50-year occupation, and has become a major focus for demonstrations and art work. Israel refers to it as the security barrier and insists it is crucial for keeping out would-be attackers. Banksy has maintained his anonymity despite numerous theories and attempts to reveal his identity since he started stencilling on walls in his native city of Bristol in southwest England more than a decade ago. Exactly how he worked on the year-long hotel project was closely protected. Petrin said she got a message to become involved but didn t know if she had met Banksy while working there. This whole thing is a puzzle and I got one piece of the puzzle. It doesn t mean I know the large picture. Salsaa would not say how he became involved, only that he was part of the project. Asked if he was Banksy, he paused, smiled and replied: Sorry, what did you say? Husam Zomlot, a special advisor to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, said they had no idea about the hotel until it opened. While most Palestinian cities in the West Bank are forbidden for Israelis to visit, the hotel owners say the part of Bethlehem where it is located is under Israeli control.

24 Dairy producers call for crackdown on imitators Mayo, wings, butter: Fake milk latest food fight NEW YORK, March 4, (AP): Is fake milk spoiling the dairy industry s image? Dairy producers are calling for a crackdown on the almond, soy and rice milks they say are masquerading as the real thing and cloud the meaning of milk. A group that advocates for plant-based products, the Good Food Institute, countered this week by asking the Food and Drug Administration to say terms such as milk and sausage can be used as long as they re modified to make clear what s in them. It s the latest dispute about what makes a food authentic, many of them stemming from developments in manufacturing practices and specialized diets. DiGiorno s frozen chicken wyngz were fodder for comedian Stephen Colbert. An eggless spread provoked the ire of egg producers by calling itself mayo. And as far back as the 1880s, margarine was dismissed as counterfeit butter by a Wisconsin lawmaker. The US actually spells out the required characteristics for a range of products such as French dressing, canned peas and raisin bread. It s these federal standards of identity that often trigger the food fights. Though soy milk and almond milk have become commonplace terms, milk s standard of identity says it is obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows. That s a point the dairy industry is now emphasizing, with the support of lawmakers who last month introduced legislation calling for the FDA to enforce the guidelines. Mammals produce milk, plants don t, said Jim Mulhern, president of the National Milk Producers Federation. Enforce The federation says it has been trying to get the FDA to enforce the standard since at least 2000, and that the lack of enforcement has led to a proliferation of imitators playing fast and loose with dairy terms. Those products often refer to themselves as soymilk or almondmilk, single words that the dairy industry says is a way to get around the guidelines for milk. The Plant Based Foods Association, which represents companies like Tofurky and milk alternatives, says standards of identity were created to prevent companies from passing off cheaper ingredients on customers. But the group says that s not what soy, almond and rice milk makers are trying to do. Those companies are charging more money, and consumers are gravitating toward them, said Michele Simon, the group s executive director. The FDA says it takes action in accordance with public health priorities and agency resources. The little-known Association for Dressing and Sauces showed its might in a 2014 mayonnaise melee. The group repeatedly complained to the FDA that an eggless spread was calling itself Just Mayo, noting that under the federal rules mayonnaise is defined as having eggs. Hellmann s mayonnaise maker Unilever, one of the association s members, had sued Just Mayo s maker citing the same issue. That lawsuit was dropped after the company faced blowback from the vegan spread s supporters. The dressings and sauces group wasn t the only one upset by Just Mayo s name. The CEO of the American Egg Board, which represents the egg industry, also tried unsuccessfully to get a consultant to stop the sale of Just Mayo at Whole Foods. The revelations led to an investigation by the US Department of Agriculture. Soon after, the egg industry group s CEO retired earlier than expected. As for Just Mayo, the company worked out an agreement with the FDA to keep its name with some strategic tweaks to its label to make clear it does not contain eggs. Concentrate It was a milk protein concentrate at issue in a lawsuit over Yoplait Greek. That ingredient isn t listed in the FDA s standard of identity for yogurt. What s more, the suit said General Mills relied on the ingredient to thicken its yogurt, rather than straining it the way other Greek yogurts are made. Not only was it not Greek yogurt, it wasn t yogurt at all, said Brian Gudmundson, the Minnesota lawyer who filed the suit. The case was ultimately dismissed by the judge, who said the matter would be better handled by the FDA. Gudmundson said he reached out to the agency afterward, but nothing came of it. Yoplait Greek s maker, General Mills, says it has since made recipe changes to its yogurts and it no longer uses milk protein concentrate in Yoplait Greek. The company had also noted in legal filings that the FDA said during a seminar that milk protein concentrate could be used in yogurt. In 2002, the presence of milk protein concentrate in Kraft Singles was also called out in a warning letter from the FDA, which noted it was not listed as an ingredient in the definition for pasteurized process cheese food. Kraft now labels the Singles as a pasteurized prepared cheese product. Wyngz scored a high-profile TV appearance not long after DiGiorno launched frozen meals with pizza and the boneless chicken pieces in 2011. The Colbert Show called the spelling out as a government-mandated way to get around the fact that they re not made of wing meat. Colbert cited a page on the USDA s website that said the odd spelling could be used for a product that is in the shape of a wing or a bite-size appetizer type product, but not made entirely from wing meat. Permitted No other misspellings are permitted, the website says. The story behind the USDA declaration remains a bit of a mystery. DiGiorno owner Nestle said it wanted to call the boneless chicken pieces wings, since it believes people understand that boneless wings are not whole wings. The company says the USDA instead proposed wyngz. JBA JBA holds Sports Day, Kuwait National, Liberation celebration 2 important events unfold at Jahra Bilingual School KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Jahra Bilingual Academy (JBA) students enjoyed two big events last week: Sports Day as well as Kuwait National and Liberation Day celebration. JBA Sports Day was filled with lots of activities and fun. It started with a grand opening ceremony during which all the teams proudly presented themselves. Then, plenty of games followed: balloon race, the treasure box, war wheel, aim at the target, tag of war, musical chairs, sack race, fishing, and the labyrinth. The final game was a football match between the JBA teachers and the school team. In the end, Dr Oana Al Najjar, JBA Principal, awarded the medals and the cup to the winners. Next important event held at JBA was Kuwait National and Liberation Day celebration. All the students wore traditional clothes and had a joyful day at school. A program comprised of Kuwaiti traditional dances, poem recitation, games, as well as traditional food and sweets presentations unfolded during the exciting day. The students and as well as faculty were honored by the presence of a special guest, Dr Eng Akram Al Najjar, JBA owner. In partnership with students, parents, and community, Jahra Bilingual Academy (JBA) creates an exciting challenging education that has value and meaning for each student, encouraging them to become responsible contributing members of society. Our education system at JBA offers an instructional setting that encourages children to be problem solvers, decision- makers, and socially responsible people. Jahra Bilingual Academy (JBA) offers American and Arabic curriculum from Pre- KG to High School level and it is located in Jahra, Block 5, Daabal Al Khuzaei Street, opposite Kuwait Finance House. Phone numbers: 24560151/2. click Alcoholics Anonymous: If you know someone who can t stop drinking and would like to help them please check us out and we promise to try to help at www.aaarabia.org There are no fees. This is a genuine public service. Drinking problem?: Friends of Bill W. are available to help. Totally confidential. Email: rohsecretary@gmail.com Narcotics Anonymous: NA can help with addiction problems. Totally confidential: 94087800 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: http:// fightingwithcancer.webs.com/ Latest Chinese Embassy notice: Documents issued in Kuwait and to be used in China mainland shall first be notarized and legalised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait, and then be legalised by Chinese Embassy in Kuwait. Specific requirements and information for document legalisation, please refer to the website of Chinese Embassy in Kuwait. For documents issued by member countries of the Apostille Convention*, after getting Apostilles from the competent authorities, they can be used in Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR of China directly. *Refer to the Convention of Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents Invitation to Grand Mosque: The Visits Department is pleased to invite you to visit the Grand Mosque, which is one of Kuwait s most treasured religious and cultural landmarks to discover the beauty of Islamic arts and architecture. Free guided tours are available all year round on official working days between (9-11 am) and (5-7 pm), within a special tour program designed to cater to the needs of different age groups. The program is as follows: Reception; Auditorium show; (according to age group); Touring the Mosque; Q & A; Art KKCA conducts indoor program for children The Children s wing of Kuwait Knanaya Cultural Association (KKCA) conducted first Indoor program of the year 2017 at Poppins Auditorium on Sunday Feb 26. KKCA President Joby Pulikkolil presided the inaugural function in which Rev Fr Peter P. Mathew, Inaugurated the function by lighting the lamp. KKCA General Secretary Jayesh Onasseril, Treasurer Mejith Chambakkara, KKCA chairman master Jobin Joseph gave felicitation speech. KKCA convener Jobin Thannichuvattil welcomed the gathering and KKCA Vicechairman Miss Afrin Biju expressed vote of thanks. The seminars for the children were led workshops; (according to age group between 5 and 18 years old); Snack break; Distribution of the Grand Mosque publications and souvenirs; End of tour. According to these age groups: Age group: 5 to 9 years old: Morning: 60 visitors max; Evening: 20; 10 to 15 years: Morning: 100 visitors max; Evening: 45; 16 and above: Photos from the event A photo from the event by Binoy Sebastian and Rev Fr Kochumon Thomas. Children participated in Purathana Pattu Competion, Quiz, Group Discussions, Drawing and other cultural activities with great enthusiasm. St Mary s Abbasiya, St Thomas Abbasiya, won first and Second Prizes respectively and Our Lady of Arabia Fahaheel & St Alphonsa Reggai shared third prize in the Traditional Song s Competition. The following children were elected as office bearers of KKCA for the year 2017 Chairman: Sanu Benny; Vice-Chairman: Maria Tittus; Area Co-Coordinators. Abbassia: Thomson Reji, Sharon Rajeesh, Nova Steby, Deon Sabu, Aishwarya Morning: 140 visitors max, Evening: 105: Tour language: Arabic- English- French; Arabic (English upon prior request); Arabic- English- French; Arabic (English upon prior request); Arabic- English- French: Arabic (English upon prior request) Rules and Regulations: Please arrive in time for your visit. Thomas, Carol Shiny Siby; Reggai: Shane Sojan & Renya Ann Reji; Salmiya: Steven Biju & Josiya James. Fahaheel: Ashwath Semi John & Tessa Ann Thomas. The orchestra led by Joyal and Ambika was filled with amusements. The program gave lot of good moments to children and they have enjoyed and benefited from the program very much which were aimed to enhance morality, self-confidence and overall personality development. More than 270 children attended the function. Jobin Thannichuvattil gave thanks to everyone for the efforts to make this program a grand success. All visitors are kindly required to abide by the mosque s dress code. Male visitors should wear long pants. Shorts and sleeveless shirts are not allowed. Female visitors: should wear head cover and long loose clothing (available at the mosque). Foods and drinks are not allowed inside the prayer halls. For school visits, teachers are responsible for their students and are required to cooperate with the staff members of the Grand Mosque. Photography is allowed inside the Grand Mosque (please note that disrespectful poses are strictly prohibited). If you would like to book a tour, please contact us: Tel: 22980813/ 22980815/ 22980812 Email: gmvisits@gmail.com Fax: 22473708 Chinese Embassy notice: Please be noted that effective starting today, the photo used in a Chinese visa application must meet the requirements (For details, please visit the website of Chinese embassy http://kw.chineseembassy.org/ eng/). Application with non-compliant photos will not be processed. Thank you for your attention and cooperation. IEI Kuwait Chapter membership: The Institution of Engineers (India), Kuwait chapter invites all its members to update their membership information for the year 2016-17 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 benefit of its members. Please watch for the upcoming events in your registered e-mail or announcement in the media. The chapter has science club activities for member s children, and ladies wing activities for the member s 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 22445588 extn. 314 between 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm (Sunday through Thursday) or through email to ieikwt@hotmail.com. You may also contact Engr Ashok Kumar (97275974) or Engr Karthikeyan (99840191) for any further clarification. 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 1914-1967, 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 email address: Mystory@darmuseum.org.kw Notes: 1. Please send your story only to the above mentioned email. 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! March 6 IEI technical seminar: The Institution of Engineers (India), Kuwait Chapter is very much pleased to announce its upcoming event PENTAIR Technical Seminar. This event is exclusively for our members and invited guests. During the Seminar you will have the opportunity to interact with the Pentair Technical team, talk to the experts and learn more about: Raychem Electrical Heat Tracing Technology and Application STS for Safe Sulphur Transportation Trac-Loc Vertical Lock-Seam Tank Insulation System These are innovative solutions developed to better serve the customers in Oil & Gas, Petrochemical and Process Industries. Pentair Thermal Management is a Global leader in electric heat tracing products and turnkey projects engineering, management, and construction services for oil and gas, chemical, power and other industries. They Provide heat management solutions to maintain process temperatures and provide freeze protection to ensure flow assurance and safety. Event will be conducted on March 6, 2017, Monday at Dasman Ballroom, Radisson Blu Hotel, Salwa. Registration will start at 6:15 pm and session will begin at 6:45 pm. Please register yourself through www. ieikuwait.org by clicking Event Attendance or kindly send an email to ieikwt@hotmail.com with your name, contact details and number of attendees. You can also register using the registration link provided in the e-invitation. For any question, please call at the chapter s office between 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm at 22445588 Extn 314 or Contact Engr Mohandas Kamath (Mob: 67030055) / Engr Sudhir Menghani (Mob: 97987455). We look forward your participation in large numbers. General KIFF anti-drugs campaign: As part of the Continued on Page 25

25 Bardo holds steady atop US bestsellers list Rare comic books with Superman, Batman debuts on auction click General Continued from Page 24 HARTFORD, Connecticut, March 4, (Agencies): By day, Jon Berk is a mild-mannered civil attorney in Connecticut. But by night (well, really during most of his spare time for the past 45 years) he is known by some as a comic book-collecting super hero. Berk s collection of more than 18,000 books and 300 pieces of comic-book art goes on display March 11 at the Metropolis Gallery in New York City. He will then sell it off during an online auction at ComicConnect.com that begins May 15. The time is just right to move them along and let someone else experience them, said Berk, 66. The collection includes rare copies of the 1938 Action Comics No. 1, in which Superman makes his first appearance; the 1939 book Detective Comics No. 27, which features the first appearance of Batman; rare Spider-Man and Captain America books and several pieces of art by noted comic-book artist Lou Fine. Vincent Zurzolo, the chief operating officer of ComicConnect and Metropolis Collectibles, said Berk s collection is one of the most important in the world because of its breadth and the number of rare books dating back to the mid-1930s. As I ve been going through this collection, I ve seen books for the first time, books I ve never seen before, Zurzolo said. That s incredible, considering we re the largest buyer and seller of vintage comic books in the world. Many of these copies are the best known to exist in the world. Berk said he expects the collection will sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. But he said his collecting was never about the money or investing. He said he fell in love with the serial plot lines in the books as a boy. He then began collecting them while in law school at Boston University, enjoying the hunt for a particular rare book, researching the story behind it and documenting what he refers to as a unique American mythology. He said friends were always shocked when he would take the books out of their Mylar sleeves and let them thumb through them. What good is a work of art if you never look at it? he said. What good is a comic book if you can t open it up, see how it feels and, yes, smells? Up until a month ago, he was still buying the latest Spider-Man comic books (his favorite), just for fun. I figured if I was going to have Spider-Man No. 1, I was going to have Spider-Man 700, he said. And I will keep some Spider-Man books, some old books, for sentimental reasons. Historical fiction Lincoln in the Bardo, the debut novel by George Saunders, stayed on top of the US fiction bestsellers list on Thursday. Data released by independent, online and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors across the United States was used to compile the list. Gaming Hardcover Fiction 1. Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders 2. Norse Mythology, Neil Gaiman 3. Echoes in Death, J.D. Robb 4. Star Wars: Empire s End, Chuck Wendig 5. Humans, Bow Down, Patterson/Raymond 6. Heartbreak Hotel, Jonathan Kellerman 7. Never Never, Patterson/Fox 8. A Piece of the World, Christina Baker Kline 9. The Girl Before, J.P. Delaney 10. The Whistler, John Grisham Hardcover Non-Fiction 1. The Legend of Zelda: Arts & Artifacts 2. Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance 3. Killing the Rising Sun, O Reilly/Dugard 4. This Life I Live, Rory Feek 5. Jesus Always, Sarah Young 6. Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari This undated photo provided on March 2, by Metropolis Collectibles in New York shows a copy of a rare 1941 Captain America Comics. (AP) 7. The Magnolia Story, Gaines/ Gaines 8. Big Agenda, David Horowitz 9. The Book of Joy, Dalai Lama/ Tutu 10. Stealing Fire, Kotler/Wheal Also: NEW YORK: Tina Brown has some secrets to spill. The British-born author and magazine editor has a deal with Henry Holt and Co. to publish the diaries she kept during her years running Vanity Fair, the publisher told The Associated Press. The Vanity Fair Diaries comes out in November. Brown was editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair from 1984 to 1992, when the magazine covered the fall of Princess Diana s marriage to Prince Charles, among other news, and published such headline-making covers as the one of a naked, pregnant Demi Moore. Brown s diaries also touch upon her marriage to journalist and publisher Harry Evans and her battles in the boys club of publisher Conde Nast. Fraternity fest, Kuwait India Fraternity Forum (KIFF) is conducting Anti- Drugs Campaign among Indians living in Kuwait. According to the available statistics of Indian Embassy, 60% of the convicted Indians in Kuwaiti Jails are arrested on drug-related cases. The recent cases of death and captives of Indian drug abusers is a threatening news. To defend and to campaign against such social crisis by protecting individuals as well as the society has become obligatory. In this current situation, Kuwait India Fraternity Forum is conducting campaign by distributing handouts, conducting counseling, seminars etc. to educate the Indians living in Kuwait informed President Saifudheen Nalakath in a press release. For more details contact: 55062071 or email at kiffkuwait@ gmail.com. 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: 99315825. Leadership Excellence Course: The Leadership Excellence Course (LEC) is a course modeled on the Seerah of Rasoolullah who is the best model of leadership for all mankind. The LEC focuses on the lessons that we can learn from the Seerah of Rasoolullah and see how we can apply them in our lives to become winners in this world and the next. The objectives of the course are 1. Understand what leadership is from the Seerah of Rasoolullah and how to apply it in our lives today 2. Understand the purpose of our lives and learn to live that purpose with confidence 3. Understand the importance of connecting to Allah and learn how to do it 4. Understand how to leverage your strengths and overcome weaknesses 5. Understand how to articulate your life goal and create a road map to achieve it. For more information please visit www.leckuwait.com or call 99514995 / 66363310. AWL registration: If you would like to join the American Women s League (AWL), please call 99039723 or 94067999 or email: kuwaitawl@yahoo. com. All American women and wives of Americans are welcomed. Ugandans register with UIK: Are you a Ugandan living and working in Kuwait? Would you like to get in touch with other Ugandans in Kuwait both socially and professionally? Then please get in touch with us. We would like to invite you to register with the Ugandans in Kuwait (UIK) association, an informal organization of Ugandans living and working in Kuwait. The purpose of this exercise is to get together as Ugandans and to consider taking the first steps to establishing a more formal organisation. This association is voluntary. It is designed to create a forum for Ugandans in Kuwait to foster a sense of community, to communicate more effectively with each other and to encourage Ugandans out here to work together. We are also planning a celebration to mark 50 years of Ugandan s Independence this year. If you have any questions regarding this association or if you are interested in registering, then please send us an email at ugandansinkuwait@gmail.com. We hope to hear from you soon. Free drum music classes: Free professional drum music classes are available at Salmiya for all age groups from beginners to advanced by a well experienced drum teacher. For more details: 94974295. Indian Embassy SPDC notice: Attention of all Indian associations/ Indian schools in Kuwait is once again drawn to Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children (SPDC) which was introduced by Government of India in the academic year 2006-2007 with the objective to make higher education in India accessible to the children of overseas Indians and promote India as a centre for higher studies. Under the scheme, 100 PIO/NRI Continued on Page 26 This image released by Nintendo shows a scene from the video game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. (AP) Fans to adore Breath of the Wild Legend of Zelda changes radically By Lou Kesten At the beginning of the new chapter of The Legend of Zelda, longtime hero Link awakens from a 100-year coma to find that his beloved homeland, Hyrule, has changed into a vastly more dangerous place. Zelda fans will know the feeling. It hasn t quite been 100 years the last installment, Skyward Sword, came out in 2011 but The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, for the Switch, Wii U, $59.99) is radically different from its predecessors. It s much, much bigger, for starters, and substantially more challenging. The core story, at least, is familiar: Once again, the malevolent Ganon is out to destroy Hyrule, and it s up to Link and Princess Zelda to stop him. While Zelda is protecting Hyrule Castle, Link needs to visit neighboring lands to enlist the help necessary to stave off the apocalypse. After a mysterious old man gives you a quick update on what you ve missed over the last century, you have the essential gear you need for exploring: a bow and arrows, a sword, bombs and a glider. You also have some nifty magical powers, like the ability to freeze water, move objects magnetically or stop time, as well as a smartphone-like device used to access your map, inventory and list of quests. Once equipped, you can pretty much travel anywhere in this sprawling game world. Sure, you should probably listen to the geezer and check in on a wise old woman who has some jobs for you, but you can follow your own path as much as you like. Breath may offer too much freedom. It s easy to end up in an area filled with monsters you aren t ready to handle, and I occasionally got hopelessly lost. You can now climb mountains but if you aren t careful, you may plummet to your doom or freeze to death. Still, it s awfully fun to ride a horse across the plains of Hyrule, or soar between mountaintops on your glider. But eventually you ll need to deal with Ganon, and you ll need the help of the Divine Beasts, biomechanical behemoths created back before you went to sleep. You first need to earn the trust of the locals just to approach Nintendo aims to redeem itself as a console maker Switch s big challenge: luring casual gamers By Mae Anderson ith three kids and constant travel Wfor work, John Hussey jumped at the chance to play an open-world adventure game like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild anywhere, anytime. After he heard about the Nintendo Switch, a hybrid game machine that works as both a console at home and a tablet on the go, Hussey ordered one in January even though it wouldn t arrive until Friday, when Nintendo s latest game machine debuts. Nintendo will need lots of traditional gamers like Hussey to redeem itself as a console maker, after being eclipsed by Microsoft and Sony in the game-console wars. But Nintendo will also need lots of casual gamers who are satisfied with playing on a smartphone and would never have dreamed of buying a $300 game machine. And in trying to appeal to many audiences, Nintendo risks not being the best at serving any one. The Switch is like three machines in one. Wireless controllers attach to a game tablet for hand held gaming. Take the tablet to a gathering with friends, and you can rest it on a table with a kickstand and detach the controllers for use as standalone devices. Back home, slide the tablet into a docking station and snap the controllers into a grip accessory and you have a traditional game console attached to a TV. With each switch get it? you each Beast. Then you need to solve a series of cleverly designed, challenging puzzles in order to get rid of the corruption that s turned each Beast into a rampaging monster. These sequences are where this Zelda is most Zelda -like, each a series of interlocking challenges leading to a tough boss fight that requires quick thinking as well as quick reflexes. But fans of the can pick up where you left off. Knowing I could get the Zelda game both at home and on the road, at this stage in my life that s essential, said Hussey, a sales rep from Bloomington, Indiana. I can t sit around at home and play a 70- hour game, but if I m on airplanes or hotels, it s perfect for me. The new Zelda game is the biggest available at launch, though Nintendo is also pushing a collection of casual party games called 1-2-Switch. Nintendo says more than 80 titles are in development, including Super Mario Odyssey and the action-puzzle game Snipperclips: Cut it Out, Together. Nintendo s Wii in 2006 introduced motion control to gaming and was a massive success, forcing Microsoft and Sony to respond with their own motion controls. But the Wii s successor in 2012, the Wii U, proved disappointing. People thought it was too expensive at $300, especially when it had few must-have games. Since then, the Japanese video game maker has faced other hiccups. Its NES Classic retro module was a hot holiday gift, but it was difficult to find during the holidays. It fared better with the monsterchasing Pokemon Go sensation on phones, but that wasn t developed in-house. The iphone game Super Mario Run garnered buzz, but some balked at the $10 price. It s also not available on Android until later this month. The Switch represents a new hope. Nintendo is forecasting sales of 2 million units in the first month. IDC analyst Lewis Ward estimates Nintendo will ship 8 million within a year better than the Wii U, though not as much as the Wii. With the Switch, Nintendo is hoping to reach gamers, families and we even hope to reach people who haven t played video games before, Nintendo managing executive director Shinya Takahashi said. Really the goal with the Nintendo Switch is to reach as broad an audience as possible. David Flores, 34 years old (right), and his wife Nao Imoto, 31 years old, show off Nintendo s newest computer game console Switch at a retail store Bic Camera in central Tokyo on March 3. (AP) Part of that involves changing the nature of game play. Nintendo developed the mini-games in 1-2-Switch so players look at their opponents not screens as they draw guns or milk cows. Nintendo Switch developer Yoshiaki Koizumi said he wanted the game to reflect Nintendo s roots as a playing card company in the 1880s. Nintendo wants to bring people together, and one of the best ways to do that is giving them the opportunity to be able to see each other s expression, much like when you re playing cards, he said. Andrew Maher, a cook in Columbia, Missouri, looks forward to playing with his girlfriend, something they couldn t do together on phones. He said the Switch seems like a fun group experience. But Nintendo doesn t want to give up on traditional gamers either thus the docking station for playing on the big screen. The be-all approach comes with compromises. As a game console, the Switch doesn t have the range of games available on Sony s Play- Station 4 and Microsoft s Xbox One. As a tablet, it lacks traditional features such as a web browser and streaming video apps like Netflix (even rival game consoles have these). Euromonitor analyst Matthew Hudak said Nintendo needs a way to be different from rivals, and the smartest play for them is to try to be this all-purpose console for social, casual or dedicated needs. (AP) franchise s puzzling dungeons will also want to seek out the dozens of shrines scattered across the world, each of which presents a smart, bitesized brainteaser. Breath of the Wild mixes the disciplined focus of classic Zelda with the thrill of open-world exploration, and it does it with style, beauty, humor and, occasionally, heartbreak. It s spectacular. Four stars out of four. (AP)

26 Al Kharafi expresses his admiration and pride Zain powers eight Kuwaiti tech SMEs at MWC17 KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Zain, the leading telecommunications company in Kuwait, powered eight young Kuwaiti entrepreneurs in its dedicated booth at the 4YFN Startup Conference during the 2017 Mobile World Congress (MWC) held last week in Barcelona. MWC is the world s leading telecom event, gathering innovative tech small and medium sized enterprises (SME) from around the globe. Zain s initiative is aimed at supporting and empowering Kuwaiti SMEs that specialize in technology innovation. The company is keen on highlighting the competencies and potential of Kuwaiti entrepreneurs, especially during an event as significant as MWC where tech innovators, manufacturers, developers and operators of the telecom and IT sectors from around the world gather. Zain selected eight Kuwaiti tech SMEs and traveled with them to MWC 2017, where it facilitated their showcasing of their innovations through participation in the 4YFN Startup Conference, which welcomes the global investment community. This initiative was in partnership with Kuwaiti startup accelerator Brilliant Lab, and in line with Zain s corporate sustainability strategy towards the youth and entrepreneurs in Kuwait. Zain Group s Vice Chairman Bader Al Kharafi, who was present at Zain s booth during MWC, expressed his admiration and pride in the competencies and potential displayed by the Kuwaiti entrepreneurs among other participants from around the world. Bader Al Kharafi said, We strongly believe in the competencies of Kuwaiti youth and are keen on empowering them. This significant portion of our community has much to offer through technological innovations, helping turn Kuwait into a leading emerging market for digital developments and startups. We need more than just ideas and visions to achieve sustainable development, and that s why we are keen on spreading the culture of entrepreneurship and promoting those who are determined to turn their ideas into reality. Al Kharafi continued, The most recent successful stories reveal that early investment in tech startups puts corporations at the heart of the modern world, and further progresses the wheel of development. If we don t take this early risk, we will face hardships later as the world around us evolves. As a leading telecom operator, Zain has sought to utilize technology to overcome challenges and will continue to in the future. Zain Kuwait s support of the startups at 4YFN is aligned with its strategic direction and long-term focus on technology and innovation. The telco aims to be a driver and active participant in creating local change in the Kuwaiti tech scene. After years of developing many startups via Zain Great Idea and watching them grow from seed to small businesses, Zain aspires to lead again and represent the leading startups on a global platform. The startups had the chance to pitch, develop and seek further capital injection. The eight projects supported by Zain at MWC 2017 were as follows: Boutiqaat s Seeks to become the No. 1 shopping destination for personal care products. It does not only save time and effort, but also offers the chance to select from world brands and names under one roof. A new application at the website was recently launched for iphone and Android, and the company provides numerous offers and discounts for the marketed products. Bleems Traditionally floral, bakery, chocolate & gift shops used to receive and deliver their orders, until Bleems was born. Bleems enables customers to choose amongst the best possible floral and bakeries arrangements in the market. Ghinwa Ghinwa is the first and the largest application for Arabic karaoke. The app aims at sharing singing talent across all social platforms. Ghinwa acts as a platform for talented singers to express themselves legally. It supports the young artists and singers. Bookr Bookr is the best guide for healthmaintenance providers in Kuwait. The carefully selected guide enables subscribers to receive needed health services. Appointments and subscriptions to prepaid services can also be made. Through data analysis and ads tools, the Booker cloud management system helps healthmaintenance service providers monitor work flow and manage relations with clients. Tktti Tktti is a user-friendly website application available 24/7 dedicated to easing events organizers market reach, and providing data analysis based ticket purchases. The platform s backend allow event organizers to post events with multiple and specialized tools specifically designed for their convenience. As a user, just a few simple steps gain access to the desired event. Diwaniya Labs Diwaniya Labs has created handcrafted online multiplayer experiences based on local card games. Apps are available on a range of devices (ios, Android, macos). Diwaniya Labs is focused on the industry and development of entertainment-based digital content. Tap Tap now supports over 1,000 businesses and major corporations and has had a (digital) hand in securing tens of thousands of transactions easily and efficiently for consumers all around the world. Ghaseel Ghaseel is the first marketplace for car wash services on-demand. The easiest and quickest way to get a car washed at the desired location, delivering variety of offers and discounts. KIB strategic sponsor of Al Farsi Kite Festival 2017 Best Islamic Bank in Kuwait KFH wins 4 prestigious awards from IFN KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Kuwait Finance House (KFH) won 4 prestigious awards from Islamic Finance News Magazine (IFN), which are Best Islamic Bank in Kuwait, Syndicated Deal of the Year where KFH was an arranger and part of EGA (Emirates Global Aluminum) US$4.9 billion Commodity Murabaha based Syndicated Term Financing Facility, Kuwait Deal of the Year where KFH was an arranger and part of Boubyan Tier 1 US$250 million Sukuk, in addition to US Deal of the Year award for KFH acquiring office tower in US for $165 million. Group Chief Retail and Private Banking Officer, at KFH, Waleed Mandani stated on the sidelines of receiving the awards in the award ceremony held in Dubai in presence of Abdullah S. Alhaddad Senior Vice President - Investment Banking Division, and Saleh T. Al Khamees Senior Vice President- Real Estate Division from KFH-Capital, that the awards culminate the bank s efforts in offering highest standards of Islamic financial services in different geographies where KFH operates. The wards confirm KFH s pioneering position in the Islamic finance industry. They are an impetus for further achievements and success towards better addressing the customers needs and ambitions. Quality He added that KFH attaches great importance to the service quality and integration among group banks. KFH managed to offer an integrated system of technical, financial, and banking services. The bank has vast experience in balancing Shariah requirements with the latest banking technology. He emphasized KFH s leadership in the field of Islamic banking, since it was the first Islamic bank in Kuwait, and highlighted the bank s fruitful efforts in expanding in various markets. Mandani stressed the importance of operating as per strategy and plans in all markets, while focusing on the local market, indicating that all of KFH s global success would have never been attainable, if the bank did not have a solid platform and high level of professionalism. KFH has an impeccable record in arranging sukuk deals and leading financing for development projects in several vital sectors, which contributes in boosting the national economy. It is noteworthy that KFH has been selected for the awards by IFN s judging panel that groups a number of experts in the Islamic banking industry through an intensive evaluation process according to a set of principles and financial indicators. IFN is a well renowned institution in the Islamic banking industry which publishes various studies and articles around the banking sector. It is affiliated to REDmoney, the foremost global provider of specialized Islamic financial media services across three core divisions of events, publishing and training. Established in 2004, the firm has offices in Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. Bader Al Kharafi with the Kuwaiti entrepreneurs at 4YFN Barcelona. Waleed Mandani receiving the awards A photo from the event 2-week summit held in India ACK students in collaboration with CQU participate in EWB initiative KUWAIT CITY, March 4: The Australian College of Kuwait s (ACK) School of Engineering students participated in a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative at the Humanitarian Design Summit driven by Engineers without Borders (EWB) in India. The participation was in collaboration with ACK s auspice partner the Central Queensland University (CQU), Australia. EWB is based on a community centered approach within Australia and Asia using engineering knowledge and resources to bridge self-identified gaps in access to community health, wellbeing and opportunity. They focus on sustained engagement to build strong relationships and best practice models, strategically deploying people to achieve long-term impact through knowledge sharing and sector building. This Summit was a two- week professional opportunity designed to provide ACK students with experience in developing skills, knowledge and appropriate engineering solutions. ACK students were given the chance to travel to India for this exquisite involvement. Commenting on this trip, Dr Mohamed Gaith, Head of School of Engineering at ACK said: I am very proud of our students with their participation in such an international activity, the sensation of the responsibility and positive attitude is extraordinary. Ms. Johanne Flynn, Manager of CQU international office at ACK commented: ACK s participation in interactive CSR initiative leverages and achieves overall development growth of student s skills and knowledge as they are getting prepared for their upcoming professional career. Commenting on their experience ACK student, Talal Al Dousari said: The Summit showed me another side of the world and how with my engineering studies at ACK I can make a difference in someone s life. From her end, Aya Chen said: This was a great learning opportunity as it is my passion to be part of a humanitarian activity and engineering is a tool that will allow me to commit to help others. ACK is keen to provide its students similar international opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills gained from their engineering studies and empower them to apply practical learning concepts in order to create long-term change in developing communities. click General Continued from Page 25 students were awarded scholarship of up to US$ 4,000 per annum for undergraduate courses in Engineering, Technology, Humanities, Liberal Arts, Commerce, Management, Journalism, Hotel Management, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and some other courses. The scheme is open to NRIs/PIOs from over 40 countries (including Kuwait) having substantial Indian Diaspora population. The Scheme was revamped and launched in July 2016. Under the revamped Scheme, number of scholarships has been enhanced from 100 to 150 with introduction of 50 scholarships for children of Indian workers employed in the Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries. The Scheme is now applicable to four categories of applicants: (i) Persons of Indian Origin (ii) Non-Resident Indians (iii) Children of Indian workers working in ECR countries (including Kuwait). (iv) Children of Indian workers in ECR countries - studying in India The institutions that are covered under this Scheme are: (i) NITs, IIITs, Schools of Planning and Architecture (ii) A Grade institutions accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and recognised by University Grants Commission (UGC). (iii) Other institutions covered under Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA) scheme. Income criteria will be applicable to all four categories. Applicants will seek scholarships after they obtain admission in the approved list of educational institutions. Applications are required to be submitted online at SPDC portal - http:// spdcindia.gov.in/login/index.php. Last date for submission of applications was extended till Oct 14, 2016. Nodal officer for SPDC is P. Bharadwaj, Deputy Secretary (OIA-II), Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, Tel: 00-91-11-24197952, Email: dsoia2@mea.gov.in Scrabble sessions are back: Scrabble sessions are back for all to come, learn and play with us at Better Books, Salmiyah, Bldg 19, next to Badur Travel, opposite the Ministry of Private Education, on Friday afternoons from 2:30-5:30 pm. Inviting all kids aged 8 and above to join me and play competitively with me Rohaina. Classes are held every Saturday from 12-1.30 pm. Bknelled, Euphuize, Waqf, Zooeae are some of the lovely words and there are 200,000 more you can learn with us. But the fun part is playing this wonderful game competitively. So come and see us and call me @66634224, Rohaina Tanweer. TIES Center classes: TIES Center is conducting a series of classes about Continued on Page 28 KUWAIT CITY, March 4: As part of its diverse program of National Day celebrations, Kuwait International Bank (KIB) recently provided its strategic sponsorship to Al Farsi Kite Festival 2017, which was held during the period of Feb 23rd to Feb 26th in Bneider. Returning for its 15th year to celebrate National and Liberation Days, the festival featured an array of activities including live entertainment acts, creative workshops and several competitions offering something for people of all ages. The festival also included 23 international kiting acts from 11 different countries. The Bank also took part in flying a giant kiw which included the logo. Furthermore, this year s celebration also featured a special open day hosted by KIB for its customers and staff. Speaking about KIB s participation in the event, Nawaf Najia, Manager of A photo from the event the Corporate Communications Unit at KIB, said: KIB is keen on participating in and supporting various national festivities and events, as we always seek to strengthen social bonds between people in our community and promote a greater sense of national pride. Our sponsorship of this festival is a prime example of that, as it has managed to achieve overwhelming success over the past years garnering a huge following within the community and becoming one of the most eagerly awaited National Day celebrations in Kuwait. Najia also pointed out that KIB has always prided itself on its position as a leading national financial institution in Kuwait. The Bank seeks to support all kinds of national events and initiatives, offering comprehensive financial and moral support to various programs that seek to promote sustainable economic and social development in Kuwait. Sager Abdulaziz Al Manaee wins KD 125K in NBK Al Jawhara draw KUWAIT CITY, March 4: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) announces the winner for February s KD 125,000 Al Jawhara monthly prize, Sager Abdulaziz Al Manaee. The draw was conducted live on Marina FM 90.4 on Feb 28, 2016 under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Al Manaee is the fourth winner for the month of February, where 3 lucky customers each have won KD 5,000 in Al Jawhara s weekly draws. Since the start of the Al Jawhara program, more than 11,000 winners have already been announced. Al Jawhara continues to be the most popular prizegiving account in Kuwait and prizes are automatically credited to the winners accounts the day after the draw. NBK customers have chances to win KD 5,000 weekly, KD 125,000 monthly and a grand prize of KD 250,000 quarterly. Each KD 50 in a customer s account entitles them one entry into the draw, thus more money in an account means more chances into each draw. This feature enables Al Jawhara Account holders to double their chances when maintaining their balance without withdrawing. Customers can easily calculate their number of chances in the draw by accessing a customized calculator on nbk.com. Al Jawhara account is available for both Kuwaitis and expats and can be opened at any of NBK s numerous branches around Kuwait, or safely and easily through NBK s website for existing customers. For more information, please contact NBK Call Center at 1801801 or visit NBK official website www.nbk. com/jawhara ABK announces winners of Double Your Salary draw KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK) held its 44th Double Your Salary weekly draw on Feb 27, at the Bank s Head Office in the presence of a representative from the Ministry of Commerce, announcing the names of the winners for this week. The promotion includes weekly draws, with two winners per draw. The campaign will run until June 27. The winners this week were: Ahmad Mohammad Abdullah Ahmad, Farwaniya Branch Razan Zoffmann, Fahaheel Branch New customers who transfer their salary to ABK receive KD 100 and will automatically be entered into the weekly draws to double their salaries. Existing customers who are already transferring their salary to ABK are entered into a separate draw. The next Double Your Salary draw will be held on March 6, where two new lucky winners will be announced. All winners will be contacted personally and a weekly announcement will be made through the media with the winners names. For more information about Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait please visit eahli.com or contact a customer service agent via Ahlan Ahli at 1899899.

27 h o r o s c o p e By Jacqueline Bigar Happy birthday for Sunday, March 5, 2017: This year you have a lot going on. You often feel tense about family matters and need to spend extra time working through these issues. You have high energy, and you take your career very seriously. If you are single, someone you meet could be very special. Go with the flow, and the results will be better. If you are attached, the two of you become more content with your domestic life together. You and your sweetie appreciate each other s company even more. GEMINI always has a different idea, plan or solution. 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) **** Be careful around a family member who seems overly agitated at the moment, as he or she easily could misdirect his or her energy at you. You also can reverse this negativity if you so choose. Consider how you can change your role in a volatile situation. Tonight: Out late. This Week: Others come to you for help. Let them. Aquarius - (Jan 20 - Feb 18) **** You could be delighted by a loved one s sentiments. What this person offers you is the space to be as vulnerable as possible. A friend s anger could emerge from out of the blue. Know that you might not be the cause, and avoid being reactive. Tonight: Let go of worldly concerns. This Week: Dive into what you must on Monday and Tuesday. Pisces - (Feb 19 - Mar 20) *** Stay close to home and devote your time to a roommate or family member. Both of you could benefit from stepping away from your very demanding schedules. Relish every moment you re alone, as you don t get downtime very often. Tonight: Make a favorite meal. This Week: It is your call how to respond to a request. Aries - (Mar 21 - Apr 19) **** Note your thoughts when you wake up, as your dream life has been very active as of late. People seem to reach out to you early in the day, which makes you smile. Whatever your plans are, they seem to evolve into a social event. Enjoy the moment. Tonight: Hang out at home. This Week: Nothing seems impossible. Taurus - (Apr 20 - May 20) *** You generally know what you are doing with your money. You appreciate quality, which can hurt your wallet if you are not careful. You will have a good time shopping, as long as you use self-discipline. Tonight: A surprise defines your plans. This Week: Be diligent when returning calls, texts and emails. Gemini - (May 21 - June 20) ***** Your sense of humor emerges in a serious discussion. Keep conversations light, but know that a friend could need some advice. Whether you re visiting with a group of friends or dealing with a difficult situation, your goodwill comes through. Tonight: So many choices. This Week: Forget about socializing for a short while. Cancer - (June 21 - July 22) *** You might be reflecting on a conversation or simply need some personal time. Make sure you set aside special time just for you, or else you will feel pressured. Get into a home project or opt for a nap. Turn off your cell. You can return the calls later. Tonight: Just do your thing. This Week: Drop the words no and impossible from your vocabulary. Leo - (July 23 - Aug 22) ***** You can t avoid making a call to someone who is in distress. Plan on meeting this person at a favorite outdoor spot; the two of you have a lot of news to catch up on. Adjust your schedule, if need be. Tonight: Accept a friend s invitation, even if it s at the last minute. This Week: Working at a slow pace works sometimes. Virgo - (Aug 23 - Sept 22): **** You respond to a request from an older friend or relative. Understand that you might need to do something that involves a work or community event. A partner seems to push you in a certain direction. Support yourself in doing what feels best. Tonight: A child wants your time. This Week: Zero in on what you want. Libra - (Sept 23 - Oct 22) **** Reach out for more information. Detach from the situation at hand, and you ll gain a new perspective. A family member, or perhaps even your pet, is likely to become demanding if left alone for too long. Don t push yourself so hard. Tonight: Understanding comes from discussions. This Week: Getting going might be somewhat difficult. Scorpio - (Oct 23 - Nov 21) **** Sometimes kicking back and letting others make the first move pleases you. You will gain more understanding about each person and where they are coming from. Your sense of humor emerges when a family member does the unexpected. Tonight: Give others more leeway. This Week: Reining in your flights of fancy proves challenging. Sagittarius - (Nov 22 - Dec 21) **** Defer to someone else. This person will be very pleased about taking care of the plans and following through on a matter that is important to both of you. Touch base with a relative or friend whom you rarely speak to but think of often. Tonight: Go along with the moment. This Week: Close relating marks the next few days. Born today: Football player Michael Irvin (1966), singer Andy Gibbs (1958), model Niki Taylor (1975) home decor indoor gardening beauty tips taste buds bleach-splattered chair cactus plant ice cube for beauty spiced apple sauce Making over plain cotton upholstery fabric requires nothing more than a household disinfectant and water. Working outside, and wearing protective eyewear and gloves, lay the desired yardage for your project flat on a sheet of plastic. In a measuring cup, mix together 1/2 cup bleach and 1/2 cup water. Use a plastic spoon to drib-ble the liquid all over the fabric. When you re satisfied with the pattern, let dry, then run the fabric through a regular cycle in your washer and dryer. Take it to a local upholsterer or use it however you d like. Dear Abby Friend going for new look now looks older By Abigail Van Buren A Cactus is an excellent indoor plant that requires very little care and thrives in low household humidity. Cacti are native to the Americas especially Mexico, southern Argentina, and Bolivia. The distinctive look of a Cactus is the result of trying to adapt to very hot dry areas where it was necessary to conserve water. There are hundreds of different sizes, shapes, and varieties of Cacti to choose from, many of which produce large beautiful flowers. Light: Cacti like as much bright indirect light as you can provide. Introduce a Cactus to direct sunlight gradually to prevent sunburn. The ideal location for a small Cactus pot is on the windowsill of a south-facing window. Temperature: An indoor Cactus likes temperatures between 60-80. It is said that ice cubes is used for acne. The chill water helps to remove the oily glands from the face thus decreasing the onset of acne. A perfect solution to reduce the fat on your face is by making use of the ice cube on face. All you have to do is wash your face with crushed iced water for a week. This procedure will help to keep the fat cells under control. Those who are suffering from large pores, the solution to your problem is, use an ice cube face remedy for 30 days. This is a simple procedure, all you have to do is wrap ice cubes in cotton and massage it gently on the face and neck. For an instant relief from sun burn, an ice cube face remedy is the key. Ice cubes with a drop of rose water can help soothe your sun burned skin. Ingredients: 2 pounds firm apples peeled, cored, roughly chopped, 3/4 cup orange juice, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp ground cloves, pinch of salt, 1 tsp grated fresh ginger, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar. Preparation: Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a low boil over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to low, cover pan and simmer, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender, about 25 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes and mash with a potato masher. Dear Abby: I have a friend in her mid-40s who has naturally dark hair she keeps cut short. It looked fine. A few months ago, she bleached her hair platinum blond. She said she was going for a look that will include dark roots, but she has kept the roots platinum, so now her hair just looks white especially in pictures. She posted photos of herself with her boyfriend on Facebook, and while I was scrolling down, my initial reaction was, Who is that elderly woman he s sitting with? A mutual friend commented to me how bad my friend s hair looks and how aging it is. Should I mention to her that her hair color makes her look 20 years older? Telling someone her hair doesn t look good can be hurtful, but if it were me, I d want to know. Helpful in Hawaii Abigail Van Buren Dear helpful: Be diplomatic, but tell her. A tactful way to lead in would be to say you saw the pictures she posted on Facebook and the platinum hair makes her look older. However, unless she asks how much older, don t volunteer, because if you say it s two decades, she may take offense. Dear Abby: What is the rule for tipping in drivethrus? I never thought a tip was necessary in places like that. If the service is good, a tip is warranted. Now many drive-thrus have a tip jar out on the ledge of the window. It s like everyone seems to think they deserve one. A tip is expected when you get your vehicle inspected, your tires changed, your oil changed, manicures and hairstyling, among other things. How much is appropriate to tip for services? I certainly don t want to devalue someone s service if times have changed and this is commonplace. Drive-thru tipping Dear drive-thru: For restaurant servers, hairstylists and manicurists, a 15 to 20 percent tip is expected. The same is true for taxi drivers, hotel personnel and skycaps. In other situations, a tip may be offered when the service performed has been exceptional. If the service you received at the drive-thru was prompt, your order was correct and the person at the window was pleasant and helpful, either give the workers a couple of dollars or the loose change that s returned to you. However, a tip is not required. Dear Abby: A woman friend of mine is angry at me because I have started dating a mutual friend of ours. She says when someone wants to date someone s friend, the polite thing to do is ask how the friend feels about it. Mind you, the man I m going out with isn t her ex and was as good a friend to me as he was to her. If I had discussed the matter with her, what difference would it have made? She doesn t own him. Does her logic make sense to you? Free agent in Texas Dear free agent: No. Your friend has no prior claim on the man you re dating. That she would try to insert herself into your romantic life makes no sense, and you would be foolish to allow it. 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 www.dearabby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. (Source: Universal Uclick) Indian MP, ET Mohammed addresses Islamic Seminar The current circumstances in India need not make Indian Muslims despondent, Indian MP, ET Mohammed Basheer stated. He was speaking on the second day of the 4th Islamic Seminar on the topic Indian Muslims, the present and the future, organized by Kuwait Kerala Islahi Center (KKIC) Friday. Adding that the Muslims will have to stand up to the challenges through relentless legal struggles, the MP exhorted Muslims to practice Islam in its true sense and to stay united to fight the false propaganda that is being spread against Islam. what s on today emergency Site for checking travel ban www.kuwaitcourts.gov.kw/mojweb/ngeneral/main.jsp TIES Center events: TIES Center announces following events Tajweed and Recitation: Learn and practice the art of reciting the Holy Quran (tajweed). The instructor will also answer questions related to the meaning of the Arabic words and verses. Every Sunday & Tuesday @ 10 11:30am; every Monday @ 5-6:30pm. The TIES Center is the social and educational hub for English Speaking expats in Kuwait. For more information, please call 25231015 or e-mail info@tiescenter.net or visit www.tiescenter.net. 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: 24815622, 24841158, 99612287. Further he noted that one must not give in to baseless propaganda aimed at spreading fear and dividing the society by communal currents in the country. He cautioned against the sectarian fissures within the Muslim community leading to trading of accusations, which will make it easier for the enemies to attain their nefarious objectives. TK Ashraf, General Convener of Wisdom Global Islamic Mission, for his part said that the real unity among Muslims can be achieved through the understanding of faith from the authentic texts. The community should IPC Islamic Courses: Say: O my Lord, let me grow in knowledge. IPC is offering Islamic courses in English (for ladies only). Muslims and non-muslims are welcome. 1. Tilawa Surah Ar-Rad and Surah Ibrahim Sundays at 5:30-7:00 pm; 2. Principles of Tafsir (part 2) - Sundays at 7:00-8:30 pm; 3. Tajweed 3 - Tuesday, at 5:30-7:00 pm; 4. Jesus in Surah Mariam (part 2) - Tuesdays at 7:00-8:30 pm. Instructor: Sr Zeinab Hassan Ashry Place: IPC - Women Section Al-Rawdah, Area 3, Street 30, House 12, opp 4th Ring Road. Email: ipc_sch@yahoo.com, Telephone: 22512257. Football coaching workshops: Interested in Coaching/professional development? This weekend Everton Academy, Bayan will be welcoming three top coaches from Glasgow Celtic F.C., the Photos from the event rise above their differences to unite on common issues in the current times, he appealed to the audience. Noted speaker, Mujahid Balushery, spoke on the topic Islam the natural religion, and presented the case for man s subservience to the creator like the rest of the universe. The Chairman of Ihia Turas Islami, Sheikh Tarik Sami Sultan Al Essa, inaugurated the event, while KKIC President PN Abdul Lateef Madani moderated the program. Masjid Al Kabeer Director, Rumi Al Rumi, Adeeb Al Ghasi (Souq Al Imarat) and Haris Aideed (FIMA) were the other speakers. number 112 Civil ID info: 1889988 Scottish Premier League Champions, including their International Academy Manager, Tony Massie. They will be delivering a certifi ed Celtic Coach Education program on Saturday, 6-8pm, Sunday, 6-8pm and Monday, 8-9.30pm. Certificates will only be awarded to coaches attending all 3 sessions. Places are limited - register at Bayan office any evening 5-8pm. Redeemed Christian Church: The Redeemed Christian Church of God (HOD Parish) worship in English. Celebration Service: Friday 9 am 11 am; Divine encounter: Sunday, 6:30 pm 8:30 pm; Digging Deep (Bible studies): Tuesday, 6:30 pm 8:30 pm; Night vigil every last Friday of the month from 10 pm. Venue: New Mishref. For more information and direction please call 9927-6603, 6557-7482. Email: rccghouseofdavidq8@gmail.com St Paul s Church activities: English Worship Services on Fridays at 10.30 am and on Sundays at 6.30 pm at St Paul s Church in Ahmadi. The Friday English Service has got separate sessions for Children and Youth. Chinese Worship Services on Fridays at 10.30 am at House No 16, Street 9, Block 11, Salwa. Urdu Worship services on Thursdays at 5.35 pm at St. Paul s Church, Ahmadi and on Fridays at 5.45 pm at Diwaniya of NECK Campus, Kuwait City. Please contact Fr Harrison Chinnakumar for English and Urdu Congregations and his phone numbers are 66396539 or 239859292 and email address: chaplain@stpaulskuwait.com. For Chinese congregation, please contact Zhu Peijin and her number is 99551783 and email address is: greenolivettc@ hotmail.com

28 Time for Stewart to return Schwarzenegger won t be back on Apprentice LOS ANGELES, March 4, (Agencies): Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed on Friday that he is terminating his time on The New Celebrity Apprentice after blaming President Donald Trump s continued involvement for its poor ratings. The 69-year-old actor famous for his catchphrase I ll be back had earlier told entertainment magazine Empire that he had no plans to return to the show after his debut season, and would decline even if asked by creator Mark Burnett. I loved every second of working with NBC and Mark Burnett. Everyone from the celebrities to the crew to the marketing department was a straight 10, and I would absolutely work with all of them again on a show that doesn t have this baggage, he confirmed in a statement circulated to US media. Schwarzenegger s representatives in Los Angeles did not immediately respond to a request for comment. With Trump being involved in the show people have a bad taste and don t want to participate as a spectator or as a sponsor or in any other way support the show, Schwarzenegger had told Empire earlier Friday. It s a very divisive period now and I think this show got caught up in all that division. He added that he had universally positive feedback on his own performance but people had told him they couldn t watch after seeing Trump s name in the credits as executive producer. No one really knew that this was going to happen and I think that everyone was caught off guard When people found out that Trump was still involved as executive producer and was still receiving money from the show, then half the people (started) boycotting it. Trump, the original host from 2008-14, and Schwarzenegger sparred on Twitter after it was revealed that ratings for the reality business show had dipped. Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger did a really bad job as Governor of California and even worse on the Apprentice but at least he tried hard, Trump tweeted on Feb 3. The ratings went right down the tubes, the president had said a day earlier at an annual prayer breakfast of religious leaders, which Burnett also attended. Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again. And I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings. Schwarzenegger hit back with a link to a story about his release of his tax returns during his campaign to be re-elected as governor of California in 2006. He also posted a video in which he suggested he and his interlocutor should switch jobs so people can finally sleep comfortably again. With the audience slumping below four Couch slouch million after the show s debut in January, Schwarzenegger s resignation may end up being moot, as NBC has not yet picked up a second season. Hey Jon, you know you can come back, right? On the Feb. 27 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, comedian Jon Stewart former host of The Daily Show, and Colbert s former boss emerged from underneath Colbert s desk to talk a little bit about the state of the nation. Stewart s done this gag before back in July, during the Republican National Convention, Stewart entered the same way, dressed in a grey t-shirt and looking vaguely wild, talking of the farm he s retreated to. Since leaving The Daily Show in 2015, Stewart s made a carefully scattered number of appearances on The Late Show, Full Frontal, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. He s grown out his beard, talks a bit fondly of the animals he s living with, and eschews the suits-and-neckties that he wore for 16 years as the anchor of Comedy Central s flagship show. In one of the most contentious and maddening election seasons in recent history, Stewart s regular voice on media and politics was missed; at the same time, it s hard to deny the guy a break. But Monday night s appearance seemed to be less about appeasing an adoring audience with another intermittent on-camera appearance. More than ever, Stewart seemed to be on The Late Show because he desperately misses having a platform. When he emerged out of the tunnel, he was even wearing a dress shirt and tie; Colbert offered him a chair similar to his own, which Stewart then used to try to muscle Colbert out from behind the desk. It was all very jovial, of course, as is the relationship between the two comedians and Stewart, on anyone else s show, is very careful to not hog the spotlight unless expressly invited to. The comedian is aware of his own popularity, and tries not to detract from the star power of his colleagues. At the same time, this is the second appearance on The Late Show in a month: On Jan. 31, Stewart appeared as a guest, dressed in what he joked were the fashion cues he d taken from the president. (He wore a dead animal wrapped around his head and a red necktie that appeared to be 10 feet long.) That appearance wasn t enough, apparently, to get everything he wanted off his chest; for his second appearance he even moved to the more familiar territory of sitting behind the desk with his stack of blue paper, drawing circles with a Sharpie. Colbert, in his characteristic drawl, made a fine point of it. Jon. You miss it, don t you? Stewart responded with a lot of thumping the desk with his fists. tv highlights Exposure therapy can ease phobia s, anxiety Virtual reality hopes to treat mental health problems BARCELONA, March 4, (AFP): Virtual reality headsets are often associated with video games and fun, but companies are also working to use them for mental health therapies, to treat phobias, anxiety or addictions. Some phobias, for instance, can be effectively treated by gradually exposing a patient to his or her worst fear, be it spiders, plane travel or small, enclosed spaces. TeleSoftas, a Lithuanian firm that develops mobile apps, believes this exposure therapy can easily be achieved from the safety of a health professional s consulting room using the headsets. With virtual reality you can create audiovisual therapies in a safe environment for phobics, its CEO Algirdas Stonys told AFP at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the phone industry s largest annual trade fair. So for instance, someone who is scared of speaking in public would find himself in front of a room full of people, virtually. click A flyer of the event. General Continued from Page 26 TeleSoftas has just received EU funding to finance the development of mental health apps for virtual reality headsets, in collaboration with academics. Psious, a Spanish start-up, is also in a similar field. Exposure therapies are designed to encourage the individual to enter feared situations, either in the real world or through imagined exercises. Digital But we thought that in this digital age, there had to be something more, said CEO Xavier Palomer Ripoll. Created three years ago because one of its founders was scared of flying, the firm develops apps for psychotherapists who can download them and use them on virtual reality headsets. The doctor then choses an adequate environment. some of the Prophets and Messengers of God who strove very hard to spread monotheism and teach their respective peoples how to worship God. Their message was not only spiritual; they also taught people how to conduct their daily lives and develop the living conditions on earth. In this series, we will focus on the following prophets: Adam, Nouh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Ayoub (Job), Yousuf (Joseph), Mousa (Moses), and Eisa (Jesus) - may peace, mercy and blessings of Allah (to Whom all might and majesty is ascribed) be upon them all. A flyer of the event. For instance, once kitted out with the headset, a person with vertigo will find him- or herself in a lift going up or down a skyscraper. Using a computer, the psychotherapist can propel the lift higher and higher, or make the floor transparent to increase the difficulty of the exercise. They can also gauge how well the patient is doing by seeing for example if they are able to look down. Psious raised close to a million euros ($1.1 million) in 2015, and provides the technology to some 600 doctors, mostly in Spain. In parallel, it is currently going through nine clinical trials with universities to get long-term efficacy data. TeleSoftas, meanwhile, hopes to eventually be able to offer virtual environments to treat obsessive-compulsive disorders, post-traumatic syndromes, alcoholism or smoking. Several American start-ups are working on these kinds of applications as well. We will not only focus on historical facts, but will also deduce some important lessons whose application in our daily interactions and chores determine our success and salvation. Join us every Thursday at 7 pm to learn about the life and times of those messengers of firm resolve. The TIES Center is the social and educational hub for English Speaking Muslims in Kuwait. For more information, please call 25231015 or e-mail info@tiescenter.net or visit www.tiescenter.net. Cinema Cinema programme from Thursday 02/03/2017 to Wednesday 08/03/2017 Logan Sharqia 1 11:30 (No Fri) 23:30 Sharqia 2 13:30, 16:15, 19:00, 21:45, 00:30 Sharqia 3 17:15, 20:00 Muhalab 2 12:15 (No Fri) 15:00, 19:15, 23:30 Muhalab 3 13:15 (No Fri) 16:00, 18:45, 21:30, 00:15 Fanar 4 13:30, 16:15, 19:00, 21:45, 00:30 Fanar 5 12:30 (No Fri) 15:15, 18:00, 20:45, 23:30 Marina 2 13:00 (No Fri) 15:45, 18:30, 21:15, 00:05 Marina 3 11:30 (No Fri) 14:15, 20:15, 23:00 Avenues 2 13:30, 16:15, 19:00, 21:45, 00:30 Avenues 4 13:00 (No Fri) 15:45, 18:30, 21:15, 00:05 Avenues 5 11:30 (No Fri) 14:15 Avenues 6 13:45, 16:30, 19:15, 22:00, 00:45 Avenues 8 Avenues 11 11:45 (No Fri) 12:30 (No Fri) 15:15, 18:00, 20:45, 23:30 360 9 12:00 (No Fri) 14:45, 17:30, 20:15, 23:00 360 10 00:15 360 11 11:30 (No Fri) 14:15, 17:00, 19:45, 22:30 360 12 13:30, 16:15, 19:00, 21:45, 00:30 360 13 12:30 (No Fri) 15:15, 18:00, 23:30 20:45 (No Tue) 360 15 12:45 (No Fri) 15:30, 18:15, 21:00, 23:45 Al-Kout 1 13:30, 16:15, 19:00, 21:45, 00:30 Al-Kout 2 Bairaq 1 12:45 (No Fri) 15:45, 20:45, 23:30 12:00 (No Fri) 14:45, 20:15, 23:00 Bairaq 3 18:30, 21:15, 00:05 Laila 15:45, 20:00, 22:45 Grand Hamra 5 14:45, 17:30 Grand Hamra 6 14:00, 16:45, 19:30, 22:15 01:00 (Thu, Fri) Grand Hamra GC 15:00, 17:30, 20:00, 22:30 01:00 (Thu, Fri) Grand Gate 1 14:00, 16:45, 19:15, 21:45 00:30 (Thu, Fri) Grand Gate GC 15:00, 17:30, 20:00, 22:30 01:00 (Thu, Fri) Hamah (Kuwaiti Film) Sharqia 1 14:15, 15:45, 17:15, 18:45, 20:30, 22:00 Sharqia 2 12:00 (No Fri) Muhalab 2 17:45, 22:00 Muhalab 3 14:30 (Fri) Fanar 1 12:00 (No Fri) 13:30, 17:30, 19:00, 20:30, 00:45 Marina 3 17:00, 18:45 Avenues 5 20:00, 21:45 Avenues 10 12:15 (No Fri) 14:15, 16:00, 17:45, 19:30, 21:15, 22:45, 00:30 360 8 13:15 (No Fri) 13:30 (Fri) 15:00, 16:45, 18:30, 20:15, 22:00, 23:45 360 10 13:00 (No Fri) 13:30 (Fri) 17:45, 22:30 Al-Kout 1 12:00 (No Fri) Al-Kout 4 16:00, 17:30, 19:00, 20:30, 22:15 Bairaq 2 13:30, 15:00, 16:30, 18:00, 19:30, 21:00 Laila 18:30 Grand Hamra 7 15:30, 17:15, 18:45, 21:00 23:00 (Thu, Fri) Don t Knock Twice Grand Hamra 1 14:30, 16:30, 18:30, 20:30, 22:30 00:45 (Thu, Fri) Grand Gate 2 14:45, 17:15, 19:15, 21:15, 23:15 Eloise Sharqia 3 13:15 (No Fri) 15:15, 22:45, 00:45 Muhalab 1 12:30 (No Fri) 14:30, 16:30, 18:30, 22:30, 00:30 Fanar 2 18:15, 22:15, 00:15 Fanar 3 17:00 Marina 1 Avenues 3 12:00 (No Fri) 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 22:45, 00:45 13:00 (No Fri) 15:00, 17:00, 19:00, 21:00, 23:00, 01:00 360 1 12:00 (No Fri) 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00, 00:05 360 11 01:15 Al-Kout 3 Bairaq 2 11:45 (No Fri) 13:45, 15:45, 18:00, 22:00, 00:05 11:30 (No Fri) 22:30, 00:30 Mercury Plains Muhalab 1 20:30 Fanar 2 20:15 Fanar 3 12:00 (No Fri) 22:00, 00:05 Avenues 8 14:30, 16:45, 19:15, 21:30 360 14 13:30 (Fri, Sat) 15:45, 18:00 (No Mon) 20:15, 22:30, 00:45 Al-Kout 3 20:00 Al-Kout 4 12:00 (No Fri) 14:00, 23:45 Hidden Figures Fanar 1 15:00, 22:00 Marina 1 20:00 Avenues 9 12:45 (No Fri) 15:30, 20:30, 23:15 360 2 13:00 (No Fri) 13:30 (Fri) 16:00, 18:45, 21:30, 00:15 Bairaq 1 17:30 Grand Hamra 2 14:00, 16:45, 19:15, 21:45 Kikoriki, Legend Of The Golden Dragon Fanar 2 13:00 (No Fri) 14:45, 16:30 Avenues 7 13:00 (No Fri) 15:00, 17:00 360 4 12:00 (No Fri) 14:00, 16:00, 18:00 Bairaq 3 13:15 (No Fri) 15:00, 16:45 Kung-Fu Yoga Grand Hamra 8 19:00, 21:30 00:00 (Thu, Fri) Grand Gate 5 14:00, 16:15, 18:30, 20:45, 23:00 Commando 2 (Hindi Film) Fanar 3 14:00, 19:00 Ajial 1 15:30, 18:30, 21:30 The Devil s Candy Marina 2 13:45 (Fri) How to find us Avenues 1 11:30 (No Fri) 20:15, 22:15, 00:15 360 7 19:15, 21:15, 23:15, 01:15 A Dog s Purpose Avenues 1 13:30, 18:00 360 6 12:15 (No Fri) 15:00, 17:15 Grand Gate 6 14:30, 16:30, 18:30, 20:30, 22:30 The Lego Batman Movie Avenues 1 15:45 360 7 12:30 (No Fri) 14:45, 17:00 Grand Gate 7 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 20:15, 22:15 Ozzy Grand Hamra 8 15:00, 17:00 Raees (Hindi Film) Avenues 5 17:00 360 10 19:30 Ajial 3 15:15, 21:15 John Wick: Chapter 2 Avenues 5 23:30 Avenues 6 11:30 (No Fri) Avenues 8 23:45 360 3 13:45, 16:30, 22:00, 00:30 360 10 15:15 Grand Gate 8 14:15, 16:45, 19:30, 22:00 00:45 (Thu, Fri) 1. 360 Zahra a Area, South Surra, 6th Ring Road, corner of King Faisal Highway 2. Ajial Ajial Complex, Fahaheel 3. Al Bairaq Between Jaber Al Ali East & Al Agalia West 4. Al Fanar Al Fanar Complex, Salem Al Mubarak Street, near Sultan Center, Salmiya 5. Al Kout Al-Kout Complex, at the end of the Coastal Road, Fahaheel 6. Al Muhalab Al Muhalab Complex, Behind Hawally Clinic, Hawally 7. Al Sharqiya Arabian Gulf Street, Souq Sharq, near the Amiri Hospital 8. Laila Gallery Salem Al Mubarak Street, near Sultan Center, Salmiya 9. Marina Marina Mall, Between Salem Al Mubarak Street & Arabian Gulf Street, Salmiya 10. Metro Metro Complex, Farwaniya, near Crowne Plaza Hotel & Farwaniya Garden 11. Plaza Salem Al Mubarak Street, near Sultan Center, Salmiya 12. The Avenues The Avenues Mall, Al Reggai near Al Rai, 5th Ring Road & Ghazali Road Intersection NB: Friday no show before 1:30 pm Regular show KD3:000; 3D-Digital KD3.500; VIP show KD6.000. On Monday, price is KD1.500 except Digital movies. Cinescape cinema movies inquiries and Fax Back hotline 1803456 13. The Scientific Center IMAX Opp Holiday Inn, Salmiya, Gulf Road 14. Grand Al-Hamra Grand Al-Hamra, tel: 22270333, www.grand cinemas.com 15. Grand Gate Grand Gate, tel: 22056464, www.grandcinemas.com Eliminators Avenues 7 19:00, 21:15, 23:30 360 5 13:15 (No Fri) 13:30 (Fri) 15:30, 20:30, 22:45, 01:00 Al-Kout 2 13:45 (Fri) 18:45 El Qerd Beyetkalim (Arabic Film) Avenues 9 18:15 360 6 19:30, 21:30, 23:30 Aby (Malayalam Film) 360 3 19:00 Plaza 18:30 21:15 (Thu, Fri) Ajial 4 16:30, 19:00, 21:30 Rings 360 4 20:00, 00:45 Grand Hamra 5 20:15, 22:30 Grand Gate 4 14:15, 16:30, 19:00, 21:00, 23:00 Split 360 4 22:15 Grand Hamra 3 14:15, 17:00, 19:30, 22:00 Grand Gate 3 14:30, 17:00, 19:30, 22:00 00:15 (Thu, Fri) La La Land 360 5 17:45 Gold Grand Hamra 4 14:15, 17:15, 19:45, 22:15 Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol (Malayalam Film) Plaza 15:30 21:15 (No Thu, Fri) Ajial 2 15:45 (No Fri) 18:45, 21:45 Bir Bikram (Nepali Film) Ajial 2 16:00 (Fri) Dangal (Hindi Film) Ajial 3 18:00 IMAX Imax film programme at The Scientific Center Sunday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Flying Monsters 3D 10:30 am 07:30 pm A Beautiful Planet 3D 11:30 am 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 12:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 05:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 08:30 pm Monday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am A Beautiful Planet 3D 10:30 am 05:30 pm, 07:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 11:30 am 09:30 pm Flying Monsters 3D 12:30 pm, 06:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 08:30 pm Tuesday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Journey to Space 3D 10:30 am Flying Monsters 3D 11:30 am 09:30 pm A Beautiful Planet 3D 12:30 pm, 05:30 pm, 08:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 06:30 pm Secret Ocean 3D 07:30 pm Wednesday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Flying Monsters 3D 10:30 am 05:30 pm A Beautiful Planet 3D 11:30 am 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 12:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 07:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 08:30 pm Thursday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am A Beautiful Planet 3D 10:30 am 07:30 pm Flying Monsters 3D 11:30 am 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 12:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 05:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 08:30 pm Friday A Beautiful Planet 3D 02:30 pm, 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 03:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 04:30 pm Secret Ocean 3D 05:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 07:30 pm Flying Monsters 3D 08:30 pm Saturday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Flying Monsters 3D 10:30 am 05:30 pm, 07:30 pm A Beautiful Planet 3D 11:30 am 03:30 pm, 08:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 12:30 pm, 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 01:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 02:30 pm Secret Ocean 3D 04:30 pm Notes: All films are in Arabic. For English, headsets are available upon request. Film schedule is subject to changes without notice. For information call 1 848 888 or visit www.tsck.org.kw

HEALTH 29 US study weighs risk and reward of going off drug Stopping cancer drug to see if you re cured US study compares birth data Birth defects jump 20-fold in Zika moms WASHINGTON, March 4, (AFP): Pregnant women infected with the Zika virus last year were 20 times more likely to bear children with birth defects than those who gave birth prior to the epidemic, US health officials said Thursday. Researchers for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared birth outcomes prior to the Zika epidemic s outbreak in 2015 using data from three US state registries to those of mothers infected by the virus in 2016. The defects included microcephaly a crippling deformation that leads to babies having very small brains and heads as well as poor cranial development, neural tube defects and other brain or eye abnormalities. The study found that those defects were seen in about three live births per 1,000 in 2013 and 2014. But in 2016 abnormalities were found in some 60 infants and fetuses per 1,000 when their pregnant layed retiring until 70 to keep insurance to cover her drug, which would have cost her thousands. Meghann Bell, 38, a marketing director in Seattle, went off Gleevec in 2010 to start a family because the drug isn t safe during pregnancy. She resumed after the birth, then decided to go off again two and a half years ago. I kept thinking how I had been mothers were infected by Zika. Among infected women, the virus was also responsible for 48 percent of miscarriages and 66 percent of premature births, with fetuses frequently suffering from neural tube defects or other brain abnormalities in early stages of development. Another CDC study released in December showed that the rate of defects was higher 11 percent among women who were infected with Zika in the first trimester of their pregnancies. The CDC reiterated recommendations that pregnant women in the US avoid visiting countries where mosquito-borne transmission of the virus is active, and to avoid sexual contact with partners who have visited those areas. Zika symptoms are often mild and include body pain, red eyes and a rash. Four out of five people report no symptoms at all, making the infection particularly difficult to prevent. In this Jan 31, 2017 photo, Rick and Nina Schmidt sit at the table of their home Hartland, Wisconsin. (AP) in remission during pregnancy, she said. I felt like I was cured and really didn t want to be on this drug for all my life. CML, which starts in the bone marrow, has long been unique. Some other types of cancer, such as breast or colon, are treated with surgery or a course of radiation or drugs and the tumor either is gone or not, and may or may not recur. But once CML develops, it has been considered a lifelong threat. It s almost always caused by a gene flaw that usually develops during life, versus one that is inherited. Gleevec blocks the gene s activity in more than 90 percent of patients. The drug s approval in 2001 turned CML from a fatal disease to a chronic condition for most folks, and 36,000 to 100,000 Americans are living with it now, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society estimates. Two similar drugs, Tasigna and Sprycel, also are sold, and generic Gleevec came out last year. Treatment costs $60,000 to $150,000 a year. Even with insurance, copays run $1,000 to $24,000 a year, and Schally had to meet a $10,000 deductible. Side effects can include fatigue, nausea, chronic diarrhea, muscle pain and skin rashes. Meals have to be timed carefully around some pills. Many patients want to quit, but the thinking was that they would always need treatment, the way some people need insulin to control diabetes. Now, though, research suggests that long treatment may eliminate so many cells with the bad gene that the immune system may be able to keep the disease in check if it starts to return. At an American Society of Hematology meeting in December, Dr. Francois-Xavier Mahon of the University of Bordeaux in France reported a study of 750 patients who stopped treatment after being By Marilynn Marchione Imagine you had a life-threatening cancer that a wonder drug had kept in remission for years. Would you risk quitting? Thousands of people with a blood cancer called chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, now have that choice. New treatment guidelines in the US say certain patients can consider stopping Gleevec or similar drugs which were long thought to be needed for the rest of their lives. It s just a pill or two a day but the drugs are expensive and have side effects. A European study recently found it s safe for carefully selected patients to try, and a US study hoping to confirm that just finished enrollment. Our goal is to truly cure CML, which is essentially to have patients off drug, said Dr Ehab Atallah, a leukemia expert at the Medical College of Wisconsin who helps lead the US study. We re hoping to figure out better who can and cannot stop. Some patients want to try, but others won t dare. Like playing Russian roulette, said Jee-Won Schally, 54, a former history teacher from Milwaukee who has taken Gleevec for 10 years and doesn t want to stop. Nor does Doug Jensen, 83, a retired engineer near Portland, Oregon, who still gets the drug for free because he was in the original study that proved it worked. But for Nina Schlidt, quitting a similar drug nearly two years ago was wonderful and financially, a godsend. The 67-year-old suburban Milwaukee woman s husband dein deep remission with no sign of disease in their blood for at least a year. After six months without treatment, 62 percent had maintained a deep remission, and 52 percent still had after two years. Most who relapsed were able to regain deep remission after resuming treatment, and none developed advanced disease, he said. Half a dozen smaller studies have been done, and the data are all the same and it all looks good, said Dr Kendra Sweet of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. She helped draft new National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines that say it s reasonable to consider stopping treatment in people who have been in deep remission for at least two years, with close monitoring. Not only some patients are wary, some doctors are too. If I can keep a patient on medicine, I do, said Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, the Cleveland Clinic s leukemia chief and a spokesman for the Hematology Society. There are those of us who don t think you can cure the disease with long-term treatment, that eventually it will come back. But Gleevec s discoverer, Dr Brian Druker, head of Oregon Health & Science University s cancer center, sees it differently. Nearly half of his 250 patients would be eligible to try quitting. So far, 49 have and only 18 have had to resume. When I discuss it with patients, I say there s a 50-50 chance you ll be off therapy and a 1 percent risk that your leukemia will become resistant to treatment, Druker said. Those are pretty good odds. (AP)

Kirkuk oil flow in jeopardy again as tensions grow Austria s OMV sells Petrol Ofisi to Vitol for $1.45 bln Iraq s Kurdistan is facing growing tensions between its government and the key opposition faction, which briefly disrupted oil fl ows from the semi-autonomous region this week and has threatened to take more action in coming days. At the centre of the dispute is the huge Kirkuk oil fi eld in northern Iraq, which can pump around 150,000 barrels per day and has been exporting the output to world markets via Turkey. The Kurdistan Regional Government, led by President Massoud Barzani and based in the capital of Erbil, began independent exports of oil from Kirkuk in 2014 but cut a deal with Baghdad last year to equally split the revenues. The deal has been opposed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which is dominant in the area of Kirkuk and is the historic adversary of Barzani s Erbil-based ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). On Thursday, forces loyal to the PUK seized the Kirkuk facilities and briefly suspended oil fl ows, and threatened further action. The developments have revived memories of a prolonged oil disruption in 2015-2016, when a quarter of Kurdish oil was reinjected back into the ground for months. (RTRS) Austrian oil and gas group OMV has announced the sale of its Turkish subsidiary Petrol Ofi si to Swiss oil trading giant Vitol for 1.368 billion euros ($1.45 billion). OMV had put its Turkish subsidiary up for sale a year ago in the context of plunging crude prices that depressed the global oil sector. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be fi nalised by the third quarter of this year at the latest, the Austrian group said in a statement on Friday. As a result OMV will record a depreciation of 186 million euros in its results for the fourth quarter of 2016, in addition to the 148 million euro depreciation booked at the end of December for the sale of the subsidiary. The group also indicated that its 2017 results will be hit by a negative exchange rate effect of 1.1 billion euros, linked to the plunge in the Turkish lira. The original plan of integrating Petrol Ofisi into the value chain of OMV Group could not be realised. Therefore, the decision to sell the company was the right and necessary step in the course of implementing our corporate strategy. In light of the challenging environment, I am pleased that we successfully concluded the negotiations, group CEO Rainer Seele said in a statement. (AFP) Market Movements 04-03-2017 Change Closing pts FRANCE - CAC 40 +31.33 4,995.13 EUROPE - Euro Stoxx 50 +18.68 3,403.39 PHILIPPINES - All Shares +6.99 4,385.86 Change Closing pts AUSTRALIA - All Ordinaries -45.30 5,775.40 JAPAN - Nikkei -95.63 19,469.17 GERMANY - DAX -32.21 12,027.36 S. KOREA - KRX 100-53.52 4,187.88 INDIA - Sensex -7.34 28,832.45 HONG KONG - Hang Seng -175.35 23,552.72 Business Boursa remains bearish, sheds KD 170mn in value Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the red zone. The Price Index closed at 6,767.04 points, down by 0.63% from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.61% after closing at 424.54 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 970.49 points down by 0.12%. Furthermore, last week s average daily turnover decreased by 25.19%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 27.51 million, whereas trading volume average was 260.90 million shares, recording a decrease of 28.47%. As far as the Boursa Kuwait performance over the past week, which had only four sessions; the three indices recorded different losses affected by the continued profit collection operations executed on the listed stocks of leading and smallcap ones, especially the stocks that witnessed large increases as a result to the revival state lived by the Boursa during the few first weeks of the current year. The Boursa witnessed such performance in light of the decreased trading indicators of the value and the volume and executed deals during the week, where the total value dropped by 40.15% to reach K.D. 110.04, and the volume decreased to 1.04 billion stock, down by 42.78%. Boursa Kuwait initiated the first session of the last week with grouped loss to the three indices, affected by the profit collection operations executed on some leading and operational stocks, especially in the Banks sector, in addition to the selling pressures that targeted some small-cap stocks being traded below its book or par values. The market witnessed such performance in light of a declined trading indicators compared to the previous session, where the cash liquidity dropped at the end of the session by around 15%, and the volume decreased by approximately 22%. On the next session, the three Boursa indices witnessed a fluctuated performance, as the Price Index was able to realize some increase by the end of the session supported by the return of the active speculative operations executed on the smallcap stocks, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices continued recording losses for the second consecutive session due to the continued profit collection operations control over the dealing of the leading and heavy stocks. Such variance came amid a slight increase in the trading indicators compared to the previous session, where the value recorded a growth of approximately 1.5%, and the volume increased by approximately 13%. Wednesday s session witnessed a return of the three indices to close in the red zone, where the Price Index returned once again to the losses zone after some small-cap stocks being subject to quick profit collection operations, especially after the gains it realized in the previous session, while the profit collection operations that been targeting the leading and heavy stocks since the beginning of the week, continued on affecting Boursa Kuwait weekly report the Weighted and KSX-15 indices, which caused it to decline for the third consecutive session. On the end of week session, the three market indices returned to close in the green zone, as a result to the random purchasing operations that included many listed stocks of both leading and heavy ones; where the market witnesses such performance despite the decline in the trading indicators of both the cash liquidity or the volume of the traded stocks, where the value dropped by approximately 31%, while the volume decreased by about 7%. Moreover, Boursa Kuwait lost around K.D. 170 million of its market value during the last week, or 0.60% compared to the previous week s closings, while its gains since the beginning of the year contracted to 11.02%, compared to its level at end of 2016, where it was then K.D. 25.41 billion. For the annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 17.73% annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the weighted index increased by 11.69%, and the KSX-15 recorded 9.66% growth. Sectors Indices Nine of Boursa Kuwait s sectors ended last week in the red zone, Bayan Investment Co while the other three recorded increases. The Insurance sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 5.30% to end the week s activity at 1,105.65 points. The Telecommunications sector was second on the losers list, which index declined by 2.52%, closing at 645.32 points, followed by the Banks sector, as its index closed at 971.36 points at a loss of 2.32%. The Consumer Services sector was the least declining as its index closed at 961.52 points with a 0.35% decrease. On the other hand, last week s highest gainer was the Oil & Gas sector, achieving 13.80% growth rate as its index closed at 1,009.31 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Health Care sector s index closed at 1,442.13 points recording 8.95% increase. The Consumer goods sector came in third as its index achieved 2.74% growth, ending the week at 1,194.32 points. Sectors Activity The Real Estate sector dominated a total trade volume of around 372.97 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 35.74% of the total market trading volume. The Financial Services sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector s traded shares were 33.78% of last week s total trading volume, with a total of around 352.49 million shares. On the other hand, the Banks sector s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around K.D 39.96 million or 36.31% of last week s total market trading value. The Financial Services sector took the second place as the sector s last week turnover was approx. K.D 28.91 million representing 26.27% of the total market trading value. For further details, please visit our web site: www.bayaninvest.com An in-flight photo of Kuwait Airways airline. Carrier taking a larger bite of Big Apple Kuwait Airways offers daily flights to New York KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Kuwait Airways, the official national carrier of the State of Kuwait, highlighted that its flights to New York-JFK have recently increased to a daily service, with a significant increase in demand driving this decision. Noting a 20 per cent increase in market share to Kuwait Airways key North American destination, in 2016, the additional service now also benefits from the fact that the airline s new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft are primarily servicing this route. This has allowed for increased passenger capacity, per flight, on the longest international route on Kuwait Airways network. While the current schedule has the New York JFK route including a short stop in Shannon, in the Republic of Ireland, negotiations are currently active with regard to turning this destination into a non-stop route. No date has been set for such a change, but Kuwait Airways has reiterated that this remains firmly on the agenda so as to match the fact that all other routes on its 36-destination network are now non-stop routes. Commenting on the recent frequency increase, Rasha Al Roumi, Chairperson and CEO of Kuwait Airways said: New York is a key hub and gateway to the North American market and Kuwait Airways is excited to be increasing our capacity and frequencies to one of the world s most exciting commercial and travel destinations. Turkish inflation hits double digits Data piles pressure on central bank ISTANBUL, March 4, (RTRS): Turkish consumer prices rose more than 10 percent in February compared with the same month last year, data showed on Friday, which may force the central bank to ignore political pressure and raise interest rates this month. Consumer prices rose 10.13 percent compared with the same month last year, the Turkish Statistics Institute said. From January they were up 0.81 percent, exceeding a forecast rise of 0.47 percent in a Reuters poll. It is the first time in nearly five years that annual consumer price inflation has climbed into double digits Ṫhe data briefly hit the lira, which has been weighed down by investor concerns over security problems, a slowing economy and political uncertainty ahead of an April referendum on plans to boost President Tayyip Erdogan s powers. Economists said the performance of the lira (TRY) would dictate the central bank s monetary policy decision when it meets on March 16, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is expected to raise interest rates. If TRY continues to sell off and the Fed delivers on the now widely expected rate hike in March, then Turkey s central bank will also need to tighten, in our view, by widening the interest rate corridor, said Nomura economist Inan Demir. Pressure from the government to keep borrowing costs low to prioritise economic growth is unlikely to relent ahead of the referendum, however. The central bank has taken unorthodox monetary tightening steps to tame price rises and defend the lira after sharp losses at the start of the year, but it has not raised its policy rate since last November. Early on Friday, the bank took another slight tightening step, lowering the level of funding it provides on the Istanbul bourse at 9.25 percent to 17 billion lira from 22 billion a day earlier. As a result it was set to provide more funding at its late liquidity window at a rate of 11 percent. A banker familiar with central bank policies said that as a result of the reduction, the average cost of funding would rise to 10.50 percent on Friday from 10.38 percent at the start of the week. More decisive action may have to wait until the bank s rate-setters meet. Faster deterioration in inflation and currency weakness might trigger CBRT (central bank) action in the March (interest rate-setting meeting), said QNB Finansbank chief economist Gokce Celik. The central bank next sets rates on March 16. The lira, which lost 1 percent of its value against the dollar on Thursday, softened to 3.7460 after the inflation data, its weakest since Feb. 8. It subsequently firmed back up to 3.7330, supported by the central bank tightening. Consumer price inflation in February was driven by the health sector, with a rise of 2.17 percent, and transportation prices which rose 2.82 percent. Producer prices climbed 1.26 percent from the previous month and a hefty 15.36 percent from the same month last year, the data showed. In September annual producer price inflation had been below 2 percent. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during the National Cultural Council meeting on March 3, in Istanbul. (AFP) Producers must prepare Plan B Shale on steady course with 20 percent growth By Kamel Al-Harami Independent Oil Analyst Despite the reduction in oil prices to below $30 per barrel in order to curtail growth in shale oil production, the non-conventional oil sector in the United States of America is developing at a rate of 20 percent per annum. The message is clear shale oil is here to stay and will be in direct competition with the cheaper traditional oils. There is no doubt in this regard, especially with ExxonMobil investing in the shale oil sector. It is crystal clear that it will make all sorts of cuts and use its technical knowledge to ensure it will be more viable and commercially acceptable, and can generate profits in line with the traditional oil producers. It is planning to grow by producing shale oil from the current level of 200,000 barrels per day to 750,000 barrels by the end of 2020 from its recent acquisitions in Texas and South Dakota that cost more than $6.6 billion. Oil companies are now finding their own backyard in the USA more interesting to book and find more oil reserves to boost financial returns and rewards for its shareholders in their own oil core business. The steady growth in USA oil production is the main factor behind curbing the increase in oil prices to above $60 per barrel despite the past OPEC compliance by more than 90 percent to the production cuts exceeding the accepted level that was agreed with some other members, as some shale producers can compete with $50 level. Oil producing countries must strive from today to prepare plan B for the future because depending on oil as sole income for their economies is not viable, considering the fact that if USA is finding and encouraging investments in shale oil and gas sector, other countries will follow suit. International oil companies that are investing in non-traditional oils will do the same in other countries that have higher shale oil reserves of almost double the current availability in USA such as China, Algeria and Russia. Therefore, the trend and growth of shale oil sector will not stop. Oil producing countries particularly our countries in the Arabian Gulf region will have to think twice. Plan B must be prepared before it is too late. email: naftikuwaiti@yahoo.com Al-Harami

BUSINESS 31 Comcast s NBCU discloses $500 mn stake in Snap Silicon Valley school makes $24m off investment Comcast Corp s NBCUniversal on Friday disclosed it has taken a $500 million stake in Snap, the messaging service which launched its big public offering this week. This is a significant milestone in our growing partnership with Snap, and we look forward to participating in Snap s success as an investor and continuing to work closely with them for years to come, NBCU chief executive Steve Burke said in a memo to employees. California-based Snap, known for its Snapchat disappearing messages and which has a range of media partners, jumped 44 percent in its first day of trading Thursday after the biggest US technology listing since Facebook in 2012. Snap shares extended their gains Friday, rising 9.5 percent in early trade. Burke said Snap founders have done an outstanding job building Snap into an extremely innovative and relevant company, attracting a massive, dedicated and young audience. He added that NBCU had been already planning an expanded partnership for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea. Our entertainment programs have been among the first shows to launch a Snapchat series he said. (AFP) Bake sales and car washes? Not for one Silicon Valley parochial high school that hit it big this week and, by doing so, highlighted anew gaping economic disparities in the region. St. Francis High School in Mountain View parlayed a $15,000 investment in the company that developed the Snapchat app into a windfall of at least $24 million, capitalizing on a unique venture capital fund set up by the school s investmentsavvy parents. The fund paid off when Snap Inc began selling shares to the public Thursday and the school sold about 1.4 million of the 2.1 million shares at $17 each. It s holding the remaining 700,000 shares, which were valued at about $19 million Friday. Silicon Valley is a pretty amazing place to live, school President Simon Chiu said. This obviously couldn t have happened anywhere else. St. Francis High School launched the fund in 1990 at the urging of two of the many venture capitalists with children attending the school. The fund s aim is to tag along with deep-pocketed investors when they make big bets on startup companies. The school takes a small sliver of a venture capitalist s bigger investment in a startup company. (AP) FRANKFURT, March 4, (RTRS): Two of the world s biggest central banks are likely to find themselves with a bigger policy gap by the end of the coming fortnight The European Central Bank on Thursday will resist calls to start tightening policy against surging inflation but robust US jobs data on Friday could seal the case for another Federal Reserve hike the week after. So, let s say minus 0.4 percent rates in Europe and more than 0.75 percent in Washington. With just weeks to go before contentious French and Dutch elections, the ECB will be keen not to rock the boat, so it is likely to give just a token nod to robust growth figures, steering clear of any policy hint that may give emerging populist movements ammunition. A Reuters poll showed unanimity for no change. But the balancing act may be more difficult than it looks. With growth on its best run since before the financial crisis and inflation peeking just above the ECB s target, calls are mounting, particularly in Germany, for the bank to scale back its 2.3 trillion euro ($2.42 trillion) bond buying scheme and raise its negative interest rates. Doves hold a comfortable majority among the policymakers, however, so any shift will come at the margins. In practice that could mean increased inflation forecasts, letting an ultra-cheap lending scheme to banks expire as scheduled, and dropping a reference to the risk that growth may disappoint. Still, ECB President Mario Draghi will probably avoid any discussion about winding down asset buys, even pushing back on calls by some rate setters to tweak the ECB s guidance, giving up its reference to further rate cuts, a possibility markets have already priced out. If the French presidential election also passes without turbulence, and growth and inflation data remain solid, the ECB might turn more hawkish in its meeting on June 8, Reinhard Cluse, economist at investment bank UBS, said. This would then leave the meeting on July 20 for preparing the markets for the tapering (off asset-buying) on September 7. For now though, Draghi will stick to his line that the inflation surge is temporary, growth is fragile and political risks clouds the outlook, requiring stimulus, a Reuters poll of Chinese trade rebound to continue; RBA on hold, possible all year Fed and European Central Bank go their separate ways US services firms expand at fastest pace since Oct 2015 WASHINGTON, March 4, (AFP): The US services sector, the main driver of the economy, saw growth hit its fastest pace 15 months in February, according to industry data released Friday. The Institute for Supply Management s Non-Manufacturing Index rose a full point from January to 57.6 percent, seasonally adjusted, the highest reading since October of 2015. analysts showed. Having tightened policy in 2011 just months before the euro zone debt crisis started spiralling out of control, the ECB will be desperate not to move too early, even if it risks being called out by some for moving too late. The Fed, meanwhile, must deal with what Draghi dubbed a highclass problem: solid growth, full employment and returning inflation. Non-farm payrolls, due on Friday, are expected to show an increase of 186,000 jobs, probably enough to push the Fed to move. Unemployment benefits already fell to near a 44-year low late last month, indicating further tightening of the labour market. Indeed, markets have now almost fully priced in a hike in March, the third since rates bottomed out at the height of the crisis, and two more increases could still come before the end of the year. Robust jobs growth threatens to overheat the labour market, just as inflation is heading higher, with the Fed s preferred measure now in the upper end of the range central bank officials in December estimated would be reached this year. The index, which surveys activity among all segments of the services industry, has recorded continuous growth for more than seven years. A reading above 50 percent indicates expansion. Companies in 16 of the 18 sectors surveyed reported growth, with only the real estate and information industries reporting contraction, ISM said. Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said the results were very strong and likely to keep monthly job creation above 200,000 new positions into early spring at least. The message here is that underlying spending growth is robust, despite the sharp drop in real consumption in January, he wrote in a client note. The ISM report s components showed some notable high points: the Manufacturing growth is also firming, offsetting relatively weak consumer demand, good enough for even the most dovish Fed officials to argue for a hike sooner rather than later. Soothing global growth fears, meanwhile, China is expected to report another set of strong figures for both exports and imports, indicating that even if overall growth is slowing and debt is rising fast, the slowdown remains under control, mitigating the risk for emerging market economies. Indeed, China s factory activity expanded faster than expected in February, firming arguments for the Business Activity Index hit its highest level since February 2011 at 63.6 percent, and employment rose a half point to 55.2 percent. Comments from respondents were mixed but most had a positive outlook. A construction sector executive reported a tight labor market, financial services noted a pickup in lending and mining saw a strong start to the first quarter. central bank to raise short-term interest rates by a another 10 basis points as soon as March. Data due on Wednesday are expected to show Chinese exports up by 10 percent in February while imports could have risen by 20 percent, a boon for countries like Australia, which supply China with raw materials. Indeed, the Reserve Bank of Australia may signal on Tuesday that policy easing is done, given the economy s convincing rebound last quarter, rising commodity exports and a robust increase in household debt levels. 440k jobs lost in last 2 yrs As oil sector perks up, staffi ng worries grow HOUSTON/CALGARY, March 4, (RTRS): Doug Lucas stood outside a Houston energy conference early one morning last month handing out resumes and hoping to catch the eye of oil executives with a hand-written sign advertising Petroleum Eng. Hungry for job interview. Cut from oilfield services firm Halliburton Co in 2015, the 26-year-old temporarily turned to lawn care and cable-tv sales jobs while finishing a master s degree in petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California. Despite relying on a depressionera sign for introductions, he is hopeful demand for petroleum professionals will come back. Business It s way better now than it was six or eight months ago, he said optimistically, as he solicited business cards from convention goers. After a rout that began in 2014 due to a worldwide glut of oil in part caused by a US shale boom, crude prices have rebounded from 13-year lows hit a year ago and have held above $50 a barrel since the start of the year when major oil producers curbed output as part of a global deal. The higher prices have spurred an uptick in drilling activity as energy companies boost spending plans to take advantage of the crude price recovery. However, massive cuts that cost some 440,000 jobs globally at energy companies in the last two years have left veteran workers and skilled job-candidates without a clear future in oil and gas. Unable to find work in their chosen field, some have turned their sights to technology or other industries, adding a note of uncertainty to next week s CERAWeek industry conference in Houston. The outflow of experienced workers and a lack of hiring as oil companies drive to become more efficient could put future production growth in jeopardy, should a nascent upturn in the industry accelerate, say experts. In western Canada, companies resuming production of crude oil are struggling to rehire rig crews following job and pay cuts. A University of Houston global survey of laid off oil workers found that 25 percent had already moved to another industry and another 55 percent were considering it. Only 13 percent of those polled in late 2016 had found energy jobs. A good number of people are lost to other industries, said Christiane Spitzmueller, the study s principal investigator. This will translate into high recruitment and training costs for new hires. The combined US and Canadian rig counts, which can be an indicator of the health of the industry, jumped to 1,091 by Friday from 618 a year ago, a sign of the upturn in drilling in North America. In western Canada, where many more rigs are working this year than last, drillers say a lack of experienced employees could slow their work later this year - or force them to pay higher salaries to lure workers back. Dan Block, chief executive of Edmonton-based Jomax Drilling (1988) Ltd, said contractors he once employed took jobs in other industries, including construction. We are scrambling to bring people back, Block said. Halliburton, an oil services firm that had about 50,000 employees at the end of 2016, down from more than 80,000 two years earlier, is now holding job fairs in regions where there is an uptick in drilling activity, such as Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Ohio, the company said. We re seeing a good balance of both experienced and entry level candidates, said spokeswoman Emily Mir, noting that there is strong applicant interest in open positions in the Permian Basin one of the hottest drilling areas in the United States due to its favorable economics. The US oil and gas industry will need to fill 1.9 million new jobs through 2035, according to consultancy IHS Markit. But filling those jobs could prove a challenge, management consultancy KCA said in study published in September. A rapid run-up is going to be a really difficult spot for the industry, versus a slow ramp up where you can start to lure people back over time, said David Skinner, KCA s chief executive. Energy The study by KCA, Pink Petro and Glexnet, which polled 1,000 laid off and working energy professionals, found that 45 percent of executives or board members said they were ready to seek other job options, retire or are unsure what they will do post-downturn. Karsten Thompson, petroleum engineering department chair at Louisiana State University (LSU), said the loss of experienced executives will hurt the training of professional staff. Students will miss out on mentorship, he said in an interview. If experienced workers are less inclined to stay through another economic cycle, younger workers may already be placing bets on other careers. Before oil prices crashed, the University of Texas placed more than 90 percent of students who majored in petroleum engineering into oil and gas jobs. In 2015 and 2016, that number fell by around a quarter. LSU said its May 2016 engineering graduates reported fewer than 50 percent had found jobs, down from around 63 percent in 2013. In the past, for students with petroleum engineering jobs who couldn t find full time work, there were always opportunities to work offshore as a roustabout, said Trey Truitt, Associate Director for Employment Services at LSU. In this economy, those jobs haven t been available either. Yellen points to March rate hike as Fed signals end of easy money TEHRAN, March 4, (AFP): France wants to encourage the normalisation of banking relations with Iran to improve economic relations with the Islamic republic, French Economy Minister Michel Sapin said Saturday in Tehran. We can t work on developing our economic relations if we don t also normalise our banking relations, he said after meeting his Iranian counterpart Ali Tayebnia. Over the past few months, relations (between Iran and France) have considerably developed. There are projects being realised, contracts being signed, he said. But financial circuits need to be normalised. It s our aim, our will even if it can t be done in a day. Trust must be built to allow companies if they so wish to have financing channels that are safe and efficient, Sapin said. French and other European companies have returned to Iran since the partial lifting of international Economy seen on track and investors align around idea French Minister of Finance Michel Sapin (left), meets with Iran s Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayebnia (right), in Tehran on March 4. (AFP) Tehran understands Total s caution on gas contracts France to encourage banks to work with Iran sanctions in January last year when a landmark nuclear deal with world powers came into force. But international banks have not re-established financial circuits with Iran, fearing reprisals from Washington which has maintained some economic sanctions against the country. Tensions have mounted since the January inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly slammed the July 2015 nuclear deal. Washington last month imposed new sanctions on individuals and companies supporting Iran s ballistic missile programme and on its elite Revolutionary Guards. Also: TEHRAN: Iran s government understands French energy giant Total s caution over investing in the Islamic republic before Washington clarifies its position on trade with Tehran, the country s deputy oil minister said Saturday. Total has announced that it is awaiting America s final decision CHICAGO, March 4, (RTRS): The US Federal Reserve s long-stalled liftoff of interest rates may finally get airborne this year as policymakers from Chair Janet Yellen on Friday to regional leaders across the United States signaled that the era of easy money is drawing to a close. Yellen capped off a seemingly coordinated push from the central bank on Friday when she cemented the view that the Fed will raise interest rates at its next meeting on March 14-15, and likely be able to move faster after that than it has in years. It s a welcome turn for the Fed chair, who has hoped to get rates off the ground throughout her three-year tenure, and now sees the economy on track and investors aligned around the idea. At our meeting later this month, the committee will evaluate whether employment and inflation are continuing to evolve in line with our expectations, in which case a further adjustment of the federal funds rate would likely be appropriate, Yellen said at a business luncheon in Chicago. The process of scaling back accommodation likely will not be as slow as it was in 2015 and 2016, she added. Stocks were up slightly, and futures tied to rate-hike expectations moved little on Yellen s remarks. The comments from Fed speakers this week had already pushed market pricing of a March hike to 80 percent. The Fed has struggled for the past three years to raise interest rates off the zero lower bound as the US economy slowly healed after the Great Recession. Issues from sluggish inflation globally to the dampening effect of a strong dollar and low energy prices blew them off course. By contrast, 2017 may be the year the Fed is able to follow through on its forecast of three rate hikes. For the first time in a long time I think the risk of more rate hikes is a bit higher than the risk of fewer rate hikes, said Roberto Perli, an economist with Cornerstone Macro LLC. Among Fed officials, even Fed Governor Lael Brainard, one of the strongest voices arguing that the central bank should not move rates too high until economic conditions improved overseas, appeared on board this week. At 1.7 percent euro zone growth in 2016 nearly matched the United States, corporate profits are strong and inflation in February was near the European Central Bank s target all evidence that the single-currency zone had avoided a dangerous deflationary spiral. And while Yellen on Friday was quick to point out that the Fed s closeness to its goals of full employment and 2 percent inflation were currently guiding its rate hike plans, others pointed to further upside risks from economic programs proposed by President Donald Trump. If you look at what s been happening to the economy since November 8 (election)... and to the asset markets, and if you take into account the operation of what people of my age call animal spirits... you will realize that there has been a substantial wealth effect in this economy, said Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer in a separate appearance on Friday. with regards to Iran. We understand Since the election, the S&P 500 has Total, said Amir Hossein Zamani risen 11 percent. Nia, quoted by state news agency Combined, the Fed commentary prompted an increase in the expected IRNA. federal funds rate and Treasury yields They want to invest five billion of a size unusual outside of disruptive events like the taper tantrum of dollars. We are not upset with Total, he said. Since a month and a 2013, when former Chairman Ben Bernanke s indication the Fed was about half ago... they have spent more than 20 million dollars on preparing projects in the Islamic republic. chase program sparked a global market to scale down its crisis-era bond pur- Nia said that Iran was in negotiations with foreign companies on The yield on two-year Treasury reaction. more than 25 projects in the oil and notes increased 0.19 percentage point gas sector but it would not be held this week, the largest weekly jump in hostage to political demands. two years. In November, Total was awarded The breadth and consistency of the a $4.8 billion contract to develop an Fed s statements seemed to suggest a deliberate effort to shift markets in line offshore gas field at South Pars with what policymakers see as the new the first deal of its kind since international sanctions on Iran were lifted steady US growth, and the possibility reality a stronger world economy, in January under a nuclear deal with of fiscal and tax plans that may edge world powers. inflation and growth even higher. The International Monetary Fund The Fed s 12 regional bank presidents set their own speaking schedules (IMF) said on Monday that uncertainty surrounding the sanctions because of Washington posed a risk to marks. But they are reading the same and are responsible for their own re- the oil-producing nation s economy. data.

BUSINESS 32 LSE logs solid earnings as merger collapse feared Uber loses court battle which could cost it London drivers The London Stock Exchange logged solid results and ramped up its shareholder dividend Friday amid worries over the likely collapse of its merger with Deutsche Boerse. The results were published just days after it emerged that LSE s blockbuster tie-up with the German giant was on the brink of failure. Operating profit grew five percent to 427 million ($524 million, 500 million euros) in 2016 from the previous year, the group said in a results statement. Revenues jumped 14.4 percent to 1.515 billion. Net profit or earnings after taxation more than halved to 152 million due to a sizeable loss on the disposal of its Russell Investment Management division. However, the LSE hiked its annual shareholder dividend by a fifth to 43.2 pence per share in a move it said reflected the strong outlook for the business. The LSE stunned markets last Sunday when it revealed that it would not meet a key EU antitrust demand to gain clearance for the Deutsche Boerse merger. In a shock announcement, the LSE had said it was highly unlikely it would meet the European Commission s recent request to divest its majority stake in MTS, which is a trading platform for government bonds in Italy. The Commission s very recent request for the group to divest MTS, a systemically important regulated business that sits at the heart of our Italian operations, put us indeed in a very difficult situation, said Chief Executive Xavier Rolet on Friday. (AFP) Taxi app Uber lost a court battle on Friday to stop a London regulator from forcing private hire drivers to prove their reading and writing skills in English, the latest setback for the firm in London which could now lose some workers. San Francisco-based Uber, which allows users to book journeys at the touch of a button on their smartphone, has faced bans and protests around the world as regulators play catch-up with technology disrupting traditional operators. Uber launched legal action in August after public body Transport for London (TfL) said that drivers should have to prove their ability to communicate in English, including to a standard of reading and writing which Uber said was too high. TfL are entitled to require private hire drivers to demonstrate English language compliance, said Judge John Mitting as he rejected Uber s claim. Uber said earlier this week in court that having such a high a level of required English competence could mean about 33,000 London private hire drivers lose their licences. The decision is the latest setback to the firm in Britain after a tribunal ruled in October it should treat its drivers as workers and pay them the minimum wage and holiday pay, a verdict the firm is appealing. The firm, however, did manage to overturn proposals by TfL on Friday for drivers to have permanent private hire insurance and for Uber to operate a 24/7 call centre. (RTRS) GCC markets monthly report KAMCO Research Markets mixed as major bourses cool off Boursa Kuwait Boursa Kuwait retreated during February 17 after four consecutive months of positive performance. All the three indices declined during the month as selling was primarily concentrated on large-cap stocks. This was reflected in the 2.2% decline in the Kuwait 15 Index, while the Weighted and the Price indices declined marginally by 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively, during the month. Nevertheless, despite the marginal declines during February 17, the Boursa continues to lead the GCC in terms of YTD-17 performance with an 11.6% gain recorded by the Weighted index and a much higher 18.0% gain recorded by the Price index during this year led by the solid gains that the market achieved during January 17. The monthly gainers chart was topped largely by small cap stocks, while largecap prominent gainers included Warba Bank and Gulf Finance House with gains of 15.5% each followed by Alimtiaz Investment and Qurain Petrochemicals with gains of 14.3% and 14%, respectively. Prominent decliners included Agility (-20.3%) and National Real Estate (-14.3%). Trading activity witnessed a steep drop during the month as compared to one of the highest activities during January 17. Monthly volumes traded declined by more than a third to 8.8 bn shares as compared to 13.9 bn shares during the previous month. Value traded also declined but at a slightly lower pace of 27% to KWD 866 mn as compared to KWD 1.2 bn during January 17. The decline in trading activity was also due to lesser number of trading days during February 17 (19 days in February 17 vs. 22 trading days in January 17). The monthly value traded chart was topped by Zain (KWD 68.6 mn) followed by Agility (KWD 53.3 mn) and Alimtiaz Investment (KWD 48.1 mn). Sectoral gains were led by the Technology index with a gain of 6.5% followed by Healthcare index that surged 6.0%. Within the Technology sector, shares of Automated Systems Co. gained 41% after the company reported 23% increase in FY-16 net profits. These gains were partially offset by declines reported by the remaining two companies in the sector. In the Healthcare space, gains were led by 30% surge in shares of Al Mowasat Healthcare after the company reported 35% increase in FY-16 net profit, while shares of Yiaco Medical surged 7.1%. Banks reported solid results for FY-16 and Q4-16 that led to 1.2% gains in the Banking index. Full year earnings for Kuwaiti banks surged 5.8% as 8 out of 10 banks reported year-on-year growth in earnings. On the other hand, net profit for Q4-16 surged 24% year-on-year primarily on the back of 40% increase in NBK s Q4-16 profit. Earnings for the Telecom sector also surged by 8.6% and 28.3% for FY-16 and Q4-16, respectively, as softer full year earnings for Viva Kuwait was offset by higher profits reported by Zain and Ooredoo Kuwait. Telecom earnings were primarily reflected in YTD-17 performance of telecom stocks with the index up by 10.2%, while it receded 2.8% February 17 on profit taking. Saudi Arabia (Tadawul) Tadawul continued to decline for the second consecutive month dropping below the psychologically important mark of 7,000 points to reach 6,972.4 points, recording a monthly decline of 1.8%. The decline comes mainly on account of large-cap sectors with the Banking index declining by 4.1% and Telecom sector by 2.1%. The biggest drop was recorded by the Media index which declined 15% during the month followed by Consumer Services and Pharma indices recording declines of 7.5% and 4.4%, respectively. On the other hand, monthly gains were led by newly introduced REITs index that closed the month with a gain of 12.6% followed by Utilities index and Capital Goods index with gains of 7.1% and 3.4%, respectively. Monthly trading activity witnessed a steep decline with volume declining by 23.4% during the month to reach 4.2 bn shares as compared to 5.4 bn in the previous month. Monthly value traded also declined at a similar pace of 23.8% to reach SAR 75.2 bn as compared to SAR 98.8 bn in January 17. The two less trading days during February 17 resulted in a smaller average daily decline of 16% for both volume and value traded during the month. The monthly gainers chart was topped by newly listed REIT fund, Aljazira REIT, which recorded a gain of 81.4% followed by Saudi Re and Saudi Industrial Development Co. with gains of 21.3% and 19.9%, respectively. Decliners chart was topped by Umm Al- Qura Cement that fell 17.9% followed by Nama Chemicals at 17.03%. Alinma Bank continued to be one of the most actively traded stocks on the exchange topping the February 17 value traded chart by recording trades worth SAR 7.6 bn followed by SABIC and Dar al Arkan with trades worth SAR 5.5 bn and SAR 3.1 bn, respectively. Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange The ADX index closed almost flat for the second month in a row and inched up by 0.1% m-o-m in February 17. The index closed at 4552.09 points, as sectoral indices included both gainers and decliners for the month. Banks were the best performing index as they moved up by 2.5% m-o-m in the current month, led by FGB which moved up by 6.6% m-o-m, followed by the Services index which improved by 1.9%, while Insurance improved by 1.8%. In terms of laggards, Energy names receded the most and lost ground by 13.0% for the month of February 17, followed by the Consumer Staples index and the Real Estate index, as they closed the month down by 6.6% and 5.1% M-o-m respectively. Dana Gas and Abu Dhabi National Energy receded by 14.8% and 5.9% m-o-m for the energy Index. Heavyweight in the Real Estate index, Aldar, receded by 6.3% and pulled the index down. All the stocks in the Consumer Staples receded for the month of February 17 with Agthia declining by 4.9%. In prominent earnings, RE developer Aldar announced net profit of AED 2.8 bn for 2016, up 8% from AED 2.6 bn in 2015. The company further proposed an 11 fils/share dividend for 2016, up from 10 fils/share in 2015. In terms of sales, total development sales improved by 17% to AED 3.5 bn in 2016 led by Yas Acres, Mayan and West Yas, while the recurring net operating income from the asset management business amounted to AED 1.6 bn. In the energy sector, Dana Gas reported full year revenue of $392 mn which declined by 6% y-o-y as compared to $417 mn in 2015. The drop in revenue was driven by lower realized liquid prices, despite the increase in the group annual average production. Net profit for 2016 declined by 77% and came in at $33 mn as compared to $144 mn last year, which included gain on one-off sale of 5% interest in Pearl and settlement from the RWE arbitration. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) group net revenues for 2016 increased by 4.9% to AED 5,385.5 mn compared to AED 5,134.4 mn in 2015. Group net profit for 2016 increased by 1.0% to AED 1,953.6 mn as compared to AED 1,934mn in 2015. Market breadth was skewed towards gainers as 33 stocks declined during the month, while 18 names gained ground. Trading trends dropped in the current month, as traded volumes & value traded declined by over 41.9% and 29.8% respectively m-o-m, during the same period. Total volumes receded to 2.8 bn shares while value traded during February 17 declined to AED 4.9 bn. Al Khazna Insurance led the gainers list and achieved a monthly return of 15.4%, followed by Emirates Insurance and Umm Al-Qawain Cement Ind Co, which went up by 15.0% and 15.0% respectively. Prominent decliners included National Takaful with a monthly share price decline of 23.6%, followed by Al Dhafra Insurance and Fujairah Cement Industries, as they saw their stock prices erode by 21.0% & 18.9% respectively. Dubai Financial Market After ending January 17 up by 3.2%, DFM declined albeit marginally and ended the month of February 17 down by 0.3% to close at 3630.34. Sectoral trends were mixed, with both gainers and losers. For the current month, Financial and Investment Services names rose by 4.5%, driven by a surge in the stock price of Dubai Financial Market, which went up by over 13%. Services index followed and gained by 1.4% for the month, while Banks moved up marginally by 0.8%. Banks were helped by Emirates Islamic bank, as the stock went up over 190%. Indices, which lost ground during the month, were led by Consumer Staples, which went down by 9.7% m- o-m in February 17, after losing 7.4% in the previous month. Real Estate and Insurance followed as they receded by 1.6% and 0.9% respectively m-o-m. Real Estate was pulled down by Arabtec, which saw its stock price decline by over 31.8% for the month reacting to weak sector sentiment related news flow. In prominent earnings, Commercial Bank of Dubai recorded a net profit of AED 1,003.1 mn for 2016, 5.9% lower compared to AED 1,066.2 mn for the last year mainly due to prudent provisioning. The loan loss coverage ratio increased to 101.6%. Operating income for the bank increased by 4.7% to AED 2.46 bn, mainly due to a 5.2% increase in net interest income to AED 1.73 bn (2015: AED 1.64 bn) and an 3.5% increase in non-interest income to AED 736.9 mn (2015: AED 712.2 mn) with a 15.2% increase in foreign exchange. Real estate developer Emaar recorded full year revenues of AED 15.54 bn, an increase of 14% over AED 13.66 bn as the malls and hospitality business contributed to the increase. Net profit for the developer increased to AED 5.2 bn in 2016, 28% y-o-y from AED 4.082 bn in 2015. Low cost airline Air Arabia s net profit came in 4% y-o-y lower in 2016, at AED 509 mn, even as the load factor was healthy at 79%. Qatar Exchange The QE 20 index continued to remain in the positive territory in February 17, and was the second best performing market in the GCC, as the index moved up by 3.2% m-o-m, and closed at 10702.12 points. The Qatar All Share index also improved by 2.0% for the first month of 2017, while sectoral trends were mostly positive. Heavyweight indices such as Banks & Financial Services, Real Estate, and Telecoms index closed in the green. The index, which gained the most was the Real Estate index which went up by 3.4% for the month of February 17, followed by Industrials which moved up by 2.9% over the same period. Transportation index was the only laggard, as the index went down by 3.1% m-o-m during the current month. In earnings announcements for full year 2016, Ooredoo reported revenues of QAR 33 bn, an improvement of 1% over 2015. Growth was mainly driven by Ooredoo Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia, Indosat Ooredoo and Myanmar in local currency terms. Excluding FX impacts, Revenues would have increased by 2% y-o-y, instead of the reported 1%. Group net profit increased by 4% to QAR 2.2 bn, driven by strong contributions from Ooredoo Qatar, Oman, Indosat Ooredoo, and reduced costs at Ooredoo Group headquarters, and reduced loss due to FX volatility. Customer base increased by 19% to reach 138 mn, driven by strong growth in Indosat Ooredoo, Myanmar, Oman, Iraq, Tunisia, Kuwait, Algeria. In the banking sector, Commercial Bank reported a net profit of QAR 501.4 mn, as compared to QAR 1,434 mn for the same period in 2015, a decrease of 65%. Customer loans and advances amounted to QAR 77.8 bn in 2016, up by 1.6% yoy. Nakilat announced a net profit of QAR 955 mn achieved compared to QAR 984 mn in 2015. Trading activity on the index however was mixed, as value traded during February 17 increased by 16.8% to reach QAR 6.7 bn while traded volumes decreased by 1.1% m-o-m to reach 188 mn shares. In terms of trading activity, Barwa Real Estate topped the monthly value traded chart with QAR 704.5 mn worth of shares traded, followed by QNB and Medicare Group recording QAR 584.3 mn and QAR 478.3 mn in monthly value traded. Qatar Islamic Insurance was the top performing stock in the index for the month as its share price surged by 26.5%. Medicare Group followed along with Barwa Real Estate, which saw its stock prices move up by 24% and 14% respectively. On the other hand, shares of Al Khaleej Commercial Bank led the monthly losers chart with its stock losing 8.3% m-o-m. Widam and Qatar Navigation followed with declines of 7.6% and 6.5% respectively for the month. Bahrain Bourse After ending January 17 as the second best performing market in the GCC, the Bahrain All Share Index was the best performing market in the GCC in February 17 and closed 3.5% higher on a m- o-m basis.. The index closed at 1349.67 points at the end of the month. Sectoral performance was more skewed towards indices that gained for the month. Market breadth for the index was positive, as 16 stocks gained ground, while 7 stocks witnessed declines in their share prices. Investment was the main sector which drove the index up as the sector was up 5.4% for the month. The Industrial sector went up as well by 4.8%, followed by Commercial Banks which went up by 3.4% m-o-m in February 17. Hotels & Tourism were the only laggards for the index as it went down by 2.1% for the current month. In earnings related releases, GFH reported total consolidated revenues grew of $578.96 mn, as compared to $87.99 mn in 2015. The significant increase was due to major recoveries achieved from litigation awards with a registered value of $464 mn. Net profit for GFH came in $217.12 mn for the year and represents a turnaround from losses of $5.52 mn reported in 2015 due to provisions. Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) reported sales of BHD 669.8 mn for 2016 versus BHD 766.7 mn in 2015, down by 13% YoY due to the double dip of LME and premium prices. Net Income came in at BHD 48.4 mn in 2016, down 19% y-oy, compared to BHD 59.9 mn in 2015. Ahli United Bank (AUB) reported a net profit of $570.6 mn for the year 2016, representing a growth of 6.2% compared to a net profit of $537.2 million in 2015. Net interest income (NII) grew by 1.7% from $814.7 mn to $828.2 mn. Fees, commissions & other income grew by 9.7% y-o-y to $173.3 mn. As a result, total operating income grew by 5.2% to reach $1,149.0 mn from $1,091.9 million in 2015. Muscat Securities Market The Muscat Securities Market continued to record minimal volatility during February 17 with the MSM30 index closing the month with a marginal gain of 0.1% resulting in flat returns for YTD-17. However, sectoral indices reported stronger gains with Industrial index gaining 4.2% during the month followed by the Financial Index with a monthly gain of 2.7%. The services index declined slightly by 0.5% primarily due to declines reported by telecom stocks with Omantel declining by 4.9% and Ooredoo falling by a higher 10.3% during the month. In the financial sector, with the exception of Bank Sohar that declined 1.9%, rest of the stocks ended on a positive note with shares of Bank Muscat surging 3.5%, NBO 2.5% and Ominvest at +3.1%. Trading activity on the exchange saw a big boost with volume traded up by 46% during the month to reach 279.9 mn shares as compared to 191.8 mn shares during the previous month. Value traded grew at a much smaller pace of 7.6% to reach OMR 98.8 mn, indicating higher trades in penny stocks. Ooredoo recorded the highest trades during the month totaling OMR 16.2 mn followed by Bank Muscat and Oman Cable Industry at OMR 15.6 mn and OMR 13.2 mn, respectively. The monthly gainers chart was topped by Oman Textile Holding (+92.3%) although with minimal trades in the stock. Port Services Corp came second at +22.5% followed by Al Madina Investment at +16.4%. On the other hand, Ooredoo (-10.3%) topped the monthly losers chart followed by Al Jazeera Steel Products at 5.6% and Omantel at 4.9%. On the economic front, the government undertook extensive tax reforms that came in addition to the impending implementation of VAT that is expected to contribute OMR 400 mn to state coffers annually. In a major move, the Ministry of Finance raised corporate income tax rate from the present 12% to 15%. The announcement also brings companies in sectors such as mining, private schools, hotels, universities and nurseries, which were previously exempt from taxes, under the tax system. In addition, the Ministry removed the tax exemption limit for small companies and introduced a flat rate of 3% for all companies under the current tax exemption threshold of OMR 30,000/year. The ministry has also widened the tax base by enlarging the scope of taxing foreign persons carrying out activities outside of a permanent establishment. The changes are set to be introduced from tax assessment year 2017. The higher tax rate is expected to have minimal impact on foreign investment as the tax rate, despite the increase, is still below international averages. On the trade balance front, the customs department, in order to limit imports, has introduced an additional 2% duty on the CIF value of imported products for non-submission of original legalized documents that would be refunded on producing the necessary documents. On duty free shipments, an import fee of 0.5% has also been introduced. On the budget front, the government is planning a $denominated bond issuance that could exceed $2 bn in order to plug the expected budget deficit. This issuance is expected to be followed by USD sukuk issuance. The Sultanate is said to be taking the issuances on a priority before any possible rating downgrade by international credit rating agencies.

BUSINESS 33 Ryanair settles with ex-employee Lockheed says in talks with Spain, Belgium, others on buying F-35s Europe s biggest budget airline, Ryanair, has reached a settlement with a former Italian employee who sued the company over her dismissal and working conditions. Christen Horn Johannessen, lawyer with Norway s Parat union, said Friday that Ryanair has agreed to pay Alessandra Cocca 570,000 kroner ($67,500), the equivalent of three years of salary. Cocca was hired in 2012 as a flight attendant, and based at an airport near Oslo. Less than a year later, Cocca who compared her job to a slave contract and reported a senior colleague for smelling of alcohol, was dismissed. Norwegian courts had ruled local labor laws applied because she was based in Norway, while the airline claimed the case should be heard in Ireland, where Ryanair is registered. (AP) Lockheed Martin Corp said on Friday it was talking to the governments of Spain, Switzerland and Belgium about selling its F-35 fighter jets to the European nations. Bringing new customers could help significantly reduce the cost of the military aircraft after several blowouts and production delays. The United States and 10 allies are clients of the F-35 currently. We are talking to several other countries Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Jeff Babione, Lockheed Martin s F-35 programme leader, told reporters at the Avalon Airshow in Australia. There are quite a few other European nations that are looking at perhaps having the F-35 as an opportunity, Babione said. We are starting to see other customers think about the F-35 being added to their fleet. Another person familiar with the discussions, who was not authorised to speak on the record, said that Finland was also in talks. Babione said that countries already signed up to the F-35 program along with the United States Australia, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Israel need to start ordering in blocks beyond yearly commitments to help meet a reduced target cost of $80 million by 2020. It is actually a very reasonable target but it is going to take cooperation in changing the way we buy the aircraft, he said. US President Donald Trump has criticised the cost of the project. While the price per jet has steadily declined since the first jets were delivered to the US military in 2011 as production has increased, it remains at $94.6 million. (RTRS) Greece and its partners have the political will: French PM France sees compromise soon in Greek bailout talks ATHENS, March 4, (Agencies): Greece and its international lenders have the political will to reach a compromise and conclude a crucial review of the country s bailout progress soon, French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Friday during a visit to Athens. The review has dragged on for months, mainly due to a rift between the European Union and the International Monetary Fund over Greece s fiscal goals next year when the current rescue programme expires and beyond. The uncertainty surrounding the talks has revived fears of a new financial crisis in the euro zone, just as investors nerves are jarred by unpredictable election races in the Netherlands, France and Europe s paymaster Germany. Greece and its partners have the political will and I believe we will have positive results and good political compromises in the near future, Cazeneuve said after meeting Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens. France has chosen to be on Greece s side, he said during the visit which is aimed at helping speed up the talks. France helped Greece reach a vital deal with its lenders in 2015, the country s third international bailout, which kept the crisis-hit country in the euro zone after tense negotiations. EU leaders are expected to meet in Brussels next week. Tsipras said it was totally feasible to reach a preliminarily deal by March 20, when euro zone finance ministers are expected to meet again. He also said Greece sought what he called a global solution, which would include debt relief measures that will be implemented in the post-bailout period. EU and IMF mission chiefs returned to Athens this week to resume the review on the country s progress. Under negotiation is a package of austerity measures worth 2 percent of gross domestic product, which will be legislated now but implemented in 2019, and a set of relief measures with the same fiscal value. These will be activated if Athens meets a 3.5 percent of GDP primary surplus target in 2018. The IMF says the targets must either be lowered or the country needs to adopt more austerity measures to achieve them. The fund also argues that Greece needs further debt relief and has set these as terms for its participation in the country s current bailout. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin, who met his Greek counterpart Euclid Tsakalotos earlier on Friday, said the IMF s participation was crucial as it added credibility to the country s bailout efforts. Greece is seeking help from France, its close ally in the 19-country eurozone, as it seeks to overcome stubborn sticking points in its bailout talks and return to international bond markets later this year. France s Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Finance Minister Michel Sapin were in Athens Friday for talks, as negotiations with bailout inspectors in the Greek capital continued for a fourth consecutive day. Cazeneuve met Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and described recent Taiwan sits out forex intervention to duck Trump blast TAIPEI, March 4, (RTRS): Taiwan s central bank, fearful of being labelled a currency manipulator by US President Donald Trump, has pulled back on intervention to weaken the Taiwan dollar, making it Asia s second bestperforming currency in 2017. The currency has risen 5 percent so far this year, giving the island s stock market a boost, but knocking its fourth-quarter balance of payments to a five-year low and hammering its insurers, which are heavily invested overseas. A central bank official told Reuters the currency movement was directly related to the bank not intervening so much in the foreign exchange markets. The central bank wants to signal to the United States that it does not manipulate Taiwan s currency, the official said. The bank s governor, Perng Fainan, declined to comment when asked on Thursday if the currency s strength was linked to the bank s nervousness that Trump might label it a manipulator. Trump has criticised especially China, Japan and Europe for policies he claims artificially weaken their currencies and make their exports more competitive. His administration has said it will analyse the currency practices of major trading partners, and the US Treasury is required to publish a report on these practices in mid-april. After any declaration that a country manipulates its currency, the Treasury will try to negotiate a resolution, but the process could result in punitive tariffs on that country s goods. Taiwan already meets two of the three US criteria to be labelled a manipulator, including intervention to weaken the currency. An upcoming new iphone model, for which Taiwan makes many of the components, improvements in Greek economy as spectacular, while Sapin said France was working to keep the International Monetary Fund in the Greek rescue program. France is here to facilitate things, to show to everyone and to the institutions that it is time to reach an agreement, that it s time to look to the future, Sapin said. Greece has been dependent on bailout loans from its partners in the eurozone and the IMF since 2010 and has repeatedly relied on French support to keep negotiations with bailout lenders from collapsing. In 2014, Greece did manage to stage a one-off return to bond markets with a 3 billion-euro ($3.1 billion) auction of 5-year-bonds, but has since struggled with renewed political uncertainty and high interest rates. is expected to boost its trade surplus with the United States to levels that could provoke a reaction. The effects of Trump s pronouncements that some central banks are manipulating their currencies have been quite toxic, said a vice-president at Mega Financial Holding s banking arm, which is Taiwan s biggest state-run bank operating in overseas markets. The effects have been particularly toxic for Taiwan s insurers, which have been hit with a T$14 billion ($455 million) loss on the foreign exchange risk reserves they hold to contain currency volatility. Their currency reserves declined by a third in January to their lowest in at least a year and are set to plunge further. The insurers must manage their forex risk... We re closely monitoring the impact, said Thomas Chang, deputy director general of the insurance regulator. For now, the insurers say they are hedging the risks and riding out the immediate storm. Insurance firms tend to invest in the long term, for 15-20 years. Short term volatility is unavoidable. Our team has adjusted accordingly, said Lin Chao-ting, an executive vice president of privately owned Cathay Life Insurance, which has more than $161 billion in assets. Fubon Life Insurance was also sanguine, and expects the forex losses to wind down after March. A large percentage of life insurers overseas assets have been hedged. So industrywide, only 3-10 percent of asset positions will be impacted by volatility in the forex market, the company said. Cathay and Fubon are the insurance arms of Cathay Financial Holding and Fubon Financial Holding, respectively. On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis said the country could hold a 2017 test auction before the end of the year if current negotiations with rescue lenders are concluded in the next few weeks and the European Central Bank accepts Greece in its bond-buying stimulus program. Bailouts talks for conditions on future payouts have been delayed by a policy rift between the IMF and European lenders, as well reluctance in Athens to make further cuts after years of economic turmoil and recession. The Tsipras government has seen its ratings plummet in recent opinion polls and is facing a growing wave of strikes and union protests. The rise of euroskeptic parties across the European Union and elections this year in France and Germany have also rattled Athens. BUDAPEST, March 4, (RTRS): Hungarian construction companies are planning to lure guest workers from Ukraine and Belarus to plug holes in the labour market created by migration and rising economic growth, the head of the builders alliance told Reuters. Years of emigration to western Europe have created labour shortages in countries such as Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, making it tough for businesses to hire. Poland employed about 800,000 Ukrainian guest workers last year, while there are over 100,000 Ukrainians working in the Czech Republic. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has ruled out any major guest worker programme, but his government is now trying to attract Ukrainians in limited numbers with an advertising campaign. The Hungarian construction sector will not be able to improve its efficiency at a pace that could keep up with an expected increase in demand in the next two years, Laszlo Koji, chairman of the Federation of Hungarian Building Contractors (EVOSZ), told Reuters. The sector, which contracted by 18.8 percent last year due to a shortage of European Union funds, could grow by 10 percent this year and add significant further gains in 2018, driven by Construction sector hit Hungary eyes Belarus and Ukraine to plug labour gap higher EU funds and a housing boom, Koji said. He said the sector, which employs about 280,000 people, would need up to 8,000 more workers to plug current holes. The sector could employ about 2,000 workers from Ukraine and Belarus within the next two or three years, Koji said, as any such scheme would need at least a year to take off. As a first step, EVOSZ will hold a forum next month for companies from Belarus interested in the prospect. They could then become subcontractors of Hungarian businesses, bringing over their own workers, Koji said. But in the longer term, more efficiency, not more workers would be the answer, Koji said, as Hungary s potential to attract workers was limited compared to central European rivals, and the issue was also sensitive politically. The government s cautious labour market considerations have put us at a competitive disadvantage to Poland or the Czech Republic, he said. Earlier this week, Orban told a business forum that he would support companies in efforts to bring in guest workers but any such measure should be limited and temporary and Hungary should try to address the problem domestically. Austria s Greens, far-right join forces to probe Eurofighter deal VIENNA, March 4, (RTRS): Austrian opposition parties setting up a parliamentary inquiry into the state s order for Eurofighter Typhoon jets 14 years ago have said they will seek to determine whether any kickbacks were paid to win the contract and to identify any officials who might have profited. The parliamentary inquiry formally announced on Friday by the Greens and far-right Freedom Party (FPO) comes just a week after Austrian prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into allegations of fraud against Airbus and the Eurofighter consortium, based on a complaint by the defence ministry. The four-nation Eurofighter consortium comprises BAE Systems, Italy s Leonardo and Airbus, which represents Germany and Spain s industrial interests in the project. The defence ministry has alleged that in 2003 Airbus and the Eurofighter consortium illegally charged nearly 10 percent of the purchase price of 1.96 billion euros for so-called offset deals. Such deals, which involve work being given to local companies, were part of the agreement, but their cost should have been reported separately, the ministry has said. Airbus has denied the accusations. All skeletons in the closet will be brought out, FPO leader Heinz- Christian Strache said at a news conference in Vienna on Friday. It is our job to clarify political responsibilities. All of the country s leading parties have been involved in the Eurofighter deal s long history. The initial contract was first agreed under a coalition between the conservative People s Party and the FPO, and then modified under a Social Democratic chancellor. The latest parliamentary probe is the second to investigate the circumstances of the original order for 18 aircraft, with opponents saying that other makes of aircraft could have been bought for much less money. The first commission of inquiry, set up under Social Democratic Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer in 2006, explicitly sought for reasons to cancel the contract. But in 2007 Defence Minister Norbert Darabos, also a social democrat, agreed on a settlement with Eurofighter to reduce the order to 15 jets. The new investigation will examine the terms of that settlement and seek to claim back any monies it finds to have been wrongly paid out, said Green lawmaker Peter Pilz, the driving force behind the new inquiry. Eurozone growth running at its fastest rate since 2011: survey Manufacturing sector leads, services strong Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (right), stands next to his French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve during their joint press conference after their talks in Athens on March 3. Cazeneuve expressed the solidarity of France with Greece, as the country is in negotiations with its eurozone partners, during his visit in Athens on March 3. (AFP) Free despite jail sentence No detention for ex-imf chief Rato MADRID, March 4, (AFP): Spain s anti-corruption prosecutor on Friday allowed former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato to remain free and without judicial supervision despite a jail sentence of four years and six months for embezzlement. Rato, who is also a former Spanish economy minister, will now remain at liberty until the court rules definitively on his case. Rato was sentenced on February 23 for misusing funds when he was the boss of two Spanish banks. He was tried with 64 other former executives and board members, accused of misusing 12 million euros ($12.7 million) between 2003 and 2012. He is expected to file an appeal. The case caused an outrage in Spain, where it was uncovered at the height of a severe economic crisis that left many people struggling financially made all the worse because Bankia later had to be nationalised. Pending a final verdict, the anticorruption prosecutor did not ask the National Court hearing the case to take Rato into custody. Rato s behaviour during the trial was completely appropriate, the National Court said, adding that it saw no need for precautionary measures. Only one banking union, the CIC, urged the court to jail Rato immediately. The union had filed a complaint to the court, under a Spanish law that allows organisations and individuals who are not directly linked to a case to do so. Rato and the other executives were accused of having paid for personal expenses with credit cards put at their disposal by both Caja Madrid and Bankia, without ever justifying them or declaring them to tax authorities. LONDON, March 4, (AP): The 19-country eurozone economy is growing at its fastest rate since 2011, according to a survey released Friday, but few economists expect the European Central Bank to ease up on its stimulus efforts anytime soon given political uncertainties that could derail the recovery. Financial information company IHS Markit said its purchasing managers index a broad gauge of economic activity spiked to 56.0 points in February from 54.4 the previous month. Anything above 50 indicates expansion and February s number was a 70-month high. The firm said output growth was led by the manufacturing sector, though the services sector was strong, too. The rates of growth accelerated in all four major eurozone economies Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Ireland, which is emerging from a banking crisis, recorded the strongest growth. IHS Markit said the survey is pointing to robust quarterly economic growth of 0.6 percent across the eurozone and big job gains. The labor market is also starting to boom, with jobs being created at the fastest rate for nearly a decade, said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit. A separate survey of retail sales, however, signaled some caution. According to the European Union s statistics agency, Eurostat, retail sales fell by 0.1 percent in January from the previous month, with Germany and France leading the decline. That was the third straight decline and suggests that higher inflation may be weighing on consumer spending. Figures released Thursday showed consumer prices rising at 2 percent annually, a four-year high, largely on the back of higher energy costs. IHS Markit s survey suggested that firms are facing cost inflation at a 69-month high mainly due to higher purchase prices, increased staff costs and the weaker euro, which tends to make imports more expensive. Robust Given the broadly robust growth backdrop and rising inflation, there is some speculation that the European Central Bank will start to ease up on its monetary stimulus. Few, however, These expenses included petrol for their cars, supermarket shopping, pricey holidays, luxury bags or parties in nightclubs. Rato, 67, denied any wrongdoing and said the credit cards were for discretionary spending as part of executives pay. In another case that also made waves in Spain, the king s brotherin-law Inaki Urdangarin was also left free without posting bail following his sentence of six years and three months for siphoning off millions of euros. Rato was economy minister and deputy prime minister in the conservative government of Jose Maria Aznar from 1996 to 2004, before going on to head the International Monetary Fund until 2007. In Oct 2015, the judicial authorities confiscated his passport as they investigated him over suspected tax fraud, money laundering and fraud. think the bank will signal such an intention at next week s policy meeting. The general consensus is that the ECB will retain its current policy path given a raft of political uncertainties over the coming months chief among these are elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany as well as the start of Britain s two-year discussions to leave the EU. It seems likely that central bank rhetoric will remain dovish in coming months, focusing on the headwinds that the economy faces in 2017, and specifically the need for policy to remain accommodative in the face of political uncertainty, said Williamson. The European Union is still waiting for a solid outline from the US on its goals for trade with the 28-nation bloc, a senior EU official said after the bloc s trade ministers met Friday, insisting that trans-atlantic relations must be in both sides interest. There is widespread concern in Europe about the possibility of a more protectionist US approach under President Donald Trump and about the administration s wider view of the EU. One of Trump s first actions as president was to withdraw the US from a trans-pacific trade agreement. Talks on the long-planned Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the US and EU are currently frozen, and that accord also faces opposition in parts of Europe.

BUSINESS 34 Philippines mulls ban Japanese brewer Kirin targets Myanmar The Philippines may consider banning exports of unprocessed minerals in an effort to promote value addition in the mining sector, a senior environment offi cial said on Friday. It is one of the options that has to be considered not only by the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) but by the entire government, DENR Undersecretary Maria Paz Luna told reporters. Luna spoke after a meeting with other government offi cials tasked to conduct a second review of 28 mines ordered closed or suspended by the environment ministry. (RTRS) Japanese brewer Kirin is hoping to tap into swift growth -- and serious staying power -- with its latest investment in Myanmar s fizzing beer market, a senior executive said Friday. Last month the beer giant took a controlling stake in Mandalay Brewery for $4.3 million, topping off its more than half a billion investment in top producer Myanmar Brewery in 2015. Myanmar Brewery deputy managing director Hideki Mitsuhashi predicted sales will grow in line with GDP at around seven percent a year. In the long-run, he said Myanmar s drinkers can also knock it back for longer than their regional counterparts. Myanmar people are very, very strong for alcohol, he told AFP. We have a kit to measure resistance to drink... They are much stronger than Japanese and Chinese. Myanmar beer consumption rates are currently among the lowest in Asia. Drinkers chug down around three litres per head each year, according to Euromonitor, a fraction of the more than 40 litres drunk in neighbouring Vietnam or over 30 in Laos. But the market has been brewing since a quasi-civilian government took over in 2011 and introduced a raft of economic reforms that have uncorked a market long stifled by military rule. Today local brands are vying with international heavyweights like Carlsberg and Heineken for a share of the relatively untapped market of some 55 million people. Euromonitor predicts beer sales will more than double between 2014-18 to $675 million a year. Mitsuhashi said the influx of Westerners since the end of sanctions is drawing more people to drink. He also predicted that more women will start to enjoy beer: Myanmar people think women shouldn t drink alcohol -- 40 or 50 years ago Japan was the same. Kirin currently controls around 80 percent of Myanmar s beer market through Myanmar Brewery, which would increase if its purchase of Mandalay Brewery gets government approval. (AFP) Trade friction could threaten US-Japan economic relationship Japan s Aso wants to discuss free trade rules with US TOKYO, March 4, (RTRS): Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Friday he wants to use the US-Japan economic dialogue as a platform to discuss rules for free trade and investment. Aso said the dialogue would discuss economic policy, infrastructure and energy, but it is difficult to offer more details because US President Donald Trump s administration is yet to fill some vacant positions. I want to discuss rules for free and fair trade and investment and hope that these rules can be spread throughout the world, Aso said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Trump agreed last month to establish a new framework for economic dialogue to discuss trade and infrastructure investment to be chaired by Aso and US Vice-President Mike Pence. Japanese media have reported that Pence will visit Tokyo next month, but the White House has yet to make an official announcement. Shortly after taking office in January, Trump shocked Japanese policymakers by saying the Bank of Japan s monetary easing amounts to currency manipulation and complaining about the low number of US auto exports to Japan. Trump has since softened his tone on Japan, but there are concerns that the United States could adopt protectionist policies in the future to fulfil his pledge to make US companies more competitive. The economic dialogue between the two countries is seen as a test of whether the United States and Japan can maintain good economic ties under the new US administration. China s ZTE expected to plead guilty over Iran sales NEW YORK, March 4, (RTRS): Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp is nearing an agreement to plead guilty to US criminal charges and pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties over allegations it violated US laws that restrict sale of US technology to Iran, a person familiar with the matter said. The company has not yet signed a deal with the US Department of Commerce, the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Treasury, cautioned the person, who declined to speak on the record because the negotiations are not public. Others noted that with a new US administration prompting changes in personnel at government departments, a final deal may be delayed or even scuttled. But ZTE is expected to plead guilty to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, among other charges, the source said, and pay penalties in the hundreds of millions. A ZTE spokesman declined to comment, as did spokesmen for the Justice and Treasury departments. A spokesman for the Department of Commerce did not respond to requests for comment. The Commerce Department investigation followed reports by Reuters in 2012 that the company had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of America s best-known technology companies to Iran s largest telecoms carrier. The original report can be read here: https://goo.gl/rvnwr6 An agreement would cap a year of uncertainty for the Shenzhen-based company, which was placed on a list of entities March 2016 that US suppliers could not work with without a license. ZTE acted contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests, the Commerce Department said at the time. One of the world s biggest telecommunications gear makers and the No. 4 smartphone vendor in the United States, ZTE sells handset devices to US mobile carriers AT&T Inc, T-Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp. It relies on US companies including Qualcomm, Microsoft and Intel for components. The listing could have severely disrupted the company s supply chain, but the Commerce Department granted ZTE a temporary license so US companies could continue to do business with the Chinese firm while it cooperated with the investigation. The temporary license was extended several times, with the latest reprieve expiring on March 29. The last extension, a ZTE spokesman told Reuters in an email last week, was a sign of the progress made. ZTE was working with the US government toward permanent removal from the Entity List, the company spokesman said at that time, and under new leadership was conducting business in a way that meets and exceeds export compliance standards. The spokesman s comments followed a Feb 14 filing by ZTE to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The ZTE filing said it was negotiating with the US Commerce, Treasury and Justice departments to conclude the investigation. ZTE said that the outcome remained uncertain, but that it would likely have a material impact on its financials. ZTE has annual sales of more than $15 billion. Bid to reboot strategy Nintendo s Switch console goes on international sale TOKYO, March 4, (AFP): Nintendo s Switch console went on sale Friday in a global launch seen as key to the Japanese videogame giant reversing flagging sales and moving past the failure of its last console, the Wii U. The $299 unit, which works both at home and on the go, blends the Super Mario maker s history in the console and handheld device business with its fledgling mobile gaming strategy, which got a big brand win after Pokemon Go s success last summer. Eager gamers queued up from early Friday morning at stores across Japan as Switch went on sale around 9:00 am local time. Kyoto-based Nintendo is aiming to move about two million Switch consoles in its first month. Strong demand for the new unit would help Nintendo move on from poor sales of Wii U, released in 2012. It marked a disappointing follow-up to the smash hit Wii, which sold over 100 million units worldwide after its launch a decade ago. Switch has a removable screen that lets players dock it at home and also use it on the go like a tablet with detachable controllers -- called Joy-Con -- on both sides. The idea is to give gamers a more immersive experience with realistic physical sensations matched to what is happening onscreen. A remote control feature means players can take their eyes away from the screen to face off. There are only eight games available for the system initially, including a Legend of Zelda offering. But there are scores more in the pipeline, Nintendo has said. I ve been a Zelda fan for a long time so I really want to immerse myself in the universe as soon as possible, office worker Yoko Kosuge told AFP. I ve used my day off to come buy it and I ll try it as soon as I m home. Kosuge was among the 400-odd gamers queuing up at a major retailer in Tokyo s Ikebukuro district from early Friday morning. This is the first time I ve bought a Nintendo console, said another eager gamer, 25-year-old Yuki Matsuzaki. I purchased the PlayStation 4, but the appeal of this Nintendo unit is the action and storyline in the games. An outlet of major electronics retailer Yodobashi Camera in Kawasaki near Tokyo said it has no extra stock to sell to customers who had not pre-ordered their units. In past years, Nintendo has scored hits with traditional home consoles, such as the Nintendo 64, and portable devices like Game- Boy and the DS handheld. Switch is probably one of the most important consoles for Nintendo in the past decades, said Serkan Toto, a Tokyo-based games industry consultant. It s the first time where Nintendo basically combines portable games and home console games into one device. But trying to score a win in two different markets has risks, Toto added. Some people could say that Nintendo is trying to kill two birds with one stone and that it could actually land in the middle and not really catch any of the target groups, he said. Nintendo s Tokyo-listed stock jumped 3.6 percent Friday. The company has been under pressure to fix its weak finances -- revenue has been falling for years -- as it goes head to head with console maker rivals Microsoft and Sony, which has racked up huge sales of its PlayStation 4. More than 53 million units of the PS4 have been sold globally since its debut in late 2013. In a bid to revive its fortunes, Nintendo abandoned a long-held consoles-only policy and decided to enter the smartphone game market. Last year, the Donkey Kong maker released Miitomo -- a free-to-play and interactive game. It scored another hit with the Pokemon Go app released in July, but the impact on profits will be limited as Nintendo did not actually develop the game. In December, Nintendo released the Super Mario Run game for iphones, which topped download charts and drew tens of millions of downloads. Infiniti hints at Formula One inspired high performance car BEIJING, March 4, (RTRS): Infiniti, Nissan Motor Co s premium brand, will display a concept car at next week s Geneva motor show that will hint at a new Formula One-inspired high-performance model based on its Q60 coupe. Developing such a premium-sport grade car could help Infiniti stand out from the crowded luxury automobile market, with a sporty-but-greener image. Dubbed the Infiniti Black S, the show car represents the maximum level of performance and dynamic capability of cars offered under the Infiniti name, the brand s global chief Roland Krueger said in a phone interview on Friday. For the greener bit, he added: We try to offer the best of both worlds. We have a very powerful engine, but at the same time the fuel economy and emissions standards are also very good. The potential development is a collaboration between Infiniti and Nissan s alliance partner Renault SA and its F1 racing team, using F1 electric hybrid powertrain technology, among others. Krueger said it s not yet clear when any production Black S model would be showroom-ready. A new model wouldn t use exactly the same technologies as those in the Renault F1 car, he said, but would borrow from the philosophy of the race car to harvest energy from the car and use that to accelerate its performance. Infiniti would engineer the car to be a performance car, but in a marketable way, Krueger added. A hybrid powertrain being explored through Project Black S would likely use the energy recovery system required in F1 cars taking the gasoline engine s exhaust gas to spin a small turbine to generate electricity which can then be used to boost the car s power and torque. Infiniti last year moved from being a sponsor of Renault s F1 team to becoming a technical partner. Japan inflation ticks up in Jan after almost one-year retreat TOKYO, March 4, (AFP): Japanese consumer prices picked up in January for the first time in almost a year, government data showed Friday, halting a long string of declines as Tokyo struggles to put deflation in the rear view mirror. A key inflation index, which excludes the volatile cost of fresh food, rose 0.1 percent from a year earlier, the internal affairs ministry said. Rebound in oil and energy prices cited An overview of the construction of Subway Line 5 by Brazilian company Odebrecht in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb 18. For years, Brazil-based Odebrecht, one of the region s biggest construction companies, landed huge public works contracts across Latin America by paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes. (AFP) Crackdown on haphazardly parked two-wheelers Shared bikes grind Shanghai s gears SHANGHAI, March 4, (AFP): Shanghai has impounded thousands of brightly coloured bikes placed on city streets by cycle-sharing companies, in the latest sign of impatience with an explosion of the haphazardly-parked two-wheelers. The bike-sharing sector has become one of the fastest-growing industries in the country, with users typically renting the bicycles for short periods by first unlocking them through the use of mobile phone apps. Costs can be as low as 1 yuan (15 US cents) per hour and the bikes can be left anywhere for the next user to come along. While hailed as a way to fight road traffic and pollution, the phenomenon has become viewed as a nuisance in some communities, with bikes often parked outside of designated parking areas, left in the middle of sidewalks or even on freeways. Row upon row of mostly orange and silver bikes from the company Mobike sat collecting dust in a massive parking lot in Shanghai s Huangpu district near the city s famed riverfront Bund area. They had been rounded up by a private firm hired by the government to oversee bicycle parking. The bikes began to accumulate over the past month, said a woman whose balcony overlooks the crowd- Airport work cuts SL tourism COLOMBO, March 4, (RTRS): Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka fell in February for the fi rst time since a nearly threedecade-long civil war ended in May 2009, government data released on Friday showed. It snapped a 93-month streak of tourist increases on the island, popular for its Indian Ocean beaches and varied wildlife. Tourism accounts for close to 5 percent of Sri Lanka s economy. Arrivals in February edged down 0.4 percent to 197,517, the fi rst fall since May 2009. The slight decline, analysts said, The increase, largely due to rebound in oil and energy prices, marked the first uptick in 11 months and ended the longest string of price declines in more than five years. It was also the first positive monthly inflation figure since December 2015. Consumer prices will continue to pick up, thanks to oil and a weak yen, said Maiko Noguchi, a senior economist at Daiwa Securities. The question is: will underlying strength in inflation pick up with was due to inconvenience and long waiting time at the main airport, which is currently closed for eight hours a day for runaway renovations. It is due to open again fully in early April, but The airport renovations have caused hundreds of fl ights to be cancelled since Jan. 6. Tourist arrivals and revenue from tourism hit record highs in 2016, with annual arrivals jumping 14 percent to a record 2.05 million. Revenue in 2016 hit $3.4 billion, beating the previous record of $2.98 billion posted in 2015, central bank data showed. ed storage lot, declining to give her name. A Huangpu district government spokeswoman said shared bikes are not exempt from parking rules. Any vehicles that violate parking regulations will be impounded. It s the same for everyone, she said. Mobike said in a statement that it was in touch with authorities and seeking to clarify what it called a misunderstanding by the company hired to round up the bikes. The bike-share concept has attracted huge amounts of venture capital investment for key players Mobike and Ofo, who have funnelled that money into placing hundreds of thousands of bikes in dozens of Chinese cities. China s state-run Xinhua news agency said Thursday that over the past two years more than 29 different providers have sprung up, placing more than three million bikes on streets around the country. A community in Beijing called Mentougou impounded hundreds of share bikes for similar reasons last month. It later returned them to their providers. More than 500 bicycles were dumped in huge piles on the streets of the southern city of Shenzhen in January, with images of the nearly three-metre-high jumbled stacks going viral. stronger wage growth, household spending and business confidence? I don t think it will at this point, she told Bloomberg News before the data release. Spending by Japan s households remains weak, separate data showed Friday, with a 1.2 percent on-year fall in January. That was the 11th consecutive month of decline. Slow wage growth is weighing on consumer spending -- which accounts for more than a half of Japan s GDP -- despite a tight jobs market. Unemployment has been at its lowest level in around 20 years. Fresh data Friday showed the jobless rate edged down from 3.1 percent in December to 3.0 percent in January. This week, Japan posted an unexpected drop in factory output for January, the first fall in six months and the latest red flag for the world s number three economy. Japan has been struggling to reverse a years-long deflationary spiral of falling prices and lacklustre growth. The government is teaming up with the Bank of Japan to keep working toward getting out of deflation, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters Friday. Tokyo s years-long effort to kickstart growth -- a blend of massive monetary easing, government spending and red-tape slashing -- stoked a stock market rally, weakened the yen and fattened corporate profits, but growth in the wider economy remains fragile. The Bank of Japan has blamed external factors, including weak energy prices, for its failure to achieve its promised two percent inflation target, a cornerstone of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s growth plans, dubbed Abenomics. Japan s central bank, which holds a policy meeting this month, now expects to hit its price target by March 2019 -- four years later than planned. Falling prices can discourage spending by consumers, who might postpone purchases until prices drop more or they might save money instead. That puts pressure on businesses, creating a cycle in which firms then cut back on expanding production, hiring new workers or boosting wages. The BoJ had hoped that consumers would spend more if prices were rising, persuading firms to expand operations and getting the economy humming. But wage growth has fallen below expectations and workers have less money to spend.

BUSINESS 35 UK s Sainsbury s to cut up to 400 jobs in stores shake-up Costco raises membership fees, misses earnings forecasts Sainsbury s, Britain s second largest supermarket group, is to cut up to 400 jobs in a restructuring of its store operations, it said on Friday. A spokesman for the grocer said it was removing 400 price controllers from its operation. Price controllers check that prices displayed on supermarket shelves are correct. Their role will in future be carried out by other staff. All of Britain s big four supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury s, Asda and Morrisons are seeking efficiency savings to finance price cuts so they can better compete with discounters Aldi and Lidl, who have won market share in recent years. The affected Sainsbury s workers, who have now entered a 45-day period of consultation, will be offered roles elsewhere in Sainsbury s or redundancy. Sainsbury s is also cutting night shifts in 140 stores, requiring 4,000 employees to move to either early morning or late evening shifts. We regularly review our business to ensure we re operating as efficiently and effectively as possible and our resources are in the right place, so that we can provide our customers with the best possible service, the spokesman said. (RTRS) Costco Wholesale Corp announced that it s raising its membership fees, as the warehouse club operator released quarterly results that fell short of Wall Street s expectations. Its shares fell more than 4% in after-hours trading. Starting June 1, annual membership fees for individual, business and business add-on members in the US and Canada will rise $5 to $60. Executive memberships in the US and Canada will increase from $110 to $120. Overall, the fee increases will affect around 35 million members. The Issaquah, Washingtonbased company reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $515 million, or $1.17 per share. The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research had been for earnings of $1.35 per share. Costco posted revenue of $29.77 billion in the period, which also did not meet Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $29.99 billion. Its stock was off $7.30 to $170.68 in after-market trading following the release of the earnings report. Through the close of Thursday s regular trading session, its shares have climbed 11 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor s 500 index has increased more than 6 percent. (AP) Formal announcement expected on Monday PSA board approves Opel takeover PARIS, March 4, (AFP): The supervisory board of French carmaker PSA has approved the takeover of General Motors European subsidiary, which includes the Opel and Vauxhall brands, and a formal announcement is expected on Monday, an source close the deal said. The move will see PSA regain its position as Europe s second-largest automobile manufacturer, after Germany s Volkswagen, the source said on Friday. That position is currently held by rival French automaker Renault. The negotiations, revealed last month, were swiftly concluded, the source added. The deal will be sealed on Monday morning in France and in Germany, the source said, adding that both sides were very enthusiastic and satisfied. The planned takeover of the Opel division by PSA, which owns the Peugeot and Citroen brands, was unveiled in the middle of February. It sparked fears in Germany and Britain that the prospective new owner could cut non-french jobs. PSA boss Carlos Tavares had said earlier he wanted to develop the iconic Vauxhall brand as part of Britain s automobile sector heritage. Vauxhall employs around 5,000 people in Britain. Opel operates some 10 factories in Europe spread across six countries, and had 35,600 employees at the end of 2015, 18,250 of them in Germany. Founded in 1862, Opel, with its lightning-bolt emblem, is a familiar sight on German and European roads. But in recent years the firm has booked repeated losses, costing Detroit-based GM around $15 billion (14 This file photo shows the production facility of German car maker Opel in Ruesselsheim, Germany on May 4, 2015. PSA board has approved the takeover of General Motors European subsidiary, which includes Opel and Vauxhall brands. (AFP) billion euros) since 2000. A sharp fall in the pound since Britain s vote to quit the EU last June sank Opel s hopes of getting back into the black in 2016, and it ended up reporting a loss of $257 million. Britain, where it sells vehicles under the Vauxhall brand, is Opel s largest European market. PSA has been active in trying to win backing for the acquisition, with chief executive Tavares last week securing the support of Germany s Chancellor Angela Merkel and also holding a phone conversation with British Prime Minister Theresa May. France s CGT union late Friday said the deal would be very lucrative for PSA shareholders and issued a warning to the PSA and Opel employees. Once German elections (in September) have taken place, it is obvious that Carlos Tavares will have as first objective to attack employment, it said. Tavares has said the group would respect the commitments made by GM, namely a rejection of short-term economic redundancies and a promise to invest in sites until 2020. In talks last week with the head of Britain s biggest trade union, Len Mc- Cluskey, he repeated his commitment to dialogue under existing agreements and the PSA group s ethical approach. Britain s plans to quit the European Union have created uncertainty across the business world, particularly in the car sector which is dependent on imports and exports with the European Union. Protectionism would be disaster for autos: Ghosn Sector depends on open borders for supply chain WASHINGTON, March 4, (AFP): Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn warned Thursday that protectionist trade policies could spell disaster for an automotive sector that depends on open borders for a complex supply chain. Ghosn, speaking at a forum on the future of mobility, said automakers depend on parts and technologies that move freely around the world. While he did not specifically mention President Donald Trump, the comments came as the new US administration has threatened to impose taxes on imports, and vowed to move unilaterally to attack what it sees as unfair trade practices rather than using global forums like the World Trade Organization. Trump s America first agenda includes pressing manufacturers to produce more goods domestically, rather than sending US jobs offshore. But Ghosn warned that supply Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan Motor Co and Renault, speaks about the future of the auto industry at the 1776 incubator on March 2 in Washington, DC. (AFP) lines for automakers cross borders. On average a car has 3,000 parts and these parts are coming from all over the world, Ghosn told the forum at the tech incubator 1776. When people talk about development of protectionism for carmakers it s a disaster because the whole supply chain has been built on open borders. Ghosn, who recently announced he is giving up the CEO job at Japan s Nissan to take the reins at Mitsubishi Motors, while remaining chairman of Nissan and the top Renault executive, said the auto industry is becoming increasingly borderless as it moves into advanced technologies such as autonomous driving and improved connectivity. We are using technology from companies coming from everywhere, he said. Ghosn told the audience the auto industry is going through rapid changes that will be on the road in the near future. The car of tomorrow is going to be very different from the car of today because there are so many things that people are expecting from it, he said. Within a few years, a growing number of vehicles will be largely autonomous so motorists can decide whether they want to take the wheel or let the car drive itself. You can videoconference, you can email, you can see a movie, you can consult your doctor, he said. This is not Star Wars technology you ll see in 30 years, this is going to happen very soon. This is something that will be coming to the market in the next five years. Pollution from rigged German Volkswagens to kill 1,200: study PARIS, March 4, (AFP): Pollution from 2.6 million Volkswagen cars sold in Germany between 2008 and 2015, rigged to appear eco-friendly, will cause 1,200 premature deaths in Europe, a study of the fraud s health impacts said Friday. The researchers estimate that 1,200 people in Europe will die early, each losing as much as a decade of their life, as a result of excess emissions generated, said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which took part in the study. This corresponded to about 1.9 billion euros ($2 billion) in health costs and lost labour productivity, the paper said. Germany will account for about 500 lives lost, only 40 percent of the projected European toll, according to findings published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Poland is in second place with 160 deaths, followed by France with 84, the Czech Republic with 72, Italy 55, Austria 47, Switzerland 40, Hungary 32, Britain 30 and Romania 27. The same researchers had previously estimated that excess emissions from 482,000 Volkswagens sold in the United States in the same period would cause 60 premature American deaths. Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to having installed software in 11 million diesel engines worldwide to circumvent emissions tests. This was to make the cars seem compliant with pollution limits while in fact they were emitting health-harming pollutants. In Germany, 2.6 million rigged Volkswagens were sold under the brands VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat, said the researchers a fifth of the country s total diesel fleet. Diesel cars emit nitrogen oxides, or NOx poisonous gases that contribute to acid rain and combine with ammonia to create particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause cancer, chronic breathing problems and premature death. Air pollution doesn t care about political boundaries; it just goes straight past, said study co-author Steven Barrett of MIT. Thus a car in Germany can easily have significant impacts in neighbouring countries, especially in densely populated areas such as the European continent, he said in a statement. If Volkswagen were to recall and retrofit all affected German-sold vehicles by the end of 2017, this would avert 2,600 additional premature deaths and 4.1 billion euros in corresponding health costs, the study authors said. In 2012, the World Health Organization s cancer research agency classified diesel engine exhaust as cancercausing. The European Environment Agency estimates that more than 400,000 people die prematurely every year due to outdoor air pollution in urban Europe about half of it from traffic emissions. Volkswagen s rigged cars emitted NOx at levels that were on average four times the European limit, said the MIT statement. The researchers combined data on Volkswagen emissions, how far and often Germans drive their cars, and pollution-impacting weather phenomena such as wind and rainfall. They produced a map of pollution which they overlaid on population density charts of Europe. With these, they calculated Europeans exposure to German-derived excess emissions from the Volkswagen deceit, and their increased risk of premature death. It ends up being about a one percent extra risk of dying early in a given year, per microgram per metre cubed of fine particles you re exposed to, Barrett explained. 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 NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Oct 4, 2016 KD 1.408 1.407 Sept 27, 2016 Watani KD Money Market Fund II NBK Capital Weekly Jan 17, 2017 KD 1.022 1.021 Nov 29, 2016 Watani KD Money Market Fund (Islamic) NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Oct 4, 2016 KD 1.184 1.184 Sept 27, 2016 Watani Foreign Currency Money Mkt Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Oct 4, 2016 USD 1.314 1.314 Sept 27, 2016 Watani Foreign Currency Money Mkt Fund (Euro) NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Oct 4, 2016 Euro 1.246 1.246 Sept 27, 2016 Watani USD Money Market Fund (Acc to Islamic Shariah principles) NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Oct 4, 2016 USD 1.102 1.101 Sept 27, 2016 Watani USD Money Market Fund (Acc to Islamic Shariah principles) II NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Oct 4, 2016 USD 10.041 10.041 Sept 27, 2016 Watani USD Money Market Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Jan 17, 2017 USD 10.182 10.160 Nov 22, 2016 Watani KD Money Market Fund (Acc to Islamic Shariah principles) II NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Jan 17, 2017 KD 1.020 1.019 Nov 22, 2016 Equity Funds NBK Gulf Equity Fund NBK Capital Weekly Oct 13, 2016 USD 1.193 1.189 Oct 6, 2016 NBK Kuwait Equity Fund NBK Capital Weekly Nov 17, 2016 KD 0.604 0.566 Oct 16, 2016 NBK Qatar Equity Fund NBK Capital Weekly Oct 13, 2016 USD 1.641 1.636 Oct 6, 2016 Gulf Equity Investment Fund NBK Capital Weekly April 7, 2016 USD 9.995 Ijara Fund Thahabi Ijara Fund VI Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly April 30, 2016 USD 10.000 10.000 Feb 29, 2016 Thahabi Ijara Fund VII Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly April 30, 2016 USD 10.000 10.000 Feb 29, 2016 Islamic KD Ijara Fund II Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly May 31, 2016 KD 10.000 10.000 March 31, 2016 Islamic KD Ijara Fund III Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly May 31, 2016 KD 10.000 10.000 Feb 29, 2016 Islamic KD Ijara Fund IV Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly May 31, 2016 KD 10.000 10.000 March 31, 2016 Islamic KD Ijara Fund V Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly May 31, 2016 USD 10.000 10.000 March 31, 2016 Islamic Equipment Leasing Fund I Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly June 30, 2016 USD 10.000 10.000 April 30, 2016 Islamic Equipment Leasing Fund II Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly June 30, 2016 USD 10.000 10.000 April 30, 2016 Islamic Equipment Leasing Fund III Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly July 31, 2016 USD 10.000 10.000 May 31, 2016 Islamic Equipment Leasing Fund IV Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly June 30, 2016 USD 10.000 10.000 May 31, 2016 Islamic Equipment Leasing Fund V Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly July 31, 2016 USD 10.000 10.000 May 31, 2016 Islamic Equipment Leasing Fund VI Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly July 31, 2016 USD 10.000 10.000 May 31, 2016 Islamic Equipment Leasing Fund I Ltd Wafra Capital Partners L.P. Cayman Islands Monthly June 30, 2016 USD 10.000 10.000 May 31, 2016 Multi Asset Funds Thahabi Multi Asset Fund Con Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly June 30, 2016 USD 96.164 95.710 April 30, 2016 Thahabi Multi Asset Fund Mo Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly June 30, 2016 USD 88.490 87.790 April 30, 2016 Gulf Bank Al Basha er GCC Equity Fund Kwt. Fin. & Inv. Co. & Gulf Fin. House Monthly Jan 31, 2017 USD 7.082 6.626 Dec 30, 2016 Coast Fund Coast Investment & Dev. Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.652 0.615 Dec 30, 2016 Sanaya Dow Jones Kuwait Index Fund Industrial & Financial Investment Co. Weekly Dec 29, 2016 KD 0.561 0.563 Nov 24, 2016 Markaz Capital Preservation Program 1 Monthly Dec 31, 2016 KD 0.917 0.916 Nov 30, 2016 Markaz Capital Preservation Program 2 Monthly Dec 31, 2016 KD 0.940 0.938 Nov 30, 2016 Markaz Gulf Real Estate Fund Bi-annual Jan 31, 2017 KD 1.418 1.420 Dec 31, 2016 Al Ahli Bank Al Ahli Gulf Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.892 0.890 Dec 31, 2016 Al Ahli Kuwaiti Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.824 0.760 Dec 31, 2016 Burgan Bank Burgan Equity Fund Burgan Bank Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 1.821 1.698 Dec 31, 2016 Boubyan Bank Boubyan KD Money Market Fund Boubyan Bank Weekly Feb 21, 2017 KD 1.061 1.061 Feb 14, 2017 Boubyan KD Money Market Fund II Boubyan Bank Weekly Feb 21, 2017 KD 1.006 1.005 Feb 14, 2017 Boubyan Capital Investment Co. Boubyan USD Liquidity Fund Boubyan Capital Investment Co Feb 21, 2017 USD 10.180 10.180 Feb 14, 2017 Boubyan Multi-Asset Holding Fund Boubyan Bank Jan 31, 2017 USD 10.125 Kuwait Investment Co. Local Fund Al Raed Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Feb 16, 2017 KD 1.001 0.989 Feb 9, 2017 Kuwait Investment Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.696 0.629 Dec 30, 2016 Al Hilal Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Feb 13, 2017 KD 0.541 0.541 Jan 30, 2017 Al Atheer Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Dec 31, 2016 KD 1.098 1.076 Nov 30, 2016 International Global Bond Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Feb 22, 2017 USD 24.320 24.140 Feb 8, 2017 Diversified Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Feb 22, 2017 USD 18.320 18.130 Feb 8, 2017 European Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Jan 31, 2017 Euro 19.890 19.820 Dec 30, 2016 Pacific Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Feb 22, 2017 USD 29.060 28.640 Feb 8, 2017 North American Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Tw. Monthly Jan 31, 2017 USD 17.570 17.150 Dec 30, 2016 National Investment Co. (NIC) Al-Wataniya Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.630 0.560 Dec 31, 2016 Al-Darij Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.361 0.340 Dec 31, 2016 Mawarid Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.515 0.520 Dec 31, 2016 Zajil Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.749 0.730 Dec 31, 2016 Al Mada Investment Fund NIC Weekly Jan 31, 2017 USD 0.779 0.760 Dec 31, 2016 Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) Mumtaz Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Jan 31, 2017 KD 3.799 3.770 Dec 22, 2016 MIDAF Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Dec 31, 2016 KD 2.850 2.747 Nov 24, 2016 Islamic Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Dec 31, 2016 KD 1.440 1.384 Nov 24, 2016 Markaz Arabian Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Nov 10, 2016 KD 2.990 2.920 Nov 3, 2016 Funds Fund Manager Valuation Valued date Currency Net Asset Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated Value (NAV) FORSA Financial Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Dec 31, 2016 KD 0.890 0.835 Oct 31, 2016 Real Estate Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Oct 31, 2016 KD 1.438 1.438 Sept 30, 2016 Markaz Fixed Income Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Dec 31, 2016 USD 8.880 11.370 Nov 24, 2016 Mawazeen International Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Dec 31, 2016 USD 10.180 8.890 Nov 27, 2016 Markaz MENA Islamic Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Dec 31, 2016 USD 10.550 11.350 Dec 15, 2016 Kuwait & Middle East Financial & Inv. Co. Al Rou yah Fund KMEFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 1.434 1.290 Dec 31, 2016 Gulf Gate Fund KMEFIC Monthly Oct 31, 2016 KD 0.944 0.918 Sept 30, 2016 Global Investment House Index Funds GCC Large Cap Index Fund Global Weekly Feb 23, 2017 KD 1.186 1.190 Feb 16, 2017 Equity Funds Al-Mamoun Fund A Global Weekly Feb 23, 2017 KD 0.639 0.652 Feb 16, 2017 Al-Mamoun Fund B Global Weekly Feb 23, 2017 KD 0.639 0.652 Feb 16, 2017 GCC Large Cap Fund Global Bi-weekly Feb 21, 2017 USD 145.550 146.720 Feb 14, 2017 Al-Noor Fund Global Bi-weekly Jan 31, 2017 SAR 197.090 197.090 Jan 24, 2017 Global Saudi Equity Fund Global Bi-weekly Feb 21, 2017 SAR 206.640 208.970 Feb 14, 2017 Money Market Funds Global Money Market Fund Global Weekly Nov 20, 2016 USD 1.160 Sectoral Funds EPADI Fund Global Weekly Feb 21, 2017 USD 108.410 107.220 Feb 14, 2017 Islamic Funds Global GCC Islamic Fund Global Weekly Feb 21, 2017 USD 99.100 99.470 Feb 7, 2017 Al-Durra Islamic Fund Global Monthly Feb 23, 2017 KD 1.186 1.209 Feb 16, 2017 Kuwait Finance & Investment Co (KFIC) Al Wasm Fund KFIC Weekly Feb 15, 2017 KD 0.421 0.426 Jan 18, 2017 Al Basha er GCC Equity Fund KFIC Monthly Dec 31, 2016 USD 6.853 6.853 Nov 30, 2016 KAMCO KAMCO Investment Fund KAMCO Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 1.065 0.889 Nov 30, 2016 KAMCO GCC Opportunities Fund KAMCO Monthly July 31, 2016 USD 115.890 114.380 Feb 29, 2016 KAMCO MENA Plus Fixed Income Fund KAMCO Jan 31, 2017 USD 12.551 10.260 Dec 31, 2016 KAMCO Real Estate Yield Fund KAMCO Jan 31, 2017 USD 10.220 10.270 Dec 30, 2016 Kuwait Education Fund KAMCO Quartely Sept 30, 2016 KD 1.457 Wafra International Investment Co. Wafra Equity Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.911 0.764 Jan 1, 2017 Wafra Bond Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 1.032 1.029 Jan 1, 2017 Masaref Investment Fund ISKAN Weekly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.817 0.796 Jan 1, 2017 Fajir Islamic Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.695 0.608 Jan 1, 2017 Shuaa Capital Co. Emirates Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Weekly Feb 7, 2017 AED 15.110 15.070 Jan 31, 2017 The Arab Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Weekly Feb 7, 2017 USD 28.160 29.040 Jan 31, 2017 Al Aman Investment Al Aman Islamic Fund Al Aman Investment Weekly Dec 31, 2016 KD 0.342 0.322 Nov 1, 2016 Tharwa Investment Co. Tharwa Investment Fund Tharwa Investment Co Weekly Nov 10, 2016 KD 1.356 1.361 Oct 31, 2016 Tharwa Arab Investment Fund Tharwa Investment Co Bi-weekly July 31, 2016 USD 1.977 2.251 June 30, 2016 Tharwa World Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly March 31, 2016 USD 1.024 0.986 March 15, 2016 Tharwa Islamic Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly Dec 31, 2016 KD 0.590 0.576 Nov 10, 2016 Bank Al-Bilad Al Seef Fund Bank Al-Bilad Daily Feb 26, 2017 KD 0.424 0.422 Feb 16, 2017 Commercial International Bank CIB Money Market Fund (Osoul) CI Asset Management Weekly March 2, 2017 EGP 283.260 282.530 Feb 23, 2017 CIB II Equity (Isthethmar) CI Asset Management Weekly March 2, 2017 EGP 127.900 131.570 Feb 23, 2017 CIB and Faisal Islamic Al Aman CI Asset Management Weekly March 2, 2017 EGP 72.530 74.420 Feb 23, 2017 Hemaya CI Asset Management Weekly March 1, 2017 EGP 169.020 168.910 Feb 1, 2017 Thabat CI Asset Management Weekly March 2, 2017 EGP 167.230 166.660 Feb 23, 2017 Takamol CI Asset Management Weekly March 2, 2017 EGP 128.460 130.480 Feb 23, 2017 Misr El Mostakbel CI Asset Management Weekly March 2, 2017 EGP 23.300 23.650 Feb 19, 2017 Noor Financial Investment Co. Noor Islamic Fund Noor Financial Investment Co Monthly Feb 29, 2016 KD 0.613 0.645 Dec 31, 2015 Al Zumorroda Investment Co. Zumorroda GCC Fund Al Zumorroda Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2016 KD 0.481 0.543 Dec 31, 2015 KFH Capital Investment Co. Muthanna Islamic Index Fund (MUDX) KFH Capital Investment Company Daily Feb 28, 2017 KD 0.357 0.354 Jan 31, 2017 Muthanna GCC Islamic Banks Fund KFH Capital Investment Company Daily Feb 28, 2017 KD 0.683 0.673 Jan 31, 2017 Baitak GCC Fund KFH Capital Investment Company Weekly Feb 28, 2017 KD 0.916 0.957 Jan 31, 2017 CapCorp Investment Co. CapCorp Local Fund CapCorp Investment Company Weekly Jan 31, 2017 KD 0.962 0.801 Dec 29, 2016

BUSINESS 36 Britain mulls inquiry into Fox s Sky deal Orban ally buys stakes in Opimus Britain s Culture Minister Karen Bradley said Friday she is considering asking for a regulatory investigation into whether 21st Century Fox s multi-billion dollar takeover of Sky is ethical. In a statement, Bradley confi rmed that Sky and 21st Century Fox have now formally notified the European Commission of their intention to merge. Under EU rules, the minister will from Monday have 10 working days to decide whether to issue a public interest intervention notice. I have, today, written to the parties to inform them that I am minded to issue a European Intervention Notice, she said in the statement, adding that she had concerns about the deal. To be clear I have not taken a fi nal decision on intervention at this stage, Bradley explained. Both Sky and Fox had been asked to submit written representations. If an intervention notice is issued, British media watchdog Ofcom will conduct a 40-day initial investigation into the deal. Fox announced in December it had reached a formal agreement to buy the 61-percent stake in Sky it does not already own. (AFP) Hungarian businessman Lorinc Meszaros, an ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has acquired stakes in Opimus, which owns the publisher of several of the country s main newspapers, a stock exchange filing showed. The move is another wrinkle in a shake-up of Hungary s commercial media landscape, where businessmen seen as close to the right-wing government have steadily enhanced their market share. The publisher, Mediaworks, is one of the biggest media companies in Hungary, owning the main sports daily Nemzeti Sport, business daily Vilaggazdasag and several regional daily newspapers. Opimus said in an official fi l- ing with the Budapest Stock Exchange on Friday that Meszaros, who is regarded as a close friend of Orban and is mayor of Orban s home village Felcsut, had acquired 16.9 percent of Opimus. Meszaros also took a further 14 percent stake in Opimus via another company called Konzum Management Kft, the statement said. Last month Meszaros bought 20 percent of Konzum s parent company. He also owns Echo TV, a private TV channel. (RTRS) Commodities Weekly Gold heads for weekly drop Oil rises on weaker dollar after sell-off LONDON, March 4, (RTRS): Oil prices rose on Friday, recouping some of the previous session s losses, as a weaker dollar encouraged buying but investors remained cautious after Russian production figures showed weak compliance with a global deal to cut output. Global benchmark Brent was up 36 cents at $55.44 a barrel at 1456 GMT, recovering some of Thursday s losses that amounted to more than 2 percent. WTI futures traded at $52.97 a barrel, up 36 cents on the previous close. The market is range bound, therefore there is nothing surprising in seeing fresh buying after a big sell-off and of course the slightly weaker dollar is also helping oil recover, said Tamas Varga, senior analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates. The dollar slipped from a seven-week high on Friday ahead of a key speech by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen. A weaker greenback makes it more attractive to buy dollardenominated currencies like oil futures. Because prices have failed once again to rise above their trading corridors, there is a growing risk of speculative selling, said analysts at Commerzbank, suggesting further downside potential. Capped Oil s gains were capped after concerns remained over non- OPEC compliance with a global deal to rein in oversupply. Russia s February oil output was unchanged from January at 11.11 million barrels per day (bpd), energy ministry data showed, with its cuts from October 2016 levels remaining at 100,000 bpd or a third of what was pledged by Moscow under its agreement with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Official US data also showed crude inventories in the world s biggest oil consumer rose for an eighth straight week to a record 520.2 million barrels last week. But even as US oil production rose and Russian output held steady, OPEC boosted already strong compliance with the group s six-month deal to 94 percent, cutting output for a second month in February, a Reuters survey found. In a bid to maintain demand for its oil, world top exporter Saudi Arabia has cut the price for its April light crude deliveries to Asia, trade sources told Reuters. Meanwhile, gold fell half a percent on Friday and was on track for its biggest weekly loss in nearly four months as speculation grew that the US Federal Reserve would press ahead with a rate increase this month. The probability of a Fed move in March rose to nearly 80 percent on Friday from less than 20 percent two weeks ago, money markets indicated, after hawkish comments from New York Fed chief William Dudley and San Francisco Fed President John Williams. Watching Traders will be watching for any reinforcement of that message from Fed Chair Janet Yellen and Vice Chair Stanley Fischer when they speak later on Friday. Spot gold was down 0.5 percent at $1,228.05 an ounce by 1430 GMT, while US gold futures for April delivery were down $4.50 at $1,228.40. Gold prices have retreated sharply since failing to decisively break through resistance at their 200-day moving average of $1,261 this week. The market has responded very clearly to the more aggressive stance by FOMC members regarding rate hikes in March, Mitsubishi analyst Jonathan Butler said. It s fair to say that a rate hike in March is pretty much priced into gold. Gold is highly sensitive to rising US interest rates as they increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, while boosting the dollar in which it is priced. The world s largest goldbacked exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares, reported a second daily inflow on Thursday, of 1.8 tonnes, bringing the weekly rise to 4 tonnes. The dollar took a breather after two days of gains on Friday but remained supported by growing expectations that the Fed will lift interest rates when it meets on March 14-15. Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.1 percent at $17.73 after falling 3.5 percent on Thursday, its biggest one-day drop in 11 weeks. It is set to end the week 3.4 percent lower. Stocks gain, US dollar down after Yellen signals rate rise NEW YORK, March 4, (Agencies): Wall Street stock indexes and the US dollar both posted gains for the week on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen confirmed market expectations for an interest rate rise in March but profit taking saw equities and the greenback slip for the day. After regional Fed officials during the week mostly signalled the likelihood of a second policy rate rise in the past three months, in a speech on Friday Yellen confirmed the view that rates may rise at the next Fed meeting on March 14-15 barring any sharp deterioration in economic conditions. The implied probability of a March rate hike surged to almost 80 percent from 77.5 percent the previous day, according to CME Group s FedWatch tool. She s telegraphed that March is not live anymore, it is alive, said Quincy Krosby, market strategist, Prudential Financial, in Newark, New Jersey. Financial conditions are supportive of a rate hike, and the Fed has been criticized in the past for not raising rates when financial conditions were supportive. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their sixth consecutive week of gains this week. Interest rate sensitive sectors such as real estate and utilities were among the decliners while financial stocks rose because rising rates tend to boost bank profits. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.74 points, or 0.01 percent, to 21,005.71, the S&P 500 gained 1.2 points, or 0.05 percent, to end at 2,383.12 while the Nasdaq Composite added 9.53 points, or 0.16 percent, to reach 5,870.75. The MSCI global stock index rose 0.1 percent for a record closing high. European shares posted their best weekly gains of 2017, although they were down on the day following disappointing company updates. The pan-european STOXX 600 ended the day 0.1 percent lower after touching a 15-month high in the previous session and ended up 1.4 percent for the week. The MSCI global stock index was down 0.5 percent for the day but up 0.25 percent for the week. US Treasury yields rose, with 2-year notes touching a fresh 7-1/2- year high and other maturities hit multiweek peaks after Yellen s speech. Benchmark 10-year yields rose to 2.507 percent, while yields on 7-year notes rose to 2.347 percent. Both reached their highest levels since Feb. 15. Nasdaq posts sixth consecutive week of gains Wall St Week Ahead Trump s planned cuts could benefit Silicon Valley Investors bet tech rally far from over SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, (RTRS): Technology companies have been a driving force behind the US stock market s recent record rally, and despite mounting evidence of stretched valuations the sector remains a top pick for investors expecting a wave of capital expenditures by US corporations. Corporate tax cuts and reduced regulations planned by President Donald Trump will give companies reason to spend more on cloud computing, factory automation and smart connectivity that will directly benefit Silicon Valley, many on Wall Street believe. The tax cuts are going to promote business investment across all industries, and the business investment is largely going to be in technology, said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at Voya Investment Management in New York. Strong performances from big names including Apple Inc and Facebook Inc have helped make technology the strongest S&P 500 sector so far this year, surging 10 percent compared to the broader index s 6 percent rise. In the past month, investors have poured $325 million into to the US-listed Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund, according to ETF. The US dollar index fell 0.8 percent against a basket of six major currencies as investors took profits but it was still on track for its fourth straight weekly gain. The Mexican peso rallied to its strongest level since the US election last November after US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said a new mechanism should be created to stabilize the exchange rate. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed out their sixth straight week of gains with a flat session after Janet Yellen signaled the Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates this month if employment and other economic data hold up. Strategists said the Fed Chair s comments likely cement a rate hike at the Fed s March 14-15 meeting. Financial stocks, which benefit from higher rates, closed up 0.4 percent on Friday after Yellen s comments and were among the best-performing S&P 500 sectors, while real estate was the worst performer, down 0.4 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 2.74 points, or 0.01 percent, to 21,005.71, the S&P 500 gained 1.2 com, which tracks fund flows. We may be due for a little bit of a pullback, but we re still buyers on weakness because we like the longer-term outlook over the next two to three years, said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at US Bank Wealth Management. The proliferation of smart, connected devices in homes, factories and stores is leading to the collection unprecedented amounts of data and creating demand for more computing power to analyze it. Spending on cloud computing will grow by 21.5 percent a year through 2020, almost seven times as fast as overall IT spending, according to a recent estimate by market research firm IDC. Improved employment and consumer confidence have also been behind investors optimism about tech, helping offset concerns about lofty valuations. After an eight-year US stock market rally, nearly all sectors are trading at earnings multiples above their long-term average, but none more so than technology, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream. The tech sector s strong performance has left it trading at 17.9 times expected earnings, compared to its 10-year average of points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,383.12 and the Nasdaq Composite added 9.53 points, or 0.16 percent, to 5,870.75. For the week, the Dow was up 0.9 percent, the S&P 500 was up 0.7 percent and the Nasdaq was up 0.4 percent. Investors expected Yellen to signal a rate hike after a large number of Fed officials, including those typically dovish on rates, appeared this week to stoke expectations of a rate increase. Costco was among the top drags on the S&P and the Nasdaq, falling 4.3 percent after quarterly sales and profit missed analysts expectations. Snap Inc, which rallied Thursday in its debut, jumped another 10.7 percent after NBCUniversal invested $500 million in the parent of Snapchat. Macy s dropped 4.4 percent after sources said Canada s Hudson s Bay is yet to line up equity financing for a bid more than a month after making an approach. About 6.7 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, below the 6.9 billion daily average for the past 20 14.5 times expected earnings. The S&P tech sector s price-toearnings multiple has been above its own long-term average for about a year, and during that time the sector has surged about 28 percent. Tech bulls believe earnings momentum is growing for the sector. S&P 500 tech earnings expanded 12.3 percent in the fourth quarter, more than any other sector, according to Thomson Reuters data. Analysts on average expect 13.6 percent growth for the March quarter. Recent upbeat quarterly reports and commentary from Broadcom Ltd, Skyworks Solutions Inc and Applied Materials Inc suggest semiconductors are poised for strong growth, said Wedbush trader Joel Kulina. Micron Technology Inc jumped 3.5 percent on Friday after raising its 2017 forecast the day before, helped by healthy demand for its memory chips. I can t remember a time when we ve seen this much excitement, Kulina said. Semiconductors aren t as cyclical as they used to be, where quarters were driven by PC demand. Now it s automotive, it s data center, industrial automation. trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.05- to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.03-to-1 ratio favored decliners. The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52- week highs and 4 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 59 new highs and 43 new lows. Asia Asian equity markets fell on Friday after a broad global rally, but the dollar strengthened against most other currencies as traders become increasingly confident the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates this month. The dollar, which has swung wildly as investors try to gauge Trump s plans and veiled Fed messages, broke above 114 yen for the first time in two weeks in Asia on Thursday and pressed on through the day. In Tokyo it was down against the yen but well up from the levels below 112 yen touched earlier in the week, while it maintained recent gains against the euro and pound. 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 March 4 Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy Buy.302450.306850.305050.306750.301000.308250.305150.307250.302650.308750.303440.308970.040530.045530.043920.045260 US dollar.304200.306550.306250.306200.304400.308000.305150.307250.305150.307250.305150.307250.305150.307250.305150.307250.306050 Danish krone.040529.045529.044221.044749.043920.045260.044130.045080.043536.045929.043220.044320.044029.044901.304200.306550.306250.306200.304400.308000.305150.307250.305150.307250.305150.307250.305150.307250.305150.307250.306050.040529.045529.044221.044749.043920.045260.044130.045080.043536.045929.043220.044320.044029.044901 Cyprus pound.695000.167990.167990 Sterling pound.371419.381419.380500.373000.383000.369190.380380.370750.380690.370773.381918.000030.004184.004650.004000.006500.004660.001374.001454.370418.380018.382510.377615.373560.377978.369190.380380.374480.378440.374281.377011.374050.378530.373321.379024.386800 Indian rupee.004461.004537.004578.004568.004547.004660.004470.004650.004399.004667.004517.004622.004492.004632.004594 Yemeni riyal.001364.001464.001229.001199.001229.001550.370418.380018.382510.377615.373560.377978.369190.380380.374480.378440.374281.377011.374050.378530.373321.379024.386800.004461.004537.004578.004568.004547.004660.004470.004650.004399.004667.004517.004622.004492.004632.004594.001364.001464.001229.001199.001229.001550.320914.329914.326000.319000.332000.318280.327960.317930.326810.317823.327972 travellers cheques US dollar Sterling Euro local gold BEC Commercial Bank Gulf Bank Al-Ahli Bank.3065500.3080000.3072500.3072500.3800189.3779780.3803800.3785300.3280138.3264180.3279600.3249500 BEC Muzaini Exchange Euro.320913.328013.324930.324100.322603.326418.318280.327960.321230.324820.321170.323534.320770.324950.320072.325378.328800 Pakistani rupee.002697.002987.003100.002960.008291.008841.009000.002869.002901.002917.002917.002923.002960.002950.002829.003003.003007.002868.002934.002901 Thai baht.008230.008645.008601.009715.008485.008803.320913.328013.324930.324100.322603.326418.318280.327960.321230.324820.321170.323534.320770.324950.320072.325378.328800.002869.002901.002917.002917.002923.002960.002950.002829.003003.003007.002868.002934.002901.008230.008645.008601.009715.008485.008803 Japanese yen.002734.002914.003500.002810.002890.002734.002914.002697.003690.002837.002871.002810.002890.002863.002895.002792.002946.002677.002710.002776.002933 Sri Lanka rupee.001651.002231.002300.002000.003500.002090.002734.002914.002697.003690.002837.002871.002810.002890.002863.002895.002792.002946.002677.002710.002776.002933 South African rand.016426.024926.022540.002020.002062.002062.002022.002065.002090.002010.002080.002044.002066.002165.002033.002078.002057.022540.002020.002062.002062.002022.002065.002090.002010.002080.002044.002066.002165.002033.002078.002057.022540.301657.312657.310000.306000.315000.308020.317690 Swiss franc.302657.309657.302970.309220.306109.308233.308020.317690.307200.310750.307446.309736.302320.306540.305609.311255 Bangladesh taka.003383.003967.004150.003940.000255.000270.003827.003871.003853.003854.003897.003940.003838.003894.003802.003914.003873 Korean won Gold 999 kg 12,245.740.302657.309657.302970.309220.306109.308233.308020.317690.307200.310750.307446.309736.302320.306540.305609.311255.003827.003871.003853.003854.003897.003940.003838.003894.003802.003914.003873 Canadian dollar.221161.230161.235000.224000.235000.222680.229520.219161.229161.230510.233480.225454.227019.222680.229520.225290.227610.225799.227450.231620.234390.224967.228483 Philippine peso.006142.006442.006350.005000.007900.006370.001286.001506.000980.005800.006267.006156.006082.006315.006370.006090.006260.006239.006321.006692.006148.006328.006211 Syrian pound.001285.001505.002182.002425 Gold 999 10 tola 1,448.010.219161.229161.230510.233480.225454.227019.222680.229520.225290.227610.225799.227450.231620.234390.224967.228483.005800.006267.006156.006082.006315.006370.006090.006260.006239.006321.006692.006148.006328.006211.001285.001505.002182.002425 Gold ounce 391.335 Swedish krona.029458.034458.033320.034340.029458.034458.033372.033603.033320.034340.033320.033630.033837.034084.338900.346200.033368.033799 Australian dollar.224322.236322.229000.235000.230110.234790.000084.000085.222322.235322.228750.231477.230110.234790.232450.235440.228040.229778.233300.236370.231898.235376 Iranian Riyal.029458.034458.033372.033603.033320.034340.033320.033630.033837.034084.338900.346200.033368.033799.222322.235322.228750.231477.230110.234790.232450.235440.228040.229778.233300.236370.231898.235376 Gold gm 22k 11.240.079993.081293.083000.077000.083000.080170.081890.080070.082580.080090.081861 Saudi riyal Gold gm 21k 10.730.080493.081133.081654.082500.080741.081301.080170.081890.080610.081310.080340.081115.080780.082110.080518.081369.080493.081133.081654.082500.080741.081301.080170.081890.080610.081310.080340.081115.080780.082110.080518.081369 Hong Kong dollar.037033.039783.038790.039570.036532.039632.039456.038936.039400.038790.039570.039230.039670.036532.039632.039456.038936.039400.038790.039570.039230.039670 Lebanese pound.000147.000247.000181.000201.002040.000197.000206.000181.000201.002040.000197.000206 Gold gm 18k 9.190.081357.083057.084000.082149.082975.081890.083600.082704.083536.081786.083591 UAE dirham.081300.082750.083356.083680.082421.082993.081890.083600.082340.083030.082054.082850.082530.083910.082223.083088.082810 Singapore dollar.213951.223951.214770.221340.214951.220951.215040.216649.219232.214770.221340.216640.219340.218767.220417.214170.216670.216405.219743 Malaysian ringgit.068677.074677.076000.067416.074416.068841.069500.070853.071672 100 gm 999.081300.082750.083356.083680.082421.082993.081890.083600.082340.083030.082054.082850.082530.083910.082223.083088.082810.214951.220951.215040.216649.219232.214770.221340.216640.219340.218767.220417.214170.216670.216405.219743.067416.074416.068841.069500.070853.071672 Bahraini dinar.799929.808429.813000.800355.808399.797750.814380.794037.816600 10 gm 999 129.280.799428.807928.813070.810915.803169.808742.797750.814380.801620.808570.799406.807107.801640.816820.801697.808785.806500.799428.807928.813070.810915.803169.808742.797750.814380.801620.808570.799406.807107.801640.816820.801697.808785.806500 Jordanian dinar.423775.432775.435000.420000.434000.435960.422147.429647.431200.432620.432199.435960.424370.431750.424741.428904.429040.436310.424743.429924.422147.429647.431200.432620.432199.435960.424370.431750.424741.428904.429040.436310.424743.429924 Indonesian rupiah.000019.000025.000020.000018.000025.000020.002377.000018.000025.000020.002377.783320.789000.784615.792501.781220.797480.777623.799556 Omani riyal.777819.788819.795218.786308.791764.781220.797480.785390.791970.782777.790274.787960.800890.785047.791970.777819.788819.795218.786308.791764.781220.797480.785390.791970.782777.790274.787960.800890.785047.791970 Egyptian pound.017442.024695.023900.023000.016000.024000.034920.021482.022251.017300.019476.034598.034920.033890.034430.033796.034417.020800.017393.017702.017995.021482.022251.017300.019476.034598.034920.033890.034430.033796.034417.020800.017393.017702.017995 New Zealand dollar.215304.224804.215310.219690.213304.224304.215310.219690.217340.221130.213304.224304.215310.219690.217340.221130 All rates in KD per unit of foreign currency

INTERNATIONAL 37 Troops not involved in gun battle: Pentagon US wages second day of strikes on Qaeda in Yemen WASHINGTON/ADEN, Yemen, March 4, (RTRS): The United States carried out a second day of air strikes against al-qaeda in Yemen on Friday, US officials said, in the latest sign of increasing US military focus on a group whose strength has grown during Yemen s civil war. Since a January commando raid, the United States has shown a desire to both strike al-qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and to recover from what US officials acknowledge has been an intelligence shortfall about the group since Yemen s civil war forced the closure of the US Embassy in 2015. We have a lot of gaps in our understanding of the organization, a US defense official said, adding the pullout of US personnel two years ago certainly did not help our understanding of the situation. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said at a news briefing that the United States had carried out more than 30 strikes over the past two days in Shabwah, Abyan and Al Bayda provinces. The US military did not disclose how many al-qaeda fighters were killed on Friday although Reuters reported that Thursday s strikes, using manned and unmanned aircraft, left at least nine militants dead. The US military did not rule out further strikes in the days ahead. I don t want to telegraph future operations but this is part of a plan to go after this very real threat and ensure they are defeated, Davis said at a Pentagon news briefing. America s military strategy in Yemen has become a political lightning rod issue after the late January raid against AQAP, authorized by President Donald Trump, resulted in the death of one of the commandos, US Navy SEAL William Ryan Owens. Critics questioned the value of the mission. That prompted a fierce rebuttal from Trump, who said during a televised address to Congress that large amounts of vital intelligence was seized in the operation. Trump s speech featured a standing ovation for Owens widow. The US defense official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity on Friday, shied away from describing the intelligence as vital, saying that was a subjective term. The official said the intelligence was good and potentially actionable, suggesting that phone numbers and other information about AQAP s network seized in January would require analysis or development before leading to new US strikes or raids. It s definitely helping us understand the network and further develop it out... This has been good information, the official said, adding the United States seized an awful lot of telephone numbers. Strikes over the past two days have not been based on intelligence from the January raid, the Pentagon says. After its pullout in 2015, the US military started returning to Yemen in small numbers last year to support a successful April push orchestrated by the United Arab Emirates, with support from Saudi Arabia, that ejected AQAP from Mukalla, home of Yemen s third largest port, where AQAP had raised tens of millions of dollars. The US defense official said losing Mukalla degraded AQAP but also cautioned the group did not leave its money or many of its recruits behind. Residents told Reuters on Friday that US air strikes were accompanied by gun battles, which they thought involved US soldiers on the ground in Yemen. The Pentagon denied US involvement in any ground combat and it was unclear if one of the United States Gulf allies might have been engaged in gun battles. US intelligence and military officials still view AQAP as a real threat to the United States, as do allies like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The group has plotted to down US airliners and claimed responsibility for 2015 attacks on the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. AQAP also has boasted of the world s most feared bomb makers, Ibrahim Hassan al-asiri, and the Pentagon estimates it has between about 2,000 and 3,000 fighters. Kuwaitization of Continued from Page 1 involving human trafficking. In the meantime, he indicated the authority has set up a special department to monitor the workers strikes following which the authority will get in touch with the concerned employer to get the salaries of the employees paid and the file of the company will be closed. Filipinos welcome Continued from Page 1 During my term, I would push for the signing of the bilateral labour agreement between Kuwait and the Philippines for the protection and welfare of our Filipino workers. We will work closely with our counterpart in the Philippines and here in Kuwait to have both parties sign the agreement, he stressed. He added that he will also try to reduce the increasing number of wards at the POLO-OWWA shelter. Currently, there are almost 300 wards at the centre who are mostly victims of physical, sexual or verbal abuse, fatigue, lack of food or non-payment of salary. The zero-ward policy is good, it s ideal but I believe that s hard to achieve and unrealistic. Moreover, it s not a practical target, however, we will try our best to reduce the number of wards into a reasonable number, even just a double digit, explained Padaen who hopes to coordinate closely and work hand in hand with Kuwaiti authorities along with the Philippine Embassy for the continuous repatriation of distressed OFWs. Amid the ongoing repatriation of distressed OFWs, a number of maltreated OFWs also run to the embassy shelter daily. The POLO record shows that for every ward repatriated daily, around five to seven also run to the embassy shelter everyday. Meanwhile, Filipino leaders expressed their full support to the newly posted labour attaché and aired their expectations. I do expect fairness, humility from him. Get the pulse of the masses and the needs of the Filipinos in Kuwait. We all know that Kuwait is a tough and colourful post with all the issues and problems of OFWs but we re here to support him, stated TROPA President Christopher Hernandez. Owners and representatives of manpower recruitment agencies also expressed their utmost support to Padaen. Rest assured that we will support him and we will be the extended arm of the embassy in marketing skilled Filipino workers to quality employers. We just hope that under his leadership, the processing of job orders will be faster this time so employers will not be kept waiting for a long time, pointed out PhilSoc-MSK Chairperson Ana Del Mundo. One of the biggest challenges that Padaen will be facing in Kuwait is the problem of distressed Household Service Workers (HSWs) prompting various advocacy groups in Kuwait to call recently for a moratorium on the deployment of Filipino HSWs to Kuwait. We hope that the new labour attaché will really look into the problems of distressed HSWs especially those who have been abused or maltreated severely. We hope that he will be able to do his job in the best interest of all Filipinos in Kuwait, stated Ann Abunda, the Founder and Chair of SANDIGAN, an OFW advocacy group based in Kuwait that has been helping distressed HSWs. On his part, Padaen vowed to maintain an open line of communication and be transparent in all his dealings as he espoused on everyone s cooperation during his tenure in Kuwait. e-renewal of Continued from Page 1 He indicated it has been agreed with the Ministry of Finance to cooperate with the KNET Company to collect money from fines and fees through the automated e-system. It is also agreed with the Public Authority for Civil Information to provide users with secret numbers to have access to the Interior Ministry site to complete their transactions. Legislator tracks Continued from Page 1 of account holders who failed to present the necessary documentation to justify such transactions; thereby, raising suspicion of non-compliance with Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 35/2002 and the Central Bank of Kuwait s (CBK) instructions in this regard. This is in addition to issues related to inventory of public funds which include the following amounts: KD Tens of thousands flee clashes between Syrian army, DAESH MANBIJ, Syria, March 4, (AFP): Tens of thousands of Syrian civilians have fled ferocious fighting between Russian-backed regime forces and Islamic State group jihadists over the past week in the country s ravaged north. Supported by Russian air power and artillery, Syrian government forces have waged a fierce offensive against IS, seizing around 90 villages since mid-january. They took eight on Saturday alone, a military source told state news agency SANA, expanding our control in northeast parts of Aleppo province. Their aim, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, is ISheld Khafsah, the main station pumping water into Aleppo. Residents of Syria s second city have been without mains water for 47 days after the jihadists cut the supply. The fighting over the past week has sparked an exodus of more than 30,000 civilians, most of them women and children, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said Saturday. Most of the displaced went to areas around Manbij, held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters also fighting IS. An AFP correspondent in Manbij saw dozens of families speeding towards the relative safety of the town on motorcycles and in small buses and cars. Many looked exhausted as they lined up at a checkpoint manned by the Manbij Military Council, the SDF unit that controls the town, to be searched and get permission to enter. Ibrahim al-quftan, co-chair of Manbij s civil administration, told AFP that as many as 40,000 displaced had arrived in recent days. The numbers of displaced people here are still rising because of the clashes between the Syrian regime and Daesh (IS), Quftan said. These people are suffering very difficult circumstances. Manbij already hosts tens of thousands of displaced people that fled previous clashes in the area and are living in difficult circumstances, according to Abdel Rahman. This will make it difficult (for local authorities) to welcome a new wave of displaced people, given their inability to tend to their pressing needs. Since civil war broke out in Syria in March 2011, more than half of its prewar population has been forced to flee their homes. The northern province of Aleppo hosts tens of thousands of displaced Syrians, many in camps near the border with Turkey. Rebel backer Ankara sent its own troops into Syria in August to fight both IS and Kurdish units in operation Euphrates Shield. Turkey considers the Kurdish People s Protection Units (YPG), which makes up most of the SDF, a terror- Peace talks produce clear agenda Right to left: Philippine Labour Attache Alex Padaen, Philippine Ambassador Renato Pedro Villa and VC Charleson Hermosura. The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait led by Ambassador Renato Pedro Villa introduced the new Philippine Labour Attache to Kuwait, Atty Alex Padaen to the leaders of various Filipino organisations in Kuwait on Friday at the embassy premises. ist group because of its ties to outlawed Kurdish militia in southeast Turkey. On February 23, the Turkish-backed rebels of Euphrates Shield captured the town of Al-Bab, which was IS s last bastion in Aleppo province. They have since set their sights on Manbij, with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu this week threatening to bomb YPG fighters unless they leave the town. The Observatory on Saturday reported escalating violence and shelling between Euphrates Shield rebels and the SDF. Meanwhile, the Syrian regime and opposition have agreed a clear agenda to seek to end the country s six-year-old war, the UN mediator said Friday at the end of sometimes fractious and slowmoving talks in Geneva. Veteran envoy Staffan de Mistura said he hopes to invite both sides back to Geneva later this month for a new round of talks, which will include the issue of counter-terrorism at the request of Damascus. The train is ready, it is in the station, it is warming up the engine. Everything is ready, it just needs an accelerator, he said at the end of nine days of talks in the Swiss city. I believe that we have a clear agenda now in front of us, he told reporters, adding: We did discuss procedure,.. but we also discussed substance. The Geneva negotiations, the first 3 million, KD 4 million, KD 3.7 million, KD 7 million, KD 3 million, KD 1 million, KD 9.7 million and KD 1,540,000. During investigation, one of those implicated in the case admitted receiving money from members of the government while another said he owns a business and he is into buying and selling real estate properties but the competent authorities asserted his commercial activities do not justify the amount of cash deposits. The accused enumerated various sources of cash deposits like scholarship, overseas treatment and other privileges; financial grants in the form of humanitarian aid; and fees for consultations, business, contracts with subcontractors and others. Meanwhile, MP Rakan Al-Nisf considers the resignation of Health Ministry Undersecretary Dr Khalid Al-Sahlawi the beginning of treating diseases in the ministry s body. He claimed the undersecretary was the main party in the irregularities in the ministry, asserting the legislative and judicial authorities have yet to confront many other parties. He said the corruption file in the ministry is one of the most serious issues in government agencies considering the involvement of several internal and external parties. He revealed many of these issues were highlighted in his grilling of the former health minister during the tenure of the dissolved Parliament. He then called on the legislature to conduct a thorough investigation on these issues and others matters which may have surfaced since then. He said the public funds stolen from the ministry must be recovered through legal channels and all those behind such anomalies should be held accountable. He added that support for Health Minister Dr Jamal Al-Harbi should be based on his next steps, especially in terms of holding liable all those proven to be involved in unscrupulous acts. Commenting on the same issue, MP Mohamed Al-Dalal said the minister s grilling and resignation of the undersecretary are significant steps towards reform but more measures must be taken such as thorough parliamentary investigation. MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei asserted the resignation of senior ministry officials is not enough, because accountability and restoration of stolen public funds are important as well. He added the financial irregularities in the ministry are estimated at billions of Kuwaiti since last April, were the latest effort to seek to end a conflict that began in March 2011 with protests against Syrian President Bashar al-assad. Its seventh year begins on March 15. Since then more than 310,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled the country, fuelling instability in neighbouring countries and creating Europe s biggest migrant crisis since World War II. The warring Syrian sides have been joined in Geneva by envoys of key parties including notably Russia, a major ally of Damascus. But as in previous talks the focus was almost exclusively on the agenda. Under UN Security Council Resolution 2254 they should be framed in three baskets or areas of discussion: governance, constitution and elections. But Damascus pushed hard for counter-terrorism strategy to be added to the agenda, against fierce resistance from the opposition who said the Syrian regime was stalling the talks to avoid engaging with political transition. The Geneva peace talks are running in parallel with negotiations in Astana, Kazakhstan, which are focussed on maintaining a fragile ceasefire brokered in December. A new Astana meeting is expected to take place before the next Geneva talks. Astana and Geneva are complementing themselves, and reinforcing each other, said the UN envoy. The main opposition High Negotiating Committee (HNC) said the latest dinars. Furthermore, Al-Tabtabaei believes that March 7, 2017 will be a decisive day for possible cooperation with the government. On his Twitter account, he said cooperation will be measured according to the number of files including prices of fuel and electricity, naturalization and amnesty. Thousands flee Continued from Page 1 in Mosul on Friday, Ali said, saying they targeted car bombs, sniper positions and small IS mortar units. Brig Gen Wathaq al-hamdani, Nineveh province s police chief, said IS targeted the Al Jazair District in western Mosul with Katyusha launchers with missiles carrying chlorine gas in at least two separate incidents over the past few days. He added that five civilians had been taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for asphyxiation. The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement Friday that seven patients likely exposed to a toxic chemical agent were currently being treated at Rozhawa hospital, close to Mosul, where fighting is ongoing. Geneva talks were more positive than previous rounds. We are closing this round without (a) clear result... but I can say this time was more positive, HNC delegation chief Nasr al-hariri told reporters. It was first time we discussed in an acceptable depth the issues of the future of Syria and political transition, he added after the talks, the fourth mediated by de Mistura. The antagonism has been clear in briefings after each session of talks with de Mistura, with the Syrian regime delegation chief Bashar al-jaafari lashing out at terrorists in the HNC. The HNC meanwhile lamented the lack of a genuine partner for peace. The talks had hardly begun last weekend when they were rocked by a suicide assault which killed dozens in Syria s third city Homs, triggerig a demand from al-jaafari that terrorism be made a priority in Geneva. Speaking at the end of the talks, the UN mediator conceded that for the moment face-to-face talks are unlikely. We will pursue that when we feel the moment is right, he said. But he held up a photograph of the opening ceremony of the talks last Thursday, when both sides gathered in the same room, albeit only to hear a welcome address by de Mistura. This picture is much more than iconic. It is highly symbolic. This was a very special moment, he said, adding: A psychological barrier was broken. During the past two days, the hospital has admitted five children and two women showing clinical symptoms consistent with an exposure to a blistering chemical agent, said the ICRC s Regional Director for the Middle East, Robert Mardini, adding We strongly condemn any use of chemical weapons, by any party, anywhere. At a screening center south of the city, hundreds of women and children were gathered on the cement ground of an old gas station as men were screened in a parking lot next door. An Iraqi intelligence officer walked with an informant past the rows of men and boys sitting on the ground before they had their names checked against a database. Muthana Younis also fled Mosul late Thursday night. We waited until all the IS fighters left the streets, he said, his track suit covered in mud from the journey. Younis walked for hours, crossing more than 5 kms (3 miles) with his mother, father, brother and sister. There were mortars and we could hear gunfire, Younis said. He said explaining his younger siblings were so scared at times he had to carry them. But we had to flee, we had run out of food. Rival Kurdish groups clashed in Iraq s northwestern Sinjar region on Friday, two Kurdish security sources said. The deadly fighting erupted when Peshmerga Rojava forces moved towards the border with Syria, encroaching on territory controlled by a local affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The unrest highlights the risk of conflict and turf war between the multiple forces arrayed against Islamic State, many of which lean on regional patrons for political support and arms. The Peshmerga Rojava is made up of Kurds from Syria and was formed and trained in Iraq with the backing of Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq. Bahrain busts Continued from Page 1 Arab Spring protests in 2011 that were put down by the government with help from neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Thousands of mainly Shi ite Muslim Bahrainis are in jail on charges ranging from participating in antigovernment protests to armed attacks on security forces. Newswatch Continued from Page 1 Amnesty International, however, expressed shock at the hangings of 15 prisoners the largest number to be put to death on a single day in Jordan. (AFP) TEHRAN: Iran s advanced S-300 air defence system, delivered by Russia following a July 2015 nuclear deal after years of delay, is now operational, state television reported on Saturday. Iran had been trying to acquire the system for years to ward off repeated threats by Israel to bomb its nuclear facilities, but Russia had held off delivery in line with UN sanctions imposed over the nuclear programme. The S-300 air defence system has been tested... in the presence of government and military officials, the television said. (AFP) CAIRO: Egyptian police have killed four suspected Islamist militants believed to have been planning a major attack in a shootout near Cairo, the interior ministry said. The takfiri cell an Arabic word for extremists who declare other Muslims disbelievers had been meeting when police raided their hideout in Giza province, southwest of Cairo, the ministry said in a statement on Friday. When the terrorist cell sensed the police drawing near they began shooting at them, which prompted the police force to fire back, the statement said. (AFP) WASHINGTON: A spokesman for Barack Obama on Saturday rejected claims from US President Donald Trump that the former president had wiretapped him in October during the late stages of the presidential election campaign. Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false, Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement. Trump had suggested Obama had improperly tapped his phones, without citing evidence, in a series of tweets on Saturday morning. (RTRS) MOGADISHU: Somalia s prime minister says 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in a single region as a severe drought threatens millions of people. This is the first drought-related death toll announced by Somalia s government since it declared a national disaster on Tuesday. The United Nations estimates that 5 million people in this Horn of Africa nation need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine. Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire spoke Saturday during a meeting with the Somali National Drought Committee. The death toll he announced is from the Bay region in southwestern Somalia alone. (AP) KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia said on Saturday it was expelling the North Korean ambassador, escalating a diplomatic row between the two countries over the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Ambassador Kang Chol was declared persona non grata and asked to leave Malaysia within 48 hours. (RTRS)

LEISURE Sherman s Lagoon By J.P. Toomey N E W Y O R K T I M E S CROSSWORD 38 Mutts By Patrick McDonnell Hagar The Horrible By Chris Browne Beetle Bailey By Mort Walker Garfield By Jim Davis Baby Blues By Rick Kirkman & Jerry Scott Conceptis Sudoku The grid must be so completed that every row, column and 3x3 box has every digit from 1 to 9 inclusive Answer to yesterday s puzzle Challenger 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 14 Minutes 17 Seconds Your Working Time Minutes Seconds Word by Word Yesterday s solution This July 7, 2016 photo provided by the US Geological Survey shows a Bluethroat in Nome, Alaska. Growth of shrubs on Arctic tundra as the climate warms will have a mixed effect on breeding birds, federal researchers have concluded. Shrub density is not expected to harm species, but as shrubs grow taller, many bird species likely will fi nd the habitat unsuitable, according to US Geological Survey researchers. (AP) contract bridge By Steve Becker Scratch pad odds n ends ANCHORAGE, Alaska: More shrubs moving onto Arctic tundra because of climate change will have minimal effect on many of the bird species that breed there, but birds likely will seek other habitat when the shrubs grow tall, according to a new federal study. A study by the US Geological Survey concludes that the size of the shrubs was more critical than the density in determining whether birds would continue in the habitat. Height came out to be the most indicative of bird habitat selection, said Sarah Thompson, a USGS research wildlife biologist based in Anchorage and the lead author of the study. Multiple studies have shown that tundra areas are getting more shrubs, Thompson said. Climate warming also is having effects in the form of longer growing seasons, thawing permafrost and more frequent and intense wildfi res, the authors said. All across Alaska, you see this kind of shrub encroachment into places that previously didn t have shrubs or didn t have tall or many shrubs, Thompson said. The researchers over three summers studied 17 bird species on the Seward Peninsula, which juts 200 miles into the Bering Sea in western Alaska and includes the city of Nome. The peninsula, Thompson said, is ideal for study because it includes coastal habitat and inland settings at a variety of elevations. It s also along the transition between boreal forest and tundra, Thompson said. We can look at all these different kinds of habitats that might exist in different amounts in the future and see where birds are, and then we can project forward, she said. (AP) SAN SALVADOR: El Salvador s main zoo is in trouble for claiming a hippo died of a brutal stabbing attack by unidentifi ed people, when an autopsy finally revealed the animal in fact died of possible poor care. Gustavito, a 15-year-old hippopotamus who had been in the National Zoological Park in eastern San Salvador almost all his life, died February 26 after suffering for days. The government, giving information from the zoo, said the hippo had been stabbed and beaten by unidentifi ed assailants four days earlier, resulting in internal bleeding. That account triggered shock and revulsion in the Central American nation and was relayed in international media reports. But the autopsy revealed no puncture marks in the animal s 2.5-centimeter (1-inch) thick skin, state prosecutor Mario Salazar revealed on Thursday. (AFP) Dog Kalb Every dog has his day. Lekuli kalben yawmah Numbers 7495 Seven thousand four hundred ninety five Sabat alaf wa arbaa maah wa khamsa wa tesoun

SPORTS 39 Toyo Tires bags FBAA 43rd Badminton Champ ship Cup By Michelle Fe Santiago Arab Times Staff Team Toyo Tires maintained its winning streak from start to fi nish as it bagged the top spot in the 43rd Filipino Badminton Association of Ahmadi (FBAA) Major Conference on Friday at the Fahaheel Sports Club. Trailing behind was Robinsons Land Corporation on the fi rst runner-up spot followed by Ali cafe and Equipment Co as second and third runners-up. The conference was composed of rotating doubles team tournament where individual scores were recorded and whoever wins the most number of points gets the spot for the award. FBAA would like to thank the following sponsors for contributing to the event namely Sunil FBAA participants pose for a group photo during the tournament. Nanda, Abhay Chaturbedi, Monty Oberoi of Abdulhadi Almailem Trading Company Exclusive distributor of Toyo Tires, Marc Antonio, Alene Valencia and Kris Clarinan of Robinsons Land Corporation, Mr Ibrahim of Equipment Company and Medo Aboud of Proteins Company Ali Café. For more information about FBAA please visit www.fbaakuwait. org or email info@fbaakuwait.org Panarin leads Hawks to shootout win over Isles Hellebuyck stops 29 shots as Jets blank Blues Stone wins Sunshine Tour order of merit CAPE TOWN, March 4, (RTRS): Brandon Stone was declared winner of southern Africa s Sunshine Tour order of merit on Saturday even though he is in Mexico for the WGC-Mexico Championship. While the order of merit only ends on the completion of the Tshwane Open at the Pretoria Country Club on Sunday, Stone can no longer to be caught, the Sunshine Tour said. The 23-year-old South African s prize-money total of about 7,400,000 Rand ($569,000) is the biggest in Tour history and Stone is the second-youngest player to win the order of merit after Charl Schwartzel, who was 20 when he finished top in 2004. Stone won the South African Open and the Alfred Dunhill Championship and had six other top-10 finishers on the Tour, which includes tournaments cosanctioned with the European Tour and takes in events in Mauritius, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Bjork, Jamieson lead as Aiken steals show with 62 McIlroy two ahead in Mexico MEXICO CITY, March 4, (Agencies): Rory McIlroy proved better at holing out from the fairway than making short putts on his way to a two-stroke lead after the second round at the WGC- Mexico Championship in Mexico City on Friday. McIlroy made eagle with a nine-iron from 151 yards at the par-four 14th and would have enjoyed a commanding halfway lead had his putter not gone cold at the end. The Northern Irishman missed a four-foot par putt at the 17th hole and then horseshoed-out from three feet at the last for a six-under-par 65 at Club de Golf Chapultepec. Starting the day I would have taken 65, but I feel like I could have been a few more ahead, McIlroy told Golf Channel after posting a nine-under 133 total. Americans Phil Mickelson (68) and Justin Thomas (66) and Englishman Ross Fisher (68) were equal second on GOLF seven-under, with world number one Dustin Johnson (66) among a trio one stroke further back. Four-times major champion McIlroy, 27, is playing just his second event of the year, after missing six weeks due to a rib injury. I tried to approach this week, not with low expectations, but just to see how it went, said the former world number one. My body feels good, which is the most important thing I think. On a day when the holes seemed to have magnets, several players holed out from long range, none more spectacularly than McIlroy, whose approach at the 14th landed left of the green, but took a fortunate sideways bounce and trickled into the hole. I cut a little nine-iron in there, trying to take a bit of distance off it, he said. It s always a bonus to hole shots like that. It s the second shot this year I ve holed with that nine-iron so it s been a good club for me. Mickelson, meanwhile, had to call his brother Tim out of the gallery on the fourth hole when regular caddie Jim Bones Mackay was unable to continue due to a stomach illness. But the 46-year-old Mickelson did Ko, Ariya, Park tie in 2nd Wie set to end win drought SINGAPORE, March 4, (RTRS): Michelle Wie moved into position to record her fi rst victory in almost three years when the American maintained her rich vein of form with a third-round fi ve-under-par 67 to open a two-shot lead at the HSBC Women s Champions on Saturday. Playing on a sponsor s invite after slumping to 179th in the world rankings, Wie will start the fi nal round on 14-under at the restricted-field event, a couple clear of top-ranked Lydia Ko, number two Ariya Jutanugarn and Korea s Park Sung-hyun. Defending champion Jang Ha-na is a further shot adrift on 11-under alongside 2015 winner and fellow Korean Park In-bee in a tie for fifth place after a lengthy weather delay had slowed down play at the New Tanjong Course in soggy Singapore. Wie s career has been in a tail-spin since she won the 2014 US Open at Pinehurst but after overcoming injury, adopting a new putting stance and arriving in Singapore early to scout out the course, the 27-year-old has looked revitalised. It s fun being in contention. I m going to go out with the same mindset that I had today and just go out and play as hard as I can, Wie told reporters. There s so many things I can t control out there tomorrow. I m just going to go out there and have fun and try to play the way I played the last three days. The tall Hawaiian started her third round one shot off the lead but stormed clear of the fi eld with four birdies on the opening eight holes and offset an ugly bogey on the par-three 15th with two more birdies coming in. That s what I wake up and practise long hours for... is to be in this position and try to do my best in it, added Wie, who has only managed one top-10 fi nish since her maiden major win. New Zealander Ko made an equally fast start as she also signed for a 67 but she is well aware that with the top six separated by just three shots, she cannot afford any mistakes on Sunday. Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits a ball on the 16th hole in round two of the Mexico Championship at Chapultepec Golf Club in Mexico City, March 3. (AP) not miss a beat, carding a 68 to stay near the lead. Mickelson oozed praise about the course and the options it provided players. You can hit driver on every hole and with the altitude you can really try to overpower it, he said. However, the trees are so thick and dense you don t have a recovery shot, so you have to hit the fairway. You can play aggressive on some holes and conservative on others based on how you feel. In Pretoria, Swede Alexander Bjork and Scot Scott Jamieson shared the Tshwane Open second-round lead Friday, but South African Thomas Aiken stole the show with a nine-under 62. Aiken carded halves of 31, and at one stage the course record of 60 appeared under threat as the three-time European Tour winner unleashed a birdie blitz. CHICAGO, March 4, (AP): Artemi Panarin scored with 1:14 left in regulation and then had the clinching goal in the shootout, helping the Chicago Blackhawks beat the New York Islanders 2-1 on Friday night for their sixth consecutive victory. Jonathan Toews also scored in the tiebreaker as Chicago pulled within one point of idle Minnesota for the top spot in the Western Conference. Corey Crawford made 31 saves in his first start since Feb 23. After Toews beat Thomas Greiss with a wrist shot, Crawford turned away Joshua Ho-Sang. Patrick Kane was stopped by Greiss and Nikolay ICE HOCKEY Kulemin shot it off the right post before Panarin finished off the victory for the Blackhawks. Greiss made 30 stops for New York, and Brock Nelson scored his 14th goal in the second. The Islanders had won four of five, including a 5-4 victory at Dallas on Thursday night. Penguins 5, Lightning 2 In Pittsburgh, Mark Streit made an instant impact in his debut with Pittsburgh, beating Peter Budaj early in the third period to lift the Penguins over Tampa Bay. Evgeni Malkin scored twice off assists from Phil Kessel and added an assist of his own in his 700th career game as Pittsburgh snapped a two-game losing streak. Justin Schultz had a goal and an assist and Tom Kuhnhackl put in an empty-netter for the Penguins as they swept the season series from the Lightning. Matt Murray finished with 27 saves as Pittsburgh pulled back into a tie with Columbus for second place in the crowded Metropolitan Davison. Flames 3, Red Wings 2, OT In Calgary, Alberta, Mikael Backlund scored in overtime after Detroit s Tomas Tatar tied it with 1.8 seconds left in the third period, and Calgary beat the Red Wings for its sixth straight win. After Michael Frolik and Johnny Gaudreau nearly scored earlier in OT, Backlund blasted a shot past Petr Mrazek 3:56 into the extra session. Kris Versteeg and Matthew Tkachuk also scored for Calgary, and Brian Elliott made 35 saves. The Flames are six points up on Los Angeles and seven points ahead of St Louis for the first wild card in the Western Conference. NHL Results/Standings Ducks 5, Maple Leafs 2 In Anaheim, California, Rickard Rakell scored twice, Jonathan Bernier made 37 saves and Anaheim returned from its bye week with a win over Toronto. Sami Vatanen and Jakob Silfverberg also scored to help the Ducks get their third straight win at home and maintain a two-point lead over Calgary for third in the Pacific Division. Patrick Eaves added an empty-net goal with 1:14 remaining for his first since being acquired from Dallas. Nazem Kadri scored on the power play, Zach Hyman added his ninth goal of the season and Curtis McElhinney made 31 saves as the Maple Leafs dropped their fifth in a row. Jets 3, Blues 0 In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Connor Hellebuyck stopped 29 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and the Winnipeg Jets beat the St Louis Blues 3-0 on Friday night. Blake Wheeler scored twice, including on a first-period power play, and the Jets handed the Blues their fifth consecutive loss. Bryan Little added an empty-netter for his 18th of the season with 2:16 remaining in regulation, and Wheeler added another empty-net goal about a minute later. Hellebuyck improved to 21-15-3 in his ninth straight start. Blues netminder Carter Hutton made 37 saves. Coyotes 4, Hurricanes 2 In Raleigh, NC, Jordan Martinook scored midway through the third period to lift Arizona over Carolina. Shane Doan added a power-play empty-net goal with 58 seconds left and also had two assists. Christian Dvorak and Alex Goligoski also scored for Arizona, which snapped a five game skid against Carolina and a two-game slide overall. Louis Domingue made 32 saves. WASHINGTON, March 4, (RTRS): Results and standings from the NHL games on Friday. Anaheim 5 Toronto 2 Calgary 3 Detroit (OT) 2 Chicago 2 NY Islanders (SO) 1 Western Conference Central Division W L OTL GF GA Pts Minnesota 41 15 6 209 148 88 Chicago 41 18 5 193 161 87 Nashville 32 23 9 189 179 73 St. Louis 31 27 5 173 182 67 Winnipeg 29 30 6 192 205 64 Dallas 25 29 10 180 208 60 Colorado 17 42 3 122 205 37 Pacific Division W L OTL GF GA PTS San Jose 38 18 7 176 147 83 Anaheim 33 21 10 167 163 76 Edmonton 34 22 8 183 167 76 Calgary 35 26 4 174 180 74 Los Angeles 31 27 6 158 160 68 Vancouver 26 30 7 146 182 59 Arizona 23 34 7 156 208 53 Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks makes a save off his leg next to Ryan Strome #18 of the New York Islanders at the United Center on March 3, in Chicago, Illinois. (AFP) Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L) Jets release Marshall 49ers QB Kaepernick becomes free agent SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, (RTRS): Quarterback Colin Kaepernick has opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers, the National Football League team said on Friday. Kaepernick, who becomes a free agent, polarized opinion last season when he refused to stand for the US national anthem, saying the protest was against social injustice and police brutality. The New York Jets officially released wide receiver Brandon Marshall on Friday, saving $7.5 million against the salary cap. The production of the six-time Pro Bowler dropped sharply last season when he had just 59 receptions for 788 yards and three touchdowns. FOOTBALL One year earlier, Marshall set Jets single-season marks of 109 receptions and 1,434 yards and matched the club record of 14 touchdown receptions. Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews will not need surgery on his injured shoulder this offseason, according to coach Mike McCarthy. The six-time Pro Bowler suffered a separated AC joint in his left shoulder after taking what he called a cheap shot from Philadelphia Eagles guard Allen Barbre in Week 12 on Nov 28. The Atlanta Falcons are expected to place the second-round tender on restricted free agent wide receiver Taylor Gabriel. According to a Friday report by ESPN.com, the tender on Gabriel is worth $2.81 million. Gabriel is guaranteed to make at least that much in 2017 and if he plays under the tender, he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2018. The Philadelphia Eagles will get the No. 14 overall pick in the 2017 NFL after winning a coin toss with the Indianapolis Colts. The Eagles hold the Vikings first-round selection after the trade last season that sent quarterback Sam Bradford to Minnesota. The Vikings finished the season tied with the Colts for the No. 14 position in the draft order as both teams were 8-8 with Kaepernick identical strengthof-schedule ratings (.492), thus forcing the coin flip. Winnipeg 3 St Louis 0 Arizona 4 Carolina 2 Pittsburgh 5 Tampa Bay 2 Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Montreal 36 21 8 179 164 80 Ottawa 34 22 6 163 163 74 Boston 33 25 6 177 168 72 Toronto 28 22 14 194 193 70 Florida 29 23 11 159 176 69 Tampa Bay 29 26 8 177 179 66 Buffalo 27 26 11 162 184 65 Detroit 25 26 11 155 183 61 Metropolitan Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Washington 43 13 7 208 134 93 Columbus 40 16 6 200 146 86 Pittsburgh 39 16 8 219 177 86 NY Rangers 41 21 2 209 169 84 NY Islanders 30 22 11 186 188 71 Philadelphia 30 26 7 163 188 67 New Jersey 25 26 12 145 181 62 Carolina 25 26 10 153 179 60

SPORTS 40 Baidashree Cricketers settle for runners up Billava Brothers win BSK 3rd Cricket Tournament KUWAIT CITY, March 4: In continuation of the tradition of sports, Billava Sangha Kuwait held a 3rd Cricket Tournament in Abbasiya, played in great sportsman spirit on the Feb 24, 2017 at the Abbasiya cricket ground. The event commenced with a prayer by Ms Jyothi Sudhir Suvarna, an inauguration by the President Raghu Poojary and an CRICKET introduction of the 6 participating teams by Sports Secretary Sandesh Amin. Satish Kunder, advisor of the association, in his speech explained about the scholarship plans and the Gejjegiri initiation. He also urged everyone to strengthen BSK by registering themselves as members if not done so already. The winners of the tournament were: Billava Brothers Winners (Dheeraj Salian Captain) Baidashree Cricketers Runners up (Rohith Poojary Captain) Prizes were given for the outstanding performers as: Man of the Match Dheeraj Salian (Billava Brothers) Man of the Series Sharath Kumar (Baidashree Cricketers) Batsman of the Series Sunil Kumar (Baidashree Cricketers) Left to right: winners and runners-up celebrate during the BSK 3rd Cricket Tournament. Bowler of the Series Praveen Bangera (Baidashree Cricketers) The six teams that participated were: Billava Brothers Billava Javaner Baidashree Cricketers Reggae Friends Abbasiya Billava Cricketers Biruver Friends The commentators Amarnath Suvarna and Greenson D Souza did an excellent job, while the scores were efficiently kept by Yashpal Poojary and all the matches were fairly refereed by the Sports Committee. The event was gracefully hosted by Amarnath Suvarna and capably photographed by Sandeep Kumar Attavar. The Breakfast for the event was sponsored by the President Raghu Poojary, delicious lunch sponsored by the Reggae Billava Friends and Mineral Drinking water sponsored by Sonstep Typing Center. The event concluded with the prize distribution ceremony and an invitation extended to everyone to come to the Family picnic on March 24, 2017 at the Fintas Garden, Kuwait from 9 am onwards. Great Du Plessis gives South Africa series win South Africa celebrate after winning the one-day international cricket match between New Zealand and South Africa at Eden Park in Auckland on March 4. (AFP) AUCKLAND, March 4, (AFP): South Africa hailed a battling Faf du Plessis Saturday after whipping New Zealand in the final one-day international to win the series and reclaim the world number one slot. He s a wonderful player who has turned into a great player over the past few years, captain AB de Villiers said after du Plessis anchored a six-wicket win to give South Africa the series 3-2. The overwhelming victory moved the South Africans ahead of Australia in the world rankings after they had slipped to second when beaten by New Zealand in the fourth match. With du Plessis, holding the innings CRICKET together and David Miller plundering the boundaries with 45 off 35 balls, South Africa took less than 33 overs to overhaul New Zealand s 149. Du Plessis ended the game with a boundary which also took him to 51 and his 26th ODI half century. De Villiers singled out his bowlers for a fantastic effort to destroy the New Zealand innings in 41.1 overs before du Plessis led the side home. It s very easy in those situations to go into a negative mindset and we decied to stay positive. It was a fantastic knock by Faf and David to take us across the line. New Zealand were made to struggle throughout the match with a performance which captain Kane Williamson labelled not good enough for the team ranked third in the world. It was a disappointing effort with the bat, he said. It was a shame the first half was done so poorly. It wasn t good enough. We do need to be a lot better. When you re taking on the best team in the world you do need to raise your game. While South Africa, like New Zealand, lost early wickets du Plessis held the innings together with partnerships of 40 with de Villiers and an unbeaten 63 with Miller. De Villiers 23 was his lowest score and only the third time he was dismissed in the series where he averaged 87.33. After New Zealand s thumping seven-wicket victory in game four to level the series at 2-2, South Africa looked to stamp their mark early. When De Villiers won the toss and opted to bowl, the world s number one spinner Imran Tahir and Kagiso Rabada led a disciplined attack that decimated the New Zealand batting. Proteas beat NZ by six wickets New Zealand vs South Africa Scoreboard AUCKLAND, March 4, (AFP): Completed scoreboard in the fi fth and fi nal one-day international between New Zealand and South Africa in Auckland on Saturday: NEW ZEALAND M. Guptill b Rabada... 4 D. Brownlie lbw Phehlukwayo... 24 Williamson run out (de Villiers/de Kock)... 9 R. Taylor lbw Phehlukwayo... 8 L. Ronchi c de Kock b Morris... 8 J. Neesham c Duminy b Rabada... 24 M. Santner run out (Duminy)... 24 de Grandhomme c de Kock b Rabada... 32 T. Southee c&b Tahir... 6 J. Patel lbw Tahir... 0 T. Boult not out... 0 Extras: (lb5, w5)... 10 Total: (all out; 41.1 overs)... 149 Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Guptill), 2-42 (Williamson), 3-42 (Brownlie), 4-51 (Taylor), 5-72 (Ronchi), 6-87 (Neesham), 7-132 (Santner), 8-140 (Southee, 36.3), 9-147 (Patel), 10-149 Bowling: Rabada 7.1-1-25-3 (2w), Morris 9-0-34-1 (2w), Tahir 10-0-14-2, Phehlukwayo 7-1-35-2, Pretorius 8-0-36-0 SOUTH AFRICA Q. de Kock c Williamson b Patel... 6 Amla c Santner b de Grandhomme... 8 F. du Plessis not out... 51 JP Duminy c Santner b Patel... 3 de Villiers c Ronchi b Neesham... 23 D. Miller not out... 45 Extras: (lb5, w9)... 14 Total: (4 wickets; 32.3 overs)... 150 Fall of wickets: 1-6 (de Kock), 2-35 (Amla), 3-48 (Duminy), 4-88 (de Villiers) Bowling: Patel 5-0-26-2 (1w), Boult 9.2-0-44-0 (2w), Southee 10-1-40-0 (2w), de Grandhomme 4-0-16-1 (3w), Santner 2-0-9-0, Neesham 2-0-10-1 (1w) Toss: South Africa Result: South Africa won by six wickets Series: South Africa won 3-2 Umpires: Joel Wilson (WIS), Chris Brown (NZL) Third umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS) Match referee: Javagal Srinath Unprecedented security for high-risk Pakistan fi nal LAHORE, Pakistan, March 4, (AFP): Pakistan will deploy troops and bullet-proof buses for Sunday s Pakistan Super League final, its biggest cricket match in years, after a wave of militant attacks prompted a host of foreign stars to pull out. Unprecedented security involving thousands of troops and police will guard the sold-out game in Lahore scene of a deadly 2009 assault on Sri Lanka s team which halted international cricket tours in the country. Fears of a fresh incident threaten to overshadow Sunday s final between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi, the culmination of a Twenty20 tournament which has otherwise been played in the United Arab Emirates. Holding the final in Pakistan has drawn criticism from some quarters, after a series of militant attacks in February left 130 people dead, including a Lahore suicide blast that killed 14. God forbid if any mishap happens Tahir s 10 overs produced two for 14, while Rabada took three for 25 off 7.1. South Africa s response was not all plain sailing with Quinton de Kock (six), Hashim Amla (eight) and JP Duminy (three) out early to have the tourists three for 48 in the 16th over, comparable to New Zealand s four for 51 at the same stage. But from there du Plessis and de Villiers pushed the score up to 88 before being joined by Miller through to the end. we can say goodbye to int (international) cricket in Pak for the next decade, tweeted Pakistan great Imran Khan. England s Kevin Pietersen, Luke Wright and Tymal Mills have all withdrawn, along with their Quetta teammates Rilee Rossouw of South Africa and New Zealand s Nathan McCullum. I have a young family... a game of cricket is just not worth the risk, tweeted Wright, adding that all overseas players had a clause in their contract exempting them from the final. Peshawar s owners meanwhile have claimed all five of their foreign stars Darren Sammy and Marlon Samnuels from the West Indies, and England s Chris Jordan, Samit Patel and Dawid Malan are ready to go to Lahore, though the players themselves have not confirmed this. Both teams will be able to pick from a specially created pool of 12 foreign players willing to participate, Cricinfo reported on Friday. New Zealand s best performer with the bat was Colin de Grandhomme who made 32 batting at number eight, while Dean Brownlie, Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner all made 24 and were the only other batsmen to reach double figures. Martin Guptill, who tormented South Africa with his match-winning 180 in the previous encounter, was first out for four in a brief 16-ball stay. The two sides start a three-test series in Dunedin next Wednesday. Australia bundle out hosts for 189 in 1st innings Lyon fl oors India in 2nd Test BENGALURU, March 4, (RTRS): Nathan Lyon likes proving to himself that he belongs at test level and the challenge of being successful against the best players, the Australia off-spinner said after registering career-best figures against India on Saturday. Lyon decimated the hosts, the world s top-ranked team and widely acclaimed as the best players of spin bowling, on a first day pitch at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium to claim eight for 50, the best figures by an overseas bowler in India. That helped Australia bundle out India for 189 and put the touring side in a strong position to dictate terms in the second match of the four-test series. It s pretty easy to get yourself up against the best players of spin, I like to challenge myself against the best players and I love to play well against the best players and prove to myself, the 29-year-old Lyon told reporters. Lyon proved less lethal on his last trip to India in 2013 and series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates and last year s 3-0 drubbing in Sri Lanka. CRICKET Lack of success at the beginning of Australia s summer also raised questions about his place in the test team. I ve proved to myself I can compete at this level and I want to keep doing it for Australia, he said. This is where my passion lies and I just want to keep doing what I can for Australia. Lyon said he closely followed his Indian counterpart Ravichandran Ashwin, the world s number one bowler, and spoke to Sri Lanka leftarm spinner Rangana Herath to aid his development. On Saturday, he used the bounce that was on offer from the pitch to run through the Indian batting. The batsmen were also foxed by deliveries which went straight without spinning. I don t know if they re going to spin or go straight. So if I don t know, neither does the batter really, Lyon said. Australia reached 40-0 at stumps but India opener Lokesh Rahul, who top-scored with 90, was confident Ashwin could have the same sort of success. That s the only way we are looking at this match... the cracks are opening up and it s only getting harder to bat on this wicket, Rahul said. We know Ash (Ashwin) is a top-class bowler and once he gets a couple of wickets and gets into that rhythm then he is going to run through the Australian batting line-up, which we are very confident of. Australia s Nathan Lyon appeals successfully for the wicket of India s captain Virat Kohli during the fi rst day of their second Test cricket match in Bangalore, India, March 4. (AP) Poms defeat WI by 45 runs Morgan ton powers England past West Indies in 1st ODI NORTH SOUND, Antigua, March 4, (AP): After Eoin Morgan s latest century, England squeezed the life out of the West Indies to win the opening one-day international of their cricket series by 45 runs on Friday. Morgan s 10th ODI hundred anchored England to a competitive 296-6 after being sent in to bat. The West Indies had to pull off its second highest run chase to win, and it was too much. The home side slumped to 39-3, then spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, after a shaky start, drip fed runs. Halfway through the chase, West Indies required run rate was at 8 an over and it was ultimately bowled for 251 in the 48th over. The second match of three is on England s captain Eoin Morgan plays a shot against West Indies during a one day international cricket match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua, March 3. (AP) Scoreboard BANGALORE, India, March 4, (AFP): Scoreboard at stumps on the opening day of the second Test between India and Australia in Bangalore on Saturday: INDIA 1st innings L. Rahul c Renshaw b Lyon... 90 A. Mukund lbw b Starc... 0 Pujara c Handscomb b Lyon... 17 V. Kohli lbw b Lyon... 12 A. Rahane st Wade b Lyon... 17 K. Nair st Wade b O Keefe... 26 R. Ashwin c Warner b Lyon... 7 W. Saha c Smith b Lyon... 1 R. Jadeja c Smith b Lyon... 3 U. Yadav not out... 0 I. Sharma c Handscomb b Lyon 0 Extras (b12, lb 4)... 16 Total (all out; 71.2 overs)... 189 Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Mukund), 2-72 (Pujara), 3-88 (Kohli), 4-118 (Rahane), 5-156 (Nair), 6-174 (Ashwin), 7-178 (Saha), 8-188 (Jadeja), 9-189 (Rahul), 10-189 (Sharma) Bowling: Starc 15-5-39-1, Hazlewood 11-2-42-0, O Keefe 21-5-40-1, M. Marsh 2-0-2-0, Lyon 22.2-4-50-8 AUSTRALIA 1st innings D. Warner not out... 23 M. Renshaw not out... 15 Extras (2nb)... 2 Total (no loss; 16 overs)... 40 Bowling: Sharma 5-0-8-0 (1nb), Yadav 4-1-16-0 (1nb), Ashwin 6-0- 11-0, Jadeja 1-0-5-0 Still to bat: S. Smith, S. Marsh, P. Handscomb, M. Marsh, M. Wade, M. Starc, S. O Keefe, N. Lyon, J. Hazlewood. Toss: India Umpires: Richard Illingworth (ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG) TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG) Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG) CRICKET Sunday at the same Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. Morgan became the first England captain to score five ODI centuries, surpassing Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook. He came in after Joe Root was bowled for 4 and England was at 29-2 in the eighth over, and he stayed in until he was run out in the final over for 107. He made the home side pay for dropping him on 4 and 69. Morgan hit 10 boundaries, and his second six, over deep midwicket, brought up his second century in three ODIs. It took him 113 balls. He faced three more balls when Carlos Brathwaite, the bowler who missed the wicket on 4, pounced on his follow through and caught Morgan stranded. Morgan enjoyed significant partnerships with Sam Billings (42) for the third wicket, with Ben Stokes (55) for the fifth, and with Ali (31 not out) for the sixth. Stokes suffered at the hands of the West Indies the last time they met, in the World Twenty20 final a year ago in Kolkata, where he conceded four sixes to Brathwaite in the final over and West Indies won. The reunion was an anticlimax. Stokes the batsman mustered only seven runs off 10 deliveries by Brathwaite, and didn t bowl. He wasn t needed. The West Indies openers began well but it all unraveled from the 10th over, when Evin Lewis hit fast bowler Chris Woakes straight to a man on the midwicket fence. In the next over, Kieran Powell edged to point on 1 in his first ODI in three years, and in the over after that, Kraigg Brathwaite was caught in two minds, and sent a half-hearted pull to mid-on. The West Indies was 39-3 and Woakes was 2-10 off four overs. Ali and Rashid then turned the screws. Although they took only one wicket between them, they were responsible for the rising desperation in the home side s ranks. Jason Mohammed scored a teamhigh 72 before he was run out by a nifty kick from Steven Finn, but the run rate rose past 9 and 10 while he was in. Woakes and fellow fast bowler Liam Plunkett benefited with four wickets each. Scoreboard ENGLAND Jason Roy lbw b Gabriel...13 Sam Billings c CBrathwaite b Nurse...52 Joe Root b Gabriel...4 Eoin Morgan run out...107 Jos Buttler c Carter b Nurse...14 Ben Stokes c Holder b Bishoo...55 Moeen Ali not out...31 Chris Woakes not out...0 Extras: (7lb, 12w, 1nb)...20 Total: (for 6 wickets)...296 Overs: 50 Did not bat: Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Steven Finn. Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-29, 3-96, 4-129, 5-239, 6-292. Bowling: Jason Holder 9-1-46-0, Shannon Gabriel 10-0-58-2, Carlos Brathwaite 10-1-54-0, Ashley Nurse 10-0-57-2, Devendra Bishoo 6-0-49-1, Jason Mohammed 5-0-25-0. WEST INDIES Brathwaite c Rashid b Woakes... 14 Evin Lewis c Billings b Woakes... 21 Kieran Powell c Roy b Plunkett... 1 Shai Hope c Finn b Rashid... 31 Jason Mohammed run out... 72 Jonathan Carter c Roy b Plunkett... 52 Jason Holder c Buttler b Plunkett... 4 Carlos Brathwaite c Root b Woakes... 12 Ashley Nurse lbw b Woakes... 21 Devendra Bishoo not out... 12 Shannon Gabriel c Buttler b Plunkett... 0 Extras: (4lb 7w)... 11 Total: (all out)... 251 Overs: 47.2 Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-37, 3-39, 4-108, 5-190, 6-201, 7-210, 8-224, 9-250, 10-251. Bowling: Steven Finn 9-0-49-0, Chris Woakes 9-1-47-4, Joe Root 5-0-31-0, Liam Plunkett 8.2-1-40-4, Moeen Ali 7-0-37-0, Adil Rashid 9-1-43-1. Result: England wins by 45 runs Toss: West Indies Umpires: Gregory Brathwaite and Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sri Lanka. TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney, New Zealand. Match referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.

SPORTS 41 Ex-sprinter Fredericks denies wrongdoing IOC ethics committee looks into Rio payment claims RIO DE JANEIRO, March 4, (RTRS): Organisers of the 2016 Rio Olympics denied on Friday that vote buying helped to secure the Games after a French newspaper reported that a Brazilian businessman made payments to the son of an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member before the vote. Le Monde said a company linked to Brazilian businessman Arthur Cesar de Menezes Soares Filho paid $1.5 million to Papa Massata Diack, son of Lamine Diack who was then International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Fredericks president, three days before the 2009 decision on the host city for the 2016 Games. Rio lost the first vote to Madrid but bounced back to win the nomination on a third ballot, by 66 votes to 32. A representative for Menezes Soares Filho could not be immediately reached for comment. Le Monde also reported that Papa Massata Diack had paid almost $300,000 to prominent IOC member Frankie Fredericks, who said he has done nothing wrong and that the money was for services rendered to promote the sport in Africa. The IOC said on Friday that its commission has started investigating the allegations. OLYMPICS The IOC remains fully committed to clarifying this situation, working in co-operation with the (French) prosecutor, the organisation said in a statement. Rio 2016 Games spokesman Mario Andrada told Reuters: The vote was clean. Rio s victory was very clear. The French investigation concerns six members of the IOC and six members would not have changed the result at all. Le Monde said that three days before the October 2009 vote in Copenhagen, Pamodzi Consulting, a company owned by Papa Massata Diack, received the $1.5 million payment from Matlock Capital Group, a holding company based in the British Virgin Islands. Diack, whose father Lamine is awaiting trial in France on aggravated money laundering and corruption charges, also received $500,000 from Matlock Capital Group through a Russian bank account, Le Monde added. Papa Massata Diack was banned for life from athletics last year over multimillion dollar corruption claims. He was not immediately available to comment but has previously denied any involvement in bribery or corruption and says his father Lamine is also innocent. Le Monde said Papa Massata Diack transferred almost $300,000 to a company linked to Fredericks, a multiple Olympic and world medallist over 100 and 200 metres. OCA conducts first TD meet for 18th Asian Games JAKARTA, Indonesia, March 4: The Olympic Council of Asia took a big step on the road to the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia next year by conducting the first meeting of Technical Delegates in Jakarta on Saturday, March 4. In cooperation with the organising committee INASGOC, the OCA outlined the duties and responsibilities of the Technical Delegates in terms of running the various disciplines on the sports programme. The meeting was attended by 180 delegates, including Technical Delegates from Asian and International ASIAN GAMES Sports Federations, venue managers, competition managers and organising committee members. The OCA s Honorary Life Vice President, Mr Wei Jizhong, welcomed the delegates on behalf of the OCA President, HE Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, and said the Asian Games had its own characteristics compared to the Olympic Games and Asian Championships. The Asian Games has special features, he said. The Asian Games is not like the Olympic Games. We have the Olympic sports, including the five new sports added to the programme for the 2020 Technical delegates from Asian and International Sports Federation pose for a group photo during OCA TD meet. Tokyo Olympics, and we have non- Olympic sports. Also, the Asian Games is not an edition of the Asian Sports Championships because we have different laws. The OCA s 18th Asian Games will run from Aug 18 to Sept 2, 2018, in Jakarta and Palembang, capital of South Sumatra, and Wei asked the Technical Delegates to pay attention to the international sports calendar to ensure the best Asian athletes would compete in Indonesia. He also informed them that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) would have an ad-hoc division during the Asian Games to resolve any disputes. The Director of the OCA s Asian Games department, Haider Farman, said the organisers faced many challenges as two different cities would be hosting the 18th Asiad, with 10 sports set to take place at Palembang a one-hour flight from Jakarta. We have had this experience with other Games and we managed it successfully thanks to the spirit of teamwork, he said. Farman briefed the delegates on the eligibility of athletes, entry deadlines and sports regulations, and said the prestige of the Asian Games was such that other continental games followed the OCA model. With 42 sports, 59 disciplines and around 500 events, Farman said the 18th Asiad would be the biggest in history and that the key to a successful Games would be to control and supervise all the disciplines with the help of the Technical Delegates. Kuwait s Ambassador to Bahrain applauds Kuwaiti racers Kuwait win Drag Racing Champ ship KUNA photo Kuwaiti racers after winning the 6th and fi nal round of the Bahrain Drag Racing International Championship. We are proud to be ice breakers Skiers from Bamiyan hoping to become Afghan s 1st Olympians LONDON, March 4, (RTRS): Sajjad Husaini and Sayed Ali Shah Farhang from Afghanistan s persecuted Hazara minority make unlikely ski champions. But the pair, now training in the Swiss Alps, are hoping to become war-torn Afghanistan s first winter Olympians. Husaini, 25, and Farhang, 26, are from the mountainous Afghan province of Bamiyan, famed for its ancient Buddha statues that were blown up by the Taleban in 2001. As children, Husaini and Farhang fled to Iran with their families to escape Afghanistan s violence. They returned as young adults just as the Bamiyan Ski OLYMPICS Club was established in 2011. Lugging borrowed skis on their shoulders, they trekked up the Bamiyan mountains and taught themselves to ski down. After winning three championships at Afghanistan s national competition, the pair have been training as slalom skiers in Switzerland for three winters. They progressed incredibly well, their Swiss trainer Andreas Hanni said by phone from the Swiss resort of St Moritz. Two years ago when they first started, they couldn t ski parallel, but now they are racing. Husaini thought skiing in Switzerland would be as easy as skiing on powder snow trails back home. When we came here, I couldn t even control my balance on the compact ski trails. We were training with short skis that tourists use for leisure, he said. Despite their lack of experience, both skiers qualified for the Alpine Skiing world championships in St Moritz last month. They advanced to the semi-finals after competing in four rounds of qualifying races in the giant slalom, against competitors from more than 70 countries. This was the first time Afghanistan was represented in the winter championships, and we are proud to be ice breakers, Farhang said via instant messenger from the Alps. Now the Afghan skiers are training for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. An instinct for survival may have helped them make such extraordinary progress. The Hazara are a Persian-speaking, mainly Shi ite minority who have long faced persecution in Afghanistan, with thousands massacred by the Taliban and al-qaeda in the 1990s. In-fighting between Afghanistan s two skiing federations meant they received no support from home, the skiers said. We cannot live beyond our dream KUWAIT CITY, March 4 (KUNA): Kuwaiti racers won first place in the fifth and final round of the Bahrain Drag Racing Championship, which concluded on Friday. Kuwait s Ambassador to Bahrain applauded Kuwait s motor team for their impressive performance in the Bahrain Drag Racing Championship, which catapulted them to the top of the tournament s rankings. Sheikh Azzam Al-Sabah, in a press statement issued while attending the championship, insisted that the Kuwaiti youths sheer tactical prowess was conspicuous. He said sports events, which bring together youngsters from the Gulf region, give Gulf nationals the opportunity to rub elbows with each other in a highly competitive environment. Regarding the results, Kuwaiti racers won 18 championship cups in both car-racing and motorbike-racing competitions. The event is described as the toughest speed racing competition in the region in which the best and experienced racers of the region participate. In the motorcar racing competitions, racer Sheikh Duaij Al-Fahad came first in the Outlaw Front-Wheel-Drive category followed by Mohammad Qasem in second place. In the category of Competition 4.5, Suleiman Al-Fadhel came first, followed by Basel Ibrahim in the second place. In the Super Street 6-Cylinder category, Turki Al-Humaidan came third. Abdullah Al-Failakawi and Mohammad Suleiman shared the third position in the Super Street 8-Cylinder category. In the category Index 10.5, Suleiman Al-Fadhel came first. Abdullah Ali took first place in the Street V8 category, followed by Adnan Al- Dheif in the second place. In the motorbike racing competitions, Mesfir Al-Mesfir came first in the Street Bike category, followed by Mohammad Al-Bidaah in the second place. In the Super Street Bike category, Mesfir Al-Mesfir came second and Bader bin Eidan came third. CGF chief visits over Durban 2022 doubts JOHANNESBURG, March 4, (AFP): The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president visited South Africa for talks with officials as government hinted that the country may not be able to host the 2022 games due to financial constraints. Louise Martins travelled to South Africa earlier this week for further high level meetings and we continue to make every effort to engage with the Durban 2022 delivery partners, a games spokesman said in a statement on Saturday. South Africa successfully bid for the games after the Canadian city of Edmonton pulled out, but it has been unable to reach agreement with the CGF over paying for the tournament. Sports minister Fikile Mbalula on Tuesday revealed that host city Durban may not be able to hold the event due to financial pressures. It does not look like we will find each other, said Mbalula. We have given it our best shot, but we cannot live beyond our means. The games spokesman said a review team appointed by the CGF is in the final stages of evaluating the submissions received from South Africa to determine whether Durban s proposals for hosting the Games are consistent with their original Bid Martins Commitments. DRAG RACING KUNA photo Kuwait Ambassador to Bahrain with Kuwaiti Drag Racing team and organisers. A recommendation will be referred to the CGF Executive Board on 11 and 12 March. Both the 1995 rugby World Cup and the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa are seen as milestones in the country s efforts to promote national unity since the apartheid era. The Commonwealth Games in Durban, on the east coast, would be the first to be held in Africa. The Games which were awarded to Durban in 2015 had been earmarked to start on July 18, the birthday of Nelson Mandela. According to authorities, a budget of 6.4 billion rand ($492 million, 465 million euros) has already been set aside for the Games, in a country battling high unemployment and poor growth. Cavs make regular-season 25 3s record, top Hawks Leonard rallies Spurs past Pelicans 101-98 in OT ATLANTA, March 4, (AP): Kyrie Irving scored 43 points, LeBron James had 38 and the Cleveland Cavaliers set an NBA regular-season record with 25 3-pointers in a 135-130 victory over Atlanta on Friday night. After Paul Millsap s baseline jumper over James cut Cleveland s lead to 124-123, Kyle Korver who was traded from Atlanta to the Cavaliers on Jan. 7 hit the recordbreaking 3-pointer to pad the lead. Cleveland made 25 of 46 3s to break a record that stood less than three months. Houston made 24 treys in a 122-100 win over New Orleans on Dec. 16. Tim Hardaway Jr. made five of nine 3-pointers and led the Hawks with a career-high 36 points. Millsap had 27 points. Raptors 114, Wizards 106 In Washington, DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points, including a key 3-pointer late, and grabbed 13 rebounds in Toronto s victory over Washington. Norman Powell added a season-high 21 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, to help the Raptors pulled back into a tie with the Wizards for third place in the Eastern Conference. Toronto also secured a 2-1 victory in the season series, a potential tiebreaker for playoff seeding, two days after losing to Washington 105-96 in the first game of a home-and-home set. John Wall scored 30 points, and Bradley Beal added 27 for Wizards. Suns 118, Thunder 111 In Phoenix, Eric Bledsoe had 18 points and Phoenix helped celebrate broadcaster Al McCoy s induction into the team s Ring of Honor with a victory over Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook had 48 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists for the Thunder. Alan Williams added 14 points and 13 rebounds for Phoenix. The 83-year-old McCoy was honored at halftime. He s in his 45th season calling Suns games. Eight of 14 other Suns Ring of Honor inductees were present, including Charles Barkley, who offered brief remarks. Spurs 101, Pelicans 98, Ot In New Orleans, Kawhi Leonard NBA Results/Standings Boston 115 LA Lakers 95 San Antonio 101 New Orleans (OT) 98 Utah 112 Brooklyn 97 Phoenix 118 Oklahoma City 111 Dallas 104 Memphis 100 Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT GB Boston 40 22.645 - Toronto 37 25.597 3 NY Knicks 25 37.403 15 Philadelphia 23 38.377 16-1/2 Brooklyn 10 50.167 29 Central Division W L PCT GB Cleveland 42 18.700 - Chicago 31 30.508 11-1/2 Indiana 31 30.508 11-1/2 Detroit 29 32.475 13-1/2 Milwaukee 27 33.450 15 Southeast Division W L PCT GB Washington 36 24.600 - Atlanta 34 27.557 2-1/2 Miami 28 34.452 9 Charlotte 26 35.426 10-1/2 Orlando 23 39.371 14 San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) shoots against New Orleans Pelicans forward DeMarcus Cousins (0) during overtime in an NBA basketball game in New Orleans on March 3. (AP) scored 31 points, Patty Mills hit a pair of pivotal 3s in overtime, and San Antonio outlasted New Orleans. LeMarcus Aldridge had 21 points and 15 rebounds for San Antonio. The Spurs won their sixth straight while dropping New Orleans to 0-4 with DeMarcus Cousins in the lineup. Cousins had 19 points and 23 rebounds, but missed a step-back 3-pointer that could have tied it as overtime ended. Anthony Davis had 29 points, and Jrue Holiday 26 for the Pelicans. Mills finished with 15 points, and Pau Gasol added 13. Celtics 115, Lakers 95 In Los Angeles, Isaiah Thomas scored 18 points and Boston rode a 70-point first half. Jae Crowder scored 10 of his 14 points in the first half, when the Atlantic Division-leading Celtics shot 51 percent on the way to opening their trip 2-0. Jordan Clarkson led the Lakers with 20 points. They have lost six straight. 76ers 105, Knicks 102 In Philadelphia, Justin Anderson made the go-ahead basket with 24.3 seconds left and matched his career high with 19 points in Philadelphia victory over New York. Acquired from Dallas last week in the deal that sent Nerlens Noel to the Mavericks, Anderson hit his first seven shots and forced Knicks star Carmelo Anthony into 5-for-18 shooting. Dario Saric had 12 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, and Robert Covington added 16 points. The 76ers WASHINGTON, March 4, (RTRS): Results and standings from the NBA games on Friday. snapped a three-game losing streak, winning their first game since announcing Wednesday that Joel Embiid was done for the season with a knee injury. Lance Thomas had a season-high 21 points for the Knicks. Mavericks 104, Grizzlies 100 In Dallas, Seth Curry scored 24 points, and Nerlens Noel had 15 points and tied a career high with 17 rebounds in his first start since coming to Dallas in a trade. The Mavericks held on despite going scoreless for more than five minutes in the last half of the fourth quarter. The drought ended when Dirk Nowitzki made a free throw after Memphis coach David Fizdale was called for a technical with Dallas leading 94-90 with 46 seconds left. Mike Conley scored 30 points, and Zach Randolph had 24 points and 10 rebounds for Memphis. Bucks 112, Clippers 101 In Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points and eight assists, and Milwaukee squandered an early 23-point lead before finishing strong to hold off turnover-prone Los Angeles. Greg Monroe also had 24 points for the Bucks. They watched their early edge dwindle to 77-74 late in the third BASKETBALL quarter following four 3s in the period by Chris Paul. The Bucks reasserted control with a 15-2 run for a 92-76 lead with about 9 minutes left. Paul and Blake Griffin each had 21 points for the Clippers. They had a season-high 23 turnovers. Jazz 112, Nets 97 In Salt Lake City, George Hill scored a season-high 34 points and Utah beat Brooklyn. The Jazz snapped a two-game losing streak and extended their lead for the No. 4 Western Conference playoff spot. Utah put the game away with a 19-5 stretch in the third quarter. Quincy Acy scored a season-high 18 points for the Nets. Magic 110, Heat 99 In Orlando, Fla, Nikola Vucevic scored 25 points and Aaron Gordon had 21 points and 10 rebounds to help Orlando beat Miami. The Magic beat the Heat for the third straight time to win the season series 3-1. James Johnson led Miami with 19 points Milwaukee 112 LA Clippers 101 Cleveland 135 Atlanta 130 Philadelphia 105 NY Knicks 102 Toronto 114 Washington 106 Orlando 110 Miami 99 Western Conference Northwest Division W L PCT GB Utah 38 24.613 - Oklahoma City 35 27.565 3 Denver 28 33.459 9-1/2 Portland 25 35.417 12 Minnesota 25 36.410 12-1/2 Pacific Division W L PCT GB Golden State 50 11.820 - LA Clippers 36 25.590 14 Sacramento 25 36.410 25 Phoenix 20 42.323 30-1/2 LA Lakers 19 43.306 31-1/2 Southwest Division W L PCT GB San Antonio 47 13.783 - Houston 43 19.694 5 Memphis 36 26.581 12 Dallas 25 36.410 22-1/2 New Orleans 24 38.387 24

SPORTS 42 PSA Everton return from football tour to Spain Left to right: Photos taken during PSA Everton football tour to Spain The Premier Sport Academy in association with Everton FC returned from a successful tour to Spain at the weekend. Players in the Under 12 and Under 16 age groups enjoyed the La Liga footballing experience, attending the Espaniol vs Osasuna match, visiting the Camp Nou Stadium home of FC Barcelona and completing a series of coaching sessions with La Liga coaches, in addition to playing matches against several Spanish teams. The group was based at Futbol Salou in Tarragona along with several other international clubs. State of the art facilities included eight full size football pitches where matches and coaching sessions took place each day. The Under 12 team played several games and recorded two wins and three draws against Spanish opposition with star player Abdulaziz voted player of the week. Meanwhile the Under 16s enjoyed a thrilling 3-1 victory against FC Santes Crues, Abdelhadi and Mohammed Mishmish were on the scoresheet. Coaching sessions for all the players were conducted by Spanish Academy coaches Marc, Reuben and Gerard and included an insight into the Smart Football program and video match analysis, focussing on player development. In addition to a packed week of footballing activities, there was an afternoon of sightseeing in Barcelona on board an open top bus to round off a memorable tour. Players are now eagerly looking forward to the next overseas tournament, taking place in Dubai next month. Daily football coaching sessions are conducted at the PSA Everton venue in Bayan Block 7, Street 302, next to Abdullah Al Rujaib High School and boys and girls of all ages are welcome to attend. Best of the Rest Aisha Al-Qaoud after finishing 5th Kuwaiti equestrians perform well Kuwait s equestrians have made advanced positions at the fifth edition of CHI Al Shaqab in Qatar. Ali Al-Kharafi won the gold medal in the category 135cm, ending the jumping round in a time of 60.22 seconds, while Latifa Al-Othman was granted the silver medal for the second position. Meanwhile, Saudi equestrian Abdulkareem Abbar ranked the KUNA photo third in the same event at 61.18 seconds. In the same competition, Kuwait s Rakan Al-Hassawi won the fourth position at 62.34 seconds, while his compatriot Aisha Al-Qaoud ranked fifth with 65.44 seconds. During yesterday s contest, Al-Kharafi won the first place in the category 145cm in a time of 56.88 seconds. (KUNA) Hirscher wins sixth WC title: Austrian Marcel Hirscher wrote himself into the history books Saturday, his victory in the giant slalom guaranteeing him a record sixth consecutive overall World Cup title. Hirscher s sixth crystal globe bettered the record of Luxembourg s Marc Girardelli (1985, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993) and equalled the ladies mark set by Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proll (1971-1975, 1979). In winning the rain-hit giant slalom in the Slovenian resort of Kranjska Gora, Hirscher also walked away with the discipline s title, becoming only the third man to win the GS globe at least three seasons in a row, following Gustav Thoni (1970-1972) and Ingemar Stenmark (1975-1981). Hirscher, who won the slalom/ giant slalom golds at last month s St Moritz world championships, topped the first run with a massive 0.96sec lead over Norway s Henrik Kristoffersen. (AFP) Kwiatkowski wins classic: Team Sky found something to cheer about after a tough week off the road when former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski won the prestigious Strade Bianche classic on Saturday. The Pole, who also won the race in 2014, attacked a group of leading riders with about 12 kilometres left and never looked back. Kwiatkowski, who had not won a race since claiming the GP E3-Harelbeke almost a year ago, always looked comfortable on the white gravel sections of the 175km ride. World champion Peter Sagan abandoned after starting the race feeling unwell. (RTRS) Bjoergen wins 30K race: Marit Bjoergen won world championship gold in the 30-kilometer classical race Saturday as Norway completed a sweep of women s cross-country ski titles at the world championships. The Norwegians made an emphatic statement ahead of next year s Winter Olympics, taking the top four places with strong team tactics on the final sprint of the 30K. Bjoergen took her record 18th career gold medal and fourth of the championships by 1.9 seconds from Heidi Weng, who needed a photo finish to beat Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen into third place. (AP) Timbers fell Minnesota: The Portland Timbers handed Minnesota United FC a rude welcome to Major League Soccer on Friday with a 5-1 thrashing of the expansion side as the 2017 season kicked off. Goals from Lawrence Olum, Fanendo Adi (2) and Diego Valeri (2) sealed all three points for the 2015 MLS Cup champions, who are desperate to atone for a disappointing defence of their title last season when they failed to reach the playoffs. Minnesota are one of two expansion teams to join the MLS this season along with Atlanta United FC. (AFP) Raymond Kopa dies aged 85: French football legend Raymond Kopa, who won the European Cup three times with Real Madrid in the 1950s, died Friday aged 85 after a long illness, his family said. Kopa rose from a poor mining family in northern France to become one of Europe s greatest players ever in a Real team alongside Alfredo di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas. He was a central part of the French side beaten by Pele s Brazil in a classic World Cup semi-final in 1958. (AFP) Associations to fund research: A large study is being funded by Britain s soccer associations to try to determine whether players are more prone to developing dementia. The announcement was made on Friday by the associations after they used a meeting of soccer s lawmaking body to back the introduction of electronic devices on the sidelines to enhance player welfare, including assessing potential concussions by watching video replays. The renewed focus on degenerative damage to footballers brains follows research published last month that highlighted potential dangers of repeated blows to the head in soccer. Six of 14 former players were found to have signs of Alzheimer s disease after their brains underwent post-mortem examinations. (AP)

SPORTS 43 Saints edge seven-goal thriller at Watford Leicester thriving without Ranieri with 2nd straight win LONDON, March 4, (RTRS): Leicester City made it two wins from two since the sacking of former manager Claudio Ranieri with a 3-1 Premier League victory over fellow strugglers Hull City on Saturday. Hull, who beat champions Leicester on the opening day of the season, took the lead when Sam Clucas bundled home after Kasper Schmeichel could only parry Kamil Grosicki s cross in the 14th minute. Buoyed by their impressive 3-1 victory over Liverpool on Monday, Leicester equalised in the 27th minute through defender Christian Fuchs who exchanged passes with Jamie Vardy before stroking home. Riyad Mahrez scored Leicester s second in the 57th minute before Tom Huddlestone s own goal in the 91st minute ended a good week for Leicester. The Foxes, now 15th, have 27 points six points above 19th-placed Hull. Southampton 4, Watford 3 In Watford, Nathan Redmond struck twice and Manolo Gabbiadini scored a sixth goal in four games as Southampton edged Watford 4-3 in the Premier League at Vicarage Road. The victory moved Southampton above Watford up to 10th position with 33 points while their hosts slipped to 13th. Watford made the perfect start when Troy Deeney scored a fifth Premier League goal in six games inside four minutes, but Southampton led at halftime through goals from Dusan Tadic and Redmond. Italian forward Stefano Okaka equalised for Watford from closerange with 10 minutes remaining, but Manolo Gabbiadini continued his red hot form after home keeper Heurelho Gomes spilled the ball into his path. Redmond got his second before Abdoulaye Doucoure pulled one back for the hosts. Swansea 3, Burnley 2 In Swansea, Fernando Llorente scored twice including a last-minute winner as Swansea City beat Burnley 3-2 in the Premier League. Swansea made a strong start against Burnley, winless away from home this season, when Spain forward Llorente headed home in the 12th minute for his 10th goal of the season. Andre Gray restored parity eight SOCCER minutes later when he converted a controversial penalty awarded despite a handball by Burnley forward Sam Vokes rather than Swansea s defence before firing home his second after the break. Swansea struck the woodwork three times before Martin Olsson equalised with a powerful drive and Llorente s late header sealed their fourth win from six league games. In-form Swansea, in 16th, have 27 points from 27 games while Burnley, in 12th, have 31. Palace 2, WBA 0 In West Bromwich, Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend scored brilliant goals for Crystal Palace as Sam Allardyce s strugglers ruined West Brom counterpart Tony Pulis s 300th match as a Premier League manager with a 2-0 win. Albion s five-match unbeaten run came to an abrupt conclusion 10 minutes after halftime once Zaha controlled a superb long diagonal ball from Yohan Cabaye on his chest before striking a fine angled finish past Ben Foster. England international Townsend then got in on the act, going on a mazy run before a deflected shot that secured a second straight League win for Allardyce s men and moved them out of the bottom three. Palace deserved the victory, having already enjoyed the best chance in the first half when Chris Brunt was forced to nod Christian Benteke s goal-bound header off the line, with Salomon Rondon s appeal for a penalty being Albion s best shout. Stoke 2, Boro 0 In Stoke, forward Marko Arnautovic s first-half double gave Stoke City a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough and sent the visitors into the relegation zone for the first time this season. A piece of brilliance from Arnautovic put Stoke ahead as he flicked Glenn Whelan s long ball past two defenders with a superb first touch before skipping past the on-rushing Victor Valdes and slotting the ball high into the net. Peter Crouch rose highest to meet Whelan s corner and head the ball into the path of Arnautovic who flicked it past Valdes to double Stoke s lead in the 42nd minute. Middlesbrough have now failed to score in four successive games and their winless run in the league was extended to 10 matches. British Soccer Results/Standings Hull City s French midfielder Alfred N Diaye (left), vies with Leicester City s English defender Danny Simpson during the English Premier League football match between Leicester City and Hull City at King Power Stadium in Leicester, central England on March 4. (AFP) A azaz stars for Al-Muhareb Stable The horse A azaz from Al-Muhareb Stable won the cup of the 1,400-meter race (sixth round) for Class 1 horses by completing the race within 1:30:25 minutes during the ongoing 19th Farwaniya Equestrian Club Meet. The horse Yakrum from Al-Khaldi Stable came second and the horse Nomas Khaled from Al-Saihan Stable came third. At the end of the race, Sheikh Talal Meshal Al-Ahmed who was representing the successors of A victorious jockey celebrates with fans after receiving a trophy. late Sheikh Ahmed Al-Jaber handed the cup to owners of Al-Muhareb Stable in the presence of the spokesman of the Board of Farwaniya Equestrian Club and other members of that board. The horse Qurssana from Abdullah Al-Ajmi Stable came first in the 2,000-meter race (first round) for Class 4 horses by ending the race in 1:31:92 minutes. The horse Satr from Al-Hajraf & Bu Tamer Stable came second and the horse Had Al-Nazar from Al-Dayan Stable came third. The horse Ghussab from Ajab Al-Khedr Stable won the 1,800- meter race (third round) for Class 3 horses by finishing the race in 1:59:33 minutes. The horse Deham Al-Khail from Al-Khedr Stable came second and the horse Mutadi from Al-Bathal Stable came third. In the 1,600-meter race (fourth round) for Class 2 horses, the horse Muhja from Al-Muhareb Stable came first by ending the race in 1:44:33 minutes while the horse Harba from Al-Saihan Stable and the horse Azba Enti from Al-Qeni Stable took second and third places respectively. In the 2,000-meter race (fifth round) for Class 2 horses, the horse Al-Almani from Al-Qeni Stable came first by finishing the race in 2:14:84 minutes followed by the horse Reda a from Al-Khedr Stable in second place and the horse Jahran from Al-Rasheedi Stable in third. Bayern go seven clear BERLIN, March 4, (AFP): Franck Ribery came off the bench to seal Bayern Munich s 3-0 win at Cologne on Saturday, extending their Bundesliga lead to seven points. Bayern warmed up for Tuesday s Champions League last 16 second leg at Arsenal s Emirates Stadium holding a 5-1 firstleg lead with their fourth big win in five games. Spain internationals Javi Martinez and Juan Bernat gave Bayern a comfortable two-goal lead before Ribery netted a late third on 90 minutes. The result allowed Bayern to extend their lead over secondplaced RB Leipzig, who drew 2-2 at Augsburg on Friday. Martinez headed home Arturo Vidal s cross after Bayern worked a short-corner routine on 25 minutes. Bayern doubled their lead just SOCCER Dortmund too strong for Leverkusen Benzema nets double Ronaldo-less Real rout Eibar MADRID, March 4, (AFP): Karim Benzema scored twice as Real Madrid made light of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale s absence to move back to the top of La Liga with a 4-1 win at Eibar on Saturday. Benzema proved decisive when he was needed most by the European champions without his usual strike partners as the Frenchman finished twice from close range inside the first 25 minutes. James Rodriguez completed a perfect first-half for the visitors from Benzema s low cross. Marco Asensio grabbed Madrid s fourth before Ruben Pena pulled back a consolation for Eibar. Despite the absence of Ronaldo and Bale through injury and suspension respectively, Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane rested a host of other first-team regulars ahead of Tuesday s Champions League last 16, return leg away to Napoli. Madrid travel to Italy carrying a 3-1 lead, but Zidane took no risks as Marcelo, Dani Carvajal after the break when Thomas Mueller spotted Bernat unmarked to shoot home with the help of a deflection on 48 minutes. Bernat then turned provider just before the final whistle when his cross was driven home by Ribery. Elsewhere, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted twice as Borussia Dortmund warmed-up for Wednesday s Champions League last 16 return leg at home to Benfica with a 6-2 thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen at Signal Iduna Park. Aubameyang s brace leaves him with 21 league goals in as many games, two ahead of Bayern s Robert Lewandowski Ḋortmund wasted no time in going after a third straight win since losing 1-0 at Benfica as Ousmane Dembele gave Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno no chance with a shot after just six minutes. Aubameyang was then left unmarked to head home at the far post on 26 minutes. Leverkusen pulled a goal back Real Madrid s Mariano Diez Mejia (center), heads the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Eibar, at Ipurua Stadium, in Eibar, northern Spain, March 4. Real Madrid won the match 4-1. (AP) and Toni Kroos were left on the bench. Those coming in rewarded Zidane s faith in the depth of his squad with the often sidelined Rodriguez a constant threat. The opener arrived on 14 minutes when Asensio was when Kevin Volland held off Dortmund defender Soktratis Papastathopoulos and drilled his Cologne s Neven Subotic (left), and Bayern s Robert Lewandowski challenge for the ball during a German fi rst division Bundesliga soccer match between 1. FC Cologne and Bayern Munich in Cologne, Germany, March 4. (AP) played in down the left by Rodriguez and his low cross found Benzema unmarked at the far post. Benzema s first effort was well saved by Yoel, but the Madrid number nine followed up to register just his second league goal since October. The visitors nearly had a second moments later when Rodriguez s low cross was just flicked out of Benzema s reach by the Eibar goalkeeper. However, Madrid did soon double their advantage when Rodriguez s wicked in-swinging free-kick left Benzema with the simplest of tasks to knock the ball home from point-blank range. Four minutes later the roles were reversed as this time Benzema s low cross was swept into the far corner on the stretch by Rodriguez for his fifth goal of the season. Only Yoel prevented Eibar, who had come into the game in fine form in seventh in the table, from further punishment before half-time as he made a fine double save from Benzema and Asensio. shot inside the near post just after the break. Dembele s cross was headed home by Aubameyang, again at the far post, to put Dortmund 3-1 up on 69 minutes. Brazilian defender Wendell curled a free-kick into the Dortmund goal on 74 minutes before Borussia s US international teenager Christian Pulisic made it 4-2 on 77 minutes. It turned into a rout when Andre Schuerrle, on for Aubameyang, netted a penalty on 85 minutes and then Portugal s Raphael Guerreiro smashed home two minutes into time added on as Dortmund consolidated third spot. Fourth-placed Hoffenheim enjoyed a 5-2 thrashing of secondfrom-bottom Ingolstadt as Hungary striker Adam Szalai netted twice. LONDON, March 4, (AFP): British soccer results on Saturday: Premier League Leicester 3 Hull 1 Man United 1 Bournemouth 1 Stoke 2 Middlesbrough 0 Swansea 3 Burnley 2 Watford 3 Southampton 4 West Brom 0 Crystal Palace 2 Liverpool 3 Arsenal 1 Championship Blackburn 1 Wigan 0 Bristol City 0 Burton 0 Derby 2 Barnsley 1 Fulham 3 Preston 1 Ipswich 1 Brentford 1 Nott Forest 3 Brighton 0 QPR 2 Cardiff 1 Reading 2 Wolves 1 Rotherham 0 Aston Villa 2 Sheffield Wed 5 Norwich 1 Huddersfield 1 Newcastle 3Birmingham 1 Leeds 3 League One Bolton 1 AFC Wimbledon 1 Bradford 1 Peterborough 0 Bury 1 Gillingham 2 Millwall 2 Milton Keynes 1 Northampton 2 Charlton 1 Oxford 0 Bristol Rovers 2 Rochdale 3 Sheffi eld Utd 3 Scunthorpe 0 Fleetwood 2 Shrewsbury 0 Coventry 0 Southend 1 Port Vale 1 Swindon 0 Chesterfi eld 1 Walsall 2 Oldham 0 League Two Accrington 1 Barnet 0 Blackpool 3 Morecambe 1 Cambridge 1 Colchester 1 Cheltenham 0 Mansfi eld 0 Crawley 0 Doncaster 0 Grimsby 1 Wycombe 2 Hartlepool 3 Exeter 1 Newport 0 Leyton Orient 4 Plymouth 2 Carlisle 0 Portsmouth 0 Crewe 1 Stevenage 3 Notts County 0 Yeovil 0 Luton 4 Scottish Premiership Kilmarnock 1 Motherwell 2 Scottish Cup quarter-final results Rangers 6 Hamilton 0 Hibernian 3 Ayr United 1 British Soccer Standings English Premier League P W D L GF GA Pts Chelsea 26 20 3 3 55 19 63 Spurs 26 15 8 3 50 18 53 Liverpool 27 15 7 5 58 4 52 Man City 25 16 4 5 51 29 52 Arsenal 26 15 5 6 55 31 50 Man Utd 26 13 10 3 39 22 49 Everton 26 12 8 6 42 27 44 West Brom 27 11 7 9 36 34 40 Stoke 27 9 8 10 32 40 35 Southampton 26 9 6 11 32 34 33 West Ham 26 9 6 11 35 44 33 Burnley 27 9 4 14 30 40 31 Watford 27 8 7 12 33 47 31 Bournemouth 27 7 6 14 37 52 27 Leicester 27 7 6 14 30 45 27 Swansea 27 8 3 16 35 59 27 Palace 27 7 4 16 35 46 25 Middlesbrough 27 4 10 13 19 30 22 Hull 27 5 6 16 24 53 21 Sunderland 26 5 4 17 24 48 19 Championship P W D L GF GA Pts Newcastle 35 24 4 7 69 29 76 Brighton 35 21 8 6 58 31 71 Huddersfield 34 20 5 9 45 39 65 Leeds 35 20 4 11 49 35 64 Reading 35 19 6 10 49 46 63 Sheff Wed 35 18 7 10 47 34 61 Fulham 34 15 11 8 59 40 56 Norwich 35 15 7 13 60 53 52 Preston 35 14 10 11 47 44 52 Derby 35 14 9 12 38 32 51 Barnsley 35 14 8 13 53 50 50 Cardiff 35 13 7 15 48 51 46 Villa 35 11 12 12 35 38 45 Brentford 34 12 8 14 51 49 44 Ipswich 35 10 13 12 36 43 43 QPR 35 12 7 16 39 49 43 Birmingham 35 11 10 14 37 52 43 Nott Forest 35 11 7 17 49 58 40 Burton 35 9 10 16 34 47 37 Blackburn 34 9 9 16 39 50 36 Wolves 33 9 8 16 40 46 35 Bristol City 35 9 7 19 44 52 34 Wigan 35 7 10 18 30 41 31 Rotherham 35 4 5 26 32 79 17 League One P W D L GF GA Pts Sheffield Utd 35 20 9 6 64 38 69 Fleetwood 35 18 10 7 52 32 64 Scunthorpe 35 17 10 8 60 38 61 Bolton 34 17 9 8 46 29 60 Bradford 36 14 17 5 47 34 59 Millwall 35 16 10 9 50 41 58 Southend 35 14 12 9 53 43 54 Bristol Rovers 36 13 12 11 54 54 51 Peterborough 36 14 8 14 49 48 50 Oxford 33 14 7 12 42 35 49 Rochdale 33 14 7 12 48 46 49 Walsall 35 12 13 10 43 44 49 AFC Wimbledon 3511 14 10 47 45 47 Milton 35 11 10 14 45 45 43 Northampton 36 12 7 17 53 60 43 Charlton 35 9 15 11 44 41 42 Gillingham 36 10 12 14 47 57 42 Shrewsbury 36 11 9 16 39 50 42 Bury 36 11 7 18 54 64 40 Oldham 36 9 12 15 23 36 39 Swindon 36 9 9 18 35 50 36 Port Vale 33 8 11 14 35 52 35 Chesterfield 35 8 7 20 32 56 31 Coventry 35 5 11 19 30 54 26 League Two P W D L GF GA Pts Doncaster 35 20 9 6 66 42 69 Plymouth 34 20 5 9 54 36 65 Carlisle 35 15 13 7 56 51 58 Luton 34 15 12 7 53 31 57 Portsmouth 34 16 8 10 49 31 56 Stevenage 35 17 4 14 59 51 55 Exeter 35 16 6 13 56 41 54 Mansfield 35 13 13 9 43 38 52 Colchester 35 14 9 12 51 44 51 Wycombe 35 14 8 13 44 45 50 Blackpool 34 11 14 9 52 38 47 Cambridge 34 13 8 13 44 41 47 Grimsby 35 13 8 14 41 42 47 Barnet 35 11 13 11 43 47 46 Morecambe 34 13 7 14 43 51 46 Crawley 34 12 7 15 41 52 43 Yeovil 35 9 13 13 33 44 40 Cheltenham 35 9 12 14 38 46 39 Crewe 35 9 12 14 37 52 39 Accrington 33 9 11 13 37 46 38 Hartlepool 35 9 11 15 46 59 38 Notts County 35 10 7 18 38 61 37 Leyton Orient 35 9 5 21 40 55 32 Newport 34 5 11 18 37 57 26 Scottish Premiership P W D L GF GA Pts Celtic 27 26 1 0 73 16 79 Aberdeen 27 16 4 7 50 24 52 Rangers 27 13 7 7 37 32 46 Hearts 27 10 8 9 46 35 38 St Johnstone 27 10 7 10 35 36 37 Partick 27 8 8 11 29 32 32 Dundee 27 8 6 13 31 37 30 Kilmarnock 27 6 10 11 25 43 28 Ross County 27 6 9 12 29 45 27 Motherwell 27 7 6 14 32 54 27 Hamilton 27 4 12 11 26 39 24 Inverness CT 27 4 10 13 31 51 22 Note: Standings read as played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against and points. Champs level on points with Monaco Cavani converts late penalty as PSG pip stubborn Nancy PARIS, March 4, (AFP): Edinson Cavani converted a late penalty for his league-leading 27th goal of the season as Paris Saint- Germain laboured to a 1-0 win over strugglers Nancy on Saturday. PSG endured a frustrating afternoon despite their domination at the Parc des Princes and survived a huge scare when Nancy substitute Alexis Busin s 75th-minute shot struck both posts. But the hosts won a penalty after Serge Aurier was fouled by Nancy goalkeeper Sergey Chernik, leaving Cavani to score the only goal 10 minutes from time as PSG moved back level on points with leaders Monaco. It s difficult to play against these teams that defend a lot and give you so little space, Cavani told Canal+, with PSG turning their focus to defending their 4-0 lead against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Wednesday. The important thing is to win. We now have to recover well and prepare for Barca, he added. French football legend Raymond Kopa, a three-time European Cup winner with Real Madrid in the 1950s, was honoured with a minute s applause before kick-off after passing away on Friday aged 85 following a long illness. With one eye on the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie in Spain, PSG coach Unai Emery handed a first league start to Portuguese forward Goncalo Guedes after his January arrival from Benfica. Nancy arrived on a five-match winless run that had seen them fail to score a single goal, but the visitors were determined to make life difficult for PSG with Chernik keeping out Lucas after a bustling run from the Brazilian. Faitout Maouassa nearly stunned the home side with a long-range strike that forced Kevin Trapp into an excellent flying save to his right, while Javier Pastore and Grzegorz Krychowiak went close for PSG before the break. Cavani headed wide from point-blank range early in the second half, while Serge Aurier was repelled superbly by Chernik before Modou Diagne made a brave goal-line block to deny Guedes. Nancy almost landed a sucker punch on the counter-attack following a PSG corner, as Busin composed himself well only to see his effort clip the inside of Trapp s righthand post and roll across the face of goal before hitting the left upright and dribbling away from goal. Nancy then remonstrated furiously as Ivorian Aurier went to ground in the area under SOCCER minimal contact from Chernik, with Cavani condemning Pablo Correa s men to a cruel defeat after nervelessly dispatching the spotkick. Monaco can restore their three-point lead when they host Nantes on Sunday, while Mario Balotelli is available again after a one-match ban for Nice s trip to Dijon later on Saturday.

44 Sports Latest sports scores at http://sports.arabtimesonline.com The Premier Sport Academy in association with Everton FC returned from a successful tour to Spain at the weekend. Players in the Under 12 and Under 16 age groups enjoyed the La Liga footballing experience, attending the Espanyol vs Osasuna match, visiting the Camp Nou Stadium home of FC Barcelona and completing a series of coaching sessions with La Liga coaches, in addition to playing matches against several Spanish teams. Pictured are some of the players with officials. Details Page 42 Reds punish wenger gamble, Ibra in dock Wasterful Man U held by 10-man Bournemouth LONDON, March 4, (Agencies): Liverpool punished Arsene Wenger s selection gamble with a crucial 3-1 win over spluttering Arsenal, while Manchester United star Zlatan Ibrahimovic could face disciplinary action after appearing to elbow Bournemouth s Tyrone Mings in a fiery 1-1 draw on Saturday. Wenger sprang a major surprise by leaving Alexis Sanchez on the bench and the Chile forward was badly missed as Arsenal were blown away in the first half at Anfield. With Mesut Ozil also absent, due to illness, Arsenal were ill-equipped to match Jurgen Klopp s fired-up side, who took the lead in the ninth minute when Roberto Firmino met Sadio Mane s cross with a cool finish at the far post after sloppy Arsenal defending. There was worse to come for Wenger in the 40th minute as Firmino teed up the unmarked Mane and the Senegal winger drilled his shot past Petr Cech. Wenger sent on Sanchez at halftime and inevitably he made an impact, sending an astute pass through to Danny Welbeck, whose deft chip reduced the deficit in the 57th minute. But Georginio Wijnaldum finished a lethal Liverpool counter attack in the 90th minute to condemn Arsenal to a third defeat in their last four league matches. Liverpool s second win in their last eight league games lifted them above Arsenal and Manchester City into third place. Wenger s fifth placed side are now two points outside the top four and that gap will grow to five if City beat Sunderland on Sunday. Man U 1, Bournemouth 1 In Manchester, poor finishing cost Manchester United a chance to move into the Premier League s top four as striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed a penalty in a feisty 1-1 draw against 10-man Bournemouth. United stayed sixth on 49 points while Bournemouth, who had Andrew Surman sent off on the stroke of halftime for pushing Ibrahimovic, stayed 14th with 27 points. Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho made no excuses for a disjointed performance after lifting the League Cup with a dramatic 3-2 win over Southampton last weekend for his first major trophy at Old Trafford. What happened was that we played phenomenal in the first half and should have been winning 3-0 or 4-0 - then it ended up 1-1, he told the BBC. Who can I blame? Ourselves. Nobody else. We missed big chances. Spurs vs Everton bein SPORTS 2HD, 11HD 16:30 local Sunderland vs City bein SPORTS 2HD, 11HD 19:00 local West Ham vs Chelsea bein SPORTS 2HD, 11HD 23:00 local (Monday) We felt pressure of the clock running down and lost the quality of our attacking football. Ibrahimovic, the two-goal hero against Southampton, endured a miserable afternoon and was lucky to stay on the pitch after a three-way fracas involving Bournemouth s Tyrone Mings and Surman. Mings, also fortunate not to be sent off, appeared to stamp on Ibrahimovic s head and the towering Swede retaliated seconds later with an elbow to the defender s jaw before Surman shoved him to the ground. Referee Kevin Friend showed Surman his second yellow card at the end of an ill-tempered first half littered with fierce tackles. Bournemouth goalkeeper Artur Boruc produced a string of excellent saves either side of Marcos Rojo s first Premier League goal which put United ahead. The Argentina defender got on the end of Antonio Valencia s misdirected shot and turned it past the helpless Boruc but United s joy was shirt-lived as their academy product Joshua King equalised with a 40th-minute penalty. King drilled the ball into the top corner in front of the Stretford End, drawing Bournemouth level against the run of play after Phil Jones had hauled down Marc Pugh. United laid siege to Bournemouth s goal in the second half but could not turn 20 shots and 68 percent possession into victory as Boruc continued to shine. Having denied Ibrahimovic three times in the opening half, he palmed away the striker s feeble 71st-minute penalty and kept out a curling longrange effort by Paul Pogba to earn his side a point after four league defeats in a row. Results/Standings See Page 43 Bournemouth s Ivorian midfielder Max Gradel (left), clears the ball under pressure from Manchester United s Spanish midfielder Juan Mata during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Bournemouth at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England, on March 4. The game finished 1-1. (AFP) Mertens at the double as Napoli conquer Roma MILAN, March 4, (AFP): Makeshift Napoli striker Dries Mertens hit a brace in a thrilling 2-1 win away to Roma that has put Juventus firmly on track for a record sixth consecutive Serie A title. Belgium midfi elder Mertens was given the nod ahead of striker Arkadiusz Milik despite the Poland star s recent return from a fivemonth injury lay-off. And coach Maurizio Sarri s intuition proved right ahead of an entertaining encounter that saw Napoli soak up long spells of pressure to see Mertens expose gaping holes in the Roma defence. Napoli took a 1-0 lead into halftime at the Stadio Olimpico after Mertens struck against the run of play to fl ick the ball over onrushing Wojciech Szczesny on 26 minutes. Mertens completed his brace, taking his league tally for the season to 18 goals, fi ve minutes into the second half with another cool fi nish following Lorenzo Insigne s inswinger towards the back post. When Kevin Strootman reduced arrears on 89 minutes it sparked a dramatic late fi ghtback from Roma that saw Pepe Reina acrobatically palm a drive off the crossbar before clearing with his leg. But Napoli, who saw Sarri sent to the stands for dissent midway through the second period, held on for a valuable win. After virtually dropping out of title contention last week following a 2-0 defeat to Atalanta which left them trailing Juventus by 12 points, Napoli have now done the Turin giants a favour. A win at Udinese on Sunday will see Juventus take their lead over second-placed Roma to 10 points, with Napoli now only two points behind Luciano Spalletti s men in the race for the second automatic Champions League spot. Murray clinches 45th career title DUBAI, March 4, (AFP): Andy Murray clinched his first title of 2017 and 45th of his career as he dominated Spain s Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-2 to win the Dubai Tennis Championships on Saturday. World number one Murray claimed the trophy in the emirate for the first time after losing the final five years ago to Roger Federer. The Scot finished the job in just 73 minutes on the first of three match points, an untouchable service winner. It s obviously nice to finally win here, said the top seed. It feels great to take the trophy for the first time. I played a good match today. I had a bit of a slow start, but we ve had a lot of late nights this week. But once I got going, I was moving well and finished strong. 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