Friday 7 August 2020

17 Dhul-Hijja - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8342

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RACA launches fundraising campaign for LebanonQNA & THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities (RACA) in cooperation with Qatar Charity (QC) and the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), launched a fund raising campaign aiming at supporting the brotherly Lebanese people, following the tragic disaster that struck the port of Beirut, in line with the position of the State of Qatar towards the Lebanese people.

This launch comes after the explosion that rocked the capital, Beirut, on Tuesday, and left hundreds of people, killed, injured or missing, in addition to the massive material damage. It is worth mentioning that the Qatari Government has promptly responded to the call made by the Lebanese gov-ernment yesterday evening.

The campaign aims to collect

what the Qatari community pro-vides to the Lebanese people, and turn it into relief materials covering the areas of health, shelter, food, other non-food items, and reconstruction.

‘’RACA is launching the ‘Lebanon in Our Hearts’ cam-paign in cooperation with QC and QRCS to support our Leb-anese sisters and brothers in the wake of the tragic disaster that struck the port of Beirut and as part of the position of Qatar in sharing their plight,’’ the Regu-latory Authority tweeted yes-terday sharing campaign poster.

Meanwhile, Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) also announced in a statement yes-terday that it has launched QR50m fund-raising for Beirut relief. QRCS has initiated an immediate response to the huge

explosion in Beirut. A group from its representation mission in Lebanon accompanied col-leagues from the Lebanese Red Cross in a field visit to gather information and assess the needs.

Under an approval from the RACA, QRCS launched a fund-raising campaign titled “Heart for Lebanon”, to support the Lebanese people

The disaster resulted in dozens of casualties, over-crowded hospitals, destruction of the wheat stock, and halt of life in whole districts.

To alleviate the impact on the people of Beirut, a total of QR50m will be raised to provide relief, medical and food aid, emergency shelter, and other forms of human-itarian support for the benefit of 300,000 affected people.

The relief plan involves the

phases as under immediate response, food aid, makeshift shelters, and support of health facilities for the benefit of 55,000 people. Under medium-term response, monthly food provisions, cash aid, and resto-ration of damaged homes for the benefit of 25,000 people.

However, under the recovery and capacity-building, enhancement of health services, development of medical skills, and awareness raising will be made for the benefit of 300,000 people. �P2

QNA — BEIRUT

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of the Republic of Lebanon H E Charbel Wahba (pictured) praised the medical aid and supplies that the State of Qatar sent to his country after the explosion that occurred on Tuesday in the Beirut Port.

In a statement to QNA, the Lebanese Foreign Minister praised the Arab and interna-tional support and solidarity with his country following the port explosion, expressing thanks to the countries that offer any humanitarian initi-ative, support, and solidarity with Lebanon.

H E Charbel Wahba pointed out that the Lebanese officials

received many phone calls from all over the world expressing solidarity with Beirut after this explosion.

In the implementation of the directives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, urgent Qatari medical aid arrived in Beirut on Wednesday as aircraft of the Qatari Amiri Air Force landed at the Rafic Hariri International Airport, within an airlift, car-rying urgent medical aid and supplies, and two fully equipped 500-bed field hos-pitals to treat those injured by the Beirut Port explosion.

Also, a fully equipped team from the Qatari Search and Rescue Team of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya) headed to Beirut on Wednesday to participate in the search and rescue operations.

The Beirut Port blast killed at least 137 people and injured about 5,000 others, according to temporary estimates, as dozens are still missing.

Lebanese FM praises support from Qatar

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar TV will broadcast special coverage of a campaign for fundraising for the relief of those affected by the tragic blast of Beirut port today and tomorrow (August 7 and August 8, 2020) from 9pm to 11pm. The announcement was made on social media account of Qatar TV.

Fundraising on Qatar TV at 9pm today

Q Qatar Red Crescent Society launches QR50m fundraising programme QNA — DOHA

Following the directives of Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Lebanese holders of Qatar Residency Permits who are currently in Lebanon and wish to return to Qatar will be given priority with Exceptional Entry Permits in accordance with the travel policy in place amid the gradual lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

Lebanese holders of Qatar Residency Permits will also be

able to apply for entry for their immediate family members at the Qatar Embassy in Beirut or via Metrash 2.

All Lebanese nationals arriving into Qatar will be required to take a Coronavirus test upon arrival to the Hamad International Airport and are required to adhere to the pre-viously announced quarantine procedures.

All arrivals into the State of Qatar are required to download and install the Ehteraz appli-cation on their smartphones.

Lebanese with Qatari RP to get priority for returning to Qatar

QA resumes flights to two more African destinations

Officials and relief workers near the second plane which Qatar sent to Lebanon with medical supplies. The Embassy of Qatar in Lebanon shared pictures on its official Twitter account yesterday.

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Airways has announced the resumption of services to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) - Nairobi, Kenya with 14 weekly flights and to Kigali International Airport (KGL) - Kigali, Rwanda with three weekly flights.

With the addition of Kigali and Nairobi, the airline now operates 33 weekly flights to eight destinations in Africa including Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and Tunis.

Being one of the largest pas-senger carriers during the pan-demic with a promised steady schedule that never dropped below 30 destinations, the national carrier to the State of Qatar connects many pas-sengers seamlessly via its award-winning home and hub, Hamad International Airport

(HIA) to key destinations via its rapidly expanding network including Europe, Americas, Asia and Pacific via Doha.

Qatar Airways has a strong relationship with Kenya and Rwanda with almost 15 years of operations to Nairobi and eight years of operations to Kigali. The award-winning airline began scheduled services from Nairobi on 15 November 2005 followed by Kigali on 24 March 2012 and Mombasa on 9 December 2018.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to resume flights to Nairobi and Kigali, totalling our flights to 33 weekly flights into Africa with eight destinations. Qatar Airways con-tinues to maintain an expanding schedule with now more than 500 weekly flights to over 75 destinations. During the pandemic, Qatar Airways

have become the largest global carrier to maintain its schedule in taking people home with the highest safety measures. Our wide network of flights during these challenging times has ensured we have kept up to date with the latest in interna-tional airport procedures. We also implemented the most advanced safety & hygiene measures on board our aircraft and in our home and hub at Hamad International Airport which was recently voted the Best Airport in the Middle East for the sixth year in a row.”

“Qatar Airways has been the most reliable airline during the pandemic and will continue to ensure its promised five-star service and hospitality is delivered across its network. We hope to see many people come visit Kenya and Rwanda and explore the world’s stunning wildlife and more.”

During COVID-19 pandemic, Qatar Airways Cargo continued operating its scheduled twice-weekly with A330 freighters and four times weekly with Boeing 777 freighters to Nairobi along with freight charters. These flights provided much required capacity, supporting exporters and importers and bringing in essential medical supplies. With the resumption of passenger flights to Nairobi, the cargo carrier will operate 20 flights in total, offering more than 700 tonnes of cargo capacity each week, each way.

Qatar Airways has further enhanced its onboard safety measures for passengers and cabin crew. The airline has introduced Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for cabin crew which includes gloves, face masks, safety glasses and a new protective gown that is fitted over their uniforms. �P2

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Interior has announced that the residents who are outside the country due to COVID-19 pandemic are exempted from fees resulting from the expiry of their residence permits or exceeding six months stay outside the country. The announcement was made on the social media account of the Ministry yesterday.

292 recover from COVID-19as 287 new cases recorded

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced the registration of 287 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country. Another 292 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 108,831.

All new cases have been introduced to isolation and are receiving necessary healthcare according to their health status.

The Ministry further said that measures to tackle COVID-19 in Qatar have succeeded in flattening the curve and limiting the spread of the virus. The number of daily new cases and hospital admissions has gradually declined over the past few weeks. �P2

The National Museum of Qatar illuminated with Lebanese national flag in solidarity with Lebanon. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT / THE PENINSULA

Residents out of Qatar due to COVID-19 exempted from fees

OFFICIAL NEWS

02 FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 03.41 am 05.04 am

W A L R U WA I S : 35o↗ 38o W A L K H O R : 35o↗ 4 4o W D U K H A N : 35o↗ 42o W WA K R A H : 30o↗ 45o W M E S A I E E D 30o↗ 45o W A B U S A M R A 35o↗ 41o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 05:50 – 18:51 LOW TIDE 02:24–13:08

Very hot daytime with some clouds and slight dust to

blowing dust at places at times.

Minimum Maximum36oC 45oC

ZUHR

MAGHRIB

11.40 am06.18 pm

ASR

ISHA

03.08 pm07.48 pm

Amir sends congratulations to President of BoliviaDOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim

bin Hamad Al Thani, Deputy Amir

H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al

Thani, and Prime Minister and Min-

ister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid

bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani

sent yesterday cables of congrat-

ulations to President of the State

of Bolivia H E Jeanine Anez on the

anniversary of her country’s Inde-

pendence Day. - QNA

Amir congratulates Governor-General of JamaicaDOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin

Hamad Al Thani and Deputy Amir

H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad

Al Thani sent yesterday cables of

congratulations to H E Governor-

General of Jamaica Patrick Linton

Allen on the anniversary of his coun-

try’s Independence Day.

The Prime Minister and Min-

ister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid

bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani

also sent a cable of congratula-

tions to Prime Minister of Jamaica

H E Andrew Michael Holness on

the anniversary of his country’s

Independence Day. -QNA

Public cautioned to continue adhering COVID-19 safety measures

As the third phase of easing COVID-19 restrictions being implemented, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has reminded and cautioned public to continue adhering to precau-tionary measures.

In a social media campaign, the Ministry together with its partners has emphasised the right of public that private healthcare facilities, malls, res-taurants and other places ensure safety measures are implemented.

“As the Ministry of Public Health has announced the phase 3 of lifting restrictions, people are going back to work places,

going back to restaurants, malls and social gatherings. Everyone is excited to go out. But it is important to remember that while enjoying the opportunity to go out again, people should follow health and safety guide-lines,” said Dr. Khalid Al Awad, Director of Protection in Pre-ventive Health at Primary Health Care Corporation.

“People with chronic disease, above the age of 60 years and pregnant women should avoid social gatherings and going out unless it is essential,” he said.

Dr. Al Awad said that people should avoid sitting and pic-nicking while outdoors, only groups of a maximum of 30 people are allowed for outdoor

activities, playgrounds, skate parks and gym equipment will closed, while walking outdoors masks should be worn while exercising outdoors, there is no need to wear a mask.

“However, people should maintain a physical distance of at least 2 metres from others, follow good hand hygiene and make sure the Ehteraz contact tracing app status is green,” said Dr. Al Awad. “While you enjoy outdoor activities please remember that you ensure the safety of yourself, others and protect from COVID-19.”

In a series of social media messages, Hamad Medical Cor-poration has insisted that the continued adherence to C O V I D - 1 9 p r e v e n t i o n

guidelines is important for the safety and well-being of the wider community, under the slogan — ‘Protect yourself, protect your family, protect your community.’

The messages highlight that the public has the right to ensure that private healthcare facilities and healthcare workers making home visits wear personal pro-tective equipment, maintain hand hygiene and disinfect equipment.

It also emphasises that pubic have the right to ensure that a minimum of 2 metre distance is maintained between tables in restaurants and to ensure that malls limit their operational capacity to 50 percent, during the third phase of easing

COVID-19 restrictions. Phase 3 of easing the

restrictions include reopening of barbershops and hairdressers with up to 30 percent capacity with strict disinfection measures, malls to continue to operate at 50 percent capacity and children under 12 are still not allowed.

Social gatherings during phase 3 are limited to 10 people indoor and 30 people outdoors, selected restaurants permitted to open at up to 50 percent capacity if accepted for pre-registration and certification by Qatar Clean Program and oper-ational capacity of private healthcare facilities increase from 60 percent to 80 percent, with precautionary measures.

FAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

Action against illegal vendorsand hygiene law violatorsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The inspectors of General Monitoring Section at Doha Munic-ipality have recorded 17 violations of illegal vendors and those flouting some provisions of hygiene law at Doha Corniche.

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) in a statement urged visitors of public places and beaches to maintain hygiene following the Law No. 18 of 2017 of general hygiene.

The General Cleanliness Department has been sweeping and washing a number of places in Doha city including Cor-niche on daily basis to keep then hygienic and beautiful on daily basis.

The cleaning operation is within special programme pre-pared by the Department to provide field team to follow up and use vehicles and equipment to clean Corniche three times in a day.

It aims to keep monitoring the areas round-the-clock and to intensify cleaning operation at a number of facilities, rec-reational places, commercial streets. Special cleaning teams have been also dispatched to clean Corniche and public parks.

As per the plan number of garbage containers increased at public places to encourage visitors to throw wastes in the des-ignated bins.

MIA and NMoQilluminated withLebanese flagTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The National Museum of Qatar and the Museum of Islamic Art were lit with the Lebanese flag yesterday evening, in solidarity with the Lebanese people, following the devastating explosion of Beirut Port area, which caused massive destruction and a large number of casualties and injuries.

The huge blast not only killed and injured thousands of people but also caused widespread damage to the city decimating thou-sands of buildings including museums and galleries.

“Heart goes to the people of Lebanon, loss of culture is a loss in a soul. Hoping we can protect, restore what’s left of it,” H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, has tweeted along with photos of Sursock Museum, one of the major art institutions in Beirut which was devastated by the explosion. The blast shattered the Sursock Museum’s doors, windows, skylights, and ceilings of some of its rooms as well as damaged a big number of pieces in its per-manent collection.

Art institutions in the Lebanese capital are working together to offer help in protecting and storing invaluable museum and gallery collections.

Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) illuminated with Lebanese national flag in solidarity with Lebanon.PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT / THE PENINSULA

Over 9 million transactions executed in 4 years by Government Contact Center

Reflecting success of transfor-mation from conventional to digital governance in the country, over 9 million trans-actions have been executed in last four years by the Government Contact Center (Hotline 109), a project of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) under Qatar Digital Government initi-ative.

The Government Contact Center Hotline 109 offers support services for the public and answers their inquiries relating to all government services.

“Government Contact Center is one of the govern-ment’s shared services and is a key element in achieving the strategic objectives of Qatar Digital Government 2020. One contact ‘109’ answers all public queries and issues related to government services,” Hukoomi Qatar tweeted yesterday.

According to information

on the MOTC website, com-plying with the vision outlined in Qatar Digital Government 2020 Strategy and seeking to enrich Qatar residents with government e-services expe-rience, the e-Government Steering Committee decided to apply a single sign-on platform for all government e-services and unify all e-services sup-ported through Qatar Gov-ernment Contact Center (QGCC) (109) to receive public inquiries and complaints 24/7.

Meanwhile another recent tweet of the Ministry of Transport and Communications reveals that as many as 35,188,700 SMSs by gov-ernment entities via SMS Gateway were sent during first half of 2020.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) has implemented the “Gov-ernment Call Center” project to provide supporting services to the public and communicate with customers, on one hand, and with government and semi-government entities, on the

other hand. It is worth men-tioning that MOTC has developed the Government Contact Center with the highest

level of technology and service as well as the highest quality standards to suit the require-ments and services of all

government entities and provide the greatest diversity of services to the public, the MoTC adds on its website about the project.

The 109 QGCC is one of the largest government contact centers in the Gulf region, and it accommodates a large number of government entities and institutions.

SMS Gateway service allows government entities to send notifications to their customers and users through SMS, which provides rich service experience for the customers and increases the efficiency of e-services. The SMS Gateway provides a two-way SMS (send/receive); sending bulk SMS; creating queue messages; developing priority SMS.

The SMS Gateway delivers benefits like increased effi-ciency of government services; quick and easy integration approach through standard protocols and reduced cost and efforts for government entities by providing a plug-and-play SMS gateway.

IRFAN BUKHARI THE PENINSULA

Medical aid from QatarA photo shows the arrival of the second plane that Qatar sent to Lebanon with medical supplies to help treat those injured by explosion at Beirut Port. The Embassy of Qatar in Lebanon shared pictures on its official Twitter account yesterday.

292 recover as 287 new virus cases recorded

FROM PAGE 1

The Ministry has also said that Qatar has one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates in the world, as a result of, Qatar’s young population, proactive testing to identify cases early, expanding hospital capacity, especially intensive care to ensure all patients receive the medical care they need, protecting the elderly and those with chronic diseases.

However the Ministry has emphasized on the importance of taking precautions against COVID-19.

“Even though restrictions are being lifted, and numbers are declining, this does not mean that the COVID-19 pan-demic is finished in Qatar – every day between 50 and 100 people are admitted to hospital with moderate to severe COVID-19 symptoms,” the Ministry said.

“Unless we follow all pre-cautionary measures, we may experience a second wave of the virus and see numbers increasing – there are already signs of this happening in other countries around the world. Now more than ever, we must be careful and p r o t e c t t h e m o s t vulnerable.”

RACA launches

fundraising for

Lebanon aidFROM PAGE 1

QRCS urged people to con-tribute to this humanitarian campaign, by donating via QRCS’s website (www.qrcs.org.qa), donor service line (66666364), or home collector service (33998898).

QRCS also already acti-vated its Disaster Management Center to outline an immediate humanitarian intervention plan in response to the huge explosion in Beirut, Lebanon.

QA resumes flights to two more African destinations

FROM PAGE 1

A modified service that reduces interactions between passengers and the crew inflight has also been intro-duced. The airline has also introduced disposable face shields for adults and children.

03FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2020 HOME / MIDDLE EAST

Book by NU-Q professor focuses on Islam in AfricaTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

A new book by Zachary Wright explores eighteenth-century Islamic scholarship in North Africa, with particular focus on the founding of Africa’s largest Sufi order, the Tijaniyya.

Realizing Islam: The Tijaniyya in North Africa and the Eighteenth-Century Muslim World argues that Muslim scholars from India to West Africa shared in intellectual debates and exchanges, collectively motivated by the desire to verify the foundations of law, theology , and mysticism.

But local contexts dic-tated that Islamic revivalist thinkers went about this project of verification in divergent ways.

Wright, a scholar of Islam in Africa, has written and taught extensively on the history of Muslim soci-eties in the African con-tinent, Islamic intellectual history and learning prac-tices in West and North Africa, and Islamic renewal in the Middle East and North African region from the 18th century.

His latest book takes his research further, he said, by drawing connect ions between “Muslim commu-nities in the Arab world and those in sub-Saharan Africa,” an observation that he claims, refutes the notion that the Sahara desert was a barrier rendering sub-Saharan Africa intellectually peripheral to the rest of the Muslim world.

The book also provides an analysis of the Sufi thought within the Tijaniyya, tracing its origins and devel-opment throughout the late 18th century and analyzing scholarly work and ideas that emerged as the order spread in Africa and around the world.

“My book delves into the intellectual history of Islam in Africa and suggests that the reception of the Tijaniyya in sub-Saharan Africa can be explained by the fact that black African Muslim scholars prefigured most of the key ideas asso-ciated with the doctrine of “Muhammadan Sufism” (tariqa Muhamadiyya) so central to the revivalism of Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani,” Wright said.

Realizing Islam: The

Tijaniyya in North Africa and the Eighteenth-Century Muslim World is being pub-lished by the University of North Carolina Press. An early review by Publisher’s Weekly said that it was a “…thorough work [that] shines light on a little-known example of the diversity, vitality, and worldwide scope of Islamic knowledge and Muslim communities.”

Earlier this year, Wright presented his research at the “Program of African Studies, Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa” on the Northwestern home campus. He gave a lecture on “Intellectual Networks and Islamic Realization in 18th Century North Africa,” and shared insights in Islamic intellectual history and Islam in Africa.

He has also presented research related to this book at the Harvard Divinity School, Georgetown Univer-sity’s Center for Muslim-Christian understanding, NYU-Abu Dhabi’s Arab Crossroads program, and HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies.

Wright is an associate professor in residence at NU-Q, with joint appoint-ments in history and reli-gious studies.

He earned his Ph.D. from Northwestern University, with a dissertation focusing on the history of Islamic knowledge transmission in West Africa. Wright’s work has focused primarily on Islamic learning and Sufism in West Africa. His other book publications include Jihad of the Pen: the Sufi Lit-erature in West Africa (AUC P r e s s ) , a n d L i v i n g Knowledge in West African Islam (Brill).

Zachary Wright, associate professor in residence at Northwestern Qatar

PHCC warns of the dangers of smoking during COVID-19THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Primary Health Care Centre (PHCC) has cautioned of the harmful effects of smoking during the COVID-19 pandemic, in light of preliminary and ongoing research that suggests that all tobacco use could result in life-threatening complica-tions for smokers who become infected.

Dr. Mohammed Al Otaibi, Senior Family Medicine Con-sultant at PHCC’s Leabaib Health Center, said the research conducted brought to the fore a number of important ques-tions with regards to smoking and its association with COVID-19. “When we speak of smoking, we mean all forms of tobacco use. Many questions come to mind. Does smoking have anything to do with the spread of COVID–19? Does it have any association with the complications and the severity of the disease, or its recovery?”

Dr. Al Otaibi said that shisha and the actions taken to smoke it could be a contrib-uting factor to the spread of the disease, as sharing the tube and the oral piece of the shisha could lead to the trans-mission of infectious diseases. Additionally, the humidity in the shisha and the tube might provide a fertile environment for germs to stay outside the body for a longer period of time. Settings such as cafes and social gatherings where shisha is generally available, and the proximity of one person to another in these environments, could also

increase the danger of catching coronavirus.

If infected, a smoker’s per-sistent cough might contribute to the spread of the virus, while a cigarette smoker was more likely to touch their mouth with their fingers, which exposed them to risk of infection through contaminated hands.

It has been reported that 20 percent of people infected with coronavirus need to go to the hospital, and 5 percent need intensive care. The disease leads to death in between one and five percent of those infected, spurring on researchers to try to pinpoint the risk factors that make some people more vul-nerable to severe infection and complications than others.

Several factors have been found, the most important of which is age, as older persons are at higher risk of severe illness and death due to infection. Other risk factors

include persons with cardiovas-cular disease; diabetes; high blood pressure; cancer; chronic lung disease; respiratory failure; kidney failure; and general immunodeficiency.

A study in China, mean-while, found that smokers were 14 times more likely than non-smokers to develop pneumonia, and more susceptible to con-tracting severe diseases.

This came as no surprise to Dr. Al Otaibi. “It has been proven that viral and bacterial respiratory infections in smokers are more severe than an average person, and can last longer. Smokers contracting the coronavirus are also more vul-nerable than non-smokers to complications that can result in death. This is due to the virus mainly attacking the lungs, which are weakened by smoking, and affected lungs can be more easily damaged,” explained Dr. Al Otaibi.

“Moreover, smoking weakens the immune system, and leads to cardiovascular dis-eases and high blood pressure, which are all risk factors that can cause the coronavirus to be severe and life-threatening.”

After quitting smoking, a person’s heart and lung func-tions begin to improve directly, leading to milder infection, better response, and faster improvement in case of infection, as well as reducing the risk of dying from the disease.

It is necessary to raise public awareness of the health risks of smoking, according to PHCC, and to take the necessary precautions to prevent the disease from spreading if infected with the coronavirus. These preventative measures include staying at home and washing hands regularly, among other COVID-19 health guidelines.

Dr. Al Otaibi advised smokers to take an immediate decision to quit smoking, as it was not known how long the COVID-19 pandemic would last and to what extent it would spread.

He said: “The current situ-ation could be a positive factor to quit successfully, change daily routines, and avoid gath-erings and places that encourage smoking.

“Once a decision is made, regardless of the circumstances, it needs determination to stay on course. You are the owner of your well-being. Make a life-style change - the time is right to do so.”

Dr. Al Otaibi said that shisha and the actions taken to smoke it could be a contributing factor to the spread of the disease, as sharing the tube and the oral piece of the shisha could lead to the transmission of infectious diseases.

UN rights chief decries attacks on press in YemenAFP — GENEVA

The UN human rights chief said yesterday that journalists were under attack from all sides in Yemen, citing killings, disappear-ances and death sentences.

Michelle Bachelet (pictured) , the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged all parties to the conflict in Yemen to release detained journalists.

The war-torn country is gripped by what the UN calls the world’s worst human-itarian crisis.

“Those responsible for reporting on the atrocities committed during the armed con-flict and the accompanying pain and suf-fering endured by civilians are themselves being targeted,” said Bachelet.

“Journalists are under attack from all quarters. They are killed, beaten and dis-appeared; they are harassed and threatened; and they are jailed and sen-tenced to death for merely trying to shine a light on the brutality of this crisis.”

Since the start of the conflict in March 2015, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has documented 357 human rights viola-tions and abuses against journalists,

including 28 killings, two enforced disap-pearances and one abduction, not to mention numerous assaults, arrests and death threats.

OHCHR said that since April this year, it had documented one assassination, one abduction, three cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, the sentencing of four jour-nalists to death in violation of international human rights law and jailing of six others, three physical assaults and threats of

physical violence.The four journalists sentenced to death

have been held in detention for five years, during which they have been denied family visits, access to their lawyer and healthcare, said OHCHR.

“They were also reportedly tortured and subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” the office said.

Bachelet noted the killing of Nabil Hasan Al Quaety, a Yemeni journalist who contributed to AFP, in the southern city of Aden on June 2.

The former Chilean president called on all parties involved in the conflict in Yemen to release detained journalists, and to inves-tigate and punish those responsible for attacks and threats against journalists.

Yemen’s war between Iran-backed Huthi rebels and pro-government troops escalated in March 2015, when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened against the rebels who control large parts of Yemen including the capital Sana'a.

Tens of thousands have been killed, an estimated four million displaced and 80 percent of the country’s 29 million people are dependent on aid for survival.

World Bank to grant $30m to PalestineANATOLIA — RAMALLAH

The Palestinian Finance Ministry finalised yesterday a $30m grant agreement with World Bank for vulnerable citizens affected by the coro-navirus pandemic.

The agreement was signed in Ramallah at the Prime Min-istry headquarters between Finance Minister Shukri Bishara and World Bank Group’s

representative in West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the agreement was “important,” and that $6 million will be allocated for families in need via the Social Development Ministry.

He said $13.9 million will be earmarked for laborers through the Labor Ministry.

Some 68,000 workers, ren-dered jobless due to the virus

outbreak, will benefit from the financial assistance.

Meanwhile, the premier added that $10 million will be allotted to the temporary employment program, which will be imple-mented by 10 Palestinian institu-tions to serve 3,100 families.

The total number of COVID-19 infections in Pal-estine has reached 17,434, including 92 deaths and 8,417 recoveries.

Palestinian workers wearing a protective face mask sanitise a United Nations-run school before a new academic year starts, amid concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Gaza City, yesterday.

Iraqi religious bodies house patients instead of pilgrims to help fight virusREUTERS — KERBALA

The holy Shia city of Kerbala, which used to host pilgrims from all around the world, is now quar-antining dozens of COVID-19 patients in apartment buildings owned by Imam Hussein shrine, one of Iraq’s most powerful religious authorities.

The shrine has also built 10 medical centres across the country and aims to build 10 more, to be put permanently at the disposal of the health ministry, adding 2,000 beds to the country’s total capacity, said an official at the shrine.

Iraq is increasingly relying on religious authorities to support its battered healthcare system as hospitals grapple with an influx of coronavirus patients and a shortage of supplies.

Decades of chronic underinvestment, cor-ruption and war have left the public health sector of Iraq, dependent on donations.

A health ministry spokesman was not imme-diately available for comment.

The shrine, headquartered in the city of Kerbala, is one of several Shi’ite organizations in Iraq that are helping out.

Financially powerful and with a large degree of autonomy, religious authorities have been building clinics, importing medical gear and distributing oxygen over the past few months.

“When we see that the services available are not sufficient, we have to step in”, said Afdhal al-Shammi a senior official at the Imam Hussein Shrine.

Their primary mission consists in

managing Islamic endowments — shrines and mosques - with a big part of their financing coming from pilgrims’ and philanthropists’ donations.

Iraq is seeing new infections rise by about 3000 a day, according to figures from the health ministry, with a total of nearly 140,000 cases. It has seen more than 5,000 deaths.

In the holy shi’ite city of Najaf where cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is based, his social care foundation is helping out.

“Today, not only in Najaf, but in Iraq in general, we lack good infrastructure, hospital beds, hospitals, specialised clinics,” the director general of Najaf’s health directorate, Radwan Kamel Al Kindi said.

Private companies are also getting involved, such as through the building of the country’s first drive-in coronavirus testing centre in Najaf which health authorities now run. It offers testing for free.

Iraq is increasingly relying on religious authorities to support its battered healthcare system as hospitals grapple with an influx of coronavirus patients and a shortage of supplies. Decades of chronic underinvestment, corruption and war have left the public health sector of Iraq, dependent on donations.

04 FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

BLOOMBERG — HARARE

South Africa’s government said it had noted with concern reports of human-rights viola-tions in Zimbabwe, where an economic meltdown has trig-gered widespread discontent.

Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s international relations minister, discussed the matter with Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo by phone on Tuesday, Pandor’s department said on Twitter yesterday.

South Africa is intent on maintaining peace and stability in the region and is willing to assist its neighbor address its challenges, the department said.

Zimbabwe is facing shortages of fuel and food, a 737 percent inflation rate and a col-lapse in the value of the local currency that has spurred demands by teachers, bankers and health-care workers to be paid in US dollars.

Human rights groups allege the government has used measures that were ostensibly imposed to curb the spread of

the coronavirus to quash political dissent and prevent street protests. At least 60 people, including novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga, were arrested across the country last week, according to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

President Emmerson Mnan-gagwa said in a national address on Monday that there were “dark forces” within and outside the country undermining the economic recovery.

While the US, the UK and other Western nations have been stinging in their criticism

of Zimbabwe, South Africa’s government has traditionally refrained from criticising its neighbor, a long-standing political ally, or involving itself in its internal politics.

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress also signaled a departure from its usual hands-off approach, with its Secretary-General Ace Magashule announcing that the party will hold a special session to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe.

“We see what is happening in Zimbabwe,” Magashule told the Johannesburg-based

broadcaster eNCA in an interview yesterday. “The pres-ident is interacting with the president of Zimbabwe, worried about what is taking place there and it will have a spillover to South Africa.”

Zimbabwean authorities have downplayed the recent upheaval.

“To set the record straight, there is no crisis or implosion in Zimbabwe, neither has there been any abduction or war on citizens,” Nick Mangwana, the government spokesman, said in an emailed statement.

South Africa raises red flag over Zimbabwe rights abuses reports

Iran says US, Israel are nuclear ‘threat’ to regionAFP — TEHRAN

Iran’s foreign minister said yesterday that the US and its ally Israel constitute a nuclear threat to the Middle East, on the 75th anniversary of the atomic attack on Hiroshima.

“Today, US & Israeli nukes threaten our region,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.

The first atomic bomb deployed in warfare was dropped on the western city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the US B-29 bomber Enola Gay, killing about 140,000 people.

“75 years ago today, the US gained the infamy of becoming the 1st and ONLY user of nuclear weapons. And against innocents,” Zarif said.

Israel is believed to be the Middle East’s sole nuclear-armed power, though it has never acknowledged it.

Zarif’s words come in a context of tensions between Tehran and Washington, which unilaterally pulled out of a mul-tilateral nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

The US and Israel accuse Iran of being set on developing a nuclear bomb, a charge always denied by Tehran.

Iran and the US came to the brink of direct confrontation in January, when a US drone strike killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Iraq.

“It’s long overdue to end the nuclear nightmare & the MAD doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction,” Zarif added, alluding to a Cold War theory that the threat of a nuclear hol-ocaust generates a disincentive for two nuclear armed powers to go to war.

Washington and Tehran have had no formal diplomatic relations since 1980.

New restrictions as virus cases surge in TurkeyBLOOMBERG — ANKARA

A surge in coronavirus cases has prompted the Turkish government to debate new restrictions, including changes to the school calendar.

Since the Muslim holiday of Eid al Adha earlier in August, the outbreak has spread fast in major cities including Ankara, Konya, Sanliurfa and Bursa, according to Health Ministry data. Over the past few weeks, health authorities have been warning that citizens are acting as if the threat has disappeared, and daily new cases surpassed 1,000 for the first time in about a month on Tuesday.

School openings, currently scheduled for August 31, may

vary by province, an official said yesterday, speaking on customary condition of ano-nymity. Among the options being discussed are online lessons, a full opening or a hybrid, the official said. In the central Anatolian province of Konya, authorities have scrapped a plan to open private schools on August 15.

A normal start to the school year would be “out of the question in some provinces,” said Serap Simsek Yavuz, a member of the government-led Science Board. The nation may “lose control” of developments given the sharp rise in cases, she said.

While ruling out city-wide curfews, the government is dis-cussing restrictions on

movement or limiting social interaction in certain districts, another official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the plans aren’t finalized yet. The Health Ministry has strongly urged provincial gov-ernors to exercise their author-ities, the official said.

Mehmet Ceyhan, a pro-fessor and expert on child infections at Hacettepe Uni-versity in Ankara, said the gov-ernment should prioritize lim-iting intercity travel. Other measures should include stag-gering work hours, providing safe areas for senior citizens and renewing its testing plan. “It’s not easy to re-introduce curfews or shut down busi-nesses,” Ceyhan said.

Turkish police officers and paramedics inspect a shop as new measures are enforced to fight against COVID-19, in Ankara, yesterday.

Ebola cases in DR Congo rise to 74ANATOLIA — YAOUNDE

At least 74 Ebola virus cases have been recorded in the latest outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the World Health Organization announced yesterday.

So far there are 74 cases, with 70 confirmed and four probable, 32 deaths and 28 recoveries from the 11th Ebola virus outbreak in Mbandaka, Equateur province, the WHO

African Region tweeted.For several months, the

DRC has been battling with several diseasing including, Cholera, Ebola, Measles.

Last month, the WHO office in the Central African country said that a total of 12,959 people have been vaccinated since the start of the 11th Ebola outbreak in early June.

Around one million people have also been vaccinated against cholera in a five-day

campaign that was launched in DRC’s South Kivu province late last month.

The WHO had also expressed concern over the 111th Ebola outbreak. The UN health agency said it deployed over 70 experts in the DRC to support it in its fight against the virus.

The WHO and the DRC gov-ernment in June declared the country free from the 10th outbreak.

Algeria warns of ‘new Somalia’ if Libyan tribes armed

ANATOLIA – ALGIERS

The Algerian army yesterday warned that if Libyan tribes are armed during the country’s current crisis, this could turn Libya into a “new Somalia.”

“The new situation today on the ground [in Libya] is more dangerous than anyone could imagine, and the reper-cussions of a proxy war planned by some parties to be implemented in Libya would have disastrous consequences on countries of the region,” Algeria’s Army Magazine said in its August issue.

The magazine reiterated a warning by Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune that Libya could become a “new Somalia,” referring to the 1991 civil war in the Horn of Africa country.

The magazine stressed the importance of reaching a political solution via dialogue between Libya’s warring parties.

In mid-July, Egyptian Pres-ident Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with a group of Libyan tribesmen who reportedly said they mandated the Egyptian military to intervene in Libya to “protect Libya’s sovereignty.”

Sisi told the tribesmen that Egypt would “not stand aside” in the face of increasing military mobili-zation near the city of Sirte in northern Libya.

Al Sisi’s call to arm the Libyan tribes in favor of warlord Khalifa Haftar against Libya’s UN-recognised gov-ernment drew widespread criticism inside Libya.

Macron promises to help mobilise aid for Lebanon after massive explosionREUTERS — BEIRUT

French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday promised aid to blast-stricken Lebanon but reassured angry citizens reeling from a lethal explosion that killed 145 people that no blank cheques will be given to its leaders unless they enact reforms.

Speaking at a news con-ference at the end of a dramatic visit to Beirut, Macron called for an international inquiry into the devastating explosion that gen-erated a seismic shock felt across the region, saying it was an urgent signal to carry out anti-corruption reforms demanded by a furious population.

Dozens are still missing after Tuesday's explosion at the port that injured 5,000 people and left up to 250,000 without habitable homes, hammering a nation already staggering from economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus cases.

A security source said the death toll had reached 145, and officials said the figure was likely to rise.

Macron, paying the first visit by a foreign leader since the explosion, promised to help organise international aid. But he said a fully transparent inter-national investigation into the blast was needed, and that the Lebanese government must implement economic reforms and curb corruption.

“If reforms are not carried

out, Lebanon will continue to sink,” Macron said after being met at the airport by Lebanese President Michel Aoun. "What is also needed here is political change. This explosion should be the start of a new era.”

He told reporters later in Beirut that an audit was needed on the Lebanese central bank, among other urgent changes, and that the World Bank and United Nations would play a role in any Lebanese reforms.

“If there is no audit of the central bank, in a few months there will be no more imports and then there will be lack of fuel and of food,” said Macron.

Earlier, wearing a black tie in mourning, Macron toured the blast site and Beirut's shattered streets where angry crowds demanded an end to a "regime" of Lebanese politicians they blame for corruption and dragging Lebanon into disaster.

“I guarantee you, this (reconstruction) aid will not go to corrupt hands,” Macron told the throngs who greeted him.

“I see the emotion on your face, the sadness, the pain. This is why I’m here,” he told one group, pledging to deliver “home truths" to Lebanon's

leaders.He told reporters later at the

French ambassador's residence, where a French general declared the creation of the state of Lebanon exactly 100 years ago, Macron said it was no longer up to France to tell Lebanese leaders what to do.

But he said he could apply “pressure”, adding: “This morning, many people told me, ‘Bring back the mandate’. In a way you are asking me to be the guarantor of the emergence of a democratic revolution," he said. “But a revolution cannot be invited, the people will decide. Do not ask France to not respect your sovereignty.”

The government's failure to tackle a runaway budget, mounting debt and endemic corruption has prompted Western donors to demand

reform. Gulf Arab states who once helped Lebanon have baulked at bailing out a nation they say is increasingly influ-enced by their rival Iran and its local ally Hezbollah.

One man on the street told Macron: “We hope this aid will go to the Lebanese people not the corrupt leaders.” Another said that, while a French pres-ident had taken time to visit them, Lebanon's president had not.

At the port, destroyed by Tuesday's giant mushroom cloud and fireball, families sought news about the missing, amid mounting public anger at the authorities for allowing huge quantities of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, used in making fertilisers and bombs, to be stored there for years in unsafe conditions.

Iraq to list all hazardous materials after Beirut blastAFP — BAGHDAD

Iraq announced yesterday that it will create an inventory of all hazardous materials at ports and airports after the ignition of ammonium nitrate fertiliser at a portside ware-house levelled swathes of Beirut.

An emergency committee chaired by the head of Iraq’s border agency said it had been tasked with carrying out the work and had given itself 72 hours to complete it.

The goal was to “avoid any repetition of what hap-pened in Lebanon” in Iraq, the panel said.

The huge blast that c a u s e d w i d e s p r e a d destruction across the Leb-anese capital on Tuesday was

triggered by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser that had been stored in the city’s port for years.

A security official said on condition of anonymity the ammonium nitrate had arrived in Lebanon in 2013 on board a Moldovan-flagged ship sailing from Georgia and bound for Mozambique.

Port authorities unloaded the ammonium nitrate and stored it in a rundown ware-house with cracks in its walls, several security officials said.

Security forces launched an investigation in 2019 after the warehouse reportedly started to exude a strange odour, and concluded that the “dangerous” chemicals should be removed, but no action was taken.

French President Emmanuel Macron (centre), surrounded by Lebanese servicemen, visits the devastated site of the Tuesday explosion at the port of Beirut, yesterday.

Macron said a fully transparent international investigation into the blast was needed, and the Lebanese government must implement economic reforms and curb corruption.

The etiquettes of settlement

05FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2020 ISLAM

The virtue of reconciling peopleR

econciling people is among the great noble morals. The Sharia urged it in more than one occasion as Allah Almighty says (what

means): {So fear Allah and amend that which is between you.} [Quran 8: 1]

The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Sadaqa (i.e. charity) is due on every joint of a person every day the sun rises. Administering of justice between two men is also a sadaqa. Assisting a man to ride upon his riding animal, or helping him load his luggage upon it is a sadaqa; A good word is a sadaqa; every step that you take towards prayer is a sadaqa, and removing harmful objects from the pathway is a sadaqa. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim; this is the wording of Al-Bukhari.]

Due to the importance of this virtue, Islam assigned one of the dis-bursement channels of Zakah for those who seek to reconcile people.

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said: “The best charity is to reconcile between people.” [At-Tabarani in Al-Mu‘jam Al-Kabeer]

Reconciling people is a branch of faith and an Islamic moral code through which grudges are eliminated, hearts are purified, and flames of fitnah are extinguished. Allah Almighty said – about this quality – (what means): {No good is there in much of their private conversation, except for those who enjoin charity or that which is right or conciliation between people. And whoever does that seeking means to the approval of Allah – then We are going to give him a great reward.} [Quran 4: 114]

Islam urges the believer to regard ‘reconciling people’ as one of his most important aims in his worldly life, as it is through reconciliation that the Ummah becomes a coherent unit where one part thereof seeks to amend the other part.

Thus, it becomes like a single body; if one organ of it complains, the rest of the body suffers sleeplessness and fever. Neglecting this matter leads to the disintegration of the Ummah and the severance of its ties.

That is why Islam considered rec-onciling people better than many acts of worship. The Prophet (PBUH) said: “Should I not tell you what is better in degree than prayer, fasting, and charity.” They (the companions) said: “Yes.” He said: “Reconciling people, for grudges and disputes are the razor (that shaves faith).” [Ahmad, Abu Dawood,

and At-Tirmithi: good-authentic] Reconciliation should be realized

by bridging the gaps that occurred because of disputes and conflicts over worldly affairs and by removing their bad effects.

Some scholars maintain that the prayer, the fasting, and the charities that are mentioned in the hadith refer to the voluntary, not the obligatory.

Al-Qari (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: Allah Almighty knows best about the intended meaning. However, it could mean that bringing reconciliation to conflicts and disputes that might lead to shedding blood, plundering money, and violating sanc-tities is better than fulfilling obligatory acts of worship whose benefits do not extend to others, taking the possibility of making up for them, in case they are missed, into consideration. This is so because such acts of worship are among the Rights of Allah Almighty that are less significant in His sight than the rights of the slaves.

As regards his saying, “Grudges and disputes are the razor,” the author of An-Nihayah said: “ ‘The razor’ refers to such a bad quality that removes faith, just like a razor removes hair. It was also said that it refers to severing ties of kinship and injustice.”

At-Teebi (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: The hadith urges recon-ciling people and avoiding corrupting relations between them, because recon-ciliation is a reason for holding firm to the rope of Allah Almighty and avoiding disunity between the Muslims, whereas disputes are a crack in the religion. Whoever seeks to amend the relations between the Muslims and removes the corruption thereof will attain a degree that is greater than that of the fasting person who observes night prayers and is preoccupied with his own benefit only.

From the sum of these hadiths, we reach an important result, which is that our great religion aspires for reconcili-ation and seeks for it. Allah Almighty informed us that settlement of disagree-ments is best. Allah Almighty says (what means): {…there is no sin upon them if they make terms of settlement between them – and settlement is best.} [Quran 4: 128]

Reconciling people is a great act of worship that Allah Almighty loves. The one who seeks to reconcile people is the one who offers his effort, money, authority, and power to reconcile the dis-puting parties. He is a person whose soul loves goodness and yearns for it. He does not care about the people’s opinions or criticism as long as he seeks the pleasure of Allah Almighty. He exposes himself to

embarrassing situations and shares the concerns of his Muslim brothers in order to reconcile two persons.

Many are those homes which were about to collapse because of a simple dispute between the spouses. Then, when a person interfered seeking rec-onciliation between them by means of a good word, a sincere advice, or some-times a sum of money, he restored peacefulness between them and saved the family from loss and destitution? How many ruptures of relations were about to occur between two brothers, friends or relatives because of a mistake or a minor error, but then a person succeeded in reconciling them.

How many lives and properties were saved and satanic temptations were suppressed after they were about to start thanks to the favor of Allah Almighty and then to those good people who reconcile others! Con-gratulations, O Muslims, to those who were guided by Allah Almighty to

Optimal ways of attaining inner tranquility and serenity

This life is not our eternal dwelling but a short-lived and ephemeral abode. A person is destined to

face sundry pains, suffering, hardships and sorrows in this transient life, as there are many reasons that lead to boredom, dullness, irritation and anxiety.

Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {We have cer-tainly created man into hardship.} [Quran 90:4]

Indeed, everyone faces suf-fering and hardships in their lives. Misery and adversities are inherently characteristic of this ephemeral life. However, what distinguishes people in this regard is the way they handle their suffering and hardship and the methods and strategies they employ to deal with the reasons for their dullness, irritation, and anxiety.

Despite all the available con-veniences, luxuries, and amen-ities that we enjoy today, and although we possess all that we need in order to relish a com-fortable life and worldly bliss, boredom and anxiety is still growing among people! This

should drive all those who seek happiness to start looking for the real reasons that help one attain happiness, inner tranquility and serenity, peace of mind, stability, and to find ways to eradicate all traces of boredom and anxiety.

Undoubtedly, among the best methods of gaining inner tranquility and serenity and helping one to endure hardships and calamities are:

1- Sincere faith and righteous deeds: Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while

he is a believer – We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do.} [Quran 16:97]

2- Adapting one’s heart and preparing oneself mentally to endure unfavorable situations, adversities and calamities makes it easy for one to face them. It also lessens and diminishes their intensity and severity, and helps one to move on and endure whatever happens to him. On the other hand, if one expects only good and favorable results in all

his worldly affairs, this feeling can actually incur many crises and hardships.

3- One should give up all illusions and phobias, as giving in to them is one of the greatest reasons for feelings of embit-terment in this life. Indeed, one of the well-known phobias that many people experience is the fear of the future and of the unknown. People tend to occupy themselves with antic-ipating their future and are neck-deep in their plans and concerns, instead of living in the present. Accordingly, this results

in missing the opportunity to rectify one’s present because of the concerns and fears for a tomorrow that he may not even live through.

Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {... And more appropriate for them [would have been]* Obedience and good words. And when the matter [of fighting] was determined, if they had been true to Allah, it would have been better for them.} [Quran 47:20-21] One should not give in to such illusions and phobias; instead, one should put his trust in Allah, the Exalted,

turning only to Him. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And upon Allah rely, if you should be believers.} [Quran 5:23]

4- One should not give too much weight to troubles, exag-gerate one’s problems and make a mountain out of a molehill, since this creates unnecessary anxiety and confusion. This is also the reason behind absentmind-edness and distraction, causing one to be lost and engrossed in endless problems that crop up one after the other, creating a vicious cycle.

5- One should bear in mind that hardships and calamities, no matter how long they last, will soon come to an end – they are ephemeral, like life itself. No one maintains the same living conditions all through; change is a norm in this life. Indeed, such conviction makes one full of hope and helps one to endure adversities and tribulations. Patience helps one to overcome any difficulty and is the best of all blessings.

6- One should remember Allah The Almighty all the time.

www.islamweb.net

The one who seeks reconciliation should keep the etiquettes of settlement in mind so that Allah Almighty supports him and so that he receives the fruits of his endeavour. The greatest of these eti-

quettes include: 1- He should make his intention sincere for the sake of

Allah Almighty. He should not intend money, prestige, osten-tation, or fame with the reconciliation, but he should seek the countenance of Allah Almighty, Who says (what means): {And whoever does that seeking means to the approval of Allah – then We are going to give him a great reward.} [Quran 4: 114] 2- He should adhere to justice and completely avoid injustice. {Then make settlement between them in justice and act justly. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.} [Quran 49: 9]

3- Let your conciliation be based upon Sharia knowledge. It is preferable that you consult scholars in

this regard, study the issue from all its sides, and listen to each of the parties.

4- Do not be rash in your judgment and take your time because hastiness may lead to corrupting more than what has been amended.

5- You should choose the appropriate time for recon-ciling between the conflicting parties. That is to say that you only start the reconciliation when the issue becomes cool, the severity of the dispute is alleviated, and the fire of anger is extinguished; then you start to reconcile them.

6- What is more important also is using nice words, you should say: “O father of so-and-so, you are known for such-and-such.” You should mention his merits and good deeds and you may exaggerate even to the point of lying; then warn him against grudges and disputes.

www.islamweb.net

reconcile two opponents, spouses, neighbours, friends, partners, or groups. What further indicates the great virtue of reconciling people is that Islam allows lying to reconcile quar-reling people. The intended meaning of lying here is to exaggerate in describing and confirming the good aspects of the other party so as to rec-oncile hearts and to assert that such a dispute was not intentional.

The Prophet (PBUH) said: “The one who reconciles people is not con-sidered a liar if he exaggerates what is good or says what is good.” [Ahmad]

We have to realize that we are human beings and that disputes breaking up among us is something normal. Rare are those people who are safe from dis-agreement. It might occur between you and your brother, relative, spouse, or friend… This happens often. So, we have to rid ourselves of this by reconciliation, shaking hands, forgiveness, conde-scendence, love, and brotherhood so that everything becomes alright again.

Al-Awza‘i (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “There is no step that is dearer to Allah Almighty than a step towards reconciling people. Whoever reconciles two people, Allah Almighty will grant him safety from Hellfire.”

O my loved ones for the sake of Allah, the Exalted! Someone may say: ‘I want to go to so-and-so to reconcile, but I fear that he rejects me, refuses to receive me, or depreciates my visit!’

I tell you: Remember that your Prophet (PBUH) is telling you: ‘Go to him even if he dismisses you or talks badly about you. Go to him once, twice, and thrice and hasten to give him a present, smile at him, and treat him nicely.’

The Prophet (PBUH) said: “Allah Almighty augments the honor of he who forgives.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

If you pardon, Allah Almighty will increase your honor; if you reconcile people, Allah Almighty will increase your honor. If you were expelled or the door was not opened for you and you returned, then know that this is one of the wishes of the predecessors of the Ummah because it is proof of the purity of the heart since Allah, the Exalted, says (what means): {And if it is said to you, “Go back,” then go back; it is purer for you.} [Quran 24: 28]

So, take care of this, O believer, and do not leave for Satan a way to yourself.

Try reconciliation today. Call the one who is disputing with you and treat him nicely. Perhaps this call might be a reason, after the mercy of Allah Almighty, for forgiving your sins: {Would you not like that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.} [Quran 24: 22]

Go to him. There are people who went to sit with their opponents for only fifteen or thirty minutes, but they ended up sitting for long hours because of the great happiness, comfort, famil-iarity, and love they felt.

Try to be the one who takes the ini-tiative of reconciliation and do not let Satan’s whisper overcome you.

The Prophet (PBUH) said: “It is unlawful for a Muslim to forsake his fellow Muslim for more than three con-secutive days. When they meet, each of them turns his face away from the other. The better one is the one who starts the greeting.” [Ahmad]

O Allah, purify our hearts from grudge, envy, and cheating. O Allah, amend our relations with our relatives. O Allah, amend our relations with our loved ones. O Allah, make life an increase for us in every good and make death a relief for us from every evil with Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the Merciful. www.islamweb.net

06 FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2020ASIA

Sri Lanka polls:Ruling brotherstake early lead

BLOOMBERG — COLOMBO

The brothers ruling Sri Lanka took an early lead in an election that will decide whether President Gotabaya Rajapaksa can push through contentious constitutional changes to restore sweeping exec-utive powers to his office.

Rajapaksa — who has run a minority government since he won a November presidential poll and appointed his brother and former strongman leader Mahinda as the prime minister — wants to win a two-thirds majority in the island’s 225-seat parliament. That will allow him to bolster the role of the presi-dency to give him greater influence over the judiciary, military and bureaucracy.

A constitutional amendment under former Prime Minister Ranil Wickresinghe’s United National Party government had clipped some of those presi-dential powers.

With about five percent of

the polling divisions declared, Gotabaya’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party led by 66.6 percent to 16.2 percent for Sajith Premadasa’s Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, according to state television Rupavahini. Initial returns included postal ballots and polling divisions in the island’s northern Jaffna peninsula and southern Galle and Matara districts.

Gotabaya’s SLPP faced a weakened opposition in this par-liamentary election as Premadasa, his main rival in the presidential poll, broke away from the UNP earlier this year and set up a new party with some of its younger and more progressive members.

“A two-third majority would lead to a president with absolute political power — the greatest concentration we have seen in Sri Lanka — depleting power of the prime minister,” said Dayan Jayatilleka, Sri Lanka’s former permanent representative at the UN. “The hope with a simple

majority is for the functioning of a normal political system.”

Wednesday’s vote was initially set for April 25 after President Rajapaksa called for early elections in March but was postponed twice due to health and safety concerns, resulting in an extended period when a caretaker government made policy decisions.

As defence secretary under Mahinda, Rajapaksa led the campaign to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009. He received strong support from the nation’s majority Sinhala-Buddhists in the presidential polls, while the minority Tamils and Muslims supported Premadasa.

Shortly after his victory,

Rajapaksa announced tax cuts and a moratorium on debt for small businesses in order to kick-start the economy battered by political turmoil since late 2018 and last year’s Easter Sunday terror attacks. The turn-around in fiscal consolidation measures however led to the expiration in June of a $1.5bn International Monetary Fund program without completing disbursements, even as the nation had to contend with a new challenge: the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In terms of policy implica-tions, an SLPP victory will broadly maintain the status quo,” risk consultancy Eurasia

Group said in a note. “Post-election priorities will

include managing the fiscal fallout from the pandemic, with Sri Lanka seeking debt relief from multilateral and bilateral donors, and trying to balance ties with China and India despite growing tensions between the two Asian giants.” The Rajapaksas leaned toward China during Mahinda’s decade as president which ended in 2015.

India and China have con-tinued to jockey for influence on the South Asian island nation, stepping up efforts to help Sri Lanka deal with the pandemic.

Security personnel stand guard outside an election counting centre in Colombo yesterday, a day after Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election.

With 56,282 new COVID-19 cases,India’s tally nears 2 millionIANS — NEW DELHI

With 56,282 new coronavirus cases and 904 deaths in the last 24 hours, the total tally in India rose to 19,64,537 and 40,699 deaths, the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare revealed yesterday.

Currently, 5,95,501 cases are active and 1,328,336 people have recovered from the disease. The recovery rate has reached a new high of 67.19 per cent. In the last 24 hours, 6,64,949 samples have been tested.

Six major states in India

have recorded more than one lakh cases in the last six months since the outbreak of the coro-navirus pandemic. Maharashtra has the highest number of cases, followed by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra remains the worst-hit state with 4,68,265 cases and 16,476 deaths. Tamil Nadu comes in second with 2,73,460 cases and 4,461 deaths.

On the other hand, with the deadly virus spreading rapidly all over the country, there are eight states and union terri-tories - Chandigarh, Dadra and

Nagar Haveli, Ladakh, Mizoram, Arunanchal Pradesh, Meg-halaya, Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar Islands where there are less than 1,000 active cases.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Min-ister of Cooperation ST Somashekar and two Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) legislators — GT Devegowda and Naganagouda Kandkur tested positive for coro-navirus and are under treatment, an official said yesterday.

“Though Somashekar tested positive for COVID-19, he is asymptomatic and quarantined at home in the city.

Melbourne enters Australia’s toughest virus lockdownAFP — MELBOURNE

Australia’s second-largest city entered the country’s toughest lockdown yet yesterday, sparking a fresh wave of anxiety and confusion over ever-tougher regulations.

Melbourne’s streets were visibly quieter as non-essential businesses were forced to shutter under new coronavirus rules expected to be in place for six weeks.

A second lockdown for the state capital of Victoria began in early July but additional reg-ulations came into force over-night, requiring hundreds of thousands more people to stay at home.

Residents are still allowed to go out during the daytime for exercise and food, or for work if their business is deemed essential.

Prime Minister Scott Mor-rison warned the latest lockdown would cost the Aus-tralian economy up to US$9 billion and push the unem-ployment rate back to 13 percent after a slight recovery.

He also said additional mental health support would be rolled out for Australians “working through the stress, and anxiety and strain” of lockdowns.

“Not being able to connect with friends and loved ones, concerns about employment,

all of this takes a toll,” Morrison said.

While the rest of Australia continues to see only a handful of new infections daily, Mel-bourne — with its population of around five million — is still recording hundreds per day.

On Wednesday Australia saw its deadliest day of the pan-demic to date, with 15 corona-virus deaths and a record 725 new cases in Victoria alone.

“While it’s frustrating that Victoria’s numbers have not trended downwards, it’s also true the state has successfully avoided the kind of exponential increase in cases seen in many other countries,” said Erin Smith, an emergency response

expert at Edith Cowan University.

She added that daily sta-tistics were yet to reflect the introduction of a curfew and other measures earlier this week.

Wave after wave of new rules and a myriad of excep-tions to keep key parts of the economy open have left many confused about what they can do and when they can do it.

Lengthy daily television appearances by Victoria’s state premier have featured detailed explanations about staffing at construction sites above three storeys being cut to 25 percent, or staffing limits for red-meat abattoirs

versus poultry abattoirs.While most residents

appear to have heeded warnings and are keen for the lockdown to work, the measures have been opposed by some vocal critics.

One group has announced a city centre protest for this Sunday, prompting Victoria police to warn that such a gath-ering would put “lives at risk”.

“This selfish behaviour will absolutely not be tolerated,” officers said, promising a “highly visible presence” around the city, hefty fines and arrests if necessary.

Australia has so far recorded almost 20,000 coronavirus cases and 255 deaths.

Eight COVID-19

patients die in

hospital fire in

western India

REUTERS — AHMEDABAD

Eight COVID-19 patients died in a fire that broke out in the intensive care ward of a private hospital in India’s western city of Ahmedabad early yesterday, officials said as they launched a probe into the incident.

Police stopped angry rel-atives from entering the Shrey Hospital in Gujarat state’s largest city after the tragedy which, according to emer-gency services, was caused by a medical staff member’s per-sonal protective equipment (PPE) catching alight.

“A staffer whose PPE caught fire ran out of the ward to douse it but the fire spread rapidly to the whole ward,” said Rajesh Bhatt, additional chief fire officer of the Ahmedabad Fire and Emer-gency Services.

“Five men and three women, who were undergoing treatment for the novel coro-navirus were not in a position to escape... they died due to smoke and heat caused by the fire,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet said “he was saddened by the tragic hospital fire” in his home state.

In Mumbai, India’s financial capital, hospital staff waded through corridors flooded with rain water to enter wards following tor-rential monsoon season downpours.

India’s coronavirus cases rose has been rising for recent months.

Monsoon rains wreak havoc in Mumbai

A man clears leaves and branches after a tree toppled over a parked car following heavy monsoon rains in Mumbai, yesterday.

Canadian pastor guilty of defying Myanmar’s coronavirus restrictionsAP — YANGON

A court in Myanmar yesterday sentenced the Canadian pastor of an evangelical church to three months imprisonment after finding him guilty of violating a law intended to combat the spread of the coro-navirus.

Myanmar-born David Lah was charged with flouting a ban on large gatherings by holding a religious meeting in Yangon on April 7.

Lah’s lawyer, Aung Kyi Win, said the court had found his client guilty of violating an article in the Natural Dis-aster Management Law because he failed to comply with a directive against gatherings.

The judge credited Lah with time served since he was jailed in May, so it appears he may be released within a couple of weeks.

A Myanmar colleague of Lah, Wai Tun, received the same sentence.

Evidence of Lah’s actions came from video of the event that was posted on social media accounts controlled by him. Videos showed him appearing to violate the ban, which took effect in mid-March, on other occasions as well.

The Toronto-based Lah had pleaded not guilty last month but has not commented pub-licly on his case.

About 50 of Lah’s sup-porters showed up at court yes-terday to lend their support. Those standing at the

courthouse entrance unfurled umbrellas in an effort to thwart the media from taking photos of him.

Lah made his first court appearance in May after being released from quarantine that followed a hospital stay because he had contracted COVID-19. More than 20 of his followers reportedly also tested positive for the coronavirus.

In addition to gatherings, Lah ignited public outrage for his statements in the online videos of his sermons. One video showed him claiming that Christians were immune from contracting the coronavirus.

“I can guarantee if your church is walking the true path, and you have the whole of Christ in your heart, you will not get the disease,” he said in one such remark.

Another clip that drew scorn in predominantly Bud-dhist Myanmar had him saying that the teachings of Buddhist monks are responsible for making people “sinful.”

He was also criticized for making derogatory comments about some community and Islam in other video clips.

The backlash against Lah extended to the country’s Christian community, who make up about six percent of the population, after a photo was circulated online of the country’s Christian vice pres-ident, Henry Van Thio, at a meeting with Lah in early February.

Standoff with

China likely to

be prolonged:

Indian Ministry

IANS — NEW DELHI

The present stand-off with China is likely to be prolonged, said Defence Ministry in a status report on border tension in Eastern Ladakh. The ministry has put out an update on Chinese aggression on Line of Actual Control on its website.

The report stated that the sit-uation in Eastern Ladakh arising from “unilateral aggression by China continues to be sensitive and requiring close monitoring and prompt action based on evolving situation.”

The ministry stated that Chinese aggression has been increasing along the Line of Actual Control and more par-ticularly in Galwan Valley since May 5, 2020.

The Chinese side trans-gressed in the areas of Kugrang Nala, Gogra and north bank of Pangong Tso lake on May 17 and May 18.

“Consequent to this, ground level interactions were held between armed forces of both sides to defuse the situation. Corps Commander Level Flag Meeting was held on June 6. 2020. However, a violent face-off incident took place between the two sides on June 15, 2O2O resulting in casualties of both sides,” the ministry stated.

It further pointed out that subsequently second Corps Commander Level Meeting took place on June 22, 2020 to discuss modalities of de-esca-lation process.

“While engagement and dialogue at military and diplo-matic level is continuing to arrive at mutually acceptable consensus the present stand-off is likely to be prolonged,” the report stated. The report ended with saying that “prompt action based on evolving situ-ation” should be taken.

The third meeting took place on June 30 and it went on for around 12 hours. During the meeting, all contentious areas of stand-off were discussed to stabilise the situation.

China had agreed to move back in Pangong Tso but did not. India claims Line of Actual Control at Finger 8 and Chinese are sitting between Finger 4 and Finger 5.

With about five percent of the polling divisions declared, Gotabaya’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party led by 66.6 percent to 16.2 percent for Sajith Premadasa’s Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, according to state television.

07FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2020 ASIA

Philippines overtakesIndonesia in virus casesBLOOMBERG — MANILA

Despite imposing the longest, strictest lockdown in Southeast Asia earlier this year, corona-virus cases in the Philippines have now surged to almost 120,000, eclipsing Indonesia to become the region’s biggest outbreak.

The country re-imposed this week a second lockdown on its capital and nearby areas to curb infection spread, even as the economy suffered its deepest contraction on record, shrinking 16.5 percent in the second quarter from a year ago.

It’s yet another example of how the premature easing of restrictions has given the virus an opening to come back even stronger, illustrated by the new waves of infection now sweeping countries in Asia and parts of Europe. In the Philip-pines, the virus’s resurgence was fueled by testing gaffes and failures in quarantine protocol in the face of over 100,000 overseas workers arriving back home after losing their jobs in other countries.

After enduring a strict lockdown from mid-March to the end of May, the Philippines re-opened its capital although new cases were still growing by up to a thousand every day. As people returned to offices and

families gathered again, infec-tions surged 500 percent in over two months of easing before the government re-imposed a lockdown this week.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s government loosened restric-tions too soon, without ensuring that local officials could trace and treat infections, said Anthony Leachon, an internist at the Manila Doctors Hospital. Problems with hospitals’ capacity to accept patients were also recognized too late, he said.

“When we realised it, the cases were too enormous for us to control and at a time when we are short on budget,” said Leachon, a former adviser in the government’s coronavirus task force.

A protracted battle against

the virus will deal another blow to the Philippine economy. Record-high unemployment and a steep decline in money sent home by Filipinos as they’ve lost jobs abroad have weighed on private con-sumption, which drives roughly two-thirds of GDP.

The nation’s virus con-tainment efforts were compli-cated by a deluge of returning overseas workers who had become unemployed due to the pandemic, failures in testing and a lack of qualified health-care professionals.

Officials used rapid test kits, mostly manufactured in China, that promised to deliver results in minutes in an attempt to process the returning overseas workers quickly, but the kits delivered a high proportion of false negatives — allowing infected workers to return home to their families, unwit-tingly spreading the virus.

“The over-reliance on rapid testing, which we know can miss about a third of Covid-pos-itive patients, may have let some asymptomatic carriers through,” said Edsel Salvana, an infectious disease expert from the National Institutes of Health at the University of the Philip-pines Manila. “Though the 14-day quarantine was still in place for incoming travelers,

enforcement was variable.”The Health Department will

no longer use rapid test kits, and the new lockdown will give offi-cials time to trace and treat all clusters of infections through house-to-house checks, said Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday. A Uni-versity of the Philippines study based on government infection data estimated that tighter curbs could prevent up to 70,000 new cases.

But there’s growing evi-dence from other countries fighting resurgences, like Aus-tralia, that second lockdowns are not delivering results due to

people tired of social distancing and unable to endure the further economic hit. In the Philippines, the military and the police have been deployed at checkpoints to enforce movement restrictions.

Still, Duterte’s government is projecting confidence about the outbreak, emphasizing that the health-care system will be now re-inforced by the thou-sands of nurses and doctors returning home who had pre-viously held medical jobs overseas. The tendency for medical workers to go abroad due to poor conditions and bad pay at home had left the local

hospital infrastructure quickly overwhelmed by the pandemic.

The government is seeking to immediately hire 10,000 additional health workers, including those who’ve just returned home, with improved benefits like hazard pay, free life insurance and lodging, Ver-geire said.

“While cases are rising, we are confident they can be con-tained effectively and efficiently during this time,” she said at a virtual briefing Wednesday, adding that the country now has more testing capacity, hospital beds and isolation facilities.

Jeepney drivers with placards reading “sir/mam, asking for help, we are jeepney drivers”, ask for alms on a road, in Manila, yesterday.

China sentences Canadianto death over drug chargeAFP — BEIJING

A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian national to death yesterday in a ruling that could further inflame tensions between China and Canada.

The Guangzhou Interme-diate Court said in a statement it had handed Xu Weihong a death sentence for manufac-turing drugs, and said all his personal property would be confiscated.

According to China’s state-run Global Times, Xu had bought raw materials and tools for drug production in October 2016 and worked with an accomplice, Wen Guanxiong, to make ketamine.

The drugs were made in Wen’s home and stored in Xu’s residence in Guangzhou, with public security officers seizing over 120kg of ketamine from the pair, the report added.

The ruling comes after China sentenced two other Canadians to death on drug trafficking charges last year, and as tensions soar between the two countries on a number of fronts including the arrest of top Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

Beijing has also detained two Canadian nationals, including a former diplomat, on spying charges, in a move widely considered retaliation for Meng’s arrest in Canada.

The United States wants Meng extradited to face trial on charges related to the Chinese telecom equipment maker’s alleged violations of US sanc-tions against Iran.

Yesterday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular briefing that “Chinese judicial organs

handle all criminals of different nationalities according to law”.

Referring to the latest case involving Xu, Wang added: “I don’t think this should have any impact on China-Canada relations.”

Diplomatic relations between Canada and China have deteriorated over China’s arrests and Meng’s case, dam-aging trade between both countries.

Canadian pleas for clemency for its citizens previ-ously sentenced on drug charges, Robert Lloyd Schel-lenberg and Fan Wei, have so far not been successful.

Meanwhile, in June Beijing formally charged the other pair of detained Canadians -- ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor — for spying, in a move that came just weeks after a key ruling in the Meng case.

A Canadian judge had ruled that proceedings to extradite her to the United States will go ahead.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed disap-pointment with the formal charges in June, renewing calls for their release.

Monthly consular visits for Kovrig and Spavor have been suspended since the corona-virus outbreak started in China as well, sparking concerns over their health.

Although China’s foreign ministry insisted the pair were in good health, people familiar with the matter have told AFP they endured hours of interro-gation and in the first six months of detention were forced to sleep with the lights on.

75th anniversary of Hiroshima bombingA volunteer releases paper lanterns on Motoyasu River in front of ruins of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, now commonly known as the atomic bomb dome, in Hiroshima, yesterday. Japan yesterday marked the 75 years since the world’s first atomic bomb attack, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing a scaling back of annual ceremonies to commemorate the victims.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s government loosened restrictions too soon, without ensuring that local officials could trace and treat infections, said Anthony Leachon, an internist at the Manila Doctors Hospital.

Pakistan lifts

virus restrictions

as cases drop

AFP — ISLAMABAD

Pakistan yesterday announced that it would be lifting most of the country’s remaining coro-navirus restrictions after seeing new cases drop for several weeks.

All restaurants and parks will be allowed to re-open from August 10, as will parks, theatres, cinemas and public transport, said Asad Umar, who heads Pakistan’s task force to fight coronavirus.

Pakistan’s situation has improved significantly com-pared to other countries in the region”, Umar said.

According to data, Paki-stan’s daily virus deaths peaked at about 150 in June. But the number has steadily dwindled and yesterday only 21 new fatalities were reported.

Schools and universities are slated to reopen Sep-tember 15 subject to a final review, Umar said.

Afghan elders to decide fate of 400 Taliban prisonersAP — KABUL

Afghanistan officials said a traditional consultative council will convene today to decide whether the last 400 Taliban prisoners will be released as part of a peace agreement, even as its Health Ministry says half of Kabul’s residents are infected with the coronavirus.

The Taliban have rejected any changes to the deal they signed in February with the US.

That deal calls for 5,000 Taliban prisoners to be freed by Kabul and the Taliban to free

1,000 government personnel, including security officials, ahead of the start of intra-Afghan negotiations to map out a framework for a future Afghanistan. The release of the 400 prisoners is the final hurdle to the start of negotiations.

The Taliban have freed the 1,000 prisoners they were holding and US and Natosol-diers have already begun with-drawing troops in line with the agreement. But Afghan Pres-ident Ashraf Ghani has refused to free a final 400 Taliban pris-oners, saying he needs a wider

authority from a loya jirga, or traditional grand consultative council.

The 3,200 people who will be attending the meeting are the same elders and political leaders invited to a similar council meeting held last year. According to Ghani’s spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, the council will also decide “what kind of peace it wants.”

The council is being held even as the government’s health minister, Jawad Osmani, in a briefing this week said a survey suggested that at least half of

Kabul’s population has been infected with the coronavirus and at least 10 million people - or a third of all Afghans - have been infected. The official figures are grossly lower at nearly 37,000 confirmed cases since Kabul began keeping sta-tistics in March.

Meanwhile, Ghani’s critics have accused the president of stalling peace negotiations with the Taliban to retain power as president because it is widely speculated that negotiations could seek a neutral interim government.

Spate of suicides among migrant workers in Singapore raises concernREUTERS — SINGAPORE

A recent spate of suicides and attempted suicides involving migrants in Singapore has heightened concerns over the mental health of thousands of low-paid workers who have been confined to their dormi-tories because of COVID-19.

In April, Singapore sealed off sprawling housing blocks where its vast population of mainly South Asian labourers live in crowded bunk rooms, seeking to ring-fence a surge in cases among the workers.

Four months on, some dor-mitories remain under quar-antine, and even migrants who have been declared virus-free have had their movements

restricted. They also face uncertainty over the jobs that their families back home

depend on.Rights groups and health

officials say this has taken a heavy toll on workers. In some cases migrants have been detained under the mental health act after videos posted on social media showed them teetering on rooftops and high window ledges.

In an incident on Sunday that was widely reported by local media, a 36-year-old migrant was pictured bloodied at the foot of some stairs in his d o r m i t o r y a f t e r self-harming.

The Ministry of Manpower said late Wednesday it was monitoring recent suicides and attempted suicides involving m i g r a n t w o r k e r s i n

dormitories and working to enhance mental health support programmes.

The ministry said however it had not observed a spike in workers taking their own lives compared to previous years. It did not give any numbers.

Such incidents tended to stem from family issues which may be exacerbated by the distress of not being able to return home due to COVID-19 restrictions, it added.

Kenneth Mak, the health ministry’s director of medical services, also raised concerns about the impact on migrants’ mental health of prolonged periods of isolation in dormi-tories and movement restrictions.

At a press conference yes-terday, he said addressing the issue was a “work in progress”, and that authorities were com-mitted to supporting migrant workers’ mental health needs over the long-term.

Singapore has recorded over 54,000 COVID-19 cases, mainly from dormitories in which around 300,000 workers from Bangladesh, India and China are housed. Only 27 people have died from the disease.

Authorities have said they expect to lift quarantines on all dormitories by today, with the exception of some blocks serving as quarantine zones.

But employers’ power to limit workers’ movement

outside dormitories even if declared virus-free and fears over servicing high debts taken to secure jobs in Sin-gapore are also feeding depression among migrants, rights groups say.

“Many of the workers now say that the mental anguish is a more serious problem than the virus.” said Deborah Fordyce, president of migrant rights group, Transient Workers Count Too.

Gasper Tan, chief exec-utive of Samaritans of Sin-gapore, said migrants’ limited access to support from friends and family, especially during lockdowns, can result in “overwhelming feelings of negativity”.

The Ministry of Manpower said however it had not observed a spike in workers taking their own lives compared to previous years. It did not give any numbers.

The Palestinian population is facing the looming annexation divided, not just politically and geographically, but also in their experience of occupation. Palestinians in Area C - de facto under the control of Israel - or in Gaza have a different reality than those of us residing in Areas A and B.

08 FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANDR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFIeditorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMEDm.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI osman@pen.com.qa

EDITORIAL

QATAR Museums (QM) is consolidating the State’s efforts to become a vibrant center for the arts, culture and education, in the Middle East and beyond. This was evident when QM launched major exhibitions at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

The much anticipated “A Falcon’s Eye: Tribute to Sheikh Saoud Al Thani” opened at MIA. This exhibition which runs until April 10 next year celebrates the out-standing accomplishments of one of Qatar’s greatest col-lectors, who was largely responsible for laying the foun-dation for Qatar Museums’ world-class collections.

The exhibition showcases more than 300 out-standing art works from prehistoric fossils and Egyptian antiquities to Orientalist paintings and masterpieces of the history of photography in a spectacular display fol-lowing the concept of Renaissance “cabinets of curi-osities”, reflecting Sheikh Saoud’s fascination with both natural history and the world of art.

Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, said: “In the years before Qatar Museums was founded, Sheikh Saoud combined his intense, wide-ranging per-sonal curiosity and passion for collecting with a public-spirited dedication to developing the cultural and edu-cational resources of the State of Qatar. Through his remarkable achievements, he left an invaluable legacy to his nation. Qatar Museums is pleased to commem-orate Sheikh Saoud with this dazzling exhibition.”

Since its foundation in 2005, QM has overseen the development of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Fire Station: Artists in Res-idence, The National Museum of Qatar and other projects.

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, located in Education City, is presenting two major monograph exhibitions by leading women artists and an extensive survey of art and culture in Doha from 1960 to today. The exhibitions started on August 2.

The exhibitions are part of the extensive programme of exhibitions, artists residencies, research projects, discussions, workshops and community events taking place in Mathaf’s 10th anniversary year.

Established by Qatar Museums in partnership with Qatar Foundation, Mathaf’s role is to increase understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary artists from the Arab world. Mathaf also provides a unique platform for rising young generation artists, as well as organising extensive education programmes, and producing authoritative doc-umentation and peer reviewed academic research. QM is committed to promoting Qatar’s future generation of arts, heritage and museum professionals. By fostering a spirit of national participation, QM is helping Qatar find its own dis-tinctive voice in today’s global cultural debates.

QM leads the way

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Quote of the day

I was absolutely apalled and shocked by the scenes from Lebanon, from Beirut. I am sure that the UK will continue to focus on the needs of the people of Lebanon.

Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister

Palestinians take part in a rally to show support for blast-hit Beirut, in Gaza City, yesterday.

Despite the raging pandemic and Israel’s ever-increasing restric-tions on the movements of Pales-tinians, a few friends and I still manage to meet occasionally to chat and catch up. As we sit, drinking tea and coffee, my phone would buzz with constant updates sent by journalists, activists or friends about the rising number of infections and developments surrounding Israel’s annexation plans.

As I read one depressing message after the other, the faces around me would go blank. These occasional gatherings - meant to distract us from the suffocation of living in a pandemic and an occu-pation - often sink into the gen-erally sombre mood dominating the Palestinian experience.

Although we do not know what will happen next, we are terribly afraid that it is going to be perilous. Every now and then, we would ask each other, “Do you think we will survive what is coming?”

We know some of us will not. We are constantly reminded of that. On June 23, 27-year-old Ahmed Erakat, was executed at an Israeli checkpoint near Beth-lehem. Two weeks later, 29-year-old Ibrahim Abu Yacoub was also shot and killed by Israeli forces north of Salfit in the West Bank. In a trigger-happy occu-pation, none of us is safe.

As international media is abuzz with speculation about

Israel’s intent to formally annex parts of the West Bank, and as world governments prepare to issue their n-th statements of empty words against Israel, we in Palestine wonder how much more annexation we can survive.

For decades, before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his formal call to annex Palestinian lands, we have been experiencing per-sistent annexation. Illegal Israeli settlements spring up so quickly, you would think they were built overnight. And just as quickly, they continue to expand, creeping ever closer towards our villages and towns.

“When was this settlement so close? I can see the insides of the houses!” has become a common refrain across the occupied and colonised West Bank.

“They never built the settle-ments in a temporary fashion,” a friend from Jerusalem once told me. In parallel, Israeli check-points have also proliferated throughout the West Bank to provide security for colonisation activities. “Flying checkpoints” manned by Israeli soldiers in armoured vehicles would spo-radically appear and disappear, obstructing Palestinian movement at every step, causing millions of dollars of damage to the Palestinian economy. The 25km trip between Ramallah and Bethlehem, for example, can take a Palestinian hours.

There are also the more per-manent checkpoints, such as the infamous Qalandia, which sepa-rates Jerusalem from the West Bank and through which Pales-tinians can enter the rest of his-toric Palestine (present-day Israel), if they have permits. In 2019, the Israelis added a massive structure to the check-point. Shortly after, I went

through Qalandia checkpoint for the first time. My jaw dropped when I saw it. It looked like an airport terminal, rather than a checkpoint.

I recalled how not that long ago we were protesting in front of its scattered concrete struc-tures and metal barriers, getting shot at with live ammunition.

What I saw in 2019 was a massive building with electronic doors, surveillance cameras and Israeli soldiers sitting behind large glass windows, barking orders: “Move further, come closer, you can enter, you cannot, you need to be checked!”

Beyond taking our freedom to move within the West Bank, Israel has also annexed our freedom to leave. Allenby bridge, connecting the West Bank with Jordan, was once meant to be an interim humanitarian crossing. Today it is the only port of entry/exit for West Bank Palestinians and it is operated by the Israeli Airport Authority, which can deny Pales-tinian travellers the right to leave.

The Palestinian population is facing the looming annexation divided, not just politically and geographically, but also in their experience of occupation. Pales-tinians in Area C - de facto under the control of Israel - or in Gaza have a different reality than those of us residing in Areas A and B.

Living in Ramallah, I rec-ognise that the imminent threat to be expelled is less acute than for Palestinians living in Area C or in East Jerusalem, who are regularly evicted and their land and property confiscated to make way for Israeli settlers. I also know that unlike Pales-tinians in Gaza, I am safe from Israeli bombardment, because the West Bank is surrounded by Israeli settlers and settlements. Bombing is not an option.

BLOOMBERG

Elon Musk was entitled to be elated when he welcomed two Nasa astronauts back to earth on Sunday. His company, SpaceX, had blasted them into space and then brought them safely home 63 days later. The entire mission was a marvel of engineering and a milestone for American enterprise. In its current mood of exhaustion and discord, the country might need reminding that, for all its shortcomings, it’s still capable of stirring achievements.

SpaceX deserves plenty of credit for this one. Taking off in May from the same launchpad that served the Apollo missions, the com-pany’s Falcon 9 rocket

flawlessly conveyed a reusable Crew Dragon capsule into orbit, where it eventually docked with the International Space Station. The astronauts on board, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, traveled in style, with modish new flight suits, slick touch-screen controls and more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust propelling them through the atmosphere.

It sent a clear message: After nine years of ignomini-ously hitching rides aboard Russian rockets, the US space program was back in business. The launch - a first for any private company - also inaugurated a new era of public-private cooperation, with SpaceX and its

competitors aiming to carry astronauts to the moon and perhaps beyond in the years ahead. This blend of public-spiritedness and private com-petitiveness holds immense promise, and suggests that the best days of the US space program may yet lie ahead.

“Nasa has a long history of doing stunning things in the middle of very difficult times,” Jim Bridenstine, the agency’s administrator, told Bloomberg Television shortly before takeoff. He was hardly exag-gerating. The moon landing in 1969 unified a country that only the year before had been rocked by riots, assassinations and a staggering death toll in Vietnam. When Alan Shepard became the first American to

visit space in 1961, he also became a national hero at a harrowing moment of the Cold War - a moment evoked in May by mission control, when they quoted Shephard in a message to the astronauts just before takeoff: “Let’s light this candle.”

These too are difficult times. Coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and reckoning with America’s legacy of racial injustice haven’t left much energy for saluting a remarkable instance of progress. This was none-theless such a moment. It exemplified the best of American ambition and inge-nuity, and holds out the promise of better days to come.

How far can Israel go in trying to erase Palestinians?

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SpaceX deserves to be celebrated

Established in 1996

MARIAM BARGHOUTI AL JAZEERA

Even as governments across the globe struggle to salvage economies ravaged by months of lockdown, many have been forced to look at new measures to curb outbreaks of COVID-19 since they lifted initial containment orders.

The admission sparked calls from opposition parties for an urgent inquiry into the way contracts for essential supplies were handed out.

09FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2020 EUROPE

European nations tighten virus curbs; global deaths top 700,000

AFP — BERLIN

More countries across Europe imposed new travel restrictions and containment measures yes-terday with fears growing over a second wave of coronavirus infections as global deaths from the pandemic climbed over 700,000.

Europe remains the hardest-hit region worldwide with more than 200,000 fatal-ities since the virus first emerged in China late last year. The pandemic has killed at least 708,236 people worldwide.

Even as governments across the globe struggle to salvage economies ravaged by months of lockdown, many have been forced to look at new measures to curb outbreaks of COVID-19 since they lifted initial con-tainment orders.

Germany is the latest to introduce mandatory tests for travellers returning from des-ignated risk zones, starting on Saturday, as fears grow over rising case numbers blamed on summer holidays and local out-breaks. Germany’s list of “risk zones” currently includes most non-EU countries, as well as

certain provinces in Belgium and Spain.

Neighbouring Austria yes-terday announced it would issue a travel warning for mainland Spain, becoming the latest country to do so amid a rise in new coronavirus cases in the fellow EU member.

Finland also introduced new controls on arrivals from some EU countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Andorra, putting a stop to tourists arriving from there and imposing a 14-day quarantine on other returnees.

“The situation is extremely delicate,” the health ministry’s strategic director Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki said, adding that “some sort of second stage has begun”. “Whether we can expect a smaller wave or a larger wave

depends on how we respond.” Norway announced yes-

terday that France would be con-sidered a red zone due to the resurgence of coronavirus cases there, meaning all travellers arriving from France face a man-datory ten-day quarantine.

Switzerland, Monaco and the Czech Republic were also hit with similar restrictions, as well as two Swedish regions, the Norwegian foreign affairs min-istry said. “The infectious situ-ation can change quickly, as can the restrictions,” Foreign Min-ister Ine Eriksen Soreide said.

While much of Europe appeared to have brought the pandemic mostly under control with strict lockdowns earlier this year, many are seeing new out-breaks, forcing local or citywide lockdowns and other quarantine

measures. Poland will re-impose compulsory face masks in all public spaces in nine districts, the health minister said, as it saw a record new high in the number of infections.

The restrictions will come into force from Saturday and will also affect sports and cul-tural events in those areas, mainly in the south and east.

Greece’s government on Wednesday announced a “wake-up week” on COVID-19, tightening restrictions after the steady rise in mostly domestic infections. Officials have blamed the increase on overcrowding in clubs and social events.

Scotland this week already reimposed restrictions in and around the city of Aberdeen, after a cluster of cases was identified there.

Tourists wearing protective masks walk near the Louvre Pyramid area as France reinforces mask-wearing as part of efforts to curb a resurgence of the coronavirus disease across the country, in Paris, yesterday.

WHO says ‘vaccine nationalism’ cannot beat COVID-19AFP — GENEVA

The World Health Organization yesterday warned against “vaccine nationalism”, saying vaccine-hogging richer coun-tries would not be safe corona-virus havens if poor nations remained exposed.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it would be in the interest of richer nations to ensure that any vaccines eventually pro-duced to protect against the new coronavirus were shared globally.

“Vaccine nationalism is not good, it will not help us,” he told the Aspen Security Forum in the United States, via video-link from the WHO’s head-quarters in Geneva.

“For the world to recover faster, it has to recover together, because it’s a glo-balised world: the economies are intertwined. Part of the world or a few countries cannot be a safe haven and recover.

“The damage from COVID-19 could be less when those countries who... have the funding commit to this.

“They are not giving charity to others: they are doing it for themselves, because when the rest of the world recovers and opens up, they also benefit.” He said the existence of the deadly respiratory disease anywhere put lives and livelihoods at risk everywhere.

Race for the vaccineThe United Nations health

agency also said that multiple different types of vaccines would likely be needed to combat COVID-19.

Twenty-six candidate

vaccines are in various stages of being tested on humans, with six having reached Phase 3 wider levels of testing. “Phase 3 doesn’t mean nearly there,” explained the WHO’s emer-gencies director Michael Ryan.

“Phase 3 means this is the first time this vaccine has been put into the general population, into otherwise healthy indi-viduals, to see if the vaccine will protect them against natural infection.

“We’ve got a good range of products across a number of different platforms, across a number of different countries,” he said of the leading candidate vaccines, which use different methods to provide immunity.

However, “there’s no guar-antee that any of these six will give us the answer — and we probably will need more than one vaccine to do this job”.

18.8 million infectedThe novel coronavirus has

killed over 708,000 people and infected more than 18.8 million since the outbreak emerged in China last December.

“The Americas remain the current epicentre of the virus and have been particularly hit hard,” said Tedros, with the United States, Brazil and Mexico suf-fering the most deaths.

Asked about the virus raging in the Americas, Ryan said no country had always found all the right answers, and a vast expansion of the public health workforce was required.

“We need to take a step back, we need to look at the problem again and we need to go at the problem again,” he said. “That requires strong, sustained and trusted leadership.”

Different face masks with smile images made by Tcheezebox company in Caluire-et-Cuire, near Lyon, in southeastern France.

Wear a smile: Firm prints friendly faces on masksAFP — LYON

As more people wear face masks in public due to the coronavirus pan-demic, smiles are disappearing from our lives, a lack a French firm aims to address by printing them on the masks it sells.

Tcheezebox based near Lyon in eastern France is targeting com-panies which want to “humanise their relations” with customers by having their employees wear a smile.

“We launched this at the beginning of the lockdowns and companies weren’t very receptive but now they have begun to realise that we must live with masks and there is more demand,” said Ludovic Bonhomme, the company’s cofounder.

He said the washable masks appeared to have the desired side effect. “I have gone out shopping with them and people smiled,” said Bonhomme.

UK says 50 million face masks it bought might not be safe

AP — LONDON

The British government says it won’t be using 50 million face masks it bought during a scramble to secure protective equipment for medics during the coronavirus outbreak because of concerns they might not be safe.

The admission sparked calls from opposition parties for an urgent inquiry into the way contracts for essential supplies were handed out.

The masks were part of a £252m ($332m) contract the government signed with investment firm Ayanda Capital in April. Papers filed in a court case reveal that the masks won’t be distributed because they have ear loops rather than head loops and may not fit tightly enough.

The papers, published yes-terday, are part of a lawsuit against the Conservative gov-ernment by campaigning groups the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor. They want the courts to review contracts signed by the government for personal protective equipment, which they say were not properly scrutinized.

The groups estimate the 50 million rejected masks cost about £150m (about $197m), though the government has not confirmed the amount and it is unclear whether the full £252m (about $332m) agreed to in the deal was ever paid.

As the coronavirus out-break accelerated across the UK in March, it became clear that the country lacked enough masks, gloves, gowns and other protective gear for health care workers and nursing home

staff. That sparked a race to buy billions of pieces of equipment from suppliers around the world.

Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, said the government had signed three contracts worth more than £100m each “with respec-tively a pest control company, a confectioner and a family hedge fund.” “Each of those contracts has revealed real cause for alarm,” he said.

The government said in its response to the lawsuit that the offer to supply the 50 million masks came from Andrew Mills, a businessman who is both an adviser to the government’s Board of Trade and to Ayanda Capital. Mills has denied there was any conflict of interest.

Ayanda Capital Chief Exec-utive Tim Horlick said the masks met government standards and were not “unusable or unsafe”. He said National Health Service requirements may have changed in the fast-moving cir-cumstances of the pandemic.

The British government said another 150 million masks of a different type supplied by Ayanda are still being tested. It said in a statement that “there is a robust process in place to ensure orders are of high quality and meet strict safety standards, with the necessary due diligence undertaken on all government contracts”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “very disappointed” that the shipment was unusable. But he said Britain had “achieved a colossal race against time” to obtain supplies of equipment and stockpile it in case of a second wave of coronavirus in the fall and winter.

Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, called for an urgent investi-gation into the way personal protective equipment was acquired. “It’s just not good enough to people who need that protective equipment that we find ourselves in this position,” he said.

Climate change to bring longer droughts in Europe: StudyAFP — PARIS

Punishing two-year droughts like the record-breaking one that gripped Central Europe from 2018 to 2019 could become much more frequent if the region fails to curb greenhouse gas emis-sions, researchers said yesterday, affecting huge swathes of its cul-tivated land.

The five hottest years in recorded history have occurred in the last five years.

This extreme heat was exacerbated in 2018 and 2019 by two consecutive summers of drought that affected more than half of Central Europe, according to a new study pub-lished in the Nature journal Sci-entific Reports.

Researchers in Germany and the Czech Republic used data going back to 1766 to con-clude the drought was the largest-scale and most severe dry spell ever recorded.

“The observational record suggests that the ongoing 2018-2019 European drought event is unprecedented in the last 250 years, with substanpro-

longedtial implications for veg-etation health,” the study said.

Researchers then sought to estimate whether prolonged droughts would become more frequent in the future by using global climate change models.

Under a scenario where greenhouse gas emissions con-tinue their inexorable rise, the researchers predicted that the number of extreme two-year droughts will increase sev-enfold in Europe in the second half of this century.

“This projection also sug-gested that drought-affected cro-pland areas across Central Europe will nearly double,” said co-author Rohini Kumar, of the UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Envi-ronmental Research, in Leipzig.

This would result in a total of 40 million hectares of culti-vated land affected — equiv-alent to 60 percent of all crop areas in the region.

When researchers modelled for moderate emissions, the predicted number of two-year droughts halved compared to the worst case scenario, while the area expected to be hit by

the drought also reduced.Kumar said this suggests a

reduction in emissions could lower the risk of these dam-aging dry periods.

The researcher said a two-year dry period presents a far greater threat to vegetation than the single-summer droughts of previous years because the land cannot recover as quickly.

He said around a fifth of the Central European region had recorded poor vegetation health in the last two years.

“Thus, it is with the utmost urgency that we need to rec-ognise the importance of these persevering consecutive year events, and to develop a holistic framework to model the risk,” he added.

The study defined Central Europe as including parts of Germany, France, Poland, Swit-zerland, Italy, Austria, as well as Czech Republic, Belgium, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia.

Over 34 percent of the total land area in the region is exten-sively used for agricultural pur-poses, it said.

Court jails young Russians for ‘plotting to overthrow Putin’AFP — MOSCOW

A Moscow court yesterday sen-tenced three young activists to long jail terms for plotting to overthrow President Vladimir Putin in a case that has sparked protests and allegations of police overreach.

In 2018, authorities detained 10 people accusing them of belonging to an anarchist cell called the “New Greatness” that was plotting an uprising against the government. The group’s supporters say the case was fab-ricated by the FSB security service and that agents infil-trated the group, financed oper-ations and coerced its members into renting office space.

Prominent Russian rights group Memorial has pro-nounced the young men and women political prisoners. A judge in a Moscow court sen-tenced 27-year-old Ruslan Kostylenkov to seven years in a penal colony, 34-year-old Pyotr Karamzin to 6.5 years and 22-year-old Vyacheslav Kryukov to six years for creating an extremist group.

Trump has been repeatedly accused of spreading misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic — which has killed more than 150,000 Americans — including the now-infamous musing that virus victims could perhaps be injected with disinfectant.

10 FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2020AMERICAS

Facebook, Twitter take aim at Trump ‘misinformation’AFP — SAN FRANCISCO

Facebook and Twitter took aim at US President Donald Trump and his campaign over a video post in which he contended that children are “almost immune” to the coronavirus, a claim they s a i d a m o u n t e d t o “misinformation”.

In an extraordinary move, Facebook removed the clip from the president’s account — the first time it has taken down one of his posts for violating its content rules. The video — an excerpt from a Fox News interview — “includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misin-formation,” a Facebook spokes-person said.

Twitter meanwhile said it had blocked Trump’s official campaign account over a tweet containing the same video, in which Trump made the case for reopening US schools come September.

A spokesperson for the San Francisco-based service said the tweet was “in violation of the Twitter rules on COVID-19 misinformation,” adding that the campaign would have to remove it before being allowed to tweet again. Soon thereafter, the @TeamTrump account was active, suggesting the contested video had been taken down.

“Another day, another display of Silicon Valley’s fla-grant bias against this president, where the rules are only enforced in one direction,” the Trump campaign’s deputy national press secretary Courtney Parella said.

“The President was stating a fact that children are less sus-ceptible to the coronavirus,” she said. “Social media companies are not the arbiters of truth.”

Health officials have urged people of all age groups to protect themselves against exposure to the coronavirus. Trump defended his comments about the virus’s effect on children when challenged during a White House press briefing on Wednesday.

“I’m talking about (being

immune) from getting very sick,” Trump said. “If you look at children I mean they are able to throw it off very easily.”

How likely children are to contract or spread the corona-virus has become a deeply con-tentious issue in the US, with reopening schools essential to enabling many parents to go back to work.

Trump has been calling for both businesses and schools to reopen as part of a push to revive the US economy, whose health will play a major factor in the coming presidential

election. A growing number of US school districts have opted however against in-person classes come September, opting to remain online-only until the pandemic has abated.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has concluded that children appear to transmit COVID-19 less than adults, and that many schools could re-open in the months ahead provided they take precautions such as social distancing and tracking local transmission rates.

Children are known to be far less likely to fall seriously ill

or die from the virus: Less than one percent of children who test positive for COVID-19 end up dying, according to a Europe-wide study released in June. The study authors said the true per-centage is likely much lower still, since many children with mild or no symptoms would not have been tested at all.

Facebook’s move came as it faces intense pressure to clamp down on misinformation — which has flourished during the pandemic — including from world leaders, until recently protected by its hands-off policy

on political speech.A coalition of activists has

pressed Facebook to be more aggressive in removing hateful content and misinformation — with 1,000 advertisers joining a boycott aiming to ramp up the pressure.

The social media giant had placed a disclaimer last month on a post from Trump claiming mail-in voting would lead to a “corrupt” election, and in June it removed ads by Trump’s cam-paign containing a symbol used by Nazi Germany.

Trump has been repeatedly accused of spreading misinfor-mation about the coronavirus pandemic — which has killed more than 150,000 Americans — including the now-infamous musing that virus victims could perhaps be injected with disinfectant.

After a brief change in tone last month, he recently reverted to medical speculation, criti-cizing his own top virus expert — and praising an eccentric preacher-doctor touting con-spiracy theories.

Twitter last week took the rare step of removing clips tweeted by Trump from a video — earlier deleted by Facebook — in which the doctor-preacher Stella Immanuel and a group of doctors proclaimed that masks are unnecessary and that hydroxychloroquine can defeat the coronavirus.

US President Donald Trump wears a protective face mask due to the coronavirus disease pandemic as he talks with workers while touring a Whirlpool Corporation washing machine factory in Clyde, Ohio, US, yesterday.

US Senate bans TikTok app on govt devicesREUTERS — WASHINGTON

The US Senate yesterday unan-imously approved a bill from Senator Josh Hawley banning federal employees from using video-sharing app TikTok on government-issued devices, amid threats from the White House to ban the company.

The app has come under fire from US lawmakers and the Trump administration over national security concerns due to China’s ByteDance owning the technology. The company currently faces a deadline of September 15 to either sell its US operations to Microsoft Corp or face an outright ban.

Under a Chinese law intro-duced in 2017, companies have an obligation to support and cooperate in the country’s national intelligence work.

“I’m encouraged by the bipartisan support we have seen in this body to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable and that includes... holding accountable those

corporations who would just do China’s bidding,” Senator Hawley said in a statement.

“And, if I have anything to say about it, we won’t be stopping here,” the Republican Senator added. Last month, the House of Representatives voted to bar federal employees from downloading the app on gov-ernment-issued devices as part of a proposal, offered by Rep-resentative Ken Buck.

With passage in the House and approval by the Senate, the prohibition is expected to soon become law in the United States.

A TikTok spokeswoman said its growing US team has no higher priority than pro-moting a safe app experience that protects users’ privacy.

On Wednesday, TikTok said it was working with experts from the US Department of Homeland Security to “protect against foreign influence” and fact-check potential misinfor-mation about the election.

New York sues to break up NRA, accuses it of corruptionREUTERS — NEW YORK

New York state’s attorney general sued to dissolve the National Rifle Association yes-terday, alleging senior leaders of the non-profit group diverted millions of dollars for personal use and to buy the silence and loyalty of former employees.

The lawsuit filed in a Man-hattan court by Attorney General Letitia James alleges NRA leaders paid for family trips to the Bahamas, private jets and expensive meals that contributed to a $64m reduction in the NRA’s balance sheet in

three years, turning a surplus into a deficit. The NRA responded by suing James in federal court, saying she had violated the NRA’s right to free speech and seeking to block her investigation.

James alleged in a statement that NRA leaders “used millions upon millions from NRA reserves for personal use,” failing to comply with the NRA’s own internal policies in addition to state and federal law. The mismanagement shaved $64m worth of assets off the NRA’s balance sheet in three years, the suit says.

In announcing the lawsuit, James told reporters the NRA “has operated as a breeding ground for greed, abuse and brazen illegality.” She added, “no one is above the law”.

The lawsuit names the NRA and four leaders including Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice-president who has been atop the leadership for nearly three decades.

The confrontation pits James, a Democrat, against the largest and most powerful gun organization in the United States, one that is closely aligned with President Donald

Trump’s Republican Party.The actions are certain to

further polarize a country where the NRA is revered by conservatives as a champion of the U.S. Constitutional right to keep and bear arms and vilified by liberals as an enabler of rampant gun violence.

The NRA branded the lawsuit a “baseless, premedi-tated attack” and a “power grab” tied to the November 3 US election. “We not only will not shrink from this fight - we will confront it and prevail,” NRA President Carolyn Meadows said.

Apparently expecting James’ suit, the NRA fought back with the suit of its own in the Northern District of New York, saying James had been targeting the NRA politically ever since she ran for attorney general in 2018, vowing to “take on the NRA” which she called a “criminal enterprise”.

Trump swiftly branded the lawsuit against the NRA “a very terrible thing,” suggesting to reporters the group ought to register in the much more gun-friendly state of Texas or in “another state of their choosing”.

US fugitive arrested after 46 years on the runAFP — WASHINGTON

An American who has been on the run for nearly 50 years and was living under an assumed name as a senior citizen in a quiet town in New Mexico has finally been nabbed, the FBI said yes-terday. Luis Archuleta, who is now 77, escaped from a Colorado prison in 1974 while doing time for shooting and wounding a police officer in Denver.

Until his arrest on Wednesday he had been living in the town of Espanola in New Mexico for around 40 years under the alias Ramon Montoya, the FBI said. “This arrest should send a clear signal to violent offenders everywhere: The FBI will find you, no matter how long it takes or how far you run, and we will bring you to justice,” FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Michael Schneider said.

Archuleta will now be returned to Colorado to face charges stemming from his jailbreak. “The passing of time does not erase or excuse his crimes,” said Denver police chief Paul Pazen.

Brazil adrift as coronavirus deaths approach 100,000 AFP — SAO PAULO

Five months after confirming its first case of the new corona-virus, Brazil is fast approaching the bleak milestone of 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, a tragedy experts blame on the country’s lack of coherent response.

It will be just the second country to cross that grim threshold, after the United States, where the death toll is now over 150,000.

“It’s a tragedy, one of the worst Brazil has ever seen,” said sociologist Celso Rocha de Barros, as the number of infec-tions in the sprawling South American country approached three million — also the second-highest in the world, after the US.

Brazil confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus on February 26: A Sao Paulo

businessman returning from a trip to Italy. The country of 212 million people registered its first death on March 16.

“At that point, Brazil was more or less getting organized to deal with the pandemic,” said Paulo Lotufo, an epidemiologist at the University of Sao Paulo. But then, political chaos ensued.

Far-right President Jair Bol-sonaro condemned the “hys-teria” around the virus and railed against decisions by state and local authorities to impose stay-at-home measures to contain it, arguing the eco-nomic damage would be worse than the disease.

Meanwhile, the country’s infection curve exploded. Chilling images emerged from Sao Paulo of six-minute speed burials by grave-diggers clad head-to-toe in protective gear and mass plots excavated by

bulldozers in the Amazon city of Manaus. The curve has pla-teaued in recent weeks, but at a high level: Brazil has regis-tered an average of around 1,000 deaths per day for more than a month.

The toll stood at 2.9 million infections and 97,256 deaths late on Wednesday. The country appeared to be on track to record its 100,000th death at the weekend.

A fervent advocate of the drug hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19 — despite a lack of evidence for its effec-tiveness — Bolsonaro churned through two health ministers in less than a month, after falling out with them over the response to the pandemic.

The post is now held on an interim basis by an army general with no prior medical experience.

US lifts advice to avoid all foreign travel due to pandemicAFP — WASHINGTON

The United States yesterday lifted a warning to its citizens to avoid all foreign travel due to the coronavirus pandemic, pointing to improvements.

The State Department said it would instead resume con-sidering each country on a case-by-case basis. “With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the Department is returning to our previous system,” it said in a statement.

“We continue to recommend US citizens exercise caution when traveling abroad due to the unpredictable nature of the pan-demic.” The announcement comes as President Donald Trump seeks a quick return to normal in the United States.

But US borders remain closed to most travelers from the European Union, which also bans most Americans due to the risk of contagion. Under the new ratings, the United States is still advising precau-tions for most countries.

Among the few recipients of the “Level 1” ranking — which means no special concerns for travel — were Taiwan. It gave a Level 3 status — which means to reconsider travel — to many allies including Britain, France and Germany. It kept the Level 4 warning to avoid all travel for India, which has seen growing cases of COVID-19.

US pointman on Iran hardline quitsAFP — WASHINGTON

The envoy leading President Donald Trump’s hardline push on Iran quit yesterday, months before an election that could reorient US policy.

Brian Hook, a stalwart Republican considered one of the most powerful figures at the State Department, decided to return to the private sector, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Hook “has achieved historic results coun-tering the Iranian regime,” Pompeo said in a statement.

Hook will be replaced by Elliott Abrams, another veteran Republican who was an intellectual architect of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and has been leading Trump’s unsuc-cessful campaign to oust Ven-ezuela’s leftist president, Nicolas Maduro.

Bolivia foundation anniversaryInterim President Jeanine Anez of Bolivia attends a ceremony marking the 195th anniversary of the Bolivia foundation at the Presidential Palace, amid the coronavirus disease outbreak, in La Paz, Bolivia, yesterday.