FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021 www.thepeninsula.qa2 JUMADA II - 1442 VOLUME 25 NUMBER 8503

Give extra data to family or staff

Sport | 16

Won’t raise interest rates

any time soon: Powell

Qatar eye winning start at World Championship

Business | 13

2 RIYALS

Qatar Custom Show begins

Amir sends congratulations to Kyrgyzstan President-elect

Customised cars and motorcycles in different hues and shapes are part of the Qatar Custom Show being held at Qatar Racing Club. The show is free and open for public from 3pm to 10pm today and tomorrow. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT/THE PENINSULA

QNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent a cable of condolences to his brother Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the death of H H Prince Khalid bin Abdullah bin Abdulrahman Al Saud.

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani also sent a similar cable of con-dolences to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Amir condoles with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent a cable of congratulations to H E Sadyr Japarov on the occasion of him winning the presidential elec-tions in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani also sent a similar cable of con-gratulations to H E Sadyr Japarov.

Vaccination drive to cover entire populationFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

As more COVID-19 vaccine arrives in Qatar, the vaccination campaign will be expanded to cover the whole population, said a senior official at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).

“The vaccines are arriving in Qatar in larger quantities and gradually the COVID-19 vacci-nation campaign will be expanded to all,” said Director of Public Health at the MoPH, Dr. Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani.

“Vaccination capacity is expanding and everyone should be ready to receive the vaccine,” he said in a video message posted by the Ministry on its social medial accounts.

Dr. Al Thani who received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has encouraged eve-ryone to take the vaccine in due course.

“After receiving the initial

dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, we took the second dose of the vaccine 21 days later. We advice everyone to remember and get second dose of the vaccine on time,” he added.

Senior officials of the health sector were among first recip-ients of the Pfizer- BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine since the vac-cination campaign started on December 23, 2020.

Among them Chair of the National Health Strategic Group on COVID-19, Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Co-chairperson of the National Pandemic Prepar-edness Committee and Director of Health Protection and Com-municable Diseases at MoPH, Dr. Hamad Eid Al Romaihi, Head of Vaccination at MoPH, Dr. Soha Al Bayat and Medical Director at Communicable Disease Centre, Dr. Muna Al Maslamani have got the second dose of the vaccine on Tuesday.

They have re-emphasized that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective and urged the community to continue to take precautionary measures.

“I would like to emphasise that those got the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine should get the second dose on time. Even after getting the vaccine people need to follow all safety

measures to limit the spread of OCVID-19,” said Dr. Al Maslamani.

At present, the first phase of COVID-19 vaccination pref-erence will be given to people over 65 years old, adults in chronic care and home care facilities, healthcare personnel most at risk of infection and people over 16 years of age with severe chronic diseases. Those eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine will be contacted by the Primary Health Care Corpo-ration (PHCC) for an appointment.

PHCC has activated a ded-icated hotline number to enable those who are 65 years and over to book, cancel or schedule pre-booked vaccination appoint-ments. The dedicated line 402 7707 is currently available from 7am to 11pm.

The first phase of vacci-nation will continue until January 31.

Auctions now allowed at Al Sailiya Central MarketFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has announced that auctions are now allowed to be held at the Al Sailiya Central Market with COVID-19 precautionary measures.

Head of occupational health at MoPH, Dr. Mohammed Ali Mohammed Al Hajjaj said that auctions will be held at the Al Sailiya Central Market within 50 percent of its capacity. According to Dr. Al Hajjaj, the Ministry has put together all safety measures for the auction hall to ensure operations runs safe and efficiently.

“All vendors at the Al Sailiya Central Market will undergo regular checks to ensure that they follow COVID-19 precautionary measures, including wearing masks, gloves, having body tem-perature below 37C and have green status in Ehteraz,” he said in a video message posted by the MoPH on its social media accounts.

He also said that safety instructions will be displayed for the vendors and customers. “Different category of auctions at the Al Sailiya Central Market will be held at separate time slots. As an additional safety measure, there will be barriers to separate cus-tomers and vendors,” said Dr. Al Hajjaj.

Al Sailiya central market includes the traditional market that contains 52 shops, in addition to 102 shops in the retail market, as well as 50 shops in the wholesale market. The market is divided into several connected and air-conditioned sections, to serve the fruit and vegetable trade. �P2

Environmental violations decline during winter camping seasonSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

The Assistant Director of the Natural Reserves Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), Salem Hussain Al Safran, has disclosed that there is a decrease in envi-ronmental violations this winter camping season compared to previous seasons.

“Although the current camping winter season has not ended yet, indications so far show that there is a significant decrease in environmental vio-lations compared to past camping seasons,” Al Safran told Qatar Radio recently.

The violations which are normally committed during the camping season include drifting on soil, grazing camels

on prohibited pastures, hunting prohibited birds, cutting trees illegally, and dumping sewage water. Al Safran explained that preserving the environment sup-ports sustainability, and it is eve-ryone’s responsibility, not just the MME, to be responsible for it.

Regarding violators, he said that there are deterrent measures for those who commit violations against the envi-ronment. He also emphasized that the Ministry has deployed special patrolling teams to protect natural reserves and the envi-ronment. He encouraged people to report any form of environ-mental violation they may have witnessed to the Department.

“Many parties are cooper-ating with the Natural Reserves Department to rehabilitate natural reserves which may

have been affected by lack of rain or overgrazing before the grazing law,” Al Safran noted.

The Department of Protection and Wildlife at the MME recorded 393 violations of some provisions of environmental law in 2019 that include throwing wastes at unauthorised places, drifting on soil, grazing camels on pro-hibited pastures and cutting trees illegally among others.

During the year 2018-19, the Ministry made many achieve-ments in various environmental fields, especially natural reserves. The MME formally approved the Al Reem Reserve’s administrative plan, which Unesco declared a natural reserve. It also started fieldwork to release the bustard (an endangered bird species called Habari) and Reem gazelles in the Al Reem Reserve.

Investment opportunities to set up three beach resorts unveiledTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) unveiled yesterday investment opportu-nities to develop three beach resorts in Qatar — Fuwairit, Ben Ghanem and Ras Abrouq— in the framework of a public-private partnership.

The Ministry organised, in cooperation with the Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC), a meeting for investors concerned with the tourism sector.

The meeting was held at the

Doha Exhibition and Con-vention Center and featured the offering of investment oppor-tunities to develop three beach resorts.

The initiative to offer investment opportunities to establish beach resorts falls within the public-private part-nership framework, which is part of the State’s efforts to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030). The QNV 2030 aims at consolidating economic diversification and supporting non-oil sectors, especially the tourism industry

which plays an important role in strengthening Qatar’s leading position as one of the most prominent tourist destinations regionally and globally.

Qatar National Tourism Council Secretary General and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, H E Akbar Al Baker stated: “As part of its mandate to diversify the economy by developing the tourism sector, QNTC works closely with partners across the public and private sectors to build products that showcase our country’s

varied offerings and deliver service excellence. Through investment opportunities such as these, we engage the private sector in creating tourism offerings that tell Qatar’s story while providing unparalleled experiences to visitors and res-idents alike.”

On his part, Saleh bin Majid Al Khulaifi, Assistant Undersecretary for Commerce Affairs at the Min-istry of Commerce and Industry, praised the level of cooperation between the Ministry and the National Tourism Council.

He said the initiative to offer investment opportunities to establish beach resorts in part-nership between the public and private sectors was the first of its kind in Qatar and repre-sented an important step in supporting the private sector and enhancing its contribution to achieving the National Vision.

Saleh bin Majid Al Khulaifi further stated that the public-private partnership, organised under Law No. 12 of 2020, was based on a solidly-founded, principled partnership. �P2

Qatar National Tourism Council Secretary-General and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, H E Akbar Al Baker with other officials during the event at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center.

The vaccines are arriving in

Qatar in larger quantities

and gradually the COVID-19

vaccination campaign will be

expanded to all.

Dr. Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani, Director of Public Health

at the MoPH

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) unveiled yesterday investment opportunities to develop three beach resorts in Qatar — Fuwairit, Ben Ghanem and Ras Abrouq — in the framework of a public-private partnership.

02 FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021HOME

W ALRUWAIS : 14o → 23o

W ALKHOR : 08o → 25o

W DUKHAN : 12o → 22o

W WAKRAH : 7o → 25o

W MESAIEED : 7o → 25o

W ABUSAMRA : 6o → 25o

Misty at places at first becomes moderate temperature daytime with some clouds, cold by night.

Minimum Maximum14oC 26oC

WEATHER TODAY

LOW TIDE 00:05 – 14:00

HIGH TIDE 06:11 – 17:12

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PRAYERTIMINGS

FAJR

SUNRISE

05.00 am 06.21 am

DHUHR 11.43 am

ISHA 06.37 pmMAGHRIB

ASR 02.45 pm05.07 pm

Ashghal receives Certificate of Registration for environmental and safety management systemsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has been awarded the Certificate of Registration of the Environmental Management System ISO 14001:2015 and Occupational Health & Safety Management System ISO 45001:2018 at a ceremony held at Ashghal headquarters.

This is a key milestone for Ashghal as part of its Corporate Excellence Programme. In December 2019, Ashghal also received the ISO 9001:2015 Certification of Registration of the Quality Management System.

This international recog-nition was awarded to Eng. Jamal Al Kaabi, Manager of Planning & Quality Department at Ashghal, after a compre-hensive and extensive external audit of Ashghal’s departments by DNV GL in October 2020, with the recognised standards set by the International Organ-ization for Standardization (ISO).

The scope of the certifica-tions covered all Ashghal func-tionalities comprising design, construction, and management of major projects including roads, drainage, buildings, and public amenities such as public buildings, schools, and hos-pitals, in addition to operation and maintenance of assets such as roads, drainage networks

and sewage treatment plants.In this context, President of

Ashghal Dr. Eng. Saad Bin Ahmed Al Mohannadi said: “Achieving the Certificates of Registration, of the Environ-mental Management System ISO 14001:2015 & the Occupa-tional Health & Safety Man-agement System ISO 45001:2018, is a key milestone and major accomplishment for Ashghal. It is a fundamental

pillar for establishing a culture of Occupational Safety & Envi-ronment in implementing and managing infrastructure projects and service delivery. It helps in the continuous improvement and achievement of the authority’s strategic goals related to Safety & Environ-mental Management and Organisational Excellence.”

“In line with Ashghal’s Occupational Health & Safety

and Corporate Environmental Policies, the Public Works Authority is committed to achieve and maintain the Envi-ronmental & Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems in compliance with ISO 14001:2015 & ISO 45001:2018 requirements, and to comply with approved gov-ernmental legislations and pol-icies and requirements as related to infrastructure building and construction management. This is in addition to Ashghal’s com-mitment to improving service levels, public safety, envi-ronment, and customer satis-faction,” Dr. Al Mohannadi added.

During the past three years, Ashghal developed and improved over 300 Business Processes and 22 Corporate Policies and elevating its meas-uring, monitoring, and evalu-ation approaches, which helped provide factual evidence for internal Quality, Safety & Envi-ronmental performance.

Ashghal places customer care and satisfaction amongst its top priorities, and its inter-action and communication with customers are closely moni-tored through real-time dash-boards and performance indi-cators. It also implements regular online surveys to improve customer satisfaction continuously.

An Ashghal official receiving the certification.

Two new elective courses added to QU-CPH degree programmeTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar University’s College of Pharmacy (QU-CPH) has formally announced two new specialities (elective) courses — Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine, and Industrial and Regulatory Pharmacy — starting this Spring 2021 semester to pharmacy students.

The Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine course will prepare students for genomics and the medical, social, ethical, and legal issues associated with personal genomic information availa-bility. The Industrial and Reg-ulatory Pharmacy course will prepare students to apply knowledge in the manufac-turing and quality control testing of dosage formulations and drug products according to internationally recognized

standards. QU-CPH Dean Dr.

Mohammad Diab commented: “Both courses align with the College’s vision for advancing healthcare in Qatar and the world through excellence and innovation in pharmacy edu-cation, research, and service.

We are happy to introduce two new elective courses in our curriculum. These courses will widen our students’ scope to expand their knowledge in dif-ferent disciplinary areas and allow them to strengthen their skills and explore their interests further. Both courses

will be a great addition to our curriculum.”

QU-CPH Section Head of Clinical Education Dr. Hazem Elewa, one of the course coor-dinators of the ‘Pharmacoge-nomics and Precision Med-icine’ course, said: “Pharma-cogenomics and Precision Medicine will shape the future of the medical field and espe-cially pharmacy. With the advancement in DNA sequencing technology and its reduced cost, genetic infor-mation will be an integral part of patients’ medical records. Pharmacists should be equipped with the right tools to interpret such information and use it among other healthcare providers to enhance medication safety and efficacy.”

Also, one of the ‘Industrial and Regulatory Pharmacy’ course coordinator and

QU-CPH Department Head of Clinical Pharmacy and Practice commented: “The development and launching of the “Indus-trial and Regulatory Pharmacy” course is indeed timely, espe-cially at a time when Qatar is well-prepared to increase drugs manufacturing capacity by local pharmaceutical indus-tries and follows best practices in terms of regulations related to drugs procurement, supply, and distribution.

“The new course is a great opportunity for increasing col-laboration and building ties between the College of Pharmacy and the pharma-ceutical industry as well as regulatory agencies in the country. Undoubtedly it will increase opportunities for research and development as well as strengthening net-working between the academia and the industry.”

Both courses align with

the College’s vision for

advancing healthcare in

Qatar and the world

through excellence and

innovation in pharmacy

education, research and

service.

Dr. Mohammad Diab

Dean QU-CPH

MoPH: 209 new COVID-19 cases, 167 recoveriesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced the registration of 209 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. Among them 35 were trav-ellers returning from abroad.

Another 167 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 143,261.

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

The total number of pos-itive Covid-19 cases recorded in Qatar is 146,689 and there are 3,182 active cases under treatment.

While the first phase of COVID-19 vaccinations has started in Qatar and in the coming months it will be available for the public for free. However the Ministry has stressed it is important for eve-ryone to play their role in con-trolling the virus by following precautionary measures including adherence to p h y s i c a l d i s t a n c i n g , avoid close contact with others, crowded places, and confined closed spaces where other people congregate, wearing a face mask and washing hands regularly.

The Ministry further said that measures to tackle COVID-19 in Qatar have suc-ceeded in flattening the curve and limiting the spread of the virus.

Also Qatar’s proactive and extensive testing of suspected cases has enabled us to identify a high number of pos-itive cases in the community.

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

The Ministry asked people to be careful and protect the most vulnerable, while COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive and QNTC Secretary-General H E Akbar Al Baker speaking at the event at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center yesterday.

Investment opportunities to set up three beach resorts unveiled

FROM PAGE 1

This partnership allows government sector entities to focus on their specialties, preserve State resources and rationalise their use, he added.

He said it ensures that the government does not compete with private sector insti-tutions and companies and allows both to play key roles as vital partners in shaping the national economy’s future.

He noted that the Ministry, in cooper-ation with QNTC, had taken the initiative to determine the requirements to establish beach resorts in three regions. The Min-istry is well-aware of the importance of stimulating the tourism industry and attracting tourism investments in areas that would support the contribution of local tourism to the economy’s non-oil GDP. Through this initiative, the Ministry aims to make local tourism a main

contributor to achieving Qatar’s economic diversification.

Engineer Badr Mohammed Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer at Hamad Inter-national Airport, delivered a presentation on the technical specifications of the three investment opportunities. He touched on the projects’ geographical locations, areas, facilities and services.

Engineer Mohamed Al Adham, Director of the Public-Private Partnership Department at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, touched during his inter-vention on the partnership contracts to be approved for the three investment oppor-tunities, the scope of their operation, the mechanism for winner selecting, the basic evaluation criteria, and the requirements that must be met by investors applying for these opportunities, in addition to the obli-gations to be met by the winning investors.

Auctions now allowed at Al Sailiya Central Market

FROM PAGE 1

The central market includes the imported products at auction hall, which spans over 8,000 square metres and the market has nine cooled storages (2600 sq).

To mention, Aswaq Food Facilities Management (a subsidiary of Hassad) the company managing the has Al Sailiya Central Market has said in a statement that it has put together well-estab-lished operations module for the auction hall to ensure operations runs smoothly and efficiently.

Aswaq said that trucks are registered in the desig-nated parking, then the data is crosschecked at the market entry point, the products are then placed in the auction hall. Upon com-pletion of the auction, products are loaded either out of the market, or to the wholesale market or to the cooled storages, according to Aswaq.

Al Sailiya Central Market re-opened on July 1, 2020, in line with the government plan to gradually lift the restrictions imposed, as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Challenges facing people with disabilities amid pandemic highlighted THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science organised a seminar on the difficulties and challenges that persons with disabilities face in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The virtual seminar was organised on Wednesday in col-laboration with The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization.

Dr. Hamda Hassan Al Sulaiti, Secretary-General of Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science emphasised the importance of solidarity, cooperation and

working together under these circumstances to help people with disabilities, and to improve their psychological state, to be productive and supportive people for themselves and their community, and enable them to find alternative solutions to continue working. She also pointed out that to the negative effects that the corona pan-demic left on these people.

Dr. Al Sulaiti identified a set of challenges and difficulties faced by people with disabil-ities in light of the coronavirus pandemic, and asked the par-ticipants to think of solutions to these challenges.

The opening session also

witnessed a speech by Dr. Al Hashemi Al Ardawi, represent-ative of the Arab League Edu-cational, Cultural and Scientific Organization.

The workshop discussed a number of issues, including education for people with dis-abilities in light of the corona-virus pandemic, the health and psychological conditions of

people with disabilities in light of COVID-19, the challenges and difficulties faced by the disabled persons, and innovative solu-tions to overcome these difficulties.

The workshop witnessed fruitful discussions about the working papers submitted by the participating professors. Dr. Asma Al Attiyah, Head of the

Psychological Sciences Department at the College of Education at Qatar University; and representatives from Saudi Arabia, the State of Palestine and Jordan also participated in the sessions.

At the conclusion of the seminar, the participants emphasised on the importance of engaging the relevant author-ities to exchange experiences and circulate them at the level of the Arab world through The Arab League Educational, Cul-tural and Scientific Organi-zation, and to find innovative solutions to overcome the dif-ficulties that this group faces in society.

Dr. Hamda Hassan Al Sulaiti emphasised the importance of

solidarity, cooperation and working together under these

circumstances to help people with disabilities and to

improve their psychological state, to be productive and

supportive people for themselves and their community.

03FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021 HOME / MIDDLE EAST

Jordanian envoy participates in ‘Plant Million Tree’ initiativeTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), represented by the Public P a r k s D e p a r t m e n t , organised an event yesterday to plant a variety of trees in Al-Jubailat Park, as part of the ‘Plant Million Tree’ initiative.

The event was organised in collaboration with the Embassy of Jordan in the State of Qatar. Ambassador of Jordan to the State of Qatar, H E Zaid Mufleh Al Lawzi, participated in the e v e n t a l o n g w i t h Muhammad Ibrahim Al Sada, Assistant Director of Parks Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment; Nasser Darwish from the Parks Department in Doha

Municipality, and a number of officials and engineers of t h e P u b l i c P a r k s Department.

The green initiative, which was launched in 2019, has helped plant thousands of trees with the participation of ministers, ambassadors, schools, community leaders, public and private companies during different events.

The initiative focuses on planting saplings of trees suited for Qatari climate, such as Sidr, Ghaf, Samar and many more.

Under the initiative, trees are being planted at highways, industrial areas, sewage plants, treatment units and storage, rainwater harvesting sites, cities and municipal strips, public parks, schools, and residential complexes.

Generation Amazing youth advocates learn about UN SDGsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Generation Amazing youth advocates attended a training session organised in collabo-ration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Permanent Mission of The State of Qatar to the United Nations (UN). The training introduced advocates to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of their journey to deliver positive social change through the power of football — in Qatar and around the world.

During the three-day online course, youth learned about the SDGs, acquired knowledge about sports and sustainable development, and built lead-ership and negotiation skills. Fourteen young people aged 16-24 took part in the training after being selected to partic-ipate in a new advocacy pro-gramme launched by Gener-ation Amazing last summer.

The course was introduced by Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) Hassan Al Thawadi, Permanent Repre-sentative of the State of Qatar to the UN H E Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani,

UNITAR Head of New York Office Marco A Suazo, Ambas-sador of the Monaco Mission to the UN Isabelle Picco, and football legend John Barnes, who notably played for Liv-erpool and England during his illustrious career.

During his opening address, Al Thawadi encouraged youth to tackle the challenges they face head-on and embody resil-ience as advocates for change.

“Through your journey with us, we aim to provide you with the tools to make a difference in your communities,” said Al Thawadi. “You carry with you a message for everyone else and especially for future generations with regards to the limitless power of sport and its contri-bution to the betterment of peo-ple’s lives.”

Speaking of the contribution youth will make to SDGs and sharing a message of hope for the youth, Al Thani said: “Youth advocates are considered not only the driving force for pos-itive change but also a key factor for finding solutions to social issues. I hope that youth will understand sport’s ability to inspire, bring hope, and transform humanity by uniting us to work together, as well as

how they can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Suazo said: “For UNITAR, it’s a real pleasure and honour to inaugurate today a programme for strengthening youth

engagement with Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2030. The programme is to encompass for these young participants in Qatar, the tools to enable them to amplify the importance of peace, security,

and development.” Meanwhile, Barnes offered

an inspiring context in relation to what youth advocates could achieve for themselves and their communities.

“The opportunities for young kids through Generation Amazing, educationally, and vocationally, is much more important than whether they can play football or not. What Generation Amazing is giving these kids, in Africa, and a lot of disadvantaged places is an opportunity to maximise their potential.” The opening session and panel with sport for devel-opment experts also gave the advocates a chance to express their views on the task ahead.

From Qatar, sixteen-year-old Ali Fakhroo said he was determined to contribute and harness the power of football to solve challenges.

“As youth advocates, we have to be really resilient and strong as young leaders. It isn’t an easy task, but it’s a really important opportunity to be able to share ideas and new solutions.”

Maha Al Badr, 16, also from Qatar, expressed her excitement about making a difference.

“It’s amazing to be part of

this global movement towards achieving the 17 SDGs. At Gen-eration Amazing, we take part in a lot of workshops on football for development to see how we can use football to deliver social change, which is exciting.”

The course also featured speakers from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Peace Institute, El Origen Foundation, and Glass2Sand.

In the months ahead, the Generation Amazing youth advocates will undertake further training to boost their communication, organisation, leadership, and teamwork skills. They will also advocate for pillar causes in the Generation Amazing programme, such as gender equality and inclusion — in line with the SDGs.

Generation Amazing is the flagship human and social development programme of the SC — the organisation tasked with delivering the infra-structure and legacy of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Since its launch in 2010, Generation Amazing boosted communities across the world and positively impacted more than 500,000 people.

Ambassador of Jordan to the State of Qatar, H E Zaid Mufleh Al Lawzi, planting a tree at Al-Jubailat Park, as part of the ‘Plant Million Tree’ initiative.

MES pupil wins art contestTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Karthika Mahesh, a class 10 student of MES Indian School, bagged a cash award of QR5,000 for securing the first position in an art competition conducted by the Mall of Qatar in connection with Qatar National Day. The competition is an annual event that provides a platform for talented students to launch their artwork.

Mahesh participated in the 14-16 age group of the contest. Judges selected her work after considering the relevance to the theme, visual effectiveness, creativity, and originality.

MES Principal Hameeda Kadar congratulated the first-prize winner for bringing laurels to the school.

MME’s Al Badel Sports Championship kicks offTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) has launched the Al-Badel Sports Championship in the Sealine area, under the slogan “Sports and Environmental Sustaina-bility”. The event kicked off yesterday and will continue until January 22.

About 300 players from 150 teams will participate in the tournament, and the winners will be classified into five cat-egories during the tournament days, which will run from 4 pm to 11 pm.

Commenting on the initi-ative, Abdullah Mohammad Al Falasi, Director of the Public Relations Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, emphasised that organising this event comes

within the framework of the close relationship between sport and sustainability. He said such sports tournaments are a real investment for young people to promote a positive and environmentally friendly lifestyle.

He added that the Public Relations Department would organise cultural awareness events accompanying the Al Badel Championships to high-light the Ministry’s role in activ-ities and events aimed at edu-cating the public and enhancing the role of sports in sustainable development.

The exhibition activities accompanying the Badel Sports Championship aim to inform the public about the essential activities and environmental laws, and the public hygiene law.

Several departments of the Environmental Affairs Sector are also participating in the activities by presenting several activities that define their most important specializations and

tasks. Meanwhile, the Agricul-tural Affairs Department at the MME will also display organic products from Qatar’s farms, including vegetables, fruits, and others.

Kuwait reports 560 new COVID-19 casesQNA — KUWAIT

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health reported yesterday 560 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past 24 hours, bringing the total of confirmed cases in the country to 156,434.

The Ministry’s spokesman Dr. Abdullah Al Sanad said that no deaths have been recorded due to the virus in the past twenty-four hours, leaving the number of deaths at 946 cases so far, adding that the patients in intensive care units have reached 49.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health announced earlier Thursday the recovery of 252 people over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 150,061.

Oman vaccinates more than 22,000 against COVID-19QNA — MUSCAT

The Omani Health Minister Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Obaid Al Saeedi stated that during the first phase of the national campaign for COVID-19 vaccination, 22,749 people were vaccinated with a coverage rate of 82 percent of the target groups, explaining that the side effects of the vaccine are expected and simple, and no serious side effects were recorded from the vaccine.

In the press conference of the Supreme Committee in charge of discussing the mech-anism of dealing with devel-opments resulting from the spread of the coronavirus, the Minister of Health expected that between 8 and 10 vac-cines will arrive in the Sul-tanate in the first quarter of this year, stressing that the Sultanate will not use any vaccine except after obtaining the full data and registering the country of origin and ensuring its validity and safety, pointing out that the Ministry of Health has seized 370,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine and will reach the Sultanate on Batches.

He added that the epi-demic is still present, and many countries, unfortu-nately, reached the third wave and reached the climax, and the injuries reached very large numbers, calling for non-laxity in the precau-tionary measures and not being complacent, noting that in the peak period the number of cases in intensive care units reached 219 cases, indicating that the decrease in these cases came as a result of everyone’s efforts and adherence to precau-tionary measures.

Top UN officials warn of famine in Yemen after Houthis blacklisting REUTERS — NEW YORK

Three top United Nations offi-cials all called on the United States yesterday to revoke its decision to designate Yemen’s Houthis a foreign terrorist organisation, warning it would push the country into a large-scale famine and chill peace efforts.

UN Yemen mediator Martin Griffiths, UN aid chief Mark Lowcock and UN food chief David Beasley issued their warnings during a UN Security Council meeting on Yemen. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres backed the call by his officials for Washington to reverse the designation, a UN spokesman said.

“We fear that there will be inevitably a chilling effect on my efforts to bring the parties together,” Griffiths told the 15-member body. “The decision will contribute to the prospect

of famine in Yemen and should be revoked based on humani-tarian grounds at the earliest opportunity.” The United Nations describes Yemen as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 80% of the people in need of aid. Yemenis fear the US decision could further isolate them from the global financial system. UN officials are trying to revive peace talks to end the war as the country’s suffering is also worsened by an eco-nomic and currency collapse and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The chief Houthi negotiator said yesterday that the group will not walk away from peace talks with the United Nations and Saudi Arabia.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the move against the Houthis on Sunday. It will come into effect on Jan. 19, the last full day in office of President Donald Trump’s administration. Yemen’s

Foreign Minister Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak told the Security Council his government wel-comed the US decision. Pres-ident-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20. The des-ignation could be revoked by Biden’s administration.

“We are struggling now without the designation. With the designation, it’s going to be catastrophic. It literally is going to be a death sentence to hun-dreds of thousands, if not mil-lions of innocent people in Yemen,” said Beasley, a former governor of South Carolina.

“This designation - it needs to be reassessed; it needs to be re-evaluated. And quite frankly, it needs to be reversed,” he said.

A Biden transition official said they took note of the Trump administration to des-ignate the Houthis and that “the transition team is reviewing each one, and the incoming administration will render a

verdict based exclusively on one criterion: the national interest.”

While the United Nations and aid groups help about a third of Yemen’s 28 million people, Lowcock stressed com-mercial imports are key to ensuring millions more have access to food.

He said a US plan to issue licenses and exemptions to allow aid agencies to continue working will not prevent a famine in Yemen, which relies almost solely on imports.

“Aid agencies cannot - they simply cannot - replace the commercial import system,” said Lowcock, warning the US decision would push Yemen into a “famine on a scale that we have not seen for nearly 40 years.” “What would prevent it? A reversal of the (US) decision,” he said. Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills told the Security Council and the UN officials that

Washington was listening and the concerns raised “are informing how we approach the designation implementation.” “But we do believe that this step is the right move forward to send the right signal if we want the political process to move forward,” Mills said. Several council members raised con-cerns. Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia urged the United States to review its decision.

“This risks not only seri-ously exacerbating the human-itarian situation in the country, but also undermining UN efforts whose aim is to launch negoti-ations between the warring sides,” Nebenzia told the council. The designation freezes any US-related assets of the Houthis, bans Americans from doing business with them and makes it a crime to provide support or resources to the movement.

Officials tour the exhibition area at the sports championship.

Youth advocates are considered not only the driving

force for positive change but also a key factor for

finding solutions to social issues. I hope that youth will

understand sport’s ability to inspire, bring hope, and transform

humanity by uniting us to work together, as well as how they

can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.

H E Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani

Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations

04 FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021 MIDDLE EAST

Lebanon begins all-day curfew as virus spins out of controlAP — BEIRUT

Lebanese authorities began enforc ing an 11-day nationwide shutdown and round the clock curfew yesterday, hoping to limit the spread of coronavirus infec-tions spinning out of control after the holiday period.

For the first time, residents were required to request a one-hour permit to be allowed to leave the house for “emer-gencies,” including going to the bakery, pharmacist, doctor, hospital or airport.

Authorities came under pressure to take a tougher approach after the country’s hospitals ran out of beds with daily infections reaching an all-time high of 5,440 cases last week in the country of nearly 6 million people.

The dramatic surge in infec-tions began in late December. As most governments around the world tightened lockdowns, Lebanon relaxed health measures over the holidays, allowing restaurants and night-clubs to reopen with barely any restrictions in place.

An estimated 80,000 expats flowed back into the country to celebrate Christmas and New Years with loved ones, many of them expats who skipped vis-iting in the summer due to the

devastating August 4 explosion at Beirut port.

“The holiday season should have been the time for lockdown. The season of crowds, shopping and parties,” said Hanna Azar, owner of a money transfer and telephones shop. “They opened it to allow dollars into the country and now they want to close, espe-cially in this economic crisis. People don’t have money to eat.”

Even before the corona-virus, Lebanon was going through an unprecedented eco-nomic and financial crisis that has seen its national currency and bank sector collapse and locked depositors out of the savings. Hospitals, long con-sidered among the best in the Middle East, struggled to pay staff, keep equipment running and secure necessary medical supplies as dollars grew scarce.

Amid the surge, many hos-pitals have now reached maximum capacity for coro-navirus patients. Some have halted elective surgeries as

they run out of beds, oxygen tanks and ventilators.

Furthermore, the country has been without a government since the old one resigned in the wake of the catastrophic August 4 explosion at Beirut port, which put a further strain on hospitals, inundating them with injured. At least three hospitals were destroyed.

The massive explosion caused by the detonation of a stockpile of poorly stored ammonium nitrate ravaged the city, killing over 200 people and injuring thousands.

Yesterday, police manned checkpoints around the country, checking motorists’ permits to be on the road and creating traffic jams in some cases. The curfew is the strictest since the start of the pandemic. For the first time, even super-markets were told to close their doors and open for delivery only. That decision triggered three days of chaotic panic buying as worried citizens emptied shelves at super-markets and grocery stores.

A view of an empty road as Lebanon tightened lockdown and introduced a 24-hour curfew to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease in Beirut, Lebanon, yesterday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receiving a shot of the Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine at Ankara City Hospital in Ankara, Turkey, yesterday.

Turkey begins administering Sinovac shot to health workersREUTERS — ANKARA/ISTANBUL

Turkey began administering the shots developed by China’s Sinovac to health workers yesterday, rolling out a nationwide vaccination programme against a disease that has killed more than 23,000 people in the country. It has so far vaccinated more than 250,000 health workers.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received his first dose of the vaccine at the Ankara City Hospital. He arrived with Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, who received the first vaccine in the country a day earlier.

Speaking to reporters outside the hospital, Erdogan said he and senior members of the AK Party were all getting inoculated, and urged other politicians to endorse the vaccine.

“The number of vaccines in the first stage is clear. Now, another 25-30 million doses will come in the period ahead. We want to continue this rapidly,” he said, adding that all the incoming vaccines would also be from Sinovac for now.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, speaking after Erdogan left the hospital, said all citizens should get vaccinated when their turn comes.

Turkey has reported more than 2.3 million infections since March and still reports around 10,000 new cases and 170 deaths each day after a month of weekend lockdowns and nightly curfews.

At a research hospital in Istanbul, 30 clinics were set up to administer the vaccine. Health workers, who book appointments online, were given a first dose and moni-tored for a short time before leaving. A second dose will be given 28 days later.

Surgeon General Nurettin Yiyit said the hospital could vaccinate around 1,800 people per day and that its 3,500 staff, including nurses and janitors, could be vaccinated in two days. “We spent around 10 months in white overalls, sup-porting people as they struggle for life. Health workers know very well that this situation cannot be taken lightly and that the vaccine is needed,” Yiyit said.

Health workers will be vac-cinated in a few days and the process will move onto the next group, which includes those aged over 65. People older than 50 and suffering a chronic illness, plus some in specific sectors or high-risk environ-ments, will follow. A third group includes young adults and other

categories, with a fourth group covering the rest.

Turkey has ordered 50 million doses of Sinovac’s Coro-naVac and has received 3 million. It is in talks for Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, and the shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, and is working to develop one domestically.

Trials from around the world have shown varying results for the Chinese vaccine, which Indonesia began admin-istering on Wednesday, including late-stage clinical data from Brazil showing an efficacy rate of only 50.4%.

Last month, Turkish researchers said CoronaVac showed a 91.25% efficacy based on an interim analysis of 29 cases. A fuller analysis can take place when they reach 40 cases.

Turkey’s trials will continue as it moves ahead with the mass inoculation, the trials coordinator said. A poll in December by Turkiye Raporu showed nearly 35% of Turks did not want to get vaccinated, while nearly 30% said they would only get a domestically developed vaccine. “There is a serious inclination among health workers to get vaccinated. We have a social responsibility because our getting vaccinated will encourage others,” Yiyit said.

Iranian military commanders and other members of the armed forces praying on the Iranian-made warship Makran during an exercise in the Gulf of Oman, yesterday.

Turkey urges ‘review’ of US sanction decision over S-400sAP — ANKARA

A top Turkish official is calling on the new US administration to engage in a dialogue with Turkey and to review a decision to sanction the country over its purchase of an advanced Russian air defence system.

That request comes even though Washington has made clear that there can be no waiver of the sanctions until Ankara disposes of the Russian technology.

Speaking to reporters late on Wednesday, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar would not be drawn into a question on whether Turkey would consider disposing of the Russian S-400 system amid US pressure. But he said he was hopeful that a solution can be found “through common sense before coming to that point.”

Akar also said talks with Russia on acquiring a second consignment of the S-400 were continuing.

In December, the United States sanctioned four Turkish officials under a US law known as CAATSA, which is aimed at pushing back on Russian influence. The sanctions, which also included a ban on export licenses to to Turkey’s Presi-dency of Defence Industries, were the first time the law was used to punish a Nato ally.

Earlier, Turkey was also kicked out of the US F-35 stealth jet program, due to con-cerns that the Russian

technology would jeopardise the safety of the fighter jets.

The sanctions deepened a rift between Washington and Ankara which have been at odds over a variety of issues, including Turkish military actions in Syria and elsewhere.

Akar renewed Turkey’s calls for a dialogue to overcome the impasse. Turkey maintains that the S-400s would not affect Nato systems or the F-35s.

“We are saying let’s not break things up in this way.

Let’s sit down and talk and find a solution,” Akar said.

US officials have ruled out the possibility of discussions with Turkey over the S-400’s risks to the F-35s. They have also said the sanctions cannot be lifted as long as the Russian air-defence system remains on Turkish soil.

Akar said Turkey was left with no choice but to acquire the Russian air defence system after no Nato ally offered Turkey favourable terms.

US sanctions controversial deputy of Iraqi paramilitariesAP — BAGHDAD

The United States imposed sanctions on an influential Iraqi militia leader and deputy of a powerful Iran-backed umbrella of mostly Shiite paramilitary groups, desig-nating him a global terrorist figure.

The move by the US Treasury against Abdulaziz Al Mohammadawi, known as Abu Fadak, was expected by many Iraqi officials. It was also the second time in a week that a senior Iraqi militia official has been sanctioned.

The chairman of the par-amilitary umbrella, the Popular Mobilization Forces, Falih Al Fayyadh was sanc-tioned last Friday under the Magnitsky Act and accused of rights abuses against antigov-ernment protesters. The law allows the US to target any for-eigner accused of human rights violations and corruption.

Abu Fadak, a senior figure of the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia, is also acting deputy chairman of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a role he took on after a U.S. airstrike last January in Baghdad killed the militia’s deputy head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a powerful founding member of Kataib Hezbollah and the lead architect of the umbrella group of paramilitaries.

Top Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander, Gen. Qassim Soleimani, was also killed in that airstrike.

Iran fires cruise missiles during naval drillAP — TEHRAN

Iran fired cruise missiles yesterday as part of a naval drill in the Gulf of Oman, state media reported, amid heightened tensions with the US.

State TV showed footage of missiles being launched from both land units and ships at sea but didn’t elaborate on their range or other details. In July, Iran said it test-fired cruise mis-siles with a range of some 280km.

“Enemies should know that any violation and invasion of Iranian marine borders will be targeted by the cruise missiles from both coast and sea,” said Adm. Hamzeh Ali Kaviani, spokesman for the exercise.

The two-day drill began on Wednesday when the country’s navy inaugurated its largest mil-itary vessel. The exercise takes place amid heightened tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and a US pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic.

In recent weeks, Iran has increased its military drills. On

Saturday, the paramilitary Rev-olutionary Guard held a naval parade in the Gulf and a week earlier Iran held a massive drone maneuver across half the country. President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran’s

nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump cited Iran’s ballistic missile program among other issues in withdrawing.

Following the US’s

re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, Tehran gradually and pub-licly abandoned the deal’s limits on its nuclear development as a series of escalating incidents pushed the two countries to the brink of war at the beginning of the year.

For the first time, residents were required to request a one-hour permit to be allowed to leave the house for “emergencies,” including going to the bakery, pharmacist, doctor, hospital or airport.

UN watchdog confirms another Iranian breach of nuclear dealAP — BERLIN

The United Nations’ atomic watchdog agency confirmed yesterday that Iran has informed it that the country has begun installing equipment for the production of uranium metal, which would be another violation of the landmark nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran maintains its plans to conduct research and devel-opment on uranium metal pro-duction are part of its “declared aim to design an improved type of fuel,” the Vienna-based Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency said.Uranium metal can also be used for a nuclear bomb, however, and research on its production is specifically pro-hibited under the nuclear deal — the so-called Joint Compre-hensive Plan of Action— that Tehran signed with world powers in 2015.

05FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021 ISLAM

The Quranic meaning of ImanMANSOOR ALAM

The root of the word “Iman” is a-m-n which means: to be calm and quiet (in one’s heart); to be protected from fear; trustworthiness, and truthfulness. Iman means to

accept truthfully, to be convinced, and to verify something, to rely upon or have confidence in something.

Iman is usually translated in English as faith or belief, and faith in turn signifies acceptance without proof or argument, without reference to reason or thought, knowledge or insight. According to the Quran, Iman is conviction which is based upon reason and knowledge; a conviction that results from full mental acceptance and intellectual satisfaction; the kind of conviction that gives one a feeling of inner contentment and peace. And a Mu’min is one who accepts truth in such a way that it ensures his own peace and helps him to safeguard the peace and security of the rest of humankind. In fact, Al Mu’min is one of the attributes of Allah Himself (59:23). Allah gives a comprehensive and an objective definition of Iman in the Quran: “To believe in Allah, and in the hereafter, and in Malaika (angels or Allah’s forces), and in the Book, and the Prophets.” (2:177)

Importance of Reason in ImanThe Quranic view of reason and its

place in human life deserves careful consideration. Man has been granted a mind which enables him to think, and through the instrument of intellect, is supposed to build up a system of knowledge. Reason converts the raw data supplied by the senses into knowledge and the Quran assigns to reason an important role in life: Verily, the vilest of all creatures in the sight of God are those deaf, those dumb ones who do not use their reason. (8:22)

This is a graphic description of the degradation of man when he does not employ reason to his service. Such a man, the Quran tells us, not only lives a worthless and debased life here but also renders himself unfit for the here-after which he enters after death:

“Many are the Jinns and men we have made for Hell: They have hearts wherewith they understand not, eyes wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. They are like cattle,- nay more misguided: for they are heedless of warning. (7:179)

This point is again emphasised in Sura Al Furqan. The Prophet (PBUH) is addressed: Or dost thou think that most of them listen to thy message and use their reason? Nay, they are but like cattle - nay, they are even less con-scious of the right way! (25:44)

The Quran expects man to think and use his power of understanding in the light of the guidance provided by wa‘hi or revelation from Allah. These two sources of guidance, i.e., reason and revelation, are supplementary to each other. If they are kept within their proper spheres, then there will be no conflict between them. The Prophet (PBUH) is commanded to say: Say O Prophet: “This is my way: Resting upon

conscious insight accessible to reason, I am calling you all unto God — I and they who follow me.” (12:108)

It is clear from these verses that Allah puts an extraordinary emphasis on human reason and intellect. Those who do not use reason are called worse than animals by Allah. The revelation from Allah is meant to be used with reason and understanding in order to enlighten our minds and hearts and not to be followed blindly: Say: “Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know?” (Quran 39:9)

And most important of all, Allah says that even His revelations are not to be accepted blindly. The Believers (Mu’minin) according to the Quran are:

“And who, whenever they are reminded of their Sustainer’s messages, do not throw themselves upon them [as if] deaf and blind.” (25:73)

Thus, the Quran calls upon all human beings to apply their minds (with open minds, not with an a priori bias, prejudice or ancestral customized thoughts) to its teaching, and to strive constantly to grasp its meaning and rationale. The following commands are for everyone (and not just for the scholars): “Will they not, then, try to understand this Quran?” (4:82, 47:24)

“(This is) a Book (the Quran) which We have sent down to you, full of blessings that they may ponder over its Verses, and that men of under-standing may remember.” (38:29)

Thus, Iman has to be individually acquired which requires that each of

us consciously strive to acquire knowledge and understanding by using our own God-given gift of reason and intellect in the light of the revelation given in the Quran, so that Iman can enter our hearts.

Characteristics of ImanHere is list of several characteristics

of Iman from the Quran which shed some further light on its reality: Iman is not to accept it with the tongue but to accept it with the heart. (2:8-9)

To accept everything which the Quran says as truth is Iman. (2:26)

In order to acquire Iman in Allah, it is necessary to first reject every authority other than Allah. (2:25-26)

Iman will lead human beings from darkness towards light. (2:257)

In matters of Iman, one’s profession is irrelevant. (26:111-112)

Unless Iman enters the heart, it cannot be called Iman. One can only say that one has surrendered to Islam. (49:14)

Allah does not discard anyone’s Iman. (2:143)

Finally, an important aspect which must be emphasized here is that no form of force or coercion (direct or indirect, temporal or spiritual) can be used in connection with Iman. This is because it contradicts the very defi-nition of Iman. (As we have seen, Iman is derived from a-m-n which means peace in the heart.) So any forced con-version cannot be allowed in Islam. In fact, forced Iman is no Iman at all.

Therefore, Iman in Islam is not a (blind) faith held privately and subjec-tively (without any rationale or reason) between an individual and God. As we have seen, there is a clear, explicit, and objective definition of Iman given in the Quran and Allah has Himself explained the process of how to acquire it in various other verses related to this topic. Therefore, it is not proper (for any Muslim, at least) to say that faith is a private, subjective matter between an individual and God. Nevertheless, the maxim “faith is a private matter” is accepted as a universal truth. It seems no one thinks that any serious effort is needed to investigate its in-depth meaning and provide a proof for this oft repeated phrase. A moment’s reflection, however, reveals that those who believe in this maxim are really con-tradicting themselves in their daily lives. A good religious speaker greatly influ-ences people’s thoughts and beliefs. The moment one opens one’s private belief to be influenced by others, it no longer remains private. So much so, that an accomplished religious leader can cause havoc in people’s lives to the extent that a single statement of his may cause them to give up their lives and/or take other people’s lives.

And we know that this scenario is physically as well as psychologically impossible now in the age of the infor-mation super highway, World Wide Web, and the Internet. As a matter of fact, this distinction between private and public domain of human life is the

product of a concept called dualism which finds no sanction anywhere in the Quran. Life is a unity which cannot be bifurcated into private and public parts, religious and secular parts, or material and spiritual parts.

In the words of poet Iqbal: “...With Islam, the ideal and real (i.e. spiritual and material) are not two opposing forces which cannot be reconciled. The life of the ideal (i.e. spiritual life) con-sists, not in a total breach with the real (i.e. material life) which would tend to shatter the very organic wholeness of life into painful oppositions...

“Islam, however, faces the oppo-sition with a view to overcome it...Islam, recognising the contact of the ideal with real, says ‘yes’ to the world of matter and points the way to master it with a view to discover a basis for a realistic regulation of life.” (Recon-struction of Religious Thought in Islam, pages 7-8)

Unfortunately, this is what life has become today—comprised of painful oppositions in our feelings and emo-tions, in our thoughts and actions—because the foundation (i.e. Iman) on which the life’s superstructure is to be built as a coherent system is flawed.

Now if the foundation itself is defective, no matter how much tink-ering and patch-up job is done to save the superstructure of a society, sooner or later it is going to collapse. Many of them have collapsed already and many are on the way moving towards their final destiny.

In fact, we are all on a mission and a journey, continuously moving towards a final destination whether we realize it or not. The electrons and neurons in our bodies, the earth we inhabit, the solar system, the galaxy—from the smallest to the biggest, eve-rything and everyone and life in general, are all on a journey towards their goal determined by Allah.

Allah says in the Quran that if all the trees on the planet became pens and all its oceans became ink, the words of Allah (and the meanings con-tained in them) would not be exhausted (31:27, 18:109). That means we are limited by our finite capacity of knowledge and understanding. But still, Allah enjoins on every one of us (who call ourselves Muslims) to use our reason, intellect, and the up-to-date human knowledge and to directly try to understand and explore the meanings of His revela-tions (as noted earlier in many verses, especially verse 25:73).

We will never be able to exhaust the meanings of Allah’s words but we are asked, nevertheless, to keep striving continuously. That is why it is all the more important not to give up and stop this process by saying that our great scholars of the past have already explored all there was to be explored and they have understood all there was to be understood. And we simply have to refer to them in matters of Islam. This passive approach on our part will not absolve us from our duty to ponder directly in the Quran as required by Allah. This requirement is for each and every generation and for all time to come. www.islamicity.org

Islam:Basic Facts - 2

I The first pillar of Islam is to believe and declare the faith by saying the Sha-hadah (lit.‘witness’), known as the

Kalimah. La ilaha ila Allahu Muhamma-durrasul Allah. (There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah).

The meaning is better understood in English as saying that there is no deity worthy of worship throughout the creation, only the Creator is worth of any worship.

Or as we say: “Worship the Creator - Not His Creations.”

DECLARATION This declaration contains two parts.The first part refers to God Almighty,

the Creator of everything, the Lord of the Worlds; the second part refers to the Mes-senger, Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) a prophet and a human being, who received the revelation through the Arch-angel Gabriel, and taught it to mankind.

NOT OTHER GODS By sincerely uttering the Shahadah the

Muslim acknowledges Allah as the sole Creator of all, and the Supreme Authority over everything and everyone in the universe.

Consequently the Muslim closes his/ her heart and mind to loyalty, devotion and obedience to, trust in, reliance on, and worship of anything or anyone other than Allah. This rejection is not confined merely to pagan gods and goddesses of wood and

stone and created by human hands and imaginations; this rejection must extend to all other conceptions, superstitions, ide-ologies, ways of life, and authority figures that claim supreme devotion, loyalty, trust, love, obedience or worship. This entails, for example, the rejection of belief in such common things as astrology, palm reading, good luck charms, fortune-telling and psychic readings, in addition to praying at shrines or graves of “saints”, asking the dead souls to intercede for them with Allah. There are no intercessors in Islam, nor any class of clergy as such; a Muslim prays directly and exclusively to Allah.

BELIEF IN PROPHETHOOD Belief in the prophethood of

Muhammad (PBUH) entails belief in the guidance brought by him and contained in his Sunnah (traditions of his sayings and actions), and demands of the Muslim the intention to follow his guidance faithfully. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was also a human being, a man with feelings and emotions, who ate, drank and slept, and was born and died, like other men. He had a pure and upright nature, extraordinary righteousness, and an unwavering faith in Allah and commitment to Islam, but he was not divine. Muslims do not pray to him, not even as an intercessor, and Muslims abhor the terms “Mohammedan” and “Mohammedanism”.

www.islamtomorrow.com

Allah does not like speaking evil publicly unless one has been wronged. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. Even though you have the right to speak evil if you are wronged, if you keep doing good — whether openly or secretly — or at least pardon the evil (then that is the attribute of Allah). Allah is All-Pardoning and He has all the power to chastise. (Quran 4:148-149)

This verse embodies a moral directive of very high value to the Muslims. The hypocrites bent on placing all kinds of obstacles in the way of the spread of Islam: They eagerly persecuted the Muslims and used all possible means, however malicious, against them. Such an attitude inevitably created anger and resentment. It was in the context of this storm of bitter feelings that Allah told Muslims that He did not consider speaking ill of people as praiseworthy. No doubt the Muslims had been wronged, and if a wronged person speaks out against a wrong-doer, he is quite justified in doing so. Even though this is a person’s right, it is more meritorious to continue to do good both in public and in private, and to ignore the misdeeds of others.For one’s ideal should be to try to approximate to God’s way as far as possible. God with whom one wants to be close is lenient and forbearing; He provides sustenance even to the worst criminals and seeks mitigating circum-stances in even the most serious offences. In order to become close to God, one ought to be generous in spirit and full of tolerance. (Courtesy: Tafheemul Quran by S.A Maududi)

Do not speak evil openly

Shahadah: The testimony of faith

Allah puts an extraordinary emphasis on human reason and intellect. Those who do not use reason are called worse than animals by Allah. The revelation from Allah is meant to be used with reason and understanding in order to enlighten our minds and hearts and not to be followed blindly: Say: “Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know?” (Quran 39:9)

06 FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021AFRICA

Ugandans cast ballots in tense presidential pollAP — KAMPALA

Ugandans voted yesterday in a presidential election tainted by widespread violence that some fear could escalate as security forces try to stop supporters of leading opposition challenger Bobi Wine from monitoring polling stations. Internet access has been cut off.

Long lines of voters snaked into the distance in the capital, Kampala. “This is a miracle,” mechanic Steven Kaderere said. “This shows me that Ugandans this time are determined to vote for the leader they want. I have never seen this before.”

But delays were seen in the delivery of polling materials in some places, including where Wine voted. After he arrived to the cheers of a crowd and cast his ballot, he made the sign of the cross, then raised his fist and smiled.

“Everybody was scared, they thought I would not cast my vote. Here I am coming from the polling station,” Wine told local broadcaster NTV Uganda. “I want to assure Ugandans that we can and indeed will win. Whether or not (the electoral commission chief) declares that, that is his business.” Results are expected within 48 hours of polls closing at 4pm. More than 17 million people are registered voters in this East African country of 45 million people. A candidate must win more than 50 percent to avoid a runoff vote.

Longtime President Yoweri

Museveni, an authoritarian who has wielded power since 1986, seeks a sixth term against a strong challenge from Wine, a popular young singer-turned-opposition lawmaker. Nine other challengers are trying to unseat Museveni.

After voting, the president was asked if he would accept the election’s outcome and said “of course” but quickly added, “if there are no mistakes.” Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has seen many asso-ciates jailed or go into hiding as security forces crack down on opposition supporters they fear could mount a street uprising leading to regime change. Wine insists he is running a nonvi-olent campaign.

Wine, of the National Unity Platform party, has said he does not believe the election is free and fair. He has urged sup-porters to linger near polling stations to protect their votes.

But the electoral commission, which the opposition sees as weak, has said voters must return home after casting ballots.

Internet access was cut Wednesday night. “No matter what they do, the world is watching,” Wine tweeted.

Problems were reported with some biometric machines to verify voters. “Our kit failed to start because mismatching passwords,” said Derrick Lutakoma, the presiding officer at one polling station.

“This election has already been rigged,” another opposition candidate, Patrick Oboi Amuriat, told NTV as polls opened, adding that “we will not accept the outcome of this election.”

The government’s decision this week to shut down access to social media in retaliation over Facebook’s removal of Museveni-linked Ugandan accounts accused of inauthentic behavior was meant “to limit the eyes on the election and, therefore, hide something,” said Crispin Kaheru, an independent election observer.

The 76-year-old Museveni’s support has traditionally been concentrated in rural areas where many credit him with restoring a sense of peace and security that was lost during the regimes of dic-tators including Idi Amin.

Security forces have deployed heavily in the area that encompasses Kampala, where the opposition has strong support partly because of rampant unemployment even

among college graduates.“Museveni is putting all the

deployments in urban areas where the opposition has an advantage,” said Gerald Bareebe, an assistant professor of political science at Canada’s York University. “If you ask many Ugandans now, they say the ballot paper is not worth my life.” Some young people said they would vote despite the apparent risks.

“This government has ruled us badly. They have really squeezed us,” said Allan Sser-wadda, a car washer. “They have ruled us for years and they say they have ideas. But they are not the only ones who have ideas.” Asked if the heavy mil-itary deployment fazed him, he smiled and said: “If we are to die, let us die. Now there is no difference between being alive

and being dead. Bullets can find you anywhere. They can find you at home. They can find you on the veranda.”

At least 54 people were killed in Uganda in November as security forces put down riots provoked by the arrest of Wine for allegedly violating campaign regulations aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

Wine has captured the imagination of many in Uganda, and elsewhere in Africa, with his bold calls for the retirement of Museveni, whom he sees as a part of a corrupt old guard.

Museveni has dismissed the 38-year-old Wine as “an agent of foreign interests” who cannot be trusted with power. Wine has been arrested many times on various charges but has never been convicted.

Museveni, who decades ago

criticized African leaders over not leaving power, now seeks more time in office after law-makers jettisoned the last con-stitutional obstacle — age limits — on a possible life presidency.

“I grew up when he was president. Even my children have been born when he is pres-ident,” taxi driver Mark Wasswa said as voting began. “We also want to see another person now.” The rise of Wine as a national leader without ties to the regime has raised the stakes within the ruling National Resistance Movement party.

“(Ruling) party members and supporters ought to know that this is a watershed election to shape, determine and install a Museveni successor,” gov-ernment spokesman Ofwono Opondo recently wrote in the Sunday Vision newspaper.

Ugandan presidential candidate and singer Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known as Bobi Wine, casts his ballot in the presidential elections in Kampala, Uganda, yesterday.

Zimbabwe court denies bail for journalist over false story

AP — HARARE

A Zimbabwean court has denied bail to prominent jour-nalist Hopewell Chin’ono, who has been in detention for almost a week on accusations of publishing a falsehood.

The magistrate ruled that Chin’ono could commit similar crimes if released on bail, citing two other cases in which, like the current one, the journalist was arrested for items he posted on Twitter. His lawyers said they will appeal.

Chin’ono is being held at the harsh Chikurubi prison on the outskirts of the capital, Harare. He was arrested last week for posting that police had killed an infant while enforcing lockdown rules. Police later said the infor-mation was false and the baby is alive. Chin’ono faces a fine or up to 20 years in jail if con-victed of publishing a false story.

Before the latest arrest, Chin’ono was out on bail on separate charges of inciting violence after he voiced support for an anti-gov-ernment protest in July and also on contempt of court charges for allegedly claiming corruption within the coun-try’s national prosecution agency.

Chin’ono is one of Zimba-bwe’s most prominent critics of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration, accusing it of corruption and human rights abuses. The government denies the charges.

Before he was arrested in July, Chin’ono had published an expose on Twitter in which he alleged corruption involving a $60m purchase of protective equipment for health workers. Mnangagwa later fired the health minister, who has been formally charged with cor-ruption in the case.

Chin’ono and his backers say he is being targeted for exposing government cor-ruption. The government and the ruling party accuse him of being out to tarnish Mnan-gagwa’s image. Chin’ono has continued to criticize the gov-ernment on Twitter even after his arrests and repeated detentions.

Africa to see 1st vaccine doses from COVAX in March: WHOAP — NAIROBI

Africa should see the first COVID-19 vaccine doses in March from the global COVAX effort aimed at helping lower-income countries obtain the shots, the World Health Organ-ization’s Africa chief said yesterday, as deaths on the continent are rapidly rising.

Matshidiso Moeti told reporters that a larger rollout of the millions of doses from COVAX is expected by June - the second major vaccine announcement this week for the African continent of 1.3 billion people as infections surge for a second time. The African Union chair on Wednesday said 270 million doses have been secured from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and

AstraZeneca via the Serum Institute of India.

Some 600 million doses are expected to come from COVAX. Doses expected to be allocated to countries based on population size and the severity of the outbreak, with health workers considered highest priority after thousands have been infected. The African continent is now recording about 30,000 new virus cases per day overall compared to 18,000 during the first surge months ago.

“Unfortunately, our deaths are increasing very rapidly,” Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention director John Nkengasong said in a sep-arate briefing.

He said confirmed deaths from COVID-19 have jumped 21 percent over the past week in Africa, with more than 5,400

reported. The continent has more than 3.1 million confirmed virus cases, including more than 75,000 deaths, as a second wave of infections is “hitting very, very hard.” The case fatality rate in Africa is now 2.4 percent, above the global rate of 2.2 percent. Some 20 African countries have case fatality rates above the global average, including Sudan at six percent, Egypt at 5.5 percent, Mali at 3.9 percent, Congo at 3.1 percent and South Africa at 2.8 percent.

South Africa is one of the world’s hardest-hit countries as a highly infectious variant of the virus now dominates the number of new cases and hos-pitals struggle. The country has more than 1.2 million cases including 35,000 deaths.

Genomic sequencing has

now found that new variant in three other countries: Botswana, Gambia and Zambia, the WHO Africa chief said. “The impor-tance of a robust genomics sur-veillance system cannot be over-emphasized,” she added.

The Africa CDC director said “the sheer increase in the number of cases means we run into short supplies of oxygen,” and he is meeting with the World Health Organisation and other partners today on how to increase the supply to Africa, where medical oxygen is not widely available.

Nkengasong stressed the importance of getting COVID-19 vaccines to Africa: “We have to do it quick. Economies are down. People are dying.” Since vaccine doses from the COVAX effort are expected to cover just 20% of the

population in Africa, officials have pushed on multiple fronts to secure many more doses to meet the goal of vaccinating the 60 percent needed to achieve herd immunity against the virus.

The vaccinations “will require a very massive historic campaign” of a kind that the continent has never seen, Nkengasong said. Already there are concerns about how African countries can roll out vaccines that require super-cold storage given the continent has some of the world’s worst infrastructure.

Nkengasong said African governments are being advised to obtain deep freezers to start the vaccinations at hospitals in their major cities, then to “engage the community, push them, drag them to where vac-cination points are.”

A health worker collects a swab at a drive-through sample collection centre for coronavirus disease in Abuja, Nigeria, yesterday.

Nigeria seeks to vaccinate 40% of population this yearAP — ABUJA

Nigeria wants to vaccinate as much as 40 percent of its popu-lation against the coronavirus in 2021, a government official said.

As a first step, the country of more than 200 million people expects to receive 100,000 doses of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine at the end of January through the Covax initiative, Faisal Shuaib, chief executive officer of Nigeria’s National

Primary Health Care Devel-opment Agency, said yesterday on Bloomberg TV. Covax has not started shipping vaccines yet and has not given a precise date for when it will begin.

The country has secured the services of the private sector for ultra-cold storage facilities to help store and distribute the vaccines, Shuaib said. Ideally, Nigeria should have at least 70 percent of the population vac-cinated by the end of 2022, he said. The shots will be used to

mainly vaccinate health workers.

Authorities have yet to provide details about deals with vaccine producers to secure enough doses. The governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, plans to approach manufacturers directly because the number of Pfizer vaccines allocated to his state by the federal government would amount to about 1,800, which he described as “grossly inadequate,” according to Punch newspaper.

Tunisia marks 10 years since revolution in lockdownAP — TUNIS

Tunisia yetserday commemo-rates the 10th anniversary since the flight into exile of iron-fisted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, pushed from power in a popular revolt that fore-shadowed strife and civil war in the region, known as the Arab Spring.

But there will be no festive celebrations marking the rev-olution in this North African nation, which was ordered into lockdown to contain the coronavirus.

The tree-lined Avenue Bourguiba, the main artery in the capital city of Tunis, which became a center of the uprising, may well be deserted if citizens respect orders to stay home. Demonstrations and gatherings are banned for four days starting Thursday, although there was no guarantee the rules would be respected.

“After the political lockdown, it’s the turn of the health lockdown,” said one shopkeeper, Ahmed Hassen, who said smil-ingly that the situation looks like “the revenge of Ben Ali.”

Ben Ali ruled for 23 years over a system that instilled fear in many Tunisians, deprived of a free press, free speech and other liberties. He fled to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14, 2011, amid a snowballing rebellion marked by violence, rampant pillaging and incessant calls to “get out.”

Ben Ali died in 2019 in exile.

The revolution was unwit-tingly sparked by a desperate act of a 26-year-old fruit seller, Mohammed Bouazizi, who set himself ablaze on December17, 2010, to protest police humil-iation in a town in the neglected interior of the nation, Sidi Bouzid.

His death unleashed sim-mering discontent and mass demonstrations against poverty, joblessness and repression. That in turn rico-cheted beyond Tunisia, trig-gering what is known as the Arab Spring uprisings with crackdowns and civil wars in the region.

In Tunisia, joy and revenge marked the start of the post-Ben Ali era, with protesters tearing down the omnipresent posters of Ben Ali and invading the luxurious home of the pres-ident’s brother-in-law, Bel-hassen Trabelsi. The Tunis train station was burned down, tear gas flooded Avenue Bourguiba and other neighbourhoods of the capital and helicopter gun-ships flew low over the city. More than 300 people were killed. Nevertheless, the chaos was contained.

A budding democracy grew out of the aftermath of the Ben Ali era, but a pall of disen-chantment hangs over the country, marked by extremist attacks, political infighting, a troubled economy and promises unfulfilled, including development of the interior.

Results are expected within 48 hours of polls closing at 4pm. More than 17 million people are registered voters in this East African country of 45 million people. A candidate must win more than 50 percent to avoid a runoff vote.

07FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021 ASIA

Fire at Rohingya camps leaves thousands homelessREUTERS — COX’S BAZAR

A huge fire swept through the Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh in the early hours yesterday, the United Nations said, destroying homes belonging to thousands of people.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said more than 550 shelters home to around 3,500 people were either totally or partially destroyed in the blaze, as well as 150 shops and a facility belonging to a non-profit organization.

Photographs and video pro-vided to Reuters by a Rohingya refugee in Nayapara Camp showed families including children, sifting through charred corrugated iron sheets to see if they could salvage any-thing from their still smoul-dering homes. But little remained of the camp, which had stood for decades, aside from concrete poles and the

husks of a few trees.“E block is completely

burned down,” said the refugee, Mohammed Arakani. “There is nothing left. There was nothing saved. Everything is burned down.”

“Everyone is crying,” he said. “They lost all their belongings. They lost every-thing, completely burned down, they lost all their goods.”

UNHCR said it was pro-viding shelter, materials, winter clothes, hot meals, and medical

care for the refugees displaced from the camp in the Cox’s Bazar district, a sliver of land bordering Myanmar in south-eastern Bangladesh.

“Security experts are liaising with the authorities to inves-tigate on the cause of fire,” the agency said, adding that no cas-ualties were reported.

Onno van Manen, Save the Children’s Country Director in Bangladesh, called the fire “another devastating blow for the Rohingya people who have endured unspeakable hardship for years”.

Mohammed Shamsud Douza, the deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said the fire service spent two hours putting out the blaze, but was hampered by the explosion of gas cylinders inside homes.

The Bangladesh gov-ernment has moved several thousand Rohingya to a remote island in recent weeks, despite

protests from human rights groups who say some of the relocations were forced, alle-gations denied by authorities.

More than a million Rohingya live in the mainland

camps in southern Bangladesh, the vast majority having fled Myanmar in 2017 from a mil-itary-led crackdown that UN investigators said was executed with “genocidal intent”, charges

Myanmar denies.The fire destroyed part of a

camp inhabited by Rohingya who fled Myanmar after an earlier military campaign, according to refugees.

India approves $6bn purchase of locally made combat jetsBLOOMBERG — NEW DELHI

India will buy 83 indigenously made fighters — the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft — manufac-tured by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd at an estimated cost of over $6bn, in a set back for overseas combat aircraft makers seeking business in the South Asian nation.

The decision to purchase the fighter jets for $6.2bn was

approved at a meeting of the cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The purchase includes 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircraft and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer aircraft.

Modi is keen to modernise the country’s defence forces amid threats from nuclear-armed neighbours China and Pakistan. The latest decision is

a blow to global defense majors, including Boeing Co, Lockheed Martin Corp and Sweden’s Saab AB, who were waiting to supply 114 jets, the world’s largest deal in play. The bids for that deal were invited nearly three years ago.

The Indian Air Force needs about 750 fighters to deploy along its western and northern borders simultaneously but cur-rently has less than 550 fighters. The fleet is also old and, as an

emergency measure, the gov-ernment had bought 36 medium-multi-role fighters from the French defense giant Dassault Aviation.

The indigenous fighters have been in the making for over three decades with huge cost overruns and technical issues plaguing the project. Earlier, the air force had ordered 40 Tejas fighters of which 17 have been delivered, the current 83 fighters are an

advanced version of the aircraft.

India recently banned the import of defense platforms and sub-systems including light combat aircraft to boost domestic manufacturing. An earlier global tender to buy 114 fighters in which Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Dassault Avi-ation, Saab AB, Airbus Defense and Space, Russian Aircraft Cor-poration, and Sukhoi Company have bid, is on hold.

A view of burned houses after a fire broke out at the Nayapara refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, yesterday.

India to start vaccine supply with 20 million doses to neighboursBLOOMBERG — NEW DELHI

India, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of inoculations, plans to offer 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to its neighbours as it draws up a policy to supply vials to coun-tries across the globe, people with knowledge of the matter said.

An Indian state-run company will buy vaccines from Serum Institute of India Ltd. and Bharat Biotech Inter-national Ltd for supplying to Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Seychelles and Mauritius, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plan is still under dis-cussion. Some of supplies may be free and treated as aid, they added.

The first batch of the vials will be shipped over the next two weeks, the people said. The government will then offer the vaccines to countries in Latin

America, Africa and the former Soviet republics. A spokes-person for Bharat Biotech couldn’t immediately comment while a spokesman at Serum declined to comment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to tap India’s lead-ership in vaccine manufac-turing by helping countries bat-tling the pandemic and raise the South Asian nation’s profile to rival China, which is also supplying its home-grown inoculations around the world. Brazil, with more than 8 million cases, has sought urgent sup-plies and so has South Africa.

Serum will supply 2 million vaccines to the South American nation.

Serum’s CEO Adar Poona-walla in an interview this month said he expected overseas supplies to only start around March, adding that gov-ernment will enable overseas sales after first meeting India’s initial requirements.

The director of Save the Children’s Country in Bangladesh, called the fire “another devastating blow for the Rohingya people who have endured unspeakable hardship for years”.

Indonesia spots Chinese research vessel in its waters, tracker offREUTERS — JAKARTA

A Chinese research vessel has been identified in the waters of Indonesia with its tracking system turned off, authorities said yesterday, amid concerns in the region about Beijing’s maritime conduct.

Colonel Wisnu Pra-mandita, spokesman of Indo-nesia’s maritime security agency, known as Bakamla, in a statement said authorities suspected the vessel was con-ducting unauthorised activities in the Sunda Strait after its automatic identification system (AIS) had been switched off three times.

The Xiang Yang Hong 03 exited Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone late on Wednesday.

Indonesian security offi-cials have closely watched activities of Chinese vessels around the archipelago, amid wider tensions in the region and concern about Beijing’s militarisation and the conduct of its coastguard and fishing fleet.

The incident follows the recent discovery of an auton-omous underwater vehicle (AUV) by a local fisherman off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island last month, sparking concern about a potential security breach.

Analysts said the AUV may have been made in China. The navy is still investigating its origins.

Search expands for victims of Indonesia jet crashAP — JAKARTA

An aerial search for victims and wreckage from a crashed Indo-nesian plane expanded yesterday as divers continued combing the debris-littered seabed looking for the cockpit voice recorder from the lost Sriwijaya Air jet.

The Boeing 737-500 disap-peared on Saturday minutes after taking off from Jakarta with 62 people aboard. The other black box containing flight data was recovered Tuesday, and search personnel have also recovered plane parts and human remains from the Java Sea.

The aerial search is being expanded to coastal areas of the Thousand Island chain

“because plane debris and victims may be carried away by sea currents,” said Rasman, search and rescue mission coordinator for the National Search and Rescue Agency, who uses one name.

Navy officials have said the two black boxes were buried in seabed mud under tonnes of wreckage between Lancang and Laki islands in the Thousand Island chain north of Jakarta. At least 268 divers were deployed on Thursday, almost double the previous figure.

The head of the navy’s underwater rescue unit, Col Wahyudin Arif, said the plane apparently hit the water nose first, causing its wreckage to pile up in one area at a depth of 25 metres. Divers were having

difficulty removing broken pieces of the plane to retrieve the voice recorder.

“We have to be careful in removing the wreckage’s sharp objects, which could hurt the divers,” he said, “This is slowing our search effort.”

Rescuers increased to 4,100 personnel, supported by 13 hel-icopters, 55 ships and 18 raft boats.

So far, searchers have sent 180 body bags containing human remains to police iden-tification experts. Families have been providing DNA samples to the disaster victim identifi-cation unit, which on Wednesday said it had iden-tified six victims, including a flight attendant and an off-duty pilot.

Debris and clothes retrieved from the sea where the Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 crashed, are seen on the deck of Indonesian naval warship KRI Rigel 933, at sea off the Jakarta coast, Indonesia, yesterday.

Rare shark attack in Australia’s Swan RiverREUTERS — SYDNEY

The Australian city of Perth is renowned for sharks off its beaches, but on Wednesday a shark attacked a man swimming in the city’s Swan River, biting him on the upper leg in the first shark attack in the river since 1969.

The man was attacked by what was likely to be a 2-to-3 metre (6.5-to-9.8 feet) bull shark during a morning swimming off Perth’s Blackwall Reach reserve, officials said.

He was taken to Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) in a serious con-dition, a spokeswoman for the local ambulance service told Reuters. Local media reported the man was in his 50s and was in a stable condition.

RPH did not immediately return requests for comment.

The western Australian city of Perth and its coastline is renowned for Great White sharks and has had several attacks. In recent weeks some beaches have been closed due to an increase in shark sightings.

Attacks in the Swan River which flows into the ocean at the southern port city of Fre-mantle, just south of Perth, are rare. The last attack was in 1969 and the last reported shark-related fatality in 1923, when another swimmer was bitten on the legs.

The Swan River area where the attack took place was closed to the public until Friday, the state’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Devel-opment (DPIRD) said in an emailed statement.

Cambodia court convenes for mass treason trial of oppn figuresREUTERS — PHNOM PENH

A court in Cambodia convened yesterday for the treason trial of scores of opposition figures, one of a series of cases seen by activists as moves by the ruling party to sideline threats to its political monopoly.

The defendants are among 121 people affiliated with the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) who are charged with treason and incitement.

Of more than 60 defendants summoned to appear yesterday, 11 showed up, according to Sam

Sokong, a defence lawyer who represents dozens of the defendants. The CNRP has said many of the accused are in exile, concerned they would not get a fair hearing.

Sam Sokong said the trial had been adjourned to January 28 and the court had completed the questioning of only one of the accused.

The CNRP was banned and its leader Kem Sokha arrested before the 2018 election, allowing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party to win every parlia-mentary seat, prompting inter-

national concern.The charges against party

leader Kem Sokha stem from accusations he conspired with the United States to overthrow Hun Sen, who has ruled Cam-bodia for 36 years. Kem Sokha and Washington reject the accusations.

Cambodia’s ties with the United States have deteriorated in recent years and critics say international pressure on Cam-bodia over the CPP’s crackdown has moved it deeper into China’s orbit.

Theary Seng, an American-Cambodian lawyer who was

among the defendants, told reporters the charges aimed to silence her and described them as “laughable” and the trial as “a show”.

Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director Yamini Mishra in a statement called the mass trials “an affront to international fair trial standards” and Cambodia’s human rights commitments.

US ambassador to Cam-bodia, Patrick Murphy, on Twitter posted a picture of Theary Seng and said embassy observers were monitoring the trial.

Prom Chantha, wife of Cambodian opposition figure Kak Kumphea, cries outside the court at the start of a treason trial for scores of opposition figures in Phnom Penh, yesterday.

08 FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021VIEWS

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EDITORIAL

QATAR has always played a leading role in sustainable development and ensuring clean and affordable energy supplies. Qatar Petroleum (QP) launched on Wednesday its new Sustainability Strategy, which sets a roadmap for a sustainable and more prosperous future for Qatar and the world.

The strategy is an important step on the road to achieve its vision of becoming one of the best national oil and gas companies in the world, with roots in Qatar and a strong international presence.

The Strategy also acts as a clear direction towards reducing the emissions intensity of Qatar’s LNG facil-ities by 25 percent and of its upstream facilities by at least 15 percent, and reducing flare intensity across upstream facilities by more than 75 percent. Fur-thermore, it sets out a target to eliminate routine flaring by 2030, and limit fugitive methane emissions along the gas value chain by setting a methane intensity target of 0.2 percent across all facilities by 2025.

During 2020, which was a challenging year, QP accomplished many feats. It continued its march to strengthen its position in the global LNG market by expanding its footprints in foreign markets.

In April, QP announced the start of the development drilling campaign for the North Field East Project, or NFE (previously known as the North Field Expansion Project).

In the same month, it announced that it had entered into an agreement to reserve LNG ship construction capacity in China to be utilized for Qatar Petroleum’s future LNG carrier fleet requirements, including those of its ongoing North Field expansion projects.

In May, QP entered into three farm-in agreements to acquire about 30 percent of Totals participating interest in blocks 15, 33 and 34 located in the Campeche basin, offshore Mexico. In the same month, QP entered into a farm-in agreement with Total to acquire a 45% participating interest in blocks CI-705 and CI-706, located in the IvorianTano basin, offshore the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.

In June, QP entered into three agreements to reserve LNG ship construction capacity in the Republic of Korea to be utilized for Qatar Petroleum’s future LNG carrier fleet requirements, including those for the ongoing expansion projects in the North Field and in the United States.

In October, QP booked 7.2 million tonnes per annum of LNG receiving and storage capacity for 25 years in Europe’s largest LNG import terminal.

In the same month, QP announced that it discovered a new gas/condensate in the Luiperd prospect, located in Block 11B/12B, in the Outeniqua Basin, 175 kilom-eters off the southern coast of South Africa.

Ensuring clean energy

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Quote of the day

At the end of the day the public will need to see us allow inflation to move moderately above 2 percent for a time before the new framework will be seen as fully credible.The time to raise rates is no time soon.

Jerome Powell, US Federal Reserve Chair

We cannot have a healthy planet without a healthy ocean, but the health of the ocean is now in a clearly observable decline. It is folly to imagine we can solve the global challenges posed by climate change by simply leaving the ocean alone. Of course, we need to allow ecosystems to recover and regenerate, but for reasons of food security and positive economic activity, we also need to give tangible support to more sustainable ocean business and production practices.

The ocean’s main industries con-tribute more than $1.9 trillion a year to the global economy. A new study by Duke University in the United States and the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden, titled “The Ocean 100”, shows the 100 largest transnational corpora-tions account for 60 percent of these rev-enues. This study suggests that by working closely together with these “keystone” businesses, we could set new standards for how we manage our one, shared ocean.

As a supporting member of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, I agree. Our work has shown that targeted areas of ocean action could reduce the “emissions gap” (the dif-ference between emissions expected if current trends and policies continue and emissions consistent with limiting global temperature increase) by up to 21 percent on a 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway.

Thus, we need to urgently accelerate our efforts to ensure a transparent, science-based approach to solutions such as sustainable ocean-based food pro-duction, energy from offshore wind, decarbonisation of shipping, and the conservation and restoration of wet-lands, mangroves and seagrass beds.

We know that largely through the development of sustainable mariculture, the ocean could produce up to six times more food than it currently does. We also know the ocean could produce 40 times more renewable energy than it does

today. Making investments in these areas could both help to mitigate global climate change and revolutionise for the better the lives of millions of people.

For too long there has been a serious disconnect between our scientists, gov-ernments and the large transnational corporations that dominate the ocean economy. Proper protection of our shared ocean means changing the way governments, scientists, the private sector, and citizens work together to achieve sustainable outcomes.

In his recent Reith Lectures, Dr Mark Carney, the United Nations secretary-general’s special envoy on Climate Action and Finance, argued that we cannot achieve net-zero carbon emissions without the innovation, investment and profit provided by the market. But Dr Carney says the power of the market must be directed to achieving what society values and he warns there is pre-cious little tolerance remaining for com-panies that “preach green but don’t manage their carbon footprints”.

In their study “The Ocean 100”, the authors argue that focusing on the improved stewardship of a relatively small number of large corporations, in tandem with ongoing regulatory efforts, could have a massive impact on the ocean economy. This paper is built around the idea that the largest com-panies in a given industry can operate similarly to keystone species in eco-logical communities, by having a dispro-portionate effect on the structure and function of the ocean economy.

A starting point for working together with this powerful group of corporations could build on the success of the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative. Launched in 2016, SeaBOS has already used a science-based “keystone” approach with 10 of the world’s largest seafood companies to build greater transparency and stew-ardship across the entire sector.

This represents a huge step forward in the history of seafood production, with major companies across wild capture, aquaculture and feed production jointly committed to science-based targets for

ocean stewardship.The Ocean 100 paper proposes a

similar voluntary approach which could catalyse a shared understanding of their role in the sustainable blue economy. Building shared commitments to sus-tainable practices could then help to set new industry norms that could cascade through all ocean industries.

In the same vein, it is worthy of further consideration that creating a global ocean tax on just 0.1 percent of the revenues of the top 100 transnational corporations in the ocean industry could yield $1.1bn annually for investment in ocean conservation and the development of the sustainable blue economy.

Improved legislation and greater con-sumer demands could also be combined with economic incentives from financial institutions to encourage these corpora-tions to integrate environmental and social responsibility into their operations.

This year marks the start of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, designed to give us the science we need for the ocean we want. Concurrently, we are now engaged in the build-up to UN Climate Change Con-ference to be held in Glasgow in November – the time and place for humanity to call for a halt to our war on nature by agreeing on necessary controls on the levels of our greenhouse gas emissions.

To address global challenges such as climate change, we need to shift our out-dated perception of the ocean as a passive and often distant victim of human activities. Everything is connected and we must all acknowledge our roles and responsibilities as leaders, employees, citizens and consumers.

We live in an era in which we have finally learned the extent of the damage we have done to nature and the health of the ocean. We should now look to the Ocean 100 corporations to help play a major role in correcting our ways.

The author is the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean and Co-chair of Friends of Ocean Action. In 2016-17, he was President of the UN General Assembly.

JAPAN NEWS - YOMIURI

In response to a surge in coro-navirus infections, a new state of emergency has been declared. The government should not hesitate to implement such measures in the future if necessary.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has added seven prefec-tures in Kansai, Chubu and other regions to the list of areas subject to the state of emer-gency. This follows the decla-ration for Tokyo and its three neighboring prefectures.

As the number of people infected with the coronavirus in Osaka, Aichi and Fukuoka prefectures has also been rapidly increasing since the beginning of the year, the central government's decision is reasonable. The state of emergency was declared for most areas at the strong request of their prefectural governors, which illustrates the

central government's slow response in dealing with the coronavirus crisis. If infections are allowed to expand in cities, which serve as hubs for peo-ple's movement, it will inevi-tably spread to regional areas. The areas covered by the latest state of emergency have large urban sites with large popula-tions and must take every pos-sible step to contain infections.

Efforts by each business and individual are important, such as shortening operating hours at eating and drinking establishments, teleworking, and refraining from unessential and unurgent outings. The gov-ernment needs to send a message that resonates with the people more strongly and call for their further cooperation.

Even after the state of emer-gency was declared for Tokyo and its three surrounding pre-fectures, the pace of decrease in the number of people who went out has reportedly been slow,

compared with when a state of emergency was declared in April last year. The govern-ment's stance of trying to limit those subject to restrictions appears to be behind this. The number of infected young people is rapidly increasing. Since young people often man-ifest no symptoms or only mild symptoms, they may have become lax in their activities during the year-end and New Year periods. It is important to strengthen their resolve again, so that they do not spread the virus to people who have a high risk of becoming seriously ill.

In line with the declaration, the government has raised the amount of money it pays to eating and drinking establish-ments that respond to its requests to shorten their business hours, from up to 40,000 yen a day to 60,000 yen. It also plans to set up a subsidy program for businesses associated with eating and

drinking establishments, to pay up to ¥400,000 to suppliers of food ingredients, wet towels and other products.

The state of emergency is having a profound impact on the economy. The government intends to submit to the ordinary Diet session a bill to revise the special measures law to cope with new strains of influenza that stipulates measures to support stores that comply with its requests for the suspension of operations. Many stores have been facing hard-ships due to the coronavirus crisis. The government should continue its long-term support.

Coronavirus variants believed to be highly conta-gious have been raging in the world. In Japan, they have been confirmed among people who entered the nation from Britain and Brazil. It is nec-essary to strengthen surveil-lance to prevent the spread of the variants.

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Greater sense of urgency needed than ever before on COVID-19

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PETER THOMSON AL JAZEERA

Oil leaks from the Japanese-owned MV Wakashio, a bulk carrier ship that recently ran aground off the southeast coast of Mauritius on August 10, 2020.

This year marks the start of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, designed to give us the science we need for the ocean we want.

09FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021 ASIA

WHO team arrives in Wuhan to investigate pandemic originsAP — WUHAN, CHINA

A global team of researchers arrived yesterday in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into its origins.

Scientists suspect the virus that has killed more than 1.9 million people since late 2019 jumped to humans from bats or other animals, most likely in China’s southwest. The ruling Communist Party has suggested the virus came from abroad, possibly on imported seafood, but international scientists reject that.

Fifteen team members were to arrive in Wuhan yesterday, but two tested positive for coro-navirus antibodies before leaving Singapore and were being retested there, WHO said in a statement on Twitter.

The rest of the team arrived at the Wuhan airport and walked through a makeshift clear plastic tunnel into the airport. The researchers, who wore face masks, were greeted by airport staff in full protective gear, including masks, goggles and full body suits.

They will undergo a two-week quarantine as well as a throat swab test and an antibody test for COVID-19, according to CGTN, the English-language channel of state broadcaster CCTV. They are to

start working with Chinese experts via video conference while in quarantine.

The team includes virus and other experts from the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Britain, Russia, the Neth-erlands, Qatar and Vietnam.

A government spokesman said this week they will “exchange views” with Chinese scientists but gave no indication whether they would be allowed to gather evidence.

One possibility is that a wildlife poacher might have passed the virus to traders who carried it to Wuhan, one of the WHO team members, zoologist Peter Daszak of the US group EcoHealth Alliance, told AP in November.

A single visit by scientists is unlikely to confirm the virus’s origins; pinning down an

outbreak’s animal reservoir is typically an exhaustive endeavour that takes years of research including taking animal samples, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies.

“The WHO will need to conduct similar investigations in other places,” an official of the National Health Com-mission, Mi Feng, said on Wednesday. Some members of the WHO team were en route to China a week ago but had to turn back after Beijing announced they hadn’t received valid visas.

A possible focus for

investigators is the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the city where the outbreak first emerged. One of China’s top virus research labs, it built an archive of genetic information about bat coronaviruses after the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

According to WHO’s pub-lished agenda for its origins research, there are no plans to assess whether there might have been an accidental release of the coronavirus at the Wuhan lab, as some American politi-cians, including President Donald Trump, have claimed.

A “scientific audit” of

Institute records and safety measures would be a “routine activity,” said Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the Uni-versity of Edinburgh. He said that depends on how willing Chinese authorities are to share information. The coronavirus’s exact origin may never be traced because viruses change quickly, Woolhouse said.

A year after the virus was first detected in Wuhan, the city is now bustling, with few signs that it was once the epicentre of the outbreak in China. But some residents say they’re still eager to learn about its origin.

Although it may be chal-lenging to find precisely the same COVID-19 virus in animals as in humans, discovering closely related viruses might help explain how the disease first jumped from animals and clarify what preventive measures are needed to avoid future epidemics.

Scientists should focus instead on making a “compre-hensive picture” of the virus to help respond to future out-breaks, Woolhouse said.

“Now is not the time to blame anyone,” Shih said. “We shouldn’t say, it’s your fault.”

Peter Ben Embarek, a member of the WHO team tasked with investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, waves from a bus while leaving the airport in Wuhan, China, yesterday.

A single visit by scientists

is unlikely to confirm the

virus’ origins; pinning

down an outbreak’s

animal reservoir is

typically an exhaustive

endeavour that takes

years of research

including taking animal

samples, genetic analysis

and epidemiological

studies.

China sees first Covid death in 9 monthsBloomberg - Beijing

China reported its first death from the coronavirus in nine months, as a new flareup in the country spreads to more regions ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays.

The country recorded 124 new local infections yesterday, the highest since March. Among those, 81 were found in Hebei, a province encircling Beijing that is at the centre of the latest cluster. The other 43 cases were detected in China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province.

The fatality was a woman who had an underlying condition, according to Xinhua news agency, quoting Hebei’s health com-mission. China hasn’t had a death tied to COVID-19 since April, as the country successfully stamped out clusters after reining in the first wave of infections a year ago.

South Korea's top court upholds prison term for ex-president ParkAP — SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

South Korea’s Supreme Court yesterday upheld a 20-year prison term for former pres-ident Park Geun-hye over bribery and other crimes as it ended a historic corruption case that marked a striking fall from grace for the country’s first female leader and conservative icon.

The ruling means Park, who was ousted from office and arrested in 2017, could poten-tially serve a combined 22 years behind bars, following a sep-arate conviction for illegally meddling in her party’s can-didate nominations ahead of parliamentary elections in 2016.

But the finalising of her prison term also makes her eli-gible for a special presidential pardon, a looming possibility as the country’s deeply split elec-torate approaches the next presidential election in March 2022.

President Moon Jae-in, a liberal who won the presi-dential by-election following Park’s removal, has yet to directly address the possibility of freeing his predecessor.

Moon has recently seen his approval ratings sink to new lows over economic problems, political scandals and rising coronavirus infections.

Many conservative politi-cians have called for Moon to release Park and another con-victed former president, Lee Myung-bak, who’s serving a 17-year term over his own cor-ruption charges. At least one prominent member of Moon’s Democratic Party, Lee Nak-yon, has endorsed the idea of par-doning the former presidents as a gesture for “national unity”.

Park, 68, has described herself a victim of political revenge. She has refused to attend her trials since October 2017 and didn’t attend yester-day’s ruling. Her lawyer didn’t return calls seeking comment.

The downfall of Park and Lee Myung-bak extended South Korea’s decades-long streak of presidencies ending badly, fuelling criticism that the country places too much power that is easily abused and often goes unchecked into the hands of elected leaders.

Nearly every former pres-ident, or their family members

and aides, have been mired in scandals near the end of their terms or after they left office.

One president, Park’s dic-tator father, Park Chung-hee, was assassinated by his spy chief in 1979. Another former president, Roh Moo-hyun, Moon’s longtime friend and political mentor, leaped to his death in 2009 amid allegations that his family members took bribes from a businessman during his presidency.

Kang Min-seok, Moon’s spokesperson, said the ruling on Park Geun-hye marked the “maturation and growth” of South Korea’s democracy but added that the imprisonment of a former president over crimes is an “unfortunate” history that shouldn’t be repeated. Presidential officials avoided specific answers when asked about the possibility of Moon pardoning Park and Lee.

Park was convicted of col-luding with her longtime con-fidante, Choi Soon-sil, to take millions of dollars in bribes and extortion money from some of the country’s largest business groups, including Samsung, while she was in office from

2013 to 2016. She was also indicted on charges of accepting illegally monthly funds from her spy chiefs that were diverted out of the agency’s budget.

Following weekslong pro-tests by millions, Park was impeached by lawmakers in December 2016 and officially removed from office in March 2017 after the Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment.

It wasn’t immediately clear how yesterday’s ruling would

affect the legal saga of bil-lionaire Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong.

The 52-year-old vice chairman of Samsung Elec-tronics is facing a ruling at the Seoul High Court next week in a retrial over charges that he bribed Park and Choi to win government support for a 2015 merger between two Samsung affiliates that helped strengthen his control over the country’s largest business group.

A file photo shows ousted South Korean leader Park Geun-hye arriving at a court in Seoul, South Korea, on August 25, 2017.

Raids in Pakistan’s northwest leave 3 soldiers, 2 militants deadAP — PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN

Security forces raided two militant hideouts in a former insurgent stronghold in Pakistan’s northwest yesterday, triggering shootouts that left three soldiers and two insurgents dead, the military said.

The separate raids took place in the North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and one of the slain militants was a bomb-making expert, the military said in a statement.

It provided no further details and the identity and nationality of the slain militants were not known.

North Waziristan served as a headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban until the military secured it in 2015 with a series of operations.

However, isolated militant attacks on troops have continued.

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, are a separate insurgent group from the Afghan Taliban.

Kazakhstan ruling party leader hints premier may retain jobREUTERS — ALMATY

Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin may keep his job despite his cabinet’s imminent resignation following a parliamentary election, powerful ruling party leader Nursultan Nazarbayev indi-cated yesterday.

Nazarbayev’s Nur Otan party swept the January 10 vote to retain control over the lower house. Under the constitution, par-liamentary elections automatically trigger the government’s res-ignation and a new prime minister must be nominated by the president and approved by the lower house.

Addressing his party yesterday, Nazarbayev called for conti-nuity in government policies. “If President (Kassym-Jomart Tokayev) nominates Askar Mamin, I would ask the faction to support him,” his office quoted him as saying. Kazakhstan’s newly-elected lower house will open its first session today.

HK police arrest 11 on suspicion of aiding activists’ escape attempt

REUTERS — HONG KONG

Hong Kong police have arrested 11 people over suspected crimes related to assisting a group of 12 pro-democracy activists accused of trying to flee the city by boat for Taiwan last year, police and activists said yesterday.

Those arrested included eight men and three women, aged 18 to 72, a police statement said.

Daniel Wong, a lawyer who tried to help the 12 people detained in mainland China last August, was among those arrested according to a post on his Facebook page, which stated that police arrived at his apartment at 6 am local time.

Police said those arrested were being held for further questioning.

Self-ruled Taiwan has become a popular destination for Hong Kong pro-democracy activists since China imposed a national security law in June 2020. Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of freedoms not seen on the mainland, including freedom of speech and assembly. Democracy

activists complain that Com-munist Party rulers in China are now whittling away at those freedoms, a charge Beijing rejects.

Wong, a Hong Kong-based rights lawyer, is leading an ini-tiative to set up at least 10 com-panies, ranging from a laundry service to a restaurant in Taiwan, to give protesters much-needed residency on the self-ruled island via work visas.

Local media said those arrested were suspected of assisting the 12 Hong Kong res-idents — who faced charges related to anti-government protests in the Asian financial hub in 2019 — in their attempt to flee last year.

In late December, a Chinese court sentenced 10 of them to between seven months and

three years in prison for ille-gally crossing the border. The case drew international attention and concern over the treatment of the activists in mainland custody.

Two of them, who were minors at the time of arrest, have been returned to Hong Kong.

The detainees’ families said they had been denied access to independent lawyers and aired suspicions that Hong Kong authorities helped mainland authorities with the arrests. More than 100 people have now been arrested under the seven-month-old national security law.

The US and EU have called for the activists to be released and allowed to return to Hong Kong.

Daniel Wong Kwok-tung, a lawyer, is escorted by police as he returns to his office in Hong Kong, yesterday.

Philippines’ Duterte says presidency no job for a womanREUTERS — MANILA Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte yesterday declared that the presidency was no job for a woman because of their emotional differences to men, and dismissed speculation that his daughter would succeed him next year.

“My daughter is not running. I have told Inday not to run because I pity (her) knowing she will have to go through what I am going through,” Duterte said at the launch of a highway project, referring to his daughter Sara by her nickname.

“This is not for women. You know, the emotional set-up of a woman and a man is totally different. You will become a fool here. So... that is the sad story.” The Philip-pines has had two women presidents, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2001 to 2010 and Corazon Aquino from 1986 to 1992.

Duterte, 75, remains hugely popular among female voters in the Philippines.

Daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio, 42, who succeeded him as mayor of Davao City, came top in a recent opinion poll that asked the public to choose a preferred candidate from a list of possible contenders for the 2022 elections.

Two other women, Vice-President Leni Robredo and Senator Grace Poe, were hypothetical contenders.

Presidents in the Philip-pines are allowed only one, six-year term in office. Arroyo’s was longer as she took over from an impeached former president.

Responding to Duterte’s remarks, Cristina Palabay of human rights group Karapatan said women are as capable as men in any job.

“What matters most espe-cially when we talk of the presidency and public office is if the interests of the poor majority are upheld,” she said.

Duterte-Carpio has culti-vated an image as a reluctant successor as mayor of Davao, where she is hugely popular for showing the same tough, no-nonsense character as her father, who ran the city for two decades.

She is no stranger to pres-idential duties, serving as first lady because of her father’s annulled marriage.

Duterte-Carpio yesterda said she had informed her father she did not intend to run and would not be a late entry as he was six years ago.

10 FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021EUROPE

London nursing home greets virus vaccineAP — LONDON

In 1948, John Peake won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in London. In 2021, also in London, he struck what many would consider gold, receiving his first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Amid growing concerns over rising COVID outbreaks at nursing homes in Britain, the 96-year-old was one of the 45 residents at Wimbledon Beaumont Care Community in southwest London to receive the vaccine Wednesday developed by the University of Oxford and British pharmaceu-tical company AstraZeneca.

“I’m glad to have it and I appreciate the fact that it has come to this place early,” he said after receiving his jab.

Peake was the youngest member of the 1948 British field hockey team that lost 4-0 to India in the final at Wembley Stadium in the first Olympics after World War II.

“I think I’m lucky to have lasted as long as I have,” he said.

Yet Peake, who is one of the oldest surviving Olympians, was not even the oldest to get the shot at the nursing home. That honor went to 102-year-old Joan Potts, who though in a wheelchair and clearly fragile,

still had eyes that expressed wonder in the world.

Britain in many ways is leading the vaccination drive around the world. It was the first country to approve and use the vaccine designed by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. It was the first to approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. It has also approved a third, by Moderna, but that is not expected to arrive until the spring.

Already, around 2.5 million people in Britain have received their first jabs. To get vaccine

shots to as many people as quickly as possible, Britain is taking a different path than other nations. Instead of giving people their second vaccine shot within three or four weeks, they will get it within 12 weeks.

The first groups in line are those 80 and over, health care workers, nursing home resi-dents and their caregivers. The British government had aimed for all nursing home residents to have their first jab by the end of the month but doctors are now being urged to go faster, given a recent rise in new infec-tions in nursing homes.

Dr. Jane Allen, who has looked after Wimbledon resi-dents for nearly four decades, was on hand to deliver the jabs.

“I’m certainly glad it’s arrived at last, because perhaps it gives the residents a bit more freedom, they’ve had a very dif-ficult year,” said Allen, who along with her partners were in a rush to vaccinate the nearly 200 nursing home residents over a single day.

Two paramedics arrived with a shiny red bag containing the treasured vaccine doses. Allen visored up and, assisted by nurse Fernando Castillo, ran through the necessary ques-tions: Are you feeling well?

What about any allergies? Do you want to take this vaccine against the coronavirus?

As they waited to get their shots, the residents offered glimpses into their personalities and pasts, displaying empathy, humor and resilience.

For some it was a big relief, including gregarious 86-year-old Gwen Nurse, who has just “felt very lonely” over these long months of the pandemic.

“I’m an old lady and it doesn’t matter so much about me, but it does about younger people,” she said.

For others, it was a more

prosaic affair.“I’ve been jabbed many

times,” said Ian Hurley, 80, a former policeman who helped create the Crimestoppers phone line and never misses a chance to show off his edgy sense of humor.

“Whatever the case is, I might just walk out of here and cross the road and get run over,” he said.

Some, like Hurley, just rolled up their sleeve and got on with it. For others, it was a more laborious process, requiring reassurance from the doctor. Retired executive

secretary Pamela Rahman, 84, was dressed up in her Sunday best, only to find that she was not wearing the easiest clothing for a vaccine shot.

Getting a vaccine shot doesn’t mean that the nursing home residents can go about their lives as they previously did. For starters, it takes 21 days for a measure of immunity to emerge.

But it does help lift the fear that they could contract the virus blamed for the deaths of some 85,000 people in the U.., the vast majority of them over 65.

A member of the medical team administers a coronavirus disease vaccine shot at the NHS vaccination centre in Robertson House, in Stevenage, Britain, yesterday.

Brussels police arrest 116 at protest over Black man’s death

AP — BRUSSELS

Police in Belgium made 116 arrests after a demonstration in Brussels over the death of a young Black man who collapsed while in police custody turned violent.

Police said most of vio-lence took place after a largely peaceful demonstration Wednesday of about 500 pro-testers — some holding Black Lives Matter signs — ended in downtown Brussels.

“A group of demonstrators (50-100 people) remained on the spot and caused various incidents and degradations,” police said, adding that several police officers were injured in the clashes.

According to a police statement, protesters threw pro-jectiles, set fires, damaged street furniture and police vehicles. They also smashed a window and a door at a police station. In all, 116 people were arrested, including 30 minors, and one protester was tended to by ambulance services, police said.

“Justice must bring to court those who have vandalized and have injured five policemen, including a policewoman who is hospitalised,” federal police captain Marc De Mesmaeker told broadcaster RTBF yesterday. “This must be done with care, just as the other aspect of the event, the tragic death of Ibrahima, must be treated with care.”

Belgian prosecutors have requested that an investigative judge be appointed following the death of a 23-year-old Black man identified by authorities only as IB.

Germany worried by record COVID-19 death tollREUTERS — BERLIN

Germany recorded a new record number of deaths from the coronavirus yesterday, prompting calls for an even tighter lockdown after the country emerged relatively unscathed in 2020.

While Germany’s total deaths per capita since the pan-demic began remain far lower than the United States, its daily per capita mortality since mid-December has often exceeded that of the United States.

Germany’s daily death toll currently equates to about 15 deaths per million people, versus a 13 US deaths per one million.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 25,164 new coro-navirus cases and 1,244 fatal-ities, bringing Germany’s total death toll since the start of the pandemic to 43,881.

Germany initially managed the pandemic better than its neighbours with a strict lockdown last spring, but it has seen a sharp rise in cases and deaths in recent months, with the RKI saying people were not taking the virus seriously enough.

RKI president Lothar Wieler said on Thursday restrictions were not being implemented as consistently as they were during the first wave and said more people should work from home,

adding that the current lockdown needed to be tightened further.

Germany introduced a partial lockdown in November that kept shops and schools open, but it tightened the rules in mid-December, closing non-essential stores, and children have not returned to class-rooms since the Christmas holidays.

Hospitals in 10 out of Ger-many’s 16 states are facing bot-tlenecks as 85 percent of the beds in their intensive care units were occupied by coronavirus patients, Wieler said.

A meeting of regional leaders planned for Jan. 25 to discuss whether to extend the

lockdown into February should be brought forward, said Win-fried Kretschmann, the premier o f t h e s t a t e o f Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was due to speak to ministers on Thursday about ramping up production of vaccines.

So far only about 1% of the German population has been vaccinated, or 842,455 people, the RKI reported.

Wieler said wearing heavy duty respirator masks, also known as FFP2, could help protect against 94 percent of particles, but only if worn correctly. The state of Bavaria has made FFP2 masks compulsory on public transport and in shops from Monday.

Germany has so far recorded 16 cases of people with a fast-spreading strain of the virus first detected in Britain and four with the strain from South Africa, Wieler said, although he admitted gene sequencing of samples was not being done broadly.

Wieler urged people who were offered a COVID-19 vac-cination to accept it to relieve the strain on hospitals and said people should stick to social distance and hygiene rules.

“At the end of the year we will have this pandemic under control,” Wieler said. Enough vaccines would then be available to inoculate the entire population, he said.

Pigeon feeding amid snow

Russian prison to arrest NavalnyREUTERS — MOSCOW

Moscow’s prison service said yesterday it would take all measures necessary to arrest Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny after he returns to Russia this weekend, a move that could be a prelude to him being jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest opponents, has said he will fly back to Russia on Sunday for the first time since he was taken to Germany for treatment in August following his poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent.

The Kremlin denies involvement in his poisoning, says it has seen no evidence that he was poisoned and that he is free to return to Russia at any time.

But Navalny faces a growing list of legal threats at home, including separate criminal cases for alleged slander and fraud, both of which he says are false and politically-motivated.

The most immediate threat is from the Moscow prison service.

FSIN, the prison service, said in a statement that Navalny, 44, was on a national wanted list because he had last year repeatedly failed to report at least twice a month to them under the terms of a suspended sentence on embezzlement charges.

It has applied to a court to convert his suspended sentence of three-and-a-half years into real jail time.

“Taking into account the facts of malicious violations, guided by the principle of

inevitability of responsibility and the demands of the law that all citizens of the Russian Federation are equal before without exception, (FSIN) is obliged to take all actions to arrest the violator,” it said.

Navalny says the original 2014 embezzlement conviction, in which he and his brother were found guilty of stealing more than 30m roubles ($408,000) from two com-panies, was trumped up.

He said he could not report in at the end of last year anyway, as he was being treated as an outpatient in Germany. The prison service says he was discharged from a Berlin hospital in September and should have returned to Moscow.

“In theory they can detain him as soon as he arrives (in Russia) but initially only for 48 hours,” Vadim Kobzev, one of Navalny’s lawyers, said

Kobzev said he expected a court to hear details of the case on January 29, when it could order Navalny’s suspended sentence to be converted into real jail time.

The Kremlin, which refers to Navalny only as “the Berlin patient,” says it is up to the rel-evant law enforcement agencies to decide how he is treated.

Navalny on Thursday pub-lished a response from Russia’s investigative committee rejecting a request to inves-tigate his poisoning at the hands of what he said was a state-hit squad. The response said investigators had found no concrete evidence of criminal activity by staff at the FSB security service.

Merkel’s party to choose new leader ahead of electionAP — BERLIN

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party is choosing a new leader this weekend, a decision that will help shape German voters’ choice of her successor at the helm of the European Union’s biggest economy after her 16-year tenure.

Merkel, now 66, has steered Germany, and Europe, through a series of crises since she took office in 2005. But she said more than two years ago that she won’t seek a fifth term as chancellor.

Now her Christian Demo-cratic Union party is seeking its second new leader since she quit that role in 2018. That person will either run for chan-cellor in Germany’s September

26 election or have a big say in who does run.

Current leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced her resignation last February after failing to impose her authority on the party. A decision on her successor was delayed repeatedly by the coro-navirus pandemic. Eventually, the CDU decided to hold an online convention this weekend.

Delegates from Germany’s strongest party can choose Sat-urday between three main can-didates who differ markedly, at least in style. There’s no clear favourite.

Friedrich Merz, 65, would mark a break from the Merkel era. The party has dominated the cente ground, ending mil-itary conscriptionand allowing in large numbers of migrants,

among other things.He has a more traditionally

conservative and pro-business image, and recently wrote in Der Spiegel magazine that “the CDU must, whether it wants to or not, step out from the shadow of Angela Merkel.”

Merz has said he wants to give a “political home” to disil-lusioned conservatives, but won’t move “one millimeter” toward the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

This is Merz’s second bid for the party leadership after he lost narrowly last time to Kramp-Karrenbauer, con-sidered Merkel’s preferred can-didate. He led the cente-right group in parliament from 2000 to 2002, when Merkel pushed him out of that job, and left par-liament in 2009 — later

practising as a lawyer and heading the supervisory board of investment manager Black-Rock’s German branch.

Merz has sought to portray his decade out of politics as a strength but lacks government experience. Armin Laschet, the governor of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, offers that.

Laschet, 59, is a more liberal figure, elected as governor in 2017 in a traditionally center-left stronghold, and viewed as likely to continue Merkel’s cen-trist approach. In a debate among the candidates last week, he said: “What I bring is gov-ernment experience, the lead-ership of a big state, balancing different interests and - this perhaps doesn’t hurt for a CDU leader - having won an election.”

A woman feeds pigeons on a frozen pond near the Novodevichy Convent during snowfall in Moscow, Russia, yesterday.

Already, around 2.5 million people in Britain have received their first jabs. To get vaccine shots to as many people as quickly as possible, Britain is giving people their second vaccine shot within three or four weeks, they will get it within 12 weeks.

11FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Honduran migrants head for Guatemala borderAP — SAN PEDRO SULA

About 200 migrants began walking up a highway toward the border with Guatemala late on Wednesday, two days before a migrant caravan was scheduled to depart San Pedro Sula.

Some 75 police officers dressed in riot gear waited at a point farther along the highway on the outskirts of San Pedro Sula. One officer said the intention was to stop the migrants for violating a pan-demic-related curfew, check their documents and make sure they weren’t traveling with children that were not their own.

Later, the migrants stopped about two kilometers short of the waiting police and bedded down for the night under and around a highway overpass. They planned to wait until the curfew expired at 5am before continuing.

The migrants faced the additional challenge of govern-ments that agreed earlier this week to enforce immigration laws at their borders.

For weeks, a call for a new caravan departing January 15 has circulated on social net-works. In previous caravans, smaller groups have often left earlier than the main caravan.

More migrants were expected to converge on San Pedro Sula yesterday.

Ariel Villega, 35, from the town of Ocotepeque, was walking with his wife and 10-year-old son. He said they planned to get to the Corinto border crossing and wait there for the rest of the caravan to arrive.

“We’ve got everything, the passport and the COVID test,” Villega said. He said they were leaving because he couldn’t find work.

“First the pandemic and later the two (hurricanes) left us in crisis.” Guatemalan Pres-ident Alejandro Giammattei on

Wednesday night decreed a “state of prevention” along the country’s border with Honduras.

The decree noted the threat of migrants entering without required documentation and without following pandemic-related screening at the border. Guatemala is requiring proof of a negative COVID-19 test. The decree said more than 2,000 national police and soldiers would be stationed at the border.

The Mexican government said Wednesday that it and 10 other countries in North and Central America are worried about the health risks of COVID-19 among migrants without proper documents.

The statement by the 11-member Regional Con-ference on Migration suggests that Mexico and Central America could continue to turn back migrants on the basis of the perceived risks of the pandemic.

The group “expressed concern over the exposure of irregular migrants to situations of high risk to their health and their lives, primarily during the health emergency.”

On Monday, representatives from Mexico, Guatemala, Hon-duras and El Salvador met in the Honduran city of Corinto at the

Guatemala border to discuss coordination on migration.

In a joint statement, the governments expressed their commitment to protect human rights, but also called for migration to be orderly and legal.

When hundreds of Hon-durans tried to form a caravan last month, authorities stopped

them before they even reached the Guatemala border. Other attempted caravans last year were broken up by Guatemalan authorities before they reached Mexico.

Pressure to migrate has only been building. Central America was hit with two Category 4 hurricanes in November, dev-astating a region already

struggling with the pandemic. The storms destroyed crops, shuttered businesses and dis-placed thousands.

Migrants have also expressed hope that they could receive a warmer welcome at the US border under the admin-istration of President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office next week.

Hondurans taking part in a new caravan of migrants, set to head to the United States, show their identifications to a police officer at a checkpoint in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, yesterday.

Dutch Cabinet weighs possible resignationREUTERS — AMSTERDAM

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Cabinet is considering collectively resigning over a report that blamed the government for misman-agement of childcare subsidies that drove thousands of families to financial ruin.

A parliamentary inquiry last month concluded that “unprecedented injustice” had been done to innocent families, who were often forced to repay tens of thousands of euros of granted subsidies, leading to unemployment, bankruptcy or divorce.

Rutte, in office since 2010, said late last month that the affair, spanning almost the

entire past decade, was “shameful”. Compensation of at least ¤30,000 ($36,500) is being paid to roughly 10,000 families.

The families this week filed charges against five politicians, including Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra and Economy Minister Eric Wiebes, for their role in the mismanagement.

Opinion polls show Rutte’s government has the approval of two-thirds of the public. But political analysts said pressure on the government to resign grew after Lodewijk Asscher stepped down as head of the opposition Labour party and said he would not contest the March 17 parliamentary election as he felt he was partly to blame

for the scandal. Asscher, who was social

affairs minister when his party was a coalition partner in a pre-vious Rutte government, “not only puts more pressure on the cabinet, but also on individual party leaders,” political pundit Tom-Jan Meeus wrote on Twitter.

Rutte called crisis talks with his entire Cabinet for today.

The subsidy scandal saw the tax office ruthlessly enforce repayments of subsidies, without giving families oppor-tunity to show their innocence, the parliamentary committee found.

Political analyst Sophie van Leeuwen said the scandal was unlikely to hit Rutte in the election just two months away,

given his handling of the coro-navirus pandemic.

“Voters don’t really care about the subsidies scandal because it is far removed for most of them. Rutte has high approval rates because he is good in the role of statesman guiding the Netherlands through the worst crisis since World War Two,” she said.

Responding to questions about his possible resignation, Rutte said on Tuesday his Cabinet would remain fully capable of managing COVID-19, even if forced into caretaker status. The country is in the middle of the toughest lockdown of the pandemic and Rutte is considering stricter curbs.

Brazil to start vaccinations on January 21, says senatorREUTERS — RIO DE JANEIRO

Brazil is to start its corona-virus vaccine programme next Thursday, Senator Nelsinho Trad said, the most concrete forecast yet for Brazil’s widely criticized vaccine rollout.

Trad said he had been informed by mayors who had spoken with Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello.

President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been lambasted for overseeing the world’s second deadliest coronavirus out-break after the United States, is under mounting pressure as a second wave of infections surpasses the first.

The Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government has declined to give an official start date, but has said inoculations could not begin before January 20.

Two vaccines — one made by AstraZeneca and another developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech — will form the bedrock of the government’s vaccination plan. Both have applied for emergency use in Brazil, with health regulator Anvisa expected to decide on Sunday whether to authorize them.

Vaccination of the coun-try’s population will take 16 months at most, Deputy Health Minister Elcio Franco said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Brazil is sending a plane to import 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, made by India’s Serum Institute, and has already imported 6 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine.

Hungary reaches deal to buy Sinopharm vaccineREUTERS — BUDAPEST

Hungary’s government said yesterday it has reached a deal with China’s Sinopharm to buy its coronavirus vaccine, the country’s latest move to break away from Brussels as it tries to speed up inoculations to lift curbs on the economy.

Hungary would be the first EU country to accept a Chinese vaccine if approved by Hun-garian authorities. Under European Union rules it would have to give an ultra-fast emer-gency use approval, rather than waiting for the European drug regulator EMA to give the go-ahead for the Chinese vaccine.

Britain took a similar approach in December before it exited the bloc. It approved Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine on December 2, jumping ahead of the rest of the world in the race to begin a mass inocu-lation programme.

Hungary’s nationalist gov-ernment has sharply criticised the EU for what it said were way too slow vaccine purchases and deliveries that now threatened an economic rebound.

Foreign Minister Peter Szi-jjarto said in a Facebook post yesterday that due to the “scan-dalously” slow vaccine procure-ments of the European Com-mission, a fast rollout of vac-cines could not happen early this year. “If we look beyond the EU’s borders, we can see that in the US, in Britain and in Israel, people are vaccinated at warp speed,” Szijjarto said.

The government also passed a decree on Thursday allowing it to start procure-ments outside the EU’s cen-tralised scheme.

Szijjarto’s spokesman told Reuters the approval process

for the vaccine developed by Sinopharm’s Beijing-based affiliate, Beijing Institute of Bio-logical Products Co, Ltd (BIBP), was already “underway”.

Beyond the supply bottle-necks, Hungarians are fairly sceptical about the new vac-cines, with just about one in five people definitely planning to get a shot based on a late-December survey by the Central Statistics Office.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas told a briefing on Thursday that vaccine ship-ments under the EU’s pro-gramme were arriving too slowly, with weekly shipments of less than 100,000 doses, and Hungary would continue talks with Russia and China about additional vaccine purchases.

“We have practically made an agreement with Sinopharm,” Gulyas said. “The first shipment could include up to one million doses.” The timing of the Chinese shipment depends on how fast Hungarian health authorities authorise use of Sinopharm’s vaccine, which has been used to immunise some 20 million people, he added.

Gulyas said the second wave of the pandemic has peaked in Hungary and new infections have dropped but restrictions cannot be eased yet.

China approved the shot developed by Sinopharm’s BIBP in late December, its first COVID-19 vaccine for general public use.

No detailed efficacy data of the vaccine has been pub-licly released but BIBP has said the vaccine is 79.34 percent effective in preventing the disease based on interim data. Pakistan has already negotiated a supply deal for the vaccine.

European Commission begins meetingEuropean Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen (right) welcomes European Parliament President David Sassoli ahead of a meeting at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, yesterday.

Pacific island nation tells Venezuela ‘that oil tanker isn’t ours’BLOOMBERG — NGERULMUD

The island nation of Palau says a tanker that recently loaded Venezuelan crude was using a false signal to disguise its identity, potentially putting the Pacific country in the crosshairs of US sanctions.

Palau is asking Venezuela to investigate the vessel that claimed last month to be the Ndros. The Ndros was a Palau-flagged ship that was scrapped in 2018, and so couldn’t be the vessel that appeared in December off the coast of Ven-ezuela, according to a letter dated December 16 that the government of Palau shared.

“It appears that this vessel is claiming to be registered with the Palau International Ship Registry. This claim is false,”

Palau’s ministry of state said in the note to Venezuela’s foreign affairs ministry. “It therefore appears that the vessel is using a falsified AIS signal in order to mask its true identity.”

The letter was delivered to several Venezuelan embassies, including the one in Tokyo, says Steven Kanai, a special assistant to Palau’s president on interna-tional maritime matters and foreign relations.

The tanker that loaded in Venezuela was using a practice known as “spoofing,” where vessels send a signal with another ship’s registration number under the maritime industry’s Automatic Identifi-cation System, according to London-based ship tracker Windward Ltd. If so, it would represent a new tactic in the

cat-and-mouse manoeuvres deployed by companies trading oil with Venezuela in defiance of US sanctions.

Venezuela continues to export crude even as US sanctions have discouraged most shipping and trading companies from doing business with Petroleos de Ven-ezuela SA, or PDVSA. Oil tankers going to Venezuela have used a variety of methods that make detection difficult, such as turning off their transponders, obscuring ship names painted on hulls or using fake names in shipping doc-uments, people with knowledge of the situation have previously said.

Over the past six months, the names of 13 vessels that are registered as broken-up appeared in Venezuelan crude-loading programmes. The

Ndros, though, was the only one among those names to appear off the coast of Venezuela by satellite signal.

An official at Venezuela’s foreign ministry in Caracas said it didn’t receive any communi-cation from the Palau gov-ernment. The ministry and PDVSA didn’t immediately comment on whether they were aware of the false identity of the vessel claiming to be the Ndros.

The use of spoofing was mostly unheard of in South America, said Dror Salzman, research manager at Windward, which uses artificial intelligence and satellite images to monitor shipping around the globe.

“It’s among the most advanced deceptive practices used in the industry,” he said in a phone interview from Tel Aviv.

It can be done by hooking up equipment called software defined radio to the ship, said Marco Balduzzi, a senior researcher at Tokyo-based global cybersecurity firm Trend Micro Inc. The gadget, which is the size of a book, can be bought online. AIS satellite signals don’t use encryption.

“Law enforcement is more than aware that you can’t trust AIS signals alone,” Balduzzi said from Bergamo, Italy. “The tech-nology is broken and should be replaced as monitoring ships has become increasingly important to fight either smug-gling or sanction violators.”

The tanker that docked in Venezuela in December claiming to be the Ndros was actually the Liberian-flagged Calliop, Salzman said.

Some 75 police officers dressed in riot gear waited at a point farther along the highway on the outskirts of San Pedro Sula. One officer said the intention was to stop the migrants for violating a pandemic-related curfew and check their documents.

12 FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021AMERICAS

Impeachment trial could begin on Inauguration DayAP — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial could begin on Inauguration Day, just as Democrat Joe Biden takes the oath of office in an extraor-dinary end to the defeated pres-ident’s tenure in the White House.

The trial timeline and schedule are largely set by Senate procedures and will start as soon as the House delivers the article of impeachment. That could mean starting the trial at 1pm on Inauguration Day. The ceremony at the Capitol starts at noon.

Trump was impeached Wednesday by the House over the deadly Capitol siege, the only president in US history twice impeached, after a pro-Trump mob stormed the building. The attack has left the nation’s capital, and other capital cites, under high security amid threats of more violence around the inauguration.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not said when she will take the next step to transmit the impeachment article, a sole charge of incitement of insur-rection. Some senior Democrats have proposed holding back the article to give Biden and Con-gress time to focus on his new administration’s priorities.

Biden has said the Senate should be able to split its time and do both.

The impeachment trial will be the first for a president no longer

in office. And, politically, it will force a reckoning among some Republicans who have stood by Trump throughout his presidency and largely allowed him to spread false attacks against the integrity of the 2020 election.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is open to con-sidering impeachment, having told associates he is done with Trump, but has not signalled how he would vote.

Convening the trial will be among his last acts as majority leader, as two new senators from Georgia, both Democrats, are to be sworn into office leaving chamber divided 50-50. That tips the majority to the Democrats once Kamala Harris takes office, as the vice-pres-ident is a tie-breaker.

In a note to colleagues on Wednesday, McConnell said he had “not made a final decision on how I will vote” in a Senate impeachment trial.

With the Capitol secured by armed National Guard troops inside and out, the House voted 232-197 on Wednesday to impeach Trump. The pro-ceedings moved at lightning speed, with lawmakers voting just one week after violent pro-Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol, egged on by the presi-dent’s calls for them to “fight like hell” against the election results.

Ten Republicans fled Trump, joining Democrats who said he needed to be held accountable and warned ominously of a “clear and present danger” if Congress should leave him unchecked before Democrat Joe Biden’s inauguration January 20. It was the most bipartisan pres-idential impeachment in modern times, more so than against Bill Clinton in 1998.

The Capitol insurrection stunned and angered law-makers, who were sent scram-bling for safety as the mob descended, and it revealed the fragility of the nation’s history of peaceful transfers of power.

Pelosi invoked Abraham Lincoln, imploring lawmakers to uphold their oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign “and domestic.”

She said of Trump: “He must go, he is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.”

Holed up at the White House, watching the pro-ceedings on TV, Trump later released a video statement in which he made no mention at all of the impeachment but appealed to his supporters to refrain from any further vio-lence or disruption of Biden’s inauguration.

“Like all of you, I was shocked and deeply saddened by the calamity at the Capitol last week,” he said, his first con-demnation of the attack. He appealed for unity “to move forward” and said, “Mob vio-lence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for.... No true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement.”

Trump was first impeached by the House in 2019 over his

dealings with Ukraine, but the Senate voted in 2020 acquit.

No president has been con-victed by the Senate, but Repub-licans have said that could change in the rapidly shifting political environment as office-holders, donors, big business and others peel away from the defeated president.

Conviction and removal of Trump would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate.

Biden said in a statement after the vote that it was his hope the Senate leadership “will find a way to deal with their Constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation.”

Unlike his first time, Trump faces this impeachment as a weakened leader, having lost

his own reelection as well as the Senate Republican majority.

In making a case for the “high crimes and misde-meanors” demanded in the Constitution, the four-page impeachment resolution relies on Trump’s own incendiary rhetoric and the falsehoods he spread about Biden’s election victory, including at a rally near the White House on the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The impeachment reso-lution is also intended to prevent Trump from ever running again.

Ten Republican lawmakers, including third-ranking House GOP leader Liz Cheney of Wyoming, voted to impeach Trump, cleaving the Repub-lican leadership, and the party itself.

Members of the Military Police sleep in the Dirksen Senate Office Building after the House voted to impeach US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC US, yesterday.

New York AG sues NYPD for excessive force against protesters

REUTERS — NEW YORK

New York’s state attorney general yesterday sued New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and the city’s police commis-sioner over allegations the police used excessive force against racial justice protesters after the killing of George Floyd in May.

The federal lawsuit filed in US District Court in Man-hattan alleges the police repeatedly and without justi-fication used batons and other physical force against pro-testers, many of whom were never charged with a crime, causing broken bones and concussions among other injuries.

The lawsuit said the police violated protesters’ rights, and is seeking a court order to mandate policies, training and monitoring to assure an end to practices it characterized as unlawful.

In addition to excessive force, state Attorney General Letitia James alleged police detained hundreds of protesters, medics and observers without probable cause. She also accused the police of controlling crowds through “kettling,” or corralling them without giving them a chance to depart, and making mass arrests.

De Blasio said in a statement he supported major discipline reforms but opposed the lawsuit. “A court process and the added bureaucracy of a federal monitor will not speed up this work,” he said.

The Black Lives Matter protests in May and June became an international movement prompted in part by anger over Floyd, a Black man killed by a white Minne-apolis policeman, and Breonna Taylor, a Black woman slain in her Louisville, Kentucky, home by white policemen during a botched raid.

At two days of virtual hearings in June, protesters described being beaten and pepper-sprayed by officers during marches that followed Floyd’s death.

At the time, de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea defended the NYPD’s response to protesters as mostly proportionate, saying misconduct was limited to isolated cases that were being investigated.

Expecting trouble, DC locks down a week before inaugurationAP — WASHINGTON

All through downtown Wash-ington, the primary sound for several blocks was the beeping of forklifts unloading more fencing.

There were no cars or scooters and seemingly no tourists on Wednesday, just the occasional jogger and multiple construction crews at work. The US Capitol that proved such a soft target last week was visible only through lines of tall, black fence.

Two blocks from the White House, a group of uniformed National Guard troops emerged from a tour bus and headed into a hotel as a state of lockdown descended on Washington that

will last through the January 20 inauguration.

“Clearly we are in uncharted waters,” said Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Last week’s “violent insur-rection” at the Capitol by sup-porters of outgoing President Donald Trump has “impacted the way we are approaching working with our federal partners in planning for the 59th inauguration,” Bowser said on Wednesday.

The FBI has warned that armed protests by violent Trump supporters were being planned in all 50 state capitals as well as in Washington for the days leading up to the inaugu-ration of President-elect Joe Biden.

Between the pandemic and the security threat, Bowser is flat-out asking people not to come to the District of Columbia for the inauguration. And at Bowser’s request, a National Special Security Event decla-ration was moved up to Jan. 13, a distinction which she said “puts in place an entirely dif-ferent command and control structure” for security.

The NSSE status is normal for a presidential inauguration and other major events like an international summit or the Super Bowl. But it’s rare to start the lockdown so far in advance of the event.

Police vehicles sealed off a huge swath of downtown DC on Wednesday, causing

immediate traffic snarls. Starting Wednesday, Bowser said, anyone inside the inaugu-ration perimeter might be stopped and questioned. Starting today, all parking garages in the downtown restricted zone will be sealed through the inauguration.

Bowser is also being pushed to deny lodging options to potentially violent protesters. The local Black Lives Matter affiliate and Shutdown DC issued a joint statement Wednesday urging all downtown hotels to voluntarily close and pay their staffs.

In addition to the threat of violence, the activist groups say Trump supporters are a threat to the health of hotel staff for

their general refusal to wear facemasks amid the pandemic. Several downtown hotels, including one which had become a favourite hangout of the militant Proud Boy faction, chose to avoid trouble by closing last week.

“Closing hotels completely for these six nights is the only way to guarantee the safety of hotel workers, neighbours, vul-nerable and unhoused resi-dents, incoming administration officials, members of Congress, and our democracy,” the statement said.

“If hotels do not willingly close, we ask Mayor Bowser to extend today’s emergency order and close all hotels in the city.”

Yang announces candidature for New York City mayorFormer US Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang greets New York City Police Department officers at an event announcing his candidacy for New York City mayor in upper Manhattan in New York, US, yesterday.

US tops 10 million COVID vaccinationsREUTERS — WASHINGTON

More than 10 million Americans had received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Wednesday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the year-old pandemic roared on unchecked.

The United States reached 10.2 million inoculations one day after the CDC and Trump administration gave new guidance to US states on who should receive the shots first. Strict rules putting healthcare

workers first in line had slowed the rollout. Now states are urged to vaccinate anyone over 65 as well.

California moved on Wednesday to do just that, des-ignating all individuals 65 and older eligible to begin receiving vaccines, adding 6.6 million people to the rolls of those qualified to be immunized, Governor Gavin Newsom said.

The move bumps senior citizens, regardless of whether they have underlying medical conditions, to the top of the pri-ority list for vaccine recipients,

just behind front-line healthcare workers and resi-dents and staff of nursing homes.

California, like many states, has struggled to use up as much vaccine as it received in initial allotments from the federal government, administering only about a third of the nearly 2.5 million doses shipped to the state as of Monday.

Newsom has set a goal of inoculating 1 million more Cal-ifornians by the end of this week with the first shot of the two-dose vaccine.

Pentagon survey shows widespread harassment, racial discriminationREUTERS — WASHINGTON

Nearly a third of Black US military service members reported experiencing racial discrimination, harassment or both during a 12-month period, according to results of a long-withheld Defense Department survey that underscore concerns about racism in the ranks.

The 2017 survey, whose results have not previously been reported, also showed that US troops who experi-enced racial discrimination or harassment had high levels of dissatisfaction with the com-plaint process and largely did not report it.

The data support the findings of a 2020 Reuters investigation, which found that service members feared that reporting discrimination would likely backfire and was not worth the risk.

“Overall, results reveal much work is needed to improve the reporting process for those who experience racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination,” the Defense Department acknowledged in a report that accompanied the survey data.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a senior member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, con-demned the Pentagon’s failure to disclose the data sooner. A Gillibrand aide noted that the senator’s office had been seeking the data for months.

“This just-released 2017 report shows that President Trump’s Department of Defense has deliberately con-cealed statistics exposing a racial justice crisis in the mil-itary,” Gillibrand said.

“While Defense Department leadership paid lip service to equality, they withheld a report revealing that minority service members face rampant discrim-ination and harassment, and those that report it are nearly as likely to face punishment as the perpetrators.” Concerns about racial discrimination in the mil-itary — the largest US employer — have taken on new urgency over the past year, as America undergoes a nationwide reck-oning on racism.

Although the military is diverse in lower ranks, it is largely white and male at the top. Unpunished discrimination and racial harassment play a role in pushing out minorities, advocates say.

President-elect Joe Biden underscored the importance of diversity at the Pentagon when he announced his pick last month to lead it: retired Army General Lloyd Austin, who would be the first Black US defense secretary, if approved by Congress.

“More than 40 percent of our active-duty forces are people of color. It’s long past time that the department’s leadership reflects that diversity,” Biden said.

The impeachment trial will be the first for a president no longer in office. And, politically, it will force a reckoning among some Republicans who have stood by Trump throughout his presidency and largely allowed him to spread false attacks against the integrity of the 2020 election.

BusinessFRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021

QSE FTSE 100 DOW BRENT6,788.44 +42.92 (0.64%) 31,160.91 +100.44 (0.32%) $56.21 (+0.27) 10,913.83 +47.22 (+0.43%)

Delta calls 2021 ‘year of recovery’

We don’t anticipate that by the summer travel will be back anywhere close to where it previously was, but it will be a meaningful improvement, sufficient to be able to drive profitability for us in the back half of the year.

Business | 14Ed Bastian Delta Air Lines CEO

13

QE Index soars over 200 points last weekSACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Shares had a good run last week with Qatar Stock Exchange (QE) Index soared around 235 points or 2.2 percent in the past five trading sessions. On Thursday, the QE Index gained 47.22 points or 0.43 percent to close at 10,913.83 points.

Indices of five sectors ended in green zone and two sectors ended red zone today. The volume of shares traded decreased to 219 million from 270 million on Wednesday and the value of shares decreased to QR546.8m from QR814.1m on Wednesday.

It was a remarkable week for the bourse as Shares of QLM were listed on the QSE on Wednesday, taking the total number of companies listed on the exchange to 48. QLM made a strong debut on the bourse as its share surged around 24 percent on the first day of trading at the Qatar Stock Exchange driven by strong investors demand.

The stock market started the week on a positive note as, the QE Index rose 0.4 percent to close at 10,725.7. The index rose on the back of buying support from Arab and Foreign share-holders despite selling pressure from Qatari and GCC

shareholders.Gains were led by the

Transportation and Telecoms indices, gaining 3.3 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. Top gainers were Qatar Navigation and Al Khalij Commercial Bank, rising 5.4 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively. Among the top losers, Qatar Islamic Insurance Company and Ezdan Holding Group were down 1.4 percent each.

Next day on Monday, the QE Index rose 1.1 percent to close at 10,843.0. Gains were led by the Transportation and Tel-ecoms indices, gaining 3.2 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively. Top gainers were Qatar Gas Transport Company Limited and Qatar Navigation, rising 3.6 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively. Among

the top losers, Qatar Cinema & Film Distribution Company fell 7.9 percent, while Ezdan Holding Group was down 1.8 percent. The index rose on the back of buying support from GCC and Foreign shareholders despite selling pressure from Qatari and Arab shareholders.

On Tuesday, the QE Index declined marginally to close at 10,838.7. Losses were led by the Banks & Financial Services and Industrials indices, falling 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. The index fell on the back of selling pressure from Qatari shareholders despite buying support from

GCC, Arab and Foreign share-holders. Top losers were Ezdan Holding Group and Qatar Oman Investment Company, falling 3.5 percent and 2.2 percent, respec-tively. Among the top gainers, Doha Insurance Group gained 2.9 percent, while Qatari German Company for Medical Devices was up 2.6 percent.

On Wednesday, the QE Index rose 0.3 percent to close at 10,866.6. The index rose on the back of buying support from GCC and Foreign shareholders despite selling pressure from Qatari and Arab shareholders. Gains were led by the Telecoms and Industrials indices, gaining

1.6 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. Top gainers were QLM Life & Medical Insurance Company and Mazaya Real Estate Development, rising 23.8 percent and 4.4 percent, respec-tively. Among the top losers, Qatari German Company for Medical Devices fell 2.0 percent, while Dlala Brokerage & Investment Holding Co. was down 1.1 percent.

On Thursday, QSE Total Return Index increased 0.43 percent to 20,981.48 points and QSE Al Rayan Islamic Index gained 0.66 percent to 4,398.25 points. QSE All Share Index up 0.17 percent to 3,341.23 points.

Morocco’s economy to grow 4.6% in 2021 REUTERS — RABAT

Morocco’s economic growth should rebound by 4.6 percent in 2021 after contracting by 7 percent last year under the double impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a drought, the planning agency said yesterday.

The forecast is based on assumptions of an improvement in foreign and domestic demand in addition to an average cereal yield of 7.5 million tonnes, the agency said in a report.

Recent abundant rainfall augurs well for this year’s agri-cultural yield, refilling dams after two consecutive years of drought that undermined farm output.

Lower tax revenues and higher subsidies to ease the impact of COVID-19 pushed Morocco’s fiscal deficit to 7.4 percent in 2020, more than twice the targeted 3.5 percent of GDP. It is expected to shrink to 6 percent of GDP this year as tax and non-tax revenues rise.

Public debt is expected to surge to 95.6 percent of GDP in 2021 due to external borrowing, however, while the current account deficit is seen increasing to 3.3 percent of GDP as imports continue to out-weigh exports.

A view of a large screen showing movement in share prices at QSE trading hall.

The stock market started

the week on a positive note

as, the QE Index rose 0.4

percent to close at 10,725.7.

The index rose on the back

of buying support from

Arab and Foreign

shareholders despite selling

pressure from Qatari and

GCC shareholders.

Biden to unveil plan to pump $1.5trn into pandemic-hit economyREUTERS — DELAWARE

President-elect Joe Biden will unveil a stimulus package proposal today designed to jump-start the economy during the coronavirus pandemic with an economic lifeline that could exceed $1.5trn and help minority communities.

Biden campaigned last year on a promise to take the pan-demic more seriously than President Donald Trump, and the package aims to put that pledge into action with an influx of resources for the coro-navirus vaccine rollout and economic recovery.

The incoming adminis-tration will work with Congress on the quick stimulus package after Biden takes office on January 20, although the impeachment of Trump threatens to consume law-makers in the initial weeks.

The stimulus package has a price tag above $1.5trn and includes a commitment for $1,400 stimulus checks, according to a source familiar

with the proposal, and Biden is expected to commit to partner with private companies to increase the number of Amer-icans getting vaccinated.

A significant portion of the additional financial resources will be dedicated to minority communities. “I think you will see a real emphasis on these underserved communities, where there is a lot of hard work to do,” said another tran-sition official.

Biden plans to introduce his package during a prime-time address, underscoring the

seriousness of the topic, but he will have to compete for attention with the political drama in Washington.

The impeachment pro-ceedings threaten to hang over the beginning of Biden’s term.

In a statement on Wednesday night, Biden said: “I hope that the Senate lead-ership will find a way to deal with their Constitutional r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s o n impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation.”

The Democratic president-elect said last week the stimulus package would be “in the tril-lions of dollars” and argued that more spending early on would reduce the long-term economic damage from the shutdowns spurred by the pandemic.

He also said there would be “billions of dollars” to speed up vaccine distribution, along with money to help reopen schools and for state and local govern-ments to avoid laying off teachers, police officers and health workers.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

BEIJING: China’s total goods imports and exports expanded 1.9 percent year on year to 32.16trn yuan (about $5trn) in 2020, hitting a record high despite a worldwide slump in ship-ments, official data showed yesterday. Exports rose 4 percent, while imports went down 0.7 percent, according to the Chinese General Administra-tion of Customs (GAC).

In December alone, exports surged by 10.9 percent year on year in yuan terms. -QNA

WASHINGTON: US import prices increased more than expected in December, boosted by higher prices for energy products and a weak dol-lar, suggesting inflation could pick up in the near term.

The Labor Department said yesterday import prices jumped 0.9% last month after rising 0.2% in November. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast import prices, which exclude tariffs, accelerating 0.7% in December. -REUTERS

PARIS: Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire yesterday said a growth fore-cast of 6% for France's economy in 2021 remained within reach and that he was confident of a strong recov-ery by the end of the year.

"I am really quite confident that the second part of 2021 will be good for the French economy," Le Maire said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.

But he cautioned: "We have to remain humble and cautious because we have been fooled by the virus many times." -REUTERS

China’s foreign trade reaches $5trn in 2020

US import prices accelerate on higher energy costs

France's Le Maire says 6% growth target for 2021 within reach

Won’t raise interest rates any time soon: PowellBLOOMBERG

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said policy makers won’t raise interest rates unless they see troubling signs of inflation.

"Our eyes are wide open on this,” Powell said. "At the end of the day the public will need to see us allow inflation to move m o d e r a t e l y a b o v e 2 percent for a time before the new framework will be seen as fully credible.”

The time to raise rates "is no time soon,” Powell added.

After years of too-low inflation, the central bank approved new policy guidance in September, spelling out it would be appropriate to keep rates near zero until inflation has risen to its 2 percent target and was on track to moderately exceed that level.

Powell last month described the guidance as "powerful,” but its vagueness has led to differing interpretations among policy makers and investors. Governor Lael Brainard on Wednesday said the pace would be appropriate for "quite some time,” though at

least four Fed presidents have said a strong economy could prompt discussion of tapering of bonds late this year.

Millions more Americans are out of work than before COVID-19 struck and the virus continues to rage across the US Powell and his colleagues are committed to using all their tools to support the recovery and last month signaled interest rates will stay near zero at least through 2023, while pledging to maintain its massive bond-buying campaign to speed the rebound from COVID-19.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell

The stimulus package has a

price tag above $1.5trn and

includes a commitment for

$1,400 stimulus checks,

according to a source familiar

with the proposal, and Biden

is expected to commit to

partner with private

companies to increase the

number of Americans getting

vaccinated.

WhatsApp growth slumps as rivals Signal, Telegram riseAP — OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

Encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram are seeing huge upticks in downloads from Apple and Google’s app stores. Facebook-owned WhatsApp, by contrast, is seeing its growth decline following a fiasco that forced the company to clarify a privacy update it had sent to users.

Mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower said yesterday that Signal saw 17.8 million app downloads on Apple and Google during the week of January 5 to 12. That’s a 61-fold increase from just 285,000 the previous week. Telegram, an already-popular messaging app for people around

the world, saw 15.7 million downloads in the Jan. 5 to Jan. 12 period, roughly twice the 7.6 million downloads it saw the pre-vious week.

WhatsApp, meanwhile, saw down-loads shrink to 10.6 million, down from 12.7 million the week before.

Experts believe the shift may reflect a rush of conservative social media users seeking alternatives to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and the now-shuttered right-wing site Parler.

Parler, meanwhile, was unceremoni-ously booted from the internet after Apple and Google banned it from their app stores for failing to moderate incitement. Amazon then cut Parler off from its cloud-hosting

service. Experts worry that these moves could lead to more ideological splintering and further hide extremism in the dark corners of the internet, making it harder to track and counteract.

WhatsApp didn’t do itself any favors when it recently told users that if they don’t accept a new privacy policy by February 8, they’ll be cut off. The notice referenced the data WhatsApp shares with Facebook, which while not entirely new, may have struck some users that way.

Confusion about the notice, compli-cated by Facebook’s history of privacy mishaps, forced WhatsApp to clarify its update to users this week. The company said that its update “does not affect the

privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way,” adding that the policy changes were necessary to allow users to message businesses on WhatsApp. The notice “provides further transparency about how we collect and use data,” the company said.

WhatsApp is still by far the most popular messaging app of the three, and so far there’s no evidence of a mass exodus. Sensor Tower estimates that Signal has been installed about 58.6 million times glo-bally since 2014. In that same period Tel-egram has seen about 755.2 million instal-lations and WhatsApp a whopping 5.6 billion - almost eight times as many as Telegram.

14 FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021BUSINESS

Samsung launches Galaxy S21 phones with lower pricesBLOOMBERG

Samsung Electronics Co. yesterday debuted three Galaxy S21 smartphones, upgraded earbuds and a gadget to track physical items, setting out its stall to compete with Apple Inc.’s existing and future device range.

The South Korean company’s new flagship handsets are $200 cheaper than last year’s lineup across the board: the Galaxy S21 starts at $799.99, matching the iPhone 12, while the larger S21+ is $999.99 and the upgraded S21 Ultra costs $1,199.99. The price drops are an acknowledgement of the current pandemic-riddled economy where consumers are

holding off on non-essential pur-chases as well as a move to ward off rising competition from the likes of Xiaomi Corp.

Samsung said it sees a “bifur-cation” in the smartphone market, between consumers wanting the very latest tech and more cost-sensitive shoppers, which has motivated its new strategy. It’s a similar approach to Apple’s split of the iPhone line into standard, Pro and Pro Max models that differ in cost, mate-rials, size and camera specs.

The Galaxy S21 series come in roughly the same dimensions as last year - going from the 6.2-inch S21 to the 6.8-inch Ultra - though Samsung has reduced the

resolution and memory of the two smaller phones, moves likely made to accommodate the lower prices. In the US, Samsung will be relying on Qualcomm Inc.’s Snap-dragon 888 processor while other markets will get its latest in-house Exynos 2100 system-on-chip. Both mark a move to more advanced 5nm manufacturing, catching up with the silicon already inside Apple and Huawei Technologies Co.’s latest devices.

This year, Samsung is emphasising its cameras both in the design and function of its new devices. The rear camera module dominates one corner of each handset and adds enhancements like steadier video recording,

better depth measurement for portrait shots and a smattering of artificial intelligence enhance-ments to make functions like digital zoom more effective.

Google’s Android 11 serves as the default operating system and Samsung offers 5G wireless con-nectivity and IP68 water resistance across its trio of new devices.

The pricier S21 Ultra adds support for Samsung’s S Pen digital stylus, the first time Samsung is offering that com-patibility for its non-Note phones. The model also differ-entiates itself with more of eve-rything: it has the biggest screen and battery, highest-resolution display and cameras and more memory and storage options.

Delta calls 2021 ‘year of recovery’REUTERS — NEW YORK

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian expects 2021 to be “the year of recovery” after the corona-virus pandemic cut operating revenue by 64 percent and prompted its first annual loss in 11 years.

“We don’t anticipate that by the summer travel will be back anywhere close to where it previously was, but it will be a meaningful improvement, sufficient to be able to drive profitability for us in the back half of the year,” Bastian told Reuters.

The strength of the recovery will hinge on factors such as the pace of vaccine rollouts and people’s appetite for flying after a year that nearly brought global travel to a halt.

In the first quarter, the Atlanta-based airline expects revenue to fall by 60 percent

to 65 percent from a year ago and its scheduled flight capacity to shrink by 35 percent.

As it continues to block middle seats at least through March 30, it expects the actual capacity it sells to fall by around 55 percent.

“When the demand for air travel picks up because of

confidence, that’s going to be the indication that we start selling those middle seats,” Bastian said.

Business travel should pick up in the second half of the year but remain muted for a period of time, he said.

A recovery in international travel, which has been hit hard by travel bans, will take at least another year and Bastian said the airline would continue to burn through $10m to $15m a day in the first quarter.

It lost an average of $12m a day in the fourth quarter, but remains on track to halt its cash burn in the spring, the airline said.

Global airline industry body IATA believes a return to positive cash flow for the industry might not happen this year, Chief Economist Brian Pearce said yesterday, as a resurgence in lockdowns has killed off a fragile

bookings upturn.Delta expects to have $18

billion to $19bn of liquidity by the end of March, including an additional $3bn in government payroll support, while carrying around $18bn in net debt.

It had $16.7bn in liquidity in 2020 after a series of capital raisings.

Delta, the first US airline to post 2020 results, reported a $12.4bn loss - its first since 2009 - on operating revenue of $17bn. It recorded a $4.8bn profit a year earlier.

It lost $755m in the fourth quarter, or $1.19 per share. The adjusted loss per share was $2.53, versus analyst estimates for $2.51.

Delta shares jumped 2.2 percent in pre-market trading following the results.

Delta booked $1bn in COVID-19 related charges in the quarter, though total adjusted operating expenses

fell by $4.6bn or 47 percent on lower fuel, maintenance and salary costs.

Delta has avoided fur-loughs but said nearly 18,000 employees, or 20 percent of its workforce, decided to leave the company in 2020.

It does not intend to fur-lough any employees once the second round of government payroll support for airlines expires in March.

The company expects to retire nearly 400 jets through 2025 as it simplifies its fleet to nine families of aircraft.

Bastian has previously hinted at the possibility of pur-chasing Boeing Co’s 737 MAX.

The US government will hopefully lift its international travel ban by the spring or summer if the virus is con-tained, Bastian said.

Turning to disruption on recent US flights by supporters of US President Donald Trump, Bastian said Delta has placed passengers involved in incidents that targeted sen-ators Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham on its no-fly list.

A file photo of a Delta Air Lines Airbus A350-900 plane takes off from Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian

QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

QE Index 10,913.83 +0.43 %

QE Total Return Index 20,981.48 +0.43 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index - Price 2,465.43 +0.66 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 4,398.25 +0.66 %

QE All Share Index 3,341.23 +0.17 %

QE All Share Banks &

Financial Services 4,398.92 -0.46 %

QE All Share Industrials 3,296.13 +2.17 %

QE All Share Transportation 3,599.14 -0.02 %

QE All Share Real Estate 1,926.71 +0.20 %

QE All Share Insurance 2,557.75 +0.56 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,122.20 -0.77 %

QE All Share Consumer

Goods & Services 8,252.50 +0.07 %

QE INDICES SUMMARY QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON WORLD STOCK INDICES

GOLD AND SILVER

14-01-2021Index 10,913.83

Change +47.22

% +0.43%

YTD% +4.58

Volume 219,138,681

Value (QAR) 546,750,928.49

Trades 10,015

Up 24 | Down 21 | Unchanged 03

13-01-2021Index 10,866.61

Change +27.92

% +0.26%

YTD% +4.13

Volume 270,224,468

Value (QAR) 814,189,285.86

Trades 14,553

EXCHANGE RATE

GOLD QR227.00 per grammeSILVER QR3.00 per gramme

Index Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Dow Jones Industrial Average 31,178.69 +118.22

+0.38%

S&P 500 3,821.23 +11.39 +0.30%

Nasdaq Composite Index 13,217.21 +88.26 +0.67%

FTSE 100 Index 6,792.01 +46.49 +0.69%

DAX Index 14,002.18 +62.47 +0.45%

CAC 40 Index 5,681.23 +18.56 +0.33%

Nikkei Stock Average 225 28,698.26 +241.67 +0.85%

Hang Seng Index 28,496.86 +261.26 +0.93%

Shanghai Composite Index 3,565.90 -32.75 -0.91%

ASX All Ordinaries Index 6,982.70 +28.80 +0.41%

Currency Selling (QAR) Buying (QAR)

US$ 3.6500 3.6305

Australian Dollar AUD 2.86 2.79

Bangladeshi Taka BDT 0.045 0.042

Canadian Dollar CAD 2.92 2.86

Euro EUR 4.52 4.4

Indian Rupee INR 0.052 0.05

Japanese Yen JPY 0.0355 0.0348

Malaysian Ringgit MYR 0.92 0.885

Nepalese Rupee NPR 0.033 0.031

Pakistani Rupee PKR 0.02326 0.02273

Philippine Peso PHP 0.079 0.075

Pound Sterling GBP 5.03 4.92

South African Rand ZAR 0.25 0.245

Sri Lankan Rupee LKR 0.02 0.019

Swiss Franc CHF 4.16 4.09

Turkish Lira TRY 0.505 0.50

QNBK - QNB 18.86 18.86 18.62 18.86 1,977 18.75 18.62 178,056 18.62 18.62 -0.24 -1.27 582 3,486,223 65,176,974.66

QIBK - Qatar Islamic Bank 17.40 17.40 17.40 17.55 31,301 17.55 17.46 25,000 17.55 17.55 +0.15 +0.86 374 1,111,274 19,441,950.69

CBQK - Comm. Bank of Qatar 4.471 4.47 4.42 4.49 11,576 4.46 4.421 5,200 4.46 4.46 -0.01 -0.25 366 3,457,318 15,447,740.36

DHBK - Doha Bank 2.42 2.417 2.410 2.419 6,850 2.419 2.418 20,000 2.419 2.419 -0.001 -0.04 47 817,773 1,976,141.851

ABQK - Ahli Bank 3.52 0.00 0.00 0.00 2,702 3.6 3.5 50,600 3.52 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0 0.00

QIIK - Intl. Islamic Bank 9.444 9.44 9.44 9.50 10,000 9.496 9.49 155,889 9.49 9.490 +0.05 +0.49 350 1,952,033 18,534,398.79

MARK - Rayan 4.596 4.578 4.578 4.600 12,400 4.597 4.578 1,358,172 4.578 4.578 -0.018 -0.39 520 5,535,797 25,430,093.707

KCBK - Al khalij Commercial Bank 2.173 2.171 2.152 2.178 147,700 2.178 2.174 1,207,261 2.174 2.174 +0.001 +0.05 192 2,030,448 4,408,651.392

QFBQ - Qatar First Bank (QFC) 1.765 1.767 1.767 1.809 214,095 1.805 1.801 1,095,360 1.805 1.80 +0.040 +2.27 365 27,235,731 48,634,513.545

QETF - QE Index ETF 10.635 10.635 10.635 10.635 0 0.0 10.663 9,378 10.635 10.706 0.000 0.00 1 15 159.525

QATR - Al Rayan Qatar ETF 2.442 2.450 2.450 2.456 11,876 2.518 2.456 700 2.456 2.457 +0.014 +0.57 5 30,005 73,551.250

QATI - Qatar Insurance 2.579 2.599 2.557 2.626 10,000 2.587 2.557 20,550 2.587 2.587 +0.008 +0.31 117 3,221,744 8,320,692.094

DOHI - Doha Insurance 1.47 1.479 1.411 1.500 20,437 1.498 1.497 24,000 1.498 0.00 +0.028 +1.90 21 148,423 221,226.494

QLMI - QLM 3.90 3.90 3.70 4.04 234,682 3.92 3.915 130 3.92 3.920 +0.02 +0.51 1,155 12,984,835 50,589,292.22

QGRI - General Insurance 2.585 2.491 2.491 2.644 6,750 2.639 2.491 12,678 2.644 0.000 +0.059 +2.28 2 1,642 4,093.435

AKHI - Alkhaleej Takaful 1.925 1.925 1.920 1.936 10,022 1.94 1.935 122,927 1.935 0.000 +0.010 +0.52 31 750,876 1,449,886.064

QISI - Islamic Insurance 7.20 7.078 7.078 7.078 24,400 7.2 7.151 9,424 7.078 0.00 -0.122 -1.69 1 1,169 8,274.182

QAMC - QAMCO 0.969 0.969 0.965 0.984 205,677 0.979 0.973 17,300 0.979 0.979 +0.010 +1.03 223 8,267,782 8,059,892.374

QIMD - Ind. Manf. Co. 3.19 3.19 3.19 3.19 8,449 3.19 3.131 40,000 3.19 3.19 0.00 0.00 3 86,551 276,127.69

QNCD - National Cement Co. 4.256 4.320 4.299 4.320 7,548 4.299 4.25 319 4.299 4.299 +0.043 +1.01 16 45,526 195,755.398

ZHCD - Zad Holding Company 15.08 15.00 15.00 15.00 31,964 15.0 14.91 4,500 15.00 0.00 -0.08 -0.53 1 125 1,875.00

IQCD - Industries Qatar 11.60 11.48 11.48 12.17 40,000 12.1 12.06 550 12.10 12.10 +0.50 +4.31 571 3,265,131 38,750,207.20

UDCD - United Dev. Company 1.59 1.590 1.571 1.610 16,827 1.608 1.605 53,901 1.608 1.608 +0.018 +1.13 307 5,085,632 8,133,348.708

QGMD - Qatar German Co. Med 2.353 2.35 2.31 2.39 3,333 2.38 2.379 5 2.38 2.380 +0.03 +1.15 147 3,119,203 7,383,287.76

QIGD - The Investors 1.803 1.814 1.801 1.814 1,450 1.805 1.804 22,126 1.805 0.000 +0.002 +0.11 45 514,288 927,577.323

ORDS - Ooredoo 8.523 8.52 8.42 8.54 83,400 8.42 8.39 7,983 8.42 8.420 -0.10 -1.21 335 1,422,680 12,071,434.77

QEWS - Electricity & Water 18.40 18.40 18.37 18.49 11,367 18.4 18.38 10,000 18.40 18.40 0.00 0.00 292 1,069,902 19,707,412.28

SIIS - Salam International 0.64 0.640 0.636 0.652 594,858 0.643 0.64 161,055 0.643 0.64 +0.003 +0.47 290 29,017,006 18,698,216.911

BLDN - Baladna 1.75 1.751 1.741 1.767 28,654 1.746 1.743 11,000 1.743 1.743 -0.007 -0.40 143 1,965,158 3,431,974.863

NLCS - National Leasing 1.256 1.256 1.245 1.261 363,983 1.248 1.247 238,770 1.247 1.247 -0.009 -0.72 175 4,284,939 5,358,204.723

QNNS - Qatar Navigation 7.88 7.90 7.78 7.90 10,115 7.9 7.777 100,000 7.90 7.900 +0.02 +0.25 54 133,174 1,050,389.40

MCGS - Medicare 8.861 8.85 8.85 8.92 4,854 8.92 8.855 100,000 8.92 8.920 +0.06 +0.67 14 101,590 900,351.52

QCFS - Cinema 3.531 0.000 0.000 0.000 20,282 3.884 3.538 1,500 3.531 0.000 0.000 0.00 0 0 0.000

QFLS - Qatar Fuel 19.15 19.15 19.12 19.28 54 19.28 19.2 16 19.20 19.20 +0.05 +0.26 118 534,806 10,264,004.75

WDAM - Widam 6.27 6.27 6.27 6.30 49,500 6.28 6.275 20,000 6.28 0.00 +0.01 +0.16 34 409,317 2,571,647.82

GWCS - Gulf warehousing Co 5.22 5.191 5.160 5.250 41,800 5.219 5.195 202,450 5.219 5.219 -0.001 -0.02 51 924,369 4,814,845.991

QGTS - Nakilat 3.46 3.477 3.424 3.477 18,983 3.453 3.45 5,000 3.453 3.453 -0.007 -0.20 328 3,311,946 11,452,831.265

DBIS - Dlala 1.725 1.722 1.719 1.749 86,757 1.733 1.722 20,000 1.721 0.000 -0.004 -0.23 39 811,510 1,399,358.073

BRES - Barwa 3.544 3.510 3.510 3.548 28,957 3.533 3.532 10,000 3.533 3.533 -0.011 -0.31 436 3,074,397 10,861,545.802

MCCS - Mannai Corp. 2.97 2.945 2.941 2.970 21,745 2.969 2.941 1,006 2.969 0.00 -0.001 -0.03 12 41,780 123,054.649

AHCS - Aamal 0.843 0.84 0.84 0.85 9,936 0.84 0.838 100,000 0.84 0.84 -0.00 -0.36 81 2,599,389 2,183,332.48

QOIS - Qatar Oman 0.845 0.848 0.831 0.860 61,428 0.857 0.85 12,500 0.857 0.000 +0.012 +1.42 75 2,570,193 2,185,853.281

ERES - Ezdan Holding 1.68 1.698 1.665 1.698 200,000 1.688 1.679 211,374 1.679 1.679 -0.001 -0.06 329 7,564,092 12,753,391.506

IHGS - Inma 5.099 5.15 5.07 5.21 3,000 5.15 5.126 5,000 5.15 5.150 +0.05 +1.00 321 3,751,970 19,341,376.93

GISS - Gulf International 1.71 1.712 1.686 1.712 40,000 1.698 1.697 50,000 1.697 1.697 -0.013 -0.76 131 7,212,255 12,210,049.523

MPHC - Mesaieed 2.091 2.082 2.072 2.087 76,011 2.085 2.084 654 2.085 2.085 -0.006 -0.29 171 1,764,519 3,677,218.515

IGRD - Investment Holding 0.572 0.571 0.564 0.571 96,666 0.566 0.565 658,000 0.566 0.566 -0.006 -1.05 351 24,505,111 13,913,440.358

VFQS - Vodafone Qatar 1.44 1.430 1.430 1.455 46,041 1.449 1.444 50,000 1.449 1.449 +0.009 +0.62 231 9,620,834 13,933,944.144

MERS - Al Meera 21.00 21.10 20.82 21.20 84,778 20.9 20.85 25,010 20.90 20.90 -0.10 -0.48 32 112,544 2,349,940.18

MRDS - Mazaya 1.304 1.310 1.296 1.319 20,000 1.299 1.296 72,470 1.296 1.296 -0.008 -0.61 530 29,185,656 38,051,397.035

Wall St edges higher with focus on Biden’s stimulus planREUTERS — BENGALURU

Wall Street’s main indexes opened slightly higher yesterday with investors awaiting details on President-elect Joe Biden’s proposals for stimulus to jump-start the economy as data showed a struggling job market recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.2 points, or 0.08 percent, at the open to 31,085.67. The S&P 500 rose 5.1 points, or 0.13 percent, at the open to 3,814.98, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 45.8 points, or 0.35 percent, to 13,174.75 at the opening bell.

15FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021Sport

SRI LANKA, 1ST INNINGS

L Thirimanne c Bairstow b Broad ...................4

K Perera c Root b Bess .................................. 20

K Mendis c Buttler b Broad ..............................0

A Mathews c Root b Broad ............................27

D Chandimal c Curran b Leach .......................28

N Dickwella c Sibley b Bess ........................... 12

D Shanaka c Buttler b Bess ...........................23

PWH de Silva b Bess ....................................... 19

D Perera b Bess ................................................0

L Embuldeniya run out (Leach) .......................0

A Fernando not out ...........................................0

Extras (lb 1, nb 1) ......................................2

TOTAL (46.1 Ov, RR: 2.92) .....................135

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-16, 3-25, 4-81, 5-81, 6-105,

7-126, 42.3 ov), 8-126, 9-130, 10-135

BOWLING: S Broad 9-3-20-3, S Curran 4-2-8-0, M

Wood 6-1-21-0, Dom Bess 10.1-3-30-5, Jack Leach

17-2-55-1

ENGLAND, 1ST INNINGS

Z Crawley c de Silva b Embuldeniya ...............9

D Sibley c Thirimanne b Embuldeniya ...........4

J Bairstow not out ...........................................47

J Root not out ................................................. 66

Extras (nb 1) ............................................. 1

TOTAL (41 Ov, RR: 3.09) .................... 127/2

Yet to bat: Dan Lawrence, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran,

Dom Bess, Jack Leach, Mark Wood, Stuart Broad

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-17

BOWLING: Lasith Embuldeniya 18-3-55, Asitha

Fernando 6-0-19-0, PWH de Silva 7-0-30-0, Dilru-

wan Perera 10-2-23-0

Venue: Galle International Stadium Umpires:

Kumar Dharmasena and Ruchira Palliyaguruge

SCOREBOARD

England off-spinner Dom Bess poses for a photo tweeted by @englandcricket at the end of the first day of the first Test between England and hosts Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium yesterday.

Survival of the fittest as Australia look to seal series at Gabba fortressREUTERS - MELBOURNE

A punishing Test series that has exacted a heavy toll on both sides draws to a fitting climax in Brisbane where a humbled Australia will aim to crush an ailing Indian side at their Gabba fortress.

Australia had their confi-dence rocked in the third test as India’s batsmen held on for a gallant draw in Sydney but Tim Paine’s team hold the upper hand for the decisive clash of a series that has become survival of the fittest.

With regular captain Virat Kohli on paternity leave, India have defied a mounting injury toll to keep the series alive but now have few bullets left to fire.

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been scratched and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is also expected to be ruled out after an abdominal strain in Sydney, meaning India’s attack could be in the hands of three rookie pacemen when the match starts today.

And the Gabba is no place for the walking wounded, with Australia undefeated at the stadium since 1988.

In short, Ajinkya Rahane’s India have a mountain to climb,

even if a draw would be enough to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy two years after their breakthrough 2-1 win in the 2018/19 series in Australia.

The home side have had their own injury challenges, with Marcus Harris replacing Will Pucovski after the rookie opener was ruled out with a shoulder injury.

Opener David Warner was clearly hampered by his groin strain as he laboured for runs in Sydney but the veteran lefthander has been cleared to play.

Australia’s problems are more on the mental side, with India’s obstinacy having got the better of their captain and bowlers on the final day in Sydney.

Paine was moved to apol-ogise this week after he lost his cool, was abusive to Ravi-chandran Ashwin and dropped three catches behind the stumps, any one of which might have unlocked the game for Australia.

It was arguably the wicket-keeper-captain’s worst day in the office since taking over the team in the wake of the New-lands ball-tampering scandal in 2018.

Damning reviews tend to follow Australia’s home series defeats and a reverse at the Gabba could prove terminal for Paine’s leadership a year out from England’s Ashes tour.

He will lean heavily on his attack to deliver on a pitch that tends to reward express pace, and will hope Nathan Lyon can also get among the wickets as the 33-year-old offspinner savours his 100th Test after lean

pickings in the series. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen both teams confined to their hotel rooms in Brisbane before and after training excursions, a vexing end to a long and arduous tour in the “bubble”.

A chastised Paine said Aus-tralia would leave the frustra-tions behind them upon taking the field at the Gabba and their only focus would be to admin-ister the coup de grace.

“For me, it’s about rising above it and concentrating on what I’m doing and concen-trating on leading my team and not worrying about what’s going on the other side,” captain Paine told reporters yesterday.

“We’ve spoken a lot... about controlling what we can control and focusing more inwardly on ourselves. I think we can do all that, ” he added.

A view of the pitch to be used for the fourth and final Test between India and Australia at the Gabba, Brisbane. The final Test starts today. PIC:@cricketcomau

Boucher confident of team safety on Pakistan tour

REUTERS - CAPE TOWN

South Africa have faith in the security measures put in place for their Test and Twenty20 International tour of Pakistan coach Mark Boucher said yesterday as he revealed that he hoped to lure Jacques Kallis back as a batting consultant.

South Africa start the first of two Tests in Pakistan on January 26 as they return there for the first time since 2007.

Their absence followed a militant attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009 that killed six policemen and two civilians.

“We’ve had our (security) guys go there and do a recce of the situation and they have said it is safe,” Boucher told reporters ahead of the team’s departure.

“So from my side there are no issues, we have to get back there and start playing cricket.”

Boucher made his Test debut in Pakistan in 1997 and went on to play 147 times in a stellar career. He said the conditions will be more suited to his side than most sub-continent nations.

“It is tough but different to India and Sri Lanka, where it (the ball) turns. Pakistan is more conducive to fast bowling. Reverse swing was very big, though regulations are tighter these days on how you can work on the ball.

“They are historically flat wickets. The areas you score as a batsman are different. If you apply yourself there are a lot of runs out there.”

Boucher also said he wanted to regain the services of 45-year-old Jacques Kallis as a batting consultant after the former all-rounder signed a short-term deal with England for their current test tour of Sri Lanka. Cricket South Africa did not take up the option of retaining Kallis’ services last year, citing transformation targets, but Boucher is hopeful that, with a new board in place, that could change.

“He is on my radar in terms of trying to get him back involved in the set-up. I hope we treat him with care as he has shown he has a lot of other opportunities in world cricket. He is a massive loss but I know Jacques would love to be working in South African cricket. The knowledge he has needs to be utilised.”

Day One: England in control after bowling out Sri Lanka for 135 runsREUTERS - GALLE, SRI LANKA

England captain Joe Root struck his 50th Test fifty to put them in a strong position on the first day of the opening Test after Dom Bess took five wickets as the tourists bowled out Sri Lanka for a paltry 135.

An unbeaten 110-run part-nership between Jonny Bairstow and Root saw England to 127-2 at stumps yesterday, trailing by eight runs, with the opportunity to go on and build a significant lead after Sri Lanka posted the lowest first-innings score in a Test at the Galle International Stadium.

The pair steadied matters after spinner Lasith Embuldeniya, who opened the bowling, had removed England openers Dom Sibley (4) and Zak Crawley (9) cheaply.

Root, in his 98th Test, sur-vived a leg before decision when on 20, which was over-turned on review, before reaching his half century off 94 balls. He will resume today on 66 with Bairstow playing a strong supporting role with 47 not out.

Bess took 5-30 off just 10.1 overs with strong back-up from

Stuart Broad (3-20) as the home side failed to take advantage of winning the toss with some wayward batting.

Bess got off to the perfect start when he took the wicket of the dangerous Kusal Perera with only his second ball of the morning. Attempting an ambi-tious reverse sweep, Perera succeeded only in top edging the ball to Root at slip to depart for 20, the first of several ill-considered shots from the home batsmen.

Niroshan Dickwella was caught at backward point for 12 while Dasun Shanaka, who scored 23, went in bizarre cir-cumstances, sweeping his shot onto the ankle of Bairstow at short leg, popping it up into the air for wicketkeeper Jos Buttler to claim.

Preferred to England’s record Test wicket taker James Anderson, Broad bagged opener Lahiru Thirimanne and strug-gling Kusal Mendis in the same over for the first two wickets of the test and then added Angelo Mathews after lunch.

Dinesh Chandimal, who took over the captaincy from injured Dimuth Karunaratne, top scored for the hosts with 28.

Sri Lanka were forced to leave out Karunaratne due to a fractured thumb - another injury blow to a team that suf-fered several setbacks on their tour of South Africa earlier this month.

Bess said he did not bowl as much as he would have liked in the preparations after arriving in Sri Lanka and admitted there was an element of fortune to his haul.

No much more so than when a sweep shot from Dasun Shanaka hit Jonny Bairstow at short leg on the ankle and popped up for wicketkeeper Jos Buttler to catch.

“It was bizarre. You want guys getting caught at short leg by Jonny rather than hitting him, caught Buttler, but at the end of the day a wicket is a wicket,” Bess told a news conference.

“I know that I haven’t bowled as well as I could have done and got away with probably one or two, but that’s cricket. Those were not among my best deliveries but then again, I’ve also bowled very well on days and haven’t taken any poles... and dropped catches,” said Bess.

Trainers are seen with horses going through their paces ahead of the Round 8 of the Longines Hathab Qatar Equestrian Tour. The 8th round will start today and ends tomorrow at QEF's Outdoor Arena. The series is backed by the Social & Sport Contribution Fund.

Vet Check ahead of Hathab Round at QEF Arena Murray status for Australia in doubt after contracting virusAP - MELBOURNE

Andy Murray’s status for the Australian Open was put in doubt yesterday after he tested positive for the coronavirus only days before his planned charter flight to Melbourne.

The three-time Grand Slam champion is iso-lating at home near London, the tournament said in a statement.

“Unfortunately this means he will be unable to join the official AO charter flights arriving in Australia in the coming days to go through the quarantine period with the other players,” the statement said. “The AO fans love Andy, and we know how much he loves competing here in Mel-bourne and how hard he’d worked for this opportunity.”

Murray has been given a wild-card entry into the first Grand Slam tournament of 2021.

The Australian Open was delayed three weeks because of COVID-19 restrictions and is set to begin February 8. Players and officials must spend 14 days in quarantine once they arrive in Australia. Murray, a five-time Australian Open runner-up, earlier backed out of the Delray Beach Open in Florida to “minimize the risks” of con-tracting the virus through international travel.

Murray could still compete in Australia.

American player Tennys Sandgren was given special clearance to board a charter flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne despite testing pos-itive for COVID-19 in November and again on Monday. Under tournament protocols agreed with Australian government authorities, all players had to return a negative test before boarding their flights to Australia and would be subjected to further testing on arrival and daily during a 14-day period of quarantine.

Sandgren received an exemption after Aus-tralian health officials assessed his case history.

American player Madison Keys has also tested positive before her scheduled flight to Australia. She said she is self-isolating at home.

“I’ve very disappointed to not be able to play in the coming weeks after training hard in the off-season and knowing Tennis Australia and the tours did so much to make these events happen,” Keys wrote on Twitter.

The first of about 1,200 players, coaches, entourage and officials landed yesterday in Aus-tralia. Tennis Australia said players who have previously tested positive for COVID-19 were “required to provide additional and highly detailed medical information as proof they are a recovered case and no longer infectious or a risk to the community.”

SportFRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021

Australia look to seal series at Gabba fortress For me, it’s about rising above it and concentrating on what I’m doing and concentrating on leading my team and not worrying about what’s going on the other side. We’ve spoken a lot ... about controlling what we can control and focusing more inwardly on ourselves.

Sport | 15Tim PaineAustralia captain

DAKAR RALLY, STAGE 11 - WINNERS: NASSER AL ATTIYAH (QAT), MATTHIEU BAUMEL (FRA) TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 04H 34' 24''

Qatar eye winning start at World ChampionshipTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Asian champions Qatar are eyeing a winning start at the IHF World Men’s Handball Cham-pionship Egypt 2021 campaign as they take on Angola in their opening Group C match in Alex-andria, today.

Al Annabi left for the event yesterday after their departure

was postponed due to lack of flight options.

Although Qatar, coached by Spaniard Valero Rivera, were confined to Doha during their build-up for the 32-nation event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they are one of the teams favoured to proceed to the next phase of the competition despite not meeting expecta-tions at the past two World Championships after placing second at Qatar 2015.

The Asian giants will look to bounce back from eighth place at France 2017 and their 13th place two years ago.

After meeting Angola, Qatar will face Japan on Sunday before their final group game against Croatia on January 19.

Qatar underwent a training camp in Doha and played several practice matches against top club sides of the country besides featuring in

home tournament against teams including Spain, Tunisia and Argentina.

Al Annabi reached for the World Championship confident knowing they have beaten Croatia and have had tre-mendous success against Japan

in years past including most recently a 36:28 victory at the 2020 AHF Men’s Asian Championship.

But Qatar are still looking for that elusive win against Angola, which could seal the deal for a main round berth.

Angola have won both games between the two sides, including a 24:23 nail-biter two years ago, their only win in the group phase, which basically threw Qatar out of contention for a main round berth at the World Championship.

However, Qatar will have both experience and cohesion on their side, with key players playing in Qatar’s skilled domestic competition, with many of them already having played under coach Rivera for the past years.

Mahmoud Zaki, Omar Khaled, Ahmed Meddy, Raphael Capote, Shadi Hamdoun, Firas Al-

Shayeb, Mustafa Al-Karad, Daniel Saric, Waj-di Sinan, Zain Al-Din Boumengel, Ali Jarba and Moatasem Abdel Wahid. And Kamal al-Din Malash, Amin Zakar, Guvu Damjanovic, Wilder Memisevic, Ali Inad, Ahmed Magdy, Hassan Awad, Mustafa Haiba, Muhammad

Abidi, Marwan Sassi, and Franks Karol.Today’s Group C Fixtures

Qatar vs Angola (5:30pm)Croatia vs Japan (8:00pm)

QATAR SQUAD

Qatar handball squad's players and officials pose for a group photo ahead of their departure to Egypt yesterday.

Doha Masters blockbuster yet another success story for Qatar, says OCA chiefTHE PENINSULA/QNA — DOHA

Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) President Sheikh Ahmed Al Fahad Al Sabah praised the distin-guished organisation of the Doha World Judo Masters 2021, which concluded on Wednesday at the new-look Lusail Multipurpose Hall, with the participation of 399 athletes - 215 male and 184 female players - from 69 countries.

In a statement yesterday, the OCA President said that Qatar organised in a short time more than one competition successfully and remarkably, and it received great praises, which is not new for Qatar.

“The Doha World Judo Masters has been added to the list of successful tournaments organised in Doha, especially in light of the coro-navirus (COVID-19) conditions, and we are happy to return to Doha once again, the sports capital of the Asian continent.”

“During my meeting with the various judo sports leaders and those present in the champi-onship, all of them praised the good quality of the Qatari organisation, and considered it one of the best Masters tournaments,” he explained.

He congratulated President of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, the Organising Committee of the championship, International Judo Federation (IJF) President Marius Vizer, and President of the Judo Union of Asia (JUA) Obaid Al Enezi for the great success of the championship, wishing Qatar more success in hosting other tournaments in the future.

On Wednesday, the International Judo Fed-eration President Marius Vizer also lauded Qatar’s organisation of the season-opening event.

“The Doha World Judo Masters is a great success from all points of view,” said Vizer.

“We have great champions and fantastic organisation despite the global health situation. The local organising committee did everything possible to make the event a success,” the IJF chief said.

“I want to thank the authorities of Qatar and the Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, as well as the national federation of judo, their President Mr. Khalid Hamad Alatiya and his team, who did an amazing job," he added.

“We must also recognise the efforts of the Qatar Olympic Committee and its President, His Excellency Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani. Everyone can be really proud of what was done in Doha. We had the best of the best athletes in the world present. All of them shall be congrat-ulated and especially all the winners."

"In 2023 we’ll be back in the city for our World Championships, the flagship event of our organisation. We are all looking forward to it,” he added.

Guillambert, Taxiwala bag Muaither CupTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

JP Guillambert, teaming up with Taxiwala, clinched top honours during yesterday’s 26th race meeting at Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club’s Al Rayyan Park, winning the Muaither Cup after a thrilling race.

The Osama Omer Al Dafea-owned and trained 4YO gelding recorded a neck win over Izzthatright, which was guided by Michael Forest, to claim top honours. The winners received QR 57,000 with the runners up collecting QR 22,000. The third place was secured by Zyzzyva, ridden by Tomas Lukasek.

Earlier, Mohammed Bin Fahad Al Attiya’s Goldamer completed a double after winning Purebred Arabian Handicap (0-95). Soufiane Saadi rode the Alban de Mieulle-trained 5YO horse to a ¾ length win in the mile run to pocket QR 34,200.

The Purebred Arabian

Novice Plate event saw Ginkeau, ridden by Alberto Sanna, claiming the title with 1½ length win in the 2200m run. The team

collected winning prize of QR 28,500.

AJS Al Aredh, with Saleh Salem Al Marri in the saddle, was victorious in Purebred

Arabian Claiming Race as the Mohammed Ghazali-trained 6YO gelding regis-tered a ½ length win in the 7f run.

QREC Racing Manager Abdulla Rashid Al Kubaisi presenting the Muaither Cup to winning team's representative.

WINNERSHorse, Trainer, Jockey

MUAITHER CUP

Taxiwala (IRE), Osama Al-Dafea, JP Guillambert

PUREBRED ARABIAN HANDICAP

Goldamer (FR), Alban Elie De Mieulle, Soufiane

SaadiPUREBRED ARABIAN

NOVICE PLATEGinkeau (FR), Osama

Al-Dafea, Alberto SannaPUREBRED ARABIAN

CLAIMING RACEAJS Al Aredh (QA),

Mohammed Ghazali, Saleh Salem Al MarriPUREBRED ARABIAN MAIDEN PLATE (Div 2)

Hilona D’id (FR), Mohammed Hussain

Afroz, Meteb Ali Al MarriPUREBRED ARABIAN MAIDEN PLATE (Div 1)

Jamaiel (FR), Julian Colin Smart, Tomas Lukasek

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Nasser Al Attiyah and Co-Driver Matthieu Baumel in action during a Dakar Rally stage.

Dakar Rally: Qatar's Al Attiyah clinches penultimate stage win

REUTERS — RIYADH

French veteran Stephane Peterhansel was one stage away from a record-extending 14th Dakar triumph yesterday after ending the penultimate day in Saudi Arabia with a 15-minute lead over Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah.

Toyota’s Al Attiyah, who had said on Wednesday that the event would be decided on the shortened 464-km stage from Al-Ula to Yanbu, won the day but Peterhansel kept him in check with the second fastest time.

“There’s only one day to go. It’s time to cross fingers and hope that we will be in first place at the end,” said Peterhansel, whose record 13 previous wins came on both motorcycles and in

cars. Today’s final 200km stage to Jeddah features chains of dunes before reaching the shores of the Red Sea but offers less scope for Al Attiyah to close the gap unless his ever-con-sistent rival hits problems.

“It’s exactly like last year, we are really strug-gling with the tyres,” said the Qatari, a triple Dakar winner, after clawing back a minute and 56 seconds from Peterhansel to secure his sixth stage win of the event.

“I hope for next year (we are) coming with good rules for everybody.

“There’s still one day left, but this time we have really had a lot of punctures. I’ve had more than 16 tyres punctured. I am sure that 16 tyres by one minute and a

half (for each change) is a lot.”

In the motorcycle cat-egory, Britain’s Sam Sun-derland won the stage for KTM to move up to second overall, four minutes and 12 seconds behind Honda’s A r g e n t i n e K e v i n Benavides.

“I knew that today was one of my last chances to try to win and I gave my all,” said r i d e r Sunderland.

“I didn’t quite manage to take enough time, but I’m happy with my effort. We still have one day to go and many things can happen on one stage.”