Sunday 5 July 2020

14 Dhul-Qa'da - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8309

Amir holds telephone conversation with President of AlgeriaQNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held via tele-phone a conversation with President of the People’s Demo-cratic Republic of Algeria, H E Abdelmadjid Tebboune, during which His Highness congratulated the H E the Algerian Pres-ident on the arrival of the first batch of the remains of the Algerian popular resistance leaders and their comrades to Algeria.

The two sides also discussed close bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries and means of sup-porting and developing these relations.

Silatech, Doha Institute to empower Arab youth THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Silatech launched the ‘Forsa’ programme in cooperation with the Excellence Center for Training and Consulting at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, as part of Silatech’s efforts to socially empower youth.

The programme started yes-terday and will continue until August 17, 2020. This first edition programme targets youth in the Middle East and North Africa region in terms of investing and developing their capabilities and building their leadership skills. It aims to contribute to empow-ering youth socially and eco-nomically, and strengthening their roles within society.

This programme comes at a time where millions of youth around the globe are suffering from the devastating conse-quences of the COVID-19 pan-demic. According to the Inter-national Labour Organisation (ILO), over one in six youth remain out of work since the onset of this global, public health and economic crisis. Over 3,000 youth from dif-ferent Arab countries, aged between 15 and 18 years have already registered for the programme.

The trainees will attend six training courses titled: Youth-Empowering Strategies; Tech-nology and Youth Identity; Invent Your Job; A Leader for a

Different Time; Youth Positive Leadership; and Entrepre-neurship after the Pandemic.

Leading experts from various international organi-sations and entities including Unicef, the ILO, Al Sharq Youth Forum, Cisco, Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP), Qatar’s Ministry of Adminis-trative Development Labour and Social Affairs, and inde-pendent experts will present the courses.

Silatech Executive Director of Programmes, Faisal Al Emadi, said: “The coronavirus pandemic had devastating eco-nomic repercussions, as mil-lions of young people have lost their jobs, and therefore, it is important to upskill the youth by learning new skills. The ‘Forsa’ programme is really an important opportunity for them to develop their abilities and keep pace with technology through various and specialised training programmes, and thus gain new skills and expertise in an effort to be qualified for a competitive job market.”

Furthermore, Dr. Hend Al Muftah, Vice-President of Administration and Finance at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, highlighted that this cooperation with Silatech in the “Forsa” programme is pur-posely established to achieve the development goals of the international organisations to empower youth. �P2

84 companies caught violating summer noon working hours THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Eighty four companies have been caught violating working hours rules set by the Ministry of Administrative Devel-opment, Labour and Social Affairs, represented by the Labour Inspection Department.

To ensure companies’ com-pliance with Ministerial Decision No. 16 for 2007 spec-ifying working hours during the summer for work performed under the sun or in the open places.

The Labour Inspection Department at the Ministry has conducted intensive inspection drives to ensure compliance with the rules.

During the inspection drive from June 18 to July 2, 2020, as many as 84 companies were notified of the closure of their work sites for three days for violating the provisions of the decision. The law prohibits the work after 11.30am till 03pm, between June 15 and August 31 each year.

The decision obliges

companies and institutions that have work sites under direct sunlight to set a schedule in which to clarify daily working hours in accordance with the provisions of this decision, and to place it in a visible place that is easy for all workers to see.

They should also place the schedule in a place that labour inspectors can observe during their inspection visits to the workplace. The companies are also required to provide air-conditioned places, cool water, and light clothes to their workers, in addition to giving them rest periods at different times to protect them from the risk of thermal stress.

The Ministry has called upon all companies in various sectors to adhere to the minis-terial decision, and to prohibit work in open spaces or in direct sunlight during the specified period to avoid the legal con-sequences. These measures come from the State of Qatar’s keenness to ensure the safety and health of workers and the work environment.

Active COVID-19 cases in Qatar drop below 10,000 THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Heath (MoPH) yesterday announced the registration of 530 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country. Another 1,804 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 90,387.

In addition, the Ministry announced two new deaths, for

people aged 69 and 82, who were receiving the necessary medical care. All new cases have been introduced to iso-lation and are receiving nec-essary healthcare according to their health status.

The Government Commu-nications Office yesterday tweeted thanking the country’s health workers for their efforts as the number of the total active COVID-19 cases in the country

fell below 10,000. There are currently 8,673 active cases in the country.

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. The number of new daily cases and hospital admissions has gradually declined over the past few weeks.

“We are seeing a rise in the number of deaths in recent weeks and this is due to the people who were infected at the height of the virus several weeks ago. There has been an increase in cases among families,” the Ministry said, adding: “This is of great concern as this population group includes the highest per-centage of the elderly and people

with chronic conditions.”The Ministry asked people

to be careful and protect the most vulnerable. “While the restrictions of COVID-19 are gradually being lifted in Qatar, it is important for everyone to play their role in controlling the virus by following precau-tionary measures: adherence to physical distancing, wearing a face mask and washing your hands regularly.”

The Ministry said that anyone suffering from COVID-19 symptoms should either contact 16000 helpline or go directly to one of the des-ignated health centers to undergo the necessary checks: Muaither, Rawdat Al Khail, Umm Slal, or Al Gharafa Health Centers.

Amir sends

congratulations

to US President

QNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani, and Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani sent yesterday cables of congratulations to the Pres-ident of the United States of America, H E Donald Trump, on the occasion of his coun-try’s Independence Day.

f ll b l 10 000 Th ith h i diti ”

Online transactions for govt services surge in 6 monthsSACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Online transactions have risen sharply in Qatar in the first half of this year, driven by growing tech-savvy population and coro-navirus outbreak, which has pushed more people to go online to avail different government services.

Hukoomi, Qatar’s official e-government portal, has wit-nessed a rise of 31 percent in the number of visitors accessing the portal in the first half of this year. Over 2.1 million users accessed Hukoomi portal in the first half of 2020 compared to 1.6 million in the first six months of 2019, according to the Hukoomi portal.

During the first six months of this year, June witnessed the highest number of visitors to the website as 457,893 visits to the portal were registered during the month. March was the second busiest month as 369,894 visitors accessed the portal during the month.

COVID-19 outbreak is one of the main factors that have pushed up online transactions. In order to limit the spread of the coronavirus infection, employees were asked to work from home, including the gov-ernment employees.

People were asked to renew their vehicle registration and

health cards online only. Many other services such as the tech-nical inspection of vehicles are being provided remotely.

The data show that more people have moved online to avail government services.

Online services of the General Directorate of Traffic, especially through the Metrash2 application, have witnessed a significant increase during the first half of 2020. According to the Directorate, the total number

of online traffic transactions, carried out during the first half of 2020 reached 514,000 com-pared to about 303,000 trans-actions in the first six months last year.

During the first six months, about 450,000 online vehicle registration transactions and 36,000 driving licence transac-tions were conducted by citizens and residents.

Various services offered by di f ferent government

departments can be availed through Hukoomi. Renewal of Residence Permit for expa-triates, health card renewal, applications for driving licence, renewal of vehicle registration and many others can be accessed through Hukoomi.

Page views on Hukoomi also reflect the growing popularity of the portal among the public. It recorded over 7.5 million page views during the January-June period of the current year.

Over 2.1 million users accessed various government services via the Hukoomi portal in the first half of 2020, compared to 1.6 million in the same period last year.

514,000 traffic-related transactions including vehicle registration and driving licence applications completed in 6 months.

Many government services including renewal of vehicle registration and health cards are being provided virtually as a preventive measure against COVID-19 pandemic.

BUSINESS | 11 PENMAG | 14 SPORT | 20

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Bournemouth

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and Services

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Qatar to play key

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recovery, says

WEF expert

02 SUNDAY 5 JULY 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 03.19 am 04.48 am

W A L R U WA I S : 33o↗ 37o W A L K H O R : 32o↗ 45o W D U K H A N : 33o↗ 42o W WA K R A H : 29o↗ 47o W M E S A I E E D 29o↗ 47o W A B U S A M R A 33o↗ 41o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 03:18 – 17:13 LOW TIDE 00:14– 10:14

Very hot daytime with slight dust at some places at times.

Minimum Maximum36oC 46oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.38 am06.30 pm

ASR ISHA

03.02 pm08.00 pm

Qatar condemns

bombing in

Mogadishu

QNA — DOHA

The State of Qatar expressed yesterday its strong condem-nation and denunciation of the bombing that occurred in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, which led to five soldiers being wounded.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the State of Qatar’s firm stance on rejecting violence and ter-rorism regardless of motives and causes. The statement expressed the State of Qatar’s wishes of a speedy recovery for the wounded.

Qatar stresses great importance on education at national, regional and international levelsQNA — GENEVA

The State of Qatar reiterated the great importance it attaches to education at the national, regional and international levels.

The State of Qatar also wel-comed the praise of Special Rapporteur on the right to edu-cation H E Koumba Boly Barry and her congratulations to the Qatar for giving a priority to provide quality education for all, and its strong participation for regional and international cooperation to promote the right to education, especially in the framework of the work undertaken by the Education Above All Foundation and Qatar Foundation, which has had a real impact, as indicated by the Special Rapporteur on the lives of many people inside and outside the State of Qatar.

This came in Qatar’s statement delivered by Per-manent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Office at Geneva H E Ambassador Ali Khalfan Al Mansouri during an interactive dialogue with the Special Rap-porteur on the right to edu-cation, regarding her report on her visit to Qatar.

H E Ambassador Al Man-souri extended his thanks to Special Rapporteur on the right

to education H E Koumba Boly Barry for her visit to the State of Qatar, which comes within the framework of the open invi-tation submitted by Qatar to the owners of special procedures.

He praised the constructive and transparent discussions held by the Special Rapporteur during the visit and her effort in preparing the report that included many important issues that would contribute to sup-porting the efforts of the State of Qatar in providing, pro-moting and protecting the right to education at the national and international levels.

With reference to the vio-lations resulting from the blockade and the coercive measures imposed on the State of Qatar and its citizens since

June 5, 2017, especially for Qatari students who were forced to leave school and were deprived of their right to edu-cation as a result of these measures, and in light of what the government of Qatar has done to address these viola-tions, we welcome the Special Rapporteur’s praise for the efforts of the government of the State of Qatar to receive and find solutions for these 531 stu-dents, he said.

He urged the Special Rap-porteur to continue to give this subject the necessary attention, especially with regard to the right of these students to redress the damage inflicted as a result of the violations, explaining that the State of Qatar has taken note of the

recommendations of the Special Rapporteur and is pleased to indicate that work is already underway to implement a number of these recommenda-tions. This includes joining the Convention against Discrimi-nation in Education adopted by Unesco, providing more gov-ernment, community and private schools, and promoting the right to education at the international level.

Ambassador Al Mansouri said that the Qatari constitution guaranteed the right to edu-cation as laws obligated all groups of society to education without discrimination, and Law No. 25 of 2001 stipulated that education is compulsory and free for all children. Within the framework of the strategic goals of education and higher education 2017-2020, it was emphasised to ensure the pro-vision of equitable, diversified, and quality education for learners, regardless of their gender, nationalities, and abilities.

He further said that the State of Qatar is proud to be one of the countries that adopt a distinguished educational system that has been occupying advanced positions in interna-tional and regional indicators concerning the quality of edu-cation for a number of years.

Within the framework of this educational system, the State of Qatar has been keen on promoting the principle of equality and preventing dis-crimination, including gender-based discrimination. As a result, the Qatari females have gained a prominent place in obtaining quality education and progress in all its stages.

Owing to this, the per-centage of Qatari women par-ticipating in the labour market has increased, and Qatari women have the the greatest percentage in the sectors of edu-cation, health and social work.

HE Ambassador Al Man-souri stated that with regard to training expat workers, building their skills and literacy, the second national development strategy 2018-2022 stipulated the need to focus on raising the efficiency of skilled workers in the Qatari labour market, where the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, in cooperation with the other government authorities and in partnership with the private sector, took many initiatives to eradicate illiteracy and build the capacity of migrant workers, bearing in mind that these initiatives are directed to all expat workers of all nationalities without discrimination.

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment, represented by all municipalities, conducted a comprehensive awareness campaign on all the beaches of Qatar to educate the public about the law of public clean-liness.

The campaign was also meant to keep the cleanliness of the beaches by collecting waste and throwing it in the containers designated for them, as well as raising people’s awareness of the precautionary measures in order to limit the spread of coronavirus. The drive is in cooperation with the General Cleanliness Department, and the Department of Natural Reserves, and the Department of Public Relations.

Nasser Muhammad Al Nuaimi, Director of Municipal Control Department at the Municipality of the Al Shamal said that the Ministry pays great attention to cleaning beaches and islands as recreational and important places. He indicated that the ministry is keen to

improve and develop services, including public cleaning services.

Al Nuaimi asked people to maintain the cleanliness of beaches and islands and stay away from wrong and

uncivilised practices and behaviours.

Also, Hassan Jabr Al Nuaimi, Head of the Public Control Department at the Municipality of Al Shamal, said that during the past period, a

comprehensive awareness campaign was implemented in the northern beaches of the country to educate residents about the need to preserve them and throw waste only in the designated places. He praised

the cooperation of residents with the drive conducted by the Ministry of Municipality and their interest in leaving their places clean on the beach.

Hassan Jabr Al Nuaimi stressed that a few violations were recorded against some people and around 150 people were alerted in this regard. He also called on the public to cooperate with the competent authorities to preserve the marine environment.

For his part, Abdulaziz Mohammed, Operations Officer of the Cleaning Section of the Municipality of the Al Shamal said that the Cleanliness Department has a big role and great efforts through periodic cleaning campaigns carried out on all the beaches, in addition to educating the public about the laws of public cleanliness.

“During the past period, about 850 tonnes of waste was removed from the beaches of the Municipality of Al Shamal, which included the beaches of Ghariya, Al Jasasiya, Al Maruna, Al Mafir, Abu Dalof and Ruwais,” he added.

Ministry conducts cleanliness awareness campaign on beaches

Ooredoo reaches

500,000 mobile

postpaid

customers

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar’s leading telecommuni-cations operator announced yesterday that it has reached a milestone of 500,000 mobile postpaid customers.

The latest figures show some 500,000 customers have a mobile postpaid plan with Ooredoo, and the operator credits the huge expansion in its mobile postpaid customer base to its new 5G plans launched in December 2019.

Some 200,000 customers have already signed up to a new 5G plan, with many more being attracted by the many benefits each day. All customers signing up for a new 5G plan can take advantage of a choice of enter-tainment and lifestyle benefits: free access to premium football on beIN Connect; Hollywood, Disney and Marvel movies on Starz Play; Bollywood movies and shows on ErosNow; and two-for-one offers across Qatar and the region with Urban Point.

Ooredoo’s latest part-nership, with entertainment giant Netflix, also means Qatarna customers can access all the newest movies and shows via the free six-month subscription to Netflix on offer with their plan.

Alongside the entertainment and lifestyle advantages, cus-tomers can also adapt their new Shahry 5G and Qatarna 5G plans to suit their needs; all plans give access to a range of add-ons that mean customers can choose to add extra data or minutes, depending on their preference and usage, to their plans quickly and easily.

Sabah Rabiah Al Kuwari, Director PR at Ooredoo, said: “We’re delighted to see the impact our recently launched 5G plans have had on our mobile postpaid customer base, and proud to note we’ve reached the milestone half-a-million mark.

“We meticulously designed the plans to offer maximum benefit to our customers, and it’s immensely rewarding to see how well they’ve been received in the market.

“Now, more than ever, it’s so important for us to ensure we’re offering what our cus-tomers want and need, and these figures show we’re doing just that.”

The State of Qatar also welcomed the praise of Special Rapporteur on the right to education H E Koumba Boly Barry and her congratulations to the Qatar for giving a priority to provide quality education for all, and its strong participation for regional and international cooperation to promote the right to education, especially in the framework of the work undertaken by the Education Above All Foundation and Qatar Foundation, which has had a real impact.

Teams from the General Cleanliness Department of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment cleaning the Sealine public beach which has been reopened to the public as part of the gradual lifting of coronavirus restrictions in the country.

QIB thanks COVID-19 frontline workers with special Certificates of DepositTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has extended its gesture of goodwill and appreciation to the frontline workers combating COVID-19 with the intro-duction of special Certificates of Deposit.

The new Certificates of Deposit are offered exclusively to the frontline medical and police workforces of the Min-istry of Interior, Ministry of Public Health, Hamad Medical

Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation, Sidra Medical and Research Center, Ahli Hospital, American Hos-pital Doha and volunteers. Cus-tomers can immediately request a certificate of deposit through QIB’s 24/7 Call Centre.

QIB has developed the cer-tificates to help customers increase their long-term savings. The new certificates have an unlimited maximum amount, with a minimum amount of QR5,000 and

further multiples of QR5,000. The certificates also offer exclusive return allowing the frontline employees to benefit from a higher expected profit rate.

D Anand, General Manager, Personal Banking at QIB said: “We at QIB realise our role in supporting the people of Qatar. There is no doubt that COVID-19 has impacted numerous facets of our community. Everyday Qatar’s frontline medical and police personnel face uniquely

challenging situations while working tirelessly to protect the community from the spread of COVID-19. The introduction of QIB’s specialised Certificates of Deposit is our token of appre-ciation and gratitude for our community heroes. This is QIB’s way of saying Thank You.”

“These certificates rep-resent our commitment to offer customers added value and convenience through financial products that foster a saving culture in Qatar. A remarkable

benefit of this exceptional offer is that it provides customers with the opportunity to grow their funds safely throughout the duration of the certificates.”

The new Certificates of Deposit for frontline employees will be available by calling 44448444 and soon can be availed on the QIB Mobile App. Certificates of Deposit are fully Shari’a compliant and profits incurred will be distributed to customers every quarter.

Nomas Center launches Qatari Culture Ambassadors Project

QNA — DOHA

Nomas Center of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, during a visual communication ceremony, launched the Qatari Culture Ambassadors project, to empower and prepare a generation of young men and women bearing the country’s cultural heritage.

The project aims to train 40 young men and women between the ages of 14 and 18 for a period ranging between three and four months to work as professional assistant trainers who carry this legacy and achieve sustainability in the field of human and social development, in partnership with Oryx GTL company.

The project also aims to achieve Qatar’s 2030

vision in the field of human and social devel-opment, to enhance the national identity, con-solidate the values and traditions of the Qatari community and preserve its heritage, and prepare a working group of young people to rep-resent the Qatari culture in the World Cup 2022.

Qatari Culture Ambassadors project Director, Dr. Haya Al Madadi said in remarks today that the project seeks to empower youth and to achieve the goals of Nomas Center in order to prepare Qatari trainers of young men and women to carry the message of fathers and learn inter-national languages to facilitate the process of communication and cultural exchange, pointing out that the participants are Nomas Center’s dis-tinct graduates and candidates.

Silatech, Doha Institute to empower Arab youth FROM PAGE 1

“The six training courses of the programme feature an integrated system of skills and expertise in various fields with the goals of developing youth awareness and support their rights to work. In addition, addressing unemployment issues and advancing entre-preneurship is essential,” Dr. Al Muftah added.

Dr. Farid El Sahn, Director of the Executive Education Excellence Center at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said all the courses included in the programme focus on instilling social empowerment techniques in youth society, developing their leadership skills, activate the effective communication and build a network of social support between youth.

Noora Al Thani, Program Officer at Silatech, said: “The social empowerment of youth is one of the main axes in the Silatech strategy. We cherish this partnership with the Excellence Center for Training and Consulting and Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. We also commend the other partners for their inval-uable participation in the program.”

The ‘Forsa’ programme came about as a result of a new partnership between Silatech and the Excellence Center for Training and Consulting at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, during a challenging time where mil-lions of youth, especially young women con-tinue to suffer as a result of deteriorating eco-nomic conditions since the onset of COVID-19.

03SUNDAY 5 JULY 2020 HOME

QRCS, UNHCR provide vital medical supplies for Yemen health facilitiesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The representation mission of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) in Yemen has recently provided medical and logistic supplies for the country’s health facilities at a cost of $121,974. These are part of a larger scheme until the end of 2020, with a total budget of $739,162.

With $53,400 funding from the United Nations High Com-missioner for Refugees (UNHCR), QRCS supplied medical anesthetic equipment and vital signs monitors for the Al Thawra Modern General Hospital.

In a visit to the hospital, a delegation of QRCS and UNHCR met Professor Abdullatif Abo Taleb, the hospital’s chairman, who emphasised QRCS’s role in extending much-needed tech-nical and medical support to health facilities.

“I would like to thank QRCS for their ongoing support,” said Professor Abo Taleb.

“They are a major con-tributor to Yemen’s hospitals and the only contributor to us in 2020. In partnership with UNHCR, they gave us many high-tech specialised devices that have saved many lives, amid harsh conditions and a widespread pandemic”.

These provisions, he added, saved time and effort in treating the patients and helped to have the medical examinations done at the hospital, instead of the too expensive private labs.

Dr. Hamza Al Shibani, the project’s manager at QRCS’s mission, said the medical equipment procured for the Al Thawra Modern General Hos-pital would make a big dif-ference in the health services

provided for Yemenis and refugees.

“We are proud of our part-nership with QRCS, which has proved a success,” said Dr. Mohamed Al Jaloud, Health Officer at UNHCR’s country office.

“It is a timely support in the face of the coronavirus out-break, helping both the host community and the refugees”.

He promised to continue to work on the joint projects with QRCS, expecting remarkable success. At the same time, QRCS procured protective supplies for the Ministry of Public Health and Population in Amanat Al Asimah, the Matnah Hospital in the Bani Matar district of Sana’a, and the quarantine facility in

the Qahza area of Sa’dah. These included $50,440 worth of san-itisers, disinfectants, detergents, and medical protective equipment.

Dr. Wafaa Al Shibani, program manager at QRCS’s mission, said, “There are serious shortages in the protective equipment needed to control the coronavirus pandemic.

As the authority supervising hospitals and health centres, the medical professionals of the Ministry of Public Health are

particularly at risk of infection”.“We focused on the health

facilities that have not received UN aid because they are located in remote areas with a high population density,” she said. “The recipient hospitals wel-comed the humanitarian and brotherly role of QRCS in pre-venting the spread of the virus”.

With funding from the UN Yemen Humanitarian Fund (YHF), QRCS procured com-puters, printers, photocopiers, and office furniture for the

Ministry of Public Health in Amanat Al Asimah. Dr. Al Shibani held a meeting with Muthar Al Marouni, Director of the Bureau of Health in Sana’a, to discuss the growing needs of the health sector due to the current situation.

Al Marouni highlighted the pressing need for support, as many humanitarian organisa-tions stopped their activities. He thanked QRCS for con-tinuing to conduct its human-itarian work there.

Qatar Red Crescent Society procured protective supplies for the Ministry of Public Health and Population in Amanat Al Asimah, the Matnah Hospital in the Bani Matar district of Sana’a, and the quarantine facility in the Qahza area of Sa’dah.

QDA holds online session to educate children, parents about diabetes

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA), a member of Qatar Foundation, in collaboration with Sidra Medicine, organised a discussion session via video-telecom-munication for parents of children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

The meeting was attended by parents and attended by Dr. Abdullah Al Alhamaq, Executive Director of Qatar Diabetes Association and his medical team.

The session was presented by Dr. Ahmad Mohammed El Awwa, Consultant Paediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes, Sidra medicine and Rasha Abu Raslan, Treatment Devel-opment Special ist at Medtronic Qatar, who addressed the audience and responded to their inquiries.

The webinar was charac-terised by a great interaction by the parents and asked a lot of questions about the insulin pump and how it works throughout the day with the best performance of the pump.

The session also touched on the types of pumps and the differences between their use

and the use of injections and insulin pens.

Insulin pump is small, computerised device that mimic the way the human pancreas works by using the sugar monitor (sensor) and pump together so that the pump provides the body with insulin according to its need when eating or when the sugar is high.

It also relieves or stop pumping insulin to avoid hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

So far no complete treatment has been found to cover the meal with insulin without interfering with the carbohydrates counting

Dr. Al Alhamaq thanked Dr. Al Awwa and Abu Raslan Sidra for their valuable con-tribution, confirming the con-tinuation of such educational meetings with the parents of children with diabetes through video technology until Qatar Diabetes Associ-ation resumes its work and the medical team of the asso-ciation continues to train children diagnosed with dia-betes and their families as well as school nurses on how to use the insulin pump and carbohydrates counting.

An online session about diabetes is in progress.

QIIB partners with Qatar Airways to reward customers THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) has announced the launch of a competitive offer in partnership with Qatar Airways’ loyalty programme – Privilege Club — starting today until August 27, 2020. Customers will benefit from a competitive annual profit rate of 2.13 percent and 10,000 bonus Qmiles by Qatar Airways for every QR100,000 worth of financing taken with the ‘Financing and Liabilities Transfer Offer.’

The announcement of offer comes at an important time as customers expressed their desire to rearrange priorities and proceed with their plans. In line with QIIB’s strategy, it is keen to provide customers with benefits to meet their aspira-tions and provide flexibility.

Customers will be awarded with bonus Qmiles by the national carrier of the Qatar and one of the best airlines in the world, Qatar Airways.

In addition to the compet-itive profit and bonus Qmiles

by Qatar Airways’s Privilege Club, customers will also benefit from a grace period of up to 12 months.

QIIB’s Deputy CEO, Jamal Abdullah Al Jamal, said: “At QIIB, we wanted to show appreciation to our loyal cus-tomers and reward their loyalty with this distinguished offer that will mitigate the impact of the challenges faced

during the unprecedented times. We ensured this offer addresses a variety of pur-poses, making the offer available to both existing cus-tomers and new customers wishing to transfer their liabil-ities to QIIB”.

“QIIB is happy to partner with Qatar Airways on this out-standing offer as it is the second time QIIB has launched a campaign with the airline.

The first campaign, launched in recognition of National Day, was a great success. We are honoured to expand our part-nerships with the national carrier, a pillar in Qatar’s proud and glorious economy,” he said,

Al Jamal also noted: “The new offer has been carefully designed to meet the aspira-tions of the largest segment of citizens and expatriates”.

Moreover, the Deputy CEO said, “QIIB is keen to provide this offer for a duration of two months from July 5 to August 27, giving the largest possible number of customers the chance to benefit. We hope that this offer will provide a qualitative response to cus-tomers’ needs and aspirations for a financing option, loaded with various competitive ben-efits”. Existing QIIB customers along with new customers can contact the QIIB call centre on 44840000 available around the clock. Customers can also benefit from the new offer by visiting any of the QIIB branches.

QIIB Deputy CEO Jamal Abdullah Al Jamal

Free languages courses from today by Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural CenterTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Center in Doha is gearing up to launch free and intensive courses to teach the Turkish language for the beginners from today.

The free courses will con-tinue until July 26, ( 12 hours per week), through the Zoom platform for distance education. Dr. Seljuk Kuja, Director of the Center said: “The free intensive

educational courses for teaching the Turkish language for the beginners which will begin from today will see the enrolment of about 500 students, under the supervision of highly qualified and distinguished teachers.”

He also noted that the number of students in each group will be from 10 to 20; both male and female students, in addition to opening special classes for children between the ages of 9 and 15 years.

The Center will provide these lectures online in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus, said Dr. Seljuk Kuja, pointing out that the Center uses the latest technical developments in order to facilitate the educational process and enable the partici-pants with the necessary capa-bilities to develop their skills and the development of their levels.

“Holding such courses by the Center came in order to teach people Turkish culture and

language, highlights the effective role that the Yunus Emre Center plays in the field of cultural diplomacy,” said the Kuja.

The Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Center also recently registered and broadcast edu-cational courses of the first and second level through the Center’s YouTube channel, in addition to continuing free edu-cation on its website (Learn-turkish.com). It also conducted exams for about 90 students.

QatarDebate Center holds training workshop on basics of arbitrationTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

QatarDebate Center — a member of the Qatar Foun-dation for Education, Science and Community Development — organised a training workshop entitled “Basics of Arbitration” aimed at preparing arbitrators during June 15-17.

A total of 25 trainees partic-ipated in the workshop, most of whom are former debaters or trained in debating, but they are new to arbitration.

The workshop, presented by the Center’s debate instructors, Mohamad Salman Ali and Nadia Darwish, was held on the Webex platform, and a practical proposal was made to ensure

the quality of the arbitration of the participants, by defining a debate and attaching some of its questions in terms of justi-fying the result, selecting the winning team and determining the grades.

It was sent to all the partic-ipants, and they met at the end of June after the evaluation, and for an hour, in order to discuss the debate, analyse it and listen to their justifications.

Trainer Nadia Darwish indi-cated that the training pro-gramme contained details of the distribution of individual grades and provided feedback to the competitors to help them gain experience in arbitration.

“The workshop aims to

rehabilitate debaters able to arbitrate in local tournaments held in Tunisia and develop their arbitration skills by par-ticipating in workshops and special practical training hosted by the Center of Carthage in this field.

“Besides, it aims at knowing the level of participants to develop their capabilities and work to meet their needs and their ability to justify the result and establish fair degrees for teams in order to achieve greater quality,” she added.

She also appreciated and praised the great interaction, enthusiasm and passion of the participants in learning about new skills during practical exercises about common logical fallacies and the cog-nitive biases which the arbi-trator might make.

Instructor Mahdi Al Adhari said: “I had the pleasure of par-ticipating in this session as it provided new knowledge

related to the debate. Although I am a proficient instructor for debates in one of the similar programmes, I felt for the first time that I have gone a lot deeper in the field of arbi-tration, which directly affects the debaters and to know the accuracy in assigning grades and the sensitivity of this aspect, which, unfortunately, we may not find in some people.”

In turn, the participant trainer Munther Al Yousifi said: “My evaluation of the workshop combines the material and the methodology. In terms of the material, the introduction was rich and appropriate to the first level

of arbitration. In terms of methodology, the submitted material was progressively chained and supported by realistic examples from pre-vious debates with comments on the most important points i n n u m b e r i n g a n d repetition.”

He praised the Center’s trainers and the information provided that indicates high experience and profession-alism, explaining the intuition and integration between the trainer and the coach. Also, he highlighted the good ability to clarify ideas in different ways and answer all raised queries by voice and writing and request regular interference.

With $53,400 funding from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Qatar Red Crescent Society supplied medical anesthetic equipment and vital signs monitors for the Al Thawra Modern General Hospital.

QIIB’s Deputy CEO, Jamal Abdullah Al Jamal, said, “At QIIB, we wanted to show appreciation to our loyal customers and reward their loyalty with this distinguished offer that will mitigate the impact of the challenges faced during the unprecedented times.”

A total of 25 trainees participated in the workshop, most of whom are former debaters or trained in debating, but they are new to arbitration.

04 SUNDAY 5 JULY 2020HOME

QU’s pharmacy graduates at frontline beating the pandemicQatar University’s CPH alumni along with other pharmacists are playing pivotal roles in protecting the public and in the management of COVID-19 situ-ation.

They risked their lives and continued to provide services across different settings, starting from the early stages of the medication supply chain in pharmaceutical companies, up to the community pharmacies, hospital wards, and even coun-selling patients in their homes to fulfill the public’s healthcare needs.

“Since March 2020, COVID-19 pandemic reached Qatar, and pharmacists are in the frontline and have been sig-nificantly contributing to the cooperative multidisciplinary management of this crisis. Despite all challenges, pharma-cists continued to ensure that our patients get the most effective, safe, and individu-alised medication therapy based on best evidence-based med-icine,” said Dr. Sara Hayder, PharmD graduate, HMC PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program Coordinator, and Clinical Phar-macist at Al Wakra Hospital.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pharmacy Department at Hamad Medical

Corporation (HMC) launched a medication home delivery service which is a pioneering service to ensure patients’ safety and to emphasise the importance of social distancing and staying at home. Several CPH alumni working at HMC were reallocated to support the emergent service.

Reflecting on her expe-rience, Nancy Zaghloul, CPH graduate and staff pharmacist at Heart Hospital said: “My role as a hospital pharmacist includes receiving calls from patients, processing their pre-scriptions, answering their questions and concerns, pro-viding the necessary infor-mation related to their medica-tions, and labelling and pack-aging medications with high standards of hygiene. People

nowadays are worried about being in places of gatherings, such as pharmacy. Therefore, this service contributes to pro-tecting both the public and healthcare providers”.

Dr. Nour Isleem, PharmD graduate and Clinical phar-macist at ENT department-Ambulatory Care Center added: “We are spending more than 10 hours daily in the pharmacy to prepare medications that are sent safely to patients’ homes. All to keep committed to the promise that we made at the start of our journey as pharma-cists (to protect our patients’ health).”

Besides home delivery service, several COVID-19 pre-vention measures were imple-mented inside HMC hospitals which urged cl inical

pharmacists to adopt new practice strategies.

Dr. Dania Alkhiyami, PharmD graduate, Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Clinic Coordinator and clinical pharmacist at Al Wakra Hos-pital, said: “It is a tough time for me as a clinical pharmacist during this COVID-19 pan-demic. An integral part of our role is attending clinical rounds and having face-to-face inter-actions with patients, listen to them and address their concerns.

However, during the pan-demic we started utilising the concept of tele-pharmacy and providing our interventions and education/counseling through the phone. It was not easy at the beginning but with time, patients were satisfied and

appreciated our service as we are following up with them and making sure they understand their treatment plan.”

Being a healthcare worker during the COVID-19 pan-demic is both challenging and risky. “We, as healthcare pro-viders, have been challenged by working in a completely new context. We have been feeling more exhausted than usual due to the COVID19 crisis and the fear of becoming infected and infecting others. Despite the crisis has been drained all healthcare pro-viders physically as well as emotionally, healthcare pro-fessionals are still showing resilience to overcome this crisis,” said Dina Abushanab, CPH MSc graduate and a Drug Information Pharmacist - Hamad

Bin Khalifa Medical City. Dr. Saba Sheikh Ali, PharmD

graduate and Clinical phar-macist at Hamad General Hos-pital added: “Being a healthcare provider in a pandemic is a dif-ferent scenario. While many people are isolated in their homes doing their part to prevent the spread of the virus, pharmacists and other health professionals are stepping out of their homes and risking their lives to help manage and prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

In recognition of CPH alumni efforts, CPH Dean Dr. Mohammad Diab said: “During this coronavirus pandemic, a great responsibility lies in each one of us to either stay home or have a role in helping the com-munity. You, our selfless healthcare professionals are spending long hours assisting those in need and are on the front lines combating the disease in our country. Your hard work, commitment and dedication have saved thou-sands of lives and will continue to save more lives.

The College of Pharmacy is very proud to have graduated pharmacists ready to achieve its mission to provide optimal pharmaceutical care and advance healthcare outcome in Qatar.”

FROM LEFT: Dr. Mohammad Diab, Dean of QU's College of Pharmacy; Dr. Sara Hayder; Dr. Dania Alkhiyami and Dina Abushanab.

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

AZF's 'Aspire

Summer 2020'

set to promote

healthy lifestyle

The Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) recently launched an online “Aspire Summer 2020” on its official social media accounts — Instagram and Youtube — to promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage individuals to exercise and stay physically fit during the summer.

This year, the AZF will present three programmes.

First, the “Train and Chal-lenge event” for kids — from 5 to 10 years old — training exercises videos will be uploaded on AZF social media accounts once a week. Kids can share their own video on social media with the hashtag #AspireKids2020.

The second is “Junior Fitness Challenge” for young teens — from 11 to 14 years old. The programme consists of 6 one-minute exercises.

A video of professional trainer performing and explaining the challenges will be posted on social media and YouTube. The videos can be share with the hashtag #AspireJuniors2020.

The third is nutrition and healthy eating tips along with healthy food recipes.

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Maxus D90 now available at Auto Class CarsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Auto Class Cars, the authorised general distributor of Maxus in Qatar, presents the Maxus D90 in Qatar. The new SUV concept is an excellent example of the innovation of Chinese auto brands and recently received a five-star recognistion in terms of safety from the ANCAP safety ranking.

The Maxus D90 is the first smart and customizable vehicle type, which can be mass-produced. It is representative of the company’s products targeted at the SUV market, and represents the col-lective wisdom of users, designers and engineers.

The Maxus D90 has accomplished five stars in the ANCAP safety rating making it one of the saftest cars in its SUV category. With top scores in all seg-ments, the ANCAP report shows the Maxus D90 scored high grades in all tests.

The D90 is a pioneer product of SAIC Maxus, which adopts the C2B model. The automobile industry is transforming from the model of “business to customer” (B2C), where the car manufacturers produce vehicles on a large scale and market them to customers, to “customer to business” (C2B), where users’ partic-ipation becomes an essential part of the manufacturing process and their indi-vidual demands are fully considered.

Apart from features such as diamond-shaped stitching, 21-inch

wheels, a 3D dashboard and 12.3-inch screen, the D90 has had its length adjusted from 5.2 meters to 5 meters to make itself more suitable for driving in cities, and also all seats except the driver’s seat are now movable — offering a more flexible interior of the vehicle for passengers.

In addition, the intelligent-connected system enables functions such as auto payments, online music, online navi-gation, remote control and voice interaction.

The vehicle’s distinctiveness also includes the ability to customise almost all key functions and configurations. In the future, it will offer choices of vehicle type, rim, seat layout, exhaust and

interior decoration.It is equipped with a 2.0T turbo-

supercharged engine with the maximum power of 224 horsepower with a 6-speed automatic transmission and 4WD system.

D90 uses the popular bigmouth style, with aggressive lattice grid and fash-ionable LED source in front headlight group, with six-spoke wheel, showing a sporting style.

The new model has a body size of 5,005/1,932/1,875 mm and wheelbase of 2,950 mm. Its tail light also shows a fash-ionable style. It adopts a Maxus family-style in interior decoration, with simple central console and fashionable inde-pendent LCD screen.

A view of the new Maxus D90.

05SUNDAY 5 JULY 2020 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Turkey says will do in Libya whatever int’l law requiresANATOLIA — TRIPOLI

Turkey’s presence in Libya is to do whatever the international law and justice require, Turkish defence minister said yesterday.

“Turkey is together with the Libyan brothers. No one should doubt it, we will not give up on it,” Hulusi Akar said.

Akar and Chief of General Staff General Yasar Guler, who were on an official visit to Libya, met Turkish security forces in the country. They later visited Tripoli’s Mitiga Hospital, which was frequently targeted by Khalifa Haftar’s militias, and met the Turkish healthcare staff at the hospital.

“Our task here (in Libya) is providing military training, cooperation and consultancy. We try to contribute to our Libyan brothers in these areas as much as we can,” he said.

He pointed out that Turkish Armed Forces in Libya fulfilled their duty in a “distinguished”

way, and added that: “What you (security forces0 do here will definitely have an important place in history.” The top offi-cials also visited the Turkish Maritime Task Group ship on duty off the coast of Libya in the Central Mediterranean.

Last November, Turkey and Libya signed landmark pacts on military cooperation as well as b o u n d a r i e s i n t h e Mediterranean.

Under the deal, Turkey has sent advisers to help the Libyan army defeat Haftar’s militias.

The maritime pact asserted Turkey’s rights in the Eastern Mediterranean in the face of unilateral drilling by the Greek Cypriot administration,

clarifying that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) also has rights to the resources in the area. It went into effect on December 8.

Referring to the recent ten-sions with France over a claim of vessel harassment in the Mediterranean, Akar said: “These are plots pursuing some political, not military interests. France should apologize to Turkey.”

France last week claimed that Turkey harassed one of its vessels taking part in a Nato mission in the Mediterranean. Turkish military officials denied the allegations.

Libya has been torn by a civil war since the ouster of late

ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country’s new government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political set-tlement failed due to a military offensive by Haftar’s forces.

The UN recognises the Libyan government headed by Fayez Al Sarraj as the country’s legitimate authority as Tripoli battles Haftar’s militias.

The government launched Operation Peace Storm against

Haftar in March to counter Haftar’s attacks on the capital Tripoli, and recently liberated strategic locations, including Al-Watiya airbase and the city of Tarhuna, Haftar’s final stronghold in western Libya.

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar speaks during a meeting with the personnel of the Defence Security Cooperation and Training Assistance Advisory Command in Tripoli, Libya, yesterday.

Former world leaders warn against Israel annexation planAP — UNITED NATIONS

A group of former world leaders urged European leaders on Friday to keep pressuring Israel against annexation of parts of the West Bank, warning against complacency after Israel made no move to take over the territory on July 1.

The Elders, founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007, said in letters to the leaders of France, Germany, Britain and the European Union that they should insist to Israel that annexation would have neg-ative political and economic consequences for bilateral and regional relations.

Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu had aimed to start the process by Wednesday, saying he wanted to begin annexing West Bank territory in line with President Donald Trump’s Mideast plan.

But Israeli Cabinet minister Ofir Akunis said the annexation process had been delayed, telling Israel’s Army Radio station on Wednesday that offi-cials were still working out the final details with their American counterparts. He said he expected the annexation to take place later in July.

The Palestinians seek the entire West Bank, east Jeru-salem and the Gaza Strip, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for a future inde-pendent state. The international community has endorsed a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines, with final borders to be worked out in negotiations.

The Trump administration’s peace plan, unveiled in January, envisions bringing some 30% of the West Bank under per-manent Israeli control and gave a green light for Israel to annex

that territory. The plan would establish a disjointed Pales-tinian state with limited autonomy in carved-up pockets of the remaining land. The Pal-estinians have vehemently rejected the plan as pro-Israeli.

The delay cast further uncertainty over whether Israel will ultimately follow through on the explosive annexation ini-tiative, which has also drawn fierce international condemna-tions from some of Israel’s closest allies.

The United Nations, the EU and key Arab countries have all said annexation would violate international law and undermine the already dimin-ished prospects of establishing a viable independent Pales-tinian state alongside Israel.

The Elders — led by former Irish President Mary Robinson with Mandela’s widow Graca

Machel and former UN Sec-retary-General Ban Ki-moon as co-chairs — said annexation “is fundamentally contrary to the long-term interests of both the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples.”

They said annexation “will not dampen future Palestinian demands for rights and self-determination, but destroying hopes in a two-state com-promise will increase the risks of future violence in one of the most combustible areas in the world.” The Elders called on EU leaders to consider suspending the 27-nation’s Association Agreement with Israel if annex-ation goes ahead in any form. They also recalled the United Kingdom’s “historical and abiding responsibility” as the colonial power in pre-1948 Palestine.

The Elders’ appeal followed an appeal from British Prime

Minister Boris Johnson to Israel to call off the annexation plan.

In a front-page article on Wednesday in Yediot Ahronot, one of Israel’s largest news-papers, Johnson wrote that as a “passionate defender of Israel,” he was fearful that annexation will fail in the coun-try’s objective of securing its borders, “and will be contrary to Israel’s own long-term interests.” “I profoundly hope that annexation does not go ahead,” he said. “If it does, the UK will not recognise any changes to the 1967 lines, except those agreed between both parties.” In addition to opposing annexation, the Elders reit-erated their support for Israeli and Palestinian human rights defenders and civil society activists, saying their “voices need to be protected and amplified at this challenging time.”

Policemen are deployed after an attack near the tax collection building carried out with a bomb-laden vehicle in Mogadishu, Somalia, yesterday.

Our task here (in Libya) is providing military training, cooperation and

consultancy. We try to contribute to our Libyan brothers in these areas as much as we can.

Police shoot suicide attacker at Somalia portAFP — MOGADISHU

At least seven people were wounded yesterday as police shot a suicide car bomber at a checkpoint outside the port in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, police and witnesses said.

Officers opened fire on the vehicle after it failed to stop at the police checkpoint at the country’s main seaport, according to witnesses.

Insurgent group Al Shabaab said they were behind the attempted attack.

“A suicide bomber tried to strike the police post in front of the port but the security forces shot him and the vehicle exploded,” said police officer Abdukadir Ahmed.

“Two police officers and five civilians were wounded,” he said. Also yesterday, a bomb was detonated in the western city of Baidoa, killing five.

“The device was hidden in a tea shop close to a checkpoint where the security forces fre-quent during the day,” said police officer Muqtar Isak,

adding that two police officers and three civilians were killed.

Al Shabaab claimed that attack too.

Somalia has suffered near-continuous conflict for almost 30 years, while the interna-tionally backed government in Mogadishu has been fighting Al Shabaab militants since 2008.

Bombings and other ter-rorist attacks are common in Mogadishu and Baidoa, although few have been recorded in recent months.

Tunisia rejects

motion to blacklist

BrotherhoodANATOLIA — TUNIS

The Bureau of Tunisia’s House o f R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s (parliament) has rejected a petition to blacklist the Muslim Brotherhood group.

The opposition Free Con-stitutional Party (PDL), which holds 10 seats in the 217-member parliament, had sub-mitted the petition to classify the Brotherhood as a “ter-rorist” organisation.

The petition, however, was turned down by the parlia-ment’s bureau, which is con-sisted of the parliament speaker, his deputies and 10 lawmakers representing all parties in parliament.

Ennahda party, which holds 54 seats in parliament, earlier described the PDL draft as a “waste of time”.

Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt return to talks over disputed damAP — CAIRO

Three key Nile basin countries will continue on Saturday their latest round of talks to resolve a years-long dispute over the operation and filling of Ethio-pia’s giant hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile, Egypt’s irrigation ministry said.

Officials from Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia resumed their negotiations through video con-ference on Friday, aiming to bridge the gaps and finalise a deal on the contentious

mega-project within two to three weeks, Sudan’s irrigation ministry said.

The current round of talks came after negotiations last month failed to produce a deal, prompting Egypt and Sudan to appeal to the United Nations Security Council to intervene in the dispute.

The Egyptian irrigation ministry said “fundamental technical and legal differences” remained unsolved, and that they would resume their meetings on Saturday.

Sticking points in the talks have been how much water Ethiopia will release down-stream from the dam if a mul-tiyear drought occurs and how Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will r e s o l v e a n y f u t u r e disagreements.

Egypt and Sudan agreed late in June to return to the talks after they said Ethiopia would refrain from filling the dam until the three countries reached a deal.

The Ethiopian prime min-ister’s office said the filling has

been scheduled to begin within the next two weeks, and during that period, the three countries would work to reach an agreement “on a few pending issues.”

The talks are backed by the African Union. The 15-member Security Council expressed support for the AU action in reviving talks.

Egypt, which relies on the Nile for more than 90% of its water supplies and already faces high water stress, fears a devastating impact on its

booming population of 100 million.

Ethiopia has hinged its development ambitions on the colossal dam, describing it as a crucial lifeline to bring millions out of poverty.

Sudan meanwhile stands to benefit from Ethiopia’s dam, including having access to cheap electricity and reduced flooding, but it has raised fears over the operation and safety of the Ethiopian project and says it could endanger its own dams.

Iran imposes new curbs as coronavirus toll risesREUTERS

Iranians who do not wear masks will be denied state services and workplaces that fail to comply with health protocols will be shut for a week, President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday as he launched new measures to try to curb the coronavirus.

Iran has been battling the spread of the coronavirus, with the total number of cases hitting 237,878 yesterday and a further 148 deaths bringing the country’s toll to 11,408, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on state television.

Wearing masks becomes mandatory from today in covered public places, Rouhani said on state television after tougher curbs were imposed in cities and towns in five provinces where the outbreak is rising after an easing of lock-downs from mid-April.

“Government employees should not serve people who do not wear masks and employees who do not wear them should be considered absentees and sent home,” said Rouhani.

A government website also

published photos of Rouhani with a face covering.

Those infected have a “religious duty” to notify others, Rouhani said, adding: “Keeping your infection a secret violates the rights of other people.”

The government has been trying to convince a reluctant public to accept masks and a week-long campaign by state television has been warning viewers that “Corona is not a joke”.

One TV presenter at the end of every newscast puts on her mask and says: “There is no one in my immediate three metres, but I wear a mask outside the studio. You, too, wear one.”

State media reported yes-terday that 19 Iranian football players from the national Esteghlal and Foolad Khuz-estan clubs had tested positive for the coronavirus.

And five Iranian members of parliament have also tested positive, the semi-official Fars news agency said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s armed forces have reduced their basic combat training to a month because of the increased spread.

Kuwait reports 631 new virus cases, 5 deathsQNA — KUWAIT

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health announced yesterday the registration of 631 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past 24 hours, bringing the total infections to 49,303.

Five deaths were reported raising the number fatalities to 360.

Official spokesperson of the Ministry Dr. Abdullah Al Sanad said that some of these new cases had con-tacted infected persons, while the Ministry is inves-tigating the source of infection for others.

The new cases comprised 386 Kuwaiti nationals while the others are among expa-triates, Dr. Al Sanad revealed, according to Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA), adding that the Health Ministry conducted 3,443 swab tests in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of COVID-19 tests done to date to 402,941.

Oman registers

1,177 new

COVID-19 casesQNA — MUSCAT

The Omani Health Ministry recorded 1,177 new corona-virus (COVID-19) cases over-night, bringing the tally to 45,106 cases.

The new cases included 969 Omanis and 208 other nationalities, the ministry said in a statement carried by Oman’s ONA.

The death toll has reached 203, while 26,968 patients have recovered.

The Ministry conducted 2,992 tests during the past 24 hours, while the number of cases in intensive care reached 116 cases.

India’s virus vaccine races to meet mid-August targetBLOOMBERG — NEW DELHI

India has set an ambitious timeline for its first potential coronavirus vaccine — from human trials to general use in six weeks.

Bharat Biotech International Ltd, an unlisted Indian vaccine maker, received regulatory approval to start human clinical trials for its experimental shot earlier this week and it already has India’s apex medical research body expediting the process.

The under-development vaccine is “envisaged” to be rolled out “for public health use by August 15 after completion of all clinical trials,” Indian Council of Medical Research, or ICMR, said in a July 2 letter to clinical trial sites.

It “is one of the top priority projects which is being moni-tored at the topmost level of the government.” There’s been no evidence yet that Bharat Bio-tech’s vaccine is safe for use on humans, not to mention effective. The envisioned

timeline is markedly shorter than other front-runner vaccine efforts from American and Chinese drugmakers, most of which started human clinical trials months ago and are now entering the last of three stages of testing.

The bid underscores India’s urgent need for a way to halt the coronavirus, which has sickened more than 640,000 people and killed over 18,600 in the Asian nation — the world’s fourth-largest outbreak. In its letter, ICMR urged the trial sites to enroll volunteers by July 7.

The speediness has alarmed some in the medical fraternity. “Such an accelerated

development pathway has not been done EVER for any kind of vaccine, even the ones being tried out in other countries,” Anant Bhan, a medical researcher at India’s Manipal University, said in a Twitter post.

“Even with accelerated timelines, this seems rushed and hence, with potential risks.” After abandoning a costly lockdown that caused tre-mendous economic suffering without slowing the virus’s spread, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is anxious to project control over the outbreak.

The Auguust 15 deadline for Bharat Biotech’s vaccine may

reflect that political pressure: that’s the day India celebrates independence from the British, marked by a nationwide address by Modi.

The letter to investigators of clinical trial sites was meant to cut unnecessary red tape, without bypassing any necessary process, and to speed up recruitment of participants, the ICMR said in a statement yesterday.

“ICMR’s process is exactly in accordance with the globally accepted norms to fast-track the vaccine development for diseases of pandemic potential wherein human and animal trials can continue in parallel,” according to the statement.

“Our trials will be done fol-lowing the best practices and rigour, and will be reviewed, as required.”

Bharat Biotech plans to enroll 375 people in the first phase of clinical trials and 750 people in the second phase, an ICMR spokesperson said. Whether the vaccine will be approved for general use depends on the outcomes of

those trials, he said. A spokeswoman for Bharat

Biotech declined to comment on the August 15 timeline in ICMR’s letter.

“They can’t do that,” said Jayaprakash Muliyil, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Com-mittee in National Institute of Epidemiology, referring to the targeted timeline of the vaccine launch. Developing a vaccine is a complicated procedure that involves proving its effec-tiveness and safety, he said.

While Bharat Biotech’s timeline is ambitious compared to other efforts, India’s mature medical manufacturing sector and its large population, from which human trial volunteers can be easily found, are factors that could help accelerate the usual vaccine development process.

The trial will start “most probably” by Monday, said C. Prabhakar Reddy, a professor in Hyderabad’s Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences —one of the trial sites that received ICMR’s letter. “We are all working day and night to

meet the deadline but still it will be neck to neck race,” he said, adding that he doesn’t antic-ipate any shortage of volunteers “in the current scenario.”

A vaccine ready for public use will allow the safe reo-pening of schools, offices and factories to revive India’s economy, which is hurtling toward its first contraction in more than four decades. It will also tie in with self-reliance -- a motto Modi has repeated often in recent weeks.

Developing nations are eager to pare their dependence on other nations and foreign drugmakers in securing vac-cines. Called Covaxin, the “inac-tivated vaccine” candidate has demonstrated safety and immune response in preclinical studies, Bharat Biotech said in a June 29 statement that cited the firm’s “track record in developing vero cell culture platform technologies.” It has developed vaccines against polio, rotavirus, Japanese encephalitis and Zika, according to the statement.

A woman gets her finger inked before getting her test done at a school which was turned into a centre to conduct tests for the coronavirus disease, amid the spread of the disease, in New Delhi, India, yesterday.

06 SUNDAY 5 JULY 2020ASIA

India COVID-19 cases hit record high amid rainsREUTERS — MUMBAI

India recorded its highest singe-day spike of coronavirus cases yesterday, with over 22,000 new cases and 442 deaths, as infections rose in the western and southern parts of the country amid heavy monsoon rains.

The western state of Mahar-ashtra, home to the densely packed financial capital Mumbai, has the country’s highest total, recording 6,364 fresh cases of the virus on Saturday and 198 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

India has the fourth-most confirmed cases in the world, exceeding 640,000 yesterday, according to health ministry data. It follows the United States, Brazil and Russia.

Officials in Mumbai warned

residents to stay away from the coast, as heavy rains were pre-dicted for the next 48 hours. The monsoons typically cause water-logging in many parts of the city and could scuttle coronavirus containment efforts by causing a further rise in infection numbers, experts say.

In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the second worst-hit state in India, the number of cases crossed 100,000.

India had imposed one of the world’s harshest lockdowns in March to control the virus spread, but it has been eased in phases in recent weeks to restart economic activity. Epidemiologists warn India’s peak could still be weeks or months away, suggesting the country’s already severely over-burdened healthcare system will come under further stress.

Bangladesh virus

deaths near

2,000 as

infections rise

ANATOLIA — DHAKA

The coronavirus death toll in Bangladesh is now just shy of 2,000, while cases are almost at 160,000, the Health Ministry said yesterday.

Authorities recorded 29 more fatalities — 21 men and eight women — over the past day, bringing the total to 1,997 and the death rate to 1.25 percent.

Of the total fatalities so far, 1,587 are men and 410 women, a ministry official said.

The country’s COVID-19 cases increased by 3,288 over the past 24 hours, raising the overall count to 159,679.

Recoveries have now reached 70,721 — a recovery rate of 44.29 percent — with 2,673 additions over the past day.

With 14,727 more samples tested over the same period, the number of tests conducted in Bangladesh has reached 832,074 — 19.19 percent of the samples have tested positive for the virus.

The Health Ministry official said hospitals across the country are well-equipped and still have much less patients than their capacity.

She said there are still more than 6,000 general and 149 intensive care beds available in the capital Dhaka, and over 14,700 general and 400 intensive care beds in the rest of Bangladesh.

Over a dozen presumed dead in southern Japan floodsAP — TOKYO

Heavy rain in southern Japan triggered flooding and mudslides yesterday, leaving more than a dozen people presumed dead, about 10 missing and dozens stranded on rooftops waiting to be rescued, officials said.

More than 75,000 residents in the prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima were urged to evacuate following pounding rains overnight. The evacuation was not mandatory and it was not known how many actually fled.

“I smelled mud, and the whole area was vibrating with river water. I’ve never experi-enced anything like this,” a man in a shelter in Yatsushiro city, in western Kumamoto, told NHK TV. He said he fled early fearing a disaster.

NHK footage showed large areas of Hitoyoshi town in Kumamoto inundated in muddy waters that gushed out from the Kuma River. Many cars were submerged up to their windows.

Mudslides smashed into houses and floodwaters carried trunks from uprooted trees.

Several people were standing atop a convenience store as they waited for rescuers.

Kumamoto Governor Ikuo Kabashima later told reporters that 14 residents at a flooded elderly care home in Kuma village were presumed dead after being found during rescue oper-ations. He said three other elderly residents had hypothermia.

They were among some 60 residents at the riverside care home Senjuen, where flood-waters and mud gushed in, stranding the residents, NHK said. The Japanese Self-Defense

Force said it had dispatched troops to join rescue efforts at the site.

In Tsunagimachi district, two of three people buried underneath mudslides were pulled out without vital signs, Kumamoto prefectural crisis management official Takafumi Kobori said. Rescuers were still searching for the third person.

In another badly flooded town, Ashikita, six people were unaccounted for and a seventh was seriously injured, Kumamoto officials said.

In the mountainous village

of Kuma, residents stranded at their homes were being airlifted by a rescue helicopter. In Hitoyoshi city, rescuers trans-ported some residents in a boat.

Flooding also cut off power and communication lines. About 8,000 homes in Kumamoto and neighboring Kagoshima were without elec-tricity, according to the Kyushu Electric Power Co.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set up a task force and said up to 10,000 defense troops were being mobilised for rescue operations.

Australia locks down high-rise apartments as virus cases spikeAFP — MELBOURNE

Thousands of residents in several high-rise apartments in Melbourne went into lockdown for at least five days yesterday, as officials struggle to control a virus outbreak in Australia’s second biggest city.

Hundreds of police were deployed to enforce the lockdown of nine public housing towers, as the country recorded its biggest daily increase of coronavirus cases in months.

The rise is driven almost entirely by 108 new cases in the southeast state of Victoria.

“There are many, many vul-nerable people who live in these towers,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews told media on Saturday.

“Some of them will be returning home in the latter part of today, knowing that they will not be able to leave their home for a further five days.” The immediate lockdown in Melbourne’s north would be a “massive logistical task” that includes supplying food to around 3,000 residents and

deploying at least 500 police officers per shift, he added.

Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said a number of cases had been detected in the towers, possibly exposing a highly vul-nerable community with under-lying health conditions.

“The first priority here is to find every case in those towers,

so that we don’t have an explosion of infections,” van Diemen said.

Victoria has ramped up testing and restrictions since a flare-up of cases last week.

Another two Melbourne neighbourhoods were also told to stay at home from midnight Saturday, adding to the nearly 300,000 people put under

restrictions on Tuesday.The measures allow resi-

dents to leave their homes for essential reasons only, including for work and to buy food.

The lockdowns were a “dif-ficult but important step” Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said, ahead of an emergency meeting of top health officials yesterday evening.

Police officers speak to residents as they enforce a lockdown at public housing towers in response to an outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday.

More bodies to be buried in mass grave after Myanmar mine landslideREUTERS — NAYPYITAW

Dozens more jade miners killed in a landslide in northern Myanmar will be buried yesterday, a local official said, after 77 others were interred in a mass grave on Friday following one of the worst mining accidents in the coun-try’s history.

More than 170 people, many of them migrants seeking their fortune in the jade-rich Hpakant area of Kachin state, died on Thursday after mining waste collapsed into a lake, triggering a surge of mud and water.

The miners were collecting stones in Hpakant — the centre of Myanmar’s secretive billion-dollar jade industry — when the wave crashed onto them, entombing them under a layer of mud.

Thar Lin Maung, a local official from the information ministry, said by phone on Sat-urday 171 bodies had been pulled out but more were con-tinuing to float to the surface.

He said the 77 buried on Friday had been identified and

39 would be interred on Sat-urday. Volunteers carried plywood coffins and placed them into a mass grave carved out by diggers close to the mine site.

Many other bodies, battered and stripped of their clothing by the force of the wave that hit them, still have not been identified.

Myanmar supplies 90% of the world’s jade, the vast majority of which is exported to neighbouring China, which borders Kachin state. Deadly landslides and other accidents are common in the mines, which draw impoverished workers from across Myanmar.

About 100 people were killed in a 2015 collapse that led to calls to regulate the industry. Another 50 died in 2019. But Thursday’s landslide was the worst in memory.

The country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on Friday blamed the disaster on joblessness in the country, lamenting in a Facebook Live broadcast that informal workers had to go to the mines for lack of other employment.

Bharat Biotech plans to enroll 375 people in the first phase of clinical trials and 750 people in the second phase, an ICMR spokesperson said. Whether the vaccine will be approved for general use depends on the outcomes of those trials, he said.

07SUNDAY 5 JULY 2020 ASIA

North Korea says it has no plans for talks with USAP — SEOUL

North Korea yesterday reiterated it has no immediate plans to resume nuclear negotiations with the United States unless Wash-ington discards what it describes as “hostile” polices toward Pyongyang.

The statement by North Korean First Vice Foreign Min-ister Choe Son Hui came after President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, told reporters in New York on Thursday that Trump might seek another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as an “October surprise” ahead of the US presidential election.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had lobbied hard to help set up the now-stalled negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, also expressed hope that Trump and Kim would meet again before the election in a video conference with European leaders on Tuesday.

Kim and Trump have met three times since embarking on their high-stakes nuclear diplomacy in 2018, but negoti-ations have faltered since their second summit in February last year in Vietnam, where the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capability.

Kim entered 2020 vowing to bolster his nuclear deterrent in face of “gangster-like” US sanctions and pressure. Choe’s statement followed a series of similar declarations by the North

that it would no longer gift Trump with high-profile meetings he could boast of as his foreign policy achievements unless it gets something sub-stantial in return.

“Is it possible to hold dialogue or have any dealings with the US which persists in the hostile policy toward the DPRK in dis-regard of the agreements already made at the past summit?” Choe said, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“We do not feel any need to sit face-to-face with the US, as it does not consider the DPRK-US

dialogue as nothing more than a tool for grappling its political crisis,” she said.

Some analysts believe North Korea would avoid serious nego-tiations with the United States at least until the November presi-dential election as there’s a chance US leadership could change.

Choe said the North has already established a “detailed strategic timetable” for managing

what she described as US threats.“The US is mistaken if it

thinks things like negotiations would still work on us,” she said.

The North in recent months have also been ramping up pressure against South Korea, blowing up an inter-Korean liaison office in its territory and threatening to abandon a bilateral military agreement aimed at reducing tensions. It follows months of frustration

over Seoul’s unwillingness to defy US-led sanctions and restart joint economic projects that would breathe life into the North’s broken economy.

The North’s state media on Friday said that Kim, while supervising a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party on Thursday, discussed “import issues related to the external affairs” but didn’t specify what they were.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during a meeting in Pyongyang.

US sends aircraft carriers to South China Sea during Chinese drillsREUTERS — MANILA

Two US aircraft carriers were conducting exercises in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, the US navy said, as China also carried out military drills that have been criticised by the Pentagon and neighbouring states.

China and the United States have accused each other of stoking tension in the strategic waterway at a time of strained relations over everything from the new coronavirus to trade to

Hong Kong. The USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan were car-rying out operations and exer-cises in the South China Sea “to support a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the navy said in a statement.

It did not say exactly where the exercises were being con-ducted in the South China Sea, which extends for some 1,500km and 90 percent of which is claimed by China despite the pro-tests of its neighbours.

“The purpose is to show an unambiguous signal to our

partners and allies that we are committed to regional security and stability,” Rear Admiral George M Wikoff was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the exercises.

Wikoff, commander of the strike group led by the Ronald Reagan, said the exercises were not a response to those being conducted by China, which the Pentagon criticised this week as “counter-productive to efforts at easing tensions and maintaining stability”.

China dismissed the US crit-icism of its drills on Friday and suggested the United States was to blame for increasing tensions. US carriers have long carried out exercises in the Western Pacific, including in the South China Sea, according to the US navy. At one point recently, the United States had three carriers in the region.

China announced last week it had scheduled five days of drills starting July 1 near the Paracel Islands, which are claimed by both Vietnam and China.

Vietnam and the Philippines

have also criticised the planned Chinese drills, warning they could create tension in the region and impact Beijing’s relationship with its neighbours.

The United States accuses China of trying to intimidate Asian neighbours who might want to exploit its extensive oil and gas reserves.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philip-pines, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim to parts of the South China Sea, through which about $3 trillion of trade passes each year.

Coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia top 160,000ANATOLIA — JAKARTA

The total number of corona-virus cases in Southeast Asian countries has reached 161,441 as of yesterday, including 4,593 fatalities and 91,833 recoveries.

The latest figures showed 3,143 new cases and 63 fatal-ities over the last 24 hours, with most cases reported in Indo-nesia and the Philippines.

Indonesia, the worst-hit country among member states of Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, reported 1,447 new infections, bringing the total to 62,142.

The country’s death toll rose to 3,089 with 53 more fatalities, while recoveries increased by 651 to reach 28,219.

In the Philippines, the number of cases climbed to 41,830, after the country reported 1,494 new cases over the past 24 hours.

Since coronavirus emerged in the country five months ago, at least 1,290 people have died in the country, while 11,453 people recovered.

Thailand confirmed five new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 3,185.

The tally of recoveries in the country has reached 3,066, while the death toll stands at 58.

Singapore has recorded 185 new cases, taking the count to 44,664.

In Malaysia, 10 more cases pushed the total to 8,658.

The recoveries in the country reached 8,461 after 15 more patients were discharged from hospitals, while the death toll remains at 121.

Myanmar confirmed two new cases of the virus, bringing the tally to 306.

Pakistan’s national centre marks 100 days of action against virusINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) has marked 100 days of ‘action and resilience’ against the corona-virus pandemic that is raging across Pakistan.

“Today, the number of recovered Pakistanis exceeds the total active cases in Pakistan,” said the official press statement from the NCOC.

According to the NCOC, 125,094 people have recovered across Pakistan so far, while the number of active cases is 95,570.

To pay tribute to the front line heroes combatting COVID-19, the national lead-ership will visit various hos-pitals and healthcare facilities across Pakistan to acknowledge the ongoing and untiring efforts of doctors, nurses, paramedics and healthcare workers, it said.

“On its 100 days of ongoing efforts, the NCOC pays tribute to the people of Pakistan,” said the statement, lauding the efforts and great resilience of

the emergency responders, Law Enforcement Agencies and others involved in fighting the pandemic.

Pakistan recorded 3,387 new cases in the country over the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 225,283.

According to the NCOC, 22,094 tests were carried out in the last 24 hours.

Sindh leads the tally of con-firmed cases in the country with 90,721 cases, with Punjab coming in second with 80,297. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 27,506 cases have been recorded, 10,717 in Balochistan, 13,292 in Islamabad, 1,536 in Gilgit Baltistan and 1,214 in Jammu and Kashmir.

The country also recorded 68 deaths in the last 24 hours to take the tally to 4,619.

Federal Minister for Infor-mation and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said that the world is fol-lowing the strategy of ‘smart’ lockdown by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Faraz said that the NCOC worked tirelessly day and night

for 100 days to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The minister lauded the work by the NCOC, saying that the conditions under which it worked is commendable.

“The relief cash was dis-tributed among 10.5 million families, he said, cautioning that the threat from the virus is not over as yet despite the situation

being under control.The minister said that due

to the strategy from PM Imran, the coronavirus cases dropped in the country, adding that he is grateful to the public for fol-lowing the Standard Operating Procedures.

Attributing the drop in tally of cases to SOPs, the minister said that due to the government

efforts the testing capacity has been increased.

“If we follow the SOPs care-fully then the hospitals will get empty soon,” he said, urging people to tackle the pandemic by working in unison. The min-ister lauded the healthcare workers, saying the medical staff are on the frontlines in the battle against the disease.

Policemen put barbed wire to seal a market area, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, as coronavirus cases continue to rise.

Protesters wearing face masks for protection against the coronavirus disease take part in a rally against the anti-terrorism bill that was approved by President Rodrigo Duterte the day before, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, yesterday.

Protest against anti-terror bill in Philippines

Democracy books disappear from Hong Kong librariesAFP — HONG KONG

Books written by prominent Hong Kong democracy activists have started to disappear from the city’s libraries, online records show, days after Beijing imposed a draconian national security law on the finance hub.

Among the authors whose titles are no longer available are Joshua Wong, one of the city’s most prominent young activists, and Tanya Chan, a well-known pro-democracy lawmaker.

Beijing’s new national security law was imposed on Tuesday and is the most radical shift in how the semi-auton-omous city is run since it was handed back to China by Britain in 1997.

China’s authoritarian leaders say the powers will restore sta-bility after a year of pro-democracy protests, will not stifle freedoms and will only target a “very small minority”.

But it has already sent fear coursing through a city used to speaking openly, with police arresting people for possessing slogans pushing independence or greater autonomy and busi-nesses scrambling to remove protest displays.

Wong said he believed the removal of the books was sparked by the security law.

“White terror continues to spread, the national security law is fundamentally a tool to incriminate speech,” he wrote on Facebook, using a phrase that refers to political persecution.

Searches on the public library website showed at least three titles by Wong, Chan and local scholar Chin Wan are no longer available for lending at any of dozens of outlets across the city.

A reporter was unable to find the titles at a public library in the district of Wong Tai Sin yesterday afternoon.

The city’s leisure and cul-tural services department said it would provide a statement later yesterday.

The national security law targets acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and col-luding with foreign forces.

China says it will have juris-diction in some cases and empowered its security appa-ratus to set up shop openly in Hong Kong for the first time, ending the legal firewall between the two.

Rights groups and legal ana-lysts say the broad wording of the law — which was kept secret until it was enacted — outlaws certain political views, even if expressed peacefully.

Any promotion of inde-pendence or greater autonomy appears to be banned by the leg-islation. Another vaguely worded provision bans inciting hatred towards the Chinese or Hong Kong government.

The statement by North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui came after President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, told reporters in New York on Thursday that Trump might seek another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as an 'October surprise' ahead of the US presidential election.

The pandemic has laid bare severe and systemic inequalities both within and between countries and communities.

08 SUNDAY 5 JULY 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANDR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

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

EDITORIAL

QATAR has been supporting the United Nations and other international organisations with aim of promoting peace and security in accordance to the principles of its foreign policy based on strengthening international peace and security by encouraging the peaceful reso-lution of international disputes.

This is driven by Qatar’s respect and honour to the international treaties and conventions promoting peace and security worldwide. In order to enhance these prin-ciples, the State of Qatar spares no efforts to bring con-flicting parties to the table to achieve peaceful resolu-tions and works to bolster humanitarian assistance in regions of conflict and war.

Under the current challenge of COVID-19, Qatar continues to support and strengthen efforts for human-itarian and medical needs for different countries.

The Qatari supports for refugees in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and development supports for poor coun-tries have been lauded by the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres who expressed his deep appreciation for the support of Qatar to the United Nations during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). “The ideal support that Qatar has provided to the United Nations shows the responsibility and solidarity that are most needed to meet the challenges of COVID-19.”

In line with principles of its foreign policy, the State of Qatar draws the attention of the international com-munity to not only focus on current fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and overlook efforts to resolve existing conflicts in the regions of the world.

Giving high priority and value to the global cooper-ation to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, Qatar reminds the world to bear responsibilities towards importance of common and effective solutions to ongoing crises and tensions in the world.

“The coronavirus epidemic should not be allowed to create incentives to escalate violence, nor should conflict resolution efforts be delayed or postponed” as has been stated by the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, H E Ambas-sador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, during virtual high-level meeting of the United Nations Security Council on “pandemics and security”.

Qatar believes that in order to stop hostilities and facilitate greater access to humanitarian relief in par-ticular to the most vulnerable groups, including women and children, millions of displaced people in conflict areas and refugee camps around the world. But to implement this, there should be solidarity and interna-tional cooperation, H E stressed.

Qatar is always ready to provide all forms of support to the needy people in conflict zones and assistance to promote international peace and security worldwide.

Resolving conflicts amid COVID-19

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Quote of the day

A social and economic crisis is starting in France as

the health crisis persists. Cabinet's goal will be to

work out how to ensure the return of jobs and the

sustainable maintenance of industrial jobs exposed

to global competition.

Jean Castex, French Prime Minister

Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the virtual commemoration of the signing of the Charter of the United Nations on the occasion of UN Charter Day.

From COVID-19 to climate disruption, from racial injustice to rising inequalities, we are a world in turmoil.

At the same time, we are an international community with an enduring vision – embodied in the United Nations Charter, which marks its 75th anniversary this year. That vision of a better future — based on the values of equality, mutual respect and international cooperation — has helped us to avoid a Third World War that would have had catastrophic conse-quences for life on our planet.

Our shared challenge is to channel that collective spirit and rise to this moment of trial and test.

The pandemic has laid bare severe and systemic inequalities both within and between countries and com-munities. More broadly, it has underscored the world’s fragilities – not just in the face of another health emer-gency, but in our faltering response to the climate crisis, lawlessness in cyberspace, and the risks of nuclear pro-liferation. People

everywhere are losing trust in political establishments and institutions.

The emergency is com-pounded by many other pro-found humanitarian crises: conflicts that are continuing or even intensifying; record numbers of people forced to flee their homes; swarms of locusts in Africa and South Asia; looming droughts in southern Africa and Central America; all amid a context of rising geopolitical tensions.

In the face of these fragil-ities, world leaders need to be humble and recognize the vital importance of unity and solidarity.

No one can predict what comes next, but I see two pos-sible scenarios.

First, the “optimistic” possibility.

In this case, the world would muddle through. Countries in the global North would engineer a successful exit strategy. Developing countries would receive enough support and their demographic characteristics – namely, the youth of their people – would help contain the impact.

And then perhaps a vaccine would appear in the next nine months or so, and would be distributed as a global public good, a “people’s vaccine” available and acces-sible to all.

If this happens, and if the economy starts up progres-sively, we might move towards some kind of nor-mality in two or three years.

But there is also a second, bleaker scenario in which countries fail to coordinate their actions. New waves of the virus keep occurring. The situation in the developing

world explodes. Work on the vaccine lags — or even if there is a vaccine relatively soon — it becomes the subject of fierce competition and coun-tries with greater economic power gain access to it first, leaving others behind.

In this scenario, we could also see greater movement toward fragmentation, pop-ulism and xenophobia. Each country could go it alone or in so-called coalitions of the willing to address some spe-cific challenges. In the end, the world would fail to mobilize the kind of gov-ernance needed to address our shared challenges.

The result may well be a global depression that could last at least five or seven years before a new normal emerges, the nature of which is impossible to predict.

It is very difficult to know if we are moving in one direction or the other. We must work for the best and prepare for the worst. The pandemic, as horrible as it is, must be a wake-up call that prompts all political leaders to understand that our assump-tions and approaches have to change, and that division is a danger to everyone.

This understanding could lead people to recognize that the only way to address global fragilities is through much more robust mechanisms of global governance with inter-national cooperation.

After all, we cannot simply return to the systems that gave rise to the current crisis. We need to build back better with more sustainable, inclusive, gender-equal soci-eties and economies.

In doing so, we must reimagine the way nations

cooperate. Today’s multilat-eralism lacks scale, ambition and teeth — and some of the instruments that do have teeth show little or no appetite to bite, as we have seen in the difficulties faced by the Security Council.

We need a networked multilateralism, in which the United Nations and its agencies, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, regional organizations such as the African Union and European Union, trade organ-izations and others work together more closely and effectively.

We also need a more inclusive multilateralism. Governments today are far from the only players in terms of politics and power. Civil society, the business com-munity, local authorities, cities and regional govern-ments are assuming more and more leadership roles in today’s world.

This, in turn, will help lead to an effective multilateralism with the mechanisms it needs to make global governance work where it is needed.

A new, networked, inclusive, effective multilater-alism, based on the enduring values of the United Nations Charter, could snap us out of our sleepwalking state and stop the slide towards ever greater danger.

Political leaders around the world need to heed this wake-up call and come together to address the world’s fragilities, strengthen our capacity for global gov-ernance, give teeth to multi-lateral institutions, and draw from the power of unity and solidarity to overcome the biggest test of our times.

THE WASHINGTON POST

In virtually every state, indoor spaces open to the general public have been subject to distancing mandates during the pandemic, and often guidelines recommending or requiring face masks as well. But as air passengers slowly return to flying, many are subject to no distancing rules at all amid a hodgepodge of airline policies. The Trump administration, having consistently ducked responsibility for grappling with the pandemic on the ground, is doing the same in the skies.

The prohibition on smoking aboard commercial aircraft has been enforced for decades by the Federal Aviation

Administration. But the FAA somehow thinks covid-19, which can sicken and kill much more quickly and efficiently than tobacco smoke, is not its problem, and should be under the exclusive purview of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC, for its part, has been clear - face masks and distancing are strongly advised when people are indoors. Still, the FAA refuses to consider drafting regulations to address the coronavirus threat.

In the absence of any federal rules, airlines are left to their own devices, and are free to prioritize revenue over passenger safety. Thus, American Airlines recently

announced it would resume selling middle seats on its flights; United, Spirit, Sun Country and Allegiant are doing the same. Passengers on some flights will be seated shoulder-to-shoulder - so much for distancing aboard those airlines' planes. And many will find themselves right next to someone wearing no mask.

In theory, most American carriers have required that passengers cover their faces since April. In practice, enforcement is spotty, endan-gering passengers and crew alike. Pilots and flight attendants are worried and upset - who can blame them? - but can do little to enforce

the policy on their own.It may be impracticable for

flight attendants to confront passengers who refuse to wear masks, and airlines have warned them not to do so. But they could hand out cards with simple statements of the air-line's policy - including a warning that passengers who do not comply will be banned for a considerable time, or indefinitely, from future flights with that carrier.

Airlines should also require that passengers be subject to temperature checks before boarding, a process that takes just a second or two for each person. Until now, only Frontier Airlines has enforced such a mandate.

Global wake-up call

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We need safety rules for air travel

Established in 1996

ANTÓNIO GUTERRES THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

09SUNDAY 5 JULY 2020 EUROPE

Portugal fumes at exclusion from UK's safe travel listREUTERS — LISBON

Portugal’s tourism sector reacted with fury and disbelief at Britain’s decision to maintain a quarantine regime for trav-ellers coming from Portugal despite having a higher number of coronavirus cases and deaths.

Portugal was left off a list of more than 50 countries that Britain considers safe enough for travel without coronavirus-related restrictions, meaning holidaymakers returning from Portugal would have to quar-antine for 14 days.

That will be a major deterrent for British tourists, who accounted for 2.1 million of Portugal’s foreign visitors last year, the second-biggest market after Spain.

“Restaurants have adapted, all areas are sanitised, masks are mandatory, hospitals are

prepared, doctors were trained. The region has adapted,” said Antonio Pina, a mayor from the tourism-dependent southern Algarve.

Over a dozen countries have imposed restrictions on travel from Portugal as a dog-gedly high toll of several hundred new cases per day concentrated on the outskirts of Lisbon in the past month has worried authorities.

“The outbreak is in peripheral Lisbon where there are no hotels, no tourist restau-rants,” noted Raul Martins, head of Portugal’s Hotel Association.“It has been poorly explained to the British.”

Portugal’s number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants is currently the second highest in Europe after Sweden, according to data from the European Union’s (EU) disease control centre.

Restaurants, salon reopen as curb eases in EnglandREUTERS — LONDON

People could have a meal in a restaurant or get a haircut for the first time in over three months as England took its biggest steps yet towards resumption of normal life.

Clubs were allowed to start serving from 6am, sparking worries of over-indulgence on what the media dubbed a “Super Saturday” of coronavirus restrictions being eased. Some hairdressers were reported to have opened at the stroke of midnight.

The Holland Tringham in south London, part of the JD Wetherspoon chain, opened at 8am and was about three quarters full by 11.20 am.

“It’s beautiful just to get back,” said Jim Martin, a 56-year old carpenter.

“I think it’s just where eve-ryone gets to socialise and catch up with people that they haven’t seen...it’s nice to just get together,” Julie Scott, a 43-year-old teacher, said.

Others complained that the lockdown, which began in late March and has been gradually eased in recent weeks, had lasted too long.

“It’s about time they opened them up,” said pensioner Ron Lock.

Police chiefs are worried the reopening of clubs could fuel

irresponsible behaviour, while hospitals have been warned to prepare for a New Year’s Eve-style weekend.

“There’s an element of decompression going on, par-ticularly with younger people who’ve had some very respon-sible parents keeping them in over recent weeks,” Marc Jones, Police and Crime Com-missioner for Lincolnshire, told BBC radio.

Britain has been the European country worst hit by the coronavirus, with more than 300,000 infections and an official death toll of 44,131. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has faced criticism from the opposition over its handling of the pandemic - including locking down later than some other parts of Europe.

In another relaxation of lockdown rules two households can now meet indoors as long

as social distancing is main-tained, and overnight stays are allowed.

The rule changes apply only to England as the devolved nations in the United Kingdom — Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — have been setting their own time-tables for easing lockdown restrictions.

Johnson called on people to behave responsibly and respect social distancing regulations as the risk of a resurgence of coro-navirus remains. Mindful of an economy that has taken a ham-mering because of the lockdown, he also stressed the importance of supporting businesses.

“The success of these busi-nesses, the livelihoods of those who rely on them, and

ultimately the economic health of the whole country is

dependent on every single one of us acting responsibly,” he said

at a news conference on Friday. “We must not let them down.”

Men have their hair cut at Savvas Barbers as it reopened following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, yesterday.

Boris Johnson called on people to behave responsibly and respect social distancing regulations as the risk of a resurgence of coronavirus remains.

Catalonia locks down 200,000 people over virus outbreakAFP — MADRID

Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region yesterday locked down an area with around 200,000 residents following a surge in cases of the new novel coro-navirus.

Catalonia’s regional pres-ident Quim Torra told reporters there had been a “sharp rise” in infections in Segria, a zone that includes the

town of Lerida some 150 km west of Barcelona.

Nobody would be allowed to enter or leave the area, gath-erings of more than 10 people would be banned and visits to retirement homes halted, offi-cials said.

The move came as the summer holiday started in Spain and the country began re-admitting visitors from 12 countries outside the European

Union, two weeks after allowing people from the EU’s visa-free Schengen zone and Britain to return.

Spain has been one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic with 28,385 deaths, Europe’s fourth-highest toll after the UK, Italy and France.

It imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus and

only recently began to open up.Barcelona celebrated

another milestone in its bid to reopen yesterday, with visitors allowed back into the Sagrada Familia — an imposing mod-ernist basilica that is among Spain’s most visited buildings.

In the first phase of its reo-pening, health workers were the first to be allowed back as a tribute to their work battling the pandemic.

French IS militant gets 30 years for Syria crimesAFP — PARIS

A French court handed a 30-year prison sentence to a IS member for crimes committed in Syria between 2013-15 including overseeing the execution of two prisoners while a senior figure in the IS extremist group.

Tyler Vilus, 30, who was found guilty on all charges, was also accused of belonging to a

terrorist group, heading a group of IS fighters and “aggravated murder”.

Public prosecutor Guillaume Michelin earlier asked the court for a life sentence, with no pos-sibility of parole for 22 years.

Michelin said Vilus “hasn’t changed one bit” since his time with the IS. “All the steps in the accused’s journey are interlocked with the construction of the caliphate,” said the prosecutor,

referring to the IS-ruled area that IS had at the time carved out in Syria and Iraq.

“It is your responsibility to put a definite end to the bloodshed,” he told the court.

But the presiding judge said he wanted to give him “a glimmer of hope” so that he could “evolve,” even though he could have been sentenced to life on being convicted of all charges.

Russia says John Bolton’s account of INF treaty talks distortedREUTERS — MOSCOW

A senior Russian defence official accused former US national security adviser John Bolton of distorting facts in his memoir about talks with the Russian authorities about the US with-drawal from a Cold War-era arms control treaty.

Washington last year withdrew from the 1987 Inter-mediate-Range Nuclear Forces

Treaty (INF), accusing Moscow of deploying cruise missiles throughout Russia in violation of the pact. Russia has denied violating the agreement.

In his book entitled “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir”, Bolton wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin had acknowl-edged the American position on the need to withdraw from the agreement.

The pact had prevented Washington from deploying new weapons to counter a Chinese arms buildup in the Pacific.

“Putin seemed to have lost interest in the INF, saying to me (through an interpreter) that he understood our arguments and logic on the decision to withdraw from the INF, which I took to be an acknowl-edgement of our shared view on China,” Bolton wrote.

Speaking to Russian media, Deputy Defence Minister Alex-ander Fomin said Bolton’s rec-ollection “substantially distorts real events”.

“He said Russia allegedly supported the American rea-soning about the loss of rele-vance of the INF treaty, including in light of the signif-icant development of China’s nuclear missile programme,” TASS news agency quoted

Fomin as saying.“We in fact consider that the

United States’ withdrawal from the agreement had been planned in advance, and that accusations that Russia was vio-lating it are baseless.”

The demise of the INF treaty has strained the global arms control architecture erected during the Cold War to prevent an arms race between Wash-ington and Moscow.

Berlin to drop derogatory name for metro stationREUTERS — BERLIN

Berlin’s public transport company BVG said it would rename a city centre metro station that has become noto-rious for bearing a name based on a derogatory word for Black people.

The announcement comes amid a worldwide reckoning with buried legacies of racism and colonial crimes under-pinning many western societies that was sparked by the death in the United States of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands

of a police officer. Berlin’s BVG said that the

“Mohrenstrasse” metro station — literally Moor Street, using the medieval term for people from North Africa, would be renamed after another nearby street, the Glinkastrasse, named after 19th century Russian com-poser Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka.

The station, a few hundred metres from the Brandenburg Gate at the very centre of Berlin, has born a string of names since it was opened in 1908. It acquired its present name in 1991.

Though the word “mohr” is

no longer used in modern German, its history — linguists say it had acquired a derogatory flavour by the 18th century —have caused complaints over its use in some street names.

Last month, unidentified activists taped over the station’s entrance, temporarily naming it “George Floyd Street”.

“Out of respect for the sometimes controversial debate about the street name, BVG has decided not to use it to name the metro station any longer,” it said. “BVG rejects all forms of racism and discrimination.”

A man enters the “Mohrenstrasse” subway station in central Berlin, on Friday.

Seven officers injured in music event in LondonAP — LONDON

Seven police officers have been injured while trying to break up an unlicenced music event in west London, the latest in a series of illegal gath-erings in the British capital over the past couple of weeks that have descended into violence.

Police said everyone in attendance at the event in White City had been dispersed by 1:15am yesterday morning, a few hours after complaints were first received of people gathering at a housing project.

The Metropolitan Police, London’s overarching police force, said bricks and other missiles were thrown at officers on their arrival. Spe-cially trained public order officers clad in protective gear then arrived to get control of the situation.

Deputy Assistant Commis-sioner Laurence Taylor said seven officers had sustained injuries as a result of the clashes. The seriousness of their injuries has not been revealed.

“Officers have responded to residents complaining about a large gathering, noise, anti-social behaviour and vio-lence,” he said.

“These gatherings are illegal and also pose a risk to public health.”

No arrests have yet been made, police said.

Greece extends migrant camp coronavirus lockdown despite criticismAFP — CHIOS, GREECE

Greece announced another extension of a coronavirus lockdown in its teeming migrant camps, despite allegations that it has used the pandemic to limit the movement of migrants.

The camp lockdown began on March 21 and is now extended until July 19, the

migration ministry said.Migrants are allowed to

leave the camps from 7:00am to 9:00pm only in groups of less than 10 and no more than 150 people per hour, it said.

Migrants are frustrated with the fifth extension of the lockdown in camps, saying it makes their lives even more difficult.

“I really don’t have an idea why they are doing this. I feel so bad, so down because of it,” Hamoudi, an asylum-seeker from Somalia and resident of the Vial camp on Chios island, said.

The 24-year-old said he saw no social distancing in the camp and could not think of any health benefits of the lockdown

for the migrants.“Maybe they just want to

make it a closed camp,” he said. “But closed for what?”

The camp lockdown has stopped most NGOs from car-rying out normal deliveries of clothing, nappies and other necessities.

“We can’t get adequate aid to people. They are messaging

us from inside the camp,” said Ruhi Akhtar, a volunteer on Chios who regularly gave out clothes and other provisions before the lockdown.

Parwana Ansari, a 16-year-old from Afghanistan who lives in the Vial refugee camp, said people needed to leave the camp just to get the basics.

“We need to go to town to

go shopping,” she said. “The food in Vial is no good.”

Marco Sandrone, coordi-nator of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) at the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos, said before the announcement that the lock-downs had nothing to do with public health as there were no cases in the camps.

10 SUNDAY 5 JULY 2020AMERICAS

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend a US Independence Day Mount Rushmore fireworks celebrations at Mt. Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota, yesterday. RIGHT: People taking part in a parade on the occasion of the 244th anniversary of US Independence Day on Gedemino Avenue during a tourism event to mimicking the US holiday experience in Vilnius, Lithuania, yesterday.

Trudeau faces probe over $664m charity contractBLOOMBERG — OTTAWA

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing a probe over his government’s decision to award a contract worth more than $664m to an organisation that he and his family have ties to.

The Canada Student Service Grant was awarded to the WE Charity to set up a programme that would pay students to earn funds for tuition and expenses during the pandemic as employment options dried up. The plan was to pay students a one-time grant between C$1,000 to C$5,000 to take part in service activities.

The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commis-sioner received requests from two lawmakers this week asking that the federal watchdog examine Trudeau’s conduct. An investigation is underway, it said, adding that the premier has been informed.

The prime minister and his mother have appeared at a number of WE Day events, while his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, hosts a podcast for the group called “WE Well-being,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

WE Charity and the federal government announced on Friday that they were ending their partnership. WE Charity, which operates in 130 school districts and agencies, had

agreed to help run the program after being approached by offi-cials in late April, and said it had successfully launched the programme. It decided to withdraw amid the growing controversy, it said, adding that it would waive all costs asso-ciated with setting up the program and plans to return all funds earmarked for it.

“We will collaborate with the Ethics Commissioner’s investi-gation and will answer all ques-tions he may have,” Ann-Clara Vaillancourt, a spokesperson for Trudeau, said in an e-mail.

The prime minister has already been reprimanded twice by the country’s ethics watchdog: for a secret vacation in 2016 at the private island of the Aga Khan, a spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, and for breaking conflict of interest laws by pressuring his former attorney general to help SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. settle cor-ruption charges out of court.

Conservative politician Michael Barrett said that Tru-deau’s ties to the charity and his wife’s involvement with the organisation has contravened his obligations under the Con-flict of Interest Act.

“I have considered your request and am of the view that it satisfies the requirements set out in subsection 22(2) of the act,” Mario Dion, commissioner of the watchdog, said in a statement.

America's 244th Independence Day marked

Trump considers three actions against ChinaBLOOMBERG — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump has yet to sign legislation that would impose sanctions on certain Chinese officials over Hong Kong, but other moves against Beijing are possible before long.

An administration official told reporters yesterday that Trump is considering two or three actions against China, with a high probability some-thing could be unveiled soon —more likely in days than weeks. The official didn’t specify what the actions might be or provide other details.

The Senate gave final approval on Thursday for the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which would impose sanctions on Chinese officials cracking

down on dissent in Hong Kong, after the House unanimously signed the bill on Wednesday.

Trump could sign or veto the bill; the White House hasn’t given a signal either way.

The House and Senate moved quickly to enact the leg-islation after the Chinese gov-ernment imposed a new national security law in the territory that critics say is aimed at squashing

protests against the government and could lead to, in some cases, life imprisonment.

The legislation has been a high priority for members of both parties, who’ve been joining forces on measures to pressure the government in Beijing on trade and human rights.

“I have no doubt that the president will sign it and I’m confident that it will be properly enforced,” said Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey, who co-sponsored the Senate version with Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

The Senate approved its bill by voice vote last week, but it was modified slightly in the House and had to be passed again by the Senate.

Van Hollen said he and Toomey worked with the Treasury Department to resolve technical objections to some of the bill’s original provisions.

The legislation provides for sanctions against financial insti-tutions working with Chinese officials who are determined by the US to be interfering in Hong Kong affairs. It requires the State Department to report to Congress every year about offi-cials who seek to undermine the “one country, two systems” model that applies to Hong Kong. It gives the president the power to seize the assets of those individuals and block their entry to the US.

The law gives banks a kind of year-long grace period to stop doing business with entities

and individuals the State Department determines to be “primary offenders” when it comes to undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy.

After that period, the Treasury Department can impose a variety of penalties on those institutions, including barring top executives from entering the US and restricting the ability to engage in US dollar-denominated transac-tions, according to Toomey.

The sanctions would apply to Chinese banks as well as Chinese subsidiaries of US banks, Toomey said during a conference call with reporters. He indicated it would mostly affect the largest Chinese lenders that do business with the US.

US cops fired over photo imitating chokehold on manAFP — WASHINGTON

Two US police officers have been fired after a photo emerged showing them re-enacting a chokehold used on a black man before he died at a memorial site to his death, Colorado police said in a statement.

Elijah McClain, 23, died last August in Aurora three days after police put him into a chokehold, was injected with ketamine to sedate him and suffered a cardiac arrest.

Officers Erica Marrero, Kyle Dittrich, and Jaron Jones imitated the chokehold used to subdue McClain in October last year.

In a statement posted online, interim Aurora police chief Vanessa Wilson con-firmed that Marrero and Dit-trich had been fired.

The third officer pictured, Jones, resigned on Tuesday, she said.

She added that she under-stood “the devastating impact this incident has had on the relationship between the community and the Department.”

A fourth officer, Jason Rosenblatt, was also fired on Friday, she said.

He had been sent the photo by one of the trio and had responded “haha”, local US media reported.

I have no doubt that the president will sign the legislation and I’m confident that it will be properly enforced: Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey

Mexico reverses some openings as virus cases continue highAP — MEXICO CITY

Mexico’s coronavirus outbreak rose by about 6,740 newly confirmed cases on Friday for a second straight day, while 654 more deaths raised the coun-try’s total to 29,843.

The number of deaths is the sixth-highest highest in the world, and Mexico is just a few dozen from overtaking France for the fifth-highest death toll, though Mexico’s population is about double that of France.

The continued increase in cases and deaths has stalled Mexico’s planned re-opening. The northern border state of Nuevo Leon, home to the city of Monterrey, declared a weekend curfew from 10pm to 5am.

Given the spike in cases in the United States, several Mexican border states announced they would establish temperature checks for visitors coming from the US, or require they show have hotel reservations or are engaged in some essential business or work activity.

The Mexico City gov-ernment said it will re-close some of the streets and busi-nesses allowed to open during the week in the capital’s historic colonial-era downtown, after crowding and a lack of sanitary measures were reported at some stores. While most cus-tomers and clients wore some form of face mask, many stores didn’t reduce the number of clients allowed in, provide foot-

wiping pads or sanitizer gel.Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum

said the re-closing of the Centro area “is not a punishment, it is simply a pause in the voyage.”

The joint plan required the active participation of the gov-ernment, the public and store owners, and Sheinbaum said it will now be rethought.

A paramedic checking the temperature of a traveler as she enters to Ciudad Juarez from the United States through the Stanton-Lerdo international bridge to prevent contagion due to the COVID-19, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, yesterday.

Florida’s virus cases jump by record for single dayBLOOMBERG — TALLAHASSEE

Florida’s COVID-19 cases jumped by the most during the pandemic, two days after the previous high, a sign that the outbreak is expanding and leading to more serious clinical consequences.

Reported new cases rose by 11,458, or 6.4 percent, to 190,052, compared with an average 5.5 percent in the pre-vious seven days. The Sunshine State had a record 10,109 cases on Thursday. Deaths reached 3,702, according to the release,

which includes data through Friday, an increase of 18, the fewest since June 22.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ruled out reim-posing a lockdown, but hos-pitals and local officials officials are taking note of the rising trend in cases.

Miami-Dade County is under an overnight curfew and entertainment venues are closed in the state’s most pop-ulous county amid a surge in COVID-19 patients in intensive care units and hospitals.

Jackson Health System, which operates one of Florida’s biggest hospitals, said it will limit inpa-tient surgeries and procedures to emergency and urgent cases starting tomorrow.

Cumulative hospitalisations rose by 244, or 1.6 percent, to 15,735, slowing from the day before. The median age of patients dropped to 35 from 37 the previous day. The rate of people testing positive for the first time fell to 14.1 percent on Friday, from 14.9 percent a day earlier.I

American victims of FARC rebels win claim to Venezuelan’s fortuneAP — MIAMI

Three American defence contractors held for five years by leftist rebels in Colombia moved closer to collecting on a $318m judgment against their former captors when a US Supreme Court justice rebuffed an appeal by a sanctioned Venezuelan businessman whose assets they seek to claim.

Justice Clarence Thomas refused to hear an emergency appeal by Samark López, letting

stand an order by a federal appeals court immediately turning over $53m from the businessman’s previously seized US bank accounts, though the appeals court judgment is being contested.

Yet his defenders say there is no evidence — and no con-viction — directly connecting López to the rebels who held the three Americans other than his relationship with a Venezuelan official who allegedly did have ties to the group.

And if the men succeed in gaining the money, it could allow victims of the rebels to move ahead of Venezuela’s creditors and opponents of President Nicolás Maduro who are seeking to recover assets allegedly stolen through cor-ruption, according to Russ Dallen, the head of Caracas Capital Markets.

Attorneys for López are now pinning their hopes on a second emergency appeal filed on Tuesday to Justice Sonia

Sotomayor in accordance with Supreme Court rules.

Keith Stansell, Marc Gon-salves and Thomas Howes were taken captive by guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, when their airplane crash landed due to engine trouble during a drug-monitoring flight in 2003. Their pilot, Tom Janis, was killed by the rebels.

The three employees of Northrop Grumman were freed 12 years ago on Thursday along

with several other captives including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt in a daring rescue by Colombia’s army.

In 2012, a federal judge in Florida awarded the men $318m to be paid from bank accounts and assets seized from indi-viduals linked to the FARC, a US-designated terrorist group.

But they had mostly been unable to collect until President Donald Trump signed into law in 2018 the Anti-Terrorism

Clarification Act, which enabled victims of terror groups to attach assets seized by the US gov-ernment under drug kingpin act.

The new law allowed the men to go after López’s blocked assets in the US, which include a $269m Citibank account, two yachts, an aircraft and luxury real estate in Miami.

López is a powerful busi-nessman in Venezuela whose fortune soared thanks to gov-ernment contracts in the past two decades of socialist rule.