Monday 13 July 2020

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Volume 25 | Number 8317

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BUSINESS | 13 PENMAG | 16 SPORT | 20

Hamilton

wins Styrian

Grand Prix

in style

Classifieds

and Services

section

included

QFC and Invest

Qatar host webinar

on opportunities in

digital sector

Our goal is to offer unmatched fan experienceTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Fans should expect a memo-rable experience, including the opportunity to attend more than one game a day, when they attend the next FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Speaking during a webinar hosted by the Swiss Business Council Qatar, Nasser Al Khater, CEO of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC, said organisers were working hard to ensure fans enjoyed the most compact tournament in modern history, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) reported on its website.

“Much of our focus remains on operational planning and ensuring we offer a fan expe-rience which makes this World Cup unique,” said Al Khater, who was speaking to an audience of 21 chairpersons from business councils and chambers of commerce based in Qatar.

“We want to make sure fans have a holistic experience in terms of transport and are able to watch more than one match

per day. There will be large fan zones in strategic locations, a vast range of activities and the opportunity to walk between West Bay and Souq Waqif.”

The webinar was organised in order to discuss the chal-lenges posed by the pandemic to Qatar’s business community, including preparations for the World Cup. Al Khater said work had continued unabated in recent months despite the ongoing challenges.

“We have reached 85% com-pletion across our construction portfolio. Two more stadiums will be launched by the end of this year, followed by Lusail, Al Thumama and Ras Abu Aboud in 2021. We will have at least a year between the completion of the stadiums and the beginning of the World Cup.”

Al Khater added: “The pan-demic has affected everyone – and of course our project is not immune. However, prep-arations have continued and we have taken all the nec-essary health and safety measures – in line with gov-ernment regulations. We have all become very familiar with

Zoom and Microsoft Teams in recent months.”

The recent completion of Education City Stadium – the third tournament-ready venue for Qatar 2022 – was a proud achievement, said Al Khater.

“It was very challenging to organise a digital event during the pandemic but we didn’t want to hold back. We wanted

to be innovative and pay tribute to the frontline health workers. The live programmes we pro-duced in collaboration with Qatar Foundation and beIN SPORTS were a fitting tribute to everyone who has given so much to fight this dreadful virus.” Al Khater said he hoped the pandemic would not affect Qatar’s hosting of the World

Cup – but said the country would be prepared for all eventualities.

Al Khater signed off by praising the local business com-munity for being proactive in seeking information regarding the effects of COVID-19 and said he looked forward to continued collaboration in the lead-up to Qatar 2022.

Reliable information to public key to tackle pandemicsQNA — GENEVA

The State of Qatar affirmed the importance of countries enhancing communication and developing a media strategy to provide reliable information to the public as part of their efforts to tackle pandemic diseases.

This came in the speech delivered by the Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations Office in Geneva Mohammed Abdullah Al Buainain during the Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression. Al Buainain thanked David Kaye for his report sub-mitted to the Council at this session, and said “we agree with him that facilitating access to information would encourage the strengthening of health, life and autonomy, and that the restrictions imposed must meet the criteria of legality, necessity and proportionality.”

He also affirmed at the same time the importance of countries, as part of their efforts to tackle pandemic dis-eases, enhancing communi-cation and developing a media strategy to provide reliable information to the public, as indicated by the relevant guidelines of the WHO.

The Second Secretary of Qatars Permanent Mission said that Qatar has formed, in the framework of its efforts to address the COVID-19 pan-demic, a supreme committee for crisis management to deal with information and data related to the precautionary measures to address the virus, and the measures and decisions taken at the national level to confront this pandemic and mitigate its health, economic and social impacts. �P2

Qatar safest country in the worldTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The State of Qatar retained its global distinction as the safest country among Arab countries and globally according to 2020 mid-year Crime Index issued by ‘Numbeo’, the world’s largest user-contributed database on cities and countries.

About 133 countries have been included in the ranking, said the Ministry of Interior yes-terday in a statement.

According to the classifi-cation rules of the report, countries are ranked in the reverse order — Qatar ranked 133rd in crime rate by regis-tering the lowest crime rate with 11.90 points out of 100. In the Safety Index Qatar ranked the first by scoring 88.10 points out of 100.

Qatar’s outstanding record during the period is considered as an extension of its achieve-ments in the past years of 2015-2019, where it achieving the first place globally in 2017 and 2019 while maintaining the number one position in the Arab world during the period.

It reflects the constant and outstanding level of security and safety enjoyed by the country, and the significant

decrease in the rates of crimes. In its report, Numbeo stated:

“The crime index is an esti-mation of overall level of crime in a given city or a country. We consider crime levels lower than 20 as very low, crime levels between 20 and 40 as being low, crime levels between 40 and 60 as being moderate, crime levels between 60 and 80 as being high and finally crime levels higher than 80 as being very high.”

The indicators also depend on a set of standards related to the rates of crime and violence such as murder, terrorism, the cost of crime and other standards.

The Numbeo database has been publishing annual reports since 2009, based on the crime rates in the countries of the

world. The index of crimes is measured according to the laws of the countries, as there are acts that constitute crimes in some countries while they are not deemed crimes in some other countries, which gives a real measure of the crime rate in countries in accordance with applicable laws.

The report also takes into account the different types of crimes and their classification according to the laws on crimes, offences and viola-tions. The indicators also depend on a set of standards related to the rates of crime and violence such as murder, terrorism, the cost of crime and other standards.

This classification reflects the constant and outstanding level enjoyed by the State in the

field of security and safety, and the significant decrease in the rates of crimes in the country during that period.

Last year, the State of Qatar also has retained its global dis-tinction as the safest country among Arab countries and glo-bally by winning first place in terms of safety and security among 118 countries, according to the annual report of the crime index 2019 issued by “Numbeo”.

Qatar’s superiority over this period is considered as an extension of its achievements in the past years, specifically during the period (2015-2019), where it maintained the number one position in the Arab world throughout this period, as well as achieving first place globally in 2017 and 2019.

Barzan Holdings producing 8,000 ventilators monthlySACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Qatar’s Barzan Holdings is manufacturing about 8,000 ventilators per month, demon-strating a crucial role played by ‘Made in Qatar’ products in the fight against coronavirus.

“Amidst the COVID-19 pan-demic, Ministry of Defence of Qatar-affil iated Barzan Holdings managed to manu-facture ventilators that are 100 percent locally made in record time. The company is currently

producing up to 8,000 venti-lators per month to meet the needs of the local and global market,” said Government Communications Office in a video posted on its official twitter account, yesterday. “Barzan Holding is building a lasting legacy in Qatar,” the video said.

The production of venti-lators (Savr-Q) by Barzan Holdings comes in response to the directives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the Ministry of

Defence to contribute to the measures taken by the country in combating the novel coro-navirus pandemic.

H H the Amir had visited, in April, the Research and Development Center at Barzan Holding at their head-quarters in the Qatar Science and Technology Park to view the production lines for the manufacturing of the ventilators.

The production of the ven-tilators, which comply with the standards of the American

Food and Drug Administration, has ensured that Qatar does not face the shortage of this life-saving device and the country has enough ventilators to meet the local demand.

These devices are equipped with sensors to alert the medical staff if the lung func-tions of coronavirus patients deteriorate. Globally, the demand of ventilators is high as they are a key component in the fight against coronavirus.

Barzan Holdings is pro-ducing the ventilators through

a strategic partnership with the American company, Wilcox.

Barzan Holdings’ mission is to strengthen Qatar’s sov-ereignty and support the long-term development of R&D, knowledge transfer, human capital, industry and innovative technology in Qatar’s defence and security sector. To achieve its mission, Barzan Holdings operates under three pillars: invest-ments, R&D, and strategic procurement, said the company on its website.

Qatar in Numbeo safety Index 2020

We want to make sure fans have a holistic

experience in terms of transport and are able

to watch more than one match per day. There

will be large fan zones in strategic locations,

a vast range of activities and the opportunity

to walk between West Bay and Souq Waqif.”

Nasser Al Khater, CEO, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

According to the classification rules of the report, countries are ranked in the reverse order — Qatar ranked 133rd in crime rate by registering the lowest crime rate with 11.90 points out of 100. In the Safety Index Qatar ranked the first by scoring 88.10 points out of 100.

OFFICIAL NEWS

02 MONDAY 13 JULY 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 03.24 am 04.52 am

W A L R U WA I S : 33o↗ 41o W A L K H O R : 31o↗ 41o W D U K H A N : 32o↗ 41o W WA K R A H : 29o↗ 42o W M E S A I E E D 29o↗ 42o W A B U S A M R A 30o↗ 45o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 21:27 – 00:00 LOW TIDE 05:41– 15:54

Hot daytime with some clouds and relatively humid by night.

Minimum Maximum33oC 42oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.40 am06.29 pm

ASR ISHA

03.04 pm07.59 pm

Amir congratulates President of Kiribati

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 President of

the Republic of Kiribati H E Taneti

Maamau on the occasion of his

country’s National Day. -QNA

Qatar condemns explosion in Afghanistan

DOHA: The State of Qatar has

expressed its strong condem-

nation and denunciation of the

explosion that occurred in Jag-

hatu in Afghanistan’s Southeastern

Ghazni province, and resulted in

the death and injury of a number

of civilians including women and

children. In a statement issued

yesterday, the Ministry of For-

eign Affairs reiterated Qatar’s firm

stance on rejecting violence and

terrorism regardless of motives

and causes. The statement

expressed Qatar’s condolences

to the families of victims as well

as the government and people of

Afghanistan, wishing the wounded

a speedy recovery. -QNA

QFFD attends UN meeting on developmental challenges amid coronavirus pandemic

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) participated in the closed official session of the High Level Political Forums on accelerating action and embarking on new pathways to realise the 2030 Agenda and responding to COVID-19 in African countries, Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Countries.

Khalifa Al Kuwari, Director-General of Qatar Fund for Development partic-ipated as a resource person in the closed official session of the HLPF .

The virtual meeting addressed the need for enhancing resilience and struc-tural transformation in Least Developed countries, land-locked developing countries and African countries, drawing

from the lessons of COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the poorest, including women, children, older people, persons with disabilities, migrants and refugees and informal sector workers.

“Convinced that every country has relevant experi-ences to share, and every country has new things to learn when tackling own devel-opment challenges, we aim to capture and nurture local solu-tions that enhance resilience and stimulate structural trans-formation,” said Khalifa Al Kuwari, Director General of the Qatar Fund for Development.

Many of the Least Developed countries, land-locked developing countries and African countries have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to fragility of health systems, limited coverage of social pro-tection systems, limited financial and other resources,

vulnerability to external shocks, and significant dependence on international trade and financing.

In many of these countries the effects of the pandemic are amplified by the ongoing con-flicts, instability and the climate crisis. Challenges remain in ensuring that existing vulnerabilities are not exacerbated by external eco-

nomic and other factors.The meeting comes ahead

of the fifth UN Conference on LDCs scheduled to be hosted by the State of Qatar in March 2021. The conference will provide an opportunity to share a new action plan for LDCs to build back better, smarter and resilience in the next decade.

Qatar Fund for development,

in partnership with International and Qatari-based strategic partners played a major role in accelerating progress towards the achievement of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Devel-opment. These efforts are guided by the vision of ensuring inclusive and sustainable devel-opment for the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in soci-eties and countries.

Khalifa Al Kuwari, Director-General of Qatar Fund for Development, participating in a virtual meeting of United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Police Institute, Customs Authority sign MoU to boost cooperationTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Police Training Institute at the Ministry of Interior and Customs Training Center of the General Authority of Customs signed yesterday a memo-randum of understanding (MoU) on exchanging experiences in training fields.

The memorandum of understanding was signed at the headquarters of the Police Training Institute, and aimed to enhance cooperation in the training and benefit from training curricula provided by the two sides.

On behalf of the Police Training Institute, Major Ali Saud Al Henzab, Director of the Police Training Institute, and on behalf of Customs, Mubarak Ibrahim Al Buainain, Director of the Customs Training Center

singed the memorandum of understanding.

Al Buainain said that signing of the MoU with the Police Training Institute comes as a complement to the national role played by both and what is important for it is to raise the professional level of employees of both sides and their important role in protecting customs ports.

It also aimed to enhance cooperation in various training and consulting programmes, and to develop human capabil-ities in line with modern best practices in the field of detecting and combating smuggling.

“The cooperation between the two parties will contribute to raising the efficiency of the customs’ employees in tight-ening security and customs controls at the ports as well as

enhance their ability of inspecting luggage that may constitute a crime of customs smuggling or on the security of the society,” Al Buainain said.

It contains detailed infor-mation to raise the level of effi-ciency and capabilities of the

human cadres working with the Ministry of Interior and the General Authority of Customs to use radiological examination devices as well as the areas of combating the smuggling of drugs, weapons and other dan-gerous and prohibited

materials. In addition to that, there will be joint coordination between the parties in the field of exchanging experiences, the training staff and specialised researchers, and the work of joint projects in the academic and field fields.

Major Ali Saud Al Henzab, Director of the Police Training Institute, and Mubarak Ibrahim Al Buainain, Director of the Customs Training Center, signing a memorandum of understanding, yesterday.

QC to hold digital webinar on family and mental healthTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Chamber, in cooperation with Al Ahmadani Medical Center, has agreed to launch a series of webinars and e-learning tools geared towards Qatar’s private sector.

The first webinar is to be held at 10am on Wednesday on the theme “Family & Mental Health during COVID-19”.

The webinar aims to discuss dealing with children during the period of home quarantine and dealing with anxiety and fear in children during health crisis, as well as developing an effi-cient plan for children’s daily routine and steps for children’s return to school after quarantine.

During the seminar, psy-chologist Serine Al Banna will discuss several issues, including the importance of the home support for children during the quarantine period, the psycho-logical problems that may affect children during the quarantine, and the methods used to deal with the behavioural problems of children.

Al Banna has a large

experience in the psychological field, enjoying more than 12 years’ experience in many of the largest hospitals in the GCC in the psychological field.

She provides psychological support to those with special needs, children, adolescents and adults.

She is also specialised in the treatment of psychological dis-orders through behavioural and cognitive therapy for various

disorders such as fear and anxiety, depression, compulsive obsession, fears, self-harm, food disorders, and others.

Established in 1995, Al Ahmadani Medical Center (AMC) was founded as a multi-specialty polyclinic with the intent of bringing premier quality services to Qatar’s rapidly developing healthcare sector.

AMC applies international

best practices across its services and has consistently evolved its diverse range of specialties to accommodate and meet the needs of the State of Qatar.

The polyclinic specialises in services across Clinical Psy-chology & Counselling, Aero-medical Center, Marine and Seafarers’ Clinic, General Phy-sician & Preventative Health, Dentistry, Dermatology and Aesthetics and Physiotherapy & Chiropractics.

Besides, AMC’s training department is a QCHP-AD accredited facility offering CPD and other training programmes to medical, allied healthcare and other professionals.

Psychologist Serine Al Banna will discuss importance of home support for children during the quarantine period.

Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), in partnership with International and Qatari-based strategic partners played a major role in accelerating progress towards the achievement of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.

The webinar aims to discuss dealing with children during the period of home quarantine and dealing with anxiety and fear in children during health crisis.

Municipality intensifies inspection drive;

25 houses evacuated over violations

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Al Shamal Municipality has intensified its inspection of workers’ housing in the coun-try’s residential areas and got 25 violating houses evac-uated.

The houses were violating the provisions of the law which prohibits workers housing camps within family residential areas.

The drives included Al Ruwais, Abu Daluf and the Al Shamal, and continued from March 12 to June 30. The total number of evacuated houses was 25, 20 in Al Shamal and five in Al Ruwais.

The campaign plan includes inspection to identify the violators and issuing warnings to com-panies and tenants to rectify the problem.

The Municipality has urged owners and tenants of real estate, citizens and res-idents to adhere to the pro-visions of the law prohibiting workers’ housing camps in the family residential areas,

as per the ministerial decision defining such areas.

Meanwhile, the Munici-pality of Um Slal, represented by the Technical Control Section, conducted during the first half of this year 992 inspection visits on private and public buildings and workers accommodations.

During the campaign, 115 violations were detected , in addition to 13 violations against state property. The Municipality also received 225 complaints.

The drives included Al Ruwais, Abu Daluf and the Al Shamal, and continued from March 12 to June 30. A total of 25 houses were evacuated with 20 in Al Shamal and five in Al Ruwais.

Reliable information to public key to tackle pandemics

FROM PAGE 1

The Second Secretary of Qatars Permanent Mission pointed out that the committees officials are keen to be at a high level of transparency, profes-sionalism and credibility in issuing decisions and announcing facts and statistics to the public, by holding periodic press conferences to provide briefings, answer ques-tions and issue statements and directives in line with relevant international standards and guidelines. This led to the com-mittees success in reassuring public opinion and society and gaining their trust, he added.

The Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the UN Office in Geneva noted the committee’s keenness to communicate with represent-atives of diplomatic missions and global organisations, clarify the measures taken to address the pandemic, listen to their concerns and try to find solu-tions for difficulties they face.

03MONDAY 13 JULY 2020 HOME

Ooredoo Group extends work from home until year-end

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

In a pilot initiative aiming to adopt and support a more agile digital culture, Ooredoo Group has extended its work-from-home procedures, allowing employees whose work doesn’t require being physically in the office to continue working remotely until the end of 2020.

The company is one of the first in the region to make such a decision, paving the way to an innovative working envi-ronment that could reshape the contemporary workplace.

Ooredoo Group employees and contractors will be allowed to agree more flexible working arrangements from home or the office, subject to individual agreement and at management discretion. As for the Group’s operating com-panies around the world, each will have flexibility to test more localised working arrangements in a way that works best for them and in line with the regulations and direc-tions of the countries they operate in.

Based on key lessons learned in the recent period, the Group management team believes that this “experiment” will foster the creation of a more agile and modern work c u l t u r e . A s

a leader in technology and tel-ecommunications, the Group aims to leverage the insights of the recent period into a competitive advantage.

Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, Group Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo, said: “Amid the COVID-19 situation, we are presented with a real oppor-tunity for taking our digital transformation journey to a whole new level, which will see our company leverage digital solutions to ultimately adopt a more holistic digital culture.

“This will transform the organisation and how we work. If colleagues found the combination of working off-site and socially distancing a challenge at first, we have emerged from this disruption empowered, able to get things done as a team — even when not sharing the same physical space — and even more dynamic. I’m both very excited and optimistic about the coming period.”

Ooredoo Group has led the way among regional tech com-panies by providing a supportive environment for colleagues working from home. As business returns to normal, these new workplace relationships can be repurposed to strengthen the enterprise in its ability to meet

the needs of its customers and the societies they live in.

While the company will seek to incorporate and build upon the potential for improved work practices dis-cerned in recent months, it will continue to operate within official public health guide-lines, against a backdrop of rigorous emergency and business continuity planning. This will allow for changes of direction should the medical situation change.

“All this requires com-mitment, responsibility, and accountability — but given the positive experience of the past few months, I’m convinced that together we can further transform the Ooredoo culture,” said Sheikh Saud.

Enforced changes saw hundreds of staff members working from home since March, an unprecedented sce-nario which can now be built upon leading to a positive outcome.

Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, Group CEO Ooredoo

Aspetar introduces new wrist surgical procedure with ligament injuriesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Aspetar surgeons now use arthroscopic surgery to diagnose and treat patients with persisting and painful wrists with ligament injuries, which aims to cut the time patients have to wait for inves-tigation and treatment in terms of these problems.

Injuries to the Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex (TFCC) — a ligament that stabilises the wrist, are common in athletes in multiple sports, such as: handball, golf, volleyball and f o o t b a l l — m a i n l y goalkeepers.

The TFCC injuries of the wrist affect the ulnar (little finger) side of the wrist. Mild injuries of the TFCC may be referred to as a wrist sprain. But more severe ligament injuries of the wrist are common, especially in con-comitant wrist fractures and these injuries can cause long-standing problems.

Isolated TFCC injury can occur after quick torque trauma in games such as handball, tennis and among goalkeepers. Golfers are prone to have ulnar-sided wrist problems. Tennis players and table tennis players more often display degenerative TFCC injuries, so called ulnar impaction and chronic central TFCC injuries, due to overuse.

A specific injury to one part of the TFCC is sometimes found among ice hockey players — the so called “Hockey wrist”, caused by repetitive load bearing, rotational stress and

impact to the wrist from contact with the ice or sur-rounding boards.

Football goalkeepers have a sevenfold increased risk of hand and wrist injuries com-pared with outfield players. But compared to all injuries among professional football players, only approximately 1 percent of all these injuries affect the hand and wrist (4/5 affects the lower limb).

Dr. Jonny K Andersson, a consultant Orthopaedic surgeon at Aspetar who led TFCC surgeries, said: “Conven-tional treatment options include physiotherapy, approx-imately one-third of the patients with TFCC injury can be improved by Hand thera-pists and Physio therapists, by specific custom-made brace and, above all, neuro-muscular rehabilitation and proprio-ceptive training. If this con-servative treatment does not help significantly in two-three months, surgery with arthro-scopic re-insertion of TFCC, is recommended. For the athletes and in other cases with gross instability or sub-dislocation of the ulnar head, I recommend a n e a r l y s u r g i c a l intervention.”

Dr. Andersson; who has a long experience of performing different surgical techniques in terms of wrist ligament repair, stressed that the post-operative rehabilitation takes time; three weeks of above elbow cast, four weeks of custom-made brace. Gradually increasing training of range of motion and proprioception is

needed Full strength is allowed after four months.

“Wrist arthroscopy is the gold standard in diagnostics of wrist ligament injuries (MRI is not reliable enough to disclose a significant injury). The grade of instability can be dynami-cally evaluated during arthro-scopic surgery and the healing capacity can be assessed. Arthroscopic re-insertion of the TFCC is done under perfect view of the repair and its

strength. The results in terms of functional outcome and inci-dence of re-instability is com-parable, but less stiffness, less scar and less risk of neuroma of sensory nerve-branches are seen after the arthroscopic technique, compared with open techniques.” Dr. Andersson said.

Nowadays, Aspetar sur-geons perform approximately 30 cases of arthroscopic re-insertion of the TFCC, every

year. Providing a specific knowledge of these wrist lig-ament injuries and its treatment among all athletes is crucial and mandatory.

Aspetar’s Orthopaedic Surgery Department focuses on the surgical management of musculoskeletal injuries. With highly qualified surgeons achieving the highest levels of excellence in the fields of clinical care and orthopaedic education as well as academ-ically, the team aims for highest quality and functional outcome for the patients and a quick return to play for the athletes.

The surgeons of Aspetar are experts in both arthroscopic and open surgical techniques. With the development of the Hand and Wrist unit, Aspetar can now also provide all kinds of surgical treatment from the fingertip to the elbow.

Dr. Jonny K Andersson performing a surgical procedure.

Qatar Chamber awarded ISO for information securityQNA — DOHA

Qatar Chamber (QC) for Industry and Commerce was awarded yesterday ISO 27001:2013 developed by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) for the chamber’s infor-mation security which matched the best standards interna-tionally.

In a statement from Qatar Chamber yesterday, it said that

the certificate is one of the most internationally accepted and widely recognised information security standards developed to provide organisations with a framework for establishing processes for implementing, operating, monitoring, reviewing and improving an Information Security Man-agement System (ISMS), noting the standard considers not only ICT but encompasses the entire

administrative operations.The chamber stressed that

the awarding of the certificate emphasised the Chambers' interest in developing its infor-mation security management system, noting that this certificate is a world-recognised and inter-national best practice standard in this important field. The statement added that awarding this certificate will reflect posi-tively in the quality of services

provided to the Chambers members, in addition to contrib-uting to realising the national vision for cybersecurity as part of Qatar National Vision 2030.

Commenting on the occasion, QC’s Director-General Saleh bin Hamad Al Sharqi said that the awarding of the certificate emphasised the Chambers interest in developing its infor-mation security management system, noting that this certificate

is a world-recognised and inter-national best practice standard in this important field.

“The Chamber is keen on the security of the information and data provided in the services it offers, and is interested to ensure that the best international standards are applied and that security control standards are adopted to protect information against any security risks,” he added.

Qatar participates in meeting of 110th permanent Council of La FrancophonieQNA — PARIS

The State of Qatar participated in the 110th meeting of the Permanent Council of La Fran-cophonie, which was held under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General of the Inter-national Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) H E Louise Mushikiwabo.

Qatar’s Ambassador to France and its Representative to the International Organi-sation of La Francophonie H E Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani represented Qatar at the meeting through video confer-encing technology.

The meeting discussed developments in the Franco-phone space, the prospects for the development of La

Francophonie, in addition to reviewing of the options available to the OIF in con-fronting COVID-19 pandemic.

The Permanent Council of La Francophonie praised the unity and solidarity of La Fran-cophonie states and govern-ments in facing the repercus-sions of the global health crisis, and welcomed the Secretary-General’s call for greater plu-r a l i s m w i t h i n t h e organisation.

Furthermore, the Council approved the Secretary-Gen-eral’s proposal to establish a “La Francophonie avec Elles” fund, which will be dedicated to sup-porting women and girls in vul-nerable situations, especially in Africa and the Caribbean, due to the consequences of the

current health crisis.Since joining the Interna-

tional Organisation of La Fran-cophonie as an associate member in 2012, Qatar has been committed to the values of La Francophonie and contributing to the promotion of the French language, as the number of French speakers and the schools that teach it is constantly increasing in Qatar.

Qatar is also keen to partic-ipate in the various summits, ministerial conferences and meetings held by the organi-sation at all levels, and continues its efforts to create a permanent dialogue between the Arab and Francophone cultures. Qatar is looking forward to participating in the upcoming Francophone Summit in Tunisia.

Qatar’s Ambassador to France, H E Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani, participating in the 110th meeting of the Permanent Council of La Francophonie through video conferencing technology.

‘Amid the COVID-19 situation, we are presented with a real opportunity for taking our digital transformation journey to a whole new level, which will see our company leverage digital solutions to ultimately adopt a more holistic digital culture,’ said Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani.

Injuries to the Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex — a ligament that stabilises the wrist, are common in athletes in multiple sports, such as: handball, golf, volleyball and football — mainly goalkeepers. The TFCC injuries of the wrist affect the ulnar (little finger) side of the wrist. Mild injuries of the TFCC may be referred to as a wrist sprain.

Qatar reports 470

COVID-19 cases,

one death and

809 recoveries

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced the registration of 470 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country. Another 809 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 99,743. The Ministry has also reported one death due to COVID-19.

The deceased aged 61 was receiving the necessary medical care, said the Ministry. All new cases have been intro-duced to isolation and are receiving necessary care according to their health status.

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 daily new cases and hospital admis-sions has gradually declined over the past few weeks.

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

However, the Ministry has emphasised on the importance of taking precautions against COVID-19. “Even though restrictions are being lifted, and numbers are declining, this does not mean that the COVID-19 pandemic is over in Qatar – every day between 50 and 100 people are admitted to hospital with moderate to severe COVID-19 symptoms,” the Ministry said.

“Unless we follow all pre-cautionary measures, we may experience a second wave of the virus and see numbers increasing — there are already signs of this happening in other countries around the world. Now more than ever, we must be careful and protect the most vulnerable.”

04 MONDAY 13 JULY 2020HOME

QU, MME work on biofuels for sustainable & clean energy sourcesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

In cooperation between Qatar University (QU) and the Ministry of Municipality and Envi-ronment (MME), a joint research team worked on the scientific project aiming to address the main challenges represented by lack of cleaning, renewable energy globally and the continuous production of wastewater that the world faces and hinders human devel-opment.

The cooperation agreement between Qatar University and the MME came in 2018 to exchange information and experiences to establish joint cooperation in various fields related to the scientific, admin-istrative and technical fields, cooperation in the field of research and studies.

The agreement also included conducting scientific research on sustainable biofuel production using solar energy and organic materials from “Sustainable Solar-Driven Biofuel Generation from Indus-trial Wastewater without External Bias”.

The scientific team consists of Professor Dr Siham Youssef Al Qaradawi, professor of organic chemistry at Qatar Uni-versity; and Dr Engr Muhammad Saif Al Kuwari, Assistant Under-secretary, Director of the Studies Center Ministry of Municipalities and Environment; Professor Kyu Jung Chae, researcher and expert in studies related to the microbial electrolysis cell, Korea Maritime and Ocean University in Republic of Korea, in cooper-ation with the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), supervised and funded by the QNRF.

Prof Mariam Al Maadeed, Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies at QU, said: “We are keen in the research and graduate studies sector at Qatar University to cooperate with government institutions and research agencies to join efforts and exploit the available resources and expertise between the two parties. From this standpoint, the agreement between the uni-versity and the Ministry of Municipal and Environment came to address the challenges on clean energy and the

sustainability of its resources, biofuel production is a research achievement of this fruitful cooperation.”

Dr Engr Muhammad Saif Al-Kuwari, Assistant Undersec-retary, Director of the Center for Environmental and Municipal Studies at the Ministry of Munic-ipality and Environment stressed the importance of this research project, saying: “Sci-entific research on sustainable biofuel production using solar energy and organic materials in wastewater and industrial will open up new and broad

horizons for the exploitation of The country’s natural resources are the optimal use which is in line with Qatar’s 2030 vision, and investment in this field will be enhanced through the gen-eration of sustainable biofuels and their use in transportation and industry, as biofuels are a renewable energy source that is produced by converting organic materials into biofuels, It can be used as fuel for various means of transportation and other industrial facilities.”

Dr Al Kuwari added: “This scientific project is an added value to convert wastewater into hydrogen, which is an effective alternative approach to biofuel production in Qatar and all over the world, due to its high energy and environmentally friendly combustion, as biofuels can reduce greenhouse gas emis-sions by about 1.7 billion tons per year, equivalent to more than 80 percent of current emissions from transportation and other things, thus leading to the intro-duction of a self-sustaining energy system for the pro-duction of bio-hydrogen with solar energy. Worldwide, large

amounts of wastewater contain concentrations High inorganic, organic and microbiological pol-lutants, they are drained onto agricultural streams and inland lakes without reasonable treatment, causing harmful effects on public health and the environment.”

This research can be con-sidered as a new platform for solar and biological energy fusion technology in Qatar, which includes innovative design and control of the chemical and physical prop-erties of the compound elec-trode and membranes to provide outstanding per-formance towards green biofuel production and wastewater treatment.

The successful development of the PA-MEC-supported Microbial Electrophoresis Cell, based on highly efficient and low-cost electrodes, will open the way to adopting a new and innovative approach to the practical application of this type of fuel cell in Qatar, paving the way for the transfer of scientific and technical knowledge to exploit science.

Indian community in Qatar bids farewell to envoyTHE PENINSULA – DOHA

The Indian Community in Qatar bid a virtual farewell to Ambas-sador of India to Qatar, P Kumaran and his better half Ritu Kumaran. The plenary was organised by ICBF President, PN Baburajan, coordinated by IBPC President, Azim Abbas and supported ardently by ISC Pres-ident, Hassan Chogule and ICC President, AP Manikantan. The session was hosted by Anu Sharma and the technical coor-dination was handled by ICBF General Secretary, Avinash Gaikwad.

The community extended their hearty wishes and success to the people’s own ambassador for his imminent assignment in Singapore.

The gathering contained at least 500 members of the com-munity including Apex body chairmen, past, present and founder members of the Apex bodies, members of associate organisations, community leaders, social sachems and members from all walks of the

community. The presidents of all apex

bodies recollected the wise, genuine and purposeful, prompt decisions, actions, guidance and motivation in the right direction by the envoy in all their efforts towards the betterment of the community. P Kumaran believed in an instant, delib-erate and effective actions with long-lasting influences.

P N Baburajan, recalled how the flourished term under the patronage of P Kumaran can be undoubtedly and proudly be addressed as the golden era of ICBF. Most swift and effective initiatives such as the generous Open Houses chaired by the ambassador that shed light on several concerns faced by the members of the community extending a light to the lives of many. Otherwise sluggish proc-esses like the Workmen’s Com-pensation, Worker’s Fund, tickets for repatriation, legal and government actions that caught speed steadily in his jurisdiction making lives of people better.

The ambassador’s presence and support at each medical camp and his direct assurance of support to the vulnerable segments of the community including the fishermen and low paid workers become a beacon of hope to several. Under his blessings a long-term bud pending to bloom saw light in the form of the Integrated Indian Community Center.

Baburajan also conveyed

the gratitude of the community and all apex bodies to Ritu Kumaran. He did not fail to mention how the Hamad Medical Corporation Rehabili-tation Centre would always remember her services with regards.

P Kumaran said that his stay in Qatar was a pleasant expe-rience. He said “It is important that we all stay united despite several differences, being such

a large community. During this tenure, the trade volume between Qatar and India increased significantly and the Indian population (in Qatar) also surged ahead and reached new heights. We had only three apex bodies for the community and now there are four. There were plans to lay the foundation for a new embassy building but that could not be materialised.”

Indian envoy and members of Indian community during the virtual farewell ceremony.

KIA launches 'Live Stream Showroom'THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Kia Motors Corporation launched ‘Live Stream Showroom’, a new online platform that offers customers access to personalised virtual viewings in selected Kia dealerships.

The new platform was introduced initially in Qatar, and is being expanded

throughout the Middle East and Africa in countries such as, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Kuwait, Bahrain and South Africa with the aim of a global implemen-tation in the future.

Live Stream Showroom offers customers a live video session with Kia dealers for a digital experience tailored to meet their individual needs.

Customers will receive one-on-one consultation w i t h l i v e responses to questions, and explore the

design and features of their chosen model and see demon-strations of new technology and functionality on demand.

The new platform prioritises customer’s convenience and ensures a seamless digital expe-rience that is same as a physical showroom visit. This com-mitment toward customer value-led innovations comes as the company establishes its leadership position in the future automotive industry under its ‘Plan S’ strategy.

“Live Stream Showroom demonstrates our continued commitment to tailor the

car-buying journey to the demands of our customers with virtual viewings,” said Artur Martins, Senior Vice-President and Head of Global Customer

Experience Division at Kia. “By launching this new platform, we aim to stay ahead of the curve in digital sales and marketing in this time of transition.”

Al Meera launches e-raffle campaign for Qatar's national productsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Al Meera Consumer Goods Company (QPSC) has launched an e-raffle campaign for ‘Qatar National Products’, as part of its continued efforts as the leading national retailer to encourage customers to select local products.

The campaign, which started on July 8 and set to end on July 28, 2020, gives Meera Rewards members the chance to win 1 million points on a daily basis upon spending QR50 or more on national products. Each member will be allowed one entry per day and they will automatically be entered into an e-raffle draw with up to 70 winners every week.

Commenting on the cam-paign, Al Meera Company stated: “Together, We Support National Products”, an initi-ative by the Ministry of Com-merce and Industry and adopted by Al Meera, aims to bolster the local suppliers in Qatar. As a country working towards self-sufficiency, this campaign will help expand the visibility of high-quality, home-grown products and other household items and drive Qatar’s goal towards this endeavours. With this cam-paign, we commemorate the success of local SMEs, while at the same time leverage the Meera Rewards program to our customers’ benefit.”

The national retailer runs the most extensive network of branches in Qatar with a com-mitment to providing the best quality at competitive prices in the market. Al Meera presents a variety of locally produced goods at a great value for cus-tomers to select from in addition to a range of import products.

HBKU’s College of Science and Engineering collaborates with MoTC to deliver webinar seriesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The College of Science and Engineering (CSE) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) has collaborated with the Ministry of Transport and Communications’ (MoTC) Qatar Digital Government Training Program to deliver a series of webinars. Taking place between June 21 and July 2, the series provided multiple perspectives on COVID-19 research and applications.

The series began with a discussion on the role of blockchain technology in developing applications for secure smart cities after COVID-19 and beyond. Other webinars considered the use of wearable electronics for COVID-19 applications, the pandemic’s impact on global supply chains, data analytic tools for COVID-19 applications, as well as training for designing smart phone applications.

The webinar series also represented a chance to highlight the CSE’s COVID-19 state-of-the-art projects and applied research initiatives. These include Weqaya, a user behaviour application for assessing COVID-19 exposure, and Esra, which provides feedback on a child’s emotional wellbeing to parents, teachers and mental health practitioners as the isolation continues. Other research projects include V-Mosque for streaming reli-gious events and the development of ICT solutions for COVID-19 and other medical emergencies.

FROM LEFT: Dr Eng Muhammad Saif Al Kuwari; Dr Siham Youssef Al Qaradawi; and Professor Kyu Jung Chae

Iraqis demand curbs on paramilitary groups

05MONDAY 13 JULY 2020 MIDDLE EAST

On fifth attempt, UNSC renews Syria aid via TurkeyREUTERS — NEW YORK

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Saturday approved aid deliveries to Syria through one border crossing from Turkey, a day after its authorisation for the six-year-long humanitarian operation ended, leaving millions of Syrian civilians in limbo.

The United Nations describes the aid delivered from Turkey as a “lifeline” for Syrians in the country’s northwest. The 15-member council had been deadlocked, with most members pitted against Syrian allies Russia and China, which abstained on Saturday in the council’s fifth vote this week on the issue.

Veto-powers Russia and China wanted to halve the approved Turkey border crossings to one, arguing that the northwest of Syria can be reached from within the country. They also wanted to include language that Western diplomats said blamed

unilateral sanctions on Syria for the humanitarian crisis.

German UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen told his Chinese and Russian counter-parts to report back to their capitals that he had asked: “How those people who gave the instructions to cut off the aid of 500,000 children... are ready to look into the mirror

tomorrow.” Council members had also been split on whether to renew authorization for six months or one year. The short resolution finally adopted on Sat-urday, which was drafted by Germany and Belgium, simply authorized one crossing for one year.

“Russia is consistently in favor of humanitarian deliveries to Syria with full respect of the country’s sovereignty and ter-ritorial integrity and with coor-dination of its legal government. This issue should not be politi-cized,” deputy Russian UN envoy Dmitry Polyanskiy said after the vote.

Twelve members voted in favour, while the Dominican Republic also abstained. The successful vote came after two failed votes on Russian pro-posals and two vetoes by Russia and China of resolutions drafted by Germany and Belgium.

Acting British UN Ambas-sador Jonathan Allen said after the vote that the loss of aid

access through Bab Al Salaam border crossing would deprive “1.3 million people in northwest Syria of cross-border humani-tarian assistance that they rely on.” Germany and Belgium said in a joint statement after the vote: “One border crossing is not enough, but no border crossings would have left the fate of an entire region in question.”

When the Security Council first authorised the cross-border aid operation into Syria in 2014 it also included access from Jordan and Iraq. Those crossings were cut in January due to oppo-sition by Russia and China.

China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said China always had reservations about the delivery of cross-border aid, but given the

current situation in Syria it does not object to retaining it “at this stage.” Though he added that “it should adjusted accordingly in light of the developments on the ground.” Russia has vetoed 16 council resolutions related to Syria since Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad cracked down on protesters in 2011, leading to civil war.

A photo taken on March 1, 2020, from a Turkish border village in Hatay province, Turkey, showing the Atma IDP camp, located in Idlib Governorate of Syria and housing internally displaced Syrians.

Khamenei urges fight against ‘tragic’ virus resurgenceAFP & REUTERS — TEHRAN

Iran’s supreme leader yesterday called the resurgence of the novel coronavirus in the country “truly tragic” and urged all citizens to help stem what has been the region’s deadliest outbreak.

“Let everyone play their part in the best way to break the chain of transmission in the short term and save the country,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a video con-ference with lawmakers, according to his office.

Iran has been struggling to contain the outbreak since announcing its first cases in Feb-ruary and has reported more than 12,800 deaths since then.

Khamenei’s speech was his first to the new parliament which took office at the end of May, dominated by conserva-tives and ultraconservatives e l e c t e d i n F e b r u a r y elections.

According to his official site, Khamenei praised healthcare

workers for “their sacrifices”. But he also strongly criti-

cised “some people who do not even do something as simple

as wearing a mask”, saying he felt “ashamed” of such behaviour.

Khamenei’s comments

came as infections have again been on the rise in Iran since early May. According to figures announced Sunday, 194 deaths from the COVID-19 disease and 2,186 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours.

The health ministry announced a record 221 deaths in a single day on Thursday.

In total, 257,303 cases have been reported in the country, including 12,829 deaths, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said yesterday in a televised press conference.

The outbreak’s rising toll has prompted authorities to make wearing masks man-datory in enclosed public spaces and to allow the hardest hit provinces to reimpose restrictive measures.

Iran had closed schools, cancelled public events and banned movement between its 31 provinces in March, but the government progressively lifted restrictions from April to reopen

its sanctions-hit economy.Meanwhile, Lebanon has

recorded more than 100 new coronavirus infections in the last day, its highest daily increase yet, with most of the cases among workers of a cleaning company, the health minister said.

“To reassure people, the source is known,” health min-ister Hamad Hassan told broad-caster LBC. He added that up to 75% of the cases were linked to what he described as a big cleaning company, were s y m p t o m - f r e e a n d non-Lebanese.

Hassan said 800 workers from the cleaning company in question needed to be tested, along with another 1,000 workers from two other com-panies with whom they were connected.

“The number will remain high this week,” he said.

Lebanon has recorded more than 2,000 infections and 36 deaths from coronavirus since February.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wearing a protective mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic, during a virtual meeting with lawmakers in Tehran, yesterday.

Iran says misaligned radar led to Ukrainian jet downingAFP — TEHRAN

Iran said that the misalignment of an air defence unit’s radar system was the key “human error” that led to the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January.

“A failure occurred due to a human error in following the procedure” for aligning the radar, causing a “107-degree error” in the system, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO) said in a report.

This error “initiated a hazard chain” that saw further mistakes committed in the minutes before the plane was

shot down, said the CAO doc-ument, presented as a “factual report” and not as the final report on the accident investigation.

Flight 752, a Ukraine Inter-national Airlines jetliner, was struck by two missiles and crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s main airport on January 8, at a time of heightened US-Iranian tensions. The Islamic republic admitted several days later that its forces accidentally shot down the Kiev-bound plane, killing all 176 people on board.

The majority of the pas-sengers on the Boeing 737 were

Iranians, with Canadians, Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons and Swedes also aboard.

The CAO said that, despite the erroneous information available to the radar system operator on the aircraft’s tra-jectory, he could have identified it as an airliner, but instead there was a “wrong identification”.

The report also noted that the first of the two missiles launched at the aircraft was fired by a defence unit operator who had acted “without receiving any response from the Coordination Center” on which he depended.

The second missile was fired 30 seconds later, “by observing the continuity of (the) trajectory of the detected target,” the report added.

The CAO said there was a defect in the transmission to the defence units coordination centre of the data identified by the radar.

An Iranian general had said in January that many commu-nications had been jammed that night.

Tehran’s air defences had been on high alert at the time the jet was shot down in case the US retaliated against Iranian strikes hours earlier on

American troops stationed in Iraq.

Those strikes were carried out in response to the killing of a top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, in a US drone attack near Baghdad airport.

The aircraft tragedy sparked fierce reprobation in Iran, espe-cially after it took three days for the armed forces to admit having shot down the plane “by accident” after a missile operator mistook it for an enemy projectile.

Ottowa and Kiev have demanded for months that Iran, which does not have the tech-nical means to decode the black

boxes, send them abroad so their contents can be analysed.

In late June, France’s Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA) said Iran had “officially requested technical assistance” to retrieve the black box data.

Work on the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Flight Data Recorder “should begin on July 20,” according to the BEA.

In early July, Canada announced that it had reached an agreement in principle with Iran to launch negotiations on compensation for the families of foreign victims of the accident.

Houthis allow UN team to inspect abandoned tanker

AFP — DUBAI

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have given UN inspectors the green light to inspect a decaying oil tanker abandoned off the coast with 1.1 million barrels of crude on board which experts say could rupture at any time.

A breach of the vessel would have disastrous results for Red Sea marine life and tens of thousands of impov-erished people who depend on fishing for their livelihood.

The 45-year-old FSO Safer is anchored off the port of Hodeida under the control of the Iran-backed Houthis, who have previously blocked efforts to send inspectors to assess its condition.

The UN Security Council will hold a special meeting on July 15 to discuss the crisis, after water entered the ves-sel’s engine room “which could have led to disaster”, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

Dujarric said prospects had been revived for an inspection team to conduct light repairs and determine the next steps, and a UN source said Sunday that the Houthis had agreed to the visit.

“They officially approved the visit of the UN assessment and repair team to the tanker,” the source said.

Effectively a floating storage platform, the Safer has had virtually no maintenance for five years since war broke out in the country where the Houthis have seized much of the north from the interna-tionally recognised gov-ernment. The Yemen gov-ernment has warned the Safer could explode and cause “the largest environmental disaster regionally and globally”.

Top Houthi leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said on Twitter last month that the rebels want guarantees the vessel will be repaired and that the value of the oil on board is used to pay salaries of their employees.

Iraqi security forces stand guard outside the entrance of the Green Zone during a protest in the capital Baghdad yesterday to demand a curb on paramilitary groups and restricting the use of weapons to government security forces.

Senior military officer dies of coronavirus in IraqANATOLIA — TEHRAN

A senior Iraqi military officer has succumbed to coronavirus, the army said yesterday.

A military statement said Maj.-Gen Murad Al Rabi’e, commander of the infantry corps of the Iraqi army, died from COVID-19.

Al Rabi’e is the highest-ranking military officer to have died of the virus in Iraq since the outbreak hit the country in March.Iraq has so far recorded 75,194 infections, including 3,055 deaths and 43,079 recov-eries, according to its Health Ministry.

Authorities have imposed a partial curfew, banned gath-erings and made the wearing of masks mandatory in an effort to stem the spread of the virus. The country’s health system has been overwhelmed by the rising numbers, and there is a shortage of medical

supplies including PPE and oxygen canisters.

The coronavirus pandemic claimed more lives in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait yes-terday as the Middle East con-tinues to battle the disease.

The Saudi Health Ministry said 42 people died from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, pushing the nationwide death toll to 2,223. A ministry statement said a further 779 new infections and 1,742 recov-eries were registered, bringing the total to 232,259 and 167,138, respectively.

In Oman, the Health Min-istry recorded nine additional fatalities and 1,318 new cases, taking the overall death toll to 257 and confirmed infections to 56,015. The Kuwaiti Health Ministry said the virus claimed four more lives and infected 836 people, raising the figure to 54,894 confirmed cases, including 390 fatalities.

The United Nations describes the aid delivered from Turkey as a “lifeline” for Syrians in the country’s northwest. The 15-member council had been deadlocked, with most members pitted against Syrian allies Russia and China, which abstained on Saturday in the council’s fifth vote this week on the issue.

Protest against killing

06 MONDAY 13 JULY 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Pro-Haftar forces say will maintain oil blockade

AFP & REUTERS — TRIPOLI

A blockade of Libya’s oil production will continue, forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar have warned, despite the country’s National Oil Corpo-ration (NOC) announcing this week the resumption of production.

Libya, which sits atop Africa’s largest proven crude oil reserves, is torn between the rival powers of the UN-recog-nised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli and

eastern-based Haftar. Since January, groups loyal

to Haftar have been blocking the production and export of oil from the country’s most important fields and terminals, claiming they want a fair distri-bution of the oil revenues managed by Tripoli.

“The closure of ports and oil fields will be maintained until the demands of the Libyan people are satisfied,” said a statement published late Sat-urday on Facebook by

pro-Haftar forces spokesman Ahmad Al Mismari.

“Only one oil tanker” is authorised to load “a quantity of stored oil”, as agreed “with the international community and brotherly and friendly countries” that have requested it, said the statement without elaborating.

NOC yesterday accused the United Arab Emirates of instructing eastern forces in Libya’s civil war to reimpose a blockade of oil exports after the departure of a first tanker in six months.

The UAE, along with Russia and Egypt, supports the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar, which on Saturday said the blockade

would continue despite it having let a tanker load with oil from storage.

“NOC has been informed that the instructions to shut down production were given to (the LNA) by the United Arab Emirates,” it said in a statement, resuming force majeure on all oil exports. There was no imme-diate comment on NOC’s accu-sation from either the LNA or the UAE.

Oil exports are the source of almost all state revenue in Libya, which has been mired in chaos since the ouster and killing of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a 2011 Nato-backed uprising. A first ship was due to start loading crude from the Al-Sidra oil port in the east of the

country, the NOC had said.But the state oil giant

warned it would take time for output to return to previous levels because of major damage to energy infrastructure.

Supported by Turkey, pro-GNA forces have scored important victories in recent months, regaining control of the northwest and driving out forces loyal to Haftar, who had launched an abortive offensive in April 2019 to seize Tripoli.

The NOC had invoked force majeure in response to the blockade — a measure used in exceptional circumstances that allows it to be exonerated from liability in the event of non-compliance with oil delivery contracts.

People stage a protest against the killing of a youth with a bullet in his own car at Tunisia’s Libya border, asking for an investigation of the incident, in Dehiba, Tunisia, yesterday.

Mali protest leader urges calm after deadly unrestAFP — BAMAKO

A Malian protest leader called for calm yesterday after four more people were killed in escalating demonstrations demanding President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s resignation, in the West African country’s worst civil unrest in years.

The capital Bamako was rocked by bloody demonstrations on Friday and Saturday, with witnesses saying that security forces fired live rounds during clashes with protesters.

Attempting to calm the increas-ingly insurgent atmosphere in Bamako, Keita announced he would dissolve the poor Sahel country’s constitutional court.

The court has been at the centre of controversy since it overturned provi-sional results for parliamentary elections earlier this year, triggering protests in several cities that on Friday descended into violence in which at least three were killed.

Clashes raged again in Bamako on Saturday as demonstrators — angered by a long-running jihadist conflict, eco-nomic woes and perceived government corruption— insisted Keita step down.

Four civilians — including a

15-year-old and 17-year-old— were killed overnight Saturday, a hospital official said. Six opposition figures were detained in recent days, of whom one was released late on Saturday, as the government cracks down on an alliance known as the June 5 Movement, which is channelling deep-seated frustrations across the country.

The leading figure of the opposition movement, influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, tried to tamp down the tensions yesterday.

“I once again call on the youth of Mali to show restraint and calm,” Dicko said shortly before speaking at a funeral for three of those killed in Bamako.

“We can truly find and obtain what we want (through) patience (and) good behaviour,” he said. “But the struggle continues.”

In a video broadcast earlier on social media, Dicko urged: “Do not set fire to petrol stations or this district. Calm down, please! Calm down!”

He had recorded the video at his mosque, the scene of especially violent clashes at the weekend.

While the known death toll is cur-rently seven, Dicko’s supporters have said the total is much higher,

broadcasting videos resembling scenes of war.

In the videos, at least two dead men can be seen in pools of blood, while others have bullet wounds. Shots can be heard at regular intervals from such a distance that the shooters cannot be identified. “You are killing Malians in the mosque with live ammunition. The mosque is on fire,” said a man in one the videos, which could not be independ-ently verified.

Yesterday, hundreds crowded

around Dicko’s mosque, walking over spent bullet shells, rubble and the remains of torched tires.

Opposition leaders who have not yet been arrested now appear to be in hiding.

Fearing that Dicko will be arrested like other movement leaders, his sup-porters erected barricades on Sunday “in case the police return”, one of them said. Clashes have also been reported outside the home of the constitutional court’s president Manassa Danioko, who has become a figure of public anger.

Barricades are set around the central Mosque where the Imam Mahmoud Dicko led the prayer for the victims of the violent clashes of the past two days in Bamako, Mali, yesterday.

S Africa mulls return to coronavirus curbsAP — JOHANNESBURG

Confronted by surging hospi-talizations due to COVID-19, South Africa is considering a return to tighter restrictions to combat the disease, which offi-cials say may soon overwhelm the country’s health system.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced he will speak to the nation about the crisis yes-terday evening, after top health officials have warned of shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen.

South Africa’s rapid increase in reported cases has made it one of the world’s centers for COVID-19, as it is ranked as the 9th country most affected by the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country has reported increases of more than 10,000 confirmed cases for several days and the latest daily increase was nearly 13,500. South Africa accounts for 40% of all the confirmed

cases in Africa, with 264,184, including 3,971 deaths, acccording to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention yesterday.

South Africa imposed one of the world’s strictest lock-downs in April and May, including closing virtually all mines, factories and businesses, and a ban on sales of liquor and cigarettes. The measures slowed the spread of the coronavirus but South Africa’s economy, already in recession, contracted dramatically, increasing unem-ployment above 30% and hunger.

In June the country began relaxing restrictions to allow millions of South Africans to return to work. However, within a few weeks the country’s numbers of confirmed cases and hospitalizations increased dramatically.

More than 30% of South Africa’s cases are in the eco-nomic hub of Gauteng province,

which includes the largest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria. The tourist center of Cape Town also has a high number of cases. Johannes-burg’s densely populated Soweto township has a high concentration of cases, according to officials.

In his speech yesterday ,Ramaphosa is expected to announce whether his gov-ernment will reimpose some strict lockdown regulations in Gauteng, where officials are concerned that the province’s hospitals could soon be overwhelmed.

Some top Gauteng officials have urged the government to reinstate restrictions, including limitations on the sale of alcohol and restr ic t ions on movements.

South Africa has carried out 2.1 million tests, on its popu-lation of 58 million. Because of an international shortage of testing materials, South Africa

in June experienced a long delay in the time to get test results, at one point reaching 12 days in government clinics. The situ-ation has improved and the average time to get test results is five days in by public labora-tories and two days in private labs, according to the latest figures issued by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

Africa’s 54 countries have reported 577,904 cases, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention. The continent’s con-firmed cases are concentrated in four countries — South Africa,

Egypt with 81,158 cases, Nigeria with 31,987 cases and Algeria with 18,712 cases - which together make up more than 65% of the continent’s cases. The number of actual cases in Africa is believed to be much higher, as the testing rate is very low in many countries.

Aid worker killed

in Cameroon's

anglophone region

AFP — DOUALA

A Cameroonian aid worker has been killed in a restive anglo-phone region of the central African country, global medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said.

Armed men kidnapped the community health worker in the town of Banga Bakundu in the Southwest region on Thursday, and separatists later reported his death to MSF, the charity said. “His death is an example of the ongoing vio-lence in the Northwest and Southwest region, where attacks on healthcare workers and hospitals are a regular occurrence,” MSF said in a statement posted on its website. The two anglophone regions of Cameroon have been gripped by conflict since separatists declared inde-pendence in October 2017 after decades of grievances at perceived discrimination by the francophone majority.

Earlier this month the government began ceasefire talks with separatist leaders to try to stem the violence that has killed more than 3,000 people. One aid official said anglophone separatists killed the local aid worker on suspicion of being a government spy.

Sudan repeals death sentence for apostasyANATOLIA — KHARTOUM

Sudan has approved wide-ranging amendments in its criminal laws that include repealing the death penalty for apostasy.

According to the 1991 Criminal Law brought by the ousted Omer Al Bashir gov-ernment, the punishment for apostasy was stoning to death.

In a televised interview, the Sudanese Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari said that the new laws have also per-mitted availably and the drinking of alcohol for the Sudanese Christians and has forbidden lashing as a punishment.

“We canceled the Article 126 of the Sudanese Criminal Law and have ensured reli-gious freedom and the equality in citizenship and rule of law,” he said.

“All these changes are aiming at achieving equality in front of the laws. We have dropped all the articles that had led to any kind of discrim-ination. We ensure our people that the legal reformation will continue until we drop all the laws violating the human rights in Sudan,” he stressed.

The minister also con-firmed that the new laws have also banned the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). The death sentence has been reserved only in the cases of murder and other heinous c r i m e s c a l l i n g f o r retribution.

The minister further pointed out that the gov-ernment is currently working to reform other legal provi-sions to incorporate them in a constitutional declaration.

He said that his ministry is working to make new personal law that will drop all the dis-criminatory provisions against the women and children.

Five Tunisian parties seek to oust Ghanouchi as speakerREUTERS — TUNIS

At least five Tunisian parties plan to launch a vote of no confidence in the speaker of parliament, Rchaed Ghanouchi, the leader of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, politi-cians said yesterday.

The no-confidence motion poses the biggest challenge yet to Ennahda, which was swept to power after the Arab Spring, but which was forced to step down in 2013. Pressure on the government has also mounted in recent weeks after opponents called for the res-ignation of Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh over an alleged conflict of interest.

Mohammed Ammar from Attayar party, said that four parliamentary blocs agreed to start the process of with-drawing confidence from the speaker, citing numerous vio-lations, poor management and

unilateral decisions that serve partisan interests. These blocs include the Tahya Tounes, Attayar and Chaab parties, which are in the coalition with Ennahda. The Free Constitu-tional party led by Abir Moussi, a supporter of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali over-thrown by the 2011 revolution, has campaigned to oust Ghanouchi for weeks.

Moussi’s party accused Ghanouchi of serving the Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda. Ghanouchi has rejected these accusations, arguing that Tuni-sians want a government focused on economic and social policy, not political in-fighting. Proce-dures for withdrawing confi-dence require the signature of 73 members of the house for it to be put to a public vote. To succeed, 109 lawmakers will need to vote for no-confidence. The five parties have about 90 members.

Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) accused the UAE of instructing eastern forces in Libya’s civil war to reimpose a blockade of oil exports after the departure of a first tanker in six months.

Somalia carries out security operation against Al Shabaab

QNA — MOGADISHU

The Somali army carried out a security operation against militants of Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Shabaab movement in the Lower Shabelle Governorate, southern Somalia.

Somali News Agency quoted military sources as saying that this military oper-ation aims to clear the ter-rorism clutches from the few remaining areas.

In response to the crimes carried out by Al Shabaab ele-ments, we have carried out this military operation that will continue until terrorism is completely eliminated, the sources added.

Jordan King says

virus ‘under control’

AFP — AMMAN

Jordan’s King Abdullah II said yesterday that his country had successfully brought the novel coronavirus “under control” and that it was time to focus on restarting the economy.

“We have successfully dealt with the coronavirus, which today is under control in Jordan,” he said during a meeting with prominent Jorda-nians. “But like every country in the world we have paid an economic price, and the time has come to focus... on the eco-nomic situation,” a palace statement quoted him as saying.

The kingdom, which has recorded 1,179 cases of the virus including 10 deaths, imposed a tough curfew enforced with drones to curb the spread of COVID-19, before easing policies in early June.

07MONDAY 13 JULY 2020 ASIA

Australian state marks week of triple-digit virus casesREUTERS — MELBOURNE

Australia’s Victoria state marked a week of triple-digit increases in new coronavirus infections yesterday, while a community outbreak in neighbouring New South Wales (NSW) has put the state on high alert.

Victoria reported 273 new cases of the coronavirus and another COVID-19 death yes-terday, while NSW had nine cases linked to an outbreak at Sydney club. Both states account for more than half of Australia’s pop-ulation of 25 million.

Australia has avoided the high COVID-19 casualty numbers of other nations with swift and strict measures, recording so far just under 10,000 coronavirus cases, or about a sixth of the daily cases seen in the United States in recent days.

But as the country has

gradually eased social distancing curbs, a spike in community-transmitted cases led to Mel-bourne, the capital of Victoria, being put under a fresh six-week lockdown on Thursday.

“I know we are asking a lot of Victorians, but we simply have no choice but to acknowledge the reality that we face and to do what must be done, and that is to follow those rules, to only go out when you need to,” Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews told a news conference.

Yesterday’s increase partly reflects increased testing, with Victoria conducting more than 30,000 tests daily. A man in his 70s died over the weekend of

COVID-19, Andrews said, taking the national toll to 108.

NSW, which has significantly eased social distancing rules as of July after new cases fell to low single digits, has asked more than 1,000 people who recently visited a pub in south-west Sydney to self-isolate and get tested for COVID-19 after a growing cluster has been linked to the pub.

Prime Minister Scott Mor-rison attended a rugby match on Saturday in Sydney, raising some concerns. Asked whether it was a wise decision, Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said Morrison attended the game in a safe manner.

Police in the southern New South Wales border city of Albury check cars crossing the state border from Victoria after authorities closed the border due to an outbreak of coronavirus in Victoria, Australia.

Australia to offer residence option to 10,000 Hong KongersAP — SYDNEY

The Australian government says it will offer around 10,000 Hong Kong passport holders currently living in Australia a chance to apply for permanent residence once their current visas expire.

Prime Minister Scott Morri-son’s government believes China’s imposition of a new tough national security law on the semi-autonomous territory means pro-democracy sup-porters may face political persecution.

“That means that many Hong Kong passport holders may be looking for other desti-nations to go to and hence why we have put forward our addi-tional visa options for them,” Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge told Australian Broadcasting Corp television yesterday.

In order to obtain permanent residency, applicants would still have to pass “the character test, the national security test and the like,” Tudge said.

“So it’s not automatic. But it’s

certainly an easier pathway to permanent residency and of course once you’re a permanent resident, there’s then a pathway to citizenship there,” he said.

“If people are genuinely per-secuted and they can prove that case, then they can apply for one of our humanitarian visas in any case.”

Morrison announced last week Australia suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and extended visas for Hong Kong residents from two to five years.

The move comes after China bypassed Hong Kong’s Legis-lative Council to impose the sweeping security legislation without public consultation. Critics view it as a further dete-rioration of freedoms promised to the former British colony, in response to last year’s massive protests calling for greater democracy and more police accountability.

The national security law prohibits what Beijing views as secessionist, subversive or ter-rorist activities or as foreign

intervention in Hong Kong affairs. Under the law, police now have sweeping powers to conduct searches without war-rants and order Internet service providers and platforms to remove messages deemed to be in violation of the legislation.

China’s foreign ministry said it reserved the right to “take further actions” in response to moves by Canberra. “The con-sequences will be fully borne by Australia,” spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters at a daily briefing on Thursday.

Sri Lanka’s ruling party cancels poll rallies over virus surgeAFP — COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s ruling party yesterday called off its rallies ahead of upcoming parlia-mentary elections and delayed the international airport’s reopening over a surge in virus cases.

The South Asian country of 21 million lifted its coronavirus lockdown in late June after declaring there was no longer any community spread of the virus. But a swathe of cases emerged last week, including an outbreak at a drug rehabili-tation centre last week that saw 253 patients test positive in a single night.

“All public meetings where the president and the prime minister were due to attend today, tomorrow and the day after have been cancelled,” President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party said in a statement.

Rajapaksa’s brother Mahinda is the country’s prime minister. The party said all their candidates were also told to call off upcoming public gatherings ahead of the August 5 poll.

Aviation Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said yesterday the international airport, which authorities had planned to reopen on August 1, would remain closed.

“We have decided in the interest of safety and well-being of our citizens to put off the reopening of airports,” he said.

A repatriation programme that has brought home some 12,000 Sri Lankans from overseas so far would also be suspended, Ranatunga added.

The elections were to be held on April 25, but were post-poned twice before being rescheduled for August.

Three generations of Bollywood’s Bachchan family hit by COVID-19REUTERS — MUMBAI

Revered Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter-in-law and granddaughter have joined him and his son in testing positive for COVID-19, the family said yesterday, in one of the highest-profile cases of the pandemic sweeping India.

From hospital with his father in Mumbai, Amitabh Bachchan’s son Abhishek said his wife and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and their eight-year-old daughter had also been infected by the new coronavirus.

“Aishwarya and Aaradhya have also tested COVID-19 pos-itive. They will be self quaran-tining at home,” he tweeted, saying other family members had tested negative and thanking Indians for their wishes and prayers.

“My father and I remain in hospital till the doctors decide otherwise. Everyone please remain cautious and safe. Please follow all rules!” added Abhishek Bachchan, 44, also an actor.

He and his father were admitted on Saturday to hos-pital, where health officials said

yesterday they were stable.Seventy-seven-year-old

Amitabh Bachchan is one of India’s most beloved personal-ities, and some fans were con-ducting Hindu prayer rituals for the whole family.

“It’s shocking to know that one of the richest and most tal-ented, educated family (sic) can get infected. We can only hope the family recovers as it’s important for the morale of mil-lions,” tweeted one fan Jayant Sathe.

The elder Bachchan had a near-fatal accident in 1982 when a table hit him in the abdomen while shooting a fight scene. That triggered an out-pouring of love, with one fan said to have walked backwards from southern Hyderabad city to Mumbai in his honour.

Aishwarya Bachchan, 46, who often features on “most beautiful” lists, has also worked in several Bollywood and Hol-lywood films. She is a brand ambassador for some multina-tional companies, including L’Oreal.

Amitabh Bachchan, who endorses dozens of Indian and global brands, has a net worth estimated to be over $100

million. India has the world’s third highest COVID-19 case load, registering a record increase yesterday that took the number of infections to nearly 850,000. Partial lockdowns have been reimposed in some densely populated areas.

Federal health ministry data showed that more than 27,100 new cases were reported in the previous 24 hours, while deaths increased to 22,674.

An official in the prime min-ister’s office said that senior bureaucrats and ministers had

been asked to show restraint on tweeting about the Bachchan family to avoid speculation and ensure there was equality of treatment for all patients.

The father and son are being treated at Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai despite showing only mild symptoms.

Authorities have been san-itising Amitabh Bachchan’s upscale residence in Mumbai, spraying disinfectant inside the compound and on cars parked outside.

He has been a prominent

figure in the fight against the coronavirus, appearing in public service advertisements where, in his trademark bar-itone, he urges people to wear masks, wash hands frequently and maintain social distance.

India’s film industry recently resumed shoots after a months-long hiatus following a nationwide lockdown in late March.

But actors over 65, such as Amitabh Bachchan, have been banned from the sets because of their vulnerability.

Municipal workers wearing personal protective equipment wait to enter the residence of Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan to sanitise it after he and his son, actor Abhishek Bachchan, tested positive for the coronavirus disease, in Mumbai, yesterday.

Indonesia military academy hit by coronavirus outbreakAFP — BANDUNG, INDONESIA

Nearly 1,300 people at a military academy in Indonesia have tested positive for the coronavirus, an official said, as the country struggles to contain the epidemic.

The Indonesian Army Officer Candidate School in the country’s most populated province of West Java has been quarantined and 30 people were initially hospitalised with mild symptoms, the army’s chief of staff, General Andika Perkasa, said on Saturday.

Of the 1,280 confirmed infections, 991 were cadets and the rest were staff and their family members, he said. Most had no symptoms.

Seventeen were still in hospital on Saturday.

The outbreak was first detected when two cadets went to a medical facility after complaining of fever and back pain.

Both tested positive for COVID-19, sparking mass swab testing at the academy, which has 2,000 staff and cadets.

It is not clear how the cadets were infected, Perkasa said, but some staff live outside the military complex.

The governor of West Java apologised for the outbreak and urged residents to restrict their movements in and out of the neighbourhood where the academy is located until it is brought under control.

Indonesia is the hardest hit country in Southeast Asia with more than 74,000 known cases of COVID-19 and over 3,500 deaths.

The real toll is widely believed to be much higher, however, with experts saying limited testing was under-stating the true scale of the crisis.

The World Health Organ-isation recently urged Indo-nesia to do more testing.

Dengue prevention efforts stifled by pandemicAP — JAKARTA

To slow the spread of the coro-navirus, governments issued lockdowns to keep people at home. They curtailed activities that affected services like trash collection. They tried to shield hospitals from a surge of patients.

But the cascading effects of these restrictions also are ham-pering efforts to cope with sea-sonal outbreaks of dengue, an incurable, mosquito-borne disease that is also known as “breakbone fever” for its severely painful symptoms.

Southeast Asian countries like Singapore and Indonesia have dealt with concurrent out-breaks of dengue and corona-virus this year. In Brazil, where there are over 1.6 million COVID-19 infections, at least 1.1 million cases of dengue have been reported, with nearly 400 deaths, according to the Pan American Health Organization.

Dengue cases are likely to rise soon with the start of sea-sonal rains in Latin American

countries like Cuba, Chile and Costa Rica, as well as the South Asian countries of India and Pakistan.

Dengue typically isn’t fatal, but severe cases may require hospitalisation. Prevention efforts targeted at destroying mosquito-breeding sites, like removing trash or old tires and other objects containing standing water, are still the best ways to curb the spread of the disease. But coronavirus-era lockdowns and other restrictions have meant that these efforts have been reduced or stopped alto-gether in many countries.

In northwestern Pakistan, plans to disinfect tire shops and markets that had dengue out-breaks in 2019 were shelved due to funds being used for the coro-navirus, said Dr. Rizwan Kundi, head of the Young Doctor’s Association.

Health workers who would destroy mosquito-breeding sites in India’s capital of New Delhi are also screening people for the virus.

Having to identify thousands of virus cases has meant that dengue surveillance has suffered in many Latin American coun-tries, added Dr. Maria Franca Tal-larico, the head of health for the Americas regional office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Experts say that disrupting such prevention efforts is ominous for the global battle against dengue.

The World Health Organi-sation says 2019 was the worst year on record for dengue cases, with every region affected, and some countries were hit for the first time.

Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that spreads dengue, is most prevalent in cities, and experts warn that increased urbanization and warming temperatures due to climate change means that its range will keep increasing.

Experts say that while reduced travel means fewer opportunities for mosquitoes to bite people with dengue to

become carriers themselves, the coronavirus pandemic has intro-duced other variables.

Staying home — one way to slow outbreaks of COVID-19, especially in cities — poses greater risks for spreading dengue, said Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA). That’s because the Aedes mos-quito bites during the day, and with more people staying home, where mosquito populations are high, the more likely they are to be bitten.

The impact is already visible. Singapore recorded a five-fold increase in the mosquito larvae detected in homes and common corridors of residential areas during the two-month corona-virus lockdown period, com-pared with the previous two months. By July 6, the total of dengue cases in Singapore was more than 15,500. The NEA says the number of cases this year is expected to exceed the 22,170 cases reported in 2013, which at the time was the largest dengue outbreak in Singapore’s history.

Australia has avoided the high COVID-19 casualty numbers of other nations with swift and strict measures, recording so far just under 10,000 cases.

08 MONDAY 13 JULY 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANDR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

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

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ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

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EDITORIAL

LESS than two weeks remain for the resumption of the QNB Stars League (QSL), the highest tier of pro-fessional football in the country. There’s been no football since the middle of March when the league was halted. When the COVID-19 situation became a threat, the state of Qatar stopped all football action along with other sports activities in the country. After a complete lull for more than two months, the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) gave the green signal to resume the league from July 24 so that the 2019-20 football season could reach its conclusion.

Since early June, the players and the backroom staff at each of the 12 participating teams have undergone regular COVID-19 tests to make sure there’s no positive case. Currently the teams are busy playing friendly matches to test fitness of the players and the backroom staff along with the organisers. With teams sweating it out in preparation, the Qatar Football Association (QFA) is keeping a close eye on players and officials to ensure everyone associated with the game in the country adheres to medical protocols.

Last week, QFA’s Disciplinary Committee met under the chairmanship of Hassan Al Hammadi and penalised a group of six players for ‘non-compliance with MOPH’s medical protocols’. This decision to warn and impose fines was announced after a video con-ference that also included all members of the com-mittee. The six players - Al Duhail’s Han Kwang-Song, Qatar SC’s Issa Ahmed, Al Rayyan’s Ahmed Al-Saadi and Al Sailiya trio Youssef Ayman, Ali Jasmi and Meshaal Al-Shammari - were warned and fined QR 30,000 each for not following the MOPH safety and hygiene protocols, according to a report posted on the QFA website. The warning and the subsequent heavy fines announced last week clearly show Qatar does not and will not tolerate any lackadaisical approach when it comes to tackling the COVID-19 menace. Be it players or residents in the country, eve-ryone has to adhere to the MOPH safety and hygiene protocols.

With the resumption of football barely 12 days away, the football supporters in particular - and sports fans in general - will finally breathe a sigh of relief as three sports venues will host live action after more than four months of non-activity. The brand new Edu-cation City Stadium, Al Janoub Stadium and Jassin Bin Hamad Stadium - all three with state-of-the-art cooling technology - will host the remaining five rounds of the league.

Let the games begin!

Let the games begin!

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Quote of the day

We must go beyond ourselves and only

consider Mali. The concessions are

necessary to save the country from

further unrest.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Malian President

Nurses and healthcare workers demanding better protection against the COVID-19 virus, outside a hospital in New York City.

The wide-ranging impacts of COVID-19 have the potential to exacerbate grievances, undermine social cohesion and fuel conflict, creating the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism and violent extremism. Terrorists are exploiting the disruption, uncertainty and economic hardships caused by COVID-19 to spread fear, hate and division and radicalize and recruit new followers. While governments around the world are focused on combating the virus, ISIL and Al Qaida have adapted to the new context, aimed to reassert themselves online and offline, and urged on its followers and affiliates to ramp up attacks. The pandemic has also high-lighted vulnerabilities to new violent extremist narratives conducive to terrorism, as well as emerging forms of terrorism, including cyberat-tacks against healthcare insti-tutions.

Deadly global threats such as terrorism and COVID-19 require us to act together, with a renewed sense of unity and solidarity. As the United Nations marks its 75th anni-versary this year, multilater-alism is as essential now as it was at the end of the Second

World War. To play our part, the

United Nations has just held a ‘Virtual Counter-Terrorism Week’ consisting of ten inter-active discussions to assess the strategic and practical chal-lenges of countering terrorism in a global pandemic envi-ronment. It brought together governments, civil society organizations and representa-tives from the private sector, youth and regional organiza-tions from around the world to share their expert analysis, exchange innovative ideas and strengthen international counter-terrorism cooper-ation. So what were the key takeaways from the week? We heard how terrorist threats are likely to continue to diversify with the possibility of attacks involving cyber disruption of critical infrastructure, bio-logical agents, the weaponi-zation of deadly diseases and hate speech. There was broad agreement that the huge stresses and strains caused by COVID-19 will severely test the resilience and cohesion of our societies over the next few years. This underlined the importance of preventive measures and the involvement of all parts of society, espe-cially women and young people, in developing and implementing counter-ter-rorism policies and pro-grammes. It also reinforced the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire to fight the virus, alleviate human suf-fering and break the cycle of violence in which terrorism can thrive. There was broad consensus among speakers

that it is more critical than ever that counter-terrorism responses fully protect and promote human rights and the rule of law, as their potential abuse is higher in a COVID-19 context.

Freedom of expression and the right to privacy are cases in point. The dire situ-ation in the camps and places of detention holding suspected foreign terrorist fighters and thousands of associated women and children in Syria and Iraq, another topic dis-cussed during the Virtual Counter-Terrorism Week, remains a challenge. We all have a responsibility to urgently repatriate as many of these people as possible to provide, as appropriate, fair prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration in society. Children should come first and be repatriated without delay.

Terrorists have adapted to the new COVID-19 world and so must we. The United Nations has been nimble in changing the way it works to better support the efforts of countries and local commu-nities to prevent and counter terrorism around the world. More and more, we are using e-learning tools to shift our training programmes online and utilizing modern commu-nication platforms to engage with new audiences, especially young people. Over the past week, we launched a Virtual Expo involving interactive maps, compelling stories and informative videos to showcase the impactful capacity-building work of the United Nations

Counter-Terrorism Centre within the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, con-firming its reputation as a global Centre of Excellence. This work is only possible thanks to the generous financial contributions from a wide range of donor countries.

As we celebrated on 26 June the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Charter, Secretary-General António Guterres stressed how the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented human crisis in our lifetime, “has underscored the world’s fragilities.” We require an unprecedented response to prevent terrorists from taking advantage of those fragilities. We must work together to ensure that COVID-19 does not become the catalyst for a surge in global terrorism and violent extremism that exploits the long-standing social, political and economic inequalities, and discontent exposed by the virus. We must continually review, adapt and strengthen our counter-terrorism efforts to stay one step ahead of those who seek to do us harm. Sup-porting victims of terrorism and preventing more inno-cents to become one of them must be our priority.

The virtual discussions over the last week have shown that today, in the midst of a global pandemic, it is more important than ever to work collectively, with common purpose and deter-mination, to build resilient societies and rid the world of terrorism.

HELAINE OLEN THE WASHINGTON POST

Money can’t buy happiness, as the adage goes. And a lot of us want to believe it. I’ve written two books about money, and over and over again, people cite to me a study from a decade ago that found earnings in excess of $75,000 annually had little impact on people’s daily state of mind.

As it turns out, people who trumpet that research ignore a major finding in it: People do express more satisfaction with their overall lives the more money they have on hand. They also ignore a more recent survey of millionaires, which found those with $8 million banked were happier than those with less than that amount.

A fascinating study released last month offers us another angle to consider in the money and happiness

conundrum: It’s quite possible that the age of inequality has come for our happiness.

In a paper released last month by the journal Emotion, researchers Jean Twenge and A. Bell Cooper studied responses to ques-tions about happiness from the General Social Survey. Looking at decades of peo-ple’s answers to questions such as whether someone was “very happy,” they found that “money and prestige do appear to buy happiness, and more is continuously better.” But there is a kicker: This was not a stable finding.

In the 1970s, people with different amounts of money experienced similar levels of happiness. But over time a gap developed, one that turned into something of a chasm. When Twenge spoke to The Post earlier this month, she speculated that inequality is a major reason.

Income inequality was not much of an issue in the early to mid-1970s, when the top 1 percent of households earned less than 10 percent of total income in the United States. But the income gap between the 1 percent and the rest is now at the highest level in 50 years, driven by everything from the decline of union representation among workers - unions not only bargain for better pay, but also for workplace protections - to the offshoring of jobs to increasing CEO pay.

The necessities of life didn’t come down in price to make up for the difference. Instead, they went up. Adjusted for inflation, the cost of attending college - either public or private - more than doubled. The same is true for buying a home. The price of health care soared so high that the typical employer-provided family plan now costs more than $20,000, and comes with

a four-figure deductible. (The typical family only pays about $6,000 of it, but you can think of that other $14,000 as some-thing you might otherwise see in your paycheck, if you are lucky enough to still have one.) And as two-earner families became the norm, there was a new, backbreaking expense that needed to be accounted for: child care, something that has risen in price such that in a majority of states.

What we call a “good life” got harder and harder for many to afford, leaving many to borrow more and more money - mortgages, student loans, credit cards, you name it. But it should surprise no one to dis-cover that struggling with debt is correlated with greater levels of depression. One study, pub-lished in Social Science & Med-icine in 2015, found those with student loans more likely to experience “poorer psycho-logical functioning.”

Countering terrorism during the COVID-19 pandemic

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Why the age of inequality has made us less happy

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09MONDAY 13 JULY 2020 ASIA

China should comply with sea feud ruling: PhilippinesAP — MANILA

The Philippines yesterday renewed its call for compliance with a 4-year-old arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s vast claims in the disputed South China Sea on historical grounds “without any possibility of compromise.”

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr issued the call on the anniversary of the July 12, 2016, ruling by an international tri-bunal in The Hague that he said “conclusively settled the issue of historic rights and maritime entitlements in the South China Sea” based on the 1982 UN Con-vention on the Law of the Sea.

“ T h e a w a r d i s

non-negotiable,” Locsin said in a statement. “The tribunal authoritatively ruled that China’s claim of historic rights to resources within the sea ... had no basis in law.”

It’s the strongest statement the Philippines has issued so far in marking the milestone. China has dismissed the decision as a “sham” and refused to partic-ipate in the arbitration pro-ceedings after the adminis-tration of Philippines’ president at the time, Benigno Aquino III, challenged in 2013 China’s claims to virtually the entire disputed waters. China has con-tinued to defy the decision with aggressive actions that have brought it into territorial spats with Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia in recent years.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has nur-tured close ties with China since taking office in 2016, raised the

issue last year in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jin-gping, who he said flatly told him then, “We will not budge.”

Duterte has long been crit-icised by nationalists and left-wing groups for not immedi-ately and strongly demanding Chinese compliance with the ruling, which he initially rele-gated to the back burner while he took steps to revive relations with China that have been strained due to the long-raging territorial conflicts. He has turned to China for trade, investment and aid while often lashing out at US security policies.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia,

Taiwan and Brunei have also laid claims to the strategic waters. The United States has no claims to the waters but has deployed warships and aircraft for decades to patrol and promote freedom of navigation and overflight in the busy waterway.

The ruling also upheld the Philippines’ sovereign rights over a wide stretch of waters called the exclusive economic zone, where Chinese territorial claims have delayed for years Manila’s plan to explore and extract potential undersea deposits of oil and gas.

Locsin said the arbitration tribunal ruled that certain actions within the Philippines’

exclusive economic zone vio-lated the country’s sovereign rights and “were thus unlawful.” He outlined other Chinese vio-lations cited by the tribunal, including the large-scale recla-mation and construction of arti-ficial islands that caused severe environmental damage.

“Compliance in good faith with the award would be con-sistent with the obligations of the Philippines and China under international law,” Locsin said. “We commemorate the issuance of the award as a celebration of the rule of law, as a means to settle disputes amicably ... and clearly mark out who would be in the wrong to insist on claims contrary to this award.”

Over half a million vote in HK pro-democracy primariesAFP — HONG KONG

More than half a million Hong Kong people voted in primaries held by pro-democracy parties to choose candidates for upcoming legislative elections, organisers said yesterday.

The high turnout for the unofficial poll came despite a government warning that it could be in breach of a tough new security law imposed on the city by Beijing.

Tens of thousands queued in the intense summer heat at more than 250 polling stations across the city for the two-day vote which opened hours after police raided an opinion pollster helping to conduct the primaries.

After polls closed at 9:00pm yesterday, organisers said more than 580,000 people had cast their ballots in the digital voting system.

“Under the cloud of the national security law, nearly 600,000 people came out and voted — this is where we can

see the courage of Hong Kong people,” former legislator and organiser Au Nok-hin said.

The winning candidates are expected to be announced on tonight after all the votes are tallied and be endorsed to run for seats in the city’s 70-member legislature in September.

On Thursday, constitutional and mainland affairs minister Erick Tsang warned that those “organising, planning and par-ticipating” in the primary might commit offences of succession, subversion and colluding with foreign forces under the new security law, according to inter-views given to a select few pro-Beijing newspapers.

Despite the warning, hun-dreds of thousands flocked to cast their ballots.

Beijing imposed the security law on Hong Kong last week targeting acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, in response to huge and often violent democracy protests that

erupted last year.Similar national security

laws are used to crush dissent on the mainland and police in Hong Kong have already arrested people voicing certain political views now deemed

illegal, such as advocating inde-pendence or greater autonomy.

Police late Friday night raided the office of Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), a prominent opinion pollster that was helping the

pro-democracy camp to conduct the primary.

Police claimed they were responding to a report that PORI computers had been hacked, resulting in an unlawful leak of personal information.

Sam Cheung Ho-sum and Wong Ji-yuet campaign for the primary election aimed at selecting democracy candidates for the September election, in Hong Kong, yesterday.

The award is non-negotiable. The tribunal authoritatively ruled that China’s claim of historic rights to resources within the sea ... had no basis in law, says foreign secretary.

Pakistan govt warns against spike in virus casesINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

As over 61 percent of the patients who contracted novel coronavirus across the country have fully recovered, and there’s a decline in the number of tests as well as occupancy of ventilators, the government of Pakistan urged the masses to continue taking precautionary measures to avoid a situation similar to the three countries with the highest number of cases.

Of the total 248,135 cases reported till the late hours of Saturday evening, 153,134 (61.7 percent) patients have already

recovered, indicating that active cases have dropped to 95,001 (38.2 percent).

Over the past 24 hours, the country reported 2,670 new cases and 64 deaths, taking the national tally to 248,135 cases and fatalities to 5,170.

Noting that all the trends of COVID-19 were declining, Min-ister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar tweeted that on June 20, there were 2,969 patients on oxygenated beds and 546 on ventilators.

“Alhamdulillah the number has been reduced due to which now there are 1,762 patients on

oxygenated beds and 394 on ventilators, which depict a 28 per cent reduction in number,” he said.

Asad said this happened due to the smart lockdowns policy of the government and enforcement of the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

However, he added that col-lective efforts of the people were needed to contain the virus by following the SOPs. This way both the life and live-lihoods of the people would remain safe, he said.

The minister warned the masses that the violation of SOPs could lead to the situation

similar to US, Brazil and India.According to an interna-

tional website, currently Pakistan is ranked 12th in terms of most number of cases, while the US is on the top with 3.3 million cases, Brazil on the second with 1.8 million cases and India third with almost 850,000 cases.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre on COVID-19, there are only 394 patients on ventilators and 1,174 ventilators were vacant as overall 1,568 venti-lators have been allocated for COVID-19 patients across the country.

China raises flood alert to second highest levelREUTERS — BEIJING

China raised its flood response alert yesterday to the second highest level as heavy rain battered regions along the Yangtze River, with the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Jiangxi among the worst hit, state media reported.

Flooding in the Poyang county of Jiangxi pushed water levels of Lake Poyang, China’s biggest freshwater lake, to above 22.52 metres, a historical high and well above the alert level of 19.50 metres.

By Saturday evening, pro-vincial military authorities had dispatched thousands of sol-diers to help bolster nearly 9km of the lake’s banks, state tele-vision said.

China has a four-tier flood control emergency response system, with level one repre-senting the most severe.

So far this year, some 141 people have died or gone missing in the floods, which have ravaged 3.53 million hec-tares of farmland and flattened 28,000 homes. Economic losses total of $11.75bn, state news

agency Xinhua reported yesterday.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources, around 212 rivers have exceeded alerting levels since early July, with 19 of them rising to his-torical highs.

China has blamed unusual weather conditions, including humidity carried from the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, as the immediate cause, but it has also said long-term changes in climate patterns have made it more vulnerable.

A ramp to a docking area is seen partially submerged in floodwaters on the bank of the Yangtze River in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu province, yesterday.

Two Azerbaijan soldiers dead in border clashes with ArmeniaAFP — BAKU

Arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan yesterday traded accusations of launching a military offensive using artillery fire along their shared border, with Baku reporting two troops killed.

Azerbaijan’s defence min-istry said Armenia’s “offensive” from its northern Tavush region was met with a “coun-terstrike” and retreated.

“Two Azerbaijani serv-icemen were killed and five more wounded,” it added.

Yerevan, on its part, accused Baku of “using artillery in an attack aimed at capturing positions.”

“They were repulsed, suf-fering losses in manpower. There were no casualties among Armenian servicemen,” Arme-nia’s defence ministry spokes-woman, Shushan Stepanyan, said in a Facebook post.

The two former Soviet republics have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway ter-ritory which was at the heart of a bloody war in the 1990s.

The clashes however were far from Karabakh, and directly between the two Cau-casus states.

Since the fragile 1994 ceasefire, peace talks between Baku and Yerevan have been mediated by the “Minsk Group” of diplomats from France, Russia, and the US.

Clashes erupted days after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev raised the spectre of a fresh war with Armenia and denounced stalled peace talks over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.

Okinawa governor wants tougher action as 61 Marines infected AP — TOKYO

The governor of Japan’s Okinawa island demanded a top US military commander take tougher prevention measures and more trans-parency hours after officials were told that more than 60 Marines at two bases have been infected with the coro-navirus over the past few days.

Okinawan officials yes-terday reported a total of 61 cases — 38 of them at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is at the centre of a relo-cation dispute, and another 23 at Camp Hansen — since July 7. They said that US military officials told them the two bases have since been put in lockdown.

The disclosure of the exact figures came only after Okinawa’s repeated requests to the US military.

Gov Denny Tamaki, in tel-ephone talks late Saturday with Lt Gen H Stacy Clardy, commander of III Marine Expedit ionary Force, demanded the US military increase disease prevention measures to maximum levels, stop sending personnel from the mainland US to Okinawa and seal the bases, as well as provide more transparency.

“Okinawans are shocked by what we were told (by the US military),” Tamaki said. “It is extremely regrettable that the infections are rapidly spreading among US per-sonnel when we Okinawans are doing our utmost to contain the infections.”

“We now have strong doubts that the US military has taken adequate disease pre-vention measures,” he added.

Tamaki said he wants more talks with the US mil-itary. Okinawan officials also asked the government to pressure the US side to provide details including the number of cases, seal off Futenma and Camp Hansen, and step up preventive measures.

Thailand to start human trials for COVID-19 vaccine in SeptemberBLOOMBERG — BANGKOK

Thailand is starting the clinical stage for its own COVID-19 vaccine after both monkeys and mice generated satis-factory antibodies against the virus following injections, according to scientists in the study.

“We hope that the vaccine could generate neutralising antibodies in humans seen in monkeys and mice,” Kiat Rux-rungtham, head researcher at Chulalongkorn University’s Center of Excellence in Vaccine Research and Development, said at a briefing in Bangkok yesterday.

If the trials are successful, Thailand could have its vaccine by the second half of 2021, he said.

The Thai study will begin its human trials as early as Sep-tember and will be among the first done outside high-income countries. Globally, 160 vac-cines are being studied for COVID-19, of which 21 are at the clinical evaluation stage, according to the World Health Organization.

Access to life-saving vac-cines is a perennial issue in poorer countries. The eco-nomic turmoil of the pandemic has raised the stakes, and the worry is that countries will

compete for scarce supplies, seeking to protect their own populations.

The first stage of Thai clinical trials will enroll about 100 volunteers separated in two groups, one for people aged 18 to 60 and the other for 60- to 80-year-olds, Kiat said. The focus of the first stage, which will take about two months, is on determining the safety and appropriate dosage for human use. The recruitment for volunteers is expected to start in September.

The second stage, likely to begin in December, will involve 500 to 1,000 people. The vaccine may get emergency-use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration and skip the third and final stage, which would use more than 10,000 volunteers in countries with an ongoing out-break, according to Kiat.

Thailand also has several other COVID-19 vaccine studies underway using a variety of methods. The production of 10,000 doses for the vaccine trials will start next week. Once the trials have completed all stages, Thailand will start output, with the potential to boost supplies for distribution to neighboring nations and other low- or middle-income economies.

10 MONDAY 13 JULY 2020EUROPE

Joint British-French unit to fight traffickersAFP — CALAIS, FRANCE

The interior ministers of France and Britain yesterday signed an agreement creating a new joint police intelligence unit to combat migrant traffickers and reduce the “unsustainable” numbers crossing the Channel illegally.

France’s new Interior Min-ister Gerald Darmanin and his British counterpart Priti Patel met yesterday in Calais in northern France, a region where migrants have tradi-tionally gathered in a bid to find a way to get to Britain.

“We signed a new agreement to create a joint intelligence cell which will crack down on gangs behind vile people smuggling oper-ation,” Patel wrote on Twitter after the meeting.

She said they had discussed “the unsustainable levels of illegal migration across the Channel.”

The Franco-British unit will allow services to share intelli-gence quickly and will consist of six British and six French police officers based in Coquelles outside Calais, Dar-manin told reporters.

Traffickers “are those who take advantage of the human distress of people who want to cross the English Channel and who, no doubt, are not being punished sufficiently at the

moment,” said Darmanin.Channel crossing attempts

have increased over the last year despite the danger of heavy maritime traffic, strong currents and low water temperatures.

“Together, we must strengthen our security coop-eration, in particular in fight against the illegal crossings of the English Channel by migrants risking their lives,” Darmanin wrote on Twitter as he hosted Patel.

In 2019, 2,758 migrants were rescued by the French and British authorities while trying to make the crossing -- four times more than in 2018, according to French officials.

The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the trend, with the reduced number of trucks going through the Channel Tunnel leading migrants to opt for small boats instead.

French emergency services rescued 21 migrants in three operations on Saturday after their bids to reach Britain floundered in the Channel, offi-cials said.

Darmanin said he had told Patel that more resources were needed to combat the migrant trafficking. “The British gov-ernment has done a lot to protect the coast but we still need more resources both in terms of equipment and human resources.”

Italy sees jump in new virus casesAP — ROME

Local outbreaks of COVID-19 among workers at a courier service in northern Italy and among migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea have helped swell an increase in the nation’s daily new cases.

Calabria, which in recent days had been registering a couple or even no new daily coronavirus infections, had 28 new cases yesterday, stemming from as many infections among nearly 800 migrants

rescued from human traf-fickers’ boats and brought to that region.

Calabria Governor Jole Santelli called on the national government to safeguard the local population by requisi-tioning navy boats going forward and keeping rescued migrants offshore until they can be tested for coronavirus infection.

In the Emilia-Romagna region, 71 cases were regis-tered yesterday, according to the Health Ministry, a sizable

jump from recent days, reflecting a hot spot of infec-tions at a major courier service in Bologna. In contrast, Lom-bardy, which during the pan-demic saw daily new cases loads far over 1,000, registered 77 cases yesterday. With the latest 234 cases nationwide, Italy now has 243,061 known cases. With nine deaths tallied yesterday, the overall con-firmed death toll is 34,954.

Authorities say the actual number of cases and deaths is certainly higher.

Social distancing in park People sit at the Rhine promenade on a field with painted circles to help maintain social distance in Duesseldorf, western Germany, yesterday.

Britain to spend £705m on EU border infrastructureREUTERS — LONDON

Britain will spend £705m ($890m) on border infra-structure to help keep trade flowing after its transition deal with the European Union expires at the end of the year, Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove said yesterday.

The funding includes £470m to build port and inland infrastructure, including in the south-east of England to serve major freight crossings to France.

“There will be specific pieces of infrastructure that we put in place in order to smooth the flow of traffic,” Gove told the BBC’s Andrew Marr.

Britain, which is still in talks with the European Union about a post-Brexit trade deal, said it would shortly set out in detail how the British-EU border would operate.

Gove’s Cabinet colleague International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, in a leaked letter pub-lished by Business Insider, voiced concerns about legal

challenges to the border pro-posals and the risk that ports will not be ready in time.

Asked whether Britain’s borders would be ready and secure by the end of the year, Gove said he thought they would be. “I am absolutely certain that everything that we do is compliant with the law, indeed is designed to ensure that we can not just comply with the law and keep people safe, but also facilitate trade as well,” he said.

Gove said there had been

“movement” in the negotiations between Britain and the EU about a post-transition trade deal. “There are hopeful signs, but I wouldn’t want to be over-enthusiastic,” he said.

The border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and EU member Ireland will be subject to specific guidance.

“We will be saying more about how we are going to implement the Northern Ireland protocol later this month,” Gove said.

Bastille Day Parade rehearsal French soldiers practicing their marching formation prior to the July 14 Bastille Day Parade, in Paris, yesterday. The truncated ceremony this year will pay tribute to health workers fighting the pandemic.

Spain holds 2 regional polls amid small virus outbreaksREUTERS — BILBAO

Voters in northern Spain protected themselves with face masks and hand sanitizer before voting yesterday as Galicia and the Basque Country held regional elections despite new localised outbreaks of COVID-19.

The health measures meant there were long lines outside polling stations. The elections were postponed from April due to the pandemic and are the first in Spain since the country relaxed what was one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns.

More than 460 people in Galicia and the Basque Country who recently tested positive for coronavirus were barred from voting for the new regional governments, as were people awaiting test results.

Spain has recently relaxed restric-tions but a surge in cases has fuelled fears of a second wave of infections, prompting several regional govern-ments to impose compulsory use of face masks and localised lockdowns.

In Navarre region, 21 people who went for a dinner to celebrate what

would have been the Pamplona bull-running festival have been diagnosed with the virus. There is no bull-running this year, but fans showed up anyway, dressed up in typical white costumes with red neckerchiefs.

Health officials have confirmed at least 161 new cases in the Basque Country and more than 300 in Galicia in the last 24 hours, prompting local lockdowns in both regions.

In Catalonia, where a lockdown was imposed on more than 200,000 residents of weastern province of Segria area on 4 July, authorities extended restrictions yesterday to the city of Lleida and seven other towns as cases rose.

That brought to 450,000 the number of people facing restrictions in Catalonia, where 816 new

coronavirus cases were recorded in the past 24 hours.

“Residents should not leave their homes unless they have to go to work, care for children or the elderly or buy food,” said Catalan health minister Alba Vergès. The measures will come into effect from midnight.

La Rioja, Navarre, Aragon and Andalusia regions will make it com-pulsory from today (Monday) to wear a face mask in most public places, authorities said, following a similar move in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Extremadura.

In Andalusia, a top holiday desti-nation, regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno cited “fear” of tourists not wearing masks as the reason.

Spain has been one of the worst affected countries in Europe, with more than 271,762 coronavirus cases and 28,403 deaths. The government imposed a strict lockdown on March 14 and has been gradually easing restrictions since early May.

Spanish airport operator Aena esti-mated the extra cost of health measures as ¤294m ($332m) by 2022, according to a memorandum reported by Europa Press.

People maintain social distancing before voting during the Basque regional elections, amid COVID-19 outbreak, in Ordizia, Spain, yesterday.

Spain has been one of the worst affected countries in Europe, with more than 271,762 coronavirus cases and 28,403 deaths.

Hungary bars travel from Africa, most of Asia over virus

AFP — BUDAPEST

Hungary’s government said yesterday it was barring travel from Africa, most of Asia apart from China and Japan, and restricting entry from several European countries after worldwide spikes in corona-virus cases.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Chief of Staff Gergely Gulyas said that Hungarian health officials have placed 154 countries into three risk cate-gories based on numbers of coronavirus infections.

“We need to protect our security so that the virus is not introduced from abroad... the level of active infection cases at home is falling, and we want to keep it like that,” he told reporters in Budapest.

Entry into Hungary would be barred for citizens from countries assessed as “red” from Tuesday midnight, including all African and Asian countries apart from China and Japan. European countries in the red zone are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus, Montenegro, as well as Hun-gary’s neighbour Ukraine.

Hungarian cit izens returning from “red” countries must pass a virus test and undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine, said Gulyas.

Citizens from countries in a “yellow” category — including the US, UK, Norway, Serbia, Russia, China, and Japan — will have to enter two-week quarantine unless they have tested negative for the virus within five days.

Four of Hungary’s fellow EU members — Bulgaria, Por-tugal, Sweden, and neigh-bouring Romania — will also face the same restrictions.

Countries in the “green” category can continue to enter without restrictions. Hungary has reported just over 4,200 coronavirus infections and around 595 deaths so far.

UK Labour joins Facebook ad boycott over 'hate content' AFP — LONDON

Britain’s main opposition Labour party said yesterday it has joined a Facebook advertising boycott over alle-gations that the social network has failed to suffi-ciently curb hateful content.

Hundreds of advertisers including big-name consumer brands have suspended advertising with the social media giant as part of the # S t o p H a t e F o r P r o f i t ” campaign.

“All MPs in the Labour party use Facebook to get across our message. But what we’re not doing at the moment is advertising on Facebook,” senior lawmaker Rachel Reeves told BBC television.

“And that is in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter campaign but also in line with what many businesses are doing this month, which is to express our concerns about the failure of Facebook to take down some hateful material from their platform.”

She said the company must “take more responsi-bility for the lies and propa-ganda that are sometimes put out there on Facebook.... and take tougher action on hate crime and hate speech”.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg last week met with organisers of the #StopHateForProfit coalition that is pressing for more aggressive action on hateful content and disinformation.

Kosovo restricts

gatherings for

prayersAGENCIES — PRISTINA, KOSOVO

Muslim authorities in Kosovo yesterday reimposed some limits on prayers at mosques due to rising numbers of infec-tions from the new corona-virus.

A statement by the Islamic community of Kosovo, the highest local governing body of the faith, said mass gath-erings would be suspended, with no more than 50 people at a time allowed to gather for prayers, and only for 10 minutes.

They will have to wear masks, remain at least 1.5 metres (5 feet) apart and use their own personal prayer rug.

People older than 65 and younger than 16 should pray at home.

Mosques had been closed earlier this year after the emergence of the pandemic, but were reopened two months ago.

Kosovo reported more than 200 new cases of COVID-19 a day over the past week.

As of yesterday, there have been 4,715 confirmed cases in the country and 101 deaths. Many Muslim countries have introduced preventive measures against COVID-19 for prayers at mosques, including social distancing, use of face masks and limiting the number of worshippers.

11MONDAY 13 JULY 2020 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Polarised Poles vote in tight presidential raceAFP — WARSAW

Poles voted yesterday in a knife-edge presidential run-off election between a populist incumbent closely allied with US President Donald Trump and a europhile liberal challenger, with experts saying the result will define the future of the country’s young democracy.

The stakes are high for Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party government, which has relied on incumbent President Andrzej Duda to endorse judicial reforms that have set Warsaw on a collision course with the EU over democratic standards just three decades after communism’s demise.

Duda is struggling to beat Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski of the oppo-sition Civic Platform (PO) as final opinion polls showed the two running neck and neck.

Wojciech, a 59-year-old builder who declined to give his surname, said he chose Duda because his close ties to Trump meant Poland “can count on the US for defence”.

Warsaw pensioners who identified themselves only as Helena and Maria, both in their eighties, said they picked the pro-European Trzaskowski hoping he could “get things back on the right track with the EU”.

“We remember too well how it was before (under communism), so for our grandchildren we want Poland to be stable in Europe,” Helena told AFP.

Turnout hit a record high 24.73 percent by noon, the state elections com-mission said, suggesting the coronavirus pandemic would not dampen

participation.Long, snaking queues formed at

polling stations as social distancing measures were used to try to stem infections.

Voters also had to wear masks, use hand sanitiser and their own pens, plus give priority to pensioners, pregnant women and voters with children.

The election had been due in May but was delayed because of the pandemic.

Duda’s support has slipped consid-erably since then, partly because of the virus fallout, which is pushing Poland into its first recession since communism fell.

An exit poll was due at the end of voting at 1900 GMT while official results are expected this morning (Monday).

Experts warn that Sunday’s result could be too close to call, possibly trig-gering legal challenges and protests.

Duda won round one on June 28 with 43.5 percent, ahead of Trzaskowski with 30.4 percent.

Now the Warsaw mayor is hoping to sway voters who backed other candi-dates in the first round. Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, said he will have to mobilise very disparate parts of the electorate against Duda, predicting the incumbent would therefore likely win, though by a narrow margin.

With analysts suggesting that strong voter mobilisation in rural Poland would give him the winning edge, Duda said he would “like to see the highest pos-sible turnout” after voting in the southern city of Krakow.

Duda promises to defend highly popular social welfare payments intro-duced by the PiS government, and has led a polarising campaign.

The government has also lashed out at German-owned media outlets, accusing them of “bias” during the cam-paign after a tabloid owned by the Ringier Axel Springer Group published

a story about Duda pardoning a paedophile.

Trzaskowski promises a very dif-ferent Poland.

He has said he will roll back contro-versial PiS reforms of the judiciary that have triggered tension with the European Union.

A Trzaskowski victory could begin to loosen the PiS’s grip on Polish politics.

A Duda win on the other hand would cement the party’s power.

“This election will determine Poland’s fate for the foreseeable future,” said Adam Strzembosz, a former Supreme Court chief justice and respected legal authority.

“Will it be dominated and completely subservient to a certain political party, with all the consequences of power that is dictatorial in nature? Or will we manage to stop this?”

President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, speaking to the press after casting his ballot during Poland’s presidential election runoff in Krakow, Poland, yesterday.

EU says Serbia-Kosovo talks ‘back on track’AFP — BRUSSELS

The European Union said yesterday that long-stalled talks between Serbia and Kosovo were “back on track” after a video meeting between the two leaders.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic held a virtual meeting chaired by senior EU officials as they seek a solution to one of Europe’s most intractable ter-ritorial disputes.

Serbia has refused to rec-ognise Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence after the province broke away in the bloody 1998-99 war that was ended only by a NATO bombing campaign against Serb troops.

Yesterday’s round follows another virtual meeting held on Friday, attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as Europe tries to re-energise a process that has stalled for nearly two years.

The EU’s special represent-ative for the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, thanked Vucic and Hoti for their “constructive engagement”.

“I’m glad to say that after the Paris summit and today’s meeting, the EU-facilitated dialogue on comprehensive normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo is

back on track after 20 months,” Lajcak said in a video statement from Brussels after the talks.

Attention now turns to a planned meeting in person between Vucic and Hoti in Brussels on Thursday.

“As a result of today’s meeting we agreed on the main elements of the process and we also agreed on the agenda of our next meeting,” Lajcak said.

No details of the process or agenda were made available immediately.

At the start of the meeting yesterday, EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell, who chaired the talks with Lajcak, called on the two sides to cooperate to find

a way forward, saying the lack of a solution was restricting economic progress and risking instability.

“These talks will require political courage from both sides, will require commitment and engagement in the spirit of compromise and prag-matism,” he said.

“It has never been easy to find solutions to problems that have been so lasting and so painful but this is why we are here today — to try again.”

EU efforts to get the two sides to talk productively have dragged on for nearly a decade with little progress, with the most recent effort breaking down in late 2018.

Ahead of the meeting, a senior Brussels official warned that significant challenges lay ahead, saying Sunday’s talks marked “the beginning of the story”.

“We’ve been talking for 10 years now without much success — let’s hope that now is the good time to make progress,” the senior official said.

Both Kosovo and Serbia have been facing mounting pressure from the West to resolve the impasse which is seen as crucial to either side joining the EU.

The new push comes after prosecutors in The Hague last month charged Kosovo’s Pres-ident Hashim Thaci with war crimes.

Thaci’s indictment led to the postponement of a White House summit between Serbia and Kosovo that was due to be held at the end of June.

More than 13,000 people died in the war, mostly Kosovo Albanians, who form a majority in the former province.

One key question is diplo-matic recognition for Kosovo — five of the EU’s 27 countries do not acknowledge its independence.

EU officials say that once Belgrade and Pristina reach a comprehensive accord on their disputes, holdouts — which notably include Spain — will have no reason not to rec-ognise Kosovo.

A man waves a flag depicting the map of Kosovo in Serbian national colours with a text reading “No surrender”, during an anti-government rally, in front of the parliament building in Belgrade, Serbia, on Saturday.

Peru's COVID-19 cases top 320,000A medical worker (right) showing symptoms of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) descends from a small aircraft in Iquitos, in the Amazon Forest in northern Peru, upon arriving from San Isidro community. Peru surpassed 320,000 cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, while around 12,000 COVID-19 patients remain hospitalised and more than 11,600 have died. Peru, with 33 million inhabitants, is the second country in Latin America with the most cases of COVID-19, behind Brazil, and stands fifth in the world.

Football match

called off after

14 players test

positive for virus

REUTERS — BRASILIA

Authorities cancelled one of southern Brazil’s biggest foot-balling derbies less than 24 hours before kick-off yesterday after 14 members of one side tested positive for COVID-19.

The Santa Catarina state championship restarted on July 8 with four games, including Chapecoense’s 2-0 home win over Avai.

The return match was due to kick off on Sunday at 4pm but was cancelled on the orders of the state’s Health Secretariat.

“One of the teams had 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and it is necessary for all the players to follow the necessary protective measures,” it said in a statement. It did not say which side had produced 14 positive tests but globesporte.com, a Brazilian website, said it was Chapecoense. The club would not comment on the report. Santa Catarina state has recorded 42,026 cases of the new coronavirus, with 485 deaths. So far, 71,469 people have died in Brazil, more than any other country outside the United States.

Second day of protest over governor’s arrest in Russia AFP — MOSCOW

Hundreds of people joined a second day of protest yesterday in the Russian Far East over the arrest of a popular governor accused of ordering the murders of several businessmen.

Sergei Furgal, 50, was detained on Thursday and has been ordered to remain in pre-trial custody for two months over the crimes 15 years ago.

The move triggered a mass demonstration on Saturday in the city of Khabarovsk that was joined by between 10,000 and 40,000 people, according to various estimates.

Yesterday, several hundred people once again marched through the city centre to the local government headquarters, according to the TASS news agency, with smaller protests happening in other towns.

Local supporters of leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny put the turnout at around 5,000.

Furgal press-secretary Nadezhda Tomchenko, who has kept some of the gover-nor's social media accounts going after his arrest, said his team is "thankful for such support".

"The whole city is abuzz," said Tomchenko in a video statement on her Facebook.

"I would like to ask however to refrain from aggression, from provoca-tions" which could do more harm than good.

Images on Instagram showed a long stream of people walking on a central road and shouting "Freedom!" as passing cars honked in unison.

Some gathered outside the regional government head-quarters past midnight, shouting slogans and holding up mobile phones with the flashlights on.

Furgal won the race for Khabarovsk governor by a landslide in 2018, dealing an upset to President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.

The arrest of the former doctor came just days after Putin — who has been in power for two decades — won a landslide ballot on constitu-tional reforms that could allow him to extend his rule until 2036. Furgal, leader of the Kremlin-friendly LDPR oppo-sition party, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

COVID-19 recoveries cross half a million in RussiaANATOLIA — MOSCOW

Recoveries from the novel coronavirus in Russia crossed half a million yesterday.

Over the last 24 hours, 3,615 people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the number of cured patients to 501,061, the country’s emer-gency task force said in a daily report.

Over the same period, 6,615 new infections were reg-istered in the country, raising the tally to 727,162, while fatal-ities increased by 130 to reach 11,335.

For the fourth consecutive week, recoveries in Russia continued to outnumber new cases as the country has been seeing a downward trend in the rate of rise in infections.

Over the last seven days, 45,908 people tested positive for COVID-19 against 46,814 the week before.

Meanwhile, the number of recoveries this week were

also lower than the previous week, 50,312 over 51,663, while the death rate was higher, 1,174, comparing to 1,088 last week.

The First Moscow State Medical University has “suc-cessfully completed” tests on volunteers of the “world’s first vaccine against the corona-virus,” Vadim Tarasov, a top university official, said on Sunday.

Other vaccines, including a special vaccine for children, are being tested in several lab-oratories throughout the country.

Since originating in China last December, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 565,300 lives in 188 countries and regions.

More than 12.72 million cases have been reported worldwide, while over 7.01 million patients have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

Kremlin says US

ties at virtually

lowest pointQNA — MOSCOW

The ties between Russia and the United States are “virtually” at their lowest historical point, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday.

“The situation is dire with regard to bilateral relations and, probably, in terms of the responsibilities of our two countries for multilateral affairs, first and foremost over arms control and global sta-bility,” Peskov noted.

The spokesman stated that Washington and Moscow started contacts on arms control, especially the New START. His comments come as the US has been calling for China to join nuclear disar-mament talks, but Peskov com-mented that nuclear disar-mament must be the foremost responsibility of the US and Russia as no other country has as large a nuclear arsenal as they do.

President Donald Trump announced last May his countrys withdrawal from the open skies agreement, accusing Russia of violating the treaty, which allows verification of military moves and arms control measures in the coun-tries that signed it. Russia has denied US accusations of vio-lating the terms of the treaty. The open sky agreement allows unarmed surveillance aircraft to fly in the airspace of member states.

Voters had to wear masks, use hand sanitiser and their own pens, plus give priority to pensioners, pregnant women and voters with children. The election had been due in May but was delayed because of the pandemic.

12 MONDAY 13 JULY 2020AMERICAS

US presses again for full school reopening, despite risksAFP — WASHINGTON

The Trump administration yesterday again pressed for full school reopenings in the fall, even as resurgent COVID-19 infections raised mounting crit-icism that a premature return to classes could pose a danger of greater spread of the disease.

With the virus setting new records by the day in many parts of the country, a top health official warned that “everything should be on the table” and even US President Donald Trump wore a mask in public for the first time.

But in two television inter-views, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos insisted on the need for schools to reopen, even as several states were regis-tering record numbers of coro-navirus cases and hospitals in many cities were struggling to cope. “Kids need to get back to school, they need to get back in the classroom,” DeVos said on CNN, while acknowledging that local conditions should be taken into account. “Families need for kids to get back in the classroom. And it can be done safely.” Yet, another adminis-tration spokesman cautioned yesterday that some areas might need to return to lockdowns.

Admiral Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health, said that with COVID-19 deaths continuing to rise, “everything should be on the table.” “We’re all very concerned,” Giroir

added on ABC’s “This Week,” as he called for near-universal wearing of masks in the areas most afflicted, largely in southern states that reopened aggressively.

The pressure to reopen schools has come from the top, with Trump threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that refuse to reopen — a stance that DeVos reconfirmed.

Trump has criticized guide-lines from the federal Centers for Disease Control for the safe reopening of schools, saying they were too rigid and too expensive.

But many school systems say the safety of millions of stu-dents, teachers and staff can be ensured only with some com-bination of remote and in-person schooling — or in some cases remote-only teaching —and that a fully in-person approach, to be safe, would impose extreme costs.

DeVos was pressed as to whether the government would actually withhold federal funds from schools, which generally account for around 10 percent of local school budgets — a sub-stantial contribution at a time when reopening costs for larger school systems can run to the

millions.“There is no desire to take

money away,” she said on CNN. “In fact, we want to see schools open and have been committed to ensuring the resources are there to do that.”

But in a Fox News interview, she was more direct, explicitly saying that if school don’t reopen, they should not receive federal funds.

That drew a sharp retort from a top Democrat, House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called DeVos’s remarks “mal-feasance and dereliction of duty.” “They are messing with the health of our children,” she said on CNN.

“We all want our children to go back to school. Teachers do, parents do, and children do. But they must go back safely.”

The surge in coronavirus cases has pressed some gov-ernors in hard-hit southern states to retreat from their earlier efforts to reopen their economies, with some now embracing the wearing of masks. Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, a Dem-ocrat, on Saturday imposed a mask-wearing requirement for most circumstances.

President Trump on Sat-urday wore a mask in public for

the first time during a visit to the Walter Reed National Mil-itary Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, after downplaying the practice for months in defiance of his health advisors.

But Surgeon General Jerome Adams, in a reversal of tone, wore a protective mask during a television appearance yes-terday, and Giroir separately emphasized the importance of masks. “For this to work we have to have 90 percent of people wearing masks in public in the hot-spot areas,” Giroir

said. “If we don’t have that we won’t get control of the virus.

“It’s absolutely essential.” The United States is the hardest-hit country in the world, with around 135,000 deaths and more than 3.2 million confirmed cases. Seven states set one-day death records this week.

Intensive-care units in many hospitals are operating close to capacity, and there were reports in Arizona of local authorities procuring refrig-erated trucks because morgues were being overwhelmed.

Giroir stressed that progress

is being made in some areas, with more testing and new treatments available.

But amid the record-setting rise in cases, he acknowledged that “we expect deaths to go up over the next two, three weeks before this turns around.” The administration is preparing for a challenging time in the fall, Giroir said, with the coronavirus likely resurging even as flu returns.

“There are some data that you can get both at the same time,” he said. “That’s not really good.”

US President Donald Trump wears a mask as he visits Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on Saturday.

The United States is the hardest-hit country in the world, with around 135,000 deaths and more than 3.2 million confirmed cases.

Florida sets one-day record with over 15,000 new virus casesREUTERS — WASHINGTON

Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours yesterday, as anti-mask protests were planned in Michigan and Missouri.

If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for the most new cases in a day behind the United States, Brazil and India, according to a Reuters analysis.

Florida’s daily increases in cases have already surpassed the highest daily tally reported by any European country during the height of the pandemic there. It has also broken New York state’s record of 12,847 new cases on April 10 when it

was the epicenter of the US outbreak.

The latest rise was reported a day after Walt Disney World in Orlando reopened with a limited number of guests who were welcomed with a host of safety measures, including masks and temperature checks.

Anti-mask activists in several states, including Florida and Michigan, have organized protests against local mandates, arguing that the measures infringe upon individual freedom.

Coronavirus infections are rising in about 40 states, according to a Reuters analysis of cases for the past two weeks compared with the prior two weeks. Nationally, the United

States has broken global records by registering about 60,000 new cases a day for the last four days in a row, according to a Reuters tally. Hospitalizations and positive test rates are also rising in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas.

Facing a battered economy as he seeks re-election in November, President Donald Trump has pressured states to reopen shuttered businesses and schools.

Many Americans still refuse to wear a mask, which health experts say help stop trans-mission of the virus that has killed more than 134,000 Amer-icans. Anti-mask activists organized a protest on Saturday at a grilled cheese restaurant in

Windermere, Florida, which is in Orange County about 19 km from Walt Disney World.

The restaurant, 33 & Melt, has become a focal point of tension after owner Carrie Hudson said she was not requiring customers to wear masks. County officials have mandated the use of masks in public since June 20.

During Saturday’s protest, no customers wore face cov-erings inside the restaurant. Agents from the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco arrived during the rally and served Hudson with a warning, according to a video.

In addition to a record 15,000 new cases on Sunday, more than four dozen hospitals

in Florida reported that their intensive care units are full due to a surge in COVID-19 patients.

Hundreds were expected to attend a demonstration at the Michigan state capitol yesterday afternoon, according to a Facebook event, to protest against Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s order that everyone must wear a mask in public, except when outdoors and able to maintain social distance.

Protesters were also planning to gather outside city hall in Springfield, Missouri today, where the city council is due to vote on a mask mandate in response to rising cases and a more than fourfold increase in Greene County’s COVID-19 hos-pitalizations in the last month.

Mexico's COVID-19 death toll nears 35,000REUTERS — MEXICO CITY

Mexico’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic was poised to overtake Italy’s and shoot above 35,000 yesterday, with the Latin American nation set to post the world’s fourth highest deaths total, according to Reuters data.

Mexico on Saturday recorded 539 additional fatal-ities to bring its coronavirus toll to 34,730, with 295,268 con-firmed cases. Italy has recorded 34,945 deaths and 242,827 cases. While Italy appears to have tamed the virus, the pan-demic is showing no signs of slowing down in Mexico, where the government has faced crit-icism for reopening its economy too soon.

Mexican authorities have

gradually raised the projections of total fatalities and as recently as June forecast up to 35,000 deaths through October. In early May, the estimate was 6,000.

The coronavirus death toll per million residents in Mexico, whose population numbers about 120 million, is the 16th highest in the world, according to data by research firm Statista.

But Mexican officials say the true toll is likely much higher due to limited testing. A Reuters analysis of funeral homes data in May indicated a toll more than double the reported figures. Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexico’s deputy health minister and coronavirus czar, this week said the virus was “slowing down”. But several former offi-cials have criticised President

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration for its handling of the epidemic.

Former health minister Salomon Chertorivski earlier this week said the government had reopened the economy before globally-established cri-teria for doing so were met.

“There are three

fundamental variables: a reduction in the last 14 days in the numbers of contagions, reduction in recent days in the number of deaths, and reduction in the number of hos-pitalized people,” Chertorivski told Mexican newspaper Reforma. “None of those three parameters were achieved.”

Black Lives Matter protestAnti-racism protesters march in Graham, North Carolina, on Saturday.

A man wears a face mask as he rides a bicycle in the historic center of Mexico City, amid the COVID- 19 pandemic, on Saturday.

Republican senator to allow Mueller testimonyAFP — WASHINGTON

The Republican chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee said yesterday that he will accede to Democrats’ request to call former special counsel Robert Mueller to testify, after Mueller offered a rare public defense of the Russia collusion probe he led.

“Apparently Mr. Mueller is willing — and also capable — of defending the Mueller investigation through an op-ed in the Washington Post,” Senator Lindsey Graham said in a statement.

Though the committee’s Republican majority had pre-viously said it was time to move on, Graham said the Democrats’ repeated requests for Mueller to appear would now be granted.

It was unclear what Gra-ham’s motivations were, or indeed whether Mueller — who has maintained silence on the matter since testifying reluctantly and in measured terms before Congress last July — would necessarily appear.

Graham, once sharply critical of Donald Trump, is now considered a close con-fidant of the President.

Democrats were outraged when Trump on Friday com-muted the jail sentence of a friend and political ally, Roger Stone, who faced a 40-month jail term after being convicted on seven felony charges flowing from the Mueller investigation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the com-mutation a case of “staggering corruption.”

Firefighters battle blaze on navy ship at San Diego baseREUTERS — SAN DIEGO

San Diego firefighters were responding to a large blaze aboard the military ship USS Bonhomme Richard after an explosion caused at least one injury, the San Diego Fire Rescue Department said yesterday.

Video footage showed thick black smoke billowing hun-dreds of feet into the air from several points along the 844-foot (257 m) amphibious assault ship docked at the San Diego Naval base. Emergency crews in boats were alongside the burning ship, spraying it with hoses. "Explosion with at least one injury at the USS

Bonhomme Richard," the fire department wrote on Twitter.

Federal Fire called on San Diego Fire Rescue crews to respond to the three-alarm fire starting at around 9am PT (4pm GMT). All San Diego Fire Rescue responders were accounted for as of 11:19am (6:19pm GMT), the department said on Twitter.

Around noon local time, the department said all its per-sonnel had been instructed to exit the pier, while aerial video footage showed the blaze appeared to grow.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately apparent and the San Diego Fire Rescue Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress must extend jobless benefits: Pelosi REUTERS — WASHINGTON

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday she believes US lawmakers can find a compromise on extending jobless benefits and unem-ployment insurance for Amer-icans struggling amid corona-virus pandemic shutdowns.

“We have to find a com-promise because we must extend it,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” The top Republican in the US House of Representatives has said it would not be productive to extend the extra unem-ployment benefits that were included in coronavirus relief legislation earlier this year. The benefits expire on July 31.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Repub-licans point to statistics showing many Americans receive more money from the extended unemployment ben-efits than they earned when they were at work.

Republicans and Demo-crats have been debating how to help the country recover from the economic effects of the novel coronavirus, which led to business closures that have thrown tens of millions of Americans out of work. The loss of the safety net of $600 per week payments to laid off workers looms well before a sustained recovery is likely to take hold from the sudden and deep recession brought by the coronavirus, which has infected nearly 3 million Amer-icans. Democrats in the US Senate have proposed long-term extensions to a temporary unemployment insurance program.