sports 6 @newsofbahrain torres, kremer op-ed the great ... · devices and other e-channels. these...

Interior Minister launches ID and Population Registry e-servicesTDT | Manama

Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa launched yester-

day a series of comprehensive e-services from the ID and Popu-lation Registry.

The services, made available by the Information and e-Gov-ernment Authority (iGA) through its portal bahrain.bh, aim to rein-force precautionary measures as part of the national efforts against the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Interior Minister hailed the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to in-vest in technology in all fields to serve the nation and citizens.

He also valued the support and follow-up of the government, led by His Royal Highness the Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, of these initiatives that are part of the directives of His Royal Highness

Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister.

The Interior Minister launched eight e-services, while four oth-ers were updated, bringing the total number of e-services to 23 comprehensive offered by iGA through its national portal, smart devices and other e-channels. These services are with great im-portance in the current situation.

The Interior Minister assert-ed that the e-services would

contribute to achieving perfor-mance excellence and better services for citizens.

He highlighted the importance of continuing the development and adoption of technology in various initiatives and services, as well as the importance limit-ing the need of making personal appearances at services-provid-ing centres.

The Interior Minister hailed the national expertise that con-tributed to the fast processing of the services.

02 A caring heart

03Financial assistance go-ahead

09Angry Trump denies plan to axe Dr Fauci

6

India extends world’s biggest virus lockdown 8WORLD

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TDT | Manama

The Ministry of Health announced yesterday the death of a 60-year-

old Bahraini national who was a registered active case of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The deceased male was suf-fering from underlying and chronic health problems, the Health Ministry said.

He was a contact of an active case, and was then placed in isolation where he received ex-tensive 24-hour treatment from a specialised medical team.

His demise marked the sev-enth death in Bahrain related to the coronavirus. The Health Ministry expresses its heartfelt condolences to the individual’s family at this difficult time.

The Ministry highlighted that, excluding three cases, all other 870 active COVID-19 cases remain stable and all patients continue to receive treatment from a specialised medical team, following guidelines pro-vided by the World Health Or-ganisation.

The total of 873 active cases was reached after 167 new cases were reported yesterday by the Health Ministry. From those, 161 were announced in the af-ternoon while an additional six were reported in the evening.

Out of the 161 cases, 156 were from expatriate workers, while three were contacts of other active cases and the two others were from arrivals from abroad.

The 156 new active cases were detected following the testing

of 3,581 expatriate workers conducted over a period of 24

hours, as part of an ongoing campaign to test workers at their place of residence.

Early detection of COVID-19 cases among expatriate work-ers and quarantining their contacts expedites treatment and strengthens precautionary measures set out to safeguard the well-being of citizens and residents, the Health Ministry said.

No information was given on the six additional cases from

last night.Meanwhile, the number of

discharged patients reached 648 after the Ministry announced a total of 57 new recoveries as of last night.

Fifty-four of those were re-ported in the afternoon yester-day while an additional three discharged patients were an-nounced in the evening.

The total tested increased to 70,813, according to the Health Ministry’s website.

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister presided yesterday over a meeting of the Coordination Committee, which was held remotely. During the video conference, HRH the Crown Prince discussed with leading government officials the latest developments in dealing with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Above, HRH the Crown Prince during the remote meeting.

Seventh death to COVID-19

Ministry of Health reports the loss of a 60-year-old Bahraini in coronavirus fight

873is the total number of

active cases as of last night in Bahrain, of which three

were critical

HRH the Crown Prince leads remote meeting

The Interior Minister during the launch

An infographic of the e-services

Sixty accused of violating home-quarantine questionedTDT | Manama

The Public Prosecution has completed its ques-

tioning of 60 individuals who have been accused of violating home quarantine orders, in line with meas-ures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The individuals were in-structed by specialised doc-tors to self-isolate at their residences for 14 days after coming into contact with active cases. Upon follow-ing up, however, authorities discovered that they did not adhere to the orders and left their homes at different times.

The Public Prosecution began its investigations after receiving a report of these violations. The ques-tioning of the individuals is now complete and the Pub-lic Prosecution is now veri-fying the defence of some of those accused, as the next steps in each case are being determined.

IMF: Global economy to suffer worst year since Depression

Beaten down by the coro-navirus outbreak, the

world economy in 2020 will suffer its worst year since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the International Monetary Fund says in its latest forecast.

The IMF revealed yesterday that it expects the global econ-omy to shrink 3 per cent this year — far worse than its 0.1 per cent dip in the Great Re-cession year of 2009 — before rebounding in 2021 with 5.8 per cent growth. It acknowl-edges, though, that prospects for a rebound next year are clouded by uncertainty.

See page 5 for full report

Bahrain’s COVID-19 ICU facility gets global attention

TDT | Manama

Bahrain’s newly inaugu-rated, state-of-the-art field Intensive Care

Unit (ICU) at the Bahrain De-fence Force (BFC) Hospital in Riffa has gained international media exposure.

Top international news agencies reported yesterday on the completion of the fa-cility, which was put togeth-er in a record time of seven days.

The ICU features 130 beds and is outfitted with the best equipment for the treatment of patients suffering from the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease. It is a part of the

ongoing preparations of the National Taskforce for Com-batting COVID-19 to provide the needed facilities and pro-cedures to deal with infected cases.

“The new ICU is a precau-tionary step in case there are any developments,” Royal Medical Services Command-er Major General Prof. Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa was quoted as saying.

“We are able in record time, in seven days, to establish this unit with 130 beds...working day and night.

“This is the first time that such an equipped (tempo-rary) unit has been estab-lished in the Gulf.”

02WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2020

TDT | Manama

Al Namal and VKL Group of Companies chairman Varghese Kurain an-

nounced the provision of eight buildings in Hidd and a star-rated hotel in Juffair for the quarantine of COVID-19 patients in Bahrain.

The eight buildings include 253 rooms while the hotel, namely Park Regis Lotus Hotel, has 164 rooms. They have been made available by Kurain completely free of charge since mid-Febru-ary and will continue to be used for quarantine purposes until the end of the COVID-19 crisis in the Kingdom, he said.

Park Regis is a leading star-rated hotel and it has been turned into a makeshift hospital, where it is capable to treat patients infected with the coronavirus, in coopera-tion with the Ministry of Health.

The provision of these facilities is part of Kurain’s commitment to Bahrain’s society and it is an act of gratitude towards the Kingdom, he said.

He stressed the importance of the role of businessmen in helping combat COVID-19 and enhance the work of the Government Exec-utive Committee, chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister.

“The actions of His Royal High-ness the Crown Prince are clear in containing and preventing the spread of the virus in Bahrain, and we, in turn, are businessmen con-tributing what we can to support these efforts,” said Kurain.

“This is a need of the hour. Bah-rain is a country which helped many expatriates to convert their dreams into a reality. I have no words to explain the care and love what we enjoyed from the leaders and citizens of this country. Bah-rain’s government has considered expatriates with equal dignity and care,” Kurain added.

In a letter addressed to the Min-

ister of Health, Kurain thanked His Majesty the King, HRH the Prime Minister and HRH the Crown Prince for the care and support they are providing to the expatriate

community during this period.“For sure this is such a challeng-

ing phase, where all citizens and expatriates should stand together and fight to combat this pandem-

ic,” Kurain said. “I will be happy if this small step can motivate those businessmen to come forward and support the government in what-ever way they can.”

Kurain has been involved in real estate development for the last 30 years, having successful-ly managed and marketed more than 100 million properties in the

Kingdom of Bahrain. He is also heading Middle East Hospital, a leading name in the health sector, with branches in Hidd, Salmabad and Segaya.

Indian business leader contributes eight buildings, star-rated hotel for

COVID-19 quarantine

A caring heart

Varghese Kurain, Al Namal and VKL Group of Companies chairman

Northern Governor follows up on field surveysTDT | Manama

Northern Governor Ali bin Abdul Hussain Al Asfoor, alongside members of the

joint committee and representa-tives from the Bangladesh Embas-sy, followed up yesterday on field survey operations carried out by the governorate in cooperation with the Northern Governorate Police Directorate.

These visits were in line with the directives of Interior Min-ister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa to work out a mechanism to ease the density of expatriate workforces in their accommodations, as part of na-tional efforts to curb the spread of

the coronavirus (COVID-19).The Northern Governor praised

the efforts of the Community Ser-vice Police on raising awareness

amongst expatriates, pointing out that the aim of the field survey is to get informed about the work-ers’ housing conditions in order

to provide appropriate solutions, in line with the Interior Minister’s directives and the principle of social distancing.

The Northern Governor being accompanied by other officials during their field visits

The Labor and Social Development Ministry and Youth and Sports Affairs Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday for the Youth Ministry to use an electronic system for non-government organisations (NGOs). The MoU came in implementation of the decision of the Cabinet, and within the framework of the support of His Majesty the King’s Humanitarian and Youth Affairs representative, National Security Advisor and Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Affairs (SCYS) chairman His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa. The MoU stated that the Labor Ministry will provide the Youth Ministry with all necessary information to activate the system in order to perform financial and administrative control procedures on national clubs and youth empowerment centers. It also stipulated that the Labor Ministry should receive requests from these clubs and centers, and manage the electronic system technically, while the Youth Ministry will follow up on those requests. Above, Labor Minister Jameel bin Mohammed Ali Humaidan and Youth Minister Aymen Tawfiq Almoayyed after signing the MoU.

Labour and Youth Ministries sign MoU Customs Affairs president attends

online GCC meetingTDT | Manama

Customs Affairs president Shaikh Ahmed bin Ham-ad Al Khalifa participat-

ed yesterday in an online meet-ing of the GCC Customs Union.

The officials reviewed vari-ous topics, including the meet-ings of the technical committees about customs work. They also discussed harmful practices to international trades and the implementation of the recom-

mendations of Gulf commerce ministers to limit the economic implications of coronavirus.

The Customs President hailed the coordination be-tween customs authorities in the region and the dedication of Bahrain to implement the decisions of the union. He also highlighted measures taken by the Customs Affairs to prevent the spreading of coronavirus.

Southern Governor donates 60 laptops

to studentsTDT | Manama

Southern Governor Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa has donated 60 laptops for students across the governorate.

The move is within the framework of community partner-ship and in response to a recent initiative by Al Mabarrah Al Khalifia Foundation to support students with laptops during this period.

The Southern Governor said the donation aims to help students pursue learning at a distance by using modern educational methods. He lauded the role of the foundation in launching initiatives as well as social and educational programmes.

Park Regis Lotus Hotel The eight buildings in Hidd


Financial assistance go-aheadHouse of Representatives approves urgent proposal to pay three-month grant to uninsured Bahrainis in certain trades

TDT | Manama

The House of Representa-tives approved in its meet-ing held remotely yester-

day an urgent proposal on the disbursement of a three-month financial grant to Bahraini citi-zens working in professions such as fishermen, farmers, livestock breeders, bus drivers and driving instructors.

These citizens are among those affected by the closure of their workplaces, and the pro-posal aims to pay those affected the amount of BD300 per month from April to June.

It was submitted by Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Se-curity Committee chairman Eng. Mohammed Al Sisi Al Buainain.

Al Buainain explained that the proposal intends to assist Bah-rainis who work in jobs that are not covered by social insurance, given the current exceptional circumstances and the precau-

tionary measures taken across the nation to combat the coro-navirus (COVID-19).

Many citizens working in these trades are forced to stop working and therefore are una-

ble to generate a stable income.Temporary contract workers

are also among those affected.Al Buainain noted that this

proposal comes with a desire to achieve the goals of the Con-

stitution, which he said states that the national economy is based on social justice and on fair cooperation between pub-lic and private activities. He in-dicated that it also affirms that

the state shall guarantee the solidarity of society in bear-ing the burdens resulting from public disasters.

Al Buainain said that the pro-posal is similar to the initiative already approved to pay the sal-aries of Bahrainis in the private sector, in order to ensure stabil-ity in the standard of living of citizens who have been affected by the economic impact of COV-ID-19.

Following the approval of the majority in the Council, the proposal was submitted to the esteemed government.

During yesterday’s remote meeting, only a handful of mem-bers were physically in attend-ance, with others joining via video conference.

A view of yesterday’s meeting

The proposal aims to assist Bahrainis who work as fishermen, farmers, livestock

breeders, bus drivers, driving instructors, or as temporary contract workers who are not

covered by social insurance.

MP ENG. MOHAMMED AL SISI AL BUAINAIN

Government efforts to repatriate Bahraini students hailedTDT | Manama

The government’s efforts to bring Bahraini students home from abroad are an

excellent step in making their families happy.

This was affirmed yesterday by the Shura Council’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee member and Youth Affairs Committee mem-ber Nancy Khedouri.

Khedouri expressed her heart-felt gratitude to His Majesty the King in taking all preventive measures to combat the corona-

virus (COVID- 19). She also lauded the tireless efforts of HRH the Prime Minister and HRH the Crown Prince in their follow-up on the implementation of many government initiatives in regards to the return of Bahraini students from abroad.

“We have witnessed how the Government was keen on devel-oping a plan to evacuate Bahraini students since the virus began spreading globally and the great coordination of the return of Bahraini students from China, where the virus began,” Khedouri said.

“Endeavours have not stopped since January until now, as there are great efforts made by the Embassies of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the countries where students reside, which reflect the great care that the Kingdom gives to its citizens abroad and is keen to provide the best services to them and ensure their return to the Kingdom, in accordance with all health procedures.”

Khedouri added that this sol-idarity and mutual support be-tween the various institutions and ministries, as well as the cohesion between the various

groups of society, has distin-guished Bahrain in its manage-ment of the COVID-19 fight.

“We feel proud of our national team spirit as ‘Team Bahrain’ wit-nessed in all the institutions, and, by God’s grace, we will overcome this crisis and experience much from it,” she said.

Khedouri also extended her heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Bahrain TV, which continues to raise awareness and televise educational programmes for citizens and residents in high-lighting the Kingdom’s efforts in combatting the coronavirus.

There are great efforts made by the Embassies of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the countries where students reside, which reflect the great care that the Kingdom gives to its citizens abroad. SHURA COUNCL MEMBER NANCY KHEDOURI

Eight lose appeal in terrorist cell case

TDT | Manama

The Supreme Criminal Court of Appeal yesterday rejected the plea of eight

members of a terrorist cell who were sentenced to 10 years in jail in January this year.

The appellants were among 11 Bahraini men who were tried for their involvement in assault-ing policemen and targeting oil pipelines and ATMs in different areas of the country.

On January 28, the First High Criminal Court announced its verdict against the 11 defendants. The court sentenced five of the defendants to life in prison, two defendants to three years’ im-prisonment, one defendant to 10 years’ imprisonment, one defend-ant to five years’ imprisonment, and one defendant to seven years. Two other defendants were ac-quitted for lack of evidence.

Four of the defendants were also ordered to pay hefty fines of BD100,000 each.

According to court files, the defendants are said to have joined the terrorist cell and were eyeing to murder police-men and officers and bomb oil and gas pipelines as well as ATMs, after receiving financial funds from wanted fugitives in terror cases who ae currently out of the Kingdom.

The defendants’ plot was dis-mantled after police received confidential information reveal-ing their plans. It was discovered that the first defendant recruited the third defendant and he or-dered him to examine banks lo-cated in Sanad, as the cell aimed to bomb ATMs there.

According to the third defend-ant’s testimony, the first defend-ant requested him, the third de-fendant, to observe the gas pipes and told him that they were part of the plot to bomb them.

It is said that the cell detonated a bomb near a gas pipe but the explosion didn’t cause any dam-ages to the facility.

Woman who smuggled hashish in underwear loses appealTDT | Manama

A woman who attempted to smuggle drugs into the Kingdom by hiding it in

her underwear had her punish-ment upheld yesterday by the Su-preme Criminal Court of Appeal.

The woman was among three defendants arrested last year for their involvement in trafficking, selling and abusing hashish.

Court files showed that the ap-pellant was arrested upon arrival at the Bahrain side of King Fahad Causeway. The woman raised the suspicion of Customs Affairs

officers as she showed obvious confusion and was nervous, as stated in the officers’ testimonies.

Additionally, police dogs con-tinued barking at her, raising more doubts.

Policewomen were called to check the appellant and inspect her belongings. Initially, nothing illegal was found in her posses-sion, but, intensified inspection led to the detection of a piece of hashish wrapped and concealed in her underwear.

Customs Affairs immediately referred the woman to the An-ti-Narcotics Department in the

Interior Ministry to continue the legal procedures.

In the department’s interro-gation, the woman confessed that she smuggled the drugs for the second defendant in return for BD400. Further investigation showed that the second defendant employed the woman to pick up pieces of hashish from a GCC na-tional abroad, and deliver it to him here after smuggling it through King Fahad Causeway.

The second defendant was caught while hiding in the house of a mutual friend (the third de-fendant).

That third defendant told prosecutors that the second de-fendant told him that their fe-male friend was arrested while attempting to smuggle the drugs. He added that the second de-fendant requested to hide in his house for a couple of days to avoid arrest.

The first and second defendants were previously sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and fined BD5,000 each for drug trafficking. The third defendant received a lighter sentence of six months in jail and was fined BD100 after he was convicted of drugs abuse.

Two men on trial for stealing car, selling to scrap shopTDT | Manama

The First High Criminal Court yesterday ad-journed a case involving two men, accused of stealing a car, selling it using a stolen

identity card, and abusing drugs, to April 30.The court’s decision came to communicate

with Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowment Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa to assign attorneys to both defendants, as per the followed regulations in this regard. However, the court also

ordered to keep both men in custody until then.The case was first reported by the victim at the

Southern Hamad Town Police Station on January 12 this year, informing that his car, which he had parked in front of his house on the same day, was stolen. The victim also reported that there were some important documents that belonged to him and his son in the vehicle.

A few days later, the stolen car was found at a scrap shop in Hamala industrial area in the Northern Governorate. When the Asian worker

at the shop was questioned about the car, he said that he had legally bought it for BD80 from the accused. Justifying his claims, the worker also presented the sale contract and the identity card used by the suspect.

However, further investigation led to the owner of the identity card (the second victim), who stated that his wallet has been stolen around a month ago.

To prove his statements, the man presented doc-uments indicating that he had reported the matter to the police and issued a new card in replacement

of the lost one.Police investigation led to the identification and

arrest of several suspects, including both accused men. The scrap shop worker recognised one of the suspects from the police identity parade. The suspect led the police to his accomplice.

Both suspects were interrogated by the Public Prosecution, which charged them of theft, forging official documents and abuse of drugs, as their urine and blood tests showed traces of metham-phetamine.

Two get prison for violating self-confinement ordersTDT | Manama

The Lower Criminal Court sentenced today two de-fendants to three months

in jail and ruled they stay under house-arrest during the impris-onment period and be subject to electronic monitoring.

They were accused of violat-ing self-confinement procedures which are imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

The two defendants reported-ly came from a coronavirus-hit country. After taking a sample for check-up, the doctor asked them to commit to a 14-day

quarantine at home, in line with regulations followed by trav-ellers from infected countries.

Following up on the pair, it has been found that they infringed the home-isolation orders as the first defendant reported to Bah-rain International Airport while the second went to the Central

Market, bought fish, put them for sale and posted the video on social media websites.

The Public Prosecution ques-tioned the defendants, ordered they be placed under house-ar-rest, and referred them to the criminal court, which issued its afore-mentioned verdict.

04

business

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2019

We extend our gratitude to #TeamBahrain, headed by His Royal Highness

Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First

Deputy Prime Minister, Government of Bahrain, for taking swift measures to control the spread

of the diseaseBAHRAIN KUWAIT INSURANCE COMPANY (GIG BAHRAIN)

GIG Bahrain announces 15 percent discount for medical practitioners

Launches initiatives to support National Taskforce for combating COVID-19TDT | Manama

Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company (GIG Bahrain) announced launching

initiatives to support national activities in the battle against COVID-19 and to ease the fi-nancial burden during these difficult times, which includes a 15 per cent discount across the board for all medical practitioners.

“Not only that but in recogni-tion for their unparalleled dedi-cation in keeping everyone safe, this would apply to all personal line products: Comprehensive Motor Insurance, Home In-surance, Travel and Domestic Help,” the company statement said, adding that the new ini-tiatives are available for both existing and new customers.

Additionally, from date to end of June 2020, all new in-dividual customers who will purchase Comprehensive Mo-tor Insurance with GIG Bahrain will enjoy the waiver of premi-

ums for the 3 months up to June 2020, and will only pay for the remaining period, GIG Bahrain said.

As required by law, policies will still be issued for 12 months. “We are pleased to advise that all new customers will imme-diately benefit from the special offer.”

The existing customers, the company said, would not only be awarded a special discount on their Comprehensive Motor Insurance renewal premiums but will also be eligible for a

VIP cover to their policies, at no additional cost.

“The VIP cover would provide excellent benefits, especially during the times social distanc-ing is a must, whereas leaving home would not be necessary. Instead, the VIP cover would provide a pick- up and delivery of the insured vehicle for either routine maintenance or the an-nual traffic registration twice a year. If the vehicle were sched-uled for routine maintenance, an additional benefit of a rental would be available for up to 3

days at no additional cost.” The VIP cover also includes

Taxi services twice a year to any destination within Bahrain as well as emergency home assistance up to two times a year.

Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company said it has worked closely with its partners to launch a unique and afforda-ble Personal Accident product called “DAMAN” which covers death and disability due to ac-cident, including death due to COVID-19.

Huawei announces 8.6pc increase in enterprise business in 2019 TDT | Manama

Huawei announced record-ing a steady growth in the

enterprise market, achieving a global sales revenue of USD12.8 billion—up 8.6 per cent year-on-year.

Huawei said its enterprise business has become one of the key drivers of the company’s overall expansion, with sales revenue in the Middle East growing 24pc year-on-year, making the region one of the top performers for Huawei globally.

As of 2019, more than 700 cit-ies and 228 Fortune Global 500 companies have chosen Huawei

as their digital transformation partner. Besides, Huawei’s en-terprise business has a network of more than 28,000 partners worldwide, which contribute up to 86pc of the global revenue of the business group.

Huawei said it also invested

15.3 pc of its 2019 revenue – or approximately USD18.8 billion – back into R&D in line with its long-term investment approach and commitment to providing technology innovations. Its total R&D spend over the past decade now exceeds USD$85.9 billion.

During 2019, Huawei said it leveraged the synergy among cloud, AI, and 5G to provide pub-lic cloud services and hybrid cloud solutions that are stable, reliable and sustainable. HUA-WEI CLOUD has launched more than 200 cloud services and 190 solutions, while more than 3 million enterprise users and de-

velopers currently use HUAWEI CLOUD to develop products and solutions.

Using Cloud as the base, Hua-wei has launched Huawei Ho-rizon Digital Platform by inte-grating new ICT technologies including IoT, AI, big data, video, converged communications, and GIS to build a foundation for the future digital world. According to leading independent market research firm Dell’Oro Group, Huawei ranked No. 1 in the share of the global Wi-Fi 6 indoor AP market, excluding North Amer-ica between the third quarters of 2018 and 2019, through its

provision of quality services for customers from various sectors such as education, retail, health-care, and manufacturing.

In addition, in 2019, Huawei launched CloudEngine 16800, the industry’s first data cen-tre switch built for the AI era, which has been commercially deployed in more than 150 en-terprise data centres around the world. The three OptiXs, namely OptiXtrans, OptiXaccess, and OptiXstar, have been adopted by over 3,800 companies across 158 countries and regions. Ac-cording to a Gartner’s report re-leased in September 2019, Hua-

wei’s storage products took up the Leaders’ zone of the Magic Quadrant. Huawei also released two flagship solutions for the en-terprise market – HiCampus and HiDC– by relying on its cutting edge technologies in 5G, optical transmission, Internet Protocol (IP) networking, and AI technol-ogies and making collaborative innovation across technological domains. In areas such as smart city, campus, transportation, energy, manufacturing, and ed-ucation, Huawei said it works with global partners to roll out innovative solutions and busi-ness models to create new value.

Huawei’s enterprise business has a network

of more than 28,000 partners worldwide, which contribute up to 86pc of the global

revenue of the business group.

Top creditors to suspend poorest countries’ debt payments: FranceReuters | Paris

Major international credi-tors have agreed to sus-

pend debt payments owed by the poorest countries this year, throwing a financial lifeline to help cope with the coronavirus crisis, France’s finance minis-ter said yesterday.

Some 76 countries, of which 40 are in sub-Sahara Africa, were eligible to have debt pay-ments worth a combined $20 billion suspended, out of a to-tal of $32 billion the countries were to spend on debt servic-ing this year.

“We have obtained a debt moratorium at the level of bi-lateral creditors and private creditors for a total of $20 bil-lion euros,” Bruno Le Maire told journalists.

The government creditors, including not only the Paris Club but also China and oth-er members of the Group of 20 economic powers, are to suspend $12 billion under the agreement, which remains to be finalised on Wednesday.

Separately, a senior German official spoke of a debt mor-atorium by official creditors worth up to $14 billion.

“We’re glad in particular that China agreed to partici-pate in this moratorium. All that will free up money for the countries that need it the most,” Le Maire said.

China has become a major creditor to developing coun-tries, especially in Africa, but there is little transparency

about how much they owe.Private creditors have

agreed on a voluntary basis to roll over or refinance $8 billion in debt, a French finance min-istry source said.

Of the total $32 billion due this year, the remaining 12 bil-lion euros is owed by multilat-eral lenders, mainly the World Bank, Le Maire said, urging such lenders to join the debt relief initiative.

In a joint statement, G7 fi-nance ministers and central bankers said they were ready to provide “a time-bound sus-pension on debt service pay-ments due on official bilateral claims for all countries eligible for World Bank concessional financing” if joined by Chi-na and other countries in the Group of 20 major economies, and as agreed with the Paris Club group of creditors.

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire attends a press conference after the weekly cabinet meeting, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Paris, France

Debt levels expected to sharply increase in 2020, stabilise as economies recover: IMFReuters | Washington

Global debt is expected to increase significantly over

the next year, the top econ-omist of the International Monetary Fund said yesterday, while moratoriums on debt payments and debt restructur-ing may need to be continued as the world economy emerges from the coronavirus pandem-ic lockdown.

While downside risks pre-vail in the global economic outlook, debt to output lev-els will stabilise as economies recover, said Gita Gopinath, the IMF Chief Economist, in a

press conference.She said some countries will

require aid including debt re-structurings, without specify-ing details, and called on offi-cial creditors to provide debt relief to poor countries.

Gita Gopinath, the IMF Chief Economist

Global airlines’ estimated coronavirus losses rise to $314 bln - IATAReuters | Paris/London

Estimated global airline losses from the coronavirus

pandemic have climbed to $314 billion, 25 per cent more than previously forecast, owing to the severity of the economic downturn and a slower than previously expected reopening of international routes.

The latest forecast from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is up from the $252 billion figure given on March 24 and represents a 55pc drop in 2020 passenger revenue compared with last year.

Traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres is fore-cast to be 48pc down this year, compared with the previously

forecast 38pc decline, industry body IATA said at a weekly on-line news conference yesterday.

The pandemic has brought air travel to a standstill, with many airline fleets grounded

and no visibility on when travel restrictions will be eased.

IATA has urged governments to provide airlines with liquidity urgently to help them to survive the crisis, warning that many will go bust within weeks unless they receive help.

The trade body, which repre-sents airlines such as Lufthansa and British Airways owner IAG, said it expects domestic mar-kets to be the first to reopen, as has happened in China, with international routes following gradually.

A phased return of inter-national flights would still be problematic for airline finances because most carriers obtain the bulk of their revenue from international routes, IATA said.

A french gendarme wearing a protective face mask stands by an Emirates plane during the unloading of 25 tons of medical material ordered by Nice municipality at Nice international airport, as a lockdown is imposed to slow the rate of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Nice, France

Abdulla Sultan, BKIC CEO


ASEAN leaders make vow on food and medicine supply• Leaders committed “to keeping ASEAN’s markets open for trade and investment... with a view to ensuring food security”

AFP | Hanoi

Southeast Asian leaders pledged to keep trade routes open to protect food

supplies and stockpile medical equipment at a summit held on-line yesterday, as they warned of the crippling economic cost of the coronavirus.

Led by Vietnam -- which chaired the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASE-AN) meeting -- leaders agreed to share resources and fight to limit further damage to the re-gion’s tourism and export-reli-ant economies, already ravaged by COVID-19.

But an emergency fund pro-posed by Hanoi to tackle the pandemic did not appear to have

been given the go-ahead.In a joint declaration, leaders

committed “to keeping ASEAN’s markets open for trade and in-vestment... with a view to ensur-ing food security”.

They also pledged to cooper-ate to ensure adequate supplies of personal protective equip-ment and diagnostic tools, as

well as using “reserve warehous-es to support the needs of ASEAN Member States in public health emergencies”.

China later said it planned to set up a special fund to help ASE-AN countries combat the pan-demic, but declined to say how much money will be allocated.

Following the summit --

which was joined by leaders from China, Japan and South Korea -- Chinese Premier Li Ke-qiang also declared his support for a $5 billion recovery pack-age proposed by Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

“We welcome the AIIB’s pro-posal of a COVID-19 Recovery

Facility with an initial cap-italisation of 5 billion US dol-lars,” Li said, according to state media.

‘Badly impacted people’s lives’In opening remarks via video

conference, Vietnam premier Nguyen Xuan Phuc hailed the work of ASEAN in fighting the virus. But he warned the disease “has badly impacted people’s lives, their socio-economic situ-ation... challenging stability and social security”.

Vietnam has had some success in containing the virus through extensive quarantines and social distancing.

It has recorded 265 infections and no deaths, while Thailand has also kept its numbers rela-tively low with just over 2,500 cases and 40 deaths.

The situation is mixed else-where across the region, with fears that limited testing in In-donesia has played out into the low caseload -- and under 400 deaths -- for the country of 260 million. Similarly, threadbare health systems from Myanmar

to Laos are widely believed to be missing the true scale of in-fections.

A recent surge in cases in Sin-gapore has raised fears the pan-demic could rebound in places which had batted back the initial outbreak.

Vietnam used the 10-member summit to propose funding to deal with the pandemic, an idea backed by both Malaysia and the Philippines.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte warned he was “par-ticularly concerned with food security”.

The whole region has been hit hard by the virus.

In Vietnam many factories are still running, but, in a sign of the ongoing risks, dozens of workers at a Samsung unit in the north were ordered into quarantine after one tested positive for the virus.

The Thai economy, the sec-ond-largest in ASEAN, is expect-ed to shrink by 5.3pc this year -- a 22-year low -- with millions left jobless in the politically fe-brile kingdom.

A Thai government handout photo shows multiple screens of ASEAN leaders joining the special coronavirus summit hosted by Vietnam

Audi Hungary plant begins tooling up after 3-week production haltBudapest

Volkswagen Group’s Audi brand restarted

operations at its plant in Hungary yesterday after halting work last month due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

Citing a poor sales outlook and uncertainties in com-ponent supply, Volkswagen announced on March 17 production halts at plants throughout Europe.

Production was suspend-ed March 22 at its Audi plant in Gyor, 120 kilometres (75 miles) west of Budapest, that employs almost 13,000 people.

Stocks climb as China data beats expectationsAFP | London

Stock markets mostly rose yesterday as better-than-ex-

pected Chinese trade data lifted some of the economic gloom wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

Oil prices fell, despite US President Donald Trump claiming that producers were mulling a global daily output cut of 20 million barrels.

The dollar dropped against main rivals, helping to push gold above $1,700 an ounce -- the highest level for more than seven years, according to traders.

“Markets continue to react in an odd way, mostly ignoring all the bad figures that have come their way and focusing on the positives, such as the China figures,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG trad-ing group.

Asian stock markets kicked off the day with gains after official data showed Chinese exports fell 6.6 per cent and imports slid 0.9 pc in March on a yearly basis.

But Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics warned “the worst is still to come” for China’s export businesses, with more economic headwinds likely in the months ahead as major trading partners battle their coronavirus outbreaks.

Investors will now await the release of China’s quarterly GDP figures on Friday, with fore-casters predicting a 6.2-pc con-traction.

Shanghai’s main index fin-ished 1.6-pc higher and Hong Kong returned from a four-day break to close up 0.6 pc Tues-day.

“The data coming out of Chi-na is a rough leading indicator for the rest of the world,” noted Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group.

“The smaller exports drop is a clue that China’s first-quar-ter growth figures released on Friday could also surprise on the topside.”

After a strong start, European bourses tailed off approaching the half way stage, while Lon-don slipped into a slight loss.

Britain’s economy could

shrink by an unprecedented 13 pc in 2020 in the case of a three-month coronavirus lock-down, according to a scenario published by UK fiscal watch-dog the Office for Budget Re-sponsibility.

Trading was halted in Frank-furt for several hours as the Xetra trading system, on which several European exchanges depend, experienced technical problems.

On the corporate front Tues-day, JPMorgan Chase reported a huge decline in first-quar-ter earnings after setting aside nearly $8.3 billion for loans vulnerable to the economic devastation from coronavirus shutdowns.

Wall Street opened higher, with the Dow rising 1.3 pc in the first minute of trading, as US traders also prefered to focus on the relatively good news out of China.

‘Oil uncertainty’

Markets’ focus was mean-while firmly also on oil.

“There is still a lot uncertain-ty over whether the reduction in output will be enough,” said Neil Wilson, chief market ana-lyst at trading website Markets.com. “The biggest uncertainty for oil is how quickly does de-mand recover in the medium term? Indeed, this is the central question for risk assets in gen-eral,” he added.

Oil producing nations at the weekend thrashed out a com-promise to cut output by nearly 10 million barrels per day from May, while Trump said the final figure could end up being dou-ble that level.

Oil prices have crashed as the coronavirus outbreak sends demand off a cliff, with a Sau-di-Russian price war com-pounding the crisis.

IMF approves debt relief for 25 poor countriesWashington

The International Mon-etary Fund on Monday

announced immediate debt relief for 25 poor countries to help them free up funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The IMF board approved the debt relief for the coun-tries, nearly all in Africa, but also Afghanistan, Yemen, Nepal and Haiti.

The fund together with the World Bank have called for rich nations to stop col-lecting debt payments from poor countries from May 1 through June 2021.

The debt relief will be funded by the IMF’s Ca-tastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT), which was first set up to combat the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2015 and has been repurposed to help countries fend off COVID-19.

The fund currently has $500 million, with Japan, Britain, China and the Neth-erlands among its main con-tributors.

Coronavirus ‘Great Lockdown’ to shrink global economy by 3pc in 2020: IMF

Reuters | Washington

The global economy is ex-pected to shrink by 3.0 per

cent during 2020 in a stunning coronavirus-driven collapse of activity that will mark the steepest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday.

The IMF, in its 2020 World Economic Outlook, predict-ed a partial rebound in 2021, with the world economy grow-ing at a 5.8pc rate, but said its forecasts were marked by “ex-treme uncertainty” and that outcomes could be far worse, depending on the course of the pandemic.

“This recovery in 2021 is only partial as the level of economic activity is projected to remain below the level we had projected for 2021, before the virus hit,” IMF chief econ-omist Gita Gopinath said in a statement.

Under the Fund’s best-case scenario, the world is likely to lose a cumulative $9 trillion in output over two years - greater than the combined GDP of Ger-many and Japan, she added.

The IMF’s forecasts assume that outbreaks of the novel coronavirus will peak in most countries during the second quarter and fade in the second half of the year, with business closures and other contain-ment measures gradually un-wound.

A longer pandemic that

lasts through the third quarter could cause a further 3pc con-traction in 2020 and a slower recovery in 2021, due to the “scarring” effects of bankrupt-cies and prolonged unemploy-ment. A second outbreak in 2021 that forces more shut-downs could cause a reduc-tion of 5 to 8 percentage points in the global gross domestic product baseline forecast for next year, keeping the world in recession for a second straight year.

“It is very likely that this year the global economy will expe-rience its worst recession since the Great Depression, surpass-ing that seen during the global financial crisis a decade ago,” the IMF said in its report. “The Great Lockdown, as one might call it, is projected to shrink global growth dramatically.”

The new forecasts provide a somber backdrop to the IMF and World Bank spring meet-ings, which are being held by videoconference this week to avoid contributing to the spread of the virus. The meet-ings normally draw 10,000 people to a crowded two-block area of downtown Washing-ton.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said last week that some $8 trillion in fiscal stimulus being poured in by governments to stave off collapse was not likely to be enough. She is expected to ar-gue this week for more debt relief for the poorest countries.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks during a conference hosted by the Vatican on economic solidarity, at the Vatican

Key figures around 1330 GMTLondon - FTSE 100: 0.6 pc at 5,807.41 points

Frankfurt - DAX 30: 1.5 pc at 10,720.47

Paris - CAC 40: 0.7 pc at 4,537.87

Milan - FTSE MIB: 0.7 pc at 17,749.06

Madrid - IBEX 35: 0.9 pc at 7,137.00

EURO STOXX 50: 1.3 pc at 2,928.82

New York - Dow: 1.3 pc at 23,690.57

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: 3.1 pc at 19,638.81 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: 0.6 pc at 24,435.40 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: 1.6 pc at 2,827.28 (close)

Euro/dollar: at $1.0956 from $1.0914

Dollar/yen: at 107.40 from 108.02

Pound/dollar: at $1.2571 from $1.2481

Euro/pound: at 87.19 pence from 87.44

Brent Crude: 2.3 pc at $31.02 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: 4.4 pc at $21.43 per barrel

Traders watching stock movements (Courtesy of Gulf Business)


At the International Monetary Fund, we are actively deploying our 1-trillion-dollar lending

capacity to support vulnerable countries,

including through rapid-disbursing emergency

financing and debt service relief to our poorest member countries, and we are calling on official bilateral creditors

to do the same.

Hon. Chairman Najeb Yacob Alhamer | Editor-in-Chief Mahmood AI Mahmood | Chairman & Managing Director P Unnikrishnan | Advertisement: Update Media W.L.L | Tel: 38444692, Email: [email protected] | Newsroom: Tel: 38444680, Email: [email protected] & circulation: Tel: 36458394 | Email:[email protected] | Website: www.newsofbahrain.com | Printed and published by Al Ayam Publishing

GITA GOPINATH

The world has changed dramatically in the three months since our last up-

date of the World Economic Out-look in January. A rare disaster, a coronavirus pandemic, has re-sulted in a tragically large num-ber of human lives being lost. As countries implement necessary quarantines and social distancing practices to contain the pandemic, the world has been put in a Great Lockdown. The magnitude and speed of collapse in activity that has followed is unlike anything experienced in our lifetimes.

This is a crisis like no other, and there is substantial uncertainty about its impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. A lot depends on the epidemiology of the virus, the effectiveness of containment measures, and the development of therapeutics and vaccines, all of which are hard to predict. In addition, many countries now face multiple crises—a health crisis, a financial crisis, and a collapse in commodity prices, which interact in complex ways. Policymakers are providing unprecedented support to households, firms, and financial markets, and, while this is crucial for a strong recovery, there is con-siderable uncertainty about what the economic landscape will look

like when we emerge from this lockdown.

Under the assumption that the pandemic and required contain-ment peaks in the second quarter for most countries in the world, and recedes in the second half of this year, in the April World Economic Outlook we project global growth in 2020 to fall to -3 percent. This is a downgrade of 6.3 percentage points from January 2020, a major revision over a very short period. This makes the Great Lockdown the worst recession since the Great Depression, and far worse than the Global Financial Crisis.

Assuming the pandemic fades in the second half of 2020 and that policy actions taken around the world are effective in pre-venting widespread firm bank-ruptcies, extended job losses, and system-wide financial strains, we project global growth in 2021 to rebound to 5.8 percent.

This recovery in 2021 is only partial as the level of econom-ic activity is projected to remain below the level we had project-ed for 2021, before the virus hit. The cumulative loss to global GDP over 2020 and 2021 from the pan-demic crisis could be around 9 trillion dollars, greater than the economies of Japan and Germany, combined.

This is a truly global crisis as no country is spared. Countries reliant on tourism, travel, hospi-tality, and entertainment for their growth are experiencing particu-larly large disruptions. Emerging

market and developing economies face additional challenges with unprecedented reversals in cap-ital flows as global risk appetite wanes, and currency pressures, while coping with weaker health systems, and more limited fiscal space to provide support. More-over, several economies entered this crisis in a vulnerable state with sluggish growth and high debt levels.

For the first time since the Great Depression both advanced econ-omies and emerging market and developing economies are in re-cession. For this year, growth in advanced economies is projected at -6.1 percent. Emerging market and developing economies with normal growth levels well above advanced economies are also pro-jected to have negative growth rates of -1.0 percent in 2020, and -2.2 percent if you exclude China. Income per capita is projected to shrink for over 170 countries. Both advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies are expected to par-tially recover in 2021.

Alternative adverse scenariosWhat I have described is a base-

line scenario but, given the ex-treme uncertainty around the du-ration and intensity of the health crisis, we also explore alternative, more adverse scenarios. The pan-demic may not recede in the sec-ond half of this year, leading to longer durations of containment,

worsening financial conditions, and further breakdowns of global supply chains. In such cases, glob-al GDP would fall even further: an additional 3 percent in 2020 if the pandemic is more protracted this year, while, if the pandemic con-tinues into 2021, it may fall next year by an additional 8 percent compared to our baseline scenario.

Exceptional policy actions

Flattening the spread of COV-ID-19 using lockdowns allows health systems to cope with the disease, which then permits a re-sumption of economic activity. In this sense, there is no trade-off be-tween saving lives and saving live-lihoods. Countries should continue to spend generously on their health systems, perform widespread test-ing, and refrain from trade restric-

tions on medical supplies. A global effort must ensure that when ther-apies and vaccines are developed both rich and poor nations alike have immediate access.

While the economy is shut down, policymakers will need to ensure that people are able to meet their needs and that businesses can pick up once the acute phases of the pandemic pass. The large, timely, and targeted, fiscal, monetary, and financial policies already taken by many policymakers—includ-ing credit guarantees, liquidity facilities, loan forbearance, ex-panded unemployment insurance, enhanced benefits, and tax relief—have been lifelines to households and businesses. This support should continue throughout the containment phase to minimize persistent scars that could emerge from subdued investment and job losses in this severe downturn.

Policymakers must also plan for the recovery. As containment measures come off, policies should shift swiftly to supporting de-mand, incentivizing firm hiring, and repairing balance sheets in the private and public sector to aid the recovery. Fiscal stimulus that is coordinated across countries with fiscal space will magnify the bene-fit for all economies. Moratoria on debt repayments and debt restruc-turing may need to be continued during the recovery phase.

Multilateral cooperation is vital to the health of the global recov-ery. To support needed spending in developing countries, bilateral creditors and international finan-

cial institutions should provide concessional financing, grants, and debt relief. The activation and establishment of swap lines between major central banks has helped ease shortages in interna-tional liquidity, and may need to be expanded to more economies. Collaborative effort is needed to ensure that the world does not de-globalize, so the recovery is not damaged by further losses to productivity.

At the International Monetary Fund, we are actively deploying our 1-trillion-dollar lending ca-pacity to support vulnerable coun-tries, including through rapid-dis-bursing emergency financing and debt service relief to our poorest member countries, and we are calling on official bilateral credi-tors to do the same.

There are some hopeful signs that this health crisis will end. Countries are succeeding in con-taining the virus using social-dis-tancing practices, testing, and contact tracing, at least for now, and treatments and vaccines may develop sooner than expected.

In the meantime, we face tre-mendous uncertainty around what comes next. Commensurate with the scale and speed of the crisis, domestic and international policy responses need to be large, rapidly deployed, and speedily recalibrat-ed as new data becomes available. The courageous actions of doctors and nurses need to be matched by policymakers all over the world so we can jointly overcome this crisis.

THIS NUCLEAR OPTION IS ULTIMATELY AN EXAMPLE OF THE ARROGANCE OF POWER.JOE BIDEN

QUOTE OF THE DAY


The other global health crisis

A rare sight: an empty Times Square. New Yorkers have been told to stay home to contain the spread of coronavirus.

ANALYSIA WATLEY

In the United States, a woman called the National Domes-tic Violence Hotline after

her husband threatened to kick her out if she started coughing. An immunosuppressed man had his hand sanitizer hidden by his girlfriend. A British woman had been experiencing physical violence and mental abuse from her partner for six months, but it worsened considerably dur-ing the lockdown. She is now staying in a domestic violence shelter.

Domestic violence is not a new problem. The Center for Disease Control reports that 25% of women and 10% of men in America have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner at some point. Ap-proximately half of the adult population in the United States will experience verbal abuse from a partner in their lifetime. And domestic violence is not limited to intimate partner vi-olence: around 1 in 10 Amer-icans over the age of 60 have experienced domestic abuse or

maltreatment, while an average of 4 – 5 children die each day from child abuse in the United States alone.

Yet coronavirus has creat-ed unique and unprecedented problems for victims of do-mestic violence. With more than a third of the global pop-ulation told to stay at home, individuals are forced to spend more time than ever with their abusers. Rates of violence go up both when families spend more time together and in the wake of economic instability. We are currently experiencing unparalleled levels of both.

The effect is clear: rates of do-mestic violence have increased. In Wuhan, one of the first cities to implement a lockdown, a po-lice station recorded a threefold increase in the number of do-mestic violence cases in Feb-ruary compared to last year. Since the implementation of national self-quarantine poli-cies, the British National Do-mestic abuse helpline received 25% more calls and Australi-ans made 75% more internet searches for domestic violence


At the International Monetary Fund, we are actively deploying our 1-trillion-dollar lending

capacity to support vulnerable countries,

including through rapid-disbursing emergency

financing and debt service relief to our poorest member countries, and we are calling on official bilateral creditors

to do the same.


GITA GOPINATH

The world has changed dramatically in the three months since our last up-

date of the World Economic Out-look in January. A rare disaster, a coronavirus pandemic, has re-sulted in a tragically large num-ber of human lives being lost. As countries implement necessary quarantines and social distancing practices to contain the pandemic, the world has been put in a Great Lockdown. The magnitude and speed of collapse in activity that has followed is unlike anything experienced in our lifetimes.

This is a crisis like no other, and there is substantial uncertainty about its impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. A lot depends on the epidemiology of the virus, the effectiveness of containment measures, and the development of therapeutics and vaccines, all of which are hard to predict. In addition, many countries now face multiple crises—a health crisis, a financial crisis, and a collapse in commodity prices, which interact in complex ways. Policymakers are providing unprecedented support to households, firms, and financial markets, and, while this is crucial for a strong recovery, there is con-siderable uncertainty about what the economic landscape will look

like when we emerge from this lockdown.

Under the assumption that the pandemic and required contain-ment peaks in the second quarter for most countries in the world, and recedes in the second half of this year, in the April World Economic Outlook we project global growth in 2020 to fall to -3 percent. This is a downgrade of 6.3 percentage points from January 2020, a major revision over a very short period. This makes the Great Lockdown the worst recession since the Great Depression, and far worse than the Global Financial Crisis.

Assuming the pandemic fades in the second half of 2020 and that policy actions taken around the world are effective in pre-venting widespread firm bank-ruptcies, extended job losses, and system-wide financial strains, we project global growth in 2021 to rebound to 5.8 percent.

This recovery in 2021 is only partial as the level of econom-ic activity is projected to remain below the level we had project-ed for 2021, before the virus hit. The cumulative loss to global GDP over 2020 and 2021 from the pan-demic crisis could be around 9 trillion dollars, greater than the economies of Japan and Germany, combined.

This is a truly global crisis as no country is spared. Countries reliant on tourism, travel, hospi-tality, and entertainment for their growth are experiencing particu-larly large disruptions. Emerging

market and developing economies face additional challenges with unprecedented reversals in cap-ital flows as global risk appetite wanes, and currency pressures, while coping with weaker health systems, and more limited fiscal space to provide support. More-over, several economies entered this crisis in a vulnerable state with sluggish growth and high debt levels.

For the first time since the Great Depression both advanced econ-omies and emerging market and developing economies are in re-cession. For this year, growth in advanced economies is projected at -6.1 percent. Emerging market and developing economies with normal growth levels well above advanced economies are also pro-jected to have negative growth rates of -1.0 percent in 2020, and -2.2 percent if you exclude China. Income per capita is projected to shrink for over 170 countries. Both advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies are expected to par-tially recover in 2021.

Alternative adverse scenariosWhat I have described is a base-

line scenario but, given the ex-treme uncertainty around the du-ration and intensity of the health crisis, we also explore alternative, more adverse scenarios. The pan-demic may not recede in the sec-ond half of this year, leading to longer durations of containment,

worsening financial conditions, and further breakdowns of global supply chains. In such cases, glob-al GDP would fall even further: an additional 3 percent in 2020 if the pandemic is more protracted this year, while, if the pandemic con-tinues into 2021, it may fall next year by an additional 8 percent compared to our baseline scenario.

Exceptional policy actions

Flattening the spread of COV-ID-19 using lockdowns allows health systems to cope with the disease, which then permits a re-sumption of economic activity. In this sense, there is no trade-off be-tween saving lives and saving live-lihoods. Countries should continue to spend generously on their health systems, perform widespread test-ing, and refrain from trade restric-

tions on medical supplies. A global effort must ensure that when ther-apies and vaccines are developed both rich and poor nations alike have immediate access.

While the economy is shut down, policymakers will need to ensure that people are able to meet their needs and that businesses can pick up once the acute phases of the pandemic pass. The large, timely, and targeted, fiscal, monetary, and financial policies already taken by many policymakers—includ-ing credit guarantees, liquidity facilities, loan forbearance, ex-panded unemployment insurance, enhanced benefits, and tax relief—have been lifelines to households and businesses. This support should continue throughout the containment phase to minimize persistent scars that could emerge from subdued investment and job losses in this severe downturn.

Policymakers must also plan for the recovery. As containment measures come off, policies should shift swiftly to supporting de-mand, incentivizing firm hiring, and repairing balance sheets in the private and public sector to aid the recovery. Fiscal stimulus that is coordinated across countries with fiscal space will magnify the bene-fit for all economies. Moratoria on debt repayments and debt restruc-turing may need to be continued during the recovery phase.

Multilateral cooperation is vital to the health of the global recov-ery. To support needed spending in developing countries, bilateral creditors and international finan-





THIS NUCLEAR OPTION IS ULTIMATELY AN EXAMPLE OF THE ARROGANCE OF POWER.JOE BIDEN

QUOTE OF THE DAY




ANALYSIA WATLEY

In the United States, a woman called the National Domes-tic Violence Hotline after

her husband threatened to kick her out if she started coughing. An immunosuppressed man had his hand sanitizer hidden by his girlfriend. A British woman had been experiencing physical violence and mental abuse from her partner for six months, but it worsened considerably dur-ing the lockdown. She is now staying in a domestic violence shelter.

Domestic violence is not a new problem. The Center for Disease Control reports that 25% of women and 10% of men in America have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner at some point. Ap-proximately half of the adult population in the United States will experience verbal abuse from a partner in their lifetime. And domestic violence is not limited to intimate partner vi-olence: around 1 in 10 Amer-icans over the age of 60 have experienced domestic abuse or

maltreatment, while an average of 4 – 5 children die each day from child abuse in the United States alone.

Yet coronavirus has creat-ed unique and unprecedented problems for victims of do-mestic violence. With more than a third of the global pop-ulation told to stay at home, individuals are forced to spend more time than ever with their abusers. Rates of violence go up both when families spend more time together and in the wake of economic instability. We are currently experiencing unparalleled levels of both.

The effect is clear: rates of do-mestic violence have increased. In Wuhan, one of the first cities to implement a lockdown, a po-lice station recorded a threefold increase in the number of do-mestic violence cases in Feb-ruary compared to last year. Since the implementation of national self-quarantine poli-cies, the British National Do-mestic abuse helpline received 25% more calls and Australi-ans made 75% more internet searches for domestic violence


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

The Information & eGovernemnt Au-

thority launched a group of integrated ID card eS-ervice and population registry eServices which eliminates the need to visit service centers branches. Now the pub-lic can benefit from 23 comprehensive eServices across various channels.

@iGABahrain

Cuomo’s been calling daily, even hourly, beg-

ging for everything, most of which should have been the state’s responsibility, such as new hospitals, beds, ventilators, etc. I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independ-ence! That won’t happen!

@realDonaldTrump

The federal govern-ment does not have

absolute power. “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohib-ited by it to the States, are reserved to the States re-spectively, or to the peo-ple.” United States Con-stitution, Amendment X

@Liz_Cheney

Cross-sector collab-oration will be key

for #COVID19 recovery. Our plans need to include environmental goals, be-cause what’s good for the planet is good for human-ity. Today, we are signing @pcanfin ‘s #GreenRe-covery call to action.

@BradSmi

Disclaimer: (Views expressed by columnists are personal and need not necessarily reflect our

editorial stances)





1450Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years’ War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.

1632Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years’ War.

1642Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia is routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempts to halt the progress of a Royalist Army.

TODAY IN

HISTORY



1395Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde at the Battle of the Terek River. The Golden Horde capital city, Sarai, is razed to the ground and Timur installs a puppet ruler on the throne.


support. Police reports from France document 30% more cases of domestic abuse.

Unfortunately, adovocates believe these figures do not show the full extent of domes-tic violence amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Making contact with helplines, shelters, and friends – difficult under nor-mal conditions – is almost im-possible now that victims are unable to leave their house. For some, this is fatal. At 35 years old, Carina was the first wom-

an in Spain to be killed by her partner since the introduction of self-isolation orders to re-duce the spread of coronavirus. 27-year-old Lorena Quaranta was murdered by her husband while she worked as a nurse in Messina, Italy.

Many countries are work-ing to help individuals expe-riencing domestic violence. In Bahrain, Shamsaha operates a 24-hour hotline in both Eng-lish and Arabic for victims of domestic violence. They can be reached using WhatsApp: 3 8 4 4 7 5 8 8 f o r E n g l i s h a n d 66710901 for Arabic. The Ai-sha Yateem Family Counselling Center provides numerous ser-vices to survivors of domestic violence and can be reached at 17430488. Both organizations’ outstanding commitment and dedication continue to im-prove the lives of victims of domestic violence.

(Analysia Watley is a member of the COVID-19 Task Force on Domestic

Violence (www.covid19taskforcedv.org) and can be reached at analysia-

[email protected].)

Many countries are working to help individuals

experiencing domestic violence. In Bahrain,

Shamsaha operates a 24-hour hotline in both English

and Arabic for victims of domestic violence.

Wide Angle

JOEL INDRUPATI

Videoconferencing and Data Security

“Zoom, the video conferencing app that has become wildly popular during the corona-virus crisis admitted that it had “mistaken-

ly” routed some user data through China.”This news item in the Financial Times of 4 April

2020 said that Zoom “had ‘mistakenly’ allowed the calls to flow through its two Chinese data centres since February as part of its efforts to cope with increased traffic, as millions of users flocked to use its technology to host business meetings and social catch-ups during lockdown.

“The company said it had since fixed the flaw, adding that the error occurred only “under extremely limited circumstances” and that government custom-ers were not affected”.

As Zoom is based in California’s Silicon Valley, the government it refers to is the US government.

But, what is wrong if its user data had flowed through two Chinese data centres?

Simple. It creates strong suspicions, and fears, that Beijing could be spying on all that data. The Chinese privacy laws could demand that those companies with data centres in China should necessarily share data with the government when required.

These same security concerns are among the top reasons why Huawei is unable to roll out its 5G plan, globally, as quickly as it wants; especially in the USA.

China’s Huawei is the world’s No. 1 telecom supplier and No. 2 phone manufacturer. But the latest news is that Huawei is not allowed to roll out its 5G Plan in the UK too.

One of the biggest concerns for the future is ‘data se-curity’ today. And unless companies make appropriate strategies to protect their consumers’ data, we will be

diving into a big-brotherly world where individuals would have to fear the abuse and misuse of their privacy.

We have heard of how Facebook and Cambridge Analytica together misused individual users’ privacy. We have heard of how Apple’s iCloud data-breach put up thousands of intimate and private pictures of celebrities out in the public domain. We have heard of how some governments’ data centres - of millions of utility accounts of citizens - were hacked by cybercriminals who put up some of the personal user data online.

We have heard of the Wiki Leaks!Take an interesting case from India. It is being alleged

that India’s defence minister had recently used Zoom Conferencing tools to discuss with the Chief of Defence Staff, a few days ago.

India and China are both nuclear powers, and neigh-bours, who do not see eye to eye on some national borders which are disputed.

So, with Citizen Lab, a Canada-based independent re-search organisation, finding out that Chinese servers are being used to distribute encryption and decryption keys for video links on Zoom, there are new apprehensions on India’s defence security too.

In today’s COVID 19 global scenario, there is a huge surge in demand for video conferencing tools.

Zoom’s usage alone went up 20 times! It had an-nounced on 1 April 2020 that “as of the end of Decem-ber last year, the maximum number of daily meeting participants, both free and paid, conducted on Zoom was approximately 10 million. In March this year, we reached more than 200 million daily meeting partic-ipants, both free and paid” (see: blog.zoom.us/word-press/2020/04/01/a-message-to-our-users/)

Apart from Zoom, there are several other videocon-ferencing tools like Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Skype, Google Hangouts, Cisco Webex Meetings and GoT-oMeeting which have all seen an enormous surge in usage in just the last three months.

They are being used not only for office meetings but also for holding online webinars and conferences as well as for virtual get-togethers of family and friends.

And we must, therefore, hold accountable all soft-ware companies to ensure that our user data is well protected.

(The writer’s twitter handle: @joelindrupati)

India and China are both nuclear

powers, and neighbours, who do

not see eye to eye on some national

borders which are disputed.

08

world


1,831,130

113,013

416,980

Deaths

Recovered:

Active cases

Closed cases

New cases

New deaths

1,301,137

529,993

+51,387

+4,234

Covid-19 Cases:

Country Total cases

new cases

Total deaths

New Deaths

Total recovered

Active cases

Serious, Critical

Tot cases/1m pop

Bahrain 1,522 +161 7 +1 645 870 3 894

Saudi Arabia 5,369 +435 73 +8 889 4,407 59 154

UAE 4,521 25 852 3,644 1 457

Kuwait 1,355 +55 3 +1 176 1,176 26 317

Oman 813 +86 4 130 679 3 159

Jordan 391 7 215 169 5 38

Iraq 1,400 +22 78 766 556 35

Egypt 2,190 164 589 1,437 21

Middle East

Country Total cases New deaths Total Deaths

USA 602,977 +1,492 25,132

Spain 172,541 +300 18,056

Italy 162,488 +602 21,067

France 143,303 +762 15,729

Germany 131,170 +78 3,272

UK 93,873 +778 12,107

China 82,249 3,341

Iran 74,877 +98 4,683

Turkey 65,111 +107 1,403

Belgium 31,119 +254 4,157

Netherlands 27,419 +122 2,945

Canada 26,206 +43 823

Switzerland 25,936 +36 1,174

Brazil 24,169 +50 1,378

Russia 21,102 +22 170

Portugal 17,448 +32 567

Austria 14,197 +16 384

Ireland 11,479 +41 406

Sweden 11,445 +114 1,033

India 10,941 +10 368

Ireland 10,647 365

S. Korea 10,564 +5 222

Peru 9,784 216

Chile 7,917 +10 92

Japan 7,645 143

Ecuador 7,603 355

Poland 7,202 +18 263

Romania 6,879 +20 351

Norway 6,623 +5 139

Denmark 6,496 +14 299

Pakistan 5,837 +3 96

Philippines 5,223 +20 335

G l o b a l C o u n t r i e s w o r s t a f f e c t e d

Figures as of closing

India extends world’s biggest virus lockdownAFP | New Delhi

India’s nationwide corona-virus lockdown, the biggest in the world covering 1.3

billion people, will be extend-ed until May 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday.

“From the economic angle, we have paid a big price,” Modi said. “But the lives of the people of India are far more valuable.”

“From the experiences of the last few days it is clear that the path we have chosen is correct.”

India’s current three-week-old lockdown, in force since March 25, had been scheduled

to end at midnight Tuesday.Modi said there would be

“limited relaxations” from April 20 for districts with no cases, and new guidelines for industry and agriculture would be re-leased on Wednesday.

The announcement comes as debate rages around the world on how to lift restrictions.

Official figures suggest South Asian nations have so far been relatively unscathed by the epi-demic, with around 10,000 cases and 339 deaths in India.

Several states including Ma-harashtra -- home to Mumbai and with the highest number of

cases -- Tamil Nadu and Odisha have already announced lock-down extensions.

Farmers have complained of a lack of workers to harvest crops while snarl-ups of thousands of trucks not allowed to move because of the lockdown have hampered food transport.

“We have tried to keep the interests of the poor and the dai-ly wage workers in mind while making these new guidelines,” Modi said in his 24-minute ad-dress.

“The central and state gov-ernments are working together to ensure that the farmers don’t

face any problems.”Reserve Bank of India gover-

nor Shaktikanta Das has called the coronavirus an “invisible assassin” that could wreak havoc on the economy.

A restaurant industry group, a sector that employs millions of people nationwide, warned Monday there could be “social unrest” if it did not receive fi-nancial relief.

The commerce ministry has also reportedly urged the gov-ernment to consider opening more activities “with reasona-ble safeguards” even if the lock-down is extended.

WHO praises India

The World Health Or-ganisation yesterday

praised India’s decision to extend the lockdown, saying “it would go a long way in arresting the virus spread”.

“Despite huge and mul-tiple challenges, India has been displaying unwaver-ing commitment in its fight against the pandemic,” WHO regional director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said in a statement.

A motorist rides past a graffiti painted on a road to raise awareness about COVID-19 in Chennai

Shell-shocked: Woman fined for taking turtle for a walk in RomeRome

An Italian woman who took her pizza-sized

turtle out for a walk has been fined 400 euros ($440) by the Roman po-lice for breaking strict coronavirus confinement rules.

Italians need a justifi-able reason to be out on the street in the middle of a pandemic that has offi-cially claimed more than 20,000 lives in the Med-iterranean country since February. Taking your dog out for a walk is viewed as a good enough reason to leave your home.

But it seems taking your turtle out for one is not.

The Roman police said “the 60-year-old woman was caught outside her home without a justifiable reason” and fined.

“The woman was walk-ing with a turtle,” the po-

lice statement said.Roman police spokes-

man Nunzio Carbone told AFP that the woman was fined 400 euros because it was “not a justifiable ex-cuse”.

Italian authorities re-

ported issuing a record 16,545 fines on Easter Monday -- a national holi-day in the largely Catholic country.

Another 13,756 fines were issue on Sunday.

Italians have been jok-

ing on social media about renting out their dogs to anyone who was going stir crazy and needed a good excuse to go out.

Carbone said the turtle was “as big as a pizza” but not wearing a leash.

A woman has been fined for walking a turtle -- but not this one -- in locked-down Rome

German venues should stay shut for 18 monthsBerlin

Football fans and concert-goers could be barred from seeing

their favourite teams and bands play live in Germany for 18 months due to the coronavirus, according to a science expert.

Keeping Germany’s stadiums and music venues closed until well into 2021 “would certainly be very wise” according to Gerald Haug, presi-dent of the Leopoldina Academy of Sciences, which advises Angela Merkel’s government on measures to combat the virus.

In an interview aired by broad-caster ARD on Monday, Haug added that “as to whether it will last a year and a half, we have to wait and see - there are also more optimistic as-sessments of the situation.

“But it will certainly last several months more, it could go up to a year and a half.”

The German Football League (DFL) suspended all Bundesliga matches on March 13 but will meet Friday to discuss whether football can resume in early May, most likely

in empty stadiums with fans locked out.

The DFL would need the go-ahead from the health authorities for leagues to resume.

Having been closed since mid-March, concert halls and sports ven-ues across Germany remain shut until further notice.

On Monday, the Leopoldina Acad-emy advocated a “step-by-step” re-turn to normal conditions if the figures for new contaminations “sta-bilise at a low level” and if “hygiene measures are maintained”.

Just under 3,000 people have so far died due to the coronavirus in Germany.

The Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich, is one of the stadiums closed across Germany due to the coronavirus


Latest developments World’s smallest living woman, Jyoti Amge joined hands in

fight against coronavirus. She took the streets of Nagpur and appealed people to stay indoors. She also urged them to support Nagpur Police in their selfless efforts. India is under a lockdown since late March to contain the contagious disease.

Singapore allows teachers to resume using Zoom, the video-conferencing platform said, following its suspension for

online lessons last week after gatecrashers interrupted a class and made lewd comments. Zoom -- which has exploded in popularity but faces growing security concerns -- said it had taken steps to address the education ministry’s worries, including giving officials control over teacher accounts.

Australia and New Zealand brushed aside calls for an easing of tough restrictions on travel and public gatherings despite their success in curbing the spread of COVID-19. The number of new coronavirus cases in the neighbouring nations has fallen dramatically

in the last two weeks, raising hopes that difficult social distancing measures may be relaxed. Tasmania, meanwhile, ordered an investigation into reports of an “illegal” dinner party attended by medical workers that caused an outbreak of COVID-19 and forced two hospitals in the Australian island state to close.

China reported 89 new coronavirus infections, 86 of which were imported from overseas.

Taiwan reported no new infections, the first time the daily tally has been zero in 36 days. The island was hit early by the coronavirus

but managed to keep initial infections low and stop the disease spreading locally.

China has approved clinical trials for two more experimental vaccines to

combat the novel coronavirus, officials said. The vaccines use inactivated coronavirus pathogens, and the approvals pave the way for early-stage human trials, Wu Yuanbin, an official from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology told a regular press briefing. One vaccine developed by a Beijing-based unit of Nasdaq-listed Sinovac Biotech and another vaccine, being developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, were approved.

T i n y f a c e g u a r d s Fast asleep, swaddled in a towel and snug in a pink beanie, a baby born during a pandemic in a Thai hospital needs one last

item to ensure its health -- a face shield. Bangkok hospitals are using the shields on newborns in their maternity wards to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Extraordinary measures have also been rolled out at Praram 9 Hospital, where newborns are being fitted with face shields, a precaution taken at other maternity wards across the capital. The tiny face guards have been designed by the hospital for use when the baby makes its first journey home.

Egypt has postponed the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza on the outskirts of Cairo until next year, as the country tries

to halt the coronavirus spread.

New York’s governor declared Monday that the “worst is over” for its coronavirus outbreak, despite deaths passing

10,000, as several states began devising a plan to reopen their shuttered economies. Andrew Cuomo said lower average hospitalization rates and intubations suggested a “plateauing” of infections in America’s coronavirus epicenter but warned the outbreak could worsen if restrictions are lifted too quickly.

The Turkish parliament on Tuesday approved a law that allows for the release tens of thousands of prisoners as a safety

measure against the coronavirus outbreak. “The draft has become law after being accepted,” the official Twitter account for the parliament’s general assembly said. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International have criticised the law because detainees charged under controversial anti-terrorism laws are not included.

The forces of Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar rained

rockets on the capital Tripoli early Tuesday after being ousted by government loyalists from a string of towns to its west. Several homes were hit around Mitiga airbase in the eastern suburbs, the capital’s sole if intermittently functioning airport.

117 million children face measles risk from COVID-19 response: UNParis

Around 117 million chil-dren worldwide risk

contracting measles be-cause dozens of countries are curtailing their vacci-nation programmes as they battle COVID-19, the United Nations warned yesterday.

Currently 24 countries, including several already dealing with large measles outbreaks, have suspended widespread vaccinations, the World Health Organiza-tion and the UN’s children’s fund UNICEF said.

An additional 13 countries have had their vaccination programmes interrupted due to COVID-19.

In a joint statement, the Measles and Rubella Initia-tive (M&RI) said it was vital that immunisation capacity was retained during and af-ter the current pandemic.

“Together, more than 117 million children... could be impacted by the suspension of scheduled immunization activities,” it said.

Angry Trump denies plan to axe Dr FauciAFP | Washington

A furious, aggrieved Presi-dent Donald Trump dis-

missed rumors Monday that he was going to fire his top medical advisor on the coronavirus pan-demic but launched new fights with the Democrats and the media ahead of the high-stakes reopening of the shuttered US economy.

Unusually, the evening brief-ing at the White House began with a statement by the interna-tionally renowned Dr Anthony Fauci, seeking to defuse spec-ulation that he had fallen out with the Republican president.

Referring to a CNN interview on Sunday in which he said that earlier mitigation meas-ures would have dampened the escalation of the COVID-19 crisis

in the United States, Fauci ex-plained that he’d been answer-ing a “hypothetical.”

Fauci explained his reference in the interview to “pushback” against shutting down the econ-

omy -- a remark interpreted widely as signalling that Trump was reluctant to take drastic action -- as the “wrong choice of words.”

Trump, who on Sunday fue-

led speculation by retweeting a critical comment with the hash-tag #FireFauci, sought to draw a line under the latest White House turmoil.

“I like him,” he said of Fauci. “I hear I’m going to fire him. I’m not gonna fire him, I think he’s a wonderful guy.”

But Trump then launched into a sustained assault on other targets, demonstrating his frus-tration with accusations that he has mishandled the crisis.

With his reelection in Novem-ber a tight contest against Dem-ocrat Joe Biden, Trump is under huge pressure both to crush the pandemic’s spread and to rescue the world’s biggest economy, which has been paralyzed by social distancing and other virus mitigation measures.

US President Donald Trump listens as Dr Anthony Fauci speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus in the White House briefing room

North Korea fires multiple suspected cruise missilesSeoul

North Korea fired sev-eral suspected cruise

missiles yesterday towards the sea, according to the South’s military, with ana-lysts saying Pyongyang was demonstrating the breadth of its arsenal.

The “multiple projec-tiles” fired from Munchon in the east of the country were believed to be “short-range cruise missiles”, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

T h e t e s t c o m e s a day bef ore t he South h o l d s p a r l i a m e n t a r y elections.

It also comes the day before the nuclear-armed North marks the 108th an-niversary of the birth of founder Kim Il Sung, grand-father of the current leader Kim Jong Un.

Guayaquil barrio where hunger is more feared than COVID-19

AFP | Guayaquil | Ecuador

When the curfew falls, a cat and mouse game begins

between police and residents in a rundown barrio in Guayaquil, the city at the heart of Ecua-dor’s coronavirus crisis.

Contagion is seen as the lesser of two evils. People here say confinement is worse than depriving them of food. They know hunger and fear it more than COVID-19.

“The authorities are saying to families: stay inside your house, but they don’t see beyond that -- the need before we had this, as well as right now, is worse!” says Washington Angulo, 48, a community leader in the Af-ro-Ecuadoran neighborhood of Barrio Nigeria.

Tensions fray here around 2:00 pm every day when the 15-hour curfew imposed by the government against the spread of the coronavirus begins. That’s when a peculiar game of hide-and-seek begins.

“The police come with a whip to send people running, but how do you say to a poor person: ‘Stay home,’ if you don’t have enough to eat?” said Carlos Valencia, a 35-year-old teacher.

Reports have flared on social media of the police using ex-cessive force. But Valencia ac-knowledges that as soon as the officers leave, local people are out on the streets again. Until the police return to chase them home again.

No protectionSome 8,000 families live in

Barrio Nigeria on the Mogollon estuary, on a finger of the Pacif-ic that stretches inland.

Guayaquil is one of the worst hit cities in Latin America, but there are no confirmed cases so far in Barrio Nigeria. Locals seem barely aware of the trag-edy unfolding across the city, where many families have had to wait days for overwhelmed authorities to collect the bod-ies of their relatives, after local health and mortuary service systems collapsed under the weight of the pandemic.

Men hang around street corners to chat, the younger ones playing impromptu soccer matches on the narrow streets. The women gather by the estu-ary and children play marbles on the street.

Nobody wears a mask, or gloves. Social distancing is

non-existent here, handshakes are still exchanged in greeting.

Many families share the same small houses under a tin roof where temperatures can reach 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) in this Pacific coast city.

There is no air conditioning or ventilators, just a television to combat the boredom.

Empty fridgesMany of the residents of

Barrio Nigeria come from the Esmeraldas province, on the border with Colombia.

The pandemic has left most of the locals, who make their living as informal vendors, re-cyclers, cooks or car park at-tendants, unemployed.

The authorities, through do-nations from private compa-nies, have been trying to allevi-ate the worst of the crisis with grocery handouts.

“Some tuna, noodles, that’s not enough. There isn’t even a piece of meat or cheese. Fresh

produce doesn’t reach here. We are living a difficult life,” said Angulo.

Others have received nothing at all. Marcial Vernaza, 61, is furious as he stands at his front door.

“Open the fridge and there’s nothing to see but ice in there. I have nothing. My son is asking me for food.”

Even fried rice, the most common dish in Barrio Nige-ria, is in now a rare treat, after the price of eggs doubled, ac-cording to Vernaza, who hasn’t worked in a year.

In the midst of the economic crisis paralyzing the country, the government is providing a $60 subsidy to the poorest families.

Fulton Ordonez, a 52-year-old left lame by polio as a child, hopes someone will eventually come to help him at his small wood cabin by the estuary.

“I’m afraid they’ll kick me out of here,” he said, the virus playing no part in his fears.

A child remains inside his home as his relatives sit out the COVID-19 epidemic in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s Nigeria neighborhood

A man prepares a meal in a street in the Nigeria neighborhood of Guayaquil, the Ecuadoran city hardest hit by COVID-19.

10 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2020

C R O S S W O R DAcross1- Indian exercise method; 5- State of midwestern USA; 9- Exceeded the limit; 13- Bear; 15- Hurler Hershiser; 16- Soprano Gluck; 17- Varieties; 18- Penpoints; 19- Spahn teammate; 20- Large body of water; 21- Nest component; 23- For a short time; 25- Woodstock singer Joan; 26- Online brokerage; 27- Newspaper; 30- Fairway position; 31- Worker’s reward; 32- Back-and-forth; 37- Commedia dell’___; 38- Evident; 40- Incursion; 41- Cuspidor; 43- Bridal path; 44- Unit of energy; 45- Suffer from oppressive heat; 47- Composed; 50- British nobleman; 51- Classic Chevy; 52- Pierce portrayer; 53- Second sequel tag; 56- Stadium section; 57- Sphere; 59- Looks after; 61- To ___ (perfectly); 62- Lo-cal; 63- Pixyish; 64- Actress Harper; 65- Islamic chieftain; 66- Champagne name; Down1- Tibetan oxen; 2- Theatrical award; 3- Actress Gershon; 4- Make another point; 5- Remove an electron, say; 6- Not a dup.; 7- Spider’s creation; 8- From a French region; 9- “Peter and the Wolf” bird; 10- Tartan; 11- “South Pacific” hero; 12- Hamlet, e.g.; 14- Fancy home; 22- Rainy, say; 24- Small songbird; 25- Attack on all sides; 26- “The Time Machine” race; 27- Fat, in France; 28- Over-50 org.; 29- Tubular pasta; 32- Light brown color, common to pale sunworshippers; 33- Hand tool; 34- Swift; 35- Stir up; 36- River in central Europe; 38- Easily carried; 39- Expensive seating area; 42- Bluey-green color; 43- Add fizz; 45- Monger; 46- Roll of bank notes; 47- Strike hard; 48- Sporting blades; 49- Challenges; 51- Let’s just leave ___ that; 52- Prefix with meter; 53- Poop; 54- Romeo’s last words; 55- “___ She Lovely?”; 58- Goal, intention; 60- Common street name;

Yesterday’s solution

How to playPlace a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

Yesterday’s solution

S U D O K U

Natalie Portman reveals her

acting secretsLos Angeles

Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman has shared her top tips for budding actors in her new virtual masterclass.

The 38-year-old will offer lessons on online-education pro-vider, MasterClass.

A trailer for the programme, sees Portman talk through her process and show how she’s managed to become thrice-nominated for both the Academy Awards and BAFTAs, reports dailymail.co.uk.

In the two-minute clip, she begins by urging her students to, “be free, make mistakes, try things”, stressing, “this is a job about your imagination”.

Discussing how she connects with her characters, she ex-plains: “You want to make it as human as possible - what is their desire?”

She continues: “I did not go to a traditional drama school, I learnt by doing. Now I’ve pieced together some things that were helpful for me that I want to share with you.”

The “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace” actress also revealed that she

loves working with special ef-fects.

Selena Gomez: Fame got out of controlLos Angeles

Pop star Selena Gomez has ad-mitted that there was a time in her life when fame “got out of

control” and gossip was “killing” her.Gomez opened up about dealing

with media scrutiny from the time she was a teen during a conversa-tion with Amy Schumer for Inter-view magazine, reports hollywood-reporter.com.

“My intention was never to become a tabloid,” the 27-year-old said while talk-ing about living life under constant media scrutiny, adding: “So when things kind of happened that way, it got out of control. And then I was like, ‘Wait, none of this is true’.”

Gomez got stardom in 2007 at age 15 through “The Wizards of Waverly Place”. She said that “the way the media has some-times tried to explain things has made it sound really bad”.

“When in reality, there’s nothing wrong with the fact that I needed to go away or that I fell in love,” she said, referring to her stints at mental health facilities and her rela-tionships with former boyfriends like Justin Bieber and The Weeknd.

“I had to start opening up because people were taking away my narrative, and it was killing me,” she said, adding: “I’m so young, and I’m going to keep changing, and no one has the right to tell me how my life’s going.”

Gal Gadot: Wonder Woman’s alter ego Diana has ‘evolved’ in new film

Los Angeles

Actress Gal Gadot, who will return for Patty Jen-kins’ “Wonder Woman

1984”, shared how Wonder Wom-an’s alter ego Diana has “evolved” in the upcoming instalment.

“The first movie was a coming of age, it was Diana becoming Wonder Woman. She was very naive and she didn’t understand the complexities of life. A fish out of water. In this movie, that’s not the case whatso-ever. Diana has evolved. She’s much more mature and very wise,” Gadot told Empire magazine, reports fe-malefirst.co.uk.

She said that “something crazy” will happen involving Chris Pine’s alter ego Steve Trevor.

“However, she’s very lonely. She lost all of her team members and she’s guarded. And then something crazy happens.”

Gadot opened up about how she and Jenkins were keen on working with Pine again.

‘Game Of Thrones’ actor survives the COVID-19 battleLondon

Actor Kristofer Hivju, who shot to global fame

playing Tormund Giants-bane in the blockbuster se-ries “Games Of Thrones”, is “fully recovered and in good health” after battling COVID-19.

The actor took to Insta-gram to share the health update, saying he and his w i f e , G r y, who he be-lieves was “ m o s t likely” in-fected too, are finally “free of all symptoms”.

“Hi! We are fully recov-ered and in good health after I was infected by the coro-navirus, and most likely my wife @grymolvaerhivju… Af-ter several weeks in quaran-tine, and also a couple more indoors after being free of all symptoms, we are finally safe and sound,” he posted, along with an image with his wife.

Coming soon: Being Salman Khan, the YouTube channelMumbai

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is all set to launch his

YouTube channel called Being Salman Khan.

Salman has oftenb shared glimpses of his personal space through funny videos, and fans have always demanded more. Through the YouTube chan-nel, Salman will share moments from his personal life for fans, which will only get his fans closer to him, said a source.

M e a n -while, he is do-ing everything to educate fans and followers about the COVID-19 pandemic. He recently recreated a roman-tic scene from his 1989 block-buster “Maine Pyar Kiya”, but with a coronavirus twist.

Salman shared a then and now video which has an old clip from “Maine Pyar Kiya”. The scene has Salman kissing a lipstick mark on a mirror that was left by Bhagyashree’s char-acter in the movie.

Parineeti Chopra ‘ready as a bride’ but her

husband is ‘pending’Mumbai

Actress Parineeti Chopra is all dressed up as a bride, but she is wondering about her “pend-

ing husband”.The actress, who is self-isolating

during the lockdown period at her home here, featured on the cover of a wedding magazine for which she dressed up as a bride. She took to Instagram to share pictures from the shoot.

“Ready as a bride. Husband pending. @khushmag Any info on when he is coming?” she wrote along with the images.

In one image, the actress is seen in an elegant lehenga, which comes with mirror detailing. She amps up her look with a state-ment nathni (nose ring), finish-ing off with a subtle make-up consisting of a soft shade of lipstick and smokey eyes.

Shah Rukh Khan provides 25,000 PPE kits to MaharashtraMumbai

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan on

Monday provided 25,000 PPE kits to the frontline medical staff in Maharash-tra fighting to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic in the state.

Rajesh Tope, Minister of Public Health and Fam-ily Welfare of Maharash-tra, said the “ F a n ” a c t o r ’ s contribu-tion will help the healthcare workers im-mensely.

“Many thanks Mr Shah Rukh Khan for your kind contribution of 25,000 PPE kits. This will go a long way in supporting our fight against COVID19 & protecting our frontline medical care team @iams-rk @MeerFoundation @CMOMaharashtra,” Tope tweeted.

Kristofer Hivju

Salman Khan

Shah Rukh Khan

Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Jennifer Lopez, Sam Smith and more join ‘Together at Home’

Los Angeles

The second round of artists has been announced on Tuesday by Global Citizen for its upcoming virtual

benefit concert - ‘One WorldOther personalities coming on board

include Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres,

Awkwafina, Amy Poehler, LL Cool J, Lupita Nyong’o, Matthew McConaughey and Victo-ria Beckham, reported Variety.

Earlier Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra also announced that she will be part of the coronavirus benefit concert, which will be conducted on April 18 in a view to honour healthcare and front line essential community

workers.“The first of its kind global broadcast event

in benefit of the @WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Fund,” she captioned the post.

She also said that the benefit concert will be an effort to honour “healthcare and front line essential community workers through music and celebration at home.”

Parineeti Chopra

Natalie Portman

Selena Gomez

Gal Gadot

11

sports


‘They miss me’, Pogba puzzled by criticsAFP | London

Manchester United mid-fielder Paul Pogba is bemused as to why he

remains a constant source of criticism despite missing most of the campaign through injury.

The 27-year-old has been re-stricted to just eight appearanc-es this season due to a persistent ankle injury.

Former Liverpool captain and manager Graeme Souness has been one of the most outspo-ken critics of Pogba since he re-turned to United from Juventus for a then world record £89 mil-lion ($112 million) fee in 2016.

However, Pogba claimed he did not even know who Souness was.

“I didn’t even know who he was, really,” Pogba told the offi-cial Manchester United podcast. “I heard he was a great player and stuff like that. I know the face but (not) the name.

“Like I said I’m not someone

that watches a lot of (punditry), I watch a lot of football but I don’t stay after the game to lis-ten to what they say about why they did this, or why they did that. I like to focus on football.”

Souness - who won three Eu-ropean Cups, and five league titles as a player at Liverpool - responded to Pogba yesterday morning.

“I’m happy with that. The old-est saying in football comes to mind: ‘Put your medals on the table’. I’ve got a big table,” the former Scottish international told Sky Sports.

Pogba’s return to Old Trafford has failed to match the expec-tations of his price tag despite winning the Europa League and League Cup in his first season under Jose Mourinho.

A bitter fall out with Mour-inho followed in the next two seasons before the Portuguese was sacked in December 2018.

And after a brief hot streak

when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took charge, Pogba’s time under the Norwegian has been beset by a lack of form and fitness.

However, the French World Cup winner still believes the criticism he has received, par-ticularly in his ab-sence this season, is unjustified.

“It’s good to hear good stuff instead of bad stuff but when you play football, you know yourself. It’s what your manager and team-mates want, the rest is just talk,” added Pogba.

“I guess they (the critics) miss me, I don’t know? I’m not some-one that looks always at Sky Sports News.

“When you know football, you don’t need someone to tell you what’s happening.

“One day maybe I will meet them and ask them because I really want to know, why?”

Neuer extension talks stall at Bayern MunichAFP | Berlin

Chelsea and Manchester City are reportedly in-

terested in signing Germany captain Manuel Neuer, whose contract extension talks have stalled at Bayern Munich, ac-cording to magazine Kicker.

The goalkeeper’s current deal expires in June 2021 and Neuer, 34, is said to be angry that details of the re-negotiations h a v e b e e n l e a k e d t o the German press, accord-ing to Kicker.

G e r m a n y ’ s top-selling daily Bild claims that Neu-er’s agent Thomas Kro-th has asked Bayern for a salary for his client of 20 million euros ($22 million) per season.

If the talks fail, club captain Neuer could be free to leave Bayern in June and attract the

interest of the Pre-mier League clubs.

Kicker’s chief reporter Karl-heinz Wild says the “willingness

to resume negotiations” is weak on both sides be-tween Bayern and Neuer.

“It could sti l l take weeks, even months, before a final decision is taken. Po-sitions have so far become too hardened.”

According to Bild, Neuer reportedly wants a con-tract extension until 2025, but Bayern are only prepared to offer a deal until 2023 -

when he will be 37 years old - with the option of an extra year.

The leaking of the details of Neuer’s demands has “serious-ly shaken” the trust between the player and his club, accord-ing to Kicker.

Neuer, who helped Germany win the 2014 World Cup title, has been named world goal-keeper of the year four times.

He has kept 191 clean sheets in 373 appearances for Bay-ern since joining from Schal-

ke in 2011 and made 92 appearances for Ger-many.

However, he is re-portedly irritated by

Bayern signing Ger-many Under-21 goalkeeper Al-exander Nuebel for next season

from Schalke with a prom-ise of at least 1 0 a p p e a r-ances per sea-

son.Nuebel, 23, has

made it clear he wants to eventual-ly become Bayern’s first-choice goal-keeper, but Neuer will not give up the shirt. “I’m not an ex-

tra, I’m an actor, I still want to play,” he has

insisted.With Bunde-

sliga matches currently sus-

pended due to the coronavirus, Bayern have re-

cently extend the contracts of forward Thomas Mueller and head coach Hansi Flick, both until 2023.

Fellaini out of Chinese hospital after coronavirus scareAFP | Beijing

Former Manchester United star Marouane Fellaini was

discharged yesterday after three weeks in a Chinese hospital be-ing treated for coronavirus, his club said.

The 32-year-old Shandong Luneng midfielder, the only player known to have contract-

ed the disease in the Chinese Super League (CSL), will now spend 14 days in quarantine for further observation.

The Belgium international said on March 22 that he had tested positive for the virus, hav-ing just returned to China, but assured fans that he was feeling fine. While in hospital in the city of Jinan, Fellaini posted videos

of himself on Instagram exercis-ing in his room.

“Fellaini was assessed and was deemed to have recovered, and was discharged today,” Shan-dong said in a brief statement.

China, where the outbreak emerged in December, says that it has curbed the illness at home but is now worried about a second wave of infections from

overseas.Fellaini’s positive test dealt a

blow to the CSL’s hopes of start-ing the season any time soon, after its February 22 start date was indefinitely postponed.

Fellaini, also formerly of Ever-ton, joined Shandong from Man-chester United in February last year for a reported 7.2 million euros.

Brazilian football not likely to restart any time soon: CBFReuters | Rio de Janeiro

The chance of Brazilian football restarting in May

is more of a hope than an ex-pectation, the secretary gen-eral of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said on Monday.

Brazilian football was sus-pended last month because of

the spread of the new corona-virus and Walter Feldman told Reuters a quick restart was un-likely.

“There is hope,” Feldman said in a phone call from his home in Rio where he is in self-isolation. “Is May possible? I’d say it’s a hope but we can’t say it is an expectation.”

Feldman said the CBF had

not yet considered scrapping this year’s national champi-onship, which is scheduled to kick off in early May and end in December.

The fate of the traditionally important state championships, which were halted in March and have still to be completed, still hang in the balance.

The autonomous state feder-

ations could restart their tour-naments without the green light from the CBF but Feldman said he expected any decision will only be made after consultation with the health ministry.

“We don’t think anyone can return to action until the health authorities advise them so,” he said. “Their voice is decisive in any decision.”

Dalglish contracting COVID-19 was real shock, says KloppReuters | London

News that Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish had tested

positive for COVID-19 came as a huge shock to the club’s play-ers and staff, manager Juergen Klopp has said.

Dalglish, 69, tested posi-tive for the coronavirus last week after being admitted to hospital for an infection. He required intravenous antibi-otics but was asymptomatic and returned home over the weekend.

“It was a real shock three days ago when I heard about it first. The boys were sent a message in our WhatsApp group and everybody was like, ‘wow’,” Klopp told Liverpool’s website.

“What you feel in that mo-ment is a massive difference if you know somebody who got the virus, or if you don’t know.

“We all know this terrible disease is causing heartache all over the world, but this was the first time for many of us someone we have such a personal connection to was affected to this extent.”

The Premier League has been suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the UK on lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. Liverpool held a 25-point lead at the top of the table when the season was halted.

Klopp has been putting his players through their paces in online training sessions and said the social aspect of the link-up, including birthday singalongs, was helping the squad deal with being stuck in isolation.

“When we have these train-ing sessions, I could have never imagined I would enjoy it that much,” he added. “The boys are all in good spirits.”

Kenny Dalglish looks on during a match (file photo) Barcelona announce board

changes after resignationsReuters | Barcelona

Barcelona have moved to re-structure their board after

six directors resigned last week in protest at the way the club is being run, the Spanish side have said.

Two of the club’s four vice presidents, Emili Rousaud and Enrique Tombas, were among those to announce their resig-nation in a letter to fans pub-lished in Spanish media. They were joined by directors Silvio Elias, Josep Pont, Jordi Cal-samiglia and Maria Texidor.

The departing directors had criticised the club’s handling of a social media scandal and expressed doubts about the board’s ability to handle the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a 70% players’ pay cut. Barcelo-na said the board had approved appointments of Jordi Moix as vice president for economic and equity, Pau Vilanova as in-stitutional vice president, Oriol Tomas as vice president of the commercial area, Marta Plana as board secretary, and David Bellver as treasurer.

Paul Pogba

Manuel Neuer

11

sports

TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2020

Rakitic demands respect at BarcaIvan Rakitic says he is not ‘sack of potatoes’ and will decide Barcelona future himselfReuters | Barcelona

Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic has criticised his

club for their recent treatment of him and for trying to force his departure last year.

The Croatian has been at Barca since 2014 but has fallen out of contention this campaign due to the ar-rival of Dutch m i d f i e l d e r

Frenkie de Jong and has only started 10 of

Barca’s 27 La Liga matches.

“I understand the situation but

I’m not a sack of po-tatoes who you can do anything with,” the

32-year-old told Span-ish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.

“I want to be some-where I feel wanted and respected. If that’s here then I’ll be delighted but if it’s somewhere

else then I’ll be the one who decides where, not anyone else.”

Rakitic confirmed that he re-fused to move to Paris St Ger-main last year as part of a deal to bring Neymar back to the Camp Nou.

He also spoke of his disap-pointment at losing his place in the team this season but insisted he wishes to see out his con-tract, which ends in 2021 and would mean Barca would not be able to earn a transfer fee from his departure.

“Last year was the best of the

six I’ve had here and I was an-noyed with how I was treated. I was very surprised and I didn’t understand it. The results have not been the best and I haven’t played much, that is why I felt hurt,” he said.

“I had a very strange first half of the season, it was very uncomfortable and surpris-ing for me. But I hope I can finish this last year of my contract.”

Barcelona are currently top of the standings in La Liga which is suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Froome says recovery almost complete as he waits out lockdown

Reuters | Paris

Four-times Tour de France winner Chris Froome said

his recovery from a horrific accident last year was nearly complete and his training load was back to normal as he pre-pares for when competition resumes after the new corona-virus outbreak.

Speaking during a Team Ineos virtual race on Sunday, Froome described his recov-ery as “going really well” as he waits out the coronavi-

rus lockdown at home in France.

“I’d go as far as saying it’s pretty much complete,” said

the 34-year-old British rider.“I am still doing some ex-

ercises off the bike just to strengthen that right side that was injured but I’m back to normal training loads again.”

Froome spent more than three weeks in hospital af-ter breaking his neck, femur, elbow, hip and ribs when he crashed into a wall at high speed while training for the Criterium du Dauphin last June.

The accident happened when he took his hands off the handlebar to blow his nose and was hit by a gust of wind.

He returned to competition in February at the UAE Tour, a race that was cut short by the coronavirus.

International racing has been suspended until at least June 1, with May’s Giro d’Italia as well as the Milan-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Rou-baix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege classics all having been post-poned because of the pandem-ic.

But Tour de France organ-isers are focusing on a post-ponement of the June 27-July 19 race rather than a cancel-lation, according to an email seen by Reuters on Saturday which was sent to the pub-lishers of the official Tour programme.

Chris Froome rides his bike during UAE Tour (file photo)

Zlatan trains with Swedish club HammarbyReuters | Stockholm

AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic trained with

Swedish club Hammarby as the global soccer shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandem-ic continues, and a brief bout of coughing didn’t appear to trouble him as he practiced his shooting.

Former Sweden forward Ibra-himovic, who is his country’s record goal-scorer and owns a stake in the top-flight Stock-holm club, took a full part in

the training session that had a mixture of bright sunshine and brief showers of snow and hail.

With Italy in lockdown and Serie A and other major soc-cer leagues closed for the fore-seeable future due to the COV-ID-19 pandemic, Ibrahimovic returned to Stockholm, where authorities are taking a some-what more lax approach.

Plenty of businesses have been allowed to remain open and gatherings of up to 50 peo-

ple are still allowed, with many of the country’s elite soccer clubs back in training.

“He asked if he could keep himself going with us and we obviously said yes. I don’t know how long he is going to train with us and that obviously de-pends on what happens in the world,” Hammarby chairman Richard von Yxkull told SVT last week.

As the Easter Monday session drew to a close, the 38-year-old had a brief bout of coughing

as he prepared to take part in a final shooting e x e r c i s e , but he re-covered q u i c k-ly and b e g a n smash-ing pow-erful shots and volleys into the top corner.

Sociedad ditch plans to let players return to trainingReuters | Madrid

La Liga side Real Sociedad have abandoned plans to al-

low players to train individually at the club’s training ground and confirmed they would continue physical conditioning from their homes while the country fights the spread of the coronavirus.

The Basque team had an-nounced on Saturday that play-ers would be able to train indi-vidually at the Zubieta training ground from Tuesday after re-ceiving a COVID-19 test but the club have reversed the decision after facing a backlash on social media.

Sociedad said on Sunday that their players would continue to

conduct individual training at home but reiterated that they never intended for the squad to return to full training which would see them risk coming into close contact with each other.

“We want to remind everyone that Real Sociedad’s decision was to give first team players the option to continue individual training at the Zubieta training ground,” said a club statement.

“They were never going to do group training and each player could decide whether to train at home or the facility, always complying with the safety meas-ures instructed by authorities.

“We are well aware of the re-sponsibility we have and that’s why Real Sociedad is working on a plan for our athletes and employees to return to work that puts their health before any other consideration.”

Sociedad were having a sen-sational season before all or-ganised soccer in Spain was in-definitely postponed in March, climbing up to fourth in stand-ings and qualifying for the Copa del Rey final where they were due to meet Athletic Bilbao.

General view of the remodelled Reale Seguros stadium, home to Spanish First Division soccer team Real Sociedad

Kane signing would fit with Man Utd history, says NevilleOmnisport | London

Harry Kane would fit in with Manchester Unit-

ed’s traditions of “historical transfers”, according to former captain Gary Neville.

The Red Devils are report-edly interested in signing the Tottenham striker for a fee that could be worth up to a world-record £200mil-lion, a sum that would po-tentially be welcome during the economic uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Although more recent re-ports have claimed Spurs have no desire to sell Kane to a rival club, it was the forward’s own admission during an Instagram live chat that he could consider leaving to challenge for silver-ware that has prompted the rumours.

Neville believes that was a calculated move by Kane, a player he feels will have been disappointed by Spurs’ decision to take advantage of the United Kingdom gov-ernment ’s Job Retention Scheme and place staff on furlough.

Neville also thinks United’s pursuit of Kane would make sense given their history of signing some of the biggest home-grown stars in the Pre-mier League era.

“It fits Manchester United’s historical transfers, going back

to Brian Robson, Roy Keane, trying to sign Alan Shear-er, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney,” he told Sky Sports News.

“They were the best or most famous English, British or Irish players in the Pre-mier League and Manches-ter United tried to sign that player so it does fit with that. Just look at what Manchester United did last summer with Harry Maguire, who was one of the best players on the market.

“In terms of Kane, I did work with him for Eng-land. He’s a c lever lad a n d h e ’ s not some-body who w o u l d g e t caught out if he didn’t want to say some-t h i n g. T h e little opening of the door that he left in that Ins-tagram piece w i t h J a m i e [Redknapp] was probably some-thing that had something in it.”

Mbappe to Real Madrid was almost done before coronavirus crisis – Rothen

Goal | Paris

Kylian Mbappe joining Real Madrid is “just a question

of time” according to Jerome Rothen, who claims the Paris Saint-Germain star was set for the La Liga giants prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mbappe continues to be linked with a blockbuster move to Madrid, where head coach Zinedine Zidane has made no secret of his admiration for the France international forward.

T h e 2 1-y e a r- o l d , w h o swapped Monaco for French rivals PSG on an initial loan deal in 2017, is contracted until 2022 but Mbappe is no closer to committing his future to the Ligue 1 cham-pions despite the club’s best efforts.

Former PSG midfielder Roth-en said Mbappe almost signed for Madrid before the Covid-19 crisis – which has claimed more than 108,700 lives glob-ally – wreaked havoc on sport and society.

Ivan Rakitic

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Harry Kane

Torres, Kremer discuss fighter careTDT | Manama

BRAVE Combat Federation has been at the forefront of change and has been look-

ing to give better conditions to athletes since its inception back in 2016. Jose “Shorty” Torres has been one of the beneficiaries of the changes that BRAVE CF wishes to implement in the sport of mixed martial arts, starting within its own promotion.

The American fighter, a two-time amateur world champion and Titan FC double champion, joined BRAVE Combat Federa-tion in late 2018, and has since fought only once due to several issues, including the spread of the Coronavirus, which post-poned his return to the BRAVE CF Arena, which would have taken place against Matheus Nicolau in Brazil.

Even though he would like to

have seen more action, “Shorty” has nothing but good things to say about his time with the Bah-rain-based promotion, and feels that BRAVE CF is indeed making a difference in the lives of ath-letes.

During a live chat with BRAVE CF announcer Carlos Kremer, Torres explained that his ex-pectations have been more than fulfilled since he signed with BRAVE CF, and is impressed by the level of care shown all

around by the promotion.“When I signed with BRAVE

CF I got the care that I expected from other promotions, the care I felt I deserved. BRAVE CF treats me the way an athlete should be treated. And the great thing is they treat everyone equally. That’s very hard, but a very ad-

mirable thing to do. Sometimes promotions focus on highlight-ing a few specific names, but BRAVE CF highlights everyone and that is great”.

One of the few people that has worked for all 34 BRAVE Com-bat Federation shows, Carlos Kremer has been a witness of the worldwide growth of the promotion, which has traveled to 19 different countries so far and knows first-hand the impact that BRAVE CF has on fighters’ careers.

“BRAVE CF makes sure to build a lifelong relationship with all the countries it visits and with the martial artists it signs. They give the fighters the global expo-sure they crave and deserve and you see that happiness in the local athletes and in the stars, as they go into fight week and when they are ready to roll on fight night”.


When I signed with BRAVE CF I

got the care that I expected from other

promotions, the care I felt I deserved. BRAVE CF treats me the way an athlete should be

treatedJOSE ‘SHORTY’ TORRES

Lyon backs Paine to continue as captain

Reuters | Sydney

Australia spinner Nathan Lyon says Tim Paine

has been “absolutely incred-ible” since taking over as test captain during turbu-lent times and expects the wicketkeeper to continue in the role for the foreseeable future.

Paine was handed the job in 2018 after then-captain Steve Smith was banned for 12 months for his part in a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

Australia lost a first home series to India but retained the Ashes last year under Paine, who has said he would back Smith’s return to the job after he served a further one-year ban from leadership roles.

However, Lyon says Paine is growing into the role.

“Tim Paine has been ab-solutely incredible for the Australian cricket team,” he told reporters in a video conference yesterday.

“The way he’s gone out and led this team, it’s been unbelievable to be honest ... I truly believe that he’s growing each and every day, he seems to be getting bet-ter as captain.”

The spinner said Paine took on the mantle in the most challenging of circum-stances.

Jose ‘Shorty’ Torres and Carlos Kremer speak during an event

Asian football body extends virus shutdown indefinitelyAFP | Singapore

The Asian Football Confeder-ation announced yesterday

the indefinite postponement because of the coronavirus of all matches scheduled for May and June, plunging the AFC Champions League into further disarray.

The region’s premier club competition was put on hold in March as the pandemic spread, and the latest reshuffle means the 32-team group stage will have to be completed in July before the already-postponed knock-out rounds start a month

later.“Following the continued pre-

ventive measures and travel re-strictions put in place by several governments, the Asian Football Confederation has decided to-day to postpone all matches and competitions scheduled to take place in May and June until fur-ther notice,” an AFC statement said.

“As one of the first confedera-tions in world football to under-take precautionary measures in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the latest decision reinforces the AFC’s commitment to ensure the safety and wellbeing of players,

participating teams, officials, fans and all stakeholders.”

Less than two of the six rounds of group-stage match-es have been completed so far, meaning the competition will face severe congestion even if it returns in July.

The extended shutdown also affects the two-legged women’s Olympic qualifying play-off be-tween China and South Korea, which had already been moved to June 1 and 9.

June qualifiers for the men’s 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup had already been post-poned.

Tim Paine is tackled by Nathan Lyon during training (file photo)

People take pictures of a screen displaying the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup 2020 official draw for the playoff and group stages (file photo)

De Villiers may rethink S.Africa comeback if World Cup postponed

Reuters | Cape Town

South African batsman AB de Villiers has said that if the

Twenty20 World Cup sched-uled for October in Australia was postponed to next year then that could end his hopes of returning to the national side.

De Villiers, regarded as one of the best limited overs bats-men in the world, hopes to make a comeback for South Africa at the global event, hav-ing retired from all forms of international cricket in May 2018.

There is no suggestion at this stage that the T20 World Cup will be postponed, but the coronavirus pandemic that has shut down global sport has

placed the event under threat.“If the tournament is post-

poned to next year, a whole lot of things will change,” De Villiers, 36, told South Africa’s Rapport newspaper.

“At the moment I feel avail-able but, at the same time, I don’t know how my body will feel then and if I will be fit.

“If I am 100% as good as I want to be, then I will be avail-able. But if I am not, I won’t open myself up to that because I am not the type of person who does things at 80%.”

De Villiers indicated that, should South Africa’s tours go ahead, he would be available for a limited overs series in Sri Lanka in June, and the visit to West Indies in August, which will include five T20 matches.

South Africa’s AB de Villiers plays a shot during a match (file photo) Bolt goes viral with ‘social distancing’ Olympic photoAFP | London

Retired track star Usain Bolt showed he’s still a few steps

ahead when he posted a picture of him outstripping his rivals at the Beijing Olympics with the cheeky caption: “social dis-tancing”.

Bolt’s post, featuring a picture by AFP photographer Nicolas Asfouri of the 2008 Olympics 100m final, blew up on social media, drawing more than half a million likes and 90,000 retweets.

It showed the Jamaican cross-ing the finish line at the Bird’s Nest stadium in a then-world record time of 9.69sec, glancing round from lane four as his de-spairing competitors trail two

paces behind.“Savage”, commented one

Twitter user, while New York Times journalist Christopher

Clarey posted another picture of Bolt out in front on his own, captioned “self isolation”.

Bolt’s chest-thumping cele-

bration in Beijing added to a legend that grew further when he won the 200m in another world-record time. He retired in 2017 with eight Olympic gold medals and the current 100m mark of 9.58sec, set in 2009.

Bolt, 33, has been encouraging Jamaicans to self-isolate during the coronavirus pandemic, post-ing videos of himself exercising at home and juggling footballs with a friend. He also helped promote a major fundraiser, Tel-ethon Jamaica.

After retiring from athlet-ics, Bolt, a Manchester United fan, attempted to launch a ca-reer in football, and had a trial with Australia’s Central Coast Mariners before contract talks failed.

The image Usain Bolt posted showing him crossing the finish line ahead of his competitors at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Tour de France working on new start dateAFP | Paris

Tour de France organisers are working feverishly in

the shadows to find a new start date for cycling’s biggest stage race after public gatherings were banned until mid-July in the latest extension of the French cornavirus lockdown.

Originally slated to start from Nice with a caravan of around 4,500 people on June 27 and arrive in Paris July 19, there is no chance the event can go ahead as planned and organisers face a mammoth logistical task of

rescheduling.So far organisers Amoury

Sports Organisation (AS0) have remained silent publicly, but several mayors of the French towns along the planned route say they have been consult-ed on the matter of the new date.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised ad-dress Monday that a strict lock-down in France would continue until at least May 11 and public gatherings were banned until mid July.

Tour director Christian Prud-

homme has said previously that riders would need two clear months after the lockdown ended to get ready for the race, which is no longer possible giv-en the May 11 extension.

France’s Minister of the In-terior Christophe Castaner spelled out yesterday that ASO had to reschedule or cancel.

“It is up to the organiser to analyse their ability to organise it and reschedule it,” Castaner said on French radio.

Speculations surrounds a pos-sible late July start, or mid-Au-gust, or even a September race.

Crowd cheer up Spanish climber Alberto Contador during Tour de France Alpe d’Huez climb (file photo)

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