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CABINET SHORTENS CURFEW HOURS FROM 8 pm TO 5 am

Phase two of return starts June 30

Tehran warns on arms explosion

Speculation on missile tunnelingafter massive explosion in Iran

TEHRAN, June 27, (AP): An explosion that rattled Iran’s capital came from an area in its eastern mountains that analysts believe hides an underground tunnel sys-tem and missile production sites, satellite photographs showed Saturday.

What exploded in the incident early Fri-day that sent a massive fireball into the sky near Tehran remains unclear, as does the cause of the blast.

The unusual response of the Iranian government in the aftermath of the explo-sion, however, underscores the sensitive nature of an area near where international inspectors believe the Islamic Republic conducted high-explosive tests two de-cades ago for nuclear weapon triggers.

The blast shook homes, rattled windows and lit up the horizon early Friday in the Alborz Mountains. State TV later aired a segment from what it described as the site of the blast.

One of its journalists stood in front of what appeared to be large, blackened gas cylinders, though the camera remained tightly focused and did not show anything else around the site. Defense Ministry spokesman Davood Abdi blamed the blast on a leaking gas he did not identify and said no one was killed in the explosion.

Abdi described the site as a “public area,” raising the question of why military officials and not civilian firefighters would be in charge. The state TV report did not answer that.

Satellite photos of the area, some 20 kms (12.5 miles) east of downtown Teh-ran, showed hundreds of meters (yards) of charred scrubland not seen in images of the area taken in the weeks ahead of the incident. The building near the char marks resembled the facility seen in the state TV footage.

The gas storage area sits near what analysts describe as Iran’s Khojir missile facility. The explosion appears to have struck a facility for the Shahid Bakeri In-dustrial Group, which makes solid-propel-lant rockets, said Fabian Hinz, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonprolif-eration Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Cali-fornia.

The Washington-based Center for Stra-tegic and International Studies identified Khojir as the “site of numerous tunnels, some suspected of use for arms assembly.” Large industrial buildings at the site visi-ble from satellite photographs also suggest missile assembly being conducted there.

The US Defense Intelligence Agency says Iran overall has the largest under-ground facility program in the Middle East.

Such sites “support most facets of Teh-ran’s ballistic missile capabilities, includ-ing the operational force and the missile development and production program,” the DIA said in 2019.

Iranian officials themselves also iden-tified the site as being in Parchin, home to a military base where the International Atomic Energy Agency previously said it suspects Iran conducted tests of explo-sive triggers that could be used in nuclear weapons. Iran long has denied seeking nuclear weapons, though the IAEA pre-viously said Iran had done work in “sup-port of a possible military dimension to its nuclear program” that largely halted in late 2003.

Western concerns over the Iranian atomic program led to sanctions and even-tually to Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The US under President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord in May 2018, leading to a series

of escalating attacks between Iran and the US and Tehran abandoning the deal’s pro-duction limits.

Iran’s UN ambassador said Thursday that he believes a US resolution to extend an arms embargo against his country will be defeated and warned it would be “a very, very big mistake” if the Trump ad-ministration then tries to re-impose UN sanctions.

Ambassador Majid Ravanchi said re-storing UN sanctions will end the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major pow-ers and release Tehran from all its commit-ments.

“If that happens, Iran will not be under constraint as to what course of action it should take,” he said reporters. “All op-tions for Iran will be open.”

Lifting the arms embargo on Tehran is part of the UN 2015 Security Council reso-lution endorsing the nuclear agreement.

Ravanchi spoke a day after US Secre-tary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to seek to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran if the Security Council does not approve a resolution that would indefinitely extend the arms embargo, which is set to expire in October.

“Iran will be able to purchase advanced weapons systems and become an arms dealer of choice for terrorists and rogue re-gimes all throughout the world,” Pompeo said. “This is unacceptable.”

Later Wednesday, US Special Rep-resentative for Iran Brian Hook and US Ambassador Kelly Craft briefed Security Council members on the US draft resolu-tion that would maintain the arms embargo indefinitely.

Tensions between Iran and the US have escalated since 2018, when the Trump administration withdrew from the nuclear deal between Tehran and six major powers and re-imposed crippling US sanctions.

The five other powers that signed the nuclear deal – Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany – remain committed to it, saying the agreement is key to continuing inspections by the In-ternational Atomic Energy Agency and preventing Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons.

Ravanchi said ending the arms embar-go in October “is an essential part of the agreement between Iran and its partners.”

“We believe there is no stomach for members of the Security Council to digest the draft resolution like the one the US pre-sented,” he said. “So, it is our view that the draft resolution will be defeated.”

Ravanchi stressed that Iran will not ac-cept “anything less than full implementa-tion” of the provision lifting the arms em-bargo.

And he added: “It would be a wise idea for the United States to reconsider the pre-sentation of the draft because it’s not going to be approved.”

The Iranian ambassador pointed to let-ters from the foreign ministers of Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the Security Council, to its members op-posing any extension of the arms embargo.

The 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, also includes a “snap back” pro-vision that would restore all UN sanctions against Iran that had been lifted or eased if the nuclear deal is violated.

Responding to Pompeo’s threat to use that provision if the US arms embargo resolution isn’t approved, Ravanchi said: “This is a very, very big mistake on the part of the United States to try to snap back the resolution, because they know that is the end of JCPOA, and they should think twice before resorting to that option.”

KUWAIT CITY, June 27, (KUNA): The Cabinet announced on Thursday that the sec-ond phase of going back to normalcy would begin on June 30, Tuesday, with curfew hours shortened to 8:00 pm until 5:00 am local-time.

In a press conference after the Cabinet’s exceptional meeting, Government Spokesperson Tareq Al-Merzem said that a number of decisions were made as part of the second phase of returning back to normalcy.

The decisions included appointing Health Minister Sheikh Dr Bassel Al-Sabah to continue assessing the health

situation in the lockdown areas of Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, Mahboula, and Farwaniya to better handle the situation and curb the spread of COVID-19. A report on the situation will be relayed to the Cabinet, added the spokesman.

On June 30, government and ministerial entities will allow public and government employees to resume work according to specific decisions made by the Cabinet in the overall plan to bring back normal life in the country.

He went on to say that, the Cabinet had decided to form a main committee, headed by the Health Minister and a number of fellow officials, to follow up on health measures regarding curbing the spread of the coronavirus. The committee will be task with holding entities responsible for not abiding by anti-COVID-19 health regulations.

Malls, commercial complexes, parks to open from 10 am to 6 pm

KUWAIT CITY, June 27: With the exceptional circumstances (the outbreak of the corona pan-demic) that the country is facing, the surge in suicide and attempts to end life in Kuwait has taken a new direction, in terms of their num-bers, motives, methods, causes, and even ages, which casts doubts to what extent these cases are related to psychological pressures and eco-nomic consequences, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The number of suicides has increased in re-cent times, and reliable sources disclosed the security authorities have recorded 40 suicides in 4 months from Feb 25 until June 27, 2020, most of which are by Asians, in addition to 15 attempts.

In fact, this indicates the rationality of the questions about the relationship between ‘co-rona’ and the tendency towards suicide.

Sources linked the increase in suicides and imposing precautionary measures to confront-ing the pandemic and said the investigations show in most cases that those who ended their lives were in bad psychological and economic state due to work suspension and no income or little income because some companies had stopped paying the workers’ wages, in addition to the limitation of work opportunities for the daily wage workers, in addition to other factors related to the customs, traditions and beliefs of some communities.

EU agency nodsto virus medicine

Suicide rate upBRUSSELS, June, 27, (KUNA): European Medicines Agency Thursday recommended granting a conditional marketing authori-sation to Veklury (remdesivir) for treatment of COVID-19 in adults and adolescents from 12 years of age with pneumonia who require supplemental oxygen.

Remdesivir is the first medicine against COVID-19 to be recom-mended for authorisation in the EU, said the Agency in a press release.

It noted that today’s recommen-dation is mainly based on a study sponsored by the US National In-stitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), plus support-ing data from other studies on remdesivir.

Overall, the study showed that patients treated with remdesivir recovered after about 11 days, compared with 15 days for pa-tients given placebo, it added.

Al-Merzem urged citizens and residents alike to abide by health and safety regulations in the up-coming period to prevent the further spread of coronavirus in society.

The Cabinet had to assign concerned bodies to take neces-sary measures to ensure that the economy would recover, provid-ing assistance to the private sec-tor to revitalize the work market.

Ministries and government institutions should abide by the health conditions when they re-sume work on Tuesday, June 30, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) said Thursday.

The public sector should limit use of paper as well as personal delivery of documents within, or between, the institutions and to communicate through the gov-ernment-to-government (G2G) system, CSC Undersecretary Bader Al-Hamad told a an online news conference following the Cabinet meeting.

Employees will be allowed to return to their office with 30 per-cent of total workforce maximum.

Al-Hamad said the Ministry of Health would be exempted from this decision because they needed to be fully operational to confront the pandemic.

Government departments, he added, should carry out regular disinfections and inform the em-ployees about instructions issued by the health authorities.

Employees should limit their movements among departments and offices, he said, and a lim-ited number of people should use elevators to guarantee physical distancing.

Restaurants inside the govern-ment buildings will not offer any services, said Al-Hamad, a ban would be imposed on gatherings, smoking or praying halls.

Al-Hamad said employees should be apart by two meters.

Al-Hamad, meanwhile, said the government was replacing expatriates with Kuwaiti nation-als at the public sector as part of a five-year plan, which was in its third year now.

688 people infectedThe novel coronavirus infect-

ed 688 people in Kuwait during past 24 hours, official spokesper-son of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health declared on Saturday.

Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad, speak-ing during his daily update about the pandemic status locally, said total number of infection cases with the contagion climbed to 44,391.

Moroever, the virus claimed lives of three persons, during the same period of time, raising tally of deaths from the fatal pathogen to 344.

The confirmed cases included patients who had contracted the virus due to mingling with in-fected persons. Others remained under examination to determine source of the contamination.

The latest infections include 444 Kuwaiti citizens and 244 non-Kuwaiti residents of the country, he said.

Improved positionThe success of the second

stage of the plan to go back to normalcy in Kuwait will be in the hands of citizens and residents, said Health Minister Sheikh Dr Bassel Al-Sabah on Thursday.

In a press conference after the extraordinary meeting of the Cab-inet, the Health Minister said that Kuwait had improved its position on curbing the spread of the coro-navirus from the previous period especially during last Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr when the load on hospitals were at 85 percent.

Thanks to lockdown, the load was decreased to 40 percent in ICU during this month and 30 percent in hospitals nationwide, he indicated.

The three-week second phase of national plan to bring back life to normal will be less re-strictive; however, people of Kuwait will now have the in-creased responsibility to com-bat the spread of COVID-19, approaching the matter with a cautious optimism.

The second phase will witness the return of less than 30 percent of the government workforce and the opening of commercial com-plexes, malls, parks, and other places of leisure between 10:00 am to 06:00 pm

Residents of Mahboula area stand in queues during the distribution of food parcels.

This June 26, 2020 photo from the European Commission’s Sentinel-2 satellite shows the site of an explosion that rattled Iran’s capital. Analysts say the blast came from an area in Tehran’s eastern mountains where they hid a underground tunnel system and missile production sites. The explosion appears to have

charred hundreds of meters of scrubland. (AP)

Newswatch

KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Thursday sent a cable of congrat-ulations to Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on the seventh anniversary of as-cending to power.

In the cable, His Highness the Amir congratulated Sheikh Tamim on the occasions, wishing the Qatari leadership and people evermore progress and develop-ment.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His High-ness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables to Sheikh Tamim. (KUNA)

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KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ah-mad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Fri-day sent a cable to Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina, con-gratulating him on the occasion of his country’s National Day.

In the cable, His Highness the Amir wished wellbeing for the president of Madagascar, and progress and prosperity for his country.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ah-mad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Ham-ad Al-Sabah voiced identical sentiments in a couple of cables addressed to the president of Madagascar. (KUNA)

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KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Saturday sent a cable to Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh, congratulating him on the occa-sion of his country’s National Day.

In the cable, His Highness the Amir wished wellbeing for the president of Djibouti and eternal progress and prosperity for his country.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ah-mad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Ham-ad Al-Sabah voiced identical sentiments in a couple of separate cables addressed to the president of Djibouti. (KUNA)

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KUWAIT CITY: Kuwaiti Minis-ter of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah conducted on Friday a telephone call with his Iraqi counterpart Dr Fuad Hussein.

Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser clar-ifi ed, during the contact, that the State of Kuwait has been follow-ing up with deep alarm on latest developments in Iraq, affi rming its full siding with Iraq with re-spect of any measure it may opt to take for safeguarding its secu-rity and stability.

For his part, the Iraqi foreign minister expressed appreciation for the gesture that depicted the deep-rooted brotherly relations between the two countries and their keenness on bolstering them in all domains. (KUNA)

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KUWAIT CITY: UN Secretary General’s Representative and Resident Coordinator in Ku-wait Dr Tareq Al-Sheikh Fri-day commended cooperation between UN and Kuwait in the fi ght against narcotics and drug dealing, highlighting Kuwait’s national drug prevention policy.

Kuwait’s national policy on drug prevention is part of Kuwait Na-tional Development Plan (KNDP) and has been developed to address issues related to drug addiction, said Al-Sheikh in a statement.

He was marking the Interna-tional Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Traffi cking, due June 26. (KUNA)

2ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

editor’s choice

‘Trump supporters are out there ... and they’re still intense’

Democrats warn against overconfi dence against Trump

In this June 25, 2020 fi le photo, Democratic presidential candidate, former vice-president Joe Biden speaks during an event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Biden and his leading supporters are stepping up warnings to Democrats to avoid becoming complacent. (AP)

WASHINGTON, June 27, (AP): President Donald Trump is entering the final four-month stretch before Election Day presiding over a country that faces a public health crisis, mass unemployment and a reckoning over rac-ism. His Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, is raking in cash. And a series of national and battleground polls suggests growing obstacles to Trump’s reelection.

But the election is far from locked in.Biden and his leading supporters are stepping up warnings to Democrats

to avoid becoming complacent. Former president Barack Obama and Michi-gan Gov Gretchen Whitmer insist that plenty could change between now and Nov 3 and that the party must be vigilant against Trump, who knows few boundaries when it comes to his political foes.

“We understand that what happens five months before the election and what happens at the election can be very different things,” Whitmer said.

Michigan was one of the Midwestern states that Trump carried by a razor-thin margin in 2016, helping him win the Electoral College even as he lost the popular vote. Other Democrats in the state say the strength of the presi-dent’s support shouldn’t be underestimated.

“If the election were held today, I think Biden would win Michigan,” said Michigan Rep Debbie Dingell. “But the Trump supporters are out there, and they’re still intense.”

Obama underscored that point this week during his first joint fundraiser with Biden.

“We can’t be complacent or smug or suggest that somehow it’s so obvious that this president hasn’t done a good job,” Obama told thousands of donors who gathered online. “He won once, and it’s not like we didn’t have a good clue as to how he was going to operate the last time.”

Democrats have reason to be cautious. Four years ago, Hillary Clinton was leading by wide margins nationally and in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – the very states that ultimately put Trump over the top. But in the final weeks before the election, Republicans coalesced around their nominee, leading to his upset win.

Trump is aiming for a repeat this year. He is stoking culture wars on healthcare and race relations. After warning that the 2016 election would be “rigged” against him, Trump said without evidence this week that the fall campaign would be the “most corrupt election ever.”

Trump and many of his GOP allies, meanwhile, are working to squelch the expansion of absentee voting, which they worry would hand Democrats an advantage, despite no evidence supporting that.

Many Republicans are quietly grim about the trends. But some are com-forted by the same factors that give Democrats pause.

“I’ve always thought it was going to be razor-thin in Wisconsin, and in turn, across the nation,” said former Gov Scott Walker, who survived a bitter 2012 recall election and 2014 reelection before losing a third nail-biter in 2018.

Trump’s fundraising and organizing still dwarfs those of Biden, who has named state-based staff in just three battlegrounds: Wisconsin, Arizona and North Carolina. When Biden announced his Wisconsin team Wednesday, Trump’s campaign retorted that its 2016 operation there never closed and already this year has trained 3,200 volunteers, held 750 “MAGA Meet-ups” and made 6 million voter contacts, which means their targets have been reached multiple times already.

Still, the current dynamics don’t fit seamlessly with 2016.Trump benefited four years ago from Clinton being almost as unpopular as

he was. And as a first-time candidate, Trump took advantage of his disruptive brand. It’s harder to be the anti-establishment outsider from the Oval Office.

Trump’s Gallup job approval rating stands at 39 percent this month, put-ting him in dangerous territory historically.

Since World War II, all incumbent presidents who lost were at 45 percent or lower in Gallup polls conducted in June of their reelection year. Only Harry Truman, at 40 percent in 1948, managed a comeback win. Trump’s ahead of one-term presidents Jimmy Carter (32 percent in 1980) and George H.W. Bush (37 percent in 1992). But he’s behind Obama’s 46 percent in 2012 and George W. Bush’s 49 percent in 2004.

Trump has broken precedent before. Still, in Biden, Trump faces an op-ponent with a stronger standing among some groups of voters, especially independents, than Clinton had.

Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez pointed to the 2018 midterms and special elections since Trump’s inauguration as proof that vot-ers are “fired up” to oust Trump and “take nothing for granted.”

‘The only path for him’

Trump zeroes in on base to overcome re-election obstaclesWASHINGTON, June 27, (AP): President Donald Trump is sharpening his focus on his most ardent base of supporters as concern grows inside his campaign that his standing in the battleground states that will decide the 2020 election is slipping.

Trump turned his attention this week to “left wing mobs” toppling Confederate monu-ments and visited the nation’s southern border to spotlight progress on his 2016 campaign promise to build a US-Mexico border wall.

He ignored public health experts warning Americans to avoid large gatherings by hold-ing two large campaign events in Oklahoma and Arizona, parts of the country where coro-navirus infections are surging.

With his rhetorical turn, Trump is feeding red meat issues to a base that helped spur his upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. But he risks appearing to ignore larger issues that are jolting the country, like the pandemic and racial injustice, while underplaying economic issues, even though polling shows that to be an area where Trump performs relatively well.

“This might be the only path for him at this point,” said Dan Schnur, who served as a campaign adviser to Arizona Sen John Mc-Cain and California Gov Pete Wilson. “Most of the center is no longer available to him. Motivating his base is not just his best avail-able strategy. It might be the only one.”

The Republican president’s advisers be-lieve there are few undecideds when it comes to Trump, with only a sliver of voters who may change their mind and warm to him. The more effective use of resources is to make sure those who like him turn out to vote, ac-cording to campaign and White House offi -cials who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal strategy.

Trump takes a measure of comfort in the fact he found himself in a similar position in 2016. Polls throughout his race against Clin-ton showed him with a defi cit, often just as wide as some polls now suggest, before he closed that gap in the fi nal days of the cam-paign as the base coalesced around him.

As he did with Clinton, Trump has tried to drive up Democratic rival Joe Biden’s nega-tives, pushing unsubstantiated claims about his mental acuity and his son Hunter’s busi-ness dealings. But Trump has had little suc-cess in driving Biden into the deeply negative territory where Clinton found herself.

Biden’s campaign is confi dent the circum-stances for Trump, who now has a well-es-tablished political record, have complicated his ability to drag down his opponent with a barrage of attacks.

“The reality is this is a different election than 2016 was,” said Symone Sanders, a senior adviser to the Biden campaign. “In 2016, a lot of voters went to the polls asking what kind of president Trump would be. It’s no longer a theory of what kind of president Donald Trump will be.”

Trump hopes to get as much of that base to turn out while persuading the voters who have shown tepid enthusiasm for Biden to stay home. Indeed, while many national and battleground polls show Trump trailing Biden, surveys have suggested that some of the for-mer vice-president’s support is lukewarm.

Trump’s team feels confi dent that ap-proximately 40 percent of the electorate sup-ports him and notes his approval rating has remained unusually stable during his term. The president’s campaign advisers believe it comes down to getting a bigger proportion of the smaller group of people who love Trump

to turn out than the larger group of voters who express tepid support for Biden.

With that in mind, the campaign has re-newed its focus on plays to please the base. Among them: the border wall and other hard-line immigration executive orders; a promise to produce a list of conservative Supreme Court nominees; public consideration of ac-knowledging Israel’s annexation of parts of the West Bank to satisfy evangelicals; and, most strikingly, a focus on reopening the na-tion’s economy over publicly dwelling on the pandemic.

South Carolina Sen Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, said Trump can win with “a little more message discipline” and a focus on policies that sepa-rate him and Biden.

“Just make it more about policy and less about your personality,” Graham told report-ers.

Last weekend, Trump held a big-arena ral-ly in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that drew a relatively sparse crowd for a president who’s used to overfl ow audiences. He then took part on Tuesday in a jam-packed event at a Phoe-nix megachurch – albeit in a smaller venue – for young conservatives. Both are the sort of events that Trump is counting on helping him turn the tide.

“Nov 3 is a big day,” Trump told attendees at a Students for Trump event in Phoenix. “Get out. Get the parents, get the friends, get the husband, get the wife, get everybody.”

Arizona has emerged as a growing hot spot for the virus, and Phoenix’s Democratic mayor, Kate Gallego, implored that such an event – most participants declined to wear masks and didn’t practice social distancing – could not be safely carried out.

Ohio Democratic Chair David Pepper, whose state went for Trump by a surprisingly wide margin in 2016, said Democrats are better organized this year. He described 2016 as “top down,” with Clinton’s national lieutenants dictating details regardless of DNC or state parties.

Pepper noted Biden’s first campaign manager, Greg Schultz, is now based at the DNC. Pepper described a recent call Schultz held with state party chairs nationwide. The theme from Schultz, he said: “What do you need? What lessons are there from 2016?”

Still, Dingell noted Biden hasn’t yet installed a state director in Michi-gan, where she described Democratic “factions” as difficult to corral. While Trump animates the left, Dingell warned that Democrats haven’t closed the deal with alienated moderates and can unwittingly help Trump expand his white base.

“This ‘defund the police’ stuff is not the answer,” she said, referring to the rallying cry of activists who want to shift resources and responsibilities away from armed law enforcement after police killings of Black men. Biden doesn’t back “defunding” efforts, but Dingell said Trump can exploit the sloganeering.

Walker hinged a Trump comeback less on campaign tactics and more on “people’s health and the health of the economy and the stability of the coun-

try.” If that improves, Walker said, “I think the president’s in a good position.”

Also:LANCASTER, Pennsylvania: A presidential campaign that has largely been frozen for several months because of the coronavirus is looking a bit more like those from other years. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden swung through critical battleground states, presenting starkly different visions for America as it struggles with a pandemic.

Touring a shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin, on Thursday, Trump insist-ed the economy is “coming back at a level nobody ever imagined possible.” But in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Biden warned that “no miracles are coming” and slammed Trump’s handling of the virus.

“Amazingly, he hasn’t grasped the most basic fact of this crisis: To fix the economy we have to get control over the virus,” Biden said. “He’s like a child who can’t believe this has happened to him. His whining and self-pity.”

With just over four months remaining until the election, the contrasting styles of Trump and Biden are increasingly on display. The president is itch-ing to move past an outbreak that has dashed the economy and resulted in about 125,000 confirmed deaths in the United States, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

LOCALARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

3

Expat doctors from Egypt, India & Pakistan set to return in few days

MoI announces steps for citizens to obtain travel permit

KUWAIT CITY, June 27: A large number of expatriate doctors working in the hospi-tals and health centers under the Ministry of Health will return to the country within the next few days, reports Al-Jarida daily.

These doctors were unable to return to the country ear-lier due to the suspension of fl ights for non-Kuwaitis as a result of the corona pan-demic.

Well-informed sources from the health sector revealed that the concerned technical au-thorities in the ministry have completed the list of these doctors in preparation for their return to Kuwait.

Sources said these doc-tors are expected to return in the fi rst half of July; affi rm-ing coordination with various countries such as Egypt, India, Pakistan and several others in this regard.

Sources added tremendous efforts have been exerted to complete all procedures for the return of these expatriate doctors who were stranded abroad as they traveled to their countries before the corona pandemic and were unable to return due to the closure of air traffi c in the middle of March.

The general and specialized hospitals and dispensaries of the ministry sent the names of the expatriate doctors working in their medical departments and who were stranded abroad to the Technical Department in order to make the neces-sary arrangements for their return.

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Steps to obtain travel permit: The Public Relations and Se-curity Media General Depart-ment at the Ministry of Inte-rior has announced steps that citizens need to take in order to obtain a travel permit, re-ports Al-Jarida daily.

In a circular, the depart-ment enumerated the steps as follows: log on to the offi cial website of the ministry www.moi.gov.kw, book an appoint-ment for processing transac-tions at the Border Security Affairs Sector, request for a travel permit, arrive on time during the travel permit ap-plication appointment, and submit the application form to the concerned authority along with the required documents. The permit will be granted based on the number of travel-ers allowed as per the decision of the Cabinet.

The concerned authority will then check the applica-tion and approve it within fi ve days. The applicant can inquire about the status of the application through the ministry’s website by enter-ing the civil ID number and verifi cation code shown in the receipt.

The department explained that in the event of approval, the applicant must download the barcode for the travel permit and submit it to the relevant authorities in order to complete the travel proce-dures. The period of valid-ity of the permit is one month starting from the date of issu-ance and it is valid for one-time use only.

A DIGEST OF PUBLIC OPINION

DIWANIYA‘Patience wears thin in Mideast region’

‘Flare-up seen in Arab-Israeli dispute’“I THINK the most important question that still grips the minds of those who are concerned about the Arab-Zionist struggle – be they ordinary people living inside the Zion-ist occupied territories or in both the Arab and the Islamic regions – is, how the future of Israel will be and which di-rection it will take?” columnist Fakhri Hashem Al-Sayed Rajab wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“Certainly, the above question has been repeatedly asked a long time ago by many Israeli leaders including the former commander of the Israeli Air Force General Amos Lapidot who was quoted as saying at the Techn-ion – Israel Institute of Technology at Haifa, marking the 62nd anniversary of the foundation of the state of Israel that ‘Israel is currently at the crossroads which is likely to lead to progress and boom or dete-rioration and downfall’.

“‘He added, Israel is currently facing a real danger that threatens its existence, particularly since we know that the Middle East is cur-rently tired and exhausted to such an extent this part of the world is on the verge of attrition’.

“Lapidot went on to say, ‘un-fortunately all of us are living this reality’. He added, ‘Let us ignore all the predictions and forecasts, because they have no place in the realm of the politics, so let us deal with the reality reason-ably, hoping we shall protect even an iota of reality.”

“However, I would like to say here that Israel is based on the idea of ‘homeland for the Jews’, as such this home-land should be the Jews only to live in as ghetto, sepa-rated and distinguished from the peoples on our planet. It is no secret that the Jews are arrogant in nature and they still believe they are the masters of the world.

“It is needless to say it is not a presumption, because their thought is isolationist and racist and this is evident through their statements they make about peace which they acquire through suspicious treaties and agreements which are tailored to guarantee the persist in their racism.

“In this context, we cite the separation wall that is built in the West Bank to isolate them from the Arabs in that part of Palestine. Not just that, they have downed requests from Arab students to live among Jewish students in the same accommodation in the city of Safad.

“As a matter of fact, the Zionists fear real peace based on amalgamation among the peoples in the Middle East, because the idea of amalgamation basically contradicts with the Zionist idea which mostly depends on the mili-tary method to govern the pattern of their life.

“In this connection, we cite a clash that occurred be-tween the Jewish settlers and the religious people inside the Israeli army due to talk about shutting down some isolated Jewish settlements in the West Bank – the idea that was defi nitely rejected by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who considers the Israeli army as a redline.

“Here, I would like mention what is attributed to the French leader Napoleon Bonaparte who once said, ‘You will not be in a position to remain on the tip of the spear for good.’

“Speaking of the so called ‘Deal of the Century’, as a matter of fact, there are a set of grounds that have resulted in this deal to become a title for all political talks, given the fact this title ‘engulfs an Israeli victory undeniable by us.

“In the meantime, we have observed that this victory can be seen as a mockery. Yes, the Arab weakness in midst of this struggle has constituted a signifi cant and ba-sic support to the deal, but will not last for good, because the changes at all levels will not be halted in spite of the tremendous Israeli economic and military might.

“Personally speaking, I see that this might always re-main tense because it is foremost remains on the verge of catastrophe, and the social structure of this entity will not be in a position to undertake a peaceful task capable to co-exist with the peoples of the Middle East.

“Consequently, I see, it will be impossible for the vic-tory of this entity to last long, because it is temporary and its foundations are not solid. Moreover, there is no joint history for the components of this entity because they have come from various areas throughout the world and belong to various nationalities.

“In other words, the isolation of the components of the Israel will not continue even if they are assembled in the most signifi cant universities and hospitals. Moreover, the foreign policies of the great powers are not fi xed, given the fact that the state of the Israeli entity mostly depends on the support of these powers.

“Returning to the Arab nation, we are still alive capa-ble of waking up and this means that it will be unreason-able to see all Arab civilizations, values and principles, disappearing during a specifi c exceptional period of time.

“However, I am not waiting for an Arab spring or a Western summer rather I am talking about the might of the right and logic. I am talking about a forthcoming ac-tion … it is Palestine… it is Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“In other words, is it reasonable that the nation of Islam will destroy its holy places? It is needless to say that the Arab defi cit is obvious. Yes, but I am positive that the pledge of the Almighty Allah is true.”

Also: “We pray to Almighty Allah to bestow His mercy upon

our senior teachers who taught us during the 1960s. In the meantime, we pray to Almighty Allah to reward them with permanent paradise,” columnist Abdulaziz Al-Tami-mi wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“Most of these teachers were our Palestinian broth-ers who were reluctant to leave Palestine post the 1948 conspiracy (that resulted in the establishment of Israel) to

implement this notorious pledge that the ex-British for-eign secretary Arthur James Balfour gave to the Jews on Nov 2, 1917.

“These genuine generation of teachers ingrained in the minds of all Arabs nationalism which constitute part and parcel of the Arab world that stretches from the Arabian Gulf to Morocco.

“For her part, Palestine represents the heart of the Arab nation -- the heart that bleeds because a group of the Zi-onists who have stabbed us -- and are looking forward to loot our wealth in collaboration with a freak company of those who call themselves free Arabs although they are nothing but a bunch of traitors and agents of the occupy-ing foe.

“In this context, we refer prior to the occupation of Pal-estine, Turkey had occupied the Syrian province of Al-Iskandarone (in 1937), and before that the Persian Pahlavi had occupied Al-Mohammarah area (in 1926) followed by another crime that was committed in 1971 -- occupa-tion of the three islands of United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Mousa).

“Anyway, during the period in question, we reached the ‘higher phase’ during which we were full of love towards of Arab brothers everywhere. We were look-ing forward to the sunrise of the Arab world, given the fact that this dream was destroyed by ‘Abu Haniya, Abu Al-Zahhar and Abu Dahya Al-Sakhrouti’ where they be-trayed Prophet Jesus (Peace be upon Him) to the Jews for a few dirhams.

“However, today looks like yesterday, where Khaled Al-Meshaal is currently selling his cause to those who oc-cupied Al-Mohammarah. In other words, he is involved in violating Gaza of Hashem and selling the grapes of Yemen and the palms of the Levant for a very cheap price.

“These traitors along with their followers are still in-volved in their conspiracy against the Arab nation. In other words, post Palestine, they lost Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, let alone their losses shamelessly con-tinue.

“But the grandsons of our free teachers and the pio-neers of the Arab nationalism still remain steadfast on the lands of Palestine to resist the occupation and the fi re of its guns by their stones as well as by their strong will, where the latter will not sell Palestine against all money of the globe.

“In this connection, we praise the brave men including Abu Bassem, Abu Zaki and Abu Rima – the free Arabs whose their grandfathers had said ‘no’ to the Zionist foe, and their grandsons are still repeating the same ‘no’ in the face of the Zionist machine-gun.

“These grandsons lost the weapon, but they have re-sorted to the stones and all the Mujahedin in various cities of Palestine including Nablus and Toulkarim have sin-cerely responded to these grandsons for the sake of lib-erating their homeland from the Zionist occupation and earn victory or martyrdom.

“Yes it is Palestine which has sincere men who stand in the face of those who love and worship the touman and the Turkish lira.

“In conclusion, we pray to Almighty Allah to bestow His mercy upon the martyrs from the Palestinians towns of Dier Yaseen and Kafer Qassim as well as the heroes of the Arab nation. We shall return – God willing.”

❑ ❑ ❑

“Sustainable development has been delayed for many years compared to the sixties and seventies when we saw growth and development. Kuwait University, established as the only university, became a unique model in the re-gion and a great edifi ce, as well as health facilities such as Al-Sabah, Al-Amiri and Chest hospitals, which have been working for many years while remaining old and worn out. The same thing goes for the Entertainment City that was a great recreational edifi ce and an unprec-edented tourist landmark in the region, which sadly was closed,” Mishref Eqab wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“The brothers in Gulf Cooperation Council countries were visiting Kuwait to relax at the public parks and enjoy tourist recreational programs. We should men-tion Jahra Street and the sweetness of walking on it with shops on both sides. It was an outlet for everyone and all visitors to Kuwait from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

“The wheel of sustainable development has stopped for many years such that citizens are at a loss seeing the development taking place in other Gulf states and neigh-boring countries and bemoan its various development and life situations. Sadly, a single parliamentary question nar-rows the government’s chest, even though in all democra-cies of the developed world, disputes are referred to the decisive factor.

“The law and parliamentary system regulate the re-lationship between the parliament and the government. Every dispute, whatever the type or question, is dealt with in the Parliament, unlike ours, where the street is occu-pied and many statements are made by some members in a war of words and regret even though we always talk about cooperation between the executive and legislative authority.

“Do the people of Kuwait appreciate those who con-tributed to putting this great edifi ce, which is the constitu-tion and democracy, because whenever there is any disa-greement between the executive and the legislature, the voices rise to dissolve the National Assembly? It seems that all the country’s problems are from the legislative authority only, and the National Assembly and democ-racy are not a way of life and safety valve for Kuwait and its people. We have been very late in many areas of development.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb

Al-Sayed Rajab

KUNA photo

Kuwaiti Ambassador Al-Saqer during the meeting with the representative of Indonesia’s Supreme Court.

Photo by Iehab QartalKuwaitis and expatriates enjoying themselves at the Salmiya beach after the

govt eased restrictions.

‘No interruption in diwaniya visits’

Weddings in broad daylight ...social distancing is just a talk!KUWAIT CITY, June 27: At a time when the government’s plan to return life has been delayed, the question arising is: “Did government achieve the goal of near-total closure?”, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Are cases of coronavirus shrinking af-ter most activities were disrupted amid increasing warnings that the national economy and sources of income are in danger. It is striking that all this closure appears to be mere words in the minds of concerned authorities, as parallel life inside homes, farms, chalets and others are going on, contrary to social distanc-ing. Weddings and parties are continu-ing, while visits to many diwaniyas are not interrupted.

In spite of the decisive decisions taken by the Ministry of Health in the face of corona pandemic, which include ban on gatherings, holding of parties and suspen-sion of studies in schools and universities to prevent mixing, the curve of infections after lifting of the total ban increased rap-idly among citizens/Kuwaiti families, as a result of mixing, which the Ministry of Health considers the prime suspect in the rise of new casualties among Kuwaitis.

Despite the Ministry of Health’s ap-peals and repeated warnings about the danger of mixing and gathering in the transmission of infection to other family members and those close to them who are committed to their homes throughout the ban period, there is a state of recklessness and circumvention of the law by some cit-izens who violated health restrictions by holding weddings and celebrations inside their homes in broad daylight!

InfectionsJournalist Saleh Jarman triggered a

surprise of heavy caliber, which may be one of the hidden reasons behind the increasing number of coronavirus infec-tions among citizens and Kuwaiti families in the same house, as he refl ected lack of commitment to the majority to health in-structions through continuing weddings and parties.

He pointed to some famous media players competing in cooking and making cakes decorated with fl owers and holding “double engagement and marriage” cer-emonies, adding: Many of them organize events as before and refuse to display it via video.

Jarman attributed reasons for the in-creasing number of infections among citi-zens to non-observance of health instruc-tions. He pointed out that a large group of society are committed to preventive measures, as they restrict themselves in-doors and only leave home if extremely necessity. Unfortunately, the infection is transmitted to them due to negligence and carefree attitude of a family member who violates the health quarantine instructions by going out or exchanging visits or at-tending weddings.

To fi nd the truth of the matter, Al-Qa-bas contacted a contractor and owner of a company for organizing parties and events Nasser Al-Nasrallah who acknowledged that some Kuwaiti families were keen on holding wedding parties, receptions and gatherings in chalets and farms almost

on a daily basis at the time of the ban. He said they violate all instructions and the re-peated appeals of the Ministry of Health to avoid spread of infections at will.

Al-Nasrallah revealed an increasing de-mand for full party equipment at the time of the ban in homes, especially after the holiday. He pointed out that he receives daily communications from customers asking for a DJ or presence of a singer to celebrate a wedding or an occasion from 12:00 pm until 3:00 pm.

TemptationsHe pointed out that “I was subjected to

many material and precautionary tempta-tions by some customers to revive their parties by telling me to have no worries, just tell us what you want as we have wasta (infl uence) to cover you.” Some of them even offered additional sums and reassured the house’s commitment to pre-cautionary measures.

“As one of the female clients asked me to organize a party in her house at night while staying in the Diwaniya of the house, I overcame the temptation by in-sisting that I can not risk my life and that of those around me, even though the pro-fession is my source of income, and we’re the most affected by the decision to stop holding parties and gatherings”, he noted, adding the last party he organized was on March 7.

He pointed out that other companies -- most of which do not have license to practice operate -- took advantage of the crisis and raised the prices to double, with the price of party preparation package at home ranging from 1,500 to 1,800 at the time of the ban, covering a band and DJ, while any additions have a special addi-tional price.

Regarding the quality of clients, Al-Nasrallah said: Most of them are women, as they request to organize weddings or reception, while some citi-zens requests a DJ for family gatherings in chalets and farms. He affirmed that most of the customers are from the tenth area near Fahaheel and the fourth area near Jahra. He also said that owners of the concerts prepare the venue by iso-lating the sound and reducing the sound of music, and most of the invitees are neighbors and relatives!

Saleh Jarman disclosed that the num-ber of mobile salons “Home Service” exceeds the number of fi xed salons where owners promote their offers on social networking sites to provide services in a way that keeps pace with current develop-ments through qualifi ed crews in terms of sterilization. He pointed to the increasing demand for this service, especially with wedding events and receptions organized in broad daylight.

Jarman was not satisfi ed with the vio-lations and went ahead to reveal the res-taurants’ willingness to meet customers’ requests for food supplies and buffets at weddings. He noted the requests increase, especially at the end of the week “Thurs-day”. He asked “what is the guilt of those who committed to their homes for more than three months only to get sick while in their homes?”.

PAI launchesadvance online‘appointment’

KUWAIT CITY, June 27: The Public Authority for In-dustry (PAI) has launched an advance online appointment system through its website in line with the precaution-ary measures taken by the country to curb the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), reports Al-Rai daily.

In a press statement on Fri-day, Director General of PAI Abdul Karim Taqi disclosed that this online service is in accordance with the Council of Ministers’ plan for gradual resumption of work and its instruction to take precau-tionary measures.

He confi rmed the public could start using the service Friday in order to book ap-pointments upon resump-tion of work on Tuesday in compliance with the general health regulations on pre-venting coronavirus infec-tion.

Kuwaiti envoy meets Indonesia court repKuwaiti Ambassador Abdulwahab Al-Saqer met a representative of Indonesia’s Supreme Court on Friday to discuss judicial coop-eration.

The ambassador to Indonesia was handed a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation with Kuwait’s Supreme Court, read an embassy statement.

The two sides also discussed means the Indonesian court could benefi t from Kuwait’s expertise in Islamic economics, according to the statement. (KUNA)

LOCALARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

4

Photo by Mohammad Morsi

The quarantine center opened by the Ministry of Public Works at the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Stadium.

Mahboula fi eld hospital serves almost200,000 people, singles and families

Show Civil ID, no fees charged for visit

KUWAIT CITY, June 27: Hours before the excep-tional session of the Council of Ministers and the sub-sequent decisive decisions about moving to the next stage to return to life, and whether or not to designate new areas for total curfew or lift the isolation of the areas which are under total curfew such Jleeb Al-Shuy-oukh, Mahboula the Al-Seyassah newspaper made a fi eld tour of the fi eld hos-pital in Mahboula to moni-tor health procedures inside the hospital after about 80 days have passed since the place was placed under to-tal lockdown, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

The daily added, the hospital serves about 196,000 people, 20 percent of whom are families and 80 percent singles.

In light of ‘leaks’ and health in-dicators, things are moving strongly in favor of lifting the total lockdown of Mahboula, after noticing a sig-nifi cant decrease in the number of confi rmed infections with the coro-navirus.

The head of the pharmacy de-partment of the hospital, Dr. Mona Al-Failakawi explained that the procedures for admission to the hospital start from entering the name in medical records depart-ment, where patients (citizens and residents) are received on the strength of their civil IDs only without paying fees and make a beeline to a large waiting hall before they are transferred to the concerned department based on their condition.

She pointed out after the screen-ing is done they are transferred to the respective mobile clinics -- eight clinics are allocated (two for inter-nal, and the same for teeth, a bone clinic, and another for women and childbirth and a respiratory disease clinic and a psychiatric clinic -- in-side the hospital), each according to his health condition.

This is in addition to two obser-vation rooms, one each for men and women, a pediatric vaccination clin-ic and a radiology department, and after a patient has fi nished the ex-amination, he/she is directed to the pharmacy department to receive the medicines, and then returns to their respective homes.

After a comprehensive inspection tour of the mobile clinics, the daily met the director of the fi eld hospital, Dr Muhammad Al-Kandari, who confi rmed the hospital’s contribu-tion in treating 300 corona patients since the inception of the Clinical Residency Department last month and until now, pointing out that the number of clinical cases currently in the hospital is 25, all of which are moderately infected.

Al-Kandari told the daily work in the hospital began on April 10, and patients were received 48 hours lat-er, noting that the hospital is divided into two parts, the fi rst is a dispen-sary to provide primary care to the residents of Mahboula, including citizens and residents, and the sec-ond section is the fi eld hospital to house suspected or confi rmed cases of corona virus. The hospital works as a supplement to Adan Hospital, he said.

He added the hospital was gradu-ally equipped according to the need for health services, as “we began to equip three clinics in addition to the pharmacy and radiology depart-ment, and after we sensed the need for other clinics such as the gyne-cology and obstetrics clinic, the orthopedic clinic, the mental health clinic and vaccination, we ad-dressed the department heads spe-cialized in the region such as Dr. Meshal Al-Hadhoud, Dr. Haya Al-Mutairi and Dr. Abdullah Al-Faris, who kindly provided the required medical personnel and equipment at these clinics.

He added, “on May 20, we felt the need to operate the second part

of the hospital due to the severe pres-sure on health services at the Adan Hospital, so we cooperated with the Medical Engineering of the Ministry of Health to prepare the hospital to receive cases (residents of Mahbou-la) that require hospitalization and since that time until date we treated more than 300 corona patients un-til their condition improved com-pletely, and only 15 cases required admission to intensive care unit of the Adan Hospital to complete the treatment.

❑ ❑ ❑

Kuwait role lauded: European Union and United Nations sources, Thursday, voiced their gratitude and praise for Kuwait’s efforts to help the Syrian people by organizing three pledging conferences for Syria and co-hosting two in recent years.

“Kuwait is one of our key partners in the Gulf and they have been ex-tremely supportive of all the humani-tarian efforts that have been carried out over the years,” EU sources told

journalists in Brussels ahead of next week’s international conference on Syria.

“Kuwait was also the co-chair of the fi rst Brussels conference on Syria in 2017. We have remained in very close contact and cooperation with Kuwait over the years,” said the sources requesting anonymity.

“In terms of pledges they (Ku-waitis) have been extremely forth-coming as part of the international efforts in support of the Syrian peo-ple both inside and in the region,” added the EU sources.

On their part, UN sources com-mended the leadership of Kuwait for the fi rst three conferences and the co-hosting one in London and one in Brussels.

The European Union and the Unit-ed Nations will co-chair the fourth Brussels Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region”, which will take place via videocon-ference on June 30.

Around 80 delegates from neigh-boring countries hosting Syrian refu-

gees, partner countries, EU Member States and international organiza-tions will gather to address key po-litical, humanitarian and regional development aspects of the Syrian crisis.

A number of side events including exhibitions hosted by EU Member States, partner countries, UN agen-cies and international organizations and civil societies have already start-ed on Monday.

This is the eighth Syrian confer-ence, three hosted by the govern-ment of Kuwait, one in London and four conferences hosted by the EU.

Over 11 million people across Syria require aid and protection and half of the Syrian population is dis-placed across the country or across the region as refugees. The COV-ID-19 spread has only deepened the suffering of the Syrian people.

The current requirement of the UN and its partners inside Syria amounts to USD 3.8 billion and that includes USD 380 million for coronavirus re-lated activities, they noted. (KUNA)

Photos by Mahmoud Jadeed

The fi eld hospital in Mahboula.

KUWAIT CITY, June 27: For three days, users of the Wafra-Kabd Road have been contend-ing with the problem of soft creeping sand dunes covering large parts of the road as a re-sult of northwestern wind activ-ity. As if a person is in confl ict with the dunes on this road, the sand instills dozens of cars in heaps of sand that gathers on both sides of the road while the problem remains eternal, as government agencies throw it among themselves, reports Al-Rai daily.

A number of users of the aforementioned road expressed dissatisfaction and despair at the failure of concerned author-ities to remove the gory sight from the road, as it exposes lives to the danger of death. A large number of cars were spot-ted with the wheels diving in the sand on both sides of the road in an attempt by their owners to avoid the heap on the road.

For his part, Khaled Al-

Marri, Chairman of Wafra Residents’ Voluntary Commit-tee, said: “We, the people of Wafra Residential District, are despaired over our requests to concerned authorities to fi nd a solution to this recurring prob-lem without reaching a result. Previously, we, the residents, requested the Public Author-ity for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources to plant trees on the parallel lines of the road from both sides to prevent sand from crawling along the road, but the authority refused the request.”

He was surprised that con-cerned agencies such as the ministries of Public Works and Defense, as well as the Public Authority for Agricultural Af-fairs and Fish Resources re-sponsible for removing the sand from Wafra Road, have abdi-cated the responsibility of tack-ling the problem to the other, while the people of the region are lost between this and that.

Al-Marri added, “We are ready to cooperate with any agency to solve this problem that plagues and continues to haunt the people of the region, and owners of Wafra farms and residents of Sabah Al Ahmad who use this outlet.”

On the other hand, well-informed sources in the Min-istry of Public Works said it’s offi cials have already met with Kuwait Institute for Scientifi c Research and the Public Au-thority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources to develop permanent solutions to the problem of crawling sand on external roads, but because of the novel coronavirus crisis, the problem has not been followed up.

The sources pointed out that the ministry through its mecha-nisms will remove the sand step by step from the road, but there are parts of those external roads that belong to the Ministry of Defense.

Virus crisis delays cleanup process: offi cial

Man’s struggle with ‘dunes’ on Wafra-Kabd Road

‘Absence of future vision’

Hundreds of govt promises toback entrepreneurs unfulfi lledKUWAIT CITY, June 27: Nearly 20 years have passed since the govern-ment made some promises to support entrepreneurs and owners of small pro-jects. There have been dozens of min-isters from different governments who issued statements in this regard which were published in the newspapers. Hopes of people have been kept on hold; all they are guilty of is that they thought outside the box, because they wanted to get out of the burden of government work. However, the abysmal documentation and bureaucrat-ic procrastination is like a rock upon which their dreams were shattered, re-ports Al-Qabas daily.

The last of these promises was made during the COVID-19 health-economic crisis. The small business owners took pleasure in supporting the efforts like in most of the countries of the world.

After a fl ood of statements and reas-surances, the government eventually chose to direct spending towards other areas and removed the entrepreneurs from their priorities, despite their con-tributions to the GDP and the national economy by employing thousands of citizens.

The daily newspapers have been touching on this issue for many years, covering it in several instances, either through news, investigations, inter-views or seminars, in support of the aspirations of youth.

On July 26, 2005, the government announced its assurance for the sala-ries of Kuwaitis who wish to work in the private sector for a period of fi ve years. A fund was created to support the national workforce that exceeded the needs of the ministries.

Walid Al-Wahaib, the then Secre-tary-General of the Manpower and Government Restructuring Program and the state’s executive branch, said, “The government examined the reason why men and women were not heading for self-employment, especially techni-cians and professionals”.

He stressed that, “The government should work to direct them to self-em-ployment, as it has succeeded in recy-cling private recruitment and activation of its mechanisms”.

On April 19, 2011, fi ve MPs pro-posed allocating a special incentive for national manpower in the private sector to grant KD 300 to university degree holders and above, KD 230 to diploma holders and their equivalent, and KD 150 to holders of secondary certifi cates and less.

On June 6, 2011, the most prominent news at that time was the amendments to the law that support SMEs, and to send private sector employees abroad for training courses. All of this was aimed to encourage young people to engage in private work instead of an-ticipating government work.

On May 13, 2012, Al-Qabas daily had published an investigation titled

“Offi cials draw dreams... but projects are stagnant. Young people are grow-ing up but government promises do not grow old.”

That investigative report published nearly nine years ago said, “With every Cabinet formation, government state-ments and promises are renewed to entice young people who grow up in exchange for promises that are not im-plemented and do not grow old”.

On April 16, 2014, the Minister of Information and State Minister for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Al-Ham-oud announced during the opening of the Small Business Forum that, “We are encouraging young people to do business to diversify our economy”.

Among other things, he said, “The Ministry of Youth Affairs is currently working on developing its tools with the cooperation of international organi-zations in order to enhance youth ap-petite for business, crafts and art. This comes parallel to the main role of the state, by creating a kind of interaction and dialogue between the entrepreneurs and owners of SMEs, while creating more job opportunities for the sons and daughters of Kuwait”.

On April 10, 2015, the team study-ing development of the southern islands had recommended that the project for developing Umm Al-Maradim Island should be approved through the main uses of Kuwaiti islands for recreational and entertainment activities, marine ac-tivities and public beaches, and to en-courage the private sector to participate in providing recreational activities.

On October 2, 2015, MP Askar Al-Enezi proposed the creation of an infor-mation center for various job special-ties that the country needs to provide the required workers the labor market needs from these specializations.

He stressed the need to expand tech-nology and modern management, as well as technical and marketing exper-tise.

Al-Enezi suggested activation and expansion of the role of Kuwaiti pri-vate sector and for creating job oppor-tunities for the national manpower and contributing to their training. However, has any of this been achieved or has the executive authority implemented what was proposed by the legislative author-ity?

On January 12, 2018, Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al-Roudhan announced that the Public Authority for Industry would distribute 1,036 plots of land in Shadadiyah area for delivery to investors and entrepre-neurs from mid-2019.

On January 30, 2020, he said the bankruptcy law serves owners of small projects; but after about two months, specifi cally on March 23, he said the government has started evaluating the effects of COVID-19 to develop solu-tions. The minister was quick to add that the protection of small business owners comes “fi rst”.

Statements after statements, and promises after promises; but majority of them were like needles of anesthe-sia and attempts to sow ash in the eyes. Reality proves a state of inaction that confi rms absence of a future vision for the economy.

Economy

Dead infant dumped: Police are look-ing for an unidentifi ed person for dump-ing a dead child, barely a few days old, in front of the house of a Kuwaiti in Sa-bahiya, wrapped in a black plastic bag, reports Al-Rai daily.

The daily did not give more details.❑ ❑ ❑

Escape bid foiled: A Kuwaiti failed in his attempt to smuggle a Syrian out of the Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh isolation center, reports Al-Rai daily.

In his failed attempt the suspect al-legedly collided with a patrol car and hit a policeman with an iron pipe. How-ever, he was overpowered and taken to the area police station.

According to the daily when the man approached the checkpoint, an offi cer saw the Syrian inside the car and when they were asked to show their ID and permission to leave the area, the Ku-waiti said he wanted the Syrian to re-pair his car.

At this point sensing trouble the Syr-ian climbed out of the car and attempt-ed to escape but he was caught and put in police car.

During this time the Kuwaiti escaped from the scene and was chased until he reached Abdullah Al-Mubarak.

In a vain attempt to escape he col-lided with police car. He then grabbed an iron pipe and hit the policeman caus-ing him injury.

News in Brief

KFSD photo

Firemen tackling the blaze.

Sheikh Salman

Fire destroys fodder in Salmi

Acting on information fi remen rushed to a location in Salmi behind the Jahra Cemetery and put out fi re to fodder on 200 square meters area and preventing it spreading, reports Al-Rai daily.

No human losses or injury have been reported.

Meranwhile, Friday morning saw a freak accident when a motorist lost control of his vehicle and drove into the

back of the Kuwait Municipality, reports Al-Rai daily.

Upon impact the motorist got trapped inside his vehicle. Firemen from the Salmiya Fire Center worked through the metal of the vehicle using special equip-ment. He was taken to the area hospital by personnel from the Emergency Medi-cal Services affi liated to the Ministry of Health.

LOCAL/GULFARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

5

Ministry must force companies to paydelayed salaries of workers, says MP

Names of two incumbent MPs in money-laundering probe

By Saeed Mahmoud SalehArab Times Staff & Agencies

KUWAIT CITY, June 27 : MP Abdulkareem Al-Kandari said the scenario of laborers, who have not received their salaries for four months, is not less offending for Kuwait than the money launder-ing and human traffi ck-ing cases.

He called on the Ministry of Social Affairs to take the nec-essary action in order to com-pel the concerned companies or institutions to pay the de-layed salaries and then punish them.

On the other hand, MP Al-Hu-maidi Al-Subai’e proposed that the Ministry of Social Affairs should submit a detailed report on visa trading to the National Assembly within one month.

He said the report must reveal if there are employees at the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) who contributed to the rising number of visa trading crimes by approving the excess number of workers -- more than the estimated manpower need. He suggested the report should include the names of these em-ployees and punitive action tak-en against them, confi rming the Assembly approved his proposal and that he will closely follow up its implementation.

In another development, MP Khalid Al-Otaibi voiced ob-jection to the idea of inviting Tunisian Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi to Kuwait whether personally or offi cially. He stressed that whoever sup-ported the invasion of Kuwait is not welcomed here and shaking hands with them is considered betrayal to the martyrs’ blood.

QueriesMeanwhile, Al-Otaibi for-

warded queries to Minister of Social Affairs and State Minister of Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel about the expatriate work-ers whose residency permits are under government contracts. He wants to know the number of companies with more than 100 workers, names of these compa-nies, names of owners, reasons behind the protest action of ex-patriate workers with govern-ment visa, action taken against erring companies, companies re-ferred to the Public Prosecution, and number of contracts signed by the government and private companies in the last 10 years.

Also, MP Osama Al-Shaheen affi rmed his willingness to support the proposal to grant fi nancial aid to businesses which incurred loss-es due to the lockdown. He said the fi nancial support must be sub-ject to monitoring and the amount should match the losses.

He emphasized the need to reg-ulate the reopening of establish-ments by ensuring strict compli-ance with the health regulations, particularly social distancing.

Meanwhile , the investigations by the Public Prosecution into the case of the Bangladeshi MP , resident of Kuwait who is ac-cused of traffi cking in humans, money laundering and bribery has triggered high-caliber sur-prises and includes the names of two current MPs, reports Al-Qabas daily.

A familiar source told the daily the Public Prosecution is preparing a letter to be submitted the Speaker of the National As-sembly, Marzouq Al-Ghanem, requesting to lift the immunity of these parliamentarians to be made available for interrogation and investigation.

The source indicated investi-gations conducted by the Pros-ecution revealed the involve-ment of the two MPs in the case to look into this fi le because at stake is the reputation of Kuwait.

The source said the case is like a jigsaw puzzle and the crime of human traffi cking and visa trad-ing is expected to reveal other names in the next few days. No one will escape punishment.

Focus on policies in second phase

Coronavirus advantages onKuwaiti economy, businessKUWAIT CITY, June 27: The coronavi-rus pandemic has become one of the major crises that has completely and comprehen-sively hit the economies of the world’s countries, which has crippled its annual progress as well as reshaping the economic map of the balance of power. The spread of the coronavirus has affected Kuwait, as has the rest of the world, with bills estimated at an initial value of KD 12.6 billion – equiva-lent to USD 41.4 billion. This combined value represents the opportunity to decrease Kuwait’s GDP for 2020, medical expenses, loans and salaries, grants and rewards, evac-uation trips for citizens and residents, hous-ing, and others. As the value of these losses to the national economy as a result of this economic health disaster has increased, it is necessary to stand around the most impor-tant additions that the fi rst administration of Kuwait must use to develop the institutional process. As per EXCPR CO. – consulting and business management – has decided through its national role to draw the most important topics that the State of Kuwait went through during the crisis of the spread of coronavirus, in order to rely on it in the design of the policies of the next phase, which can be considered lessons learned imposed in the form of the daily manage-ment of the state. Additionally, the size of the corona crisis accounted for 30% of the Kuwaiti economy, which should be used to make up for the losses, said Nayef Bastaki, CEO of EXCPR CO. The following are the most prominent of these additions, which must be identifi ed and analysed in an in-tegrated manner, towards obtaining more positive results expected and developing the operations of the state’s public institutions, both in the business sectors and through re-sponsiveness and dynamic sway, and thus to make the plight of corona an administrative economic grant to the state:

Anticipating eventsSince the onset of the coronavirus in Ku-

wait, specifi cally in late February 2020, the public sector has been on the lookout for vi-rus deployment stations from the People’s Republic of China. That perception has led to the taking and initiative in reducing the scale of losses. This is confi rmed by the commendation and similar steps taken by the rest of the surrounding countries and the follow-up of the initiatives of Kuwait in reducing the spread of the epidemic. Therefore, reading the public scene well has had an impact in the face of the accelerated events, which led the Kuwait to master the regional center in anticipating events, which we see as the need to rely on it as a meth-odology and action plan for the rest of the public sector institutions in the next phase.

Accurate reportsDecision makers may be constantly go-

ing to work sites, as well as narrowing the gap and obtaining the details of the infor-mation and data required accurately with-out any margins. This can be concluded to the extent that reports need to be developed and the mechanization process in obtaining important value-added information, which would be good material towards making the right decisions, thereby reducing the amount of risks expected. In this regard, EXCPR CO. does not invite everyone to take positions, but this pioneering experi-ence indicates the importance of recon-sidering the feasibility of the reports sub-mitted and periodic meetings, in order to increase the effectiveness of the business.

Right personThe corona crisis underscored the im-

portance of selecting the right leader in the right position to perform the work and tasks to the fullest, according to the scarci-ty of resources and the short duration of the work. This crisis demonstrated the magni-tude of the productive wheel of some state institutions, which have been taken over by competent and highly capable people. The pioneering selection process for some members of the committees and working chambers has the effect of limiting the spread of the crisis and directing it to the right tracks as soon as possible.

Compliance with the lawThe Corona crisis restored confi dence in

the law and the importance of applying it effectively to all without difference, which strengthened the role of the modern civil state in the management of institutions. The crisis in the application of laws and regulations has remained present over the past period, mak-ing the plight of the coronavirus an opportu-nity to restore the prestige of law, regulations and regulations. This step, which requires the continuation of this strong approach, must therefore be commended.

Gradient in lawThe public sector also recognized the

importance of gradually applying laws and regulations, especially since the community was not accustomed to these methods of nar-rowing the area of freedoms, but the aware-ness of the people and their great awareness was an important element in helping state institutions to perform their tasks to the full-est. For example, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has gradually closed shops and commercial markets, which has contributed to the understanding and achievement of this method by citizens and residents.

PlanningThe rapid spread of the coronavirus im-

posed its method on the performance and activity of various state institutions, in di-recting the sources of production towards achieving the desired goals, in the days

and times. It was necessary to set the over-all target for all ministries of state, which made them work continuously towards this goal. Day-to-day work steps also play a role in widening the gap and speedy out-comes ahead of planned duration. State public institutions should adopt this ap-proach after the end of the Corona distress, which will promise more positive results.

Media platformsAs we also mentioned earlier for the im-

portance of having a single media source during crises to receive information and data, as a result of false news and instilling a sense of reassurance among the members of the community. This is what has already happened in the country, and this is what the public sector has done since the fi rst days of the crisis, a platform was launched run by the offi cial speaker of the Council of Ministers in Kuwait, to inform everyone of all that is going on and what has been taken almost daily. We believe that the continu-ation of all ministries and state institutions on their various activities in launching this step is very important, which will undoubt-edly gain unlimited transparency.

Modern technologyModern technology imposed its order

during the coronavirus crisis in a large way, which made public sector adopt the method of modern applications, which has been disabled for many years, to be the diffi cult fi gure in managing the health-eco-nomic crisis. After the security authorities imposed their order on the state’s business sectors through the application of the par-tial and total curfew, the rest of the state institutions found it to be forced to deal with these modern application in the man-agement of the affairs of the country. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has successfully implemented this system to enter the central markets through the use of barcodes, which has achieved the need for individuals to buy their food needs, in line with the requirements of the social di-mension - the health aspect. These efforts call for continued tele-service for the rest of the business sectors in various state in-stitutions, especially as the State of Kuwait is on the verge of the high vision “Kuwait 2035”, which requires keeping pace with the speed of modern technology in public affairs. The presence of such smart systems also has the effect of signifi cantly reducing the operating expenses of state institutions and increasing the level of effi ciency.

Outstanding crisesThe Corona crisis has also overshad-

owed some of the other problems and chal-lenges that have been stuck for years. The problem of loose labor has weighed heav-ily on the entire efforts of front-line work-ers, which made the decision to evacuate those numbers, which remained a problem that surrounded the Ministry of Social Af-fairs and Labor in adjusting the proportion of expatriates against citizens in Kuwait.

In addition, the Corona crisis demon-strated the amount of productive capacity required to operate state institutions, and the problem of “disguised unemployment” was solved. The corona crisis could also open the door to the distribution of Kuwaiti national-ity to its Bedoun benefi ciaries, who have provided great services and sacrifi ces to this country, especially in light of the imbalance in the demographics. The Ministry of Public Works has also taken advantage of the coun-try’s partial and total curfew to repave roads and streets. This crisis has therefore given the opportunity for various state institutions to solve some of the problems and challenges that have haunted them for many years.

In conclusion, perhaps the enormous fi nancial cost spent to address the chal-lenges surrounding the coronavirus crisis in Kuwait require learning from that ex-perience and seeking to use it as much as possible in the development of state insti-tutions and seeking another alternative to the source of oil in the development of the economy. That huge economic cost has also had an impact on the Government of Kuwait, which will remain a debt of USD 4 per barrel over the next 10 years. In other words, the general budget for the coming years will need to be the price of a barrel of oil minus USD 4, to cover the losses and expenses of the current corona crisis, which will continue until 2030. All of this makes the state institutions and their higher administrations faced with a different kind of test, in order to face this general waste, which must be sought alternatives and cre-ative ways in the management of institu-tions, in order to amplify the additions to

Session part of ‘COVID-19 & Government’ online series

WGS webinar discusses regional, globalinvestment dynamics in the ‘new normal’DUBAI, UAE, June 27: A webinar organized by the World Government Summit (WGS) recently addressed regional and global investment dy-namics in the “new normal” of the post COVID-19 world.

Addressing the webinar were H.E. Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC); Laurence Douglas Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Of-fi cer, Black Rock, Inc.; Bruce Flatt, Chief Executive Offi cer of Brookfi eld Asset Management Inc.; Adebayo Ogunlesi, Founding Partner, Chair-man & Managing Partner, Global In-frastructure Partners; and Francesca McDonagh, Chief Executive Offi cer, Bank of Ireland Group.

The session -- part of the World Government Summit’s ‘COVID-19 & Government’ online series -- was moderated by Hadley Gamble, News Anchor and International Corre-spondent, CNBC.

‘Safe, reliable & state business environment’

Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Com-pany (ADNOC), spoke about a new deal by ADNOC which announced on June 23 that it has entered into an agreement with some of the world’s leading infrastructure investors and operators, sovereign wealth and pen-sion funds. and global partners – a $20 billion energy infrastructure deal.

Asked why the deal was done at this particular juncture, Dr Al Jaber said:“I think the answer to your ques-tion boils down to the fact that the UAE has created a safe, reliable, and stable business environment. And that is of course underpinned by a ro-bust regulatory framework and sup-ported with a fully equipped business unique partnership model. Getting a transaction of this size and this com-plexity over the line in such a tough economic climate, with a very com-plicated business environment like the one we are all going through right now and the one that you’re actually all experiencing, only demonstrates the continued confi dence of the glob-al investment community in the UAE as a highly trusted, go-to investment destination. This US$20 billion deal, announced only this past Tuesday, highlights the world class nature of the UAE’s energy assets and infra-structure base, and their low risk and stable income-generating profi le. And this is just the latest example of ADNOC’S and the UAE’s ability to attract top-tier investment institutions to the UAE. And we are very keen and, in fact, excited about many op-portunities that will go on stream in the very near future.”

Policy & disease curvesLaurence Douglas Fink, Chairman

and Chief Executive Offi cer, Black-Rock, Inc. spoke about the reaction by equities markets to the massive stimulus announced by governments around the world.

“There are two major curves that are addressing the markets - the fi rst curve is the policy curve by govern-ments. We have never seen policy reactions, both fi scal and monetary policy by most governments includ-ing Germany and the UK, obviously the US, and so these policy responses are enormous. They have stabilized a) major corporations and b) small corporations has access to the capital. And so we’ve seen a dramatic stabi-lization in markets. And we are still sitting in giant pools of liquidity, even with all this. And so that is one of the big reasons why we had this, we’ve had this enormous bounce back from the lows of March 21.

“The second curve is now what is the dressing, how effective the policy responses are and that’s the disease curve. And I think, psychologically though, the world has changed in the last few months, and the world has changed from a compassionate world to more of a pragmatic world. “And right now we are seeing rising infection rates, the market hasn’t had a mild setback the last few days, but that is pragmatism that is part of the psychology of the world today. It is very apparent to me that the world is accepting higher diseases, higher in-fection rates.

“Obviously we know more about it, we know that young people mostly have very low complications. And so we’re trying to navigate this; we’ve decided compassionate societies are actually too expensive. And I think every democracy right now is trying to navigate this compassionate versus pragmatic, and we’ll see in the next

two to fi ve weeks is pragmatism right or wrong, your rising infection rates in many places in the United States, in other parts of the world. Yesterday we had the highest infection rate in the world, and markets are still pretty stable. That could all change if people believe that the infection rate is going to translate into higher mortality. And then, does it unsettle democracies worldwide.

“And I think we don’t know where this is going, but right now the mar-ketplace is saying policy responses suffi cient, they’re going to be enor-mous they’re going to be repeated if we have to if we have higher disease rate, and then the marketplace is as-suming some form of anti-viral that will minimize the impact of the dis-ease, and possibly maybe a year from now we’ll have a vaccination.

“I think the market is probably a little ahead of itself. At this time they still believe we are witnessing real tragedies in the small and medium businesses. And if we have to go back to a more compassionate society, they have to do more lockdowns then I be-lieve it’s going to require larger fi scal stimulus, which has all its attendant problems in the future. So these two curves that we have to watch - policy curves and disease and that will be now been determined over the next four to eight weeks as to what curve is more effective.”

Oil outlook: cautious optimism & positivity

On the oil markets outlook, Dr Al Jabersaid: “It all depends on how re-silient you are and how able are you to manage or maneuver through these market dynamics. But in my view, I don’t think anyone today is in a posi-tion, especially at this point in time, to tell you exactly what a recovery would look like or how this could potentially unfold in the very near future. No one can predict to the im-pact of a potential second wave of the virus.

“Having said that, there are some encouraging signs of increased activ-ity in Asia, we’re seeing it in Europe, and of course in North America. And this is simply happening because of the national economies starting to reopen again. And one of the key indicators we monitor very closely is country by country PMIs, I mean here, the Purchasing Managers Index. Some actually are inching above the crucial 50 mark for the fi rst time since COVID started, and they are pointing towards economic expansion, once again, and that is also being refl ected in the oil markets, which have clearly tightened in the very recent weeks. If you look back, where we were just two or two and a half months ago, oil markets are in a much healthier place today.

“In short, the consensus in the in-dustry is that there is reason for cau-tious optimism and positivity. There is a reason for positivity. And that is, for example the recent OPEC+ agreement, together with a robust de-mand, helping rebalance the market. All these are good science, and good reasons for the industry to be optimis-tic and positive about the future.”

Asked about this positivity and his greatest concern right now, Laurence Douglas Fink, said:“We, COVID is probably the number one thing af-fecting the vitality of the economy worldwide. If we don’t have effective science of reducing the severity of the disease, it is going to change behav-iours for a long time.

“You know, large components of the population are at risk continu-ously with COVID, men and wom-en over 60, even younger people

with some form of complications. It does change your habits. I also do believe there are some silver linings through COVID. We are finding that we’re able to work remotely and many companies are able to work remotely really effectively now .. I do believe most compa-nies will never go back to 100% at work. I do believe most companies are going to find ways of rotating their staff and moving them around and I think we don’t have to see the clusters and cities as much as we used to. And so they’re good and bad things related to COVID but unquestionably the disease curve is going to be the most important is-sue that’s going to overwhelm every other issue going forward.

“If there is a second wave and we don’t have those antivirals effective or we don’t have a vaccination it’s going to just be another form of re-trenchment economically.

“What’s remarkable today is there are more human beings been affected by the diseasetoday than it was on March 21, when markets were 40% lower. That just tells you the psy-chological transformation, people do want to go out. .. However, we have to be safe, thoughtful, but let’s be clear. That is not a solution to a robust economy and let me just add one last thing I speak to many many business leaders in the world.

“The most important question I asked everybody do you believe earn-ings are going to be in 2021, at least as good as 2019, and only a fraction of business leaders believe their busi-ness will be as robust as it was in 2019, but the marketplace is that say-ing that, I’ll leave it at that.”

For his part, Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfi eld Asset Management Inc., said: “When you talk about energy investment there is a lot of worry that is expressed by many interna-tional company CEOs about how the investment picture is going to look like. What is your view? What hap-pens in times like this is that govern-ments and corporations can fi nd al-ternative uses for capital and release money from infrastructure assets to put into their core operations. What Dr Sultan said is going to do with that money is to reinvest in their business and grow. Countries around the world have just issued enormous amounts of debt to fund the fi scal situation we are going through. What that means is that there is going to be very substantial amounts of infra-structure that is going to be released from government’s hands and from corporations’ hands. Specifi cally to oil and gas companies. For instance, ADNOC does not need to own that infrastructure. It can operate it, it can run it and it can do exactly what it has done before but we can lower the cost of capital for infrastructure money. We started doing it in real estate 30 years ago. We did it in re-newables for the past 20 years and we did it in infrastructure for 10 years. It’s going to take 25 years but all infrastructure is going to transfer from government and corporations’ hands into the hands of infrastruc-ture owners. The good news is there is going to be a lot of supply. The other thing that has happened is that the interest rate has come down and now there is zero per cent. Therefore the money is there for the invest-ment. There are pools of signifi cant capital around the world. So this is a very interesting time to start a big infrastructure investment.”

Meanwhile, Adebayo Ogunlesi, Founding Partner, Chairman & Man-aging Partner, Global Infrastructure Partners, spoke about lessons learnt.

Engr Nayef Bastaki

Discovery of corona cases halts forming admn bodies in 4 co-opsKUWAIT CITY, June 27: Spokesper-son of Ministry of Social Affairs and Director of Public Relations Abdullah Al-Hamdan announced that the delay in forming the administrative bodies of Sulaibikhat, Doha, Andalus, and Rig-gae cooperative societies has been due to the discovery of COVID-19 infec-tions in some members and employees

of these cooperative societies, reports Al-Rai daily.

In a press statement, he said the min-istry received a letter from the board chairperson of Sulaibikhat and Doha cooperative societies to request the postponement of the meeting for form-ing the administrative body of the board of directors, attributing this to the dis-

covery of COVID-19 infections in two members of the board of directors, as this required other members to undergo medical tests and be quarantined as per the directives of Ministry of Health.

Al-Hamdan revealed that the Min-istry of Social Affairs also received a letter from the chairperson of the board of directors of Andalus and Riggae co-

operative societies, indicating that the health authorities had conducted medi-cal swab tests for the employees work-ing in these cooperative societies.

He said, “The outcome of the swab tests revealed that 14 employees were infected, including employees who were in contact with a number of board members. Therefore, the meeting was

postponed as a precautionary health measure aimed to preserve the safety of the members of the board of directors”.

Al-Hamdan affi rmed the keenness of the ministry to implement the pro-visions of the law, while at the same time ensuring the health and safety of its employees who are assigned to at-tend the board formation sessions and

representatives of cooperative socie-ties from members of boards of direc-tors and employees.

He stressed that coordination with the cooperative societies will continue in a bid to implement a mechanism in the near future for holding a session to restructure the boards of directors within the frameworks set by the law.

Ministry receives letter requesting postponement of meeting

The webinar in progress

LOCALARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

6

Cloud tech apps provide multitude of benefi ts with high security levels

stc launches advanced solutions in VSaaS and VMaaSKUWAIT CITY, June 27: Kuwait Telecommunications Company – stc, a world-class digital leader providing innovative services and platforms to customers enabling the digital trans-formation in Kuwait, announced the launch of its new Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) and Video Man-agement as a Service (VMaaS) solu-tions. The cloud technology applica-tions offer unparalleled benefi ts in cost, ease of implementation, mainte-nance, usage, scaling and higher lev-els of security.

The services offered by stc to its wide network of relationships with businesses and companies in Kuwait, provide end-to-end video surveil-lance solutions, including cameras, cloud storage, connectivity, cloud video management and an optional on-premises storage. Rising security concerns and surveillance needs in general have increased the demand for such solutions that not only offer on-premises surveillance but also remote management. The Company is offer-ing these unique services through vari-ous payment structures to ensure that customers can utilize the Cloud Video Surveillance System in the most af-fordable way possible.

stc is launching these new services to provide a secure and safe platform for businesses to operate without worrying about constant security con-

cerns. The new surveillance service is cloud hosted, which allows users to remotely store, manage, record, play and monitor surveillance foot-age from any location through stc’s highly secure cloud video storage. The new systems are also designed

to shift existing surveillance set-ups to the cloud, allowing clients to enjoy the new state-of-the-art VMaaS solution, while maintain-ing the highest level of cloud se-curity and enjoy-ing the premium video manage-ment software

(VMS) that comes with it.Commenting on this

initiative,General Manager of Sales & Account Management at stc, Me-shari Al Hamad, said, “stc has been a leader in offering new and innovative solutions to all its business custom-ers to support operational continuity-while simultaneously enhancing per-formance. With the new VSaaS and VMaaS, customers can exclusively benefi t from the latest technology in security solutions that runs on a cloud infrastructure,while enjoying conveni-ent maintenance plans, scalable cloud

needs of our wide customer base. We will continue to introduce such servic-es that incorporate advanced features to assist business owners in improving their productivity while maintaining high-levels of security.”

Al Hamad also stated that stc has dedicated a technical support team equipped to respond instantly and dili-gently to any new customer requests. The technical team specializes in set-ting up the surveillance system to en-sure that business premises are secured with remote technical assistance to adjust all features without any service interruptions.

In line with stc’s vision to introduce holistic digital solutions, the Cloud Video Surveillance System also of-fers the fl exibility to instantly increase retention periods andexpand storage capacities when needed. The offering includes Video management software (VMS) licenses with stc Cloud storage capacity per camera, with the fl exibil-ity to increase or decrease the storage whenever required. This service also grants full support for thermal cameras and touch-free access control devices with integrated analytic used in tem-perature detection.

To fi nd out more about stc’s solu-tions, visit www.stc.com.kw, send an email to stcbusiness@stc.com.kw with your inquiry or contact stc business at 50558881.

Accommodating general customer queries

Burgan Bank launches WhatsApp service on 1804080KUWAIT CITY, June 27: Burgan Bank recently launched its new WhatsApp Business Service on 1804080 to accommodate general customer queries. The new service which replaces the existing WhatsApp Service of 55804080 addresses customer’s expectations of speedy interac-tion with the bank and refl ects the bank’s pursuit for customer convenience, this was achieved in collaboration with Infobip. The service is available in both Arabic & English.

The new WhatsApp Service is among the quickest interactive, easy-to-use platforms that aim to reach out to a wide customer base. No personal or confi dential information will be displayed and the platform will serve as a reli-able tool both domestically and

when travelling abroad.All messages on Burgan

Bank’s verifi ed WhatsApp Busi-ness Account are encrypted, en-suring safety and security of customer i n f o r m a t i o n . Customers are encouraged to check for the green badge next to the Burgan Bank name in the chat window to ensure they only engage with the bank’s verifi ed What-sApp Business Account.

Venkat Menon, Burgan Bank’s Group Chief Operations & Tech-nology Offi cer said: “We believe

the new offering will complement our existing digital banking chan-nels and offer security along with the simplicity and convenience of instant responses24/7. As Bur-gan Bank forges ahead with its digitization agenda, we look for-ward to progressively expanding our range of WhatsApp based services in the near future to en-able continuous, immediate and safe conversations with our cus-tomers”.

For more information on Bur-gan Bank products or services, customers can contact the per-sonal banking executive at the branch, or contact the call center on 1804080. For more informa-tion, customers can also log onto the bank’s website on www.bur-gan.com.

video storage and premium video man-agement software for a worry-free ex-perience.”

He added, “We are committed to

provide our enterprise customers with the latest technology solutions to op-timize their operations and enhance their performance. These offerings fol-

low our strategic approach towards en-abling digital transformation in Kuwait by offering a wide range of advanced products and services that cater to the

Al Hamad

Menon

HUAWEI P40 Pro angle of back camera

Take videography to next level

Get creative while staying at homewith HUAWEI P40 Pro super cameraKUWAIT CITY, June 27: Staying at home does not necessarily mean curb-ing on your creative inventory. These times could be used as a chance to ex-plore more and as a base to get crea-tive. With the HUAWEI P40 Pro vi-sionary photography and videography, getting creative is no uphill task; on the contrary, it is fun and effortless.

It Is Never Too DarkHUAWEI P Series is known for al-

ways taking photography and videog-raphy to the next level. HUAWEI P40 Pro comes with the Ultra Vision Leica Quad Camera, which includes a 50MP Ultra Vision Wide Camera, a 40MP Ultra-Wide Cine Camera, a 12MP 5x Optical Telephoto Camera and a ToF Camera. The Camera setup is instilled with HUAWEI Ultra vision sensor that is 1/1.28-inch in size (one of the larg-est smartphone camera sensors). This sensor raises the bar high for lowlight photography and videography as it can capture more light than any other sensor instilled on all previous Huawei smart-phones resulting in HDR photos and videos every time. Simply put, when you use the HUAWEI P40 Pro camera to take pictures, every detail of your picture is crisp and clear; haven’t we all taken photos in the past that we had to crop because we only liked part of the fi nal shot? And how many times did we fail?! With HUAWEI P40 Pro, every cropped photo has its own story to tell!

Fancy capturing the sun just as it is about to set? Or perhaps a photo of the shining bright moon cuddled by clouds? You can capture both and post them on your favourite social media account with the idea of initialising a

“best lowlight photo” challenge. Get everyone in for beautiful vid-

eos and memoriesAlternatively, you can also opt to get

creative with videos, in lowlight condi-tions; HUAWEI P40 Pro comes with a 40MP Ultra Wide Cine Camera that re-cords movies in 4K quality that includes lowlight videography as well. The Ultra Wide Cine camera is ideal for steady group videos such as family group video call with extended relatives or when you want to share that amazing dinner you cooked to let your friends know how much of a master chef you’ve become! Yet, another good reason to share on social media, go on, spread the positive energy beyond your home! The Ultra Vision Leica Quad Camera also consists of a ToF camera that is responsible for creating beautiful bokeh effects. How about “Slow-Mo vids?” The HUAWEI P40 Pro records Ultra Slow-motion Video at 7680fps! Record a clip of your younger brother dribbling past hurdles in your backyard and capture mesmerising details you wouldn’t normally see with your naked eyes.

See FartherHow creative can you go? 50x Su-

perSensing Zoom will bring everything closer to you. The SuperSensingSuper-Zoom lens comprises of a 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and 50X digital zoom. Let us say, you are trying to cap-ture a landmark building from your bal-cony or your city’s skyline, these zoom lenses will provide crisp detail and you won’t have to worry about blur either! The HUAWEI P40 Pro supports OIS with these telephoto lenses, in addition to AI Image Stabilisation.

First bank in Kuwait to provide advanced payment solutions

NBK offers ‘Garmin Pay’ on NBK Debit CardsKUWAIT CITY, June 27: As part of its continuous efforts to provide inno-vative and leading e-payment solutions to its customers for faster and seamless payments, the National Bank of Ku-wait (NBK) announced that “Garmin Pay” service is now available on NBK Visa Debit Cards, in addition to NBK Credit Cards.

NBK is the fi rst bank to provide “Garmin Pay” service in Kuwait, in demonstration of its leadership in launching highly advanced digital so-lutions and providing innovative pay-ment methods to its customers, refl ect-ing its continuous efforts to deliver convenient and safe experience.

The NFC-based e-payment solu-tions have become essential during coronavirus crisis to avoid the use of cash, and NBK has always strived to launch these advanced payment solu-tions since the beginning of the year in order to provide easy and more con-venient services to customers.

On this occasion Homoud Al-Nasrallah, Deputy Head- Domestic Branches at National Bank of Kuwait, said: “We launched “Garmin Pay” service at the beginning of this year, which enables customers to make pay-ments using NBK Credit Cards. Now, we have provided this service through NBK Debit Cards, as part of our ef-forts to develop contactless payment solutions, for more convenient and easier services for our customers.”

Al-Nasrallah pointed out that all new payment solutions and upgrades of existing services offered by NBK come as part of its aimto meet custom-ers’ needs and expectations. He added that the bank is always ready to pro-vide services that suit customers’ life-styles throughdifferent communication channels, which emphasizes the fact that NBK is closer to its customers.

“We strive to provide cutting-edge contactless payment solutions to allow our customers make their seamless payments quickly, easily and safely, under the current social distancing instructions.We consider our custom-ers’ safety as a top priority, and these payment methods proved to be fully effective especially during the current health crisis,” he added.

Al-Nasrallah concluded: “We prom-ise to continue providingnew and out-standing highly advanced contactless payment solutions and leading banking services. We also promise our custom-ers to always be the pioneer in launch-ing such services in Kuwait, thanks to our advanced technological infrastruc-ture, as well as our strong partnerships with leading international companies in this fi eld.”

“Garmin Pay” allows customers to make faster payments using their Garmin smartwatches that support the service, as they can activate the service by entering their NBK Credit Card or NBK Debit Card details to their Garmin smartwatch, and use it to make different payments through the smart-watch quickly and easily.

“Garmin Pay” is also suitable for those who like to go out for daily tasks without keeping bank cards, and it is well-suited for shopping and daily pur-chases, as the service is available in all shops accepting contactless payments.

It is noteworthy that NBK was awarded the “Best Consumer Digital Bank” and the “Best in Mobile Bank-ing” in Kuwait by Global Finance Magazine for 2019.

Simple steps to confi gure “Garmin Pay” service: ■ Download the latest version of the Garmin Connect Mobile App on your Apple or Android smartphone or tab-

Action approved by CMA

Boursa Kuwait resumes operationsKUWAIT CITY, June 27: Boursa Kuwait has obtained the approval of the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to resume some of its operations that were suspended due to the precaution-ary measures taken during the past few months. In addition to the ongoing trad-ing on the exchange, the following sus-pended operations will be reinstated:

Sunday, June 28, 2020:● Transfer of Ownership for listed se-curities: (bold)

Transfer of Ownership will resume as usual, with the requirement of e-mail communication to submit the necessary forms and documents.

For listed securities: Trading@bour-sakuwait.com.kw

Thursday, July 9, 2020 (HH): ● Over-the-Counter (OTC) Trad-ing:

Trading on the OTC platform will resume as usual and with no changes on trading hours.● Transfer of Ownership for OTC:

Transfer of Ownership will resume as usual, with the requirement of e-mail communication to submit the necessary forms and documents.

For OTC: OTCTrading@boursaku-wait.com.kw● Mandatory Executions:

Mandatory Execution appointments will be reset and announced later. This operation is subject to the readiness of the General Directorate of Implemen-tation at the Ministry of Justice.

Borsa Kuwait’s announcement to reinstate suspended operations comes as a boost to the investment sector and the economy as a whole and is in line with the Kuwaiti government’s plan to resume life in light of the COVID-19

pandemic. The bourse continues to limit the number of employees and uti-lize the number necessary to conduct basic activities and operations only, as well as activating a system of rotation within essential departments, with the rest of the staff working from home and following the Ministry of Health’s precautionary measures.

Those infected with the COVID-19 virus will stay at home until they pro-vide suffi cient proof and documenta-tion of their cure, as will employees living in quarantined areas and people who have debilitating illnesses and he-reditary autoimmune diseases.

For the safety of its employees, and to provide a safe working environment for all personnel working in the build-ing, the company will measure the temperature of employees and building personnel through thermal cameras, as well as re-arranging offi ces, raising awareness and providing instructions to ensure social distancing.Hand sani-tizers and educational material will also be available in common areas.

Boursa Kuwait will continue cance-ling all its internal and external meet-ings, holding them only in cases of extreme emergency with adherence to preventive measures approved by the Ministry of Health. All internal and external meetings will be held via virtual platforms and video commu-nications applications. For the safety of all market participants, the Boursa Kuwait building will continue to be closed to the public.Only those with a prior, documented appointment – and proof on their person - for Transfers of Ownership or Mandatory Executions will be allowed to enter the premises. Homoud Al-Nasrallah

let and make sure your Garmin smart-watch is charged■ Open the Garmin Connect Mobile App on your device, tap “Garmin Devic-es” and select your Garmin smartwatch■ Select Garmin Pay and tap “Create

Your Wallet”■ Create a 4-digit passcode to keep the wallet on your watch secure■ Enter your card details■ Read and accept the terms and con-ditions

■ Enter the Authentication Code (OTP) sent by SMS to your registered mobile number■ Once you are done, the card will be added to your wallet and you’re ready to use Garmin Pay

Transaction valued at up to US $150 mn

KIB signs Murabaha deal with EQUATEKUWAIT CITY, June 27: Kuwait International Bank (KIB) announced signing of a bilateral Murabaha fi -nancing agreement with EQUATE Petrochemical Company. The transac-tion, valued at up to US $150 million for a tenor of 3 years, will be used to partially refi nance an existing facility previously extended by a consortium of banks for business expansion.

Raed Bukhamseen, Vice-Chairman and CEO of KIB, complimented both KIB and EQUATE on the success-ful closing of this fi nancing and said: “We are delighted to have structured and arranged this Islamic facility for EQUATE, a major global player in the petrochemical sector. We look forward to continue supporting the company’s growth, which is underpinned by its strong business model, management team and shareholders. This transac-tion supports the diversifi cation of the Bank’s fi nancing portfolio.” Bukham-seen added: “This transaction also un-derscores KIB capability of leading,

arranging and accommodating large ticket transactions on a bilateral basis which has now become easier following the successful closing of our perpetual Sukuk issuance last year, which further strength-ened the Bank’s capital ratios.”

Comment ing on the success-ful closing of this transaction, Mo-hamed Khadiri, Acting General Manager of Inter-national Banking & Large Corpo-rate Dept said: “This is a signifi cant transaction for KIB, which demonstrates our business focused culture, quick turnaround and collaborative approach with our customers. The new facility is well structured to suit the liquidity requirements of EQUATE and clearly enhances our relationship.” Khadiri

added: “We are extremely proud to be a part of this milestone in EQUATE’s fi nancing agenda and I commend the hard work, effective collaboration

and dedication that KIB and EQUATE teams have exhibited in the past couple of weeks into mak-ing this trans-action come to fruition. We are very pleased to have EQUATE as one of our Large Corporate cus-tomers and this is

only the beginning of a long standing and mutually benefi cial partnership. This deal adds up to KIB’s outstanding achievements and strong track record in providing custom made solutions, lead-ing products and services across Sharia compliant fi nancing and fi nancial advi-sory to the corporate sector.”

Announces up to 1,000-truck pre-order with Agility

Hyliion launches fully electric powertrainAUSTIN, Texas, June 27: Hyliion Inc.,a leader in electrifi ed powertrain solutions for Class 8 commercial ve-hicles, announced today the launch of its Hypertruck Electric Range Extend-er (ERX), a long-haul, fully electric powertrain delivering superior perfor-mance, emissions reductions and cost-savings to the global trucking industry.

The launch of the Hypertruck ERX is anchored by Agility, one of the world’s leading logistics companies with $5.2 billion in revenue and offi ces in 100 countries. Agility has confi rmed a pre-order of up to 1,000 trucks and has agreed to invest in a private offering of securities to be issued by Tortoise Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: SHLL) in connection with Hyliion’s recently an-nounced business combination.

“Hyliion is leading the way in elec-trifi ed trucking. Our practical solution addresses the most important needs of today’s fl eets: cost savings, lower emissions and a fueling infrastructure that can support long-haul transporta-tion,” said Hyliion’s CEO and founder, Thomas Healy. “We’re already seeing robust interest in the Hypertruck ERX from fl eets like Agility who are looking for electric solutions that can be seam-lessly integrated.”

Combined with a fully electric drivetrain and a natural gas-pow-ered onboard gen-erator to recharge the battery, the Hypertruck ERX will provide more than 1,000 miles of range. The powertrain also produces electric-ity locally at roughly 30 percent less than the average grid cost, which yields a seven-year cost-of-ownership un-matched by any diesel, battery-electric (BEV) or hydrogen fuel-cell (FCEV) Class 8 truck under development.

“The Hyliion technology is so game-changing that all companies, especially those with consumer-facing brands, will be forced to adapt,” said Tarek Sultan, vice chairman and CEO of Agility. “It’s a triple win: Protect the environment, keep customers hap-py and benefi t shareholders by improv-

ing the bottom line. We look forward to bringing signifi cant cost savings and greater effi ciency to our customers.”

With more than 700 public stations across the US, the Hypertruck ERX leverages a robust natural gas refu-eling infrastructure. The truck is the

only electric Class 8 vehicle that can achieve a net-negative greenhouse gas emissions footprint using renewable natural gas (RNG). It will achieve 25 miles of pure electric vehicle range in compliance with cities adopting “Zero Emission Zones.”

Sultan

Bukhamseen Khadiri

Sheraton Kuwait celebrates 54 years of remarkable excellenceKUWAIT CITY, June 27: Sheraton Kuwait Hotel is celebrating its 54th anniversary since its inception in 1966, the fi rst fi ve-star hotel in Kuwait to open outside North America and the Middle East, managed by Marriott In-ternational.

Recognized as the pioneer for the hospitality industry, both locally and regionally and as Kuwait’s Enduring Social Icon, Sheraton Kuwait contin-ues to deliver its legendary hospitality and excellent service. Throughout the hotel’s exceptional history, it has been acknowledged for its remarkable ad-miration from global leaders and has received numerous esteemed awards from prestigious organizations. Fur-thermore, Sheraton Kuwait has been recognized for eight consecutive years as ‘Kuwait’s Leading Hotel’ by the World Travel Awards (WTA).

The Sheraton Kuwait Hotel takes pride in its accomplishments, which have won the approval and praise from world leaders, celebrities and numer-ous companies. From successful host-ing of international summits, regional conferences, weddings and company meetings, it has presented Kuwait as the best civilizational images of the country’s renaissance and develop-ment. On this occasion, Complex General Manager of Sheraton Kuwait Hotels, Mr. Fahed Abushaar expressed his gratitude for the confi dence of the people of Kuwait in the services and skills provided by the hotel over these years which has already exceeded half a century, a real partnership that we are proud of. Mr. Abushaar also noted that the Sheraton Kuwait Hotel is in the process of renovation and moderni-

zation work to pave the way for new guestrooms and suites that will provide the fi nest comfort and luxury for the

people of Kuwait, their guests and visitors.

During this special occa-sion, Complex General Manager of Sheraton Ku-wait Hotel, Mr. Fahed Abushaar expressed his delight at the exceptional per-formance of the

hotel. Stating, “I am delighted to know that our Sheraton family has pro-gressed through another magnifi cent year with 54 years of excellence. We are also extremely proud to be known as a complex property with a comfort-able gateway to the best of Kuwait, alongside with Four Points by Shera-ton Kuwait which has never ceased to shine after its brilliant beginning and throughout its expansion.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my personal appreciation and congratulate all the associates for their amazing effort, their hard work and determination to ensure that the unequaled hospitality and distinctive service are bestowed to each and every guest which has truly played a large role in the success of the hotel. My sincerest appreciation goes to all those who have supported us during the last 54 years. Your loyalty is absolutely timeless and enduring like the memories that we have created and continue to make, right here at the Sheraton Kuwait.

Abushaar

MIDEASTARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

7

A poster of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias who was killed in a US drone attack is seen in Baghdad, Iraq on June 26. Iraqi security forces arrested over a dozen men suspected of a spate of rocket attacks against the US. (AP)

Turkey offers cooperation with Iraq to jointly eliminate PKK

Iraqi forces arrest suspects in attacks targeting US

A drone follows a man riding a motorized surfboard with Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, in the distance in Dubai, UAE on June 25. Dubai has begun to allow sporting events again amid the coronavirus pandemic and the Dubai International Marine Club hosted a water sports event Thursday to celebrate. (AP)

America punts onIsraeli annexationWASHINGTON, June 27, (AP): President Don-ald Trump’s top national security aides have been unable to reach a decision on whether to support an Israeli plan to annex significant parts of land the Palestinians claim for a future state, an im-passe that could affect the timing of any action by Prime Minister Benjaimin Netanyahu.

The White House said Thursday that consulta-tions with Israeli officials will continue as they try to formulate a proposal that would support Trump’s plan for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

The Trump administration’s decision on annexa-tion could alter America’s position in the Middle East and affect Trump’s election-year support with evangelical Christians, an important part of his po-litical base. Virtually the entire international com-munity opposes annexation, but many of Trump’s domestic supporters enthusiastically back it.

The announcement of a delay came a day after inconclusive talks about backing Netanyahu’s in-tention to extend Israel’s civilian administration to large portions of the West Bank.

A senior administration official said US Am-bassador to Israel David Friedman and the ad-ministration’s special envoy for Mideast peace Avi Berkowitz would travel to Israel Thursday for further discussions.

The official said the White House meetings had been “productive” but added that “there is yet no final decision on next steps for implementing the Trump plan.” The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condi-tion of anonymity.

Trump could side entirely with Netanyahu, who has cited July 1 as a hoped-for date for a deci-sion, or endorse a less comprehensive takeover or oppose it outright, which is the most unlikely scenario. That date wasn’t set in stone and the un-certainty of the Trump administration’s position could make that date less likely.

But Netanyahu is expected to act before the fall, given uncertainty over Trump’s prospects for a second term and presumptive Democratic nomi-nee Joe Biden’s opposition to annexation.

The partisan divide over annexation was high-lighted Thursday with the release of a letter to the Israeli government signed by 189 House Demo-crats expressing concern about the annexation plan.

“Our fear is that unilateral actions, taken by either side, will push the parties further from ne-gotiations and the possibility of a final, negotiated agreement,” the lawmakers said.

At stake for the Trump administration is its credibility with Arab partners cultivated by Trump and with European nations that he has antagonized on numerous fronts, from climate change to trade to the Iran nuclear deal.

Potentially more persuasive politically for Trump and his team is that his decision will affect his standing with evangelical Christians whose support he needs to win reelection. Although his campaign believes evangelical Christians will overwhelmingly vote for Trump, the campaign is concerned about a drop-off in enthusiasm and potential participation among an essential group of voters.

Among those favoring Netanyahu’s plan are Trump advisers such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as well as Friedman, the US ambassador, and a number of Republicans in Congress. They say annexation, in addition to pleasing Trump’s base, would make a peace deal easier because that step would blunt what they believe are unrealistic Palestinian expectations for a future state, accord-ing to officials familiar with the matter.

BAGHDAD, June 27, (Agencies): Iraqi security forces arrested over a dozen men suspected of a spate of rocket attacks against the US pres-ence in Iraq, the Iraqi military said Friday – the strongest action to date by the new government in Baghdad against perpetrators suspected of ties to Iran.

The arrests marked a bold move by the government to crack down on groups that have long been a source of tension for US-Iraq relations. Two senior Iraqi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the 14 men who were arrested had ties to an Iran-backed militia group.

A series of rockets have struck close to US installations inside the Green Zone and an Iraqi army base near to the airport in the Iraqi capital since Baghdad embarked on strategic talks with Washington on June 11.

The US has blamed Iran-backed militia group Kataib Hezbollah for orchestrating attacks against its em-bassy and American troops inside Iraqi bases, and criticized the Iraqi government for not identifying and arresting the culprits.

The recent attacks posed a chal-lenge for Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who was sworn in last month. His administration pledged to crack down on the groups behind the attacks at the start of strategic talks, according to senior US offi-cials.

The raid carried out by Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service late Thursday in Baghdad’s Dora neigh-borhood was a step toward this prom-ise. A military statement following the arrests did not explicitly state the 14 arrested had militia ties. It said a special investigative committee was formed to include the Interior Minis-try and other Iraqi security forces to follow up on the case.

It was unclear who was holding the men, with one Iraqi official saying it was the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of paramilitary groups, while another said they were being held by the Interior Ministry.

“It looks like Mustafa al-Kadhimi is continuing to try and put actions to words,” said Renad Mansour, a senior research fellow at Chatham House.

Officials and experts speculated whether the move was part of a broader negotiation strategy with the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of Iraqi paramilitary groups, some of which are Iran-backed. Al-Kadhimi, who was the head of Iraq’s intelligence prior to being named the prime minister, had a meeting with various leaders of the umbrella group on Thursday.

There was no immediate comment from Kataib Hezbollah.

The next test for al-Kadhimi rests on the ability of the courts to pros-ecute the men. Mansour’s research suggests Kataib Hezbollah wields some influence over Iraq’s judiciary through key political officials. “This will be difficult,” he said.

Reactions from some politi-

cal leaders and Iran-backed militia groups highlighted tensions that might arise between state security forces and militia groups in the after-math of the raid.

Former prime minister and head of the State of Law party, Nouri al-Maliki said the Popular Mobiliza-tion Forces should be respected and spared any detrimental actions.

“We must respect it and preserve its prestige, and it is not permissible to attack or diminish it,” al-Maliki said in a tweet.

Another militia in the group, the Iran-backed Harakat al-Nujaba, warned in a statement against “any attempt to target them and draw the parties into internal strife.”

Following the arrests, armed groups in government vehicles en-tered the heavily fortified Green Zone “without official approval” and surrounded the headquarters of the counter-terrorism agency, the mili-tary statement said. The Green Zone houses government buildings and foreign embassies.

“These parties do not want to be part of the state and its obligations and seek to remain outside the au-thority of the commander-in-chief,” the statement said.

The raid was carried out accord-ing to a judicial order based on Iraq’s anti-terrorism laws, and was issued following intelligence reports indi-cating the men had orchestrated at-tacks against US installations at the Baghdad airport and inside the Green Zone.

The statement said further intel-ligence reports indicated another plot targeting the Green Zone. Two launching pads for rockets were dis-covered during the raid by security forces.

On Monday, a rocket struck in the vicinity of the airport without causing casualties. It was the fourth such at-tack targeting the US presence since Baghdad embarked on strategic talks with the US on June 11. Before that, four had hit inside the Green Zone near the American Embassy.

Following the attack, al-Kadhimi tweeted: “I will not tolerate rogue groups hijacking our homeland to create chaos and find excuses to maintain their narrow interests.”

Turkey said Thursday it offered Iraq to cooperate to jointly elimiate threats posed by the Kurdistan Work-ers Party (PKK), which was using Qandil mountains in northern Iraq to launch its attacks.

“The Turkish army military op-erations against this organizations are within this framework,” Ibrahim Ka-lin, Turkish Presidency spokesman, was quoted by the Anadolu news agency as saying.

“We can’t accept that a terrorist or-ganization uses territories of a neigh-boring countries to launch attacks on our country,” he said.

He said the Turkish army would continue its operations against PKK.

Turkey is also talking with the cen-tral government in Baghdad and the regional administration in Kurdistan province, he said.

News in Brief

CAIRO: Russian and other foreign mercenaries have entered Libya’s largest oil fi eld, the country’s Na-tional Oil Corporation said on Friday, describing the development as an attempt to thwart the resumption of halted oil production in the war-torn country.

In divided Libya, Rus-sia is a leading backer of the east-based forces led by com-mander Khalifa Hifter, who has been waging war against the UN-supported govern-ment in the capital, Tripoli, which is mainly backed by Turkey.

The Russian mercenaries fi rst met late on Thursday with the guards of Libya’s vast southwestern Sharara oilfi eld, controlled by Hifter’s eastern-based fi ghters, ac-cording to a statement from the National Oil Corpo-ration, or NOC.

Earlier this year, a militia known as the Petroleum Facilities Guard, which takes orders from Hifter’s forces, helped shut down oil production when Hifter-allied tribes led a blockade of Libya’s oil ports – a challenge to the Tripoli administration.

While Hifter’s east-based forces control Libya’s oil crescent, the Tripoli government in the west controls the national Central Bank reserves, mostly drawn from oil income. Although Libya has Africa’s largest oil reserves, it has been unable to export oil since Hifter’s blockade started in January, costing the state corporation over $6 billion in lost revenue. Libya’s was producing over 1.2 million barrels per day before the shutdown. (AP)

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CAIRO: Millions of children could be pushed to the brink of starvation as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across war-torn Yemen amid a “huge” drop in humanitarian aid funding, the UN children’s agen-

cy warned Friday.The stark prediction comes in a new UNICEF re-

port, “Yemen fi ve years on: Children, confl ict and COVID-19.” It said the number of malnourished Yemeni children could reach 2.4 million by the end of the year, a 20 percent increase in the current fi g-ure.

“As Yemen’s devastated health system and in-frastructure struggle to cope with coronavirus, the already dire situation for children is likely to deterio-rate considerably,” warned UNICEF.

Yemen’s poor healthcare infrastructure is unpre-pared to battle the coronavirus pandemic after fi ve years of war between a Saudi-led military coalition and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The war, which has mostly stalemated, has also triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The confl ict erupted in 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition stepped in on behalf of the internationally recognized government, which the Houthis had forced into exile when they overran the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north the previous year. (AP)

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AMMAN, Jordan: Growing desperation in Syria could trigger another mass exodus unless donor countries send more funds to alleviate hunger and the international community ensures aid shipments can reach the war-ravaged country, the head of the UN food agency said Thursday.

World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley said it’s critical to keep aid fl owing through border crossings, at a time when growing numbers of people are “literally on the brink of starvation.”

He spoke to The Associated Press ahead of next week’s donor conference for Syria, hosted by Eu-ropean Union in Brussels. The conference attempts to raise several billion dollars each year to alleviate the fallout from Syria’s nine-year-old war, which has displaced millions of people. Actual payouts typically fall short of pledges made at such gather-ings. (AP)

Hifter

INTERNATIONALARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

8

Crowds gather as hot weather draws crowds to the beach in Bournemouth, England on June 25. Coronavirus lockdown restrictions are being relaxed but people should still respect the distancing requirements between family groups. According to weather forecasters this could be the UK’s hottest day of the year, so far, with scorching temperatures forecast to rise even further. (AP)

Manila raid kills 4 militantsNorwegian-Iranian jailed for spying

MANILA, Philippines, June 27, (AP): Philippine police killed four suspected Islamic State group-linked militants during a raid on a hideout in metropolitan Manila early Friday, security of-fi cials said.

Metropolitan Manila Police Chief Debold Sinas said police and intelligence agents planned to serve a search warrant at a house in suburban Paranaque city after months of surveillance when the suspected militants opened fi re.

An offi cer was shot in the leg and was hospitalized, police said. They said they seized pistols, an M16 assault rifl e, two grenades, ammunition, suspected bomb parts, money transfer records and two black fl ags with Islamic writ-ing.

The raid came as President Rodrigo Duterte considers whether to sign a new and more powerful anti-terror law which was recently passed by Congress. The country’s military chief cited Friday’s gunbattle as a reason Duterte should sign it as soon as possible.

“It is public security and gen-eral welfare that are at stake. We should protect and defend from terrorists without further delay,” Gen Felimon Santos Jr said.

He said the presence of the suspects in the Manila area un-derscored their readiness to plot an attack despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Offi cials did not say whether the suspects were plotting a spe-cifi c attack.

The proposed Anti-Terror Act would allow the detention of sus-pects for up to 24 days without charge and empower a government anti-terrorism council to designate suspects or groups as suspected terrorists who could then be sub-jected to arrest and surveillance.

Opponents say the legislation violates the constitution, defi nes terrorism too broadly, could be misused to target government critics and could threaten legiti-mate dissent.

Those slain Friday, including a woman, were identifi ed by police as Merhama Abdul Sawari, Ben-saudi Sali, Rasmin Hussin and Jamal Kalliming.

Also:COPENHAGEN, Denmark: A court in Denmark sentenced on Friday a 40-year-old Norwegian man of Iranian descent to seven years in prison after he was found guilty of spying for Iran and be-ing accessory to attempts to com-mit murder on Danish soil.

The man, who was not identi-fi ed by the court, “collected in-formation about an exiled Iranian in Denmark” during the period of Sept 25-27, 2018.

The Roskilde city court said it was “proven” that the informa-tion was handed over to a person working for an unnamed Iranian intelligence service. It added that online chats between the defend-ant and the person working for the Iranian intelligence service “weighed in” as evidence.

In Brief

WASHINGTON: The US has im-posed visa restrictions on current and former Chinese Communist Party of-fi cials believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, as guaranteed in 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration for undermining human rights and fundamental free-doms in Hong Kong.

In a press release, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday President Donald Trump prom-ised to punish the Chinese Com-munist Party (CCP) offi cials who were responsible for eviscerating Hong Kong’s freedoms, today, “we are taking action to do just that.

“The CCP has stepped up ef-forts to undermine Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy by an-nouncing Beijing’s authority to su-pervise Hong Kongs governance, accusing at least one member of Hong Kongs Legislative Council of misconduct, and moving to uni-laterally and arbitrarily impose na-tional security legislation on Hong Kong,” the US top diplomat added.

“Beijing’s continued actions un-dermine its commitments and obli-gations in the Sino-British Joint Dec-laration to respect Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy,” Pompeo said.

“At the same time, Beijing con-tinues to undermine human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong by putting pressure on local authorities to arrest pro-democracy activists and disqualify pro-democ-racy electoral candidates,” Pompeo added.

“Family members of such per-sons may also be subject to these restrictions,” US Secretary of State said. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑

SYDNEY: An Australian state lawmaker was suspended from his party Friday and his home was searched in an investigation of al-leged infl uence by China.

Police and intelligence offi cers searched the Sydney home of New South Wales state lawmaker Shao-quett Moselmane and also had a warrant for his parliamentary of-fi ces, said state Labor leader Jodi McKay.

Australian Federal Police con-fi rmed they’d searched a home in Sydney as part of an investigation and there was no threat to the com-munity.

Moselmane has not been charged with any crime and it is not clear what sparked the investi-gation. He did not speak about the investigation to reporters Friday.

In April, he stood down as as-sistant president of the New South Wales upper house after praising Chinese President Xi Jinping’s response to the coronavirus pan-demic. He said Xi had demonstrat-ed “unswerving leadership” and decisiveness.

The Sydney Morning Herald re-ported that Moselmane had taken nine privately funded trips to China since entering the state Parliament in 2009, with disclosure records showing his transport and hospital-ity costs were often met by Chinese

government offi cials or agencies.McKay, the state Labor leader,

said the search came as a surprise to her. “It’s dreadfully concerning. It’s terrible,” McKay said.

She said there is an expectation that whatever members of Parlia-ment do is in the best interests of the people.

“I’d hope every single MP in the Parliament – not just on the Labor side but the Liberal and National Party side and cross bench – has that at the heart of their actions,” she said.

McKay said Moselmane’s party membership was being suspended and he would no longer sit in the Labor parliamentary caucus.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the conservative Liberal party said he was aware of an investi-gation that had been going on for some time. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

SEOUL: South Korea police on Friday raided the offi ce of an ac-tivist whose anti-North Korea leafl eting campaign has intensifi ed tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Police said offi cers visited the Seoul offi ce of Park Sang-hak to confi scate leafl ets, account books and other related materials. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said that Park will be summoned soon for an investigation.

Park, a North Korean refugee who has launched balloons car-rying propaganda leafl ets toward North Korea for years, has been in the spotlight after North Korea abruptly used his campaign as a justifi cation for a series of provoc-ative steps against South Korea. Among them was blowing up an empty liaison offi ce built by South Korea on the North’s territory.

South Korean offi cials later de-manded police investigate Park for allegedly raising animosities with North Korea and potentially endangering residents living near the border.

Authorities in Gyeonggi prov-ince, which borders North Korea, requested a separate investigation of several activist groups, includ-ing Park’s, for alleged fraud, em-bezzlement and other charges over their donation activities. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: An Is-lamic State-linked group appears to be regaining strength in north-eastern Nigeria and is now warning it will target civilians who help the military or even humanitarian or-ganizations.

The Islamic State in West Af-rica Province, which broke away from Boko Haram in 2016, had appeared weakened earlier this year by internal feuding, said Nnamdi Obasi, the senior adviser for Nige-ria at the International Crisis Group.

But earlier this month it killed more than 120 people in a single week, including 40 in Monguno, a town housing an estimated 150,000 displaced people and a UN hu-manitarian base that was only able to repel the jihadists after hours of fi ghting. (AP)

Warnings over massgatherings in England

‘It was just mayhem’LONDON, June 27, (AP): In many ways, it has been a per-fect storm for illegal gatherings in England as days of hot weather and Liverpool Football Club’s fi rst league title in 30 years have prompted people to abandon their cooped-up coronavirus existence.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that au-thorities have the power to close beaches and other public spaces in England amid mounting concerns over the pub-lic’s adherence to social-distancing rules.

Following widespread rule-breaking at crammed beach-es, illegal street parties in London that turned violent and a mass celebration in Liverpool on Thursday night, there were worries Friday that many residents have ditched their risk-averse attitude as the government eases its lockdown restrictions.

That’s particularly true in Bournemouth, a coastal town in southern England that witnessed huge crowds of sun-seekers on its beaches in the past couple of days. With many people not working during the pandemic, most chil-dren out of school, holidays abroad curtailed and restau-rants and bars closed until July 4, popular locations such as Bournemouth are feeling the pressure as the mercury rises.

“It was just mayhem. People just want to have a good time, but they just don’t give a monkey’s about others,” Pat Munday, 73, said.

Late Thursday, the hottest day of the year so far in the UK, three men from London in their 20s were stabbed fol-lowing a fi ght near the amusements on the town’s pier. Their injuries were described as not life-threatening. Po-lice are investigating.

With the hot weather persisting Friday, there was po-tential for more mass gatherings. The local council in Bournemouth said extra police patrols were brought in following the “irresponsible” behavior of crowds, but the beaches appeared less packed during the day than they did on Wednesday and Thursday.

Under lockdown restrictions in England, groups are limited to six people, and the public is advised to avoid public transport whenever possible.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned people against “taking liberties” with social distancing rules saying it could lead to a “serious spike” in new coronavirus infec-tions.

“If you look at what’s happening elsewhere in the world, where people have been coming out of lockdown, I’m afraid what you’re also seeing is people taking too many liberties with the guidance, mingling too much, not observing social distancing,” Johnson said while visiting an east London restaurant ahead of the scheduled reopen-ing of pubs and restaurants in England on July 4.

Bournemouth resident Munday described visitors dou-ble-parking their cars and blocking driveways, preventing emergency vehicles from getting through, and even of people using the gardens of her apartment block as a toilet.

“When they urinate in your garden, it’s the pits,” she said.

Also:LONDON: For the second night running, police offi cers in London have been attacked by revellers after trying to dis-perse crowds at an unlicensed music event.

Commander Bas Javid said extra offi cers, clad in per-sonal protective equipment, had been called in to ensure there was an “effective and prompt response to any reports or disorder”.

He said the enhanced operation came in “direct re-sponse to concerns expressed by our communities, many of whom were scared and shocked by the events taking place outside their homes.”

Another gathering in Streatham, south London, was also dispersed but without any incident.

Under lockdown restrictions in England, groups are limited to six people but the warm weather over much of the past few weeks has seen far bigger gatherings take place.

Thursday’s street parties came at the end of a day mete-orologists confi rmed as the hottest of 2020. The mercury hit 33.3 C (around 92 F) at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Another hot day is anticipated for the capital on Friday.

IS militant jailed in UK

Glasgow stabbings nottreated as terrorism actsLONDON, June 27, (AP): A male suspect stabbed and wounded a po-lice offi cer before he was shot dead in Glasgow on Friday. Authorities are not treating the incident that left fi ve other men wounded as terrorism, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

The suspect died at a Glasgow hotel that appeared to be largely housing asylum-seekers and ref-ugees. The 42-year-old police of-fi cer stabbed during the incident at the Park Inn Hotel on Friday was in a critical but stable condi-tion. Five men between the ages of 17 and 53 also were hospital-ized. Sturgeon said, “It’s been a dreadful afternoon for the city of Glasgow.” She says police are still investigating and she urged the public to avoid speculation.

“The police have just con-fi rmed that at this stage they are not treating this as a terrorist in-cident,” Sturgeon said. “But of course, there are still details yet to be determined.”

Sturgeon said she had spoken with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who expressed his con-cern and sympathies.

“It’s been a dreadful after-noon for the city of Glasgow,” Sturgeon said. “Clearly there is already much speculation around this incident, which remains un-der investigation.”

Steve Johnson, assistant chief constable at Police Scotland, said offi cers were on the scene within two minutes of reports of an inci-dent at 12:50 pm, and that armed police arrived shortly afterwards.

“The incident was quickly

contained,” he said.Police weren’t searching for

anyone else.The Scottish Police Federa-

tion, which represents the large majority of Scottish police offi c-ers, said it has notifi ed the family of the injured offi cer.

Craig Milroy, who witnessed the aftermath from a nearby offi ce building, said he saw four people taken away in ambulances.

“I saw a man lying on the ground, of African descent, with no shoes on,” Milroy said. “He was on the ground with someone holding his side. I don’t know if it was a bullet wound, a stab wound, or what it was.”

Milroy said the man was one of the four taken away by paramedics and believed him to be a victim.

Also:LONDON: An Islamic State mili-tant who encouraged mass mur-der in Germany has been sen-tenced to at least nine years in prison in Britain.

Fatah Abdullah, 35, had been charged under Britain’s terrorism laws with encourag-ing another person to plow a car into crowds, attack people with a meat cleaver and detonate bombs, “with the aim of killing and/or causing serious injury.”

The incitement took place be-tween April 9 and Dec 11, 2018.

Abdullah, who was born in Iran but was living in the north-ern English city of Newcastle after receiving asylum, was ar-rested after a joint investigation by British and German police.

An Animal Rights campaigner is arrested after she locked her-self to another campaigner and blocked the road outside Canada House in London on June 26. The campaigners were protesting and petitioning against Ontario Bill 156, a law aimed at curbing

activism against farms and farming practices. (AP)

Market Movements 26-06-2020

Business Change Closing ptsAUSTRALIA - All Ordinaries +83.83 6,011.80CHINA - Shanghai SE +8.93 2,979.55INDIA - Sensex +329.17 35,171.27JAPAN - Nikkei +252.29 22,512.08PHILIPPINES - PSEi +73.58 6,191.84PAKISTAN - KSE 100 +229.86 33,939.49S. KOREA - KRX 100 +59.61 4,596.47

Change Closing ptsEUROPE - Euro Stoxx50 -14.74 3,204.17FRANCE - CAC 40 -8.94 4,909.64GERMANY - DAX -88.48 12,089.39

A Lufthansa air-craft lands at the airport in Frank-furt, Germany. The German airline will have its annual share holders meeting deciding about the future of the company. (AP)

Lufthansa shareholders approve German rescue package

Lufthansa shareholders approved a 9 bil-lion-euro ($11 billion) rescue package that will see the German government take a 20% stake after management told them the air-line was running out of money and faced years of reduced demand for air travel.

Shareholders gave the necessary major-ity of more than two-thirds by voting 98.04% to 1.96% at an extraordinary shareholder meeting held online with just the one agenda item.

With 80% of Lufthansa’s planes ground-ed, “we have run out of money,” Chairman

Karl-Ludwig Kley told participants. “We are living from the reserves we set aside” in good years. “Without support, a bankruptcy looms in the next few days.”

The package will see the government take a 20% stake through its economic stabiliza-tion fund and get two seats on the board. Kley said the idea was for the government to dispose of the stake as soon as possible once the airline is stabilized.

The German government could raise its stake to block any outside takeover. The airline will also embark on an extensive re-

structuring to lower its costs because it is ex-pected to take years before business returns to normal.

CEO Carsten Spohr said that the airline and its currently 138,000 employees faced a “new normal” of reduced demand that would last for several years. The company, which also owns other airlines including Austrian Airlines and Swiss, appeared on course to get the deal approved after major share-holder Heinz-Hermann Thiele told daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung he would vote for it. (AP)

Amid virus fallout

Egypt ‘secures’ $5.2b IMF loanCAIRO, June 27, (AP): The Inter-national Monetary Fund on Friday approved Egypt’s request for a $5.2 billion loan as the country’s economy reels from the fi nancial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The one-year arrangement, which comes on top of a separate $2.77 bil-lion emergency fi nancing announced last month, aims to boost Egypt’s so-cial spending, spur job creation and advance structural reforms to “put Egypt on a strong footing for sustained recovery,” the IMF said in a statement.

Egypt had been one of the fastest-growing emerging markets in the world before the pandemic. Now, the IMF warned, disruptions “have wors-ened the economic outlook and reshuf-fl ed policy priorities.”

There was no immediate comment from the Egyptian government on the loan’s approval.

The Arab world’s most populous country is struggling to cope with a collapse of critical sources of income, including tourism revenue, remit-tances from Egyptian workers abroad, shipping fees from the Suez Canal and gas and oil revenues. Egypt only just emerged from a three-year economic overhaul after securing a $12 billion IMF loan in late 2016. The govern-ment’s signifi cant reforms included fl oating the currency, slashing key sub-sidies and imposing a value-added tax.

The austerity measures won Presi-dent Abdel Fattah el-Sissi praise from Cairo’s Western backers and bankers, and helped attract foreign investment after years of political turmoil that fol-lowed the 2011 popular uprising. But the overhaul also dramatically hiked prices for everything from electricity to drinking water, squeezing the poor and middle class.

Before the pandemic threw millions of casual laborers out of work, one in three Egyptians was already living in poverty, according to government fi g-ures.

During the pandemic, the govern-ment has handed out 500 Egyptian pounds ($31) a month to informal workers in need. But that seemingly hasn’t solved the economic distress of millions. The government’s statistics agency reported recently that about half of all Egyptian families had been forced to borrow money because of the economic shutdown. Over 73% of citi-zens said their income had declined.

To fend off further fi nancial strain, the government has resisted a harsh lockdown, instead enacting a night-time curfew, shutting down schools, mosques, gyms and clubs, and urging citizens to wear masks and take other precautions against the virus.

Starting next week, the government plans to gradually reopen society even as it reports over 1,000 new infections and close to 100 deaths a day. Restau-rants, coffee shops, clubs and theaters will resume operations at 25% capac-ity, while mosques and churches will welcome worshippers after a three-month suspension. International fl ights will resume for tourism to destinations less hard-hit by the virus.

US economy shrinks at 5.0% rate in Q1; worse is likely on the way

Consumer spending up 8.2%, partly erasing record plunge

WASHINGTON, June 27, (AP): The US economy shrank at a 5.0% rate in the fi rst quarter and a vastly worse performance is ex-pected in the current three-month period, when the cor-onavirus pandemic began to spread across the US.

The Commerce Department re-ported Thursday that the decline in the gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, in the January-March quarter was unchanged from the estimate made a month ago.

It was the sharpest quarterly decline since an 8.4% tumble in the fourth quarter of 2008 during the depths of the worst fi nancial crisis since the Great De-pression.

The fi rst quarter period captured just two weeks of the shutdowns that began in many parts of the country in mid-March.

Economists believe that GDP has plunged around 30% from April through the end of this month.

That would be the biggest quarterly decline on record by a long shot: Three times bigger than a 10% drop in the fi rst quarter of 1958.

ReboundForecasters believe the economy

will rebound in the second half of the year. The Congressional Budget Offi ce is predicting a 21.5% growth rate in the upcoming July-September quarter followed by a 10.4% gain in the fourth quarter.

However, a handful of states, par-ticularly in the South, have begun to report surging infections. And even if a rebound materializes in July, it will follow seismic losses that would mean a decline in economic output for the en-tire year.

While overall GDP was unchanged for the fi rst quarter, the composition shifted slightly with downward revi-sions to consumer spending, exports and business inventories offset by an upward revision to business investment.

The Thursday report was the govern-ment’s third and fi nal look at fi rst quar-ter GDP.

The panel of economists that de-termines when US recessions begin said that February marked the end of the longest economic expansion in US history, 128 months of uninterrupted growth that began in the wake of the 2008 fi nancial crisis.

President Donald Trump has declared that the economy will come roaring back with a V-shaped recovery starting this summer. Larry Kudlow, the presi-

dent’s chief economics adviser, said on Thursday that even with the resurgence in COVID-19 cases, the administration is still looking for a strong recovery in the second half of this year.

“I think the strong V-recovery is still right there,” Kudlow said in an interview on the Fox Business Network. Kudlow predicted GDP will rise at a 20% annual rate in the third quarter and the fourth quarter and then rise by 5% in the fi rst quarter, which he said would recoup all of the GDP losses in the fi rst half of this year.

Economists are nowhere near that optimistic. They are worried about the devastating impact of a second wave of infections and think it will take a couple of years to get back the lost GDP output.

“The foundation to this recovery is an improving health outlook,” said Lydia Bousur, senior US economist at Ox-ford Economics. “Amid rapidly rising infections across many states, risks to the outlook are dangerously tilted to the downside.”

Financial markets took a sharp nose-dive Wednesday, refl ecting new worries about reports of rising coronavirus cases

in many states. They rose moderately Thursday.

“I can’t remember the economy facing this much uncertainty,” said Sung Won Sohn, a business and economics profes-sor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He said that until a vaccine is found and widely available, the high uncertainty can be expected to last.

RecessionMark Zandi, chief economist at

Moody’s Analytics, said for the country to avoid a double-dip recession, an effec-tive vaccine needs to be available next year and new waves of coronavirus cases will need to do less damage than the fi rst wave. Congress needs to soon pass an-other package of at least $1 trillion in further support for laid-off workers and struggling businesses, Zandi said.

“If any of these three things don’t hap-pen, then the outlook is much darker,” Zandi said. “I think we are in a recovery mode right now but the economy is very fragile.”

Meanwhile, American consumers in-creased their spending by a record 8.2% in May, partly erasing record plunges

the previous two months, against the backdrop of an economy that’s likely shrinking by its steepest pace on record this quarter.

Last month’s rebound in consumer spending followed spending drops of 6.6% in March and 12.6% in April, when the viral pandemic shuttered businesses, forced millions of layoffs and sent the economy into a recession. Since then, many businesses have reopened, draw-ing consumers back into shops and res-taurants and restoring some lost jobs.

Friday’s Commerce Department re-port showed that Americans stepped up their spending in May despite a 4.2% decline in personal income, which had soared by 10.8% the previous month. In-come had jumped in April on the strength of billions of dollars in support through government payments in the form of unemployment aid as well as one-time $1,200 stimulus checks. In May, those stimulus checks were no longer counted as income for most people.

Besides whatever unemployment aid states are providing to the 30 million jobless Americans, the federal govern-ment is providing $600 a week in ad-

ditional benefi ts. The federal money has pumped nearly $20 billion a week into the economy and enabled many of the unemployed to stay afl oat. But the $600 a week in aid will expire after July, and Trump administration offi cials have said they oppose an extension.

Without the stimulus checks or an extension of unemployment aid, it’s unclear whether consumers will keep spending freely. In testimony to Con-gress last week, Federal Reserve Je-rome Powell said he thought lawmakers should consider providing some form of extended unemployment benefi ts beyond their typical six-month period, on the assumption that joblessness will likely still be quite high by year’s end.

Last month’s rise in consumer spend-ing also coincides with a sudden surge in coronavirus cases that’s forcing states and businesses to consider scaling back or even reversing the re-openings. If an escalation of the pandemic does force another round of widespread business shutdowns, fewer people would shop, travel, eat out or attend large events. That would reverse any rebound in spending and would further weaken the economy.

In this fi le photo, Maurine Carter works on the wiring of a stove in LaFayette, Ga. Orders to American factories for big-ticket goods rebounded last month from a disastrous April as the US economy began to slowly reopen. (AP)

Move comes as central bank unveils its latest ‘stress tests’

Fed stops big banks from buying back stock, caps dividendsNEW YORK, June 27, (AP): A worst-case scenario for the U.S. economy ravaged by the corona-virus pandemic would cause the nation’s 34 largest banks to collec-tively lose roughly $700 billion, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

To bolster the banks ahead of such a potentially damaging reces-sion, the Fed ordered them to sus-pend buybacks of their own stock and to cap dividend payouts until Sept. 30.

The move comes as the central bank unveiled its latest “stress tests,” which are designed to gauge the resiliency of the nation’s larg-est banks. The annual tests change every year, and the banks must pass them to start buying back shares or paying out dividends.

Typically the Fed’s testing pa-rameters are hypothetical, such as an international debt crisis or a deep recession. But this year, the Fed based its tests around a very real, and ongoing scenario - the coronavirus pandemic. In the most dire of tests, the U.S. unemploy-ment rate - which stood at 13.3% in May - would peak at 19.5%.

The Fed tested the banks using an economic model simulating a quick downturn and quick recovery, of-ten called a “V-shaped” recession, as well as a slower U-shaped re-

covery. In the V-shaped scenario, the U.S. economy would contract 31.5% on an annualized basis, only to recover through 2020 and 2021.

The Fed’s worst case scenario, a double-dip recession, would have caused roughly a quarter of all the biggest banks to breach their minimum capital requirements. This scenario would show the U.S. economy contracting by 37.5% on an annualized basis and starting to

recover through the summer, but a second outbreak of infections would cause the U.S. economy to slip back into recession.

While their losses would be as-tronomical, all the banks survive under the Fed’s tests.

The Fed said it was taking ac-tions to “ensure large banks remain resilient” in the face of the pandem-ic, including stopping the banks from buying back their own shares

at least until Sept. 30. Some banks were already doing this, but those voluntary limits would come to an end in the next two weeks.

The Fed is also barring banks from increasing their dividends. Banks will be further limited in their dividend payments based on recent income. Each bank will also be required to revisit its long-term capital plans.

“Today’s actions by the board

to preserve the high levels of capi-tal in the U.S. banking system are an acknowledgement of both the strength of our largest banks as well as the high degree of uncer-tainty we face,” said Federal Re-serve Vice Chair Randal Quarles, in a statement.

The Fed’s actions come even as Chair Jerome Powell has noted in recent weeks that U.S. banks are generally in much better shape than

they were in the 2007-2008 fi nan-cial crisis, when they were saddled with hundreds of billions of dol-lars in bad housing debt. The Fed has bought roughly $2.1 trillion of Treasurys and mortgage-backed se-curities since the pandemic intensi-fi ed in March. That has fl ooded many short-term lending markets with cash, making it easier for many banks to borrow.

The Fed’s tests refl ected the same uncertainty surrounding the coro-navirus pandemic. The deep drops in economic output and a stagger-ingly high unemployment rate were just the Fed’s best guesses on how badly the pandemic could impact the nation’s banking system. It also did not take into account any sort of action from Congress or the White House, which has already happened in the form of a massive stimulus bill.

Thursday’s tests are part one of two examinations the Fed conducts each year. The banks each submit their own capital plans for the next year - for instance, how much stock they’d like to buy back. The Fed will announce whether it will ap-prove those individual plans. But with today’s results and the ongo-ing pandemic it’s unlikely all the major banks will pass their exams as they did last year.

This fi le photo shows a Chase bank location in Philadelphia. The Fed said a worst-case scenario for the U.S. economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic would cause nation’s 34 largest banks to collectively lose rough-

ly $700 billion. (AP)

In this fi le photo, customers, some wearing face masks, line up outside a Wells Fargo branch in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles,

during the coronavirus outbreak. (AP)

BUSINESSARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

10

Special Report

ARA Consumer Confi dence Index – May 2020

Sentiment takes a knock amid COVID-19On account of its interest for

monitoring the economic situ-ation in Kuwait, “ARA Research & Consultancy” issues a monthly Consumer Confidence Index, in collaboration with the “Arab Times” newspaper and under the sponsorship of the “Lexus” trade-mark. The Consumer Confidence Index is considered as the only in-dicator that measures the Consum-ers’ psychological factors, based on people’s opinions and their prospects about the current eco-nomic situation and its future as well as their expectations regard-ing their financial conditions, and how that reflects on their purchas-ing power.

The Consumer Confi dence In-dex is issued on the fi rst Sunday of each month, and is based on quantitative research on a sample of 500 people, distributed among Kuwaitis and Arab residents in dif-ferent Governorates.

The study was conducted by tel-ephone through a random call se-lection, taking into account that the distribution of the sample should be representative of the population in Kuwait.

The general Consumer Confi -dence Index is based on six indices which the researchers at ARA use to measure the level of the con-sumer satisfaction and optimism.

These are:■ Current Economic Situation In-dex■ Expected Economic Situation Index■ Current Personal Income Index■ Expected Personal Income In-dex■ Current Employment Opportu-nities Index■ Purchase of Durables Index

The indices’ results in a month basis measure the psychologi-cal state of consumers in Kuwait, which equal 100 points. This re-sult (100 points) draws the line between optimism and pessimism among consumers. The more the index surpasses this point, the more the psychological state of consumers in Kuwait is considered to be inclined towards optimism. The more the index declines below this point, the more pessimistic the outlook.

Consumer confi dence overlap-ping, Covid-19 consequences, oil prices, and economic downturn

The ARA Research & Consul-tancy has released its Consumer

Confi dence Index for May 2020 in collaboration with the Arab Times newspaper and under the sponsor-ship of Lexus.

As expected, the General Index registered 96 points, showing a fall of 6 points within a month and 12 points within a year. Moreover, the ratios of fi ve out of six indi-ces also dropped, while the Future Economic Situation Index gained 1 point.

It is logical and normal for consumer confi dence to retreat, whether in Kuwait or in any other country, due to the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. Such repercussions were experienced at the health, fi nancial and economic levels, and have also had a nega-tive impact on the psyche of all de-mographic segments.

The problem in managing this pandemic is the inability, at the present time, to set a timeframe or a mechanism to overcome it.

The Arab Gulf states have, so far, sustained losses estimated at $2.33 billion due to the pandemic. Furthermore, in addition to the economic downturn, the plunge in oil prices and the direct expendi-ture associated with health and preventive measures are estimated at $10 billion.

The pandemic has also affected various economic sectors in Ku-wait, including the real estate sec-tor, where the implementation of projects declined or even halted. Furthermore, all other sectors wit-nessed an economic turndown.

Oil prices recorded an unprec-edented plunge in the fi rst quarter of the year, thus affecting the stock exchanges and the budgets of the oil-producing countries. The budg-et defi cit in Kuwait is expected to hit 20% of the national income,

which is estimated at 15 billion dinars.

However, oil prices began to re-cover after some countries started to resume economic activities grad-ually, and on the basis of OPEC’s readiness to renew the output cut deal. This coincides with the fall in shale oil production and the drop in US strategic oil stocks.

Various countries now encoun-ter the problem of how to strike a balance between the preventive measures against Covid-19 and the gradual easing of restrictions that curtail the economy, as there is now an urgent need to resume economic activity. It is normal that these happenings have weighed on the psyche of consumers and their convictions.

Consensus on deterioration of current economic situation

All components of the research agreed that the current economic situation is deteriorating. They re-ported 91 points, one of the lowest ratios, marking a signifi cant loss of 14 points within a month, and 8 points within a year.

The gradual rise in oil prices in late May and the fact that the stock exchange recovered part of its losses, which amounted to 6.6 bil-lion Dinars, were insuffi cient to re-duce consumers’ pessimism about the current economic situation.

The citizens posted 105 points on the Current Economic Situation Index, a monthly loss of 21 points, and the Arab residents reported 71 points, losing 4 points within a month.

At the governorates’ level, Mubarak El-Kabier lost 47 points, followed by the Capital with a 17 points decline. Meanwhile, other governorates lost between 15 and 2 points within a month.

Mubarak El-Kabier is the most pessimistic

The global economic situation and its negative indicators are shaping consumers expectations. This year, global trade is expected to shrink by 13-32% of its previous size. This is a direct result of the downturn in global industrial and agricultural production, and the recession in ac-tivities of various sectors, including trade, transport, real estate, tourism and other economic fi elds.

Moreover, the trade confl ict be-tween the US and China and the exchange of measures and coun-termeasures between them have caused global economic activity to shrink further.

In Kuwait and within this global context, Mubarak El-Kabier ex-pressed pessimism about the future economic situation, registering 170 points, a slump of 36 points within a month.

On the nationality level the citi-zens retained their previous ratio, whereas the Arab residents gained 2 points within a month.

Change in the personal income criteria

In some countries, fi nancial and monetary diffi culties overlapped with the repercussions of the Cov-id-19 pandemic at a global level. This resulted in variables that af-fected the economic and social conditions of most of the world’s

population. It also shifted or al-tered some of consumer believes, convictions and habits.

With this in mind, the criteria for assessing personal incomes were based on the legitimate aspirations of the workforce to raise their liv-ing standards by increase in in-comes.

While the Covid-19 era has im-posed on the various workforce new variables for their income as-sessment and this based on fi rstly their work continuity in the face of unemployment, and secondly the strength and stability of the pur-chasing power.

Kuwait was able to protect the robustness of the national cur-rency and to maintain its purchas-ing power while retaining the strength of the Dinar’s exchange rate against other currencies. The state has also been working on its citizen right to employment and the development and implementa-tion of the Kuwaitization. Under these exceptional circumstances, the Current Personal Income Index reported 83 points, down 4 points within a month. Meanwhile, the Expected Personal Income Index posted 105 points, down 6 points within a month.

The margin of difference be-tween the two ratios should be noted as refl ecting the low level of consumer confi dence in relation to

the current income situation.Young people - the most vul-

nerable to unemploymentThe ARA Current Employment

Opportunities Index was the worst affected among all the indices. The Covid-19 outbreak, the associated preventive measures, the econom-ic downturn, and the stagnation in numerous signifi cant economic sectors have all pressed the labor market and restricted the capabili-ties of companies to ensure busi-ness continuity.

For instance, Kuwait Airways retained 10% of its employees and workers, laid off 1,500 non-Kuwaiti employees, and provided long-term leave for the remaining ones.

Moreover, 37% of employers announced their desire to close their businesses, while others al-lowed their employees to work from home.

Amid these exceptional circum-stances, the Current Employment Opportunities Index registered 99 points, down 13 points within a month, and 25 points within a year.

It is noteworthy that the ratio fell among most of the research segments. For example, for young people aged 18-35, the ratio plum-meted 40 points; for the citizens, 24 points; and the females, 30 points.

Continued on Page 11

BUSINESSARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

11

Owners worry their businesses may not survive

US stocks sink asvirus cases jump

Wall St-owned loans tricky for hoteliers

SoftBank’s Son leaves Alibababoard following Ma’s departure

Asian markets fi nish mostly higher

ORLANDO, Florida, June 27, (AP): Hotel owner and developer Danny Gaekwad survived steep drops in busi-ness after the 9/11 attacks and the re-cession of the late 2000s, but nothing prepared him for the revenue tailspin that followed lockdowns and travel re-strictions in March to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.

At one hotel, a Holiday Inn in Oc-ala, Florida’s horse country, revenue last April was $38,000, a drop of al-most 90% from the previous April. His problems were compounded by the type of loan he took out for the hotel – a $13 million loan that was bought by Wall Street investors.

Commercial mortgage-backed secu-rities loans like the one Gaekwad has for the Holiday Inn are packaged in a trust. Investors then purchase bonds from the trust using properties like a hotel as collateral. The loans are attrac-tive to borrowers because they typical-ly offer lower rates and longer terms. About 20% of hotels across the US use these loans and they represent close to a third of all debt in the hotel industry, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

Unlike banks, which have been more fl exible in renegotiating loan terms to help them through the tough times, hotel owners like Gaekwad say it has been much more diffi cult to get any forbearance from representatives of bondholders, and they worry that their businesses may not survive be-cause of the lack of relief.

At the end of April, only 15% of CMBS borrowers have received relief compared to 80% of bank borrowers, according to a member survey by the American Hotel and Lodging Associa-tion. For one thing, the rules that gov-ern the trusts that hold the CMBS loans typically put strict limitations on any loan modifi cations.

Additionally, representatives of the bondholders often charge expensive fees to negotiate with the borrowers. They also have their own real estate portfolios and don’t mind acquiring new ones, so there’s less incentive to

negotiate with borrowers compared to banks, which don’t want to be in the real estate business should a loan go bad, experts say.

“This is the Big Bad Wolf. You have no idea what devastation CMBS loans will have on us,” Gaekwad told Vice-President Mike Pence last month during a forum on Florida’s tourism industry in Orlando. “If you don’t put it in a cage, it will fi nish us.”

Other types of commercial proper-ties such as retail, industrial and offi ce also use CMBS loans but none have seen delinquency rates rise the way the lodging sector has. In May, the lodging delinquency rate rose to 19%, up from 2.7% in the previous month, accord-ing to real estate data-provider Trepp, LLC.

Commercial properties such as apartment buildings and offi ce spaces have money-generating leases that range from one year to multiple years.

But the typical lease for a hotel is just a night or two, so when travel comes to a halt, hotel owners are pinched, said Sam Chandan, a real estate economist at New York University.

“This being an economic slowdown with constraints on travel, compound-

ed by very real restrictions on personal mobility, it has been the perfect storm for the hotel sector,” Chandan said.

Gaekwad says he has gotten relief on other loans he took from banks for his various properties in central Florida, which include hotels, restau-rants, apartments and an RV camp. For the Holiday Inn, Gaekwad turned to a CMBS loan after the last recession a dozen years ago when banks were tightening their belts.

These loans tend to be more compli-cated than bank loans, but representa-tives of the bondholders are willing to talk to borrowers, though every case is different, said Lisa Pendergast, execu-tive director of the CRE Finance Coun-cil, a trade association for the $4.4 tril-lion commercial and multifamily real estate fi nance industry.

“A lot of borrowers think servicers will say, ‘There’s no forbearance. We are going into foreclosure.’ I can’t tell you how silly that is,” Pendergast said. “It’s just a slower process.”

Pendergast said the loans are an im-portant segment of the lending com-munity, often providing money in markets when other lenders are unable to because of regulatory or economic

TOKYO, June 27, (AP): Masay-oshi Son, the chief executive of Japanese technology company SoftBank Group Corp., said that he is stepping down from the board of Chinese e-commerce giant Ali-baba.

Son announced the change at the end of SoftBank’s general share-holders’ meeting. He emphasized that the decision was a “happy” one and did not refl ect any discord between the companies.

Last month, Alibaba founder and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma left SoftBank’s board.

Son said he was “graduating” from Alibaba in the same way Ma was graduating from SoftBank. The two companies have had a close relationship for 20 years.

“It’s not that there were disa-greements.

It is just a happy ending,” Son told shareholders in a live stream that showed a photo of the two entrepreneurs together and smil-ing.

Shareholders approved the line-up of SoftBank board members, minus Ma, by a majority vote.

Earlier, SoftBank announced three new board members, includ-ing SoftBank Chief Financial Of-fi cer Yoshimitsu Goto and Wase-da University professor Yuko Kawamoto.

Another new member is Lip-

Bu Tan, founder of Walden In-ternational, a venture capital fi rm focused on computer chips, cloud and artifi cial intelligence. He is also chief executive of Cadence Design, a U.S. electronic design automation software and engineer-ing services company.

SoftBank is a major investor in Alibaba and Son joined Alibaba’s board in 2005. Ma joined the Soft-Bank board in 2007.

Some of SoftBank’s investments have come under criticism lately for being overly risky, such as a stake in troubled offi ce-sharing venture WeWork. Son has de-fended the strategy, saying it will deliver long term results.

Since founding SoftBank in the 1980s, Son has invested in myriad technology companies including Yahoo! and British semiconductor company Arm. (AP)

NEW YORK, June 27, (AP): Stocks on Wall Street fell sharply Friday as confi rmed new coronavirus infections in the US hit an all-time high, prompting Texas and Florida to reverse course on the reo-pening of businesses.

The combination injected new jit-ters into a market that’s been mostly riding high since April on hopes that the economy will recover from a deep recession as businesses open doors and Americans begin to feel more confi dent that they can leave their homes again.

The S&P 500 dropped 2.4%, giving up all of its gains after a rally the day be-fore. The sell-off capped a choppy week of trading that erased the benchmark in-dex’s gains for the month. Even so, the S&P 500 is still on pace for its best quar-ter since 1998.

The surge in the number of confi rmed new coronavirus cases prompted Texas and Florida to reverse course and clamp down on bars again. The two states join a small but growing list of those that are either backtracking or putting any further reopenings of their economies on hold because of a resurgence of the virus.

“That certainly calls into question how vigorous this recovery will be,” said Bill Northey, senior investment direc-tor at US Bank Wealth Management. “We have to acknowledge there’s a high degree of uncertainty about how this is going to progress for the balance of the year.”

The S&P 500 fell 74.71 points to 3,009.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Av-erage had its worst day in two weeks, los-ing 730.05 points, or 2.8%, to 25,015.55. The Nasdaq, which hit an all-time high earlier this week, dropped 259.78 points, or 2.6%, to 9,757.22.

Markets have been mostly rallying since April on hopes that US states and regions around the world could continue to lift the spring lockdowns put in place

to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The increase in cases casts doubt on expectations that the economy will con-tinue to reopen and things can get back to normal sooner, rather than later.

The number of confi rmed new coro-navirus cases per day in the US has hit an all-time high of 40,000, eclipsing the mark set during the deadliest stretch in late April. Deaths and hospitalizations have been rising in parts of the country, especially in the South and West.

The resurgence in the virus and the action by some governors to backtrack or at least pause the reopenings of their states undercut Wall Street’s optimism for a relatively swift economic turna-round.

“That has real implications for the pace where we can return to economic normalcy,” Northey said, adding that while some states are rolling back their reopening, it’s unlikely there will be a broad, nationwide lockdown.

The stock market is likely to remain volatile as traders weigh the ups and downs in the trajectory of the pandemic.

Facebook slumped 8.3% as an adver-tising boycott aimed at pressuring the social networking giant into doing more to prevent racist and violent information from being shared on its service intensi-fi es.

Verizon announced it had joined the boycott Thursday, and on Friday Euro-pean consumer-products maker Uni-lever, which makes Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap also said it would stop advertising on Facebook.

Financial companies were among the biggest decliners after the Federal Re-serve ordered many of the nation’s big-gest banks to suspend buybacks of their stock and cap dividend payments for several months.

Capital One Financial fell 8.8%, Goldman Sachs dropped 8.6% and JP-Morgan lost 5.5%. The announcement came as part of the Fed’s annual “stress tests,” which showed that in a worst-case scenario involving the US economy be-ing ravaged by the pandemic, the banks would collectively lose roughly $700

billion. Traders also dumped shares in Nike

after the athletic apparel maker report-ed a big loss as most of its stores were forced to close. The stock slid 7.6%.

Bond yields were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 0.65% from 0.67%, another sign of caution in the market. The yield tends to move with investors’ expectations for the economy and infl ation.

Concern that a pullback in the reopen-ing of businesses could hamper demand for energy helped pull down oil prices Fri-day. Benchmark US crude oil for August delivery fell 23 cents to settle at $38.49 a barrel. Brent crude oil for August delivery fell 3 cents to $41.02 a barrel.

Major indexes in Europe closed most-ly lower, and Asian markets fi nished mostly higher.

Benchmarks in Tokyo, Sydney and Southeast Asia advanced while Hong Kong declined. Chinese markets were closed for a holiday.

“Investors are fi nding it hard to see the marginal or incremental new support,” said Innes. “Investors may need more prominent catalysts. Ideally a vaccine.”

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 1% to 22,474.65 while Seoul’s Kospi gained 1.1% to 2,134.65. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.8% to 24,579.56.

The S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney added 1.5% to 5,904.10 and India’s Sensex opened up 0.9% at 35,150.31. New Zealand, Singapore and Jakarta also ad-vanced.

Gains were relatively small because Washington delivered no more than was expected, said Stephen Innes of Axi-Trader Corp in a report. He said markets gave a similar “mild reaction” to the Bank of England’s earlier decision to ease policy.

Analysts say investors are looking ahead to a possible rebound from the deepest global downturn since the 1930s and trying to buy companies that will thrive after the pandemic ends. But they warn the market rise might be too fast and too early to be sustained by an un-certain economic outlook.

In this fi le photo, developer Danny Gaekwad talks about the roof top bar on his Hilton Garden Inn hotel that is presently under construction in Ocala,

Florida. (AP)

In this fi le photo, Softbank Corp CEO Masayoshi Son, (right), Alibaba Group Executive Chairman Jack Ma, (left) of China with Foxconn Chair-man and CEO Terry Gou of Taiwan (unseen) pose for photographers with Softbank’s Pepper robot during a press conference in Maihama, near To-

kyo. (AP)

Albertsons Companies, Inc (NYSE: ACI) virtually rings the Opening Bell on Friday, June 26, 2020, in New York as they offi cially begin trading. (AP)

Continued from Page 10

cial diffi culties that the majority of consumers face in their employ-ment continuity.

This experience may help devel-oping work system and mechanism for the workforce and that in ac-cordance with the Kuwaiti national economy and job market needs.

In this context, some interna-tional research institutions and economists call for the evaluation and reconsideration of many eco-nomic trends that have been ex-posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

These focus on the necessity of developing the “real” productive economy of industry, agriculture and infrastructure, and giving greater attention to the health sec-tor, especially in developing coun-tries.

The importance of treatment, prevention, and food security

Among these diffi cult economic circumstances, the ARA Purchase of Durable Goods Index registered 52 points, a 5-point loss within a month, and a record loss of 78

Durable Goods slip 5 points

points on an annual basis, the greatest drop in years. This ratio was expected due to the 14% re-duction in consumer spending.

The government still exerts ef-forts to curb the spread of Cov-id-19. This includes the treatment of patients, the protection of all social groups from the risks of the

pandemic, and the provision of food security for all Kuwait resi-dents, while ensuring quality and price control.

It is hoped that a treatment for the virus will be found, the eco-nomic activities will be resumed, and the oil prices will increase, al-beit slowly, in June.

Special Report

ARA Consumer Confi dence Index – May 2020

HEALTHARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

12

A doctor briefs a health worker before the start of a COVID-19 care center at a banquet hall in New Delhi, India on June 23. While India’s leaders have promised coronavirus testing and care for all who need it, regardless of income, treatment options are as stratified and unequal as the country itself. Care ranges from crowded wards at public hospitals that some worry will make them sicker than if they stayed home to spacious suites at private hospitals that only

the wealthy can afford. (AP)

US revamps list

Pregnant added, age-aloneremoved as high risk factorNEW YORK, June 27, (AP): The nation’s top public health agency has revamped its list of which Americans are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 ill-ness, adding pregnant women and removing age alone as a fac-tor.

The Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention also changed the list of underlying conditions that make someone more sus-ceptible to suffering and death. Sickle cell disease joined the list, for example. And the threshold for risky levels of obesity was lowered.

The changes didn’t include adding race as a risk factor for serious illness, despite accu-mulating evidence that Black people, Hispanics and Native Americans have higher rates of infection, hospitalization and death.

Agency officials said the up-date was prompted by medical studies published since CDC first started listing high-risk groups. They sought to publicize the information before Indepen-dence Day weekend, when many people may be tempted to go out and socialize.

“For those at higher risk, we recommend limiting contact with others as much as possible, or restricting contacts to a small number of people who are will-ing to take measures to reduce the risk of (you) becoming in-fected,” said CDC Director Dr Robert Redfield.

The same advice holds for people who live with or care for people at higher risk, Redfield added.

Previously, the CDC said those at high risk of serious ill-ness included people aged 65 years and older; those who live in a nursing home or long-term care facility; and people with se-rious heart conditions, obesity, diabetes, liver disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic lung dis-ease, and conditions that leave them with weakened immune systems.

In the changes, CDC created categories of people who are at high risk and people who might be at high risk.

Those who are at high risk include people with chronic kid-ney disease, chronic inflamma-tory lung disease, obesity, seri-ous heart conditions, sickle cell disease, Type 2 diabetes, and weakened immune systems be-cause of organ transplants. The threshold for obesity concern was lowered from a body mass index of 40 down to 30.

The CDC said people are at increasing risk as they get older, but it removed people 65 and older as a high risk group.

The list of people who might be at high risk includes preg-nant women, smokers and those with asthma, diseases that affect blood flow to the brain, cystic fibrosis, high blood pressure, de-mentia, liver disease, scarred or

damaged lungs, Type 1 diabetes, a rare blood disorder called thal-assemia, and people who have weakened immune systems due to HIV or other reasons.

Pregnant women joined the list on the same day a CDC re-port found they accounted for about 9 percent of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in women of childbearing age. About 5 per-cent of women of childbearing age are pregnant at any given time.

The report showed that preg-nant women had higher rates of hospitalization, of admission to a hospital intensive care unit and of winding up on a breathing machine vs. young women who weren’t pregnant. There was no clear evidence of a higher death rate among pregnant women, however.

It’s not completely surpris-ing, said Dr Denise Jamieson, chair of obstetrics and gyne-cology at the Emory University School of Medicine. Pregnant women have been found to be at higher risk from other infec-tious respiratory diseases, like-ly because the lungs decrease in the volume as the uterus grows, Jamieson said.

What is surprising, she said, is that CDC didn’t place pregnant women in the highest risk cat-egory.

“To me this is the most com-pelling evidence to date that pregnant women are at increased risk,” said Jamieson, who spent 20 years at CDC as a reproduc-tive health expert.

Earlier this week, CDC offi-cials called on a panel of experts to help them identify groups that should be prioritized for coro-navirus vaccinations if one be-comes available and supplies are limited.

Pregnant women could be among that group. So could cer-tain racial and ethnic groups.

CDC officials shared data with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that showed, compared with white Americans, coronavirus hos-pitalization rates were 4 times higher for Hispanics, 4.5 times higher for Black people, and 5.5 higher for American Indians and Alaska Natives. A recent study in the Atlanta area suggested that being Black was as large a risk for hospitalization as having diabetes, being a smoker or be-ing obese.

“If we fail to address racial and ethnic groups as at high risk for prioritization, whatever comes out of our group will be looked at very suspiciously and with a lot of reservation,” said Dr Jose Romero, chair of the expert panel.

“They are groups that need to be moved to the forefront,” he said.

CDC officials say they expect to come out with recommenda-tions for racial and ethnic minor-ity groups soon.

Social inequalities reflectedin India’s ‘coronavirus’ care

‘They’re behaving like they’re leprosy patients’

NEW DELHI, June 27, (AP): When Pradeep Kumar’s wife was admitted to a govern-ment-run hospital in India’s capital for treatment of COVID-19, it took two days before she was able to see a doctor.

“There are six other women in her room and everyone is frustrated,” he said outside New Delhi’s LNJP Hospital. “They’re behaving like they’re leprosy patients.”

Kumar’s wife had just given birth when she found out she had the virus. She was told she would have to change hospitals and be admitted at one set up to handle coronavirus patients, an exhausting process that took hours.

Though India’s leaders have promised coronavirus testing and care for all who need

it, regardless of income, treatment options are as stratified and unequal as the country itself. Care ranges from crowded wards at public hospitals that some worry will make them sicker than if they stayed home to spacious suites at private hospitals that only the wealthy can afford.

Under India’s healthcare system, everyone should be able to receive either free or highly subsidized care at those public hospitals depending on their income. But the system has been chronically underfunded, meaning government hospitals are overbur-dened and patients often face dayslong waits for even basic treatments.

World Health Organization data shows that India’s government spent $63 per person on healthcare for its 1.3 billion people in 2016. By comparison, China spent $398 for each of its 1.4 billion people in 2016, according to the WHO.

Though India has managed to halve its pov-erty rate over the past 15 years, some 176 mil-lion people still live on less than $1.90 a day, and experts say the pandemic is shining a spotlight on the country’s vast inequalities in everything from employment rights to healthcare.

“Epidemics usually are good mirrors of society and country,” said Pratik Chakrabarti, a history of science professor at the University of Manchester, adding that this one “has exposed how precarious people’s lives are” in India.

With more than 490,000 recorded coronavirus infections nationwide – and the actual numbers believed to be far higher – India’s healthcare sys-tem is facing one of its biggest tests. So far hospi-tals still have the capacity to handle all of the virus cases – though if that changes there are backup plans that include treating patients in repurposed train carriages.

But shortcomings are also on display.At RML Hospital in New Delhi, a government-

run facility that offers free COVID-19 tests, dozens of people waiting on a recent day to be registered for a test stood in line or lay on metal benches shaded by a green tarp in scorching sum-mer heat. A small indoor emergency triage area had been converted into a crowded waiting room for confirmed COVID-19 cases.

A personal trainer who fears he has the corona-virus, Manoj Kumar was lined up outside another public hospital just waiting to get in. He said he saw some people give the guards money in order to skip the line.

“The rich people get their work done pretty eas-ily,” he said. “People who don’t have money for the guards have to stand in line for multiple hours.”

At New Delhi’s AIIMS Hospital, another pub-lic facility, more than 600 staff have been infected with the virus, which union leader Dr Srinivas Ra-jkumar T. blamed on poor hygiene and sanitation protocols, including “biohazard handling, reuse of face masks and face shields.”

Private hospitals generally uphold higher stan-dards of care, but most people can’t afford it.

At Max, one of India’s biggest private hospital chains, daily rates for coronavirus treatment range from about 25,000 rupees ($333) for a bed in the general ward to 72,000 rupees ($960) for a bed in the ICU with a ventilator.

Delhi state’s own health minister, Satyendar Jain, checked into a government-run hospital earlier this month after testing positive for COV-ID-19, but he transferred to a Max hospital when his condition became critical.

Other private health providers are selling home care packages for people with mild or moderate symptoms that for about $25 a day include twice-dai-ly remote monitoring by a nurse, medicine deliveries and a guaranteed ambulance should the need arise.

For those in need of isolation – say the spouse of a virus patient – the Delhi state government has ordered a slew of hotels to convert rooms for the job. Room prices, which include daily care, cost about 10,000 rupees ($132) a night – again, a sum out of reach for most people.

Texas ... Floridareimpose curbsAUSTIN, Texas, June 27, (AP): Two of America’s largest states have reversed course and clamped down on bars again in the nation’s biggest retreat yet as the daily number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the US surged to an all-time high of 40,000.

Texas Gov Greg Abbott or-dered all bars closed Friday, while Florida banned alcohol at such establishments. The two states joined a small but grow-ing number that are either back-tracking or putting any further reopening of their economies on hold because of a comeback by the virus, mostly in the country’s South and West.

Health experts have said a dis-turbingly large number of cases are being seen among young people who are going out again, often without wearing masks or observing other social-distancing rules.

“It is clear that the rise in cases is largely driven by certain types of activities, including Texans congregating in bars,” Abbott said.

Abbott, a Republican who had pursued up one of the most ag-gressive reopening schedules of any governor, scaled back res-taurant capacity and said outdoor gatherings of more than 100 peo-ple would need approval from lo-cal officials.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez in Florida’s Miami-Dade county announced Friday night he would close beaches over the Fourth of July weekend. He said cracking down on recreational activities is prudent given the growing num-ber of infections among young adults.

Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street again over the surging case numbers. The Dow Jones Indus-trial Average shed 730 points, or nearly 3 percent.

Globally, China saw an uptick in cases, one day after authorities said they expect an outbreak in Beijing would be brought under control in the near future. The National Health Commission on Saturday reported 18 new cases in the nation’s capital, the most in a week, among 21 nationwide.

In this May 3, 2020 photo, provided by TeleHealth Access for Seniors, Yale student Hannah Verma poses near a table with mobile devices in Longwood, Florida. Verma co-founded the non-profit that gathers smartphones and tablets that are then distributed to patients in need. The organization has gathered over 700 devices to distribute to patients around the country through doctor’s offices

and clinics. (AP)

‘If this bug ever passed my way ... I’m dead’

Some patients back to ... phonesNEW YORK, June 27, (AP): Video tele-medicine took off earlier this year as the coronavirus paused in-person doctor vis-its. Earl Egner missed that trend.

The 84-year-old diabetic and cancer survivor has no computer or cellphone. Instead, he relies on a form of communi-cation older than himself – the telephone – to talk to doctors as he stays hunkered down in his Somerset, Virginia, home.

“We don’t even have people come out to the house because I have underlying conditions,” Egner said. “If this bug ever passed my way, I’m a dead man, and I’m going to try to be as careful as possible.”

The pandemic pushed the US health-care system to embrace video visits, with health insurers waiving fees for telemedicine, doctors moving their prac-tices online and the federal government expanding access. But a portion of the US population continues to rely on audio-only telephone calls for care, even as doc-tors’ offices begin to reopen.

Doctors say they are performing more care than ever by phone, and higher reim-bursements for these appointments makes it feasible for them to do so. But physi-cians also see phone calls as a last resort, and some nonprofits are trying to get more video-capable smartphones or tablets in the hands of patients who need them.

“Telephone-only visits are better than no visit,” said Egner’s physician, Dr William Fox. “But a lot of helpful information can be

gleaned from eyeballing the patient, even if it is via computer monitor.”

The Charlottesville, Virginia, doctor said he had about two audio-only tele-phone appointments each day with pa-tients at the height of the pandemic shut-down.

Smartphones, tablets or computers paired with a fast internet hookup are es-sential for a good video connection with a physician. Researchers and doctors say older and poorer patients often lack this technology, though it’s hard to pin down exact numbers.

The Federal Communications Com-mission estimates that about 21 million people do not have broadband access to the internet, but experts have said that fig-ure is most likely an undercount.

The Pew Research Center found last year that about eight out of 10 American adults own a smartphone. But the figure drops to about five out of 10 for those over age 65.

Such statistics worry advocates who fear people may miss crucial care be-cause they don’t have the equipment or the connectivity. After the new coronavi-rus started spreading earlier this year, the federal government’s Medicare program raised the payment for audio-only visits with doctors to be on par with in-person visits. That pushed the reimbursement range from about $14 to $41 per visit up to $46 to $110.

13ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

editor’s choice

Country music reckons with racial stereotypes

This 2019 image shows Chuck Harmony (left), and Claude Kelly of Louis York. Black artists say the country music industry still needs to do the hard work of addressing the systematic racial barriers that have been entrenched in country music for decades. The genre has historically been marketed to white audiences and reinforced white male artist stereotypes. (Inset): In this June 5, 2019 fi le photo, country singer Jimmie Allen performs ‘Best Shot’ at the

CMT Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, June 27, (AP): When country singer Rissi Palmer was working on her debut album, she wanted a song that would introduce her to fans. On her 2007 debut single, “Coun-try Girl,” she explained that she didn’t have to look or talk a certain way to call herself a country girl.

“I said that I am not white in the first verse, and the label was like, ‘No, no, no,’” said Palmer, who said she rewrote the lyrics to make it feel more universal. “It was very intentional when I wrote that song to talk about all the women, or all the people, that might not necessarily fit in the box, but are still of the same mindset.”

The country music industry has been hesitant to talk about its own long and complicated history with race, but the death of George Floyd that sparked rallies all across the country became an issue too important for the genre to ignore.

Country artists, labels and country music organizations posted about Black Lives Matter on social media, participated in Blackout Tuesday or denounced racism outright. But Black artists say the industry still needs to address the systematic racial barriers that have been entrenched in country music for decades.

Stereotypes that country music is just for white audiences and sung by mostly white males are reinforced daily on country radio, playlists, label rosters and tour lineups.

In recent years, however, the conversations have shifted to reach a broader understanding that non-white artists have always been in country music, even if they aren’t recognized.

On Thursday, Grammy-winning country group, T he Dixie Chicks announced it would drop “dixie from its name. The group said in a statement that it wanted to meet “this moment.”

Artist/scholar Rhiannon Giddens received a MacArthur Founda-tion grant for her work to reclaim Black contributions in country and folk music. Artists like Darius Rucker, Kane Brown and Jim-mie Allen have all had No. 1 country hits in recent years, while Mickey Guyton just released an unflinching song called “Black Like Me.” But that ingrained culture remains a struggle to change.

“I used to get messages all the time on MySpace, saying, ‘I am so sick of you. Why are you trying to be white?’ or ‘Why are you trying to take over country music?’”said Palmer, who had three singles on the Hot Country Songs Chart.

Atlanta-based country rapper Breland also wanted to address, with a wink, country music’s racial blinders with his TikTok-fu-eled viral song “My Truck.” The music video starts with white guy in a black cowboy hat singing as smoke billows across a dusty landscape, then Breland abruptly shoves him out of frame to an-nounce, “Don’t touch my truck.”

Breland, whose song reached No. 26 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and has been remixed with Sam Hunt, said the genre can’t continue to market to one type of audience.

“There’s a group of country listeners who love country music because of the way it sounds, but don’t love some of the politics that they know are going on behind the scenes,” he said.

Historically country music was created by and played across both white and Black communities in the South, but white country music was marketed toward the rising white middle class as a way to make the genre more respected and hugely profitable, said Amanda Marie Martinez, a historian and writer who is studying country music and race.

“In the process, they’ve also prioritized the kind of white, mid-dle income, relatively conservative listener as their demographic, kind of the opposite of youth culture,” said Martinez.

But there were periods of diversity, such as the post-Civil Rights era, when Black artists like Charley Pride, Linda Martell, O.B. McClinton and Stoney Edwards were having success, alongside Johnny Rodriguez and Freddy Fender, who were singing both in English and Spanish.

‘I just kept getting re-inspired’

Lil Yachty on music, inclusion, Drake and trust

Both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Asso-ciation started diversity task forces more than a year ago when country music was being criticized for a lack of female voices and women were being left out of major categories like entertainer of the year.

But just as country artists outwardly reflect a predominantly white image, there are few Black country music executives work-ing behind the scenes, too.

Also:NASHVILLE, Tennessee: Grammy-winning country group The Dixie Chicks have dropped the word Dixie from their name, now going by The Chicks.

The band’s social media accounts and website were changed on

Thursday to the refer to the new name for the band, which is made up of Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Strayer. The band also recognized that the name was already in use by a band in New Zealand.

“A sincere and heartfelt thank you goes out to ‘The Chicks’ of NZ for their gracious gesture in allowing us to share their name. We are honored to co-exist together in the world with these excep-tionally talented sisters,” the band said in a statement.

The move follows a decision by country group Lady Antebellum to change to Lady A after acknowledging the word’s association to slavery. A statement on The Chicks’ website said “We want to meet this moment.” The term Dixie refers to Southern US states, especially those that belonged to the Confederacy.

NEW YORK, June 27, (AP): If it weren’t for Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug, Lil Yachty’s latest album might be filled with slow, melodic love songs, the opposite of what fans re-ceived last month.

“I played it for Young Thug. He was like, ‘Nah. Nahhhhh,’” Yachty said with a laugh. “He was like, ‘You need to make it more up-tempo, bro. You need more hits, more energy.’ And I was like, ‘OK, Young Thug.’ So I went back again and started over.”

But that wasn’t the first time the 22-year-old scrapped an entire version of “Lil Boat 3” and started from scratch. The fi-nal version, which was crafted out of 200 songs he recorded, experienced several starts and stops.

“I just kept getting re-inspired. Like one time, it was this alternative album that was just trippy and all over the place,” said Yachty, now free of his signature red-dyed braids he says severely damaged his hair. “I was like, ‘Nah, it’s been too long since I dropped. I can’t come back like this ... It’s gotta be turnt.’”

The final incarnation of “Lil Boat 3” is a 19-track project filled with familiar ATL-vibed sing-song melodies and en-ergetic trap beats, assisted by other hip-hop heavyweight guests like Drake, Future, DaBaby, A$AP Rocky, Tyler, the Creator and Young Thug.

In an interview with The Associated Press before Yachty totaled his red Ferrari in Atlanta after spinning out of control, the rapper talked about his album, experiencing fame at a young age and inclusivity.

AP: Were you able to learn anything from Drake while working together?

Yachty: I just learned that there is a lot richer you can be. I thought I was rich. That guy – wooooo! (He) makes me feel poor. That’s a big motivation because, like, man, it’s so many more levels and so many more steps. And I can never be content and just be comfortable where I am, because it’s so much further I can go. And that’s nothing he ever told me. It’s just by seeing or either talking to him or just like watching him, which is good because you need that inspiration to fuel you sometimes.

AP: You received a lot of praise for your “Oprah’s Bank Account” video, but also some backlash for dressing like the media mogul in heels and a dress.

Yachty: I had forgot that the world was how it is. Even when we were shooting, I didn’t think, “Bro, people are gonna be on my (expletive) about this!”... So, I when I dropped it and it got a lot of backlash, I forgot people are stupid.

AP: You mentioned you grew up in a very inclusive house-hold?

Yachty: My dad is a photographer, and he shot hip-hop. You know, he shot Outkast early, Dungeon Family, John Legend, Kanye West – all types of celebrities....He didn’t make fun of gay people. He never said, “Hey, don’t do this, son. See, that’s gay. It’s not right.” Never. My mom definitely didn’t do that. I’ve never heard them say the word “gay” ever to this day. They taught me to be open-minded. My dad was a very open-minded person.

AP: You recorded hundreds of songs and mentioned it was hard choosing 19 for the album. What was the most dif-ficult part?

Yachty: It’s almost like I’m just trying to make what I think is best, you know? But that’s not the way it should be. You should make what you genuinely want to make.

AP: You’ve been famous since you graduated high school. How have you navigated the pressures of fame?

Yachty: I had to deal with a lot of (expletive), you know, cut a lot of people out of my life. Just got burned a bunch of times. My circle’s super small now. I still ain’t never been, I feel like, in a real relationship or real love. I’m scared. It’s (expletive) up, especially since I came straight from high school, so I didn’t have no time to get to meet nobody and have nobody meet me before I got famous or rich. Like, to meet me as me: as a man, as a person, as a human being. So, it’s hard to tell the difference... I try with women. I got bad trust issues, though. I’m not gonna lie.

AP: You’ve said you haven’t received the respect you de-serve from the industry. What do you think you need to do to get it?

Yachty: Bro, I don’t know. That’s a great question. I don’t know if I gotta write 100 hits for 100 different artists? Do I gotta go to 100 different radio (stations) and do 100 free-styles? I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out. I think people are just genuinely hating me ... I pray that I don’t have to die to get my respect, but someone’s gonna give it to me.

Race issue atemmy honorsLOS ANGELES, June 27, (AP): “The Young and the Restless” won best drama at the first virtual Daytime Emmys along with three acting trophies on Friday night, with some winners speaking out about ra-cial injustice.

Ellen DeGeneres accepted the trophy for best entertainment talk show for her self-titled program.

“I intend to use the next two years of my show as a platform for change, to am-plify voices of Black people and people of color and to educate my audience,” she said from home. “More than ever, I feel like this is a responsibility to effect change.”

CBS’ “The Young and the Restless,” whose co-creator Lee Philip Bell died in February at age 91, earned four other tro-phies in technical categories.

Jason Thompson, who plays Billy Abbott on “The Young and the Rest-less,” won his first Daytime Emmy for lead actor in a drama series. He be-comes the third actor who has played the part to win. David Tom did so in 2000, and Billy Miller won in 2010, 2013 and 2014. Thompson had been nominated five previous times for his stint on “General Hospital,” but didn’t win.

Bryton James of “Y&R” earned sup-porting actor honors, while Eva LaRue won for guest performer on the show.

“The world is fighting against racial injustice and it’s our responsibility as the human race to educate ourselves and take action, because until we all can acknowl-edge and empathize with the problem there will always be a problem,” James said from his sofa.

Alex Trebek won best game show host for the second straight year and “Jeopar-dy!” claimed game show honors.

At 79, Trebek continues to preside over the popular quiz show while battling pan-creatic cancer. In March, he announced he had survived one year of treatment. Taping of the show has since been sus-pended during the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected talk shows and day-time dramas.

“I’ll be honest with you, this one is a shock, very surprising to me,” Trebek said. “Speaking as one who has now been nominated 32 times and won seven times, I think I can say with some degree of au-thority that winning is nicer.”

Heather Tom of “The Bold and the Beautiful” earned lead dramatic actress honors for her longtime role of Katie Lo-gan. Tamara Braun of “General Hospital” won as supporting actress.

Singer Kelly Clarkson won best enter-tainment talk show host for the first sea-son of her eponymous show.

Music

SPORTSARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020

14

Ronaldo back in form as Juve down 10-man Lecce

Sevilla held by Valladolid to 4th straight draw

Lecce’s Filippo Falco, (right), and Juventus’ Adrien Rabiot, (left), in action during the Serie A soccer match be-tween Juventus and Lecce, at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, on June 26. (AP)

Auckland Blues player Tom Robinson, (in blue), is tackled by the defence during the Super Rugby Aotearoa rugby match between the Blues and the

Hurricanes at Eden Park, in Auckland, New Zealand, on June 14. (AP)

Tiz the Law (8), with jockey Manny Franco (up), crosses the finish line to win the152nd running of the Belmont Stakes horse race, on June 20, in

Elmont, NY. (AP)

Pistons sign Patton

NBA sets schedule for season restart

‘Commercially favorable proposition’

Australia, New Zealand to host 2023 FIFA Women’s World CupWELLINGTON, New Zealand, June 27, (AP): The Women’s World Cup is heading to Australia and New Zea-land in 2023 after a concentrated ef-fort by the joint bidders to secure the global soccer event in the southern hemisphere for the fi rst time.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the mother of a 2-year-old daughter who should be old enough to watch some of the ac-tion live in three years, worked the phones overnight in a bid to lobby any members of the FIFA Council who hadn’t made up their mind.

It will be the fi rst-of-a-kind World Cup, co-hosted by members of differ-ent confederations. Australia joined the Asian confederation after qualify-ing for the 2006 men’s World Cup, leaving New Zealand as the largest member of the Oceania confederation.

Ardern and Australian Prime Min-ister Scott Morrison pledged the full fi nancial support of their respective governments, a fact not lost on the Asian Football Confederation presi-dent.

“I am sure that they will prove to be the perfect hosts,” AFC leader Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khal-ifa said. “They are two extremely well-connected, safe and modern

countries and as well as the ‘com-mercially favorable proposition’ they offered, Australia and New Zealand have the overwhelming fi nancial and public commitment of the govern-ments.”

The 22-13 vote of the FIFA’s Coun-cil to award the tournament New Zea-land and Australia was announced just before 4 a.m. Friday in New Zealand - 2 a.m. on Australia’s east coast. Play-

ers and offi cials watched live from both sides of the Tasman Sea that separates the neighboring countries, which are more globally renowned for their rugby teams.

New Zealand captain Ali Riley, who has played at four World Cups, posted a photo on Twitter of her tears of joy.

The tournament is already being billed as the largest sporting event New Zealand has hosted. The poten-tial audience of more than 1 billion, according to FIFA, would outstrip the 2011 Rugby World Cup or the 2015 Cricket World Cup it co-hosted with Australia.

New Zealand previously has host-ed the under-17 women’s World Cup

and the under-20 men’s tournament and had hoped, after the success of those events, to make a solo bid for the women’s World Cup. But the en-largement of the tournament from 24 to 32 teams encouraged the Kiwis to form a joint bid with Australia.

FIFA ranked the Australia-New Zealand bid highest on technical merit, ahead of rivals from Japan and

Colombia. When Japan pulled out earlier this week, the trans-Tasman bid became the favorite.

New Zealand will host the open-ing match and opening ceremony at Auckland’s Eden Park, will accom-modate four of the tournaments eight groups and will host quarterfi nal and semifi nal matches. The fi nal will be in Sydney, Australia’s largest city.

“It will be a historic tournament of fi rsts that will create a profound and enduring legacy for women’s foot-ball in the Asia-Pacifi c region and beyond,” Ardern said. “We are look-ing forward to delivering the best ever FIFA Women’s World Cup in both nations, one that will elevate the women’s game and inspire women and girls around the world.”

Riley said she relished the chance to play her fi fth World Cup in her homeland.

“To lead the Football Ferns in a home FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand will be truly special and inspire a new generation,” she said.

Lydia Williams, goalkeeper for Australia’s women’s team, said the nerves were intense as the players spent the early morning hours await-ing the decision.

“I’ve never sweated so much in non-training situations, ever,” Wil-liams said. “It’s about time there were some really good news. Espe-cially in Australia, with football, and everything that’s happening. ”

Not everyone on Australia’s side of the Tasman Sea was pleased with how the vote transpired.

Football Federation Australia chief executive James Johnson described

the English Football Association’s decision to vote against the New Zealand and Australia bid as “quite disrespectful.”

English FA chairman Greg Clarke’s vote was part of a block de-cision by Europe in favor of the South American bid. UEFA said in a state-ment its vote for Colombia was an at-tempt to try to increase the growth of the women’s game in South America.

“It was a process that was, I think, run very well by FIFA ... we scored very highly on a report that was an objective report,” Johnson told Fox Sports Australia.

“We know now what the voting was like, and I must say we are dis-appointed with the way that the FA voted.”

Australia captain Sam Kerr, who plays for Chelsea in the English league and is one of the global stars of women’s football, stayed up late in Perth to watch the bid announcement.

“When I fi rst started in the Ma-tildas we could barely get a home friendly match, and now we’re going to be hosting the biggest tournament in women’s football,” Kerr said Fri-day. “A lot of people have said Aus-tralia is not a (soccer) nation. We’re going to show them that’s wrong.”

The Sydney Opera House is illuminated in support of Australia and New Zealand’s joint bid to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, in Sydney,

on June 25. (AP)

TURIN, Italy, June 27, (AP): Cristiano Ronaldo is back in form. He set up two goals and converted a pen-alty to help Juventus beat 10-man Lecce 4-0 and boost its chances of claiming a record-extending ninth suc-cessive Serie A title.

Ronaldo had struggled since soccer resumed in Italy.”What’s important is that we continue to get results,” Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri said when asked about their increasing advantage at the top of the table.

“We struggled at the beginning and then we managed to get going at the end of the fi rst half. But I saw a

good mentality because even when the match was over, we still contin-ued to attack.”

Lecce remained in the relega-tion zone but is level on points with Genoa, which occupies the last posi-tion of safety.

Lecce started brightly but its chances of getting anything from the match diminished when defender Fabio Lucioni was shown a straight red card for a last-man challenge on Rodrigo Bentancur, leaving the vis-iting side in 10 men for nearly an hour.

“Until the sending off the match was balanced,” said Lecce coach Fabio Liverani, who also bemoaned the number of players he is missing through injury.

“Maybe if we had had every play-er available I could have made dif-ferent moves. At the moment I have a maximum of 14 players available. But I am sure that with a bit of for-tune, getting some players back, we can have our say in matches against direct rivals.”

Juventus scored all of its goals after the red card and in the second half, but struggled to break down the visitors.

Ronaldo had several chances but sent an overhead kick past the left post and somehow headed over an empty goal from two yards out. However, the Portugal international set up Juve’s opener eight minutes after the break as he cut the ball back to Paulo Dybala who curled into the roof of the net from the edge of the area.

Ronaldo then got on the scoresheet himself with his second penalty in as many matches after he was tripped by Luca Rossettini.

Ronaldo also set up Juve’s third in the 83rd minute, back-heeling the ball for Gonzalo Higuaín to score shortly after coming off the bench.

Matthijs de Ligt headed in a Doug-las Costa cross two minutes later to cap a great night for Juventus.

VERSAILLES, Kentucky, June 27, (AP): Belmont winner Tiz the Law will stand at Coolmoore America’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky when his racing career is over.

The 3-year-old colt will continue to be owned by Sackatoga Stable while he races.

Tiz the Law has won fi ve of six career starts, including last week’s Belmont Stakes that opened the reconfi gured Triple Crown series. His next scheduled start is the Tra-

vers at Saratoga on Aug. 8.“We are excited to see what Tiz

the Law has in store on the track for the remainder of his 3-year-old

year and beyond, and then look forward to his career as a stallion at Ashford,” said Jack Knowlton, managing partner of Sackatoga Stable.

Tiz the Law will eventually join

Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify at Ashford Stud.

“From day one when he broke his maiden at Saratoga, we have been watching him closely and he has everything one looks for in a stallion prospect,” Coolmore America manager Dermot Ryan said. “Combined with his near-perfect race record, he’s very good looking and is a very well-bred in-dividual.”

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, June 27, (AP): Breakout star Caleb Clarke scored one try and created another as the Blues beat the Highlanders 27-24 Saturday in the third round of Super Rugby Aotearoa.

The son of former All Blacks center Eroni Clarke, Caleb Clarke has been the discovery of the season in the New Zealand professional tournament, helping the Blues to extend their over-all winning streak in 2020 to seven games.

At 6 feet, 2 inches tall (1.89 meters), and weighing 235 pounds (107 kilos), Clarke is a New Zealand sevens player who has both pace and power, and poses a threat to defenses reminiscent of the All Blacks legend Jonah Lomu.

He made his presence felt imme-diately on Saturday when he scored the Blues’ fi rst try after only six min-utes, taking the role of a forward as

he crashed through thick goal-line defense to score after the Blues built a long series of phases near the High-landers’ line.

Clarke then showed the pace and skills of a winger when he fended one defender and broke into open space to create a 27th-minute try for winger Rieko Ioane which had the Auckland-based Blues ahead 22-10 at halftime.

The other rising star of the rejuve-nated Blues, backrower Hoskins So-tutu, had a hand in the team’s third fi rst-half try. Sotutu charged down a desperate clearing kick from High-landers fullback Scott Gregory in the 23rd minute and his backrow partner Dalton Papali’i was on hand to recover the ball and score.

The Dunedin-based Highlanders stayed close to the Blues in the fi rst quarter, with a try to hooker Ash Dix-on. But they made too many handling errors under pressure in wet conditions and the Blues were able to continually probe holes in their defense.

The Blues typically relaxed on their lead at the start of the second half and the Highlanders scored after only four minutes.

They came close to scoring again in the 51st minute and, when the Blues lost Ioane to the sin bin, the Highland-ers scored through fl anker Shannon Frizell to take an unexpected lead at 24-22. That injected new urgency into the Blues who, still down to 14 men, reclaimed the lead with Papali’i’s sec-ond try.

WASHINGTON, June 27, (AP): Zion Williamson is about to get another chance at opening night.

Injury kept him out of New Orleans’ appearance in the fi rst game of this NBA season when the Pelicans started the year at Toronto, but now the big-name rookie will be in position to be on center stage at Disney when play resumes - against the team that was the fi rst to fi nd itself in the middle of the NBA’s coronavirus situa-tion.

New Orleans will be in the fi rst game of the resumed NBA season on July 30, taking on Utah at the Disney World com-plex near Orlando, Florida in the opener of a doubleheader. And just as the initial fi rst night of this season-like-none-other did, the second game of nationally tel-evised twinbill will pit the Los Angeles Lakers against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Jazz were a logical storyline for the fi rst game back, after Utah’s All-Star center Rudy Gobert was the fi rst player in the league to test positive for the coro-navirus - a development that forced the league to suspend the season on March 11. More than four and a half months will have passed between game nights in the NBA, but the league offi cially completed

talks Friday with the National Basketball Players Association on the terms for re-starting the season and therefore could re-lease the 88-game slate of what are being called seeding games.

Finally, play will resume in a season that started with political strife between the NBA and China in October, the deaths of David Stern and Kobe Bryant in January, a pandemic breaking out in March and racial issues surrounding po-lice brutality and other forms of inequal-ity dividing the country once again during much of the league’s shutdown.

“There’s no question this season and frankly this year has been one which none of us will soon forget,” NBPA executive director Michele Roberts said. “Obvi-ously, the virus came at us hard without any prior warning and then we were faced with the prospect of losing the season.”

But with a plan for strict medical proto-cols agreed upon, the league and its play-ers believe it is safe to resume.

Players will start arriving at the Disney complex on July 7, will be tested daily once they get there, and could be away from their families for more than three months.

Families aren’t expected to be permit-ted on-site at Disney until the start of the second round of the playoffs, set to begin in late August or early September.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons signed center Justin Patton, hoping the 2017 fi rst-round pick can stay healthy to help the franchise’s turnaround.

Patton had surgery for a broken foot in 2018 for the second straight year.

The 6-foot-11 player was selected No. 16 overall three years ago by the Chicago Bulls, who traded him on draft night to Minnesota as part of the Jimmy Butler trade.

SOCCER

HORSE RACING

RUGBY

BASKETBALL

SOCCER

Breakout star Clarke shines

Blues ‘edge’ Highlanders in Super Rugby Aotearoa

Tiz the Law lands future stallion deal

In Madrid, Sevilla drew with Val-ladolid 1-1 for its fourth straight set-back in the Spanish league, missing a chance to retake third place from Atlético Madrid.

Lucas Ocampos converted an 83rd-minute penalty kick to salvage the tie, the fourth consecutive for Sevilla since it returned from the coronavirus break with a win in the Seville derby.

Kiko Olivas opened the scoring for Valladolid in the fi rst half at Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium.

The result kept Sevilla in fourth place, one point behind Atlético Ma-drid. Atlético has won three straight and is unbeaten after the pandemic break.

“We really needed this win,” Se-villa forward Suso said. “We domi-nated and had our chances, but the ball didn’t go in. It’s tough when the other team stays in the back like that.”

Sevilla had resumed with a 2-0 win against rival Real Betis in the city derby, but it drew three straight since then - against Levante, Barcelona and Villarreal.

Valladolid also won in its fi rst match after the break and was win-less since, with two draws and a loss at Atlético Madrid. It moved to 14th place with Friday’s draw.

Olivas got on the board with a header after a long cross from a set-piece in the 25th minute. Ocampos equalized from the penalty spot after a handball by a defender inside the area.

Valladolid nearly retook the lead when an 87th-minute close-range shot by Rubén Alcaraz prompted a tough refl ex save by Sevilla goal-keeper Tomas Vaclik.

Sevilla’s Munir El Haddadi had a 55th-minute goal disallowed by vid-eo review for offside. It took nearly three minutes for the VAR to make the call.

One of Sevilla’s best chances in the fi rst half was a shot by Ocampos that struck the woodwork when the game was scoreless.

Juventus’ head coach Maurizio Sarri gestures during the Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Lecce, at the Allianz Stadium

in Turin, Italy, on June 26. (AP)

DOHA, June 27, (KUNA): Qatar Football Association (QFA) and FIFA announced plans to organize a Pan-Arab tournament that will be played in the Gulf state in late 2021, with the competition acting as a crucial pre-paratory event for the FIFA World Cup 2022, that kicks off on 21 November 2022.

The competition proposal was presented to FIFA Council members via video conference by Hassan Al-Thawadi, Secretary General of the Supreme Commit-tee for Delivery And Legacy (SC) and Chairman of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC (Q22).

The FIFA Council subsequently approved the forma-tion of the competition.

The 22-team invitational tournament for men’s na-tional teams will be contested by Arab nations from Africa and Asia.

According to QFA and FIFA, the tournament will be played outside the International Match Calendar.

The tournament, which will be held in Qatar from 1-18 December 2021, will be delivered by Q22 and will allow the organizers to use facilities and run operations that are also planned for the subsequent FIFA World Cup 2022. The tournament will take place during the same timeslot as the FIFA World Cup 2022, with the fi -nal taking place exactly one year before the Qatar 2022 fi nal is scheduled to kick-off.

Qatar to host Pan-Arab tournament

Sports PlusPlus

It just creates a little bit longer day. We’ll get all

the work done that weneed to get done

I’m pretty confident that once we get into

hub cities, we’ll be able to do a good job of

keeping it out

‘

‘

’

’

No paychecks for 11 big leaguers: advance larger than salary

Majors confronting short time period before opening dayfacilities.

That means staggered start times for player workouts and extended days for coaching staffs. It also means meetings in airy stadium concourses instead of cramped clubhouses so players can observe social distancing guidelines designed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“It’s basically just using all parts of the facility very wisely and effi ciently and I think with the initial plan that we have, it functions like that,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “The one thing for the staff portion of it, it’s going to be a longer day because we are dealing with one fi eld and you’re talking about live BPs and getting guys ready. We’re going to have to be very effi cient.”

Some places are better suited for the task than others. Domed stadiums will give their teams more reliability for their schedules. The Diamond-backs are going to use Chase Field and their spring training facility in Scottsdale, just a short drive away from their home ballpark.

“It just creates a little bit longer day,” Counsell said. “We’ll get all the work done that we need to get done. Intra-squad games are going to be a big part of this. We’ll use both clubhouses. The space is fi ne, but one fi eld just kind of lengthens the day, I think.”

Meanwhile, Grant Dayton will notice one glaring absence this season after he reports to the Atlanta Braves: his twice-a-month salary.

He is among 11 major leaguers whose prorated pay for the abbrevi-ated 60-game season amounts to less than the $286,500 advance already re-ceived by the 32-year-old left-hander.

“It’s going to be weird not getting a paycheck,” he said , “but we already got paid.”

Dayton gave up the 6,776th and fi nal home run of of last season’s record total, to the New York Mets’ Dominic Smith. To resume prepara-tion for the new season he will drive Monday from his home in Winter Haven, Florida, to Atlanta with wife Cori, 2 1/2-year-old son Decker and nearly 6-month-old Nolan for Braves’ workouts at Truist Park.

After opening day was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, Major League Baseball and the play-ers’ association agreed March 26 to a deal that called for teams to advance $170 million in salaries over the fi rst 60 days of the season.

Others who won’t get paychecks because of lower prorated salaries are Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jimmy Nelson and New York Yankees reliever Jonathan Holder ($277,778 each), Pittsburgh infi elder Erik Gonzalez and Minnesota pitcher Matt Wisler ($268,519 apiece), Philadelphia catcher Andrew Knapp ($262,943), Chicago Cubs pitcher Jharel Cotton ($237,037), pitchers Collin McHugh of Boston, Ross Stripling of the Dodgers and Jesse Hahn of Kansas City ($222,222 each) and Milwaukee pitcher Freddy Peralta ($575,200). (AP)

In this Feb. 24, 2020, file photo, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Ross Stripling works against a Chicago White Sox batter during the first inning of a spring training baseball game in Glen-dale, Arizona. (AP)

Rangers’ Panarin expresses concern over return, finances

NHL not planning to quarantine players for training campsWASHINGTON, June 27, (AP): Jason Spezza’s confi dence in the NHL returning has not been shaken by word of 11 fellow players testing positive for the coronavirus.

Given his involvement in NHL Players’ Association talks, the veteran Toronto forward knew from doctors’ input there would be positive test re-sults in hockey just as there have been in other sports as group workouts ramp up across North America.

Those very well may continue to happen with training camps scheduled to open July 10, yet deputy commissioner Bill Daly confi rmed Thursday the league and NHLPA are not considering putting teams in quarantined “bubbles” for those mandatory sessions. Instead, players are being instructed to say home when not at the rink, with the hope that frequent testing and health protocols will prevent any outbreaks before, hopefully, games resume in two “hub” cities in late July.

“I’m pretty confi dent that once we get into hub cities, we’ll be able to do a good job of keeping it out,” Spezza said. “I think getting there is going to be the challenge, and that’s where it takes a little bit of discipline for us as players to make sure we don’t kind of derail the plans.”

The league and players are still working to fi nalize a return-to-play agreement that would entail a 24-team playoff to award the Stanley Cup. It’s understood that players, coaches and

staff would be quarantined from the general public for the duration of the playoffs and tested regularly.

Until arriving in one of those cities as early as July 23 or 24, players and their families are still out in the real world and face the risk of exposure.

“You have a whole bunch of people in close proximity to each other for prolonged periods of time, they may be traveling together exposed to other individuals that you don’t know who they’ve been exposed to,” Carolinas

Medical Center medical director of infection prevention Katie Passaretti said. “Any time you’re bringing groups together and then sending them back out into the world, there’s potential for further spread if one of those individuals was asymptotically infected or early in the stages of symptomatic infection.”

The U.S. recorded 34,500 COV-ID-19 cases Wednesday, just shy of the peak of infections set in late April.

“There’s lots of people everywhere testing positive,” said Spezza, who’s

in his 17th NHL season. “Us as play-ers, we realize there’s going to be some risk of a positive test, especially in the phases that we’re in right now.”

Voluntary workouts of up to six players on the ice at a time were able to begin June 8, with that limit in-creased to 12 this week amid stringent safety protocols. In other sports, Ma-jor League Baseball closed its training facilities in Florida and Arizona, and the NFLPA told its members to stop private workouts in light of rising coronavirus numbers in some places.

The Tampa Bay Lightning closed their facilities last week after three players and additional staff tested posi-tive. The NHL announced 11 positives among more than 200 players tested.

“It’s defi nitely eye-opening to hear, but at the same time, looking back going into it, you certainly expect that to pop up,” Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said. “You see more and more cases popping up across the league and that’s to be expected, as well. But at the same time, it’s still a little nerve-wrecking.”

Two weeks away from the sched-uled start of camps and less than a month from when games might begin, some players still have questions.

“Obviously health and safety is the biggest,” Montreal goaltender Carey Price said. “Being able to come to a situation where you don’t have to worry about contracting COVID-19

is huge. To ‘bubble’ the players and feel safe in your work environment is going to be probably the most paramount.”

Players are expected to be tested daily once competition starts, and they will be isolated with each other. Even with fre-quent testing during camps, it seems to be incumbent on players, coaches, staff and those around them to be particularly vigilant away from hockey.

“As everything around us starts opening up, we almost have to tighten up because we’re going back to play,” Spezza said. “We have to be probably a little more careful as we get closer to training camp here.”

Meanwhile, NHL MVP candidate Artemi Panarin said Thursday he has concerns about the health and safety of players if the season resumes and about fi nances beyond that.

The New York Rangers winger posted a statement on Twitter saying he’s worried about the “long-term prosperity of the NHL.” His major concern is escrow payments made by players in recent years.

“Players have protected the owners income with escrow, including through-out this pandemic crisis, even as owners’ equity continues to grow exponentially,” Panarin said. “It is time to fi x the escrow. We as players cannot report to camp to resume play without already having an agreement in place.

“We are all in this together.”

By Jay Cohen & Ronald Blum

Forget about those halcyon first few days of spring training, when ar-

ranging for the right tee time on the right golf course is often more chal-lenging than the work on the field.

When major leaguers report next week for spring training 2.0 - or perhaps more accurately, baseball’s fi rst summer camp - time will be one precious commodity with about three weeks to go before opening day.

“We’re going to have some live batting practices the fi rst day they show up. Day 1 and Day 2 ... Multiple ups for the starters,” Kansas City manager Mike Matheny said Friday on a video conference call. “These guys are prepared for that. They’ve been hungry for it.”

All across the majors, the race is on to set up travel plans and work out the fi nal details for training ahead of an unforgiving season of just 60 games.

After intake coronavirus tests and a mandatory quarantine period while awaiting results, full-squad workouts likely will begin next weekend.

The regular season starts July 23 and 24, leaving a short period for players to prepare and a tricky bal-ance for managers trying to get their teams ready while also worrying about potential health issues that could pop up with more frequency during a truncated training period.

“I think that the biggest issue is going to be just the buildup,” White Sox catcher James McCann said. “I honestly think that everyone’s done everything they possibly can to stay in shape, from pitchers throwing and hitters hitting. But there’s only so many swings in a cage and so many, you know, non-adrenaline bullpens you can throw.

“There’s a reason why we have six weeks of spring training, in a typical spring training.”

There is particular concern for starting pitchers, who take great care in building up their arms over an ex-tended period. That’s one reason why active rosters will be 30 players dur-ing the fi rst two weeks of the season, 28 during the second two weeks and 26 after that.

Brewers manager Craig Counsell said they could begin the year with as many as 17 pitchers.

“We have a bunch of guys that are much further along than I anticipated,” Counsell said. “So, I’m not as concerned about that as I would have originally thought when we departed in mid-March. They’ve all been throwing on a regular schedule. They’ve all been throwing to hitters. Now, the challenge when we ramp up intensity, what does recovery look like? That’s probably the thing I’ll think about the most.”

While spring training was sus-pended March 12, players haven’t

exactly been sitting around this whole time. McCann worked out in former Cubs utilityman Ben Zobrist’s barn in Tennessee. White Sox ace Lucas Giolito said he has been facing hitters in Northern California, everyone from high school prospects to minor leaguers.

“On a pretty much weekly basis, I’m getting a couple bullpens in, a live bullpen facing hitters out here in Sacramento,” he said. “And I’m right now at like a up-and-down three times kind of shape I guess you could say, where I’m simulating three innings, even extending the innings out some-times just to get the pitch count up.”

Beyond injury and coronavirus concerns, space is also an issue for baseball’s summer camp. While spring training facilities in Florida and Arizona have several backfi elds that players can use, teams are going to have to make the most of their home ballparks and a handful of area

In this, Feb 16, 2020 file photo, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Jason Spezza (19) controls the puck during the second period of the team’s NHL hockey

game against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, NY. (AP)

Shiffrin, ski team return to snow for camp

Mikaela Shiffrin rode the chair lift to the top of Copper Moun-tain on a sunny June day and took in a sight she hadn’t seen in a while: A freshly groomed, snow-packed course just wait-ing to be skied.

A little tropical, too, given the warm weather that had the carefully manicured slopes turning mushy by mid-morning.

Didn’t matter. It was just energizing to be back on skis.

The two-time Olympic cham-pion and the rest of the U.S. women’s team, along with the men’s Europa squad, recent-ly returned to snow for a two-week, pay-strict-adherence-to-social-distance-guidelines camp in Copper Mountain, Colorado. This was a chance to zip through a course again after the season abruptly ended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Being back skiing, on the snow, it just felt like home,” said Bella Wright, who made her World Cup debut last season. “It felt like we were back doing what we’re sup-posed to be doing.”

The main objective of the camp that ended last week was nothing more than hon-ing technique. For about three hours a day - beginning around sunrise - the team

turned in run after run on the giant slalom course. Shiffrin and the other technical rac-ers also were able to charge through some slalom gates.

Several European teams have already returned to training: The Austrian men’s and women’s teams in Soelden, the Swiss team on the Zermatt Glacier and the French in Courchevel and Val D’Isere. (AP)

In this Nov 15, 2017 fi le photo, Mikaela Shiffrin gets low in her turn during a down-hill training run at Copper Mountain, Colorado. (AP)

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SportsKrylia Sovetov’s Artyom Timofeyev (left), fi ghts for the ball with Zenit’s Magomed Ozdoyev during the Russian Premier league soccer match between FC Zenit and Krylia Sovetov Samara at Gazprom Arena stadium in St.Petersburg, Rus-sia, Friday, June 26, 2020. This match is the fi rst in this year being played at Gazprom Arena stadium after lockout and goes with a minimum spectators to curb the spread of COVID-19. (AP)

Venus joins WTT

Davis Cup, Fed Cupfi nals pushed to ’21LONDON, June 27, (AP): The Davis Cup and Fed Cup finals were scrapped for 2020 by the International Tennis Federation on Friday because of the corona-virus pandemic, and both compe-titions will resume next year.

The Davis Cup men’s compe-tition was supposed to have qual-ifying matches for future finals this September and the 2020 finals in November. Now the World Group I and World Group II preliminary matches will be played next March or September, with the finals to be held in Madrid during the week of Nov 22, 2021.

The ITF said the 18 nations that already qualified for the

2020 finals will keep those spots in 2021.

The Fed Cup wom-en’s event was sup-posed to stage its f i n a l s indoors in April, but that was

postponed because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Now the ITF is hold-ing those finals April 13-18, 2021, in Budapest, Hungary – and simi-lar to the Davis Cup, the 12 teams that qualified for 2020 will be in the field. “The challenges in host-ing a mass gathering of this size at an indoor venue are consider-able, both in the current and the anticipated climate,” the ITF said in a statement.

All sanctioned tennis competi-tion has been on hold since March and the professional tours are aiming to return in August.

But various exhibitions have been taking place, including a series organized by Novak Djokovic that had people in the stands and zero social distancing – and the No. 1-ranked Serb was one of four players who tested positive for the coronavirus.

❑ ❑ ❑

Venus Williams has signed up to play World Team Tennis for the 15th time, the league announced Thursday.

She will be a member of the Washington Kastles, one of nine

teams that will gather at a resort in West Virginia for a three-week season starting July 12. Matches normally are played at various sites around the country, but WTT decided to bring everyone to one location because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Williams, who turned 40 last week, announced in 2011 that she had been diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, a condition that can cause exhaustion and joint pain. Williams has since spoken about how she turned to a plant-based diet and learned other ways to get by.

❑ ❑ ❑

Tunisian tennis player Majed Kilani has been banned from professional tennis for seven years after the sport’s anti-cor-ruption body concluded he con-spired to fix matches in 2016.

Kilani was also fined $7,000 by the Tennis Integrity Unit .

The TIU investigation “estab-lished that Mr Kilani conspired with a third party to manipulate the outcome of matches played at an ITF Futures tournament in Egypt in August 2016.”

The 23-year-old Kilani also “failed to fully cooperate” with the investigation, the TIU said in a statement. Kilani is currently ranked 804 in ATP singles and 528 in doubles, both of which are career bests, the statement added.

❑ ❑ ❑

Former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, who now coaches Novak Djokovic and attended the top-ranked player’s exhibition series in Serbia and Croatia, said Friday he has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Croatian great, who won his only Grand Slam title at the All England Club in 2001, wrote on Instagram that he tested posi-tive after two negative tests in the last 10 days.

“I would like to inform every-one who has been in contact with me that I tested positive and ask them to take extra good care of themselves and their loved ones,” Ivanisevic wrote. “I will continue to self-isolate as I have been doing already.”

TENNIS

Venus

Kop joy: Liverpool fans fl oodAnfi eld, 1st EPL title in 30 yrs

I am completely overwhelmed: Klopp

LIVERPOOL, England, June 27, (AP): The sun had just set over Anfi eld – and on a 30-year wait to be champions of England again – when the fi reworks started to ex-plode into the twilight.

A signal went out across Merseyside. The drought was fi nally over for Liverpool.

At fi rst there were just a dozen supporters who watch-ing on phones and listening on radios outside this hallowed stadium. They were soon surrounded by a sea of thousands snaking from the entrance to the Kop past the The Albert Pub to the Hillsborough memorial.

And as darkness eventually engulfed Liverpool’s home on this mid-summer’s evening, a red haze of smoke began to light the skies.

Waving fl ares and fl ags, Liverpool’s faithful found a way to share this moment together on Thursday, even in a pan-demic. It’s hard to stay apart when a three-decade mission has been accomplished, even though the crowning moment came without Liverpool players being on the fi eld.

The squad had to watch on television, just like the fans, as second-place Manchester City lost 2-1 at Chelsea and left Liverpool 23 points in front. With seven games to go, Liver-pool cannot be caught.

“This is bliss,” 61-year-old fan Francis Murphy said as fans clambered onto the Main Stand behind him. ”I have sup-ported them all my life and to go 30 years without winning the league really hurts. But we are back, and Liverpool will stay back.”

Jürgen Klopp, the German manager who has restored a winning mentality to Liverpool with his brand of “heavy metal” football, already led the club its sixth European club title last year.

“If I tried to start talking about it again I will start crying again and that doesn’t work really well,” Klopp said. “I am completely overwhelmed. I don’t know, it’s a mix of every-

thing. I am relieved, I am happy, I am proud.”The twice-weekly COVID-19 testing that allowed the Pre-

mier League to resume last week after a 100-day suspension enabled Klopp to join his squad and staff for a viewing of the game from Stamford Bridge.

“We thought maybe not compulsory,” Klopp said. “I know who will stay at home and watch it alone will regret it for the rest of his life. So we came here together. It is our bubble.”

Liverpool became England’s earliest and latest champi-ons: clinched with the most games to spare and by the latest calendar date.

This title had hardly been in doubt since December. A fl uid, attacking style of play earned 28 wins and two draws in 31 games with a loss at Watford.

“The world has watched the fi erce determination of this club on the fi eld for every single match,” said John Henry, Liverpool’s American owner, “the preparation, the resolve and the talent of those who put together perhaps the greatest league performance ever in any country’s history.”

The club was 25 points clear when the league was abruptly halted by the coronavirus in March.

“Null and void” became the dreaded term in the red half of Liverpool, amid fears the season could be canceled com-pletely. When Liverpool returned on Sunday, a 0-0 draw at Everton delayed the crowning moment. The team rediscov-ered its scintillating attacking form as it swept aside Crystal Palace 4-0 on Wednesday inside an empty Anfi eld.

Fans couldn’t go to pubs, which have been shut since March.

“We are not going to complain and make a fuss,” said 21-year-old defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, a lifelong fan. “It’s something we’ve always dreamed of.”

Fireworks go off outside the Liver Building in Liverpool, June 26, as Liverpool soccer fans gather and celebrate for the team who clinched the English Premier League title. (AP)

Liverpool’s Fabinho and Crystal Palace’s Jordan Ayew battle for the ball during the English Premier League soc-cer match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfi eld Stadium in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, June 24,

2020. (AP)

CONCACAF to revise qualifying format

Platini now a ‘formal’suspect in Swiss caseGENEVA, June 27, (AP): French soccer great Michel Platini has been formally placed under investi-gation in Switzerland in relation to a $2 million payment he got from FIFA in 2011.

Swiss federal prosecutors this month extended their open crimi-nal proceedings into then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s role in the payment to include Platini, accord-ing to a document seen Friday by The Associated Press.

Platini, who was the president of European soccer body UEFA at the time, is suspected of being an ac-complice to criminal mismanage-ment, of misappropriation and an act of forgery, the document states.

The former France national team captain submitted invoices to FIFA in January 2011 seeking payment for an uncontracted additional sal-ary from working as a presidential adviser in Blatter’s fi rst term, from 1998-2002. He was paid the next month.

Five different courts and tribu-nals - including the FIFA ethics committee, the Court of Arbitra-tion for Sport and the European Court of Human Rights - have ruled against Platini since Swiss prosecutors revealed the allegation in September 2015.

Platini and Blatter, who were both banned by FIFA, deny wrong-doing and have not been charged by Swiss prosecutors. Both were questioned at FIFA headquarters fi ve years ago.

The offi ce of Switzerland’s at-torney general confi rmed the pro-ceedings against Platini and said “various hearings are planned at (our offi ces) in Bern during the third quarter of 2020.”

The prosecution offi ce said it was unable to give any timetable for how the case could develop.

“I have total confi dence in Swiss justice,” Platini said in a statement. “I am once again at their disposal and am absolutely serene.”

Platini’s four-year ban expired in October and he has been planning to return to the sport. He turned 65 last week. The long-standing allegation was revived two years after Platini said Swiss prosecutors told him he had been cleared of wrongdoing.

Also:MIAMI: CONCACAF will revise its World Cup qualifying format following FIFA’s decision to re-move September dates from the international match calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The hexagonal that determines the three direct qualifi ers for North and Central America and the Car-ribbean was scheduled to have two games each in September, October and November, followed by two matches apiece in March and Sep-tember of 2021.

The US was to have been in the six-nation hexagonal with Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica and either El Salavdor or Canada. The fi nal berth was to have been determined by FIFA rankings in June, but matches in March and June were scrapped because of the pathogen.

In this Friday, April 29, 2016 fi le photo, UEFA President Michel Platini leaves the inter-national Court of Arbitration for Sport, CAS, surrounded by media after a hearing in Laus-anne, Switzerland. Former UEFA president Michel Platini is formally under investigation in Switzerland for a $2 million payment he got from FIFA in

2011. (AP)

SOCCER

SOCCER