Monday 17 August 2020

27 Dhul-Hijja - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8352

Choose the network of heroes Enjoy the Internet

BUSINESS | 13 PENMAG | 16 SPORT | 20

Departing

Dovizioso wins

eventful Austrian

MotoGP

Classifieds

and Services

section

included

Aamal Cables

wins Kahramaa

contract worth

QR694m

Amir sends cable of condolences to US PresidentQNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani, and Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani sent yesterday cables of con-dolences to H E President Donald Trump of the friendly United States on the death of his brother Robert Trump.

Security preparations for Qatar 2022 continue uninterrupted onlineTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Security preparations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 have continued uninterrupted since the outbreak of COVID-19.

Since March, the Security Committee at the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) has delivered all necessary training for police officers and security personnel online. Video clips, 3D simula-tions and regular tests via its interactive online platform mean training has continued to be delivered despite social dis-tancing requirements, the SC said in a report on its website.

Among the subjects covered by security personnel during the pandemic are crowd man-agement, major incidents and

behavioural detect ion techniques.

A range of interactive

scenarios were also studied, while delegates also benefitted from professional development

modules. All the sessions were delivered via Microsoft Teams and included input from experts

based in Qatar, the UK, the Neth-erlands and Russia.

Major Fahad Saeed Al Subaey, the Security Commit-tee’s Head of Training & Devel-opment, said it was important to maintain consistency with regard to training in the lead-up to Qatar 2022.

“It is vital our preparations continue in relation to security training for all relevant stake-holders in the build-up to the World Cup,” said Al Subaey.

“We are proud of our work over the past few months, which is testament to our resilience and innovation. We look forward to delivering a programme which meets the very highest interna-tional standards and leaves a legacy for Qatar, the region and the world in 2022.” �P2

Two Qatar aircraft with aid arrive in BeirutIn implementation of the directives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, a shipment of urgent assistance provided by Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), arrived yesterday at Rafic Hariri International Airport on board two Amiri Air Force aircraft, accompanied by a relief team comprised of members and volunteers of QRCS, in support of the efforts to aid those affected by the Beirut Port explosion. The aid shipment was received by Ambassador of Qatar to Lebanon, H E Mohammed Hassan Al Jaber, and Director of QRCS Office in Lebanon, Dr. Nihal Al Hanafi, in presence of a representative of the Commander of the Lebanese Army along with a diplomatic delegation from the Qatari Embassy in Beirut.

QU’s Center for Young Scientists grabs two gold medals in iCan competitionTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Despite the crises and difficult circumstances the world is going through, the intensity of the challenge enhances the opportunities for innovation, generates creative ideas, strengthens creativity, and thinking outside the box becomes inevitable.

This is what prompted Qatar University Young Scien-tists Center to continue the march of progress and success, and to continue to face all chal-lenges and changes.

This was shown by the winning of two gold medals in the iCan 2020 Preliminaries organised by the Toronto Inter-national Society of Innovation & Advanced Skills (TISIAS), Canada.

Thus, the Center will be qualified with two innovative projects in the final compe-tition of the fifth International Invention Innovation Compe-tition in Canada, which will be held on August 29, 2020, through online communi-cation platforms.

The annual iCan compe-tition is the global gateway in Toronto to inventors and inno-vators around the world.

One of the most important goals of the competition is to envision the minds of people that ‘Anyone Can Invent’ is becoming a reality through this international event.

Realising the growth of their passion and commitment towards innovation is ulti-mately evolving the culture of iCAN alongside the universal innovation community.

The competition is also a great opportunity for inventors of all ages from all over the world to commu-nicate and network with creativity.

The announcement of this winning in the preliminaries out of 40 participating coun-tries came after submitting a detailed participation form gave details on several aspects of the two participating projects, such as the innovative features and characteristics, the impact and contribution of

the project, the potential and the future benefit. Emphasis was placed on the creative aspect and new additions that make any project innovative and valuable.

The first project in the cat-egory of building and con-structions is concerned with a research that was carried out with students from 'I am a researcher track' under the supervision of the Center. It is entitled Ductile Fiber Rein-forced Ultra-high Per-formance Concretes. �P2

Qatar rejectsallegations by Yemeni MinisterQNA — DOHA

The State of Qatar has expressed its great surprise at the Yemeni Information Min-ister Muammar Al Eryani’s repeated attacks against the State of Qatar in the context of the current conflict in brotherly Yemen, noting that “this repetition reflects the failure of Al Eryani, who left the tragedy of the brotherly Yemeni people and instead devoted himself to attack the State of Qatar.”

In a statement issued yes-terday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed its categorical rejection of the allegations contained in his media state-ments, stressing that they are completely unfounded.

Ashghal to hold ‘Supporting Local Manufacturers Forum’ next monthTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

As part of its efforts to support the local product through its projects, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) said that it will hold “Supporting Local Manufacturers Forum” in September.

The forum will be held with the participation of Ashghal’s international and local con-tractors implementing various projects, in addition to the qual-ified local factories. The forum will provide an important opportunity to the new and the qualified Qatari factories to learn about the new Ashghal projects and the needed materials.

The forum aims to encourage Qatari manufac-turers and allow them to par-ticipate effectively in projects implemented by Ashghal in roads and infrastructure development projects & building projects; drainage projects & treatment sewerage stations and expressway projects & beautification projects.

The forum also aims to encourage Qatari investors to establish new local factories, as part of the country’s efforts

to increase reliance on national factories.

The forum will provide an overview on Ashghal’s initia-tives in the field of supporting local products and Qatari man-ufacturers. It will provide a comprehensive overview of the locally manufactured materials that will be relied on to implement a number of new Ashghal projects, and the quan-tities required to be supplied from these materials, including road lighting poles, drainage pipes, precast manholes, bitumen, diesel, directional signs, thermal isolating mate-rials, traffic safety materials and other materials.

The Public Works Authority has signed 9 new contracts with Qatari companies in July 2020 for implementation of citizens’ sub-divisions roads and infra-structure projects at a total value of around QR3.6bn.

The projects will serve 5,111 residential plots in various areas throughout the country. These new projects will rely to a higher degree on local manufacturers to provide all materials that can be supplied locally. The value of the materials required to implement these projects is approximately QR1.35bn.

67 work sites closed for violations

QNA — DOHA

Field visits carried out by the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, represented in Labor Inspection Department, during the period from July 16 to August 13 resulted in the closure of 67 work sites for a period of three days because they violated the Ministerial Decision No. 16 of 2007. �P2

The subjects covered by security personnel during the pandemic are crowd management, major incidents and behavioural detection techniques.

A range of interactive scenarios were also studied, while delegates also benefitted from professional development modules.

All the sessions were delivered via Microsoft Teams and included input from experts based in Qatar, the UK, the Netherlands and Russia.

The annual iCan compe-tition is the global gateway in Toronto to inventors and innovators around the world. One of the most important goals of the competition is to envision the minds of people that ‘Anyone Can Invent’ is becoming a reality through this international event.

The Public Works Authority has signed 9 new contracts with Qatari companies in July 2020, for implementation of citizens’ sub-divisions infrastructure projects at a total value of around QR3.6bn.

QR3.6bnThe value of the materials required to implement these projects is approximately QR1.35bn.

QR1.35bn

02 MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020HOME

Ministry gives reopening approval for 10 more nurseries

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs has issued a fresh list of 10 nurseries, in addition to the 19 announced earlier, which have been approved by the Ministry to reopen following the preventive and precautionary measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The 10 nurseries which were added in the fresh list for reopening include Koala Nursery, Montezine Nursery, Encyclopaedic Child — Ezdan 23, Tiny Town, Little Mon-tessori Nursery, Bambinos, Dar Al Hanan Nursery, Modern Caring World Nursery, Malak Al Abrar Nursery, Royal Kids Nursery.

The Ministry had issued a list of 19 nurseries few days back which were approved to reopen. The Ministry said on its social media account that the said nurseries were approved after they met all conditions, preventive and precautionary measures (to curb the spread of COVID-19).

The lists of remaining nurseries for reopening will be published as soon as they will meet conditions, pre-ventive and precautionary measures.

Qatar condemns

explosion in

Mogadishu

QNA — DOHA

The State of Qatar voiced strong condemnation and denunciation of the explosion which took place in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, leaving dead and injuries.

In a statement issued yes-terday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the firm position of the State of Qatar on rejecting violence and ter-rorism regardless of motives and reasons.

The statement expressed condolences of the Qatar to the families of the victims and to the government and people of Somalia, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

Disinfection drive at Umm Salal MohamadCommercial streets, all commercial outlets, surrounding internal streets and residential areas are being disinfected at Umm Salal Mohamad under a campaign launched by the Services Affairs Department of Umm Salal Municipality as preventive and precautionary measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Ministry of Commerceand Industry records154 violations in JulyTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry carried out intensive inspection campaigns in July this year to ensure the compliance of suppliers (retail outlets) with laws and ministerial decisions related to consumer protection.

The inspection campaigns come within the framework of the Ministry’s efforts to monitor markets and commercial activ-ities in Qatar in a bid to control prices and uncover violations in order to protect consumers’ rights.

The inspection campaigns resulted in cracking down on 154 violations. Violations included failing to display all descriptive data relating to the product, failing to issue invoices in Arabic, offering promotions without obtaining the necessary licence, failing to comply with the man-datory price bulletin of vege-tables and fruits, displaying expired products, and failing to input the stock of strategic goods in the strategic inventory man-agement and control system, among other violations.

The penalties included administrative closures and fines ranging between QR5,000 and QR30,000, in line with the laws and decisions governing the work of the Consumer Pro-tection Department.

The highest 37 violations registered in July were related to offering promotions without obtaining the necessary licence from the concerned department followed by 27 violations failing to note all descriptive data relating to the product.

As many as 19 violations were related to failing to issue invoices in Arabic and 17 viola-tions were about expired products.

A total of 9 violations were pertaining to failing to comply with public health and safety requirements.

Under failing to comply with the mandatory price bul-letin of vegetables and fruits provision, eight violations were recorded. Failing to display prices records seven violations.

As many as five violations were related to false or mis-leading product display, description and advertising.

Authorities at the Ministry received a number of com-plaints in July and took the nec-essary measures to address them.

The Ministry stressed that it will not tolerate any viola-tions of the Consumer Pro-tection Law and its regulations and will intensify its inspection campaigns to crackdown on violations.

The Ministry said it will refer those who violate laws and ministerial decisions gov-erning the work of the department to competent authorities who will, in turn, take appropriate action against the perpetrators in order to protect consumer rights.

The Ministry urged all con-sumers to report to it when they come across violations, infringements and process complaints and suggestions.

Georgetown alumnus applies to COVID-19 Humanitarian Data ProjectTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

A graduate of QF partner Georgetown University in Qatar, Obadah Khaled Diab, is working to provide the critical data needed to support humanitarian efforts and help save lives in vulnerable communities impacted by the global pandemic through the United Nations Office for the Coor-dination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA).

Obadah is a member of the Data Partnerships Team at OCHA’s Centre for Humani-tarian Data, which is com-mitted to increasing the use and impact of data in the humanitarian sector.

As a data manager working with a remote team, Obadah is tasked with researching and obtaining

external datasets from partner organisations for the COVID-19 pandemic page on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX). His team finds critical data on food insecurity and malnutrition r a t e s , t r a n s p o r t a t i o n

infrastructure and mobility routes, and medical and edu-cational facilities in countries where the UN has launched Humanitarian Response Plans, among others. The team has compiled over seventy datasets related to the pandemic.

Access to open and timely data about the COVID-19 pan-demic is critical for under-standing the crisis and for developing any relief effort, explained Obadah.

“The people who are undertaking a humanitarian response need data to make informed and responsible

decisions. Before you can help, you have to understand the needs of the people who are affected. Data paints the clearest picture of that.”

HDX is an open platform for sharing data across crises and organisations. Most recently, HDX launched the COVID-19 Map Explorer, which brings together the datasets into a useful digital tool to help decision-makers prioritise resources in a time of unprecedented need.

For Obadah, who graduated from GU-Q in 2018 with a degree in International Eco-nomics, working on the

pandemic page has allowed him to put what he learned as a student into practice.

“My degree from GU-Q taught me three things: to be an informed global citizen, to have a passion for service to others, and most importantly, to take action on my values, and not merely being a bystander to the events that are shaping our present, and our future.”

Obadah began his work at the UN as an intern while still a student where he developed a case study on education in emergencies with a focus on Syria, which was subse-quently published in a report by the UN. “At a Qatar Foun-dation graduation, I heard the phrase ‘live for a cause greater than yourself.’ That’s what I have been trying to do, and what I hope to continue doing.”

Obadah Khaled Diab.

Ministry of Justice organises training course for first batch of Qatari real estate brokersQNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Justice’s Legal and Judicial Studies Centre has launched the specialised training course for the first batch of Qatari real estate brokers, within the framework of licensing proce-dures under the provisions of Law No. 22 of 2017 regulating real estate brokerage.

The course aims to provide participants with the information and skills necessary to implement the provisions gov-erning real estate brokerage in Qatari law, by explaining the general provisions of real estate brokerage and the competent authority to regulate and monitor them.

The course also aims to clarify the provisions for licensing the practice of real estate brokerage and licensing procedures, define the rights and obligations of the real estate broker and the rules for his dis-ciplinary and criminal account-ability, explain the general staff of brokerage or mediation con-tracts and their provisions, and

the broker’s obligations in the field of combating money laun-dering and terrorist financing.

In order to deepen the par-ticipants understanding of the general objectives of the course, the course was divided into six axes, which were based in their entirety on the provisions of Law No. 22 of 2017 regulating real estate brokerage, the Qatari companies law promulgated by Law No. 11 of 2015, Law No. 6 of 2014 regulating real estate development, and civil code law issued by Law No. 22 of 2004, and the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing law promulgated by Law No. 20 of

2019.The organisation of the

course comes within the framework of the procedures initiated by the real estate bro-kerage affairs department at the Ministry of Justice to promote the real estate brokerage pro-fession and to regulate the granting of licenses in the local market.

The department welcomes all those with experience and those wishing to register in the mediation profession through the Ministry’s website, in order to take advantage of the facil-ities that have been introduced under the new real estate bro-kerage law.

The new law stipulates the need for the broker to adhere to a set of procedures in transac-tions such as honesty, trust, con-fidentiality, and professionalism, and to ensure the interest of two parties and avoid any personal interests, while completing all data related to the property and maintaining the integrity of doc-uments submitted by both parties.

The course aims to provide participants with the information and skills necessary to implement the provisions governing real estate brokerage in Qatari law.

The Ministry said it will refer those who violate laws and ministerial decisions governing the work of the department to competent authorities who will, in turn, take appropriate action against the perpetrators in order to protect consumer rights.

FROM PAGE 1

Major Abdul Rahman Hamad Al Suwaidi, Deputy Head of Training & Devel-opment, said: “The pandemic has presented a lot of chal-lenges but through the optimal use of distance learning plat-forms, we have seamlessly connected with our learners and ensured the continuation of our training and development.

"The last few months have broadened our horizons and signal a bright future in the fields of training and devel-opment operations.”

The Security Committee’s Training & Development Department will continue to maintain precautionary measures as advised by the State of Qatar for as long as necessary. The usual training process will be implemented as soon as it is safe to do so.

FROM PAGE 1

The project aims to strengthen the properties of concrete, make it more effective and sustainable, and reduce the rate of corrosion by adding fibers to it, which contributes positively to improving the infrastructure and reducing the economic cost of raw materials and maintenance.

As for the second project in the category of Science and Engineering, it is concerned

with the innovative educa-tional methods followed by the Qatar University Young Sci-entists Center in all its pro-grams and initiatives.

The methodology that the center follows in attracting young people to science, encouraging them to research and innovation, and providing an ideal environment was explained, which allowed stu-dents of all school levels to think creatively.

Dr. Noora Al Thani, Director of the Qatar Univer-sity’s Young Scientists Center, said, “Difficulties push people to employ their maximum cre-ative potential, and that us winning two gold awards indi-cates that we are on the right path. We bear the responsi-bility of developing and upgrading our young gener-ation and enabling them to compete with their counter-parts globally.”

FROM PAGE 1

Most of the violating com-panies work in the contracting sector in different areas of the country.

The Ministry inspectors has carried out a number of intensive inspection campaigns during the past days, with the aim of ensuring compliance by com-panies operating in the country with Ministerial Decision No. 16 of 2007 determining working hours in exposed/outdoor work-places during the summer. The Ministerial Decision No. 16 of 2007 bans work after 11:30 AM during the morning, while work should begin from 3:00 PM during the evening during the

period from June 15, to August 31 every year.

The decision obliges com-panies and institutions that have workplaces under direct sunlight to set a schedule specifying the daily working hours in accordance with the provisions of the decision, a visible place that is easy for all workers to see and for the Ministry inspectors to observe during their inspection visits to the work-place, in addition to providing air-conditioned spaces for the workers’ comfort, providing chilled drinking water and light clothing, and giving them rest periods at different times in order to protect them from the risk of thermal stress. Security preparations

for Qatar 2022

continue online

QU’s Center for Young Scientists grabs two gold medals in iCan competition

67 work sites closed for violations

The lists of remaining nurseries for reopening will be published as soon as they will meet conditions, preventive and precautionary measures.

Obadah is a member of the Data Partnerships Team at OCHA’s Centre for Humanitarian Data, which is committed to increasing the use and impact of data in the humanitarian sector.

FAJR SUNRISE 03.47 am 05.08 am

W A L R U WA I S : 33o↗ 36o W A L K H O R : 29o↗ 43o W D U K H A N : 33o↗ 39o W WA K R A H : 29o↗ 45o W M E S A I E E D 29o↗ 45o W A B U S A M R A 30o↗ 39o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 15:31 – 00:00 LOW TIDE 07:38–23:21

Very hot daytime with scattered clouds and slight dust to blowing dust at some places at times.

Minimum Maximum33oC 44oC

ZUHR

MAGHRIB

11.38 am06.09 pm

ASR

ISHA

03.07 pm07.39 pm

03MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020 HOME

HBKU opens new academic year as it marks 10th anniversaryFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) marked the commencement of Academic Year 2020-2021 yesterday, coinciding with the university’s 10th anniversary milestone.

A virtual event ‘Start to Aca-demic Year 2020-2021’ was held under the theme Hayakom at HBKU for new and returning students. More than 360 new students were enrolled to HBKU’s degree programmes, which are tailored to address the most in-demand current and future skills of local and international employment markets.

The event set a tone for the returning and incoming student, faculty and staff members, who came together for a full day of informative sessions, which introduced them to HBKU’s framework as well as the insti-tution’s objectives for the upcoming year.

“We are proud to welcome all our students to the start of a new, exciting and hopeful aca-demic year. Since its founding 10 years ago, HBKU has

remained steady in its imag-ining of the world and people of tomorrow. Our resolute approach in turn reflects our commitment to innovation in education and research, as well as our dedication to finding novel solutions for the chal-lenges facing Qatar and the

world,” said Dr. Ahmad MHasnah, HBKU President.

A virtual tour of HBKU’s col-leges, research institutes and facilities, as well as other important locations on the Edu-cation City campus was also held for the new students.

“For ten years, HBKU has provided its students with a wealth of resources and cutting-edge facilities to complement their academic endeavors. Our virtual tour and webinars are merely an extension of this commitment and demonstrate that a mult icultural

and integrated educational environment is also possible online,” said Maryam Hamad Al Mannai, vice-president of student affairs at HBKU.

Among the new students enrolled for the 2020-2021 Aca-demic year, 22 percent are Qatari nationals.

“Studying within the field of public policy will help enhance my career as it will teach me the mechanisms for developing national-level policies as well as learning how to analyze policy papers,” Ghadir Jassim, a new Qatari student at College

of Public Policy, told The Peninsula.

At present he works as a researcher and he earned the bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. “I am a fan of new challenges and I believe HBKU and College of Public Policy will further my ability to enhance my skills and nurture my talent,” said Jassim.

The newly enrolled students at HBKU comprise 48 nationalities.

“I choose HBKU because it is a university of international standards. HBKU offers very

high quality education, and, as a master’s student, I needed to find the best academic insti-tution to fulfill my ambitions and achieve my goals. HBKU was the go-to destination for my efforts,” said Reham Almaktari, a new Yemani student at College of Human-ities and Social Sciences.

She expressed hope that the Master of Arts in Digital Human-ities and Societies at the College of Humanities and Social Sci-ences will help her elevate my academic achievements and career.

Not so new to Qatar, Reham first visited Qatar in 2019 to participate in the MENA Youth Capacity building in Humani-tarian Action (MYCHA) internship and for the WISE conference.

This year, several new faculty members from diverse academic backgrounds will be joining different colleges across the University. More than 90 faculty members currently work across six colleges and three research institutes to advance HBKU’s remit of deliv-ering a globally relevant edu-cational experience.

Dr. Ahmad Hasnah; Maryam Hamad Al Mannai and Reham Almaktari

QA announces partnership with Club Africain of TunisiaTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Airways has announced that it has signed a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Club Africain of Tunisia, further growing its global sporting partnerships portfolio.

This agreement will see the airline’s logo proudly placed on the club’s football, handball and basketball teams’ playing jerseys from the 2020/21 season until the end of the 2023/24 season. Club Africain competes in the Tunisian Ligue Profes-sionnelle 1 and has established itself as one of the most popular football clubs in Tunisia.

Club Africain’s football team has won 13 Tunisian League titles, 13 Tunisian Cups and three Tunisian Super Cups and is famous for being the first Tunisian Club to win an inter-national trophy, when they won the Maghreb Cup in 1971.

Qatar Airways Senior Vice President, Marketing and Cor-porate Communications, Salam Al Shawa, said: “We are excited to announce this new part-nership, which will see Qatar Airways become the main shirt sponsor of Club Africain from the 2020/21season. We are contin-ually striving to boost our global

sporting sponsorship portfolio, and this partnership, the first with any African sporting team, is just one more example of our dedication to the sports sector and our belief in the power of sport to bring people together.”

“We look forward to working and engaging with the club and its fans to help make a real difference through this exciting new partnership. Sport is a key pillar of the long-term vision of the State of Qatar, and as Qatar’s national carrier, we welcome the opportunity to use sport as a means for youth development here in Qatar and around the world.”

Club African Chairman, Abdulessalem Al Younsi said: “Upon celebrating the cen-tenary anniversary of Club Africain, we are delighted to announce that the club has reached a four-year part-nership with Qatar Airways. Club Africain is elated to be a part of the major group of inter-national teams that are

partnered with and sponsored by Qatar Airways.”

“Club Africain is widely known as the club of the people and the most popular club in Tunisia, and was the first to achieve an international trophy amongst its local competitors. The partnership between Club Africain and Qatar Airways is beneficial to the club, adminis-tration, players, and most impor-tantly the fans; as it motivates and generates an opportunity for the club to compete at a higher level. This four-year partnership is a key component in Club Afri-cain’s progression.”

Qatar Airways has strong ties with Tunisia, having operated flights to the capital Tunis since 2005. While COVID-19 forced the airline to temporarily suspend services, Tunis was one of the airline’s first African des-tinations to resume flights with the national carrier of the State of Qatar currently operating three weekly flights.

Club Africain joins Paris St. Germain, AS Roma, Boca Juniors, FC Bayern München, K.A.S. Eupen and Al Sadd SC in Qatar Airways’ global football spon-sorship portfolio. In addition, Qatar Airways is also the Official Airline Partner of FIFA.

Qatar Embassy provides medical assistance to KenyaThe Embassy of the State of Qatar to the Republic of Kenya has provided medical aid offered by Qatar Charity to help Kenya confront the coronavirus pandemic. The aid was received by Chief Administrative Secretary of the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Babu Namwamba, from Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Republic of Kenya, H E Jabr bin Ali Al Dossari, during an official ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

MoPH: 289 more

recover; 271

new cases THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced the registration of 271 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country. Another 289 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 111,794.

All new cases have been introduced to isolation and are receiving necessary healthcare according to their health status. In addition, the Ministry has announced one new death of a person aged 74 who was receiving necessary medical care.

The Ministry further said that measures to tackle COVID-19 in Qatar have suc-ceeded in flattening the curve and limiting the spread of the virus. The number of daily new cases and hospital admissions has gradually declined over the past few weeks.

However, the Ministry has emphasised on the importance of taking precautions against COVID-19. “Unless we follow all precautionary measures, we may experience a second wave of the virus and see numbers increasing — there are already signs of this happening in other countries. Now more than ever, we must be careful and protect the most vulnerable.”

“We are proud to welcome all our students to the start of a new, exciting and hopeful academic year. Since its founding 10 years ago, HBKU has remained steady in its imagining of the world and people of tomorrow,” said Dr. Ahmad Hasnah.

Women of fashion at Katara virtual exhibition

RAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

Glamorous women dressed in flambouyant outfits exude inner strength and power in “Femmes à la mode” — the latest virtual exhibition launched yesterday by the Cultural Village Foun-dation-Katara.

In creating her 12 paintings on show, Indian artist Surabhi draws inspiration from her innate love for fashion and the important role fashion plays in women’s life.

“Women have always been a focal point in my artwork. The idea of painting them in fash-ionable outfits stems from my own love for fashion. When a woman feels attractive and

beautiful it exudes her mood,” she said.

The concepts of fashion and style and women’s strength and independence coalesce well as depicted by the con-temporary figurative painter in her art.

“The women I portray are women who are strong and independent, who know what they want and desire to define their own perspective and create their own narrative through their lifestyle, fashion forming an important com-ponent of this narrative,” she explained.

Surabhi began her artistic journey at a tender age of three. She has Bachelors and Masters degree in Fine Arts major in

Painting and has been in Qatar for the past six years.

Last year, Surabhi marked her first exhibition in Katara in which her paintings were showcased alongside works by prominent Qatari artist Ebtesam Al Saffar. The exhi-bition titled “Portraits” was organised in line with the cel-ebration of Qatar-India 2019 Year of Culture.

“Femmes à la mode” is the eighth virtual exhibition pre-sented by Katara. It follows “Trace” featuring abstract paintings by Qatari artist Jawaher Al Mannai inspired by carvings found in archaelogical sites north of Qatar.

Previously, Katara also launched virtual exhibitions

including “The Unreachable Mirage” displaying 20 paintings by Qatari artist Masoud Al Bulushi which depict portraits of women wearing traditional face covering which is the batoola, “Heritage” featuring works by Hassan Bu Jassoum reflecting important aspects of Qatari culture and heritage, and “Patches” by Syrian contem-porary artist Hadi Qasous showcasing 16 paintings in which he integrates calligraphy into stunning colours and shapes.

Katara’s ongoing virtual exhibitions also include “Culture Collision” by Hassan Taleb Alsalat which displays 14 interesting artworks that place famous cartoon characters in a

the Gulf setting in which familiar objects in the region are depicted in the paintings, “The Result” by Fatima Al Nuaimi which displays 19 acrylic on canvas works which reflect both unanticipated and foreseen results combined in one artwork and “Al Taybeen” by Ali Dasmal Al Kuwari which focuses on 17 realist paintings depicting traditional objects and Qatari architecture.

With a number of exciting features, these exhibitions, which can be accessed via Katara’s website until end of the year, make it possible for people to see artworks up close anytime as if they were per-sonally visiting Katara’s galleries.

Paintings by Indian artist Surabhi on show at “Femmes à la mode” virtual exhibition launched yesterday by Katara.

04 MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020HOME

Qatar Debate Center concludes second Kuwaiti Training Debate ForumTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The second training forum for debate 2020 has concluded with forming an organisational partnership between the Qatar Debate Center and the Kuwaiti National Debating Team, recently.

The forum was held in the first week of August and saw around 150 participants within and outside Kuwait. It was held under the media sponsorship of the Youth News Network and logistical partnership with the Schools Debating Club.

The forum provided various training workshops at different levels for the debaters and arbi-trators, as well as the qualifi-cation of a group of debate

trainers, using training experi-ences at the local and interna-tional levels. These workshops were held on the Zoom elec-tronic platform due to the current conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The trainer and general supervisor of the forum, Saad Al Assad at Qatar Debate Center said that the forum provided a distinctive professional training environment that represents a safe arena for dialogue and the exchange of ideas and opinions.

“This was achieved through providing training workshops, knowledge and skills, and prac-tical debates at various levels targeting civil society and those interested in the field of debate. The workshops were led by

local and international training competencies, punctuated by practical applications, real effective participation, and an opportunity for dialogue with trainers and workers in the field of debate and benefit from their experiences and knowledge treasures,” said Al Assad.

He also said that the debates took place using the British Par-liament approach, and it is a very useful system for students, allowing students to participate in more than one situation. This is in addition to the feedback, creative contests and daily briefings provided by each pan-elist after each workshop and debate.

This forum is considered a training start for a coming

season full of debating cham-pionships and other events.

The General Coordinator of the Forum and a member of the National Debating Team in Kuwait, Dana Al Khashan said: “After the success of the first Training Debating Forum, we were excited to hold the second edition of it in an

organisational partnership with the Qatar Debate Center, the largest supporter of efforts to spread the culture of debate and the art of dialogue in the world, in addition to the logis-tical partner, which is the Schools Debating Club in Kuwait.”

R e f e r r i n g t o t h e

importance of the forum, Khashan said: “We as a human society tend to debate almost everything and as a debating community. We face thought with thought and argument with argument and reason with reason as a principle, and wherever there is an issue, debate exists.”

Participants during the forum via zoom electronic platform.

A new chapter for QF partner, Northwestern QatarTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Northwestern University in Qatar will begin its new academic year with a colloquium for faculty and staff. It will include a panel on publishing academic research during a pandemic and a session where Dean Marwan M Kraidy will outline his strategic prior-ities for the school.

This will be Kraidy’s first year as Dean and CEO at Northwestern Qatar. An authority on Arab media and a global communication scholar, he recently dis-cussed the changes in the media land-scape and his research agenda in an interview for the school’s website.

The popularity of media and com-munication studies, Kraidy noted, is taking place during an uncertain job market. “If you look at any university, what you’ll see is that the number of majors in media and communication is quite high, compared to a lot of other disciplines.”

This popularity, he noted, means that students today need to be profi-cient in the skills necessary to succeed in a digital world, including writing well, speaking persuasively, thinking critically, and navigating multiple media platforms. “You cannot be over-specialised,” he said. “You need to learn to be nimble, you need to learn to be open to learning new things, which we did not think about as much before.”

On his research agenda

for Northwestern Qatar, Kraidy emphasised three central components: using Qatar-based research as a prism on global affairs, fostering a culture of interdisciplinarity, and ensuring that faculty grants and fellowships focus on original contributions to knowledge, and are only the beginning of “active and engaged scholarship.”

In the week leading up to the start of the 2020-21 academic year, the school will host a colloquium that will include presentations by Mary C. Francis, a national leader in the uni-versity press community and the director of the University of Pennsyl-vania Press, and Zizi Papacharissi, professor and head of the Communi-cation Department at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Francis and

Papacharissi will discuss with Kraidy the challenges facing academic pub-lishing in the midst of a global pan-demic. Another panel will highlight Northwestern Qatar faculty research and creative activities.

Kraidy, who grew up in Lebanon, is returning to the Middle East after several decades in the United States. “What excites me is that my two worlds are now coming together. For years I have been a US based scholar who did research on and in the Arab world and had emotional and his-torical connections to it,” Kraidy said. “Now I’m part of a world-class US uni-versity, but I work and live in the region, and I’m very excited about that because it gives me more accountability.”

The forum provided various training workshops at different levels for the debaters and arbitrators, as well as the qualification of a group of debate trainers, using training experiences at the local and international levels.

Arab doctoral students in Western universities take part in distance online sessions THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Arab doctoral students in Western universities participated in distance online sessions in the Arab Graduate Students Conference, via Zoom video links and live streaming on the social media platforms of the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, recently.

On the second day of the con-ference proceeding were on two tracks as ‘Conflict and Post-Conflict Studies’ and ‘Economics and Finance.’

On the second day of the con-ference, Nanar Hawach reviewed his paper entitled ‘Reexamining Strategies of Resilience: A Study of Regime Resil-ience and Non-State Militias in the Syrian Civil War’. With the help of a theoretical framework drawing upon the contributions of Schleicht, Foucault, Weber, and Eisenstadt, Hawash examined the state’s function and monopoly on violence as seen in the case of the civil war in Syria, high-lighting the sensitivity of handing over the force of violence, traditionally

inherent in the function and sover-eignty of the state, to dependent sup-porting militias.

Within the same track, Salah Sharief presented his paper entitled ‘The Dehumanisation of Drone

Warfare,’ in which he addressed the contribution of the technology of drone warfare to transforming the war from conflict limited to specific times and geographical locations to one extended over vast areas.

In the Economy and Finance track, Mustafa Nourallah presented his paper entitled ‘Understanding Young Indi-viduals’ Initial Trust in Non-Sovereign Digital Currency.’

The Economics and Finance track continued on the third day of the con-ference with researcher Mohammad Al Asadi presenting his paper entitled ‘Financing Reconstruction in Conflict-Affected Countries’.

Amina Idrissi Chouahdi presented her paper entitled ‘Conditions for Applying International Accounting Standards in the Public Sector: a Com-parative Study of Morocco and Belgium’.

Researcher Anas Fassih concluded work on the track with his paper ‘Transboundary Influences on Framing Renewable Energy Policies in the Middle East and North Africa: A Com-parison between Morocco and the United Arab Emirates’.

In the Political Theory track, researcher Nada Berrada tackled “Young People Getting By: Contextu-alising Everyday Practices of Agency

among Moroccan Youth,” in which she showed the influence of Western media and political discourse on the youth of the Middle East and North Africa after 2011.

The Fourth Day of the conference contained two tracks, on Palestine Studies and Historical Studies. In Pal-estine Studies, Khaled Anabtawi pre-sented his paper “Sectarian Space and the Controversy of Settler Colonialism in 1948 Occupied Palestine”.

In the History track, Said El Ghazi El Imlahi discussed his paper entitled ‘Religious Policy of the Spanish Pro-tectorate System in Northern Morocco’.

The Arab Centre will continue to present this online conference’s work In an interactive framework through social media and digital access plat-forms over the coming days, com-pleting presentations of the partici-pating students’ papers and including discussions of these presentations by an elite academic group of professors from the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies and Arab Centre researchers.

A view of distance online sessions in the Arab Graduate Students Conference for the second day on August 10, 2020, via Zoom video.

Ooredoo opens New Express Shop in Al RuwaisTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar’s leading telecommunications operator, Ooredoo has further extended its already expansive retail network with the opening of a new Ooredoo Express shop in Al Ruwais. The new shop is located at 270 Al Areesh Road, Alshamal, within Tele-graph Telecom. Customers will be able to access all the retail services they expect to find across its network of shops — such as choosing and signing up for new pre and postpaid packs, buying devices, subscribing to Ooredoo tv and much more.

They will also find a new devices section where they will be able to browse and experience the latest mobile and broadband devices and enjoy great pro-motions and prices.

Sabah Rabiah Al Kuwari, Director PR at Ooredoo, said: “While we have worked hard to ensure our customers have been able to access our products and services digitally during the ongoing pandemic situation, we recognise being able to physically visit a shop is important to some customers.”

“As lockdown restrictions eased, and with complete customer satis-faction as our focus, we looked at where we could improve the retail network and offer our customers additional loca-tions at which they can visit us. We look forward to helping them with all their telecommunications needs at the new shop very soon,” Al Kuwari added.

The new Express shop is open from 9am to 1pm and 4pm to 10pm Saturday to Thursday, and from 2pm to 10pm on Fridays.

The Library at Northwestern University in Qatar

Dolphin Energy supports Qatar Society for Rehabilitation of Special NeedsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

In a move consistent with Dolphin Energy’s Corporate Social Responsi-bility commitments, the company is supporting Qatar Society for Rehabil-itation of Special Needs, the local humanitarian institution that aims to support and develop the skills and capabilities of people with different disabilities.

Commenting on the company’s support, Dolphin Energy’s General Manager - Qatar, Hassan Al Emadi (pictured), said: “We are very proud and pleased to support charitable pro-grammes that provide a better life for children with special needs.”

He said that partnerships such as the one we enjoy with the Qatar Society for Rehabilitation of Special Needs are so important because they provide opportunities to collaborate in a way that helps the children expand

their horizons, develop their capabil-ities and maximize their integration into society.

“Providing high levels of health, social care and social rehabilitation services is helping the children achieve their dreams and aspirations and it is very moving to see the positive changes and happiness on their faces. I would like to thank the Society for their

continuous efforts, dedication and support,” said Al Emadi.

Talib Abdullah Afifa — Member of the Board of Directors of the Qatar Society for the Rehabilitation of People with Special Needs — commended Dolphin Energy and their keenness to cooperate with the Association and contribute to the permanent care of children with disabilities.

He expressed his thanks and grat-itude for the generous contribution, pointing out that the value of the support will be directed to purchasing medical and prosthetic devices, the most important project for the associ-ation. The medical and prosthetic devices include electric wheelchairs, electric medical beds, wheelchairs with special specifications for severe motor disabilities, medical glasses, hearing aids, laptops for people with visual and motor disabilities and other auxiliary devices.

05MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020 MIDDLE EAST

Lebanon President calls probe into Beirut blast ‘complex’

AP — BEIRUT

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said the probe into this month’s devastating blast in Beirut is “very complex” and would not be finished quickly.

Responding to calls that he step down, Aoun told French TV station BFMTV that it would be “impossible” because it would create a power vacuum. The interview, his first with foreign media since the August 4 blast, aired late on Saturday.

The cause of the fire that ignited nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut’s port remains unclear. Documents have emerged showing that the country’s top leadership, including Aoun, and security officials were aware of the

chemicals that had been stored there for years.

The blast killed 180 people and wounded more than 6,000. At least 30 people are still missing.

Aoun said the probe is divided into three parts. The first aims to determine the circumstances surrounding the cargo, the second where it came from and who shipped it and the third to find who was responsible for handling and securing it.

“We had the determi-nation to reach conclusions quickly, but we found out that the issues are very complex and require time,” said Aoun.

When asked about what measures he took when he learned of the explosives in July, Aoun said the infor-mation came to him “very

late,” but his military adviser was reassured that those with direct responsibility were handling the matter.

“They all were informed,” Aoun said, adding that he made sure those who could take measures to secure the area were in the loop.

Aoun said the FBI and French investigators were helping because “they, more than us, have the capability and ability to find out the details of what got the ship here, what is the source and who owns it.”

Aoun, who is backed by the powerful Hezbollah militia, said he asked for sat-ellite images to determine if there was an air raid, saying he hasn’t ruled out the possi-bility of a foreign missile attack.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has denied his group has any role in the explosion and said any international probe would likely seek to clear Israel of responsibility in the port explosion, if it had a hand.

Israel has denied

involvement and so far no evi-dence has emerged to suggest otherwise.

Many Lebanese want the probe taken out of the hands of their government, fearing that bickering among the long-entrenched political factions, notorious for corruption, won’t allow any results to come to light that are damaging to their leadership.

Popular anger has swelled over the ruling elite’s cor-ruption, mismanagement and political uncertainty. Under pressure, Lebanon’s gov-ernment, also backed by Hez-bollah and allies, resigned August 10. For now, there are no formal consultations underway on who will replace Hassan Diab as prime minister and no likely candidate has emerged.

Asked about the public anger, Aoun said he shares the rage.

“They call me the father of the people,” he said. “I am one of them.”

But Aoun said “it is impos-sible” for him to step down because it would create a power vacuum. He also said the moment is not right to hold presidential elections.

“The political and popular atmosphere can’t take new

elections before restoring calm,” he said. “They would be emotional, and not a true rep-resentation of the people.” Aoun was elected in 2016, breaking more than two years of deadlock in Lebanon, which r e m a i n e d w i t h o u t a president.

In light of last week’s deal establishing full diplomatic relations between the Israel and United Arab Emirates, Aoun didn’t rule out that Lebanon may one day make peace with Israel as well, once its unresolved issues were solved.

Asked if Lebanon too would reach a peace deal, he replied: “It depends.” “We have problems with Israel that we need to solve first,” Aoun said.

Lebanon and Israel are technically still at war, and Hezbollah has engaged in occasional clashes along the border. Hezbollah and Israel last engaged in a full-fledged conflict in a 50-day war in the summer of 2006.

The UAE and Israel opened diplomatic ties as part of a deal brokered by the US that required Israel to halt its con-tentious plan to annex West Bank land sought by the Pal-estinians for a future state.

Lebanon President Michel Aoun speaks during a broadcast on BFM TV channel, in Beirut, yesterday.

Trump says may not take partin Putin-backed Iran summitREUTERS — BEDMINSTER, NJ

US President Donald Trump on Saturday all but dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call for a summit of world leaders to discuss Iran, saying he probably would not participate.

During a news conference at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, Trump also said he intended to move next week to trigger a “snapback” of sanc-tions on Iran at the United Nations.

“We’ll be doing a snapback,” Trump told reporters one day after the UN Security Council rejected a US bid to extend a

UN arms embargo on Iran. “You’ll be watching it next week.”

The United States has threatened to trigger a return of all UN sanctions on Iran using a provision in a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, known as snapback, even though Trump abandoned the accord in 2018. Diplomats have said the United States would face a tough, messy battle in any such move.

The United States lost its bid on Friday to extend the UN arms embargo after Putin pro-posed a summit of world leaders to avoid “confron-tation” over the American

“snapback” threat.“Probably not,” Trump said

when asked whether he would participate in the Putin-backed summit.

In the Security Council vote, Russia and China opposed extending the weapons ban, which is due to expire in October. Eleven members abstained, including France, Germany and Britain, while the United States and the Dominican Republic were the only yes votes.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday the United States suffered a humil-iating defeat at the Security Council.

President Michel Aoun said the probe is divided into three parts. The first aims to determine the circumstances surrounding the cargo, the second where it came from and who shipped it and the third to find who was responsible for handling and securing it. “We had the determination to reach conclusions quickly, but we found out that the issues are very complex and require time,” said Aoun.

Israeli army launches new air strikes against Hamas positions in GazaAFP — GAZA CITY

Israel’s army launched new air strikes yesterday against Hamas positions in Gaza and closed the fishing zone around the Pales-tinian enclave in response to rockets and firebombs sent into Israeli territory.

The Israeli measures came after a week of heightened ten-sions, including clashes on Sat-urday evening along the Gaza-Israeli border, the army said.

Dozens of Palestinian “rioters burned tyres, hurled explosive devices and grenades towards the security fence and attempted to approach it,” an Israeli army statement said.

Long simmering Palestinian anger has flared further since Israel and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday agreed to normalise relations, a move Pal-estinians saw as a betrayal of their cause by the Gulf country.

In the days before the UAE

deal was announced, Israel had carried out repeated night-time strikes on targets linked to the Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gaza.

The army said the strikes were in response to makeshift firebombs attached to balloons and kites sent into southern Israel, causing thousands of fires. Israel said there were 19 such Palestinians attacks on Sat-urday alone, in addition to two rockets fired from Gaza, which were intercepted by its Iron Dome defence system.

Israel responded with strikes on several Hamas targets including “a military compound used to store rocket ammu-nition,” the army said.

Defence minister and alternate prime minister Benny Gantz charged that Hamas’s refusal to stop the attacks is pre-venting Gazans from living “in dignity and security”.

If Sderot, the southern Israel

town most affected by the balloon attacks, “isn’t quiet, then Gaza won’t be either,” Gantz said. Sderot mayor Alon Davidi said that Israel needed to deal forcefully with “terrorists... who try to murder us and our children”.

But a durable solution also required providing better eco-nomic opportunities “to help civilians on both sides,” including Palestinians in Gaza, Davidi said. Following attacks earlier this week, Israel on Wednesday slashed Gaza’s per-mitted coastal fishing zone from 15 nautical miles to eight, a punitive move often used by the Jewish state in response to Gaza unrest. After Saturday’s clashes and rocket fire, Israel’s military decided “to entirely shut down the fishing zone of the Gaza Strip, immediately and until further notice, starting morning (Sunday),” a military statement said.

Smoke and flames rise after Israeli air strikes over Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, yesterday.

Yemeni Al Qaeda execute dentist for ‘spying’AFP — DUBAI

Al Qaeda militants in war-torn Yemen executed a dentist accused of spying for the government and guiding US drone strikes targeting extremists, a local official said yesterday.

The militants shot Motthar Al Youssoufi, then crucified his corpse and left it outside his health centre, the official told said on condition of anonymity.

The execution took place on Saturday in Somaa, a district of Yemen’s central Al Baida

province, the official added.Al Qaeda in the Arabian

Peninsula (AQAP), which is active in Yemen, is considered by the United States as the radical group’s most dangerous branch.

The US has carried out a long-running drone campaign in Yemen.

The extremist group has thrived in the chaos of years of civil war between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and Shia rebels who control the capital.

An AQAP video contained -- according to the organisation

-- a “confession” by the dentist to having worked with gov-ernment security services, and to having placed microchips to guide US missile strikes.

AQAP operates in the Al Baida province — which is under nominal government control -- after retreating from positions in the south and east of the country, the local official added.

The group plans to execute another Yemeni accused of spying, and is holding five more men and seven women also accused of espionage, the official said.

06 MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Turkey slams Biden’s criticism of ErdoganAFP — ISTANBUL

Turkey yesterday condemned remarks made by US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden criticising President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and calling for support for the Turkish leader’s opponents.

Biden made the comments in an interview filmed by the New York Times in December but a video of the remarks only appeared on Saturday before going viral on social media.

Asked about Erdogan, Biden described the Turkish president as an “autocrat”, criticised his policy towards the Kurds and advocated supporting the Turkish opposition.

“What I think we should be doing is taking a very different approach to him now, making it clear that we support opposition leadership,” Biden said.

He said it was necessary to “embolden” Erdogan’s rivals to allow them “to take on and defeat Erdogan. Not by a coup, not by a coup, but by the elec-toral process.” The comments did not provoke much reaction when they were published in the New York Times in January, but the video of the interview triggered an angry response from Turkey.

“The analysis of Turkey by @JoeBiden is based on pure igno-rance, arrogance and hypocrisy,” Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tweeted.

“The days of ordering Turkey around are over. But if you still think you can try, be our guest. You will pay the price.” Biden’s statements also embarrassed Erdogan’s opponents, who the Turkish government regularly accuses of being in the pay of foreign powers.

Several officials of the main

opposition CHP party quickly distanced themselves from Biden’s remarks, calling for “respect for the sovereignty of Turkey”.

Some Biden critics also expect a possible deterioration in already testy relations between Ankara and Wash-ington if he manages to defeat Donald Trump in the US presi-dential election in November.

Erdogan, who in recent years has worked to cultivate a personal relationship with Trump, often lashes out at his predecessor, Barack Obama. Biden was Obama’s vice president.

Relations between Ankara and Washington were strained during Obama’s second term, particularly to disagreements over Syria and growing inter-national criticism over freedoms and rights in Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets citizens during his visit to inspect the projects carried out by Environment and Urbanisation Ministry on Ayder Plateau in Camlihemsin district of Rize, Turkey, yesterday.

At least 10 dead in attack on Mogadishu hotelAGENCIES — MOGADISHU

At least 10 people were killed in a gun and bomb attack by suspected Al Shabaab fighters on an upscale beachfront hotel in Somalia’s capital yesterday, officials and witnesses said.

Security forces were strug-gling to regain control of the Elite Hotel in the Lido beach area more than an hour after the assault began, and the assailants appeared to have taken hostages, government security official Ahmed Omar said.

“There is still sporadic gunfire and the initial infor-mation we have received indi-cates five people died and more than 10 others were wounded,” he said.

“The death toll can increase because the blast was massive and there is a hostage situation involved.” Aamin Ambulance, a Mogadishu-based private service, reported that at least 28 people were wounded.

Witnesses confirmed that the attack began with a heavy explosion and reported that people were running from the area as gunfire could be heard from the hotel, which is fre-quented by government officials.

“The blast was very heavy and I could see smoke in the area. There is chaos and people are fleeing from nearby buildings,” said witness Ali Sayid Adan.

The dead included at least

one government official: Abdirasak Abdi, who worked at the information ministry, said his colleague Hussein Ali.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but it was similar to others carried out by the Al-Shabaab jihadist group, which is affiliated to AlQaeda.

Somalia plunged into chaos after the 1991 overthrow of then-President Siad Barre’s military regime, leading to years of clan warfare followed by the rise of Al Shabaab which once controlled large parts of the country and Mogadishu.

Al Shabaab was driven out of the capital in 2011, but its militants continue to wage war against the government, car-rying out regular attacks.

Last week four Shabaab fighters held in Mogadishu’s central prison were killed in an intense shootout with security forces after they somehow managed to get their hands on weapons within the facility.

An ambulance drives from the scene of a blast at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, yesterday.

UAE and Israel establish direct phone serviceAFP — DUBAI

The Israeli and UAE foreign ministers inaugurated yesterday direct phone services between the two countries in their first announced call after an agreement to normalise relations, said an Emirati official.

The UAE’s Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Israel’s Gabi Ashkenazi “inau-gurated a phone link between the United Arab Emirates and the state of Israel, and exchanged greetings following the agreement to normalise ties between the two countries,” tweeted Hend al-Otaiba, director of strategic communi-cations at the UAE’s foreign ministry. Shortly after, Ashkenazi tweeted that the two “decided together on the estab-lishment of a direct communi-cation channel ahead of the signing of the normalisation agreement between the two countries and... to meet soon”.

Phone links for the public were also functioning between the two countries.

Equatorial Guinea govt resigns ANATOLIA — CAIRO

The government in Equatorial Guinea has resigned, Prime Minister Pascual Obama Asue said on Saturday.

Members submitted their resignations to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, according to a statement by the prime minis-ter’s office. Mbasogo,78, who has held the post for 41 years, earlier criticized the Asue gov-ernment for failing to fulfill duties and achieve planned goals. The new government is expected to be announced by the country’s leader within days. Equatorial Guinea is among the most severely affected countries by the eco-nomic crisis triggered by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan resume AU-led talks over disputed damAP — CAIRO

Three key Nile basin countries yesterday resumed online negotiations led by the African Union to resolve a years-long dispute over a giant hydroe-lectric dam that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, Egyptian and Ethiopian officials said.

Years of talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan with a variety of mediators, including the Trump administration, have failed to produce a solution. The two downstream nations, Egypt and Sudan, have repeatedly

insisted Ethiopia must not start filling the reservoir without reaching a deal first.

Egypt and Sudan suspended their talks with Ethiopia earlier this month, after Addis Ababa proposed linking a deal on the filling and operations of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam to a broader agreement about the Blue Nile’s waters. That tributary begins in Ethiopia and is the source of as much as 85% of the Nile River.

The start of the online con-ferencing yesterday was announced in a tweet by Ahmed Hafez, a spokesman for Egypt’s

Foreign Ministry, with attached photos of the Egyptian dele-gation taking part.

Ethiopia’s Water Minister Sileshi Bekele tweeted that the talks included the foreign and irrigation ministers of the three countries. Also taking part were AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat and South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, whose country is the current chair of the regional block.

Neither Egypt nor Ethiopia announced a time frame for this round of talks.

The dispute over the dam

reached a tipping point in July, when Ethiopia announced it had completed the first stage of the filling of the dam’s 74 billion-cubic-meter reservoir, sparking fear and confusion in Sudan and Egypt.

A colonial-era deal between Ethiopia and Britain, which at the time controlled Sudan and Egypt, effectively prevents upstream countries from taking any action — such as building dams and filling reservoirs - that would reduce the share of Nile water to downstream countries Egypt and Sudan.

To Ethiopia, the $4.6 billion

dam offers a critical opportunity to pull millions of citizens out of poverty and become a major power exporter.

Egypt, which depends on the Nile River to supply its farmers and booming popu-lation of 100 million with fresh water, the dam poses an exis-tential threat.

Sudan, geographically located between the two regional powerhouses, says the project could endanger its own dams — although it stands to benefit from it through having access to cheap electricity and reduced flooding.

Flooding and heavy rainfall leave over 60 dead in SudanAP — CAIRO

Flash floods have ravaged swaths of Sudan for weeks, leaving at least 60 people dead and destroying thousands of homes since late July, authorities and the UN humanitarian agency said yesterday.

The flooding also injured two dozen people, and has destroyed or damaged more than 30,000 houses nationwide, the Interior Ministry said. More than 185,000 people in all but one of Sudan’s 18 provinces have been affected by the heavy rainfall and flooding, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The floods also damaged at least 14 schools, and some

1,600 water sources have been contaminated or are now non-functional, the report said.

Footage circulated online showed floodwaters cutting off roads and sweeping away houses and people’s belongings in dif-ferent parts of the northeastern African country.

More than 1,200 livestock were lost and several hectares of crops were affected in the middle of the agricultural season, the UN added. The Bout Dam had col-lapsed in late July after heavy rains and flooding in the south-eastern Blue Nile province, releasing 5 million cubic meters of water and flooding at least 13 neighbourhoods in the town of Bout, the UN said.

Uganda’s unique hot water spring is slowly dyingANATOLIA — KAMPALA

Uganda is endowed with hot springs called Kitagata, believed to have natural healing powers.

The springs in the Sheema district of western Uganda have two streams: Mulago named after Uganda’s biggest referral hospital due to its healing powers, and Ekyomugabe which was used by King of Ankore.

Unfortunately, the treasured resource is slowly dying. The water used to warm above 98 °C but is now lower. Former crystal clear waters are clogged and they no longer flash to the nearby swamp because of a blockade by a nearby stream. According to residents, the blockade happened following massive floods from the River Sebbanga.

“Shortly after the floods, the pools and seeps on hot springs reduced their temperatures. While we hoped this would be only temporary, the situation remain the same,” said Kitagata resident Mwijukye Sam.

Residents blame the gov-ernment for neglecting the treasured resource, saying it failed to provide excavators to open blocked waterways to

prevent rain water from flooding the springs. They said the longer the springs remain blockaded, the less likely waters will return to hot temperatures.

The springs are managed by the government. A proposal to privatize the springs was rejected. Deputy Mayor of Sheema Lukia Nakaliisa told Anadolu Agency that the district is aware of the blockade and

awaiting funding to procure equipment.

Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) Lilly Ajarova said developing Kitagata hot springs is on the agenda, pending government funding.

Hot springs have been used for medicinal purposes because of their biological characteristics and microorganisms.

Wearing protective face mask, a response team employee takes the temperature of passengers to disembark from an Ethiopian Airlines flight at the N’Djili International Airport, in Kinshasa , as travel restrictions due to the novel coronavirus pandemic are being lifted.

Ethiopia lifts travel curbs

Security forces were struggling to regain control of the Elite Hotel in the Lido beach area more than an hour after the assault began, and the assailants appeared to have taken hostages.

07MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020 ASIA

COVID-19 outbreak inNew Zealand grows;cases in Australia fallREUTERS — MELBOURNE

A new coronavirus outbreak in New Zealand is still growing, health officials said yesterday, with the country that had an early triumph over the pandemic recording 13 new cases and putting the September general election in question.

After stifling the virus earlier this year before it became a public health crisis and after 102 days without new infections, an abrupt resur-gence last week in Auckland prompted an immediate lockdown of the country’s largest city.

Yesterday’s numbers bring New Zealand’s total active cases to 69, providing more ammu-nition to a conservative oppo-sition that wants to delay a Sep-tember 19 general election.

Health Minister John Hipkins told a media briefing yesterday that the government was working to ensure ade-quate supplies of masks, which are currently recommended but not mandatory.

“We could make it com-pulsory and spend a lot of time on enforcement, what we need here is a cultural acceptance amongst all New Zealanders,” Hipkins said.

In neighbouring Australia, which has also been struggling

with a resurgence of the coro-navirus in two of its largest states, New South Wales and Victoria, there were signs of a further downward trend.

New South Wales reported just five new cases, while Vic-toria, where masks became compulsory in July after the state became the centre of the country’s largest outbreak,

reported 279 new cases yes-terday, along with 16 more deaths.

The daily number of new cases this week has been well below the peak of 725 on August 5. Melbourne remains under a strict lockdown.

Speaking before Victoria announced its daily tally, Aus-tralia’s Health Minister Greg Hunt said the state still has a long way to go.

“But the signs now are that the trend is of progressive reduction,” Hunt said, adding that the federal government is close to striking a deal that would permit the production of a vaccine in Australia, likely in 2021.

“I am now, on the basis of our best advice, genuinely more optimistic,” Hunt said. India’s virus mortality rate falls below 2%

ANATOLIA — NEW DELHI

India surpassed 50,000 coro-navirus deaths yesterday, according to health officials, and number of infections rose to 2,589,682, including 677,444 active cases with 1,862,258 discharged.

“USA crossed 50,000 deaths in 23 days, Brazil in 95 days and Mexico in 141 days. India took 156 days,” the health ministry said in a tweet.

It claimed with the sharp

dip below 2 percent in the mor-tality rate, India has one of the lowest rates of coronavirus mortality globally.

“Mortality rates are low in India because of aggressive testing and early detection coupled with quick isolation and effective treatment pro-tocol,” it said.

The recovery rate climbed to 71.9 percent with 1,862,258 people discharged from hos-pitals after recovering from the virus.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 29,309,703 samples have been tested through August 15 and 746,608 were tested on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the southern state of Karnataka reported its highest single-day spike with 8,818 cases in the last 24 hours. The tally in the state has now crossed the 219,000 mark.

The death toll stands at 3,831 as the state has witnessed almost 100 deaths daily.

Dhaka seeks foreign help to extradite founder’s assassinsANATOLIA — DHAKA

Bangladesh has sought diplo-matic support from foreign countries to bring back killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation’s founding father.

The South Asian nation wants to punish five fugitive assassins of the former pres-ident reportedly hiding abroad.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen sought the cooperation

in a webinar with foreign dip-lomats yesterday, which was organised as part of the leader’s 45th death anniversary events.

As many as 83 high com-missioners and ambassadors in Dhaka, and in India (designated for Bangladesh) participated in the virtual meeting, the Foreign Ministry said.

Momen said “five killers of Bangabandhu are still absconding in different

countries... we seek assistance from friendly countries to know their whereabouts and get them punished” to ensure justice and rule of law.

Mujib was murdered by a group of army officers in a coup on August 15, 1975.

At least 12 people were sentenced to death for the murder. Six have been exe-cuted so far, with the latest in April this year, while one died

in Zimbabwe in 2001. Five are still on the run.

Mujib, known in Bangladesh as “Bangabandhu” or “Friend of Bengal,” was shot dead at his house in the capital Dhaka, along with 18 family members, including his wife, three children, and brother.

The only survivors were his two daughters — current Bang-ladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister

Sheikh Rehana — who were abroad at the time.

Bangladesh is also observing 2020-2021 as Mujib Year on the centennial birth anniversary of the founding leader, who is also considered the father of the nation.

Speakers from the webinar also hoped that in celebration of Mujib Year, brotherly relations between Turks and Bangladeshis will be strengthened.

Tensions rise as Thais rally against govtAFP — BANGKOK

Thousands of protesters rallied against Thailand’s government in Bangkok yesterday with tensions rising in the kingdom as a pro-democracy movement gathers steam.

Thailand has seen near-daily demonstrations for the past month by student-led groups denouncing Premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha — a former military chief who led the 2014 coup — and his pro-estab-lishment administration.

By yesterday afternoon, protesters — who are demanding major democratic reforms — had taken over the busy intersection around Bang-kok’s Democracy Monument, which was built to mark the 1932 revolution that ended absolutism.

“Down with the dicta-torship,” they chanted, many holding signs critical of Prayut’s pro-military government. Others held pigeon-shaped cutouts representing peace.

Tensions have risen over the last two weeks with author-ities arresting three activists. They were released on bail after being charged with sedition and violating coronavirus rules.

They were told not to repeat the alleged offences, but one of them — prominent student leader Parit Chiwarak — arrived at the protest venue yesterday flanked by cheering supporters.

Partly inspired by the Hong Kong democracy movement, the protesters claim to be leaderless and have relied mostly on social media campaigns to draw

support across the country.“Give a deadline to dicta-

torship” and “let it end at our generation” were the top Twitter hashtags in Thailand yesterday.

The protesters are demanding an overhaul of the government and a rewrite of the 2017 military-scripted con-stitution, which they believe skewed last year’s election in favour of Prayut’s military-aligned party.

A rally last week — attended by some 4,000 demonstrators — also called for the abolition of a law protecting Thailand’s unassailable monarchy, and for a frank discussion about its role in Thailand.

The draconian “112” law can see those convicted sen-tenced to up to 15 years in jail per charge.

Anti-government protesters holding up signs during a rally at Democracy Monument, in Bangkok, yesterday.

Australian surfer repeatedly punches shark to save wifeAFP — SYDNEY

An Australian man has been hailed a “hero” after repeatedly punching a shark until it released his wife’s leg.

Police said that the couple were surfing at a beach near Port Macquarie, four hours north of Sydney, on Saturday morning when she was bitten twice and injured on her right leg.

“Her companion was forced to punch the fish until it let go,” police said in the statement.

Paramedics treated the 35-year-old at the beach before she was later airlifted to a major hospital for surgery.

One witness who was surfing nearby when the attack occurred called the man a “hero” for taking on what

appeared to be a great white shark up to three metres (10 feet) long.

“He started laying into the shark because it wouldn’t let go,” Jed Toohey told the Daily Telegraph.

“He saved her life... He was really incredible.”

The woman’s husband, Mark Rapley, played down his efforts, telling the newspaper that he “did what anyone would have done in that moment”.

Australia has one of the world’s highest incidences of shark attacks and there have been five fatal ones in the country so far this year.

Just last month, a shark pulled a 10-year-old boy from a fishing boat off Tasmania. He survived after his father jumped in the water to save him.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the federal government is close to striking a deal that would permit the production of a vaccine in Australia, likely in 2021.

NZ coalition partner calls for vote delayREUTERS — WELLINGTON

New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters called yesterday for a delay to the planned September general election, given an abrupt reap-pearance of COVID-19 in the country, increasing pressure on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to postpone the vote.

Last week’s resurgence of the infections in Auckland was compromising the ability to

hold a “free and fair election” on September 19, Peters, the leader of the New Zealand First party, wrote in a letter to Ardern.

Peters suggested October 17 and November 21 as alter-native dates.

The opposition National Party also wants a delay, hoping that Ardern would lose some of her lustre once hard-ships caused by the Auckland lockdown begin to bite.

India’s opposition calls for probe into Facebook’s treatment of Modi’s partyREUTERS — NEW DELHI

India’s main opposition Congress party called yesterday for a parliamentary panel to investigate what it said was favourable treatment by Face-book’s India team towards the country’s ruling party.

Citing a report published by the Wall Street Journal on Friday, the party said employees of Facebook and WhatsApp overseeing Indian content had refused to bar a lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party who had posted incendiary comments, to protect the company’s “com-mercial interests”.

It deleted the comments

instead, the Congress party said.Facebook said it prohibited

hate speech and content that incited violence and enforced these policies globally without regard to anyone’s political position or party affiliation.

“While we know there is more to do, we’re making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness and accuracy,” it said.

India’s government did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp, which counts India as its biggest market with 400 million users, is waiting for regulatory clearances to

launch a payment platform.It has invested $5.7bn in

Reliance Industries’ digital unit, with the aim of serving tens of millions of small shops across India.

“Congress party demands the setting up of a joint parlia-mentary committee to probe the relations of Facebook and WhatsApp employees with the ruling party,” Ajay Maken, spokesman of the Congress party said at a news briefing.

Maken also urged the company to launch an internal enquiry into its Indian oversight team.

This is an issue of Face-book’s global credibility,” he said.

Community health volunteers checking the temperature of a woman during a check up campaign for the coronavirus disease, at a slum in Mumbai, yesterday.

Nepal landslide toll rises as hope fades for missingAFP — KATHMANDU

The death toll from a landslide in Nepal has risen to 19 after eight more bodies were pulled out from a mud-covered village in north-central Nepal, police said yesterday.

Dozens of villagers in the remote hillside region of Sind-hupalchowk district were buried under mud and stone after heavy rains caused a landslide early Friday.

Rescuers dug out 11 bodies on Friday and have been searching for survivors. Heli-copters were being used to reach the isolated site after the landslide blocked roads.

Nineteen people remain missing but hopes that anyone had survived the landslip were fading, authorities said.

“Search efforts are under way but we are losing hope of rescuing the missing people alive,” local police official Madhav Kafle said.

The houses hit by the land-slide were among those rebuilt after a devastating 7.4-mag-nitude earthquake struck Nepal in 2015.

The Himalayan nation has been badly hit by landslides and floods, with more than 200 people killed and 75 missing since monsoon rains began mid-June, according to the home ministry.

The number of deadly landslides has increased this year.

Those numbers might not be decisive, but they’re needed. In their absence, the decision whether to proceed, or not to proceed, is essentially a stab in the dark.

08 MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANDR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

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

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ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

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

EDITORIAL

THE QNB Stars League (QSL) 2019-2020 edition will go down in history as one of the most exciting seasons of the premier football competition despite being inter-rupted by a long coronavirus break. As the 12-team event heading for this weekend’s final round, the cham-pions who will lift the Falcon Shield are yet to be decided, making it the most thrilling top-flight league event in Asia this year.

It was a three-way battle for title among Al Duhail, Al Rayyan and defending champions Al Sadd when the league was resumed on July 24 after more than four months of suspension due to COVID-19 pandemic. However, Al Sadd went out of contention in the penul-timate stage with Al Duhail and Al Rayyan ensuring a new champions this season with victories in their respective matches last week.

Al Duhail – one point ahead of Al Rayyan – are leading the table with 49 points, and all they have to do to clinch the title is to beat Al Ahli in Friday’s game at Al Janoub Stadium – a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 venue. Al Rayyan, who will play Al Wakrah the same time at Al Sadd Stadium, will have to rely on result of Al Duhail match apart from winning their last game.

Nevertheless, football as they say is a ‘funny’ game and can bring stunning results on any day as veteran coach Arsene Wenger once said, “football’s beauty is its unpredictability”. This uncertainty in the sport will keep all stakeholders including the die hard fans of both the title-contenders on their toes till the final moment. With fans allowed at the stadiums to attend the games, the final round will set up a fitting end to the league, which saw competitive matches throughout the season.

In another milestone towards restoring the nor-malcy, the Qatar Stars League (QSL) last week, in co-operation with the authorities concerned allowed a limited number of fans to the stadiums during penultimate round. The fans attended the matches by following a host of precautionary measures. Among the protocols for spectators are wearing masks and maintaining social distancing during matches as authorities are doing their best to control the spread of virus.

Nobody could have imagined that QSL will cul-minate in such a fashion when lockdown brought life to a standstill some months ago. Ending the season unfinished or without determining the winners would have been a great disappointment for followers of the game. A sheer hardwork by authorities including the QSL, Ministry of Public Health and front-line workers made it happen.

QSL’s sensational season

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Quote of the day

The resumption of peace negotiations

remain a priority to reach a just solution

in the Middle East.

Emmanuel Macron, President of France

Face masks are distributed to Yemeni students upon their arrival to sit for their final secondary school exams in the capital Sana’a on Saturday, amid the pandemic crisis.

The intense debates over school openings are missing something crucial: numbers. Without them, it’s essentially impossible to know what to do, or to evaluate what is being proposed.

Here’s an analogy. Suppose that the Food and Drug Administration is con-templating a new food safety regulation, or that the Department of Transportation is considering new restric-tions on railroads. The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is sup-posed to require it to identify the gains and the losses - the benefits and the costs.(1)

Those numbers might not be decisive, but they’re needed. In their absence, the decision whether to proceed, or not to proceed, is essen-tially a stab in the dark.

To be sure, some numbers might be hard to specify. The agencies might not know

enough to provide them. But officials have well-established techniques for dealing with that problem. For example, agencies might be asked to disclose the ranges, including the best and worst cases, and their respective likelihoods.

It’s true that politics might intervene, and you might not be able to trust the numbers. But when the system is working well, they are checked and rechecked by people who know what they are doing, and aren’t affected by political considerations.

The decision whether and how to reopen schools is being made by states and localities, not by Washington, and numbers need to inform those choices. The problem is that for school openings (and much more), we’re mostly hearing abstractions and gen-eralities - expressions of agi-tation and fear.

On the one hand, rea-sonable people are pointing to the immense strain on parents of having young kids at home and the many problems with online learning. On the other hand, reasonable people (including teachers’ unions) are pointing to the risk of an outbreak and a spike in deaths.

In the abstract, these are legitimate concerns. For many school systems, there are going to be trade-offs here. But numbers could make apparently hard ques-tions much easier to answer and could help depoliticise the process.

Imagine, for example, a school district in which the number of community infec-tions is very low, and in which real experts (epidemiologists and others, not politicians or those influenced by them) say: “With appropriate precau-tions, the risk of a real out-break is vanishingly small,

and we’re highly unlikely to lose any lives as a result of opening.” In such a district, opening the schools is a no-brainer.

By contrast, imagine a dis-trict in which the number of community infections is not low, and in which the experts say: “Even with appropriate precautions, the risk of a real outbreak is significant, and over the course of the school year, we’re likely to lose at least 50 lives as a result of opening.” Opening the schools would seem to be a mistake.

In Massachusetts, officials have reportedly moved in the direction of using numbers, with guidance that relies on how much the coronavirus is spreading in relevant districts. Color-coded maps specify whether the risk of spreading is “low,” “moderate” or “high,” based on recent infection rates. If a district is low risk, officials will apparently rec-ommend full-time in-person instruction. If the risk is mod-erate or high, a district might consider remote-only or some hybrid model.

That’s progress. It’s a lot better than pure guesswork. But is it right?

To know, we would need to do at least three things. First, be very clear on the meaning of low, moderate and high. Second, understand the incremental public-health risk if a school district opens, given the specific category into which it falls. Third, turn that incremental risk into the relevant numbers, which include infections and deaths.

It’s possible, of course, that public-health specialists, in Massachusetts and else-where, have done or are trying to do all of that. It is also possible that it’s tough to produce the relevant numbers; epidemiologists and others might insist that they

would depend on a lot of speculation. For example: How many schoolchildren will end up respecting the protocols? If a large number of them don’t, what’s the incremental risk?

In the world of regulation, hard or unanswerable ques-tions are not unfamiliar. The experts typically develop sce-narios, based on optimistic and pessimistic assumptions. Armed with that information, policymakers are often in a good position to know whether to proceed.

Of course, school districts can maintain flexibility. Some of them might allow full-time in-person classes in the hope that the optimistic assumptions are right. But if those assump-tions turn out to be wrong, and if infections spike, districts need a plan to shift to online learning, perhaps in a hurry.

As the school year begins, some of the trade-offs might call for a political judgment, informed but not determined by the numbers. Suppose that the experts say this: “If you open, you’re unlikely to have anything like an outbreak. But there will be more infections than there would be if learning were online; and over the course of the year, some number of people will die. That number will be small - but above zero.”

If that’s what they say, the choice might turn out to be very difficult. But here, too, it’s not unfamiliar. When we regulate or don’t regulate automobiles, and when we regulate or don’t regulate air pollution, we are making sim-ilarly difficult choices.

To make those choices sen-sibly, and to promote account-ability, we need numbers. Let’s get more of them.

Cass R. Sunstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.

JAPAN NEWS-YOMIURI

Facilities for elderly people are at high risk for the spread of novel coronavirus infections. It is important for the central and local governments to establish a system to prepare thoroughly to prevent the collapse of nursing care services.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, mass infections are believed to have taken place at 66 facilities for the elderly. If they are infected with the virus, their condition can

easily turn serious. It is nec-essary to keep a close watch on the infection situation at these facilities.

Staff members and the elderly people they serve have to be in close contact when staffers help them with meals, bathing, using the toilet and other needs. In some cases, people with dementia have difficulty in correctly putting on and taking off masks or informing staffers of problems with their physical condition. Facilities for the elderly are the most vulnerable to an expansion of infections.

Each facility should prepare disinfectants and protective clothing, and take thorough preventive measures, such as frequently checking the temperature of staff members and others. It would be effective to provide employees with preventive education, and to consult experts on infectious diseases to decide on how to deal with possible infections.

In the event of a mass out-break of infections, local gov-ernments need to establish a careful initial response system in which they not only

dispatch doctors and others, but also promptly conduct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on employees and elderly clients, among others.

It is important to maintain the facilities’ functions as much as possible and con-tinue to provide services to clients, even if infected people are found there.

More than a few facilities were unable to provide suffi-cient nursing care services as staff members who had close contact with infected people could not come to work, causing a personnel shortage.

School reopenings depend on numbers, not guesswork

/PeninsulaQatar

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+974 6698 6188

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Work to keep elderly care facilities functioning safely

Established in 1996

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09MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020 ASIA

HK leader returns Cambridge fellowship over rights rowAFP — HONG KONG

Hong Kong’s leader said she has “returned” her honourary fellowship to a Cambridge college after a row over whether the finance hub’s academic freedoms are being suppressed as authorities crack down on pro-democracy opponents.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam (pictured) said she was cutting ties with Cambridge’s Wolfson College after it began looking into the state of academic liberty in Hong Kong.

Lam said she was “deeply disappointed by the college smearing a person on the basis of hearsay instead of facts”.

“Therefore I can hardly

convince myself to maintain any relation with Wolfson College,” she wrote on Facebook late Saturday alongside a photo of herself in leafy Cambridge.

Wolfson College said it had recently raised concerns with Hong Kong’s leader about “her commitment to the protection of human rights and the freedom of expression”.

Its governing body had been

due to consider Lam’s fel-lowship next month but would no longer do so now that Lam had returned the honour.

Lam, a pro-Beijing appointee, was one of a number of Chinese and Hong Kong offi-cials sanctioned by the United States after Beijing imposed a sweeping security law on the semi-autonomous city in late June.

The law ramps up the Chinese Communist Party’s control over the finance hub and in the weeks that followed some two dozen pro-democracy supporters have been arrested under the new powers, including the owner of a Beijing-critical newspaper.

Others have been disqual-ified from standing in local elec-tions while libraries and schools have begun pulling any books deemed to breach the law.

Three well-known aca-demics also lost their jobs because they had been previ-ously jailed for leading pro-democracy protests.

Hong Kong has some of Asia’s best universities, but declining political freedoms have rattled many as China vows to rein in campuses and insti l more patriotic education.

Wolfson College had been under pressure to rescind Lam’s honorary fellowship since last year.

In November, three members of Britain’s House of Lords called for the move over Lam’s response to months of huge and often violent pro-democracy protests.

Beijing introduced its security law to end that movement and restore stability, describing it as a “sword” hanging over the heads of its critics in the city.

In her Facebook statement, Lam — who previously studied at Cambridge University — said she had written to Wolfson College last year and last week to explain her administration’s stance on the protests.

She denied suppressing freedoms.

Pakistanis march to protest UAE-Israel agreementANATOLIA — KARACHI

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis marched yesterday against a recent, controversial deal between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel meant to normalise bilateral relations, including opening embassies in each other’s territory.

Rallies and demonstrations were held in the capital Islamabad, port city of Karachi, northeastern city of Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad, and dozens of other cities and towns on the call of Milli Yakjehti Council, a religio-

political alliance.In the garrison city of

Rawalpindi, thousands marched through the city’s thoroughfares led by Senator Sirajul Haq, chief of the country’s mainstream, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party.

The JI observed the day as “Palestine Day” to express sol-idarity, and support the Pales-tinians’ resistance against Zionist occupation (since at least 1967).

Carrying banners, and placards with slogans such as “Down with Israel,” “UAE-Israel deal on US pressure unac-ceptable,” and “Pakistanis stand with Palestinians,” among

others, the protesters gathered at the historic Liaquat park to begin the rally.

Addressing the participants, Haq said Palestine was not the issue of Arabs only but the entire Muslim world.

“Palestine is the land of Pal-estinians. No deal or back-tracking can deprive them of their fundamental right,” he said. “Palestinians have been fighting for their land for over 70 years. But, until August 13, 2020 no country has disgraced itself as UAE has done... the entire Muslim world rejects this so-called deal, even if some Muslim governments accept it.”

The party chief urged Islamabad to try convening an urgent meeting of the Organi-zation of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the latest situation.

In Karachi, hundreds gathered outside the Karachi Press Club to denounce the deal.

JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman termed the deal a big blow to Muslim unity, and “backstabbing of Palestinians.”

He said neither the UAE nor any other country had the right to accept Israeli occupation of Palestinian land in the name of “peace.”

The JI held another protest

outside the Lahore Press Club, which was addressed by the party’s secretary-general, Ameerul Azim, and other leaders.

In Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a large number of people gathered at the historic Mahabat Khan Mosque, and marched towards Yadgar Chowk, to register their protest.

The agreement is the third Israeli-Arab peace treaty in the Middle East, and the first involving a Gulf state. While some have welcomed the deal, Palestinians, Iran and Turkey have denounced it.

US, S Korea to begin scaled-downmilitary drills amid virus spikeAP — SEOUL

The United States and South Korea will begin their annual joint military exercises this week, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday. But a spreading coronavirus outbreak has apparently forced the allies to scale back an already low-key training programme mainly involving computer-simulated war scenarios.

The drills from tomorrow until August 28 could still irk North Korea, which portrays the allies’ training as invasion rehearsals and has threatened to abandon stalled nuclear talks if Washington persists with what it perceives as “hostile policies” toward Pyongyang.

The exercises also come at a delicate time after President Donald Trump openly com-plained about the costs of main-taining 28,500 US troops sta-tioned in South Korea to protect

against North Korean threats. The allies have so far failed to sign a new cost-sharing agreement after the last one expired at the end of 2019.

The drills involve so-called combined command post training, which is focused on computerised simulations aimed at preparing the two mil-itaries for various battle sce-narios, such as a surprise North Korean attack.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff did not specify how many troops will participate. But it’s clear the size would be smaller than the summer drills of previous years, which often involved tens of thousands of troops on both sides, and combined computer simulations with field training. This time, the coronavirus pan-demic has limited the number of US troops who could be brought in from abroad.

The US and South Korean militaries had canceled their

springtime drills following a COVID-19 outbreak in the southern city of Daegu and nearby towns that was stabi-lised by April.

But South Korea is now dealing with a virus resurgence in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan region, home to half of the country’s 51 million people. It forced US Forces Korea to designate the capital and surrounding areas off-limits to personnel who don’t live there. The 279 new cases South Korea reported on Sunday are the highest daily jump since early March.

There have been around 150 COVID-19 infections among US troops stationed in South Korea since February, which prompted Gyeonggi Province near Seoul last month to openly call for the cancellation of the August drills. Gyeonggi includes the city of Pyeongtaek, the site of US military headquarters.

Indonesia Independence Day todayThe youth of state defence salute Indonesian flags to commemorate the Indonesia’s 75th Independence Day which falls today (August 17), in Banda Aceh, yesterday.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said she was “deeply disappointed by the college smearing a person on the basis of hearsay instead of facts.”

Azerbaijan downs Armenian drone amid rising tensionsANATOLIA — BAKU

Azerbaijan said it downed an Armenian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) amid heightened tensions along the border.

The drone was conducting reconnaissance on Azerbaijani positions near the Tovuz dis-trict, according to the Defense Ministry.

The drone was not the first destroyed by Azerbaijani forces since tensions escalated between the two nations last month.

The Armenian Army vio-lated a ceasefire on July 12 and attacked Azerbaijani positions with artillery fire, withdrawing after suffering losses following retaliation from the Azerbaijani army.

Armenia martyred 12 Azerbaijani soldiers, including high-ranking officers, and wounded four troops in the attack.

Despite international calls for restraint, Armenian troops opened fire on civilian settle-ments in the villages of Agdam and Dondar Kuscu. A 76-year-old Azerbaijani citizen was

killed in the attacks by Armenia, which Baku has accused of hiding losses.

Azerbaijan has blamed Armenia for the “provocative” actions, with Turkey throwing its weight behind Baku and saying it is warning Yerevan that it would not hesitate to stand against any kind of attack on its eastern neighbour.

Local COVID-19 cases in China fall as Xinjiang cluster recedesREUTERS — BEIJING

China’s new locally transmitted cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) fell to a one-month low as a cluster in the western region of Xinjiang receded, data released by the country’s health authority showed yesterday.

The number of locally transmitted cases in China dropped to four on Aug. 15, all of which were in Xinjiang, the National Health Commission said in a statement. That com-pares with eight cases nationwide a day earlier and is the lowest since July 16.

No new locally transmitted cases were recorded on August 15 in the city of Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province after provincial authorities there reported fresh infections a day earlier.

A woman who worked for Alibaba-owned supermarket chain Freshippo in Shenzhen had returned to her hometown of Lufeng and tested positive for the virus on August 14. Both cities are in Guangdong.

On the same day, Lufeng also reported three asympto-matic cases while Shenzhen reported two asymptomatic carriers.

Asymptomatic cases test positive for the virus, but China does not classify them as con-firmed cases until they show

clinical symptoms of infection, such as a fever or a cough.

The Guangdong gov-ernment has begun testing at 36 Freshippo stores across Guangdong and 12 related warehouses and processing firms, state-run news agency Xinhua reported yesterday.

In mainland China, the total number of new confirmed infections stood at 19 on Sat-urday, including so-called imported cases involving trav-ellers arriving from abroad. That compares with 22 a day earlier.

As of August 15, mainland China had 84,827 confirmed coronavirus cases, with the death toll unchanged at 4,634.

Philippines reports

3,420 new virus

cases, 65 deaths

REUTERS — MANILA

The Philippines has recorded 3,420 new cases of the coro-navirus and 65 additional deaths, the health ministry said yesterday.

The country has so far registered a total of 161,253 infections and the death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 2,665 according to ministry data.

Scenic skyrideTourists sit on chairlifts at the Patriata Resort near Murree, some 65km from Islamabad yesterday, after the government announced that most of the country’s remaining restrictions would be lifted following the drop in new coronavirus cases for several weeks.

Japan shouldn’t ignore TikTok’s possible data risks: OfficialBLOOMBERG — TOKYO

Japan shouldn’t ignore the possible data security risks posed by Chinese music video app TikTok, which various other countries have pointed out, a senior ruling party official said.

“Not only President Trump but also other countries such as the UK and India, are grad-ually becoming aware of the risks,” Akira Amari, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s tax panel chief, said on Fuji Tele-vision Network yesterday. “Since there’re so many coun-tries pointing out the risks, Japan cannot just stand by and watch.”

US President Donald Trump last week ordered ByteDance Ltd, the Chinese owner of TikTok, to sell its US assets. Trump cited national security grounds, delivering the latest salvo in his standoff with Beijing. India in June took sweeping action to ban TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps.

Japanese companies should assume that partner-ships with Chinese firms could lead to data being leaked, Amari said.

“If sensitive technologies are compromised, that poses a risk because Japan will be removed from the global supply chain that shares the common values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law,” he said, adding that “Japan is the country with the least sense of crisis.”

Chanting “Leave!”, the protesters converged on a World War II memorial outside the city centre in Minsk, with witnesses estimating the turnout at up to 100,000 people, the largest yet in a week of demonstrations since the vote.

10 MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020EUROPE

Lukashenko vows to stay on as thousands rallyAFP — MINSK

Tens of thousands of Belaru-sians rallied in Minsk yesterday in the biggest demonstration yet against a disputed election, as P r e s i d e n t A l e x a n d e r Lukashenko rejected calls to step down in a defiant speech.

Chanting “Leave!”, the pro-testers converged on a World War II memorial outside the city centre, with witnesses esti-mating the turnout at up to 100,000 people, the largest yet in a week of demonstrations since the vote.

Other major Belarusian towns and cities also saw large rallies, local media reported. Columns of demonstrators raised victory signs and held flowers and balloons as they prepared to march to the central Independence Square, the focus of peaceful demonstrations in recent days.

Those taking part in the “March of Freedom” included a group of veteran paratroopers in uniform berets and a Catholic priest. Demonstrators held placards with slogans such as “We are against violence” and “Lukashenko must answer for the torture and dead”.

“This has never happened before, that Minsk has united, Belarusians have united. This is a festival of freedom,” said Catholic priest Yury Sanko, wearing his dark habit. “It’s the first time I’ve seen the people so glad,” said one 70-year-old woman protester. “We’re tired of

these authorities, of living like serfs in a collective farm.”

Popular opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya had called for a weekend of protests after leaving for neighbouring Lithuania following the disputed election, which gave Lukashenko 80 percent of the vote.

More and more Belarusians have taken to the streets over the last week to condemn Lukashenko’s disputed victory and a subsequent violent crackdown by riot police and abuse of detainees.

Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet country for 26 years, is facing an unprecedented challenge to his leadership. In a rare campaign-style rally in front of flag-waving supporters in central Minsk, the 65-year-old strongman said: “I called you here not to defend me... but for the first time in a quarter-century, to defend your country

and its independence.”Standing at a podium in a

short-sleeved shirt, Lukashenko insisted on the legitimacy of the presidential poll. “The elections were valid. There could not be more than 80 percent of votes falsified,” he said.

He warned that neigh-bouring EU countries and Ukraine were making calls for fresh elections. “We won’t give away the country!” he said, while his teenage son Nikolai stood watching nearby.

With pressure growing from the street and abroad after the European Union said it would impose new sanctions, Lukashenko has reached out to Russia. Moscow said yesterday that it was ready to provide mil-itary help if needed.

The Kremlin said that in a call with Lukashenko, President Vladimir Putin had expressed Russia’s “readiness to provide the needed assistance” including “if necessary” through the CSTO military alliance between six ex-Soviet states.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets over the last week to denounce the election result and support Tikhanovskaya, a 37-year-old political novice who ran after other potential candi-dates including her husband were jailed.

A violent police crackdown on protesters saw more 6,700 people arrested, hundreds wounded and two people dead. From exile in Lithuania, where she fled on Tuesday,

People take part in a protest in Minsk, Belarus, yesterday.

Tikhanovskaya called for a weekend of peaceful rallies including yesterday's march in Minsk on the one-week anni-versary of the vote.

Thousands of opposition supporters had demonstrated in Minsk on Saturday, with many gathering at the spot where a 34-year-old protester died during unrest on Monday.

Many held up photographs of bruised protesters beaten during the crackdown, after Amnesty International accused authorities of carrying out “a campaign of widespread torture” to crush the opposition.

The opposition has called for a general strike from today after hundreds of workers at state-run factories walked off the job on Friday, in a first sign that Lukash-enko’s traditional support base was turning against him.

European governments have condemned the election and police crackdown, and EU min-isters on Friday agreed to draw up a list of targets in Belarus for a new round of sanctions.

Opposition newspaper Nasha Niva posted a video of the Belarusian ambassador to Slovakia, Igor Leshchenya, saying he was “shocked by

stories of torture and beatings” and expressing his solidarity with the protesters.

Tikhanovskaya has announced the creation of a Coordination Council to ensure a transfer of power, asking foreign governments to “help us in organising a dialogue with Belarusian authorities”. She demanded the authorities release all detainees, remove security forces from the streets and open criminal cases against those who ordered the crackdown. She has said she will organise new elections if Lukashenko steps down.

Italy garbage dips with virus lockdowns, but plastics riseAP — ROME

Italy produced 10% less garbage during its coronavirus lockdown, but environmentalists warn that increased reliance on dis-posable masks and packaging is imperiling efforts to curb single-use plastics that end up in oceans and seas.

Italian researchers estimate that during the peak months of Italy’s lockdown in March and April, urban waste production fell by 500,000 tonnes. That decrease is enabling dumps in Italy — where trash collection in major cities has often become a hot-button political issue

— to absorb the 300,000 tonnes of extra waste from protective masks and gloves estimated to be used this year, according to the Italian Institute for Environ-mental Protection and Research.

“Substantially, the figures will balance each other by the end of this year,” Valeria Frit-telloni, the institute’s head of waste management and circular economy, said.

But the pandemic dealt a blow to efforts to move away from single-use plastics in many places where they were just beginning to become main-stream. UN, Greenpeace, Italy’s Marevivo environmental

organization and other such groups are warning that con-tinued reliance on single-use plastics will pose longer-term risks to the environment.

That’s particularly true for a country with a long coastline along the Mediterranean Sea, which is plagued by the tiny bits of broken-down plastic known as microplastics. “We don’t have an estimate yet of how much of those objects were dumped in the environment, but what is sure is that all those that have been abandoned sooner or later will reach the sea,” said Giuseppe Ungherese, head of anti-pollution campaigns at Greenpeace Italy.

After years of reducing reliance on products like plastic bags and cutlery, in line with European Union directives, Italy saw a huge spike in plastic use during the coronavirus emer-gency. The Italian National Con-sortium for the Collection and Recycling of Plastic Packages said the increase in online shopping and its related packaging led to an 8% increase in plastic waste, even within an overall decrease in garbage production.

Keiron Roberts, an environ-mental research fellow at the University of Portsmouth in England, said other countries saw similar demand for plastics

and cardboard as a result of the so-called Amazon effect — referring to a surge in reliance on the Internet retailer as people holed up to abide by stay-at-home orders. But he concurred that within Europe, Italy was in a particularly vulnerable spot.

“Because you are sur-rounded by coastline, you just need to have some rain events that will wash these masks into the sewage system or into the rivers and the waterways and they will eventually make their ways into the ocean,” he said.

“There’s no area of the Med-iterranean now where plastic hasn’t impacted,” he added.

Demonstrators holding a sign protest against the measures of the government to avoid the spread of COVID-19, amid its outbreak, near to the Finance Tower in Brussels, Belgium, yesterday.

Police foil reprisal operation by Chechens in French townAFP — SAINT-DIZIER, FRANCE

France’s interior minister yes-terday vowed that no com-munity would be allowed to take the law into its own hands after police thwarted a bid by Chechens to violently avenge an alleged assault on a member of their community.

Three men originating from the Russian region in the northern Caucasus were detained after being found in the northeastern French town of Saint-Dizier with a vast stock of cold weapons including knifes, clubs and a sabre.

They have been accused of

organising an armed act of revenge and are due to appear before an investigating magis-trate who will decide whether to press charges.

“No community on the soil of the republic can take the law into its own hands,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on a visit to Saint-Dizier, hailing the police for “avoiding the worst” with their intervention.

The Chechen community in France, many of whom are exiles who have sought refuge from the rule of Chechnya’s pro-Kremlin strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, have been under intense scrutiny in France

after successive nights of vio-lence rocked the eastern city of Dijon in June.

An assault on a 16-year-old Chechen there prompted other members of the community to stage reprisal raids in a restive neighbourhood in Dijon with a large community of north African origin.

The prosecutor for the wider Chaumont region Fre-deric Nahon said a criminal probe would be opened for illegal transport of arms and organisation of a criminal group over the Saint-Dizier seizure.

The men are suspected of heading to Saint-Dizier in

search of revenge after a 30-year-old Chechen man was lightly injured in a fight in the town on Thursday.

Police controlled several vehicles heading into the town with 16 initially arrested.

“Most of the Chechen com-munity are asylum seekers or have asylum” in France, said Darminin, who headed to Saint-Dizier to thank the police for heading off potentially violent clashes.

“However, having asylum does not give someone the right to stir things up, settle scores or to attack the lives of each other,” he added.

He said he would ask the authorities to “look with a dif-ferent eye” on asylum requests from individuals implicated in such cases.

There are no precise figures on the number of Chechens living in France as they are included with other Russian passport holders.

The government was heavily criticised by the far-right National Rally party for being slow to respond to the Dijon violence, whose scale horrified France.

Security in Saint-Dizier has already been reinforced, local authorities said.

More than 200 protest in Brussels after mask orderAFP — BRUSSELS

More than 200 people demon-strated in Brussels yesterday against coronavirus restrictions after the regional government mandated facemasks in public.

Wearing a mask became compulsory on Wednesday for 1.2 million people living in the Brussels region, as Belgium battles one of the most serious coronavirus outbreaks in Europe.

Many of the protesters did not wear masks, but carried placards saying “Corona circus” or “It’s my body, it’s my choice”.

“It is not the virologists and doctors who are going to dictate the rules in our country,” a pro-tester who gave his name only as Michel said. “We are being treated as children.”

The call to demonstrate was launched on social media by a group of citizens under the slogan “Viruswaanzin”, or “viral madness” in Dutch, a movement that first appeared in the Netherlands.

The group has demanded the resignation of Flemish virol-ogist Marc Van Ranst, one of the most prominent members of the panel of experts consulted by the Belgian government on the pandemic, and who is also in the sights of the Flemish extreme right for his left-wing stance on social issues.

Yesterday's demonstration drew conspiracy theorists a n d a n t i - v a c c i n a t i o n activists. One protester wore an orange life jacket with the words “Ready for the second wave”, while another had written on his shirt “No to this masquerade”.

Belgium has the highest per capita death rate from COVID-19 in the world and infections are again rising after earlier success in bringing the disease under control.

The number of cases in the country of around 11.5 million people neared 78,000 on Sunday. Nearly 10,000 deaths have been registered.

UK deploys extra navy, air assets to stop Channel migrants

AFP — LONDON

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said yesterday addi-tional navy personnel and air-craft were being sent to help tackle a sharp rise in migrant crossings of the Channel.

The deployment of “spe-cialist personnel from the Royal Navy” and a third air force plane to conduct surveillance fol-lowed a request for support from the interior ministry.

“These dangerous crossings ultimately put people’s lives in danger and it is right that we support the Border Force by providing specialist capabilities of defence, and our expert per-sonnel to stop this criminal behaviour,” Wallace said. More than 1,000 migrants have arrived on Britain’s shores in the last 10 days after crossing the Channel in small boats.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week called the crossings “very bad and stupid and dangerous”. He has vowed to change legislation that he said made it “very, very dif-ficult” to deport migrants “even though blatantly they’ve come here illegally.”

Meanwhile. his immigration minister held talks with coun-terparts in Paris on Tuesday amid calls for the government to increase pressure on France to prevent migrants arriving in UK waters.

French maritime author-ities said they had rescued 31 migrants, including three children and an infant, who were trying to cross the Channel in small boats. It fol-lowed 38 migrants being picked up by French officials in the waterway on Friday.

Germany tracks down most travellers with COVID-19 after test blunder

REUTERS — BERLIN

The German state of Bavaria said yesterday that it has tracked down most of the people returning from abroad who tested positive for the coro-navirus but were not told about it in a debacle that embarrassed a possible successor to Chan-cellor Angela Merkel.

Bavaria said in a statement that it had found 903 of the 949 people who tested positive out of a total of 44,000 travellers returning to the country, while it could not locate personal data for 46 of the positive tests.

The tests had been carried out up to two weeks ago at special centres that were opened with great fanfare in the southern state, but problems with data entry meant that the travellers had been waiting for their test results for days.

Bavarian state premier Markus Soeder apologised for the problems on Thursday, promising to fix the mistakes by adding extra staff. He also said he supported his health minister who had offered to resign.

Some conservatives see Soeder as the best candidate to run for the chancellorship in next year’s election, suc-ceeding Merkel who has said she will not stand for a fifth term. Soeder has so far said he will stay in Bavaria.

Germany has managed to keep the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths relatively low compared to other European countries but there are con-cerns about a possible second wave of the pandemic.

Hundreds of thousands of students had their exams, including GCSEs traditionally taken two years before A-levels, cancelled earlier this year because of the pandemic. The grades are vital for many college and job applications. GCSE results are due on Thursday.

11MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020 EUROPE / AMERICAS

‘Get a grip’: UK govt urged to fix England exam chaosAP — LONDON

The British government was urged yesterday to “get a grip” over how grades are being awarded to school students in England, who were unable to take exams earlier this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The latest confusion emerged late on Saturday when English exam regulator Ofqual launched a review on its own just-published guidance on how students can appeal grades awarded under a complicated system.

In a brief statement hours after issuing the guidance, Ofqual said the policy setting out the criteria for students to make appeals was “being reviewed” by its board and that further information would be released “in due course”.

No reason was provided for the sudden change, a devel-opment that is likely to cause further upset and anxiety

among teenagers, primarily those who are 18, who received results for their final-year A-level exams last week.

The change has piled more pressure on Education Sec-retary Gavin Williamson, who has also faced acute criticism for failing to get all schools back

in June as originally planned. One leading lawmaker from the governing Conservative Party said the confusion is “unacceptable”.

Hundreds of thousands of students had their exams, including GCSEs traditionally taken two years before A-levels, cancelled earlier this year because of the pandemic. The grades are vital for many college and job applications. GCSE results are due on Thursday.

Because students couldn’t take exams, the regulator is issuing grades based on a com-plicated “moderation” algo-rithm that saw almost 40% of A-level students receive lower grades than those predicted by their teachers. The government has said the process was nec-essary to prevent “grade inflation” that would render the results worthless.

Critics have said there are flaws in the method, not least because a link with a school’s past performance has meant

A-level students hold placards as they protest outside the Department for Education, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in London, Britain, yesterday.

thousands of bright students were effectively discriminated against because they were at a historically underperforming school.

Last week, Williamson said students could take whatever grade was higher between the teacher’s predicted grade or any trial exam they took before the pandemic. He also said students could take an exam in the autumn instead.

However, in its document on Saturday, Ofqual said that if the

trial result was higher than the teacher’s prediction, then the latter would take precedence.

Robert Halfon, chairman of the education committee of lawmakers, said the situation is a “huge mess” and “unac-ceptable”. “Students and teachers are incredibly anxious — particularly the students who are worried about their future,” he told the BBC. “This has got to be sorted out.”

And Kate Green, the edu-cation spokeswoman for the

main opposition Labour Party, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson needs to “get a grip” and provide clarity to students.

“A credible appeals system should have been the govern-ment’s first priority, but three days later there is absolutely no clarity on how young people can challenge their unfair grades,” she said.

Some students are looking to take legal action against the regulator to get the downgrades overturned by the courts.

Slow motion recovery: Cautious Hollywood edges back to workAFP — LOS ANGELES

When veteran Hollywood actor Gregg Daniel was offered an audition for a new movie in Los Angeles, he nearly didn’t show up — the pandemic was well under way, and “no one was shooting”. “I almost hesitated even going to the audition,” said Daniel. “I’m African-American, I’m over 50 and disproportion-ately black people were dying of COVID-19... but the script was so good, and I’m an actor at heart.”

Fast-forward to today, and Daniel has completed boxing drama “7th & Union", filmed in the streets of the eerily quiet California entertainment capital. Thanks to relentless

testing, on-set “COVID officers,” sanitation stations and enforced social distancing between takes, “everything went smoothly” and safely, said executive pro-ducer Jolene Rodriguez.

Yet it is one of just a handful of film productions to resume in Hollywood since Governor Gavin Newsom gave the green light back in June. Health fears, uncertainty and a second wave of coronavirus cases have meant few movie producers braving a return so far — with some heading elsewhere or even overseas.

No US state has suffered more than California, which has so far recorded more than 610,000 coronavirus cases, including more than 11,000

deaths. “At one point we were like... ‘Do we hold off for the safety of people?’” said Rod-riguez. “But it ended up where we were able to pull it off.”

Permits to film in Los Angeles remain stalled at one-third of usual numbers, according to nonprofit FilmLA — and the vast majority of those are for making advertisements and reality television. The main hold-up for movie studios is talks between employers and unions to agree on a new set of standard, industry-wide safety protocols.

“We’ve been working on it for many, many weeks... there are a lot of complicated issues,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief operating officer of actors

guild SAG-AFTRA, which has joined forces with Hollywood’s directors, technicians and Teamsters unions.

Among discussions are daily testing for actors performing “the more dangerous work from a COVID perspective,” such as intimate sex or fight scenes.

Once negotiations are com-pleted — a deal is expected by next month — the major problem of coronavirus insurance persists. The cost of restarting a production only to shut down again due to an out-break is so high that insurers are excluding COVID-related claims from new policies.

“What we’re hearing... is that there’s going to need to be governmental involvement,”

said Crabtree-Ireland, pointing to similar measures in Cali-fornia to incentivize earthquake coverage.

For now, the trickle of film productions going ahead need to be approved by unions on a case-by-case basis — leading to wrangling over issues such as the frequency and type of COVID testing, especially on low-budget shoots.

Meanwhile producers have learned to be creative about filming locations, with busy public areas not feasible, said FilmLA president Paul Audley.

“Writers are really clever — so we know some of the shows may be writing for areas that are more isolated, like an indus-trial area,” he said.

Amid COVID-19 crisis,flu shot makers see record US productionAFP — WASHINGTON

Global influenza vaccine makers have produced a record number of doses for the coming flu season, as authorities try to ease the burden on hospitals ahead of an expected COVID-19 resurgence.

In the US, pharmaceutical companies plan to make around 196 million doses to serve the population of 330 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That is up from 175 million last year, an 11 percent increase.

Major pharmacy chain CVS, which administers flu vaccines without prescription, is ordering 18 million doses, double the amount in 2019. Vaccine maker Seqirus plans to increase production by roughly 15 percent in the US — from 52 million to 60 million doses, as does Sanofi — from 70 to 80 million.

Sanofi, Seqirus and GSK are the three biggest companies in the market. Sanofi shipped its first batches on July 22, three weeks earlier than in 2019. The CDC estimates flu killed between 24,000 and 62,000 last year. Widespread flu vaccination could thus help free up hospital beds, a vital public health measure to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m really worried about the autumn,” Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown Uni-versity, said. Americans are already among the most vac-cinated peoples against the flu in the world: vaccination is rec-ommended from the age of six months.

Other countries, such as France, recommend it to people at risk of complications,

including those 65 and older. As a result, 63 percent of children and 45 percent of adults were vaccinated in 2018-2019. In the over-65 age bracket, the figure was 68 percent.

But this year, Americans might have to look at new places to receive their shots. “It’s going to be hard for people to get their flu vaccinations because they usually get it at work or at school, but many workplaces and many schools are closed,” said Gostin.

Every year the World Health Organization and national health authorities select in February and March the four strains of influenza virus most likely to be in circu-lation the following winter in the northern hemisphere.

Hundreds of millions of eggs — the traditional medium for incubating viruses before inactivating them and making them into vaccines — are delivered to laboratories, with production continuing through the Spring, until syringes are filled in summer.

In the United States, Sanofi carries out these processes in two factories in the states of Pennsylvania and New York. The same factories could produce a future vaccine against the coronavirus. At any rate, Washington has also given the company $2bn to expand its production capacity.

“There are no concerns for supply now,” said Dave Ross, Vice- President of commercial operations in North America for Seqirus, adding that the firm was working with partners to ensure adequate vial and syringe production for future COVID-19 vaccines.

Italy closes clubs as virus cases rise among youngREUTERS — ROME

Italy is to shut discos and clubs and make it compulsory to wear a mask outdoors in some areas during the night-time in the first reimposition of restrictions as cases of coronavirus pick up across the country, especially among younger people.

New cases in the past week in Italy, the first European country to be hit hard by the virus, were more than double those registered three weeks ago and the median age of people contracting the virus has dropped below 40, data showed.

The new rules will start today — two days after an Italian holiday when many young Italians go out dancing - and will run until early Sep-tember. Masks will be required between 6pm and 6am in areas close clubs and where gath-erings are more likely.

“We cannot nullify the sac-rifices made in past months. Our priority must be that of opening schools in September, in full safety,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Facebook. Speranza on Sat-urday urged young people to be as cautious as possible as “if

they infect their parents and their grandparents, they risk creating real damage”.

The government had kept clubs open despite mounting criticism that they attracted large crowds, that social dis-tancing was not being respected and masks were not being worn. The industry has yearly revenues of €4bn, the sector’s lobby group Silb said, calling on the government for support.

Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli conceded there would be economic damage, but said he saw no alternative.

Yesterday, 479 new cases

were confirmed, down from 629 on Saturday, with the return of holidaymakers and younger generations flouting social distancing rules being blamed by medical experts for the recent hike.

Since its outbreak came to light on February 21, Italy has recorded more than 35,000 deaths. Testing on holiday-makers landing in Rome’s air-ports began yesterday after the government said on Wednesday that people trav-elling from Croatia, Greece, Malta and Spain must be screened for the virus.

Puerto Rico holds second voting round after chaotic primariesAP — SAN JUAN

Thousands of Puerto Ricans yesterday got a second chance to vote for the first time, a week after delayed and missing ballots marred the original primaries in a blow to the US territory’s democracy.

More than 60 of the island’s 110 precincts opened following a recent US Supreme Court decision that stated a second round of voting would take place at centers that never opened on August 9 or did not remain open the required eight hours.

The ruling permanently left out voters like Eldy Correa, a 67-year-old retiree who went to her voting center in the southwest town of Cabo Rojo three times last Sunday and desisted only to find out later that it opened late.

The primaries for the pro-statehood New Progressive Party pit Gov. Wanda Vázquez against Pedro Pierluisi, who was Puerto Rico’s represent-ative to Congress from 2009 to 2017. He also briefly served as governor after former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló resigned last year following huge protests sparked by a profanity-laced chat that was leaked.

However, the island’s Supreme Court ruled that Vázquez, former justice sec-retary at the time, was next-in-line to become governor since there was no secretary of state.

Meanwhile, three candi-dates are running for the main opposition Popular Demo-cratic Party, which sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr asking that his department investigate the debacle. Puerto Rico Sen. Eduardo Bhatia is running against Isabela Mayor Carlos Delgado and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, known for her public spats with US Pres-ident Donald Trump.

Thousands of Canadian govt accounts hacked

AFP — TORONTO

Thousands of user accounts for online government services in Canada were recently hacked during cyber attacks, author-ities said. The attacks targeted the GCKey service, used by some 30 federal departments and Canada Revenue Agency accounts, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat explained in a press release.

The passwords and user-names of 9,041 GCKey account holders “were acquired fraud-ulently and used to try and access government services,” the authorities said. All affected accounts have been cancelled.

About 5,500 Canada Revenue Agency accounts were targeted in this and another attack, the authorities said, adding that access to these accounts has been sus-pended to protect taxpayer information. An investigation was launched by the gov-ernment and the federal police to determine whether there were any breaches of privacy.

Fire in Amazon reserveSmoke rises from an illegally lit fire in Amazon rainforest reserve, south of Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil, on Saturday.

If the polls are any indication, the Democratic candidate’s low-key style is paying off. The election website Real Clear Politics has Biden with a 7.7-point lead over Trump nationally.

12 MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020AMERICAS

Trump grabs spotlight but reclusive Biden leads pollsAFP — WASHINGTON

Despite being gaffe-prone, getting up in years and barely heading out on the campaign trail, Democrat Joe Biden is leading in the polls as the coro-navirus epidemic and economic crisis make the November pres-idential election a referendum on Donald Trump.

The COVID-19 outbreak has stripped Trump of his beloved campaign rallies but he has made the most of his White House pulpit to remain in the public eye. The 77-year-old Biden, on the other hand, has held few campaign events, spending most of his time since mid-March at home in Wilm-ington, Delaware.

Biden’s sparse public schedule has minimized the risks of his catching the virus while at the same time reducing his chances of making any faux pas. And if the polls are any indication, the Democratic candidate’s low-key style is paying off. The election website Real Clear Pol-itics has Biden with a 7.7-point lead over Trump nationally.

Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American Uni-versity, has correctly predicted the results of every US presi-dential election since 1984, including Trump’s upset 2016

victory. His 2020 forecast? Biden, president Barack Obama’s two-term vice-president, will win the November 3 vote.

“This has nothing to do with Joe Biden,” Lichtman said. “It’s not dependent on Donald Trump’s personality either. It’s based on the record.”

The professor bases his pre-dictions on what he calls the 13 “Keys to the White House.” Among them: How strong is the US economy? Is there social unrest? Is the president an incumbent? Is the president char-ismatic? Is his opponent? Of this last “key,” Lichtman says “Biden doesn’t fit that bill.” “He’s a very empathetic, sincere man but he’s not inspirational,” he said.

In late 2019, Lichtman had Trump in good shape to win re-election. “What has happened

since is he made the colossal mistake of thinking he can talk his way out of the crises that hit the country, the pandemic, the cries for social justice, the eco-nomic downturn,” Lichtman said. “That doesn’t work. And the result is a failed presidency.”

With more than 169,000 deaths and over 5.3 million COVID-19 cases, the United

States is the worst-hit country in the world with an economy on its knees.

While Trump’s handling of the virus outbreak and the pro-tests has been widely criticized, Biden has been climbing in the polls. The former vice-president has been able to largely sit back and watch events unfold, with the Trump campaign accusing

him of “hiding” in his Wilm-ington basement.

“By his almost reclusive campaign he has maintained the spotlight on President Trump,” said Christopher Arterton, professor emeritus of political management at George Washington University.

And Trump’s management of the crises facing the country

has pushed many independent voters “from undecided to, ‘I’m not going to vote for him,’” Arterton said.

Despite Biden’s lead in the polls, neither professor is ready to say he has the election locked up, not in these uncertain times and with a candidate as unpre-dictable as Trump.

There are three debates scheduled between the two men in September and October which could be the occasion for fireworks. With Trump largely unable to expand his voter base, the real estate tycoon has been accused of trying to suppress the Democratic vote.

Lichtman said this could pose dangers for Democratic hopes of regaining the White House. “My big worries about this election are two things that have nothing to do with the keys,” he said.

“One is voter suppression. Trump and his enablers are going to make it difficult for people to vote, particularly to vote by mail in a pandemic,” Lichtman said. “And number two, Russian inter-vention. How effective is their intervention going to be? Because we know Donald Trump not only won’t do anything to stop it, he’ll welcome it again. “Those are two wild cards. No system can take that into account.”

US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, US, on Saturday.

Trump’s younger brother diesAFP — WASHINGTON

Donald Trump’s younger brother Robert (pictured) died on Saturday after being hospi-talized for an undisclosed illness, the US President said in a statement mourning his loss.

“It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” Trump said in a White House statement. “He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.”

The 74-year-old President had visited his brother on Friday at a hospital in New York, staying for about 45 minutes. US media reports had said Robert Trump was seri-ously ill, although there were no details.

Donald Trump, who was stopping in New York on the way to his golf club in nearby Bedminster, New Jersey for the weekend, told reporters on Friday only that “he’s having a hard time”. He has previously called his brother Robert “won-derful” and said they have “had a great relationship for a long time, from day one.” Media reports said Robert was 71.

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden also sent the president his condolences. “I know the tremendous pain of losing a loved one -- and I know how important family is in moments like these. I hope you know that our prayers are with you all,” Biden tweeted.

Born in 1948 and the youngest of the five Trump sib-lings, Robert Trump worked on Wall Street before joining the

family real estate business. Quieter and less famous than Donald, Robert nevertheless became an integral part of the Trump Organization and was fiercely loyal to his older brother. “I support Donald one thousand percent,” Robert told the New York Post in January 2016 as Donald was making his bid for the White House.

“I think he’s doing a great job. I think he’s got a great message.” The New York Times however said the two had been estranged for years before Donald’s run for president.

The brothers were very dif-ferent, and the brash Donald once described Robert as “soft-spoken and easygoing”.

While usually avoiding the limelight, earlier this year Robert unsuccessfully tried to block publication of a book by his niece Mary Trump, arguing that she was violating a non-disclosure agreement signed in 2001 after the settlement of her grandfather’s estate.

The book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dan-gerous Man,” paints Donald Trump as the product of a “toxic” family.

Top Democrats in US Congress call for hearings on mail delaysREUTERS — WASHINGTON

Top Democrats in the US Con-gress yesterday called on Pres-ident Donald Trump’s appointed postmaster general to testify this month on changes that have stoked fears they are aimed at holding up mail-in ballots ahead of the November election.

The Postal Service’s internal watchdog has begun investi-gating a wave of cost-cutting kicked off by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that has slowed mail delivery around the country, alarming lawmakers ahead of the November 3 election when up to half of US voters could cast ballots by mail.

Congressional Democrats called on DeJoy, a donor to Republican President Donald Trump, and U.S. Postal Service Chairman Robert Duncan to testify in an August 24 com-mittee hearing.

“The President has explicitly stated his intention to manip-ulate the Postal Service to deny eligible voters access to the ballot in pursuit of his own re-election,” Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said in a joint statement.

“The Postmaster General and top Postal Service lead-ership must answer to the Con-gress and the American people as to why they are pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten to silence the voices of millions, just months before the election.” DeJoy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democrats have accused

Trump, who is trailing pre-sumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in polls, of trying to hamstring the cash-strapped Postal Service to suppress mail-in voting.

Trump himself on Thursday said he had held up talks with Congress over a fresh round of coronavirus stimulus funding to block Democrats from providing more funds for mail-in voting and election infrastructure.

Trump later walked back those comments, saying he would not veto a bill that included funds for the Postal Service. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CNN yesterday that said he would agree to $10bn to $25bn in fresh Postal funding. Democrats had sought $25bn.

Pelosi may recall

lawmakers from a summer recess to address changes at the Postal Service, a Democratic congressional aide said.

Separately, Meadows told CNN’s State of the Union that the White House fears a surge in mail-in voting could delay election results and leave the naming of the new president to the speaker of the House.

“A number of states are now trying to figure out how they are going to go to universal mail-in ballots,” Meadows said.

“That’s a disaster where we won’t know the election results on November 3 and we might not know it for months and for me that’s problematic because the Constitution says that then a Nancy Pelosi in the House would actually pick the president on January 20. So

we need to make sure that we do it right.”

Trump has repeatedly and without evidence said that a surge in mail-in voting would lead to fraud. Voting by mail is nothing new in the United States, as one in four voters cast ballots that way in 2016.

The House could vote on a measure to prohibit the Postal Service from implementing any changes to the operations or level of service it had in place in January 2020, until the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.

US Senator Bernie Sanders told ABC’s “This Week” he would back that move. “The House should come back and make sure that the US Postal Service is fully funded,” Sanders said. “This goes to the fact of whether or not we are a democracy.”

Postal workers sort mail at a Los Angeles, California, facility, In this April 30, 2020 file picture.

Trump says he is considering pardon for SnowdenREUTERS — WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he is consid-ering a pardon for Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency con-tractor — now living in Russia — whose spectacular leaks shook the US intelligence com-munity in 2013.

The Republican President’s comments followed an interview https://nypost.com/2020/08/13/trump-a-lot-of-people-think-edward-snowden-not-being-treated-fairly Trump gave to the New York Post this week in which he said of Snowden that “there are a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly” by US law enforcement.

“I’m going to start looking at it,” Trump told reporters about a

possible pardon, speaking at a news conference at his Bed-minster, New Jersey golf club. US authorities for years have wanted Snowden returned to

the United States to face a criminal trial on espionage charges brought in 2013.

Snowden fled the United States and was given asylum in

Russia after he leaked a trove of secret files in 2013 to news organizations that revealed vast domestic and international sur-veillance operations carried out by the NSA.

Snowden’s Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told RIA news agency the United States should not simply pardon him, but should drop all possible prosecutions against Snowden as he had not commited any crimes.

“He was acting not only in the interest of the American citizens, but in the interest of a l l the humankind,” Kucherena said. Trump’s sof-tening stance toward Snowden represents a sharp reversal. Shortly after the leaks, Trump expressed hostility toward Snowden, calling him “a spy who should be executed”.

Edward Snowden speaks via video link during a news conference in New York City, US, in this September 14, 2016, file picture.

Democrats to highlight 17 ‘rising stars’ in convention keynoteREUTERS — WASHINGTON

The Democratic Party will high-light 17 young politicians it con-siders “rising stars,” including one-time vice presidential hopeful Stacey Abrams, on Tuesday, the second night of the party’s nominating convention.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the party to reinvent the convention format, scrapping crowds and balloons in Milwaukee in favor of virtual events televised from around the country.

The 17-person keynote spreads the spotlight often used to highlight one person as mil-lions are expected to tune in to the expected formal nomi-nation of former Vice-Pres-ident Joe Biden.

President Barack Obama’s

2004 speech about overcoming partisan division introduced Americans to the then-Illinois state senator. He became the party’s presidential nominee, with Biden as his running mate, four years later.

“This year’s Keynote Address will feature not one, but seventeen of the Demo-cratic Party’s rising stars from all across the country,” Demo-cratic organizers said in a statement yesterday.

“These young electeds will offer a diversity of different ideas and perspectives on how to move America forward, but they will all speak to the future we’re building together.”

The choices are aimed at highlighting the racial, ethnic and gender diversity of the party.