Hagia Sophia Mosque opens for prayer after 86 years

Saturday 25 July 2020

4 Dhul-Hijja - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8329

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SPORT | 16BUSINESS | 11

Qatar’s asset

management sector

will see rapid

growth: QFC

QSL resumes:

Al Rayyan,

Al Gharafa

clinch wins

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends the opening event of the Hagia Sophia Mosque which started prayers after 86 years, in Istanbul, Turkey, yesterday. Thousands of Turkish citizens from various cities flocked to Istanbul to participate in the first Friday prayer in Hagia Sophia Mosque after 86 years.

SEE ALSO PAGE 4

High demand for QNL’s online resourcesSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

Director of Research and Learning Services at Qatar National Library (QNL) Abeer Saad Al Kuwari has said that there is a great demand for the library’s online resources either of children’s books or others.

“The Qatar National Library is studying to improve many of its services that it provides elec-tronically. Many of the services the library used to provide before coronavirus pandemic continued electronically after the spread of the virus,” she said.

Speaking to a local channel about the efforts of the library after its partial opening, Abeer Al Kuwari said that borrowing books is taking place under the same conditions that were applied before as anyone with a Qatari residence can borrow the books through library website.

“With taking preventive measures to ensure the limit of spread of coronavirus the mechanism of borrowing books is to enter the library’s website and select the books that anyone wants to borrow fol-lowed by sending a request to the concerned department. The

concerned department needs two days to prepare the books after that the beneficiary reserves the date of visiting the library to collect the books,” she said.

Director of Research and Learning Services at QNL also added that the library resumed in mid-July with the partial opening with limited capacity in line with the measures taken to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

The Library building reo-pened its doors to the public, with scaled-back services ini-tially. Patrons are required to pre-book their visit slot online

for a morning (9:00 – 11:00 AM) or afternoon (12:00 – 2:00 PM) visit.

All entrants are required to wear masks at all times and have their temperature checked upon arrival.

Visitors must show their Ehteraz app, follow the social distancing stickers, and keep formal and informal gatherings restricted to five people or fewer.

Also any books received from the public will be kept under isolation for five days before recirculating. The regis-tration and reference services will continue online.

Salwa Beach Resort begins partial openingTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Salwa Beach Resort, Qatar’s new major leisure destination, begins partial opening with new elements to be launched to wider audiences over the coming months.

Located 84km from Doha, Hilton’s new beach resort sprawls across 3.5km of pictur-esque private beaches.

The resort has made an early partial launch with a small number of highly luxurious beach villas. It launched two-, three- and four-bedroom beach villas with private pools, gardens and scenic terrace with lavish and spacious from 318 to 1,353 square meters in size. It has also held an exclusive guests’ preview of some exciting Waterpark attractions 3pm till 6pm each day including King Cobra slide, Ship Kids’ Pool and the Waterfall Pool. There are also in-villa dining menus available 24 hours every day.

Over the coming months the many other elements of the extensive resort will be launched one-by-one, extending facilities which will be accessible to a wider audience. Hilton Hotel including 246 deluxe rooms and suites - with wonderful sea and garden views making available a wider variety of accommodation to welcome more guests.

Over 20 sumptuous restau-rants offering the finest cuisine and drinks will be launched including the locally inspired all day dining restaurant “Souk Kitchen”, the vibrant “Dante Cucina Italiana”, the fashionably

stylish “Octa” seafood restaurant and Lounge, and “Miss Wong” Chinese restaurant, among

others. An Arabian Village with 31 secluded villas reflecting tra-ditional Arabian architecture,

with the authentic Arabic res-taurant “Levantine” at its heart will also be launched. �P2

A swimming pool at Salwa Beach Resort.

Qatar Museum's M7 to organise online mentorship on mobile videographyRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

As smartphone users turn to videos for enter-tainment and information, mobile videography has become an indispensable marketing tool for businesses.

Studies have shown a vast majority of con-sumers nowadays would prefer to watch a video about a product than read about it.

In light of the importance of creating effective videos using mobile cameras in providing product information as well as promoting businesses, M7, a creative startups hub dedicated to innovation

and entrepreneurship established by Qatar Museums, has announced it will present an online mentorship session on “Mobile Videography and Creative Techniques” tomorrow.

The 60-minute open talk will delve into “mobile videography techniques that can make the videos taken by mobile more interesting, fun, and attractive,” said M7 on its Intagram account.

“Nowadays the social media platforms play a great role in promoting people like influencers, designers, business owners, entrepreneurs, etc. and videos on these platforms are as important marketing tool as other classic techniques,” it said. �P2

MoPH: 394 new cases and 402 recoveries

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced 394 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 while 402 more people recovered from the virus bringing the total number of cases recovered in Qatar to 105,420.

All new cases have been introduced to isolation and are receiving necessary healthcare according to their health status. The Ministry said that measures to tackle COVID-19 in Qatar have succeeded in flattening the curve and lim-iting the spread of the virus and the number of new daily cases and hospital admissions is continuing to decline each week. “Qatar’s proactive and extensive testing of suspected cases has enabled us to identify a high number of pos-itive cases in the community,” it added.

The Ministry said that Qatar has one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates in the world which is a result of: very high quality of care provided thorough the public healthcare sector for COVID-19 patients; Qatar’s young population; proactive testing to identify cases early; expanding hospital capacity, especially intensive care, to ensure all patients receive the medical care they need; protecting the elderly and those with chronic diseases.

The Ministry asked people to avoid close contact with others, crowded places and confined closed spaces where other people aggregate.

Qatar gears up for Eid Al Adha celebrationsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

With Eid Al Adha is just around the corner, abattoirs in munic-ipalities have been readied, people started buying sacrificial animals as well as different malls and hypermarkets are also witnessing an increased footfall of visitors.

In preparations of Eid Al Adha, the Ministry of Munici-pality and Environment has also announced the readiness of beaches and public parks for visitors, with a call for people to adhere to all COVID-19 pre-cautionary measures.

“The Ministry of Munici-pality and Environment wel-comes the public to visit all public beaches in the country with the need to adhere fully to preventive measures in order

to preserve the safety of all and to ensure public hygiene by placing the waste in the con-tainers designated for that,” the Ministry yesterday said on its twitter account.

Widam has also announced

that it is well prepared for the special occasion of Eid Al Adha. The abattoirs will be working throughout the week during the whole week under the supervision of specialized vet-erinarians to ensure the safety

of the slaughtered animals during Eid Al Adha holidays.

Widam Food Company announced that people can contact the company through Widam app and use e-payment mode to get their slaughtered

animals delivery, a local TV channel reported. This service came as precautionary measures to limit the spread of coronavirus. The company has also equipped eight abattoirs for slaughtered animals in various areas of the country in cooper-ation with the competent authorities to meet all needs while adhering to all health procedures.

For parks and beaches, the visitors should adhere to all COVID-19 precautionary measures in place such as acti-vating Ehteraz app, undergoing temperature reading and maintaining social distancing, the Ministry of Municipality said.

A number of hypermarkets and shopping malls have started offering attractive discounts

and promotions as people gear up for the Eid Al Adha celebra-tions next week.

Doha Festival City (DFC) has announced it is celebrating the joyous occasion of Eid Al Adha with an extensive range of exclusive offers from leading brands across women’s fashion, children fashion, accessories, leather goods, men’s fashion, homeware, dining, and other products.

Lulu Hypermarket brings amazing offers during this Eid Al Adha to its customers with discounts in various products until August 2. Safari Hyper-market has also announced via social media the wide-ranging food and non-food products being offered with big discounts to shoppers in preparation for the celebration. �P2

Located 84km from Doha, Hilton’s new beach resort sprawls across 3.5km of picturesque private beaches.

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment has announced the

readiness of beaches and public parks for visitors, with a call for

people to adhere to all COVID-19 precautionary measures.

Widam Food Company announced that people can contact the

company through Widam app and use e-payment mode to get their

slaughtered animals delivery.

A number of hypermarkets and shopping malls have started offering

attractive discounts and promotions.

02 SATURDAY 25 JULY 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 03.32 am 04.57 am

W A L R U WA I S : 31o↗ 39o W A L K H O R : 31o↗ 40o W D U K H A N : 30o↗ 40o W WA K R A H : 32o↗ 40o W M E S A I E E D 32o↗ 40o W A B U S A M R A 30o↗ 43o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 06:44 – 19:49 LOW TIDE 03:09– 14:18

Haze at places at first becomes hot daytime with some clouds and a chance of rain at west areas by afternoon.

Minimum Maximum33oC 41oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.40 am06.25 pm

ASR ISHA

03.07 pm07.55 pm

QCS launches liver cancer awareness campaignTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) has launched “Protect Yourself” campaign to raise awareness about the liver cancer that is the 7th most prevailing cancer among both genders in Qatar.

Liver cancer is the second highest cancer among both genders, according to Qatar National Cancer registry 2016, Ministry of Public Health.

Nour Mekkia, Health Edu-cator at Qatar Cancer Society said, “There are many risk factors that can increase the chances of developing liver

cancer, the most important being gender, it is more common among males than females, and older people. Most people diagnosed are 55 and above, chronic viral hepatitis B&C infections can lead to cir-rhosis and liver cancer because of cirrhosis, alcohol

consumption, obesity and tobacco use.”

About the others risk factors she said, “People with type 2 diabetes tend to be overweight or obese, which can lead to health problems.”

Mekkia defined liver cancer as uncontrolled growth of

abnormal cells in the tissue of the liver (which is called primary liver cancer) or abnormal cells that spread to the liver from the other organs (metastatic liver cancer).

Speaking about symptoms she said, “The most common symptoms are weight loss and loss of appetite, feeling full even after a small meal , nausea or vomiting, weakness and fatigue, pain in the abdomen or near the right shoulder blade, itching, white, chalky stools, yellowing of the skin and eyes (Jaundice), enlarged liver and spleen.”

She stressed the importance

of early detection of the disease. She said it is often not detected early because signs and symptoms often do not appear at an early stage.

“So, you should consult with your doctor,” she said.

To prevent liver cancer, Mekkia advised to avoid smoking, alcohol consumption and maintain a healthy body weight, being physically active (exercise for at least 30 min/day, 5 days/week) , prevent infections of hepatitis B&C, getting regular medical checkup and avoid touching toxic chemicals.

Two children’s books by HBKU Press win 2020 Purple Dragonfly Book AwardsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press (HBKU Press) has announced that two of its best-selling children’s books have been announced as winners in several categories of the 2020 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards. Where is My Teacher?, written by 14-year-old Qatari author Dalal Ghanim Al Romaihi and illustrated by Nico Yanopolous won second place in the category of “Best Illustrations” and Spring Bloom, co-authored by two professors from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar), Sadia Mir and Summer Al-Jarrah Bateiha, won first place in the “General” category.

The Purple Dragonfly Book Awards were conceived in 2009 to recognise and honour accom-plished authors and illustrators in the field of children’s literature. Recognition is awarded to exem-plary books that fall under 56 dis-tinct subject categories ranging from the environment to cooking and from sports to family issues. Books that are awarded the pres-tigious Purple Dragonfly Book Award are original, innovative, and creative in both content and design, and provide children the very best in reading excellence.

“International recognition for our authors and illustrators by

the judging committee of the 2020 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards reaffirms that HBKU Press is producing quality liter-ature that engages, teaches, and entertains children,” explained Bachar Chebaro, Executive Director of HBKU Press.

“The entire team at HBKU Press sends our sincerest con-gratulations to the talented authors and illustrators who con-ceived these works.”

Where Is My Teacher? was already previously named as HBKU Press’ 2020 World Book Day official selection. The delightfully inventive tale, inspired by Al Romaihi’s own love of reading, follows Dalal’s missing teacher on a wildly imaginative journey that takes readers on a literary adventure where they are immersed in a new world on every page.

“I’m speechless,” exclaimed Al Romaihi when she was informed about the win.

“I wasn’t expecting my book to win an award. But the illustra-tions perfectly depict the text so it’s no surprise. Nico did a great job and the entire team at HBKU Press that supported this book from the very beginning should be very proud.” The book’s illus-trator, Nico Yanopulos, is also the creative talent behind another one of HBKU Press’ award-winning books, The Firefly, which was recently named a

finalist in the 2020 Next Gener-ation Indie Book Awards.

“Dalal wrote a truly amazing story,” said Yanopulos. “Humorous, vivid and full of clever rhymes. The editorial team at HBKU Press was very sup-portive in that they encouraged me to artistically express myself as an artist in my drawings to help bring the text to life. I put my heart and soul into making the illustra-tions complement the text and to know that it has been rewarded truly means the world to me. It’s a great honour to have this book recognised as the best among so many other worthy books.”

For co-authors Mir and Bateiha, the win came as a welcome surprise. Mir, an Assistant Professor of English, and Bateiha, an Associate Pro-fessor of Mathematics, were inspired to write the book when they recognised a lack of reading material regarding chil-dren’s math stories.

“We are honoured to be recognised by the Purple Drag-onfly Book Awards for Spring Bloom,” said authors Mir and Bateiha in a joint statement. “We wrote this book to teach math in a fun and imaginative way, but also to address a gap in multicultural storytelling. We are pleased that these themes and values have been well received and recognised internationally.

The Purple Dragonfly Book Awards were conceived in 2009 to recognise and honour accomplished authors and illustrators in the field of children’s literature.

HBKU faculty participates

in EAA Conference with

youth-driven workshopTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

A faculty member at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) College of Islamic Studies (CIS) recently led a youth-oriented workshop on the impact of climate change and the trans-formative role of younger gener-ations.

Dr. Evren Tok, Associate Pro-fessor, Programme Coordinator for the MA programme in Islam and Global Affairs, and Assistant Dean for Innovation and Com-munity Development, led a workshop on Exploring Climate Change and Global Citizenship through Lego Serious Play.

The workshop witnessed the online participation of more than 50 active students, who explored themes related to responsibility and involvement in addressing the negative impacts of climate change. Attendees reflected on Lego Serious Play models using virtual concept boards prepared

in accordance with human-centred design methodologies. Dr. Tok’s efforts were supported by Bayan Khaled and Sanskriti Tandon, both research fellows at CIS.

The Empower 2020 Youth Conference’s theme this year was Youth Mobilization for Inclusion, Peace and Security. The conference’s overarching aims emphasised sustainable development for a more inclusive and just world.

SHATIU holds online seminarQNA — DOHA

Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding (SHATIU) held an online seminar on the role played by translation in bringing civilisations and peoples closer together through the history of trans-lation between Arabic and Persian languages.

During the seminar titled ‘Translation between Arabic and Persian’ and moderated by Iraqi writer and thinker Abdul Jabbar Al Rifai, a number of academics pre-sented their vision on enhancing the role of trans-lation as an element of rap-prochement between peoples and civilisations.

Dr. Adnan Ashkouri, assistant professor and director of the department of Arabic language and literature at the Iranian Al Khwarizmi University, reviewed in a paper entitled ‘the history of translation between Arabic and Persian’ the progress of

the translation movement over the ages and its evolution to include many books of arts.

For her part, Dr. Ruqia Rustam, head of the department of Arabic lan-guage at Alzahra University in Tehran, highlighted the interest of translators in Iran in translating Arabic literary works, which contributed to enriching the mutual literary movement.

Dr. Tony Al Hajj, professor of Persian literature at the Lebanese University, pointed to the ancient relationship between Arabic and Persian languages, highlighting the impact of Iranian travel books on the Arab heritage.

For her part, Dr. Fatima Berjakani, professor of Arabic language and literature at Al-Khwarizmi University in Tehran, spoke about the chal-lenges of translation between Arabic and Persian languages, and the interest of the Persian language students in Arabic literature along with English and French literatures.

Dr. Evren Tok

Nour Mekkia, Health Educator at Qatar Cancer Society, stressed the importance of early detection of the disease. She said it is often not detected early because signs and symptoms often do not appear at an early stage.

FROM PAGE 1

Other exciting features to be launched are outdoor swimming pools set among beautifully landscaped gardens, Eforea Spa - 2,800 square meters of relaxation and wellbeing over two floors, marina with 56 berths, and meeting center with a superb ballroom for large weddings and con-ference and a selection of versatile, well equipped meeting rooms.

The resort will also witness the launch to the public of “Desert Falls Water & Adventure Park”: 57,000 square metres of fun!

28 slides and rides including Spinning Rapids, Superbowl, lazy and torrent rivers, surfing dunes, Whizzard mat racing, and many additional attractions such as cliff jumping and diving experiences, go-karting track and laser tag.

Last but not least, it will open Salwa Sports Academy, with training facilities, football pitches and multi-purpose playing courts, as well as a fabulous sports bar “The League”.

FROM PAGE 1

The talk will purely con-centrate on video techniques and videography on mobiles and is not a theory session on marketing and media production, it added.

With Essa Jamali and Abdulrahman Abel as mentor and moderator, the session will be conducted via Zoom from 7pm to 8pm tomorrow. Those interested may send an email at contact@m7.org.qa.

The session is part of a recently launched online group mentorship pro-gramme which “aims to expose creatives from all dis-ciplines of design to relevant subjects concerning the future of their industry.”

Focusing on a wide range of topics, the programme, which will run until Sep-tember 30, helps the next generation of creatives expand their skills and connect with leaders and innovators in their fields.

Past sessions under this programme included “How to Write a Winning Film Grant Proposal,” “Under-standing Design Thinking,” “Bio-Design and the Future,” and “Right-to-Left Arabic Typography.”

This programme follows the success of M7’s biweekly online coaching sessions which launched in April and ran for seven weeks featuring local and international industry leaders who gave their insights on relevant topics such as nurturing cre-ativity and skills during dif-ficult times, making use of technology in the fashion business, testing products in the market, developing a business plan, and promoting products through a pro-gramme of marketing and public relations.

Each of the sessions reflected one of M7’s founding principles: to inspire, Equip, Validate, Empower, Accel-erate, Connect and Promote.

FROM PAGE 1Al Meera also offers dis-

counts in many items until August 5 or until supplies last. In addition, bonus points are awarded when purchasing certain products under its Meera Rewards scheme.

Meanwhile to finalise arrangements for upcoming Eid Al Adha, different munic-ipalities of the country have also intensified inspection campaigns on food facilities. Recently, the Ministry of Municipality and Envi-ronment said that the munic-ipalities had set a work plan

that included the implemen-tation of intensive daily cam-paigns on meat and poultry stores, vegetable and fruit shops, sweets and nuts shops.

The inspectors of munic-ipalities are monitoring the food establishments to ensure the application of health requirements.

The municipalities are also set to provide high-quality veterinary service in the abattoirs through a team o f i n s p e c t o r s a n d veterinarians.

They will also ensure c o m p l e t e v e t e r i n a r y

supervision on all stages of slaughtering in the abattoirs and will inspect daily opera-tions and immediately destroy meat which is not for human consumption.

The municipalities are already carrying out daily sterilization and disinfection campaigns for all streets, shops, and labor gatherings as part of the preventive and precautionary measures to combat COVID-19. These campaigns will be intensified along with those targeting insect and rodent control in preparation for Eid Al Adha.

NEW DEATHS

TOTAL DEATHSTOTAL

DEATHS

TOTAL

RECOVERED

GLOBALLY

C VID-19

C VID-19

QATAR UPDATES ON 24 JULY 2020

TOTTOTTOTTOTTOTALALALALAL

DEATHS

TOTTOTTOTTOTTOTALALALALAL

RECOVERED

15,784,177 638,976 9,615,804

NEW CASES ANNOUNCED

394

0164

NEW RECOVERIES

402

ACTIVE CASES

3,054

TOTAL RECOVERIES

105,420

TOTAL

POSITIVE

NEW CASESANNOUNCED

NEWRECOVERIES

ACTIVECASES

TOTALRECOVERIES

Qatar gears up for Eid Al Adha celebrations

Salwa Beach

Resort begins

partial opening

M7 to organise

online mentorship

on mobile

videography

The resort will also witness the launch to the public of “Desert Falls Water & Adventure Park”: 57,000 square meters of fun!

03SATURDAY 25 JULY 2020 HOME

Katara holds tech forum on cybersecurity in healthcareRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

The latest edition of Katara Tech Forum presented online by the Cultural Village Foundation - Katara shed light on the impor-tance of Internet of Things (IoT) and cybersecurity in providing efficient healthcare.

In its 11th edition, the forum held on Wednesday focused on “IoT Cybersecurity for Healthcare Applications” and was delivered by Prof Mohsen Guizani of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Qatar University College of Engineering.

During the hour-long session streamed via Katara’s official social media channels, Prof Guizani cited a number of relevant IT applications and some research activities they have been working on as well as cybersecurity models for the IoT and some future research topics for those who wish to continue working on the subject.

He stressed on the fact that the world is trying to live a smarter future in various spheres from smart energy and smart water to smart mobility and smart public services, among others. He pointed out the need to integrate all these elements through interdisci-plinary approach in order to achieve the goal of a smart future.

In a few years time, eve-ryone will have six to seven IoT devices which will be collecting large amounts of data which will be used for making right deci-sions, he noted.

“In healthcare, we mainly want to provide efficient and smart healthcare to patients while reducing its cost. As healthcare expenditures increase dramatically, we need to provide technologies that will be able to reduce these expenditures as much

as we can,” he said.He emphasised how IoT is

very important in healthcare, presented some of the latest Iot devices used in healthcare and pointed out their various chal-lenges as well as solutions.

Katara Tech Forum aims to spread public awareness on information technology on a large scale and make it available to all as a key factor in the devel-opment of creative and knowledge capabilities.

The forum promotes learning about the latest devel-opments in the world of infor-mation and communication

technology, besides reviewing and presenting best practices and international standards in Qatar and the world.

The initiative also aims at contributing to the implemen-tation of the goals targeted by Qatar National Vision 2030 as well as enhancing cooperation with scientific institutions and organisations in Qatar and beyond, in addition to fostering ties with local government bodies working to meet national vision 2030 goals in the field of information technology.

The forum also eyes bridging the gap between tech-savvy youth interested in infor-mation technology and the information technology-based institutions through hosting specialised conferences, sym-posiums, and lectures on the latest information and digital technology issues and breakthroughs.

Previous editions of the forum have focused electronic services of various government entities in Qatar, pioneering projects in the field of infor-mation and communications technology (ICT), and latest updates and initiatives in the field of ICT at local and interna-tional levels, among others.

NU-Q students recognised at expoTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Kayan Khraisheh, Shaikha Alshaibi, and Leila Al Nuaimi picked up awards for their films at Northwestern University’s annual Undergraduate Research & Arts Exposition – a forum for original research and creative work by the univer-sity’s undergraduates.

The two-day symposium celebrates student work by giving them a platform to present their projects to a live audience and win awards, selected by a professional jury. Submissions are divided into three categories: poster pres-entations, curated student panel discussions, and a creative and visual arts festival.

All three NU-Q winners, Khraisheh, Alshaibi, and Al Nuaimi, were awarded in the creative arts category.

Khraisheh’s diaspora-focused documentary All Roads Lead to Palestine, was awarded second place. It follows three displaced Palestinian families in Qatar as they recall stories about the hardships they endured when leaving their country, and the bond they still have with it despite the time

and distance they’ve been away. Documenting the families’

experiences and the impact of the conflict on Palestinians was important to Khraisheh, who said, “so much of the Palestinian history is being rewritten and eroded, and it’s critical that we hold on to sources of truth and the voices of people who are still directly affected by displacement.”

Tied for third place in the same category, Alshaibi and Al-Nuaimi were recognised for a documentary and short film, respectively. Al Nuaimi also presented a poster, “Inequality in America and The Incarcer-ation System: Race Crime and Criminal Justice.”

Alshaibi’s documentary, I Am More, tells the story of two domestic workers – Hawa Zawadi from Kenya and Gloria Cortez from the Philippines – who left their lives, families, and countries to earn a better living.

The film, Alshaibi says, “empowers domestic workers by encouraging them to get in touch with their creative sides,” and demonstrates how they have found happiness by inte-grating their passion for cooking, gardening, dancing,

and hairdressing into their eve-ryday life.

Al Nuaimi’s short film, Frac-tured, tells the story of a woman who struggles with memory loss following a tragic car accident and is inspired by her own experience from an incident 10 years ago.

“This film gave me an avenue to raise awareness about the consequences of reckless driving and express how the accident still affects me mentally and physically,” she said.

Other NU-Q projects selected for the expo included additional entries in the creative arts category: Ameera Al Said, sculpture/photography entry “Bloom”; Lujain Assaf, creative writing entry “The Lucky One”’; and Nur Munawarah and Marielle Cortel, documentary Tea with Mama.”

NU-Q students have partic-ipated in the expo for several years, winning multiple awards for their work on topics that range from the consequences of bonded labour in Pakistan to mental health issues in Sin-gapore, and the exploration of science literacy among the public in Qatar.

A screenshot from Kayan Khraisheh’s film, All Roads Lead to Palestine.

Qatar’s debaters put skills to test in global championshipTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Young debating stars from Qatar have begun their bid to shine in a global contest with a difference – it is being held completely online.

Team Qatar — trained by Qatar Foundation member QatarDebate — is among the debating squads from around the globe who are participating in the Online World Schools Debating Championships, which began this week and will con-tinue until August 2. The national English debating team got off to the perfect start on the opening day of competition, winning their first round against Team Sudan in a debate on drug legalisation, as months of intensive preparation begin to be put to the test in the online debating arena.

Following the restrictions and preventative measures put in place around the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision was taken by the World Schools Debating Champion-ship’s tournament committee to arrange a 17-day online event, which is seeing 72 teams from 72 countries take part.

Speaking about how Team

Qatar has been equipped to rep-resent the nation in global tour-naments such as this, Abdul-rahman Al Subaie, Head of Pro-grammes, Communication and Marketing at QatarDebate, said: “We annually seek to attract Qatari students from all schools so we can train and qualify them to participate in debating cham-pionships, and representing Qatar in international forums is the highest accolade for them.

“This is the 12th time that the national Qatar debating team have participated in a world debating championship, having begun its success in these com-petitions in the US in 2008, but

it is different for them this year with the championship being held online.”

The opening six rounds of the Online World Schools Debating Championships see teams pitted against each other in competitive debates. They are drawn against each other at random, with one team selected to speak in favour of the motion and the other to put the argument against it. The topics are only announced close to the start of each day, and in the first preliminary round, Team Qatar and Team Sudan debated the motion ‘Designate specific non-residential areas in which drug

users and dealers are legally allowed to buy, use, and sell drugs’.

Further rounds this week have seen Team Qatar debate whether families whose children perform well in school should receive additional welfare ben-efits with Team Hong Kong, and whether criminal sentencing should be based on computer algorithms rather than human judgment with Team Estonia.

The team comprises Turkia Al Thani, Alanoud Al Thani, Moza Al Hajri, and Reem Al Kubaisi, who have been trained by QatarDebate coach Mubarrat Wassey. They were originally preparing to participate in the World Schools Debating Cham-pionship in Mexico City, which was due to be held this month but has now been postponed until January, leading to the alternative online tournament being organised. Their training has included over 120 hours of online preparation, to familiarise them with the virtual debate setting and hone their skills, and their build-up to the Online World Schools Debating Cham-pionship, they won the Helsinki Online Open Debating Championship.

Team Qatar during the Online World Schools Debating Championships .

Qatar Computing Research

Institute concludes

internship programme

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) concluded its online Summer Internship Programme on July 5 with an award ceremony.

The event provided an opportunity to acknowledge the various contributions made by interns from academic insti-tutions at home and abroad.

This year, QCRI welcomed 56 interns to contribute to 26 different projects.

Local candidates came from HBKU, as well as Qatar University (QU), Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMUQ) and Texas A&M Uni-versity at Qatar. International contributions were made by interns from Princeton Uni-versity, Georgia Institute of Technology, New York Uni-versity, University of Toronto and others. Their activities were overseen by 34 mentors, including scientists and software engineers. Interns presented their work to a panel of judges from HBKU, QU, CMUQ and QCRI during the final week of the program.

Among the interns who received awards was Nada Soleiman, a Computer Science student at Carnegie Mellon Uni-versity — Qatar. After being announced as this year’s second placed intern, she said: “The QCRI Summer Internship Pro-gramme was a valuable expe-rience that helped me gain insight and hands-on experience of the research process. I also developed key skills and gained

familiarity with useful tools that are essential to any computing-related career path.”

“QCRI’s Summer Internship Programme offers students like Nada an exciting opportunity to obtain hands-on research expe-rience,” added Soleiman’s mentor, Dr. Husrev Taha Sencar, Principal Scientist, QCRI.

“By working with researchers and engineers, stu-dents not only learn about tackling a variety of problems but also get involved in devel-oping new tools and systems. The fact that early-year under-graduates are accepted to the programme makes the internship an even greater opportunity. I firmly believe these experiences help students to better understand computer science concepts and prepare them for a successful career.”

Speaking after the awards ceremony, Dr. Eman Fituri, Director of Educational Initi-ative, QCRI said: “We were delighted to deliver a high-quality internship programme under such exceptional circum-stances. In keeping with pre-vious years, all interns were engaged with their projects from day one and offered some innovative and thought-pro-voking solutions in the process.

“The overall standard of this year’s interns was exceptionally high and judging their contribu-tions was a difficult, albeit wel-coming, challenge. We’re already looking forward to staging next year’s internship initiative and the contributions it will make to building Qatar’s innovation and technology capacity.”

Participants of an online Summer Internship Programme at Hamad Bin Khalifa University.

Hawksbill turtle ‘Leucistic’ phenomenon registered in Qatar for first timeTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Environmental Science Centre (ESC) at Qatar University has monitored and studied Hawksbill turtle nesting sites for the past 18 years in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipal-ities and Environment.

On the ninth of May 2020, during the monitoring of Hawksbill turtle nests on the beaches of Ras Laffan City, researchers of Qatar University (ESC) were surprised to find that 14 pale yellow hatchlings had emerged from a nest containing 63 eggs, a rate of 22.2 percent. Also, on the ninth of July, the team found another nest in which another four pale yellow (creamy) hatchlings emerged, from a total of 85 eggs, a rate of 6 percent.

These two observations are rare on the beaches of Qatar, the

Arabian Gulf and the world, and as a result, members of scientific team at the Environmental Sci-ences Centre studied this phe-nomenon and its causes. After studying and examination, the team concluded that the under-lying cause of this phenomenon is due to the lack of pigment cells known as “melanin”, this sub-stance plays an essential role in the colour of skin, eyes and shell.

These hatchlings found on the beaches of Ras Laffan pre-sented an overall pale yellow col-ouration, compared to the green normally displayed. However, they all retained black eyes, which means they fall under the term of “leucistic”, which is a partial loss of pigment cells. This has multiple causes, including the occurrence of an imbalance, dis-ruption, or interruption of cells producing the pigment “melanin”.

“Leucistic” turtles are distin-guished from others whose body and eyes appear white due to the total loss of pigment cells, referred to as “albinism”.

Albino turtles have genetic disorders, or a genetic mutation that leads to the inhibition of melanin production, resulting in a complete absence of pigment cells. Dr. Jassim Al Khayat, Project Manager said: “The

presence of white skin will inhibit sea turtle hatchlings’ ability to camouflage and avoid predation, this is a critical factor deter-mining their survival, particularly for the first few years of life. But sudden pigmentation disorders cause them to stand out very clearly in the wild, making them easier targets for predators. We hope these turtles can survive and thrive in the wild.”

“Leucistic” turtles are distinguished from others, whose body and eyes appear white due to the total loss of pigment cells.

Katara Tech Forum aims to spread public awareness on information technology on a large scale and make it available to all as a key factor in the development of creative and knowledge capabilities.

Prof. Mohsen Guizani of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Qatar University College of Engineering

04 SATURDAY 25 JULY 2020GULF / MIDDLE EAST

Hagia Sophia Mosque sees first prayers in 86 yearsANATOLIA — ISTANBUL

Friday’s historic prayers in Turkey’s Hagia Sophia Mosque marked the first acts of worship there in 86 years.

Thousands of people took part in the traditional Friday prayers both inside and outside the historic mosque in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest metropolis.

Before the Friday prayers, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recited from the Quran inside the reopened mosque, choosing from both the Surah Al Fatihah and the Surah Al Baqarah.

Later, four muezzins from the mosque’s four minarets recited the adhan, or call to the prayer, and the people started the Friday prayers.

During the service, Ali Erbas, the head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), read out a special khutbah, or sermon, before the collective prayer, titled as “Hagia Sophia: Sign of con-quest, our trust in Fatih Sultan Mehmet.”

Erbas said: “In this blessed time, together, we are wit-nessing a historical moment in this holy place.”

“Hagia Sophia Mosque regains its congregation today, the third day of the blessed Muslim month of Dulhijjah, in which the blessed Eid Al Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, is approaching us. “The longing that turned into an open wound for the heirs of Fatih has now ended. Eternal praise be upon

Allah the Almighty.“Today is the day when

takbirs (Allahu akbar), prayers, and salavats (salutation upon the prophet of Islam) resonate in the domes of Hagia Sophia, and the adhan — call for prayer —rises from its minarets.

“Today is a day similar to one 70 years ago, when 16 muezzins from the 16 minarets of Sultan Ahmet Mosque, located just opposite Hagia Sophia, joyfully filled ihe air with adhan, after an 18-year hiatus.

“Today is the day when believers stand up in prayer with tears of joy, bow down in submission, and prostrate thankfully. Today is the day of honour and humility.

“May Allah’s blessings be upon His Prophet Muhammad, who said: ‘Verily Constantinople will be conquered. What a good commander is the conqueror, what a good soldier is the con-queror.’ “Conquest is a revival, not an attack, and is recon-struction, not destruction.

“‘And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah.

Indeed, Allah loves those who rely upon Him’ (Quran, Surah Al Imran, verse 159).

“Ottoman Sultan Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Istanbul with the will and grace of Allah, and allowed not even a single stone of this cherished city to be damaged.

“Greetings upon the great famed Turkish architect Mimar Sinan, who adorned Hagia Sophia with minarets, strengthened the construction, and kept it standing tall for centuries.

“Greetings upon all our brothers and sisters who waited for the reopening of Hagia Sophia to worship in the four corners of the world, and cele-brate its opening with joy.

“Greetings upon the elders who strived until this day to reunite Hagia Sophia with the adhan and prayers.

“With its life spanning more than 15 centuries, Hagia Sophia is one of the most distinguished sites in science, wisdom, and worship in human history.

“Sultan Mehmet the Con-queror dedicated this magnif-icent construction to believers

to remain a mosque until the Day of Resurrection.

“In our belief, waqf, or foun-dation property, is inviolable, and the term of the devotee indispensable.

“Hagia Sophia is a place where Islam’s vast mercy is once again proclaimed to the world. “After the conquest, Fatih told the people who take shelter in Hagia Sophia that they have nothing to fear. “‘From now on, do not fear for your freedom or your life! Nobody’s

property will be plundered, nobody will be persecuted, nobody will be punished for their faith,’ he said.

“That is why Hagia Sophia is a symbol of respect for faith and moral coexistence.

“Opening Hagia Sophia up for worship is a requirement of fidelity to its historical roots. It is the transformation of a sacred place, which was used as a mosque for five centuries, back to its origin. “Our mosques are the source of our

unity, faith, and tranquility.“Today, Muslims in various

parts of the world are subjected to constant persecution, with mosques facing Islamophobic attacks, their doors locked, facing bombs or even destruction.

“I set forth the magnificent behaviour of Fatih Sultan Mehmet in Hagia Sophia as an example to the world, and invite all humanity to say ‘stop’ in the face of anti-Islamic rhetoric, action, and cruelty.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praying at the Hagia Sophia Mosque which was opened to worship after 86 years ahead of the Friday prayer in Istanbul, Turkey.

Israeli police arrest 55 anti-Netanyahu protestersAP — OCCUPIED JERUSALEM

Israeli police used water cannons to disperse protesters in central Jerusalem and arrested at least 55 of them as clashes broke out overnight after thousands staged a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israelis have held a series of demonstrations in recent weeks calling on Netanyahu to resign, citing his trial on corruption charges and his fractious unity government’s poor handling of

the coronavirus pandemic.The protest near the prime

minister’s residence began around sundown on Thursday and was initially largely peaceful.

A smaller counterprotest in support of Netanyahu was held nearby, with the two camps separated by metal barricades and a large police presence.

Police say they moved in to disperse the protesters when they tried to stage a procession through the city. Police scuffled with demonstrators before four

large trucks roared into action, spraying water cannons back and forth, scattering the protesters.

At times, it appeared the trucks were spraying protesters from behind as they tried to leave the area peacefully.

Israel imposed a general lockdown when the first coro-navirus cases appeared in March and by May had largely succeeded in containing the outbreak.

But then it moved quickly to lift virtually all restrictions,

and in the following weeks cases surged.

A unity government formed in May following three incon-clusive elections in less than a year was supposed to prioritize the pandemic.

Instead, it has been plagued by infighting and unable to agree on clear policies to combat the pandemic.

Netanyahu meanwhile faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust over a series of long-running corruption investigations.

Iran protests to UN after US jets approach flight over SyriaAFP — TEHRAN

Iran protested yesterday to the United Nations of a “flagrant violation” of international law after nearby US fighter jets sparked panic on an Iranian passenger plane over war-torn Syria.

The incident on Thursday was the latest between arch-foes Tehran and Washington since US President Donald Trump walked out in 2018 of a nuclear accord with Iran and renewed punishing sanctions.

Iran’s state television broadcast footage filmed on a mobile phone of screaming pas-sengers as the pilot of a Mahan Air plane on a flight from Tehran to Beirut took emergency action.

A passenger with blood running down his forehead and another who had fallen to the floor were seen in the video, and one jet spotted through the window.

State news agency Irna said

a protest letter would be sub-mitted to the UN Security Council and secretary-general over “the threat posed to the Mahan Air passenger plane”.

Iran’s foreign ministry said protests were also filed with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Swiss embassy in Tehran that handles US interests in Iran since ties were cut in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“If anything happens to the aircraft on its return flight, Iran will hold the United States responsible,” foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told Irna.

The US military said an “F-15 on a routine air mission... con-ducted a standard visual inspection of a Mahan Air pas-senger airliner at a safe distance of approximately 1,000 metres (yards)”.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement after Iranian state television

aired the footage of passengers in panic as the Mahan Air plane appeared to change course suddenly.

In an initial report, the state broadcaster said the military aircraft were believed to be Israeli.

“After this dangerous action by the Israeli fighter, the pilot of the commercial plane quickly reduced the altitude of the flight to avoid colliding... injuring several passengers on board,” it said.

Irna said the Mahan Air pilot made contact on the radio with two US fighter planes, before the aircraft landed safely in the Leb-anese capital.

CENTCOM, which covers the whole of the wider Middle East, insisted it was a “professional intercept... conducted in accordance with international standards”.

“Once the F-15 pilot iden-tified the aircraft as a Mahan Air passenger plane, the F-15 safely

Iraq forces free German woman kidnapped in BaghdadAFP — BAGHDAD

A German woman kidnapped in Baghdad earlier this week was freed overnight and is now in the custody of her embassy, officials from the two countries said yesterday.

“Security forces have freed activist Hella Mewis (pic-tured),” Iraq’s military spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement.

Iraq’s interior ministry said a joint task force, including the elite Falcons intelligence forces and federal police and anti-crime units, carried out the operation in east Baghdad.

Interior Minister Othman Al Ghanemi handed Mewis over to the German embassy in Baghdad, the ministry said.

Mewis has worked in Baghdad since 2013 and was one of the few foreigners who lived outside the high-security Green Zone, where most dip-lomatic missions are located.

She ran arts programmes at Iraqi collective Beit Tarkib and was close to many young photographers and painters.

Mewis was leaving her office in central Baghdad on Monday evening when uniden-tified assailants in two cars, including a white pickup truck typically used by Iraqi security forces, abducted her.

Police officers at the local station witnessed the abduction but did not intervene, the source added. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he was “relieved” that Mewis was freed, confirmed she was at the embassy in Baghdad and thanked the Iraqi government for its efforts.

The details of her release and the identity of her kid-nappers remain hazy, with the interior ministry and Supreme Judicial Council saying they were still trying to find the per-petrators. A security source said Mewis was freed from a location in east Baghdad as part of an exchange. “Hours after she was kidnapped, security forces detained a man involved in the operation, who claimed he belonged to a faction close to the Hashed Al Shaabi,” the source said.

An image grab from a video released by state-run Iran Press news agency shows released oxygen mask in the cabin of an Iranian passenger plane after it was intercepted by a US F-15 while flying over Syria. The US said it had intercepted an Iranian passenger plane as it flew over Syria, after Iranian state television accused Israel of being behind the encounter.

opened distance from the air-craft,” it said.

Iranian television called the incident “provocative and dangerous.”

A security source in Lebanon said the Iranian air-craft landed safely at Beirut

international airport with “four lightly injured passengers” on board.

Syrian state media said “planes believed to belong to the US-led coalition inter-cepted” the Iranian airliner over the Al Tanf district on the

border with Jordan and Iraq, forcing it to make “a sharp drop”.

The coalition operates a base in Al Tanf to fight the Islamic State group in Syria, where Iran supports the regime in its nine-year-old civil war.

QNA — DOHA

The Omani Ministry of Health reported yesterday 1,145 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total to 73,791.The ministry announced four new deaths to take the tally to 359, Oman’s ONA reported.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health said 753 new Corona-virus (COVID-19) infections were confirmed over the past 24 hours, taking the count of cases up to 62,625. The min-istry also recorded four more deaths due to the viral infection, bringing the coun-try’s death toll to 425 so far.

Iran reports 215 deaths from coronavirus Four more deaths reported in Oman and KuwaitANATOLIA — TEHRAN

Iran yesterday confirmed 215 more fatalities from the novel coronavirus, bringing the nationwide death toll to 15,289, according to an official.

A further 2,489 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, raising the overall count to 286,523, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said.

She said more than 249,212 people have so far recovered and been discharged from hos-pitals, adding that 3,653 patients remain in critical condition.

Over 2.27 million tests have been conducted in the country to date, Lari stated.

The alarming surge in daily fatalities has sent shockwaves across Iran as the health care system is already overwhelmed.

One of the first countries in the region to bear the brunt of the COVID-19 outbreak, the first two

deaths in Iran were reported in the city of Qom, 140km south of Tehran, on February 19.

In the first wave of the outbreak, single-day deaths peaked on April 4 with 158 fatal-ities, before dropping to their lowest, 34, on May 25.

After a remarkable comeback in June that prompted authorities to ease the lockdown, daily cases and deaths both saw a steep rise in July.

The government has made it mandatory to wear masks in public places in an effort to contain the new surge in infections.

Last week, the Health Ministry said in a report that about 30 to 35 million people in the country are likely to be affected by the deadly virus in the coming months.

The report said that an estimated 25 million people in Iran had already contracted the disease in the past five months, including around 14,000 deaths.

Thousands of people took part in the traditional Friday prayers both inside and outside the historic mosque in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest metropolis. Before the Friday prayers, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recited from the Quran inside the reopened mosque.

Checking the documents

05SATURDAY 25 JULY 2020 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

South Africa shuts schools for four weeks amid virus concernsBLOOMBERG — JOHANNESBURG

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that state schools will close for four weeks after labor unions raised concerns that they lacked proper protocols and sufficient protective equipment to keep teachers and pupils safe in the face of a surge in coronavirus cases.

“We have taken a deliber-ately cautious approach to keep schools closed in a period when the country is expected to expe-rience its greatest increase in infections,” Ramaphosa said in a televised address. “It is important to ensure that schools do not become sites of transmission.”

All schools were shut in March when the government imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus. While South Africa’s privately funded schools are well-resourced, some public schools don’t have enough space in classrooms to allow for physical distancing, and lack adequate water and sanitation.

Infections in South Africa have surged since curbs were relaxed last month to allow

millions of people to return to work -- an easing that coin-cided with the start of a phased reopening of schools. The country had confirmed 408,052 cases by Thursday, the fifth-most in the world, and hospitals in some hotspots have already run out of beds even though the disease is only expected to peak in the coming weeks.

The renewed school clo-sures will make it harder for many parents without alternate childcare to work, and may weigh further on an economy that the central bank expects to contract 7.3% this year. A study by a group of 30 academics and researchers released last week estimated that 3 million people lost their jobs between Feb-ruary and April, while 1.5-mil l ion others were

furloughed.The four-week school

closure won’t apply to pupils in their final year, who will only take a one-week break, and to Grade 7 pupils, who will break for two weeks, according to Ramaphosa. The current aca-demic year will be extended to make up for lost teaching time, he said.

The president also ordered a probe of the misuse of all public funds that had been allo-cated to tackle the virus, and said nine government agencies, including the National Prose-cuting Authority, police and national tax agency would probe allegations of wrong-doing. “All the funds we have committed must reach their intended recipients and be put to their proper use,” he said.

S Sudan dissident flees to US over alleged ‘death squad’ hitAFP — JUBA

Prominent South Sudanese economist and government critic Peter Biar Ajak said yesterday that he had sought asylum in the United States, accusing President Salva Kiir of trying to have him killed, a charge Juba denied.

Biar, a 35-year-old Harvard-educated economist who has worked for the World Bank, has been outspoken in his criticism of the country’s leadership and its handling of a civil war that left nearly 400,000 dead.

In July 2018 he was detained and held for eight months without charge. He was eventually found guilty of spying over an interview he gave to foreign media and sen-tenced to 13 years’ jail. He was pardoned in January.

Yesterday, he posted a photo of himself and his family arriving in the US, thanking President Donald Trump for giving them refuge “after I fled a death squad sent by...

President Salva Kiir.” South Sudan’s government said Biar’s

accusation was “completely not true”. “Biar was supposed to

say this when he was here... he was released by the

government,” foreign ministry spokesman Raphael Nhial Kulang said.

“He should not just make allegations without a case.”

One of Biar’s co-accused, businessman Kerbino Wol, who was also pardoned, launched a rebellion and was killed by gov-ernment forces last month.

South Sudan plunged into war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his former vice pres-ident Riek Machar of plotting a coup. A peace deal in Sep-tember 2018 led to the for-mation of a unity government in February with Machar serving as first vice-president -- the latest attempt by the two men to rule together.

UN special envoy David Shearer warned on the coun-try’s ninth anniversary of inde-pendence this month that there had been a “stalling of the peace process” and “escalation in con-flict between armed groups” in several parts of the country which had led to deaths and displacement.

South Sudanese economist Peter Biar Ajak and his wife Nyathon Hoth Mai walk into the International Arrivals area in Dulles International Airport in Virginia, after they fled Kenya with their family to the US, yesterday.

Former Tanzanian president Mkapa dies aged 81

AFP — DAR E SALAAM

Former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa, hailed as a peacemaker in East Africa, has died aged 81 in a Dar es Salaam hospital, the government announced yesterday.

He was the country’s third president after independence from Britain in 1962 and ruled for two terms from 1995 to 2005.

“I’m saddened by the death of the third president of Tanzania and that is a big loss for us as a country. Let’s pray for him and more information will follow later,” President John Magufuli said in a short televised speech.

He did not reveal the cause of death. Mkapa was born in 1938 to a poor family in south-eastern Mtwara.

He earned a degree in English in Uganda and later worked as a journalist before being appointed the press sec-retary for the country’s first president, Julius Nyerere.

He held several cabinet posts, such as foreign minister and information minister, and also served as ambassador to the United States before he was elected president.

His presidency was marked by economic reform, including the privatisation of state enterprises and liberal-isation of the economy.

He also secured $3 billion (2.5 billion euros) in debt relief and economic growth soared during his tenure while inflation dropped.

In his memoir published last year, Mkapa said the shooting to death of some 30 opposition supporters in post-election riots on the semi-autonomous island of Zan-zibar in 2001 was one of the “black spots” of his stint in power.

After leaving office he remained active, taking part in mediation talks in Kenya after 2007-2008 election violence.

African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat on Twitter hailed him as “a statesman particularly remembered as an indefati-gable peacemaker in the East African region.”

Mkapa had most recently attempted to mediate between Burundi’s gov-ernment and opposition groups after a disputed 2015 election plunged the country into crisis. However the gov-ernment repeatedly refused to take part and the talks went nowhere.

Burundi’s new president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, on Twitter said he was “deeply saddened” by Mkapa’s death.

Ethiopia calls Nile dam filling diplomatic victoryANATOLIA — ADDIS ABABA

Ethiopia said yesterday it has achieved the first-year target of filling the mega dam on the Blue Nile River amid talks to quell tensions with neighbours Sudan and Egypt.

“The successful filling of the dam boosted Ethiopia’s credibility on the international arena,” Dina Mufti, spokesman of the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, said in a news conference.

The leaders of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt met virtually again last Tuesday as part of continued negotiations on the filing and annual operation of the Ethi-opian Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD).

The African Union took over facili-tation of the trilateral talks in June after

talks sponsored by the U.S. and the World Bank had broken down in February.

“The three countries have reached common understanding and was con-cluded with success and that was a victory to all the three countries,” he said.

However, sources close to the meeting who did not want to be named told Anadolu Agency that despite much talk about common understanding, there have been differences that emanate from Egypt’s insistence on historical right to the Nile while other riparian countries including Ethiopia base their Nile diplomacy on natural rights.

In another development, the spokesman said 30,087 Ethiopian

citizens have been evacuated from the Middle East and neighboring countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dina said the government facilitated

the return of 656 migrant workers from Beirut, 72 from Abu Dhabi, 3,539 from Saudi Arabia, 1,026 from Kuwait and the rest from neighboring countries in Africa.

This frame grab from a video shows an aerial view of water levels at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Guba, Ethiopia, yesterday.

A policeman checking the papers of bus passengers at a roadblock during the coronavirus disease outbreak in Harare, Zimbabwe, yesterday.

Zimbabwe denies bail for journalist known for exposing corruptionAP — HARARE

A Zimbabwean magistrate yesterday denied bail to a journalist known for exposing alleged government corruption and now accused of conspiring with an opposition politician to mobilize anti-government protests.

Magistrate Ngoni Nduna said journalist Hopewell Chin’ono posed a “danger” as he could use social media to influence people to join an anti-government protest planned for July 31. He will remain in custody until at least Aug. 7.

The ruling came as a spokes-woman for the UN. High Commis-sioner for Human Rights said events in Zimbabwe “suggest that the

authorities may be using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to clamp down” on free speech and peaceful assembly.

Chin’ono and politician Jacob Ngarivhume were arrested on Monday. They were charged with “incitement to participate in a gath-ering with intent to promote public violence, breaches of peace or bigotry.” Ngarivhume’s bid for bail was rejected on Thursday.

Chin’ono has said he is being “persecuted” for exposing corruption, including contracts for COVID-19 personal protective gear and drugs that led to the arrest and dismissal of the health minister. “Journalism has been criminalized … the struggle

against corruption should continue, people should not stop,” Chin’ono said, climbing into a prison truck. His lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said she will appeal the magistrate’s ruling.

The case is the latest in a string of arrests of journalists, lawyers, nurses, doctors, teachers and political activists in the southern African country, where political tensions have been rising for months as the economy collapses amid increasing allegations of human rights abuses.

“Merely calling for a peaceful protest or participating in a peaceful protest are an exercise of recognized human rights,” said Liz Throssell, the UN r ights commission’s spokeswoman.

Dozens of prisoners escape from S African jailAFP — CAPE TOWN

Nearly 70 inmates staged a brazen escape from a detention centre in South African town of Malmesbury yesterday after overpowering guards, before most were re-arrested, the government said.

The inmates, who were awaiting trial, broke out around

midday during routine physical exercise at the facility situated about 65 kilometres (40 miles) north of Cape Town, the Department of Correctional Services said in a statement.

“The escapees overpowered officials, took the keys and locked three officials in a cell and opened other cells before escaping through the

main entrance and over the roof,” it said. Police imme-diately launched a manhunt and re-arrested 61 of the 69 escapees.

The centre was holding 451 offenders and there were 20 officials on duty at the time of the incident in the town sur-rounded by wheat and wine farms.

Senegal strengthens coronavirus testing for travellersREUTERS — DAKAR

Senegal is strengthening its coronavirus testing capacity to enable travellers to get tested before leaving the country, and testing those arriving in the West African state.

Senegal, which depends on tourism for around 4% of GDP, has reported 9,422 cases since the outbreak, with 182 deaths.

It lifted a ban on international flights from July 15 but said it will apply the principle of rec-iprocity to travellers from countries that do not allow citizens from Senegal. Around 1.7 million people holidayed in Senegal in 2019.

The health ministry has accredited four testing centres in the capital Dakar, from only one at the onset of the outbreak, to test travellers. It plans to expand testing in other major towns.

All schools were shut in March when the government imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus. While South Africa’s privately funded schools are well-resourced, some public schools don’t have enough space in classrooms to allow for physical distancing, and lack adequate water and sanitation.

06 SATURDAY 25 JULY 2020ASIA

Australia's Victoria state to send in the army to check on COVID-19 casesREUTERS — MELBOURNE

Australia’s Victoria state will send in the army to question people who have tested positive for COVID-19 as it battles to control an outbreak that claimed a record number of lives yesterday.

Australia’s second most populous state will deploy Aus-tralian Defence Force personnel to the homes of people who have tested positive and who have not answered telephone calls, in order to kick start the contact tracing process, state premier Daniel Andrews said.

A flare-up of infections in Melbourne, the state’s largest city, prompted the government to enforce a six-week partial lockdown and make face masks mandatory for its residents or risk a A$200 ($143) fine.

“This is about going that extra step to make sure that we cannot just call but we can connect... get that interview done and then begin the process of tracing con-tacts,” Andrews told a regular press conference.

“If you were door knocked and you were not found at home...that would almost cer-tainly lead to you being fined.” The state recorded six deaths overnight, the highest daily toll for the nation since the pan-demic began.

All the deaths were linked to aged care homes, of which more than 40 have recorded outbreaks.

Statewide, 300 new infections were found, dropping from a record of 484 on Wednesday.

Two cases were detected among Aboriginal people in the regional Victorian city of Bal-larat, a cause of concern for officials given a high degree of health issues among Indigenous Australians.

“No-one should be moving towards trying to provide defin-itive commentary that we have turned a corner,” Andrews added.

Australia has so far escaped the high COVID-19 casualty numbers of other nations, with just over 13,300 infections and 139 deaths from the virus as of Friday.

In the most populous state of New South Wales, restric-tions were reintroduced on Friday after several clusters emerged, including dozens of cases stemming from a Thai restaurant. New cases in the state fell to seven overnight, from several days in the teens.

Group bookings at restaurants, cafes and clubs will be limited to 10 people and patrons inside a venue will be capped to 300.

Wedding and corporate events will be limited to 150 people with strict social dis-tancing rules including a ban on singing, dancing and min-gling, while only 100 can attend funerals and places of worship.

Australia’s National Cabinet met yesterday and laid out new measures to combat the virus including tougher restrictions on truck drivers transporting goods between states, some of which have not seen any cases of com-munity transmission for months.

Prime Minister Scott Mor-rison reaffirmed the country’s aggressive suppression strategy to stamp out all community transmission, even as it looks to soften the economic blow.

Australia’s budget is set to plunge into its biggest deficit since the Second World War this year as the coronavirus crisis knocks the country into its first recession in three decades and forces policy-makers to roll out hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus.

Police personnel stop motorists on a street after a new lockdown has been imposed until July 29 as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19, in Siliguri, West Bengal, India, yesterday.

India sees record 49,000 new virus casesREUTERS — MUMBAI

India reported over 49,000 fresh cases of the novel coro-navirus with 740 new deaths yesterday, marking the biggest daily surge in cases even as offi-cials in some states complained of shortages of vital drugs for those hospitalised.

As the number of cases neared 1.3 million in India, local authorities scrambled to procure generic versions of remdesivir, the drug that has shown promise in clinical trials in treating severely-ill patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“Demand is huge as cases are rising rapidly in the state,” said a senior drug regulatory official in the western state of Maharashtra. “Supplies of the

drug are limited, but companies have assured us they will provide more in a week.” India has reported 30,601 deaths from the disease, with more than 40 percent of these deaths coming from Maharashtra state.

The western state is the worst-affected, having recorded nearly 350,000 cases, of which almost 60 percent were reported in the country’s financial capital, Mumbai, and its satellite towns.

Remdesivir, made by the US drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc, has been in high demand glo-bally amid the pandemic, and Gilead in May and June authorized six Indian com-panies, and three foreign ones, to make and sell generic ver-sions of the drug in 127 devel-oping nations.

Only three of these firms with operations in India — Hetero Labs Ltd, Cipla and Mylan NV have so far been able to start supplying. Others are either awaiting regulatory approvals or still setting up production.

Several hospitals have struggled to get the drug as patient numbers increased in a county whose public health system is one of the world’s most poorly-funded. India has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases after the United States and Brazil.

Drug industry and gov-ernment officials in the country said that they are doing their best. “These things cannot be done in a hurry,” said PD Vaghela, an official at India’s Department of Pharmaceuticals.

Thai activists burn PM’s image as resignation calls growREUTERS — BANGKOK

Young Thai political activists set fire to pictures of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha outside government house yesterday and called for his resignation, as pressure builds on the generals who orchestrated a 2014 coup to leave office.

In the past week there have been small protests seeking to drive him from office in at least six provinces, while internal party squabbles have led to six cabinet members resigning.

Yesterday’s demonstrators

burned images of Prayuth and his deputy, Prawit Wongsuwan, both former army chiefs.

“We want to burn the bad things in Thailand,” said pro-tester Niwiboon Chomphoo, 20, adding that Prayuth remained in charge because of a consti-tution that was “unreliable and unfair for our democracy”.

Opponents say the military drafted a basic law that all-but guaranteed junta leader Prayuth remained in power as a civilian premier after national elections last year, with members of his royalist military

clique in key posts.Prayuth also faces a tough

challenge to revive an economy that the central bank says could shrink by a record 8.1% this year and may have seen 7-8 million job losses, largely from corona-virus impacts.

Youth groups are planning more protests at the weekend.

Last Saturday about 2,500 people rallied against Prayuth in one of the biggest demon-strations since the 2014 coup, during which there were veiled negative references to the pow-erful monarchy, Such allusions

would once have been unthinkable in a country where criticism of the king is against the law. A group of about 20 people submitted a letter to the military on Friday asking it to monitor anti-monarchy state-ments at the protests.

“Listen to us, we are your elders. Don’t create division,” Tul Sittisomwong, its leader, told reporters.

“We don’t have to show force to disagree and argue. We are ready to support the mil-itary to protect the highest institution.”

India and China set for more talks to de-escalate Himalayan standoffREUTERS — NEW DELHI

Indian and Chinese diplomats were set for more talks yesterday to narrow differences on ways to pull back troops eye-balling each other across a disputed border in the western Himalayas, where 20 Indian soldiers died in a clash over a month ago.

There were no shots fired during the June 15 fighting in the Galwan Valley of India’s Ladakh region when the Indian soldiers were beaten with rocks and clubs, but it still marked the worst clash in decades between Asia’s nuclear-armed giants.

Since then the two sides have held several rounds of talks to restore calm, and reduced the numbers of troops in the valley, while still pouring reinforcements into the region.

Once they agree how to sequence a pull back from frontline positions, the next step would be for the with-drawal of all the additional forces and military equipment that were deployed in rear areas after the clash.

Diplomats from both sides were set to hold talks through a virtual meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs, a government source in New Delhi said.

The de facto border, called the Line of Actual Control (LAC), was established after a war in 1962, but it remains poorly defined, and there have

been sporadic flare ups over the decades, without leading to cross-border firing.

India’s foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said maintenance of peace on the border was the basis of bi-lateral relations.

“Therefore, it is our expec-tation that the Chinese side will sincerely work with us for complete disengagement and de-escalation and full resto-ration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas at the ear-liest,” Srivastava said. A US official, speaking on the con-dition of anonymity, told Reuters in Washington that the United States had seen a build-up of forces on the India-China border, estimating that each side had over 10,000 troops in the border area.

“We’re still seeing actually troop reinforcements and weapon reinforcements moving towards the border. So by no means are we out of the woods yet,” the official added.

India has also taken non-military retaliatory action against China after last month’s clash. On Thursday, New Delhi said companies from neigh-bouring countries bidding for government contracts would need to register and obtain security clearance.

Citing security concerns, India has outlawed 59 apps of Chinese origin, including ByteDance’s TikTok and Ali-baba’s UC Browser.

Bangladesh's coronavirus recovery rate tops 55%

ANATOLIA — DHAKA

The COVID-19 recovery rate in Bangladesh has crossed 55 percent, while the mortality rate now stands at 1.30 percent, authorities said yesterday.

A total of 1,768 patients recovered over the past 24 hours, raising the overall number to 120,976, or 55.33 percent, Health Ministry official Nasima Sultana said at a daily news briefing.

Virus-related fatalities in the country rose to 2,836, with 35 more deaths — 28 men and seven women — recorded over the past day. The country’s overall case count increased by 2,548 to reach 218,658, the official said.

A total of 12,027 more tests were conducted across Bang-ladesh over the past 24 hours, with the infection rate standing at 21.19 percent, she added.

The United Nations Devel-opment Program has advised the Bangladesh government to provide cash allowances to 40 percent of its over 161 million population.

It said the government should give around $25 per month to some 65 million people, saying that financial assistance to the poorest people on an emergency basis could reduce the rate of coronavirus infections.

In a report, the UN agency estimates that it would cost about $199bn per month to provide a time-bound, guaranteed basic income to 2.7 billion people living below or just above the poverty line in 132 countries.

Adhering to safety precautionsWorkers wearing masks for protection against the coronavirus disease bring out delivery orders at GrabKitchen, in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines, yesterday.

Myanmar joins band of Asian nations launching satellitesAFP — MEIKTILA, MYANMAR

Myanmar is preparing to launch its first-ever satellite, joining an unlikely coalition of nascent space nations aiming to protect millions from environmental disasters.

The future “super constel-lation” of micro-satellites from nine Asian countries will track typhoons, seismic activity and water flows, as well as provide data on land use, the growth of crops and disease outbreaks.

It is the first space venture for Myanmar, the least econom-ically developed country in a consortium that includes the Philippines, Vietnam and

Indonesia.The benefits of observing the

environment from space match the millions of dollars Myanmar is spending, says Kyi Thwin, rector of the Myanmar Aero-space Engineering University.

“It’s simply less expensive if we build our own satellite,” he said from inside the univer-sity’s space shuttle-shaped building near the town of Meiktila, adding the technology will help Myanmar’s economy “leap-frog forward”.

Yet Myanmar is still in a dif-ferent orbit to the big space nations — strong wind carried away the roof of the shuttle’s nose and the university has no

spare budget for repairs.But with technological

advances — and a spirit of col-laboration — launching satellites is no longer the reserve of giants like the US, Russia and China.

Yukihiro Takahashi from Hokkaido University, one of two Japanese institutes leading the project, points to Nigeria, which has become a global hub for producing satellite technology on the cheap.

“Big, heavy and expensive has become small, light and affordable,” he says.

The target is to launch around five micro-satellites every year, each weighing under 100 kilogrammes and

with a lifespan of five years, until the consortium controls around 50 devices in orbit.

Myanmar’s first contri-bution will cost a relatively non-astronomical $16m — a fraction of the $100m bill or more for conventional satellites.

The launch will be overseas, but Myanmar will have its own ground control centre, working alongside a counterpart in Japan. “Myanmar will be one of the main players,” Takahashi said, saying Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh and Mongolia will also join the team at a later date.

He says the project’s cameras are among the best in space, taking near-continuous

images that will be turned into 3-D models of typhoons or dis-aster-stricken areas.

They will also track changes in land use, from urban devel-opment to deforestation and illegal mining.

“It makes a lot of sense —politically, economically and socially — for these countries to build up capabilities to meet their own risk profiles,” Sinead O’Sullivan, research fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology, said.

The Asian consortium is “incredibly positive” and a way around buying expensive sat-ellite imagery from commercial companies, she added.

Australia’s second most populous state will deploy Australian Defence Force personnel to the homes of people who have tested positive and who have not answered telephone calls, in order to kick start the contact tracing process, state Premier Daniel Andrews said.

07SATURDAY 25 JULY 2020 ASIA

Taliban say ready for talks with Kabul after Eid holidayAP — ISLAMABAD

The Taliban said they are ready for talks with Afghanistan’s political leadership after the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Adha at the end of July, offering to hand over the last of the government prisoners in a week’s time, providing the government frees the last of its Taliban prisoners.

The offer made by Taliban’s political spokesman Suhail Shaheen in a tweet late on Thursday follows one of the most significant shake-ups in the Taliban in years. The group appointed the son of the move-ment’s fearsome founder to head its military wing and powerful leadership council members to its negotiation team.

In Kabul yesterday, the High

Council for National Reconcil-iation, which was created in May to manage peace efforts with the Taliban, said it was still working through the Taliban’s prisoner list.

Javed Faisal, spokesman for the Afghan national security adviser’s office, previously said nearly 600 Taliban prisoners whose release is being sought have been convicted of serious crimes. The government is reluctant to set them free, he said.

It seemed unlikely the gov-ernment would free the remaining Taliban prisoners before the holiday.

The release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by the gov-ernment and 1,000 government personnel and security officials in Taliban custody is laid out in a US deal with the Taliban aimed at ending Afghanistan’s relentless wars.

According to the deal, the prisoner exchange is to take

place ahead of talks between Kabul and the Taliban, seen as perhaps the most critical part of the deal.

Shaheen’s tweet was the first offer at a timeline for the negotiations, however he demanded the prisoner release be completed first and refused any substitutes to the list of pris-oners submitted by the Taliban.

Kabul has offered to free alternative Taliban members they have in custody and who they say have not been con-victed of serious crimes. The Taliban have refused.

The government’s national reconciliation council mem-bership has yet to be decided. It is being led by Abdullah Abdullah, a candidate in last year’s presi-dential election who disputed the results and had for a time

declared himself president. He was appointed to head

the reconciliation efforts to break the political deadlock over the election, which had frustrated Washington’s efforts to get intra-Afghan negotiations off the ground.

Meanwhile, the religious movement has finalized its 20-member negotiating team, which includes 13 members of the Taliban’s leadership council.

Taliban officials who spoke previously said the strength of the team means it can make decisions on behalf of the movement.

The Taliban team is also led by one of the founders of the movement, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who spent eight years in a jail in Pakistan after he attempted to open peace talks

in 2010 with President Hamid Karzai.

Baradar’s independent peace overtures were appar-ently made without either Paki-stan’s or the United States’ prior approval, according to Karzai. Karzai has said he twice asked Islamabad and Washington to free Baradar. He was rejected both times, he said.

Now, however, Baradar speaks on the phone with US Sec-retary of State Mike Pompeo and was the leading negotiator in talks with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, which resulted in a peace deal between the Taliban and the US. It was touted as Afghanistan’s best chance at peace in decades when it was signed February 29. However, it has been bogged down over the release of prisoners.

China tells US to shut Chengdu consulate, retaliating for HoustonREUTERS — BEIJING/WASHINGTON

China ordered the United States on Friday to close its consulate in the city of Chengdu, responding to a US demand for China to close its Houston consulate, as relations between the world’s two largest econ-omies deteriorate.

The order to close the con-sulate in Chengdu, in south-western China’s Sichuan province, continued Beijing’s recent practice of like-for-like responses to US actions.

China had warned it would retaliate after it was this week given 72 hours to vacate its con-sulate in the Texas city, and had urged the United States to reconsider.

Relations between Wash-ington and Beijing have deteri-orated sharply this year over issues ranging from trade and technology to the novel coro-navirus, China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and its clampdown on Hong Kong.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China informed the US Embassy in China of its decision to withdraw its consent for the establishment and

operation of the US Consulate General in Chengdu,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said some Chengdu consulate personnel were “conducting activities not in line with their identities” and had interfered in China’s affairs and harmed China’s security interests, but he did not say how.

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, who is also foreign minister, blamed Washington for the deterioration in ties.

“The current difficult situ-ation in Sino-US relations is entirely caused by the United States, and its goal is trying to interrupt China’s development,” Wang said in a video conver-sation with his German counterpart.

US President Donald Trump’s administration said the closing of the consulate was aimed at protecting American intellectual property and per-sonal information.

“We urge the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to cease these malign actions rather than engage in tit-for-tat retaliation,” John Ullyot, a spokesman for

the White House National Security Council, said in a statement.

The consulate in Chengdu was given 72 hours to close, or until 10am on Monday, the editor of the Global Times newspaper said on Twitter.

The consulate opened in 1985 and has almost 200 employees, including about 150 locally hired staff, according to its website. It was not immedi-ately clear how many are there now after US diplomats were evacuated from China during the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Global share markets fell after the announcement, led by a heavy drop in Chinese blue chips, which fell 4.4 percent, while the yuan hit a two-week low.

The US State Department warned Americans in China of a greater risk of arbitrary law enforcement including detention, repeating a similar warning two weeks ago.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a speech on Thursday Washington and its allies must use “more creative and assertive ways” to press the Chinese Communist Party to

change its ways. A source had said China was considering shutting the US consulate in Wuhan, where Washington withdrew staff as the corona-virus outbreak raged.

“The Chengdu consulate is more important than the Wuhan consulate because that is where the US gathers infor-mation about Tibet and China’s development of strategic weapons in neighboring regions,” said Wu Xinbo, a pro-fessor and American studies expert at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Police stand guard at the entrance to the US consulate in Chengdu, China’s Sichuan province, yesterday.

Kazakhstan sues

NY financier

over arbitration

dispute

REUTERS — ALMATY

Kazakhstan is suing a New York financier, alleging he conspired with a Moldovan businessman to fraudulently secure an arbitration award of over $500m against the oil-rich nation, according to documents filed with a New York court.

The Nur-Sultan gov-ernment aims to hold emerging markets investor Daniel Chapman and his companies liable for all damages it has suf-fered as a result of lawsuits filed against it by Moldovan tycoon Anatolie Stati, his son and their companies, who are seeking to foreclose on a stake in a giant Kazakh oilfield.

Stati has won an arbitration award against Kazakhstan and has filed enforcement lawsuits in Britain, the European Union and the United States, briefly freezing $22bn in assets owned by Kazakhstan’s rainy-day National Fund.

Although that freeze has been lifted, over $6bn in other Kazakh sovereign fund assets remain frozen, mostly in the Netherlands, due to lawsuits by Stati and partners who accuse Kazakhstan of illegally nation-alising their energy business.

Kazakhstan has in turn accused Stati of defrauding both the former Soviet republic and the Swedish arbitrators who ruled in his favour, charges he and his companies deny.

Further upping the stakes, in a lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the Nur-Sultan gov-ernment accused Chapman and his companies of “con-spiring with, and aiding and abetting, a fraudulent scheme” led by Stati.

Kazakhstan is seeking a jury trial and pursuing relief permitted by law, including compensatory and punitive damages.

S Korea to train

hundreds of

doctors to battle

future epidemics

REUTERS — SEOUL

South Korea will add 4,000 medical students over the next 10 years to swell the number of its doctors and strengthen the response to future public health crises, government and ruling party officials say.

Authorities flagged the need to train doctors for potential outbreaks of infectious disease worse than COVID-19, which is caused by the coronavirus, pointing to the risk of more fre-quent epidemics and limited numbers of beds for the sick.

To fill the gap, officials said they plan to step up admissions to medical schools using a com-bination of new quotas, incen-tives for students in less lucrative specialities and those who com-plete a decade of public health work in rural areas.

“We will increase the quota for medical students to add more

personnel in specialised fields,” Kim Tae-nyeon, a lawmaker, said at a policy meeting on Thursday.

The plan is to boost medical school admissions by about 400 a year for the next decade, before returning to a quota of 3,058, which has stayed fixed since 2006.

The government said it would waive tuition and offer full scholarships to about 300 students in areas such as epi-demiology, gynaecology or surgery, widely seen as unpopular in contrast with more lucrative plastic surgery

and dermatology.Authorities said South

Korea’s 2018 ratio of 2.4 doctors for every 1,000 people fell short of an average of 3.5 for nations of the Organisation for Eco-nomic Cooperation and Devel-opment (OECD).

Smart lockdown a success in curbing corona cases in PakistanINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

Pakistani Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan has expressed satisfaction over the reduction of coronavirus cases in the country.

Responding to the questions of Senators during question hour in the Senate on Friday, he said the situation is improving with each passing day and asked the people to be more careful on the eve of Eid ul Azha to avoid the spike in corona cases.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s smart lockdown

policy has proved to be a success and is now being emu-lated by other countries around the world. He paid glowing tributes to the healthcare staff who laid down their lives in the fight against the pandemic.

The Minister of State said no polio case has been reported in the country in the months of June and July this year.

Minister for Communica-tions Murad Saeed said the former rulers recklessly used the national exchequer in their foreign trips.

He said former Prime

Minister Nawaz Sharif made the most visits to London whilst the PPP leaders to the UAE. He said the present government has been pursuing an austerity drive ever since it came to power.

Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan says Pakistan will file an appeal for resumption of flight operations in Europe by the end of this month.

Responding to a call attention notice in the Senate today, he said the suspension of PIA flights by European Union Aviation Safety Agency

is not for the first time.He said it was not only my

statement or ill-fated plane crash in Karachi, which led to the suspension but PIA was already under observation by EASA for safety hazards.

The Minister expressed hope that PIA flight operations to European countries will resume by the end of this year.

He said the incumbent gov-ernment will bring back the lost glory of Pakistan International Airlines.

Ghulam Sarwar Khan said pilots’ license verification is

being done in the great interest of the organization. He said during the investigation 28 licenses were cancelled.

He said the matter of dubious licenses will be brought to the logical end and criminal cases will be lodged against those who are found guilty.

He said the government believes in across the board accountability to uplift the organization.

The Minister clarified that there is no political motive behind this accountability but it is the matter of human lives.

Models during a rehearsal for a fashion show, wearing masks as a measure to avoid the spread of coronavirus disease, in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday.

Zardari’s indictment in money laundering case deferred till July 29INTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

An accountability court in Islamabad has deferred former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur’s indictment once again in the mega money-laundering case.

Proceedings for the ref-erence could not be held yes-terday as judge Azam Khan was not available for the hearing.

Another main suspect in the reference, Abdul Ghani Majeed, and others appeared before the court. A plea bargain report pertaining to the reference is expected to be presented in court at the next hearing.

The case will now be heard on July 29. Zardari avoids indictment as Naek requests court to grant more time On July 6, Zardari could not face indictment in the Park Lane reference after his lawyer, Farooq H Naek, requested the court for additional

time to prepare for the case. Zardari has requested an exemption from court appear-ances due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The court had earlier decided to frame charges against Zardari via video link at the hospital or his residence in case of his ill health. Registrar of the accountability court had written a letter to NAB, Karachi for finalising arrangements for the PPP leader’s indictment.

In October 2015, the anti-corruption wing of the Federal Investigation Agency in Karachi received a tip-off of suspicious intra-bank transactions from the Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and the United Bank Limited.

The profiles of the account holders did not match their earnings/income. FIA suspected that these accounts were being run by the Zardari Group and Omni Group, amongst others.

The offer made by Taliban’s political spokesman Suhail Shaheen in a tweet late on Thursday follows one of the most significant shake-ups in the Taliban in years. In Kabul yesterday, the High Council for National Reconciliation said it was still working through the Taliban’s prisoner list.

People who receive stimulus payments via a debit card rather than through direct deposit should beware of scammers calling to get the card’s information or saying there’s a fee to activate it.

08 SATURDAY 25 JULY 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANDR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

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

EDITORIAL

AFTER doing a tremendous job of introducing an online education mechanism for public and private educational institutions during peak days of COVID-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Education and Higher Edu-cation has now announced its strategy for 2020/2021 academic year.

Under the plan, educational institutions will start physical learning classes from September 1 and this return to normalcy plan has also been divided into three stages to avoid any resurgence of viral infection.

As number of new COVID-19 cases is reducing in Qatar with every passing day, there are very strong chances that by the start of September the pandemic will be fully controlled in the country.

The first stage of reopening of schools will be for three days from September 1 to 3 in which the student attendance will not exceed one-third of the people in the school. The second stage will be for two weeks, from September 6 to 17, where the attendance and occupancy rate in all Qatar’s public and private schools and kindergartens will not exceed 50 percent of the students, as their attendance will be alternating during the two weeks in two groups.

The third stage is the actual start of 100 percent of students in schools and kindergartens, and this period will start from September 20, 2020 for all stu-dents in public and private schools and kindergartens.

During all stages precautionary precautions in accordance with the requirements of the health and safety department of the Education Ministry, in coor-dination with the Ministry of Public Health will be strictly followed.

Meanwhile to make back-to-school plans successful and avoid the resurgence of COVID-19 pandemic it is the first and foremost duty of all citizens, residents of Qatar to never neglect precautionary measures needed to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Adherence to precautionary measures is also being advised by health experts. “Decline in new infections does not mean the virus has been eradicated. Therefore continued prevention and precautions are vital to avert a second wave of infections,” said Dr. Yousuf Al Maslamani, Medical Director, Hamad General Hospital.

He added: “The number of cases is falling in Qatar and we have succeeded in flattening the curve of COVID-19 because of the government instructions, preventive efforts and measures as well as awareness and cooperation of the community. Unless we follow all precautionary measures, we may experience a second wave of the virus and see numbers increasing again.”

Back to school plan

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Quote of the day

Protesters and journalists in US cities including

Portland, Oregon, must be able to take part in

peaceful demonstrations without risking arbitrary

arrest, detention, the unnecessary use of force or

other rights violations.

Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office

Worshippers wearing facemasks have their temperatures taken they arrive for the Friday prayers at Madina Masjid, Sheffield’s central mosque, in Sheffield, northern England, yesterday.

From socially isolated seniors to distracted parents working from home, the coronavirus has exposed victims to scammers. Pandemic-related complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, the agency responsible for protecting U.S. consumers, started spiking in mid-March and remain high.

The AARP says that its fraud hotline is on track to field twice as many scam reports this year as last. And it’s not just the 50-plus crowd or multi-tasking parents who are unwit-tingly wiring money, sharing personal information or

investing in a con. Those under 40 are actually more likely than their elders to fall for schemes amid the pandemic, but they tend to lose less money and get less attention.

Here are some of the most common cons and some steps consumers can take to protect themselves:

RobocallsSavvy criminals are taking

advantage of health-related fear and recording automated messages that sound like they’re coming from a state health department or other government agency. The mes-sages mimic the approach of legitimate contact tracers, telling the person on the receiving end that he or she has been in contact with someone who’s ill with COVID-19 and asking for personal infor-mation that a real contact tracer would never request, such as a Social Security number or health insurance ID. The best advice is to hang up, and to report the number to the FTC at donotcall.gov.

Relief-Program TheftBad actors are angling to

get a piece of the government programs intended to help people cope with financial hardships. Identity thieves can steal unemployment benefits or exploit a small-business loan offering. The best site to report and recover from identity theft is the FTC’s iden-titytheft.gov.

People who receive stimulus payments via a debit card rather than through direct deposit should beware of scammers calling to get the

card’s information or saying there’s a fee to activate it.

Likewise, small-business owners (and their staff) who applied for Paycheck Pro-tection Program loans should be wary of anyone calling or emailing to say they’re from a government organization and demanding a fee to access the loan or an identifying tax number. Remember, the Internal Revenue Service gen-erally communicates by mail, not phone or email. Gov-ernment websites end in .gov.

And here’s a protective trick for people who are still employed, just in case they lose their jobs: Set up a username and password at a state employment office website preemptively. If a scammer tries to open an account in the name of someone who’s already regis-tered, it will set off alarms.

COVID-19 Investment Fraud

Some investors have been duped by companies claiming to offer a product that can detect, prevent or cure the coro-navirus. For example, cold-callers sometimes recommend a medical- or drug-company stock and suggest that a victim buy it commission-free, then dump it once enough people pump up the price. Victims are easier to target than ever because a relief package approved by Congress in March lets people withdraw up to $100,000 from their 401(k) retirement plans without paying the usual penalty.

Pump-and-dump scammers and others tend to

demand immediate action, or the promise of a set return, something legitimate money managers don’t do. The best place to check a financial pro-fessional’s credentials is on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s BrokerCheck or the Investment Adviser Public Dis-closure website at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Poisoned Meeting LinksMany employees working

from home on their personal computers lack the security systems provided by employers. That makes it easier for scammers to trick people into clicking on faux meeting links as Zoom and other online meeting platforms replace con-ference rooms. Links can install malware for stealing pass-words and other sensitive information embedded on home computers. The best pro-tection is vigilance and common sense: Look before you click! The website virus-total.com can scan links and email attachments to see if there’s anything suspicious about them.

Lonely-Hearts SchemesCriminals have preyed on

the lovelorn forever, and the pandemic just makes it easier. Regulators say that more and more schemers are striking up online romances with the lonely and homebound, then per-suading them to part with their money. Alas, no consumer-pro-tection website can dissuade someone from draining life savings in the name of love.

Alexis Leondis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering personal finance.

THE WASHINGTON POST

The novel coronavirus is inflicting global suffering that is likely to persist until scien-tists produce an effective vaccine. With so much hinging on a vaccine, some are calling for a little-known epidemiological tool to speed testing: human challenge trials. Under certain condi-tions, human challenge trials - in which individuals volunteer to be deliberately exposed to a pathogen - could hasten vaccine development by giving scientists rapid feedback about what is and is not working. Given the pandemic’s mounting destruction, proposals that could set the world on a path to recovery sooner - even risky proposals - should be considered.

Conventionally, after a vaccine is shown to be safe in

humans, thousands of volun-teers are divided into two groups: Half get the vaccine, half get a placebo. As volun-teers go about their lives for months, some fraction of both groups will be exposed to the pathogen. Researchers compare groups to see whether fewer of those who were vaccinated got sick. With challenge trials, instead of waiting for months and hoping enough participants are exposed - which could be tricky under social distancing orders - young, healthy people agree to be exposed to the pathogen and then are observed, providing much faster evidence of a vaccine’s effectiveness. Because chal-lenge trials guarantee exposure to the pathogen, they also could provide useful information with many fewer participants.

Of course, a host of

considerations would need to govern the use of human challenge trials, some of which the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health recently outlined. You would need robust procedures to inform volunteers of the risks, perhaps analogous to the one thousands of Americans go through annually when they volunteer to donate a kidney. The risks of mortality for a young, healthy person who contracts the coronavirus appear to be roughly the same as those associated with kidney donation, though there’s plenty we still do not know about long-term impli-cations of the coronavirus. Still, tens of thousands of people from 140 countries have indicated preliminary interest in volunteering for challenge trials.

Ultimately, the wisdom of

using human challenge trials to speed vaccine development will depend on a series of risk calculations, many of which remain shrouded in uncer-tainty. It’s possible that a vaccine currently in late testing stages will prove effective, in which case, any gains in speed from using challenge trials may not be worth the risks. However, vaccine trials have high failure rates - in a nightmare scenario, an effective vaccine could still be years away. The risks of deploying challenge trials may well end up out-weighing the benefits, but with so much uncertainty - and the devastation that will persist until a vaccine arrives - it makes sense to build the regulatory, medical and ethical infrastructure to support challenge trials now, regardless of whether we feel confident we will use them.

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09SATURDAY 25 JULY 2020 EUROPE

UK will be past virus by mid-2021: Johnson REUTERS — LONDON

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday he thought the country would be through the coronavirus crisis by mid-2021 but feared there may be a second spike that could overwhelm the health service.

“Whether it came from... a bat, a pangolin or however it emerged, it was a very, very nasty thing for the human race. And I think by the middle of next year we will be well on the way past it,” he told reporters.

“This country is going to bounce back stronger than ever before,” Johnson said.

“We’ve still got the threat of a second spike.” On a visit to a doctor’s surgery, Johnson said he hoped everybody would get a flu vaccine to lower the pressure on the health service during the winter months.

“There’s all these anti-vaxxers now,” Johnson told medical workers.

“They are nuts, they are nuts.” In the year since Johnson became the British leader, he has won a landslide election victory, delivered on his pledge to lead Britain out of the European Union and came close to death with COVID-19.

But opposition parties say Johnson was too slow to impose a lockdown, failed to identify care homes as a vul-nerability, botched the test-and-trace system and failed to sack his senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, for trav-elling during lockdown.

Speaking a year since he became prime minister, Johnson said his experience was that government needed “to move faster and be more responsive to the needs of the people.”

He mentioned that people were unable to get their pass-ports or birth certificates in time and that there was a backlog of court cases.

“Sometimes government can be slow,” Johnson told

reporters while reflecting on his year in power.

“We are learning the whole time.” He added that proposals would be brought forward on the funding of social care to protect people from the risk of having to sell their homes to fund care.

Asked how long people would have to wear face

masks, Johnson said he would rely on the common sense of the British people but refused to give any sense of when the COVID-19 measures would be relaxed.

Johnson, who has com-plained that the British are far fatter than any other nation in Europe bar the Maltese, said people should lose weight.

“I’m not normally a believer in nannying, bossing politics but the reality is that obesity is one of the comor-bidity factors,” Johnson said.

“I’ve lost about a stone and a bit, primarily by eating less but also by a lot of exercise.” Asked why he never apolo-gised, Johnson quipped: “I am sorry if I don’t apologise.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson bumps elbows with a staff member during his visit to the Tollgate Medical Centre in Becton, east London, yesterday.

Belarus oppn

leader flees

abroad with two

sons ahead of pollREUTERS — MINSK

An opposition candidate who tried to stand against Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko in next month’s presidential election has fled to Russia with his two sons, fearing they could be taken away, his campaign said yesterday.

Valery Tsepkalo, the coun-try’s former ambassador to Washington and later the founder of an office park for technology companies, worried that the authorities had started proceedings to deprive him of his parental rights.

Lukashenko has jailed two of his main election rivals and detained hundreds of pro-testers in a crackdown on dissent against his 26-year rule that has drawn Western criticism.

Tsepkalo’s campaign said officials from the prosecutor’s office had come to the boys’ school asking for written state-ments that his family were not taking good enough care of the children.

“We were left with no choice,” Tsepkalo’s wife Veronika, who stayed behind to campaign against Lukashenko, told a crowd of hundreds of people at a rally.

“I was called by concerned people and they said: ‘We do not want to sign these papers, but they force us (to sign), they collect something bad against you and the next step is to deprive you of parental rights, that you are a bad mother, do not take care of the children’.” A spokesman for the prosecu-tor’s office declined comment. Tsepkalo’s camp has not dis-closed the age of the children.

Tsepkalo’s move abroad comes days after another opposition candidate, Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, moved her two children to an undisclosed location in the European Union. She received anon-ymous threats of her children being taken away.

Veronika has joined forces with Tikhanouskaya and a third woman representing another candidate, now in prison, to campaign jointly against Lukashenko.

Russia rejects space weapon claim as ‘propaganda’AFP — MOSCOW

Russia yesterday dismissed accusations from the United States and Britain that it had tested an anti-satellite weapon in space as “propaganda”.

Moscow responded after the United States Space Command on Thursday accused R ussia of test-firing an anti-satellite weapon in space and warned the threat against US systems was “real, serious and increasing”.

The head of Britain’s Space Directorate, Air Vice-Marshal Harvey Smyth, also reacted, tweeting that “actions of this kind threaten the peaceful use of space.”

The Russian foreign ministry insisted on Moscow’s “com-mitment to obligations on the non-discriminatory use and

study of space with peaceful aims.

“We call on our US and British colleagues to show pro-fessionalism and instead of some propagandistic information attacks, sit down for talks,” the ministry said in a statement.

The US said that Russia con-ducted a “non-destructive test of a space-based anti-satellite weapon”.

“Clearly this is unacceptable,” tweeted US nuclear disarmament negotiator Marshall Billingslea, adding that it would be a “major issue” discussed next week in Vienna, where he is in talks on a successor to the New START treaty. The treaty caps the nuclear warheads of the US and Russia — the two Cold War-era superpowers.

The Russian foreign ministry

said tests carried out by the coun-try’s defence ministry on July 15 “did not create a threat for other space equipment and most importantly, did not breach any norms or principles of interna-tional law.” It in turn accused the US and Britain of moves to develop anti-satellite weaponry.

The US and Britain “naturally keep silent about their own efforts,” it said, claiming the countries had “programmes on the possible use of ‘inspector sat-ellites’ and ‘repair satellites’ as counter-satellite weapons.” Commenting earlier Friday on the accusations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia supports “full demilitari-sation of space and not basing any type of weapons in space.” The US Space Command said the test consisted of Russia’s satellite

called Cosmos 2543 injecting an object into orbit.

Russian state media reported in December that a satellite called Cosmos-2542, which was launched in November 2019 by the Russian military, ejected another smaller satellite once in space. The Russian defence min-istry said the inspector-satellite was meant to “monitor the con-dition of Russian satellites,” but state daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta said it could also “get information from somebody else’s satellites.”

The system is the same one that Space Command raised con-cerns about earlier this year, when it manoeuvred near a US government satellite, said General Jay Raymond, head of US Space Command.

“This is further evidence of

Russia’s continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems, and consistent with the Kremlin’s published military doc-trine to employ weapons that hold US and allied space assets at risk,” Raymond said in a statement.

It is the latest example of Russian satellites behaving in a manner “inconsistent with their stated mission,” the Space Command statement added.

“This event highlights Rus-sia’s hypocritical advocacy of outer space arms control,” said Christopher Ford, a US assistant secretary of state for arms control. The statement also came as China launched a rover to Mars on Thursday, a journey coin-ciding with a similar US mission as the powers take their rivalry into deep space.

Norway to restrict travel from Spain, opens more to SwedenREUTERS — OSLO

Norway will re-impose a 10-day quarantine requirement for people arriving from Spain from today after a surge in COVID-19 cases there, while it will ease restrictions on people coming from more counties of Sweden, the government said yesterday.

Residents of the European Union, European Economic Area or Schengen countries with fewer than 20 confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last two weeks are able to enter Norway without being required to go into self-quarantine.

The latest data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) showed COVID-19 infections in Spain had risen to 30.9 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The Spanish Foreign Min-istry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Olaug Bollestad, Norway’s minister of agriculture and food, who announced the gov-ernment’s decision, said Nor-wegians should think hard before travelling abroad as countries marked “green” could quickly turn “red”, meaning a requirement for quarantine.

There were about 12,000 Norwegians on holiday in Spain, according to Norway’s public broadcaster NRK. Those who returning from Saturday onward will have to go into quarantine.

France advises citizens not to travel to CataloniaPARIS — REUTERS

France is advising it citizens not to travel to the Spanish region of Catalonia in order to help contain the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Friday.

Regional authorities across Spain introduced fresh corona-virus restrictions on Thursday aimed at stamping out a surge in infections. France had said last weekend it had not ruled out closing the border between the two countries.

In Catalonia, nearly 8,000 cases were diagnosed in the 14 days up to Thursday — almost half of the 16,410 detected throughout the country — despite guidelines for residents of regional capital Barcelona to stay at home.

“Concerning the situation in Catatonia, which is displaying worsened indicators for infection, we strongly encourage French citizens to avoid going

there until the health situation improves,” Castex told reporters.

He also said Paris was in dis-cussions with the government in Madrid to limit flows of traffic from Spain into France as much as possible.

In France, the public health authority said on Thursday there had been a significant rise in confirmed, new cases of people suffering from COVID-19, as the number of deaths in the country edged up.

Castex, who was speaking on the sidelines of a visit to Charles-de-Gaulle international airport, north of Paris, also said the gov-ernment planned to reinforce controls at France’s borders in the hope of better containing the pandemic.

People arriving from sixteen countries outside the European Union where the infection rate is deemed to be high will be subject to compulsory testing on arrival at French airports and sea ports. Those who test positive will be required to enter quarantine.

People wait to board an Aegean Airlines aircraft that will transfer refugees and migrants to Germany under a European Commission-funded relocation programme, at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, in Athens, Greece, yesterday.

EU migrant relocation programme

Slovakia PM survives parliamentary

no-confidence vote over plagiarismAP — BRATISLAVA

Slovakia’s prime minister survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote over allegations of plagiarism. Only 47 of the 125 present lawmakers in the 150-seat Parliament voted to dismiss Igor Matovic early yesterday. His dismissal would mean the end of his coalition government. The result was expected because the coalition led by Matovic has a comfortable majority. The motion was requested by the opposition after a newspaper published allegations that Matovic plagiarized most of his thesis on the impact of the tax system on busi-nesses at Bratislava’s Comenius University in 1998.

Journalists of Hungarian news website quit en masse, allege govt meddlingREUTERS — BUDAPEST

Three editors of Hungary’s leading independent news website Index.hu and around 60 journalists resigned yesterday over the ousting of their editor-in-chief, which they said was an “open attempt to exert pressure” on Index.

The journalists, representing about two-thirds of the newsroom, said in a statement on Index they decided to quit after the chairman of the board rejected their request to restore Szabolcs Dull to his position.

His dismissal has increased concern among Hungarian journalists that Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist government is intensifying what they say is an attack on press freedoms.

“We have been saying for years that we believe there are two conditions for the inde-pendent operation of Index: there should be no

external meddling into the content published on Index, or its composition and structure,” the Index journalists said.

“His dismissal is a clear interference into the composition of the editorial, and we cannot regard this anything else but an open attempt to exert pressure.”

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a news conference on Thursday in Portugal that his gov-ernment was facing “untrue accusations” with respect to freedom of the media.

“How would the state intervene in the deci-sions of a media which is privately owned?,” he said when asked about Dull’s dismissal.

Index, which about a month ago had set its so-called “independence barometer” to “in danger” to signal what it saw as outside attempts to influence its content, is by far the largest media organisation that is critical of the government.

Asked how long people would have to wear face masks, Johnson said he would rely on the common sense of the British people but refused to give any sense of when the COVID-19 measures would be relaxed.

10 SATURDAY 25 JULY 2020AMERICAS

Trump may lose reelection in 100 days; US is on edgeAFP — WASHINGTON

Cratering in the polls, cancelling his showcase convention event, and struggling to land punches on his opponent, Donald Trump has only 100 days from tomorrow to save his presi-dency — and it’s not going well.

In the latest blow to momentum ahead of November 3, the president announced late Thursday that he was ditching the razzmatazz-filled Repub-lican convention in Florida for next month because of corona-virus fears.

An indication of how badly Trump wanted the made-for-TV affair in Jacksonville, com-plete with screaming crowds, warm-up acts and constant adulation, is that he’d moved it to Florida when coronavirus fears had already scotched his original plans for North Carolina.

“It’s a different world,” Trump said.

Coronavirus has not only upset Trump’s pageant. The disease is ravaging the US economy, adding steadily to a death toll of well over 140,000, and undermining public confi-dence in government.

Add explosive protests against racism and police bru-tality, leftist-led riots, flour-ishing right-wing conspiracy theories, and the specter of Russian meddling — and you have a country more on edge than at any time since the cat-aclysmic 1960s.

Now Trump, who boasts he never tires of “winning,” faces possible humiliation at the hands of Democrat Joe Biden, a man he derides as “sleepy” and mentally incompetent, yet who leads by double digits in some polls.

In 2020, a year of historic uprisings against racism and sexism in the United States, the match-up between Trump, 74, and Biden, 77, might seem out of step.

One is a billionaire born into extreme privilege, while the other, with three decades in the Senate and two terms as vice president under Barack Obama, is the epitome of the professional politician.

Yet Trump vs Biden will deliver all the upheaval a con-fused and bitter US electorate can stomach.

Trump’s pitch boils down to claiming Biden will have Amer-icans “cowering to radical left-wing mobs.” Biden, no less apocalyptic, says he’s fighting for “the soul of America.”

Polls give Biden an advantage nationally, strong leads in swing states, and even a shot at Republican strong-holds like Texas. Congressional Democrats, who already control the House, are eying recapture of the Senate.

Trump presides over mass unemployment — even if this was triggered by the corona-virus shutdown — racial unrest and a growing crisis of confi-dence. On the pandemic, the

biggest issue of the day, polls show that two-thirds of Amer-icans have no faith in his leadership.

To boot, Trump, with overall approval ratings perma-nently stuck in the low 40 percent range, is the first pres-ident to seek reelection after impeachment.

Yet no one counts him out.Belittled as a clown in

2016, he handily defeated all the top Republican estab-lishment names for the nom-ination. He then came from behind to defeat the Demo-crats’ polished candidate Hillary Clinton.

Trump believes he still has the secret sauce.

“I’m not losing, because those are fake polls,” he insisted on Fox News last weekend. “They were fake in 2016 and now they’re even more fake.”

COVID-19, which Trump calls “the invisible enemy,” makes a frustrating target for a man used to dealing in large, tangible objects, l ike skyscrapers.

But he’s having an equally hard a time getting to grips with Biden.

The Democrat is running a unique campaign from his Del-aware home, with no rallies, few media interviews and even rarer press conferences.

This began with social dis-tancing but has grown into what critics mock as the “bunker strategy” — and an extraordinarily lucky boost for a candidate widely seen as a gaffe machine.

Rather than take risks, Biden is able to sit back, ignore the #HidenBiden hashtag jibes, and watch Trump lurch ever deeper into his own self-inflicted troubles.

Protest against police violence in Oregon

Federal law enforcement officials aim at protesters outside a fence during a demonstration against police violence and racial inequality in Portland, Oregon, US, yesterday.

Mounting virus cases spark concern in Florida nursing homesAP — MIAMI

The coronavirus transformed Florida’s nursing homes into closely guarded fortresses beginning in March, with the state banning family visits, isolating infected residents in separate wings and now requiring staff be tested every two weeks. But the explosion of cases statewide is proving that is not enough.

The numbers are already showing the grim reality, underscoring how mask com-pliance and restrictions in the outside world impact the state’s most vulnerable. In the past three weeks, cases have gone

from about 2,000 to some 4,800 at Florida nursing homes. Roughly 2,550 long-term care residents and staff have died overall, accounting for about 45 percent of all virus deaths in Florida.

“Where you see COVID hot spots, our anxiety level in our centers automatically goes up. Our vigilance goes through the roof,” said Luke Neumann, a vice president at Palm Garden, which has 14 facilities across Florida.

“That’s how societies are judged in part — by how you care for the weak and aged,” Neumann said.

Florida recorded 173 new coronavirus deaths on Thursday,

a daily high that pushed its toll from the pandemic to more than 5,500. Deaths inside nursing homes have also been on the rise, averaging about 40 per day in the last week after those numbers had dropped in mid-June to lower than 20 deaths per day.

About 180 out of every 10,000 long-term care facility residents have died so far in Florida, a toll that is still far lower than some northeastern states, which saw deaths surge at the height of the pandemic in March and April. New York had about 400 deaths per 10,000 nursing home residents and New Jersey more than 1,100.

Barack Obama to

appear on

Michelle’s

podcast debut

AP — LOS ANGELES

The first guest of Michelle Obama’s new podcast will have a familiar presidential voice: Barack Obama.

The former United States president is expected to appear on “The Michelle Obama Podcast” on Spotify, the Obama’s Higher Ground and streaming service announced Friday. The podcast will debut Wednesday.

In the premiere episode, the former first lady and her husband will hold an intimate conversation about com-munity, the love that powers relationships and life after living eight years in the White House.

“For eight years my life was full of crazy schedules, juggling big initiatives, speeches, state dinners,” Michelle Obama says in the first episode’s intro. “Not to mention trying to raise two daughters and keeping my head above water. But once Barack’s second term ended, the presidency was over and finally had some time to breathe.”

Michelle Obama’s new podcast expects to hold candid and personal conversations focusing on a variety of topics concerning women’s health, marriage and the benefits of mentorship. The nine-episode series will include several guests such as talk-show host Conan O’Brien and Valerie Jarrett, business woman and former senior advisor to Barack Obama.

“I don’t want this podcast to be prescriptive… or present anyone’s ideas as truth,” she says in the episode. “I just want it to feel like we’re sitting together on a park bench or in the booth of a restaurant with the jukebox playing. And most importantly, I hope this podcast sparks ideas and topics that all you listeners can open up with in your own circles.” Her podcast is the first title in the ongoing collabo-ration between Spotify and Higher Ground, a production company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama.

In VP search, Biden has a known quantity in Susan RiceAP — WASHINGTON

As then-Vice-President Joe Biden left the West Wing each evening to head home, he often popped his head into national security adviser Susan Rice’s nearby suite of offices to check in — sometimes on pressing foreign policy matters, some-times just to shoot the breeze.

“My favourite unannounced visitor was Vice-President Joe Biden,” Rice wrote in her book “Tough Love.” In those casual visits, as well as in daily national security briefings, Biden and Rice forged an easy working

relationship, according to people who worked alongside them during their eight years in the Obama administration. It’s that personal relationship, and Biden’s firsthand knowledge of how Rice would operate in close proximity to a president, that are now seen as among her strongest attributes as Biden considers her to be his running mate on the Democratic presi-dential ticket.

Rice was initially seen as a surprise candidate for the role. The 55-year-old has a long ped-igree in foreign policy, but has never held elected office. She is

close to former President Barack Obama and his network of policy and political advisers, but has a lower public profile than other women Biden is considering. She has also been a lightning rod for criticism from Republicans, who contend she put politics ahead of national security.

Yet Rice has quietly gained support among some Demo-crats in recent weeks as Biden’s advisers grapple with the enormity of what he would inherit if he defeats President Donald Trump in November. Rice is seen as a No. 2 who could shoulder much of the early

workload on foreign policy while Biden focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and reviving the economy.

And though Rice briefly flirted with running for Senate from Maine this year, she’s seen as less likely to be eyeing the presidency herself - a bonus among some Biden advisers who worry about speculation that the 77-year-old Biden might only serve one term if elected. Some of Rice’s sup-porters also note she didn’t challenge Biden for the Demo-cratic nomination in 2020, drawing a pointed contrast with

Sens. Kamala Harris and Eliz-abeth Warren, who have also been vetted for the No. 2 spot.

But it’s the close working relationship Rice forged with Biden during the Obama administration that is seen as a key intangible that other con-tenders simply don’t have.

“His entire theory of politics is personal relationships,” Ben Rhodes, who served as Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said of Biden. “The idea of him taking a leap of faith on someone he really doesn’t know because it seems to check a political box seems very unlikely to me.”

Coronavirus testing in progress

An employee at the Hermes Pardini laboratory works on the coronavirus disease testing with PCR amplification, in Vespasiano, near Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on Thursday.

Mexico opens probe amid oxygen price riseAP — MEXICO CITY

Mexico’s anti-monopoly commission said Thursday it is looking into possible price-fixing or monopolistic practices in the market for medical oxygen, after pharmacies reported a spike in prices and difficulties in getting tanks and refills.

Prices for oxygen tanks in Mexico have reportedly tripled since the pandemic hit Mexico in March, and Mexico continues to post record levels of infection. On Thursday, the

Health Department said there were 8,438 newly confirmed cases for the previous 24 hours, bringing the country’s case total to 370,712. Confirmed deaths rose by 718 to 41,908.

“Starting in March, it began to get scarce because there was a huge amount of demand. What little we could get hold of went up by 200%” in price, said Juvenal Becerra, whose UNEFARM association repre-sents about 5,600 pharmacies in Mexico.

But he questioned whether anything illicit was involved. “It

was supply and demand. Eve-rybody was asking for oxygen, so it was kind of logical the price would have gone up,” he said.

Becerra said oxygen supply companies may have been unprepared for the huge surge in demand due to the corona-virus outbreak.

The Federal Economic Competition Commission said it was not pre-judging whether any violations occurred. It said the investigation was opened July 13 and would take at least four months.

Houston consulate one of worst offenders in Chinese espionage: US officialsREUTERS — WASHINGTON

China’s Houston consulate, which was due to be closed yesterday, has been one of the worst offenders in terms of Chinese espionage activity in the United States and its actions went well over the line of what was acceptable, senior US offi-cials said yesterday.

The United States ordered the consulate closed this week, leading China to retaliate on Friday by telling the United States to shut its consulate in the city of Chengdu, as relations between the world’s two largest economies deteriorate.

In a briefing for journalists, a senior State Department official linked espionage activity at the Houston con-sulate to China’s pursuit of research into a vaccine for the new coronavirus.

The official said China had been very clear about its intent to be first to the market with a coronavirus vaccine.

“The medical connections here aren’t lost on me and... the medical connection in Houston is also pretty specific,” the official said, without giving further details.

A senior Justice Department official said it was accepted that consulates of all countries were bases of operations for foreign intelligence services.

“It’s understood that there will be some activity here by those services,” he said. But, he added, “The sum total of the Houston consulate’s activities went well over the line of what we’re willing to accept.” “At some point you say, ‘enough is enough’ and you decide which are one of the worst offenders,” he said.

China has denied the alle-gations of spying and intel-lectual property theft as “mali-cious slander.”

The Justice Department official said that while illegal, the activities were “not neces-sarily amenable to criminal charges,” due in part to the dip-lomatic immunity that con-sulate officials enjoy.

The senior State Department official said, despite the disagreement between the two countries, US diplomats who had been with-drawn from China earlier this year due to the spread of the coronavirus would continue to return.

“The Chinese side has been cooperative in that; they under-stand the need to get back to balance,” he said.

A flight bound for Shanghai carrying US diplomats left the United States on Wednesday as Washington pressed ahead with its plan to restaff its mission in China.

Coronavirus has not only upset Trump’s pageant. The disease is ravaging the US economy, adding steadily to a death toll of well over 140,000, and undermining public confidence in government.