Tuesday 7 July 2020

16 Dhul-Qa'da - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8311

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BUSINESS | 13 PENMAG | 15 SPORT | 20

Federer 'missing'

Wimbledon but

aiming to be

back next year

Classifieds

and Services

section

included

QFC appoints

Abdulla Al Hajri as

Chief Administrative

Officer

Challenges facing world require collective effortsQNA — DOHA

The State of Qatar participated in the ninth session of the Arab-Chinese forum at the ministerial level, which began yesterday and was held virtually.

The delegation of the State of Qatar in the session was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul-rahman Al Thani.

During the session, the State of Qatar said that the Arab-Chinese cooperation is based on common interests, a long history and convergent views regarding many global issues, stressing that the prosperity and security of the Arab world and China require enhancing cooperation and joint action through strengthening joint institutions and projects, in a way that serves the causes of our peoples and achieves regional and global peace.

The transformations and challenges that the world is going through oblige us to work together towards rearranging international relations according to a vision based on cooperation, solidarity and coexistence among

all peoples, because peace is what will lead to a bright future in the world and its stability and development, the State of Qatar said.

The Palestinian cause remains at the top of the list of the joint agenda between the Arab world and China, the State

of Qatar affirmed, while appre-ciating the continuous efforts of the friendly Republic of China to advocate the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights to obtain their freedom and end the Israeli occupation of their lands, which necessitates that the inter-national community fulfil its

responsibilities in achieving a just solution to the key issue in the region, in accordance with inter-national legitimacy resolutions, the principle of a two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative.

The stalled peace process in the region is the result of Israel’s

continuous disregard of all international covenants and norms, and its persistence in flagrant practices and violations that contravene the provisions of international law, interna-tional legitimacy resolutions and the references of the peace process. �P2

Qatar attends meeting on Afghan peace processQNA — DOHA

The State of Qatar participated in the meeting, via video conference, for strengthening regional and international consensus on Afghan peace process, which was opened by President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, H E Dr Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, with the participation of Pres-ident of the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation, H E Dr. Abdullah Abdullah.

The meeting was chaired by Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar. 20 Countries and international organisations including United Nations par-ticipated in the meeting.

Special Envoy of the Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar for Counterterrorism and Mediation of Conflict Res-olution, H E Dr. Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, represented the State of Qatar in the meeting.

They reiterated the impor-tance of strengthening regional and international consensus on Afghan peace process, starting intra-Afghan talks, reducing violence, and releasing prisoners in prepa-ration for the transition to the stage of negotiations, which is expected to start in Doha this month.

Amir holds telephone talks with President of DR Congo

QNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held yesterday via telephone a conversation with President of the Democratic Republic of Congo H E Felix Tshisekedi on bilateral relations between the two countries and means to support and promote them.

During the telephone call, they also discussed a number of topics of mutual interest.

MoPH approves four

centres for Qatari

citizens to take

COVID-19 tests in the

Republic of Turkey.

A COVID-19 free

certificate from

accredited Turkish

hospitals will be valid

for 48 hours.

Certificate holders

will have to be

home-quarantined

for 14 days.

Al Rayyan Stadium project achieves health, safety milestoneTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Al Rayyan Stadium has achieved a significant FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 mile-stone by becoming the first project site to reach 20 million working hours on two occasions without a lost time injury.

The major milestone was reached thanks to rigorous health and safety standards implemented by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), in collaboration with the main contractors – a joint venture between Al Balagh Trading & Contracting and Larsen & Toubro Limited – WSP Middle East, the construction supervision contractor, and project managers AECOM, the SC said on its website.

The 40,000-capacity stadium is slated to host matches up to the quarter-finals stage during Qatar 2022. It was built on the site of Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium – previously the home of popular local team Al Rayyan Sports Club. Around 90% of the materials from the

old venue were reused in the new stadium and surrounding precinct. The stadium is set to be completed later this year.

Engineer Abdulla Al Fehani, Precinct Director, Al Rayyan Stadium, said: “We are very proud to achieve this milestone. The health and safety of our workforce is our number one

priority – and milestones like this only serve to illustrate that fact.” Al Fehani said progress on the venue, which will become the home of Al Rayyan Sports Club, continues unabated.

“We remain on track to complete the stadium in 2020, according to our schedule. I am sure that football fans across the

country, particularly the pas-sionate supporters of Al Rayyan, cannot wait to attend a game at this stunning venue.”

Engineer Abdulla Al Bishri, the SC’s Health & Safety Manager, said exceptional col-laboration and an unwavering commitment to health and safety were vital in achieving

this milestone. “We have achieved this milestone thanks to strong management, robust implementation and a culture of continuous improvement across our health and safety programme. We continuously monitor our work, including regular inspections and com-prehensive audits. We also make the effort to regularly share lessons learned across our project sites.

“I would like to pay tribute to everyone involved in this effort – it is thanks to the hard work of the SC and our various contractors that we have achieved this outstanding mile-stone.” Al Bishri said the SC had now exceeded 300 million work hours across its sites and has a low accident frequency rate of just 0.02% for the entire project. “Our record is the result of dedication and hard work in the area of health and safety, something which will remain as a legacy for our country when it comes to construction and hosting more major events.”

Qatari ports see 100% increase in cargo SACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Qatari ports have delivered a stellar performance in the first half of this year, despite a chal-lenging environment created by COVID-19 outbreak. During the first six months of this year, Hamad Port, Ruwais Port and Doha Port have registered 102 percent increase in general cargo handling compared to the same period in last year.

During the first six months, 1,509 ships docked at Hamad Port, Doha Port and Ruwais Port, making it a busy period for Qatar’s maritime sector. The ports handled 727,716 tonnes of general cargo in the first six months of this year, compared to 360,644 tonnes in the same period in 2019. The ports handled 32,779 units of vehicles and 305,504 livestock during the period, according to figures shared by Mwani Qatar on its

official twitter account.The ports received around

673,399 containers in the first half of 2019, which is around 2 percent more than what it was in the same period of the pre-vious year. The strong half-yearly performance by mar-itime sector follows all-round performance shown by the ports in the first quarter of this year.

The ports handled 110,938 tonnes of building materials during the first quarter, reflecting 37 percent growth, compared to the same quarter last year. The ports had received 321,345 containers during the first quarter of 2019, registering 3 percent increase over the same period of 2018.

Strong momentum in cargo handling is the result of proactive steps taken by authorities concerned to ensure regular supply of goods, despite the COVID-19 outbreak. �P2

MME to launch new initiative to market local farm produceSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) yesterday announced that it would launch a programme to promote local farm products and support local farms.

The ‘Daman’ (guarantee) programme, which will be launched in October and will continue through June 2021, will see purchase of local farm produce through a pre-contract.

The Director of Agriculture Affairs Department at the Min-istry of Municipality and Envi-ronment, Yusuf Khalid Al Khu-laifi, said Daman programme specifically aims to market farmers’ products by pur-chasing and marketing them.

The programme has been launched in collaboration with the Mahaseel company. �P2

Arab-Chinese cooperation is based on common interests, a long history and convergent views regarding many global issues.

The stalled peace process in the region is the result of Israel’s continuous disregard of all international covenants and norms, and its persistence in flagrant practices and violations that contravene the provisions of international law.

H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, attending the forum, which was held virtually.

No hotel quarantine for people returning from Turkey with negative COVID-19 test QNA — DOHA

Within the framework of the continuous efforts to maintain public health and enhance services provided to citizens abroad to combat coronavirus (COVID-19), the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has announced that it has approved four centres for Qatari citizens to take COVID-19 tests in the Republic of Turkey.

The Ministry said that cit-izens in the Turkish territory can visit the following hospitals for a COVID-19 test and obtain a COVID-free certificates, noting that the certificate is valid for 48 hours only. The accredited hospitals are: Ankara Sehir hospital, Yesilkoy Murat Dilmener Emergency Hospital, Basaksehir Cam ve Sakura Sehir hospital and Kartal Dr. Litfi Kirdar hospital.

Travellers who are in the Republic of Turkey and are res-idents of the State Qatar could

benefit from the service if they wish to return to Qatar starting with the third phase of lifting the precautionary measures that are in place as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. When the test is conducted in

one of the accredited centres and the person found to be free of the virus, this qualifies them to obtain an exception from the mandatory hotel quarantine in the State of Qatar, provided that the certificate holder is com-mitted to home-quarantine for a period of 14 days upon arrival in the State of Qatar after signing the pledge of the home-quarantine in accordance with the procedures and the standards set by the Ministry of Public Health.

The ministries of health in both countries had signed memoranda of understanding. The MoPH in the State of Qatar is currently in the process of accrediting reliable medical centres for COVID-19 tests for Qatari citizens in some other countries. MoPH has urged cit-izens to adhere to all proce-dures and laws announced by the competent authorities in the Republic of Turkey, wishing all health and wellness.

OFFICIAL NEWS

02 TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 03.21 am 04.49 am

W A L R U WA I S : 32o↗ 40o W A L K H O R : 33o↗ 42o W D U K H A N : 30o↗ 45o W WA K R A H : 28o↗ 45o W M E S A I E E D 28o↗ 45o W A B U S A M R A 27o↗ 43o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 04:45 – 18:24 LOW TIDE 01:42– 12:14

Hot daytime with slight dust at some places at times and

some clouds, relatively hot by night.

Minimum Maximum34oC 43oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.39 am06.30 pm

ASR ISHA

03.02 pm08.00 pm

Amir congratulates President of Malawi

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin

Hamad Al Thani, Deputy Amir H H

Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani,

and Prime Minister and Minister of

Interior H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa

bin Abdulaziz Al Thani sent yester-

day cable of congratulations to H E

President of the Republic of Malawi

Lazarus Chakwera on the occasion

of his country’s Republic Day. -QNA

Shura Council holds last meeting of 48th sessionQNA — DOHA

The Shura Council held regular meeting of its 48th ordinary session yesterday while prac-tising social distancing, under the chairmanship of the Speaker of the Council H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud.

At the beginning of the session, His Excellency briefed the Council on the meeting he held via video conference with the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) HE Vladimir Voronkov.

The discussion focused on the arrangements to establish the UN office on parliamentary engagement for preventing and countering terrorism in imple-mentation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that they signed at the UN headquarters in New York on February 17, which stipulated that the Shura Council and the UN should enter into direct arrangements to establish the programme office for parlia-mentary engagement on pre-venting and countering terrorism in the State of Qatar, and its activ-ities shall cover the parliaments of the world. H E the Speaker of the Council explained that they agreed during the meeting to intensify efforts to establish this office as soon as possible.

H E also briefed the Council on his participation in the five-party meeting that the Inter-Par-liamentary Union (IPU) held. H E the Speaker of the Council par-ticipated as the President of the 140th IPU General Assembly that were held in Doha in April 2019,

along with the former and upcoming presidents of IPU General Assembly, the President of IPU, Secretary-General of IPU and the heads of the Union’s geo-political groups.

The meeting, which was addressed by Secretary-General of the United Nations H E Antonio Guterres, discussed ways to

enhance cooperation between the parliaments of the countries of the world to achieve sus-tainable development and maintain international peace and security.

It also discussed the chal-lenges facing the world today due to the outbreak of the corona-virus (COVID-19), and the role of

parliaments in addressing this pandemic and limiting its health, economic, and social impacts.

This was followed by Sec-retary-General of the Shura Council H E Fahd bin Mubarak Al Khayarin reading decree No. 60 of 2020 dismissing the 48th ordinary session of Shura Council on Tuesday, Dhu’l Qi’dah 16 of the year 1441 AH, which corre-sponds to July 7, 2020.

At the end of the session, H E the Speaker of the Council delivered a speech on the occasion of dismissing the ordinary session of the Council, expressing his and the Council members’ gratitude and appre-ciation to Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for his continuous support to the Council. HE the Speaker of the Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin

Zaid Al Mahmoud expressed the Council’s appreciation for the cooperation and responsiveness of the government towards its proposals and recommendations, noting that the Council was able to complete all the draft laws and decrees it received, which were sent to the government with pro-posals and recommendations, in addition to topics proposed by the Council for public discussion.

At the conclusion of his speech, H E the Speaker of the Shura Council offered his sincere appreciation to the members of the Council for their efforts, whether in the sessions of the Council or through its specialised committees, and for the seri-ousness, responsibility and tireless work shown by members during their discussions.

The Speaker of the Shura Council H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud chairing the regular meeting of its 48th ordinary session, yesterday.

Qatar reports 546

COVID-19 cases

and five deathsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced the registration of 546 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country. Another 1,614 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 93,898.

Besides, the Ministry announced five new deaths from the coronavirus. The deceased were aged 59, 64, 67, 80 and 88. They were all receiving the necessary medical care. All new cases have been introduced to iso-lation and are receiving nec-essary healthcare according to their health status.

The Ministry further said that measures to tackle COVID-19 in Qatar have suc-ceeded in flattening the curve and limiting the spread of the virus.

The number of daily new cases and hospital admissions has gradually declined over the past few weeks.

“We are seeing a rise in the number of deaths in recent weeks and this is due to the people who were infected at the height of the virus several weeks ago.

There has been an increase in cases among families,” the Ministry said.

Somalia’s Ministry of Planning opened after funding from QFFDQNA — MOGADISHU

Under the patronage of Pres-ident of the Federal Republic of Somalia HE Mohamed Abdullah Farmajo, the Ministry of Planning, Investment and Economic Development’s building in Mogadishu was opened after its rebuilding and reconstruction with funding from the Qatar Fund for Devel-opment (QFFD), in conjunction with the celebrations of the Federal Republic of Somalia of

the 60th anniversary of the country’s independence.

The project was opened by Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled; Minister of Planning, Investment and Economic Development Jamal Mohamed Hassan; and Qatar’s Ambassador to Somalia HE Hassan bin Hamza Hashem.

The opening ceremony was attended by a number of min-isters and deputies of the Somali People’s Assembly, Chairman of Somalia-Qatar Parliamentary

Friendship Committee and a number of officials.

In his speech, Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister expressed his happiness at the opening of the beautiful and unique building of the Ministry of Planning, and thanked the State of Qatar for its continuous support to his country in various fields. The Somali Minister of Planning, Investment and Eco-nomic Development thanked the State of Qatar for supporting the rebuilding of the Ministry’s

building, stressing the great importance of the project in con-tributing to the growth and development of Somalia.

For his part, Qatar’s Ambas-sador to Somalia HE Hassan bin Hamza Hashem praised the depth of bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries, and congratulated the government and people of Somalia on the occasion of the country’s independence, high-lighting Qatar’s support to the Republic of Somalia in various

fields. He stressed Qatar’s support for the stability and sov-ereignty of Somalia, noting the importance of a project to rebuild the Ministry of Planning, which will contribute effectively to Somalia’s development.

This project is within a package of development projects presented by Qatar to Republic of Somalia at a value of $200m, including building roads and rehabilitating government buildings, supporting education and creating job opportunities.

The Speaker of the Council HE Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud expressed the Council’s appreciation for the cooperation and responsiveness of the government towards its proposals and recommendations, noting that the Council was able to complete all the draft laws and decrees it received, which were sent to the government with proposals and recommendations.

Amir condoles with Japan's Emperor, PM DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin

Hamad Al Thani and Deputy Amir

H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al

Thani sent yesterday cables of con-

dolences to H M Emperor Naruhito

of Japan and Prime Minister of

Japan H E Shinzo Abe on the vic-

tims of floods in Japan, wishing

the injured a swift recovery. Prime

Minister and Minister of Interior

H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin

Abdulaziz Al Thani also sent yes-

terday a cable of condolences to

Prime Minister of Japan H E Shinzo

Abe on the victims of floods, wishing

the injured a swift recovery. -QNA

Challenges facing world require collective effortsFROM PAGE 1

These violations will ulti-mately lead to a crack in the credibility of the international community and its institutions, Qatar added.

The political solution remains the only way out of the protracted Syrian crisis, with all its humanitarian and economic consequences that exceeded the borders of Syria, Qatar stressed, emphasizing that the interna-tional community should make

sufficient efforts to deal with the Syrian catastrophe and its various complications in order to find a comprehensive solution to the suffering of the Syrians in a manner that pre-serves the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the Syrian lands.

The State of Qatar pointed out that the situation in Libya is facing many challenges, and everyone’s commitment must be renewed to support the Libyan state and its people to

reach stability and to also encourage political dialogue between its parties, in accordance with the aspirations of the Libyan people.

On the Yemeni crisis, Qatar said, “We are all concerned about the continuing political impasse to resolve this crisis that led to the killing, sabotage and destruction of the capabil-ities of the Yemeni people and their cultural heritage, which requires us to cooperate in

order to put an end to this crisis to preserve Yemen’s unity, sov-ereignty and stop bloodshed of its people. Our move shall be based on the outcomes of the Yemeni national dialogue, the Gulf initiative and Security Council Resolution 2,216.”

It explained that this forum is a testament to the shared will of Arab countries and China to establish a successful model for South-South cooperation.

The State of Qatar hoped

that the forum would be a strong impetus to accelerate the pace of sustainable devel-opment at the national level through complementary work accompanying the efforts to advance the human element, build capacity, transfer expertise, technology and capital, increase the volume of trade exchanges, and create economic investment opportu-nities without overlooking the cultural aspect.

MME to launch new initiative to market local farm produce

FROM PAGE 1

In an online press con-ference held yesterday by the Ministry, Al Khulaifi said the Ministry has undertaken several initiatives to support the products of Qatari farms, including the Agricultural Product Yards, the Distinguished Product Programme and Qatar Farms.

The Ministry last year also launched a special programme for the purchase of local products in cooperation with Mahaseel company.

“The programme will be launched in October and will continue until the end of June 2021, as the programme is pre-pared in the second season but with a different version. New improvements have been added to this programme, which include a contract to purchase farmers’ production of first and second-class vegetables at suitable prices. This will achieve part of the Ministry’s strategy of extending the agricultural

season, and focusing on the pro-duction of major crops at certain times during the year,” Al Khu-laifi said.

“Specific requirements have been established in this pro-gramme,” he said, adding the purchase will be unified, away from market fluctuations, which will reassure local farm owners in marketing their products during the programme period.

Mohamed Al Ghaithani, Mahaseel’s General Manager, said more than 15 million kg of locally-produced vegetables were marketed in the country during the last period.

Al Ghaithani around 180 farms benefited during the last programme period.

“The programme (Daman) allows the farmer to pre-contract on certain quantities according to the cultivated areas and vari-eties,” he said.

The new programme includes the contracting of the farmer with the Mahaseel company on a number of vege-tables and leaf vegetables.

Ports see 100%

increase in cargo

FROM PAGE 1Qatar Ports Management

Company (Mwani Qatar), in coordination with the Ministry of Public Health and relevant authorities, has implemented a series of measures to limit the spread of coronavirus in the ports.

These measures include sanitisation of containers, installing thermal cameras, submission of COVID-19 dis-closures and educating work-force at the port about ways to limit the spread of the virus.

The steps were taken months in advance to ensure that the maritime sector remained safe. In January, all ship agents were notified of the necessity of submitting COVID-19 disclosure and IMO a c c r e d i t e d m e d i c a l declaration.

Qatar’s maritime sector had registered strong growth last year also. The ports had set the new volume and produc-tivity benchmarks in 2019. Hamad Port, Ruwais Port and Doha Port received 4,082 vessels and handled 1.34 million TEUs containers during the year.

Speaker of Consultative Assembly of Iran meets Qatar’s Ambassador

Speaker of the Consultative Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H E Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, met yesterday with Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Islamic Republic of Iran, H E Mohammed bin Hamad Al Hajri. They reviewed bilateral cooperation and issues of common concern.

03TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020 HOME

Sidra Medicine physician publishes two articles on treatment of COVID-19 patientsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Two articles about COVID-19 by a Sidra Medicine physician have been published in the long-established, peer-reviewed Journal of Biomo-lecular Structure & Dynamic and on the open access platform Taylor & Francis Online.

The articles, Remdesivir in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and COVID-19 induced superim-posed bacterial infection, were written by Dr. Mohamed Ata Hendaus-Rahal, senior attending physician in the department of general paedi-atrics at Sidra Medicine. Dr. Hendaus-Rahal is also an Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar.

The articles highlight Sidra Medicine’s increasing research

and academic expertise in con-tributing towards addressing global challenges like COVID-19. While the hospital does not treat COVID-19 patients, its research, pathology and healthcare professionals are playing an important role in supporting Qatar’s efforts to combat the virus through k n o w l e d g e s h a r i n g

in publications and in the devel-opment of new testing methods.

Dr. Hendaus-Rahal’s first article about the use of Remde-sivir in the treatment of coro-navirus disease 2019

(COVID-19) highlights how the broad-spectrum antiviral med-ication has recently become a strong contender in the treatment of COVID-19.

Commenting on the first

article, Dr. Hendaus-Rahal said: “Recent advances in molecular biology have shown that Rem-desivir inhibits the replication (multiplication) of COVID-19 once it is inside the body, hence the individual has a better capacity to get rid of the illness. The medication appears to be effective and safe in the man-agement of COVID-19 infection. Therefore, administering agents such as Remdesivir might be crucial for ensuring efficient treatment, decreasing mortality, and allowing early discharge.”

The second article highlights how increased levels of severe secondary bacterial infection in patients have been documented by healthcare providers. It is expected that during the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of patients will require initiation of first-hand

antimicrobial treatment as the virus can potentially damage the protective layer of mucous in their windpipes; leading to an increased risk of bacterial infections. The paper recom-mends the importance of pro-grammes to control the proper use of antibiotics.

“I personally felt it was a moral obligation to help share up-to-date information, espe-cially in my capacity as a phy-sician. The papers have been published with the ultimate goal of contributing to the man-agement of the COVID-19 pan-demic. I am encouraged to see that the papers have been cited several times and viewed by scholars in many countries. I truly hope that our concerted efforts will help end the pan-demic,” concluded Dr. Hendaus-Rahal.

Dr. Mohamed Hendaus-Rahal

NMoQ calls for car collectors to participate in Mal LawalTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) is inviting vintage car owners and collectors to showcase their collections at the Mal Lawal 3 exhibition.

Under the patronage of Qatar Museums’ (QM) Chairperson, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and in collaboration with Mawater Center, the highly anticipated exhibition is set to take place in the last quarter of 2020 at NMoQ.

Mal Lawal, meaning “from the old days”, is an exhibition that showcases collections owned by private collectors from Qatar. Items presented in the exhibition may include manuscripts, weapons, Islamic collections, maps, coins, ethnographic and heritage items, jewelry, clothing, accessories and cars.

Interested car collectors are invited to submit a portfolio by the end of July 2020, which

includes a short description of the selected car(s) and a few images of or related to the car(s).

Sheikha Amna bint Abdulaziz bin Jassim Al Thani, Director of the National Museum of Qatar, said, “Mal Lawal 3, which will be hosted at the National Museum of Qatar, will exhibit and reveal a unique insight into private col-lectors and the stories their col-lections carry. Vintage cars are amongst several types of collec-

tions that this Mal Lawal exhi-bition will feature.”

Salim Saeed Al Mohannadi, Mawater Center Director said: “We thank the National Museum of Qatar for this opportunity and constructive cooperation, through which we document the history of the cars of the people of Qatar. This is the fruit of the cooperation agreement for organising Mawater exhibitions by documenting the history of cars in Qatar.”

Mal Lawal 3 is the only event of its kind in the region and acts as a platform that brings together private collectors, helping support and further establish the practice of collecting in Qatar. The collections that will be show-cased in 2020 will present the personal stories of the collectors and highlight their passion for art, culture and heritage.

Interested collectors should contact the Mal Lawal team on: mallawalteam@qm.org.qa

Kids enjoy in water at Lusail Marina Eastern, in Lusail City, yesterday. PIC: ABDUL BASIT/THE PENINSULA

It’s fun time

Summer camp activities start at QSCQNA — DOHA

The summer camp activities launched by Qatari Scientific Club (QSC) have kicked off under the title “Aqua Steam”.

The activities of the camp continuing until the middle of this month will depend on the techniques of direct broadcasting and distance learning, through the STEAM educational system, which aims to integrate basic teaching materials in a con-structive way in science, tech-nology, engineering, art and mathematics.

In a statement issued yes-terday, the QSC stated that due to the high demand for regis-tration in the activities desig-nated for two groups for four days each, the club adminis-tration decided to extend the activity period to two new groups during the month of August, in addition to two special robot groups, so that the total number

of groups becomes six by four general groups, and two groups are dedicated to Wedo2 robot activity.

QSC has specified the appro-priate age range for robot activity to be between 8 and 10 years, and it was stipulated that to par-ticipate in the robot activity, the participant must have a Weido2 robot collection.

The first general group activ-ities of the summer camp are scheduled to end tomorrow, and the second general group activ-ities will be from July 12 to 15. The first robot group begins its activ-ities from July 19 till July 23, then the third general group begins its

activities from August 9 to 12 August. Then the fourth general group acitivities will be held from August 16 to August 19, while the second robot group activities are from August 23 to August 26.

The education system in these groups has been adopted “remotely” through the elec-tronic platforms of the Scientific Club, and those wishing to reg-ister can enter the Qatari Scien-tific Club website and choose the group they want, then add their data and wait until they receive a text message from the scien-tific club stating that they have agreed to register.

After that, participants will be able to go to the club head-quarters, register and pay the fees of the 'scientific bag' to take it with them. The bag will be with them during the activities of edu-cational workshops to be held remotely and during the imple-mentation of their scientific projects.

Items presented in the exhibition may include manuscripts, weapons, Islamic collections, maps, coins, ethnographic and heritage items, jewelry, clothing, accessories and cars.

The articles highlight Sidra Medicine’s increasing research and academic expertise in contributing towards addressing global challenges like COVID-19.

QSC has specified the appropriate age range for robot activity to be between 8 and 10 years.

Katara launches ‘Heritage’ virtual exhibitionRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

Twelve artworks by Qatari artist Hassan Bu Jassoum are the focus of “Heritage” exhibition which marks the fifth instalment of a series of virtual exhibitions being presented by the Cultural Village Foundation - Katara.

Launched yesterday, Katara’s latest exhibition reflects important aspects of Qatari culture and heritage as perceived and visually translated by Bu Jassoum whose artistic practice has always centred on docu-menting his heritage inspired by stories from the past.

“Heritage” reveals originality and history, and the multiple aspects of art and culture. Katara presents the exhibition “to doc-ument the inveterate patrimony and to revive the past that still exists in the memories, and to retrieve this remembrance through paintings to be a witness

of that important part of history.”Fluent in different art

mediums, the artist takes visitors back in time in the old neigh-bourhoods of the city and inside traditional homes, displaying unique characteristics of tradi-tional Qatari way of life in the olden times. The artist effectively conveys this through his depiction of Qatari handicraft, traditional costumes, maritime heritage and Eid celebrations, among others.

The launch of the exhibition follows “Patches”— an art exhi-bition which spotlights on works

by Syrian contemporary artist Hadi Qasous, featuring 16 of his latest paintings in which he inte-grates calligraphy into stunning colours and shapes resulting in unique works of art.

Other virtual exhibitions launched by Katara include “Culture Collision” by Hassan Taleb Alsalat which showcases 14 interesting artworks that place famous cartoon characters in a the Gulf setting in which familiar objects in the region are depicted in the paintings; “The Result” by Fatima Al Nuaimi which displays 19 acrylic on canvas works which

reflect both unanticipated and foreseen results combined in one artwork; and “Al Taybeen” by Ali Dasmal Al Kuwari which focuses on 17 realist paintings depicting traditional objects and Qatari architecture.

With a number of exciting features, these exhibitions, which can be accessed via Katara’s

website, make it possible for people to see artworks up close anytime as if they were visiting Katara’s galleries in person.

With the COVID-19 pan-demic, cultural institutions around the world including here in Qatar have devised new ways to bring art and culture from museums and galleries to people

at home. In doing so, cultural entities underpin the great importance they accord to uplifting arts and culture during these challenging times when the threat of coronavirus renders it impossible for people to per-sonally visit galleries and museums to interact with works of art.

Some of the works by Qatari artist Hassan Bu Jassoum which are on show at “Heritage” virtual exhibition launched on Katara’s website yesterday.

Katara’s latest exhibition reflects important aspects of Qatari culture and heritage as perceived and visually translated by Bu Jassoum whose artistic practice has always centred on documenting his heritage inspired by stories from the past.

Qatar puts several measures in place to address impact of COVID-19 pandemicQNA — GENEVA

The State of Qatar affirmed it has a number of measures put in place to address the economic and social impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, especially on expa-triate workers by adopting a package of incentives to support the private sector and ensure the sustainability of employment and the protection of wages.

This came in a speech delivered by Deputy Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Office at Geneva Abdullah Hamad Al Nuaimi during an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health.

Al Nuaimi said that Qatar’s delegation welcomes Special Rapporteur on the right of eve-ryone to the highest attainable standard of mental and physical

health and thanks him for sub-mitting his final report to the Human Rights Council, which deals with the framework of the global move towards a human rights-based practice in the field of mental health.

“We agree with the Special Rapporteur on the importance of discussing mental health problems and addressing them at the national, regional and international level,” he said, noting that the State of Qatar annually organises an interna-tional conference on psychiatry and mental health, with the aim

of exchanging experiences with specialists from all over the world about developments in the field of psychiatry. During the eighth edition of the con-ference held in December 2019 under the slogan ‘”Integrating Physical and Mental Health”, a directory of mental health services was launched in Qatar to facilitate access to mental health services and help indi-viduals choose the services that suit their needs, he pointed out.

Al Nuaimi added that the fifth edition of the World Inno-vation Summit for Health (WISH 2020), which Doha will host, will contribute to exploring effective innovative solutions in addressing the major health challenges facing health systems around the world, including the COVID-19 crisis.

He expressed hope that the Special Rapporteur would share any information regarding practical steps that could be taken to increase awareness of mental and physical health.

Fifth edition of the WISH2020, which Doha will host, will contribute to exploring effective innovative solutions in addressing major health challenges.

04 TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020HOME

QF research institute creates intelligent tech solutions to address pandemicFrom the first week of the pandemic, Qatar Computing Research Institute was swift to respond – they developed a system that traces the movement of people based on cell phone data.

“Our system helped the health authorities with contact tracing for coronavirus (COVID-19) positive patients, especially in the first few weeks of the pandemic, before the Ehteraz app was deployed,” Dr. Ashraf Aboulnaga, Senior Research Director at Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI),said.

The Hamad Bin Khalifa Uni-versity research institute was quick to develop a portfolio of applications and tools to address national and global pri-orities in the fight against COVID-19, with solutions ranging from digital health tools, analysing data, and facil-itating literature reviews, among many others.

One such solution was to gather data related to social dis-tancing to help policymakers.

“Now that people are aware of social distancing and its importance in the way we respond to the pandemic, it is important for users and health authorities to be able to measure and analyse the degree of social distancing and con-tacts,” Dr. Aboulnaga said.

He highlights the impor-tance of measuring social dis-tancing at the scale of the entire country, such as which places

are visited by people more than usual and which are visited less than usual.

“QCRI has developed a web-based dashboard that computes this information based on Google data and dis-plays a map showing the reduction or increase in visits for important locations in Doha. This is valuable data that is used by the health authorities in Qatar,” Dr. Aboulnaga said

And it is not just Qatar that is benefitting from this data-gathering system. QCRI has partnered with several NGOs to extend this dashboard to other cities such as Kuwait, Beirut, Amman, Nairobi, and Lagos.

The Qatar Foundation research institute has also developed mobile phone apps that use GPS for contact-tracing to ensure quarantined people remain within their quarantine area, as well as an online self-assessment tool that is accessible from the web or mobile phones.

The tool is a web-based tool

and is based on the guidelines laid out by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Hamad Medical Corporation. A key feature of the self-assessment tool is that it is multi-lingual.

The tool has been very suc-cessful, Dr. Aboulnaga said that with 1.3 million visits to date. The tool is available in 11 lan-guages and the two most popular are Arabic and Hindi.

Besides this, QCRI has also modeled and visualised the evolution of the pandemic. The research institute created a dashboard that summarises data related to the pandemic in Qatar and the GCC countries which helps predict disease development.

“The dashboard is used by government health authorities in Qatar, and internally within Qatar Foundation,” Dr. Aboulnaga said.

QCRI also strives to address false and inaccurate

information that makes its way to social media — a prominent feature of today’s hypercon-nected social media age where a lot of disinformation about COVID-19 is created — also known as “infodemic”.

Countering COVID-19 requires scientists and public health practitioners to review large amounts of scientific lit-erature and publications with a view to collecting evidence supporting their hypotheses, and to seek answers to relevant questions, Dr. Aboulnaga explains — for example, have any studies demonstrated a link between weather and preva-lence of COVID-19?

“QCRI has a system called Rayyan that facilitates large lit-erature reviews. It is a mature system used by 65,000 users around the world, and it has been used heavily in this pan-demic,” Dr. Aboulnaga says.

CORD-19 — a data set of over 150,000 scientific articles related to COVID-19 released in the US at the request of the White House and immensely valuable to researchers — is available in Rayyan.

Rayyan was also independ-ently evaluated by a group of users in Sweden. The results of this evaluation showed that users saved time on average more than 50 percent, com-pared to other methods and tools. And a recent study con-ducted by a group of researchers from the University of Cam-bridge lists Rayyan among the “top 15 tools for checking titles and summaries.”

Dr. Ashraf Aboulnaga

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies discusses progress of its Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad ProjectTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The College of Islamic Studies (CIS) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) recently hosted a closed online discussion on one of its most groundbreaking projects to date.

Prof. Emad Shahin Interim Provost and Dean of CIS explained in his opening statement how the college is leveraging partnerships with different religious communities and academic institutions to build a portal at the Qatar Digital Library on the Covenant of the Prophet Muhammad.

Featuring a panel of prom-inent faith actors and ethics consultancies, The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad Webinar neatly summarised and debated the main findings of research conducted by CIS’ Prof. Ibrahim Zein, Professor of Islamic Studies and Project Leader. The Covenants com-prise a series of treaties which the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) granted to

Christian, as well as other reli-gious communities, to protect their assets and facilitate pos-itive interfaith relations.

Co-researcher Ahmed El-Wakil presented the research journey to date in collating copies of the Covenants from a wide range of eclectic libraries including from Armenia, Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, and Italy — essen-tially forming the largest col-lection of the Covenants in a university to date.

Participants engaged in an enriching discussion, which saw the involvement of members of various religious, research, and ethics institutions, including the Queen’s Counsel, Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Greek Orthodox Com-munity of Qatar, Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, St Joseph Manuscript Conservation Centre, Muslim American Society of Minnesota, Caux Round Table for Moral Capi-talism, Centre for Ethical Ori-entation, Şehir University, and Griffith University.

SIS holds webinar on ‘Teaching and learning styles to enhance competency’

Dr. Ashraf Aboulnaga highlights the importance of measuring social distancing at the scale of the entire country, such as which places are visited by people more than usual and which are visited less than usual.

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Shantiniketan Indian School (SIS) organised a webinar on the Zoom platform to discuss and throw light on ‘Teaching and Learning Styles to Enhance Competency’.

The event was aimed at enlightening the teachers to get acquainted with the importance of using different techniques and learning styles that can help in devel-oping and promoting com-petencies among children that can help them in their life beyond classroom in the real world.

The webinar which was moderated by Austin Solomon was highly interactive and informative as the audience got a chance to ask questions after the elite group of pan-elists shared their insights and perspectives on the most rel-evant topic confronting the academicians around the world.

Shihabudeen Pullath, Senior Vice Principal, dis-cussed about the different types of learners and the dif-ferent strategies that teachers can adopt and use to enhance the competencies of children. Matthew KC, Head Teacher – Middle Section, talked about the teaching styles that can develop and improve the com-petencies of children and also shared about the different factors that influence the teaching style of teachers.

Mehjabeen, Senior Head Teacher explained in length what is competency based learning, its advantages and in what ways it can be promoted in school. Dudley O’Connor, Vice-Principal, reflected on different approaches and impact of education on the life of learners, what should be the focus and in what way the competencies be developed in children.

Principal, Dr. Subhash B. Nair, praised the ideas shared by the panel of educational leaders of SIS and appreciated the teachers for having upgraded their skills and com-petencies in this challenging period to support and help the children in their learning process.

COVID-19: Mall of Qatar welcomes visitors at all storesFollowing the guidelines of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management and the start of the second phase of gradual lifting of restrictions imposed for the containment of COVID-19, the Mall of Qatar is welcoming visitors and shoppers at all stores while fully adhering to the precautionary measures and ensuring safe distancing protocol.

The second phase of the gradual lifting of restrictions has allowed all the retail stores to operate, apart from the recre-ational facilities, cinemas and children play areas. Restaurants and cafes will continue to provide takeaway and delivery services only.

The Mall of Qatar is open from 9am. It welcomes visitors to the hypermarket and phar-macies along with other retail shops till 10pm from Sunday to Wednesday. During Thursdays, the mall operates until 11pm. Only the hypermarket, phar-macies, and essential services will continue to work throughout the weekends.

The Mall of Qatar would also like to remind visitors that all children under the age of 12 will not be permitted to enter the mall, following the instruc-tions relating to phase 2 of the gradual opening currently underway.

Emile Sarkis, General

Manager of Mall of Qatar, said: “With the start of phase 2 of the gradual lifting of restrictions, we are delighted to welcome our shoppers back to all stores offering unique products and services. Mall of Qatar first phase witnessed great success as we were able to meet our customer needs while carrying out strict precautionary measures to ensure their safety. Those measures will continue during the second phase as well, ensuring our visitors a safe shopping experience while indulging and enjoying our unparalleled selection of shopping options.”

“We extend our thanks and gratitude to all ministries and

authorities in Qatar, especially the Supreme Committee of Crisis Management, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Com-merce and Industry, Ministry of Interior and Qatar Red Crescent. Their dedication and effort are the main factors to overcome the current challenges. Their support was the main pillar to resume our operations and business in line with the out-lined measures so that we can serve and maintain the health of our community”, he added.

To ensure the safety and health of staff and tenants at the Mall, the Ministry of Public Health conducted 300 COVID-19 tests for all the staff and employees, to secure safe

shopping experience for cus-tomers at all time.

As part of its continued safety measures, Mall of Qatar is always conducting regular comprehensive deep cleaning and sanitising for the whole Mall to maintain stringent hygiene. Besides, the Mall installed 80 handrail UV sani-tisers to regularly sanitise the handrails of the escalators and protect customers while moving in the Mall.

With its slogan “Welcome Back, We Missed You”, Mall of Qatar continues its awareness

campaign on social media plat-forms that educates shoppers on the best way to follow safe shopping. In addition, Mall of Qatar is taking all the necessary precautions that secure the safety and health of staff, tenants, and shoppers alike. Thermal cameras have been installed at the entrances to secure that all vis-itors are in good health and don’t show any symptoms. All visitors entering the Mall should show the green code on Ehteraz app on their mobiles, wear masks, and always maintain social distancing.

Thermal cameras are installed inside the Mall of Qatar to ensure the safety of the visitors and shoppers. RIGHT: Handrail UV sanitisers are seen near the escalators.

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Women's football star Hoogendijk

to discuss gender equality on

Generation Amazing Instagram LiveTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Women’s football star Anouk Hoogendijk will be the special guest on this week’s Generation Amazing Instagram Live.

The former Ajax player won more than 100 interna-tional caps for the Netherlands and represented her country at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Hoogendjijk, who won the FA Women’s Cup with Arsenal, will discuss gender equality — a core Generation Amazing value — along with other topics related to women in sport on Wednesday at 6pm Doha time (GMT+3), the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy said on its website.

Ahead of Hoogendjik’s appearance, Generation Amazing will kick off a weekly collaboration with Qatar Children’s Museum today at 4PM, providing young audi-ences with sports-themed arts and crafts challenges throughout the summer holidays.

Moza Al Mohannadi, Generation Amazing’s Marketing & Communications Director, said: “We are looking forward to this week’s live sessions. Anouk Hoogendijk will provide us with insight on women’s football and gender equality, and our collaboration with Qatar Children’s Museum will provide some much-needed inspiration for younger viewers during their summer break.”

Indulge in luxury with staycation this summer at The Ritz-Carlton, DohaTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

It is hard to imagine a better way to spend the summer season than relaxing in complete luxury at The Ritz-Carlton, Doha. With special staycation offers starting from QR730 and a host of experiences, guests of all ages are sure to enjoy the ultimate staycation. Rising above the marina and the Arabian

Gulf, the hotel immerses guests in the best modern luxury and exem-plary service Doha has to offer.

For a perfect escape, families staying at The Ritz-Carlton, Doha will enjoy a special “Family Getaway” where kids under twelve years old can eat and drink free; enjoy a complimentary upgrade to Deluxe Seaview room, compli-mentary breakfast and a unique

family dining experience at our modern French brasserie Sel & Miel.

If a quick escape is enough, guests can enjoy the welcome back package with an automatic upgrade to the next room level along with QR200 hotel credit for Marriott Bonvoy members.

Starting from August 1, guests are invited to relax at Flamingo, the pool club offering light snacks, grill, salads and sandwiches and unwind at the re-imagined Ritz-Carlton, Doha, Spa with 20 percent saving on our signature spa treatments.

With a variety of summer packages and irresistible rates, The Ritz-Carlton, Doha is pro-viding guests with an unforget-table getaway. Guests can get more information or reservations, by visiting ritzcarlton.com/doha or calling +974 4484 8000.

Houthi gathering

05TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020 MIDDLE EAST

Palestinian demonstrators praying during a protest against the expansion of existing Jewish settlements, in the town of Biddya, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, yesterday.

Palestine ready for talks based on UN resolutions: AbbasANATOLIA — RAMALLAH

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told German chancellor he is ready for negotiations with Israel on the basis of United Nations resolutions and under the auspices of the international Quartet, according to local media.

Abbas and Angela Merkel discussed the latest political developments in the region in a phone call, particularly Israeli plans to annex occupied Pales-tinian territory, Palestine’s official WAFA news agency reported.

“President Abbas congrat-ulated Merkel on the assumption of her country to the presidency of the European Union and the UN Security Council, expressing hope that this would contribute to

achieving stability and support for international law and inter-national legality,” WAFA reported.

“He thanked Germany for supporting international law and UN resolutions, especially with regard to the annexation of occupied territories by force.”

Established in 2002, the Middle East Quartet consists of the US, Russia, the European Union and the UN.

Its mandate is to help mediate Middle East peace negotiations and to support Pal-estinian economic development and institution-building in

preparation for eventual statehood, according to the UN.

Earlier this year, US Pres-ident Donald Trump released his plan to end the Israeli-Pal-estinian dispute at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with no Palestinian officials

present. During the event, Trump referred to Jerusalem as “Israel’s undivided capital.”

The so-called peace plan unilaterally annuls previous UN resolutions on the Palestinian issue and suggests giving Israel almost everything it has been demanding.

Iran lawmakers seek to summon Rouhani over price hikesANATOLIA — TEHRAN

A group of 130 Iranian lawmakers have signed a letter to summon President Hassan Rouhani over price hikes, amid anger over economic conditions in the country.

Eghbal Shakeri, a conserv-ative lawmaker from Tehran and one of the signatories of the letter, said the parliament was concerned over the rising prices

of basic commodities and foreign currency.

Iran’s currency rial has seen an alarming slide in recent weeks, touching an all-time low —217,500 rial against the US dollar —yesterday.

The turbulence in financial market has led to inflation with steep rise in prices of basic commodities.

Rouhani has termed the currency nosedive a

“psychological warfare” launched by Iran’s “enemies” to “disrupt the country’s economy”.

In a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Rouhani called for “national unity and cooperation” to overcome this situation.

However, Iran’s parliament, dominated by conservative and hardliners, seems in no mood to spare the government over issues related to the economy

and foreign affairs.On Sunday, Foreign Minister

Javad Zarif faced a “hostile par-liament” when he was repeatedly interrupted by angry lawmakers, who accused him of “lying” over Iran’s foreign deals.

Although Zarif maintained his composure and Speaker Baqer Qalibaf urged the members to maintain calm, the stormy session further

increased the fissures between reformist and conservative camps.

Ahead of the presidential polls next year, the conservative camp has launched a campaign criticizing the Rouhani govern-ment’s domestic and foreign policies, in particular the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and a latest pact with China, which has been criticized by some sections of the conservatives.

Concrete mixer drivers, unemployed due to the current economic crisis, block the roads with their concrete mixers and trucks around Martyrs’ Square as they gather to protest against unemployment and power cuts in Beirut, Lebanon, yesterday.

Lebanese block roads in Beirut amid economic woesANATOLIA — BEIRUT

Lebanese protesters blocked several roads in the capital Beirut yesterday, amid growing anger over deteriorating economic conditions in the country.

In a statement, Lebanon’s traffic control room said dem-onstrators burned tires and blocked roads in the capital in protest of frequent power blackouts.

Drivers also staged a protest outside the headquarters of the Interior Ministry in the Sanayeh area of Beirut to demand the cancellation of mechanics and inspection fees. They also called for reducing fuel prices.

Lebanon’s currency has taken a nosedive, losing around

70 percent of its value in recent months. Lira was trading on the unofficial market at 9,000 against the US dollar. It is traded for 1,507 against the US dollar on the official market.

Meanwhile, dozens of laid-off teachers staged a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Edu-cation in Beirut against what they describe as “arbitrary dis-missals in educational institutions.”

Lebanon is suffering from high unemployment, slow growth and one of the highest debt ratios in the world.

The novel coronavirus pan-demic has exacerbated the sit-uation in the country, with the government extending measures to curb the spread of the virus.

Palestinian PM asks Israel to close crossings due to virusBLOOMBERG — RAMALLAH

The Palestinian Authority is calling on Israel to close all crossings to Palestinian terri-tories due to the renewed surge in the coronavirus.

Some 82 percent of Covid-19 cases in a second wave of the outbreak in the territories were due to gath-erings, such as weddings and funerals, and the remainder were contracted in Israel, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said in comments to the cabinet broadcast on television.

“We demand Israel close all crossings with Palestine, and we will send a request to the United Nations forces to monitor the borders,” he said.

The number of coronavirus cases in the West Bank has soared from 460 on June 17 to 4,267. In Israel as well, the the virus has been spreading rapidly after lockdown restric-tions were eased in a bid to revive the economy. The number of cases in Gaza, which has closed off its border crossings to Israel and Egypt, has remained steady at 72.

Some 87,000 Palestinians have permits to work in Israel, and 60,000 are currently working there, according to Israeli government figures. In order to reduce travel during the outbreak, employers have been required to provide their Palestinian workers with a place to stay for several weeks at a time. Other Palestinians also have permits to travel through crossings into Israel.

AP — OCCUPIED JERUSALEM

Israel announced the successful launch of a new spy satellite yesterday that will help it monitor Iran’s nuclear activities as the Israeli foreign minister hinted that his country may have been behind a fire that damaged an Iranian nuclear site last week.

The “Ofek 16” satellite gives Israel what officials described as an additional tool in keeping tabs on many threats from across the region, joining a fleet of Israeli spy satellites that have been launched over the past two decades. While officials did not identify specific threats, arch-enemy Iran, which Israel accuses of trying to develop

nuclear arms, is first among them.

“The success of the Ofek 16 satellite very much increases our ability to act against Israel’s enemies, near and far alike. It greatly expands our ability to act on land, at sea, in the air and also in space,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the launch.

The launch came a day after Iran finally acknowledged that a mysterious fire last week damaged a new centrifuge assembly center at its Natanz nuclear site, with suspicion immediately falling on Israel.

Iranian officials had initially sought to downplay Thursday’s fire, calling it an “incident” that affected an “industrial shed.”

But on Sunday they confirmed that centrifuges had been damaged and their devel-opment and production delayed. A spate of other mys-terious blasts at Iranian indus-trial complexes in recent months have also been attributed to Israel.

Israel has previously proven its ability to penetrate sensitive Iranian facilities, including with a 2018 raid in which Israeli offi-cials said Mossad agents broke into a warehouse in the capital, Tehran, and stole thousands of documents connected to Iran’s nuclear program. Israel and the US are also believed to have been behind the Stuxnet com-puter virus that disrupted Iran’s nuclear program a decade ago.

Families of Syria detainees hope for news amid US sanctionsAP — BEIRUT

Alaa Arnous and his family found the photo of his father Mohammed online last week, the first proof of his fate since he was seized by Syrian government forces seven years ago. The image showed his corpse, his face battered and bruised, his mouth hanging open.

The elder Arnous was among thousands of Syrians who, since their country’s civil war began in 2011, went missing into Syrian government prisons. Survivors and rights groups say thousands more are known to have died under torture.

Anguished relatives are

poring over photos of torture victims from Syrian prisons, posted online by activists after the United States imposed heavy new sanctions on the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad last month.

“We were living on hope that he was still alive,” Alaa Arnous said from the oppo-sition-held town of Al Tah in northwest Syria as he looked at his father’s photo on his smart phone. “It is terrible when you see the photograph of your father and imagine what the torturers did to him,” he said.

The photo is among tens of thousands of images of torture victims smuggled out of Syria

in 2013 by a forensic photog-rapher-turned-whistleblower who used the code name Caesar. The photos became public at the time, but most were images of piles of bodies, difficult to identify.

But activists have begun cir-culating more detailed photos again online after the US imposed its new sanctions, named the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, after the pho-tographer. The sanctions bar anyone around the world from doing business with Assad’s government or officials, and among its provisions it demands Syria release detainees and allow inspections of its prisons.

For Mohammed Arnous’ wife, Nadima Hamdan, the impact of the photos was unbearable. She searched for hours through the photos. She not only found her dead husband - who was arrested in 2013 as he traveled to Lebanon for work - she also found photos of her brother and nephew.

“May God burn the hearts of those who burned our heart and turned our children to orphans,” she said.

Former detainees in Syrian government prisons speak of horrific experiences — being packed for months or even years in tiny cells, receiving little food and undergoing con-

stant, severe torture.“There were lots of people

who died under torture. I used to be blindfolded but could hear a person tortured next to me taking his last breaths before he dies,” said Omar Alshogre, a former Syrian detainee speaking from Sweden, where he now lives.

Alshogre was detained at the age of 17 along with three of his cousins, two of whom died. He paid his way out of jail after three years in prison. Between 30 to 50 prisoners died every day at the facility where he was held, known as Branch 15, he said.

Alshogre, who testified

about his ordeal at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s hearings on the sanctions in March, said Lebanese and other foreigners - including Iraqis, Palestinians and Tunisians - were also held at Branch 15.

The sanctions have also raised hope in neighbouring Lebanon that Damascus will be pressured to reveal the fate of hundreds of Lebanese believed abducted by Syria during the years it dominated Lebanon - from the Lebanese 1975-90 civil war up to 2005. Alshogre’s tes-timony about Lebanese pris-oners still alive further fueled their families’ demands for information.

Houthi followers wave up their weapons during a gathering in Sana'a, Yemen, yesterday.

Israel launches new spy satellite

Iran’s daily virus deaths near record high

AFP — TEHRAN

Iran yesterday reported 160 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, close to the coun-try’s highest single-day toll announced the previous day.

The Islamic republic has been battling the Middle East’s deadliest outbreak of novel coronavirus since late February.

The new deaths bring the total fatalities recorded to 11,731, health ministry spokes-woman Sima Sadat Lari said on state television. She also raised the country’s caseload to 243,051 with 2,613 people testing positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas and German chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the latest political developments in the region in a phone call, particularly Israeli plans to annex occupied Palestinian territory.

06 TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

South Africa begins second phase of reopening of schoolsAP — JOHANNESBURG

While thousands of South African students began returning to school yesterday after nearly four months when their classes were closed to combat the spread of COVID-19, authorities are debating a return to more restrictive measures because of a surge in cases.

South African students in grades 6 and 11 started classes yesterday, as the second stage of a phased reopening of schools. The first group of pupils, from grades 7 and 12, returned to classes last month.

Returning learners were required to produce indemnity forms signed by their parents granting them permission to resume classes.

South Africa’s government last week won a legal chal-lenge permitting it to proceed with reopening schools. The

lawsuit had said that schools should remain closed because of the danger of the disease

spreading among learners and teachers. However, in recent days the government has

postponed plans for further grades to return to class amid a quickening speed in the rise

of confirmed COVID-19 cases. South Africa had 196,750 cases as of yesterday, more than 40% of all the cases reported by Africa’s 54 countries. South Africa has recorded 3,199 deaths.

Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize said that the gov-ernment is considering re-imposing restrictions, especially in Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, because of the country’s rapid rise in cases and hospitalizations.

Zimbabwe’s coronavirus cases have been climbing in recent weeks, mostly recorded at centers where people returning to the country mainly from neighbouring South Africa are kept in man-datory isolation. The country had recorded about 700 cases of coronavirus infection and 8 deaths by yesterday.

Nurses in Zimbabwe arrested as they protest over payREUTERS — HARARE

Police in Zimbabwe arrested 12 nurses protesting outside state hospitals yesterday demanding to be paid in US dollars as inflation running at nearly 800% was eroding their salaries, the country’s nurses union said.

An economic crisis under President Emmerson Mnan-gagwa has revived memories of the hardships of more than a decade ago when hyperinflation wiped out savings and pensions and forced the country to dump its currency in favour of the US dollar.

The demonstrations, including at Zimbabwe’s biggest hospital in the capital Harare, come at a time COVID-19 cases are rising in the southern African nation, which has recorded 716 infections and eight deaths so far.

Nurses holding placards reading “No US dollar no work” and “#Nurses can’t breath” said they had to protest because they cannot survive on a monthly salary of 3,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($47).

“The situation is bad and our cause is justified,” Pretty Gudza,

a mother of four told Reuters during the protest in Harare. “I cannot work for nothing, I have to eat and I have to be mentally healthy so that I can assist the sick.”

Nurses also gathered in Bul-awayo, Zimbabwe’s second biggest city, to demand better pay, said Enock Dongo, president of the Zimbabwe Nurses Union.

He said 12 demonstrators had been arrested in Harare, where a Reuters witness saw police detaining nurses. Police national spokesman Paul Nyathi said he was unaware of the arrests and would investigate.

Mnangagwa’s government announced a 50 percent salary hike for state employees last month and a $75 allowance for

three months but workers said the increase was not reflected in their June pay.

Zimbabwe reintroduced its local currency last year after a decade of official use of the US dollar but the local currency rapidly lost value, sending prices rocketing and raising f e a r s o f r e n e w e d hyperinflation.

Six soldiers among 8 dead in DR Congo attackAFP — BUKAVU, DR CONGO

Eight people, six of them soldiers, have been killed in eastern DR Congo, bringing the death toll from attacks by armed groups in the region to 19 in two days, the army said .

Regional spokesman Captain Dieudonne Kasereka said six troops, including a junior officer, and two civilian women, were killed when an army position came under attack last Friday in Tuwe Tuwe, a village in South Kivu

province. The army “repelled the attack” and then “reinforced its positions around Tuwe Tuwe to further secure the popu-lation,” Kasereka said.

The army accused three armed groups drawn from the Banyamulenge community—the descendants of migrants who came from Rwanda —who are active in the Fizi, Mwenga and Uvira regions.

The following day, 11 people were killed in an ambush in the territory of Djugu, in the province of Ituri, local officials

said on Sunday.The convoy included a

former deputy territorial administrator, three policemen and four soldiers.

The attack was the latest attributed to an ethnic militia called CODECO, the Cooper-ative for the Development of the Congo.

CODECO is drawn from the Lendu ethnic group, a predom-inantly farming community who have historically clashed with the Hema, a group of traders and herders.

Kenya uses app in battle against desert locustsREUTERS — LORUGUM, KENYA

Lorugum village in northwest Kenya is under siege. Hundreds of thousands of young desert locusts perch on trees, shrubs, and in the grass.

In the coming days or weeks, their bodies will turn from pink to yellow, their wings will harden and, if nothing is done to stop them, they will begin to swarm, with disastrous consequences for agricultural production and the environment.

Using his smartphone camera, Christopher Achilo takes photos and videos of a tree trunk in the village that is crawling with the pink insects, and uploads the images onto an app. “One locust eats food equal to his weight (every day), so imagine having millions of locusts, if you cannot even see over the trees,” he said.

“Within some time, all the trees are just naked. Even they go inside the farms, they strip the farms, so it is a very big impact on the food security.”

Achilo is one of a team of locust scouts trained by local aid group ACTED, with the help of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Turkana County regional

government, to spot and report sightings using a new appli-cation, E-Locust.

The information he and the others collect is sent in real-time to a database in Lodwar, Tur-kana’s main town, which is then used by another team deployed to spray the insects with pesti-cides to prevent swarm formation.

Locust numbers, the worst in three generations, surged in East Africa and the Red Sea region in late 2019 and early this year, encouraged by unseasonably wet weather and dispersed by a record number of cyclones. The pests could cost East Africa and Yemen $8.5bn this year, the World Bank has said.

Swarms can fly up to 150 km a day with the wind, and a single square kilometre swarm can eat as much food in a day as 35,000 people. Desert locusts feed on nearly all green vegetation and crops, including leaves, flowers, bark, fruit, millet and rice.

In a bulletin from July 3, the FAO said it expected swarm for-mation in Kenya to continue until mid-July. It said that in June, control operations treated around 30,830 hectares against locusts, around 8,500 hectares by air.

Kenya announces

phased reopening

from coronavirus

lockdown

REUTERS — NAIROBI

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta announced yesterday a phased reopening of the country from a COVID-19 lockdown, lifting restrictions on travel in and out of the capital Nairobi and allowing air travel to resume.

Kenyatta said the country has reached a reasonable level of preparedness for a partial loosening of restrictions but urged caution and warned against reckless behaviour.

“Today I order and direct that the cessation of movement into and out of the Nairobi met-ropolitan area, Mombasa county and Mandera county that is cur-rently enforced shall lapse tomorrow, Tuesday the 7th of July 2020,” said Kenyatta in a televised address.

Domestic commercial and passenger flights are scheduled to restart on July 15, Kenyatta said, while interna-tional travel will resume from August 1. Mosque and churches will be allowed to host services again, but for a maximum of an hour with only 100 worshippers allowed at a time.

Kenya had confirmed nearly 7,900 cases of the coro-navirus as of July 6, with 160 deaths, with cases continuing to climb. On Saturday, 389 new infections were reported in the country’s biggest single-day jump.

Health workers carry placards as they protest against economic hardship and poor working conditions during the coronavirus disease outbreak in Harare, Zimbabwe, yesterday.

France concedes Haftar in Libya is a ‘liability’ANATOLIA — LONDON/TRIPOLI

France has come to realise that warlord Khalifa Haftar in Libya is a “liability,” according to the Financial Times yesterday.

France was the only European country to back Haftar against the interna-tionally-recognised gov-ernment in Tripoli, which has recently been boosted by Tur-key’s support that has changed the course of the civil war there.

Haftar appeared to be on the winning side until Turkey extended its support to the Libyan government which turned the tide against him.

French President Emmanuel Macron now said his country will adopt a neutral stance and support the UN peace process in Libya. This came after Tur-key’s recent political and security cooperation agree-ments with the Libyan gov-ernment which led to Haftar’s forces being pushed back.

One experienced western diplomat told the FT: “The French have realised Haftar has

become a liability and not an asset any more.”

“I believe they are embar-rassed because once again they made a mistake. Faced with this mistake, they have to justify it and they blame Turkey,” the diplomat said. The spat between Turkey and France over the Libyan civil war has “exposed cracks in the Nato military alliance,” the FT said.

In an effort to defend its oil interests and fighting terrorists in the Sahel region, France sided with the UAE in backing Haftar, Tarek Megerisi, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said.

“France has different interests to Germany and Italy

in Libya and it has moved to protect these interests,” he told the FT. Haftar had attempted to militarily seize the Libyan capital Tripoli, in a brazen move backed by France. One senior European diplomat told the FT: “Let’s be honest, Turkey stopped the fall of Tripoli.”

“Without their intervention, it would have been a humani-tarian disaster,” the diplomat said. But France always had dif-ficulty in defending and pro-moting its backing of Haftar. Other Nato and European coun-tries had always seen Haftar as the aggressor, and the main obstacle to a political solution.

Dorothée Schmid, a Middle East expert at Ifri, the French

foreign relations institute, told the FT: “France is rather isolated in this affair.”

Libya has been torn by civil war since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Libya’s new government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a

long-term political settlement failed due to the military offensive by Haftar’s forces, resulting in civilian chaos and more than 1,000 deaths.

In March, the Libyan gov-ernment launched Operation Peace Storm to counter attacks on the capital, and recently

retook strategic locations, including the Al Watiya airbase and the city of Tarhuna, Haftar’s final stronghold in western Libya. Turkey has stressed the need for a political solution in Libya, decrying efforts by Haftar to oust the country’s legitimate government.

Troops loyal to Libya’s internationally recognised government prepare themselves before heading to Sirte, in Tripoli, Libya, yesterday.

Meals on Wheels volunteers distribute food parcels in Brapkan, Ekurhuleni, in the Gauteng province of South Africa, yesterday.

Ghana challenger names first woman as vice-president candidateAFP — ACCRA

Ghana’s main presidential challenger John Mahama yesterday named Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang as his running mate for December’s election, the first time a major party has chosen a female vice-presidential candidate.

Opoku-Agyemang, who served as Mahama’s education min-ister during his previous presidential term, was unanimously endorsed by the opposition National Democratic Congress. Mahama, who ran Ghana from 2012 until 2017, is hoping to unseat incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo at the vote in December.

French President Emmanuel Macron now said his country will adopt a neutral stance and support the UN peace process in Libya. This came after Turkey’s recent political and security cooperation agreements with the Libyan government which led to Haftar’s forces being pushed back.

07TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020 ASIA

India tallies third-highest virus cases

REUTERS — NEW DELHI/MUMBAI

India yesterday overtook Russia to record the world’s third-highest number of coronavirus infections at nearly 700,000, even as its hardest-hit state said it will allow hotels to reopen this week.

Health ministry data from the world’s second-most populous country showed more than 23,000 new cases yesterday, down slightly from Sunday’s record increase of almost 25,000. There have been almost 20,000 deaths in India since the first case was detected there in January.

India now trails only the United States and Brazil in the number of COVID-19 cases and it has recorded eight times as many cases as China, where the

virus was first identified in late 2019. But its death rate per 10,000 people is still a low 0.15, compared with 3.97 in the United States and 6.65 in the United Kingdom, according to a Reuters tally. Mainland China stands at 0.03.

Officials said they had reversed a decision to reopen the Taj Mahal, India’s most famous tourist attraction, in the city of Agra, yesterday, following a rise in new cases in the area.

Some other monuments in and around the capital New Delhi opened yesterday, albeit with very few visitors. India is pushing ahead with relaxations to its more than two-month lockdown amid grim economic forecasts.

New Delhi, along with Maharashtra, home to India’s

financial capital Mumbai, and the southern state of Tamil Nadu account for about 60 percent of the total coronavirus cases in the country. Maharashtra - the worst-hit state with nearly 210,000 cases - said it would let hotels outside containment zones

reopen at 33 percent capacity from Wednesday and issued guidelines for staff and guests.

India is also seeing an uptake in cases in states such as Kerala, Karnataka and Assam, which until recently had been relatively unscathed.

“This is showing up as an urban health challenge,” said Dr Rajib Dasgupta, a professor of community health at the Jawa-harlal Nehru University in New Delhi, noting it is exposing weak-nesses in the public health system.

Doctors and health officials work inside the campus hall of a spiritual organisation converted into a coronavirus care centre, in New Delhi, yesterday.

India, China agree to ‘complete disengagement’ from border flashpointAFP — NEW DELHI

Chinese troops were seen removing structures from a Himalayan valley where they fought a deadly battle with Indian soldiers last month, Indian army sources said yesterday, after high-level talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Brutal hand-to-hand fighting in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh on June 15 left twenty Indian soldiers dead and sent

tensions between the countries soaring. China has acknowl-edged it suffered casualties but has not given figures.

The two sides agreed on Sunday to “completely dis-engage” from the border flash-point and ensure “a phased and stepwise de-escalation in the India-China border areas,” India’s foreign ministry said yesterday.

In a CCTV readout of the meeting, China’s representative Foreign Minister Wang Yi said

Beijing would “effectively defend its territorial sovereignty, while maintaining peace in the border areas”.

Earlier, an Indian army source said that China’s People’s Liberation Army soldiers were seen removing tents and struc-tures in the Galwan Valley, and military vehicles were being moved back.

“Disengagement with the PLA has started as per agreed terms in the Corps Commanders’ meeting,” the source said, adding

the Indian army was verifying how far back Chinese forces had withdrawn.

There was no comment on whether there was a similar withdrawal by Indian troops.

The Galwan Valley incident was the first time in 45 years that soldiers had died in combat on the Asian giants’ long-disputed border. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing yesterday that both sides had made “pos-itive progress... to disengage

frontline troops and ease the border situation”.

“We hope that the Indian side will go with the Chinese side to implement the consensus reached by both sides with prac-tical actions,” Zhao added.

India and China fought a war over the frontier in 1962.

Anti-China sentiment has been growing in India since the high-altitude clash, with the government banning Chinese mobile apps including the wildly popular TikTok.

Over 400 people

evacuated after

oil spill in central

Philippines

AP — MANILA

More than 400 people have been evacuated from a coastal village in the central Philip-pines after about 250,000 litres of bunker fuel spilled from a power-generating barge into the sea, an official said yesterday.

“The stench was so bad we have to move people away to two schools and last night there was a request for a third evacuation site,” Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas said by telephone.

The spill began on Friday when an accidental explosion on the barge blasted a hole in its hull. There were no reported injuries.

The accident has not affected the power supply to the commercial city of about half a million people because it has other power sources, Trenas said.

The coast guard said it is investigating and charges may be filed against the owners of the barge if needed.

Duterte’s anti-terror

law challenged in

Philippines’ top court

AFP — MANILA

Critics of a new anti-terrorism law in the Philippines called on the country’s highest court yesterday to suspend the legis-lation, arguing it threatens human rights and freedom of speech.

The law approved by Pres-ident Rodrigo Duterte on Friday gives the security forces sweeping powers to go after ter-rorists, but critics fear it could be used to stifle dissent and target government opponents.

Rights groups had called on Duterte to veto the law, which allows for a special council comprised of members of his cabinet to order the warrantless arrest of anyone they deem a terrorist.

It also allows for suspects to be detained for up to 24 days without charge and scraps heavy fines for law enforcers for wrongful detention.

The government argues the law, which was approved by Congress last month, is needed to combat terrorism in the country’s south where com-munist and Islamist groups have waged long-running insurgencies.

In at least four separate filings to the Supreme Court yesterday, lawyers, professors and members of Congress called for the legislation to be halted before it takes effect later this month to allow for a judicial review and the removal of what they say are unconstitutional provisions.

“In a democratic society, security must never be attained nor maintained at the expense of human rights and civil lib-erties,” opposition lawmaker Edcel Lagman said in his petition. The Supreme Court confirmed the filings. Other groups have expressed plans to challenge the law.

Critics say the broad defi-nition of terrorism in the legis-lation could strengthen Duterte’s campaign against critics. Some are already serving prison sentences or facing jail time after attacking his policies including his drug war that has killed thousands.

Australia closes state border for first time in 100 years after COVID-19 spikeREUTERS — SYDNEY

The border between Australia’s two most populous states will close from today for an indef-inite period as authorities scramble to contain an outbreak of the coronavirus in the city of Melbourne.

The decision announced yesterday marks the first time the border between Victoria and New South Wales has been shut in 100 years. Officials last blocked movement between the two states in 1919 during the Spanish flu pandemic.

“It is the smart call, the right call at this time, given the sig-nificant challenges we face in containing this virus,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.

The move will, however, likely be a blow to Australia’s economic recovery as it heads into its first recession in nearly three decades.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Victorian capital of Melbourne has surged in recent days, prompting authorities to enforce strict social-distancing orders in 30 suburbs and put nine public housing towers into complete lockdown.

The state reported 127 new COVID-19 infections overnight, its biggest one-day spike since the pandemic began. It also reported two deaths, the first nationally in more than two weeks, taking the national tally

to 106. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there was no timetable for reopening the border, which will be patrolled by the military to prevent illegal crossings from 11.59 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

The state line is highly porous, with 55 roads, wil-derness parks and rivers. Some businesses straddle both sides and several workers, and school children, commute daily.

Lyn McKenzie, who runs a paddle steamer business along the Murray River from Mildura, a border city of 30,000 people, is waiting for more detail to gauge the full impact on her business.

McKenzie lives on the NSW side of the river, the boats pick up passengers from the Victoria side and the river itself is clas-sified as part of NSW.

“I’m seeing this as possibly needing to shut down again, but it’s a bit early for me, not knowing the exact details,” McKenzie told Reuters.

Berejiklian said people would be able to apply for daily permits to cross the border, but added there would be delays of around three days in issuing the passes.

Paul Armstrong, who runs a petrol station in Wodonga, a border town on the Victorian side, said his children live in New South Wales but go to school in Victoria.

“I wonder if they will need

permits,” Armstrong said. Schools in Victoria are in their second week of the two-week winter vacation. Schools in New South Wales began their two-week term break yesterday.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said the military would provide round-the-clock aerial and other surveillance to enforce the closure. Victoria’s

only other internal border, with South Australia state, has been closed since March 22 under previous coronavirus measures.

Australia has fared better than many countries in the coronavirus pandemic, with just short of 8,500 cases so far, but the Melbourne outbreak has raised alarm bells.

The country has reported an

average of 109 cases daily over the past week, compared with an average of just 9 cases daily over the first week of June.

Melbourne locals are con-cerned that renewed social dis-tancing measures have not been implemented uniformly across the city.

“Without a full Melbourne lockdown, I am not super con-fident this is going to be con-tained,” Jack Bell, a lifeguard who lives in Victorian suburb of Kensington, told Reuters.

Kensington is one of the 30 suburbs that have reimposed social distancing measures.

The nine public housing blocks that have been subjected to a complete lockdown, Aus-tralia’s first, are in neighbouring North Melbourne and Flemington.

Police speak to people outside one of nine public housing estates locked down due to a spike in coronavirus cases, in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday.

Bali set to welcome back tourists even as virus cases surgeBLOOMBERG — MANILA

Bali, Indonesia’s most-popular holiday destination, will welcome back visitors from the end of this month even after the resort island saw a more than four-fold increase in virus cases since the end of May as pressure mounts on authorities to rescue the battered tourism industry.

While local tourists can visit the beaches, temples and the popular surfing spots across the island from July 31, foreign vis-itors will be allowed from Sep-tember 11, the Bali government said in a statement. The

reopening of the tourism industry is part of a plan to restart the economy in a phased manner, it said.

Bali, popular with back-packers from Australia to China, had some success in containing the virus outbreak in its early phase, but saw infections soar in June with the return of more migrant workers and a ramp-up in testing. The island’s tourism-dependent economy was ravaged by the nearly four-month shutdown of hundreds of resorts and hotels.

“We must continue to make the best efforts to handle

COVIDd-19, while at the same time we must begin to carry out activities for the sake of com-munity life,” Bali’s Governor Wayan Koster said in the statement.

The governor appealed to citizens to wear mask in public, avoid large gatherings and practice social distancing to stem the spread of the virus. The number of people infected by the virus in Bali jumped to 1,900 yesterday, from just 465 at the start of June, with 23 people succumbing to the disease, official data show.

With foreign and domestic

tourists absent from the island, hotel occupancy in Bali slumped to 2.1 percent in May from 52 percent a year ago, according to official data.

Indonesia still remains under the grip of the pandemic with new cases mounting by more than a 1,000 every day in the past two weeks. While the total number of people infected since the first cases were reported in early March reached 64,958, 70 more people succumbed to the disease, raising the death toll to 3,241, official data showed yesterday.

Myanmar army sacks officers over landslide tragedyAFP — YANGON

Two high-ranking officers were fired for having “failed their respon-sibilities” after a landslide in Myanmar killed at least 174 jade miners, the country’s military said yesterday in a rare public sanctioning.

Heavy monsoon rains on Thursday sent mud cascading down a hillside over workers scouring the land for the green gemstone in Hpakant in northern Kachin state.

The victims were largely poor migrants who had travelled across the country to prospect in the treacherous open-cast mines, hoping to find valuable stones left behind by the big companies.

It was the worst tragedy in living memory to hit the shadowy, multi-billion dollar industry dominated by firms linked to the mil-itary. A Facebook post yesterday by the military announced Kachin Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Nay Lin Tun and another unnamed commander had been removed from their posts.

India now trails only the United States and Brazil in the number of COVID-19 cases and it has recorded eight times as many cases as China, where the virus was first identified in late 2019. But its death rate per 10,000 people is still a low 0.15, compared with 3.97 in the United States and 6.65 in the United Kingdom, according to a tally.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Victorian capital of Melbourne has surged in recent days, prompting authorities to enforce strict social-distancing orders in 30 suburbs and put nine public housing towers into complete lockdown. The state reported 127 new COVID-19 infections overnight, its biggest one-day spike since the pandemic began.

08 TUESDAY 7 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

QATAR Airways continues to set new benchmark in air travel safety. The multiple award-winning airline announced to further enhance safety measures. It intro-duced these additional safety measures onboard our flights to ensure the continued health and wellbeing of our passengers and cabin crew, and to limit the spread of coronavirus.

The airline’s additional robust measures include offering face shields and protective kits to all pas-sengers, in addition to a new protective gown for cabin crew.

The disposable face shield will be available in two standard sizes – one for adults and the other for children. The children’s face shields feature the airline’s Oryx Kids Club mascots as part of their design. Passengers travelling from Hamad International Airport (HIA) will receive their face shields at the check-in counters, whereas at other destinations, the face shields will be distributed at the boarding gates.

Onboard, all Qatar Airways passengers will be pro-vided with a complimentary protective kit. Inside a ziplock pouch they will find a single-use surgical face mask, large disposable powder-free gloves and an alcohol-based hand sanitiser gel. Business Class cus-tomers will also be offered an additional 75ml sanitiser gel tube. Qatar Airways has also introduced new dis-posable protective gowns for cabin crew that are fitted over their uniforms, in addition to safety glasses, gloves and a mask.

These additional measures came after the airline introduced safety measures earlier. In May, the airline implemented several changes, including the introduction of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) suits for cabin crew while onboard, as well as a modified service that reduces interactions between the passengers and the crew inflight. Cabin crew have already been wearing PPE during flights for a number of weeks, including gloves and face masks.

The airline’s share of the passenger and air cargo market has grown significantly over the past three months. While other airlines in the region stopped services during the crisis, Qatar Airways has continued to operate a significant schedule operating over 15,000 flights to take over 1.8 million people home.

The national carrier of the State of Qatar was rec-ognised in 2019 as the ‘World’s Best Airline’– for a record fifth time - it also won ‘World’s Best Business Class’, ‘Best Business Class Seat’, and ‘Best Airline in the Middle East’ at the 2019 World Airline Awards, managed by international air transport rating organi-sation Skytrax. Qatar Airways Cargo has become the leader in global air freight since the illegal blockade was imposed.

Ensuring safe air travel

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Quote of the dayWe can’t protect EU

borders by violating

European rights.

Ylva Johansson, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs

A number of participants wearing medical masks takes university entrance exam at the Jakarta Veterans National Development University in Cinere, West Java, Indonesia yesterday.

The unprecedented threat from COVID-19 has caused unimaginable suffering around the world. This year also triggered a much-needed discussion on the role of law enforcement in societies. While the pandemic is first and foremost a public health crisis, there are related chal-lenges that are consequential for containing it and for promoting a rapid and sustainable recovery. The struggle to uphold the rule of law and the role of law enforcement in societies are among them. Where govern-ments have responded to the pandemic with an expanded role and the forceful presence of police and other security actors, challenges have emerged, including percep-tions of bias, disproportionate use of force, and other human rights issues. There is also a risk that some states may be utilizing emergency powers to

consolidate executive authority at the expense of the rule of law, suppressing dissent, and undermining democratic institutions, espe-cially where courts and other oversight bodies struggle to perform due to COVID-related restrictions.

Some countries have seen a sharp increase in arrests. This runs counter to the need to decongest prisons, which have suffered dispropor-tionally high infection rates, both among inmates and staff, spreading to surrounding communities and potentially triggering violence.

The distribution of emer-gency aid, medical supplies, and economic stimuli to counter the effects of the pan-demic, while necessary, also provide ample opportunity for corruption and fraud. Without effective institutions that ensure transparency, accountability, and oversight, much of it will not reach intended beneficiaries, deep-ening the social, medical, and economic crisis and compro-mising and delaying recovery.

The pandemic also pro-vides opportunities for armed groups, including terrorist organizations, to discredit state institutions, exploit gaps in public services and capi-talize on public outrage, for example, over the closure of

places of worship. As some security personnel face reduced operational capacity because of their unavoidable exposure to the virus and competing new responsibil-ities, some armed groups are consolidating and extending control over territory.

These challenges can severely undermine the legit-imacy of governments, which is critical for effective miti-gation and containment strat-egies during public health crises, as observed in some countries when they battled the 2018–19 Ebola outbreak. It is therefore in the interest of governments to ensure that emergency restrictions on rights are necessary, propor-tionate, legal, and time bound.

The United Nations has reacted quickly to provide immediate assistance to national rule of law and security institutions in a number of countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Peace-keepers have been active in distributing emergency medical supplies in Darfur and Mali, including to former combatants, helping to build confidence among warring factions. Together with partners, we have also developed practical tools to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in prisons,

guidance to decongest prisons, and a manual for holding virtual court hearings. These efforts should be sus-tained and built upon while COVID-19 is still spreading.

When the pandemic wanes, governments should undertake after-action reviews, including of per-formance under emergency powers, to inform future practices and reform where appropriate. The UN’s support, based on decades of best practices, can be useful in this regard, particularly in police sectors.

In the longer-term, the pandemic—as any crisis—may also offer opportunities to make needed changes to legal systems and law enforcement practices.

As world leaders discuss joint action to contain and overcome the pandemic, it is essential that the need to avoid enduring harm to rule of law principles and funda-mental freedoms be taken into consideration. This will help to avoid aggravating social tensions, grievances, and underlying causes of con-flict. Preventing conflict is perhaps an imperative now more than ever, as prospects for large-scale investment in conflict management and post-conflict recovery fall victim to scarce resources.

After a period of social distancing, people may not have realized until now that getting out of the situation created by coronavirus outbreak is not somewhere outside but it is with us. As long as the coronavirus holds our breath, let us laugh to fight it and get it out of the lungs!.

We know that laughter is a human feature and is a universal medium of communication. It shows the intelligence of man and his ability to reach the other, even in absence of verbal com-munication. So, when I look to the topics of laughter that cir-culate during coronavirus pan-demic, it enables us to under-stand the imbalances caused by this small being in ourselves, the extent of anxiety, fear and obses-sions that it has transmitted in us, which has revealed the weakness of humans and its ina-bility to understand the course of things clearly and its failure to give meaning to what the world is experiencing today!

Nevertheless, Hippocrates,

the father of medicine, stressed that laughter is a kind of treatment, because it is a means of resistance, getting rid of cases of anxiety and depression that afflict a person. Interestingly human self’s, when it tries looking for its balance in an unthinkable manner, it is keen to get rid of its faults, fears and anxiety in front of risks it faces. And perhaps the COVID-19 pan-demic has created a fertile field for the production of what unites groups of society and reassures individuals as well, that they are not alone in the crisis and what they think about is not related to them alone, but the common denominator among the general people in the time of such crisis is laughter.

People have always resorted to comedy in raising issues central to their daily lives in times of crisis, something confirmed by the famous psy-chologist, Sigmund Freud. He demonstrated the deep impact of laughter and humour on the soul as a way to reduce psy-chological tension and reduce fear. Actually, why not? I think you agree with me to some extent that during such period when we receive jokes from friends, we often forward them to others directly and this is perhaps because we try to reach out, initiate a shared

experience and seek relief from some fears for the people.

Therefore, it is ideal if we could consider laughter or humour therapy, where the power of smiles and laughter aid healing. It appears that laughter changes brain chemistry and may boost the immune system. So, while staying within confines home or even work, people can boost their immunity by doing laughter yoga for 15 to 30 minutes. Truly, the laughter exercise is not very technical, but easy to perform. One has to simply laugh and continue doing it!

In the current scenario, eve-ryone should work to strengthen his immune system and I believe laughter is a won-derful treatment. Some studies have showed that 15 minutes of laughing exercise in a day is equivalent to 30 minutes of cardio exercise done thrice a week. Importantly, a recent study explained that laughing for at least 30 minutes a day for three months reduces the second heart attack! Not only that, but some scientists went on to say that laughter yoga increases lung capacity by ensuring controlled forced breathing. On other hand, perhaps the most important positive effect of laughter is pain inhibition, especially in people with chronic pain-causing illness (cancer & arthritis).

Moreover, when we laugh we relax our muscles, reduce depression and blood pressure in some cases, in addition reducing negative stress hor-mones, like cortisol and trigger the production of neurochem-icals like dopamine, which have calming effect.

Perhaps when our expecta-tions clash with unpleasant reality and when it seems to us that we have done a mistake, we absolutely need humor and laughter to minimize the impact of failure. Laughing and sense of humor, something none of us should lose especially now, as the world has been turned upside down with such pan-demic and other events. Some-times you need to press the pause button when you feel drowning in scary news and here humor is a good key. There are so many hurdles and diffi-culties you might going through right now, but if you take a moment to laugh it off, I am sure it will make all the dif-ference in your life. At the end, laughter could be a key to a happy life and it is sometimes contagious, transmitted from one person to another with its benefits. So, with your daily supplements, keep taking doses of laughter that will help to soothe your soul and others!

Dr Yousuf Ali Al Mulla is a physician, medical innovator and an educator.

COVID-19 and the rule of law

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Laughter therapy to calm your life!

Established in 1996

ALEXANDRE ZOUEV UN Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions

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09TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020 ASIA

44 dead in Japan floods, mudslidesREUTERS — TOKYO

Torrential rain hit Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu yesterday, with at least one more river bursting its banks, as the death toll from three days of floods and mudslides rose to 44, including 14 at an old people’s home.

Evacuation orders were issued for more than half a million island residents, as well as evacuation advisories for tens of thousands more in western Japan, broadcaster NHK said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the rain was forecast to head east by tomorrow (Wednesday) and ordered round-the-clock search and rescue operations. Ten people were missing, NHK said.

TV pictures showed streets turned into rivers rushing by at

waist high, a collapsed bridge, upturned cars and a helicopter winching a man to safety from an inundated house.

The old people’s home was flooded in the island’s central prefecture of Kumamoto. NHK did not give details.

“I urge all citizens to care-fully follow the information provided by local authorities and stay alert to take actions to protect their own lives,” Abe

said at the start of a government task force meeting.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said 40,000 members of the Self-Defence

Force were involved in rescue missions. He added that evacu-ation centres were also working on preventing the spread of the coronavirus by distributing

disinfectant and asking evacuees to self-distance. The floods are Japan’s worst natural disaster since Typhoon Hagibis killed about 90 people in October.

Rescue workers search for missing people at the site of a landslide caused by torrential rain in Tsunagi town, Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, yesterday.

Pakistan health

minister gets

COVID-19

REUTERS — ISLAMABAD/LAHORE

Pakistan’s health minister yesterday said he had tested positive for COVID-19, the latest senior figure to contract the novel coronavirus in a country where rising cases are putting pressure on the health system.

“I have tested positive for COVID-19. Under (medical) advice I have isolated myself at home & taking all precau-tions. I have mild symptoms. Please keep me in your kind prayers,” State Minister of Health Zafar Mirza said on Twitter.

Pakistan has so far con-firmed more than 229,831 cases with 4,762 deaths, according to government figures. The country has con-tinued to confirm around 4,000 new cases per day, despite daily testing numbers falling.

A number of high level officials have tested positive in Pakistan, including Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi who announced he had the virus on Friday, just days after meeting with US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.

The Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed and the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Asad Qaiser have also contracted the virus.

On Monday, 48 doctors resigned in the eastern city of Lahore, one of the hardest hit areas by the virus.

Salman Haseeb, president of the Young Doctors Associ-ation for Punjab, said the res-ignations were due to low morale in the stretched health system due to poor working conditions.

Pakistan rejects Israel’s plan to annex West BankANATOLIA — ISLAMABAD/KARACHI

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lawmakers, and politi-cians have unanimously rejected Israel’s plans to annex the Jordan valley, and all settlement blocs in West Bank.

“Pakistan has a principled consistent position on Palestine. We view Israel’s coalition gov-ernment proposal of “annex-ation” of the West Bank with grave concern,” Foreign Minis-try's spokeswoman, Aisha Farooqui, told Anatolia.

Islamabad, she said, was opposed to any move for annexation of the occupied Pal-estinian territories as it would be a “serious violation

of International law”, and a dangerous escalation in an already volatile situation. Pal-estinian territories are under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967.

“Pakistan supports the position adopted by the UN and OIC on the issue of Palestine, and calls upon the international community to uphold and support the rights of the Pales-tinians,” she added.

“We reiterate our consistent support for the two-state solution of the Palestine issue as enshrined in the relevant Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions. Pakistan renews its call for establishment of a viable, independent and contiguous State of Palestine,

on the basis of internationally agreed parameters, the pre-1967 borders, and with Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital.”

Saleem Mandviwalla, deputy chairman of the upper house of the Pakistan par-liament said his country cannot stay silent over Israel’s planned move, and will continue to support the Palestine cause.

At a meeting with a dele-gation of Palestine Foundation Pakistan in the capital Islamabad, Mandviwalla, who is also a leader of centre-left Pakistan Peoples Party, said the “Zionist lobby” had been a major hurdle in the way of a peaceful solution of the Pal-estine issue. “A large number of Jews living in different parts of

the world distinguish them-selves from Zionists,” he said.

Senator Sirajul Haq, the chief of the country’s main-stream religious party Jamaat-e-Islami, said the Muslim world has already rejected Israel’s annexation plan to occupy Pal-estinian lands on the pretext of so-called “Deal of the Century.” The move, Haq warned in a statement, would further destroy all hopes for peace in the Middle East.

“The US-Israel plan to extend [Tel Aviv’s] illegal set-tlements would be a violation of international law,” Haq said, appreciating Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “who has always raised voice for Pales-tinians and Kashmiris.”

A handout photo released by South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport shows a drone display of messages of support for the country amid the pandemic, above a park in Seoul.

Drones light up Seoul sky with virus messagesAFP — SEOUL

Hundreds of drones lit up the night sky in Seoul for a spec-tacular showcase of motiva-tional and awareness messages as the world battles the coro-navirus pandemic.

Three hundred unmanned aerial vehicles were pro-grammed to form images above the Han river — which runs through the South Korean capital — for the eyecatching flash mob.

The show began with mes-sages reminding people of key precautionary measures, including wearing masks, washing hands and keeping a two-metre distance from others. The drones created images of a mask surrounded by coronavirus particles, quickly shuffling to form two hands and water droplets against the dark night sky.

The 10-minute show shifted to messages of gratitude for medical personnel in the

frontlines of the pandemic as well as all South Koreans for their collective efforts.

“THANKS TO YOU,” the drones wrote in the sky next to a heart shape, then formed a silhouette of the Korean peninsula with the message: “Cheer up, Republic of Korea.”

The government-organised event on Saturday night was not advertised in advance in con-sideration of social distancing rules, the transport ministry said.

Evacuation orders were issued for more than half a million island residents, as well as evacuation advisories for tens of thousands more in western Japan.

Hong Kong govt tells schools to remove books breaching security lawAFP — HONG KONG

Hong Kong’s government yesterday ordered schools to review and remove any books that might breach a sweeping new security law that Beijing imposed last week on the restless city.

“In accordance with the four types of offences clearly stipulated in the law, the school management and teachers should review teaching and learning materials in a timely manner, including books,” the Education Bureau said.

“If they find outdated content or content that may concern the four aforemen-tioned offences, they should remove them,” the bureau added. Last week China enacted a security law out-lawing four national security crimes: subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces. Authorities promptly declared political views espousing independence or self-autonomy would be viewed as illegal under the new law. Rights groups and legal analysts have warned the broad wording of the law, which was kept secret until it was passed, would have a chilling effect of political freedoms in the semi-autonomous hub.

The order for schools to

review and remove any con-traband books comes two days after Hong Kong’s libraries said they were also pulling titles deemed to breach the law for a review.

Among those withdrawn from shelves was one by prom-inent activist Joshua Wong, another by pro-democracy law-maker Tanya Chan and multiple other titles written by Chin Wan, a scholar who is seen as the godfather of a “localist” movement advocating greater self-determination for the city. Hong Kong has some of Asia’s best universities and a campus culture where topics that would be taboo on the mainland are still discussed and written about. But Beijing has made clear it wants education in the city to become more “patriotic” espe-cially after a year of huge, often violent and largely youth-led pro-democracy protests.

Afghan President pushing for global consensus on talks with TalibanAFP — KABUL

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is expected to start pushing for a global consensus on peace talks with the Taliban, even as his spokesman slammed the militants for a spike in violence.

Ghani is hosting three online conferences with rep-resentatives of some 20 coun-tries this week, with the first meeting scheduled for later yesterday.

They aim to “build a con-sensus” for the peace talks at regional and international level, said Gran Hewad, a spokesman for the foreign

ministry.The United States and

Russia along with some inter-national organisations such as the United Nations will take part, officials said.

Other countries partici-pating include Pakistan, India, Iran, China, Egypt and Qatar, they added.

But just hours ahead of the first online meeting, Ghani’s spokesman slammed the Taliban for an uptick in vio-lence in recent weeks.

“There is no obstacle on our side for the peace process, but we see that the Taliban are not serious,” Sediq Sediqqi

told reporters.“The government of

Afghanistan released a large number of Taliban in order to reduce violence in the country, but the violence has not decreased.”

Afghan authorities have released more than 4,000

Taliban prisoners out of 5,000 demanded by the insurgents in a deal with Washington signed in February.

That deal paves the way for withdrawing of all foreign forces from Afghanistan by the middle of next year.

Violence dropped in the

run-up to the Taliban-Wash-ington deal — and again, briefly, after militants announced a three-day ceasefire on May 24.

But there has been a spike in violence across much of the country in the past few weeks, with officials blaming the Taliban for killing and wounding hundreds of security personnel and civilians.

The Taliban have denied responsibility for many of the attacks, but acknowledge their fighters were targeting Afghan security forces in rural areas.

China steps up precautions after bubonic plague case

AFP — BEIJING

Authorities in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region have stepped up precautions after a herdsman was confirmed at the weekend to have the bubonic plague.

The man was in stable condition at a hospital in Bay-annur, the city health com-mission said in a statement.

The commission has for-bidden the hunting and eating animals that could carry plague — particularly marmots — until the end of the year, and urged people to report any dead or diseased rodents.

The Yersinia pestis bac-teria can be transmitted to humans from infected rats via fleas. Though the highly-con-tagious plague is rare in China and can be treated, at least five people have died from it since 2014, according to China’s National Health Commission. Another suspected case involving a 15-year-old was reported yesterday in neigh-bouring Mongolia, China’s state news agency Xinhua said.

The boy had a fever after eating a marmot hunted by a dog, Xinhua said.

Two other cases were con-firmed in Mongolia’s Khovd province last week involving brothers who had eaten marmot meat, the agency said added. Some 146 people who came into contact with the pair have been quarantined.

Afghan authorities have released more than 4,000 Taliban prisoners out of 5,000 demanded by the insurgents in a deal with Washington signed in February. That deal paves the way for withdrawing of all foreign forces from Afghanistan by the middle of next year.

Last week China enacted a security law outlawing four national security crimes: subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces.

China criticises US carrier drills in S China SeaAP — BEIJING

China yesterday accused the US of flexing its military muscles in the South China Sea by conducting joint exercises with two US aircraft carrier groups in the strategic waterway. Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the exercises were performed “totally out of ulterior motives” and undermined stability in the area.

“Against such a backdrop, the US deliberately dispatched massive forces to conduct large-scale military exercises in the relevant waters of the South China Sea to flex its mil-itary muscle,” Zhao said at a daily briefing.

The US Navy said over the weekend that the USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan along with their accompanying vessels and aircraft conducted exercises “designed to max-imize air defense capabilities, and extend the reach of long-range precision maritime strikes from carrier-based air-craft in a rapidly evolving area of operations.”

China claims almost all of the South China Sea and rou-tinely objects to any action by the US military in the region.

10 TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020EUROPE

Spain, Portugal press EU for swift deal on spendingAP — LISBON

The leaders of Spain and Portugal pressed yesterday for the European Union to clinch a deal by the end of this month on a recovery fund to help its 27 member countries weather the economic fallout from the new coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s crucial that all EU leaders rec-ognise that the month of July has to be the month we get an agreement,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told a joint press conference with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa in Lisbon, Por-tugal. Southern European countries are mounting a show of strength as negotia-tions over how much money they get from the EU, and in what form, comes to a crunch. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is also due in Lisbon, today, and in Madrid the following day.

The EU’s executive Commission has drawn up plans for a ¤750bn ($849bn) economic recovery fund made up mostly of grants. The plan has met resistance from EU countries dubbed the “Frugal Four” — Austria, Denmark, the

Netherlands and Sweden — which oppose grants and are reluctant to give money away without strings attached.

EU countries are also currently nego-tiating the bloc’s 2021-2027 budget.

Costa, the Portuguese prime minister, said COVID-19’s consequences have been “devastating” for EU economies.

The fund will help member states with plans for transitioning to a digital economy and developing green energy sources, he said.

EU leaders will try to overcome their differences at the end of next week in Brussels when they meet for their first in-person summit in months.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (left) meets his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa at Sao Bento Palace, in Lisbon, Portugal, yesterday.

Serbia, Kosovo agree to resume detente talksAFP — BRUSSELS

Kosovo’s new Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will hold talks in Brussels on Sunday in a bid to ease long-standing tensions, an EU spokesman said yesterday, reviving negotiations frozen since 2018.

The talks will follow a video summit for the Balkan rivals hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.

“These are complementary events,” said Peter Stano, an EU spokesman.

Kosovo and Serbia have faced mounting pressure from the West to reboot negotiations after a series of diplomatic tit-for-tats effectively suspended the peace effort.

The new push comes after Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci was charged last month with war crimes by prosecutors in The Hague over the seces-sionist conflict in the late 1990s that killed 13,000 people.

The indictment at the EU-backed tribunal led to the post-ponement of a White House summit between Serbia and

Kosovo due to be held at the end of June, after Thaci can-celled his trip.

European officials had bristled at the US initiative, having spent years trying to resolve one of the Continent’s most intractable territorial disputes.

Serbia has refused to rec-ognise the independence Kosovo declared after the province broke away in the bloody 1998-99 war that ended only by a NATO bombing cam-paign against Serb troops.

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

Hoti’s office later said the Kosovo premier would meet Macron in Paris on Tuesday ahead of Friday’s virtual summit. This meeting “shows the care and commitment of President Macron to Kosovo and its Euro-Atlantic future,” Hoti’s office said in a statement.

Tense relations between the nations have persisted, with Kosovo announcing a ban on all imports from Serbia unless they are certified as “for the Republic of Kosovo” — just weeks after abolishing a 100-percent tariff on Serbian goods.

Moby Zaza Italian ferry is pictured in Sicily island, yesterday. It will host migrants rescued by the French NGO SOS Mediterranee humanitarian boat Ocean Viking for a quarantine period.

Migrants aboard ship await transfer off SicilyAFP — ON BOARD THE OCEAN VIKING

Eleven days after making its first Mediterranean rescues since the coronavirus crisis erupted, the humanitarian aid boat Ocean Viking dropped anchor off the Italian island of Sicily yesterday, poised to disembark the 180 migrants on board.

At Porto Empedocle on Sic-ily’s western side, the migrants are awaiting transfer from the vessel chartered by charity group SOS Mediterranee to an Italian ferry where they will

spend 14 days in quarantine.SOS Mediterranee said it

was seeking instructions from Italian maritime authorities as it waited about four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the coast.

“For the moment, we haven’t received information on when and how the disem-barkment will take place,” the group wrote on Twitter.

It said tensions were rising and the long wait was “ampli-fying risks on board”.

From the deck of the Ocean Viking, migrants who have waited for more than a week to disembark could make out both

the Sicilian coast and the immense ferry, the Moby Zaza.

It was unclear whether the migrants would be transferred directly to the Moby Zaza, or whether they would step down on Italian soil before being transferred.

For the past two weeks, more than 200 migrants rescued by another humani-tarian aid boat, the Sea Watch, have been quarantined aboard the Moby Zaza.

Thirty of them who have tested positive for coronavirus will remain on the ferry, iso-lated in a special “red zone”.

France’s Louvre reopens to applause after 16-week virus shutdownAFP — PARIS

The world’s most visited museum, the Louvre in Paris, reopened yesterday after nearly four months of coronavirus closure, with a restricted number of masked visitors enjoying a rare chance to view the “Mona Lisa” and other treasures without the usual throngs.

Several dozen visitors queued outside the vast former palace of France’s kings, eagerly awaiting the opening at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) as the museum hopes to start recuperating losses estimated at more than ¤40m ($45m) due to the lockdown.

When the doors opened, spontaneous applause rang out.

“I am very, very happy to welcome visitors to a museum that exists first and foremost to

welcome visitors,” said museum director Jean-Luc Martinez.

“We have dedicated our lives to art, we like to share this passion, and here we are!” The museum’s most popular draws will be accessible, including Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa,” the Venus de Milo and the Louvre’s vast antiquities collection.

But galleries in which social distancing is more difficult, about a third of the total, will remain off-limits, and visitor numbers were capped at 500 per half hour in a bid to lower coronavirus transmission risks.

Face masks are compulsory and no snacks or cloakrooms are available.

Tickets must be bought beforehand online, and were sold out for the long-awaited reopening after the Louvre’s longest closure since World War II.

“Some 7,000 people have reserved tickets, normally we host about 30,000 people” per day, said Martinez, who expects tough months and years ahead.

The museum will not get

any anywhere near the 9.6 million visitors it hosted last year — down from a record 10 million in 2018. Nearly three-quarters of its visitors in a normal year are from abroad.

For Nicole Lamy, a 21-year-old visiting from Brussels, the limit on ticket sales was “an “opportunity to see the ‘Mona Lisa’ up close and not in a crowd. It’s a bit selfish but I think I’m lucky with my first visit to the Louvre.” Also in the queue was Bertrand Arzel from Maisons-Alfort, southeast of Paris, who said he and his friends also came in search of a more solitary museum expe-rience. “We thought it was the first day of the reopening, that there might be fewer people than usual, and we wanted to walk around the Louvre without anyone,” he said.

But they also came in a show of solidarity.

“It is very important that cultural establishments can welcome the public because we need it, and they need the public, too, to survive. So we’re

here for that, too,” Arzel said.Measures were put in place

to allow ticket holders to keep a safe distance from one another.

Marks on the ground indi-cated where visitors should stand — including selfie shooters in front of the “Mona Lisa” — and blue arrows showed the direction of one-way foot traffic, with no about-turns allowed.

With tourism still at a stand-still, the Louvre will seek to attract more French visitors in the coming months.

“We are losing 80 percent of our public,” Martinez said.

“We are going to be at best 20 to 30 percent down on last summer — between 4,000 and 10,000 visitors a day,” he esti-mated. The French state con-tributes ¤100m to the museum’s annual budget of ¤250m.

A visitor wearing a face mask takes a selfie in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece “Mona Lisa” at the Louvre Museum in Paris, yesterday, on the museum’s reopening day.

UK imposes sanctions on Russians, Saudis over rightsREUTERS — LONDON

Britain imposed sanctions on 25 Russians and 20 Saudis yesterday as part of post-Brexit measures foreign minister Dominic Raab said were aimed at stopping the laundering of “blood money”.

After leaving the European Union in January, Prime Min-ister Boris Johnson wants to forge a new independent role for Britain in foreign and trade affairs and this was the first time London could impose asset freezes and visa bans independently.

Raab has pressed for tough sanctions and set out the first names in Parliament, including Russian nationals Britain says were involved in the

mistreatment and death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and Saudis held to be involved in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Russia said it would respond to the new measures. The Saudi government media office and Foreign Ministry did not imme-diately respond to a request for comment.

“If you’re a kleptocrat or an organised criminal, you will not be able to launder your blood money in this country,” Raab told Parliament.

“Today this government...sends a very clear message on behalf of the British people that those with blood on their hands, the thugs and despots, the henchmen and dictators, will not be free to waltz into this

country to buy up property on the King’s Road, to do their Christmas shopping in Knights-bridge, or frankly to siphon dirty money through British banks or other financial institutions.”

The biggest Russian name on the list is Alexander Bas-trykin, whose Investigative Committee reports directly to President Vladimir Putin.

He has also been blacklisted by the United States and Canada over the death of Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer arrested in 2008 after alleging that Russian officials were involved in large-scale tax fraud. Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after complaining of mistreatment.

“It is particularly outrageous

that the senior representatives of the General Prosecution and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation as well as judges were included in the sanctions list,” RIA news agency cited a Russian embassy spokesman in London as saying.

Raab also announced sanc-tions on 20 Saudis who Britain says were involved in the death of Khashoggi, following other western countries who have put sanctions on officials there.

Saud Al Qahtani, a former Saudi royal adviser, and Ahmed Al Asiri, a former deputy intel-ligence chief, both had charges against them dropped by a Saudi court. Eleven suspects were put on trial in December over the killing, with five sen-tenced to death.

French bus driver

assaulted for

refusing riders

without masks

AFP — BAYONNE, FRANCE

A bus driver in France was declared brain dead yesterday after being attacked for refusing to let aboard passengers without face masks in line with rules imposed to combat the coro-navirus.

A police source in Bayonne, near the ritzy Atlantic resort of Biarritz in southwestern France, said five people were now in custody over the incident on Sunday evening.

The source said the driver, in his fifties, tried to prevent a man, who was not wearing a face mask, from boarding the bus with his dog.

The driver also asked four other passengers, who had already mounted the bus without masks, to get off.

Face masks are man-datory on public transport in France, where the COVID-19 outbreak has claimed nearly 30,000 lives.

The driver was repeatedly punched in an assault that resulted in a serious head injury, said the source.

He was unconscious when he arrived at a hospital, and doctors declared him brain dead on Monday.

A man in his thirties was arrested on Sunday and four more people were taken into custody on Monday, said the prosecuting service.

Regional bus services were disrupted yesterday after several of the driver’s colleagues refused to work in protest against the brutal attack.

Southern European countries are mounting a show of strength as negotiations over how much money they get from the EU, and in what form, comes to a crunch.

Russian man

killed in Austria

had declined

police protection

AP — BERLIN

A Russian man shot dead near Vienna over the weekend had declined police protection before the killing, Austrian police said yesterday.

Austrian media have reported that the killing of the 43-year-old, an ethnic Chechen who had lived in Austria for more than a decade, is being considered as a possible pol i t ical assassination.

The regional intelligence and anti-terrorism authority is involved in the case. Its head, Roland Scherscher, told the Austria Press Agency that the motive remains unclear, and that a political motive or perhaps an argument are both possible.

A 47-year-old Russian man was detained in Linz late Saturday, shortly after the killing. Another Russian who came to the scene with the victim was detained in con-nection with the killing in Gerasdorf, the Vienna suburb where the crime took place, police said.

They said that the victim had declined police protection, but did not say when or specify why it was offered.

Neither of the suspects has talked to investigators, APA reported.

Police have not released the name of the victim, but the Russian website Kavkazski Uzel, which covers issues throughout the Caucasus region, said he ran a YouTube channel containing critical commentary about Russia’s Chechnya region under authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Saturday’s killing follows several other attacks on Chechens abroad in recent years. German prosecutors last month charged a Russian man in the brazen daylight killing in Berlin of an ethnic Chechen from Georgia. The victim had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and fled to Germany in 2016.

11TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Croat ruling party to keep power after election winBLOOMBERG — ZAGREB

Croatia’s ruling party scored a surprise victory in Sunday’s general election, defying predictions for a tight race and putting it within touching distance of a majority in parliament.

With almost all votes counted, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, known as HDZ, had 66 of the legislature’s 151 seats, compared with 41 for the Social Democrat-led Restart alliance in second place.

The vote, held against a backdrop of rising COVID-19 infections, comes at a key juncture for the European Union’s newest member-state and its 4.2 million people. The new government must finalise this year’s entry into ERM-2 —the waiting room for euro adoption — while lifting an economy that relies on tourism for a fifth of output from its worst slump on record amid the coronavirus pandemic.

HDZ can probably count on support from the 8 seats allo-cated to minority groups. Even if they’re not enough, potential partners include the right-wing Homeland Movement that won 16 seats in third place, and

former partner Bridge, which got 8.

With a more commanding position than expected and

added urgency from the virus’s resurgence, the premier may be able to form a government much more quickly than the

standard two-month deadline.“Plenkovic may prove he

can get a majority in parliament in a couple of days,” said Zarko Puhovski, a political-science professor at the University of Zagreb. “He may not need help from another major party.”

Plenkovic had at one stage

looked a good bet for outright victory after weathering the initial phase of the pandemic and ending lockdowns promptly in a bid to salvage the crucial summer season. But vis-itors haven’t flocked back to historic Dubrovnik or the coun-try’s hundreds of Adriatic Sea

islands. And Plenkovic was crit-icised for refusing to self-isolate following an encounter with tennis star Novak Djokovic, who tested positive for the virus but is now free of it.

The premier thanked voters for what he called a “compelling victory.”

Croatia needs “solutions for the economy and public-health challenges,” he told supporters in Zagreb. “It needs to strengthen institutions, as well as human and minority rights.”

Croatian Prime Minister and leader of the Croatian Democratic Union party (HDZ) Andrej Plenkovic (centre) celebrates with party members after declaring the victory on parliamentary elections at the garden of the Archaeological Museum, in Zagreb, yesterday.

Croatia needs “solutions for the economy and public-health challenges. It needs to strengthen institutions, as well as human and minority rights: Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic

EU chief caught in storm over Croatian campaign spotAFP — BRUSSELS

The EU Commission yesterday said it was a mistake that its chief Ursula von der Leyen appeared in an election video for Croatia’s ruling party ahead of Sunday’s parlia-mentary election.

Von der Leyen, a former German defence minister, appeared in a campaign spot along with other figures from the EU’s centre-right European People’s Party.

The video also featured Ireland’s former premier Leo Varadkar, ex-European Council president Donald Tusk and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz all saying the words “Safe Croatia”.

Von der Leyen ruffled feathers because during her very short appearance, she spoke in front of an EU flag in a corridor of the commission headquarters, as she does in official EU videos.

“With her show of parti-sanship, she is gambling away trust and thereby damaging the office,” senior German MEP Jens Geier said.

Like all European Com-missioners, Von der Leyen is bound by a code of conduct which requires that she does not behave in a way that undermines the public per-ception of independence.

Von der Leyen acknowl-edged that any message of a political nature must “abso-lutely respect” the rules of code, her spokesman Eric Mamer told reporters.

Mamer explained that the video had been shot on Friday at the request of the Croatian Prime Minister’s Office, “alongside a whole series of other video messages that the president was in the process of recording.”

“Mistakes were made, though these were technical and due to staff errors.”

Russian journalist found guilty of justifying terrorism, avoids jailREUTERS — PSKOV

A Russian court pronounced journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva guilty of justifying terrorism yesterday, but unexpectedly let her off with a fine, ending a trial her supporters said illustrated growing censorship.

The state prosecutor had asked the court in the western city of Pskov to jail Prokopyeva for six years and to ban her from

journalism for four years. She denied the charge and said she had been put on trial for doing her job.

Authorities moved to pros-ecute Prokopyeva after she used a radio programme in late 2018 to discuss the case of a 17-year-old who blew himself up at the office of the Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, in the city of Arkhangelsk.

The young man died and three others were injured in the bombing, which officials labelled an act of terrorism.

During the radio pro-gramme, Prokopyeva criticised the state for its handling of dis-senting opinions and she said the approach could lead to radical acts of protest similar to the one in Arkhangelsk.

Ahead of the trial, dozens of journalists and human rights

advocates had called for her to be fully acquitted.

An open letter signed by rights advocates said the case was politically motivated and aimed to scare Russian journalists.

Yesterday, the court stopped short of jailing Prokopyeva and handed down a fine of $6,970.

Prokopyeva, who arrived at the court wearing a T-shirt bearing the words “We will not

shut up”, said she would appeal the decision.

In her final words to the court ahead of the verdict, Prokopyeva said that she was “not afraid of criticising the state” and “telling security offi-cials they are sometimes wrong”.

“Because I know it really will become scary if I don’t speak out, if no one speaks out.” she added.

Serbian military opens field hospital amid virus spikeAP — BELGRADE

Troops in Serbia started setting up an emergency 500-bed field hospital Monday, a day after n e i g h b o u r i n g K o s o v o re-imposed a nighttime curfew in four cities, as the Balkans battled to contain a surge in coronavirus infections that underscored the risks of swiftly easing lockdowns.

The makeshift hospital in a sports hall in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, is a “precau-tionary measure” as hospitals in the capital are reaching their capacity because of the

coronavirus outbreak, the city’s deputy mayor, Goran Vesic, said. Serbian infections have returned to levels last seen at the peak of the pandemic in the Balkan country in March and April.

Serbia’s rising infections provide a chilling insight into how the virus, while retreating in much of Europe, can roar back if lockdowns are lifted too swiftly.

The country went from having some of Europe’s toughest lockdown measures to a near-complete reopening at the beginning of May. Soccer and tennis matches were

played in front of packed stands, resulting in several players testing positive.

Serbia’s defence minister, Aleksandar Vulin, himself reported to be infected with the coronavirus but now appar-ently recovered, visited another 110-bed field hospital the mil-itary constructed in the southern town of Novi Pazar town, site of the latest Serbian virus cluster.

Greece moved to contain the burgeoning threat by banning Serbs from crossing its only open land border from yesterday morning.

Serbian army soldiers preparing a makeshift field hospital to accommodate patients infected by COVID-19 inside the Belgrade Arena, yesterday.

Canada PM turns down White House invitation

AP — TORONTO

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has turned down a White House invitation to celebrate the new regional free trade agreement in Washington with US Pres-ident Donald Trump and and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Trump and López Obrador are due to meet tomorrow in Washington, but Trudeau spokesperson Chantal Gagnon said that while Canada wishes the US and Mexico well, Trudeau won’t be there.

“While there were recent discussions about the possible participation of Canada, the prime minister will be in Ottawa this week for scheduled Cabinet meetings and the long-planned sitting of Parliament.”

Trudeau is conducting online Cabinet meetings instead of in person meetings because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A senior US administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to be quoted by name, said Trudeau had multiple conflicts related

to the start of Parliament and coronavirus regulations which require Canadians who travel abroad to quarantine for 14 days on return. The official said Trudeau has asked to speak with Trump by phone.

López Obrador also said he would be speaking to Trudeau by phone.

According to Gagnon the new treaty that took effect on July 1 “is good for Canada, the United States and Mexico. It will help ensure that North America emerges stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Mexican military

finds plane in

flames and truck

carrying drugs

REUTERS — MEXICO CITY

Mexican military officials said on Sunday that they discovered a small plane from South America in flames after it made an illegal landing on the Yucatan Peninsula possibly carrying hundreds of kilos of drugs.

Nearby, military officials said they also found a truck carrying drugs that appeared to be cocaine, packaged into 13 parcels weighting 30kg each, and likely coming from the plane.

With an estimated value of more than $4.9m, the loss would have a “significant” impact on criminal organisa-tions, said a statement from the Mexican military.

Broadcaster Milenio, which showed footage of the plane half burnt out on a highway surrounded by dense vegetation, reported that the plane had arrived from Maracaibo, Venezuela.

The Venezuelan gov-ernment did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The plane had landed in the state of Quintana Roo, home to popular beach resorts like Cancun. The truck was found nearby.

$10,000 reward offered in Atlanta shooting death of 8-year-old girlAP — ATLANTA

The shooting death of an 8-year-old girl in Atlanta prompted a $10,000 reward for information as authorities searched yesterday for at least two people who opened fire on the car she was riding in near a flashpoint of recent protests.

Police identified the girl killed on Saturday night as Secoriea Turner.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms called for justice in Secoriea’s death during an emotional news conference with the girl’s grief-stricken mother.

“You shot and killed a baby,” the mayor said. “And there wasn’t just one shooter, there were at least two shooters.”

“You can’t blame this on a police officer,” she added. “You can’t say this about criminal justice reform. This is about some people carrying some weapons who shot up a car with an 8-year-old baby in the car for what?”

“Enough is enough,” Bottoms continued. “If you want people to take us seri-ously and you don’t want us to lose this movement, we can’t lose each other.”

The killing happened near the Wendy’s restaurant where a Black man, Rayshard Brooks, was killed by a white police officer on June 12. The fast food outlet was later burned, and the area has since become a site for frequent demonstrations against police brutality.

Spanish antibody study shows 5.2% of population exposed to coronavirusREUTERS — MADRID

Results from the final stage of a nationwide antibody study show some 5.2 percent of Spain’s population has been exposed to the new corona-virus, health officials said yesterday, confirming findings from earlier stages.

The study, which tested nearly 70,000 people across Spain three times over the past

three months, found the virus’ prevalence had not altered sig-nificantly since preliminary results were published in May.

It also suggested that immunity to the virus can be short-lived, with 14 percent of participants who tested positive for antibodies in the first stage subsequently testing negative in the last stage.

“Immunity can be incom-plete, it can be transitory, it can

last for just a short time and then disappear,” said Dr. Raquel Yotti, director of Spain’s Carlos III Health Institute, which co-led the study.

The loss of immunity was most common among people who never developed symptoms.

Dr. Yotti appealed to Span-iards to remain prudent, partic-ularly those who had recovered from the virus and considered

themselves immune.“We can’t relax, we must

keep protecting ourselves and protecting others,” she said.

Hit by one of the world’s most severe outbreaks, Spain confined its population to their homes in mid-March, gradually lifting restrictions from May as the death rate fell.

International borders were opened at the beginning of July, providing a shot in the arm to

the country’s struggling tourism sector.

But in a sign that the risk is far from over, the regions of Galicia and Catalonia imposed local lockdowns over the weekend, isolating some 270,000 people after small-scale outbreaks were detected.

Catalonia — which was in 2019 the most visited Spanish region by foreign tourists —sought yesterday to reassure

visitors, saying the lockdown in the Segria county only affected 2.5 percent of the region’s population.

“Catalonia remains open and with all guarantees,” said regional foreign affairs top official Bernat Sole at a news briefing. “Tourists and the com-mercial and economic sector can enter and leave Catalonia in the same conditions (as before)”.

Transport workers strike

Controlling pedestrians

12 TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020AMERICAS

South Dakota governor, exposed to virus, joined Trump on jetAP — SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA

Shortly after fireworks above Mount Rushmore disappeared into the night sky on Friday, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem accompanied President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One despite having had close contact with Trump’s son’s girlfriend, who had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Trump has been in a position all along to encounter a virus that spreads from people who don’t feel sick, such as Noem, who had interacted closely at a campaign fundraiser with Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guil-foyle, who turned out to be sick. Noem didn’t wear a mask on the plane and

chatted with the president as the flight returned to Washington, DC, according to her spokesperson, Maggie Seidel.

Noem had tested negative for COVID-19 shortly before welcoming Trump to South Dakota on Friday, a day after she had interacted with Guil-foyle. One photo on social media showed Noem and Guilfoyle, who is also a Trump campaign staff member, hugging. The Trump campaign announced that Guilfoyle had tested positive on Friday.

Guilfoyle’s infection prompted some Republicans, such as Rep Greg Gianforte of Montana, to take precau-tions against the spread of the

coronavirus. He suspended in-person campaigning for his gubernatorial bid after his wife and his running mate both attended a fundraiser with Guil-foyle earlier in the week.

Noem doesn’t plan anything similar, Seidel said. She cast Noem’s decision to fly on Air Force One as a demonstration of how to live with the virus. Seidel pointed to comments from the World Health Organization that the spread of the virus is “rare” from asymptomatic people. But that runs counter to guidance from public health experts, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that advises people to wear masks when interacting with people outside their

household. Asked about Trump’s inter-action with Noem, the White House noted the frequency with which the president is tested.

“The president is tested constantly, has tested negative, and those around him are tested as well,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.

When asked why Noem was allowed to travel on Air Force One, McEnany referred the question to the Secret Service, but added: “They take the president’s health very seriously. They would never put him in a situ-ation that would put him in harm’s way.”

As the number of people hospi-talized from COVID-19 in South Dakota

has decreased in recent weeks to just 59 people statewide, Noem has doubled down on her relaxed approach to the pandemic.

Even as Republican governors in states like Texas have moved to require people to wear masks, Noem didn’t require distancing or masks at the July 3 celebration at Mount Rushmore, an outdoor event at which few in the closely packed crowd wore masks.

On Friday night, she told the crowd, “Tonight, if you look to your left, if you look to your right, you’re going to see that this crowd isn’t just from South Dakota, but it’s from everywhere across this nation.”

Cuomo blasts Trump’s COVID-19 response as US toll tops 130,000REUTERS — NEW YORK

As US coronavirus cases surge and deaths topped 130,000, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo harshly criticised the White House’s COVID-19 response yesterday, accusing President Donald Trump of “enabling” the virus and down-playing its threat.

Infections are on the rise in 39 states, according to a Reuters tally, and 16 states have posted record daily case counts in July. The surge has prompted many local leaders to slow or roll back economic reopenings despite Trump’s insistence that the epi-demic is being handled.

At a news conference, Cuomo, a Democrat who has clashed with the president over his efforts to tackle the health crisis, said Trump was “ena-bling” the virus if he failed to address the severity of the situation.

“Acknowledge to the American people that COVID exists, it is a major problem, it’s going to continue until we admit it and each of us stands up to do our part,” Cuomo said, directing his comments at the president.

During a speech at the White House on Saturday, Trump asserted without pro-viding evidence that 99% of US coronavirus cases were “totally harmless.”

Steve Adler, the Democratic mayor of Austin, Texas, also criticised Republican Trump’s

message. “It’s incredibly dis-ruptive and the messaging coming from the president of the United States is dangerous,” Adler told CNN. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows defended Trump, saying the president was not trying to play down the deaths.

“But it’s really to look sta-tistically to know that whatever risks that you may have or I may have, or my, my children or my grandchildren may have, let’s look at that appropriately and I think that’s what he’s trying to do,” Meadows told reporters outside the White House.

Local leaders across the country are considering slowing down or rolling back business reopenings to curb spiking infection rates that are already overwhelming hospitals in some areas.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez of

Florida’s Miami-Dade County, which currently has some 48,000 COVID-19 cases, issued an emergency order on Monday shutting down on-site dining at restaurants and closing ball-rooms, banquet facilities, party venues, gyms and fitness centers, and short-term rentals.

“We can tamp down the spread if everyone follows the rules, wears masks and stays at least six feet (2 meters) apart from others. I am counting on you, our 2.8 million residents, to stop the spread so that we can get back to opening our economy,” Gimenez said in a statement.

After the announcement, some Miami chefs and res-taurant owners said they felt they were facing the impossible predicament of balancing their businesses’ survival against the safety of their employees and guests.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a COVID-19 briefing in New York City, yesterday.

People queue in a street waiting to pass through a pedestrian control that limits the access in groups of 20 people to enter downtown Mexico City, yesterday. Mexico authorised the reopening of restaurants, shops, street markets and sport complexes but with limited capacity and hours amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Mexico fines, bans company owned by son of president’s ally

REUTERS — MEXICO CITY

Mexico has fined a company owned by the son of an ally of the president for selling over-priced ventilators to the government and banned it from doing public sector business for two years, the Public Administration Ministry (SFP) said yesterday.

In May, Mexicanos Contra la Corrupcion y la Impunidad (MCCI), an anti-corruption group, said an arm of Mexico’s social security institute (IMSS) bought the devices from Cyber Robotic Solutions, a firm owned by Leon Manuel Bartlett, son of Manuel Bartlett, who heads national electricity company CFE.

The sale took place as authorities battled the coro-navirus pandemic. After an investigation, the SFP said in the official government gazette it had handed Cyber Robotic Solutions two fines totaling over 2m pesos ($90,000).

It also issued two orders disqualifying Cyber Robotic Solutions from doing business with federal, state and municipal governments, for 24 months and 27 months respectively.

MCCI said in April the IMSS purchased 20 ventilators from the firm for nearly double the amount the government paid for some other ventilators around that time. The younger Bartlett denied any wrong-doing. But in a statement, the SFP said the price was “outside the market range” and rejected an argument that emergency conditions had dictated the terms of the deal.

Urban transport workers hold signs during a protest demanding the municipality to revise the price of the bus fare at El Arbolito Park in Quito, Ecuador, yesterday, amid the economic crisis caused by the new coronavirus pandemic.

Tropical Storm Edouard moves through Atlantic away from USAP — MIAMI

Tropical Storm Edouard was moving through the Atlantic Ocean away from the conti-nental United States.

As of 11 a.m. EDT, Edouard had top sustained winds of 45mph, with higher gusts, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm was moving northeast at about 37mph (59kph). It was located about 435 miles (700 kilom-

eters) south of Cape Race, New-foundland, Canada.

No coastal storm watches or warnings are in effect. Edouard was expected to become a post-tropical storm later Monday.

Edouard is the earliest fifth-named storm on record, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. The previous record was Emily on July 12, 2005, Klotzbach said.

Two named storms formed in the Atlantic before the official start of the hurricane season June 1.

Tropical Storm Arthur formed off the coast of Florida May 16, and Tropical Storm Bertha surprised the South Carolina coast May 27.

The earliest tropical cyclone on record also formed earlier this year, in the eastern North Pacific, far off the coast of Mexico on April 25.

At a news conference, Cuomo, a Democrat who has clashed with the president over his efforts to tackle the health crisis, said Trump was “enabling” the virus if he failed to address the severity of the situation.

Brazil police finish investigation into National Museum fireAP — RIO DE JANEIRO

Brazil’s Federal Police yesterday wrapped up an investigation into a 2018 fire at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro that destroyed much of its 20-million-artifact collection, and ruled out any criminal offense.

The blaze in the former palace likely started with an air conditioning unit inside an auditorium near the front entrance, according to a statement from police. Arson was ruled out.

The police also said museum directors’ conduct did

not constitute neglect, given efforts underway to bring the building up to fire code. It was more than two centuries old.

The National Museum housed furniture and art belonging to the royal family, recordings of Indigenous lan-guages - some of which are no longer spoken - priceless spec-imens of everything from rare butterflies to coral and a col-lection of Egyptian mummies and artifacts considered the largest in Latin America.

Some artifacts have been recovered, notably most frag-ments of a skull belonging to a woman dubbed Luzia. It is one

of the oldest human fossils ever found in the Americas, and was a top museum treasure. Recovery efforts have been sus-pended since March due to the ongoing pandemic.

The building was once a royal palace that served as the seat of the united Portuguese and Brazilian empire before the museum’s collection was trans-ferred there in 1892. Today the colonial-era facade is a burned-out shell that is fenced off for reconstruction.

Following an inspection by Rio’s firefighting corps, the National Museum began nego-tiating a deal with the Rio-based

development bank BNDES to renovate the building and upgrade its fire-prevention system. The loan agreement was signed in June 2018, but the funds hadn’t yet been disbursed when the fire occurred in September.

The fire represented a gut punch for many Brazilians, who felt the incident laid bare the decay of cultural institutions during years of corruption, eco-nomic collapse and poor governance.

The education ministry and science and technology ministry have since directed millions to the museum for emergency and

recovery works. Companies and individuals

have also donated, along with the United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO, Germany’s government and the British Council.

The museum has so far raised about half the $60 million required for recon-struction, and aims for partial reopening by 2022, the bicen-tenial of Brazil’s independence, its press office said in a statement.

Last month, part of the the Federal University of Minas Gerais’ Natural History Museum also burned down.

US lawmakers press Colombia on killings of rights activistsAFP — WASHINGTON

Nearly 100 Democratic lawmakers yesterday urged President Donald Trump’s administration to press Colombia over attacks on rights activists and warned that US assistance should not contribute to surveillance.

A UN report earlier this year found that 108 human rights defenders were killed last year in Colombia, with activists of indig-enous and African descent hit especially hard.

“Colombia is now the most dangerous country in the world for human rights defenders,” the 94 members of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. They called for pressure on conservative President Ivan Duque, a close US ally, to “stop this tragedy.”

“We urge you, Mr. Secretary, to ensure that all agencies of the United States speak with one clear voice to condemn these ever escalating murders,” said the letter spearheaded by Rep-resentatives Jim McGovern and Mark Pocan, leaders of the Con-gressional Progressive Caucus. The lawmakers called for the United States “to press the Duque administration to take the necessary steps to identify and prosecute the intellectual authors of these crimes and dismantle the criminal structures that protect them.”

They also warned they were watching the nature of US aid, which amounts to $528m in the current fiscal year, after accounts that Colombian intelligence has spied on activists and journalists.