Saturday 13 June 2020

21 Shawwal - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8287

SPORT | 06BUSINESS | 01

World economy

could suffer

'significant scarring':

IMF official

Teenage

hotshots break

into Pakistan

squad

NEW DEATHS

TOTAL DEATHSTOTAL

DEATHS

TOTAL

RECOVERED

GLOBALLY

C VID-19

C VID-19

QATAR UPDATES ON 12 JUNE 2020

TOTTOTTOTTOTALALALAL

DEATHS

TOTTOTTOTTOTALALALAL

RECOVERED

7,671,836 426,035 3,886,382

NEW CASES ANNOUNCED

1,517

170

NEW RECOVERIES

1,965

ACTIVE CASES

23,222

TOTAL RECOVERIES

53,296

TOTAL

POSITIVE

NEW CASESANNOUNCED

NEWRECOVERIES

ACTIVECASES

TOTALRECOVERIES

MoPH: Over 53,000 recoverso far; new cases at 1,517QNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) reported yesterday 1,517 confirmed new cases of coro-navirus (COVID-19), with 1,965 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of people recovered in the State of Qatar to 53,296 cases. The Ministry also announced one additional death due to the virus

The Ministry stated that in the last 24 hours 14 new cases have been admitted to intensive care due to health complica-tions resulting from infection with the virus, bringing the total number of cases currently in intensive care to 229.

The Ministry revealed that there has been a small decrease

in the number of acute COVID-19 positive patients being admitted to intensive care thanks to the measures taken by the Ministry of Public Health and the concerned authorities to limit the spread of the virus, the most important of which is the early detection of the virus which can contribute signifi-cantly to reducing the severity of the infection.

In a statement, the Ministry explained that the new cases are expatriate workers who were infected with the virus as a result of contact with indi-viduals who were previously infected, in addition to recording new cases of infection among groups of workers in dif-ferent regions. The new cases have been identified through

track and trace team at the Min-istry of Public Health.

Cases of infection have also increased significantly among citizens and residents as a result of contact with infected family members who had been infected in the workplace or through visits and family gatherings.

The new cases of infection have been introduced to com-plete isolation in the various medical facilities in the country, where they receive the nec-essary healthcare according to the health status of each case.

The Ministry stated that the death case recorded yesterday belonged to a 51-year-old who was in intensive care. The Ministry of Public Health offers sincere condolences and great sympathy to the family

of the deceased.The Ministry confirmed that

efforts to tackle the COVID-19 virus in the State of Qatar have succeeded in flattening the curve and reducing the impact of the virus by a large per-centage thanks to the decisions

of the ban, the preventive measures taken, and the awareness and cooperation of all members of society, and that there are relatively low average numbers in relation to the recorded cases of new hos-pital admissions. �P3

Awqaf Ministry launches online summer course for Quran learning

SANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has launched online summer course for learning Holy Quran for citizens and expatriates following the state preventive and precautionary measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The course will be run by the Calls and Religious Guidance Department through the educational platform of the Ministry – Microsoft-Teams app, the Ministry has tweeted.

The registration for the course began on June 8, 2020 and it will continue until the candidates reach the required numbers.

The interested candidate can register through the link a t h t t p s : / / t . c o /twtb44zb04?amp=1.

The course will begin on June 13, 2020 and con-tinue until July 29, 2020, six days in a week from Saturday to Thursday from 4pm to 6pm.

The programs of the course include revising some parts of holy Quran, reciting holy Quran, memorizing parts of holy Quran as per the level of the candidates and learning the basics how to recite holy Quran.

Regarding the term and conditions for participating in the course, the programs of the course are only for male candidates. The candidates should have an active email ID.

The candidate should appear with voice and picture (through Microsoft-Teams app. Residents including cit-izens and expatriates can par-ticipate in the course.

The candidates will get the certificate of participation after completing the online summer course for learning holy Quran. �P3

Qatar Airways to resume flights to Istanbul todaySACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Qatar Airways will resume flights to Istanbul, the biggest city of Turkey, from today. Qatar’s national carrier is still

operating flights to many cities around the world, helping thou-sands of passengers get home safely.

“Qatar Airways is delighted to once again be flying to Istanbul. From Saturday June

13 passengers can travel with the world’s best airline to Tur-key’s biggest city,” said Qatar Airways on its official twitter account, yesterday.

Q a t a r A i r w a y s ’ announcement to resume

flights to Istanbul comes after the airlines decision to grad-ually expand its network. Last month, the multiple award-winning airline had announced that it would expand its network in phased manner. By the end of June, the airline aims to have 80 destinations in the schedule including 23 in Europe, four in the Americas, 20 in Middle East/Africa and 33 in Asia-Pacific.

The airline had said that the gradual expansion would focus initially on strengthening con-nections between the airline’s hub in Doha with the global hubs of its partner airlines around the world including London, Chicago, Dallas and Hong Kong along with reo-pening many major business and leisure destinations such as Madrid and Mumbai.

“We are still operating flights to many cities around the world including Milan, Madrid, Seoul, and Sydney helping thousands of passengers get home safely,” said the airline in the tweet.

At the when other airlines are struggling to operate their flights, Qatar Airways is playing a crucial role in facilitating business and trade. Driven by ongoing flights, the share of Qatar Airways in global traffic has jumped sharply in April.

The airline’s share of the passenger and air cargo market has grown significantly over the past three months, making it the largest passenger and cargo airline globally. Qatar Airways has continued to operate a sig-nificant schedule operating over 15,000 flights to take over 1.8 million people home. The air-line’s cargo division has prior-itised medical and aid ship-ments working closely with governments and NGOs to transport over 200,000 tonnes of essential supplies to impacted regions.

With over 1.3 billion revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) during the month of April, the share of the airline has accounted for 17.8 percent of the global market which is over triple its nearest competitor.

Demand for online renewal of vehicle registration surgesSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

More people are now renewing their vehicle registration online as vehicles are exempted from technical inspection at Fahes centres.

Colonel Jaber Mohamed Rashid Odaiba, Assistant Director of the Media and Traffic Awareness Department, said that there is a big demand for online renewal vehicle reg-istration (Istimara). The demand for renewal of Istimara has increased after the General Directorate of Traffic, in coor-dination with Fahes, exempted all vehicles from technical inspection at Fahes centres from March 22, 2020 until further notice.

These measures were taken to limit the spread coronavirus. Speaking to The Peninsula, Al Jaber added that there is a also big demand in general for the electronic transactions pro-vided by the General Direc-torate of Traffic via Metrash2, as most of the services provided by the Department are available

on Metrash2. The headquarters of the Department is currently closed except for essential services.

He said that there are about 40 traffic services available on Metrash2 app, so visitors do not need to visit

the department offices. Metrash2 services included those related to driving licenses and the request to obtain and renew them. There are other services available on the app related to vehicles such as transfer of ownership, renewal of Istimara, as well as traffic accidents, enquiries about traffic violations, payment of traffic violations and registration of traffic accidents.

Regarding the decrease in traffic violations in recent months, he said that it is normal because traffic movement is less now a days compared to before, as most economic activities are cur-rently stopped.

Additionally, all the schools in the country are closed and many employees are working from home. All these factors have resulted into less traffic on the road.

However, the traffic is now expected to increase gradually in coming days as authorities have announced to lift the restrictions.�P3

The demand for renewal of Istimara has increased after the General Directorate of Traffic, in coordination with Fahes, exempted all vehicles from technical inspection at Fahes centres from March 22, 2020 until further notice.

There are about 40 traffic services available on Metrash2 app.

Amir sends congratulations to leaders of Russia, Philippines

QNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of congratulations to the President of the Russian Federation, H E Vladimir Putin on the occasion of his coun-try’s National Day.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also sent a cable of congratulations to the President of the Republic of the Philippines, H E Rodrigo Duterte on the anniversary of his country’s Independence Day.

By the end of June, Qatar Airways aims to have 80 destinations in the schedule including 23 in Europe, four in the Americas, 20 in Middle East/Africa and 33 in Asia-Pacific.

Gradual expansion would focus initially on strengthening connections between the airline’s hub in Doha with the global hubs of its partner airlines around the world.

OFFICIAL NEWS

Doha: Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad

Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of congratula-

tions to the President of the Russian Federation,

H E Vladimir Putin on the occasion of his coun-

try’s National Day.

The Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad

Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of congratulations to

the President of the Republic of the Philippines, H E

Rodrigo Duterte on the anniversary of his country’s

Independence Day.

Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh

Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani sent cables

of congratulations to the Prime Minister of the Russian

Federation H E Mikhail Mishustin and the President of

the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte on the anniversary of

their country's National Day and Independence Day

respectively. -QNA

Deputy Amir sends congratulationsto leaders of Russia, Philippines

Friday prayer at Imam Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab Mosque

02 SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 03.14 am 04.43 am

W A L R U WA I S : 29o↗ 37o W A L K H O R : 30o↗ 43o W D U K H A N : 28o↗ 38o W WA K R A H : 28o↗ 46o W M E S A I E E D 28o↗ 46o W A B U S A M R A 25o↗ 38o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 22:18 – 00:00 LOW TIDE 06:27 – 00:00

Very hot daytime with slight dust to blowing dust at some

places and relatively hot by night.

Minimum Maximum31oC 44oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.34 am06.27 pm

ASR ISHA

02.57 pm07.57 pm

SC ambassadors talk about third 2022 World Cup StadiumQNA — DOHA

The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) organized a media meeting on the Zoom platform in the presence of stars and ambas-sadors of the committee to talk about the unveiling of the third Qatar World Cup 2022 stadiums “Education City Stadium”. Both stars the Omani national team, goal-keeper Ali Al Habsi, and the former Egyptian national football star, Wael Gomaa, were present during the meeting.

Omani goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi stressed that since the State of Qatar was chosen to organize the World Cup, everyone had great confi-dence that it would organize a n e x c e p t i o n a l tournament.

Al Habsi said that the excel-lence of the State of Qatar in the economic aspect enabled the country to be ready to host the tournament, and everyone knows the conditions, but the speed in achievement deserves great praise.

Ali Al Habsi indicated that Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup would open the door for Arab countries to host other editions, and everyone will be happy after 2022 if another Arab country will host the event, and after the success of this tournament, the

opportunity will be easier for Arab countries to host another edition.

As for being chosen as an ambassador for the 2022 World Cup, Al Habsi expressed happiness and pride in this matter.

On the other hand, Wael Gomaa, the former Egyptian national team star, and SC ambassador said that what he witnessed during the last period is a matter of pride and admiration, the whole world witnessed the stadiums and the preparations at all levels, Qatar is looking for the comfort of football fans and not just the matches.

Gomaa said that he was wondering how Qatar would deal with heat and crowd and when he saw the excellent equipment and organization he is now optimistic that Qatar will organize an amazing edition of the World Cup.

As for playing league matches in the Education City Stadium, the third World Cup stadium, Wael Gomaa con-firmed that it is a good test for the pitch and the World Cup organizers and all the negatives and positives points will emerge, especially concerning technical equipment, and it is a distinctive experience and a good step and a test for every-thing in the stadiums ahead of the tournament.

Sheikh Dr. Thaqil bin Sayer Al Shammari delivering Friday sermon at Imam Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab Mosque in the presence of 40 people including Imams, Muezzins and employees of the mosque. The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs allowed Friday sermon only in Imam Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab Mosque under certain rules and regulations.

Translators underscore SHATIU's role in enriching human thinkingQNA — DOHA

Several translators from different Arab and foreign countries emphasised the role of Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding (SHATIU) in granting translators and trans-lation the best way to be a qual-itative addition in Arab and international libraries.

This came during a remote conference organised by SHATIU, titled “Reading in the experience of the winners of Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and Inter-national Understanding through its past five seasons”, with the participation of some translators who won the award.

The Syrian translator Jamal Shaheed presented an inter-vention titled “Responsibility of scientific institutions towards the translated work”, and gave an overview of his experience in translating his winning book from French into Arabic in the 2017 award edition, where he indicated that the status of translation in the Arab world has improved in recent decades in a way that indicates the pros-perity of the translation movement, and this thanks to the institutions specialized in translation in the Arab world, including Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and Interna-tional Understanding.

Dr. Muhammad Gelik from

Turkey, who won the first place in 2015 explained what it means to win an international award, stressing that it increased the sense of responsibility and prompted him to further intonation and follow-up to the most important intel-lectual works that are suitable for translation from the Arabic and Turkish languages.

Gelik talked about his expe-rience in doing translation, as he needed to read all the works of the author and everything that was written about him before starting the translation.

The last intervention of Dr. Hassan Helmy from Morocco, winner of second place in 2016, talked about the post-award and

how the award contributed to giving him a large area of commu-nication with top international translators. He referred to the role of the award in motivating him to translate poetry, as translating poetry poses a great challenge for translators, valuing the role of the award in honouring translators.

Translators from different countries during a virtual conference.

M7 announces open call for creatives in QatarRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

M7, a creative startups hub for innovation and entrepre-neurship established by Qatar Museums, has announced an open call for creatives in Qatar for a “chance to be a part of the M7 community and to be connected to its network of resources and opportunities.”

M7 serves to advance the careers of Qataris in creative industries, especially design and fashion; train aspiring entrepreneurs in creative fields; spark creativity in people of all ages and backgrounds through exhibitions, performances, films, educational programs, and public discussions; and help connect Qatar’s innovators with the world.

In its Instagram account, M7 has announced that the call is open to all design disciplines including fashion and acces-sories and textiles; product design such as furniture and ceramics, v isual communi-cation, gaming design and ani-mation, digital platforms of all kinds, interior design and archi-tecture, industrial design, and mage makers including photog-raphers, make-up artists and film makers among others.�

To be eligible, the designer or brand should be based in Qatar, designs should be original, and the designer should have a valid Residency Permit.

Those interested may submit their CV or a brief about the designer(s)/business or

portfolio, products and designs including images and descrip-tions, a brief about the business, whether you are selling and for how long, and contact details including email and phone number. They may apply by vis-i t ing: www.m7.org.qa/submit-portfolio.

M7 is located in a new five-storey, 29,000sqm facility in the heart of Msheireb Downtown Doha, the mixed-use development that is reviving the city’s historic core

as a sustainable new live-work neighbourhood.

Envisioned to serve Qatar’s emerging creative industries, M7 is positioned as the cultural, educational, and entrepre-neurial centerpiece of Msheireb Downtown Doha. M7 will feature training, workshop, and incubator spaces.

Although the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the full inauguration of M7, it has actively engaged the creative community

through a number of initiatives including exclusive online coaching sessions, through which local and international leaders in the industry pro-vided insights into crucial topics such as nurturing crea-tivity and skills during difficult times, making use of tech-nology in the fashion business, testing products in the market, developing a business plan, and promoting products through a programme of mar-keting and public relations.

M7 is located in a new five-storey, 29,000sqm facility in the heart of Msheireb Downtown Doha.

MME shuts down warehouse for selling expired food itemsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) has shut down a food store (ware-house) selling expired food items at one of the farms at Um Salal Municipality. The Ministry said that the legal procedures have been taken against the violator.

A campaign conducted by the Farm Violations Work Team at the Ministry of Municipal and Environment in cooperation with the

Municipality of Um Salal detected such violations. The drive will continue also seize such violations.

The Ministry said that the food store was selling expired food and storing them in unhy-gienic environmental condi-tions, which is violation of the provisions of Law No. 8 of 1990 regarding the regulation of human food control. The Director of Um Salal Munici-pality has issued an adminis-trative decision to immediately close the warehouse.

The warehouse that was closed for selling expired food items.

Several translators from different Arab and foreign countries participated in a remote conference organised by SHATIU, titled “Reading in the experience of the winners of Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding through its past five seasons”.

03SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2020 HOME

Four QFFD funded health centers operating in Syria’s Idlib

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

With funding from the Qatar Fund For Development (QFFD), and in cooperation with the Qatar Charity, four primary health care centers have been established and operated within Syria, at an estimated cost of QR7.3m, to benefit 144,000 people in northern Syria.

The medical centers, which have been in operation since August 2019, are located in Idlib. This project aims to improve the medical situation in northern Syria, in coordi-nation with local and interna-tional organizations operating in the health sector and United Nations coordination and tech-nical bodies such as Health Cluster, World Health Organi-zation (WHO), and UNICEF.

The Deputy Director-General of Development

Projects at QFFD, Misfer bin Hamad Al Shahwani empha-sised that QFFD has contributed to the efforts made to fight the coronavirus in the camps and areas of refugees and the dis-placed in northern Syria and Turkey, by implementing several medical projects to serve refugees and the people of the host country, focusing on providing medical equipment and personnel, protection, food security, etc.

He added that the project works on rehabilitating, restoring, equipping and sup-porting health centers with medical personnel and supplies, providing primary health services, organising health awareness campaigns, and pro-moting public health in coordi-nation with the Early Warning, Alert and Response Network (EWARN) of WHO.

The project also works on dealing with non-communi-cable diseases and providing preventive and clinical services that include reproductive health, child health, mental health, and the nutrition program that includes support to the Nutrition and Food Survey Program in society.

Furthermore, the project publishes and distributes health awareness items, trains medical teams to provide treatment services for patients with acute m a l n u t r i t i o n a t

hospitals, distributes food and supplements, and supports nutrition programs for infants and children.

Every month, 15,000 patients, mostly women, children and the elderly, receive healthcare services free of charge at the four centers.

Ahmed Al Rumaihi, Director of the International Relief and Partnerships Department at Qatar Charity, said the regional office of Qatar Charity in Turkey has developed a contingency plan at the emergence of the

coronavirus (COVID-19) to adjust the medical service at these centers. The regional office has set up a triage camp at the entrance of each center to sort patients and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. These centers have also been linked with community iso-lation centers, of which Qatar Charity is one of the most important supporters.

One of the residents of the Āţimah camp said the center saved a lot of time and effort in addition to providing medicines

free of charge, which eased the suffering of the displaced people.

It is worth mentioning that Qatar Charity is one of the most active organizations in coordi-nating efforts in the field of health in northern Syria, where the health team of its office is keen to attend the meetings of the health group concerned with the health situation in northern Syria continuously, in cooperation with the relevant bodies of international organizations.

Local residents during their visit to a health center.

The medical centers, in cooperation with the Qatar Charity, have been in operation since August 2019 and aims to improve the medical situation in northern Syria, in coordination with local and international organisations operating in the health sector and United Nations coordination and technical bodies such as Health Cluster, World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF.

CPH student highlights outcomes of studies on pharmacovigilance systemTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar University’s College of Pharmacy (QU-CPH) MSc student in Clinical Pharmacy and Practice, Abeer Abdullah Hamid defended recently her MSc thesis entitled Evalu-ation of the Pharmacovigi-lance System in Qatar- A Mixed Method Study on Structure Process, and Outcome.

This research project aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current status of pharmacovigilance at the national and sub-national levels in Qatar based on the quantitative and qualitative research approaches that included survey methods, inter-views with key stakeholders who are involved in pharma-covigilance activities, official document reviews, and field observation.

The project included a sit-uat ional analysis of

pharmacovigilance systems and conducting a survey on phar-macovigilance systems per-formance using the World Health Organization (WHO) key performance pharmacovigi-lance indicators. The study included Qatar’s healthcare reg-ulatory authority, public healthcare sector, private healthcare sector healthcare-related higher academic insti-tutions, and local pharmaceu-tical industry.

According to Abeer, “This is the first mixed-method research study utilizing the WHO pharmacovigilance key performance indicators con-ducted in Qatar and the Middle East and North Africa region”.

The data collected from various levels of the healthcare systems were utilized to provide a baseline understanding of the pharmacovigilance system per-formance status in Qatar com-pared to the most up to date WHO and international

pharmacovigilance standards and to identify the strengths, opportunities, and limitations that can affect the development of pharmacovigilance systems as well as to study the estab-lishment and sustainability of a future national pharmacovigi-lance center in Qatar.

The study included a number of recommendations such as the need to establish an organised national pharma-covigilance center and implement strategies to streamline the national reporting system for patient safety and medication safety; ensure the development of internal capacities through the adequate inclusion of pharma-covigilance in educational systems; and implement active pharmacovigilance activities through mult isectoral collaboration.

Finally, the research pro-vided a proposed organizational structure for a national

pharmacovigilance centre as a key improvement measure required for a comprehensive pharmacovigilance system.

Professor Mohamed Izham Mohamed Ibrahim, Principal Supervisor of this project emphasized that “the outcomes of this research can potentially serve to target the challenges and utilize the available oppor-tunities to help improve the current pharmacovigilance sit-uation and ensure effective system performance and ade-quacy. This is expected to result in the successful implemen-tation of pharmacovigilance within the healthcare system in Qatar”.

Abeer mentioned that during her MSc journey the primary supervisor and the research committee members from the Qatar University College of Pharmacy were so supportive and essential for this research project successful completion.

Furthermore, Abeer noted that she was lucky that during her MSc journey, Qatar Uni-versity has provided support for this research project by providing student grants and supporting the dissemination of this research in national and international conferences and international scientif ic journals.

DPS-MIS felicitates students for excellenceTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Though a daunting task, to organize a programme in the current situation of social distancing, DPS-MIS leaves no stone unturned when it comes to acknowledge, encourage and motivate students. To honour the meritorious students of grades V and VI (2019-2020), DPS-MIS organised an online award ceremony on June 8. It was aired live on Facebook. The solemn occasion was graced by the chief guest, Sreedharan Kunniramath, Director DPS- MIS, Principal Asna Nafees, Vice Principal Senior Secondary School, Soma Bhattacharjee, Vice Principal Senior School, Mary Cruz, Headmistress, Sini Menon, proud parents and the young achievers. The programme commenced with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran by Rayyan Oneeb Washid of class VI-L. To show their love and respect to the school, students performed virtually the school song.

The Chief Guest Sreedharan Kunniramath, Director DPS-MIS, in his inspiring address, appreciated the students who accomplished their objective of securing 100 percent attendance and also the parents who had provided students with a great ambiance at home. He also shared a tip to those who aspire for 100 percent attendance, to practice yoga, cycling, dancing and most importantly sleep well.

Commenting on the exem-plary performance by our young achievers, he

emphasized the idea that success comes with some kind of responsibility and advocated students to be consistent in their per-formance. Quoting the words of one of his teachers, he inspired the students to exchange and share their ideas and techniques of learning and bring other students also to the lead, for it is “he who shares, who hands his knowledge, who hands his experience and his techniques to others is always a handsome person.”

Principal Asna Nafees thanked the Chief Guest for his gracious presence and inspiring speech. She congratulated the young achievers and accen-tuated that each awardee of the day is an epitome of hard work, dedication and of wonderful values that have been imbibed over the years. The Principal said that it is indeed the beginning for the young achievers of grades 5 and 6 who

have a long way to go and do extremely well. She also high-lighted the significance of responding with resilience and gave valuable insights into the understanding of human values. She also appreciated the col-lective vision put forth by the management, faculty, support staff, parents and students to rise above the ordinary and make all of this collaborative work and learning, a grand success.

A total of 378 students were virtually awarded for their out-standing academic excellence and 100 percent attendance. The programme was anchored by Sonal Sampath (Activity Coordinator, Junior Wing) under the supervision of Asna Nafees, Mary Cruz ,Vice Prin-cipal Senior School and Sini Menon, Headmistress (I-V).

School officials and teachers during the event. RIGHT: Students performing.

Demand for online renewal of vehicle registration surges

MoPH: Over 53,000 recoverso far; new cases at 1,517

Awqaf Ministry launches online summer course for Quran learning

FROM PAGE 1

Residents have lauded the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs for launching this initi-ative which will help the children to engage during summer vacation.

“Thank you very much, we were waiting such summer programs on tenterhook for our children,” commented an individual on official twitter account of the Ministry.

Another commentator urged Ministry to launch similar virtual summer program for female students.

The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs held a number of religious programs success-fully remotely with the help of Microsoft-Teams app and on its official website and social accounts during holy month of Ramadan. The Ministry held sixth Ramadan program ‘Aminhum min al Khawf’ (secure them from fear) remotely on social sties of the Ministry and electronic platform of the program.

A group of Islamic scholars from Qatar and abroad were hosted to discuss Islamic topics.The topics of the discussion included issuance of fatwas during the epidemic, Muslims and coexistence, Jerusalem and Palestine, Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lectures were also delivered on different religious topics under the program.

FROM PAGE 1

The Ministry of Public Health pointed out that the State of Qatar has now started to overcome the stage of the peak of the virus outbreak as its spread declined, thanks to the measures taken by the state to address it, in addition to the commitment of the community members to the recommenda-tions and preventive instruc-tions, including social sepa-ration, staying at home, not going out except for necessity and not mixing.

The Ministry has urged anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 should either quickly contact the 16000 helpline or go directly to one of the desig-nated health centers for testing. This is important as earlier the disease is detected easier it will be to receive the right treatment and recover from it.The main screening centers include Muaither Health Centre, Rawdat Al Khail Health Centre, Umm Salal Health Centre, and Al Gharafa Health Centre.

The Ministry reaffirmed the necessity for the elderly or those suffering from chronic diseases and their family members to follow strict methods and precautions to reduce the risk of infection with them and work to protect them from infection by refraining from social visits, wearing the mask and cleansing the hands when near them.

The Ministry stated that, based on the extensive data and studies conducted by the

concerned authorities in the country, the State of Qatar will begin on Monday, June 15, to lift the restrictions imposed to combat the epidemic gradually in four stages that will last until September 1.

The Ministry underscored the necessity of implementing the preventive measures during the stages of gradually lifting the imposed restrictions that were applied in the country as a result of the spread of the COVID-19, as failure to adhere to precautionary measures during the next stage will lead to the return of the virus out-break to the country.

Furthermore, the Ministry pointed out that the measures applied by the state in the early stages, in February, contributed greatly and effectively to control the extent of its spread. This also helped in expanding the capacity of the health system to deal with all cases contrary to what happened in some countries that failed to implement precautionary measures early enough, which led to the collapse of their health system and an inability to handle the large numbers of cases. The Ministry of Public Health stressed that the gradual lifting of restrictions came after a thorough study of the reality in the State of Qatar and from similar experiences in many countries of the world that have succeeded in limiting the spread of the virus after grad-ually lifting the restrictions imposed.

FROM PAGE 1

“We expect the traffic movement to increase after easing the restrictions was announced by authorities recently. The first phase of easing restrictions will be from June 15 which will be followed by a second phase from July 1,” Colonel Jaber Mohamed Rashid Odaiba, Assistant Director of the Media and Traffic Awareness Department, said. However, Odaiba added that the traffic patrols are on the street to prevent violations and to control traffic, as they perform their normal routine work.

In addition to their routine work, there are also traffic patrols that contribute to raising awareness about preventing the spread of the virus and violating those are violate the measures imposed by the competent author-ities, such as preventing gatherings, the number of passengers, wearing masks, and so on, he said. “There is a great response and commitment from motorists to the measures related to fighting virus, which should be com-mended,” said Colonel Odaiba.

04 SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2020GULF / MIDDLE EAST

Muslims perform Friday prayer at Fatih Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, as mosques in the country hold third Friday prayers after coronavirus restrictions eased.

European Court of Human Rights faults France ove Israel boycott convictionsANATOLIA — PARIS

In a Thursday ruling, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found France’s highest court in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights over the criminal conviction of activists with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanc-tions (BDS) in 2015.

The high court’s ruling is seen as a major blow to Israel’s actions on Palestine solidarity.

The unanimous decision by the European Court came in their finding over the conviction of BDS members who advo-cated nonviolent boycotts of Israeli goods. The ECHR found that the French court’s doing so violated Article 10, freedom of expression, of the European Convention on Human Rights.

BDS is a Palestinian-led movement that advocates for freedom, justice, and equality

for Palestinians with the tenet that all Palestinians are entitled to rights equal to the rest of humanity.

The French courts had found 11 French activists guilty of “incitement to discrimi-nation” in 2009 and 2010 when they had boycotted Israeli goods by conducting peaceful protests in supermarkets. The move was done in solidarity with Pales-tinian’s attempts at justice and equality.

The ECHR ruling runs par-allel to global action in the Pal-estinian community over Israel’s ongoing plans to annex major parts of the occupied Pal-estinian territory in the West Bank.

Speaking on behalf of BDS, Rita Ahmad called the court ruling a victory for freedom of expression, for human rights defenders, and for the BDS movement.

“This is a major legal blow

to Israel’s apartheid regime and its anti-BDS lawfare. At Israel’s behest, European governments, especially in France and Germany, have fostered an ominous environment of bul-lying and repression to silence Palestinian solidarity activists,” she said.

“Europe is deeply complicit in Israel’s occupation, siege of Gaza, and slow ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians in Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley, and elsewhere,” Ahmad pro-fessed. “For as long as this com-plicity continues, BDS cam-paigns will too.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu had announced that his government intended to annex the Jordan Valley and all settlement blocs in the West Bank early next month.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is seen as occupied territory under

international law, thus making all Jewish settlements there— as well as the planned annex-ation — illegal.

Palestinian officials have threatened to abolish bilateral agreements with Israel if it goes ahead with the annexation, which would further undermine the two-state solution.

The annexation comes as part of US President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century,” which was announced on Jan. 28. It refers to Jerusalem as “Israel’s undivided capital” and recognizes Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the West Bank

The plan states the estab-lishment of a Palestinian state in the form of an archipelago connected through bridges and tunnels. Palestinian officials say that under the US plan, Israel will annex 30-40% of the West Bank, including all of East Jerusalem.

Calls grow for Iranians to wear masks to stop virusAFP & QNA — TEHRAN/KUWAIT

Iran reported 75 deaths and more than 2,000 new cases of novel coronavirus yesterday as calls mounted for all people to wear masks in public.

“The spread of coronavirus in society has reached such a level that the use of masks is necessary for everyone,” said Ghassem Janbabaee, a deputy health minister.

“Continuing to neglect health protocols can lead to further outbreaks and recur-rences in the near future,” he said, quoted late Thursday on the ministry’s website.

Officials have repeatedly urged Iranians to wear masks on public transport, including on Tehran’s underground train network where a large number of commuters still opt to travel without them.

Semi-official news agency ISNA published a series of pic-tures showing people in public

without masks in the hard-hit southwestern province of Khuzestan.

Health ministry spokes-woman Sima Sadat Lari said 2,369 new infections in the past 24 hours took the total to 182,545. She said 75 new deaths brought the overall toll to 8,659.

There has been scepticism at home and abroad about Iran’s official figures, with concerns the real toll could be much higher. Iran reported its first COVID-19 cases on February 19 — two deaths in the Shiite holy city of Qom.

The government has struggled to contain what

quickly became the Middle East’s deadliest coronavirus out-break. Since April, however, it has gradually lifted health pro-tocols in order to reopen its sanctions-hit economy.

That has coincided with a fresh surge in cases, which the government denies amounts to a second wave, saying they are due to increased testing.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Health reported 520 new infections of the coronavirus (COVID-19) overnight for a total of 34,952. Deaths climbed by six to reach 285. In a press conference, the ministry’s official spokesperson Dr. Abdullah Al Sanad said that

Dozens of Palestinian residents of Jaffa gather to protest the destruction of the historic Muslim Al Isaf cemetery affiliated to Tel Aviv municipality by Israeli authorities after Friday prayer in an open area in Jaffa, Israel.

REUTERS — QALQILYA, WEST BANK

Peacocks, ostriches and baboons joined in an animal baby boom at a Palestinian zoo during the coronavirus closure as they let nature take its course free from human distractions.

Fifteen animals were born at the tiny Qalqilya Zoo in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during the two months that it shut its doors to visitors - three times more than usual, zoo officials said.

“The coronavirus spread at the same time that trips were expected at the zoo. They were cancelled and therefore the animals started to give birth,” said zoo veter-

inarian Sami Khader. An ostrich that laid eggs in

normal years rarely had the chance to incubate them properly. But this year she pro-duced 11 eggs and “because there weren’t people around her, she was able to build a nest”, he said.

In the monkey enclosure, usually bedevilled by miscar-riages, one baboon gave birth, although she had little incli-nation to take care of the baby.

“My father had to bring him to our house,” said the vet’s daughter, Hind Khader. “I took care of him and gave him milk.”

The zoo reopened in late May as Palestinian officials

eased COVID-19 restrictions. Now zoo managers hope the newborn attractions will be

enough of a draw to com-pensate for 200,000 lost visitors.

Animal baby boom at Palestine zoo after people disappear

A Palestinian boy is carried by a man as he looks at a zebra at the Qalqilya Zoo where workers say a coronavirus lockdown has led to a boom in animal births, in Qalqilya in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, yesterday.

the 520 cases included 232 Kuwaitis, 86 Indians, 53 Bang-ladeshis, 39 Egyptians, and the rest of other nationalities.

Earlier today, the ministry confirmed the recovery of 911 people overnight to bring the tally to 25,048 recoveries.

The Omani Ministry of Health announced 1,117 new coronavirus (Covid-19) cases.

According to the Ministry, 647 of the new cases were non-Omanis and 470 were Omanis, while the total number of cases in the country has reached

21,071, including 7,489 recov-eries and 96 deaths.

Oman has conducted 3,502 coronavirus tests over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, 92 patients are receiving intensive care treatment, the ministry said.

Cash-strapped aid projects face closure in YemenREUTERS — GENEVA

UN aid agencies said yesterday three quarters of the programmes they back in Yemen will have to close in the next few weeks without more funding, even as both cholera and the novel coro-navirus spread.

A five-year conflict between a Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthi group has left most Yemenis malnourished and reliant on aid.

International donors promised $1.35 billion for Yemen at a conference on June 2 - but that was short of the U.N. target of $2.4 billion needed to save the world’s biggest aid operation from severe cutbacks.

“More than 30 of the 41 U.N.-supported programmes in Yemen will close in the coming weeks if additional funds are not secured,” U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a U.N. briefing in Geneva. “Now, more than ever, the country needs the outside world’s help and it’s not really getting it,” he said.

Yemen has reported 564 cases of COVID-19, but the figures lag and may not include all cases in areas controlled by the Houthi authorities in the north, Colville said.

It has reported 130 related deaths, though aid agencies have said testing levels are low.

Iraq, US affirm commitment to troop reduction

REUTERS — BAGHDAD

Iraq and the United States affirmed their commitment to the reduction of US troops in Iraq, a statement from the two countries said, as officials discussed Washington’s future relationship with Baghdad.

“Over the coming months the US would continue reducing forces from Iraq and discuss with the Government of Iraq the status of remaining forces,” the statement, pub-lished on Thursday, said.

Since 2014, the primary mission of US troops deployed in Iraq has been defeating the Islamic State militant group. Officials in the US-led coalition say Iraqi forces are now mostly able to handle the insurgents on their own.

Western military trainers are expected to remain in Iraq, but it is not clear how many. The United States has had around 5,000 troops stationed in the country, and coalition allies another 2,500.

An earlier newsflash by Iraq’s state news agency cited Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi as saying there would be a total withdrawal of troops. The article was later removed.

Iraq’s parliament had voted earlier this year for the departure of foreign troops from Iraq, and United States and other coalition troops have been leaving as part of a drawdown.

The two countries’ joint statement said Washington will discuss with the Iraqi gov-ernment the status of the remaining forces, stressing it does not seek permanent bases or a permanent military presence in Iraq.

US economic advisers might also be provided to help Iraq with economic reform efforts. The financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and low global oil prices have hit Iraqis hard.

Israeli troops injure three photojournalists

ANATOLIA — RAMALLAH

Three photojournalists along with dozens of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank were injured and suffocated by the Israeli army’s live and rubber bullets, and tear gas.

Murad Shtaiwi, coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committees in the town of Kafr Qaddum, Qalqilya, said the Israeli forces used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse peaceful demonstrators.

Shtaiwi said three photo-journalists and two Pales-tinians were injured, while tens of protesters suffered from tear gas suffocation.

People in Kafr Qaddum organize weekly protests against Israeli occupation and against the Israeli settlement activities, which usually come under Israeli forces repression.Israel occupied Jerusalem and the whole of the West Bank fol-lowing the 1967 Six-Day War.

PA to start issuing personal documents for Palestinians

AFP — RAMALLAH

The Palestinian Authority said yesterday it will start issuing personal documents for Pales-tinians without having the papers validated by Israel as in the past.

The move follows Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s announcement last month of an end to all agreements with Israel over its plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

“We are now registering our citizens in our own databases, without sending them to Israel as we did before, according to instructions not to work with Israel on this subject,” Palestinian Authority interior ministry spokesman Ghassan Nimr said.

Under the 1993 Oslo peace accords, the PA has issued identity

cards, birth certificates and other documents to the approximately five million residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

But they were only considered valid after endorsement by Israel, which controls all movement in and out of the West Bank and from Gaza through Israeli territory.

“We are working on setting up a new framework based on coordination with the interna-tional community to allow us to move freely without the approval of Israel,” said Nimr, without giving details.

The end of coordination with Israel on the issue has not yet had any impact on Palestinian travel due to closure of the borders of Israel and the Palestinian Terri-tories due to coronavirus restrictions.

The spread of coronavirus in society has reached such a level that the use of masks is necessary for everyone,” said Ghassem Janbabaee, a deputy health minister. Health ministry spokeswoman said 2,369 new infections in the past 24 hours took the total to 182,545.And 75 new deaths brought the overall toll to 8,659.

05SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2020 AFRICA

France launches coalition of allies to fight militants in Sahel regionREUTERS — NIAMEY/PARIS

France launched a coalition of West African and European allies yesterday to fight mili-tants in the Sahel region, hoping more political cooperation and special forces would boost a military effort that has so far failed to stifle violence.

Former colonial power France has deployed thousands of soldiers in the arid region south of the Sahara desert since 2013, and now has 5,100 troops there. But violence by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State has been on the rise.

The coalition, first announced at a January summit after a series of attacks killing over 200 soldiers, was ratified during virtual meetings of more than 40 defence and foreign ministers.

“We can now hope that the setbacks suffered by our armies during the second half of 2019 and the difficulties imple-menting our development projects are behind us,” said Niger’s Foreign Minister Kalla Ankourao.

The new structure brings the so-called G5 Sahel states of Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and Mauritania, plus French forces and any future troops

under a single command, and also coordinates development, governance and humanitarian work.

Paris has long sought more support from other European countries and cooperation between Sahel states.

The coalition would provide more help from European special forces for regional armies, and financial aid from countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“This is a good example of the new multilateralism that the world needs today,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Although France and Sahel forces have made some recent gains including the killing of al

Qaeda’s North Africa chief Abdelmalek Droukdel, militants have continued attacks, pushing further south towards coastal countries such as Ivory Coast.

Meanwhile, suspected extrajudicial killings of civilians by national armies, including allegations that soldiers in Mali

killed 43 people in two villages last week, have drawn condemnation.

“If there are exactions against civilians, you cannot expect their collaboration,” Drissa Traore, a Malian human rights activist, told a news con-ference on Thursday.

Le Drian urged accounta-bility while Mali’s Foreign Min-ister Tiébilé Dramé said recent allegations would go to tribunals.

Despite such promises in the past, no charges against security forces have been announced in recent years.

A file photo French President Emmanuel Macron (centre) visiting the troops of France’s Barkhane operation in Africa’s Sahel region in Gao, northern Mali.

54 dead in

Tunisian migrant

shipwreck;

search continuesAP — TUNIS

The death toll in a migrant ship-wreck off Tunisia’s coast has climbed to 54 people as more and more bodies are discovered, and the search is continuing.

The boat sank last weekend amid a recent spike in efforts to smuggle African migrants to Europe via Tunisia in recent months. The sinking has revived concerns in Tunisia about migrants fleeing tensions in neighboring Libya, despite hun-dreds of millions of euros in European aid to Libya to stop migrants from leaving.

Tunisian search teams recovered the bodies of 13 men and women on Thursday, according to the Defence Min-istry. Earlier in the week, the bodies of two toddlers and 20 adults washed up on the beaches of Kerkennah Island off the Mediterranean coastal city of Sfax, and 19 other bodies were found floating in nearby waters.

Navy units and divers from the civil protection services are continuing to search the area for other possible victims, the health director for the Sfax region, Ali Ayadi, said.

Many of the victims were buried in Sfax on Wednesday, Ayadi said. All the victims are from sub-Saharan Africa, notably Ivory Coast, except for the Tunisian captain, according to Tunisian authorities.

The UN refugee agency says attempts to leave Tunisia for the Italian coast increased by more than 150 percent from January through April compared with the same period last year.

Tunisia’s National Guard said last week that 140 migrants have been arrested recently trying to cross illegally. Most were sub-Saharan Africans fleeing tensions in neighboring Libya.

A nongovernmental organ-isation that works on migration and refugee issues, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, said the latest deaths are “the inevitable result of restrictive and inhuman migration policies adopted by the European Union which are limited to a security approach to migration issues.”

Burundi court orders President-elect sworn in after leader’s deathAFP — BUJUMBURA

Burundi’s constitutional court yesterday ruled that the coun-try’s newly elected leader Evariste Ndayishimiye (pictured) be rapidly sworn in following the sudden death of President Pierre Nkurunziza earlier this week.

Nkurunziza’s death on Monday, aged 55, came after the May election of his successor Ndayishimiye, who was meant to be inaugurated in August.

The unusual situation raised questions over how the transition would be managed, as the con-stitution calls for the speaker of

the national assembly to step in if the president dies.

However in its judgement the court wrote that an interim

period “is not necessary”.The court ruled that the

country must “proceed, as soon as possible, with the swearing-in of the president-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye”.

Nkurunziza, a devout evan-gelical who believed he was chosen by God to lead Burundi, leaves behind a deeply isolated country in political and economic turmoil after his divisive 15-year rule.

His 2015 run for a third term in office sparked protests and a failed coup, with violence leaving at least 1,200 dead while some 400,000 fled the country.

A climate of fear marked by a crackdown on the opposition and media settled over Burundi, while a personality cult grew around Nkurunziza which saw the ruling party name him a “visionary” and “supreme guide for patriotism.”

United Nations human rights investigators have said the period since 2015 has been marked by likely crimes against humanity committed by state forces, citing extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, disappearances, torture and sexual violence.

Nkurunziza’s decision not to run in the May 20 election

shocked many, as it came after the constitution was changed to allow him to do so.

His successor Ndayishimiye, 52, was handpicked by the ruling party’s core group of powerful generals, and won the election with 68.7 percent. Opposition claims of widespread fraud were dismissed by the constitutional court. While he is also a general, Ndayishimiye is not a regime hardliner and Nkurunziza was expected to continue to play a significant role, possibly limiting the independence of his suc-cessor who is reputed to be more tolerant and open.

Conflict, division blight virus response in LibyaAFP — TRIPOLI

War and division are weakening Libya’s fight against the novel coronavirus, with the government struggling to deal with an outbreak deep in the desert south.

The North African nation has been mired in chaos since a Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Qadhafi in 2011. The UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) controls the west, including the capital Tripoli, while military strongman Khalifa Haftar controls the east and some of the far-flung oases and oilfields that dot the south.

With Libya already largely cut off from the rest of the world by conflict when it reported its first coronavirus case at the end of March, the situation appeared relatively contained.

Cases of infection were “very low” compared to neighbouring countries, according to Badreddine al-Najjar, head of Libya’s centre for disease control.

“We even had weeks without new infections,” he said.

The rival administrations imposed curfews and closed borders, schools, businesses and mosques, in a bid to prevent often obsolete and worn-down health facilities from becoming overwhelmed.

But health measures “are difficult to apply due to the political and security context”, Najjar said.

The situation has changed rapidly in recent weeks, with dozens of cases appearing in the south’s largest oasis city Sebha.

The GNA has reported 393 coronavirus infections and five deaths nationwide, around half of them in and around Sebha.

But that only accounts for cases that the Tripoli-based disease control centre has been able to confirm. Najjar said local authorities in Sebha, which is under the control of pro-Haftar forces, were not equipped to deal with an outbreak, and ini-tially refused the GNA’s help.

“It was difficult to open up isolation rooms... and the equipment didn’t arrive until after a large number of infec-tions among close contacts”, Najjar said.

“The residents did not coop-erate and did not respect the preventive measures”, Najjar said. “They acted like nothing was wrong”.

Ibrahim al-Zouay, head of the committee to fight the pan-demic in Sebha, acknowledged that local authorities had been overwhelmed by the task.

“We were unable to isolate ‘patient zero’ because the number of cases grew”, he said.

“The support and rapid intervention teams stuck to testing and monitoring the family and friends” of con-firmed cases, he added. Divi-sions and accusations of

mismanagement have also marred a plan to repatriate more than 15,000 Libyans stuck abroad.

Libya lacks adequate infra-structure for quarantining arrivals on its soil, and the security situation prompted fears that armed individuals could release people from iso-lation by force. So authorities decided to quarantine returnees before their repatriation instead, a decision critics say has led to new infections among those who came into contact with them.

“Each flight carrying returnees was like bringing back

booby traps”, said Mahmoud Abdeldayem, who works in the civil registry in Tripoli.

“How come there were cases?” he asked, questioning the quarantine and testing arrangements prior to departure.

“There must be a problem in implementing the pro-gramme.” More than 8,000 people had been brought home before repatriations were sus-pended last week as fighting in the country intensified.

Mahmoud Khalfallah, a former health ministry adviser, said Libya’s political divisions had marred its handling of the pandemic.

Members of a medical team put on protective suit before taking swabs from people to test for the coronavirus disease at a medical clinic, in Tripoli, Libya.

Gambian ‘Jungler’

arrested in US for

role in torture

REUTERS — DAKAR

A man accused of being part of a Gambian armed unit run by former president Yahya Jammeh has been charged in the United States with torturing prisoners during a crackdown after an attempted coup in 2006, the US Department of Justice said.

Michael Sang Correa appeared in court on Thursday in Denver charged with six counts of torture and one count of conspiracy to commit torture. It marks the first known time that a suspect has faced criminal prosecution over the role of the feared armed group known as ‘the Junglers’ in Gambia’s violent police state during Jammeh’s rule from 1994-2017.

“Michael Correa allegedly committed heinous acts of vio-lence against victim after victim in a brutal effort to coerce confessions from sus-pected coup plotters in The Gambia,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benc-zkowski of the Justice Depart-ment’s Criminal Division.

COVID-19 ‘accelerating’ in Africa as cases surge to 216,446ANATOLIA — ADDIS ABABA

The total number of coronavirus cases in Africa surged to 216,446, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in an update yesterday.

According to the latest data, 5,756 people have died of virus-related complications, while 97,756 patients have recovered.

Central Africa has so far

recorded 22,208 cases, 457 deaths and 8,014 recoveries; East Africa 24,418 cases, 719 deaths and 8,189 recoveries North Africa 61,615 cases, 2,454 deaths and 26,718 recoveries; Southern Africa 61,772 cases, 1,239 deaths and 33,156 recov-eries; and West Africa 46,433 cases, 887 deaths and 20,991 recoveries.

South Africa has 25 percent of the total number of cases in

the continent while Egypt is the worst affected in terms of deaths toll that has now stood at 1,377.

The pandemic has killed more than 418,000 people worldwide, with the total number of infections surpassing 7.4 million, while over 3.5 million people have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University.

On Thursday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa office said the corona-virus pandemic is “accelerating” in Africa.

It took 98 days to reach 100,000 cases and only 19 days to move to 200 000 cases, according to the WHO.

“For now Africa still only accounts for a small fraction of cases worldwide,” said Dr Mat-shidiso Moeti, WHO regional

director for Africa.“But the pace of the spread

is quickening. Swift and early action by African countries has helped to keep numbers low but constant vigilance is needed to stop COVID-19 from over-whelming health facilities,” she added.

In recent weeks, African countries began to ease coro-navirus lockdown restrictions. “The shutdowns have come at

considerable socioeconomic cost,” the statement said.

“Stay-at-home orders and closing of markets and busi-nesses have taken a heavy toll, particularly on the most vul-nerable and marginalised communities.

“So, the need to balance between saving lives and pro-tecting livelihoods is a key con-sideration in this response, par-ticularly in Africa,” Moeti added.

The coalition, first announced at a January summit after a series of attacks killing over 200 soldiers, was ratified during virtual meetings of more than 40 defence and foreign ministers.

06 SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2020ASIA

China, Hong Kong govtreject UK ‘interference’ and ‘biased’ criticismREUTERS — HONG KONG

The Hong Kong government and China’s foreign ministry branch in the city hit back yesterday at a report by Britain criticising Beijing’s plans for national security legislation, saying it was “biased” and inter-vened in internal affairs.

The British government said the proposed legislation vio-lated China’s international obli-gations and breached the “one country, two systems” formula that has governed the former British colony since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.

British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said a solution to the year-long and often violent pro-democracy protests in the city must come from Hong Kong, not from Beijing.

The Commissioner of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong said Britain “seriously trampled on the principles of international law including non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs.”

Hong Kong’s government said it firmly opposed the “inac-curate and biased remarks.” Local and Beijing authorities have insisted the legislation will

focus on small numbers of “troublemakers” who pose a national security threat and will not curb freedoms or hurt investors.

The exchange over the leg-islation, expected to be imple-mented by September, came as Hong Kong marked the anni-versary of a major turning point in the pro-democracy movement.

On June 12 last year, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters rallying against a bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. It was the first such response from police, and it radicalised many moderates in Hong Kong.

While the bill was later

withdrawn, the movement evolved into broader appeals for democracy amid fears Beijing was tightening its grip.

Hundreds gathered yes-terday in the working class dis-trict of Mong Kok and in a shopping mall in the Sha Tin district to mark last year’s pivotal moments by lighting their smartphones and chanting pro-democracy slogans.

They defied social gathering limits of eight people imposed due to the coronavirus.

“I am worried about national security laws but... if we lose our faith or we leave Hong Kong, no one will fight for freedom and democracy,” said Moon Chan, 22, who

works in sales.Riot police were seen

checking IDs and searching the belongings of dozens of people at once. A few times, groups of officers broke formation to chase after several people, whom they pinned to the ground and arrested.

Earlier yesterday some stu-dents formed human chains and there were small, peaceful lunchtime protests in shopping malls. In Taipei, the capital of democratically ruled, Chinese-claimed Taiwan, dozens rallied in solidarity, chanting “Free Hong Kong. Revolution now.” A student group and several labour unions postponed a vote

scheduled for tomorrow whether to hold a wide-scale strike to June 20, citing stormy weather forecasts.

China’s Hong Kong Liaison Office, a platform for Beijing to project its influence in the city, said schools should “immedi-ately discourage” such activity. It blamed political groups “with ulterior motives” for “shocking chaos in Hong Kong education.”

Students have played a major role in the protests, cul-minating in the occupation of a university campus, which led to a weeks-long standoff with the police in some of last year’s most violent scenes.

The liaison office added that “on the issue of cultivating qual-ified nationals and emphasising national feelings, there is only ‘one country’ and no ‘two systems’.”

The student group said it would not “concede to bul-lying.” Many fear national security motives will be used to curb academic, media and other freedoms.

Britain has been joined by the United States and others in criticising the proposed legis-lation. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was working on measures that could restrict capital flows through the territory.

Pro-democracy activists hold up their mobile phone torches as they sing during a rally in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong, yesterday.

Lockdown fears as India reports record rise in virus casesREUTERS — NEW DELHI

India reported a record daily increase of novel coronavirus cases yesterday and became the world’s fourth worst-hit country, raising the prospect of the return of a lockdown just days after it was lifted.

Anxious to revive the economy after a nearly 70-day lockdown, the government this week opened most public transport, offices and malls, even

though health officials said the country was weeks away from flattening the curve of infections.

On Friday, the health min-istry said the number of cases had increased by 10,956 from the previous day, with new infections rife in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

Dr VK Paul, head of a gov-ernment task force tackling the outbreak, said there was no quick end in sight.

“Our population is still sus-ceptible, this virus is present, we have contained it, but this fight will go on for months,” Paul told a news conference.

The new cases took India’s total number of infections to 297,535, and it replaced Britain as the fourth worst-affected country, according to Reuters tallies. India’s death toll reached 8,498, which officials said was small in relation to its 1.3 billion population. Britain has had more

than 41,000 deaths. The head of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, one of the country’s biggest mosques, ordered a halt to congregations until the end of the month.

“What is the point of visiting mosques at a time when the virus is spreading so fast,” said the cleric, Syed Ahmed Bukhari said, suggesting other mosques do the same.

Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary of the Confederation of All India Traders, said shops

may have to close again in the capital, where the number of cases is projected to grow to half a million by the end of July from 32,810 now.

The Supreme Court sought a report from Delhi authorities saying patients faced a “hor-rendous situation” in packed hospitals.

The city needs 80,000 hos-pital beds by the end of next month. It now has 11,000, the government has said.

Nepal-India

border incident

leaves one dead

AFP — KATHMANDU

Nepali border guards opened fire yesterday after a group of Indians crossed the frontier, killing one man and wounding two, police said.

It was the latest in a series of incidents along the border which Nepal has tightened since imposing a nationwide pandemic lockdown in March.

About 30 Indians crossed about 100 metres into Nepal’s territory in the southern dis-trict of Sarlahi and clashed with police when stopped, dis-trict police chief Ganga Ram Shrestha said.

Shrestha said the guards at first fired into the air when scores of people gathered and hurdled stones and bricks at police and also snatched a gun.

“The police were forced to fire five rounds to recover the gun, injuring three people. We learnt that one of them died during treatment in India,” Shrestha said.

Three Nepali border police were also injured, he added. Indian media said one man was also detained and that officials from the two sides had held talks.

Nepali authorities have stepped up border security because of increased incidents during the lockdown along the 1,750km frontier which is tra-ditionally open.

Last month police in the western district of Jhapa fired blank rounds to disperse dozens of Indian farmers trying to cross the border.

There are also increased territorial tensions between the neighbours after India opened a new road into a dis-puted zone.

Thailand eases somecurbs, ends curfewAP — BANGKOK

Thailand announced yesterday it is easing some restrictions that were imposed to fight the spread of the coronavirus, including allowing some schools to reopen and scrapping a curfew.

The new measures, which take effect on Monday, were announced after more than six weeks in which the daily increase in cases was usually less than 10, and almost all new infections originated abroad. Four new cases were announced Friday, bringing the total to 3,129, including 58 deaths.

“We should stay vigilant, the risk of a second outbreak remains,” said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, spokesman for the government’s Center for Covid-19 Situation Adminis-tration, who announced the steps. “On Monday, almost all businesses reopen, including ones with high risks. Now Thailand should focus on developing vaccines and drugs.” Social distancing rules will remain in effect for

restaurants, and clubs must stay closed. Incoming interna-tional passenger flights will remain banned until the end of the month.

T h a i l a n d ’ s t o u r i s m industry, a major employer and revenue earner, has been dev-astated by the coronavirus crisis. Taweesin said the gov-ernment is exploring the concept of “travel bubbles” with certain countries that would allow the limited return of foreign travelers.

He said ideas under con-sideration include allowing vis-itors from areas where out-breaks have subsided, such as China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. Business travelers and visitors falling into the medical tourism category might also be among those initially allowed back in.

The measures announced yesterday are the fourth phase of restriction easing.

They include allowing international schools and schools with no more than 120 students to reopen when they are ready.

An 11pm to 3am curfew that

was imposed to discourage nighttime gatherings will end. Venues used for exercising or sports competitions may reopen, but no spectators are allowed at competitive events. No more than 50 people are allowed to take part in group exercises in open spaces.

National parks, botanical parks, concert halls, exhibition

halls and entertainment venues may reopen.

Museums were already allowed to reopen under an earlier easing phase.

For travel between prov-inces, airlines no longer need to apply social distancing to their seating arrangements, though passengers must wear masks.

On buses and trains, however, people must sit apart, with occupancy restricted to 70 percent of capacity.

Taweesin explained that seating arrangements for air travel will be less restrictive because domestic flights are generally of shorter duration and planes have better venti-lation systems.

A passenger has his temperature checked following the lifting of travel restrictions to halt the spread of the COVID-19 at Tanyong Mat railway station in the Thai province of Narathiwat, on Thursday.

Protesters rally against Philippine anti-terrorism billAFP — MANILA

Hundreds of protesters rallied in Manila yesterday against anti-terrorism legislation that critics fear would give Philippine Pres-ident Rodrigo Duterte sweeping powers to stifle dissent.

The bill, which has been approved by Congress and is expected to be signed into law by Duterte, would create a council of presidential appointees that could order warrantless arrests of people it deems are terrorists.

It also allows for weeks of detention without charge.

Activists fear the legislation could open the door to a crackdown on Duterte’s

opponents.“They (authorities) shouldn’t

fool us that this terror bill is for terrorists. It’s for all of us,” said Neri Colmenares, an activist and lawyer.

Groups such as the kidnap-for-ransom gang Abu Sayyaf would continue killing regardless of the legislation, Col-menares told protesters who had ignored police warnings they were breaching coronavirus restrictions.

Protester Ana Celestial said she feared the bill would be the “death of democracy for all of us”.

The legislation defines ter-rorism as intending to cause death or injury, damage

government or private property or use weapons of mass destruction to “spread a message of fear” or intimidate the government.

Suspects could be held up to 24 days without charge in vio-lation of a three-day limit in the Constitution, said rights group National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).

The vague wording of the bill gives “almost absolute power to designate -- even wrongly, mis-takenly or maliciously -- groups as ‘terrorists’”, NUPL said.

The United Nations’ human rights office has also criticised the legislation, saying in a recent report that it “dilutes human rights safeguards”.

But government officials say the alarm is overblown, citing provisions that exempt “advocacy, protest, dissent, stoppage of work... not intended to cause death or serious physical harm”.

Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said last week that “anybody who makes peaceful protests, they’re not terrorists.” Authorities argue the Philippines needs additional powers to battle the multiple armed groups that regularly carry out attacks on police and civilians.

However, watchdogs note that on top of granting new powers to authorities, the legis-lation also strips away old safeguards.

COVID-19 infections anddeaths rise in BangladeshANATOLIA — DHAKA

Bangladesh yesterday reported another 46 deaths related to the coronavirus disease, taking the countrywide death toll to 1,095.

It has been the highest daily death toll since the first death was recorded on March 18.

Among the deceased were 37 men and nine females and the death rate in infections is 1.34 percent, Nasima Sultana, a senior official at the Health Ministry, told an online news conference.

Meanwhile, the South Asian nation also recorded the largest single-day rise in cases over the past 24 hours with 3,471 infec-tions, taking the tally to 81,523, she added.

Bangladesh recorded its first COVID-19 infection on March 8.The Health Ministry has conducted 15,900 tests nationwide,

a minuscule figure for the densely populated country of 165 million.Meanwhile, 502 people made recovery in the past 24 hours

after contracting coronavirus, taking the total count of recoveries to 17,249, according to the health official.

The British government said the proposed legislation violated China’s international obligations and breached the “one country, two systems” formula that has governed the former British colony since its return to Chinese rule in 1997. British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said a solution to the year-long and often violent pro-democracy protests in the city must come from Hong Kong, not from Beijing.

07SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2020 ASIA

Pakistan sees over 6,000 virus cases in 24 hoursANATOLIA — ISLAMABAD

Pakistan yesterday recorded more than 6,000 coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, the highest single-day rise since the outbreak, according to official statistics yesterday.

With 6,397 new cases, Paki-stan’s tally of coronavirus cases has reached 125,933, already surpassing China and Saudi Arabia, putting the country at number 15 worldwide in terms of cases, the data shows.

Another 107 patients lost their lives due to COVID-19 across the country, bringing the death toll from the deadly virus to 2,463, while 40,247 patients have successfully recovered and discharged from the hospitals, according to the Health Ministry.

Some 809,169 people have so far been tested in the country of over 200 million people, with almost 28,344 tests conducted over the past 24 hours.

The northeastern Punjab, which accounts for more than half of the country’s population, is the worst-hit area in Pakistan with more than 47,382 cases,

followed by the southern Sindh province with 46,828 cases.

The northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded a total of 15,787 cases, and the southwestern Balochistan province registered 7,673 cases, according to the ministry data.

The northern Gilgit Baltistan region accounts for 1,030 of the country’s total cases, while the capital Islamabad has 6,699, and Jammu and Kashmir has 534 cases so far.

The report showed that death ratio in confirmed cases is also raised to 2 percent which was earlier 1.7 percent, while recoveries also increased to 32 percent from 20 percent.

The data show that most deaths occurred in patients between the age of 60 and 69 years, which recorded 29.83 percent, among them 22.93 percent were male and 6.9 percent female.

Health experts see the ever-rising caseload as a result of the lifting of a prolonged lockdown late last month, warning that the country’s already weak health care system could crash soon if the tally continues to surge at the current pace.

On May 9, the country total confirmed cases were 29,465, when Prime Minister Imran Khan announced to ease lockdown in phases, while now its raised to 125,933 just in one month.

The World Health Organi-sation has declared Pakistan the second-riskiest country after Afghanistan in terms of vulner-ability to the pandemic.

In a letter to the government on Tuesday, the UN health agency suggested a two-week strict lockdown to contain the surging outbreak.

Responding to the sug-gestion, Zafar Mirza, prime min-ister’s adviser on health, said his country took the decisions in the best interest of the people.

Even the prime minister has ruled out a strict lockdown, saying a “smart lockdown” is the only solution for developing economies.

Army personnel wearing facemasks patrol in vehicles on a street, before sealing Karachi Company area in Islamabad, yesterday, as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise.

Health experts see the ever-rising caseload as a result of the lifting of a lockdown late last month, warning that the country’s already weak health care system could crash soon if the tally continues to surge at the current pace.

US warns against spoilers as Afghan talks draw closerANATOLIA — ISLAMABAD

The US yesterday welcomed the “positive developments” leading to the imminent start of intra-Afghan talks, after the Taliban indicated that negotia-tions could commence within a week.

In a series of tweets, Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington’s special envoy for Afghanistan, urged all sides to start the talks “imme-diately” and “prevent spoilers from undermining the process.” “We welcome the Taliban statement specifying they will

participate in IAN [intra-Afghan negotiations] within one week of the prisoner release com-mitment outlined in our agreement. Although many practical details need to be worked out, these develop-ments are all very positive,” he said.

He said the intra-Afghan talks were a “key objective” of the US’ diplomacy and hailed the ongoing prisoner exchanges that were a prerequisite for the negotiations.

“Prisoner releases have reached a new milestone. We

welcome the government now having exceeded 3,000 Talib an prisoners released and the Taliban 500+. It is important that the process continues and the prisoners release roadblock resolved,” Khalilzad said.

Earlier, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s Qatar office said the group was committed to the prisoner exchange process and “has preparedness to start intra-Afghan negotia-tions within [a] week.” However, he reiterated that the government must release 5,000 Taliban prisoners — as agreed

in the Doha agreement with the US — before the talks.

Last week, Abdullah Abdullah, the man tasked to lead Kabul’s negotiating team, said talks with the Taliban are likely to begin by mid-June.

Neighbouring Pakistan, another key player in the Afghan peace push, also seems to be preparing for the coming intra-Afghan negotiations.

Islamabad has appointed senior diplomat Mohammad Sadiq Khan, who served as ambassador to Afghanistan from 2008 to 2014, as special

envoy to facilitate the peace process — a move hailed by Kabul.

Earlier this week, Pakistan’s military and intelligence chiefs also visited Kabul to meet Pres-ident Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah. They “discussed current devel-opments … [and] necessary steps to facilitate [the] Afghan led and owned peace process,” according to a statement by the Pakistani army.

“The Afghan President also praised the role being played by Pakistan for [the] Afghan Peace Process,” it said.

Malaysia PM paves way for year-end snap poll: Report

REUTERS — KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is preparing for snap election by the end of the year, Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper said, as he seeks a firm mandate amid uncertainty over how much support he has in parliament.

The opposition sought a confidence vote in parliament on Muhyiddin’s leadership in May, accusing him of stealing power by shifting alliances instead of earning it at the ballot box.

The vote was scuttled after Muhyiddin’s administration limited parliament’s first meeting of the year to half a day, citing the need to focus on the battle against the coronavirus.

Muhyiddin had told leaders of his Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia outfit of his election plans in several meetings this month, party sources were quoted as saying in the report.

“(The) PM has been meeting grassroots and has also instructed all party leaders to ramp up election preparation,” Bersatu supreme councillor Wan Saiful Wan Jan was quoted as saying.

Muhyiddin’s party holds a minority stake in the new Peri-katan Nasional ruling coalition. The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) holds the lion’s share of parliamentary seats in the pact.

Muhyiddin, who was part of a multi-ethnic coalition that defeated UMNO in 2018, was unexpectedly made prime min-ister on March 1.

Beijing shuts 6 majorfood markets as casesrise for second dayREUTERS — BEIJING

Beijing shut six major wholesale food markets yesterday and delayed plans for some students to return to school after China’s capital reported new corona-virus infections for a second day running.

The new cases yesterday involved two men working at a meat research centre who had recently visited the markets, state media said.

It was not immediately clear how they were infected.

Thursday’s case, in a dif-ferent part of the city, was the capital’s first in nearly two months.

The coronavirus is believed by many to have emerged at a seafood market in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, in December.

Both the newly infected

men, aged 25 and 37, had had no contact with people from Hubei or travellers from overseas in the last 14 days, state media said, though the younger man was briefly in Qingdao city in the eastern province of Shandong.

The research facility where the men worked, the China Meat Food Comprehensive Research Centre, in Fengtai dis-trict in the south of Beijing, remained open on Friday, according to the state-run Beijing Daily.

Reuters could not immedi-ately reach the Beijing Academy of Food Sciences, which oversees the centre, for comment.

State-controlled Beijing News said six wholesale food markets in the city recently visited by the two men had been either wholly or partially shut.

City authorities had shut beef and mutton trading at the Xinfadi wholesale market, while the Jingshen seafood market had entirely closed.

Both markets lie within a 7

km radius of the meat research facility.

The Beijing city gov-ernment said it had dropped plans to reopen school on Monday for students from the

first to third grades because of the new cases.

It also said restaurants would be inspected and checks made on seafood products and fresh and frozen meats.

Chinese police block the entrance of the Xinfadi meat wholesale market, in Beijing, yesterday.

North Korea says little reason to maintain Kim-Trump ties if US sticks to hostile policiesREUTERS — SEOUL

North Korea sees little use main-taining a personal relationship between leader Kim Jong Un (pictured) and US President Donald Trump if Washington sticks to hostile policies, state media reported yesterday — the two-year anniversary of the leaders’ first summit.

US policies prove Wash-ington remains a long-term threat to the North Korean state and its people and North Korea will develop more reliable mil-itary forces to counter that threat, Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.

Trump and Kim exchanged insults and threats during 2017 as North Korea made large advances in its nuclear and missile programme and the United States responded by leading an international effort to tighten sanctions.

R e l a t i o n s

improved significantly around the Singapore summit in June 2018, the first time a sitting American president met with a North Korean leader, but the statement that came out of the meeting was light on specifics.

A second summit in February 2019 in Vietnam failed to reach a deal because of conflicts over US calls for North Korea to com-pletely give up its nuclear weapons, and North Korean demands for swift sanctions relief. Ri said in retrospect the Trump administration appears

to have been focusing on only scoring political points while seeking to isolate and suffocate North Korea, and threatening it with preemptive nuclear strikes and regime change.

“Never again will we provide the US chief executive with another package to be used for achievements without receiving any returns,” he said. “Nothing is more hypocritical than an empty promise.” The US State Department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Thursday, a State Department spokesperson told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency the United States remains committed to dialogue with North Korea, and is open to a “flexible approach to reach a bal-anced agreement.” On Thursday North Korea criticized the United States for commenting on inter-Korean affairs, and said Wash-ington should stay quiet if it wants the upcoming presidential

election to go smoothly.North Korea is likely to try to

increase pressure on the United States ahead of the upcoming election, said Daniel Russel, the top US diplomat for East Asia until early in the Trump administration.

“Trump’s claim to have ‘solved’ the North Korea problem gives them leverage,” he said.

Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Korea expert at King’s College London, said Ri’s statement shows North Korea still sees all options on the table, from a proper diplomatic process to further developing its nuclear programme.

“North Korea continues to need a proper deal more than the US,” Pacheco Pardo said on Twitter.

“That hasn’t changed.” Ri said North Korea’s desire to open a new cooperative era runs as deep as ever, but that the situation on the Korean peninsula is daily taking a turn for the worse.

Australia eliminates coronavirus in many areas, to ease curbsREUTERS — SYDNEY

Australia has eliminated the novel coronavirus in many parts of the country, its chief medical officer said yesterday, clearing the way for sports fans to soon return to stadiums and for foreign students to prepare to fly back to classes.

Australia recorded just 38 cases of the coronavirus over the past week, with travellers returning from overseas and already in quar-antine accounting for more than half of them, said Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy.

“We have effectively achieved elimination at this time in many parts of the country,” Murphy told reporters.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison last month announced a three-step plan to remove most lockdown measures by July.

But with case numbers falling significantly, Morrison said restric-tions on indoor gatherings would be loosened in July with crowds of up 10,000 people allowed in seated stadiums and a trial scheme to allow foreign students to return.

Details for students were being finalised but they would require quarantine, he said. The return of international students would be a boost for universities facing big financial losses with the border closed. International education is Australia’s fourth-largest foreign exchange earner, worth A$38bn ($26bn) annually.

The prospect of allowing international students back also rein-forces Morrison’s call for Australian states and territories to reopen internal borders.

He has grown frustrated by the reluctance of several states to open borders and he said if it continued the restart of international education would be delayed.

“If someone can’t come to your state from Sydney, then someone can’t come to your state from Singapore,” he said.

“I think it may be the first time in history that we are actually deliberately creating a recession, not because we want to create a recession, but because this health threat is so real,” American economist Christopher Ruhm said.

08 SATURDAY 13 JUNE 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

BEATING the impact of global health cum economic crisis created by COVID-19 pandemic with timely stra-tegic decisions, Qatar Petroleum is steadily advancing towards achieving global distinctive identity.

Like many other state institutions of Qatar which are well tackling the coronavirus pandemic through well-planned actions and policies, Qatar Petroleum too is growing with every passing day at international stage.

Now as part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen its global competitive position in the downstream sector, Qatar Petroleum has announced its decision to integrate Qatar Chemical and Petrochemical Mar-keting and Distribution Company (Muntajat) into QP.

The integration will involve leveraging a combined set of human, technical, commercial, and financial capabilities, as well as customer relationships into the QP organization with the aim of being completed within the next few months, which will enable QP to continue expanding its global reach, and to remain the partner of choice providing superior high quality products and excellence in customer service.

Separately, H E Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, Min-ister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, has stated that there is no question of Qatar cutting its gas production to influence the market price. In an interview with CNBC International, H E the Minister reaffirmed that Qatar, the world’s largest LNG producer, will go ahead with its original plans to ramp up gas production.

In recent times, Qatar Petroleum has expanded its global presence. Recently, Qatar Petroleum entered into a farm-in agreement with Total to acquire a 45% participating interest in blocks CI-705 and CI-706, located in the Ivorian-Tano basin, offshore the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.

Before that Qatar Petroleum (QP) had also entered into three farm-in agreements to acquire about 30 percent of Totals participating interest in blocks 15, 33 and 34 located in the Campeche basin, offshore Mexico.

In April this year, Qatar Petroleum had entered into an agreement to reserve LNG ship construction capacity in China to be utilized for Qatar Petroleum’s future LNG carrier fleet requirements, including those of its ongoing North Field expansion projects.

Recently speaking during a webinar organized by the US-Qatar Business Council, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum (QP), H E Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, had said that Qatar Petroleum was planning greater inter-national upstream expansion and would continue farming-in and acquiring promising exploration blocks around the world with major players.

Carving the way forward

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OFFICE: TEL: 4455 7741 / 767FAX: +974 4455 7758

MANAGING EDITOR: TEL: 4462 7505

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR: TEL: 4455 7769

LOCAL NEWS SECTION: TEL: 4455 7743

BUSINESS NEWS SECTION: TEL: 4462 7535

SPORT NEWS SECTION: TEL: 4455 7745

ONLINE SECTION: TEL: 4462 7501email: INFO@PEN.COM.QA

PUBLIC RELATIONS: TEL: 4455 7613email: PR@PEN.COM.QA

ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT: TEL: 4455 7837 / 780FAX: 4455 7870, email: adv@pen.com.qa

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT: TEL: 4455 7857email: adv@pen.com.qa

SUBSCRIPTION & DISTRIBUTION: TEL: 4455 7809 / 839 FAX: 44557819, email: info@tawseelqatar.com

D-RING ROAD, POST BOX: 3488, DOHA - QATAREMAIL: editor@pen.com.qa

Quote of the day

Mothers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19

should be encouraged to initiate and continue

breastfeeding and not be separated from their

infants, unless the mother is too unwell.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General

A firefighter sprays disinfectant as a preventive measure against the spread of the coronavirus in a containment zone in Chennai, India.

While lockdowns undoubtedly avoided large numbers of deaths from the new coronavirus, the reper-cussions of the pandemic response are expected to blight economies and health systems long after restrictions are lifted.

So how can we quantify the costs and benefits of one of the largest public health interventions ever? “This is a very difficult calculation to make,” Sarah Burgard, a soci-ologist at the University of Michigan, said.

According to official counts, the virus has infected at least 7.4 million people around the world and more than 415,000 have died.

Burgard said in the end it may prove difficult to untangle how many deaths were caused by COVID-19 and how many by “the chaos and fallout” of the crisis.

“I don’t have a lot of faith that we are going to be able to come up with a very clear

number,” she said. Even if a figure is reached, decisions over its implications would be “heavily political and ethically complex”. The response to the disease had led to an unprece-dented reorganisation of soci-eties, with businesses shut-tered, stay-at-home orders, medical facilities refocused on treating COVID-19 patients. The economic impact of the measures has caused alarm and division.

In a study published in 2000, the American econ-omist Christopher Ruhm asked a provocative question: “Are recessions good for your health?” His research found that a rise in unemployment sharpened stresses on mental health, causing increases in substance abuse and suicide.

But there were unex-pected benefits for physical health: road accidents and pollution reduced, while people had more time for exercise. Reflecting on his work two decades later, Ruhm said that in a normal economic slump “when unemployment was high, mortality was low and vice versa”.

But the coronavirus-induced recession is not a normal economic downturn.

“We are in an unknown situation,” Ruhm said in an April online talk for the Uni-versity of Virginia, where he is a professor of public policy and economics.

“I think it may be the first time in history that we are actually deliberately creating a recession, not because we want to create a recession, but because this health threat is so real.”

Now societies are bearing the strain of both a deadly

pandemic and a huge eco-nomic shock. The virus undercuts the usual “silver linings” of an economic downturn, said Burgard.

Populations have been confined inside, reducing access to beneficial physical exercise. People struggling with bereavement, mental health issues or unem-ployment find it harder to access their normal support networks, with even visits to family members restricted.

And the healthcare sector itself has been battered by the virus, with frontline staff at risk of infection while treat-ments for other illnesses have been postponed.

Even in normal times, any positive effects seen in eco-nomic downturns are often in richer nations. “The opposite seems true in many low- and middle-income countries, where mortality actually increases during recession,” said Thomas Hone, a public health researcher at Imperial College London. He said this may suggest that what protects people from the harms of reces-sions are “strong health systems and social security nets”.

Many fear the scale of the pandemic and economic downturn will disproportion-ately hurt the most vul-nerable. UN agencies and the vaccine alliance Gavi have said virus restrictions caused immunisations to be dis-rupted in nearly 70 countries, affecting some 80 million children under the age of one and threatening a resurgence of preventable diseases like polio and measles.

The World Food Pro-gramme estimates the number of people facing acute hunger this year could nearly double

-- to 265 million. Will the long-term ramifications of lockdowns counteract the effect they had on slowing contagion? In a study pub-lished on Monday, Imperial College researchers estimated that lockdowns had prevented around 3.1 million deaths in 11 European countries.

On Wednesday, Imperial epidemiologist Neil Ferguson told a British parliamentary committee that because of the exponential spread of the virus, locking down just a week earlier would have reduced the final death toll by “at least a half”.

But any modelling is based on assumptions -- in this case calculations of what would have happened if action had not been taken. Restrictions were imposed after predic-tions of potentially enormous tolls, said Arthur Caplan, pro-fessor of bioethics at New York University.

“If you saw those numbers in the millions of deaths, you had to take steps because you would have had a broken health system, a public that wouldn’t have come out anyway because they would have been terrified.” Caplan said there should be a “broad set of voices” in determining whether the lockdowns were the right solution, but added that the question would be “political”.

And will the people whose lives are affected in the future be counted in this reckoning? Some think not.

“We will not have the director general of health reeling off the statistics of excess mortality by suicide or stroke every evening,” French sociologist Didier Fassin said in the newspaper Le Monde.

BLOOMBERG

It’s the sovereign-debt version of “Groundhog Day”: For the ninth time in its history and the second time in six years, Argentina has stopped servicing its debts. On May 22, the government failed to make interest payments on $65 billion owed to foreign bondholders. The country and its creditors are discussing a deal to restructure the loans, with a deadline set for today. It’s in both sides’ interests to compromise and make these talks succeed.

The people of Argentina have the biggest stake of all. Even before the Covid-19 crisis bore down on Latin America, the country’s

unemployment rate had surged. Inflation is at its highest in nearly three decades. An outcome that leaves the country with unsustainable debts or (in the case of a disorderly default) closes its access to interna-tional finance would crush living standards that are already under assault.

Given Argentina’s history of delinquency, it’s under-standable that bondholders are reluctant to restructure its debt once more. The creditors are right, as well, that Argen-tina’s mess is largely of its own making, the product of decades of scandal-ridden governance and profligate social spending.

After the country’s pre-vious default, the government

of former President Mauricio Macri convinced private investors and the Interna-tional Monetary Fund he could put the country on the path to solvency. Macri’s failure to deliver culminated in his defeat last fall to Alberto Fernández, an ally of Macri’s leftist predecessor, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Since his election, Fernandez has made it clear that the country has no intention of sticking to the original terms of its loans.

The truth is, the gov-ernment couldn’t do this even if it wanted to. Back in March, the IMF said that sub-stantial debt relief was una-voidable: “Any restructuring will need to recognize that there is virtually no scope for foreign-exchange debt

service payments to private creditors over the near-to-medium term,” its econo-mists concluded. On June 1, discussing Argentina’s revised offer to creditors, the IMF said it should be enough to restore sustainability and there was “only limited scope” to improve it any further.

The gap between the two sides has apparently nar-rowed. One way to close it further might be to link upfront debt relief with higher debt-service payments later, when the country’s economic prospects improve. The gov-ernment should also promise to curb its subsidies and lower its taxes on exports (essential for long-term growth) as soon as conditions allow.

Lives saved or deaths postponed? Calculating the cost of lockdowns

/PeninsulaQatar

/ThePeninsulaQatar

/Peninsula_Qatar

/ThePeninsulaNewspaper

+974 6698 6188

www.thepeninsula.qa

Argentina and its creditors should strike a deal

Established in 1996

AMELIE BOTTOLIER-DEPOIS AFP

Mayor Sadiq Khan said the monuments, as well as the Cenotaph war memorial, were being protected against the risk of “disorder, vandalism and violence”. Statues and monuments to figures involved in Britain’s colonial past and the international slave trade have become increasing targets for activists over the last week.

09SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2020 EUROPE

Johnson defends history in statue row, as fears grow over protestsAFP — LONDON

Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday said a wave of anti-racism protests across Britain had been “hijacked by extremists”, as fears mounted about clashes between activists and far-right groups.

In London, authorities boarded up several statues, including one of World War II leader Winston Churchill, after previous damage and with further demonstrations planned.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said the monuments, as well as the Cen-otaph war memorial, were being protected against the risk of “disorder, vandalism and vio-lence”. Statues and monuments to figures involved in Britain’s colonial past and the interna-tional slave trade have become increasing targets for activists over the last week.

That has prompted calls for a re-examination of how the country’s historical legacy is marked in public spaces, and for many monuments to be torn down or relocated to museums.

On Sunday, crowds in Bristol, southwest England, toppled a statue to a 17th century slave trader and phi-lanthropist, Edward Colston, and threw it into the harbour.

But while recognising the “legitimate desire to protest against discrimination”, Johnson said: “We cannot now try to edit or censor our past. We cannot pretend to have a different history. The statues in our cities and towns were put up by pre-vious generations,” he wrote on Twitter. “They had different per-spectives, different under-standings of right and wrong. But those statues teach us about our past, with all its faults.

“To tear them down would be to lie about our history, and impoverish the education of generations to come.”

The protests were sparked by the death during a US police arrest of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American, which have triggered outrage around the world.

Johnson acknowledged the anger of black and minority ethnic communities and said there had been “huge” strides in tackling discrimination in Britain. But after clashes marred largely peaceful demonstrations in London, he added: “It is clear that the protests have been sadly hijacked by extremists intent on violence.

“The attacks on the police and indiscriminate acts of vio-lence which we have witnessed over the last week are intol-erable and they are abhorrent.”

With tensions running high

A demonstrator holds a sign while marching during a Black Lives Matter protest in London, yesterday.

and police promising a “robust” response to violence, the Black Lives Matter group called off a demonstration planned for Sat-urday in London’s Hyde Park.

That followed far-right groups saying they would stage a counter-demonstration. “We want the protests to be a safe space for people to attend however we don’t think it’ll be possible with people like them present,” BLM London said on Instagram.

Yesterday, it unveiled a bill-board on the banks of the River Thames to more than 3,000 victims of what it called “state and racist violence”.

Mayor Khan backed pro-testers, saying Floyd’s death “must be a catalyst for systemic, lasting change to tackle the racism and inequalities that

black people still face today”.But both he and Johnson

urged people to stay home this weekend, both because of the risk of spreading the corona-virus and of violence.

“Extreme far-right groups who advocate hatred and division are planning counter-protests, which means that the risk of disorder is high,” the London mayor said.

Churchill’s statue was van-dalised last weekend by cam-paigners who say his “racist” pol-icies led to the deaths of millions of people during famine in the Indian state of Bengal in 1943.

Johnson, who has written a biography of the wartime leader, said it was “absurd and shameful” his memorial would be targeted, as he fought against fascism and tyranny. “Yes, he

sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today, but he was a hero, and he fully deserves his memorial,” the premier wrote.

Activists linked to the Stop Trump Coalition have compiled a crowd-sourced list of more than 60 statues and monuments across Britain that they say “cel-ebrate slavery and racism”.

The list includes figures such as the 16th century explorer Francis Drake, and Robert Clive, once described as an “unstable sociopath” who managed the East India Company in British-ruled India.

London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals announced it would remove two statues — including to its benefactor Thomas Guy — because of their links to slavery

Outrage at UK story ‘justifying’ JK Rowling abuse

AFP — LONDON

Domestic abuse campaigners yesterday expressed outrage at a front-page story in Brit-ain’s The Sun tabloid where the ex-husband of “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling defended hitting her.

Rowling revealed this week that she suffered domestic abuse in her first marriage, and a “serious assault” in her twenties.

The Sun carried an interview yesterday with the British author’s first husband, Jorge Arantes, under the front page headline: “I slapped JK and I’m not sorry.”

It said that when asked about her comments, he said: “I slapped Joanne — but there was not sustained abuse. I’m not sorry for slapping her.”

Jane Keeper, director of operations at domestic abuse charity Refuge, said the headline “is as irresponsible as it is disappointing”. “What this has done is give national media coverage to a perpetrator of domestic abuse to attempt to justify his actions,” she said.

She said the headline was particularly “shocking” given the timing, with calls to Ref-uge’s abuse helpline increasing by 66 percent during the coro-navirus lockdown.

“What sort of message does this front page send to sur-vivors? That their abuser will be given national media headlines to justify their actions? That their abuse is legitimate? That it doesn’t matter?” she asked.

Scottish Women’s Aid, a charity in Scotland where Rowling now lives, said the front page was “repulsive”. In a statement, The Sun said it was “disgusted” by the comments made by Rowling’s ex-husband and noted it had branded him “sick” in its coverage.

French Chef Alain Ducasse (centre), designer Patrick Jouin (left), and architect Arnaud Delloye, pose in the Allard restaurant, in Paris, equipped by their anti-COVID-19 filtering device.

French chef comes up with ‘COVID-19-safe’ restaurantAFP — PARIS

French superchef Alain Ducasse is using a ventilation system similar to those in hospital operating theatres to reopen one of his Paris restaurants.

Ducasse, whose restaurants have 17 Michelin stars — the most of any chef in the world — is installing the sophisticated system in his historic Allard bistro in the chic Saint Germain des Pres district of the French capital so it can open later this month. French restaurants have been allowed to serve on their terraces for 10 days but strict social distancing rules mean the interiors remain off limits.

Diners in Paris bistros and cafes traditionally sit almost elbow to elbow on small tables — a nightmare for restaurateurs who have been told by that tables must now be at least one metre a part. “No restaurant can survive with only half of its cus-tomers,” Ducasse said as he unveiled his air filtration system at the Allard, whose tables will also be screened off with sail cloth blinds.

Large white air “socks” dec-orated with drawings hang over every table from the overhead ventilation pipes, gently pushing stale air away.

And customers will also be

offered round transparent “sep-arators” to be placed on their table for additional safety when French restaurants are due to fully reopen on June 22.

Ducasse said his prototype will “give extra safety to cus-tomers in confined spaces” and was a possible solution for tightly packed bistros which could lose half their tables if distancing rules are rigidly applied.

Designer Patrick Jouin, whose work is displayed at MOMA in New York, said he talked to scientists and virolo-gists before coming up with the air system. He said its efficiency was comparable to those used

in hospital operating theatres and intensive care units. Jouin said he contacted Ducasse in April to try and square the circle of social distancing, which he knew could be disastrous for restaurants in the long term.

The designer said that his extraction and filtration system means the safe distance between people can be reduced from a metre to 32 centimetres. Ducasse insisted the system does not spoil the atmosphere of the 1930s institution, with its red velvet banquettes and period wall-paper. “Even if COVID-19 disap-pears, I will keep this design,” Ducasse vowed.

Row erupts in Germany over ‘race’ in constitutionAFP — BERLIN

A row has erupted in Germany over the term “race” in the country’s constitution as the killing of George Floyd in US police custody spills over into national politics.

Paragraph three in Ger-many’s Basic Law states that “no person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, par-entage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions”.

But the Green party this week took aim at the word “race”, pushing for a change to

the constitution in place since 1949 as a bulwark against dic-tatorships like the Nazi regime which championed racist pol-itics more than seven decades ago. “There are no ‘races’. There are human beings,” said Green party co-leader Robert Habeck, noting that a “strong sign” against racism would be to remove the term from the document.

Backing the call was Ger-many’s commissioner for com-batting anti-Semitism, Felix Klein. “The term race is a social construct that is designed to devalue and to discriminate against people,” he said.

The far-left Linke party and the business-friendly FDP have all lined up behind the push, with some critics of the term calling for it to be replaced with words like “ethnic origin”.

Even Chancellor Angela Merkel has voiced openness to look at the issue. “There is now a debate within the society and parties, 71 years later. That is important and on both sides of the debate, there are arguments that are worth considering,” said Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert, adding that she is “open for this debate”.

But the problem of racism

may not be solved by “removing or not removing this term”, he warned. Drawn up after World War II, Germany’s Basic Law has been amended 62 times, including to take into account European integration and German reunification.

But unchanging among its key tenets are the guarantees of equality before the law.

With the debate heating up, the justice ministry had earlier this week defended the place for the term in the constitution, noting that it “clearly makes no references to the existence of different human races nor of the

acceptance of this sense”.But Justice Minister Christine

Lambrecht yesterday relented, conceding that “we are today in a different time, and that’s why this term should be removed from our Basic Law”.

The far-right AfD has taken an ambivalent stance on the growing debate.

“If there are races, then there should not be objections to the current version of the Basic Law, because then it rightly fits in it,” AfD deputy spokesman Stephan Brandner argued in an interview with the RND newspaper group.

Virus risks pushing millions more into child labour: UNAFP — GENEVA

Millions of children could be pushed into work by the coro-navirus crisis, the UN said yes-terday as it braced for the first rise in child labour in two decades.

In a joint brief, the Interna-tional Labour Organization (ILO) and Unicef, the UN chil-dren’s agency, noted that the number of children locked in child labour had declined by 94 million since 2000.

But the UN agencies warned that “the COVID-19 pandemic poses very real risks of backtracking.” Yesterday’s report pointed out that the crisis would likely cause a sig-nificant rise in poverty.

According to the World Bank, the number of people in extreme poverty could poten-tially skyrocket by up to 60 million this year alone. “As the pandemic wreaks havoc on family incomes, without support, many could resort to child labour,” ILO chief Guy Ryder said in a statement.

The relation between swelling poverty and a surge in child labour appears clear, the report said, pointing to studies

from some countries indicating that a one-percent increase in poverty leads to at least a 0.7-percent rise in child labour.

The report also stressed that the crisis could push children already working to put in longer hours under wors-ening conditions. Others could be forced into the worst forms of labour, seriously threatening their health and safety, it said.

The brief pointed out that children who lose one or both parents during the coronavirus crisis could be forced to step in as breadwinners or find them-selves more vulnerable to exploitation. Girls, it warned, were particularly vulnerable to exploitation in agriculture and domestic work.

“In times of crisis, child labour becomes a coping mechanism for many families,” Unicef chief Henrietta Fore said in the statement.

The agencies voiced alarm at mounting evidence that child labour has risen as schools have closed during the pan-demic. They noted that tem-porary school closures were now affecting more than one billion pupils in over 130 countries.

Norway snubs Sweden inlifting travel restrictionsREUTERS — OSLO

Norway will allow travel to and from Finland, Iceland and the Swedish island of Gotland from Monday, but maintain travel restrictions on mainland Sweden due to its higher level of COVID-19 cases, amid con-cerns of a second wave of infections.

Denmark, Finland and Norway have lifted some of the controls on leisure travel they imposed to slow the corona-virus pandemic, but have kept most of those imposed on Sweden, the richest and most populous of the Nordic countries.

Leaving most of Sweden out of the arrangements breaks with long-standing close cooperation between the Nordic countries, and goes against the wishes of the European Commission, which wants to lift by Monday the internal borders in the Schengen travel zone, which in normal times are open.

Norway is not a member of the EU but belongs to Schengen. “I think we need to be honest and say that in the Nordics this is something of a difficult issue at the moment,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said.

“At the same time we have a good conversation about how we’re doing it, and the fact that we’re applying objective criteria has been met with understanding.”

Swedish Home Affairs Minister Mikael Damberg said his government would con-tinue to work on opening up the whole of the Nordic region. He said a rise in coronavirus cases reported in Sweden in recent days was the result of increased testing.

“That means we are going to see an increase in the number of cases with mild symptoms, but it does not mean that there is a greater rate of infection,” he said in a written comment to Reuters.

Appearing without a mask and smiling in the bright sunshine, the 67-year-old leader praised the spirit of the Russian people as well their traditions and culture. He said it was only natural that Russians wanted to see these “fundamental, basic premises” reflected in the constitution. “I am sure that an absolute majority of our citizens share and support such a position,” Putin said.

10 SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2020EUROPE

Putin says ‘majority’ back plan to change Russian constitutionAFP — MOSCOW

President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that an “absolute majority” of Russians backed his controversial plan to change the constitution, as he made his first public appearance after weeks of lockdown.

Russia, which has the world’s third-largest corona-virus caseload, this week lifted tight restrictions as Putin set the stage for a vote on July 1 that could extend his hold on power until 2036.

Putin greeted his compa-triots at an open-air flag-raising ceremony in western Moscow to mark Russia Day, a public holiday. He was surrounded by allies, including prominent pae-diatrician Leonid Roshal.

Appearing without a mask and smiling in the bright sun-shine, the 67-year-old leader praised the spirit of the Russian people as well their traditions and culture. He said it was only natural that Russians wanted to see these “fundamental, basic premises” reflected in the con-stitution. “I am sure that an absolute majority of our citizens share and support such a position,” Putin said.

During the ceremony, he also bestowed labour awards on Roshal, popular Soviet-era actor Yury Solomin and other

figures. Putin, who has domi-nated Russia for two decades, in January unleashed a political storm, proposing an overhaul of the constitution, the first changes to the basic law since 1993. In a carefully-choreo-graphed move, he later agreed for the amendments to include a provision that would reset the clock on his term limits to zero, meaning he could potentially stay in power until 2036.

Even though infections have been declining in Russia, many doctors and Kremlin critics say the lockdown restrictions have been lifted prematurely in Moscow, the epicentre of the Russian outbreak.

Critics accuse Putin of rushing to drum up support ahead of the vote as his approval ratings fall, according to inde-pendent pollsters. On June 24, Putin will preside over a

massive military parade to mark Soviet victory in World War II. Both the vote and the parade had to be rescheduled due to the lockdown.

Over the past few weeks Putin has largely worked from his residence outside Moscow.

Yesterday, Russia reported 8,987 new coronavirus infec-tions, taking the total to 511,423 cases. The capital — Europe’s most populous city with more than 12 million residents — con-firmed 1,714 new cases.

On Thursday, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin dis-couraged people from attending mass events. “This is a major risk for you, your children, and your loved ones,” he said in tel-evised remarks.

Moscow lifted restrictions including compulsory travel passes on Tuesday, a move wel-comed by residents who rushed

Russian President Vladimir Putin taking part in the presentation ceremony for the Russian Hero of Labour gold medals on Poklonnaya Hill as the nation marks Russia Day in Moscow, yesterday.

outdoors to enjoy the sunny weather. Russia has confirmed a total of 6,715 coronavirus deaths, a far lower mortality rate than in other countries with large outbreaks.

Critics have cast doubt on those figures and accused authorities of under-reporting to play down the scale of the crisis. After the criticism Moscow health officials have adjusted how they report numbers.

This week, officials said the capital recorded its highest fatality count in a decade last month, with more than one-third of the deaths due to the new coronavirus.

The city’s health department said a total of 15,713 people had died in May. It was the largest number of deaths since the summer of 2010 when Moscow was battered by an unprece-dented heatwave and smog.

Police gather in Bordeaux yesterday during a protest called by unions against Interior Minister’s announcements following demonstrations against police brutality and racism in France.

French police protest racism claimsAFP — PARIS

French police staged protests for a second day yesterday over claims of racism in their ranks, assailing top officials for failing to defend the force against alle-gations amplified by US unrest over the death of George Floyd.

Several dozen officers blocked traffic in a wildcat march down the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, car-rying banners proclaiming: “No police, no peace!” and: “The police aren’t racist.” Masked police in northwest Rennes attached handcuffs to the gates of the local authority building.

Border police at Orly airport south of Paris and officers in Bordeaux, Marseille and other cities threw handcuffs, arm-bands and other equipment on the ground while standing in formation, with many shouting for the resignation of Interior

Minister Christophe Castaner.Castaner infuriated officers

this week with a pledge of “zero tolerance” for police racism after 20,000 people massed at the Paris courthouse on June 2 in an echo of the Black Lives Matter protests in America.

He also said police would no longer be allowed to use chokeholds to detain suspects, a move derided by many officers as an unfeasible con-cession that could make their jobs more perilous.

“The police are not racist... they save people’s lives no matter the colour of their skin,” Fabien Vanhemelryck, head of the Alliance union, said. Patrice Ribeiro of the Synergie union charged: “We’re being spit on, and why? Because at the highest level of the government they’re afraid of a noisy minority.”

“It’s not just the interior minister... the president must

make sure the police are respected,” Vanhemelryck said.

New protests against alleged police violence and racism have been called today in Paris and other cities. Some police unions have threatened to carry out only minimal duties.

President Emmanuel Macron could address the tensions in a televised speech to the nation on Sunday. Protesters alleging police violence have rallied around the case of a young black man, Adama Traore, who died in police custody in 2016 in a Paris suburb. Traore’s sister has long demanded that the officers who apprehended him be charged with murder. The family con-tests expert reports exonerating the officers, including one last month that said Traore died of heart failure possibly brought on by underlying health condi-tions. An investigation into his death is under way.

Macron to visit London in first trip since pandemic

AFP — LONDON

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Britain’s Prince Charles when he visits London next week, his first trip abroad since the new corona-virus crisis, officials said yesterday.

Macron will come to London on Thursday to com-memorate the 80th anni-versary of former French pres-ident Charles de Gaulle’s appeal to French people to resist the Nazi occupation during World War II.

He will award the Legion of Honour to London, making it the seventh city to be deco-rated with France’s highest order of merit, after Algiers, Belgrade, Brazzaville, Liege, Luxembourg and Volgograd.

The trip abroad will be Macron’s first since he trav-elled to Naples for a French-Italian summit on February 27, weeks before Europe’s borders closed to help halt the spread of the virus. Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will be the first members of the royal family to leave lockdown and attend a major event.

Britain this week intro-duced a mandatory 14-day quarantine for most travellers coming from abroad. The measures are designed to prevent new infections from abroad. But the French leader will be exempt, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman told reporters yesterday.

More Belgian statues targeted in anti-racist protestsAFP — BRUSSELS

The wave of protest against symbols of Belgium’s colonial past intensified yesterday with at least two more royal statues targeted by anti-racism activists days before the anniversary of Congo’s independence.

The brutal exploitation of Belgium’s former central African colonies has long been a sensitive topic, and the recent wave of protests against police killings in the United States has reinvigorated campaigners.

Yesterday, Belgium’s modern royal family was dragged into the fray when a prince defended the record of his ancestor Leopold II, who once owned the then Congo Free State as a personal estate.

Historians say that millions of Africans from areas in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed, mutilated

or died of disease as they worked on Leopold II’s rubber plantations.

Several statues of the king, who ruled between 1865 and 1909, have been daubed with paint or torn down by pro-testers in recent weeks, and a petition has been launched for their removal.

And some institutions have removed busts or statues from public view to defuse public anger. But Prince Laurent, a brother of the present King Philippe and 13th in line to the throne, spoke out in an interview with the SudPresse media group to defend his forebear.

“Lots of people worked for Leopold II and committed abuses, but that doesn’t mean that Leopold II committed abuses,” he said. “He never went to Congo, so I don’t see how he could have hurt people there.” The royal palace had no

comment on Laurent’s inter-vention in the debate, and a source close to the family said the crown was considering its position on the “complex matter”.

Meanwhile, overnight, pro-testers daubed blood red paint on a bust of another king of the Belgians, Laurent and Philippe’s uncle Baudouin who ruled until 1993, by the cathedral in Brussels. And in the Auderghem district on the outskirts of the city a group of activists dis-mantled a Leopold II statue, filmed by journalists the RTBF public television.

“There are too many symbols of colonialism in Brussels. We’ve been cam-paigning for years and trying to get our voices heard,” one activist told the camera.

Belgium will mark the inde-pendence in 1960 of its Con-golese territory on June 30.

Virus-hit London Fashion Week opens without catwalksAFP — LONDON

London Fashion Week opened yesterday but without catwalk shows due to the coronavirus pandemic, which is leading to a rethink of the seasonal event and reinventing the whole industry.

In addition to the 100 percent digital format, this Fashion Week — usually dedi-cated to men’s collections — will mix genres, an innovation that will continue post-pandemic.

For the first time since it was conceived in 1983, there will be no models parading new collections before crowds at the biannual event.

Instead, some designers, such as the duo JORDANLUCA, will present their spring/summer 2021 collections or smaller “capsule” collections by video. Others such as Hussein Chalayan, will take viewers on a behind-the-scenes tour of their collection.

All content posted online,

which will include interviews with designers, showroom visits and discussions on the envi-ronment and racism, will be available free of charge.

“I think that conversation has really developed over the last few weeks this idea of reset, not just in terms of the industry slowing down, but taking on board its impact on the envi-ronment,” Caroline Rush, director of the British Fashion Council (BFC) which promotes British fashion, said.

With global outrage at the death of George Floyd, the fashion industry also has an “opportunity to be much more open, diverse, to use this voice around issues such as racism,” she added. The global pandemic is dealing a heavy blow to British fashion, with 73 percent of companies in the industry already reporting order cancel-lations, according to the BFC.

The fashion industry, which employs 890,000 people, directly contributed £35bn

($43.6bn) to the UK’s GDP in 2019 — an annual increase of 9.4 percent. Professionals were already concerned before the outbreak about the possible neg-ative impact of Brexit on what is a highly international industry.

“The majority of our industry did not want to leave the EU... we have very close trading relation-ships and industry and have ben-efited definitely from being part of the EU, so... it’s very important that, where possible, those links are able to continue,” said Rush.

UK lorry deaths ‘ringleader’ to be extradited from IrelandAFP — DUBLIN

An Irish court yesterday approved the extradition to Britain of the alleged ringleader of a human trafficking oper-ation that left 39 Vietnamese migrants dead in a lorry.

The migrants were found dead in the truck in an indus-trial zone east of London in October 2019, a tragedy which grabbed headlines around the world. “This court will make an order... for the surrender of the respondent (Ronan Hughes) to the UK,” said judge Paul Burns at Dublin’s criminal court.

Hughes, 40, had been detained on a European arrest warrant on 39 counts of man-slaughter and one count of con-spiracy to commit unlawful immi-gration. State lawyers told the court previously he “organised and controlled the drivers”.

The container arrived in England on a ferry from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge and British authorities have charged numerous truck drivers in a giant investigation. Hughes wore a hooded jumper and a face mask in court and remained silent as the judge delivered his decision from behind a perspex barrier.

Police told ‘Maddie’ suspect he was linked to case in 2013: Report

AFP — BERLIN

A police blunder led to the German man suspected of murdering British girl Madeleine McCann being informed he was being probed over the case as early as 2013, according to a Spiegel Online report yesterday.

Police raised hopes last week that the mystery over the disappearance of three-year-old “Maddie” could finally be solved when they revealed they are investigating a 43-year-old over her disappearance from the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz in 2007.

The suspect, identified as Christian B. by German media, has a history of previous sex offences including child abuse and molestation.

Spiegel reported that the federal criminal police had con-tacted police in Brunswick for more information about the suspect after receiving a confi-dential tip-off in October 2013. But while calling the suspect in, police in their letter specified that it had to do with the “Madeleine McCann missing persons case” and “personal examination of Christian B”.

The publisher said that John Bolton, will document wrongdoing by Trump that goes beyond his pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden — which triggered Trump’s impeachment by the Democratic-led House of Representatives.

11SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2020 AMERICAS

Pandemic shuts Earth’s eyes on the skiesAFP — SANTIAGO

It’s as if the Earth has closed its eyes, some scientists say: the coronavirus pandemic has forced astronomers in northern Chile to shut down the world’s most powerful telescopes, running the risk of missing out on supernovas and other spec-tacles in space.

Scientists have been unable to take advantage of the pristine skies over Chile’s Atacama desert since late March, when its array of world-renowned observatories were shuttered.

That means humans will be

oblivious to what astronomers call randomly occurring tran-sitory phenomena, like Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) or supernovas -- lost forever to the starry wastes.

“Any GRB or supernova that goes off while we’re shut down, we can’t really observe it. We will have missed the oppor-tunity to observe it because it catches on so fast and then fades away, so it’s these oppor-tunities that are lost,” says astronomer John Carpenter.

It’s also a critical time to observe Betelgeuse, the giant red star in the constellation of

Orion — the 10th brightest in the night sky — which has suddenly dimmed, prompting speculation that it could explode, though that could take decades.

“We were starting a cam-paign to observe and monitor it when we had to close — so we couldn’t continue,” Carpenter said. Carpenter is chief scientist at the revolutionary Atacama Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA, an observatory whose 66 antennae combine to make it the world’s most advanced radio tel-escope. Carpenter said his observatory’s operations have been on hold since March 18.

ALMA is just one of an array of observatories in Chile’s arid north that comprise more than half of humanity’s astronomical power. Just 400km away from ALMA is the Paranal Observatory and its Very Large Telescope, the world’s most powerful.

“There are a very small number of people who are taking care of the observatory but no observation is being carried out,” said Itziar de Gregorio, head of the science office of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

De Gregorio voiced a more optimistic view over the oppor-tunities for stargazing lost to the

Earthly health crisis: scientists are likely to get another chance.

“These transitory phe-nomena are not usually unique. If they occur today, bad luck! But the next year surely many more will come by,” he said.

Astronomers chose the vast Atacama desert for its pristine atmosphere — there is little rain and low humidity year-round.

With telescopes shut down and antennas switched off, space watchers are instead focusing on processing the myriad data collected during long accumulated nights of observation.

Bolton accuses Trump of more impeachable ‘transgressions’ in book

AFP — WASHINGTON

Defying the White House, former national security advisor John Bolton (pictured) will release a book that suggests President Donald Trump com-mitted impeachable offenses beyond Ukraine and alleges that his entire foreign policy is motivated by domestic politics, his publisher said yesterday.

Trump earlier this year warned Bolton not to publish his book while the President is still in the White House, whose lawyers have contended that large portions of the material in the memoir are classified.

But publisher Simon and Schuster said it would go ahead and release “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir” on June 23, teasing in a press release: “This is the book Donald Trump doesn’t want you to read.”

“I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by re-election cal-culations,” Bolton writes in the book, according to the release.

The publisher said that Bolton will document wrong-doing by Trump that goes beyond his pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden — which triggered Trump’s impeachment by the Democratic-led House of Rep-resentatives. Bolton “argues that the House committed impeachment malpractice by keeping their prosecution focused narrowly on Ukraine when Trump’s Ukraine-like transgressions existed across the full range of his foreign policy,” the publisher said.

Bolton will describe Trump’s “inconsistent, scat-tershot decision-making process,” it said. Bolton, a veteran Republican policy-maker known for his hawkish views, left in September after disagreeing with Trump’s dip-lomatic outreach to adversaries, notably North Korea and Afghanistan’s Taliban.

The memoir renewed ques-tions on why Bolton, if he believed Trump had committed such serious offenses, did not testify as part of his impeachment and instead waited to sell his book. Criticism of Bolton was fierce on social media, which some urging a boycott of the memoir. Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of

Government Ethics who clashed with the Trump administration, wrote on Twitter that buying Bolton’s book “amounts to sup-porting a shirker who betrayed his country by refusing to fulfill his duty to testify before Congress.”

Former congressman Joe Walsh, a conservative who unsuccessfully chal-lenged Trump’s renomi-nation as the Republican presidential candidate, said

of Bolton: “Your country called back in January/February. You had an opportunity to testify. To say under oath how unfit this man is. To help remove this man from office,” he wrote in a pro-fanity-laden tweet.

Bolton, who favours a tough line on Russia, is known to have opposed the White House’s freeze on $400m in military aid to Ukraine as it battled separa-tists backed by Moscow.

Trump in a phone call had pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden over the former vice president’s son’s business dealings in the country. Trump has called the impeachment a conspiracy against him, con-tending his effort on Ukraine was in the larger US interest.

Bolton, 71, has long been a controversial player in Wash-ington, with former president George W. Bush bypassing the Senate to appoint him ambas-sador to the United Nations.

An unapologetic cam-paigner for the Iraq war who has mused about bombing Iran and North Korea, the musta-chioed, Yale-educated lawyer has been unusually restrained in public comments since leaving the White House but a leak from his book roiled the impeachment trial.

People walk next to Sao Conrado beach amid the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday.

COVID-19: Over 1.5 million infected in Latin AmericaAFP — MONTEVIDEO

A worrying social crisis is brewing in Latin America where the coronavirus pandemic is spi-ralling, experts are warning, as fears of a second wave in the United States sent shivers.

More than 1.5 million people have been infected in Central and South America — 70,000 of them are already dead — with no signs of the disease slowing, especially in hard-hit Brazil.

The crisis could provoke the region’s “worst recession in history”, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said. “We’re worried the region could come out of this crisis with more debt, poorer, hungrier and with more unemployment. And most of all, angry,” said ECLAC general sec-retary Alicia Barcena. The

fracture lines in Brazilian society are already evident.

Far-right President Jair Bol-sonaro has repeatedly down-played the pandemic’s scale, calling COVID-19 “a flu”.

Protesting that stance, cam-paigners on Thursday dug 100 graves on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, to denounce what they called the “incom-petence” of authorities. “We are here to demand a change of attitude from the president... who must understand that our nation is facing the most dif-ficult moment in its history,” said Antonio Carlos Costa.

Latin America has also reported more than 73,600 deaths. Brazil has surpassed 40,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus and 800,000 cases, according to the latest figures from the health ministry

on Thursday.Brazil recorded 1,239 deaths

over the last 24 hours, taking it to more than 40,900 — cur-rently the third highest death toll in the world, although it is likely to overtake Britain.

The South American giant, whose population of 212 million accounts for roughly half of South America, registered more than 30,000 new infections, taking it to 802,800 — second only to the United States in total cases.

Brazil's latest figures came on the same day that the coun-try's two biggest cities — Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro — reo-pened shopping malls. They have been by far the two worst hit cities in brazil by the virus. Sao Paulo now has more than 10,000 deaths while Rio has over 7,300.

Cuba plans cautious reopening to touristsAFP — HAVANA

Cuba is planning to welcome tourists with COVID-19 tests and limit their contact with locals as part of a raft of measures designed to get its vital tourism industry back up and running.

The government of Pres-ident Miguel Diaz-Canel said it would gradually open up the economy in the next weeks, with a particular focus on recovering tourism dollars lost to the lockdown.

Foreign tourists, the life-blood of Cuba’s economy, will be restricted to a well estab-lished string of coastal resorts to limit contact with the local population in a country, where Diaz-Canel insisted, the coro-navirus pandemic was “under control.” Havana and the rest of the country will be initially be reserved for local tourism.

The island, with a population of just over 11 million, registered its first cases of COVID-19 — three Italian tourists — in March. It reported only eight new infec-tions on Thursday. So far Cuba has reported 2,219 COVID-19 cases, with 84 deaths.

“Unlike other countries, Cuba already had a crisis by the time COVID-19 arrived,” said economist Omar Everleny Perez, citing economic collapse in Venezuela and strengthening US sanctions. “And tourism, which was a good economic driver, has been at zero for the last three months,” he said.

Cuba “is now entering a state of post-COVID recovery, which is aimed at returning to the best possible normalcy,” Diaz-Canel said on Wednesday. But caution prevails.

“There will be no abrupt opening in the first phase,” warned Prime Minister Manuel Marrero. He emphasized that Cubans will have to inch their way out of lockdown, and that face masks will have to be worn outdoors.

Although there has been no official word, international flights are not expected to begin until August 1, forcing Spanish company Evelop to cancel several flights tentatively scheduled for July. When flights resume, tourists will have to undergo medical checks on arrival and have their temper-ature taken.

US teenager killed by police shotgun buriedAP — ACATLAN DE PEREZ FIGUEROA, MEXICO

In grief and anger, hundreds of people bid farewell late on Thursday to a 16-year-old Mex-ican-American boy shot dead by local police in this town in southern Mexico.

Shouts and signs demanded “justice” and white balloons accompanied the casket of Alexander Martínez Gómez, who had spent years of his short life on both sides of the

US-Mexico border and was said to be passionate about devel-oping as a soccer player.

Authorities say a police officer shot him in the head with a shotgun on Tuesday night in an incident still under investigation. Oaxaca state prosecutor Ruben Vasconcelos said that the attack on the teen was “frontal”.

“There was a shot directly at nine youths that were riding on motorcycles and since (Alexander) was at the front

of the group of people with the frontal shot he died immedi-ately,” Vasconcelos said. Another teen was wounded and still hospitalized.

The town government of Acatlan de Perez Figueroa said that a police officer was involved in the shooting, but that it hadn’t been “in bad faith.” The officer was in custody. A local police officer said that the teens on motor-cycles failed to stop at a checkpoint.

Friends of Alexander Martinez, a 16-year-old boy who was shot dead by municipal police officers, taking part in a caravan towards the cemetery for his funeral in the town of Acatlan de Perez Figueroa, in Oaxaca state, Mexico.

Brazilian Amazon deforestation hits a new record in May

AFP — RIO DE JANEIRO

Deforestation continued to surge in the Brazilian Amazon last month, according to official figures released yes-terday, showing it was the worst May and worst first five months of the year on record.

Environmentalists warn 2020 is on track to be the most destructive year ever for the world’s biggest rainforest, with even more losses than in dev-astating fires that triggered global outcry last year.

“We are facing a scenario of total catastrophe for the Amazon,” Mariana Napolitano, scientific director at the World Wildlife Fund’s Brazil office, said in a statement.

A total of 829 square kilom-eters in the Brazilian Amazon, 14 times the area of Manhattan, was lost to deforestation in May, according to satellite data from Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE).

That was a 12-percent increase from last year, and the worst May since record keeping began in August 2015.

Deforestation in the Bra-zilian Amazon is now at more than 2,000 square kilometers so far this year, up 34 percent from the same period last year.

That is all the more wor-rying given that the most destructive months are still ahead -- the dry season, from around June to October, when forest fires accelerate the deforestation caused by illegal loggers, miners and farmers.

The Amazon Environ-mental Research Institute (IPAM) forecast this week that 9,000 square kilometers of cleared forest would be primed to burn by August, potentially causing far worse fires than last year, when 9,169 square kilometers were lost to deforestation of all kinds for the entire year, according to INPE.

US President Donald Trump rebooted his flagging re-election campaign with a speech starkly rejecting nationwide protesters’ claims of police racism, saying only a “few bad apples” are to blame.

12 SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2020AMERICAS

Trump says police chokeholds may sometimes be neededAFP — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said the controversial chokehold method used by some US police to restrain suspects should “generally” be banned, but may be needed in dangerous situations.

“If a police officer is in a bad scuffle and he’s got somebody... you have to be careful,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News that aired yesterday.

Trump said “the concept of chokeholds sounds so innocent, so perfect.” However, banning such chokeholds — a major demand of protesters around the country outraged by the death in police custody of George Floyd after an officer kneeled on his neck — would be good, “generally speaking,” Trump told Fox News.

He said he might make “very strong recommendations” to local authorities. In the interview recorded on Thursday, Trump was responding to calls from around the country for police to be stopped from applying pressure to the neck during arrests.

The technique can safely incapacitate, but also risks killing a suspect.

Floyd died in Minneapolis while a police officer remained on his neck for nearly nine minutes, ignoring the dying man’s plea that he couldn’t breathe. The Midwestern city has now agreed to ban chokeholds.

In New York, another

unarmed African-American, Eric Garner, died in 2014 after a police officer put him in a chokehold during the arrest.

Asked about the protests against police brutality, Trump said he wanted to “see really compassionate but strong law enforcement”. “Toughness is sometimes the most compas-sionate,” he said.

On Thursday, Trump rebooted his flagging re-election campaign with a speech starkly rejecting nationwide protesters’ claims of police racism, saying only a “few bad apples” are to blame. Far from reaching out to dem-onstrators’ searing anger, he offered only a vague proposal to “encourage” officers to meet “the most current professional standards for the use of force”.

“You always have a bad apple, no matter where you go,” said Trump, who is making law and order a new keystone of his bid to win a second term on November 3. “There aren’t too many of them in the police department.”

"We have to work together to confront bigotry and prej-udice wherever they appear, but we will make no progress and heal no wounds by falsely

labeling tens of millions of decent Americans as racist or bigots,” Trump said.

Trump did explore some of the deeper causes of racial disparities in the world’s richest country, saying that more would be put into healthcare and the ability to raise business capital in minority communities.

Later, in an interview with the generally friendly Fox News network, he described the “horror” of watching Floyd’s death on cellphone footage shot by a witness.

But critics say he is inca-pable of embracing broader public fears, pointing to the contrast between shows of empathy from previous presi-dents during crises and Trump’s instinct for fighting and insulting foes, even in the midst of calamity.

“For weeks we’ve seen President Trump run away from a meaningful conversation on systemic racism and police bru-tality. Instead, he’s further divided our country,” Demo-cratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Thursday.

“Today’s trip to Texas won’t change any of that. President Trump is more interested in

US President Donald Trump hosts a roundtable with faith leaders, law enforcement officials, and small business owners at Gateway Church Dallas Campus in Dallas, Texas.

photo ops than offering a healing voice as our nation mourns.” Despite his poll numbers being underwater five months ahead of election day, Trump is betting that he needn’t

change tack.His base has remained loyal

throughout the extraordinary turmoil, and he has made clear his priority is getting back on the campaign trail.

Nasa names first woman to head human spaceflight

AFP — WASHINGTON

The Nasa official who managed the inaugural private crewed flight into space last month has been promoted to become the first female head of human spaceflight, the agency said yesterday, as it prepares to return people to the Moon in 2024.

“Kathy Lueders has been selected to lead @NASA’s Human Exploration & Opera-tions Mission Directorate,” Nasa head Jim Bridenstine announced on Twitter.

“Kathy has successfully managed both the Commercial Crew & Commercial Cargo programs and is the right person to lead HEO as we prepare to send astronauts to the Moon in 2024,” he added.

Lueders, who joined Nasa in 1992, oversaw the May 30 launch of two astronauts on a SpaceX rocket to the Interna-tional Space Station — the first ever crewed commercial flight into space.

She has for years been in charge of the exhaustive testing program for space cap-sules developed by SpaceX, Boeing and other companies that are partnering with Nasa to build vessels that can safely take humans into space.

“You can never sell this Nasa and SpaceX team short, they’ve accomplished mir-acles for me,” Lueders said in a briefing before last month’s launch.

Nasa’s schedule, set by the administration of President Donald Trump, aims to put two astronauts, including the first woman, on the Moon in 2024 using the heavy SLS rocket and the Orion capsule.

But the program is behind schedule and Nasa has not made the final decision as to which company will build the Moon lander.

Double-lung transplant on COVID-19 patient offers hope for othersAFP — WASHINGTON

A woman in her 20s has become the first person in the United States to receive a double-lung transplant for COVID-19, offering hope for other criti-cally-ill coronavirus patients, her doctor said.

She had spent six weeks in the intensive care unit of North-western Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where a life support machine performed the work of her heart and lungs, keeping her alive.

But by early June her lungs had become so badly damaged that a transplant was her only hope. “Her lungs just showed no signs of recovery, in fact they

had started to develop terminal fibrosis,” Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery at the North-western Medicine Lung Trans-plant Program said.

Fibrosis is the permanent scarring of the lung tissue, which in turn leads to destruction of the air sacs. She had also developed large holes in her left lung, leaving it fes-tering with a dangerous bac-terial infection. These cavities are thought to be unique to the COVID-19 illness and have left doctors mystified.

Bharat, 40, has performed dozens of lung transplants, but said this operation on June 5 was “very difficult,” requiring 10 hours rather than the six it

normally takes. This was partly because the lungs had become stuck to the surrounding struc-tures and were difficult to remove. Bharat added the pro-cedure’s success led him to “absolutely think and hope that we can operate on many more patients who are now stuck on the ventilator because their lungs have been permanently destroyed.”

The patient, who is His-panic, is now conscious and has been FaceTiming with members of her family, added Bharat.

She remains on a ventilator and is breathing via an opening in the throat called a trache-ostomy, as she gathers her strength before she can be

discharged in a few weeks. It is the first time a double-lung trans-plant for a COVID-19 patient has taken place in the US.

China announced a similar operation on a 66-year-old woman in March. The world’s first double-lung transplant was performed in Toronto in 1986.

It was led by G Alexander Patterson, under whom Bharat, who is originally from India, was trained. Before the US patient could receive the trans-plant, she had to test negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

“For many days, she was the sickest person in the COVID ICU — and possibly the entire hos-pital,” said Beth Malsin, a critical

care doctor. “There were so many times, day and night, our team had to react quickly to help her oxygenation and support her other organs to make sure they were healthy enough to support a transplant.” It is very unusual for a young woman to have suffered such extensive lung damage from the coronavirus, and doctors hope to study her closely to learn more about why this happened.

Though generally healthy, she had a minor illness requiring medication that sup-pressed her immune system to some extent, but it was not clear that this was the cause of the extreme lung damage.

Beyond proving that other

critically-ill COVID-19 patients can be saved, lung transplants could also help patients who are well enough to return home, but who might go on to suffer a per-manent loss of breathing function, added Bharat.

As with other organs, there is a shortage of donors, and wait times in the US are three to six months. Bharat said less than 15 percent of all lungs that are offered are deemed suitable for use, but new techniques including “ex vivo lung perfusion” are increasingly being used to repair some of those organs.

“Necessity drives inno-vation, so I think, if more patients need transplants you will figure out a way,” he said.

New York mayor joins governor in defending Columbus statueAFP — NEW YORK

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio yesterday ruled out removing a statue of explorer Christopher Columbus from the circle bearing his name near Central Park, entering the fraught US debate over the fate of monu-ments linked to the country’s colonizers and pro-slavery past.

In the wake of anti-racism protests across the United States, controversial statues glorifying colonizers and Con-federate leaders are in the line of fire. Protesters have torn down or defaced several statues

or monuments in recent days, in Boston, Richmond and else-where. Despite renewed calls for the statue of Columbus to be removed from Columbus Circle, including a petition with thousands of signatures, De Blasio is not budging from a decision made in 2018 by a special commission to keep it.

“The commission did really careful extensive work... and they came up with a vision for how to address this and we should, I think, stick to what was achieved by that com-mission,” he said.

At the time, the commission

decided after several months of study to maintain the statue erected in 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of the Italian explorer’s arrival in the “New World”. Columbus’s legacy has since been revisited with the benefit of hindsight over the brutal treatment of native Amer-icans by European colonizers.

The statue sits atop a column in Columbus Circle. On Thursday, New York state Gov-ernor Andrew Cuomo had voiced his support for keeping the statue as a way to honor the “Italian-American contribution to New York”.

US presses on with reopening, but virus first wave lingersAFP — WASHINGTON

More than a dozen US states are reporting their highest daily tolls of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, but Pres-ident Donald Trump and many local officials are showing no signs of worry and have ruled out new lockdown measures.

The US chapter of the global health crisis has shifted from New York and the northeast to the south and west, with a par-ticular focus now on hospitals in Arizona, Texas and Florida.

The latter will host the most visible parts of the Republican presidential nominating con-vention in August, after Trump’s spat with the Demo-cratic governor of North Carolina over the needs for masks and a scaled-back event prompted a switch.

While some states like Vir-ginia and New York move ahead with reopening busi-nesses, others like Nashville and the Pacific state of Oregon are slowing down.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown has announced a one-week pause in the easing of lockdown restrictions that began a month ago, after a rise in cases in both urban and rural areas.

While the US hit 100,000 COVID-19 deaths on May 28, it will probably reach 130,000 by the July 4 Independence Day

holiday, according to an average of several epidemio-logical models. Youyang Gu, an independent data scientist whose forecasts have turned out to be quite accurate, predicts 200,000 deaths by October 1.

The Trump administration allows that there are new flare-ups in coronavirus caseloads in some states but insists there will no shutdown of the economy if a second full blown wave arises.

In some places, more wide-spread testing has contributed to a higher number of reported cases each day. Many of these are mild and do not lead to hospitalization.

In Florida, where Trump is now technically a resident, the Republican governor says there has been a “modest” increase in cases but that the hospitalization rate is stable — far from the spikes that New York saw. In Arizona, case numbers have shot up, ICU beds are now 78 percent occupied and Phoenix has emerged as a hot spot.

This is also the case in Texas, where the number of people hospitalized has risen steadily since the long Memorial Day weekend in late May, which marks the unof-ficial start of summer and saw a rush of people headed to the beach.

The statue of Christopher Columbus, at Columbus Circle in New York City, yesterday.

Oscars to draw up diversity rules for nominees

AFP — LOS ANGELES

Hollywood’s motion picture academy will introduce new eli-gibility rules to boost diversity among Oscars nominees under a raft of new measures announced yesterday.

The move comes after years of criticism over a lack of diversity among the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ members, and among the Oscar nom-inees and winners they select.

“To ensure more diverse representation,” a new task force will be set up “to develop and implement new represen-tation and inclusion standards for Oscars eligibility,” the organization said. The measures will not affect films in contention this year.

The annual intake of new members reached 50 percent female for the first time in 2019, while non-white mem-bership has doubled in five years. No decision was taken on the timing of the Oscars ceremony, following reports that its February 28 date is expected to be postponed due to the pandemic.