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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020 / SAFAR 14, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17498 16 PAGES 150 FILS

Laid to rest … legacy lives on

KUNA photoFamily members and close associates carrying the body of HH the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for burial.

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 30, (KUNA): The body of His High-ness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sa-bah was laid to its final resting place on Wednesday.

Attending the funeral were His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Parliament Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim, Deputy head of National Guard Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, His Highness Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sa-bah.

Earlier, His Highness the Amir received the body of his brother the late Amir who was flown to the country from the US on Wednesday.

The body of the deceased was also received by Parliament Speaker Al-Ghanim and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

The deceased was accompanied on the journey back home by his brother, Dep-uty head of National Guard Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Sheikh Mubarak Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

Kuwait during the era of the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah turned into a hub for crises’ stakeholders seeking to settle their issues, said the State of Kuwait Ambassador to Russia.

Kuwait, during the era of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, became “an oasis of security and peace; a center for settling regional crises and finding solutions for conflicts that afflicted the region in recent years,” said Abdulaziz Al-Adwani in remarks to KUNA.

He was eulogizing Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who was laid to rest shortly earlier Wednesday as the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf took the oath before Parliament as the new Amir of the Gulf state.

Echoing a widely held opinion, the envoy recalled that the late Amir was a “ref-erence for resolving thorny problems; a revered, trust worth and widely admired personality.”

Humanity that lost its dear leader would continue to remember the Amir who had relieved the needy for years in all corners of the world.

Following the demise of its 15th Amir His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the State of Kuwait embraces its 16th Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who will become the Gulf State’s ruler in line with the Constitution.

His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad accompanied the late Amir as Crown Prince throughout the past 14 years, witnessing decisive moments in Kuwait’s history and stood as firm contributor in decision-making.

His Highness the late Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad nominated His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad as Crown Prince on Feb 7, 2006, and won the blessing of the National Assembly.

His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad is known to being close to the people, participating in social occasions and visiting them in their houses.

His Highness Sheikh Nawaf’s service began more than 50 years ago, bringing an expertise in many domains.

Late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah appointed His Highness Sheikh Nawaf as Governor of Hawally on Feb 12, 1962, shortly after Kuwait’s independence, contributing to transforming the Governorate into a commercial and economic hive.

He remained as Governor until March 19, 1978, when he was named by late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as Interior Minister. He served as Interior Minister until Jan 26, 1988, then was named Defense Minister.

His Highness Sheikh Nawaf, months after the February 1991 liberation of Ku-wait, was named Minister of Social Affairs and Labor on April 2, 1991 until Oct 17, 1992.

He served as Deputy head of Kuwait National Guard between Oct 16, 1994 and July 13, 2003. He became Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister on Oct 16, 2003 until he was named Crown Prince in 2006.

His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad steered the interior ministry to cement-ing security and stability, applying information technology, in addition to imple-menting a defense strategy against external threats.

His Highness Sheikh Nawaf is a strong believer in national unity because it is the main pillar against challenges.

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa on Wednesday directed holding fu-neral prayers in absentia for His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

In line with the directives of King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa on holding funeral prayers in absentia for His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, head of the Sunni Endowments Council directed all Imams of mosques in the Kingdom to perform the prayers after Dawn Prayer Thursday, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said.

The Council’s head and members, and all staff of the Sunni Endowments Direc-torate offered their sincere condolences to the Kuwaiti government and people on the demise of His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad.

They prayed to Allah the Almighty to bless him with mercy, and bring solace to his family and the Kuwaiti people, the agency added.

Philippines Wednesday extended condolences over the death of His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a press statement, voiced sadness over the demise of Sheikh Sabah, saying that Kuwait hosts 250,000 Filipinos who have contributed to promoting relations between both countries.

It added that during the late Amir’s era, Kuwait has witnessed development for more than half a century since Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad became a foreign minis-ter, then prime minister and finally Amir in 2006.

Kuwaiti Minister of Health Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah Tuesday mourned the passing of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

He said in a tweet that he offers heartfelt condolences to the Kuwaiti people over the loss of the Humanitarian Leader, His Highness the Amir.

The Ministry of Health also extended sincere condolences over the demise of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, praising him as a wise man of diplomacy who devoted his life to serving peace and stability worldwide.

Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr Saud Al-Harbi voiced much commiseration over the death of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad who steered Kuwait during trying circumstances.

He said the late Amir has left behind a great legacy not only for Kuwait, but for all Arab, Muslim and world countries as well.

Speaking to KUNA, the minister said Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad’s great legacy would remain in historical memory thanks to his wise policy and farsightedness.

The late Amir has steered Kuwait’s development and prosperity in various fields, rendering it into a big country in political, economic and charitable weight, he added.

He also praised Hs Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad as having been a bridge-builder and mediator based on strategic equilibrium.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad has turned Kuwait into a modern state where coopera-tion and fraternity prevail and Kuwaiti people enjoy equality in view of both rights and duties, the minister added.

Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Waleed Al-Jassem condoled with the people of Kuwait, Arab and Muslim worlds as well as the entire world over the loss of His Highness the Amir.

“His Highness the Amir was a wise and fair leader who has made humanitarian contributions locally and internationally over long decades,” the minister said to KUNA.

He added that the UN title given to His Highness the late Amir as “Humanitar-ian Leader”, in addition to the US military title of the Legion of Merit, stemmed from his unforgettable humanitarian works.

By the loss of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, Kuwait and the world have lost a hu-manitarian leader, praying to Allah Almighty to have mercy upon the late Amir and to grant the people of Kuwait more patience.

Chairman of the Kuwaiti Municipal Council Osama Al-Otaibi said Kuwait and both Arab and Muslim worlds have lost a unique leader who has made amazing international political, economic and humanitarian accomplishments.

He said in a press statement that the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has played leading roles in the promotion of fraternity and friend-ship among different countries.

On his part, Director-General of the Kuwaiti Public Institution for Social Secu-rity Meshal Al-Othman said the late Amir has founded the ethics of political and diplomatic work.

‘Constitution guarantees smooth transition’

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020 2LOCAL

Laid to rest … legacy lives on

KUNA photosTop: Mourners led by an imam pray over the remains of the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Jaber Al-Sabah. Above: The body of the late Amir being readied for burial.

LOCALARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020

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OTHER VOICESTo the gardens of eternity, my greatest teacher

THE Arab world, in its modern history, has never witnessed a unique personality like the late Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (May Almighty Allah have mercy on his soul).

He gradually rose through ranks from an early age, as he was given unparalleled trust by his father the late Ahmad Al-Jaber, and then his cousin the late Abdullah Al-Salem, the first Amir and the founder of modern Kuwait, its constitution and laws.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad was the first to be in charge of the newly estab-lished Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, the mission of which was to care for the poor and the needy among the people of Kuwait, lavishing them with all kinds of support before and after the discovery of oil, which brought prosperity to all.

He then took over the Ministry of Guidance, which is currently the Minis-try of Information. Later, he handled the foreign affairs portfolio for a period of four decades during which he excelled in diplomatic work throughout the 1960s, 1970s and beyond.

His unique footprints are all over the history of the modern Arab world, since the time of liberation from colonialism, and then the failed revolutionary regimes, the dictatorial policies and military defeats of which had become evident, in addition to all other events that he dealt with as the foreign minister of this country.

I personally worked with him in the ministry in 1992. He was the best colleague and a wise teacher. I benefited from his experience, knowledge and advice; he was indeed a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, diplomacy and politics.

We also worked together in 1994 when I was an MP and he was the titanic Minister of For-

eign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister.Even after I left the National Assembly, I maintained my close, respectful and revered re-

lationship with him before and after he became the Prime Minister, and a few years later, he became the Amir of this beloved country, the State of Kuwait.

The late Amir never withheld advice and guidance from me. He also approved popular de-mands that came to him, provided they passed through legal channels.

The accomplishments of our late Amir were not limited to the people of this country, but had extended to the entire Arab world.

His role in ending or settling many Arab disputes and the differences that arose among the Arab people, was clear, such as his tangible role in reaching the so-called “Taif Agreement” for which he held intensive meetings among various Lebanese factions. This was told to me by one of my friends who was a diplomat who accompanied the late Amir in such missions.

We remember his constant endeavours to end the recent Gulf dispute without taking sides. It suffices for us to be proud of the fact that he was granted the title of the Global Humanitar-

ian Leader, and his country Kuwait was declared as the center for humanitarian work.It is enough for us that the late Amir was recently awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit - Chief

Commander Degree by the U.S. President Trump for being a distinguished leader in our time.May Almighty Allah pardon you, our father, our brother, and our leader O Abu Nasser. May

He grant you gardens of blissful eternity. May the Almighty grant patience and solace to the bereaved. We pray.

❑ ❑ ❑

ali-albaghli@hotmail.com

Al-Baghli

By Ahmed Al-BaghliFormer Minister of Oil

The new Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah (center, inset), performs the constitutional oath at the Kuwaiti National Assembly in Kuwait, Wednesday, Sept 30, 2020. Kuwait’s Sheikh Nawaf was sworn in Wednesday as the ruling Amir of the tiny oil-rich country, propelled to power by the death of his half-brother after a long career in the security services. (AP)

‘Circumstances require unity and coordinated efforts’

Sheikh Nawaf sworn in as Kuwait’s new ruling AmirBy Saeed Mahmoud Saleh

Arab Times Staff and Agencies

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 30: In a historic parliamentary session Wednesday, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah took oath in accordance with Article 60 of the Constitution.

National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah and a number of senior State figures wel-comed HH the Amir upon arrival at Abdullah Al-Salem Hall in the midst of applauding attendees including MPs, ministers and diplomatic delegations.

After taking oath, HH the Amir addressed the people of Kuwait. He paid tribute to HH the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, stressing that Kuwait lost an exceptional leader who steered the country dur-ing difficult times and left a great legacy of achievements not only in his homeland but also in the Arab and Muslim world and the globe as a whole. He said the fatherly directives of HH the late Amir will never be forgotten and will always serve as guide for Kuwaiti policy.

He pointed out that Kuwait faced several critical situations and difficult circumstances, but it managed to overcome them owing to the solidarity of the people. He asserted Kuwait is currently facing difficult challenges and circumstances which require unity and coordinated efforts.

He also affirmed commitment to the Constitution, democratic approach and rule of law adopted by Kuwait. He vowed to exert tremendous efforts and do his best to maintain the stability and security of Kuwait, in addition to protecting the citizens’ prosperity and dignity with the help of Allah the Almighty.

On the other hand, Al-Ghanim said HH the Amir graduated from the school of the late wise and foresighted leaders who managed the affairs of the country throughout the years. He disclosed that HH the Amir was close to these leaders and cooperated with them; thereby, helping him gain exem-plary experience.

In his speech during the session, Al-Ghanim praised HH the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah whom he described as a clever captain who successfully steered the nation’s ship despite the rough sea.

Addressing HH the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Al-Ghanim said: “I am fully aware of your grief as you lost your teacher and

big brother. You were his right hand. Nevertheless, all the Kuwaiti people know your charisma, humility and decisiveness.”

In conclusion, he voiced optimism over the new era ushered by HH the new Amir’s reign. He believes HH the Amir will continue the achievements of his ancestors and leave no space for corruption to exist or grow. He then conveyed the congratulatory messages of MPs and citizens to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The late Sheikh Sabah, 91, made his final journey to Kuwait later on Wednesday, his remains flying back to Kuwait City from Rochester, Min-nesota, home of the flagship campus of the Mayo Clinic where he had been receiving medical treatment after surgery.

State television broadcast live as the ruler’s body, draped in a Kuwaiti flag, arrived at the airport. A host of Kuwaiti officials and close relatives carried the body aloft into an ambulance trailed by dozens of motorcycles and SUVs along a deserted highway.

Although his funeral would ordinarily draw tens of thousands of Kuwaiti mourners and scores of foreign leaders and dignitaries, because of the coro-navirus pandemic the burial was restricted to relatives, reported Kuwait’s state-run news agency, KUNA. Yet Qatar’s Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Ha-mad Al Thani, came to pay his respects, alongside an Emirati official, under-scoring the late ruler’s deft navigation of the region’s stark political divides.

Inside the spacious mosque, the late Amir’s adviser, with tears in his eyes and a trembling voice, led family members in solemn prayer. As mourners knelt in unison, Sheikh Nawaf performed the prayers, head bowed and eyes closed, from a chair, permissible in Islam for those unable to stand up or suf-fering from health issues. The coffin was then moved to a nearby cemetery, where close relatives shared a moment of silence and soldiers dug a fresh grave. Sheikh Nawaf and other mourners sprinkled dirt atop the body as it was finally lowered into the soil. The state TV narrator sounded as though he was choking back tears.

The breadth and depth of emotion over the loss of Sheikh Sabah, known for his diplomacy and peacemaking, was reflected in condolence messages that streamed in from countries on opposite ends of regional feuds, from Saudi Arabia to Iran and Qatar.

The challenges are manifold. Gridlock in parliament has blocked the pas-

sage of a public debt law needed to raise $65 billion and mitigate the coun-try’s looming liquidity crisis. A major credit agency last week downgraded Kuwait for the first time in its history, citing the government’s swelling bud-get deficit. Plunging oil prices amid the surging coronavirus pandemic have robbed the wealthy country of cash. The economy still feeds on petrodollars and has been slow to diversify. Other headwinds include “unchecked cor-ruption, mediocre government services and unresolved issues, such as the status of stateless persons,” wrote Bader Al-Saif, a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

After the ceremony, Sheikh Nawaf, in his flowing robe, strode into a black Mercedes as groups of soldiers delivered a crisp salute.

Sheikh Nawaf’s ascent to the throne bookended a political career that spanned from interior minister to defense minister, dating back to 1991 when US troops and their allies invaded Kuwait.

Sheikh Nawaf briefly served as social affairs and labor minister after the war, then as the deputy chief of Kuwait’s National Guard and again as inte-rior minister. He became the crown prince under Sheikh Sabah in February 2006, but was not known for making any major political decisions while serving as crown prince. The sheikh was educated in Kuwaiti schools and is married with four sons and one daughter.

While his taking the reins was prescribed by Kuwait’s constitution, the succession plan remains uncertain. The late Sheikh Sabah came to power in 2006 by jumping a traditional order of alternating rule between two branches of the royal family, when parliament voted to oust his predecessor, the ailing Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, just nine days into his rule.

Now Sheikh Nawaf has inherited the task of appointing a new crown prince. Kuwait stands out in the region for the power of its parliament, which retains the right to reject the Amir’s first choice.

Kuwait’s chances for economic reform and reputation for neutrality in a turbulent region hang in the balance, said private intelligence agency Strat-for. Even under pressure from regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Sabah long charted a path of diplomacy through the bitter dispute that pits Qatar against an alliance of Gulf states, as well as through other ruinous Mideast conflicts over the years, such as in Lebanon and Yemen.

LOCALARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020

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In this Saturday, June 1, 2019 fi le photo, Saudi King Salman, center left, is accompanied by Kuwait’s Amir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, center right, as they enter the Islamic Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Kuwait state television said Tuesday, Sept 29, 2020, the country’s 91-year-old ruler, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, had died. (AP)

‘A dear brother and friend’

Saudi King mourns

Several Iraqi politicians have extended their condolences to Kuwait on the demise of His

Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Former Iraqi premier, Secretary General of Is-lamic Dawaa Party Nouri Al-Malki said that Iraq shares Kuwait sadness over the passing away of His Highness Sheikh Sabah who devoted his life to serve his country and the Arab nation.

Ex-premier, and leader of the Iraqi National Accord bloc Iyyad Allawi also expressed sorrow over the death of Kuwait’s Amir.

He noted that the late Amir was a symbol of wisdom and moderation.

Leader of Sadr Movement Muqtada Al-Sadr paid tribute to His Highness the Amir and wished Kuwait stability and peace under the new Amir.

Head of the Wisdom Movement Ammar al-Hakim offered condolences to Kuwaiti people, government and the royal family.

He recalled the remarkable role played by His Highness Sheikh Sabah in dealing with regional and international disputes and causes.

IranIran on Tuesday extended condolences to

the State of Kuwait on “painful” demise of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in a tweet, said the passing away of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad who was “the voice of moderation and balance of his country has hurt our hearts.”

He prayed to Allah the Almighty to bestow his blessings upon the deceased, and wishing the Kuwaiti people and their new leadership secu-rity, stability, progress and prosperity.

Saudi ArabiaSaudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Tuesday

voiced sadness at the death of His Highness the Continued on Page 6

LOCALARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020

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OTHER VOICESFarewell to the Amir, an Arab patriot … peacemaker

A distinguished leader, who won the respect of the international community and the love of his people, has been summoned to heaven at the great age of 91. It was a sad day for me

personally when I heard that the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah had finally lost the long battle against the illness for which he was receiving treatment in the United States of America.

His wisdom, generosity and natural peacemaking abilities will be greatly missed. I would ask his family members and all our Kuwaiti brothers and sisters to accept my heartfelt condolences on their loss. I was privileged to meet him at my hotel in Beirut some years ago and was impressed by his warm yet dignified personality.

Sheikh Sabah was one of the Gulf’s old-school heads of state who felt a strong kinship with his Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) counterparts and worked towards making the GCC a cohesive, unified and influential entity. He was a unifier who always tried to being disputing parties together without taking sides.

Throughout the last half a century when he served as Kuwait’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister until he was sworn-in as Amir and Commander of the Armed Forces in 2006, he was always a calming influence during the worst of storms.

On his watch Kuwait adopted a role as mediator between Lebanese factions and Yemeni warring parties, he was instrumental in resolving disputes between Bangladesh and Pakistan, and he tried hard to bring Qatar back into the Gulf fold. His tireless efforts to bring nations together did not escape US President Donald Trump who honored him with the prestigious Legion of Merit for “his tireless mediation of disputes”

The late Amir was also a renowned humanitarian who was highly praised by former US

President Jimmy Carter and a succession of United Nations Secretaries General. Syrian refu-gees have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of his generosity and subsequent to the 2013 public uprisings in Egypt that unseated the Muslim Brotherhood government at a time when Cairo was on its economic knees heading for bankruptcy, Kuwait joined Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Amirates and Bahrain that together came forward with an aid package totaling more than $12bn.

Amirates, especially those of my generation, feel particularly close to the people of Kuwait with whom we shared bread during the 1991 Gulf War and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Kuwaitis and other coalition partners on the battlefield to defeat Saddam Hussein’s invading army. I was delighted to host Kuwaiti guests in my hotels until they were able to return home.

In truth, as a child, I hated being confined in school when I could be racing camels, running with my falcon and dog hunting bustard or wreck diving but I very much appreciated the ac-complished teachers that were sent by Kuwait to ensure we had a solid educational grounding. They were inspirational and for that we owe Kuwait a large debt.

Kuwaitis have always put a high value on education. I have many friends from Kuwait who are all well educated, knowledgeable and well spoken. Indeed, they are masters of intelligent, thought-provoking discussions. My wish for them and for all Kuwaitis is that the legacy of Sheikh Sabah will live on for years to come in the hearts and minds of his successors. He has constructed the foundations of a modern, tolerant society, now is the time to build upon the blocks of fairness and justice he laid down.

As I say goodbye to an exceptional human who guided his nation safely through various storms I would also congratulate Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah on his accession and wish him well in his role as Amir. May Allah guide his hands and heart on to a path of peace, justice and prosperity!

Habtoor

By Khalaf Ahmad Al HabtoorUAE businessman

President Donald Trump greets the late Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as he arrives at the White House in Washington. Inset: The late Amir with former vice-president Joe Biden.

‘An unparalleled diplomat’

Trump ‘deeply saddened’ by the passing of the late AmirAmir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

In a tweet, the Saudi king praised the late Amir as a “dear brother and friend and a great man who has a great status and deserved appreciation in my heart”.

He added that Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad has devoted his life to serving his country and Arab and Muslim nation.

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah re-ceived Tuesday a call from Saudi King to convey condolences on passing away of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

King Salman prayed to Allah the Almighty to bestow the late Amir with his mercy.

His Highness the Amir expressed gratitude for King Salman for his con-dolences.

QatarQatar Olympic Committee decided on Tuesday to suspend activities of lo-

cal sport competitions for three days to mourn the demise of Late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

In a statement, the committee stated, “the suspension of sports activity for local competitions will start today and will continue for a period of three days.”

Earlier, Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim Al-Thani expressed his sorrow and commiserations over the passing of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, describing the late Amir as a “great leader.”

BahrainBahraini Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa mourned

the late Amir of Kuwait His Highness Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who passed away earlier on Tuesday.

In a statement, Prince Khalifa said “the Arab and Islamic nations have lost a wise leader who spearheaded his country’s development and progress, con-tributed to strengthening the march of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and strongly advocated Arab rights and supported efforts to maintain regional security and stability.”

The statement added the “premier extended sincere condolences and heart-

felt sympathy to the Al-Sabah Family and to the brotherly people of Kuwait for the loss of the wise and compassionate leader and Amir of humanity.

“He prayed to Allah the Almighty to rest the late Amir’s soul in eternal peace and protect the leadership and people of Kuwait from any harm and give them solace and fortitude,” the statement noted.

Earlier, Bahrain announced the mourning for three days due to the demise Kuwaiti Amir His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

UAEThe United Arab Emirates will fly its national flag at half-mast at state

bodies countrywide and diplomatic missions abroad for three days in tribute to His Highness the late Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who passed away earlier Tuesday.

UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan mourned with great sorrow the demise of His Highness the Amir, praying to Allah Almighty to lodge his soul in Paradise and to grant the Kuwaiti people and Al Sabah fam-ily patience and solace,” WAM news agency reported, citing a statement by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.

“With the demise of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, we, in the UAE, have lost one of the most prominent leaders of the Arab and Islamic nations who made huge contributions to his people and nation, defended Pan-Arabism and Islamic causes sincerely,” according to the statement.

“He was one of the pioneers of the joint GCC action, along with fellow GCC leaders, who enhanced the GCC march.

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to Al Sabah family and the people of Kuwait.

“We emphasise our full confidence in the farsightedness, fortitude, and the ability of the people of Kuwait and their wise leadership to complete the tri-umphant journey of the late Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad in serving the nation and advancing the course of Arab joint action,” it added.

UAE President Sheikh Khalifa highlighted His Highness Sheikh Sabah’s virtues in the humanitarian action, saying His Highness the late Amir worked tirelessly to solidify the Arab ranks and enhance their cohesion.

At the behest of President Sheikh Khalifa, the UAE will observe a three-

day state mourning with the flag flown at half-mast at all official departments, embassies, and UAE’s diplomatic missions outside the country, the statement affirmed.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum, the UAE Vice President and Prime Minister, and ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, mourned His Highness the late Amir of Kuwait, praising him as “the beaming heart of the Gulf and noble Amir of humanity.

“May Allah the Almighty have mercy on the soul of the passionate father of Kuwait, the beaming heart of the Gulf and Amir of humanity His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who served and honored his peo-ple,” Sheikh Mohammad wrote on his Twitter account.

“We send our heartfelt condolences to the beloved people of Kuwait and the entire Arab and Muslim nations who hold His Highness the Amir of hu-manity in great esteem,” he added.

For his part, Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, mourned the passing away of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait.

He wrote on his Twitter account, “May Allah the Almighty have mercy on the soul of the father and the great Arab leader His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the man of wisdom, tolerance and peace and one of the pioneers of Gulf joint action.

“The sincere and historical stances of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ah-mad in serving his homeland and nation and humanity will be kept in memory forever,” Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed pointed out.

He expressed sincere condolences to Al Sabah family and the people and leaders of Kuwait.

In the same vein, Sheikh Saud Al Qassemi, member of the Supreme Coun-cil of the UAE and Ruler of the Emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah, expressed con-dolences for the demise of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, praying to Allah the Almighty to lodge his soul in Paradise.

“With great shock and sorrow, we mourn the passing away of His Highness the Amir of sisterly Kuwait who has left a legacy of countless achievements on the national, regional and international levels,” Sheikh Saud said in a statement.

Continued from Page 4

Continued on Page 8

LOCALARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020

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He noted that His Highness the Amir spared no effort in serving the fair issues of the Arab and Muslim nations.

Similarly, Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al Qassemi, member of the Supreme Council of the UAE and Ruler of the Emir-ate of Sharjah, sent cables of condolences to His High-ness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for the demise of His Highness the late Amir.

The Crown Prince of Sharjah Sheikh Sultan Al Qas-semi and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassemi sent similar cables to His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Ajman Sheikh Dr. Humaid Al Nuaimi also expressed condolences to the Kuwait people and leadership for the demise of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ah-

mad, according to WAM.The Crown Prince of Ajman Sheikh Ammar Al Nuaimi

and Deputy Ruler of Ajman Sheikh Nasser Al Nuaimi sent cables of condolences to His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Sheikh Hamad Al Sharqi, member of the UAE Su-preme Council and Ruler of Fujairah, mourned in a state-ment the demise of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, saying the Arab and Mus-lim nations have lost “a noble leader who left remarkable traces on the Arab region and beyond.”

The Ruler of Fujairah expressed condolences to Al Sa-bah family and the people of Kuwait, praying that Allah the Almighty will grant them solace and patience, and lodge the soul of His Highness Sheikh Sabah in Paradise.

Sheikh Saud Al Mu’alla, member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Umm Al Qaiwain, sent a cable of

condolences to His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

In his message, Sheikh Saud prayed for Allah the Al-mighty to grant Al Sabah family the people of Kuwait solace and patience, and to lodge the soul of His High-ness Sheikh Sabah in Paradise

Crown Prince of Umm Al Qaiwain Sheikh Rashid Al Mu’alla has also sent a similar cable to His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

JapanJapanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednes-

day expressed his sincere condolences to the government and people of Kuwait on the demise of Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, saying it is a serious loss for the international community.

“I was extremely saddened to hear the news of the de-mise of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. I would like to extend, on behalf of the government and the people of Japan, my sincere con-dolences to the government and people of Kuwait,” Suga said in a message released by the government.

“Since the ascension in 2006, His Highness the Amir had led the social and economic development of Ku-wait. With the close relationships with countries across the world and outstanding wisdom that he had cultivat-ed over many years as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister, His Highness had also played an impor-tant role for realizing peace and stability of the Middle East,” the premier said, adding that the late Amir was a highly respected leader from all over the world.

Highlighting a state visit to Japan by His Highness in 2012, Suga expressed appreciation for great considera-tion Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad had given to strengthening relations between Japan and Kuwait, such as the generous and warm assistance during the large-scale disasters in Japan, including the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

“The demise of His Highness, who was a great and wise leader, is a great loss not only to the Kuwaiti people but also to the international community. Japan is always with Kuwait as the people of Kuwait overcome their sor-row,” Suga added.

OmanThe Omani Royal Court Tuesday announced official

mourning for three days as of Wednesday over the pass-ing of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The Diwan said in a statement posted on the Sultan-ate’s official news agency that with profound sorrow and grief, Sultan Haitham Bin Tareq learnt about the news of the death of his brother His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The Sultan hailed His Highness the late Amir as hav-ing been one of the Arab leaders who contributed with great wisdom and farsightedness to establishing a system of justice and humanity.

The Sultan has issued orders to announce the State of Mourning in the Sultanate for three days beginning from Wednesday, according to the Court.

EgyptGrand Imam of Al-Azhar Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayeb Tues-

day voiced sincere and heartfelt condolence to Kuwait and both Arab and Muslim nations over the passing of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The Imam, in a press statement, commended the late Amir as being a wise and sincere leader and an advocate and sponsor of peace and dialogue.

He also praised Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad for having sought to develop his country and serving the issues of both Arab and Muslim worlds and that’s why he was de-servedly accorded the “Humanitarian Leader” title.

Egypt’s top cleric prayed to Allah Almighty to have mercy upon the soul of the late Amir and to grant the people of Kuwait more patience over his loss.

Meanwhile, the Mufti of Egypt, Dr. Shawqi Allam condoled with the people of Kuwait, Arab and Muslim countries over the demise of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad.

He prayed to Allah Almighty to bestow much mercy and forgiveness on the late Amir and grant him the high-est status in Paradise.

JordanA number of Jordanian officials mourned on Tuesday

Kuwait’s late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, expressing their deep condolences to the lead-ership and people of the State of Kuwait.

Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, the Spouse of Jordan’s King Abdullah II, prayed, on her Twitter account, to Al-lah the Almighty to have mercy on the late Amir, and remembered him as being the exceptional and compas-sionate leader, offering her condolences to Al-Sabah family and the Kuwaiti people her warmest sympathy and sentiments.

Meanwhile, Jordan News Agency (Petra) quoted the head of the Jordanian House of Nobles, Faisal Al-Fayez, as saying that “the Arab and Islamic worlds as a whole lost a human Prince who always sided with the truth and justice and defended them firmly.”

Al-Fayez also mentioned that the late Amir was always at the forefront of defenders of the dignity and pride of Arab nations and its just causes, on top of which is the Palestinian case and the right of its people to establish their independent state on the Palestinian national soil.

For his part, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said, in his official account on Twitter, that the Arab and Islamic worlds have lost an exceptional leader with his wisdom, humanity, achievements, and his support for Arab and Islamic causes.

LebanonThe Lebanese parliament members stood a minute of

silence Wednesday in respect of late Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who passed away yesterday.

“Lebanon has lost a dear friend a brother, Amir of Ku-wait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah,” Speaker Nabih Berri said at the opening of the session.

MP Hadi Abulhassan, speaking to KUNA on his way to the session, extended heartfelt condolences to the peo-ple of Kuwait and said Lebanon would never forget the support of Kuwait during the “days of hardship and pros-perity.”

He wished success for His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

MP Fareed Al-Khazen said the minute silence was the “least the parliament can do for a leader known for his support and love of Lebanon and its people.”

Meanwhile, Lebanese National News Agency said Tuesday Kuwait, Arab and Islamic nations have lost a “humanitarian leader and an icon” with passing away of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The agency, in a statement, said the deceased has al-ways backed Arab just causes foremost the Palestinian question, as well as his tireless efforts to solve conflicts specially the Gulf crisis.

“The late Amir had a political dynamism despite the sensitive location of the State of Kuwait in the Gulf re-gion and surrounding powers. Kuwait’s foreign policy was wise, balanced and unbiased,” it said.

The late Amir, said the agency, promoted the State of Kuwait’s political and economic status, and succeeded in being a “reliable” mediators at Arab and international levels.

The agency said Kuwait always supported Lebanon in war and peace, citing Kuwait’s chairing an Arab League’s six-member committee in 1988 to solve the Lebanese cri-sis to end the civil war.

It also highlighted Kuwait’s political, moral and fi-nancial support to Lebanon during the 2006 Israeli war against Lebanon.

Most recently, it noted, Kuwait supported Lebanon following the August 4 massive blast at Beirut Port that killed at least 170 people and injured over 6,000 others.

TunisiaTunisian President Kais Saied said with the passing

away of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Arab nation has lost one of its exceptional wise men and great leaders.

Upon receiving the news of the demise of His High-ness Sheikh Sabah on Tuesday, President Saied sent a cable to His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to express heartfelt condo-lences, said a statement by the Tunisian presidency.

“As we bid farewell to a dear brother, let me extend, on behalf of Tunisia, to Your Highness, the honorable ruling family and the brotherly people of Kuwait our heartfelt sentiments of sympathy and commiseration,” according to readout of the cable.

“The passing away of His Highness the Amir is a great loss to the Arab nation in its entirety as he proved to be one of its exceptional leaders who dedicated himself to serving his nation and made countless contributions to its development, progress and prosperity.

“With grief, we reflect on his selfless struggle for so-lidifying the Arab rank, backing the fair question of the nation and advancing the international relief efforts gen-erously,” the Tunisian leader pointed out.

“Taking pride in its distinguished relationship with the sisterly State of Kuwait since its independence, the Re-public of Tunisia backs up the pioneering role and stead-fast commitment of His Highness the late Amir in taking the bilateral ties to a new height and fulfilling the shared aspirations for progress and prosperity.

“We pray to Almighty Allah to have mercy on His Highness the late Amir and lodge his soul Paradise,” President Saied added.

Continued from Page 6

This March 22, 2012 photo released by Imperial Household Agency shows then Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito (center right), accompanied by Prince Akishino (left) and Akishino’s wife Princess Kiko (right), receiving Kuwaiti Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (center right), during a state banquet at Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

A great loss not only to Kuwaiti people but also to the international community

‘Japan always with Kuwait as people overcome their sorrow’

Continued on Page 10

LOCALARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020

10

Media

Arab newspapers pay tribute to late Kuwaiti Amir

‘A political icon and unique humanitarian’KUWAIT CITY, Sept 30, (KUNA): United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) and Egyptian newspapers high-lighted Wednesday the passing away of Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sa-bah, describing him as a “political icon and unique humanitarian.”

UAE’s Ittihad newspaper, in its “Amir of Wis-dom” article, said His Highness the late Amir spent 70 years in the service of Kuwait, Arab and Islamic nations and they have lost “a unique Arab leader, a political icon and unique humanitarian.”

The late Amir, it said, had always sought to bridge gaps, defend national causes and achieving development in Kuwait.

As the UAE mourns the loss of His Highness the Amir, it said, Abu Dhabi was confi dent the Ku-waiti people and leadership would continue on the footsteps of the late leader domestically and inter-nationally.

Al-Khaleej newspaper, in an editorial, talked about the painful demise of His Highness the Amir.

“We condole ourselves, people and government of Kuwait, Arab and Islamic nations because the deceased was not only a Kuwaiti but a true Arab and a humanitarian … who was a bridge of love who spent his life for service of his country, Arab nation and world,” it said.

Since assuming his role as foreign minister in 1962 until becoming an Amir in 2006, Sheikh Sa-bah Al-Ahmad played a leading role in further ce-menting relations between Kuwait and the UAE, it said.

The newspaper paid tribute to contribution of the late Amir to the development of the UAE.

Al-Watan newspaper said in its editorial paid tribute to the late Amir and said the people in the region realized how he was keen on his country and Arab nation.

It said the UAE leaders reaffi rmed the status of His Highness the Amir, the Humanitarian leader.

Meanwhile, Egyptian newspapers mourned the Kuwaiti Amir.

Al-Ahram said the Arab and Islamic worlds lost a “great and unique leader” who had numerous achievements.

Al-Ahram, citing condolences of President Ab-dulfattah Al-Sisi, commended the late Amir’s sup-port of Egypt throughout decades like against the 1967 Israeli aggression and the 1973 war as well as participation of Yarmouk Brigade with the Egyp-tian armed forces.

It said Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Devel-opment has been contributing to development in Egypt since 1964.

Al-Akhbar, Al-Wafd and Al-Watan newspapers paid tribute to the late Amir for his contributions to common Arab action and humanitarian causes.

Meanwhile, the Tunisian Assembly of Representatives ex-pressed in a statement profound sorrow for the passing away of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad who “left great impacts on his country, the region and the world at large.”

The remarkable contributions of His Highness the late Amir entitled him to be the dean of Arab diplomacy, ac-cording to the statement.

It recalled his efforts to promote the bilateral relations in all fields, including the parliamentary cooperation, his me-diation to end the Iraq-Iran war and his initiatives to restore peace to Yemen.

His Highness the late Amir’s role as a credible peace-maker continued after his assumption of power in 2006 and culminated in his deserved recognition by the UN as hu-manitarian leader in 2014, the statement added.

Concluding, the Assembly of Representatives commis-erated with the Al Sabah family and the people of Kuwait about the passing away of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

PalestinePalestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said

the late Kuwaiti Amir was a staunch supporter of the Pales-tinian cause in international conferences.

He said His Highness the late Amir had numerous hu-manitarian achievements in the Palestinian areas.

Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas also mounred the Kuwaiti leaders and paid tribute to him.

They highlighted his historic support to the Palestinian cause and contributions to the Palestinian people.

CyprusThe government of Cyprus expressed condolences

Wednesday for passing away of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The foreign ministry, in a statement, described the late Amir as a “wise leader and statesman” who achieved many accomplishments in the region and world.

The late Amir, it said, was an example of moderation and always sought to create an atmosphere of respect and mutual understanding.

USUS President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is “deeply

saddened” by the passing away of his “dear friend” His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Trump said in a statement that the late Amir “was an un-wavering friend and partner to the United States.

“Earlier this month, I had the honor of awarding him the prestigious Legion of Merit, Degree Chief Commander,” he added.

He affirmed that the late Amir was an “unparalleled dip-lomat, having served as Foreign Minister for 40 years.

“His tireless mediation of disputes in the Middle East bridged divides under the most challenging circumstanc-es,” he continued.

“Melania and I send our sincere condolences to the peo-

ple of Kuwait,” Trump said. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday “we are

deeply saddened” by the passing away of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

“His vision shaped Kuwait into the prosperous and mod-ern state it is today and his global leadership resulted in lasting and positive change in Kuwait and the entire Middle East region,” Pompeo said in a statement.

He added that the late Amir “was a revered leader and a friend to all nations”.

He affirmed that the US “deeply valued” the late Amirs “strong partnership in promoting regional stability and se-curity, as demonstrated by President Trump awarding the prestigious Legion of Merit, Degree Chief Commander to him as a token of our great appreciation”.

“We honor his legacy and remain committed to our strong partnership and friendship with Kuwait,” Pompeo noted.

“We extend our sincere condolences to his family and to the people of Kuwait,” the US top diplomat said.

US Embassy in Kuwait expressed heartfelt condolences on passing away of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Tuesday.

“Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family of His Highness the Amir as well as to the people of Kuwait for the passing of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ah-mad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah,” the embassy said in a statement.

The US, it said, mourns the “loss of this true friend, who distinguished himself by his exceptional leadership, hu-manitarianism, and overall efforts to bring about a more stable and secure region.

“Our history with His Highness the Amir goes back dec-ades and his loss will be deeply felt. He was a steadfast friend and partner,” it said.

UKUK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has expressed his

sincere condolences to Kuwait following the death of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

“On behalf of the UK, I would like to offer my sincere condolences to Kuwait and its people at this sad time,” Raab said in statement on Tuesday.

He went on to say that “I am deeply saddened by the death of the Amir of Kuwait, HH Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah, a great humanitarian leader and a true friend of the United Kingdom”.

The UK official recalled His Highness’ great efforts to promote regional and interantional stability.

“He served Kuwait for many years with dedication, and as a founding father of the GCC he contributed over many decades to maintaining peace and stability in the region,” he said.

KIC condoles on demise of Amir of Kuwait*Kuwait Kerala Islamic Council extends deepest condo-

lences on the demise of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Jabir Al-Sabah, Amir of Kuwait and Ambassador of peace to the Arab World.

The separation of the Amir, who was a role model to the world for his charitable deeds based on human values, is a

great loss to the expatriate community as well as to the natives.Throughout the political and social crisis in the Arab

world, his interventions for problem solving have attracted world attention.

His Highness was as interested in the well-being of the expat community in the country as he was in the natives.

His vision, determination and actions as a strong ruler of the country were highly commendable.

In his condolence note, KIC officials said that His High-ness had extended a favourable approach and cooperation to our country and the expatriate community, which has been friendly to him for decades.

EUThe European Union Tuesday expressed its condolences

to Kuwait over the passing of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and underlined its commitment to build a strong partnership with Kuwait.

“Today we learnt with sadness of the passing of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, late Amir of the State of Kuwait. We would like to express our deepest condolences to his family, to the people and to the Govern-ment of Kuwait,” said the President of the European Coun-cil, Charles Michel, the President of the European Commis-sion, Ursula von der Leyen, and EU High Representative Josep Borrell in a joint statement.

“Under His Highness’s leadership, widely regarded as the architect of modern Kuwait’s foreign policy, Kuwait assumed the role of a respected international partner and regional mediator. His vision steered a foreign policy that placed Kuwait among the European Union’s close part-ners,” said the three EU leaders.

“The European Union has been a staunch supporter of the indefatigable efforts of His Highness to promote dia-logue towards the settlement of disputes in the Gulf re-gion,” noted the statement.

“His Highness’s dedication to humanitarian relief world-wide have earned him much deserved recognition as a global humanitarian leader. His loss will be mourned for years to come,” it said.

“The European Union will continue to work towards consolidating a strong and enduring partnership with the State of Kuwait and its people,” it added.

Head of European Union’s (EU) Delegation to Kuwait Cristian Tudor said late Kuwaiti Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah had left an “invaluable legacy in world affairs,” and he was confident Kuwait would remain a leader of regional and international peace.

The late Kuwaiti Amir, Tudor said in a statement Wednesday, “leaves behind an invaluable legacy in world affairs. I am confident that the State of Kuwait will remain a regional and international leader for peace and a global actor for humanitarian relief.”

Tudor, who expressed deep sadness over passing away of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, said the EU has utmost respect for His Highness the Amir and his leadership.

“His vision earned Kuwait the respectable role of a re-gional and international mediator, and bestowed upon him the title of a ‘global humanitarian leader.’

Pictures top show Ahmed Al-Jarallah with HH the Late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. (Above Left): Al-Jarallah with then Crown Prince and now Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and, (right): the Late Amir and Al-Jarallah greet each other in a sign of mutual respect.

Continued from Page 8

LOCALARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020

11

Other Voices

‘Captain who led the Kuwaiti ship effi ciently, ably and wisely’“THE State of Kuwait received the heart-breaking news of the death of His High-ness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and this news is sad for the Kuwaitis, the Arab and Islamic nations, and the lovers of the Kuwaiti people,” col-umnist Mubarak Ahmad Al-Arboud wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“This is because they lost a man who devoted his life in the service of Kuwait since he was a minister and then prime minister and was the nation’s backbone for more than 14 years, Kuwait went through a major economic development, an increase in employees’ salaries, and the establishment of the insolvent fund, which solved many problems for the fi -nancially distressed.

“And since His Highness – may God Almighty have mercy on him – remained attached to the Constitution, despite eve-rything that happened during the past years, when matters were more compli-cated, he resolved issues in a correct and wise manner, and he was a ‘captain’ of the ship, which he led effi ciently ably and wisely.

“His Highness – may God Almighty have mercy on him – was able to make Kuwait strong at the diplomatic level in foreign policy, and he was a permanent

mediator to heal the rift between the coun-tries in confl ict in the Gulf, Arab and in-ternational levels.

“Apart from the above what was wit-nessed by the State of Kuwait since His Highness – we pray to Almighty Allah to bestow his mercy upon him – was either

the foreign minister or the prime minister or the Amir of the country and he was honored by the United Nations and bestowed upon him the title of the ‘Leader of Humanity’.

“His Highness – we pray to God Almighty to have mercy on him – was always eager to put Kuwait at the fore-

front of countries when it comes to help-ing the poor and affl icted countries in all continents of the world.

“He was committed to resolving the Palestinian issue and supporting Islam and the issues of its people.

“May God have mercy on His High-ness Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and take him into Paradise with the martyrs and the righteous.

“We pray to God Almighty to bless His

Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ah-mad Al-Sabah, and bless him with right-eousness and give him wisdom.”

Also: “The State of Kuwait and the entire

world, has lost a wise man, a teacher, and a human being, with the departure of His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ah-mad – may God have mercy on him and and may his soul rest in peace,” column-ist Dr Issa Mohammad Al-Amiri wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“It is needless to say the words seem small not commensurate with the event which shook all the feelings of the people of Kuwait and the Gulf, Arab and interna-tional community.

“He is the Amir of the humanity – this title truly expresses the personality of His Highness – may God have mercy on him – particularly in term of his pioneering role as the leader of the action in his capacity ‘The Amir of Humanity’.

“In view of the achievements during his reign, beginning with his assumption of the reins of power in the State of Kuwait, we fi nd despite its short period it is fi lled with endless achievements and contribu-tions.

“And if I asked any Kuwaiti citizen

about the personality of His Highness – may God have mercy on him – everyone would agree that he deserves to be the leader of politics as well as the leader of many sublime humane meanings in addi-tion to his leadership to the humanitarian action.

“The exploits of the leader of human-ity – may God have mercy on him – has cast a shadow on every Kuwait house and citizen on every corner on this good land to such an extent these privileges have been transformed into a basic pil-lar where everybody has started talking about it, and every citizen in the country is proud of the title that has been be-stowed on His Highness as the Leader of Humanity to such an extent every cit-izen feels the title is bestowed on him/her.

“Apart from the above, we would like to point out here the privileges of the Leader of Humanity – we pray to God to bestow his mercy upon him.

“Oh farewell, to the Amir of Human-ity and the Leader by all means, you have been always big as we saw you adopting signifi cant attitudes.

“As a matter of fact, the efforts of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah – we pray to

Almighty Allah to bestow his mercy upon him -- had proved his keenness to boost the Arab-Arab relations and the relations among the various states throughout the world.

“He was also keen to fi ll the cracks that had surfaced suddenly among some Arab states and this per se gives the impression that something was always gripping his/her mind in the region to such an extent he was always on the move undertaking very diffi cult missions with help of Almighty Allah.

“In this context, we would like here to say that his efforts – we pray to Almighty Allah to bestow his mercy upon him -- to-wards ingraining peace and safety among the Arab states, did not go waste, rather these efforts will be written in gold on the forefront of both the Arab and Islamic his-tory, and the next generations will remem-ber all these efforts because they are full of humanitarian actions to bring peace to mankind.

“In conclusion, we condole ourselves, the Kuwaiti people, the Arab nation and the Al-Sabah Family on the demise of ‘The Amir of Humanity’. Our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.”

– Compiled by Zaki Taleb

Al-Arboud

Filipinos join Kuwaitis, mournpassing away of HH the Amir

‘Heartfelt condolences to Royal Family’By Michelle Fe Santiago

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 30: Filipinos in Ku-wait were deeply saddened on the passing of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah on Tuesday as outpouring messages of condolences to the Royal Family and messages of gratitude to the late Amir fl ooded various social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Fa-cebook. The Philippine Embassy in Ku-wait led by Charge d’ Affaires Charleson Hermosura lowered the Philippine fl ag to half-mast shortly after the offi cial an-nouncement of the death of HH the Amir.

“On behalf of my country The Philippines and its people especially the Filipino community here in Kuwait, we at the Philippine Embassy wish to express our deepest condolences to Kuwait and its people on the passing of the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah. His leader-ship of Kuwait and its efforts to promote peace and stability in the region along with its ongo-ing humanitarian interventions will always be his greatest legacy. We join the entire Kuwaiti nation in mourning the passing of the Amir. May the Almighty have mercy upon his soul,” conveyed Hermosura.

The late Amir HH Sheikh Sabah, a global humanitarian leader and a peace advocate was well revered by Filipinos in Kuwait.

“In my 10 years in Kuwait, I have seen and experienced how Sheikh Sabah has cared not only for Kuwaiti citizens but also for us, expatriate workers,” stated Liza Mate, a waitress at Joy Cocina in Old Souq, Salmiya.

The late Amir is also well loved by the Filipino me-dia in Kuwait for espousing religious tolerance, interfaith dialogue and press freedom, making Kuwait the “freest press” among the GCC countries according to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index by the Reporters Sans Fron-tieres (Reporter without Borders).

Filipinos have a soft spot in the late Amir’s heart who helped countless others that included Demos Arienda who have been working at the Bayan Palace for almost three decades now.

“My family and I as well as my colleagues at the Bayan Palace would like to express our heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family on the passing of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah. He was the one who helped me when I was diagnosed with Thyroid Papillary Carcinoma in 2015. He supported me fi nancially till I be-came cancer free. I owe him my life, thank you for all his kindness,” stated Arienda.

The late Amir has also saved a number of Filipinos on the death row by granting them Amiri pardon namely Mae Vecina, Marilou Ranario, Minerva Tayag, Joseph Urbiztondo and just recently Bienvenido Espino Jr.

“Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. We are deeply saddened about the passing of Kuwait’s Amir His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah. We express our sympathy to the Royal family and to all the Kuwaiti people, Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhiraji’un. The late Amir has done a lot of good deeds for the Filipinos as well as the expats. Just like the amnesty he gave this year, thousands of Filipinos have gone back home with free tickets and no penalty. May he rest in peace and may Allah Subhan Wa Ta’ala have mercy on his soul,” shared Violeta Sara Maulana Yousef, the Founder/Kuwait Fili-pino Mothers Organization.

Filipino leaders of various organisations expressed their deepest gratitude to the leadership of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah.

“His kind of leadership has created a big impact on mi-grant workers. During his rule, he declared amnesty for residence violators several times, giving migrant work-ers a chance to a new life. We thank HH the Amir for his great love for the migrant workers,” stated Mary Ann Abunda, Founder of Sandigan Kuwait Domestic Workers Association.

Some Filipino-Kuwaitis have also expressed their grief as they wish the new Amir of Kuwait, His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah all the best as he takes on the reins left by the late Amir Sheikh Sabah.

“Assalamu’alaikum. We have lost our father today, our leader. Me as a half Filipino-half Kuwaiti, I’m aware and I’m sure there will be a lot of changes in the next few months in the country. It could be some negative changes. It could be some positive changes. It could be some new system to be applied but we never know. We just have to wish and pray for the best as we have lost our leader who has led us for the past 14 years. Hope everyone will pray for his soul,” stated Mahdie Al-Subaie.

Philippines Embassy photoThe Philippines fl ag at the embassy fl ies at half-mast.

Photo by Bassam Abu ShanabTraffi c signs expressing condolences to the residents of Kuwait on the sad demise of HH the late Amir Sheikh

Sabah Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

PAMA chief expresses profoundcondolences to Al-Sabah familyKUWAIT CITY, Sept 30: The Acting Director-Gener-al of the Public Authority for Minors Affairs, Engineer Hamad Abdullatif Al-Barjas, expressed his sincere condolences to the honorable Al-Sabah family, the people of Kuwait and the Arab and Islamic nations

on the death of the late HH the late Amir of Kuwait, the humanitarian leader Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, reports Anna-har daily.

Al-Barjas offered prayers on be-half of a large number of minors, their relatives, and their families to the late Amir of Humanity, recall-ing his many humanitarian stances with them on various occasions, his continuous support and his sub-lime guidance to the leaders of all parties related to the minors under

their care and providing all forms of support, care and assistance.

Al-Barjas affi rmed the late Amir won the love and respect of everyone not only in Kuwait but all over the world with his unlimited generosity that did not distin-guish between religion, race and nationality.

His humanitarian initiatives culminated in a high honor from the United Nations which bestowed on him the title ‘Humanitarian Leader’.

❑ ❑ ❑

Condolences book: The Kuwaiti Embassy in Leba-non said Wednesday those wishing to pay condolences on the death of His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah can do so at the embassy premises, reports Annahar daily.

In a statement the embassy said the Condolence Book will remain open until next Friday. Those vis-iting the embassy are requested to wear masks and maintain social distance.

Al-Barjas

LOCAL EMBASSIES, ASSOCIATIONS PAY TRIBUTES

Photos by Iehab QurtalTop and above: Some of the embassies fl ying their fl ags at half-mast.

Bangladesh Embassy condolences message

I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing away of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. (Inna lillah wa inna elahi rajeun). On behalf of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and Bangladesh community in Kuwait and I the ambassador of Bangladesh to Kuwait, on my own behalf express my sincere and deepest condolences to the Government and people of State of Kuwait on his sad demise.

His Highness played a central role for newly independent Bangladesh to get recognition from Arab countries after liberation. Bangladesh has lost a cherished friend and will always value His Highness’ personal contribution to strengthening of the close relation-ship between Bangladesh and State of Kuwait. He was a great leader and statesman. Throughout his life, His Highness had been a unifying fi gure who guided the people of State of Ku-wait with grace and compassion.

The people of Bangladesh, who have long admired his charismatic and humanitarian personality, share the grief of the people of Kuwait.

Indian Embassy condolences message

The President Ram Nath Kovind and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of the government and the people of the Republic of India, and the Indian community in Kuwait ex-pressed their sincere and heartfelt con-dolences to the Government and the people of Kuwait in this time of grief on the sad demise of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait.

The Indian President said he was deeply saddened at the demise of His Highness – a great statesman, and hu-manitarian and close friend of India.

The Prime Minister Modi said, “In this moment of grief our thoughts are with the Al-Sabah family and the peo-ple of the State of Kuwait.

“Today, the State of Kuwait and the Arab world have lost a beloved leader, India a close friend, and the world a great statesman. His Highness played a leading role in strengthening our bi-lateral relations, and always took spe-cial care of the Indian community in Kuwait,” the message said.

The Indian Ambassador to Kuwait, HE Sibi George on the passing away of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ah-mad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait said the world lost a great statesman, humanitarian leader and close friend of India.

“The people of India will fondly remember and cherish His Highness for the care and affection he showered upon the Indian community in Ku-wait. I sincerely pray for the depart-ed soul, may his soul rest in eternal peace,” the ambassador said.

Brazil Embassy condolences message

The Embassy of the Federative Re-public of Brazil has the honor to convey the offi cial condolences note on the passing of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, released by the Brazilian Government on Tues-day, September 29th 2020, as follows:

“The Brazilian government has learnt, with great regret, of the passing of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Ah-mad Al Jaber Al Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait, earlier today.

Over almost 15 years as Head of the State of Kuwait, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah has consolidated a period of peace and prosperity for the Kuwaiti people. He has also made a fundamental contribution to the pur-sue of peace in the Middle East.

Today, the ties of cooperation and friendship between Brazil and Kuwait are intensifying and opening up new and promising prospects for concrete progress for the benefi t of both peo-ples. The Brazilian government pre-sents its most heartfelt condolences to the Government and Royal Family of Kuwait and its solidarity with the Kuwaiti people.”

Embassy of Azerbaijan condo-lences message

The news on the passing away of the Amir of Kuwait, His Highness late Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, deeply saddened us. I ask His Majesty for mercy the late leader and may his place be in Paradise. I express my deepest condolences to the family of the late Amir and the people and State of Kuwait, wishing everyone patience. I believe that the people and State of Kuwait will overcome this loss with endurance and take fi rm steps towards a bright future. I wish the friendly people and State of Ku-wait great success on this path.

Under the leadership of HH, the State of Kuwait gained the love of its people and an infl uential position in the international arena. His High-ness made great contributions to the maintenance of peace and security, the development throughout the world as a humanitarian leader and will live forever in the hearts of people with his good deeds. I can say with great confi dence that the new Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah will successfully continue this glori-ous mission. The Republic of Azer-baijan is ready to continue the coop-eration in the interests of our peoples and for the development of our states.

Pastor Angelos mourns death of late Amir

The pastor of the Coptic Catholic Church in Kuwait, Father Angelos Masoud said His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, the most prominent symbols of humani-tarian work in the world has left be-

hind a great human legacy, and was a model emulated in tolerance promot-ing the values of global humanity, re-ports Al-Jarida daily.

Father Angelos in a statement said “In my name and in the name of His Beatitude the Coptic Catholic Patri-arch in Egypt and the Diaspora, Pa-triarch Ibrahim Ishaq, I mourn with more sorrow and pain the late Amir, and what consoles us is that his fra-grant life will remain alive in the con-science of the peoples of the world, because his clean hands reached the different parts of the world.

He added, “During the era of His Highness, may God have mercy upon him, all the communities in Kuwait lived freely in practicing their religious rituals in a manner beyond description, which refl ects the nature of the Ku-waiti people open to the whole world, as well as the role of the conscious hu-mane leadership represented by the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad.”

He pointed out the departure of His Highness the Amir is a great loss to Kuwait, the Arab and Islamic worlds and all humanity. His name is written in letters of light for his humanitarian and diplomatic work – the best media-tor who resolved regional and global disputes, and he succeeded in bringing peace to many regions of the world.

Father Angelos concluded by say-ing: “We pray to God for the late Amir with mercy, and we offer our sincere condolences to the Al-Sabah family, all the Kuwaiti people, and the peoples of the Arab nation.”

OAPECLate Amir was supportive of

OAPEC since its inception: Bin SabtThe Secretary-General of the Or-

ganization of Arab Petroleum Export-ing Countries (OAPEC) Ali bin Sabt mourned the death of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait, recalling the great feats of the late Amir in supporting and encouraging joint Arab action, especially in the fi eld of industry, reports Al-Rai daily.

The late Amir contributed in sup-porting the work of OAPEC since its establishment on January 9, 1968, and the State of Kuwait’s hosting of the permanent headquarters of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) since that date, and providing all possible forms of sup-port for the organization to practice its activity as one of the diplomatic bodies, as His Highness was then the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait.

Bin Sabt offered his sincere condo-lences in his name and on behalf of all the employees of the OAPEC General Secretariat to the Al-Sabah family and to the Kuwaiti people, his deepest condolences, asking the Almighty God to rest the great late leader in peace and give the Kuwaiti people pa-tience and solace.

MIDEASTARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020

12

Gazans left ‘stranded’ abroadby Israeli-Palestinian standoff

Israeli permit needed to return to Gaza

JERUSALEM, Sept 30, (AP): For the last four months, Ahmed al-Kurdi, his wife and three children have been stranded in Jordan, where they traveled from their home in the Gaza Strip for life-saving medi-cal treatment for his 2-year-old daughter.

At a time when the coronavirus pandemic has led to border closures and travel restrictions, they fi nd themselves stuck, not because of quarantine measures, but because of a dispute between Israel and the Pal-estinian Authority.

They need an Israeli permit to return to Gaza through the occupied West Bank and Israel, which would normally be facilitated by the PA’s civil affairs division. But the Palestinians offi cially cut off all ties with Israel in May to pro-test its plans to annex parts of the West Bank, making it even more complicat-ed to get permission to travel.

The Palestinians had hoped to pres-sure Israel by forcing it to assume more of the burden of its half-century occupa-tion of the territory. Instead, the decision has mainly hurt ordinary Palestinians, un-derscoring the control Israel exerts over nearly every facet of their lives.

Al-Kurd and his wife, who left Gaza with their children last December, have been on unpaid leave, relying on relatives to pay rent and support them in Amman, Jordan’s capital, where prices are much higher than in Gaza. They are among doz-ens of families who left Gaza for health or other reasons and cannot return.

They applied for a permit through the Palestinian Embassy in Amman but were told it is no longer in contact with Israel.

“It’s very hard, not just for us but for the other Gazans in Jordan who want to go back and can’t,” he said. “This is a humanitarian situation. The political situ-ation shouldn’t enter into it.”

Gaza has been under an Israeli-Egyp-tian blockade since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power from Pal-estinian security forces in 2007. Israel, which considers Hamas a terrorist group, allows Gazans to travel for humanitarian reasons, but requires them to coordinate requests through the Western-backed Pal-estinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank.

Gisha, an Israeli group that advocates for Palestinian freedom of movement, has been able to help some families obtain permits outside the normal channels. But it says Israel is ultimately responsible for allowing Gazans to return home.

“Israel’s ongoing control over Gaza comes with legal obligations to uphold the rights of Gaza residents, including to freedom of movement,” it said in a statement. “Returning to one’s home is a fundamental human right that cannot be withheld using procedural excuses.”

The Israeli military body that oversees Palestinian civilian affairs, known as CO-

GAT, said that under past agreements the PA must submit requests for residents to enter Israel through the established chan-nels. COGAT said it is prepared to pro-cess such requests but has not received any from the PA since it cut off contact.

COGAT “is constantly working, to-gether with the appropriate offi ces - de-spite the suspension of coordination by the Civil Committee, and despite the outbreak of the coronavirus - to provide the best possible response to the various humanitarian needs of the Gaza Strip resi-dents,” it said in a statement.

In theory, Palestinians have the option of bypassing Israel altogether and enter-ing Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. But Egypt only opens the crossing sporadically, and getting there requires fl ying to Cairo and then traveling over-land across the northern Sinai Peninsula, where Egyptian troops are battling insur-gents from an Islamic State affi liate.

The al-Kurdi family departed through Rafah after several delays in getting an exit permit from Israel, which was ul-timately granted. But that was late last year, before the pandemic.

“My daughter’s condition does not allow us to travel by way of Rafah. You have to take a car from Cairo and it can take 11 hours with all the checkpoints,” al-Kurdi said. “My daughter is immuno-compromised.”

The decision to cut ties with Israel has affected ordinary Palestinians in other ways.

The dispute has halted the transfer of tax and customs duties Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, forc-ing it to slash the salaries of civil servants.

The boycott has also affected the regis-tration of Palestinian births, leaving more than 30,000 babies essentially stateless.

Under agreements reached in the 1990s, during the now-moribund peace process, the Palestinian Authority issues birth certifi cates and passports. But these must be registered with Israel, which controls all access to the West Bank. The unregistered babies are therefore unable to travel.

Palestinian Deputy Interior Minister Yousef Harb says more than 33,000 ba-bies have been born in the West Bank since the Palestinians cut ties on May 19, and at least six families have been unable to travel abroad for work because they can’t bring their babies with them.

“The entire world recognizes the docu-ments issued by PA, except for Israel,” he said.

Palestinian offi cials say they have reached out to international organizations to facilitate travel but that Israel insists on direct coordination.

“Why on earth should we give our citizen records to Israel? The entire world recognizes us, why don’t they?” said Ahmad Majdalani, a senior Palestinian offi cial.

The Palestinian Authority appears to be in a holding pattern, hoping a new U.S. administration will discard President Donald Trump’s Mideast plan, which strongly favors Israel and would allow it to annex up to 30% of the West Bank.

BAGHDAD, Sept 30, (AP): Iraq’s for-eign minister on Wednesday said his country hopes the US will “reconsider” its decision to close its diplomatic mis-sion in Baghdad, as a group of ambassa-dors expressed their willingness to help Iraq tackle security challenges.

Fuad Hussein spoke at a press confer-ence amid a heated week, sparked by the US warning that it was taking measures to close its embassy in Baghdad unless the Iraqi government took action to stop frequent rocket and improvised explo-sive device attacks by Iran-backed mi-litias and rogue armed elements against the American presence in the country.

Hussein called the threat to close the US Embassy “dangerous” because “there is a possibility that the American withdrawal from Baghdad will lead to other (embassy) withdrawals.”

Rocket and mortar attacks have tar-geted the Green Zone, the seat of Iraq’s government and home to many foreign embassies, including the US Embassy. These attacks have also targeted Bagh-dad’s international airport, and a recent rocket attack intended for the airport struck a residential home, killing six Iraqi civilians, all women and children.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered the embassy closure warning to Iraq’s President Barham Saleh and Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in separate phone calls last week.

A US offi cial said the warning was not an imminent ultimatum. But some Iraqi offi cials appear to be under the im-pression it may coincide with the expiry of the latest Iran sanctions waiver in two months time. Iraq desperately needs the waivers to import Iranian energy. The US offi cial was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condi-tion of anonymity.

In the press conference, Hussein said: “We hope that the US government and American administration will reconsider this decision. ... Because the decision is a wrong one, it was taken at the wrong time and the wrong place.”

He said it would also send a message to the armed groups and extremists per-petuating the attacks that they were ef-fective in reaching their political aims.

He said Iraq acknowledged the do-mestic climate in the US ahead of the November presidential election, which might have precipitated the warning. But he said the new Iraqi government – barely in offi ce four months – was taking measures.

“It is the government’s duty to take action and it has taken some actions,” he said, naming security measures in the Green Zone and the airport.

His comments came after a group of 25 ambassadors and charges d’affaires

in Iraq released a statement in support of the Iraqi government and stability in the country, which was issued following a meeting with al-Kadhimi.

In Wednesday’s statement – which included ambassadors from the US, the U.K., Saudi Arabia and Canada – the diplomatic envoys expressed “deep con-cern” at the rise in the number of attacks against diplomatic missions in Iraq.

They welcomed the actions taken by al-Kadhimi, including recent secu-rity operations and heightened security around the airport, and encouraged more measures to consolidate forces within the Green Zone.

“As friends of Iraq, we also expressed our willingness to help Iraq in address-ing these security challenges,” the state-ment said.

Earlier, the US State Department said Tuesday it was outraged by a rocket attack a day earlier that killed Iraqi ci-vilians and called on the government to take action amid an impending dip-lomatic crisis between Baghdad and Washington.

The attack and subsequent condem-nation come after the US threatened to close its embassy in Baghdad unless Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s administration reins in Iran-backed armed groups responsible for frequent rocket fi re and roadside bomb attacks targeting the American presence in the country.

“We are outraged by yesterday’s rocket attack in Baghdad that killed ci-vilians, including a mother and her chil-dren,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

In response to the embassy closure threats, the prime minister’s spokes-man said in his weekly news conference Tuesday that the closure of any diplo-matic mission would have detrimental consequences for regional security.

“The withdrawal or closure of any diplomatic mission of any country will have disastrous repercussions for the entire region,” said Ahmed Mulla Talal.

He said the al-Kadhimi administra-tion rejected any attempts to turn Iraq into an arena of confl ict between the US and Iran.

The attacks have not let up, despite the US threats.

On Tuesday a roadside bomb targeted a convoy carrying materials for the US-led coalition in Babylon province, south of Baghdad, according to a military statement. There were no casualties.

A Katyusha rocket attack struck a residential home killing six civilians, all women and children, the night be-fore. Initially, Iraq’s military reported fi ve killed, but one child died of severe wounds overnight.

Warns of danger

Macron’s comments ‘infringe on the dignity of Lebanese’

Iraq hopes US ‘reconsiders’ decision on embassy closure

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia Wednesday said 29 persons died of the coronavi-rus while 418 people tested positive in the past 24 hours.

The ministry of health said total deaths reached 4,768 and registered infections topped 334,605.

It added 319,154 people recovered so far after registering fresh 612 re-coveries today (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑MANAMA: Bahrain’s Ministry of Health said Wednesday two persons died of the coronavirus to reach a total of 248.

A ministry statement said 574 peo-ple tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours to reach 5,907.

It added 718 people recovered from the virus to reach 6,426. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑MUSCAT: The number of confi rmed coronavirus cases in Oman rose by 528 to a total of 98,585, the health ministry said on Tuesday. A total 88,528 people have been cured, while the death toll stands at 935, read a ministry statement carried by the state news agency, ONA. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑DOHA: Qatar’s health ministry said its coronavirus case tally on Tuesday reached 125,533 after 222 people were confi rmed as testing positive in the last day.

The number of recoveries in the Gulf state stands at 122,448 after 239 more people were cured, according to a ministry statement. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑TEHRAN: The Iranian Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that 207 peo-ple died from COVID-19, with 3,677 new cases registered in 24 hours.

This brings the country’s overall count to 453,637 confi rmed virus cases, the ministry’s spokeswoman Dr Sima Sadat Lari said in a press statement.

The death toll increased to 25,986, whereas 378,727 people recovered countrywide since the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the statement.

Iran is experiencing a third wave of COVID-19, with an increase of fatali-ties and infections. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑TUNIS: The Tunisian Ministry of Health announced Tuesday that 1,291 COVID-19 infections were registered in 24 hours, with a total of 17,405 cases.

The ministry said in a statement that the death toll hit 246, as 331 pa-tients are hospitalized, including 87 in intensive care units and 87 others are mechanically ventilated.

Recently, Tunisia witnessed an increase of infections in which they decided to strengthen preventive measures, simultaneously ruling out a lockdown. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑RAMALLAH: Palestinian health au-thorities said on Tuesday confi rmed daily coronavirus infections have in-creased by 335 as recovery rates have risen to 80 percent of the total cases.

This brings the caseload across the Palestinian territories to 50,030 as the virus-induced death toll increased by seven to 360, the health ministry said in a statement. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Ministry of Health said Wednesday 59 people died of the coronavirus while 4,691 new cases were confi rmed in the past 24 hours.It added in a statement total deaths reached 9,181 and registered infec-tions topped 362,981.

The ministry added 3,385 peo-ple recovered nationwide to reach 292,197(KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑CAIRO: The Egyptian Ministry of Health said Monday that 115 people tested positive for the novel corona-virus (COVID-19), while 18 others died due to the viral illness over the past 24 hours.

The latest fi gures took the over-all infections up to 102,955 and the death toll to 5,901, the ministry’s spokesman Dr Khaled Mujahed said in a press statement. The number of treated virus patients went up by 506 to 95,586, he added. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑RABAT: The Moroccan Health Min-istry confi rmed 44 new coronavirus fatalities, taking the country’s death toll up to 2,113.

In a press statement, the ministry also said that 1,422 people were di-agnosed with the deadly virus in the past 24 hours, raising the kingdom’s overall infections up to 119,107 since the outbreak of this global pandemic.

It added that 1,877 COVID-19 patients recovered in the past day, in-creasing the country’s total recoveries to 97,486. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑ANKARA: The death toll from the pandemic in Turkey rose to 8,062, with 65 more fatalities reported in the past 24 hours, Turkish Health Minis-ter Fahrettin Koca said

Turkish news agency quoted the minister as saying “recoveries from the novel coronavirus in Turkey ex-ceeded infections on Monday for the fi rst time in weeks, according to daily Health Ministry fi gures.”

However, overall infections now stand at 315,845, including 277,052 recoveries, the minister said. (KUNA)

In Brief

Hezbollah leaders tell French president to change approach

Tunisians ‘fl eeing’ economy, not virusRAS JEBEL, Tunisia, Sept 30, (AP): Once it was just the jobless young men who set off from Tunisia’s rocky north-ern beaches for Sicily, usually defying their parents in hopes of a better future.

Now Tunisian families, even those with work or seemingly good prospects, are following that path across 130 kilom-eters (80 miles) of open water – nearly 10,000 since the beginning of the year and far more than have left in recent memory. The stretch of Mediterranean can be dangerous, the chance of getting asylum in Europe is near zero, and a long quarantine in a ferry anchored offshore will be followed by expulsion if they’re caught.

But many who leave from the Bizerte coastline think the potential reward far outweighs the risk. Those with relatives in Europe are the ones with the new cars and kitchen upgrades.

“My son is a month and a half old, and if I get a chance to emigrate immedi-ately, I will go to make a better life,” said Tarek Aloui, a 27-year-old who has tried 10 times to reach Italy since 2014. He has succeeded only once, last March at the height of the coronavirus lockdown, and was expelled almost immediately back home, where he was jailed for six months. He is undeterred.

“All Tunisian men, women and even children want to leave this way,” he added.

Their arrivals have strained the ability of Italy’s southern regions to take them in amid the coronavirus pandemic, given Italy’s quarantine requirements for any-one arriving from outside the EU.

When a huge fi shing boat of 450 Tu-nisians pulled into port in the Sicilian island of Lampedusa on Aug. 30, some residents took to the docks to protest, shouting at them to go back. Italy’s for-mer interior minister, the anti-migrant League leader Matteo Salvini, criticized the government for letting them in and noted wryly that most will never be granted asylum because they are fl eeing the non-existent “famous Tunisian war.”

To keep new migrants safely iso-lated, the Italian government has com-missioned fi ve ferries for newcomers to complete 14 days of quarantine, with 2,238 currently on board the ships. But there are also centers on land for others, and the interior ministry has lamented that Tunisians, more than others, tend to try to fl ee welcome centers and evade quarantine requirements. Their escapes have sparked protests by local residents fearful of new infections after Italy’s brutal coronavirus outbreak, especially since arriving migrants have been linked to several dozen recent clusters.

Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese has traveled to Tunis twice since July to negotiate with the new government on the need to stem the fl ow, includ-ing with offers of assistance from Italy to better patrol the coasts. She blamed the increase in Tunisian arrivals on the country’s socio-economic problems that have been exacerbated by COVID-19, and has offered Italian assistance to ad-dress them.

She told a parliamentary committee last week that since Aug. 1, Italy had resumed repatriating Tunisians who don’t qualify for asylum, after reaching an accord with the Tunisian government to accept two fl ights a week with 40 Tu-nisians apiece. She said the number of weekly fl ights would increase starting in October. Tunisian migrants fl eeing their country’s worsening economic situation aren’t generally considered eligible for asylum.

While Tunisians have been by far the biggest group of migrants in 2020, the 23,517 migrants in Italy this year are a fraction of the nearly 120,000 people rescued at sea and brought to Italy in 2017, or the more than 181,000 who ar-rived in the peak year, 2016. This year’s arrivals, however, are more than the numbers seen in the previous two years.

More striking is the proportion of mi-grants who are Tunisian – 9,284 or 42% this year, compared with 23% last year and 22% in 2018. The year before that, Tunisians only accounted for 5% of ar-rivals, with Nigerians topping the list.

Romdhane Ben Amor, spokesman for the Tunisian Economic and Social Rights Forum, said this level of emigration hasn’t been seen since the Arab Spring uprising of 2011 started in Tunisia.

“It’s no longer restricted to those who drop out of school, the unemployed and the uneducated,” he said.

He said between 150 and 200 fami-lies have left Tunisia on boats, avoiding the north African country’s coast guard despite ramped-up surveillance paid for by Italy and other European Union coun-tries.

“We can see them on the surveillance camera in the port,” said Mohammed Taweb, a fi sherman in Bizerte. He said small groups come to steal boat engines in preparation for their departures, but only from pleasure craft – not from the fi shing boats he and others need to make a living. He said he understands why they go, and believes it’s up to Tunisia’s government to solve the problem.

The parents of Ghofrane Hlel fear it’s too late for their son, who left last Sep-tember at the age of 20 and was lost at sea. His mother, Kalthoum Fraj, has re-signed herself to his fate, but not to the uncertainty.

BEIRUT, Sept 30, (AP): The leader of the militant Hezbollah group said Tuesday they still welcome the French initiative to help Lebanon out of its crisis, but said Paris has to change its approach in dealing with local factions and not blame everyone for the failure of forming a new Cabinet.

French President Emmanuel Ma-cron has been pressing Lebanese poli-ticians to form a Cabinet made up of non-partisan specialists that can work on enacting urgent reforms to extract Lebanon from a devastating economic and fi nancial crisis.

Prime Minister-designate Mustapha

Adib resigned Saturday during a politi-cal impasse that came amid Lebanon’s worst economic and fi nancial crisis in decades – made worse by a massive explosion in Beirut in early August that killed and wounded many and caused widespread damage.

Adib’s resignation was a blow to Macron’s efforts to break a dangerous stalemate in the crisis-hit country. Ma-cron assailed Hezbollah and the entire Lebanese political class Sunday, and warned of a new civil war if they can’t set aside personal and religious inter-ests to unlock international aid and save Lebanon from economic collapse.

During a news conference Sunday, Macron accused Lebanon’s political leaders of “collective betrayal” and choosing “to favor their partisan and individual interests to the general det-riment of the country.”

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said “we do not accept such language” by Macron, adding that such comments “infringe on the dignity of Lebanese.”

Lebanon’s two main Shiite par-ties, Hezbollah and ally Amal, led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, had insisted on retaining the Finance Ministry in the new government and on naming all the Shiite Cabinet min-

isters. Adib rejected those conditions and stepped down.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah and its al-lies hold majority seats in Parliament and marginalizing them is undemo-cratic. He added that four former prime ministers were trying to name the min-isters without giving any information about their names to President Michel Aoun, who is a strong ally of Hezbol-lah.

Nasrallah insisted that his group has to be represented in the Cabinet so that it does not reach any agreement in the future with the International Monetary Fund to sell state property or impose

new taxes. “Can the people take new taxes?”

Nasrallah asked as the country wit-nesses an economic collapse in which tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs in past months.

Nasrallah said the US should be blamed for the failure of forming a new Cabinet after it imposed sanctions on two former Cabinet ministers allied with Hezbollah. He also blamed King Salman of Saudi Arabia who accused Hezbollah of sowing the political dis-array.

Macron reserved his toughest words for Hezbollah, demanding that it clar-

ify whether it’s a democratic political force, anti-Israel militia or a tool of Iran – but also criticized Lebanese po-litical leaders from all camps.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah fought Israel because it was “occupying our land.” He added that Hezbollah joined the war in Syria at the request of the Syrian government to fi ght extremist groups that France considers terrorist organizations.

“Your presence in Syria is illegiti-mate,” Nasrallah told Macron in refer-ence to the presence of French troops there taking part in the fi ght against the Islamic State group.

Women mourn during the funeral procession for the victims of a deadly Katyusha rocket attack near the international airport in Baghdad, Iraq on Sept 29, 2020. Several Iraqi civilians were killed and two severely wounded Monday after the rocket hit near Baghdad airport, Iraq military said. It was the fi rst time

in months an attack caused civilian casualties. (AP)

INTERNATIONALARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020

13

Politics

‘Politically damaging’

Experts see nat’l securityconcerns in Trump’s debtWASHINGTON, Sept 30, (AP): Revelations that Presi-dent Donald Trump is personally liable for more than $400 million in debt are casting a shadow that ethics experts say raises national security concerns he could be manipulated to sway US policy by organizations or individuals he’s in-debted to.

New scrutiny of Trump, who claims great success as a private businessman, comes after The New York Times reported that tax records show he is personally carrying a staggering amount of debt – including more than $300 million in loans that will come due in the next four years.

Sen Elizabeth Warren, was blunt about the potential implications. “He may be vulnerable to fi nancial black-mail from a hostile foreign power and God knows what else,” said Warren, a frequent Trump critic.

The Times said the tax records also show that Trump did not pay any federal income taxes in 11 years between 2000 and 2018, raising questions about the fairness of a president – who purports to be a billionaire – paying less in taxes than most Americans.

The politically damaging revela-tions about Trump’s tax avoidance, however, are perhaps less concern-ing than word the president is hold-ing hundreds of millions of dollars of soon-to-mature debt, ethics ex-perts said.

“Americans should be concerned about the president’s debt because it’s a national security risk for our country,” said Donald Sherman, deputy direc-tor of the nonprofi t government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). “This is information that the president has aggressively and repeatedly tried to keep away from the public.” Trump, citing an ongoing Internal Revenue Service audit, has re-fused to follow the post-Watergate precedent set by other presidents of releasing his tax returns, so the complexities of his fi nancial interests and whom he does business with have remained opaque. He’s fi ghting ongoing court battles with New York’s attorney general, Manhattan’s district at-torney and two House committees who want the records.

Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics attorney in Republican George W. Bush’s White House, also noted that Trump-owned companies have declared bankruptcy six times, raising the question: Why have lenders been willing to keep risking loans of such enormous amounts? “Why would banks assume the risk on these loans?” Paint-er said. “Or did someone else quietly assume risk of that loan for the bank to make it happen?” Trump, according to his latest fi nancial disclosure statement, reported that he had 14 loans on 12 properties.

DefaultedOne lender, Germany-based Deutsche Bank, continued

to do business with Trump even after he defaulted in 2008 on a loan for his Chicago hotel and condo development. Trump fi led suit against the bank and others whom he blamed for his inability to repay.

But Deutsche Bank’s private banking division contin-ued to lend to Trump, including $125 million to fi nance the purchase and renovation of his Doral golf resort in 2012, according to previous disclosures.

Trump on Monday suggested that his debt load is hardly unusual in comparison with his assets, claiming in a tweet that he’s in fact “extremely under leveraged.” “I have very little debt compared to the value of assets,” he wrote, add-ing that he may release a fi nancial statement that spells out all assets, properties and debts.

Trump during an appearance Monday ignored a re-porter’s question about when he might release such a statement, and the White House would not comment on when he might follow through. He said repeatedly before his election that he would release his actual taxes, but he never has.

Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Wash-ington University in St Louis, said that a separate fi nan-cial statement from Trump would shed little light on his business dealings if he does not disclose who his business partners are in his various holdings.

“The Trump Organization consists of hundreds of LLCs (limited liability corporations) that have been listed on his fi nancial disclosure forms,” Clark said. “One of the things that Trump has benefi tted from and that oligarchs and money launderers benefi t from is opaqueness of LLCs, ... the ease of which individuals can hide their assets, can hide their fi nancial interests.” Trump refused to divest his business interests after his 2016 victory, and left day-to-day operation of his family’s real estate and other hold-ings to his sons Donald Jr and Eric. Still, the president has benefi tted personally from US and foreign government activity at his properties since his election and hasn’t shied away from promoting his hotels and golf courses.

Republicans have held at least 88 political events at his properties, the president has visited his hotels and golf courses more than 500 times, and at least 13 foreign gov-ernments have held events at Trump establishments, ac-cording to a tally by CREW.

CriticismThe administration drew criticism last year when Vice-

President Mike Pence, while visiting Dublin for meetings, lodged at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel more than 180 miles away in Doonbeg, Ireland. And Trump scrapped a plan to hold a meeting of the Group of 7 world leaders at one of his Florida properties last year after bi-partisan criticism.

In the runup to his 2016 election victory, Trump played down his bankruptcies as a smart business strategy and even referred to himself as the “king of debt.” “I’ve always loved debt, I must be honest with you,” Trump said during a campaign rally. “I don’t love it for countries, but I love it individually. If things work out good that’s great, if they don’t, you go renegotiate.” The New York Times, citing the tax records it obtained, also revealed that Trump did not pay federal income tax in 11 of 18 years, and just $750 each year for 2017 and 2018, as he claimed millions of dollars in business losses. Top Democratic lawmakers on Monday called Trump’s tax avoidance galling, but seized on his debt as perhaps more concerning.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on MSNBC that “our responsibility is to protect and defend and we have to make sure we know what exposure the president of the United States has, and what an impact it has on national security decisions for our country.” Painter said that if Trump were attempting to appoint someone with his massive debt load to a high-profi le government position, the nominee would almost certainly face trouble getting a security clearance. Indeed, inability or unwillingness to satisfy debts and a history of not meeting fi nancial obligations could disqual-ify any federal employee from receiving a security clear-ance, according to government guidelines.

Peter Schweizer, the president of the Government Ac-countability Institute, said: “The question is also one of whether the loans are tied to actual assets such as build-ings, etc., or was the political fi gure granted special favors in getting loans. Politicians and their families can engage in commercial transactions, the question is whether the loans are unusual and unique compared to others in the marketplace.” Trump is hardly the fi rst president to con-tend with debt, either in offi ce or later in life.

Thomas Jefferson, whose peak net worth in current dol-lars reached $236.8 million according to research by 24/7 Wall Street, died in debt. The debt was accrued during and after his presidency – as well as by relatives – and his fam-ily sold dozens of enslaved people from his Monticello estate to satisfy his liabilities.

Warren

From left to right, First Lady Melania Trump, President Donald Trump, Democratic presidential candidate former vice- president Joe Biden and Jill Biden, walk off stage at the conclusion of the fi rst presidential debate on Sept 29, 2020, at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio. (AP)

‘Chaotic fi rst debate’

Trump’s bitter taunts, Biden visionsCLEVELAND, Sept 30, (AP): The fi rst debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden de-teriorated into bitter taunts and near chaos Tuesday night as Trump repeatedly inter-rupted his opponent with angry – and per-sonal – jabs that sometimes overshadowed the sharply different visions each man has for a nation facing historic crises.

In the most tumultuous presidential de-bate in recent memory, Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who have supported him, telling one such group known as Proud Boys to “stand back, stand by.” There were also heated clashes over the president’s handling of the pandemic, the integrity of the election results, deeply personal attacks about Biden’s family and how the Supreme Court will shape the fu-ture of the nation’s health care.

But it was the belligerent tone that was persistent, somehow fi tting for what has been an extraordinarily ugly campaign. The two men frequently talked over each other with Trump interrupting, nearly shouting, so often that Biden eventually snapped at him, “Will you shut up, man?”

“The fact is that everything he’s saying so far is simply a lie,” Biden said. “I’m not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he’s a liar.”

The presidential race has been remark-ably stable for weeks, despite the historic crises that have battered the country this year, including a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans and a reck-oning over race and police brutality. With just fi ve weeks until Election Day and vot-ing already underway in some key states, Biden has maintained a lead in national polls and in many battlegrounds.

It’s unclear whether the debate will do much to change those dynamics.

Over and over, Trump tried to control the conversation, interrupting Biden and repeatedly talking over the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News. The president tried to defl ect tough lines of questioning – whether on his taxes or the pandemic – to deliver broadsides against Biden.

The president drew a lecture from Wal-lace, who pleaded with both men to stop talking over each other. Biden tried to push back against Trump, sometimes look-ing right at the camera to directly address viewers rather than the president and snap-ping, “It’s hard to get a word in with this clown.”

Again refusing to commit to honoring the results of the election, Trump spread falsehoods about mail voting. Without evidence, he suggested that the process – surging in popularity during the pandemic – was ripe for fraud and incorrectly claimed impropriety at a Pennsylvania voting site.

But despite his efforts to dominate the

discussion, Trump was frequently put on the defensive and tried to sidestep when he was asked if he was willing to condemn white su-premacists and paramilitary groups.

“What do you want to call them? Give me a name. Give me a name,” Trump said, before Biden mentioned the far right, violent group known as the Proud Boys. Trump then pointedly did not condemn the group, instead saying: “Proud Boys, stand back, stand by. But I’ll tell you what, some-body’s got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem.”

Biden attacked Trump’s handling of the pandemic, saying that the president “waited and waited” to act when the virus reached America’s shores and “still doesn’t have a plan.” Biden told Trump to “get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap” and go in his golf cart to the Oval Offi ce to come up with a bipartisan plan to save people.

Trump snarled a response, declaring: “I’ll tell you Joe, you could never have done the job that we did. You don’t have it in your blood.”

Response“I know how to do the job,” was the

solemn response from Biden, who served eight years as Barack Obama’s vice-presi-dent. The pandemic’s effects were in plain sight, with the candidates’ lecterns spaced far apart, all the guests in the small crowd tested and the traditional opening hand-shake scrapped. While neither candidate wore a mask to take the stage, their fami-lies did sport face coverings.

Trump struggled to defi ne his ideas for replacing the Affordable Care Act on health care in the debate’s early moments and defended his nomination of Amy Co-ney Barrett, declaring, “I was not elected for three years, I’m elected for four years.”

“We won the election. Elections have consequences. We have the Senate. We have the White House and we have a phe-nomenal nominee, respected by all.”

Trump criticized Biden over the former vice-president’s refusal to comment on whether he would try to expand the Supreme Court in retaliation if Barrett is confi rmed to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Gins-burg. That idea has gained momentum on the party’s left fl ank, but Biden tried to put dis-tance between himself and the liberal wing, declining to endorse the Green New Deal and rejecting the assertion that he was under the control of radicals by declaring “I am the Democratic Party now.”

The scattershot debate bounced from topic to topic, with Trump again refusing to embrace the science of climate change while Biden accused Trump of walking away from the American promise of equity for all and making a race-based appeal.

“This is a president who has used eve-rything as a dog whistle to try to generate racist hatred, racist division,” Biden said.

Recent months have seen major pro-tests after the deaths of Black people at the hands of police. Biden said the country fac-es a problem with systemic racism and that while the vast majority of police offi cers are “decent, honorable men and women” there are “bad apples” and people have to be held accountable.

Trump in turn claimed that Biden’s work on a federal crime bill treated the Af-rican American population “about as bad as anybody in this country.” The president pivoted to his hardline focus on those pro-testing racial injustice and accused Biden of being afraid to use the words “law and order,” out of fear of alienating the left.

“Violence in response is never appro-priate, “Biden said. “Never appropriate. Peaceful protest is.”

The attacks turned deeply personal when Trump returned to a campaign attack line by declaring that Biden’s son, Hunter, had inappropriately benefi tted from his father’s connections while working in Ukraine. Biden rarely looked at Trump during the night but turned to face the president when he defended his sons, including Beau, an Army veteran who died of cancer in 2015, after the commander in chief’s reported in-sults of those who served in the military.

A new report from two Republican-led Senate committees alleged that Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine at the same time his father was vice- president raised con-fl ict-of-interest concerns for the Obama ad-ministration, but the report did not link Joe Biden to any wrongdoing or misconduct. Trump was impeached for pushing Kiev to investigate the Biden family.

The debate was arguably Trump’s best chance to try to reframe the campaign as a choice between candidates and not a refer-endum over his handling of the virus that has killed more people in America than any other nation. Americans, according to poll-ing, have soured on his leadership in the crisis, and the president has struggled to land consistent attacks on Biden.

In the hours before the debate, Biden re-leased his 2019 tax returns just days after the blockbuster revelations about Trump’s long-hidden tax history, including that he paid only $750 a year in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 and nothing in many other years. The Bidens paid nearly $300,000 in taxes in 2019.

Trump, in the debate, insisted he paid millions in taxes – but refused to say how much he paid in federal income taxes – and insisted he had taken advantage of legal tax incentives, another angry exchange that led to Biden declaring that Trump was the “worst president” the nation has ever had.

Debate

US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper attends a meeting with Tunisian Defense Minister Brahim Bartagi in Tunis on Sept 30, 2020. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper arrived Wednesday in Tunisia, before heading to Algeria and Mo-

rocco. (AP)

Comey Raniere

Comey to appear for probe: Former FBI director James Comey faces questioning Wednesday from the Republi-can-led Senate Judiciary Com-mittee about his role in leading the bureau’s investigation into ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.

Comey is the latest high-pro-fi le former offi cial from the FBI or Justice Department to tes-tify in an investigation led by the committee chairman, Republican Sen Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

The questioning of Comey, conducted with the 2020 elec-tion just weeks away and as the committee prepares for confi r-mation hearings for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, underscores the extent to which the FBI’s investiga-tion four years ago into potential coordination between Trump’s campaign and Russia remains front-and-center in the minds of Republican lawmakers, who see an opening to rally support for the president and cast him as the victim of biased law enforce-ment. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

University renames buildings: The University of Montevallo, a state-run liberal arts school, will rename two buildings that honor former Alabama governors who supported white supremacy, trus-tees decided.

News outlets reported that the board voted Tuesday dur-ing a virtual meeting to strip the names of Braxton Bragg Comer and Bibb Graves off of academic buildings on campus, located about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Birmingham.

The school created a group to consider the names of cam-pus buildings during nationwide demonstrations that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Comer, who served four years beginning in 1907, was consid-ered progressive but worked to maintain systems rooted in the state’s old plantation system, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. Also a progressive, Graves was a Ku Klux Klan leader who served two terms in the 1920s and 1930s.

America

Sen Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speak before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept 30, 2020, to examine the

FBI ‘Crossfi re Hurricane’ investigation. (AP)

The university said in a news release that both men “were staunch supporters of segrega-tion and white supremacy.” (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

Football player arrested: US Marshals in Georgia have ar-

rested a Georgetown University football player accused of killing a man in Washington, DC.

Federal agents took Dijon Wil-liams, 21, into custody at a Law-renceville home Monday, US Marshals spokesman Inspector Frank Lempka told news outlets.

Williams was charged with fi rst-degree murder in the July 21 shooting of Nurudeen Thomas, 30. Thomas was found fatally wounded in Northwest Washing-ton, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Georgetown’s campus, DC police spokesman Offi cer Sean Hickman said. Authorities have not released additional details about the case. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

Heiress faces sentencing: A wealthy benefactor of Keith Raniere, the disgraced leader of a self-improvement group in upstate New York convicted of turning women into sex slaves branded with his initials, is fac-ing sentencing in the federal con-spiracy case.

Seagram’s liquor fortune heir-ess Clare Bronfman is due to appear on Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn. The stakes are high: Her lawyers want a judge to give her three years proba-tion instead of prison time while prosecutors say she deserves fi ve years behind bars.

The 41-year-old Bronfman ad-mitted in a guilty plea last year

that she harbored someone who was living in the US illegally for unpaid “labor and services” and that she committed credit card fraud on behalf of Raniere, leader of the group called NX-IVM. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

Kansas woman gets life: A Kansas woman has been sen-tenced to life in prison for decap-itating her ex-boyfriend’s mother with a pair of kitchen knives.

Rachael Hilyard, 38, of Wich-ita, was sentenced Tuesday in the 2017 death of 63-year-old Micki Davis, The Wichita Eagle reported.

Hilyard apologized at the hear-ing, which several of Davis’ fam-ily members attended in person or watched via a Zoom call.

“I feel that even death would be too good for me now. … Every day and every night I am sorry,” she said.

Authorities said Davis was at-tacked after going to Hilyard’s home to pick up some of her son’s property on April 9, 2017. Prosecutors said Hilyard had planned the killing. (AP)

Market Movements 30-09-2020

Business Change Closing ptsS. KOREA - KRX 100 +38.45 4,972.11PHILIPPINES - PSEi +22.63 5,864.23INDIA - Sensex +94.71 38,067.93

Change Closing ptsAUSTRALIA - All Ordinaries -132.19 6,009.34JAPAN - Nikkei -353.98 23,185.12GERMANY - DAX -65.09 12,760.73FRANCE - CAC 40 -28.63 4,803.44EUROPE - Euro Stoxx 50 -20.69 3,193.61PAKISTAN - KSE 100 -632.88 40,571.48CHINA - Shanghai SE -6.31 3,218.05

United Airlines pilots approve deal that delays furloughs

Pilots at United Airlines vot-ed to approve an agreement that will avoid about 2,850 furloughs that were set to take effect later this week and another 1,000 early next year.

Airline offi cials said that the agreement will reduce involuntary job cuts to fewer than 12,000 if Congress fails to provide more aid to airlines before a Thursday deadline.

The company sent layoff warnings to 36,000 employ-ees in July.

The Air Line Pilots Asso-ciation said Monday’s deal will let United spread a reduced amount of fl ying across the airline’s 13,000 pilots to save jobs at least until next June.

“Our members understood that in order to protect pilot jobs, we needed to approve this agreement,” said Todd

Insler, chairman of the union’s United Airlines council.

The agreement was ratifi ed by about 58% of the pilots who voted on it.

The United deal is the lat-est between airlines, which are cutting costs sharply dur-ing the pandemic downturn in travel, and their labor unions, which seek to save as many jobs as they can.

It comes as United, Ameri-

can and some smaller airlines prepare to shed thousands of workers on Thursday, when $25 billion in federal pandem-ic-relief aid and a related pro-hibition on furloughs expires. The airlines and unions are lobbying for $25 billion more to delay furloughs for another six months, through next March, but the fate of their campaign is uncertain and time is run-ning out. (AP)

In this fi le photo, a United Airlines commercial jet sits at a gate at Termi-

nal C of Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey.

United Airlines plans to furlough about 16,000 employees in October

2020 as air travel contin-ues to be hammered by

the pandemic. (AP)

Amazon sees broader audience for its palm recognition techAmazon has introduced new palm recognition technology in a pair of Seattle stores and sees a broader potential audience in stadiums, of-fi ces and elsewhere.

Customers at the stores near Amazon’s campus in Washington can fl ash a palm for entry and to buy goods.

The company chose palm rec-ognition, according to Dilip Kumar, vice president of Physical Retail & Technology, because it’s more private than other biometric tech-nology, and a person would be

required to purposefully fl ash a palm at the Amazon One device to engage.

“And it’s contactless, which we think customers will appreciate, especially in current times,” Kumar wrote in a blog post Tuesday.

The company expects to roll out Amazon One as an option in other Amazon stores in the coming months, which could mean Whole Foods Market grocery stores. But Amazon believes the technology is applicable elsewhere.

“In most retail environments,

Amazon One could become an al-ternate payment or loyalty card op-tion with a device at the checkout counter next to a traditional point of sale system,” Kumar wrote. “Or, for entering a location like a stadium or badging into work, Amazon One could be part of an existing entry point to make accessing the loca-tion quicker and easier.”

People can sign up for an Ama-zon One account with a mobile phone number and credit card. An Amazon account isn’t necessary. (AP)

JPMorgan agrees to pay $920mfor manipulating US TreasuriesNEW YORK, Sept 30, (AP): JPMorgan Chase admitted Tuesday to manipulating the markets for precious metals and US Treasuries, agreeing to pay $920 million in fi nes and penalties for the illegal behav-ior.

US fi nancial regulators and the Department of Justice said traders at JPMorgan used a tactic known as “spoofi ng” over an eight-year period. Spoofi ng is when traders send trading signals into a market, with no intention of buying or selling at those prices, in order to move a market in one direction or an-other.

In the case of the US Treas-ury market, the Securities and Exchange Commission said JPMorgan traders submitted both trades they intended to act upon as well as spoof trades. The goal was to use the spoof to nudge the market in a certain

direction, and then activate the intended trade to profi t from the move.

“J.P. Morgan Securities un-dermined the integrity of our markets with this scheme,” said Stephanie Avakian, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforce-ment, in a prepared statement. “Their manipulative trading of Treasury cash securities cre-ated a false appearance of ac-tivity in the market and induced other market participants to trade at more favorable prices than J.P. Morgan Securities would have otherwise been able to obtain.”

JPMorgan agreed to settle with US authorities, and will enter into what’s known as a deferred prosecution agree-ment for three years. It will also pay fi nes and penalties to the SEC as well as the Com-modity Futures Trading Com-mission.

Debate leaves little impact

Wall Street gains onstimulus deal hopesNEW YORK, Sept 30, (AP): Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street as traders hope that the White House and Congress can break a logjam on deliv-ering more badly needed stimulus for an economy ravaged by coronavirus lockdowns. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% in the early going Wednesday, but it’s still headed for its fi rst losing month since March. Treasury Secretary Ste-ven Mnuchin told a CNBC conference he was hopeful about striking a stimu-lus deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The gains came after a chaotic and acrimonious fi rst debate between President Donald Trump and Democ-ractic challenger Joe Biden. Treasury yields rose.

World stock markets and US futures were mostly lower on Wednesday after the debate between US President Don-ald Trump and his Democratic chal-lenger Joe Biden.

There was scant sign the clash did much to sway investors. Shares fell in Paris, Frankfurt and Tokyo on Wednesday, while upbeat manufactur-ing data lifted shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Investors remain cautious with COVID-19 infections on the rise again in the US and elsewhere. The Trump-Biden debate occurred as coronavi-rus deaths worldwide have surpassed 1 million. Many millions of people worldwide are jobless.

Germany’s DAX fell 0.5% to 12,760 after a report showed the unemploy-ment rate in Europe’s largest economy ticked down in September. The CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.6% to 4,803 and the FTSE 100 in Britain edged 0.2% lower to 5,883.

US futures dropped, with the con-

tract for the S&P 500 down 0.7% and that for the Dow industrials falling 0.6%.

A survey of Chinese manufacturers, the Caixin manufacturing purchasing manager’s index, showed economic activity accelerating further in Septem-ber as businesses recovered from the downturn earlier this year due to the pandemic.

The Caixin manufacturing PMI slipped to 53.0 from 53.1 in August, on a 100-point scale. China’s offi cial manufacturing PMI rose to 51.5 from 51.0, its highest level in two years.

“The economic recovery has picked up pace with supply and both domestic as well as overseas demand improv-ing,” Stephen Innes of AxiCorp said in a commentary.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 0.8% to 23,459.05, but fell back from a 2.1% gain earlier in the day. The Shanghai Composite index gave up its early advance, falling 0.2% to 3,218.05.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 1.5% to 23,185.12, while the S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 2.3% to 5,815.90. Markets were closed in South Korea.

The debate’s likely impact on mar-kets, if any, was unclear. The atmos-phere was antagonistic, as to be expect-ed, but for voters still undecided about who’d better handle the multiple crises that have beset the nation, the faceoff may not have offered anything new.

“Markets have remained calm as no policy surprises have emerged from the debate so far,” Jeffrey Halley of Oanda wrote in a report.

“My initial thoughts are the debate will not move the needle on the Demo-crat lead in the national polls,” he said.

Decline remains the worst on record

UK economy slump not as bad as fearedLONDON, Sept 30, (AP): The British economy did not contract as much as originally thought during the second quarter of the year when coronavirus lockdown measures were at their most intense – though the slump remained the worst on record.

The Offi ce for National Statis-tics said Wednesday that the British economy contracted by 19.8% in the April to June quarter from the previous three-month period, slightly less than its previous estimate of 20.4%.

However, it said the British econo-my contracted by more than previously thought during the fi rst quarter, when the virus started to affect business activity before the full restrictions on businesses were introduced on March 23. It now estimates that the economy shrank by 2.5% in the fi rst quarter, against 2.2% previously.

“It is clear that the U.K. is in the largest recession on record,” the statis-tics agency said. “The latest estimates show that the U.K. economy is now 21.8% smaller than it was at the end of 2019, highlighting the unprecedented size of this contraction.”

That contraction is greater than those recorded by the other Group of Seven major advanced economies and more or less double the contractions seen in the United States and Germa-ny, though statistical methods can vary between countries.

Since May, when lockdown meas-ures started to be eased, the British economy has managed to eke out three months of growth, which has helped it recoup around half of the output lost.

Andy Haldane, the Bank of Eng-land’s chief economist, said the econ-omy has recovered more strongly than

expected and estimates that it will only be around 3-4% smaller than it’s pre-COVID level by the end of the third quarter, largely thanks to consumer spending.

“In other words, the economy has already recovered just under 90% of its earlier losses,” he said in a speech.

“Against a backdrop of more than 40,000 Covid-related deaths, an extra 1 million people unemployed and per-haps a quarter of the workforce having faced a cut in their incomes, the speed and scale of this recovery in consump-tion is, I think, fairly remarkable,” he

added.With the virus spreading in the com-

munity once again and some lockdown measures re-imposed, there are worries that the recovery may start to stall this winter.

Further risks come from the lack of progress in post-Brexit trade dis-cussions with the European Union. Though the U.K. left the bloc on Jan. 31, it is benefi ting from tariff-free trade until the end of this year. The discus-sions are about agreeing on the outlines of the trading relationship from the start of 2021.

US economy down 31.4 pct inspring, big rebound expected

Consumer confi dence posts solid gain in Sept

U.S. HOME PRICES RISE 3.9% IN JULY

WASHINGTON, Sept 30, (AP): The U.S. economy plunged at a record rate in the spring but is poised to swing to a record increase in the quarter that is just ending.

The Commerce Department re-ported Wednesday that the gross domestic product, the economy’s total output of goods and services, fell at a rate of 31.4% in the April-June quarter, only slightly changed from the 31.7% drop estimated one month ago.

The new report, the government’s last look at the second quarter, showed a decline that was more than three times larger than the previous record-holder, a fall of 10% in the fi rst quarter of 1958 when Dwight Eisenhower was president.

Economists believe the economy will expand at an annual rate of 30% in the current quarter as businesses have re-opened and millions of people have gone back to work. That would shatter the old record for a quarterly GDP increase, a 16.7% surge in the fi rst quarter of 1950 when Harry Truman was president.

The government will not release its July-September GDP report until Oct. 29, just fi ve days before the presiden-tial election.

While President Donald Trump is counting on an economic rebound to convince voters to give him a sec-ond term, economists said any such bounce back this year is a longshot.

Economists are forecasting that growth will slow signifi cantly in the fi nal three months of this year to a rate of around 4% and could actually top-ple back into a recession if Congress fails to pass another stimulus measure or if there is a resurgence of COV-ID-19. There are upticks in infections occurring right now in some regions of the country, including New York.

“There are a lot of potential pitfalls out there,” said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial Services. “We are still dealing with a number of signifi cant reductions because of the pandemic.”

He said in addition to the possibil-ity that Congress will not pass further stimulus support because of the sharp split between Democrats and Republi-cans over how much more is needed, there are other threats in the form of uncertainty over the upcoming elec-tion.

“All this political uncertainty has

the potential to weigh on economic growth,” Faucher said.

The Trump administration says that solid growth in coming quarters that will restore all of the output lost by the pandemic.

So far this year, the economy fell at a 5% rate in the fi rst quarter, signaling an end to a nearly 11-year-long economic expansion, the longest in U.S. history. That drop was followed by the second quarter decline of 31.4%, which was initially estimated two months ago as a drop of 32.9%, and then revised to 31.7% last month.

The slight upward revision in this report reflected less of a plunge in consumer spending than had been estimated. It was still a record fall at a rate of 33.2%, but last month pro-jections were for a decline of 34.1%. This improvement was offset some-what by downward revisions to ex-ports and to business investment.

Meanwhile, U.S. consumer con-fi dence rebounded more quickly in September than most economists had

expected, but it remains well below levels that preceded the pandemic.

The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confi dence index rose to a reading of 101.8, up from 86.3 in August.

The increase came from a more fa-vorable view of current business and labor market conditions as well as re-newed optimism about the short-term outlook.

Also, U.S. home prices rose at a fast-er pace in July as the housing market continued to show strength in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, released Tuesday, rose 3.9% in July from a year earlier, up from a 3.5% annual gain in June. The July gain was slightly higher than economists had expected.

The 20-city index excluded prices from the Detroit metropolitan area in-dex because of delays related to pan-demic at the recording offi ce in Wayne County, which includes Detroit.

Phoenix (up 9.2%), Seattle (7%) and

Charlotte, North Carolina (6%), report-ed the biggest year-over-year gains. Sixteen of the 19 cities saw prices rise at a faster pace than they did in June. The smallest gains came in Chicago (up 0.8%) and New York (1.3%).

Helped by rock-bottom mortgage rates, the U.S. housing market has largely withstood the economic fall-out from the COVID-19 outbreak. The Commerce Department reported last week that sales of new homes rose a solid 4.8% in August after surging 13.9% in July.

Home prices are being pushed high-er by a shortage of available properties.

“Home prices continued to push pandemic-related uncertainties aside and reach new heights into the sum-mer months, as demand for housing outpaced supply,” said economist Mat-thew Speakman of the real estate fi rm Zillow. “An unprecedented lack of for-sale homes combined with persistently low mortgage rates have stoked a com-petition for housing in recent months that will not relent.’’

In this fi le photo, pedestrians walk past a business storefront with store closing and sale signs in Dedham, Mass. The U.S. economy plunged at a record rate in the spring but is poised to break a record for an increase in the just-ending July-September quarter. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday, Sept. 30, that the gross domestic product, the economy’s total output of goods and services, fell at a rate of 31.4% in the April-June quar-

ter, only slightly changed from the 31.7% drop estimated one month ago. (AP)

This undated photo provided by Amazon shows the Amazon One device at an Amazon Go store in Seattle. Ama-zon has introduced the new palm recognition technology in a pair of Seattle stores and sees broader uses in places

like stadiums and offi ces. (AP)

BEIJING, Sept 30, (AP): China’s factory activity accelerated in Sep-tember, adding to a gradual recov-ery from the coronavirus pandem-ic, a government survey showed Wednesday.

A monthly purchasing manag-ers’ index issued by the Chinese statistics agency and an industry group rose to 51.5 from August’s 51 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity increasing.

A measure of new export or-ders rose to 50.8 from the previous month’s 49.1, its first time in posi-tive territory since the pandemic began, according to the China Fed-eration of Logistics & Purchasing.

China, where the outbreak be-

gan in December, was the first economy to shut down and the first to reopen factories and other busi-nesses in March.

Domestic consumer spending is recovering but more slowly than production.

Exporters have been taking market share from foreign compet-itors that are hampered by anti-dis-ease controls. But forecasters say that growth is likely to weaken as global demand for Chinese-made masks and other medical supplies levels off.

A measure of employment stood at 49.6, indicating industry still was cutting jobs. But it was an improvement of 0.2 point from August.

China’s factory, export activityincrease in Sept, survey shows

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SportsUkraine’s Elina Svitolina plays a shot against Mexico’s Re-nata Zarazua in the second round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, on Sept 30. (AP)

Qualifier Korda upsets fellow American Isner

Injured Serena out of French Open, Nadal reaches 3rd roundPARIS, Sept. 30, (AP): Serena Wil-liams laughed at her own jokes and sounded an upbeat tone – or one as positive, at least, as could be expected from a player whose latest bid for a re-cord-tying 24th Grand Slam title ended because of injury, as did her season, probably.

Williams tried to warm up for her second-round match at Roland Gar-ros on Wednesday but huddled after-ward with her coach and determined that if walking on the Achilles tendon she hurt at the US Open nearly three weeks ago was diffi cult, then trying to run and compete made little sense.

“If it was my knee, that would be more really devastating for me. But this is something that just happened, and it’s super acute. That’s totally dif-ferent. I feel like my body is actually doing really, really well,” said Wil-liams, who turned 39 on Saturday. “I just ran into, for lack of a better word, bad timing and bad luck, really, in New York.”

Williams withdrew about an hour before she would have played Tsvetana Pironkova at Court Philippe Chatrier, her ear-liest exit from a major tourna-ment in six years and the most sig-nifi cant development in Paris on Day 4, which also included a straight-set loss by U.S. Open runner-up Victoria Azarenka and straightforward wins for Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem over a couple of American men.

“That’s disappointing on many levels, of course,” said John Isner, the 21st-seeded man who was beaten in four sets by 20-year-old American qualifi er Sebastian Korda. “It’s disap-pointing personally for Serena, but it’s disappointing for the tournament and for tennis fans worldwide.”

Williams’ departure, and the 10th-seeded Azarenka’s 6-2, 6-2 dismiss-al by 161st-ranked Anna Karolina Schmiedlova – someone who lost 13 consecutive Grand Slam matches until defeating Williams’ older sister, Ve-nus, earlier this week – meant zero of the four female semifi nalists at Flush-ing Meadows made it past the second round at Roland Garros.

Champion Naomi Osaka didn’t make the trip to France at all; No. 21 seed Jennifer Brady was upset in her opening match by a 17-year-old quali-fi er.

The French Open’s start was post-poned to September from May because of the coronavirus pandemic, and there were plenty of questions beforehand about what effects there would be from the quick and unusual shift from North America to Europe, from hard courts to red clay.

Azarenka wouldn’t entertain the premise.

“I’m just going to speak only for myself, and I will say that today was not the case of a turnaround, was not the case of the court, was not the case of anything else,” said the former No. 1 and two-time Australian Open cham-pion. “This is a lesson for me to learn. I don’t think about what happened in New York, today. So, to me, it doesn’t really matter.”

It was in the third set of Williams’ semifi nal against Azarenka at Flushing Meadows that Williams stretched her left Achilles while chasing a shot. Wil-liams took a long pause, clutched at that leg and then took a medical time-out so a trainer could wrap it.

“Didn’t have enough time to prop-erly heal after the Open. I was able to get it somewhat better, but just looking long-term in this tournament, will I be able to get through enough matches? And so, for me, I don’t think I could,” Williams said Wednesday. “I’m strug-gling to walk, so that’s kind of a tell-tale sign that I should try to recover.”

She played with a vertical strip of black athletic tape along her Achilles during her fi rst-round match Monday, but there were no obvious sign of trou-ble during the 7-6 (2), 6-0 victory over Kristie Ahn.

“I felt like I needed to, like, walk with a limp,” Williams said, “and that was no good.”

This is the second time in her past three appearances in Paris that she pulled out of the French Open before a match because of an injury. It hap-pened in 2018, when she was to face Maria Sharapova in the fourth round; that was Williams’ fi rst Grand Slam tournament in more than a year be-cause she was off the tour while hav-ing a baby.

After that, she was the runner-up at four of the next six majors, falling just short of adding to her professional-era record of 23 Slam singles champion-ships and equaling Margaret Court’s all-era mark.

Williams said she needs a month or more now of “sitting and doing noth-ing” because of the Achilles, meaning her 2020 is “more than likely” done.

If anyone was wondering whether Williams is thinking about moving on after more than two decades as a transcendent fi gure in her sport, she of-fered an encouraging message.

“I love playing tennis, obviously. I love competing. And I love being out here. It’s my job; been my job. And I’m pretty good at it still,” Williams said.

“I’m so close to some things, I just feel like I’m almost there,” she said, “so I think that’s what keeps me go-ing.”

Chicago White Sox’s Lucas Giolito pitches against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning of Game 1 of an American League wild-card baseball series on Sept 29, in Oakland, California. (AP)

Giolito, Chisox top A’s in wild-card round opener

Judge, Yankees pound Bieber, Indians

OAKLAND, California, Sept 30, (AP): Lucas Gio-lito dazzled in his postsea-son debut, stymieing the Oakland Athletics through six perfect innings and sending the Chicago White Sox to a 4-1 victory in the opener of their best-of-three wild-card series.

Giolito (1-0), who pitched a no-hitter against Pittsburgh on Aug 25, didn’t allow a baserunner to the AL West champions until Tommy La Stella’s single up the middle to start the seventh. Giolito gave up one run on two hits over seven in-nings, struck out eight and walked one before giving way to Evan Marshall after a stellar 100-pitch outing.

Giolito got plenty of support: José Abreu hit a two-run homer and Adam Engel also connected for Chicago against Jesus Luzardo (0-1). Yasmani Grandal homered in the eighth.

Alex Colome, Chicago’s third re-liever, worked the ninth for a save in the 2-hour, 53-minute game.

Now, Oakland must win Game 2 on Wednesday at home to avoid another early playoff exit. The A’s are in the postseason for a third straight year, having lost in the AL wild-card game each of the past two seasons after 97 wins both times.

Yankees 12, Indians 3In Cleveland, Aaron Judge smashed

a tone-setting, two-run homer on Shane Bieber’s fourth pitch, Gerrit Cole struck out 13 and New York opened the AL playoffs with a resounding win over Cleveland.

Judge and the rest of New York’s hitters hadn’t faced Bieber in 2020, but they were well prepared and took some meaty cuts against the 25-year-old ace, who gave up season highs in runs (seven) and hits (nine) over 4-2/3 innings – his shortest stint since June 9 last season against the Yankees.

Gleyber Torres, Brett Gardner and Giancarlo Stanton also homered for New York.

Staked to an early lead on Judge’s homer, Cole showed why the Yanks shelled out $324 million for him in the offseason. The right-hander gave up two runs – including Josh Naylor’s homer in the fourth – and six hits in seven innings.

Williams

TENNIS

BASEBALL

Spain’s Rafael Nadal plays a shot against Mackenzie McDonald of the U.S. in the second round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the

Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, on Sept. 30. (AP)

Tourists beat hosts by 5 wkts

New Zealand women end 13-game skid vs AustraliaBRISBANE, Australia, Sept 30, (AP): The New Zealand women’s cricket team has ended a 13-game losing streak against world champion Australia with a fi ve-wicket win in the third Twenty20 international on Wednesday.

Amelia Kerr proved the difference, backing up from her 2-18 bowling per-formance that restricted Australia to 123 for 7 to later score an unbeaten 18 off 10 balls to clinch the result at Allan

Border Field.Needing eight off the fi nal over for

victory, Kerr belted Megan Schutt for consecutive boundaries to steer New Zealand to 125-5 and victory with three balls to spare.

Australia won the opening two T20 matches to secure a 10th straight T20 series victory. Australia had won the past seven T20 and six one-day in-ternational matches against the White Ferns.

The teams will open a three-match ODI series on Saturday, also in Bris-bane.

Hirschi, Van der Breggen win Fleche WallonneHUY, Belgium, Sept 30, (AP): Marc Hirschi extended his stellar run in a break-out cycling season to win the Fleche Wal-lonne one-day classic on Wednesday.

In his fi rst start at the race defi ned by the short but grueling Mur de Huy fi nishing climb, the 22-year-old Swiss rider went clear in the last 100 meters to win comfortably ahead of Benoit Cosnefroy. Michael Woods was third.

Hirschi added his fi rst win in a clas-sic to his bronze medal from the world championships road race on Sunday and his impressive Tour de France. There, he won a stage, was a regular threat in breakaways and won the prize as the most combative rider overall in the three-week tour.

In the women’s race earlier, world champion Anna van der Breggen won for the sixth straight time.

Four days after claiming the world champion’s rainbow jersey, Van der Breggen was able to follow an attack from Demi Vollering on the steep climb to the fi nish. Vollering ran out of gas in the fi nal meters and Van der Breggen overpowered Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig to prevail in the sprint.

Vollering completed the podium.Van der Breggen, who also claimed

gold in the road race at the 2016 Rio Olympics, secured a rare double at the world championships last week, win-ning both the road race and the time trial.

Switzerland’s Marc Hirschi of the Sunweb team (center), celebrates on the podium after winning the Belgian cycling classic and UCI World Tour race Fleche Wallonne, in Huy, Belgium, on Sept 30. France’s Benoit Cosnefoy of the AG2R La Mondiale team (left), placed second, and Canada’s Mi-

chael Woods of the EF team placing third. (AP)

New York Yankees’ Gleyber Torres (25) hits an RBI single in the seventh inning of Game 1 of an American League wild-card baseball series against

the Cleveland Indians, on Sept 29, in Cleveland. (AP)

Astros 4, Twins 1In Minneapolis, Jose Altuve drew

a bases-loaded walk to force in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning after a two-out error by shortstop Jorge Polanco, and Houston beat Minnesota to open their AL playoff series and stretch the Twins’ all-time record postseason losing streak to 17 games.

Manager Dusty Baker’s Astros be-came the first team in major league history to win a game after reaching the postseason with a losing record. Game 2 in the best-of-three wild-card

matchup is Wednesday at Target Field.Michael Brantley tacked on a two-

run single in the ninth after Sergio Romo issued a full-count walk to the 5-foot-6 Altuve, the 2017 AL MVP who had a quiet season at the plate.

Framber Valdez, who made 10 regular-season starts for the Astros, pitched five scoreless innings in relief of Zack Greinke for the victory to keep the bullpen fresh for the rest of the se-ries. Valdez allowed his only two hits with one out in the ninth, but Willians Astudillo grounded into a double play to end the game.

Rays 3, Blue Jays 1In St Petersburg, Florida, Blake Snell

took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and top-seeded Tampa Bay opened the play-offs with a win over Toronto.

Manuel Margot hit a two-run hom-er and Randy Arozarena tripled and scored on a wild pitch to give Snell and a dominant Rays bullpen all the offensive support needed to begin the best-of-three matchup.

The AL East champion Rays will try to advance Wednesday in Game 2 at Tropicana Field.

Snell allowed just two baserunners until Alejandro Kirk singled leading off the sixth. The 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner permitted one hit and struck out nine – tying a club postsea-son record – in 5-2/3 innings.

Diego Castillo, Nick Anderson and Pete Fairbanks followed, limiting the wild-card Blue Jays to Bo Bichette’s eighth-inning sacrifice fly. Fairbanks closed for his first save of the season.

CYCLING

CRICKET

‘These Are My Children’

KUNA photoHis Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah inspects the explosion site of Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque.

His Highness the Amir discarded categorizing Kuwaitis as Sunnis and Shi’ites and asserted the fact that they are all “people of Kuwait.” He noted that it was but natural that he hurried to the

site of the explosion immediately after the blast took place.

legacy

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020 16