Wednesday 8 July 2020

17 Dhul-Qa'da - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8312

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HMC warns against taking supplements sans medical advice QNA — DOHA

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has warned against excessive use of supplements without medical consultation, saying it could have dangerous side effects.

HMC said that the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has seen a surge in supplements being promoted on social media sites as an effective treatment and prevention method against the virus, which prompted some residents to rush to local phar-macies and stores to purchase Vitamin C and D, Zinc, and other supplements.

Consultant, Family Medicine at HMC, Dr. Hassan Mohamed Hassan Saqr, said that excessive intake of supplements could have adverse effects, some of which can be dangerous and have serious health risks. He added that it is important for people to get advice from their doctor before taking vitamin and mineral supplements, especially if they are taking medications for chronic health conditions.

"Vitamins and minerals play an important role in strength-ening the body's immune system, but the use of medicines and vitamins to treat or prevent a specific illness or disease must be based on scientific research that confirms their effectiveness. There is no evidence to support claims that certain vitamins or minerals can prevent or treat the new coronavirus. The use of these supplements, without your doctor’s approval, can lead to serious unintended conse-quences, particularly for indi-viduals with health conditions. As an example, suddenly increasing your intake of Vitamin K can have serious consequences for people taking certain blood-thinning medications as it can alter the metabolism of these medications, and toxic levels of Vitamin A during pregnancy may lead to birth defects," he said.

Vitamin C has been studied for many years as a possible treatment for the common cold and seasonal flu, and while some media outlets have reported a

link between Vitamin D defi-ciency and COVID-19 severity and mortality, Dr. Saqr says there is no evidence that either of these vitamins can prevent or treat COVID-19.

"Medical experts have found little to no benefit from Vitamin C for preventing or treating the common cold or seasonal flu, and there is no evidence that this vitamin prevents or treats COVID-19. Taking excessive doses of Vitamin C can, however, cause a variety of side effects, including nausea, diarrhoea, and even kidney stones," he said.

He also said that research on Vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 was too limited to be considered accurate, adding that it would be premature to make any recommendations based on the limited studies conducted. He highlighted that there are serious side effects to long-term or excessive use of Vitamin D sup-plements, including hypercal-cemia, which is an excess of calcium in the blood. Having too much calcium in the blood can lead to a wide range of compli-cations and symptoms, including an irregular heartbeat.

Zinc has also gained popu-larity as a potential COVID-19 treatment, and Dr. Saqr said that the mineral, while essential for immune system function and is important for wound healing and supporting normal growth and development, is not yet proven as an effective prevention or treatment for COVID-19.

"It is always important to talk to your healthcare provider before starting a new vitamin or mineral supplement, especially if you are taking medication or have a health condition. Most people can get all the vitamins and minerals they need through eating a healthy, balanced diet that contains protein, fruits, and vegetables. Eating a healthy diet, along with getting enough sleep and physical activity, and adhering to social distancing and other infection prevention measures, is a much better path towards COVID-19 immunity than is taking vitamin and mineral supplements," he said.

Artworks to add to attractions in Doha, Corniche THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Doha Central and Corniche will be further beautified with artistic creativity of Qatari artists who will create artworks and sculptures for making the entire area into a tourist attraction.

The Committee for Art-works recently signed new contracts with Qatari artists to submit artworks and sculp-tures proposals in various locations within the Devel-opment and Beautification Projects of Doha Central and Corniche, which are imple-mented by the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar at Ashghal.

The Committee of Artwork includes members from the main committee at Ashghal, Qatar Museums, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME).

The signing of contracts was attended by Engineer Yousef Al Emadi, Projects Affairs Director at Ashghal;

Engineer Mohammed Arqoub Al Khaldi, Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar at Ashghal; and Engineer Sara Kafood, a member of the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar; in addition to Qatari artists.

The Qatari artists included Hassan Al Mulla, Salman Al Malik, Ali Hassan, Wafika Al Eissa, Mohammed Al Ateeq and Jameela Al Shuraim.

During the signing of the contracts, social distancing was observed, and all precau-tions were taken to ensure the safety of all in light of the coronavirus crisis.

Speaking on the occasion, Engineer Yousef Al Emadi, Projects Affairs Director at Ashghal, said the contracts signed as part of the devel-opment and beautification projects of Central Doha area — which aims to develop public spaces, sites and streets — raise their aesthetic value and transform the entire area into

a tourist attraction. He added that the works

and artistic designs resulting from the new contracts would create a distinctive spirit for the

area with a special look matching its nature and special design.

Engineer Mohammed Arqoub Al Khaldi, Chairman of

the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar, said the Committee for Artwork aims to enhance the artistic culture

of the people in the State of Qatar, and to highlight the Qatari identity in the field of art and sculpture, by employing artistic creativity of Qatari and Qatar-based artists.

He added that the com-mittee was formed through cooperation between four gov-ernment entities with the aim of implementing artworks, murals and art sculptures to enrich cities and roads with dis-t i n c t i v e a e s t h e t i c manifestations.

Engineer Abdulrahman Al Ishaq, Head of Public Arts Section at Qatar Museums and Head of Technical Committee at the Committee of Artwork, pointed out the importance of cooperation between different government entities to achieve common goals, where work was done to attract and involve the largest possible number of artists and creators to participate in the Devel-opment and Beautification Projects of Doha Central and create a special outlook that makes it an open museum rich in artist’s artwork. �P2

Registration for scholarships now open QNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced yesterday the opening of e-registration for scholarships of undergraduate and post-graduate levels for the academic year 2020/2021, on the government scholarship portal.

The ministry said that the e-registration will be in two phases, starting from Tuesday, until the following Monday for students applying for the fall semester during the month of September. The second phase will be reopened from November 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 for stu-dents applying for the spring semester. �P2

COVID-19 active cases fall below 6,000THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced the registration of 600 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country. Another 1,005 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 94,903. Besides, the Ministry announced one death from the coronavirus. The deceased was aged 61 and was receiving the necessary medical care.

There are currently 5,908 active COVID-19 cases in the country. All new cases have been introduced to isolation and are receiving necessary healthcare according to their health status.

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

Qatar’s economy continues to grow sustainably: EnvoyQNA — BERLIN

Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Federal Republic of Germany, H E Mohammed Jaham Al Kuwari, has said that the Qatari economy continues to grow sustainably, and is creating a wide variety of opportunities for local and foreign investors.

The ambassador said that Qatar has taken several measures to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ambas-sador praised, during an interview with the Near and Middle East Association (NUMOV) publication in its fourth issue for this year, the strong bilateral ties between the two countries, particularly in the economic field. He noted that Qatar is an investor in major German companies and aims to enhance ties with Germany further.

His Excellency said that Qatari invest-ments in Germany were about ¤25bn, and that there are more than 300 German com-panies operating in the Qatari market in various sectors, noting that the measures taken by the State of Qatar to combat the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) have achieved great success.

He said that Qatar looks forward to wel-coming fans of all nationalities to the World Cup 2022. He noted that the State of Qatar continues to prosper, with the country looking to diversify its economic streams

by investing in major companies like Siemens, Deutsche Bank, and Volkswagen. He added that recent years have seen the country become more independent, and invest in new markets through economic partnerships.

The Ambassador said that the State of Qatar is looking to enhance its economic ties with Germany, with a focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which rep-resented 80 percent of German companies in 2018.

He referred to the announcement by Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of investing ¤10bn to enhance

economic cooperation between Qatar and Germany in different fields, including, health, education, and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

On the measures that Qatar took to combat COVID-19, Al Kuwari said that Qatar responded quickly and understood early on the dangerous impact of the crisis. He added that the country relied on its experience in managing crises and on its medical institutions while benefiting from the best international practices. He noted that the plans were all implemented in cooperation with international organisa-tions. �P2

NEW RECOVERIES

ACTIVE CASES

TOTAL RECOVERIES

TOTAL DEATHS

1,005

5,908 94,903134

NEW CASES ANNOUNCED

600

COVID-19QATAR UPDATES ON 7 JULY 2020

11,847,808

543,606

6,813,707

TOTAL POSITIVE

TOTAL DEATHS

TOTAL RECOVERED

GLOBALLY

Ashghal signs contracts with Qatari artists to install art pieces including sculptures as part of the Development and Beautification Projects of Doha Central and Corniche.

Officials say artworks at the newly-developed public spaces, sites and streets will transform the entire area into a rich open-air museum.

The proposed sculptures and murals will reflect the identity, heritage and history of Qatar.

Qatar is preparing an ambitious strategy that will diversify the economy and limit the impact of energy prices on the economy in the future. Qatari investments in Germany are about ¤25bn, and there are more than 300 German companies operating in the Qatari market.

H E Mohammed Jaham Al KuwariAmbassador of the State of Qatar to the Federal Republic of Germany

BUSINESS | 13 PENMAG | 15 SPORT | 20

‘Do it your way’:

Root tells

stand-in skipper

Stokes

Classifieds

and Services

section

included

PPP law will help

enhance integration

of public and

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02 WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 03.21 am 04.50 am

W A L R U WA I S : 30o↗ 38o W A L K H O R : 32o↗ 42o W D U K H A N : 29o↗ 47o W WA K R A H : 28o↗ 45o W M E S A I E E D 29o↗ 43o W A B U S A M R A 29o↗ 43o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 05:25 – 18:59 LOW TIDE 02:23– 12:51

Misty at places at first becomes hot daytime with slight dust

and relatively hot by night.

Minimum Maximum33oC 43oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.39 am06.30 pm

ASR ISHA

03.03 pm08.00 pm

President of Cypriot Parliament meets Qatar’s Ambassador

President of the Cypriot Parliament, H E Dimitris Syllouris, met with Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Cyprus, H E Sultan bin Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, on the occasion of the end of his tenure. During the meeting, they reviewed bilateral relations and issues of common concern.

OFFICIAL NEWS

Al Muraikhi receives phone call from UK Minister of State

DOHA: Minister of State for For-

eign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al

Muraikhi received yesterday a phone

call from UK Minister of State for the

Middle East and North Africa H E

James Cleverly. During the phone

call, the two sides reviewed the bilat-

eral cooperation as well as issues

of common concern.-QNA

Al Muraikhi receives call from Kosovo’s Deputy FMDOHA: Minister of State for For-

eign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad

Al Muraikhi received yesterday a

phone call from Deputy Minister of

Foreign Affairs of the Republic of

Kosovo H E Muhamet Brajshori. The

call dealt with reviewing bilateral

cooperation, in addition to issues

of common interest. -QNA

Shura Council participates in International Parliamentary Conference on COVID-19 and gender equality QNA — DOHA

The Shura Council participated yesterday in a parliamentary conference held by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network on COVID-19 and gender equality. The conference took place using video conference technology.

The conference focused on the topic of gender equality and the impact COVID-19 on women around the world, particularly in the fields of work, health, and the increase of violence against women. The Shura Council was represented during the con-ference by members Ismael bin Mohammed Al Emadi, and Dr. Hind bint Abdulrahman Al Muftah.

The Shura Council members Dr. Hind bint Abdulrahman Al Muftah (left), and Ismael bin Mohammed Al Emadi taking part in a parliamentary conference held by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Caring for the mental health in post COVID-19: HMC encourages to seek helpFAZEENA SALEEMTHE PENINSULA

As COVID-19 restrictions ease and people move into a ‘new normal,’ there is still the potential for their mental wellbeing to be adversely impacted, according to psychiatrist.

Generalised anxiety, adjustment disorder and panic disorder are common mental health conditions seen with the beginning of COVID-19 pan-demic and it is likely to continue during the gradual lifting of restrictions and post COVID-19, said Dr. Mustafa Abdul Karim, Psychiatry Resident, Mental Health Service, Hamad Medical Corporation.

“Fear, worry, and stress are normal responses to perceived or real threats, and at times when we are faced with uncertainty or the unknown. So it is normal and understandable that people are experiencing fear in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. If anyone is experiencing stress or anxiety related to COVID-19, it is highly recommended to contact the mental health hotline 16000,” he told The Peninsula..

According to Dr. Abdul

Karim, during lifting of restric-tions, some people may feel par-ticularly anxious about recon-necting. For example, people with social anxiety might expe-rience heightened anxiety about the prospect of socialising again. Also people who fear germs, such as some people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), might worry about re-entering public spaces.

Individuals who were already struggling with mental illness before COVID-19 are now facing even greater challenges and some relapse from recovery of mental health problems.

“Stress during COVID-19 out-break can sometimes cause changes in sleep or eating pat-terns, difficulty in sleeping or concentrating, worsening of chronic health problems, wors-

ening of mental health condi-tions,” said Dr. Abdul Karim.

Dr. Abdul Karim explained that a psychiatric emergency is an acute disturbance of behaviour, thought or mood of a patient which if untreated may lead to harm, either to the indi-vidual or to others in the envi-ronment. Further, based on data from the 2013-2016 Ebola epi-demics and the SARS pandemic of 2003, those who are quaran-tined are at risk of developing mental disorders like depression.

“Some research show those who are quarantined can have mental stress for more than six months. For temporary stress and anxiety seeking help from mental health hotline is recom-mended,” said Dr. Abdul Karim.

Dr. Abdul Karim also advised people to take care of their body, to eat healthy, well balanced meals, do exercise and get plenty of sleep. “Anxiety levels can be reduced by doing regular exercise, avoiding smoking and having a balance diet. Coping with stress in a healthy way will make you, the people you care about, and your community stronger,” he added.

QDA holds diabetes prevention camps online

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA), a member of Qatar Foundation, concluded yesterday the activities of the “Sahaty Online” camp for boys.

The camp targeted young people with overweight teen-agers with family history of diabetes, who participated in two days of events through Visual Communication Tech-nology (ZOOM) and Instagram in collaboration with the Qatar Sports for All Federation.

The camp’s activities included nutrition workshops on healthy meal planning, sports classes and a self-development workshop aimed at teaching participants how to make their own health choices, engage in an active lifestyle to reduce excess weight and prevent type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Abdulla Al Hamaq, Executive Director of Qatar Diabetes Association, said, “We strive to reduce the increase in type 2 diabetes among young people in Qatar by encouraging and training them to adopt healthy life-styles and understanding that preventing type 2 diabetes is possible through nutrition and exercise. Nutrition plays a key role in preventing diabetes, so it’s important to eat low-car-bohydrate foods and high-fiber foods while avoiding sweets, sweetened drinks and juices.”

Anxiety, adjustment disorder and panic disorder are common mental health conditions seen with the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic.

Artworks to add to attractions in Doha, Corniche

FROM PAGE 1

Engineer Sara Kafood, Designs Manager at Super-visory Committee of Beautifi-cation of Roads and Public Places in Qatar, said that the contracts were signed with Qatari Artists to submit prelim-inary artwork proposals for sculptures and murals that reflect the identity of Qatar in the eyes of its citizens. She added that there would be dif-ferent locations in many areas in Qatar, which will be announced later in conjunction with the project schedule, in coordination with Qatar Museums, MME and the Min-istry of Culture.

Artist Hassan Al Mulla

declared that he would work hard to present an artwork that matches the nature of the project, and added that the art-works implemented in those areas should be designed to integrate with the surrounding environment and attract vis-itors to it.

Artist Salman Al Malik expressed his happiness on the support of the committee for the Qatari artists and their involvement in the implemen-tation of murals and artwork in important areas in the country. He expressed his pride to be invited to sign this con-tract to provide artistic, cultural and intellectual services related to arts and sculptures that are in line with the nature of the

place.Artist Ali Hassan said that

he would like to thank the com-mittee for inviting him to submit artwork proposal for one of the projects. The pro-posed sites should be studied well to provide artwork that are integrated with them and we will all work together to make our country beautiful.

Artist Wafika Al Eissa said that she was pleased to sign the contract and to be chosen to participate in submitting

proposals for murals and artwork for areas in Qatar, adding that it is important to educate the public about the importance of having artworks that give a distinctive aesthetic spirit to roads and sites, it also contributes to linking the artwork to the area mentally.

Artist Mohammed Al Ateeq pointed out that Qatar has its unique character and cultural heritage, so the implementation of sculptures and works of art related to this character will

certainly enhance the overall aesthetic appearance. He added that he had always aspired to make his mark on the land of his beloved country Qatar.

Artist Jameela Al Shuraim said she was delighted to be invited to submit artworks pro-posals for important projects in Qatar. She said she was proud that Qatar has many cul-tural and artistic places such as National Museum of Qatar, Museum of Islamic Art and Souq Waqif.

Artist Salman Al Malek signing the contract with Ashghal to submit proposals for artworks under the Development and Beautification Projects of Doha Central and Corniche.

Qatar’s economy continues to grow sustainably: EnvoyFROM PAGE 1

The strict measures imple-mented by Qatar included sus-pending schools and univer-sities, limiting gatherings in public places, closing malls and parks, in addition to limiting the number of employees allowed to go to work and lim-iting work hours. Qatar’s health sector offered a hotline around the clock for the public, in

addition to building hospitals that had a total capacity of 14,000 beds.

Qatar is also using Roche’s Cobas 6,800 system, which could conduct 1,200 tests in 24 hours. The country also ensured the availability of pro-tective equipment in the market. There were also new factories that were built to meet demand. He noted that t h e c o u n t r y

built a self-sufficient economy following the blockade, and managed to navigate the current critical period successfully.

He shed light on the coop-eration between Qatar and Germany in repatriating 70,000 German citizens through Qatar Airways. Qatar also provided medical equipment to many countries such as Italy, Iran, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Nepal.

On the repercussions of the coronavirus, he stressed that the Qatari economy continues its growth, noting that the country is working on main-taining the prosperity of the economy. The Ambassador highlighted the steps taken by the state to enhance its repu-tation as a reputable supplier of LNG to the entire world, with the agreement with China on that front the latest evidence of

that. He also noted that Qatar is the second biggest producer of Helium, adding that the state is preparing an ambitious strategy that will diversify the economy and limit the impact of energy prices on the economy in the future. As for Qatar’s preparations to host the World Cup 2022, the Ambas-sador said that hosting the finals will contribute to realising Qatar National Vision 2030.

Registration for scholarships now open

FROM PAGE 1

The Ministry stressed the need to fulfil the general and special conditions for scholar-ships, noting that incomplete applications or applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

Moreover, the Ministry also confirmed that the process of registering at the portal and reviewing the application does not neces-sarily mean accepting the scholarships request.

Those wishing to get acquainted with the list of accredited universities for scholarships and available majors can view them through the link of the government scholarship programme, and they can also contact the fol-lowing e-mail for more details: registration.Admission@edu.gov.qa

03WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020 HOME

50,000 workers served at QRCS Mekaines virus quarantine facilityTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Since Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) was assigned by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) late in March 2020 to operate the Mekaines quar-antine and isolation facility for workers, it has received around 50,000 workers, including 12,000 suspected cases and 38,000 confirmed cases,” said Dr. Hassan Ali Kassem, Chief Medical Officer of QRCS’s Medical Affairs Division.

“The medical services at Mekaines start at the very point when the guests arrive by buses to the reception point, which is open 24/7,” he explained.

“It is a large, well-protected hall designed to receive the new patients. The medical staff there register the personal data of guests into the system and make the triage process according to certain criteria to determine who is to be admitted and who are to be referred to other iso-lation places for more spe-cialised medical care. These cri-teria include age, chronic dis-eases (such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiothoracic problems, renal failure, or autoimmune disorders), and severe respiratory symptoms like difficulty breathing or acute

cough. Everything is coordi-nated with the COVID-19 System Wide Incident Command Committee (SWICC).

“We make sure that every patient has Ehteraz App on his smartphone. For those who do not, we help them to download and install it. We also

double-check the swab results to make sure that all of them are positive. Then, each patient is given a hygiene kit and a card with block number, villa number, and room number. Finally, the new admissions are transported by buses to their accommoda-tions at the Red Zone.

“To respect the cultural and religious backgrounds of the patients, every patient is asked about his preferable diet (veg-etarian, Asian, Arabic, etc.) and rituals of worship. Those with similar nationalities are accom-modated together, to ensure familiarity and socialisation.

“The accommodation period is 14 days on average. Each block is divided into four zones, each with a medical clinic where a GP and nurse are stationed to make regular examinations for patients at the Red Zone.

“The medical professionals wear full personal protective equipment (PPE), and all the medical devices and consum-ables remain inside the clinic. Medical examinations and med-icines are given to the patients for free.

“In case of emergency, there is a phone and WhatsApp number that can be used by the patients to call the doctor 24/7. Or they can call the hotline 16006 or talk to the nearest guard at the zone’s gate.

“As regards psychological support and health education, a specialised team holds daily activities to improve the morale of the quarantined guests. As per the SWICC instructions, a list of those eli-gible for discharge is prepared on a day-to-day basis, after making sure that they have completed 14 days in isolation, are in good health, and have Ehteraz App activated. Every day in the afternoon, the dis-charged workers are

transported by buses to their respective homes, where they are required to stay in self-iso-lation for additional seven days. After that, they can resume their normal lives.

“The Mekaines began with small numbers (around 3,000 guests) and expanded gradually to accommodate at some point as many as 12,000 quarantine persons. First, it had been intended for quarantine, but early in May, it was trans-formed into an isolation centre for confirmed infections. To meet the increasing demand, QRCS brought around 150 phy-sicians, nurses, and technicians to provide medical services at Mekaines.

“I would like to thank those who supported us in this great work, including MOPH; Hamad Medical Corporation (MHC); the Ministry of Interior (MOI); the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour, and Social Affairs; government organizations; NGOs; com-panies; and individuals. This could only happen with the efforts of all QRCS staff and volunteers, who were dedi-cated enough to stay at Mekaines all the time to meet the needs of the inmates,” Dr. Kassem concluded.

Dr. Hassan Ali Kassem (right), Chief Medical Officer of Qatar Red Crescent Society's Medical Affairs Division, discussing work matters with team members.

HMC expands health services provided for elderly patientsQNA — DOHA

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has announced the expansion of health services provided to the elderly to deliver comprehensive care for those who are over 60 years by providing them with services throughout the day.

The Corporation provides, through Department of Geri-atrics, day care services to the elderly from 7am to 10pm in an effort to reduce crowding, which might happen if the service is limited to one period, in addition to working to accommodate a large number of patients throughout the day.

The Department of Geriatrics at HMC called on elderly patients to take advantage of the services provided in the day care unit by coming to the unit at any time of the day from 7am to 10pm.

Dr. Hanadi Al Hamad, the Medical Director of Rumailah Hospital and Qatar Rehabili-tation Institute, has said in a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), that the day care unit is working to provide its services to the elderly (aged 60 years and over) who suffer from non-serious medical problems that do not pose a threat to life, but still needs attention.

Day care services are pro-vided by a medical team special-ising in geriatrics in a less crowded and friendly envi-ronment for the concerned age group, as each case is carefully assessed and the patients’ requirements are managed quickly and flexibly.

The elderly can also directly

contact the day care unit to book appointments by calling the des-ignated numbers, which are 33253128 or 55193240.

Dr. Hanadi Al Hamad, who is also the National Lead for the “Healthy Ageing” Priority within the National Health Strategy, explained that the Department of Geriatrics at HMC provides many diverse services that serve the elderly, including outpatient clinics in Rumailah Hospital, which has 10 clinics and there are consultants and medical staff examining the patients and pro-viding appropriate diagnosis and treatment plan for each case.

The Department of Geriatrics at HMC has established a unit for acute cases in Rumailah Hospital that need care for several days by an integrated medical team. The unit receives cases that are transferred from Hamad General Hospital emergency room or from day care unit that needs hospital admission.

Dr. Hanadi Al Hamad indi-cated that this recently-opened unit at Rumailah Hospital

complements new services that have been recently introduced to provide a safe alternative for the elderly during the current conditions emerging from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Raha, a service to help the elderly with Alzheimer’s and poor memory represented by Raha line is a national line to help Alzheimer’s patients and those with poor memory.

Raha service provides assistance and support in strict confidentiality for people with Alzheimer’s disease and their families, and the call is received by specialists from the medical team and directed to the patient.

The elderly telephone reas-surance service workers com-municate with the elderly to check on them, introduce them to the services provided by the institution, learn about their health and medical problems and provide appropriate advice to them. During the past weeks, more than 13,000 elderly people were contacted, they were given the necessary advice and informed in detail about the health and medical services available to them.

Dr. Al Hamad pointed out that the Department of Geriatrics provides services for patients that are in Long Term Care Department in the Rumailah Hospital or in care centres or support centres in Hamad Medical City. There are medical staff that supervises part of the elderly patients inside Hamad General Hospital, and an inte-grated medical team that pro-vides counselling services for the elderly in Al Wakra Hospital.

DFI-backed Arab films soon to hit NetflixRAYNALD C RIVERATHE PENINSULA

A number of critically acclaimed Arab films supported by Doha Film Institute (DFI) will soon be available for cinephiles to binge-watch on streaming giant Netflix.

Capharnaum, Sofia, Papicha, A Son, and You Will Die at Twenty comprise the exciting new slate of Arab films co-financed by DFI which will be available to a wider international audience as they mark their Netflix premiere.

“Film fans eager to explore some of the best of what Arab cinema has to offer will soon be able to enjoy these DFI-sup-ported Arab films on Netflix,” DFI has tweeted.

Directed by Nadine Labaki,

Academy-award nominated film Capharnaum retraces the journey of 12-year-old Zain, who decides to sue his parents for having brought him into this world when they clearly can’t give him the care he so desper-ately needs. The film also earned

Golden Globe and BAFTA nom-inations and went on to win the Jury Prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and a string of other accolades in the festival circuit.

Sofia by Meryem Benm’Barek is about the pregnant namesake protagonist who lives with her

parents in a modest apartment in Casablanca. The film won the Best Screenplay award at Cannes 2018, where it screened in the Un Certain Regard segment.

Helmed by Algerian director Mounia Meddour, Papicha is set in 1990s Algeria and follows the life of a free-spirited young student as she refuses to allow the tragic events of the Algerian Civil War keep her from experi-encing a normal young woman’s

life. Award-winning Tunisian film A Son is the first feature film by Mehdi Barsaoui. It is a family drama which follows the story of a wealthy Tunisian family during an armed ambush of their car, prompting buried family truths to resurface.

Amjad Abu Alala’s festival favourite You Will Die at Twenty takes a poignant look at the life of Muzamel, a Sudanese boy cursed by a Dervish prophecy

that he will die at the age of twenty, and how an old cinema projector opens a window to a whole new world for him. It won the Lion of the Future (Luigi de Laurentiis) Award for Best Debut Feature at the 76th Venice Inter-national Film Festival.

Beauty and the Dogs, Wajib, and Oscar-nominee Theeb are among the other acclaimed films supported by DFI that are cur-rently streaming on Netflix.

A still from the film You Will Die at Twenty.

A still from the film Sofia.

Winners of fifth edition of FameLab national competition announcedTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

For the fifth consecutive year, FameLab, one of the biggest science communication competitions in the world, took place in Qatar.

FameLab was initiated by Cheltenham Science Festivals in the UK, and brought to Qatar by the British Council in part-nership with Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) — a member of Qatar Foundation (QF) — and supported by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

FameLab is a competition for scientific communication where the participants present scientifically proven ideas to a general public audience in just three minutes.

The judging is based on clarity, scientific content and performance on the stage. The participants in FameLab are divided into two categories: students, and adults (including teachers and researchers).

Nearly 300 participants took part in this year’s FameLab

competition. All of them were trained to compete to reach the finals. Twenty-one participants who made it to the finals received an intensive Science Communication training delivered by experienced and qualified international science communicators from the United Kingdom.

The National Final was held online on July 6. More than 200 people watched the finals where the winners were announced at the end of the ceremony.

The first three places from the students’ category were won respectively by Ahmed Walid Rabiea from Doha Sec-ondary school, who came first, Omar Mohammed from Al Zubara School came second, and third place went to Dalal Al Suwaidi from Al Bayan School.

From Adults’ category, Ahmed Al Maani from Qatar Science and Technology Sec-ondary School won the first place and will represent Qatar at the international finals at Cheltenham Science Festival in

the United Kingdom. Abdul Saboor Saeed from

Qatar University won second place in the finals.

Ahmed Al Maani, FameLab National winner for 2020 from Adults category, said, “The FameLab experience is one of the most beautiful experiences in my life, I got to know friends and learned new information, and most importantly, I gained an important lesson in life, which is that you have to per-severe and try to reach your goal.

“I participated for three years in a row and finally suc-ceeded and achieved my goal and became the National Qatar Finalist for 2019/2020. Thanks to FameLab.”

Students’ category National winner, Ahmed Walid said, “ My FameLab journey was a war. I fought with passion not weapons. Never though of being a FameLab winner; but my heart has been always beating with enthusiasm. I can now say that FameLab truly revealed my ardour.”

Nearly 300 people participated in this year’s FameLab competition.

The Corporation provides, through Department of Geriatrics, day care services to the elderly from 7am to 10pm in an effort to reduce crowding, which might happen if the service is limited to one period.

04 WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020HOME

Integrated QRCS efforts produced impressive results locally & internationally: Al MalikiTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The different divisions and departments of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) have been working in full coordi-nation, which reflected posi-tively on the organisation’s reputation and professional performance in providing humanitarian assistance for the vulnerable locally and interna-tionally, said Engineer Ibrahim Abdullah Al Maliki, QRCS’s Chief Executive Director and Acting General-Director of the Relief and International Development Division.

In a statement, Engr Al-Maliki emphasised the suc-cessive achievements made by QRCS since year-start, thanks to the concerted efforts and unity of the divisions, which made the organisation stronger and more goal-oriented.

“QRCS spares no effort to attain its principled goals,” said Engr Al Maliki. “As human resources are key to any suc-cessful work, QRCS hires com-petent and highly qualified staff and offers them many training courses to boost their

knowledge and skills up to the latest technological and scien-tific advancements, to have the proficiency required to implement humanitarian, development, and social pro-grams. Also, recognising the important role of volunteers, they are considered central to QRCS, and they receive quali-fying courses in the relevant fields”.

“Even though working from home, both the staff and

volunteers showed harmony in undertaking the growing responsibilities amid COVID-19, taking the noble goal of helping those in need and serving the country as top priority.

“To maintain social dis-tancing, the divisions utilised modern technology and online workflow. The COVID-19 Crisis Management Committee used webinars to monitor the situ-ation locally and globally and adjust their plans to the

programs of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).

“The Communication Department relied heavily on the internet to publish multilingual informative materials on the website, social media platforms, and mass media channels. It also introduced the public to QRCS’s local and international opera-tions, enhancing the credibility of the organisation.

“QRCS’s Resources Mobili-zation Department created

diverse remote modes of donation, such as the hotline, website, and mobile app, to ensure that donations are received and handled safely.

“Similarly, the Relief and International Development Division used the internet to complete QRCS’s ongoing projects. Despite the current conditions, many local and international relief projects have been accomplished suc-cessfully, by virtue of the staff’s

huge efforts and humanitarian commitment. We will continue to reach out to the vulnerable and speak up for just humani-tarian causes around the world.

“After all, some jobs had to be done in the field. The staff members who were required to be physically present at work locations have all the time been there for the beneficiaries, while duly observing preventive measures to protect against the virus,” he said.

UK visa services in Qatar resume at new location

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

UK visas and immigration has begun a phased resumption of services at the newly relocated UK Visa Appli-cation Centre in Doha.

Customers can now submit appli-cations and enjoy an enhanced appli-cation process at the spacious and centrally-located new UK Visa Appli-cation Centre at Level -1, Al Nuaimi Building, Oqba Ibn Nafie Street, Airport Road, Doha.

As part of health precautions, only customers with a prior appointment may visit the centre to submit their applications and enrol biometrics.

Customers who were unable to attend an earlier appointment at the centre prior to the lockdown, will now be able to log into their account to book a new appointment. Cus-tomers who had completed their application on GOV.UK before lockdown, but didn’t previously book an appointment at the visa appli-cation centre, can now also book an appointment.

Some services are currently sus-pended, like, super priority visa, pri-ority visa (for visit visas), priority visa

for settlement and walk-in service.Customers are also advised that

there are new rules in place for entering the UK due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Customers are encouraged to visit UK government’s website, https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control, before the travel schedule to check the latest update.

As part of VFS Global health and safety measures for the prevention of COVID-19, which are in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation and local authorities, customers visiting the centre should observe physical

distancing, undergo temperature checks and required to wear facemasks.

Submission of visa application for customers with COVID-19 symptoms, including fever (higher than 37.3 degrees Celsius), cough or difficulty in breathing will be reschedule for another day.

Customer can also opt for courier return of documents (available at a nominal fee). For customers who will be coming to the centre to pick up their passports, VFS Global will contact them to arrange the appointment for the collection of their passports.

UK Visa Application Centre resumed operations with safety measures.

Talabat delivery app goes green for groceriesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Talabat, the region’s leading food and grocery delivery app, stays true to its promise for a greener environment by using recycled materials as delivery boxes. This green packaging initiative will be available for all grocery orders made through the app from stores such as Carrefour, Spar, and Monoprix.

Talabat sets another first in the delivery industry in Qatar by using recycled boxes made by Elite Paper Recycling (EPR), the only Qatar-based manufacturer of recycled products. After working together for the Eco-Dome Project, Talabat responds to EPR’s call for a more sustainable environment through the green box implementation.

Talabat is following the necessary safety measures, including the use of cardboard boxes as recommended by WHO. Based on research, it was shown that the COVID-19 virus can survive for up to 72 hours on plastic and less than 24 hrs on cardboard.

Francisco Miguel de Sousa, Talabat Qatar’s Managing Director, said: “Talabat is proud to be using Qatari products by Elite Paper Recy-cling. This recycled box initiative is just the beginning of Talabat’s green building transformation.

We all have a role to play in shaping a sustainable future, and this is just one of our many initiatives to

come and be in line with the Qatar Sustainability and the Qatar National Vision 2030.”

‘We are very pleased with our cooperation with Talabat, the leading online platform industry. Talabat will be the first company to deliver customers’ orders using recycled cardboard as this cooperation will move to other stages in the future,” stated Abdullah Ibrahim Al Suwaidi,

Chairman of Elite Paper Recycling.“This campaign was launched

amidst the COVID-19 crisis outbreak and is the first of its kind in Qatar and we are very proud to say that it’s 100 percent Made in Qatar & 100 percent recyclable and eco friendly. It is a true showcase that even during crisis times it is possible to evolve as a business, adding value and showing solidarity to our community as well as raising awareness on important issues like recycling, going green and “Stay home-Save Lives. On the other hand, this collaboration fully supports local SMEs, encourages CSR Strategies and of course helps to develop the circular economy in Qatar,” said Catina Aghayan EPR Communications Strategy Advisor.

Talabat is participating in many ways to save the environment.

A ‘No Cutlery’ option is also available in the app to opt from using plastic utensils.

Officials of Talabat and Elite Paper Recycling during the event.

Over 3,000 inspection drives conducted in 6 months by Al Shamal Municipality

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Over 3,000 inspection drives were conducted on food estab-lishments by Al Shamal Munici-pality during the first half of this year. The Municipality’s inspectors shut down three food establishments and recorded 15 violations for the law No 8 on the regulation of human food control.

The veterinarians of the Health Monitoring Section of the Munic-ipality checked 3,438 slaughtered animals, of which 32 were destroyed as they were found unfit for human consumption. Also, they sent 44 samples of fish to the central laboratory.

Meanwhile, Umm Salal Municipality, during the first six months of this year, conducted 1,614 inspection visits and regis-tered 257 violations. The Munic-ipality also has removed 271 abandoned vehicles in collabo-ration with the Joint Committee for Removing Abandoned Vehicles, in addition to receiving 134 complaints.

Also in Al Khor and Al Thakhira Municipality, the Technical Supervision Section of the Municipality intensified inspection campaigns on workers camps within family residential areas in Al Khor in June. During the campaign, 53

warnings were issued and 53 violations were registered.

The Municipality has urged people to abide by the provisions of law No. (15) of 2010 on the prohibition of workers camps within family residential areas amended by Law No 22 of 2019. The vio-lators should evacuate their places to avoid legal actions.

An official checking the food items during the inspection in an outlet.

Children holding school materials during the relief project of QRCS.

Russian-Turkish joint patrol in Syria

05WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020 GULF / MIDDLE EAST

UN expert: US killing of Iran’s top general unlawful AFP — GENEVA

The US drone strike that killed Iran’s top general Qasem Sole-imani was “unlawful”, the United Nations expert on extra-judicial killings concluded in a report released yesterday.

Agnes Callamard (pic-tured), the UN special rap-porteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary execu-tions, concluded it was an “arbitrary killing” that violated the UN charter.

The US had provided no evidence that an imminent attack against US interest was being planned, she wrote.

The independent rights expert does not speak for the United Nations but reports her findings to it.

Her report on targeted killings through armed drones —around half of which deals with the Soleimani case— is to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva tomorrow.

The United States withdrew from the council in 2018.

US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Soleimani in a January 3 drone strike near Baghdad international airport.

Soleimani, a national hero at home, was “the world’s top terrorist” and “should have been terminated long ago”, Trump said at the time.

Iraqi commander Abu

Mahdi Al Muhandis was also killed in the drone strike.

“In light of the evidence that the US has provided to date, the targeting of General Soleimani, and the deaths of those accom-panying him, constitute an arbi-trary killing for which, under IHRL (international human rights law), the US is responsible,” Cal-lamard said in her report.

She said the strike violated the UN Charter, with

“insufficient evidence provided of an ongoing or imminent attack,” she wrote.

“No evidence has been pro-vided that General Soleimani specifically was planning an imminent attack against US interests, particularly in Iraq, for which immediate action was necessary and would have been justified,” Callamard said.

“No evidence has been pro-vided that a drone strike in a third country was necessary or that the harm caused to that country was proportionate to the harm allegedly averted.

“Soleimani was in charge of Iran’s military strategy, and actions, in Syria and Iraq. But absent an actual imminent threat to life, the course of action taken by the US was unlawful.” The killing of Sole-imani, who headed the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, provoked massive out-pourings of grief in Iran.

Tehran retaliated by firing a volley of ballistic missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq. While the attack on the western Iraqi base of Ain Al Asad killed no US soldiers, dozens suffered brain trauma. Callamard’s report addresses targeted killings through armed drones, in light of the proliferation in drone use and their expanding capability over the last five years.

Kuwait to disburse $780m to 70,000 citizens in private sectorREUTERS — KUWAIT

Kuwait will disburse some 240.5m dinars ($780m) to support Kuwaiti citizens employed in the private sector as part of efforts to soften the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the finance ministry said.

The Public Authority for Man-power will transfer sums to Kuwaiti business owners and private sector employees for six months effective from last month.

Only around 70,000

Kuwaiti citizens work in the private sector, where most employees are foreigners. As companies have laid off large numbers of foreign workers, the government has sought to retain Kuwaitis.

Most Kuwaitis work in the state sector, which has not experienced mass layoffs during the coronavirus crisis. Kuwait has long tried to encourage more of its cit-izens to accept private sector jobs, and gives such workers

extra government benefits.The finance ministry

approved the disbursal this week following a June 1 request from the manpower authority, which said the payments were “to preserve the national employment gains in the private sector and enhance job security for this segment”.

Kuwait’s finances have been squeezed by the twin shock of the coronavirus pan-demic and low oil prices.

Arabs call for international stance against Israeli annexationANATOLIA — AMMAN

Nine Arab countries yesterday called for an effective interna-tional stance against an Israeli plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

The foreign ministers including Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman and Kuwait held a virtual meeting

yesterday. A statement issued following the meeting called on the international com-munity to take “clear and effective measures to prevent the implementation of the Israeli annexation plan to safeguard international law and peace”.

It also underlined the need to return to serious and

effective talks for solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution.

The Arab ministers reit-erated their support to the 2000 Arab Peace Initiative, which offers Israel full diplo-matic recognition from the Arab states in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Arab

land occupied in 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu has vowed to start annexing all settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank as of July 1.

The move, however, appears to have come to a halt

in light of widespread interna-tional rejection of the plan along with differences with the US administration on its application.

International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “occupied terri-tories” and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.

Iran records highest daily virus deaths since outbreakANATOLIA — TEHRAN

Iran yesterday recorded the highest single-day deaths from coronavirus since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country in mid-February.

Health Ministry spokes-person Sima Sadat Lari said 200 people had succumbed to the virus in the past 24 hours.

The overall death toll has now reached 11,931 while the total number of people infected by the deadly virus stands at 245,688. In the past 24 hours, 2,637 new cases were recorded.

The startlingly steep jump in fatalities has taken both the health authorities and people by surprise. The pre-vious record single-day death toll was 163 on July 5, and before that 162 on June 29.

Iran, one of the first coun-tries in the region to see the outbreak of COVID-19, reported its first two deaths on Feb. 19 in the city of Qom, 140 km south of Tehran.

In the first wave of the virus, the highest single-day

deaths (158) were reported on April 4, after which the fatal-ities gradually dropped before touching the lowest mark - 34 - on May 25.

The record daily infec-tions in the initial phase— 3,186 - were reported on March 30, which later dropped to its lowest— 802— on May 2, before a new surge took single-day cases to 3,374 again on June 4.

In April, both daily deaths and infections saw a signif-icant drop, prompting the authorities to ease the pan-demic-related restrictions.

However, a new wave has engulfed the country in recent weeks, with daily cases tottering in the range of 2,400 and 2,700, and deaths touching new peak every day.

To address the situation deemed grave by many health experts, the gov-e r n m e n t m a d e t h e observance of health protocol mandatory from July 5, including wearing of masks in public places.

Hezbollah, Hamas

blast Israel’s

annexation plans

AP — BEIRUT

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and the Palestinian Hamas said Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank is an “aggression against the Pales-tinian people” and called for unity to confront it.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah sent a letter to Hez-bollah’s chief Hassan Nas-rallah in which he said that the Palestinian cause is facing “grave dangers,” according to a statement released by the Lebanese group.

Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu has vowed to annex up to 30% of the occupied West Bank in line with President Donald Trump’s Middle East plan, which overwhelmingly favors Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians.

But the move appears to be on hold at the moment, as Israel grapples with a renewed coronavirus outbreak and awaits a final green light from Washington. Israel also faces heavy opposition from the international community and some of its closest allies.

“The Palestinian people are capable of confronting this plan,” the Hezbollah statement said. It called on Arab and Muslim nations and “free people of the world to quickly move to stop the occupation’s continuous aggression against the Palestinian people.”

Both the Hezbollah and the Hamas have fought several wars with Israel over the past decades.

Russian and Turkish military armoured vehicles and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) drive together in a joint patrol along the M4 highway, which links the northern Syrian provinces of Aleppo and Latakia, near Ariha in Syria’s rebel-held northwestern Idlib province, yesterday.

Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said it was an “arbitrary killing” that violated the UN charter. Her report on targeted killings is to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva tomorrow.

Kuwait reports 601 new virus infections, 4 deathsQNA & ANATOLIA — KUWAIT

The Ministry of Health announced yesterday, 601 new infections of the coronavirus (COVID-19), raising the total to 51,245. Deaths reached 377 with the addition of four fatalities.

Official spokesperson of the Ministry of Health Dr. Abdullah Al Sanad said that the new cases were in contact with previously infected people or are being investigated for sources of infection.

Earlier, the Health Ministry announced recovery of 514 people from the coronavirus, bringing the tally to 41,515.

Health authorities in Saudi Arabia regis-tered additional fatalities due to the novel coro-navirus yesterday, as the Middle East continues to battle the disease.

The Saudi Health Ministry said 49 people had died from COVID-19, pushing the nationwide death toll to 2,017. The virus has also sickened 3,392 more people, bringing the total infections to 217,108.

06 WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Ethiopia PM says unrest will not derail filling of Nile damAFP — ADDIS ABABA

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said yesterday that recent domestic unrest would not derail his plan to start filling a mega-dam on the Blue Nile River this month, despite objec-tions from downstream neigh-bours Egypt and Sudan.

Violence broke out last week in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and the sur-rounding Oromia region fol-lowing the shooting death of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular singer from the Oromo ethnic group, Ethiopia’s largest.

More than 160 people died in inter-ethnic killings and in clashes between protesters and security forces, according to the

latest official toll provided over the weekend.

Abiy said last week that Hachalu’s killing and the vio-lence that ensued were part of a plot to sow unrest in Ethiopia, without identifying who he thought was involved.

Yesterday he went a step further, saying it was specifi-cally intended to throw Ethio-pia’s plans for the Grand Ethi-opian Renaissance Dam off course.

“The desire of the breaking news is to make the Ethiopian government take its eye off the dam,” Abiy said during a question-and-answer session with lawmakers, without giving evidence to support the claim.

Ethiopia sees the Grand

Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as essential to its electrification and development, while Egypt and Sudan worry it will restrict access to vital Nile waters.

Addis Ababa has long intended to begin filling the dam’s reservoir this month —in the middle of its rainy season — while Cairo and Khartoum are pushing for the three coun-tries to first reach an agreement on how it will be operated.

Talks between the three nations resumed last week.

Ethiopian officials have not publicised the exact day they intend to start filling the dam.

But Abiy yesterday reit-erated Ethiopia’s position that the filling process is an essential

element of the dam’s con-struction. “If Ethiopia doesn’t fill the dam, it means Ethiopia has agreed to demolish the dam,” he said.

“On other points we can reach an agreement slowly over time, but for the filling of the dam we can reach and sign an agreement this year.”

Abiy, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, also criticised pol-iticians who he suggested were trying to profit from Hachalu’s killing to undermine his government.

“You can’t become a gov-ernment by destroying a gov-ernment by destroying the country, by sowing ethnic and religious chaos,” he said.

“If Ethiopia becomes Syria,

if Ethiopia becomes Libya, the loss is for everybody.”

A number of high-profile opposition politicians have been arrested in Ethiopia in the wake of Hachalu’s killing.

Some of them, including former media mogul Jawar Mohammed, have accused Abiy, the country’s first Oromo prime minister, of failing to suffi-ciently champion Oromo interests after years of anti-gov-ernment protests swept him to power in 2018.

Abiy defended his Oromo credentials yesterday. “All my life I’ve struggled for the Oromo people,” he said.

“The Oromo people are free now. What we need now is development.”

Coronavirus

cases in Nigeria

cross 29,000

ANATOLIA — LAGOS

Over 500 new coronavirus cases have taken Nigeria’s total infections past 29,000, author-ities announced yesterday.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 575 more COVID-19 cases and nine fatalities were recorded in the country over the past 24 hours. “Till date, 29,286 cases have been confirmed, 11,828 cases have been dis-charged, and 654 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory,” read an NCDC update.

As part of efforts to curb the virus’s spread, Nigeria has introduced several measures at airports across the country, including restrictions for VIPs.

“Henceforth, all VIPs will no longer be permitted to bring non-traveling aides to airport terminals. This especially applies to governors, ministers, parliament members, judi-ciary, and military officers,” Sirika Hadi, the country’s avi-ation minister, announced late on Monday night.

“Temperature and symptoms checks are man-datory, and face masks must be worn at all times inside the airport and airplane. Travelers must also sanitize their hands frequently and maintain physical distancing at all times.”

Nigeria has the third highest number of cases in Africa, after Egypt and South Africa. The total number of infections across the continent is now near 492,000, with over 11,600 deaths and more than 236,300 recoveries, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Haftar landmines kill and injure 138 in Tripoli: UNANATOLIA — TRIPOLI

Landmines planted by Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar’s militia have killed and wounded 138 civilians south of the capital Tripoli in the past two months, the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya said yesterday.

“The indiscriminate planting by forces affiliated with the so-called Libyan Arab Armed Forces of explosive devices in civilian neighbour-hoods, that have since late May reportedly killed and injured 81 civilians and 57 non-civilians, including mine clearance workers,” Stephanie Williams said in a statement.

“This is a potential violation of international law.” The UN official voiced deep sadness and regret over the death of two humanitarian mine clearance workers on Monday in southern Tripoli.

According to reports, 57 explosions have occurred in the region so far due to landmines and explosives planted by Haftar’s forces. Libya has been torn by a civil war since the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country’s new gov-ernment was founded in 2015

under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political settlement failed due to a mil-itary offensive by Haftar’s forces.

The UN recognizes the Libyan government headed by Fayez Al Sarraj as the country’s legitimate authority.

The government launched Operation Peace Storm against Haftar in March to counter his attacks on the capital, Tripoli, and recently liberated strategic locations including Al Watiya airbase and the city of Tarhuna.

Dozens arrested in Kenya anti-brutality marchAFP — NAIROBI

Kenyan police yesterday fired tear gas at protesters marching against police brutality in the capital Nairobi, arresting dozens for defying a ban on large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.

The march took place to commemorate “Saba Saba” day, which means the seventh day of the seventh month.

It marks the day in 1990 that violent protests broke out in Kenya to demand free elec-tions under the iron-fisted pres-ident Daniel arap Moi.

This year the march was aimed at denouncing police brutality, which has seen at least 15 people killed by police enforcing an evening curfew put in place to stop the spread of coronavirus, according to a toll compiled by the police oversight agency IPOA.

Activists had planned dem-onstrations in downtown Nairobi, as well as several informal set-tlements, however some were broken up with tear gas, while protest organisers were arrested in several locations.

Contingents of heavily-armed police officers were deployed to protest areas to dis-perse demonstrators.

“We have 57 in custody and I know the security operation is going on because these people have been retreating and coming back,” a police officer involved in the operation

said on condition of anonymity. Nairobi Police Chief Philip Ndolo said the protests were illegal.

“It is outlawed, it is not legal, and no permit has been given. As you are aware, no public gatherings are allowed at this time due to COVID-19 and we will not allow anyone to hold any meeting or march of any kind,” he said.

“Those arrested will be charged for contravening the ministry of health regulations o n C O V I D - 1 9 b y congregating.”

People charged with flouting coronavirus restrictions in Kenya have in recent weeks been fined 5,000 shillings ($47,) or given community service.

Protesters waved placards reading “Stop the Killings” and “Respect the Constitution” while singing freedom songs and waving the national flag.

“I am yet to know my offence after I was arrested,” said Wilfred Olal who was coor-dinating the protests in the eastern suburb of Dandora.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused police

officers of murder and using excess force, whippings and tear gas to violently force Kenyans indoors during the early days of the curfew.

In June, the police over-sight agency IPOA said at least 15 deaths had been “directly l i n k e d ” t o c u r f e w enforcement.

In a separate incident, three people were shot dead on June 25 when police fired on a crowd of motorcycle taxi drivers pro-testing the arrest of a colleague for flouting coronavirus restrictions.

A protester kicks an unexploded cannister of tear gas back in the direction of police officers who fired it, during a march to protest against police brutality and harassment, especially against the poor, in Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday.

Turkish floating power plant firm aims to end blackouts in west LibyaREUTERS — ISTANBUL

A Turkish company that runs a fleet of floating power gener-ators is sending a technical team to Libya to make a proposal to supply electricity to the west of the North African nation, an executive said.

Split between east and west by a conflict that erupted when Muammar Gaddafi was over-thrown in 2011, residents of the oil and gas producing nation face hours of power cuts each day.

Karadeniz Holding plans to send its team to Libya within weeks and could start supplying power to western Libya within 30 days, Chief Commercial Officer Zeynep Harezi said.

The Turkish firm specialises in producing and selling elec-tricity from ships anchored off the coast. It sells power to more than 10 countries that cannot meet power demand from their onshore plants, including Lebanon and several African nations.

The company’s plans follow

a visit last month by ministers from Turkey, which supports the internationally recognised government based in Tripoli in western Libya, to discuss coop-eration in energy, construction and banking.

The company, which operates 25 floating plants with combined output of 4,100 meg-awatts (MW), could supply power through the ports of Tripoli West, al-Khoms and Misrata, Harezi said, adding infrastructure would be assessed so a full proposal could

be presented. The Tripoli gov-ernment aimed to buy power until local plants were back up and running, which could take six months, Harezi said, adding the company could supply power for longer.

Floating power plants plug into electricity grids after berthing. The company says plants could use Libyan-pro-duced diesel or natural gas, delivering 1,000 megawatts (MW) per hour, ending power cuts in areas supplied via the ports.

Meanwhile, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said yesterday that a forced shutdown in production since January was expected to cut output to 650,000 barrels per day in 2022 from about 1.2 million bpd achieved at the start of 2020.

It said in a statement on its website that production would be cut in half by 2022 “in the absence of an immediate restart of oil production and because of the state’s failure to provide the requested budget”.

A volunteer loads food parcels marked for distribution in a truck at the Meals on Wheels Community Services South Africa in Johannesburg, yesterday.

S Africa probing graft allegations over COVID-19 fundsANATOLIA — JOHANNESBURG

South Africa is probing allega-tions of corruption involving 500bn rands ($26.3 billion) relief fund allocated by the government to ease the impact of COVID-19, an official said yesterday.

Kaizer Kganyago, a spokesman for the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), said his unit received a lot of corruption complaints regarding the misuse of COVID-19 funds and has been investigating some of the claims.

“We have started a process of doing the COVID-19 procla-mation and we are looking at the processes that will unfold,” Kganyago told state broadcaster SABC.

Some of the complaints raised include corruption related to the manufacture of face masks, the distribution of food parcels and siphoning funds fraudulently through s u p p o s e d a w a r e n e s s campaigns.

In April, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that 500 billion rand ($26.3 billion)

would be devoted to relief and economic stimulus measures to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, Ramaphosa warned that South Africa will begin an investigation into

claims that employers have been claiming funds from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and not paying it to dis-tressed employees.

The government introduced a form of salary protection as a

result of COVID-19, using the UIF to pay wages three months to workers who have forfeited salaries under the COVID-19 lockdown. However, many employees complained they were not receiving the funds.

Zimbabwe nurses

detained over pay

strike freed on bailAFP — HARARE

Eleven of the 13 striking nurses arrested in Zimbabwe during a protest for higher pay were freed on bail yesterday by a court in the capital Harare, their lawyers said.

Police arrested the group during a demonstration held by scores of nurses at Harare Central Hospital on Monday.

They are on strike to demand a raise, saying their pay had been so eroded by inflation that it could no longer meet their basic needs.

The nurses had vowed not to budge until they get paid in US dollars when anti-riot police broke up the protest and arrested some of the strikers. “Eleven nurses appeared before the magis-trate’s court in (southern suburb) Mbare today and were charged with breaching reg-ulations to curb the COVID-19 virus by partaking in or con-vening an unauthorised gath-ering,” Kumbirai Mafunda, spokesman for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told AFP.

“They were released on 1,000 ZW dollars ($15.87) each, except Moses Sigauke who was additionally charged with incitement to commit public violence and was ordered to pay 1,500 ZW dollars,” he added.

“The other two nurses were released yesterday (Monday) after paying admission-of-guilt fines at the police station.”

The Zimbabwe Nurses’ Association, which represents around 15,000 state nurses, called on their members to stage a strike against low wages at a time of galloping inflation. Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic crisis in over a decade. Basic goods are scarce and the value of the Zimbabwean dollar has con-tinued to tumble.

“The indiscriminate planting by forces affiliated with the so-called Libyan Arab Armed Forces of explosive devices in civilian neighbourhoods, that have since late May reportedly killed and injured 81 civilians and 57 non-civilians, including mine clearance workers,” Stephanie Williams said in a statement.

07WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020 ASIA

Australia’s second largest city heads back into virus lockdownREUTERS — SYDNEY/MELBOURNE

Lockdown measures were reimposed in Australia’s second biggest city yesterday, confining Melbourne residents to their homes unless under-taking essential business for six weeks, as officials scramble to to contain a coronavirus outbreak.

The decision, which affects around 4.9 million people, was announced just hours before the busy border between Vic-toria, of which Melbourne is the capital, and New South Wales is scheduled to close for the first time in a century.

From midnight today, eve-ryone in Melbourne will be required to stay home unless travelling to work, studying, shopping for food or attending medical appointments. Restau-rants and cafes will be able to provide takeaway service only, gyms and hair salons closed, household gatherings limited to two people and the current school vacation extended.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said the restrictions were onerous but necessary.

“I would, with the greatest

of respect, put it to you getting this virus and dying from it is very onerous too,” he said during a televised media conference.

Victoria was responsible for 191 of the 199 new cases reported nationally yesterday, the biggest one-day rise since early April. The spike has worried officials, even though the national total of almost 8,800 cases and 106 deaths is far below many other countries.

“We have to be clear with each other that this is not over,” Andrews said.

“And pretending that it is because we all want it to be over is not the answer. It is indeed part of the problem. A very big part of the problem.”

Andrews had over the weekend reinstated strict social-distancing orders in more than 30 Melbourne suburbs and put nine public housing towers into complete lockdown because of the recent outbreak.

Hundreds of police officers and army troops were being deployed to enforce the closure of Victoria’s border with New South Wales from midnight yesterday.

The state line is highly porous, stretching hundreds of kilometres. It is heavily used daily by commuters, school children and road freight.

People caught crossing the border without permission via any of the 55 roads, or several river and wilderness crossings, will face penalties including a fine of A$11,000 and six months imprisonment.

A second region in Victoria,

where recent COVID-19 cases have been detected and which is home to 44,000 people, will face lockdown restrictions similar to Melbourne.

The border closure and reintroduction of restrictions in Melbourne deal a blow to Australia’s hopes for quick eco-nomic recovery as it approaches its first recession in nearly three decades, driven by social distancing restrictions imposed in March.

For businesses on the border, which last closed during the Spanish flu

pandemic in 1919, it also poses an immediate logistics headache.

Daily travel permits will be granted to people who live in border towns and cities but with the closure just hours away, the application system was still being developed.

Kevin Mack, the mayor of Albury, a border town on the NSW side, said with an esti-mated 50,000 car movements across the state line every day “it will be a nightmare for everyone.”

“About a quarter of my staff

like me live in NSW, and cross that border every day to come to work,” said Paul Armstrong, who runs a petrol station in Wodonga, a border town on the Victorian side. “I don’t know if they are going to be able to get in.”

Outside of the border towns, Victoria residents will be able to apply for a permit, but will need to prove a special need for their travel. Freight transporters will be free to cross the border without a permit, but will be subjected to random stops.

Firefighters dressed in personal protective equipment prepare to distribute food throughout a public housing tower, locked down in response to an outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday.

Australia warns citizens of ‘arbitrary detention’ risk in ChinaAP — CANBERRA

Australia yesterday warned its citizens that they may be at risk of “arbitrary detention” if they visit China, in a move that will further test strained bilateral relations.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in an updated travel advisory for China that “authorities have detained foreigners because they’re ‘endangering national security,’” adding that “Australians may also be at risk of arbitrary detention.” It is not clear what prompted the

warning, which comes as bilateral relations between the free trade partners have plum-meted over Australia’s calls for an independent investigation into the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic is believed to have started in China late last year.

The warning comes after Australian media reported that Beijing law professor Xu Zhangrun, a Chinese Com-munist Party critic who com-pleted his doctorate at Aus-tralia’s Melbourne University, was detained in China yesterday.

Xu was detained on “spu-rious charges,” University of Technology Sydney academic Feng Chongyi wrote on the Aus-tralian Broadcasting Corp. website “The Conversation” yesterday. Feng was detained in China for two weeks in 2017 while researching human rights lawyers.

Australia has criticised China for charging Chinese-Australian spy novelist Yang Hengjun, a friend of Feng, with espionage in March.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed last

week that his government was considering an offer of safe haven to Hong Kong residents threatened by Beijing’s move to impose a tough national security law on the semi-auton-omous Chinese territory.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that he wasn’t aware of the new travel warning, but that China guarantees the safety and legal rights of foreigners in the country.

“As long as foreigners in China abide by the laws and regulations, there is no need to

worry at all,” he said at a daily briefing in Beijing.

The new advisory is unlikely to affect travel plans since Aus-tralia has already banned its cit-izens from leaving the country because of the pandemic. Aus-tralians in China who wish to come home were advised to do so as soon as possible.

An Amnesty International report last year said China had “legalised arbitrary and secret detention.” The report also said there was an increased risk of torture, other ill-treatment and forced “confessions” in China.

Virus outbreak in

Rohingya camps

‘contained’, says

Bangladesh

AFP — DHAKA

A coronavirus outbreak among Rohingya refugees has been “successfully contained”, Bangladesh officials have said after fears that the disease spread rapidly in overcrowded camps.

Nearly one million Rohingya live in squalid camps in southeastern Bangladesh, after fleeing a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar, where the mostly Muslim com-munity is a minority.

Some 724 Rohingya have been tested in the Bangladesh camps, with 54 found positive since the first cases were detected in May, officials said.

“We have successfully con-tained the outbreak,” Bang-ladesh refugee commissioner Mahbub Alam Talukder said yesterday, adding that only five Rohingya have died from the virus so far.

India’s virus death toll surpasses 20,000 as infections surgeREUTERS — NEW DELHI

India’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surpassed 20,000 yesterday and case numbers surged as the south Asian nation pushed ahead with relaxations to its almost two-month lockdown amid grim economic forecasts.

The rate of both new virus infections and deaths are rising at the fastest pace in three months, as officials lift a vast lockdown of India’s 1.3 billion people that has left tens of thousands without work and shuttered businesses.

The country reported 467 new deaths yesterday, taking the toll to 20,160. It also recorded 22,252 new infec-tions, increasing the total to 719,665. India on Monday overtook Russia as the third

most affected country globally, behind the United States and Brazil.

But its death rate per 10,000 people is still a low 0.15, compared with 3.97 in the United States and 6.65 in the United Kingdom, according to a Reuters tally.

Health officials fear the number of deaths, which usually lag behind the detection of new infections, could rise signifi-cantly in coming weeks. India’s death toll is currently the world’s seventh highest, behind the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Spain.

Over the first week of July, India reported an average of 450 deaths each day, compared with 250 in the first week of June, and 101 in the first week of May.

Officials on Monday

withdrew a planned reopening of the Taj Mahal, citing the risk of new coronavirus infections spreading in the northern city of Agra from visitors flocking to see

the 17th century monument to love.

The reopening of the Indian economy has been sporadic. While domestic travel has been

opened up, international flights remain suspended and con-tainment zones, areas identified as most affected by the virus, remain under strict lockdown.

People enact an awareness street play on COVID-19 at a residential area after the government eased a nationwide lockdown against coronavirus, in Chennai, India, yesterday.

Mumbai opens new hospitals to treat coronavirus patientsAFP — MUMBAI

India’s financial capital Mumbai opened four new coronavirus field hospitals yesterday — including one at a horseracing track — as the nationwide death toll jumped past 20,000.

Hospitals in densely populated cities such as Mumbai and Delhi are struggling to cope with the epidemic, and the country now has around 720,000 infections — the world’s third-highest. The Mumbai region, which accounts for about a quarter of India’s 20,100 deaths, has suffered a new surge in infections, forcing authorities to build makeshift hospitals and quarantine facilities.

Schools, hotels, a planetarium and a stadium used to host US NBA games last year have all been repurposed, and on Tuesday four new field hospitals — including 700 beds inside the Maha-laxmi horseracing venue — were opened.

The new facilities will together provide an extra 3,500 beds in the city of 20 million, where hospitals have been overwhelmed with hundreds of patients each day.

Health workers have complained about severe staff shortages, with some senior doctors and nurses avoiding frontlines because of their vulnerability to the virus due to age or conditions such as diabetes.

Kazakhstan’s coronavirus cases rise to 49,683; deaths climb to 264ANATOLIA — NUR-SULTAN

Coronavirus cases and fatal-ities continued to surge across central Asia as health author-ities announced new numbers yesterday.

New cases in Kazakhstan rose by 1,109 to reach 49,683. The death toll climbed to 264 while 16,298 people have so far recovered.

Health minister Alexi Tsoi said 76 people died of the virus in the past week.

The Central Asian nation went back into a country-wide lockdown on July 5 as cases spiked. The first lockdown lasted from March 16 to May 11.

Kyrgyzstan reported 450 new virus cases, raising its total to 8,141.

It said 602 patients are currently hospitalised while 4,524 receive treatment at home. Seven more fatalities took the death toll to 99, while recoveries increased by 73 to reach 2,916. In Uzbekistan, 175 more people tested positive for COVID-19,

bringing the national tally to 10,459. One more fatality brought the death toll to 37, while 106 more recoveries over the past 24 hours raised the total to 6,690.

Some 3,732 patients remain under treatment in the Central Asian state, which has carried out over 1.2 million tests so far.

Last week, the gov-ernment decided to limit public movements amid an increase in infections.

Clothing markets and large shopping malls are closed on weekends, while gatherings of more than three people in public places remain banned.

The decision, which affects around 4.9 million people, was announced just hours before the busy border between Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, and New South Wales is scheduled to close for the first time in a century.

In Uzbekistan, 175 more people tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the national tally to 10,459.

China signs UN

arms trade treatyAFP — UNITED NATIONS

China signed a global pact yesterday to regulate arms sales that has been rejected by the United States, the Asian power’s UN ambassador said.

The Communist Party leadership’s top legislative body voted in late June to join the UN Arms Trade Treaty, designed to control the flow of weapons into conflict zones.

The signing demonstrates China’s “resolve and sincerity in maintaining international arms control regime, sup-porting multilateralism, and forging a community with a shared future for mankind,” Zhang Jun, China’s ambas-sador to the UN, said in a statement.

The statement added that Beijing allows arms exports only to sovereign states and not to non-state actors.

China, the second-largest global arms producer, announced June 22 it would join the Arms Trade Treaty, which now has 107 member states.

Adopted by the UN in 2013, the treaty requires members to keep records of interna-tional transfers of weapons and to prohibit cross-border shipments that could be used in human rights violations. The arms included range from handguns to missiles to air-planes and warships.

Reducing poverty without deterring work sounds like a great deal. So basic income advocates are looking at this success and asking: If giving people money reduces poverty during a pandemic, why not do it in normal times, too?

08 WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANDR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

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

EDITORIAL

QATAR'S concerns over issues of international impor-tance are always taken seriously by world community and global organizations. Qatar’s diplomacy is so fruitful that the world always gives due importance and respect to the words spoken by the Qatari lead-ership. The country has been relentlessly advocating for effective solutions to the issues vexing the region, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue.

During the ninth session of the Arab-Chinese forum at the ministerial level, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, vociferously raised the pressing regional issues such as Palestinian struggle, conflicts in Syria, Libya and Yemen. In the address to the virtual meeting, H E the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed: “The transformations and challenges that the world is going through oblige us to work together towards rearranging international rela-tions according to a vision based on cooperation, sol-idarity and coexistence among all peoples, because peace is what will lead to a bright future in the world and its stability and development.”

Peace remained an elusive mirage for the Pales-tinian people for decades now and they feel that the world is constantly turning a blind eye to their legitimate struggle to liberate their land from the occupying Zionist forces. Of late the expansionist Netanyahu government has been racing against time to annex east Jerusalem despite stern opposition from regional countries.

Raising the issue during the Arab-Chinese forum, H E the Deputy Prime Minster said that the Palestinian cause remains at the top of the list of the joint agenda between the Arab world and China. Qatar reiterated its call for the international community to fulfill its respon-sibilities in achieving a just solution to the key issue in region in accordance with international legitimacy res-olutions, the principle of two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative. Qatar also called for a political solution, which is the only way out of the protracted Syrian crisis, saying that the humanitarian and economic conse-quences of the crisis exceeded the borders of Syria, emphasising that the international community should make sufficient efforts to deal with the catastrophe.

H E the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs also raised the issue of Libya calling for renewed commitment from all quarters to support to Libyan state and its people to reach stability while encouraging political dialogue between the relevant parties. The Yemen war was also dealt with due importance during the meeting saying that the crisis which led to the killing, sabotage and destruction of the capabilities of the Yemeni people and their cultural heritage, calling for concerted efforts put an end to the crisis and to preserve Yemen’s unity, sovereignty and stop the bloodshed of its people.

Voice of Qatar’s diplomacy

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Quote of the dayThere needs to be a special institution that has the role

of mobilising the international community’s support to

realise Palestinian independence, and if necessary, we

can invite the community to this institution.

Mardani Ali Sera, Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Parliamentary Cooperation Agency

Shoppers queue to enter a Sainsbury's supermarket in West London in this file photo.

The relief programs supporting Americans through the pandemic are also demonstrating the viability of a bold proposal for reducing poverty: basic income.

The idea of basic income -- paying a monthly fixed amount to each person in the country -- has been around for a long time. Recently it has gained more attention and support. It has the advantages of simplicity and uni-versality, but one big question has always loomed: What if it stopped people from working? Ultimately, society’s wealth is based on human beings producing things, and if people feel that a basic income means they don’t need to work, they might stop producing altogether, leaving society poorer.

Empirical studies and limited experiments have generally found that basic income does little to discourage paid work. But these studies have lacked the scale to tell us much about how a large nationwide program would work.

Now, the national response to the coronavirus pandemic is giving us some valuable infor-mation. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (Cares) Act, passed in March, pro-vided a small payment to every adult, but it also delivered very generous unemployment benefits to American workers who lost their jobs because of the pan-demic. Under this program, a family of four with one laid-off worker would receive $4,100 a month, in addition to normal

unemployment benefits. That’s in the ballpark of the country’s median family income of $4,920 — in other words, an unprece-dentedly large cash handout.

This benefit was so generous that — according to a new working paper by economists Jeehoon Han, Bruce Meyer and James Sullivan -- it actually reduced poverty in the US, com-pared with the pre-pandemic period. And so far, it seems to have accomplished this without deterring people from working.

When the relief package was announced, there was much fretting that paying people more than one dollar for every dollar of market income that they lost created an obvious incentive for people not to work. But a prelim-inary analysis by economists Hilary Hoynes and Jesse Rothstein found that states where unem-ployment benefits were higher relative to lost wages actually saw less of a drop in employment. In other words, more generous payouts haven’t been associated with more job loss.

Reducing poverty without deterring work sounds like a great deal. So basic income advocates are looking at this success and asking: If giving people money reduces poverty during a pan-demic, why not do it in normal times, too?

Of course, Cares Act unem-ployment benefits differ from basic income in several important ways. First, the payout is condi-tional. Although some workers can continue to claim some ben-efits if they go back to work, some can’t, and those who never lost their jobs or who never had jobs in the first place don’t get the benefit at all.

But this only strengthens basic income’s case. If payments that vanish or diminish when you go

back to work don’t deter people from getting jobs, then basic income shouldn’t do so either.

A more important caveat is that the pandemic relief benefits are not permanent. The payouts are set to expire at the end of this month, and though they may be extended for a while, Republicans are already starting to push back. That gives people an added incentive to find work because a job will last longer than the gov-ernment checks will. Basic income, on the other hand, never ends, so the incentive to be a couch potato and live off the dole might be greater.

It’s also possible that as the pandemic progresses, labor disin-centive effects might appear. States with higher replacement rates are really just states with low wages; these might be the very places that avoided the worst of the virus in the first wave, but are now getting hit hard. So Hoynes and Rothstein’s tentative conclusions might be premature.

Finally, there’s the question of how to pay for basic income. Pan-demic unemployment benefits are driving an unprecedented expansion of federal debt, which is set to exceed the record levels set in World War II. That can’t continue forever. Basic income, by contrast, will have to be paid for with taxes on high earners. It’s not clear that such taxes would be politically sustainable or would have negative effects on the economy in the long run.

But although the case for basic income is not yet a slam dunk, pandemic relief benefits add cir-cumstantial evidence in favor. The idea deserves more serious attention than it has received so far.

The author is a Bloomberg opinion columnist.

JAPAN NEWS-YOMIURI

The novel coronavirus is spreading again, mainly in Tokyo. It is vital to prepare for the arrival of a second wave of infections by collecting the wisdom of a wide range of experts.

The government held the first meeting of a new panel for measures against the corona-virus. The new panel replaces the conventional panel of experts, which has provided scientific advice to the govern-ment's headquarters for com-bating the coronavirus and was created based on the revised law on special measures against new strains of influenza. Based on analyses of the spread of infections and how tests are carried out, the new panel approved the easing of restrictions on entering venues for various events scheduled for Friday.

The new panel members

comprise experts on infectious diseases - including Shigeru Omi, who served as vice chairman of the panel of experts - as well as economists, hospital officials and a prefectural gov-ernor, among others. It is timely that the government has put a system in place to reflect a mul-tifaceted perspective in its pol-icies in order to balance the pre-vention of infections with eco-nomic activities.

The question is how to implement the system and make it fully functional. It is essential for experts to make constructive proposals from their respective viewpoints and come up with concrete measures.

The new panel's discus-sions have a number of effects on people's lives. It is possible that there is a conflict of opinions over which should be prioritized - preventing infections or economic activ-ities. It is hoped that effective

options will be provided based on data and evidence.

It can be said that the panel of experts has achieved certain results, such as dem-onstrating a policy of priori-tizing measures against infection clusters, which lead to mass infections, in the early stages of the outbreak.

On the other hand, some members of the panel of experts were criticized for jumping the gun as they explained measures against infections and called on people to refrain from going out through social media.

Experts have apparently come to the fore because the government has been busy coordinating with relevant ministries, agencies and local governments on counter-measures, including border controls and a project to provide cash benefits, thus leading to poor communi-cation with the public.

What is important is to make the decision-making process more transparent. How has the government uti-lized expertise in making final decisions? Making the public aware of this will lead to trust in policies. Politicians must make such efforts with a sense of responsibility.

The previous panel of experts did not provide detailed meeting minutes. It is natural for the new panel to decide to keep minutes. It is important to enable verifi-cation of its meetings.

In the fight against infec-tious diseases, a delay in judgment of one to two weeks has serious conse-quences. Many of the charac-teristics of the coronavirus remain unknown, and other countries are also being forced to make difficult deci-sions while groping for measures, such as locking down cities.

Pandemic aid helps make the case for basic income

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New panel should discuss measures against virus from diverse viewpoints

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09WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020 ASIA

Japan flood death toll climbs to 56REUTERS — TOKYO

Japan yesterday warned of more heavy rain on the south-western island of Kyushu and bolstered rescue operations as the death toll in flood-hit areas rose past 50 with about a dozen people reported missing.

The government said it would double rescue and relief personnel as heavy rain destroyed homes and caused landslides in what is shaping up to be Japan’s worst natural dis-aster since Typhoon Hagibis killed 90 people in October.

Rain front was expected to remain over the area until Thursday, Chief Cabinet Sec-retary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news briefing.

Rain is expected over a wide front stretching from western to eastern Japan,” he said.

Police, Self-Defense Force (SDF) and Coast Guard units were carrying out search and rescue efforts, said Suga, urging people to take necessary pre-cautions to keep safe.

The death toll has risen to

56 with missing, according to public broadcaster NHK. It showed swollen rivers, destroyed homes, roads covered in landslides and stranded residents being plucked to safety by military helicopters.

Kyodo News reported at least 71 landslides across 12 pre-fectures, citing the land min-istry, and said more than 1.3 million people had been ordered to leave their homes.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government would double rescue and relief per-sonnel, from day-earlier levels, to 80,000, including some 20,000 SDF troops.

Some companies in the

region have temporarily halted operations but Suga said he did not expect major disruptions to supply chains, as happened two years ago when deadly floods also hit Kyushu.

The government will con-tinue to liaise with local firms, Suga said, adding: “We want to quickly take the necessary steps such as support for small and

mid-sized firms depending on the situation ahead.”

Toyota Motor and Mazda Motor, and electronics con-glomerate Panasonic Corp all halted operations at certain plants on Monday due to heavy rain.

Mazda cancelled the second shift at its plants in Hiroshima, and Hofu, Yamaguchi

Prefecture, yesterday, with plans to open today (Wednesday). Panasonic said its sensor plant in Kagoshima was operating normally yesterday.

Toyota said it would keep all three of its Kyushu plants closed on Tuesday after halting production the previous evening for safety reasons, with plans to restart today.

A collapsed road caused by heavy rain is seen in Kuma, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan, yesterday.

New security law not doom and gloom: HK leader REUTERS — HONG KONG

Hong Kong’s national security law does not spell “doom and gloom”, its leader said yesterday, as she tried to calm unease over legislation that critics say could mean the end of freedoms that have underpinned the city’s success as a financial hub.

In an illustration of worries about the law, the video app TikTok said it was pre-paring to leave the Hong Kong market in response to it, and other tech firms said they were suspending processing Hong Kong government requests for user data.

The sweeping legislation that Beijing imposed on the former British colony pun-ishes what China defines as secession, sub-version, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with up to life in prison.

It came into force at the same time it was made public, just before midnight last Tuesday, with police arresting about 300 people in protests the next day — about 10 of them for suspected violations of it.

“Surely, this is not doom and gloom for Hong Kong,” the city’s Beijing-backed leader, Carrie Lam, told a regular weekly news conference.

“I’m sure, with the passage of time, and efforts and facts are being laid out, confi-dence will grow in ‘one country, two systems’ and in Hong Kong’s future,” she said.

Hong Kong and Chinese government officials have said the law, which gives

mainland security agencies an enforcement presence in the city for the first time, was vital to plug holes in national security defences, exposed by the city’s failure to pass such legislation itself as required under its mini-constitution, the Basic Law. Lam said cases involving a new mainland agency that will be set up in Hong Kong under the law would be “rare”, but nevertheless, national security was a “red line” that should not be crossed.

The legislation was not harsh when compared with that of other countries, she

said. “It is a rather mild law. Its scope is not as broad as that in other countries and even China,” she said. Despite such assurances, the law has had a chilling effect.

Pro-democracy activists such as Joshua Wong disbanded their organisations while others have left. Many shops have removed protest-related products and decorations and public libraries have removed some books seen as supportive of the democracy movement. Canada has suspended an extradition treaty with Hong Kong.

TikTok, a video app owned by China-based ByteDance, which has said in the past its user data is not stored in China, said it will exit the Hong Kong market within days.

Facebook Inc, which also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, Google Inc and Twitter Inc suspended processing gov-ernment requests for user data in Hong Kong. But Lam said she had not noticed widespread fears and the law would restore the city’s status as one of the safest in the world after the violent pro-democracy pro-tests last year. Lam, asked about media freedom, said if reporters could guarantee they would not breach the new law, she could guarantee they would be allowed to report freely. “We will do our utmost to explain the provisions in the law and to show to the people of Hong Kong how this law will be implemented,” she said.

“Ultimately, time and facts will tell that this law will not undermine human rights and freedoms.”

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaking to the media at her weekly press conference, yesterday.

Rescuers work after a bus plunged into a lake in Anshun in China’s southwestern Guizhou province, yesterday. The bus was carrying students to their annual college entrance exam.

Bus plunges into lake in southwest China, killing 21AFP — BEIJING

At least 21 people were killed when a bus carrying students preparing to sit their annual college entrance exam plunged into a lake in southwest China yesterday.

The bus crashed into a guardrail and veered into Hongshan Lake in Guizhou province, leaving 15 others injured, the local emergency management department said in a statement.

The incident took place around noon in Anshun city and eyewitnesses said the pas-sengers on the bus included stu-dents who were sitting their gruelling “gaokao” examina-tions, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Security camera footage shared on social media by CCTV showed the vehicle veering across at least five lanes and cutting into oncoming traffic before it ploughed through bar-riers on the other side of the road.

Images from the scene showed search and rescue teams standing by the lake and the bus being fished out of the water in the hours after the crash.

Social media users expressed their condolences on China’s microblogging platform Weibo. “I hope the death toll will not rise anymore. 2020 has truly been full of disasters and diffi-culties,” one user wrote.

All those injured in the crash are being treated in hospital.

US envoy arrives in South Korea as North rejects talksREUTERS — SEOUL

A US envoy arrived in South Korea yesterday in an effort to renew stalled nuclear talks with North Korea, hours after it issued a statement saying it has no intention of sitting down with the United States and told South Korea to “stop meddling”.

US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, who has led working-level talks with the North Koreans, landed at a US military base south of Seoul, media reported, and was due to meet South Korean officials today and tomorrow.

Earlier yesterday, Kwon

Jong Gun, director general for US affairs at North Korea’s foreign ministry, accused South Korea of misinterpreting a North Korean statement dis-missing an “untimely rumour” about another summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.

North Korea said on Sat-urday it did not feel the need for a new summit, days after South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had offered to mediate between Kim and Trump, suggested the two leaders meet again before the US elections in November.

“It is just the time for (South

Korea) to stop meddling in others’ affairs but it seems there is no cure or prescription for its bad habit,” Kwon said in a statement carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency.

“Explicitly speaking once again, we have no intention to sit face to face with the United States.”

Trump and Kim met for the first time in 2018 in Singapore, raising hopes for a negotiated end to North Korea’s nuclear programme. But their second summit, in 2019 in Vietnam, and subsequent working-level negotiations fell apart.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North

Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kwon’s statement reflected lin-gering inter-Korean tension and North Korea’s view that nuclear issues should be discussed only with the United States.

“It also suggested that North Koreans would ditch the past concept of negotiations where the South played a broker role, and won’t return to the table without major US concessions,” Yang said.

Biegun said last week there was time for both sides to re-engage and “make substantial progress” but the novel coro-navirus pandemic would make an in-person summit difficult before the US presidential elec-

tions on November 3.The coronavirus compli-

cated Biegun’s visit in a more personal way as well.

A newspaper reported that because of the outbreak, the envoy would not be visiting a Korean chicken soup restaurant that has been a regular stop on previous visits, and instead had arranged for the dish to be pre-pared at the US ambassador’s residence.

Last month, North Korea abruptly raised tensions with South Korea and blew up a joint liaison office, just on its side of the border, before just as sud-denly suspending plans for unspecified military actions.

Pakistan urges

WHO to remove

virus-related

travel restrictionsINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has called upon World Health Organization (WHO) to play its role in engaging member states to remove COVID-19 related travel restrictions for Pakistan and other developing coun-tries.

Talking to Director General WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom via video conference, he also stressed the need to work towards a data driven system of non-discriminatory travel rules.

The Prime Minister observed that travel restric-tions imposed by developed countries in the wake of COVID-19 can further exac-erbate economic difficulties of developing countries strug-gling to mitigate adverse eco-nomic impact of the pandemic.

He highlighted Pakistan’s strategy of deploying scientific and data driven interventions as well as rapid upgrades of healthcare facilities while attempting to maintain a balance between life and live-lihood that has yielded positive results with a current downward trajectory in the spread of pandemic.

While noting progress made by Pakistan in con-taining the spread of virus, WHO appreciated the steps taken by the Government of Pakistan in fighting the pandemic.

The Prime Minister appre-ciated the support extended by WHO to the international community including Pakistan to fight COVID-19.

Suicide bombing,

attack kill seven

policemen in

Afghanistan

AP — KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

A suicide car bomber targeted an Afghan police convoy in eastern Nangarhar province yesterday morning, killing four officers, including a police commander, a local official said. Three other officers were killed in an attack in the coun-try’s south.

The suicide bombing, which struck at a market in the district of Khewa, also wounded 11 people — nine civilians and two members of the security forces, according to Attahullah Khogyani, the spokesman for the provincial governor. He identified the slain commander as Mir Zaman; the other three officers were Zaman’s bodyguards.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in eastern Afghanistan, especially in Nangarhar. Afghanistan has seen a recent spike in violence, with most attacks claimed by the local IS affiliate. Earlier in May in the same district, an IS suicide bomber targeted the funeral of a pro-government militia commander and former warlord, killing 32 people and wounding 133.

The dead in that attack included Abdullah Lala Jan, a provincial council member. His father, Noor Agha, a law-maker, was wounded in the attack.

Also yesterday, at least three policemen were killed and three were wounded in southern Zabul province when insurgents attacked their convoy in Shinkia district, authorities said, blaming the Taliban for the attack.

The Afghan military has also been launching attacks against the Taliban. he Defence Ministry has so far refused to give details. The Taliban did not immediately comment on the attacks in Zabul.

Afghan authorities have released more than 4,000 Taliban prisoners out of 5,000 demanded by the group in a deal with Washington signed in February.

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

Pakistan: Daily

COVID-19 cases

drop under 3,000

ANATOLIA — KARACHI

Pakistan’s daily coronavirus tally dropped to below 3,000 for the first time after a months-long surge in the pandemic, the Health Ministry said yesterday.

The country recorded 2,691 new cases over the past 24 hours compared to an average 5,000 cases per day in May and June.

The highest number of recorded single day cases were nearly 7,000 last month.

With the new cases, the total number of infections has reached 234,509, with 2,306 of them in critical condition, the data showed.

Another 77 patients lost the battle against the disease across the country in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 4,839. Some 134,957 patients have recovered so far.

Japan to double troops in flood areas to 20,000.

Carmakers close factories, plan to reopen today.

10 WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020EUROPE

Macron sends out new govt to rescue economyREUTERS — PARIS

President Emmanuel Macron’s reshuffled government took office yesterday, with conserv-atives given prominent roles in efforts to rescue France’s coro-navirus-ravaged economy from the worst depression in decades.

Reappointed as finance minister, Bruno Le Maire promised a company-focused recovery plan to revive growth, but said he would not lose control over spending.

Le Maire said he faced a “crushing task” confronted by the severest economic crisis since the Great Depression of

the 1930s. “My road map is clear and simple: it will be recovery — morning, noon and night.”

The coronavirus crisis has unravelled the hard-fought gains of a liberal economic reform agenda that provoked waves of protests during Macron’s first three years in office.

Before the pandemic hit, French growth was among the highest in the euro zone, unem-ployment was falling and foreign investors were rewarding Macron for deregu-lating parts of the economy.

But now the jobless rate is rising, the government forecasts the economy will shrink by 11%

and debt is spiralling higher.“It is out of the question that

economic stimulus gets done at the expense of well-managed public accounts over the long term,” Le Maire continued.

The reshuffle saw former conservatives, including Le Maire, in control of the most influential ministries — a sign Macron will seek to consolidate support among centre-right voters ahead of a

possible re-election bid. An Odoxa-Dentsu Consulting poll showed eight in 10 people believed the reshuffle would not lead to a shift in policy direction.

At least two small groups of feminist protesters targeted the new government.

Three women protested in front of the Elysee Palace, one of them bearing the slogan “RIP The Promises”, as Macron pre-pared to convene the Cabinet

for the first time.In a second action, pro-

testers took aim at new Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, against whom an investigation into a rape allegation was reo-pened last month.

Darmanin, who was previ-ously Macron’s budget minister, denies the allegation.

Macron redrew the political landscape when he swept to power three years ago, carving out a niche in the centre ground and poaching ministers from the left and right.

On Monday, he let go of several former Socialist min-isters, while promoting others from conservative ranks.

Germany lambasts ‘shameful’ handling of migration by EUAFP — BRUSSELS

It is “shameful” that the European Union has still not found a solution for the care of asylum seekers five years after the migration crisis, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, whose country holds the EU Presidency, said yesterday.

Seehofer was speaking at a video meeting of EU interior ministers as almost 200 migrants rescued by humani-tarian aid boat Ocean Viking disembarked in Sicily after nine days stuck in the Mediter-ranean Sea.

“Each boat requires pains-taking efforts to achieve a dis-tribution (of migrants) among member states,” said Seehofer. “And each time, only a small number (of the member states) is ready to do so.

“In the long term, we cannot leave Italy, Malta, Greece or Spain alone to deal with this issue,” he added, lamenting that “very many member states refuse to get involved.

“This is a situation that is not worthy of the EU.” Germany, France, Italy and Malta agreed last September on a temporary mechanism, based on a voluntary basis, for the

distribution of migrants rescued at sea.

So far however, only a few countries such as Portugal, Luxembourg and Ireland have joined the initiative. Seehofer is counting on persuasion to get more member states involved, but acknowledged that the task was “very, very difficult”.

And while he did not rule out the use of pressure tactics, he did not want to elaborate.

“I am not going to start the discussion during this EU Pres-idency with threats... I am counting on the strength of arguments, but I am not naive,” he said. The commission is due to present in September a long-awaited and repeatedly post-poned proposal for the reform of migration and asylum policy in the EU.

Seehofer said he hoped that a “political agreement can be reached on the most important points” of this pact by the end of the German Presidency in December. The issue of the dis-tribution of asylum seekers, which countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in refuse to accept, has so far been a stumbling block to reform.

“It’s shameful that a com-munity like ours can’t achieve it,” said Seehofer.

German courthouses evacuated over bomb threatsAFP — BERLIN

Several district courts were evacuated in Germany yesterday after they received bomb threats, police said, although searches have so far turned up nothing concrete.

The affected buildings included courthouses in Mainz, Erfurt, Luebeck and Wolfsburg as well as the public prosecutor’s office in Erfurt, according to police in those cities.

A bomb threat arrived at the district court in the western city of Mainz at 7:30 am (0530 GMT), a police

spokeswoman said, without giving further details.

The courthouse was cleared and searched with sniffer dogs, and several adjacent buildings were also evacuated as a precaution.

In Erfurt, all proceedings have been cancelled until midday. It was unclear who or what was behind the threats.

In April, the trial of a man accused of sending over 100 far-right letters to politicians, journalists and officials was delayed at its opening in Berlin because of a bomb threat.

Shortly before the hearing opened, the court halted the session because of a fax that claimed that explosives had been planted around the courtroom where the trial was to be held.

The fax was signed off “Heil Hitler”.

Andre M. stands accused of sending 107 threatening letters to courts, authorities, police, shopping malls, journalists and lawmakers between October 2018 and April 2019. The threats had prompted evacu-ations, including of the main train station in Luebeck and a tax office in Gelsenkirchen.

Italian Cabinet approves 'mother of all reforms' to slash red tapeREUTERS — ROME

The Italian government approved a package of measures yesterday aimed at cutting the complicated red tape that has long been blamed for crimping growth in the euro zone’s third-largest economy.

The “simplification decree”, approved after weeks of fraught political negotiation, has been touted by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte as “the mother of all reforms” to help relaunch an economy brought to its knees by the coronavirus.

It was approved in a provi-sional version at an overnight cabinet meeting, leaving final details still to be hammered out. It must then get a green light from parliament within 60 days.

The legislation, which runs

to 174 pages in a draft seen by Reuters, covers a raft of sectors such as public tenders, digital-isation, rules for corporate capital increases and the criminal responsibility of public officials.

Conte told reporters the decree would form the basis for Italy’s Recovery Plan, a reform project it must present to the European Commission in Sep-tember to obtain EU financing for its economic recovery effort.

“I will boast about this decree, all of Italy must boast about this decree and about the results it will bring,” Conte said at a news conference.

There have been many attempts by previous Italian governments to reduce red tape. In 2010, former Minister for Simplification Roberto Cal-deroli famously made a bonfire

of 375,000 regulations he claimed to have abolished from the statute books.

Yet, ordinary Italians and companies see little progress.

The World Bank’s 2020 Ease of Doing Business survey, which considers bureaucratic obstacles to things like starting a business, paying taxes and enforcing contracts, ranked Italy 58th, well behind most European countries and losing ground for the second year in a row.

Conte’s decree allows public bodies to assign small-scale work projects without using the tortuous public tender process, and it drastically simplifies pro-cedures required even for larger projects worth up to ¤5.2m ($5.88m). The changes are ini-tially valid only for the next 12 months.

It also tightens the definition of abuse of office, making it harder for public officials to be investigated for one of Italy’s most commonly prosecuted white-collar crimes.

Officials sometimes block projects rather than risk inves-tigation by signing off on some-thing that may later fall foul of the law.

Under the new rules, there will be “more (legal) risks for administrators who hold up projects that for those who approve them”, Conte said.

He called the decree a “rev-olution” and said it would help Italy increase public investment to 3% of national output over the next four years from 2.3% last year.

Conte presented a list of 130 infrastructure projects which he said could be kick-started by

the new norms, including new high-speed rail links all over Italy.

The reforms have sparked friction in the ruling coalition, with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement concerned that easing controls on public tenders may favour corruption, another of the country’s long-standing problems.

Keen to improve Italy’s dig-italisation, the decree stream-lines procedures for the roll-out of new fast broadband net-works, and limits the current powers of mayors to oppose the installation of 5G mobile infra-structure, the draft said.

On corporate governance, it abolishes until the end of this year the requirement that the votes of two-thirds of share-holders be needed to approve capital increases.

Anti-bullfight demoPro-animal rights activists spread powder to celebrate the cancellation of the San Fermin Festival’s bullfights and bull-running during a demonstration in Pamplona, Spain, yesterday. The 2020 edition of the festival has been cancelled as part of COVID-19 precautions.

Hungarian president calls on Ukraine and Romania to stop polluting riversREUTERS — BUDAPEST

Hungary’s president called on Ukraine and Romania yesterday to stop polluting two major rivers that flow across Hungary after floods in the past weeks brought in “dirty carpets” of plastic bottles from its neighbours.

In letters to Ukrainian Pres-ident Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, published on Pres-ident Janos Ader’s official website, Ader said Hungarian authorities could not clean up all the waste in the Tisza and Szamos rivers.

“It is disappointing that pol-lution of the Tisza river with waste has not been reduced...

and poses a lasting threat to the fragile ecosystem of the river,” Ader said in the letter to Zelenskiy.

He asked the Ukrainian president to help to resolve the problem urgently.

“Our machines are no longer able to handle the piles

of garbage that come in unstop-pable quantities,” Ader said.

Ader, whose role in Hun-garian politics is largely cere-monial, said in the letters that since mid-June Hungarian authorities had removed 938 cubic metres of waste from the Tisza river and 846 cubic metres of waste from the Szamos river.

The Tisza, one of the main rivers in eastern Europe, starts in Ukraine and flows across Hungary to join the Danube in Serbia.

The Szamos flows from Romania to Hungary and joins the Tisza there.

Massive pollution on the two rivers has been a problem for years.

Sweden’s daily

tally of new virus

cases falls to

lowest since MayREUTERS — STOCKHOLM

Sweden’s daily tally of new COVID-19 cases fell to its lowest since late May yesterday, a sharp reversal from June when expanded testing fuelled record numbers in a country that drew global attention for its rejection of a lockdown.

Cases in the Nordic country have declined sharply over the past few days and yesterday only 283 new cases were recorded.

That contrasts with a torrid month of June when daily numbers ran as high as 1,800, eclipsing rates across much of Europe, even as deaths and hospitalisations continued to decline from peaks in April.

Sweden was slow to ramp up testing for any but the seri-ously ill and healthcare workers, but weekly numbers for tests have more than doubled since late may, putting the country in the same bracket as extensively testing nations such as Germany.

Health Agency Director General Johan Carlson said the slow expansion of testing had left the country with a “testing debt” that produced a surge in cases when thousands with mostly mild symptoms rushed to get the tests suddenly available to them.

“In all likelihood, this was a mountain that we needed to dig away at,” he told a news conference.

Against the backdrop of a surge in new confirmed cases through much of June, many countries, including Nordic neighbours, kept borders closed to Swedish travellers, a situation the sharp decline might begin to alter, Carlson said.

“We are beginning to approach levels that other countries find acceptable,” he said.

Health Agency data showed 14 new COVID-19 deaths were recorded yes-terday, bringing the total to 5,447, more than half of which have occurred at nursing homes and among the elderly receiving home care services.

Italy flower fields in blossom People walk in the middle of a field of flowers during the annual blossom in Castelluccio, Italy, on Monday.

Macron salutes

school leavers in

first TikTok video

AFP — PARIS

French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday used the social media app TikTok for the first time to congratulate French school leavers after their exam results.

“The first thing to say is bravo, congratulations, it is the fruit of your work,” said Macron in a video filmed in the garden of the Elysee Palace.

But he also told the teenage viewers they belonged to a “generation which we are calling sometimes the world after”, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said that the new gen-eration must create a world that is “stronger, shows more solidarity and is more eco-logical”, while adding: “It is not me who will decide your future, it is you.” Macron’s message follows local elec-tions last month which indi-cated young voters in urban centres are increasingly voting green.

TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, has over the last months become a global sensation with users sharing 15 to 60-second video clips. But there has been increasing controversy over how it collects and uses data, although it has repeatedly denied sharing any user infor-mation with Chinese author-ities. India banned TikTok over national security concerns fol-lowing a deadly border clash between its soldiers and Chinese forces.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said Washington is also looking at banning Chinese social media apps including TikTok.

The coronavirus crisis has unravelled the hard-fought gains of a liberal economic reform agenda that provoked waves of protests during Macron’s first three years in office.

The Tisza river starts in Ukraine and flows across Hungary to join the Danube in Serbia. The Szamos flows from Romania to Hungary and joins the Tisza there.

11WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Russia to impose counter-sanctions on UKAFP — MOSCOW

Moscow will apply counter-sanctions against Britain, the Kremlin said yesterday, after London blacklisted Russian officials for their alleged involvement in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

“We can only regret such unfriendly measures,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“Obviously the principle of reciprocity will be applied,” he added, without elaborating.

The 25 Russians included on the sanctions list drawn up by

Britain’s Foreign Office were included for their alleged involvement in the death of Magnitsky.

Magnitsky, a tax consultant for British financier William Browder, died in prison of untreated illness in 2009 after accusing Russian officials of tax fraud of $230m.

Russian officials to be tar-geted by the sanctions include Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the powerful Investigative Committee that reports directly to President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian Embassy in London on Monday denounced the sanctions, saying the coun-try’s legal system was “inde-pendent” of the executive authorities and “guided by law alone”.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday that the sanc-tions were targeting indi-viduals involved in “some of the most notorious human rights violations of recent years”.

British government also

sanctioned a number of indi-viduals from Saudi Arabia and North Korea.

London has accused Russia of “destabilising” activities including the 2018 chemical attack that almost killed former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Russia has rejected accusa-tions that officers from its GRU military intelligence agency used a powerful nerve agent to poison Skripal in retribution for his work with British and other Western spy services.

Russian space official charged with treasonAP — MOSCOW

An adviser to the director of Russia’s state space corporation has been detained on treason charges, the nation’s top security agency said yesterday.

Ivan Safronov, a former journalist who served as an adviser to Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin, was detained in Moscow by agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the main KGB successor agency.

The FSB said Safronov is accused of relaying sensitive data to a spy agency of an unspecified Nato member. It said in a statement that the information he provided referred to “military-technical cooperation, defence and security of the Russian Federation.”

Safronov could face up to 20 years jail term if convicted.

Roscosmos said that Safronov didn’t have access to state secrets, and claimed that the charges didn’t relate to Safronov’s work for the corpo-ration, which he joined in May.

Prior to that, Safronov worked as a correspondent for the top business daily Kom-mersant for nearly a decade until last year, and after that worked for a year for another b u s i n e s s n e w s p a p e r , Vedomosti.

He covered military issues, arms trade and government affairs.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Safronov’s detention isn’t related to his activities as a journalist.

Yelena Chernenko, a Kom-mersant journalist who worked with Safronov for years, was detained outside FSB head-quarters in Moscow when she

held a picket to protest his arrest.

Last year, the FSB reportedly opened an inquiry following Safronov’s article that claimed that Russia had signed a contract with Egypt for the delivery of sophisticated Su-35 fighter jets. Kommersant later removed the report from its website, and no charges were filed.

Safronov’s father also worked for Kommersant after retiring from the armed forces and covered military issues. In 2007, he died after falling from a window of his apartment building in Moscow. Investi-gators concluded that he killed himself, but some Russian media questioned the official version, pointing at his intention to publish a sensitive report about secret arms deliv-eries to Iran and Syria.

Ivan Safronov, a former journalist who works as an aide to the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, stands in front of a car while being detained by members of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on state treason charges in Moscow, yesterday.

Greece relocates migrant children to PortugalREUTERS — ATHENS

Greece moved 25 unaccom-panied minors from over-crowded migrant camps to Portugal yesterday as part of a relocation programme to EU countries.

The boys, all aged between 15 and 17, had lived in refugee camps on outlying Greek islands. They have no relatives in Europe.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing conflict and poverty countries used Greece as a springboard to European countries in 2015 and 2016.

At least 5,200 migrant

children from Syria, Afghan-istan, Iraq and Africa currently live in Greece, many of them in harsh conditions.

Yesterday’s transfer was part of a voluntary plan to relocate minors from Greek camps to other European coun-tries amid concerns about the impact of the coronavirus on vulnerable groups.

“Europe is doing its duty for those who have the greatest need, and require protection,” said Irene Agapidaki, special secretary responsible for unac-companied minors at the Greek migration ministry.

Another group of 25 children is expected to fly from

Athens to Finland today. Greece is in the process of relocating about 1,600 unaccompanied minors who have no family members in Europe. Some have already been sent to other countries

Deputy migration minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos said that in addition to relocating minors, authorities were also pursuing a voluntary return scheme for individuals who were in camps on the Greek islands and who had arrived by January 1, 2020.

Koumoutsakos said financial incentives were being offered to those interested in returning home.

Unaccompanied refugee minors board an Aegean Airlines aircraft that will transfer them to Portugal at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport in Athens, yesterday.

A spokesman for Boris Johnson said that the UK sanctions were targeting individuals involved in “some of the most notorious human rights violations of recent years”.

Dutch police uncover ‘torture’ containers, 6 heldAFP — THE HAGUE

Dutch police found an “under-world prison” with a torture chamber hidden inside seven shipping containers following a huge hack of a Europe-wide criminal phone system, officials said yesterday.

Six suspects were arrested after armed police raided a warehouse with the containers using information from a Franco-Dutch operation to infiltrate the EncroChat encrypted phone system.

“Six served as prison cells in which people could have been tied up and one other con-tainer had the sole purpose of being a torture chamber,” said Andy Kraag, head of Dutch police’s central investigations division.

A video supplied by police showed armed officers raiding the premises, situated near the southern Dutch city of Bergen op Zoom, south of Rotterdam.

The containers were sound-proof and covered inside with tin foil in what police believe was a bid to make them invisible to thermal imaging cameras. All had handcuffs installed to the floor and the ceiling.

The kidnappings of the people destined for the cells were planned with “great pre-cision”, police said, involving several teams, weapons, and fake police clothes, vans, stop signs and bullet proof vests.

One container, referred to as the “treatment room” by criminals in tapped conversa-tions was kitted out “with a

dentist’s chair and straps to the arm and feet rests,” police added.

Police recovered pruning shears, loppers, a saw, scalpels, pliers, handcuffs, finger cuffs and masking tape, saying the implements were “to torture victims or in any case, to put them under pressure”.

Dutch police chief Jannine van den Berg said the dis-covery of the cells came after French and Dutch police hacked the EncroChat network, which was announced last week along with the arrest of around 800 people around Europe.“We already announced then that there was more to come. The discovery of this underworld prison is an example of this,” she said.

Brazil’s Bolsonaro tests positive for COVID-19AP — RIO DE JANEIRO

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro says he has tested positive for COVID-19 after months of downplaying the virus’ severity.

Bolsonaro confirmed the test results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters in capital Brasilia.

“I’m well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I can’t due to medical recommendationS,” Bolsonaro said.

The president has often appeared in public to shake hands with supporters and mingle with crowds, at times without a mask. He has said that his history as an athlete would protect him from the virus, and that it would be nothing more than a “little flu” were he to contract it.

He has also repeatedly said that there is no way to prevent 70 percent of the population falling ill with COVID-19, and that local authorities’ measures to shut down economic activity would ultimately cause more hardship than allowing the virus to run its course.

Cities and states last month began lifting restrictions that had been imposed to control the spread of the virus, as their statistical curves of deaths began to decline along with the occupation rate of its intensive-care units. Brazil, the world’s sixth most populous nation, with more than 210 million people, is one of the global hot spots of the pandemic.

On Monday, Bolsonaro said that he underwent an X-ray of his lungs that showed they were clean, and that he would be tested for COVID-19.

Venice Film Festival forges ahead with reduced lineupAP — VENICE

The show will go on for the Venice Film Festival in September, but with a few modifications due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organisers said yesterday that they are pushing forward with plans for its 77th installment, which will include a slightly reduced number of films in the main competition as well as some outdoor and virtual screenings. If the schedule stays intact, it will be the first major film festival since COVID-19 essentially shut down the industry in mid-March.

Festival director Alberto Barbera said in a statement that he is “extremely pleased that the Biennale Cinema can be held with a minimum reduction of films and sections” and that “a significant number of directors and actors will accompany films to the Lido.”

There will still be 50 to 55 films in the official selection, which will be announced on July 28, and screenings will take place in the traditional venues as well as two outdoor arenas (at the Giardini della Biennale and a skating rink on the Lido) with adopted safety measures established by authorities.

The festival will take its Virtual Reality section online and this year forego its Sconfini section, which hosts smaller films and genre fare, to accom-modate more socially distanced

screenings of the major films in competition.

Actress Cate Blanchett is presiding over the main com-petition jury.

Travel to Italy, an early epi-center of the COVID-19 pan-demic, is allowed from European countries. The European Union last week said it would reopen its border to 14 nations, but most Americans have been refused entry due to soaring coronavirus infections in the US. Press from countries with travel restrictions will be able to view press conferences virtually, Barbera said.

“Without forgetting the countless victims of these past few months to whom due tribute shall be paid, the first international festival following the forced interruption dictated by the pandemic becomes the meaningful celebration of the re-opening we all looked forward to, and a message of concrete optimism for the entire world of cinema which has suffered greatly from this crisis,” Barbera said.

The Toronto International Film Festival has already announced plans for a smaller 2020 version, with fewer films and virtual red carpets. Both festivals serve as major launching grounds for awards hopefuls, although no one know how exactly it will work now that runway to the Oscars has been extended.

The Venice Film Festival runs from September 2 to 12.

Surge in NYC shootings fuels police reform debateAFP — NEW YORK

New York reeled from a spate of holiday weekend shootings, with police fuelling contro-versy by partially attributing them to reforms undertaken following the death of George Floyd during his arrest.

The Big Apple was rocked by 45 shootings — which resulted in 11 deaths — over the long July 4th weekend, up from just 16 shootings for the same period in 2019.

Terence Monahan, the NYPD’s highest-ranking uni-formed officer, said “tre-mendous animosity” shown towards officers following the recent Black Lives Matter pro-tests had contributed by low-ering police morale.

Shootings soared 130 percent in June compared to the same period last year, NYPD statistics show, with Monahan also saying early release of prisoners due to coronavirus put more violent offenders on the streets.

Monahan also denounced a new law that bars New York police officers from keeping a suspect on the ground by pressing on his chest.

The uptick in shootings will likely further fuel tensions between police departments and Democratic leaders making police cuts in major cities. President Donald Trump has tried to make political capital out of the police reforms.

Power outages reported in much of VenezuelaAP — CARACAS

Erratic power outages were reported in Venezuela’s capital and several states on Monday evening.

The nation’s state electrical company said on Twitter that “an event in the electrical system” had affected power in parts of Caracas as well as states to the west.

No further details were provided.

On social media, some Venezuelans said the lights had flickered on and off several times while in other areas they were still in the dark. Corpoelec later said power had been restored in 90 percent of Caracas.

Internet monitoring organ-isation NetBlocks reported that over a dozen states had expe-rienced some degree of outage, with the electrical service being temporarily restored and then going off before turning back on again.

“Venezuela’s power fluc-tuations continue as of 10 p.m. local time, with a double dip now experienced in most states,” the service said.

Power outages have become frequent in Venezuela, and some states, particularly those in western Venezuela, regularly experience pro-longed blackouts. In 2019, a nationwide blackout left mil-lions without power for a week.

12 WEDNESDAY 8 JULY 2020AMERICAS

Mexico president heads to US on first official visitAP — MEXICO CITY

For his first foreign trip as pres-ident, Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador travels to Wash-ington today to meet with Pres-ident Donald Trump, a leader who has repeatedly used Mexico as a piñata to rally his base.

The visit, coming just four months before US elections, has many Mexicans cringing. Trump has insulted them, threatened crippling tariffs to strongarm Mexico into playing an uncom-fortable role in US immigration policy and insisted they will pay for a border wall meant to keep migrants out of the US.

But López Obrador has had a surprisingly warm rela-tionship with Trump. He likes to point out that more recently Trump helped Mexico reach a deal with other oil-producing nations to cut production and aided Mexico in obtaining more ventilators to face the corona-virus pandemic. Both presidents talk about a blossoming friendship that seems to stem from their pursuit of unapolo-getically nationalist agendas.

López Obrador hints at the real reason for the trip when he reels off US economic statistics - the size of the US pandemic stimulus package, the number of jobs the US got back in June.

Mexico’s economy was in recession before the pandemic, has shed about 1 million jobs since and is forecast to contract this year by as much as 10%.

“This helps us by being neighbors,” López Obrador said Tuesday, before departing. “This is about the economy, it’s about jobs, it’s about well-being.”

There is no doubt Trump will try to use the visit to his advantage. The encounter will draw attention to a trade accord replacing one Trump said was a bad deal and will allow the

president to bash former Vice President Joe Biden for voting in favor of the old North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump could stir his base with sharp words for Mexico or simply play up López Obrador’s desire to express his gratitude.

In 2016, Trump, then a can-didate for the presidency, visited López Obrador’s pred-ecessor, an invitation for which President Enrique Peña Nieto was harshly criticized, inl-cuding by López Obrador. Trump left that visit and flew to Arizona where he railed

against immigrants.López Obrador, a prag-

matist and nationalist above all, knows there is no more important ally than the behemoth to the north, espe-cially as Mexico’s economy plunges deeper into recession. If Trump wins a second term, López Obrador could be calcu-lating he’ll have a friend for the remaining four years of his administration. If the Demo-crats take office, he trusts they will respect the importance of the bilateral relationship and not hold a grudge.

“Maybe he’s making the right bet and we don’t know it,” said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, associate professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Gov-ernment. She expects Trump to use the visit to rally his base, perhaps even reviving the claim that Mexico will pay for the border wall, a topic López Obrador repeatedly dodged Tuesday. “He’s conscious of what can happen,” she said. “It happened to Peña Nieto. It can easily happen to him.”

López Obrador insists that he has no desire to be drawn into US domestic politics. He says he’s going to mark the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which took effect July 1. “There is no way (López Obrador) can spin this visit in his favor,” said Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Payan said the trade accord doesn’t merit wading into US political waters. “The (trade) agreement is done, finished and in force,” he said. “There is no need to thank anyone. There is no need to express any kind of gratitude. There is no need for a pilgrimage.”

That’s a decision Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

apparently reached in deciding not to attend the meeting.

On Monday, López Obrador added another reason.

“If we have a good rela-tionship with the United States government, we are going to avoid mistreatment” of Mex-icans living in the US, López Obrador said. López Obrador has repeatedly raised the importance of the remittances sent home by migrants and praised them as heroes.

Payan said immigration is always on the bilateral agenda, but he sees little chance for Mexico winning any concessions from Trump, whose adminis-tration continues to curtail legal and illegal immigration. “I think Trump is more interested in restricting access to the American labor market today more than ever,” Payan said.

Mexico’s worrisome level of violence - 2019 saw the highest number of murders on record - could be an opening. López Obrador could ask for more US assistance in intelligence or tracking drug traffickers’ financial transactions. He says he won’t undermine Mexico’s sovereignty and has been a harsh critic of the Merida Initi-ative that brought US financial and material support to Mexico as his predecessors battled the cartels.

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador during his morning conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, yesterday. Lopez Obrador said he tested negative for COVID-19, ahead of his official visit to the US to meet President Donald Trump.

FBI chief says China has preferences in US electionAFP — WASHINGTON

The head of the FBI said yesterday that China is pushing its preferences in the US election as part of broad intel-ligence operations, whose economic impact he called unprecedented.

Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Inves-tigation, did not say whether China backed either President Donald Trump or his pre-sumptive Democratic rival Joe Biden, both of whom have harshly criticized Beijing.

“China’s malign foreign influence campaign targets our policies, our positions, 24/7, 365 days a year,” Wray said at the Hudson Institute. “So it’s not an election-specific threat; it’s really more of an all-year, all-the-time threat. But certainly that has implications for elections and they certainly have preferences that go along with that.”

US intelligence concluded

that Russia intervened in the 2016 election, in part by manip-ulating social media, in an effort to elect Trump.

The Republican has criti-cized the 2016 finding and his administration has shown irri-tation over intelligence briefings that Russia is similarly interfering this year.

Wray was answering ques-tions after a speech focused mostly on China’s alleged eco-nomic espionage, cases of which he said have soared by 1,300 percent over the past decade.

“It’s the people of the United States who are the victims of Chinese theft on a scale so massive that it represents one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history,” Wray said.

“If you’re an American adult, it is more likely than not that China has stolen your per-sonal data,” he said, pointing to the massive 2017 data breach at credit reporting agency Equifax. Wray said that China

accounted for nearly half of the 5,000 ongoing counter-intel-ligence cases being pursued by the FBI.

“We’ve now reached the point where the FBI is opening a new China-related counter-intelligence case about every 10 hours,” he said.

Wray also said that China works “relentlessly” to identify “middlemen” to pressure US governors and other officials who take actions it opposes -- notably traveling to Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing.

The Trump administration has taken an increasingly hawkish tone on China, including blaming the com-munist power for not stopping the coronavirus pandemic -- on which the president’s own record has been criticized.

Biden in turn has accused Trump of abandoning Hong Kong, where China has clamped down on expression, in his bid to secure a trade deal.

Dozens of Florida hospitals out of available ICU bedsREUTERS — TALLAHASSEE

More than four dozen hospitals in Florida reported that their intensive care units (ICUs) have reached full capacity yesterday as COVID-19 cases surge in the state and throughout the country.

Hospital ICUs were full at 54 hos-pitals across 25 of Florida’s 67 counties, according to data published on Tuesday morning by the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration. More than 300 hos-pitals were included in the report, but not all had adult ICUs.

Thirty hospitals reported that their ICUs were more than 90% full. Statewide, only 17% of the total 6,010 adult ICU beds were available on Tuesday, down from 20% three days ago, according to the agency’s website.

Florida’s coronavirus cases have soared in the last month, with the state’s daily count topping 10,000 three times in the last week. The death rate from COVID-19 rose nearly 19% in the last week from the week prior, bringing the state’s death toll to more than 3,800.

All ICU beds are filled at the three hospitals in Clay County, where the pop-ulation is around 220,000.

Florida Governor Ron Desantis on Monday encouraged state residents to seek care at hospitals if needed, citing concerns that people with life-threat-ening conditions other than COVID-19 had avoided hospitals earlier in the pan-demic to the detriment of their health.

“Hospitals are safe and Floridians in need of treatment shouldn’t avoid seeking care,” Desantis wrote on Twitter.

In Miami-Dade - the state’s most populous county - eight hospitals reported their intensive care units were filled to capacity, including North Shore Hospital with 56 ICU beds. The hospital with the most ICU capacity in the county, Jackson Memorial, reported that its ICU was 91% full.

Miami-Dade County’s mayor rolled back reopening plans on Monday in light of the climbing case count, halting indoor dining at restaurants that had resumed business after an initial shutdown aimed at containing the virus’ spread.

US urges China to free professor who criticised XiAFP — WASHINGTON

The United States called yesterday on China to free an outspoken professor who was detained after criticising President Xi Jinping over the coro-navirus pandemic.

Xu Zhangrun, a law professor at Tsinghua University, one of China’s top institutions, was taken from his home in suburban Beijing on Monday along with more than 20 other people, his friends said.

“We are deeply concerned by the PRC’s detention of Professor Xu Zhangrun for criticising

Chinese leaders amid tightening ideological con-trols on university campuses in China,” State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

“The PRC must release Xu and uphold its international commitments to respect freedom of expression,” she wrote on Twitter.

Xu was one of the rare prominent figures to offer open critiques of Xi, who has clamped down hard on dissent. In an essay in February that appeared on websites overseas, Xu blamed a culture of deception and censorship fostered by Xi for the spread of COVID-19.

A firefighter removing the remains of a tanker truck carrying fuel that caught fire, in Pueblo Viejo, north of Bogota, Colombia, yesterday.

Colombia fuel truck inferno kills seven, dozens injuredAFP — BOGOTA

At least seven people were killed and dozens injured after the contents from an overturned tanker exploded in a fireball in northern Colombia, police said yesterday.

Dozens of people had gathered around the tanker after

it overturned and were trying to siphon off fuel when it ignited, causing an inferno, police said.

“We believe there are at least seven people burned to death in this tragic accident,” said Fabian Ospino, mayor of the town of Pueblo Viejo, where the accident happened, in a video posted on social media.

Local police subsequently confirmed the explosion had killed seven people and left a further 49 people with burn injuries.

The accident occurred on the road between the cities of Barran-quilla and Santa Marta on Colom-bia’s Caribbean coast.

People wearing face masks walk at Plaza de Armas square in Santiago, Chile, yesterday, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Chile surpassed 10,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday. However, authorities report a 21% drop in infections in the last two weeks.

Thousands of copper workers fallen ill in ChileBLOOMBERG — SANTIAGO

It’s no coincidence that global copper prices and Chilean COVID-19 cases are rising together.

Chile, which accounts for more than a quarter of global supply, is battling to maintain output levels as more workers fall ill amid a nationwide surge of infections.

Mines have been attempting to keep their workers safe without forgoing too much output by postponing non-essential activities such as maintenance and construction work. Fewer workers on site mean less risk of infection.

But cases keep rising, and unions and local politicians are calling for tighter restrictions.

With Chilean supply risk growing at a time of recovering Chinese demand, prices have all but wiped out losses for the year as the market tightens and some analysts predict an annual deficit.

At Codelco, for example, 2,843 workers have been diag-nosed with the disease as of July 5, according to data compiled by the Federation of Copper Workers union.

To be sure, that’s still a small fraction of the state-owned company’s total workforce of 70,000-plus, including contract workers. But it’s more signif-icant as a percentage given mines are already operating with skeleton crews. While Chile has managed to reduce the number of daily infections

nationally, cases continue to grow in some key mining areas.

Codelco’s hardest hit mines are El Teniente and Chuqui-camata, with 1,044 and 636 cases, respectively, according to the union.

The state behemoth has halted development projects at El Teniente, its largest mine, adding to other curtailments and shift-pattern changes. At Chu-quicamata, Codelco suspended smelting and sharply reduced refining. BHP Group announced plans last week to scale back its Cerro Colorado mine.

While Chile managed to increase copper export revenue in June, that may be more about rallying prices than higher volume. June production will be released in late July.

But Lopez Obrador has had a surprisingly warm relationship with Trump. He likes to point out that more recently Trump helped Mexico reach a deal with other oil-producing nations to cut production and aided Mexico in obtaining more ventilators to face the coronavirus pandemic.