Qatari royal offered bribes, committed crimes in US: LA Times Agencies

A Los Angeles Times re-port published under the title “The true story of

the heartthrob prince of Qatar and his time at USC” has uncov-ered how a Qatari royal offered bribes, broke rules and commit-ted crimes in the US.

The article accuses Qatar’s Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, the youngest brother of Qatar’s current Emir, of sever-al misconducts while he was a student at the University of Southern California (USC)

The report alleges that Sheikh Khalifa tried to bribe his way into a university, “often missed classes, spent time gambling in Las Vegas, and was potential-ly involved in a federal crime linked to buying a human or-gan.”

The report quotes former employees, USC professors and deans, and a person claiming to be a “sherpa” or guide whom the Qatari sheikh paid to help him gain his bachelor’s degree.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad, born November 1, 1991, is the youngest son of Qatar’s former emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa and his second wife Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. He is the brother of the current Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

He had initially moved to Cal-ifornia in 2011 where he began his undergraduate career at L.A. Mission College, a community college that has an overwhelm-ingly Latino and low-income student body.

Sometime after his freshman year, the sheikh’s royal entou-rage had approached the Uni-

versity of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where they met with Alessandro Duranti, who was then the dean of social sciences at the university. They met Du-ranti for a meeting to discuss Al-Thani’s possible admission at

UCLA bearing with them “a set of golden camel statues and a few other gifts.”

Al-Thani then refocused his efforts to USC where he would eventually transfer to study po-litical science.

Despite rarely attending class-es, the royal made the dean’s list three times during his degree.

The report attributed Sheikh Khalifa’s academic success to

Juvenal Cortes, a graduate stu-dent at USC who quickly took on the role of meeting with the prince’s professors to discuss attendance exemptions and his grade expectations for the se-mester.

At least eight employees at the Beverly Hills Rent-A-Car, which often rented out cars to the royal and arranged luxurious trips, said that a partner and others working in the company had said that an unnamed person was being paid to do the prince’s schoolwork. Former employees told the LA Times that the com-pany billed Qatar for the cost of a Mercedes SUV as a way to partially compensate the person.

Sheikh Khalifa, known for his love for luxury sports cars, currently has an active warrant for his arrest in Los Angeles for reckless driving.

Iran “nervous”Regime places missile batteries on full alert

TDT, agencies

The Iranian regime has become extremely “nerv-ous” over the recent “un-

explained explosions” and had once again placed its surface-to-air missile batteries on full alert. 

A CNN report citing an un-named US official who is closely tracking the developments re-vealed this. 

According to him, the missile systems are on “high alert” and is ready to fire at targets per-ceived to be a threat. 

The US assessment is that it is a response to recent events and nervousness over whether there is an unknown threat to the re-

gime in the wake of multiple mysterious explosions at various facilities this month.

The development also brings into discussion Iran’s admission of its “unintentionally” shoot-ing down of a Ukrainian passen-ger jet, killing all 176 people on board while its missile systems were on high alert. 

The US officials, however, didn’t disclose how they picked up on these indicators, but, the report says, American satellites, spy planes, and ships routinely operate in nearby international airspace and waters where they continuously monitor Iranian activity.

One of the most critical inci-

dents came July 2 when a fire caused significant damage to a building at Iran’s Natanz nucle-ar plant, CNN points out. 

Iran has struggled to explain the cause of those incidents, in-cluding a fire that caused major damage to a site. 

International speculation has been centred on a theory that Israel may be behind some of the explosions.

The CNN report also says that the BBC’s Persian service has also reported receiving an oddly worded statement from an un-known group calling themselves

“Cheetahs of the Homeland,” who claimed they were behind that explosion without provid-ing evidence.

What actually transpired is unclear, but a Middle Eastern

official — believed to be the head of Israeli intelligence, Yos-si Cohen — told the New York Times  last week that Israel had detonated a bomb, said a Vox report.

6

G20 carbon ‘food-print’ highest in meat-loving nations: report5BUSINESS

WORLDS P O R T S

Vettel fastest in wet runningSebastian Vettel heads in second Hungarian practice session as as Hamil-ton takes rain check | P 08

SATURDAYJULY, 2020

210 FILS ISSUE NO. 8539

Australian researchers invent rapid COVID-19 blood test

Cameron Diaz: motherhood has been the best phase of my life 7 CELEBS

18WHATSAPP3844 4692

TWITTER@newsofbahrain

MAILmail@newsofbahrain.com

WEBSITEnewsofbahrain.com

FACEBOOK/nobmedia

LINKEDINnewsofbahrain

INSTAGRAM/nobmedia

KNOW WHAT

210 fils (includes VAT)

TOTAL CASES

ACTIVE CASES

DEATHS

DISCHARGED

NEW CASES

CRITICAL

35,476

4,161

124

31,188

389

47

BAHRAIN

Sheikh Khalifa tried to bribe his way into a university, “often

missed classes, spent time gambling

in Las Vegas, and was potentially

involved in a federal crime linked to buying a human

organ”LA TIMES

Qatar’s Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani. (Instagram)

Emirates resumes Iran flightsTehran

Dubai-based Emirates air-lines resumed flights to

the Iranian capital yesterday after a five-month break due to shutdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The 16 passengers on the Emirates flight from Dubai passed through a disinfection tunnel and had their body tem-perature checked upon arrival at Tehran’s airport.

In the departures lounge, masked outgoing passengers lined up at the Emirates check-in counter while an airport worker disinfected dozens of luggage trolleys.

The United Arab Emirates

was among a list of countries that suspended all air links with Iran in February, along with nearby Armenia, Iraq, Kuwait and Turkey.

The UAE, of which Dubai is a member, is a key international transit route for Iranians and had daily flights to Iran.

Airport deputy head Mo-hammadreza Karimian said a number of airlines have asked to resume flights to Iran.

‘Cheetahs of the Home-land’ called BBC to

claim the explosions at sensitive military and

civilian sites

Explosion in Tubli Shark pulls 10-year-old from fishing boat in AustraliaSydney

A shark “grabbed” a 10-year-old boy from a fishing boat off Australia

yesterday but swam off after his father jumped in to save him, officials said.

The boy was taken to hospital in stable condition with cuts to his arm, chest and head after the attack off the coast of the island state of Tasmania, the local government reported.

The child was wearing a life vest as

he accompanied his father and two other men fishing five kilometres (three miles) from shore when the shark “grabbed him from the boat”, it said in a statement.

Australia has one of the world’s highest incidences of shark attacks and there have been five fatal maul-ings in the country so far this year.

The most recent was a 15-year-old surfer killed last week off the coun-try’s eastern coast.

Ten people, including two Bahrainis, were injured when a gas leak caused a huge explosion in a restaurant in Tubli. The injured were rushed to hospital by the National Am-bulance service personnel.

UK policeman suspended for kneeling on neck of Black man

Reuters | London

London’s police force suspended an officer

yesterday after video foot-age emerged of him appear-ing to kneel on the head and neck of a Black man they had detained who cried out, “Get off my neck!”

“Some of the techniques used cause me great con-cern - they are not taught in police training,” Metro-politan Police Deputy Com-missioner Steve House said. “The video footage that I have seen today and is cir-culating on social media is extremely disturbing.”

Picture courtesy of BBC

WHO preparing full mission to ChinaReuters | Geneva

The World Health Or-ganization is forming

a team of international ex-perts to go to China to study the origins of the novel coronavirus, but it will not be in place before the end of July, the head of the WHO’s emergencies programme said yesterday.

A two-person WHO ad-vance team has been in Chi-na for a week preparing for the visit of the larger team. WHO emergencies pro-gramme chief Mike Ryan said the health body was “very pleased” with the collaboration from Chinese officials so far.”

Page 2

02SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

“When people are united to respect social distancing and protect

the vulnerable”, we realise that it “our

most powerful weapon against the virus”

AUSAMAH ABDULLA AL ABSI

LMRA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Huge gas explosion in Tubli restaurant leaves 10 injuredTDT | Manama

Ten people, including two Bahrainis, were injured

when a gas leak caused a huge explosion in a restaurant in Tub-li.

The injured were rushed to hospital by National Ambulance services personnel who reached the scene immediately.

Civil defence personnel are at the scene, said the Interior Ministry in a statement on its twitter handle.

“Civil defence deals with a gas leak that caused an explo-sion in a restaurant in Tubli in which a number of individuals were injured,” ministry tweet said.

Al Ayam, in its report, quoting an eyewitness, said the explo-sion occurred when people were performing maintenance works inside the restaurant.

Eight workers, all Asians by nationality, were repairing a pizza oven, when the explosion

occurred, an eye witness told AlAyam.

The explosion caused several injuries to all who were inside

the restaurant, the report says. Fortunately, there were no

customers inside the restaurant at the time of the accident.

Those at the accident site also confirmed that Civil defence personnel arrived at the scene within four minutes of the ex-

plosion. Police then cordoned off the

area to prevent gathering and to facilitate rescue operation.

Authorities have opened an investigation into the cir-cumstance that led to the accident.

Civil defence officers at the scene of the accident (Picture courtesy of AlAyam)

‘Unity’ Bahrain’s most powerful weapon against COVID-19: LMRA Chief TDT | Manama

Bahrain’s “most powerful weapon against the virus” is

the unity of the people here, said LMRA Chief.

In an article published by Arab News yesterday, Ausamah Abdulla Al Absi called this as one of the “most important lesson” taught by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When people are united to re-spect social distancing and pro-tect the vulnerable”, we realise that it “our most powerful weapon against the virus.”

He also reminded that to pre-vent the spread of COVID-19 “the whole community must come to-gether” as a united force.

Thanks to the efforts of HRH Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the Chief Executive Officer of the Labour Market Reg-ulatory Authority said, all of Bah-rain is responding to the outbreak as a team. “We are all on Team Bahrain.”

The article which gives a com-prehensive outlook on the meas-ures adopted by Bahrain to combat the COVID pays respect to expatri-ate workers for their tremendous role in nation-building.

Bahrain, he said, is committed to honouring expatriate workers and has rolled out several measures to ensure their safety amid the pandemic.

Ensuring proper space to prac-tise social distancing at labour accommodation is one amongst them, Alabsi writes.

He points out that the LMRA has directed employers to provide an additional 10 per cent space for migrant workers in accommoda-tions.

Free treatments, free meals, which now exceeds 250,000, temperature testing at worksites, field visits, multilingual awareness campaigns, he said, are ongoing.

Bahrain, Al Absi said, has circu-lated 900,000 multilingual pam-phlets among foreign workers to ensure their safety.

Contact tracing is yet another facility that is currently support-ing the efforts of Ministry of In-terior and Ministry of Health in their battle, he wrote.

The article which speaks about the need to respond to economic impacts in a “flexible and respon-sible” manner also outlines Bah-

rain efforts in this regard. Stimulus packages, the three-

month moratorium on fee renew-als and work permits for private sector establishments are some amongst them.

Bahrain, he points out, also ex-tending the measures to further three months, providing 45,000 workers with new opportunities.

The nine-month amnesty in-troduced for migrant workers, he said, will allow workers to regu-larise their status or return home without legal consequence.

He also assured that the au-thority will overlook all “previous work and residency violations” and issue new work permits with-out penalty.

He said: “ Migrants are also free to leave the Kingdom without any obstacles affecting their departure or desire to return for work in the future.”

He also expressed his pride in the accolades showered by in-ternational organisations on the LMRA’s work guaranteeing the rights of the migrant workers and in combating human trafficking.

“The action we have taken to protect expatriates during the COVID-19 pandemic shows that this praise is not misplaced,” he wrote.

While pledging not to rest on the laurels, he expressed confi-dence in the ability of “Team Bah-rain” to prevail against COVID-19.

31,188 recoveries, 124 deathsTDT | Manama

Bahrain’s ministry of health yesterday an-nounced three new

deaths from Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the Kingdom, raising the total toll in the country to 124.

A 76-year-old Bahraini woman, a 58-year-old Bah-rain man and a 55-year-old expatriate man are the latest casualties, the ministry an-nounced on its twitter handle @MOH_Bahrain.

Health ministry officials tweeted their condolences to the families of the deceased.

There are currently 4,161 COVID-19 active cases in the Kingdom receiving treatment at various facilities, out of which 47 patients are under-going critical care.

Authorities also carried out 7,684 COVID-19 tests yesterday raising the total tests conduct-ed in the Kingdom, since the detection of the first case back in February, to 710,686.

Some 389 new cases were detected yesterday, taking the total number of cases here to 35,476. Out of the total cases, 222 are expatriate workers, 162 are contacts of active cas-es, and 5 are travel related.

Bahrain also recorded379 new recoveries yesterday rais-ing the number of patients who are cured of their infec-tion in the kingdom to 31,188.

Contact cases on the riseAccording to, MoH’s contact

tracing page there is a con-cerning increase in the num-ber of positive cases who are

contacts of active coronavirus cases. MoH says, during last week, six COVID-19 patients were instrumental in infecting

around 80 others. The cases included that of a 21-year-old Bahrain man, who passed the infection on to 26 of his family

members, and a 31-year-old Bahraini man from whom 11 others contracted the virus.

In another instance, an 85-year-old Bahraini man, who tested positive after ad-mitted to a healthcare facili-ty, passed on the infection to 13 others, including his sons, daughters, and grandchildren.

A random community test-ing conducted by the ministry also resulted in identifying a 34-year-old expatriate male who turned out to be positive. Seven others working with him at a private company also contracted the virus from him. One of his contacts was living in the same household, while the other six cases were from two different households.

Separately, the Ministry also announced identifying a total of 10 positive cases - all con-tacts of a 56-year-old Bahraini woman, who tested positive after developing symptoms.

In yet another incident, the ministry said it detected a to-tal of four more positive cases after a 29-year-old Bahraini tested positive after develop-ing symptoms.

In total, 1,621 Bahrainis and 2009 expatriates contracted the virus this week, with an average of 518 cases per day, bringing the number of con-firmed cases to 3,630.

Most of the cases, 1,720 were close contact of known cases.

Those tested positive af-ter developing symptoms amounted to 955, while oth-ers who tested positive after completing quarantine to-talled 141.

The number of coronavirus cases in the six-nation

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) group climbed to over 565,000, and the death toll is nearing 4,000.

37 news deaths in SaudiIn Saudi Arabia, Health

ministry announced 37 new deaths yesterday, increas-ing the number of people so far succumbed fighting the infection to 2,407, which is

also the highest among GCC nations. The kingdom also recorded 2,613 new cases yes-terday, taking the total num-ber of people infected so far to 52,283. Total patients cured of the infection touched 191,161. Some 2,188 patients are either serious or critical.

UAE cases declineThe United Arab Emirates

cases continued on its declin-ing trajectory with the coun-

try reporting only 293 new cases in the past 24 hours. The Emirates has also im-proved its recovery rate with it recording 1036 recoveries, raising total recoveries there to 48,448. With two new deaths, the country’s total toll now stands at 337. 

Oman confirms 1,619 new cases

In Oman, the health min-istry there confirmed 1,619

new cases and 8 more deaths yesterday. With this, the to-tal number of cases there reached 64,193 as the death toll reached 298.

Two more deaths in Kuwait Kuwait yesterday record-

ed 553 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths, rais-ing the tally of infections to 58,221 and the death toll to 404, the Health Ministry said.

GCC cases reach 565,000

03SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

MASK, MASK, MASKWear it to cut down COVID infection risk, says IHME

Over 253 deaths forecast in Bahrain by November 1. Wear masks and reduce it by 37 per cent, says IHME reportTDT | Manama

MASK, MASK, MASK.Wear it and wear it

properly each time you leave your home. If you are re-ally interested in playing a part in helping Kingdom beat this deadly pandemic, says a new report from the university’s In-stitute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

Widespread use of masks, the new report says, has the poten-tial to change the course of the pandemic and prevent a second wave from happening.

This work supports the grow-ing scientific consensus that cloth masks, whether home-made or commercial, can reduce respiratory virus infections by 33 per cent and slow community spread of COVID-19.

Don’t follow this and we would end up raising the death toll in Bahrain from Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to 253 or more by November 1, says the University of Washington mod-el. As of now, we have over 120 causalities to the deadly virus, thanks to the strong precaution-ary measures.

This projection assumes that the current pattern of easing social distancing mandates con-tinues and no new mandates imposed.

However, the death toll could be reduced by 37 per cent to 159, if nearly all of the residents and expatriates here wore masks in public, IHME confirms.

This reduction would happen only if 95 pc of the population here always wore a mask when they were in public, the report suggests.

So, if we do nothing and con-tinue to flout the restrictions, the daily death rate in the Kingdom will continue to increase and reach up to 10 per day. Wear the masks and follow the pre-cautionary measures religiously,

the rate would come down to less than 1.

What matters here most is our

way of life in society and our choices.

The report also shows

how people won’t following so-cial distancing measures will contribute to increasing the in-fection rate here.

Daily infectionsIHME projects the daily in-

fection and testing will touch 2,093, with ongoing easing and failure to follow precautionary measures by November 1. Wear face masks, and we could bring that number down to 171 per day, IHME says.

The report also projects how the increases are going to affect the hospital resources here.

With no change in social be-haviours, the report which iden-tifies Bahrain as having 41 ICU beds and 992 beds in hospitals, requires to add up to 88 ICU beds and up to 451 beds in hospitals.

Invastive ventillators The Kingdom, IHME pro-

jects, would also requires up to 76 invasive ventilators by November 1, un-less masks are worn properly, and social

distancing measures

a r e

practised religiously. The report which points out

that the mask use has increased dramatically globally reminds that it’s yet to reach a desirable level, citing the increases in re-productive number (R-value) as recently as two weeks ago.

Need R-value less than 1If ‘R-value’ is greater than 1,

every person infected with COV-ID-19 will produce more than one additional infected person. To successfully eliminate a dis-ease from a population, R needs to be less than 1.

IHME, as per this calculation, warns, “several countries in the Middle East, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Yemen, as well as Turkey and Iran, also had R values greater than 1 as recently as two weeks ago.”

The IHME’s projections have been cited in the past by the White House and are watched closely by public health of-ficials.

So, as the report proves, the little covering over our nose is the key to saving many lives around us, until scientists provide an effective cure.

Practise wear-i n g m a s k a n d practice wearing it on the face.

Remember, it should be on the nose, not on your neck, to help reduce the spread of the pandemic.

KNOW WHAT

The analysis of all respiratory infections

and mask effec-tiveness suggests a

reduction in infection for mask-wearers

by at least one-third compared to control

groups. This work supports the growing scientific consensus

that cloth masks, whether homemade

or commercial, can re-duce respiratory virus infections by 33% and

slow community spread of COVID-19.

Graphical representation of IHME projections for Bahrain based on current projection scenarios by November 1, 2020

Unified GCC HR systems purchase: Talks ongoing with Oracle and SAPTDT | Manama

Talks are on ongoing with “Oracle” and “SAP” as part

of efforts to unify the purchase of HR Systems permits at GCC countries

The Technical Committee of the Civil Service and Human Resources Affairs of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) an-nounced this during a virtual meeting held yesterday.

Representing Bahrain in the meeting was the Civil Service Bureau (CSB).

“The negotiations aim to reach a unified GCC agreement with the two companies to purchase HR Systems and their related services at reasonable prices,” participants were in-formed.

Moving on, the council re-viewed measures taken by GCC civil service departments to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which

included the suspension of em-ployees’ attendance at govern-ment worksites and the activa-tion of teleworking.

The virtual meeting also dis-cussed the technical commit-

tee’s draft strategic plan, as well as its operational plan for the coming years.

It also discussed the date of the 17th meeting of the GCC civil service ministers and officials.

The Civil Service Bureau (CSB) represented Bahrain in the GCC wide meeting

Director-General of Southern Governorate Police Colonel Shaikh Abdullah bin Khalid Al Khalifa honoured the personnel of the Search and Investigation Division for their efforts to carry out security duties and enforce the law. Head of the division thanked the director-general for the initiative, highlighting ongoing efforts to promote work performance.

Supreme Council for the Environment (SCE) Chief Executive Officer Dr Mohammed Mubarak bin Daina during a meeting with MP Ghazi Faisal Al-Rahma. Discussions focused on the importance of cooperation and partnership with the legislative branch to promote environmental issues.

04SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

Khadija RabiaLogistics Specialist (AWS Bahrain)

Khadija joined AWS earlier this year as a Logis-tics Specialist, where she has a range of re-

sponsibilities including managing inbound and outbound deliveries, distributing critical spare parts, arranging transfers between sites, and managing end-to-end life cycle of inventory man-agement.

 “I find the openness to new ideas at Amazon so refreshing,” she says. “You can speak up no matter your seniority and without being afraid of get-ting it wrong. My manager actively supports my growth. That sounds simple, but it means a lot.”

“Looking ahead in my career, I’m interested in procurement as it would give me an opportunity to visit different places and to learn new areas of ex-pertise. But right now, I’m focused on developing my skills towards earning a leadership position.”

Recently, Khadija was nominated and elected as co-chair of ICCAPP (Infrastructure Connections Communication & Action Planning Panel) in her local data centre cluster. That means she’s a direct point of contact for colleagues to come forward with new ideas and suggestions.

“With the encouragement of my manager I decided to put my name for the new ICCAPP roster, little did I know that I would be elected as a co-chair. Now I’m in a position to return that trust and help oth-ers. This is particularly important during the current crisis, as we are all looking for ways to improve, to ensure social distancing and to change our behaviour for the better.”

Outside of work, Khadija is passionate about growing and gardening. One upside of working from home is the extra time with her rooftop garden, where she is growing tomatoes, eggplants, jalapenos, zucchini, and much more.

“I took over our family’s rooftop garden two years ago. When I’m gardening, I’m moving at a different speed to life at work. It’s rewarding to be in nature’s presence, to watch seedlings grow and reap the harvest. It’s part of my routine, it helps me unwind and switch off from work.”

Ghaith AlazzawiInfrastructure Delivery Network Technician (AWS Bahrain)

Ghaith knew he wanted to be an engineer since was aged 10. “I loved breaking toys, taking the motors out and trying to make my own machines. I was lucky to have supportive parents who could always see that engineering was my future.”

 “In the Infrastructure Delivery team, we build the data centre’s network infrastructure for all customers. For any new data centre, we’re involved in the first phase of building. Later on, we’re also responsible for scaling the network as demand increases.”

 “One of the most exciting aspects of this job is the scale and speed of innovation. Sometimes the technology we need doesn’t even exist yet, so we work with the brightest minds to find solutions. Our team knows what is required, so we’re the best people to work on innovation.”

Ghaith says it’s a great motivator to know the vital role he and his team-mates play in maintaining essential services.

 “Most of the governmental, educational, and health care systems in Bahrain are running on AWS. These types of services are critical for peo-ple’s day-to-day lives, especially in the current situation.”

Ghaith feels the culture at Amazon has kept his team powering through the crisis. “The Leadership Principles set a universal language, which bonds us across borders,” he explains. “The local culture between Bahrain and somewhere like Sweden might be different, but we all share the same values.”

Powering through

the crisis Meet the real

heroes of AWSTDT | Manama

As Ghaith Alazzawi, an AWS Bahrain employ-ee puts its, what matters most now is the

“scale and speed of innovation.”“Sometimes, the technology we need doesn’t even exist yet, so we work with the brightest

minds to find solutions.”More than ever, the world is in dire need of

many such efforts.

Getting to know the requirements and solving it quickly is the key here, espe-cially as the pandemic wreaks havoc across the world.

Keeping up and running services critical to people’s day-to-day lives have become the need of the hour.

This is where employees at AWS Middle East (Bahrain) come into the play. Day in, Day out they do incredible things for governments, large companies,

charities, public health organisations, small businesses, and start-ups across the globe.

AWS is helping them leverage the true potential of cloud, all the while inno-vating and learning to support the health and safety of front-line employees and partners amid the outbreak.

This month, AWS spoke to some of their data centre employees about what it is like to work in data centres and the crucial role they play in supporting AWS customers, especially at this critical time:

Filming of new terminal building, signage for Manama market• Tender board opens 64 bids for 10 government contracts

TDT | Manama

Bahrain tender board Thurs-day opened bids from 64

private sector companies who were vying for over ten different contracts in the public sector.

Tender board data shows Bah-rain Airport Company’s contract for “filming and video produc-tion for new terminal building” was the star of the day with 17 takers queuing up.

B i d s v a r i e d b e t w e e n B H D 5 9, 3 2 5.0 0 0 a n d B H D 1,047,375.000. Motivate Events & Media emerged as the lowest bidder, and Seven Brands Bah-rain the highest.

The board on the same day also opened two more tenders from Bahrain Airport Company.

One of them was for providing Stationery Supplies and another for acquiring Third Party Logis-tics (3PL) Services.

Tender for stationery supplies attracted five bidders, whose bids ranged between BHD 8,348.500 and BHD 71,980.430. However, the website said both the lowest and highest bids are

suspended, with Maskati Bros & Co. who quoted BHD 11,692.800 emerging as the lowest bidder.

The contract for BAC’s 3PL services saw four companies bidding. Al Buhamood Real Es-tate Centre who quoted BHD 515.000 emerged as the lowest bidder. The highest bid of BHD 411,124.600 was from Aramex

Bahrain.

Zimmah Primary substation boundary wall

Electricity and Water Author-ity’s contract for constructing a boundary wall at Zimmah Pri-mary substation at Arad also saw several takers.

Some 13 companies competed for the contract which received bids between BHD 86,013.630 and BHD 153,032.730. Saraya Contractors Co and Sayed Kad-hem Al Durazi & Sons placed bids which are identical and were also the lowest.

The authority opened two more tenders of EWA placed by their Central stores’ Directo-rate. One was for constructing a substation and kiosk for which Universal Elecro-engineer-ing’s quote of BHD 478,704.000 emerged as the lowest quote. The second for module and communication received a single bid from Ph trading for BD94,080.000.

Bapco

Nine players competed to win a contract to supply Furnace tube for platfomer and seamless tubes for Sour water stripper for Bahrain Petroleum Compa-ny’s (Bapco). Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo placed the lowest quote of BHD 14,181.400 and Power Tech Development quoting BHD 34,555.000 was the highest bid-der.

The board also opened one more contract from Bapco for meter proving and tank calibra-tion services for which three companies competed. Green Innova Trading with BHD 151,313.000 emerged as the low-est bidder.

Signage of 49 stores in Manama market

Tender for supplying and installing signage of 49 stores in Manama market by Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Author-ity attracted eight companies.

FY Advertising and Publici-

ty emerged as the lowest bid-der quoting an amount of BHD 11,400.000, while Design Cre-ative turned out as the highest bidder (BHD 55,534.500). The move also follows an 18 Novem-ber tender for providing sig-nages for 275 stores in Manama market, to unify storefronts.

Manama market (Courtesy of Lonely Planet)

KNOW WHAT

Established in 2002 by Legislative Decree

No: 36, the Tender Board is an inde-

pendent, regulator of government procure-ment practices in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

05SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

G20 carbon ‘food-print’ highest in meat-loving nations: report• Argentina tops the list with a diet exceeding climate thresholds nearly five-fold

Paris

If everyone alive ate steaks and dairy the way Brazilians

and Americans do, we would need an extra five planets to feed the world, according to the first report to compare the carbon emissions from food consump-tion in G20 nations, released Thursday.

Among the world’s top econo-mies, only the per capita carbon “food-prints” in India and In-donesia are low enough to en-sure the Paris climate target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to the Diet for a Better Future report.

In China, where sustained economic growth has boosted consumption of meat and im-ported foods, the average diet -- on a planetary scale -- would exceed the 1.5C threshold by

nearly two-fold.Producing food for Earth’s 7.7

billion people is responsible for a quarter of the global carbon emissions that drive climate change.

About 40 percent of that comes from livestock production and food waste, with the rest generated by rice production, fertiliser use, land conversion and deforestation to accomodate

commercial crops.“Currently, individuals in a

handful of countries are eat-ing way too much of the wrong foods at the expense of the rest of the world,” Brent Loken, glob-al food lead at WWF and lead author of the report, said.

These imbalanced diets by a relative handful of rich countries are “to the detriment of climate, health and economies,” he said.

The report by EAT -- an Os-lo-based non-profit that has led peer-reviewed research on the nexus of diet, health and climate change -- also rated G20 national dietary guidelines, projecting the carbon footprint they would produce if followed.A ‘broken food system’ -

Interestingly, this ranking roughly mirrors actual con-sumption.

Argentina tops the list with a diet exceeding climate thresh-olds nearly five-fold, followed by Canada, Brazil, the United States, Russia and Australia.

At the other end of the spec-trum, the countries with the most climate-friendly dietary guidelines are Indonesia, India, South Korea, China and Japan.

“This report makes it possi-ble for the first time to compare and track the carbon emissions baked into each country’s na-tional guidelines,” said Corina Hawkes, director of the Uni-versity of London’s Centre for Food Policy.

How the world sources food also has an impact on disease,

including viral outbreaks such as the new coronavirus, the au-thors said.

“The current pandemic has highlighted just how broken our food system is,” said Loken.

“The food that we eat and how we produce it are also key driv-ers in the emergence of deadly viruses such as the one that leads to COVID-19.”

Deforestation in particular erases the boundary between human settlements and natu-ral reservoirs of disease in wild animals.

The problem of waste is con-centrated in wealthy nations,

Loken said.“It’s an issue mainly because

rich people throw away too much food,” he said.

The report argues that there are sweeping benefits -- both for health and economies -- to shift-ing toward healthier diets rich in legumes, vegetables, fruits and nuts, and light on dairy and meats, especially beef and lamb.

Earlier research has calculat-ed that an overhaul of the global food system could unleash tril-lions of dollars each year in new business opportunities, and save even more in reduced damages to people’s health and the planet.

Producing food for Earth’s 7.7 billion people is responsible for a quarter of the global carbon emissions that drive climate change

European stocks split as EU seeks virus deal• EU leaders are holding their first face-to-face summit in five months

AFP | London

Europe’s main stock mar-kets moved in mixed directions yesterday

as traders watched whether EU leaders will be agree on a post-virus economic rescue plan.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 ended the day 0.4 per cent higher while in Paris the CAC 40 shed 0.3 pc.

Outside the eurozone, Lon-don’ benchmark FTSE 100 index ended the day 0.6 pc higher.

“It was been a quiet trading session as the much-awaited EU summit to discuss the rescue fund began today,” said market analyst David Madden at CMC Markets UK.

The European Union was facing a “moment of truth”, France’s President Emmanuel Macron declared Friday.

EU leaders were holding their first face-to-face summit in five months, but the gathering seems unlikely to bridge their divide over a huge 750-billion-euro ($847-billion) recovery fund.

A determined band of north-ern members, led by the Neth-erlands, are holding out against doling out cash to their south-ern neighbours without strict conditions attached.

European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde on Thurs-day leaned on EU governments, which have in the past left much of the heavy lifting to the central bank, to do more to kickstart their economies suffering from the pandemic.

“Recent gains in European indices and in the euro, which

is enjoying some real strength against the dollar for the first

time in over two years, could easily evaporate if Monday ar-rives without progress of some kind,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG.

US and Asia mixedElsewhere Friday, US stocks

wobbled on mixed economic data.

US home construction surged 17.3 pc in June, the Commerce

Department said, as the sector continued to gain ground fol-

lowing the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

However a US consumer sen-timent survey fell to a three-month low, which is likely due to the increasing number of states reimposing restrictions and the end of supplementary unemployment benefits rapidly approaching.

Asian stock markets closed mixed following sell-offs the previous session, as disappoint-

ing recent data jolted optimism over the economic recovery that has helped drive gains for the past few months.

Traders have for weeks been able to look past fresh spikes in coronavirus infections around the globe to focus on the tril-lions of dollars spent on govern-ment support and the easing of lockdowns.

But with containment meas-ures being reintroduced in parts of the world that had appeared in control of the outbreak -- in-cluding Hong Kong, Japan and Australia -- confidence has tak-en a hit.

Key figures around 1530 GMTLondon - FTSE 100: 0.6 pc at 6,290.30 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: 0.4 pc at 12,919.61 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: 0.3 pc at 5,069.42 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: n at 3,365.60

New York - Dow: 0.2 pc at 26,687.47

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: 0.3 pc at 22,696.42 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: 0.5 pc at 25,089.17 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: 0.1 pc at 3,214.13 (close)

West Texas Intermediate: 0.7 pc at $40.48 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: 0.8 pc at $43.03 per barrel

Euro/dollar: at $1.1431 from $1.1382 at 2100 GMT

Dollar/yen: at 107.11 yen from 107.29 yen

Pound/dollar: at $1.2537 from $1.2551

Euro/pound: at 91.18 pence from 90.69

KNOW WHAT

Europe is in the depths of its deep-est recession since World War II and

the 27 leaders are seeking common

ground on the terms of a 750-billion-euro

stimulus package that would help lift those

hardest hit by the pandemic.

BA retires entire Boeing 747 fleet on virus travel slump

London

British Airways on Friday retired its Boeing 747 jum-

bo jets, hastening s withdrawal of the ageing plane after the coronavirus pandemic crushed demand for air travel and car-riers began switching to green-er jets.

BA parent group IAG, which was already phasing out the iconic aircraft by 2024, said in a statement that the entire fleet had been retired “with immediate effect” owing to “the downturn in travel caused by the COVID-19 global pan-demic”.

The airline will operate more flights on modern fu-el-efficient aircraft such as Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s, as it seeks to both slash costs and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The carrier has 31 Boeing jumbos, more than any other airline, while the dwindling number of airlines continuing to fly the 747 include Air India, Korean Air and Lufthansa.

In Australia meanwhile, Qantas on Friday carried out a farewell flight for its last re-maining 747.

‘Heart-breaking decision’“This is not how we want-

ed or expected to have to say goodbye to our incredi-ble fleet of 747 aircraft. It is a heart-breaking decision to have to make,” said BA Chief Executive Alex Cruz.

“We have committed to making our fleet more envi-ronmentally friendly as we

look to reduce the size of our business to reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation. As painful as it is, this is the most logical thing for us to propose.”

US aerospace titan Boeing launched the 747 in 1970, with the 400-seater jet dominating international air travel and cargo over the following dec-ades.

“It’s the end of an era for the queen of the skies,” inde-pendent aviation analyst John Strickland told AFP on Friday.

Production of the A380 su-perjumbo ceases next year -- a decision taken by European planemaker Airbus before the pandemic struck.

“The virus certainly expedit-ed” BA’s retirement of the 747, Strickland said, noting that the airline had already decommis-sioned almost half of its fleet that once stood at 57 aircraft.

But COVID-19 hastened BA’s latest move, with the virus bat-tering the air transport sec-tor and decimating demand, sparking bailouts and tens of thousands of job cuts at air-lines.

The United States is the worst-hit country with 138,360 deaths.

“The global air market is... in tatters, not least the US mar-ket,” Strickland said.

British Airways is shedding 12,000 staff, while Boeing has confirmed 16,000 layoffs.

American Airlines has an-nounced 45,000 job losses and Lufthansa -- which received a nine-billion-euro state bailout -- has removed 22,000 posts.

06

society

SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

Southern Governor HH Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa with police officials as he reached out to citizens from Askar, Jau and Al-Dur remotely via video conference. The Virtual Majlis was attended also by Deputy Southern Governor Brigadier Isa Thamer Al-Dosary, and a number of officials. HH Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa stressed keenness on building bridges with citizens and strengthening community ties, in line with the sound directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa

Director-General of Southern Governorate Police, Col. Shaikh Abdullah bin Khalid Al Khalifa honours the personnel of the Search and Investigation Division for their efforts in carrying security duties and law enforcement. He expressed thanks and appreciation for their dedication and success in solving many crimes and cases. Meanwhile, Head of the division thanked the director-general for the nice gesture and highlighting ongoing effort to promote the work performance.

Salman Sharafali, a newly graduated student of Ibn Khuldoon School with Royal Charity Organization officials after donating his entire gift money worth BD4000 for providing masks to the poor people

Passengers collect Boarding passes at Bahrain International Airport for Air India Express Flight IX 1474 from Bahrain to Kochi as part of Vande Bharat Mission by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India

The Rotary Club of Salmaniya members during a virtual business meeting on 15th July via Zoom. This is the first business meeting of the year wherein President Amira iIsmail and the board of directors informed the club members of the goals and objectives for the year. Each director informed the members of their plans to achieve their set goals. President Amira praised the work of Immediate Past President Seema Baqi on the success of her Rotary Year of 2019-2020. President Amira announced that the Raft Race has been postponed due the current COVID-19 situation and will resume the race preparations once the situation has passed. She plans to continue the “Dream House” project but updated some aspects to fit the current circumstance.

Australian researchers invent rapid COVID-19 blood testReuters | Sydney

Researchers in Australia have devised a test that can determine novel

coronavirus infection in about 20 minutes using blood samples in what they say is a world-first breakthrough.

The researchers at Monash University said their test can de-termine if someone is currently infected and if they have been infected in the past.

“Short-term applications in-clude rapid case identification and contact tracing to limit viral spread, while population screening to determine the ex-tent of viral infection across communities is a longer-term need,” the researchers said in a

paper published in the journal ACS Sensors yesterday.

The research team was led by

BioPRIA and Monash Universi-ty’s Chemical Engineering De-partment, including researchers from the ARC Centre of Excel-lence in Convergent BioNano Science and Technology (CBNS).

Their test, using 25 microli-tres of plasma from blood sam-ples, looks for agglutination, or a clustering of red blood cells, that the coronavirus causes.

While the current swab test is used to identify people who are infected with the coronavirus, the agglutination assay - or anal-ysis to detect the presence and amount of a substance in blood - can also determine if some-one had been recently infected, after the infection is resolved, they said.

Hundreds of samples can be tested every hour, the research-ers said, and they hope it can also be used to detect antibodies raised in response to vaccina-tion to aid clinical trials.

A patent for the innovation has been filed and the research-ers are seeking commercial and government support to scale up production.

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 13.8 mil-lion people around the world and killed nearly 600,000 since it emerged in China late last year. Australia has reported more than 11,000 cases and 116 deaths.

07SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

14,111,224

595,668

8,397,504

Deaths

Recovered:

New cases

New deaths +172,128

+3,661Country Total

casesnew cases

Total deaths

New Deaths

Total recovered

Active cases

Serious, Critical

Tot cases/1m pop

Saudi Arabia

245,851 +2,613 2,407 +37 191,161 52,283 2,188 7,058

UAE 56,422 +293 337 +2 48,448 7,637 1 5,702

Kuwait 58,221 +553 404 +2 48,381 9,436 143 13,625

Oman 64,193 +1,619 298 +8 41,450 22,445 157 12,560

Egypt 86,474 +703 4,188 +68 27,302 54,984 41 844

Qatar 105,898 +421 153 +1 102,597 3,148 132 37,716

Middle East

Country Total cases New deaths Total Deaths

USA 3,751,251 +683 141,801

Brazil 2,021,834 +175 76,997

India 1,040,457 +676 26,285

Russia 759,203 +186 12,123

Peru 341,586 12,615

South Africa 337,594 4,804

Chile 326,539 7,290

Mexico 324,041 +67 37,574

Spain 307,335 +654 28,420

UK 293,239 +21 45,233

Iran 269,440 +148 13,791

Pakistan 259,999 +68 5,475

Saudi Arabia 245,851 +56 2,407

Italy 243,967 +20 35,028

G l o b a l C o u n t r i e s w o r s t a f f e c t e d

Figures as of closing

Covid-19 Cases:

Fake blood is seen in test tubes labelled with the COVID-19 in this illustration

Scuffles break out at the parliament in TaipeiAFP | Taipei

Taiwanese lawmakers threw punches and water balloons

inside the legislature yesterday, the third parliamentary brawl in a fort-night, over the nomination of the head of a top government watchdog.

A legislator from the ruling Dem-ocratic Progressive Party (DPP) was caught on camera punching an op-position party member during a vote on nominee Chen Chu.

Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers later threw water balloons at the speakers’ podium, forcing their DPP colleagues to don plastic raincoats and hold up cardboard shields.

The parliament in Taipei was once notorious for mass brawls, and has been the scene of frequent protests.

Scuffles broke out over reform

policies and pension cuts when President Tsai Ing-wen first took office four years ago.

Such confrontations had since subsided, but in the last fortnight they have returned with abandon over the decision to nominate Chen, 70, to head the Control Yuan, an investigatory agency that monitors the other branches of government.

The KMT is opposed to her ap-pointment, which requires approval from the DPP-dominated parlia-ment.

The party also claimed that 24 out of 27 people nominated for mem-bership of the Control Yuan have close ties with the DPP in the “worst ever” nomination list for the agency.

“We demand a new review and we demand the nominations be withdrawn,” KMT chairman John-ny Chiang told supporters gathered outside the Control Yuan building, also in the capital.

Chen is a long-time human rights advocate and was jailed for six years when Taiwan was a dictatorship under the KMT.

Despite the morning’s melee, vot-ing went ahead and Chen’s nomina-tion was approved.

She has said she will quit the DPP after her nomination is approved, to maintain the impartiality of the po-sition, and accused the opposition of smearing her with unfounded accusations.

Queen knights 100-year-old UK fundraiser Captain TomAFP | London

A 100-year-old World War II veteran who became a

coronavirus lockdown hero by raising millions for British health charities was knighted yesterday in a special ceremony by Queen Elizabeth II.

Captain Tom Moore raised nearly £33 million ($41.3 mil-lion, 36.1 million euros) by com-pleting 100 laps of his garden, winning hearts across Britain and plaudits around the world.

Prime Minister Boris John-son said in May the Burma

campaign veteran would be made a “Sir” in recognition of his achievement and for

being a “beacon of light” in lockdown.

He had already been promot-

ed to honorary colonel by the Yorkshire Regiment, and even got to number one in the charts in a collaboration with the sing-er Michael Ball.

The queen, 94, topped an extraordinary year for Moore by breaking her own enforced lockdown for a special open-air ceremony at her Windsor Castle home, west of London.

She has been staying at the sprawling castle with her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip since mid-March because their age puts them at high risk of contracting COVID-19.

Legislators from Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) scuffle

The test, using 25 microlitres of plasma from blood samples,

looks for agglutination, or a clustering of red blood cells, that the coronavirus causes

KNOW WHAT

The parliament in Taipei was once

notorious for mass brawls, and has been the scene of frequent

protests

KNOW WHAT

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II uses the sword that belonged to her father, George VI as she confers the Honour of Knighthood on Captain Tom Moore

News in brief u Rescuers

pulled bodies from under mud and debris as they raced to find dozens still missing after flash floods killed at least 36 people on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island.

More than 14,000 people left homeless by the disaster have taken refuge at temporary shelters in hard-hit North Luwu regency, with the country’s search and rescue agency hunting for 66 people still unaccounted for. Officials said at least 36 people had died in the disaster, following the retrieval of more bodies.

u The central Chinese city of Wuhan and the provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang declared red alerts yesterday as heavy rain threatened to swell

rivers and lakes and bring more disruption across the countryside and to global commerce. Wuhan, on the banks of the Yangtze river where the novel coronavirus emerged late last year, warned residents to take precautions as water levels fast approached their maximum guaranteed safety level.

u A Bangladesh hospital owner accused of issuing thousands of fake negative coronavirus test results to patients

at his two clinics was arrested Wednesday while trying to flee to India in a burqa, police said. The arrest marked the end of a nine-day manhunt for Mohammad Shahed over allegations of giving fake certificates to patients saying they were virus-free without even testing them. Shahed, 42, was one of more than a dozen people detained by authorities over the past few days in connection with the scam.

u A new book on Donald Trump written by his niece sold nearly a million copies on the first day it went on sale in the United States, its

publisher said. Mary Trump’s “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” is billed as the first unflattering portrayal of the US president by a family insider. Mary, a psychologist whose father was Trump’s oldest brother Fred, accuses the president of hubris and ignorance, and says he fits the clinical criteria for being a narcissist.

u A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Papua New Guinea yesterday, rocking residents across the pacific nation, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake

struck at a depth of 85 kilometres near the eastern coast around 150 kilometres from the capital, Port Moresby, it said. People scrambled from office buildings in the capital after being jolted by the quake, which hit around 12:50pm local time.

u The Philippines will allow the entry of foreign nationals with long-term visas into the country from August 1, the presidential spokesman said yesterday, as the country gradually relaxes some coronavirus restrictions in a bid to support the economy.

Indonesian rescuers hunt

for dozens missing after floods kill 36

Police arrest Bangladeshi

hospital owner over fake virus

results

Trump niece’s memoir sells

nearly 1 mn copies on first day

6.9-magnitude quake hits Papua

New Guinea

Floods disrupt supply

chains in Wuhan

08SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

Germany’s ‘Black Forest Rambo’ nabbed after six-day manhuntBerlin

After a huge six-day man-hunt, German police said

Friday they have caught the “Black Forest Rambo”, a heav-ily armed suspect accused of stealing officers’ weapons and going on the run in the woods.

Yves Rausch, 31, was found sitting in a bush after a tip-off from two witnesses, “with four guns visible in front of him”, said Juergen Rieger, the head of the search operation.

The suspect also had an axe in his lap and one further gun, and there was a letter in front of him, Rieger said.

Rausch was slightly injured in the arrest, as was a member of the special forces who was cut with the axe.

“I am relieved, happy and grateful that this exception-al situation for our town has come to an end,” Uwe Gaiser, the mayor of the village of Op-penau, told reporters.

Rausch had fled into the forest on Sunday after he managed to disarm four po-lice officers, sparking a huge search operation.

More than 2,500 officers combed the area with the help of special forces, helicopters, sniffer dogs and thermal im-aging cameras for the fugi-tive, nicknamed “Black Forest Rambo” by the German press after pictures emerged of him dressed in combat gear.

‘Weapons freak’The drama began on Sunday

morning when police were in-formed that a suspicious man

was hanging around a hut in the forest near Oppenau.

Four officers sent to the scene said he cooperated at first when approached.

But then he “suddenly and completely unexpectedly” threatened them with a gun and made them put down their own weapons before running away with them.

Police had earlier warned that he may also be carrying a bow and arrow.

Oppenau prosecutor Her-wig Schaefer described Rausch on Tuesday as a “weapons freak” with a “great affinity for arms”.

He has a long criminal re-cord, including charges relat-ed to the possession of illegal weapons, theft and bodily injury.

He received a juvenile sen-tence of 3.5 years in 2010 after he shot an acquaintance with a crossbow, seriously injuring her.

Police found child pornog-raphy on his mobile phone while investigating him for the possession of explosives in 2019.

Schools, kindergartens and the local swimming pool were closed on Monday as a pre-caution.

Modi calls for reformed multilateralism at UNPIB

Indian Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi delivered a key-note address virtually at this

year’s High-Level Segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) session yesterday at the United Nations in New York.

This was the first address by PM to the broader UN member-ship since India’s overwhelming election as a non-permanent member of the Security Coun-cil on 17th June, for the term 2021-22.

The theme of the High-Lev-el Segment of the ECOSOC this year is “Multilateralism after COVID19: What kind of UN do we need at the 75th anniversary”.

Coinciding with the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the UN, this theme also reso-nates with India’s priority for its forthcoming membership of the Security Council. Prime Minister reiterated India’s call for a ‘reformed multilateralism’ in a post-COVID-19 world, which reflects the realities of the con-temporary world.

In his address, PM recalled India’s long association with the ECOSOC and the UN’s develop-mental work, including for the Sustainable Development Goals. He noted that India’s develop-mental motto of ‘SabkaSaath,

SabkaVikaas, Sabka Vishwas’ resonates with the core SDG principle of leaving no one be-hind.

Prime Minister pointed out that India’s success in improv-ing the socio-economic indi-cators of its vast population has a significant impact on global SDG targets. He spoke about India’s commitment to also support other developing countries in meeting their SDG targets.

He spoke about India’s on-going development efforts, in-cluding for improving access to

sanitation through the “Swacch Bharat Abhiyan”, empower-ing women, ensuring finan-cial inclusion, and expanding the availability of housing and healthcare through flagship schemes such as the “Housing for All” programme and the “Ay-ushman Bharat” scheme.

Prime Minister also high-lighted India’s focus on envi-ronmental sustainability and biodiversity conservation and recalled India’s leading role in the establishment of the Inter-national Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient

Infrastructure.Speaking about India’s role

in its region as a first respond-er, Prime Minister recalled the support provided by the Indian government and Indian phar-ma companies for ensuring medicine supplies to different countries, and for coordinating a joint response strategy among SAARC countries.

This was the second time that Prime Minister addressed the ECOSOC. He had earlier deliv-ered the keynote address at the 70thanniversary of the ECOSOC in January 2016.

Narendra modi

How new inventions can fight spread of COVID-19 indoorsAFP | Washington

It’s become a familiar man-tra: masks, hand-washing and

physical distancing can slow the spread of the coronavirus while work continues on developing the vaccines and treatments needed to rid the world of its threat.

But as tens of millions of people return to public transit, their workplaces and schools, are these interventions enough?

Researchers are increasingly looking at the pandemic through the lens of engineering, devising ways to make indoor environ-ments safer. Here’s a preview of what’s in store.

Heated nickel air filtersScientists are getting more

worried about the potential air-borne spread of the coronavirus, at distances far greater than the two meters (six feet) of spacing urged by guidelines.

Certain super-spreading events, such as a choir prac-tice in Washington state in the spring, appeared to involve so-called microdroplets that be-came suspended in the air.

HEPA (high-efficiency particu-late air) filters -- technology that first came to market in the 1950s -- are used widely in hospitals, biocontainment labs and air-planes. These use a fan to draw air through felt-like filters to capture the tiniest of microbes.

But the filters become con-taminated over time and must eventually be incinerated or au-toclaved.

A research team at the Texas Center for Superconductivity at University of Houston and Gal-veston National Laboratory has

now demonstrated the efficien-cy of a new type of filter based on an ultra-fine foam made of nickel.

By heating the foam to 200 de-grees Celsius (392 degrees Fahr-

enheit), the researchers were able to eliminate 99.8 percent of airborne SARS-CoV-2 virus from a room on first pass.

Crucially, the foam is insu-lated, so it doesn’t heat up the

room.The team published their

findings in the journal Materi-als Today Physics last week, and Medistar -- the company behind it -- has received regulatory ap-proval to sell the system.

The firm says the system can either be installed in pre-ex-isting air conditioning units or walked through a room in a mo-bile unit.

“This is a very timely inven-tion with great potential in fight-ing against COVID-19, particu-larly with increasing consensus that COVID-19 can be airborne,” Gang Chen, an MIT professor who was not involved in the work, told AFP.

But since COVID-19 carriers may stay in a room for a pro-longed period, the key to how useful any filtration system is lies in how fast it can exchange air at high volume.

New UV technologyLamps that operate on a par-

ticular area of the ultraviolet spectrum known as UVC have long been used to kill bacteria, viruses and molds, notably in hospitals and in the food-pro-cessing industry.

But direct exposure to UVC is dangerous because the rays, which aren’t present in regular sunlight, cause skin cancer and eye problems -- meaning they can only be used once people leave.

Researchers at Columbia Uni-versity have been working for several years on a new type of UVC lamp, whose shorter wave-length of 222 nanometers makes them safe for humans but still lethal to microbes.

Last month, a team led by physicist David Brenner pub-lished a paper in the journal Scientific Reports showing that their technology killed 99.9 per-cent of seasonal coronaviruses present in airborne droplets.

“We really need something in situations like offices, res-taurants, airplanes, hospitals,” Brenner said. Japanese com-pany Ushio has already started selling far-UVC lamps in the US but says on its website that on-going studies on their safety will decide when they are ready for occupied spaces.

Antiviral coatingsCatching the virus via touch is

also a potential risk, hence the directives to frequently wash our hands and use disinfectant on surfaces.

Long-lasting antimicrobial surface coatings can also com-plement cleaning products, but the decade-old technology has thus far largely been confined to hospitals.

Researchers at the University of Arizona recently proposed

widespread use of coatings as a new line of defense against SARS-CoV-2.

An antiviral coating made of quaternary ammonium polymer, developed by Allied BioScience, was found to reduce the amount of a coronavirus closely related to SARS-CoV-2 on a surface by 90 percent in 10 minutes.

It does this by “denaturing” the virus’s proteins -- effective-ly twisting them out of shape -- and attacking its protective layer of fat.

The colorless substance is sprayed on surfaces and has to be reapplied every three to four months.

“It’s not a substitute for regu-lar cleaning and disinfecting, but it covers you in between regular disinfecting and cleaning,” mi-crobiologist Charles Gerba, who led the study, which has not been peer reviewed, told AFP.

The Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention recently clarified, however, that surface transmission probably isn’t the main way the virus is spread, as some had previously thought.

A technician applies an anti-microbial coating developed by Allied BioScience’s first generation antimicrobial coating

A scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 (round blue objects) emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab

A member of the cleaning staff disinfects air vents aboard an Emirates plane

Cameron Diaz: motherhood has been the best phase of my lifeFox | Los Angeles

Cameron Diaz opened up about what her life has been like as a new moth-

er during the quarantine.The 47-year-old retired actress

told Rolling Stone that she’s lov-ing every minute of doting on her new baby daughter, Raddix, who was born in late December via surrogate.

“In the last seven months, I’ve entered the best phase of my life: motherhood!” Diaz gushed. “So it’s been all about my home and family. And I am trying to participate in a thoughtful way in the larger and most important conversation that our society is currently engaged in.”

Diaz also told the outlet that she and her husband, musician Ben-

ji Madden, have been listening to some different music as of late.

“Well, since we have a little one, we are really jamming out to some dope Sesame Street jams. We got ‘Baby Shark’ in the mix, and of course, Benj has written at least a dozen songs for her. So we are doing serious upbeat and of-ten acapella jams over here,” she explained.

Diaz and Madden confirmed they were first-time parents in a post on social media back in January.

“Happy New Year from the Mad-dens! We are so happy, blessed and grateful to begin this new decade by announcing the birth of our daughter, Raddix Madden. She has instantly captured our hearts and completed our family,” the state-ment read.

“While we are overjoyed to share this news, we also feel a strong in-stinct to protect our little one’s privacy. So we won’t be posting pictures or sharing any more de-

tails, other than the fact that she is really really cute!! Some would even say RAD:) From our family to all of yours, we’re sending our love and best wishes for a Happy New Year and Happy New Decade...” the couple added at the time.

Diaz previously called her daugh-ter the “best part” of her life.

During an Instagram Live chat in April with her friend Katherine Power, the CEO of Who What Wear, the “Charlie’s Angels” star said, “I’m so, so grateful and so happy and it’s the best thing ever and I’m so lucky to get to do it with [my husband] Benji [Madden] and we’re just having the best time. It’s so great. I’m just thrilled.”

Diaz shared that while Madden watches over their child, she cooks dinner most nights.

09 SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

celebs

While we are overjoyed to share this news,

we also feel a strong instinct to protect our little one’s privacy. So

we won’t be posting pictures or sharing any

more details, other than the fact that she is

really really cute!!CAMERON DIAZ

Across1- Pungent bulb; 6- Dazzling display; 11- Nipper’s co.; 14- Cleave in two; 15- Bullwinkle, e.g.; 16- Go wrong; 17- Chucked weapon; 18- Journalist Pyle; 19- ___-tzu; 20- “Otello” composer; 22- Head lock; 24- Method of raising money; 28- Boil; 29- Birthplace of St. Francis; 30- To the left, at sea; 32- Volunteer’s words; 33- Ford flop; 35- Hurry; 39- DEA agent; 40- Oklahoma First Nation; 41- ___ uncertain terms; 42- Formerly, formerly; 43- Muscat native; 45- Fulda tributary; 46- Say; 48- Rule; 50- Vital essence; 53- Indigence; 54- Sophia of the screen; 55- Without ___ in the world; 57- Like; 58- Theme; 60- Sovereign; 65- It may be picked; 66- Overjoy; 67- Atty.-to-be exams; 68- Piggy; 69- Ventured; 70- Cruising vessel;

Down 1- Cries of surprise; 2- Short snooze; 3- Martinique, e.g.; 4- Reproductive cells; 5- The communication system of the body; 6- Very hard mineral; 7- Firewood measure; 8- Burt’s ex; 9- Faulkner’s “___ Lay Dying”; 10- Move unsteadily; 11- Sublease; 12- Collide; 13- “______ by any other name…”; 21- Classic railroad name; 23- Recover; 24- Singer Frankie; 25- Academy award; 26- Former Russian rulers; 27- Tinge; 28- Impresario Hurok; 30- ___ Is Born; 31- Lowly worker; 34- Cupola; 36- Below; 37- Hagar the Horrible’s dog; 38- Corneous; 43- Polo Grounds hero; 44- Aviation pioneer Sikorsky; 47- Colored; 49- Too; 50- Perspective; 51- Salk’s conquest; 52- Fuming; 53- Walked back and forth; 55- On ___ with; 56- Quote; 59- Pay stub?; 61- NATO member; 62- Varnish ingredient; 63- Old verb ending; 64- Queue after Q;

S U D O K U C R O S S W O R D

Yesterday’s solutionYesterday’s solution

How to playPlace a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

COVID-19 positive Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, daughter moved to hospital

ANI | Mumbai

Henry Golding, ActorAishwarya Rai Bach-

chan and daughter Aaradhya Bachchan have been admit-ted to Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. The 46-year-old former Miss World was tested positive for corona-virus along with her eight-year-old daughter and was home-quarantined.

Nanavati Hospital con-firmed that the duo has been admitted at the establishment and said that both, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aaradhya Bachchan were hospitalised after ‘developing mild symp-toms for COVID-19’.

As reported earlier by Times Now, Aishwarya Rai had tested negative in the first COVID-19 test. Howev-er, on July 12, she and her daughter tested positive. The development was also confirmed by Maharash-tra Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

Hathaway, Evans rally support for boy who saved sister from dog attack

Fox | Los Angeles

Anne Hathaway, ChrisEvans, Mark Ruffalo

and more have all expressed kind messages in support of a 6-year-old boy named Bridg-er who got attacked by a dog while saving his sister.

The child’s aunt Nikki Walker recently took to Ins-tagram and shared the story of the dog bite. She also tagged a few Marvel stars because Bridger is a big fan.

“On July 9th, my six year old nephew Bridger saved his little sister’s life by standing between her and a charging dog,” Walker wrote. “After getting bit several times on the face and head, he grabbed his sister’s hand and ran with her to keep her safe. He later said, ‘If someone had to die, I thought it should be me’.”

She added: “I know it’s a long shot, but i’m reaching out to the Avengers and other heroes so that they can learn

about this recent addition to their ranks.”

“I’m not an ‘Avenger,’ but I know a superhero when I see one,” Hatha-way, 37, wrote on Insta-gram alongside pho-tos of Bridger and his sister.

The “The Hustle” ac-tress continued: “I can only hope I’m half asbrave in my life as you are in yours, Bridger. Wishing you an ease-

ful recovery, and many cool looking rocks. Hey @markruffalo, do you need a team-mate??”

Ruffalo com-mented on the 6-year-old’s aunt ’s post. “Dear Bridg-er, I just read about what h a p p e n e d to you and I wanted to

reach out to say this. . . People who put the well beings of others in front of them-selves are the most heroic and thoughtful people I know. I truly respect a n d a d m i r e your courage and your heart,” he wrote.

Bryce Dallas Howard shows off massive bruises from ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ stunt workFox | Los Angeles

Bryce DallasHoward is

putting in some seriously hard work on the set of the third “Ju-rassic World” movie.

T h e 39-year-old ac-tress posted a series of pho-tos on Twit-

ter of the massive bruises she earned from doing some intense stunt work for the action-ad-venture film.

“Raise your hands if you’re happy to be doing stunts again!!” she captioned the pics.

Her co-star, Chris Pratt, was the one who egged her on. “Show them the pictures of the bruises!!! (She got some crazy sick bruises from doing stunt work) Show them!!!” he wrote.

Howard started the conver-

sation with a photo of her and Pratt, 41, on the UK set. “These past couple of weeks my abs have been sore from laughing so much — it’s good to be back at work with this funny guy,” she wrote.

“Jurassic World: Dominion” resumed shooting at Pinewood Studios outside of London on July 6, according to Deadline.

The outlet revealed that two weeks of pre-production would take place and everyone behind

and in front of the camera would be tested for the coronavirus before stepping foot on set and retested several times through-out the shoot.

Universal is reportedly spend-ing $5 million on new protocols to make the set a safe place.

When the pandemic hit in March, “Dominion” was report-edly four weeks into a 20-week shoot. The film, the third and fi-nal in the relaunched franchise, is directed by Colin Trevorrow.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Anne Hathaway

Bryce Dallas Howard

Cameron Diaz

Chris Evans

AFP | Madrid

Few expected Zinedine Zi-dane to leave Real Madrid and even fewer expected

him to come back as coach.And yet almost 500 days lat-

er, he has won the La Liga title, without fuss, without even the improvements he was promised.

On Thursday, in an empty Al-fredo di Stefano Stadium at Real Madrid’s training ground, he hoisted another trophy, his sec-ond in La Liga and 11th overall as coach.

Zidane currently wins a tro-phy every 19 games on average and while three Champions League titles out of three was historic, this might be his most impressive yet.

When he was reappointed in March last year, Madrid presi-dent Florentino Perez said Zi-dane had come again to launch “a glorious new era”.

But standing next to him was Madrid’s third coach of the season, taking over a team 12 points behind Barcelona, having just been knocked out and out-played by Ajax in the Champions League.

Most thought it was a mistake, the coach that had gone out on the highest of highs returning to a team in tatters.

Cristiano Ronaldo was gone and it seemed those that re-mained had lost the hunger. “We will change things, for sure, and for the years to come,” Zidane

said.Change, though, would have

to wait and then it never really came at all. Zidane saw out a miserable 11 games of last sea-son where performances grew worse not better.

Anticipation of a summer overhaul increased as Madrid’s newspapers published polls rev-elling in which of the world’s best players should arrive.

Kylian Mbappe or Neymar? “I would like them both,” said Perez.

Zidane did not want them all but there was one he des-perately wanted, Manchester United’s Paul Pogba, who he was convinced could change everything.

Yet Pogba stayed put and so too did Gareth Bale, who Zidane was assured would be sold. “It

would be best for everyone,” he said.

Hazard did sign, for 100 mil-lion euros, but arrived over-weight and then got injured, the opening sequence of his night-mare first year in Spain.

Instead of a sparkling new era, Zidane was handed more of the same but when the inevitable questions came about broken promises, he refused to stoke the fire.

“The decisions that are up to me are on the pitch,” he said.

The trouble was those were no better. Draws against Valladolid and Villarreal were followed by humiliation in Paris. Defeat by Real Mallorca in October left Zidane on the brink of the sack.

“I know how this works,” said Zidane, with Jose Mourinho ready, but perhaps that jolted the

players, who beat Galatasaray 1-0 and began to turn the tide.

Zidane grows bolder Zidane escaped and grew

bolder. Fede Valverde came into his midfield and proved the cat-alyst for change, the Uruguayan bringing dynamism and chaos to an all-too predictable midfield.

“He’s amazing,” said Kroos. “I love this player.”

The defence tightened too, conceding nine goals during a crucial run of 21 games unbeaten either side of Christmas.

Ferland Mendy proved a more reliable alternative to Marcelo at left-back while in goal, Thibaut Courtois blossomed.

“Even as someone who prefers exciting, attacking football, the defence is the most important thing right now,” Zidane said.

In attack, he trusted two young Brazilians, Vinicius Jun-ior and Rodrygo, and between them, Karim Benzema found arguably the best form of his entire career.

“My job is to transmit a sense of calm in the difficult mo-ments,” he said. “To be quiet, patient and positive.”

That ability to exude confi-dence and diffuse pressure ap-peared even more valuable as Barcelona descended into tur-moil and sacked Ernesto Val-verde, the coach that at least kept the team happy, and win-ning.

And when the coronavirus pandemic hit, Madrid’s play-ers reacted better, coming back revitalised, more determined than ever that an 11-match sprint would end with a trophy.

“After lockdown there was something very particular,” said Zidane on Wednesday. “I could see it in training. The players

wanted something.”Zidane had a bigger squad

than Barcelona’s but his will-ingness to rotate became key.

Tournaments have also been his strength and perhaps he re-kindled that mentality. With no time for training, the message was simple: Win.

In that sense, Zidane has si-lenced the doubters, even if it remains to be seen whether he can rebuild a team or replicate his success elsewhere.

But just as this Madrid were a mess without him, with him they are celebrating again.

Few expected him there but Zidane was right in his first press conference. “Change is for the future,” he said. “The important thing is I’m back.”

10SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

11trophies have been won by Zinedine Zidane after 209

games in charge of Real Madrid

Villa prepared to fight for Premier League survival, says SmithReuters | London

Aston Villa boss Dean Smithsaid there is plenty of fight

left in his players as they battle for Premier League survival and backed the team to win their re-maining two matches and boost their chances.

Villa appeared on course for a crucial victory at Everton on Thursday but were dealt a massive blow in their quest

to remain in the top division when Theo Walcott head-ed in an 87th-minute equal-iser to earn the hosts a 1-1 draw.

The result left Villa in 19th place, level on 31 points with Bournemouth above them on goal difference, with games against Arsenal and West Ham United still to come.

“I know we’re not out of it. I can see the fight in the play-

ers. Since lockdown I’ve been consistent in what I have been saying about the performances,” Smith told reporters.

“Our defensive organisation has been good and we’ve mer-ited more wins than we have got... we could have had at least three or four wins. Unfortunate-ly we’ve been a bit lacking in the final third.”

Villa have won only eight games despite spending close

to 150 million pounds ($188.54 million) to overhaul their squad during the close season but Smith believes they can finish strongly.

“The players are a resilient bunch... we had a lot of change in the summer. We’ve got better,” Smith added.

“There are a lot of players who are playing well and that gives you hope to go and win the last two games.”

Zidane silences the doubters by bringing Real Madrid back to life

Real Madrid were crowned La Liga champions for the 34th time after Karim Benzema scored twice in a 2-1 victory over Villarreal which clinched the title with one game to spare

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith reacts during a match

Real Madrid’s French forward Karim Benzema (R) scores during the match

Real Madrid’s players toss Real Zinedine Zidane after winning the Liga title

Real Madrid’s players celebrate winning the Liga title

Bayern star Thiago Alcantara set to join Liverpool

AFP | Berlin

Spain midfielder ThiagoAlcantara is on the verge

of joining Premier League champions Liverpool after stalling over signing a con-tract extension at Bayern Munich, according to a re-port in Bild yesterday.

The paper claims Liver-pool manager Jurgen Klopp wants to sign the playmaker who helped Munich win the Bundesliga title and Ger-man Cup double last season, but the clubs have yet to agree a transfer fee.

According to Bild, Liver-pool are not willing to pay more than 25 million euros ($28.5 million), while Bay-ern want around 40 million euros for the 29-year-old.

Earlier this week, there were widespread reports that Alcantara’s house in Munich is already up for sale.

With a year left on his contract, Alcantara has stalled on signing an ex-tension, but Bayern clearly want to keep him.

“We negotiated with him and granted his wishes, but it looks like he wants to do something new at the end of his career,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rum-menigge said in early July.

Vettel fastest in wet runningSebastian Vettel heads in second Hungarian practice session as as Hamilton takes rain check

• Hamilton topped asMercedes dominated first practice

AFP | Paris

Sebastian Vettel provided a reminder of the talents that won him four drivers’

world titles yesterday when he topped the times for Ferrari in a wet second practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton opting to sit out the session.

Vettel, looking for a new team for 2021 after being told he will be surplus to Ferrari’s needs, clocked a best lap in one minute 40.464 seconds to outpace near-est rival and championship lead-er Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes by 0.272s.

But it was six-time champion Hamilton, the fastest man in the dry morning session, who remained the ruling force as Mercedes continued to look the dominant team.

For Vettel and Ferrari, it was a welcome boost after last Sunday’s ignominious exit from the Styrian Grand Prix where Charles Leclerc collided with him on the opening lap, causing both men into early retirement.

It meant little, however, in the broader picture following Hamilton’s masterful triumph at last Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix and his 1:16.003 lap on hard tyres, which lifted him clear of Bottas.

Carlos Sainz, the man chosen to replace Vettel at Ferrari, was third fastest for McLaren ahead of Lance Stroll and his Racing Point ‘pink Mercedes’ team-mate Sergio Perez.

Hamilton was one of several drivers who decided to sit out the session without clocking a flying lap in the difficult con-ditions.

“It was a great first ses-sion for us,” he said. “We got everything that we needed to do done and it was just a shame that it rained as it did.

“It’s very strange that here we are in the summer and we have had this rain over two weekends.

“It did not leave us with a lot to do in the afternoon ses-sion.”

He warned against drawing conclusions from yesterday’s action.

“Everyone is doing a differ-ent programme, but it was OK, though I expect it to be a lot closer on Saturday.”

‘Tricky in the wet’

Pierre Gasly, who sat out the

morning opening session, was sixth ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull, Romain Grosjean of Haas, Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo and Leclerc.

Verstappen, who is expected to mount a serious challenge to the two Mercedes men, said he was disappointed.

“It was not so good for us in FP1,” he said. “We have plenty of work to do and it was a shame that we couldn’t do anything in second practice. I am glad we have a night to look at things and to make changes.”

More wet weather conditions are forecast for Budapest and the surrounding region on Sat-urday, making it likely another wet qualifying session will take place.

Last weekend’s qualifying was a thrilling spectacle in which Hamilton produced one of his greatest laps to take pole.

“Let’s see what happens,” Hamilton said.

“But, speaking personally, I would prefer it to be dry because I love this track in the dry – it is very tricky in the wet.”

Sunday’s race, in its 35th con-secutive year, is the third to be run this year in the COVID-19 delayed season and takes place behind closed doors and un-der strictly-controlled protocol conditions that do not allow an-yone from the travelling F1 cir-cus to go anywhere other than their hotels, the circuit or the airport.

Bottas won the season-open-ing Austrian Grand Prix and Hamilton last Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix. Bottas leads Ham-ilton by six points in the title race.

11SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

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Sebastian Vettel in action during practice

Stokes puts England on top against West Indies before Curran strikesAFP | Madrid

Ben Stokes’ impressive 176took England to an impos-

ing first-innings 469-9 declared in the second Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford yesterday.

Meanwhile opener Dom Sib-ley made a painstaking 120 and put on 260 with star all-rounder Stokes after England had been in trouble at 81-3 on Thursday following the loss of returning captain Joe Root.

West Indies, faced with a tricky hour to bat until stumps on the second day, lost John Campbell to the recalled Sam Curran and were 32-1 at the close.

England had been forced into a late change to their pace attack after fast bowler Jofra Archer was dramatically omit-ted Thursday for breaching the bio-secure bubble by making an unauthorised trip home to Brighton following the West Indies’ four-wicket win in last week’s first Test at Southamp-ton.

But left-arm paceman Cur-ran, who might not have played if Archer had been retained,

made the breakthrough when an inswinger had Campbell lbw on review and he would have also had nightwatchman Alzarri Joseph leg before if England had challenged a not out decision.

England came into this match already planning to re-vamp their pace attack, with Stuart Broad -- angry at be-ing rested last week -- back in action.

James Anderson, was rested in turn, even though this match

was taking place at the Lanca-shire home ground of England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, with Chris Woakes recalled af-ter Mark Wood was also given a breather.

But the day belonged to Sib-ley and Stokes, whose partner-ship was the second-highest for the fourth-wicket by Eng-land against the West Indies, behind the celebrated stand of 411 shared by Peter May and Colin Cowdrey at Edgbaston back in 1957.

Marquez tops practice times in Jerez for season-opening MotoGP

AFP | Madrid

Honda’s world championMarc Marquez topped

the time sheets after yester-day’s two practice sessions ahead of the delayed MotoGP curtain-raiser in Jerez.

Yamaha’s satellite SRT riders Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo took the honours in the afternoon session, but could not better Marquez’s effort in cooler conditions in the morning.

Track temperatures soared to 54 degrees Celsius for the second session, with similar blistering conditions forecast for Sunday’s Spanish MotoGP in Andalusia.

Marquez, and his younger brother Alex, who has joined

him at Honda for the season, both came off their bikes in second practice, but both were quickly back on board, unscathed.

Quartararo’s promising performance came after the Frenchman was forced to sit out 20 minutes of the first session because of a penalty.

Third in second practice came Brad Binder, the south African MotoGP rookie on a KTM.

The 2020 MotoGP world championship finally gets underway on Sunday, behind closed doors and more than four months late, with Span-iard Marquez going for a sev-enth top-class title to match Valentino Rossi.

Honda’s Marc Marquez in action

Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara reacts after a match

Ben Stokes plays a shot

Serena set to play inaugural Kentucky tournament

AFP | New York

Serena Williams willmake her return to the

WTA tour at a new hard-court tournament in Ken-tucky in August, organizers said Thursday.

The Top Seed Open said 23-time Grand Slam cham-pion Williams and 2017 US Open winner Sloane Ste-phens will be in the field when play begins on August 10.

Williams hasn’t played since representing the United States in the Fed Cup in February, before the WTA tour along with most of global sport shut down amid the coronavirus pan-demic.

Serena Williams

The four-time world champion, who has been told he is surplus

to requirements for next year by Ferrari, produced an encouraging performance for the under-pres-

sure Italian teamKNOW WHAT