10 daruvala fastest sports world 6 tito’s restored former ......2020/10/12 · resume all of...

6WORLDS P O R T S

Daruvala fastest again in F2 post-season testingRobert Shwartzman of Prema Racing followed 0.167secs off the pace, while Dan Ticktum of Carlin was 0.364secs behind in third | P12

THURSDAYDECEMBER,2020

210 FILS ISSUE NO. 8682

Tito’s restored former flagship to become hotel and museum10WHATSAPP3844 4692

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210 fils (includes VAT)

TOTAL CASES

ACTIVE CASES

DEATHS

DISCHARGED

NEW CASES

CRITICAL

88,495

1,630

347

86,518

201

6

BAHRAIN

Oil climbs on vaccine hopes, weaker dollar5BUSINESSAngelina Jolie sends message to women fearing abuse during holidays 10 CELEBS

C o n c e i v e d a n d b o r n n a t u r a l l y

City Centre Bahrain Tel: +973 17556002

www.homesrusgroup.com

HM King and HRH the Crown Prince thanked by Kuwait AmirTDT | Manama

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Sal-man bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Min-ister, received cables of thanks from Kuwait’s Amir HH Shaikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah for HM’s cable of con-gratulations on the success of the Kuwaiti National Assembly elections.

HH Shaikh Nawaf expressed sincere thanks and appreciation

for HM the King’s noble senti-ments and sincere wishes.

The Kuwaiti Amir stressed HM the King’s generous ini-

tiative and fraternal commu-nication embodied the strong historical ties between Kuwait and Bahrain and wished him

steady health and wellbeing, and Bahrain further progress and prosperity under his wise leadership.

Iran to comply with nuclear deal if...• Biden ‘must lift’ all sanctions: President Rouhani

AFP | Tehran

Iran is ready to return to full compliance with a 2015 nu-clear deal with major powers as soon as the other parties hon-our their commitments, President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday.

The agreement between Iran and major powers has teetered on the brink of collapse since outgoing US President Donald Trump pulled out of it in 2018 and reimposed crippling unilateral sanctions.

US President-elect Joe Biden has expressed readiness to return to the agreement but over the past 18 months Iran has suspended the implementation of some of its own obligations, including key limits to its uranium enrichment program.

“Just as soon as the 5+1 or 4+1 resume all of their commitments, we will resume all of ours,” Rou-hani said.

He was referring to the five

veto-wielding permanent mem-bers of the UN Security Council plus Germany with whom Iran reached the nuclear deal.

“I’ve said it before — it doesn’t take time, it’s just a question of willing,” he said in comments to his cabinet aired by state televi-sion.

Defying criticism from Iran’s ultra-conservatives, Rouhani reiterated his determination to seize the “opportunity” presented by the change of US president in January.

Parliament, which has been controlled by conservatives since a February election marred by

record low turnout, passed a bill last week that threatens the pros-pects for a thaw in relations with Washington.

The bill, which still has to be

signed into law by Rouhani, would relaunch Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity and threaten other future measures that would likely sound the death

knell of the nuclear deal.In a blow to the president, the

Guardian Council, which arbi-trates disputes between parlia-ment and the government, ap-proved the bill last week.

But in his comments yesterday, Rouhani appeared to suggest that he would withhold his signature from the bill.

“It is vital that we speak with a single voice,” the president told ministers.

“People voted for a platform... and they want four years of ac-tion,” said Rouhani, who won re-election in 2017 with more than 57 percent of the vote.

Iranian leader Rouhani is seizing the “opportunity” presented by incoming US President Biden

“Just as soon as the 5+1 or 4+1 resume all of their commitments, we will

resume all of ours ... I’ve said it before — it doesn’t take time, it’s just a question

of willing.” PRESIDENT HASSAN ROUHANI

World welcomes critically endangered Sumatran orangutan!Agencies

An animal park in Belgium has welcomed the arrival of a critically endangered Sumatran orangutan.

The male orangutan, named Mathaï, was born on November 28 at Pairi Daiza animal park,

according to spokesman Mathieu Goedefroy.

He was conceived and born naturally, joining his father Uji-an, mother Sari and brother Be-rani.

Berani is the only other or-angutan born at the park. The sibling is four years older and

is “showing great and positive interest in the new baby,” said Goedefroy.

Mathaï will live with his family until reaching adulthood around the age of 10.

Mathaï will live with his family until reaching adulthood around the age of 10.

The brothers can expect to live up to 45 years and Mathaï will live with his family until around the age of 10, when he reaches adulthood and will have to find a female partner, Goedefroy said.

European Endangered Spe-cies Program experts will study Mathaï’s DNA.Mathaï, a male orangutan

HM the King HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister

Kuwait Amir HH Shaikh Nawaf

Four Bahrainis die from COVID; 201 new cases and 171 recoveries

TDT | Manama

Four Bahrainis suc-cumbed to the corona-virus (COVID-19) yesterday, bringing the virus-related death toll in the Kingdom to 347.

The deceased included three male citizens aged 60, 66 and 89, along with an 81-year-old woman.

Following 10,064 tests, there were 201 new cases. The fresh infections includ-ed 101 expatriate workers and 77 from contacts of active cases, while 14 were travel-related.

The new cases brought the overall number of con-firmed registered cases in Bahrain to 88,495 dating back to when the first case was reported in February.

There were 171 new re-coveries, raising the number of survivors to 86,518.

A total of 17 are receiving treatment with six critical and 1,624 in stable condi-tion.

The total tests done in Bahrain increased to 2,149,366.

The Ministry has ex-pressed its condolences to the families of the deceased.

Senior PLO official Ashrawi to resign

Ramallah

Veteran Palestinian ne-gotiator and women’s rights advocate Hanan Ashrawi said

yesterday she would quit her senior post in the Pal-estine Liberation Organiza-tion (PLO)

at the end of 2020, and called for political reforms.

Ashrawi, 74, did not give a reason for her resignation in announcing her decision.

For more progress and prosperityBahrain and UAE vow to bolster financial and economic cooperation

• Finance Minister praises solid bilateral relations

TDT | Manama

Finance and National Econ-omy Minister Shaikh Sal-man bin Khalifa Al Khalifa has affirmed the continuity of the financial and economic co-operation between Bahrain and the UAE.

The Ministers praised the depth of the solid brotherly deep-rooted relations between the two countries, and their steady progress across various fields.

He highlighted the impor-tance of bolstering the ongoing fruitful cooperation between the two countries and brotherly peoples, in a way that reflects the unwavering keenness and interest of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and the UAE President HH Shaikh

Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa

made the statements while re-ceiving yesterday the UAE Am-bassador to Bahrain, Shaikh Sultan bin Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The Minister congratulated the Ambassador on the UAE’s 49th National Day, wishing the UAE leadership and people fur-ther progress and prosperity.

The two sides discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation

between the two countries at all levels for the best interests of the two brotherly peoples.

They also discussed the latest global economic developments, especially regarding the financial and economic sectors.

The UAE envoy expressed sin-cere thanks and appreciation to the Minister, adding that he is looking forward to developing bi-lateral cooperation so as to achieve more progress and prosperity for the two countries and peoples.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020

02

It’s a

HH Deputy Prime Minister hails Bahrain’s TIMSS exam success

• Bahrain is ranked first among Arab countries in the fourth and eighth grade science tests, as well as the mathematics tests for the eighth grade

TDT | Manama

Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Supreme Council for the Development of Education and Training His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa received Education Minister Dr Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi who briefed him on the educational achievement accomplished by Bahrain in the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) exams.

A report issued Amster-dam-based International As-

sociation for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) showed the performance of Bah-

raini students going up from the low-intermediate benchmark to the intermediate-high bench-

mark, according to internation-al standards, thanks to the in-crease in the students’ scores in

mathematics and science com-pared to the previous cycles.

The report that covered 64

countries said that Bahrain ranked first Arab country in the fourth and eighth grade science tests, as well as the mathematics tests for the eighth grade.

The Kingdom also ranked second Arab country in the fourth grade’s mathematics, just one mark behind the first country.

HH Shaikh Mohammed ex-pressed satisfaction with the achievement and congratulated the minister and the ministry’s personnel for their efforts to ad-vance the educational process in Bahrain.

The progress is within the project being implemented to develop education and train-ing under the guidance of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the follow-up of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, he added.

HH Deputy Prime Minister with Education Minister Al Nuaimi

The Finance Minister receives the UAE Ambassador

12 ideas qualify for Fikra third edition final stage TDT | Manama

A total of 12 ideas from 40 have qualified for the final stage of the Govern-ment Innovation Compe-tition (Fikra), launched by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khal-ifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

The finalists will each give a 3 minute presenta-tion, either individually or in groups, to an evaluation committee made up of Gov-ernment Ministers tasked with narrowing down the qualifying candidates.

Qualified ideas:1. National Platform for

Blood Donation (Hayat +), presented by Mohannad Sulaiman Al Noaimi of the Ministry of Information Affairs.

2. Bahrain Smart Waste Management (BSWM), pre-sented by Ahmed Esam Aljanahi of OFDPM, Dana Abdulla Albuarki of BIPA, and Khalid Salman Alshai-kh of the Survey and Land Registration Bureau

3. E-Haweya, present-ed by Mohamed Khaled Al Shishani, and Ahmed Emadelden Abdelall El-sayed from the iGA

4. ‘Our Country, Your Country’ App, presented by Ministry of Information Af-fairs’s Ayman Ali Alfardan

5. Government Outreach Taskforce, presented by Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Salman Hasan AlJalahma

6. ‘Medic in every home’, presented by Kawther Foad Salman, and Nadia Jasim Abudrees from the Ministry of Health

7. ‘Extended responsibili-ty of the producer in manag-ing plastic waste’, presented by Mohamed Maki Aman of the Supreme Council of Environment

8. Bahrain’s Virtual Con-sulates Platform, presented by Abdulaziz Alameeri, Jas-sim Mohammed Janahi, and Mohamed Salman Shubber from the Ministry of For-eign Affairs

9. National e-training platform, presented by Hashim Al-Alawi of the Shura Council

The Daily Tribune Chairman visits Ministry Undersecretary

The Daily Tribune Chairman and Managing Director P Unnikrishnan paid a visit to Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry’s Undersecretary for Agriculture and Marine Resources Dr Nabeel Mohammed Abu Al-Fateh at his office, along with Daily Tribune Director Boban Idiculla, as they discussed mutual cooperation and other topics of common interest.

Interior Minister attends virtual ISA Ministerial Meeting

TDT | Manama

Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa participated yester-day in the virtual Internation-al Security Alliance (ISA) 3rd Ministerial Meeting.

The event was attended by member countries, name-ly Kingdom of Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco, Italy, Slovakia, France, Israel, Spain, Senegal and Singapore. The ISA Gen-

eral Secretariat is based in Abu Dhabi.

ISA is like a forum to ex-change expertise and spread the best practices and training methods in policing and fight-ing organised and cross-bor-der crimes.

The Interior Minister thanked in his speech His Highness Lt. General Shai-kh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the UAE.

Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid during the online event

Road work project on the right trackCompletion rate of 47th Street development project’s first phase in Arad has reached 27%

• Paving and burial works and the establishment of a rainwater drainage network are currently being implemented

• It will reduce traffic congestion and facilitate traffic movement in various industrial, residential and commercial areas

TDT | Manama

The road development pro-ject at Street 47 in Arad, Muharraq Governorate, is proceeding according to the work program and timetable.

This was confirmed by Minis-try of Works, Municipalities Af-fairs and Urban Planning Assis-tant Undersecretary for Roads Eng. Hoda Abdullah Fakhro.

Considered one of the most important development projects on the road network, the work completion rate has reached 27%.

The Assistant Undersecre-tary said that paving and burial works and the establishment of a rainwater drainage network

are currently being implement-ed.

He noted that people and visi-tors of the areas of Arad, Al Hidd and Al Naim, as well the general population Muharraq, will ben-efit from the project once it is finished.

It will help reduce traffic congestion and facilitate traffic movement in various industri-al, residential and commercial areas.

Likewise, it will ease the pressure currently occurring on Arad Street, being the main entrance and exit to and from Arad, due to the increase in

urbanisation in the region.The project is part of Bah-

rain’s 2030 Economic Vision, which seeks to develop the infrastructure and road net-works.

Eng. Fakhro explained that the project is being implement-ed in two phases.

The first phase includes the development of Street 47 in the part between Hatem Al Taie Street in Hidd and 28th Street.

This stage includes the ex-pansion of the street to three lanes in each direction along a 2km stretch from its intersec-tion with Hatem Al Taie Street

in the east to its intersection with West 28th Street leading to Al Naim and Al Salaah.

It will include the develop-ment of intersections on it and the provision of two intersec-tions with signal lights.

The first signal light will be in the intersection 47th Street with 46th Street, and the other at the intersection near the International School, and the 47th Street intersection with 28th Street.

03THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020

The project is part of Bahrain’s 2030 Economic Vision, which seeks to de-velop the infrastructure

and road networks.

Shelin captures the chemistry of

young love set to a catchy rhythm in his signature effortless

vibe. Set in a modern yet familiar Indian

context, ‘Hain Naya’ dramatises the met-

amorphosis of life through the lens of culture and young

aspirations.

Minister visits Tubli sewage treatment plant expansion projectTDT | Manama

Works, Municipalities Af-fairs and Urban Planning Minister Eng. Essam bin Abdul-lah Khalaf paid an inspection visit to the fourth expansion project of the Tubli wastewater treatment plant to see the stag-es of its work progress.

He was accompanied by the Assistant Undersecretary for Sanitation, Eng. Ibrahim Has-san Al Hawaj, and a number of engineers in charge of the project.

The Minister said that it is one of the Ministry’s impor-tant strategic projects in the sanitation sector, which will contribute to improving the environmental situation and wildlife in the region and Tubli

Bay.It will also raise the perfor-

mance of the Tubli Center in the production of treated water to be used also in irrigation and agricultural beautification.

The project aims to increase the capacity of the current sta-tion from 200,000 to 400,000 cubic metres per day.

During the visit, the phases of the project and the completed works were reviewed.

The project includes the con-struction of a new treatment plant next to the current plant, as well as the construction of a collection room for all waste-water flows at a depth of 21 me-tres underground, and the es-tablishment of a main pumping station 25 metres underground to receive wastewater flows.

Al Shehabi speaks during a press conference organised by the union

Paving the road with asphalt

UoB students learn importance of extracurricular activity in developing skills

• Lecture is part of the Academic Success Steps Program

TDT | Manama

The Guidance and Coun-selling Department at the Deanship of Student Affairs at the University of Bahrain has organised a lec-ture for students entitled “University Life Between Academic Achievement and Extracurricular Activity.”

his lecture is part of the Academic Success Steps Program, which aims to develop the students’ skills in various fields through several activities.

The content of the lecture was presented on the virtu-al communication platform (Microsoft Teams) by Assis-tant Professor, Department of Information Systems, Col-lege of Information Tech-nology, Dr Risalah Abdullah Al Adraj.

She talked about the con-cept of student activities, the role of activities in develop-ing social responsibility and hobbies, the impact of extra-curricular activity on social relationships, in addition to the impact of extracurricular activity on the cultural level.

Dr Al Adraj said: “Stu-dent activities are the link between the university and labour market because they help students develop the skills.”

15,000 jobless Bahrainis register in national program

TDT | Manama

General Federation of Bah-rain Workers Trade Un-ion Secretary-General Abdul Qadir Al Shehabi has said that 15,000 unemployed people have registered in the Nation-

al Program for the Registration of Unemployed Persons, which it launched a month ago.

During a press conference organised by the union, Al Shehabi pointed out that 500 unemployed persons register in the program everyday.

Discussing opportunities for young entrepreneurs during pandemic

TDT | Manama

The University of Applied Sciences, in partnership with Tamkeen, has organised a virtual seminar entitled “Find-ing Opportunities for Emerg-ing Enterprises and Young Entrepreneurs in the Time of Coronavirus.”

Under the patronage of Uni-versity of Applied Sciences Board of Trustees chairman Prof Dr Waheeb Al Khaja, the event was held in the pres-ence of the university presi-dent, Prof Dr Ghassan Awad, and with the participation of a group of speakers and experts.

They spoke about the op-portunities to start a business with financial returns during the pandemic.

This symposium coincided with the Kingdom of Bahrain’s celebrations of the Global En-trepreneurship Week, espe-cially since the country has made many initiatives to mit-igate the consequences of job losses and business closures caused by the pandemic.

The Kingdom also works to ensure the continuity of ex-isting businesses, strengthen and empower young entre-preneurs and support small and medium enterprises and the most affected from the pandemic.

KNOW WHAT

KNOW WHAT

Stage is set for ICRF-organised art carnival onlineTDT | Manama

The Indian Community Relief Fund (“ICRF”), under the patronage of the Embassy of India in the Kingdom of Bah-rain, is organising this year’s art carnival online entitled ‘Spectra 2020’ .

The art carnival aims at en-couraging and honouring artis-tic skills among the youth and is the largest art competition for students in the Kingdom. In view of the current pandemic, the ‘Faber Castell Spectra 2020’ carnival will be held held online tomorrow.

As usual, participants are di-vided into four age groups – five to eight years, eight to 11 years, 11 to 14 years and 14 to 18 years. Participation for students have only been permitted by way of

registrations by schools/insti-tutions.

Additionally, an adult catego-ry has been included for those of 18 years and above wishing to take part in the competition.

All participants will be pro-vided with drawing paper and materials.

Top three winners in each category will receive individual trophies and certificates and all participants shall receive partic-ipation certificates.

Fifteen schools are partic-ipating in this year’s contest: Indian School; New Indian School; Asian School; Sacred Heart School; New Millennium School; Al Noor International School; New Horizon School; Ibn Al Hythm Islamic School; Bahrain Indian School; Al Mahd Day Boarding School; Quality

Education School; Hawar In-ternational School; AMA Inter-national School; New Zing Kin-dergarten and Sneha Children.

The winning entries and oth-er outstanding creations by the children will feature in the Wall Calendars and Desk-Top Calen-dars designed for the year 2021.

These Calendars will be launched at a function to be held on 2 January 2021. A large number of each of these calen-dars will be made available to all sponsors, corporates, banks, in-surance companies, educational institutions, clubs, associations and businesses.

This is the 12th year of Spec-tra. Over 4000 students par-ticipated in last year’s event which was held at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, Sanabis.

Bahrain resident Shelin releases ‘Hain Naya’ on YouTube

TDT | Manama

Someone once wisely said, “A good song brings back all the memories”. So true, when you listen to ‘Hain Naya’ a slow rock romantic composition just re-leased on YouTube by the talented Bahrain resident Shelin Chacko.

Composed by Shelin who is known for his sensitive, soulful lyrics, ‘Hain Naya’ (something new in Hindi) is all about the emotions stirred by love, leading a young man to a new chapter in life.

Shelin captures the chemis-try of young love set to a catchy rhythm in his signature effortless vibe. Set in a modern yet familiar Indian context, ‘Hain Naya’ dram-atises the metamorphosis of life through the lens of culture and young aspirations.

The stylishly directed music video by Subin Gop Thottarath resonates well with the music, performed by Abhimanyu Sa-harajan. All in all, ‘Hain Naya’ is definitely something new to sing about.

The launch poster of the music video

For more progress and prosperityBahrain and UAE vow to bolster financial and economic cooperation

• Finance Minister praises solid bilateral relations

TDT | Manama

Finance and National Econ-omy Minister Shaikh Sal-man bin Khalifa Al Khalifa has affirmed the continuity of the financial and economic co-operation between Bahrain and the UAE.

The Ministers praised the depth of the solid brotherly deep-rooted relations between the two countries, and their steady progress across various fields.

He highlighted the impor-tance of bolstering the ongoing fruitful cooperation between the two countries and brotherly peoples, in a way that reflects the unwavering keenness and interest of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and the UAE President HH Shaikh

Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa

made the statements while re-ceiving yesterday the UAE Am-bassador to Bahrain, Shaikh Sultan bin Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The Minister congratulated the Ambassador on the UAE’s 49th National Day, wishing the UAE leadership and people fur-ther progress and prosperity.

The two sides discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation

between the two countries at all levels for the best interests of the two brotherly peoples.

They also discussed the latest global economic developments, especially regarding the financial and economic sectors.

The UAE envoy expressed sin-cere thanks and appreciation to the Minister, adding that he is looking forward to developing bi-lateral cooperation so as to achieve more progress and prosperity for the two countries and peoples.


02

It’s a

HH Deputy Prime Minister hails Bahrain’s TIMSS exam success

• Bahrain is ranked first among Arab countries in the fourth and eighth grade science tests, as well as the mathematics tests for the eighth grade

TDT | Manama

Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Supreme Council for the Development of Education and Training His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa received Education Minister Dr Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi who briefed him on the educational achievement accomplished by Bahrain in the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) exams.

A report issued Amster-dam-based International As-

sociation for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) showed the performance of Bah-

raini students going up from the low-intermediate benchmark to the intermediate-high bench-

mark, according to internation-al standards, thanks to the in-crease in the students’ scores in

mathematics and science com-pared to the previous cycles.

The report that covered 64

countries said that Bahrain ranked first Arab country in the fourth and eighth grade science tests, as well as the mathematics tests for the eighth grade.

The Kingdom also ranked second Arab country in the fourth grade’s mathematics, just one mark behind the first country.

HH Shaikh Mohammed ex-pressed satisfaction with the achievement and congratulated the minister and the ministry’s personnel for their efforts to ad-vance the educational process in Bahrain.

The progress is within the project being implemented to develop education and train-ing under the guidance of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the follow-up of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, he added.

HH Deputy Prime Minister with Education Minister Al Nuaimi

The Finance Minister receives the UAE Ambassador

12 ideas qualify for Fikra third edition final stage TDT | Manama

A total of 12 ideas from 40 have qualified for the final stage of the Govern-ment Innovation Compe-tition (Fikra), launched by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khal-ifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

The finalists will each give a 3 minute presenta-tion, either individually or in groups, to an evaluation committee made up of Gov-ernment Ministers tasked with narrowing down the qualifying candidates.

Qualified ideas:1. National Platform for

Blood Donation (Hayat +), presented by Mohannad Sulaiman Al Noaimi of the Ministry of Information Affairs.

2. Bahrain Smart Waste Management (BSWM), pre-sented by Ahmed Esam Aljanahi of OFDPM, Dana Abdulla Albuarki of BIPA, and Khalid Salman Alshai-kh of the Survey and Land Registration Bureau

3. E-Haweya, present-ed by Mohamed Khaled Al Shishani, and Ahmed Emadelden Abdelall El-sayed from the iGA

4. ‘Our Country, Your Country’ App, presented by Ministry of Information Af-fairs’s Ayman Ali Alfardan

5. Government Outreach Taskforce, presented by Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Salman Hasan AlJalahma

6. ‘Medic in every home’, presented by Kawther Foad Salman, and Nadia Jasim Abudrees from the Ministry of Health

7. ‘Extended responsibili-ty of the producer in manag-ing plastic waste’, presented by Mohamed Maki Aman of the Supreme Council of Environment

8. Bahrain’s Virtual Con-sulates Platform, presented by Abdulaziz Alameeri, Jas-sim Mohammed Janahi, and Mohamed Salman Shubber from the Ministry of For-eign Affairs

9. National e-training platform, presented by Hashim Al-Alawi of the Shura Council

The Daily Tribune Chairman visits Ministry Undersecretary

The Daily Tribune Chairman and Managing Director P Unnikrishnan paid a visit to Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry’s Undersecretary for Agriculture and Marine Resources Dr Nabeel Mohammed Abu Al-Fateh at his office, along with Daily Tribune Director Boban Idiculla, as they discussed mutual cooperation and other topics of common interest.

Interior Minister attends virtual ISA Ministerial Meeting

TDT | Manama

Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa participated yester-day in the virtual Internation-al Security Alliance (ISA) 3rd Ministerial Meeting.

The event was attended by member countries, name-ly Kingdom of Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco, Italy, Slovakia, France, Israel, Spain, Senegal and Singapore. The ISA Gen-

eral Secretariat is based in Abu Dhabi.

ISA is like a forum to ex-change expertise and spread the best practices and training methods in policing and fight-ing organised and cross-bor-der crimes.

The Interior Minister thanked in his speech His Highness Lt. General Shai-kh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the UAE.

Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid during the online event

New teaching and learning strategyRCSI Bahrain adopts blended learning approach to provide students with quality education in time of pandemic

TDT | Manama

The Royal College of Sur-geons in Ireland–Med-ical University of Bah-rain (RCSI Bahrain) began its 2020-21 academic year with the goal of ensuring that all students are informed of the updates regarding the opera-tions of the campus under the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) COVID-19 regulations, and fa-miliarise themselves with the new blended learning system.

With 55.8% of the School of Medicine students being in-ternational students and more than 300 new students join-ing the RCSI Bahrain student community for this academic year, the entire faculty and op-erational staff members ded-icated the summer months to prepare for the return to cam-pus of both newly joining and returning students.

To start off the academic year, new students received a series of engaging online in-troductions from the Students Services and Events Depart-ment along with the Student Development and Wellbeing

Unit during their orientation periods.

They were provided with support on transitioning to uni-versity life, how to make the best use of university resources and where to obtain assistance when required.

New students were also as-

signed ‘Buddies’ who are older students acting as a friendly guide for the first academic year, to help them get involved in online academic and non-ac-ademic social engagement ac-tivities.

Another initiative rolled out this year was the introduction

of ‘Learning Communities’, whereby all classes are split into small groups and each group has dedicated on-cam-pus hours each week. This allows the University to con-trol the number of students on campus at any one time and to comply with social distancing regulations in all campus fa-cilities.

More importantly, the Learn-ing Communities provide all students with an important sense of connection and sup-port them in successfully navi-gating the transition to a blend-

ed learning experience.This year, RCSI Bahrain

adopted a blended learning approach for its programme delivery, which includes using onsite face-to-face small group teaching sessions, laboratory and practical sessions, as well as live online interactive ses-sions, delivered by our academ-ic faculty members.

To enhance the learning and teaching process, RCSI Bahrain applied the ‘flipped classroom’ blended learning approach, which focuses on student par-ticipation through active learn-ing and engagement.

To do so, the on-campus lec-ture theatres and tutorial rooms were rearranged to include a ‘Specktron’ screen, which is a large touchscreen computer that acts as a presentation tool for faculty members. Addition-al TV screens were installed to ensure visibility to students in the back rows.

The lectures are also live streamed to the students at-tending the lectures from their homes. In addition, the Univer-sity has acquired a license to ‘Turning Point’, a live polling system, which promotes great-er interactivity.

Students attending a class either face-to-face or online can answer polls and questions posed by the instructor and re-ceive live results through their laptop or mobile device.

The President of RCSI Bah-rain, Professor Sameer Otoom, commented: “There is no doubt that the current academic year is challenging. However, our staff and faculty team have set out extensive plans to ensure that we have a comprehensive strategy to support our stu-dents through this period and provide them with the highest quality of teaching.

“With the blended learning approach that the university has adopted, the combination of group classes and online teaching provides flexibility, while maintaining social dis-tancing guidelines.

“As a focused health sciences university, we at RCSI Bahrain are immensely aware of our re-sponsibility to support the de-livery of healthcare around the world, and to prepare our stu-dents for the realities of profes-sional practice in healthcare, whilst ensuring their safety and following the national pro-tocol and guidance on public health.”


“With the blended learning approach that the university has adopted, the combination

of group classes and online teaching provides flexibility, while maintaining social

distancing guidelines.” PRESIDENT OF RCSI BAHRAIN, PROFESSOR SAMEER OTOOM

Dr Colin Greengrass with Specktron Screen

Students in class

Kindly note that the caption of the above picture in yesterday’s Page 3 story entitled “Aspiring for international recognition” was inadvertently mentioned as “Al Shuwaikh visits the American University of Bahrain”. The proper caption should have been “Al Shuwaikh with Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland–Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI Bahrain) President Professor Sameer Otoom.” The error is regretted and TDT offers its sincere apologies.

Children take part in UN art competition on reimagining better futureTDT | Manama

The United Nations Chil-dren’s Fund (UNICEF) has celebrated World Children’s Day this year under the theme “Reimagining a Better Future for Every Child.”

To highlight this initiative locally, the United Nations Res-ident Coordinator’s Office (UN-RCO) in Bahrain, the United Na-tions Environment Programme (UNEP) West Asia and UNICEF collaborated to launch an art competition, where children were encouraged to reimagine a better future for the world they live in, with a focus on sustain-ability, the environment, and climate change.

Overall, more than 40 sub-missions were received from children across the Kingdom, ranging from 10 to 18 years old.

The winners were Shreyas

Krishna, who won first place, Basmala Naser, who came sec-ond, and Ghazlan Mattar, third.

The three winners were awarded with a prize from UNEP which further encouraged the adoption of sustainability. Other

participants were also provided with a token of appreciation for submitting their entries and taking part in the event.

Taking place every year on 20 November, the anniversary of the signing of the Conven-

tion on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF’s World Children’s Day activities aim to support the en-gagement of children and young people as advocates for a sus-tainable future.

Shreyas Krishna, first place Basmala Naser, second place Ghazlan Mattar, third place

‘I Paint My Dream In My Hand’

Fifty-six talented and highly motivated students took part in an art competition entitled “I Paint My Dream In My Hand,” organised by the Department of Student Services at the Ministry of Education. During the competition, the students presented works characterised by excellence and creativity, through which they freely expressed their dreams and ideas by using drawing and colours. The event aimed at developing their cognitive and mental capabilities through artistic expression. It was part of the Ministry’s efforts to support these children and refine their experiences and talents to enhance their integration into society.

87 University of Bahrain nursing students take part in basic CPR training coursesTDT | Manama

Eighty-seven fourth year stu-dents from the Bachelor of Nursing program at the University

of Bahrain’s College of Health and Sports Sciences participated in basic Cardiopulmonary resuscita-tion (CPR) courses, in cooperation with the International Training

Center of the American Heart Association and the American Mission Hospital.

These courses are among the prerequisites for graduation in

the Bachelor of Nursing program.“These courses contribute to

the preparation of nursing grad-uates to practise CPR,” said Amina Ali Maatouk, coordinator of the

American Heart Association’s In-ternational Training Center at the University of Bahrain’s College of Health and Sports Sciences.

A team of licensed nursing pro-

fessors from the American Heart Association took part in the train-ing of the students, in addition to training staff from the American Mission Hospital.

49.35Brent crude rose 51 cents, or 1 per cent, to $49.35 a

barrel by 1405 GMT.


AI & CODING platform for schools, Cyber Square to enter BahrainThe UK based firm is introducing AI & CODING based Curriculum for CBSE & British Curriculum

• Cyber Square is partnering with Laurels Centre for Global Education as the channel partner to coordinate the collaboration process

• Interested School managements can reach Cyber Square for a demo through 34567220 or [email protected]

TDT | Manama

Cyber Square, a London-based Edtech company is launch-ing its operations in Bahrain in Jan 2021.

The company has a strong foothold in the UAE and India apart from the home country.

Cyber Square offers artificial intelligence and coding classes for ALL from age 5 and above.

Cyber Square was the first company to introduce an arti-ficial intelligence lab in schools

in UAE. It was also the first com-pany to launch AI in school cur-riculum from grade 2 in India.

“From users to creators. That is the tagline of Cyber Square since its inception in 2014. Cyber Square is the first company in the world to have a coding cur-riculum that is spreading across

KG1 to Grade 10 for CBSE schools and Nursery to Year 9 for British curriculum. Our focus is to train the students with the power of technology to empower their creativity with a sense of en-trepreneurship,” says NP Haris, founder of Cyber Square.

As Bahrain continues to move

from an oil-dependent economy to a more knowledge-based one, education is taking a driving seat in training the next generation of youngsters on how to prosper in the technological world. Cyber Square is planning to add value by helping them to improve their core skills like critical thinking,

communication, collaboration, and creativity. To improve the collaboration skills, coding clubs will be also formed in schools that will build the culture of technology in line with making them creators of technology.

“We are very excited about the launch of Cyber Square in

Bahrain. With the help of Cyber Square we are not only planning to improve the technical skills of the students but also upgrade our teachers with continuous faculty development programmes”, said one of the school Principals who is planning to adopt the Cyber Square curriculum in his school. “It will help us to prepare our school to get aligned with the new Educational Policy of India and CBSE norms and prepare students for the future” - Added the principal.

Cyber Square is partnering with Laurels Centre for Global Education as the channel part-ner to coordinate the collabora-tion process.

“We are happy to work with the schools in enhancing the scope of their offerings. The technology landscape has changed a lot in Bahrain and now it is ready for the world-class computer science curricu-lum. We can help the schools to build an AI-based educational platform from scratch” said Ab-dul Jaleel Abdulla, the CEO & Director of Laurels.

Cyber Square offers artificial intelligence and coding classes for ALL from age 5 and above.

We are happy to work with the schools in

enhancing the scope of their offerings. The technology landscape

has changed a lot in Bahrain and now

it is ready for the world-class computer

science curriculum. We can help the

schools to build an AI-based educational platform from scratch

ABDUL JALEEL ABDULLA, THE CEO & DIRECTOR OF LAURELS.

Batelco launches ‘Elevator to Success’ Youth Development Programme A Joint Initiative with INJAZ Bahrain, Brinc and Clever Play

TDT | Manama

Batelco announced launching the “Elevator to Success” youth development programme in collaboration with INJAZ Bahrain, Brinc, and Clever Play.

The four participating entities signed a Memorandum of Un-derstanding (MOU) during a virtual meeting held on the 2nd of December. The MOU was signed by Batelco General Manager Corporate Communications & CSR Shaikh Bader bin Rashid Al Khalifa, INJAZ Bahrain Executive Director Hana Sarwani, Brinc MENA CDO & MP Yasin Aboudaoud and Clever Play Co-Founder & CEO Shaikha Latifa Alkhalifa.

The “Elevator to Success” is a 4-year training programme that aims at closing the skill gap between graduates and employers. This will be achieved through early engagement at the begin-ning of the students’ university education journey and through focussing on entrepreneurial and IOT skills.

Throughout the programme, students will be provided with mentorship, professional certification, and guaranteed on-job training.

Commenting on the initiative, Shaikh Bader bin Rashid Al Khalifa, General Manager of Corporate Communications & CSR at Batelco said: “It brings us great pleasure to establish this youth development programme, in cooperation with INJAZ Bahrain, Brinc and Clever Play.”

“We are developing this programme as a prototype and hope that it proves successful. Its measure of success will be the employment rate of students who complete the programme successfully. We hope to create a development framework that can be adapted by other organizations.”

Interested participants can register to the programme on the link www.batelco.com/batelco-educational-programme

Virtual Signing Ceremony- Elevator to Success

Al Baraka names “Mazin Manna” as the Group’s President & Chief Executive• Mazin Manna will take over from Adnan Ahmed Yousif, who will be retiring from the Group, effective 31 December 2020

• The appointment is effective from 1 January 2021

TDT | Manama

Al Baraka Banking Group, based in Bahrain, yesterday announced nam-ing Mazin Manna as the Group’s new President and Chief Executive and member of the Board.

The appointment, which was taken by the Board on 08 December 2020, at their meeting, held under the Chairmanship of Sheikh Abdullah Saleh Kamel, is ef-fective from 1 January 2021 after it has been approved by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

Manna will take over from Adnan Ahmed Yousif, who will be retiring from the Group,

effective 31 December 2020, following a tenure of around two decades at ABG, which has seen ABG grow into a global Islamic banking leader.

Commenting, Sheikh Abdullah Saleh Kamel said: “On behalf of the Board, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Yousif for his strong stewardship of ABG, which has seen the Group become a pioneer of the Islamic banking industry and has taken Islamic Banking globally.”

“We thank him for all of his efforts, which have laid strong foundations for the next phase of the Group’s growth and continued transformation.”

Sheikh Abdullah further said the Group’s strategy for the forthcoming period, focuses

on improving performance through en-hanced operational efficiency and greater alignment to the business model. “This is currently being pursued through the conversion of the Group’s license from an Islamic wholesale banking to a Category 1 Islamic Investment Firm.”

The approval to pursue the transition was recently given by the Extraordinary Gener-al Assembly and is subject to obtaining the necessary approvals from the Central Bank of Bahrain, he added.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors congratulated Mazin Manna for the confi-dence of the Board of Directors in appoint-ing him to this position.

Manna comes to the role with nearly three decades of experience in the banking and financial sector and deep knowledge of the regional economies. Most recently, he served as CEO of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. Before that, he was the CEO for the Middle East and North Africa at Credit Agricole CIB and Group Senior Country officer for the UAE and was a member of the Extended Executive Committee of Credit Agricole CIB.

Al Baraka Banking group is pursuing the conversion of its license from an Islamic

wholesale banking to a Cat-egory 1 Islamic Investment

Firm.

Oil climbs on vaccine hopes, weaker dollarReuters | London

Oil prices climbed yes-terday as news about COVID-19 vaccines lifted investor hopes for a recovery in fuel demand and the US dollar, in which oil is traded, reached 2 1/2-year lows.

Brent crude rose 51 cents, or 1 per cent, to $49.35 a barrel by 1405 GMT. US West Texas Inter-mediate (WTI) crude climbed 51 cents, up 1pc, to $49.35.

The US dollar fell on Wednes-day as vaccine progress boosted risk appetite and prospects of more US fiscal stimulus amid negotiations over an economic relief package amid the pan-

demic.“The US dollar index futures

curve has dropped by nearly 13pc since 15 March 2020, when international investors flocked to the greenback as a safe hav-en,” said Rystad Energy analyst

Louise Dickson.“A weaker dollar in the short-

term is a boon for oil prices”.The American Petroleum In-

stitute (API) said on Tuesday that US crude oil, gasoline and distillate stocks rose sharply last week, with crude stocks jumping by 1.14 million bar-rels against analyst forecasts for a draw of 1.42 million barrels.

On the supply front, the EIA said US crude oil production was expected to slide next year by 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 11.10 million bpd, a smaller decline than its pre-vious forecast for a slide of 290,000 bpd.

Gold falls 1pcReuters

Gold slid 1 per cent yes-terday, falling back from the previous session’s two-week peak as optimism over COVID-19 vaccine de-velopments led investors to opt for riskier assets such as equities.

Spot gold was down 0.7pc at $1,857.70 per ounce by 1216 GMT, having earlier fallen as low as $1,851.31. On Tuesday i t hi t i ts highest since Nov. 23 at $1,875.07.

US gold futures slipped 0.8pc to $1,859.40.

On the stimulus front, U S P r e s i d e n t D o n a l d Trump’s administration proposed a $916 billion aid package.

Silver slipped 1.6pc to $24.17, while platinum fell 0.6pc to $1,016.21 and pal-ladium was down 0.2pc to $2,305.71.

New teaching and learning strategyRCSI Bahrain adopts blended learning approach to provide students with quality education in time of pandemic

TDT | Manama

The Royal College of Sur-geons in Ireland–Med-ical University of Bah-rain (RCSI Bahrain) began its 2020-21 academic year with the goal of ensuring that all students are informed of the updates regarding the opera-tions of the campus under the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) COVID-19 regulations, and fa-miliarise themselves with the new blended learning system.

With 55.8% of the School of Medicine students being in-ternational students and more than 300 new students join-ing the RCSI Bahrain student community for this academic year, the entire faculty and op-erational staff members ded-icated the summer months to prepare for the return to cam-pus of both newly joining and returning students.

To start off the academic year, new students received a series of engaging online in-troductions from the Students Services and Events Depart-ment along with the Student Development and Wellbeing

Unit during their orientation periods.

They were provided with support on transitioning to uni-versity life, how to make the best use of university resources and where to obtain assistance when required.

New students were also as-

signed ‘Buddies’ who are older students acting as a friendly guide for the first academic year, to help them get involved in online academic and non-ac-ademic social engagement ac-tivities.

Another initiative rolled out this year was the introduction

of ‘Learning Communities’, whereby all classes are split into small groups and each group has dedicated on-cam-pus hours each week. This allows the University to con-trol the number of students on campus at any one time and to comply with social distancing regulations in all campus fa-cilities.

More importantly, the Learn-ing Communities provide all students with an important sense of connection and sup-port them in successfully navi-gating the transition to a blend-

ed learning experience.This year, RCSI Bahrain

adopted a blended learning approach for its programme delivery, which includes using onsite face-to-face small group teaching sessions, laboratory and practical sessions, as well as live online interactive ses-sions, delivered by our academ-ic faculty members.

To enhance the learning and teaching process, RCSI Bahrain applied the ‘flipped classroom’ blended learning approach, which focuses on student par-ticipation through active learn-ing and engagement.

To do so, the on-campus lec-ture theatres and tutorial rooms were rearranged to include a ‘Specktron’ screen, which is a large touchscreen computer that acts as a presentation tool for faculty members. Addition-al TV screens were installed to ensure visibility to students in the back rows.

The lectures are also live streamed to the students at-tending the lectures from their homes. In addition, the Univer-sity has acquired a license to ‘Turning Point’, a live polling system, which promotes great-er interactivity.

Students attending a class either face-to-face or online can answer polls and questions posed by the instructor and re-ceive live results through their laptop or mobile device.

The President of RCSI Bah-rain, Professor Sameer Otoom, commented: “There is no doubt that the current academic year is challenging. However, our staff and faculty team have set out extensive plans to ensure that we have a comprehensive strategy to support our stu-dents through this period and provide them with the highest quality of teaching.

“With the blended learning approach that the university has adopted, the combination of group classes and online teaching provides flexibility, while maintaining social dis-tancing guidelines.

“As a focused health sciences university, we at RCSI Bahrain are immensely aware of our re-sponsibility to support the de-livery of healthcare around the world, and to prepare our stu-dents for the realities of profes-sional practice in healthcare, whilst ensuring their safety and following the national pro-tocol and guidance on public health.”


“With the blended learning approach that the university has adopted, the combination

of group classes and online teaching provides flexibility, while maintaining social

distancing guidelines.” PRESIDENT OF RCSI BAHRAIN, PROFESSOR SAMEER OTOOM

Dr Colin Greengrass with Specktron Screen

Students in class

Kindly note that the caption of the above picture in yesterday’s Page 3 story entitled “Aspiring for international recognition” was inadvertently mentioned as “Al Shuwaikh visits the American University of Bahrain”. The proper caption should have been “Al Shuwaikh with Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland–Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI Bahrain) President Professor Sameer Otoom.” The error is regretted and TDT offers its sincere apologies.

Children take part in UN art competition on reimagining better futureTDT | Manama

The United Nations Chil-dren’s Fund (UNICEF) has celebrated World Children’s Day this year under the theme “Reimagining a Better Future for Every Child.”

To highlight this initiative locally, the United Nations Res-ident Coordinator’s Office (UN-RCO) in Bahrain, the United Na-tions Environment Programme (UNEP) West Asia and UNICEF collaborated to launch an art competition, where children were encouraged to reimagine a better future for the world they live in, with a focus on sustain-ability, the environment, and climate change.

Overall, more than 40 sub-missions were received from children across the Kingdom, ranging from 10 to 18 years old.

The winners were Shreyas

Krishna, who won first place, Basmala Naser, who came sec-ond, and Ghazlan Mattar, third.

The three winners were awarded with a prize from UNEP which further encouraged the adoption of sustainability. Other

participants were also provided with a token of appreciation for submitting their entries and taking part in the event.

Taking place every year on 20 November, the anniversary of the signing of the Conven-

tion on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF’s World Children’s Day activities aim to support the en-gagement of children and young people as advocates for a sus-tainable future.

Shreyas Krishna, first place Basmala Naser, second place Ghazlan Mattar, third place

‘I Paint My Dream In My Hand’

Fifty-six talented and highly motivated students took part in an art competition entitled “I Paint My Dream In My Hand,” organised by the Department of Student Services at the Ministry of Education. During the competition, the students presented works characterised by excellence and creativity, through which they freely expressed their dreams and ideas by using drawing and colours. The event aimed at developing their cognitive and mental capabilities through artistic expression. It was part of the Ministry’s efforts to support these children and refine their experiences and talents to enhance their integration into society.

87 University of Bahrain nursing students take part in basic CPR training coursesTDT | Manama

Eighty-seven fourth year stu-dents from the Bachelor of Nursing program at the University

of Bahrain’s College of Health and Sports Sciences participated in basic Cardiopulmonary resuscita-tion (CPR) courses, in cooperation with the International Training

Center of the American Heart Association and the American Mission Hospital.

These courses are among the prerequisites for graduation in

the Bachelor of Nursing program.“These courses contribute to

the preparation of nursing grad-uates to practise CPR,” said Amina Ali Maatouk, coordinator of the

American Heart Association’s In-ternational Training Center at the University of Bahrain’s College of Health and Sports Sciences.

A team of licensed nursing pro-

fessors from the American Heart Association took part in the train-ing of the students, in addition to training staff from the American Mission Hospital.

THE WAY TO GET STARTED IS TO QUIT TALKING AND BEGIN DOINGWALT DISNEY

QUOTE OF THE DAY


68,780,895

1,567,156

47,686,071

Deaths

Recovered:

New cases

New deaths +216,423

+4,792

Country Total cases

new cases

Total deaths

New Deaths

Total recovered

Active cases

Egypt 119,281 6,813 103,913 8,555

Saudi Arabia

359,274 +159 6,002 +13 349,624 3,648

UAE 180,150 +1,313 598 +2 161,084 18,468

Kuwait 144,900 900 140,638 3,362

Oman 125,490 +165 1,461 +7 117,034 6,995

Qatar 140,353 +150 240 +1 137,881 2,232

Middle East

Country Total cases Total deaths

1 USA 15,607,655 293,637

2 India 9,756,610 141,668

3 Brazil 6,675,915 178,184

4 Russia 2,541,199 44,718

5 France 2,309,621 56,352

6 Italy 1,757,394 61,240

7 UK 1,750,241 62,033

8 Spain 1,715,700 46,646

9 Argentina 1,469,919 40,009

10 Colombia 1,384,610 38,158

11 Germany 1,225,704 20,339

12 Mexico 1,193,255 110,874

13 Poland 1,088,346 21,160

14 Iran 1,072,620 51,212

G l o b a l t a l l y

C O V I D - 1 : 9 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

News in brief u As the coronavirus pandemic keeps visitors away, the Louvre is offering time close-up with the “Mona Lisa” and a walk along the French museum’s historic rooftop at an auction to help plug a gaping hole in its finances. The highest bidder will get the chance to witness the annual examination of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, usually only glimpsed over the heads of a crowd thronging the portrait.

u Earth remains on course to warm more than 3 degrees Celsius by the century’s end despite a dip in greenhouse gas emissions due to the pandemic and pledges to curb pollution, the UN said yesterday. In its annual assessment of emissions levels,

the UN’s Environment Programme found that 2020’s 7-percent fall in carbon pollution would have “negligible impact” on warming without a

broad and rapid shift away from fossil fuels. The Emissions Gap report analyses the gulf between action required under the Paris climate deal and emissions cuts currently planned by countries.

u An enormous iceberg is heading toward South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic, where scientists say a collision could devastate wildlife including penguins, seals and albatross. The gigantic iceberg - dubbed A68a - is on a path to collide with the South Georgia Island, a remote British overseas territory off South America. Whether that collision is days or weeks away is unclear, though, as the iceberg has sped up and slowed down with the ocean currents along the way

u Oman will exempt nationals of 103 counties from needing an entry visa for a stay of up to 10 days, police said yesterday, in a move to support tourism and shore up its struggling economy. Visitors must have a confirmed hotel reservation, health insurance and a return ticket, Royal Oman Police said on its Twitter account. “Nationals of 103 counties are exempted from entry visas into the Sultanate for a period of ten days,” it said. Oman

last week said it would resume granting tourist visas to people visiting on trips arranged by hotels and travel companies, after they were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Gulf state resumed international flights on Oct. 1, but only citizens and people holding valid existing residency and work visas could enter.

World set for 3C warming despite pandemic, pledges: UN

Giant iceberg on course to collide with south Atlantic penguin colony island

Oman to give visa-free 10-day entry to 103 countries to boost

tourism

Louvre museum auctions quality time with

the Mona Lisa

Russian police hunt thieves who plundered top secret ‘Doomsday Plane’Reuters | Moscow

Police in Russia said yesterday they were searching for thieves who plundered technical equip-ment from a top-secret military aircraft known as the Doomsday Plane that is designed for use during a nuclear war.

The robbery, which raises questions about the security of sensitive military-relat-ed installations, took place as maintenance work was being carried out on the Il-yushin Il-80 plane.

The aircraft was modified from a Soviet jet airliner during the late Cold War to serve as an aerial command post for top officials to con-trol their troops during a crisis.

Police said the aircraft had been at an aerodrome in the city of Taganrog, but gave no details about the nature of the stolen equip-ment except for its estimat-ed worth -- more than 1 mil-lion roubles ($13,600).

Russian military experts speculated that the items had been stolen because some of the units had been assembled using precious metals such as gold and platinum.

KNOW WHAT

Venice under water as complex dam system fails to activateAFP | Venice

Venice’s St Mark’s Square was under water on Tuesday after a newly installed system of mobile artificial dams failed to activate.

Residents -- long accustomed to perennial “acqua alta” or high water events -- pulled on their rubber boots once more to deal with flooding that reached a high of 1.37 metres (4.5 feet) above sea level in the afternoon.

The waters drowned St Mark’s Square -- the Renaissance city’s lowest area at about one metre above sea level -- and invaded the famous basilica as many shop-keepers blocked their entranc-es with wood panels to keep the water out.

A massive flood defence system called MOSE aimed at protecting Venice’s lagoon during high tide was finally installed in October.

The network of water-filled caissons is designed to be raised within 30 minutes to create a bar-rier capable of resisting a water

40mThe nearly 40-million-

year-old skeleton is popularly called a sabre-

toothed tiger

‘Sabre-toothed tiger’ skeleton sells for $70,000AFP News

A nearly 40-million-year-old skeleton belonging to what is popularly called a sa-bre-toothed tiger has sold for almost $70,000, a year after its discovery on a US ranch.

The skeleton, about 120 cen-timetres (nearly four feet) long, was snapped up by a private collector in just one minute at an auc-tion in Geneva on Tuesday.

The origi-nal bones are those of a Hop-lophoneus -- not technically cats, they are an extinct genus of the Nimravi-dae family and once stalked the

plains of North America.Such extinct predatory mam-

mals are commonly known as sabre-toothed tigers.

Also on sale was a Tyranno-saurus Rex tooth which fetched just over $6,000, while a 85-cm long fin from a mosasaur -- a marine reptile that in the Cre-taceous period was at the top of the submarine food chain -- was bought for almost $8,000.

A 75-million-year-old am-molite -- an opal-like organic gemstone in shades of red and orange -- measuring 40 cm long by 36 cm wide remained unsold because the reserve price was not met.

Debate rages as to the right balance between the scientific value of such items and their worth on the open market.

Some palaeontologists in-sist animal or plant fossils are not decorative objects for collectors, but witness to the evolution of life on Earth and therefore scientific articles that

ought to be studied and then shared with the public in mu-seums.

Before the sale, Swiss col-lector Yann Cuenin told AFP: “If we’re talking about the sa-bre-toothed tiger, for example, it’s not a skeleton which is of major scientific interest, in the sense that it’s something which is already known to science.

“I am all for museums, but I am also in favour of objects living among us; for there to be collectors, for pieces to be bought and sold -- that’s what

brings culture to life.”

Tito’s restored former flagship to become hotel and museumReuters

The restored flagship of for-mer Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito is being converted into a hotel and a museum de-voted to its turbulent history, from banana boat to meeting place for world statesmen.

Berthed in Croatia’s Adri-atic port of Rijeka, the Galeb (Seagull) will open to the pub-lic in its new role next year.

The ship was built in 1938 in Italy to transport banan-as from Africa. During World War Two, it was used first by the Italian navy and then by the Germans and it was sunk by Allied planes at the end of the war.

In communist Yugoslavia, it was retrieved and converted into a yacht used by Tito for his many journeys across the globe.

During that time, Galeb hosted more t h a n 7 0 statesmen - kings, pres-i d e n t s a n d prime min-isters - and p l a y e d a n i m p o r t a n t role for the Non-Aligned M o v e m e n t d u r i n g t h e Cold War era.

Tito died in 1980 and following the col lapse of

Yugoslavia in the Balkans wars of the 1990s, Galeb was left to rust until the city of Rijeka decided to buy it.

“I expect the ship to be com-pleted for its new purpose in the first half of 2021,” Rijeka mayor Vojko Obersnel told Reuters.

“Its command deck, the premises used by Tito and the engine room will become a museum. The other parts of the ship will serve as a hotel with bars and a restaurant,” he said.

The work on the ship, which is now located in Kraljevica shipyard near Rijeka, cost about 60 million kuna ($9.6 million), half of which was granted from European Un-ion funds.

Obersnel said he expected a strong interest in visiting the ship, both from home and abroad, once it finally anchors

in the Rijeka dock.

“ A f e w y e a r s a g o , w h e n t h e ship was in a poor con-d i t i o n , w e organised an e x h i b i t i o n w h i c h wa s v i s i t e d b y 15,000 peo-ple. It is part of our and internation-al history,” O b e r s n e l

said.

Giraffes make watery escape from Kenyan island

Reuters

When flood waters stranded eight giraffes on an island in Kenya - putting them in danger

Two giraffes, Asiwa and Easter, have now made the aquatic escape and the organizations are working to save the remaining six.

Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine is 86% effective, says UAE

CNB | Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Human trials of a Chinese vaccine in the United Arab Emirates have yielded pos-itive results, the UAE’s na-tional health authorities said yesterday, citing an 86 per cent efficacy rate.

The figure was an-nounced by the UAE Min-istry of Health via state news agency WAM, detail-ing an “interim analysis” conducted by Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG). The Gulf state of 10 million began

Phase 3 human trials of the experimental vaccine in July, and in September approved its emergency use for health workers.

“The registration of this vaccine is a decision in re-sponse to the application from Sinopharm CNBG. The announcement is a significant vote of confi-dence by the UAE’s health authorities in the safety and efficacy of this vac-cine,” the health ministry said Wednesday, without elaborating on what “reg-istration” meant. The vac-cine itself was developed by CNBG’s Beijing Institute

536 1212 1968 1982TODAY IN

HISTORYByzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to its empire

Frederick II (later also Holy Roman Emperor) crowned King of Germany in Mainz

NLS (a system for which hypertext and the computer mouse were developed) is publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco.

Operation Restore Hope: US Marines

land in Somalia

TOP

4TWEETS

04

03

01

We will soon be learning about the word “courage”, and saving our Country. I re-ceived hundreds of thou-sands of legal votes more, in all of the Swing States, than did my opponent. ALL Data taken after the vote says that it was im-possible for me to lose, unless FIXED!

@realDonaldTrump

@MOS_MEA inaugu-rated the Website for 16th Pravasi Bharati-ya Divas 2021. The 16th PBD Convention will be held virtually on 9 January 2021 with the theme of Contributing to #AatmaNirbharBharat. The website can be ac-cessed at the following l ink Down pointing backhand index http://pbdindia.gov.in

@IndiaInBahrain

Dr. Fauci is trusted, a truth teller, and a pa-triot. I’m grateful he’ll be a key member of my COV-ID team as we work to get this virus under control.

@JoeBiden

Hearty congratu-lations and best wishes to His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, on his re-appointment as the Prime Minister of the State of Kuwait, after the successful National Assembly elections on December 5th.

@narendramodi

Disclaimer: (Views expressed by columnists are personal and need not necessarily reflect our

editorial stances)

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Britain advises people with allergy history to avoid Pfizer vaccineReuters | London

Britain’s medicine regu-lator has advised that people with a history of significant allergic reac-tions do not get Pfizer-Bi-oNTech’s vaccine after two people reported adverse effects, England’s National Health Service (NHS) said yesterday.

“As is common with new vaccines the MHRA (regula-tor) have advised on a pre-cautionary basis that people with a significant history of allergic reactions do not receive this vaccination,” Stephen Powis, national Medical Director for the NHS, said.

“Two people with a his-tory of significant allergic reactions responded ad-versely yesterday. Both are recovering well.”

Venice under water as complex dam system fails to activate

rise of three metres above normal.But on Tuesday the system

failed to swing into action be-cause the forecast erroneously predicted a rise of only 1.2 metres

(four feet) above sea level.“To activate MOSE a bigger fore-

cast is necessary,” Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told the Italian news agency Agi.

“We will have to review the rules of the command post.”

The water reached a peak of 1.87 metres (six feet) above sea level on November 12, 2019, one of the highest ever recorded. Dozens of churches with UNESCO World Heritage status were damaged.

The MOSE infrastructure project began in 2003 but was plagued by cost overruns, corrup-tion scandals and delays.

The project has cost about sev-en billion euros ($8 billion), ver-sus an original estimate of two billion.

MOSE (MOdulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico, Experimental Electromechanical Module) is a project intended to protect the city of Venice, Italy, and the Venetian Lagoon from flooding.

The acqua alta, or high tide, floods the Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy. The aqua alta is usually most pronounced between autumn and spring. Like all tides, the aqua alta is governed by the gravitational pull of the moon. In addition, local wind patterns (called the sirocco and the bora) augment the tide.

The acqua alta

St Mark’s Square is in the lowest area of Venice, lying just one metre above sea level

The waters drowned St Mark’s Square -- the Re-

naissance city’s lowest area at about one metre above

sea level -- and invaded the famous basilica as many

shopkeepers blocked their entrances with wood panels

to keep the water out.

$8BNThe project has cost about

seven billion euros ($8 billion), versus an original

estimate of two billion.

Two small Iraqi oil wells set ablaze in ‘terrorist attack’Reuters | Kirkuk

Two wells in a small oilfield in northern Iraq were set ablaze by explosives in a “ter-rorist attack” on Wednesday but overall production from the field was not affected, the Oil Ministry and officials said yesterday.

The Oil Ministry gave no further details about the as-sailants behind the explosive devices that targeted the wells in Khabbaz oilfield, 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Kirkuk.

Technical teams isolated the two burning oil wells and there was no impact on output, two sources from the state-run North Oil Company (NOC), who spoke on condition of an-onymity, said.

The field produces about 25,000 barrels per day, oil of-ficials said. The ministry said production from the two wells that were targeted did not ex-

ceed 2,000 bpd.The ministry statement said

a fire erupted at the two oil wells after explosive devices were set off half an hour apart, with one going off at 1:30 a.m. (1030 GMT) and the second at 2:00 a.m (1100 GMT).

Smoke rises from oil wells inside the Khabbaz oilfield after they were bombed on the outskirts of Kirkuk

Giraffes make watery escape from Kenyan island

Reuters

When flood waters stranded eight giraffes on an island in Kenya - putting them in danger

of drowning - conservationists had to come up with a novel rescue plan.

Their solution? A custom made steel barge to transport the Rothschild’s giraffes four miles to their new home, a sanctuary in the Ruko conservancy.

Relentless rains have raised water levels in Lake Boringo, gradually swallowing the peninsula on which the giraffes were living.

The Kenya Wildlife Service worked in partnership with the US-based Save Giraffes Now and Kenya’s

Northern Range-lands Trust to carry out the operation.

Two giraffes, Asiwa and Easter, have now made the aquatic escape and the or-ganizations are working to save the remaining six.

Rothschild’s giraffes are becoming a rare breed, with around 3,000 left in Africa - 800 of which are in Kenya.

The wildlife service said the move to Ruko conservan-cy will also afford the giraffes protection from poachers and predators.

Two giraffes, Asiwa and Easter, have now made the aquatic escape and the organizations are working to save the remaining six.

Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine is 86% effective, says UAE

Phase 3 human trials of the experimental vaccine in July, and in September approved its emergency use for health workers.

“The registration of this vaccine is a decision in re-sponse to the application from Sinopharm CNBG. The announcement is a significant vote of confi-dence by the UAE’s health authorities in the safety and efficacy of this vac-cine,” the health ministry said Wednesday, without elaborating on what “reg-istration” meant. The vac-cine itself was developed by CNBG’s Beijing Institute

of Biological Product.The Phase 3 trials in-

cluded 31,000 volunteers across 125 nationalities, the ministry said. The volunteers, between the ages of 18 and 60, took two doses of the vaccine over 28 days.

“The analysis also shows the vaccine to have 99 pc seroconversion rate of neutralising antibody and 100 pc effectiveness in pre-venting moderate and se-vere cases of the disease.” Seroconversion is the pro-cess by which an antibody becomes identifiable in a patient’s blood.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum in early November reported that he received the trial vaccine, shortly after the UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan received it, both tweeting images of themselves being vaccinated and praising the work of the medical workers behind the effort.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 202008FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 202006

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