Friday 29 May 2020

6 Shawwal - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8272

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SPORT | 08BUSINESS | 01

EU can move on

Brexit, but needs UK

to budge, says EU

trade chief

Premier League to

restart on June 17

after coronavirus

shutdown

NEW RECOVERIES

ACTIVE CASES

TOTAL RECOVERIES

TOTAL DEATHS

2,116 35,482

15,39933

NEW CASES ANNOUNCED

1,967

COVID-19QATAR UPDATES ON 28 MAY 2020

Amir and Russian President review strategic ties, global developments

QNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday held via telephone a conversation with H E Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation

During the call, the strategic relations between the two friendly countries were reviewed, in addition to ways of supporting

and enhancing them in the fields of investment, military, defence, health and sports cooper-ation, especially the exchange of experiences in the field of organising FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

The latest developments in global energy markets and the most prominent issues on the regional and international arenas were also dis-cussed during the call.

Qatar: Unjust blockade threatens region’s security and stabilityQNA — NEW YORK

The State of Qatar reiterated that the unjust blockade imposed against it threatens the security and stability of the region, violates international law and contradicts the orientations of the international community, stressing that this blockade is imposed under false pretexts without regard for the dire consequences for the security and stability of the region.

This came in a statement delivered by Permanent Rep-resentative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Ambas-sador H E Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani during a virtual

meeting held by the UN Security Council on the ‘Protection of civilians in armed conflict’.

H E Sheikha Alya said the Security Council stressed the importance of conflict prevention in the context of a commitment to collective action to spare people all over the world the suf-fering and destruction caused by conflicts and to enhance inter-national peace and security.

Her Excellency expressed her regret that this approach was not observed in many cases, as the unjust and unlawful blockade against the State of Qatar will enter its fourth year on June 5.

The blockade is imposed under false pretences without

regard for the dire consequences for the security and stability of the region, at a time when the

Arab region is witnessing many crises and conflicts that cause tre-mendous suffering, H E Sheikha

Alya said. Instead of seeking to contribute to solving and settling these crises and their root causes, the blockading countries have chosen a path that violates the provisions of international law and contradicts the orientations of the international community, she added.

Her Excellency added that the State of Qatar is proud of its part-nership with the United Nations system to improve the United Nations ability to respond quickly to the millions of civilians in need in armed conflicts, noting Qatar’s multi-year and unearmarked contributions to the United Nations Office for the Coordi-nation of Humanitarian Affairs.

The State of Qatar is an active member of the support group of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, H E said, pointing to the assumption of the State of Qatar to chair the group for the month of July.

H E Sheikha Alya noted the support to country-based pooled funds in the UN Office for the Coordination of Human-itarian Affairs since 2016, by providing unearmarked and rapid funding to bridge funding gaps, referring to the support provided by the State of Qatar to humanitarian efforts in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Nigeria. �P2

HMC announces new protocol for handling COVID-19 patientsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has announced a new protocol for the handling of COVID-19 patients in compliance with World Health Organisation’s guidelines.

According to the new pro-tocol, the majority of patients with COVID-19 in Qatar will be discharged from healthcare facilities 14 days after their first positive swab. Upon discharge from a hospital or isolation facility, patients should follow the instructions provided by medical professionals, including downloading and activating the Ehteraz mobile application.

But, they should also remain in home quarantine — not leaving home for any reason — for an additional week and those who violate these condi-tions will be subject to penalties according to the penal code laws on the prevention of infec-tious diseases and the pro-tection of the community.

To date, many patients have remained in hospital or iso-lation facilities for longer than 14 days as their discharge required them to have two neg-ative PCR test results before leaving the facility. The new protocol will benefit patients by enabling them to return home and back to normal life as quickly as possible.

“The new protocol for dis-charging patients with COVID-19 is an encouraging step forward and brings Qatar in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations and

the most recent scientific evi-dence showing that after 10 days from the first positive swab, the majority of patients are no longer contagious with COVID-19,” said Dr. Naema Al Molawi, Virologist at HMC.

“Our process for discharge so far has required patients to wait for two negative swabs before being able to return home. However, a negative test result can take a number of weeks to

come through because for some people the body still contains traces of the virus. However, guidance from WHO and from around the world, including the United Kingdom, United States, and Germany shows that patients are no longer contagious after ten days. In Qatar, we will go a step further with a 14-day period between the first positive swab and discharge,” added Dr. Al Molawi. �P2

Mosques will remain closed in Qatar, says Ministry of AwqafTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has clarified that the decision to suspend the prayers in mosques is still in place while responding to the news shared on social media about reopening of the mosques.

The Ministry of Awqaf con-firmed on its Twitter account that the decision to suspend prayers inside mosques will continue as part of preventive and precau-tionary measures taken by the State to curb the spread of COVID-19. The Ministry also pointed out that the news circu-lated in social media regarding reopening of mosques for

prayers is “not official”.The illustrative pictures,

showing worshipers per-forming prayers and have been circulated widely on social media platforms are a proactive educational materials which prepared to educate the com-munity before reopening the

mosques. Preventive measures and social distancing will remain and instruction stated in these educational materials will be followed when the sit-uation would allow reopening of mosques according to the conditions to be specified by the authorities concerned.

Record 2,116 patients recover from COVID-19THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has announced 2,116 new recov-eries from COVID-19, which is higher than 1,967 new confirmed cases reported, yesterday. The Ministry has also announced three deaths due to COVID-19.

Some 23 people were admitted to intensive care due to the virus, bringing the total number of cases in intensive care to 214.

The MoPH said that the new cases are due to expatriate workers who were infected with the virus as a result of contact with individuals who were previously infected, in addition to recording

new cases of infection among groups of workers in different regions. The new cases have been identified after conducting

investigations by the research and investigation teams of the MoPH that contributed to early detection of cases.

The Ministry has also clarified that cases of infection have also increased among citizens and residents as a result of contact with infected family members, lack of adherence to health instructions and regulations. Most of the infection cases are taking place in workplace or through visits and family gatherings.

The new confirmed cases of infection have been introduced to complete isolation in the various medical facilities in the country, where they receive the necessary healthcare according to the health status of each case.

The Ministry revealed that the number of positive cases

among citizens and residents witnessed a significant rise, with the number of infections relating to family gatherings, visits and sharing meals together with relatives and extended families. The Ministry

also said that most infected are people ignoring the preventive measures recommended by the concerned authorities; most importantly staying at home and maintaining social dis-tance. �P3

Qatar records 1,967 new cases.

New cases were detected after conducting investigations by the research and investigation teams of the MoPH.

Non-compliance with health instructions, regulations and contact with infected family members behind the hike in new cases.

The three new deaths recorded yesterday belong to people aged 81, 50 and 25 years.

Instead of seeking to contribute to solving and settling these crises and their root causes, the blockading countries have chosen a path that violates the provisions of international law.

Majority of patients with COVID-19, will be discharged from healthcare facilities after 14 days of their first positive swab.

The new discharge policy applies only to those patients who do not require medical support.

Discharged patients should follow the health instructions including downloading and activating the Ehteraz application.

Discharged patients should remain in home quarantine for an additional week and offenders will be subject to penalties according to the penal code laws.

OFFICIAL NEWS

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yester-day a cable of congratulations to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, H E Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of Republic Day. The Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani sent a cable of con-gratulations to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, H E Ilham Aliyev on the occa-sion of Republic Day. The Prime Minister and Minis-ter of Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani also sent a cable of congratu-lations to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, H E Ali Asadov on the occasion of Republic Day -QNA

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of congratulations to the President of the Federal Democrat ic Republ ic of Ethiopia, H E Sahle-Work Zewde on the occasion of her country’s National Day. The Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani sent a cable of congratula-tions to the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H E Sahle-Work Zewde on the occasion of her country’s Ntional Day. The Prime Minister and Minis-ter of Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani sent a cable of congratu-lations to the Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Repub-lic of Ethiopia, H E Abiy Ahmed on the occasion of his coun-try’s National Day.-QNA

Amir sends greetings to President of Azerbaijan

Amir sends greetings to Ethiopian President

02 FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 03.17 am 04.44 am

W A L R U WA I S : 29o↗ 35o W A L K H O R : 26o↗ 38o W D U K H A N : 29o↗ 34o W WA K R A H : 26o↗ 38o W M E S A I E E D 26o↗ 38o W A B U S A M R A 26o↗ 37o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 07:44–21:50 LOW TIDE 05:01 – 13:42

Misty at places at first becomes hot daytime with slight dust at times and mild by night.

Minimum Maximum29oC 40oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.31 am06.21 pm

ASR ISHA

02.56 pm07.51 pm

Qatari Forum for Authors discusses writing experience during EidTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Qatari Forum for Authors held remotely another session of ‘Writers’ Council’ on writing during Eid .

The session was moderated by the writer Maryam Yassin Al Hammadi, the general manager of the forum, and the writer, Saleh Gharib, the program director of the forum, through the Microsoft-Teams app, said the Ministry of Culture and Sports in a statement.

The Writers’ Council hosted the student, Sarah Al Yacoub, winner of the Youth Literature Competition, which was organised by the Forum in March.

Sarah Al Yacoub spoke about her participation in this competi t ion with encouragement and follow-up from her mother, noting that her winning work was about ‘14 days’ based on a story of a Qatari student

studying medicine in Britain, but the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to return to the country. The story includes initiative of the students to volunteer within the medical team after she spent 14 days in quarantine.

The winning this award comes after her first cultural experiences through her partic-ipation in school morning assembly, cultural competitions and debates organized by her school. She praised the initiative launched by the Qatari Forum for Authors, under the super-vision of writer Hessa Al Awadi..

Student Sarah Yacoub also talked about the Ramadan and Eid during when people kept at homes, noting that she learned a lot of things, including how to prepare popular meals, and how she devoted to helping her mother in house chores, strengthening the bonds of love and affection among family

members. For his part, Leb-anese critic and novelist Dr. Ali Nesr talked about his memories about Eid in Lebanon and the customs he experienced during his childhood.

He noted that although the world is intersecting with new ideas, accelerated technology and aspects of modernity, but still traditional festivities are need for happiness.

Ali Nesr talked about some aspects of Qatari literature through a master’s thesis pre-pared by a Lebanese student residing in Qatar on the novel ‘Al Qunbula’ (The Bomb) by Ahmed Abdel Malek.

He said that this distin-guished novel, with beautiful narrative techniques, provides a comprehensive and extensive view of Qatari traditions and customs. For its part, Kuwaiti writer Al Sadia Lemufreh said that staying at home provided opportunity to regain her

MADSLA: Public sector to continue COVID-19 timingsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (MADSLA) has said that when government sector reopens after Eid Al Fitr holidays, they will adhere to the same working hours and percentage of employees allowed at workplace, as announced earlier as part of the COVID-19 precautionary measures.

“We would like to remind everyone of the working hours in the government sector, starting from Sunday May 31, 2020 will be from 7am until 1pm with 20% of employees at workplaces (offices) and 80% working from remotely,” the Ministry tweeted yesterday.

“We remind all employees and visitors of the need to adhere to the precautionary measures like wearing face mask and maintaining social distance announced earlier to protect members of society from the coronavirus,” the Ministry added.

Qatar has made wearing masks in public compulsory as part of the efforts to fight the COVID-19 epidemic.

NCCCR continues to deliver high-quality services during COVID-19 pandemic

FAZEENA SALEEMTHE PENINSULA

Hamad Medical Corporation’s National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR) continues to deliver high-quality cancer services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Measures has been taken protect all vulnerable patients and limit the risk of exposure to patients and staff. Also necessary procedures are implemented if a cancer patient is tested positive with COVID-19, Dr Salha Bujassoum Al Bader, Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist at NCCCR.

“I would like to reassure

cancer patients that HMC has taken all possible precautions to prevent the spread and infection with the new COVID-19,” she said in a video posted on HMC’s Facebook page.

For the safety of all patients, the Outpatient Department at NCCCR has been relocated to the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC). All patients with an i n c o m i n g s c h e d u l e d appointment will be contacted by the NCCCR physicians and have a telephone consultation. Based on the patient condition the physician may also offer a physical visit in the ACC pro-vided that the patient has no flu-like symptoms and is not

under quarantine. Visitors are limited to inpatients at NCCCR and patients can get their routine medicine by Q-post.

If a cancer patient is expe-riencing cold or flu-like symptoms such as cough, fever or shortness of breath, or if patient under quarantine wants to speak to oncology/ hema-tology physician about ongoing treatment can call the hotline 16000 and press option three (3). The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Referring to a cancer patient diagnosed with COVID-19, D. Al Bader said, “She is a breast cancer patient, treated at NCCCR. She is undergoing tar-geted treatment. She came here for her regular appointment for treatment and she was com-plaining of a mild throat pain. So we test her for COVID-19 and the result came positive. All necessary procedures were taken immediately and the patient was treated at

Communicable Disease Centre (CDC).” The female patient who has met Dr. Al Bader after recovering form COVID-19, was thankful for the treatment that she received at CDC.

“I’m one of those COVID-19 victims, but thankfully I recovered. The staff at CDC are very committed and they took all needed precautions, because the requirements for my treatment was different from a normal COVID-19 patient with no medical condition,” said the woman recovered from COVID-19.

Patients with cancer are urged to take additional pre-vention measures to avoid con-tracting COVID-19 as even a mild illness associated with the virus could cause serious complica-tions, due to cancer patients already having a weakened immune system. They are advised to avoid contact with individuals who are sick and to strictly adhere to hand hygiene and social distancing measures.

HMC announces new protocol for handling COVID-19 patientsFROM PAGE 1

The new discharge policy applies only to those patients who do not require medical support. Any patient with mod-erate to severe symptoms that require ongoing medical treatment will continue to be cared for in a medical facility until their symptoms subside.

“Under the new policy asymptomatic patients – those who display no symptoms – will be discharged fourteen days from initial diagnosis. For mildly symptomatic patients, isolation can be discontinued fourteen days from diag-nosis and a minimum of five days from resolution of symptoms, whichever is longer,” said Dr Nasser Al Ansari, Head of Infection Control at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital.

“Over the past few weeks we have been seeing an increase in the number of patients making a full recovery from COVID-19. This is very encouraging, and we expect the number to continue to increase in the near future. While some people can become seriously ill as a result of the virus, the vast majority of patients make a full recovery and expe-rience only mild symptoms. There is clear evidence from around the world that after ten days of testing positive for the virus people are no longer conta-gious. This means they cannot pass the virus on to other people and can therefore return home and start to get back to their normal lives,” said Dr Al Ansari. Upon discharge from a hospital or isolation facility, patients should

follow the instructions provided by medical professionals, including down-loading and activating the Ehteraz mobile application. They should also remain in home quarantine – not leaving home for any reason – for an additional week and their Ehteraz status will remain yellow for this period of time.

“The revised policy, which was approved by the Ministry of Public Health, is based on the latest scientific knowledge about the dynamics of the virus and the recent changes in US and European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines as well as World Health Organization guidelines,” said Dr Muna Al Maslamani, Medical Director, Communicable Disease Center and the Medical Director for COVID-19.

“The policy will apply to the vast majority of COVID-19 patients; however, there are some exceptions. If the patient is returning to a household which includes one or more people over 60 years of age, and it is judged appropriate, an additional COVID-19 test will be done prior to discharge. If the test is positive the patient will remain in a hospital or isolation facility for further seven days and will then be discharged without a repeat test. Additionally, hospitalized patients, especially older patients and those with chronic conditions, who had required acute care because of severe COVID-19 symptoms, will be judged on a case-by-case basis by the treating phy-sician before discontinuing isolation,” added Dr Al Maslamani.

Unjust blockade threatens region’s security and stability: Qatar

FROM PAGE 1

In line with the State of Qatar’s intention to support the International Committee of the Red Cross, a joint dec-laration of intent, the first of its kind in the region, was signed to support civilians affected by armed conflict, which contributes to strength-ening respect for international humanitarian law, she said.

In the context of sharing responsibility and interna-tional cooperation to address the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Her Excellency underlined cooperation between the State of Qatar and Nato in support of the calls made by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to counter the humanitarian effects of this pandemic, noting the support provided by the State of Qatar to the global appeal launched by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to provide support for the trans-portation of humanitarian and medical supplies by air through the Nato Disaster Relief Coordination Center.

Sheikha Alya said that the world is facing today an unprecedented global health crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing to the forced displacement of more than seventy million people due to armed conflicts, saying that they are the most vulnerable to the threat of the pandemic.

She stressed the need for immediate action by the inter-national community to protect civilians in light of the risks posed by the pandemic, stressing the critical importance of a serious response by all parties to armed conflicts to the call of the UN Secretary-General on March 25, 2020 for a general ceasefire in the world.

Concluding, Sheikha Alya pointed out that the State of Qatar is proud to co-chair the Group of Friends of the Responsibility to Protect with Denmark and Costa Rica.

Her Excellency affirmed Qatar’s endeavor, on the fif-teenth anniversary of the launch of this historic principle at the 2005 World Summit of the United Nations, to ensure that the international com-munity will not again fail to stop the crimes of the mass atrocity crimes such as war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

Maintaining precautionsHypermarkets across the country have adopted precautionary measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. A view from a popular hypermarket in Doha. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT/THE PENINSULA

FROM CLOCKWISE LEFT: Saleh Gharib, Maryam Yassin Al Hammadi, Dr. Ali Nesr and Sarah Al Yacoub

reading in the heritage books that fit the holy month.

“We were deprived of many things because of this pandemic but it helped us in social man-agement,” said Al Sadia.

For his part, writer Mokhtar Khawaja talked about the customs and traditions of Sudan

in celebrating the holiday, which turns into a noble and appropriate value for resolving differences and breaking psy-chological barriers, reconcili-ation and visits. At the end of the session, the members gave advice to the young writer to continue writing.

For the safety of all patients, the Outpatient Department at NCCCR has been relocated to the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC). All patients with an incoming scheduled appointment will be contacted by the NCCCR physicians and have a telephone consultation.

03FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020 HOME

HEC Paris in Qatar to run online information sessionTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

HEC Paris, will be running an online information session about its degree programs on Wednesday, June 3, from 4pm to 5pm, Qatar time.

During this session, pro-spective participants can meet HEC Paris in Qatar admissions team remotely to learn more about accelerating their career path by studying in one of the world’s most prestigious business schools.

Apart from providing useful career tips, this online session is also intended to give professionals and entrepreneurs from the private and public sector in-depth insights into how they can enhance their leadership skills through HEC Paris’ renowned International Executive MBA (EMBA) and Spe-cialized Master’s Degree in Stra-tegic Business Unit Management (SBUM) degree programs.

The International Executive MBA is a practical and intense 16-month program developed to

provide participants with an understanding of the social, eco-nomic and environmental aspects of international business, as well as the skills to implement their vision. The curriculum is built around three components: 11 core courses covering key business areas, a specialization (major), and a final strategic business project (capstone project).

The comprehensive core courses include modules on strategy, analysis and implemen-tation, as well as leadership and human resources management. Participants will choose one of the eight specializations, delivered in different locations.

These specializations are Energy; Innovation & Social Business; Entrepreneurship & Innovation; Differentiation & Innovation through Services; Leading Digital Transformation; Luxury; Finance; and Entrepre-neurship - Project Accelerator. The next intake of the Executive MBA is February 2021.

The HEC Paris in Qatar Spe-cialized Master’s comprises three stages, starting with the core cur-riculum focused on strategy, finance, leadership and change. Participants can also personalize their learning journey further by choosing one of the three tracks: General Management, Digital Innovation & Transformation, and Entrepreneurship & Business Development.

Furthermore, the profes-sional thesis enables participants to focus on a specific challenge related to their industry and provide detailed and well-researched solutions.

The program reflects HEC Paris’ commitment to contribute to the development of a knowledge-based economy in Qatar and to strengthen corporate competitiveness in the region. The next intake of the Specialized Mas-ter’s is November 2020.

For more information on the session, please email admis-sionsqatar@hec-q.qf.org.qa.

COVID-19 webinar series by WCM-Q brings expert medical opinion to community

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) has launched a live webinar series to allow the healthcare community in Qatar to discuss the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact, recommended responses and treatment protocols.

The COVID-19 Live Webinar Clinical Series was developed by WCM-Q’s Division of Continuing Professional Development. In addition to providing a means for dis-cussing the implications of the pandemic, the webinar series also addresses an urgent need to support the ongoing learning of the local healthcare community while physical distancing measures are being observed.

The live webinars are accredited locally by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners-Accreditation Department (QCHP-AD) and interna-tionally by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

The speakers include Dr. Ibrahim Fawzi Hassan and David Berlin who spoke about intensive care specialists caring for patients with COVID-19, yesterday; Dr. Laith Abu Raddad on June 3 with a talk titled COVID-19: A Scientific Look into the

Epidemic and its Future; and Dr. Malavika Prabhu on COVID-19 and pregnancy on June 4.

Other scheduled speakers are Devin Thompson on airways management on June 10; Kirsten Ann Uhde on June 17 on prevention of aerosolization when pro-viding oxygenation and ventilation in the pre-hospital setting; and WCM-Q’s Dr. Ravinder Mamtani with a talk titled The Evolving Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic on June 24.

88-year-old Qatari man cured of COVID-19; family hails the care given at HMGHTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

An 88-year-old Qatari man, believed to be the oldest patient to recover from COVID-19 in Qatar, has been discharged from hospital, earlier this week.

He has spent 11 days at Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital (HMGH) and dis-charged after recovering.

The man was admitted in mid-May with COVID-19 and a fractured femur (thighbone). His recovery is not only a tangible example of the high-quality care provided by HMC, but it is also a cautionary tale of how dangerous this virus can be, especially to the most vul-nerable members of our com-munity. The man has been transferred to Rumailah Hos-pital where he will continue to receive treatment, including p h y s i o t h e r a p y a n d rehabilitation.

“Thank God the patient has recovered from his COVID-19 diagnosis in addition to a fracture in his thighbone. Our teams here at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital performed the necessary surgery to repair his femur and we also treated him for COVID-19. He has been dis-charged from our hospital and will now continue his recovery and receive physiotherapy at Rumailah Hospital,” said Hussein Abdulaziz Al Ishaq, Executive Director of HMGH.

Al Ishaq expressed his grat-itude for the ongoing efforts and wise leadership of H E Dr Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health and Dr. Saad Al Kaabi, Chair of the COVID-19 System-Wide

Incident Command Committee (SWICC) at HMC and Dr Mohamed Salem, Medical Director of the National Centre for Cancer Care and Research

(NCCCR) and a member of SWICC. He said patients are HMC diagnosed with COVID-19 are receiving world-class care.

While, patient’s family

expressed their appreciation for the team at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital, with the man’s son visiting the hospital yesterday to personally thank

the team who cared for his father.

“I’m here to thank all staff at hospital for the care given to my father during his stay. I also wish to extend my grat-itude to H H the Amir, staff at Ministry of Public Health for all the care given to my father and other patients,” said Saud Al Ahmadi son of the recovered man.

Al Ahmadi met with the staff at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital greeted and thanked them as shown on a video posted on the social media pages of HMC.

The man’s son during a visit to the hospital to personally thank the team who cared for his father.

GU-Q scholars examine most pressing issues of COVID-19 crisisTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Top scholars from Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) in the fields of history, political science, ethics, Gulf studies, and theology have come together to examine the most pressing issues of the COVID-19 crisis through a series of virtual panel discussions hosted by GU-Q’s Dean, Dr. Ahmad Dallal. The Pandemic Panels aim to engage the QF partner’s faculty members in analyzing historical prec-edents, policy impacts and relevant ethical issues surrounding the COVID-19 response, in order to contribute to the construction of an evidence-based road to recovery from the pandemic.

Reflecting on key outbreaks of emerging infectious disease and other threats to national security in the past, the Pandemic Panels examine how these events inform the current crisis. Over the three part series, issues examined include how political and economic systems are being reshaped as a result of the crisis, and the impact on ethics, global trade, access to resources, and the balance of indi-vidual liberty and public welfare in light of the response measures needed

to contain the viral outbreak.Higher education institutions have

an important role to play in the response to the crisis, explained Dr. Dallal, who moderates all three panels in the series.

“Knowledge and education are essential to recovery from the current global crisis, and are the very foundation of human well-being. Factual evidence and fact-based decisions are the foundations of our human strength, and resil-ience, and welfare.”

He adds that while experts look to the past to understand the biological origins of an emerging infectious disease, a study of history is also required for any understanding of the social, political, and economic reper-cussions of pandemics.

“We hope this forum will construc-tively channel the intellectual energies of the participants to better inform the general public and reflect on not only how we got here, but also where we need to go next, and most importantly, what that road to recovery might look like.”

In the first panel, The COVID-19 Pandemic: Historical and Cultural Per-spectives, Associate Professor M. Reza

Pirbhai, who specializes in South Asian and World History, discussed the bubonic plague outbreak that affected south Asia in the late 1800s.

At the time, British colonial author-ities set up a plague committee and relied on expert input, implementing a series of measures that Dr. Pirbhai

notes were similar to the national responses to the crisis today.

The second panel, Governance In A Time Of Pandemic: A Global View, draws the connections between national and global strategies and responses, and the third panel, Regional Concerns In Pandemic

Recovery, brings the expert focus back onto the response and path to recovery for Qatar and the Middle East.

The GU-Q Pandemic Panels including a full list of the participating scholars are available for viewing on the university’s website.

Record 2,116 patients recover from COVID-19

FROM PAGE 1The Ministry stated that the

three new deaths recorded yesterday belong to people aged 81, 50 and 25 years, who were suffering from chronic diseases and received treatment in intensive care. The Ministry of Public Health has extended sincere condo-lences and great sympathy to the families of the deceased.

The Ministry of Public Health states that Qatar is still in the peak phase of the virus outbreak, which is seeing a rise in the number of infections recorded daily, and therefore it is necessary to adhere to, more than ever before, the preventive measures and social measures recom-mended. This includes main-taining physical distance from others in the workplace and public places, using a facemask and avoiding social visits to reduce the risk of contracting the virus.

The Ministry also stresses the importance for the elderly or those suffering from chronic diseases and their family members to follow strict measures to reduce the chances of infection, including refraining from social visits.

Anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19 should either quickly contact the 16000 hel-pline or go directly to one of the designated health centers for testing the virus. This is important as the earlier the disease is detected the easier it will be to receive the right treatment and recover from it.

The four main testing centers are: Muaither Health Centre, Rawdat Al Khalil Health Centre,Um Slal Health Centre; and Al Gharafa Health Centre.

“Thank God the patient has recovered from his COVID-19 diagnosis in addition to a fracture in his thighbone. Our teams here at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital performed the necessary surgery to repair his femur and we also treated him for COVID-19. He has been discharged from our hospital and will now continue his recovery and receive physiotherapy at Rumailah Hospital,” said Hussein Abdulaziz Al Ishaq, Executive Director of HMGH.

The COVID-19 Live Webinar Clinical Series was developed by WCM-Q’s Division of Continuing Professional Development. In addition to providing a means for discussing the implications of the pandemic, the webinar series also addresses an urgent need to support the ongoing learning of the local healthcare community while physical distancing measures are being observed.

04 FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

A handout picture by Iran’s Defence Ministry shows views of an official ceremony where the ministry handed over 110 high-speed vessels to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), in the port city of Bandar Abbas, yesterday.

Iran Guards warn US after receiving new combat vesselsAFP — TEHRAN

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards yesterday warned the United States against its naval presence in the Gulf as they received 110 new combat vessels.

The vessels included Ashura-class speedboats, Zolf-aghar coastal patrol boats and Taregh submarines, state tele-vision reported.

“We announce today that wherever the Americans are, we are right next to them, and they

will feel our presence even more in the near future,” the Guards’ navy chief Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said during a ceremony in southern Iran.

Iran and the United States have appeared to be on the brink of an all-out confron-tation twice in the past year.

The latest confrontation between the arch-foes came after the United States accused the Guards of harassing its ships in the Gulf in mid-April.

“ A d v a n c i n g w h i l e

remaining defensive is the nature of our work,” said Guards commander Major General Hossein Salami.

“But this does not equal passivity against the enemy,” he added, noting that Iran “will not bow down to any foe.”

The Guards’ navy had been instructed to expand Iran’s naval power until it can ade-quately defend “territorial inde-pendence and integrity, protect naval interests and pursue and destroy the enemy”.

Ex-Tehran mayor Ghalibaf elected Iran speakerAFP — TEHRAN

Iran’s new parliament yesterday elected former Tehran mayor Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf as its speaker, consolidating the power of conservatives ahead of next year’s presidential election.

The vote further shifts the political balance towards ultra-conservative opponents of the relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani at a time Iran is engaged in a bitter standoff with arch foe the United States.

State television said the 58-year-old Ghalibaf — also a former national police chief and ex-commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ air force —won 230 of the 267 votes cast to secure one of the most influential positions in the Islamic republic.

Bespectacled, balding and wearing a dark suit, Ghalibaf accepted congratulations from MPs, then moved towards the speaker’s seat with a smile and told the chamber: “I thank God for being given a chance to serve the people.”

Ghalibaf is a three-time presidential candidate who served as Tehran mayor from 2005 to 2017.

In the vote for the speaker post, he roundly defeated con-servative lawmakers Fer-eydoun Abbasi and Mostafa Mirsalim who garnered 17 and 12 votes respectively.

Ghalibaf also received the most votes from the capital in Iran’s February 21 parliamentary election, which saw the lowest turnout in decades.

Demonstrators confronting with riot police as they try to cross barricades on a road leading to the Unesco Palace where Lebanon’s parliament is holding a legislative session, during a protest against a controversial amnesty draft law, in Beirut, yesterday.

As Iraq lockdown chokes off imports, local businesses thriveAFP — BASRA, IRAQ

In Iraq, a national lockdown to halt the coronavirus pandemic has found some unexpected fans: local businesses who no longer have to compete with Turkish, Iranian or Chinese imports.

Those countries, as well as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, typically flood Iraqi markets with inexpensive products at prices local pro-ducers can’t compete with.

That includes everything from cars and computers to frozen chicken and even Iraq’s national fruit, dates, which in recent years were more often imported from the Gulf than plucked from local palm trees.

Local producers were left in the dust, struggling to compete given their expensive raw materials and low outputs compared to the enormous quantities being imported.

Not anymore, said Amin Qassem, who has operated an ice cream factory in the oil-rich province of Basra since 2006.

“The coronavirus crisis has allowed us to prove ourselves on the Iraqi market,” he said, relishing the sweet moment.

Qassem’s 3,000 employees across six factories pack 144,000 ice cream cones and wafer sandwiches every hour.

“When there was cheap ice cream coming in from Iran, I had to lower my prices to sell so that my ice cream wouldn’t

be stuck melting in storage,” said Qassem.

“Now, I can sell at higher prices. We were able to win back the same markets where imports once crushed us.”

Experts have long warned that oil-rich Iraq must diversify its economy to insulate it from the swings of the energy market.

As OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer, it relies on oil exports to fund more than 90 percent of its state expenses.

This year, with oil prices crashing to around a third of their 2019 prices, Iraq will struggle to keep its government running, pay salaries or import essential goods.

The International Monetary Fund projected Iraq’s imports

of goods and services would drop from $92bn in 2019 to $84bn this year and to $81bn in 2021.

Diversification has been a tall order for a country with a fledgling private sector, under-developed banking system and a weak customs regime that makes it cheaper to import than to produce. But with corona-virus restrictions, all that could change. As part of Iraq’s lockdown measures put in place in March, it has officially closed its federal border posts with Iran, Turkey and Kuwait to both people and goods.

Imports through Um Qasr, the southern port through which Iraq brings in crucial food and medicine, have dropped.

As a result, Iraq is importing less according to data from its trade partners.

It bought $973m worth of Chinese goods in December but that dropped to $775m by April, according to the Chinese General Administration of Customs.

Imports from Iran also fell from $450m per month before the coronavirus pandemic to $300m currently, according to Hameed Husseini, a member of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Com-merce. Iraq is also taxing imports more stringently.

Its Customs Office attributed “the notable rise” in customs revenues -- from $2.5 million in the first half of April to $7.3m in the first half of this

month — to “tougher moni-toring measures”.

Higher duties force Iraqi retailers to bump up the prices of imported goods, so local businesses can better compete in the markets. Hadi Abbud, who owns a plastics factory in Basra, has already seen an exponential surge in orders for plastic tubing, usually brought in from China.

His factory has been working 24/7 to mould, cut and polish thick plastic cylinders proudly stamped “Made in Iraq.”

“These days, I’m getting new orders for plastic tubes faster than I can even produce them,” said Abbud, his white hair meticulously combed back.

Kuwait Airways to lay off 1,500 foreign employeesAFP — KUWAIT CITY

State-owned Kuwait Airways said yesterday it will lay off 1,500 expatriate employees due to “significant difficulties” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The loss-making national carrier, which has a total of some 6,925 employees, has struggled amid the regional and worldwide downturn in air travel. “In dealing with the

coronavirus crisis and its neg-ative impact on commercial operations... Kuwait Airways announces the termination of around 1,500 non-Kuwaiti employees,” the airline said on Twitter.

It said the decision comes as part of a “comprehensive plan” to deal with the pan-demic’s economic impacts which meant the company is f a c i n g “ s i g n i f i c a n t difficulties”.

Kuwait, like other oil-rich Gulf states, has been severely hit by a slump in oil revenues and the economic impacts of coronavirus.

Kuwait Airways, which has a fleet of 30 aircraft, has been mostly grounded like almost all airlines in the Middle East due to the massive lockdowns.

It, however, operated over 200 flights in late April and early May to repatriate some 30,000 Kuwaiti citizens from abroad.

The carrier’s losses are paid by the government, which has not yet announced any special compensation. The Interna-tional Air Transport Association forecast last month that air traffic in the Middle East and North Africa is set to tumble by more than a half.

IATA said that MENA air-lines’ revenues in 2020 will be slashed by $24.5bn compared to last year, and warned the region’s aviation shutdown

threatened some 1.2 million jobs. Private companies in Kuwait have fired hundreds of employees but the airline is the first government agency to take such action.

The Kuwait Municipality has said it would soon sack at least half of its 900 expatriate employees.

Around 3.4 million for-eigners live and work in Kuwait, making up some 70 percent of the Gulf state’s population.

Israeli PM: No citizenship for Palestinians in Jordan ValleyAP & AFP — OCCUPIED JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley will remain in what he described as an “enclave” after Israel annexes the territory and will not be granted Israeli citi-zenship.

Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with plans to annex the Jordan Valley and Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, in line with Pres-ident Donald Trump’s Middle East plan, a process that could begin as early as July 1.

The annexation of the Jordan Valley and the far-flung settlements would make it vir-tually impossible to create a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel, which is still widely seen as the only way to resolve the decades-old conflict.

In an interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper, Netanyahu said Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, including res-idents of the city of Jericho, would remain under limited Palestinian self-rule, with Israel having overall security control.

“They will remain a Pales-tinian enclave,” he said. “You’re not annexing Jericho. There’s a cluster or two. You don’t need to apply sovereignty over them. They will remain Palestinian subjects, if you will. But security

control also applies to these places.”

Palestinians in the West Bank have lived under Israeli military rule since the 1967 war, when Israel captured the ter-ritory, along with east Jerusalem and Gaza. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state.

The Trump plan would grant the Palestinians limited statehood over scattered enclaves sur-rounded by Israel if they meet a long list of conditions.

Israel has embraced the plan, while the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, has angrily rejected it and cut ties with the US and Israel.

Netanyahu said that if the Palestinians accept all the con-ditions in the plan, including Israel maintaining overall security control, “then they will have an entity of their own that President Trump defines as a state.”

Under a coalition agreement reached last month, Netanyahu can bring his annexation plans before the government as early as July 1. The Palestinian

Authority has said it is no longer bound by any agreements signed with Israel and the US, and says it has cut off security coordination with Israel.

Neighbouring Jordan, a close Western ally and one of only two Arab states to have made peace with Israel, has warned of a “massive conflict” if Israel proceeds with annexation.

Meanwhile, the US embassy in Israel issued a security alert for the Palestinian territories yesterday, amid increased ten-sions over the Jewish state’s plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. The embassy advised its citizens living or travelling in the West Bank or Gaza to “maintain a high level of vigi-lance” and “increase their security awareness”.

“Violence can occur with little or no warning,” said the alert published on the embassy’s website. It mentioned check-points, markets, tourist sites and transportation hubs among a list of possible targets for attacks, but did not detail a specific threat to a location or to American citizens.

Lebanon removes banking secrecy rules to fight graftAP — BEIRUT

Lebanon’s parliament approved yesterday a law to remove decades-old banking secrecy rules in order to better fight rampant corruption that has pushed the country to the edge of economic collapse.

The move opens the way for investigations into bank accounts of current and former officials such as Cabinet min-isters, legislators and civil servants, state-run National News Agency reported.

The restoration of stolen public money in the cor-ruption-plagued nation has been a key demand of pro-testers who have been dem-onstrating since mid-October against Lebanon’s ruling elite, which they blame for wide-spread corruption and mismanagement.

The approval of the law came two months after the Cabinet approved a draft reso-lution to abolish the country’s

banking secrecy laws, which have turned tiny Lebanon into the region’s Switzerland, attracting clients from around the Arab world who prized the anonymity its banks offered.

The new law gives powers to National Anti-corruption Commission and a Special Investigative Committee at the central bank to investigate bank account of officials, the report said. For yesterday's session, Lebanese lawmakers convened inside a Beirut theater so that they could observe social dis-tancing measures imposed during the pandemic. Dozens of anti-government demonstrators briefly clashed with riot police outside as legislators met.

As lawmakers in face masks arrived at the theater, known as the Unesco Palace, paramedics sprayed them with disinfectant before they entered, one at a time. Lebanon has been facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with unemployment figures soaring and the local

currency losing more than half of its value against the dollar.

After the banking secrecy measure was passed, Par-liament Speaker Nabih Berri suspended the session until later in the afternoon when the legislators were to discuss a draft general amnesty law.

The amnesty issue has deeply divided parliamentary blocs, with Christian groups calling for pardoning Lebanese who fled to Israel after it ended its occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, while former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and others want the release of

hundreds of Islamists held as terror suspects. Lebanon and Israel are at a state of war and some Lebanese who fled to Israel now hold Israeli citizenship. Scores of protesters demon-strated in Beirut and southern Lebanon yesterday against par-doning those living in Israel.

The US embassy in Israel issued a security alert for the Palestinian territories yesterday, amid increased tensions over the Jewish state’s plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

05FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020 ISLAM

The Quran tells who the believers areA S HALAWANI

The Holy Quran is not a storybook relating stories from the past, nor is it only a book of wisdom. It is

a book of guidance.Muslims believe also that if anyone

wants to understand a given issue, the Quran should then be consulted. Amaz-ingly, one of my mentors used to read the whole Quran for at least once immediately before he starts to write anything on the issue he is studying to see what the Quran has to say about it. To me as well as many others, this mentor of mine is one of the most influ-ential Muslim scholars of the age.

Using the same technique in a non-literal way, it is found out that there are four ayahs in the Quran that present an extensive description of the believers. These ayahs use what can be called “the Restriction Style” (uslub Al Hasr or Al Qasr) which is uniquely used in the Quran for the purposes of stressing certain issues and empha-sizing certain pieces of information as surely is known to those who are learned about the inimitable style of the Quran.

Apparently, there are numerous ayahs in the Quran which speak in one way or another about the believers. However, what is unique about these four ayahs is their use of the Restriction Style. This style in Arabic — as well as in other languages — is very effective in showing the importance of some-thing and the significance meant to be attributed thereto. Let us take as an example the hadith in which Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said:

“I was sent by Allah to only perfect the sublime morals.” (Ahmad’s Musnad)

As if the Prophet (PBUH) summed up his entire divine mission in this matter through using the Restriction Style in the Arabic source of the hadith.

Accordingly, though there are many ayahs dealing with the description of the believers in the Quran, let us focus here on only those in which the Restriction Style is used. These ayahs can be put in the following order which may differ from their order according to the time of reve-lation. They are Al Anfal 8:2, Al Hujurat 49:10, 15 and Annur 24:62.

Actions of heart and organsAllah Almighty says: For only those

are true believers who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble; and when His verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and upon their Lord alone do they rely. (Al Anfal 8:2)

This ayah describes the quality of true believers who when Allah is men-tioned, they feel a fear in their hearts, and thus implement His orders and abstain from His prohibitions. Allah Almighty says in another ayah:

Moreover, these are the ones who when they commit any act of obscenity, or wrong themselves with sin, they remember Allah, to whom they are accountable, and so seek forgiveness for their sins. For who is it that forgives sins but Allah? Nor do they persist in whatever wrong they have done when they know it is wrong.

(Aal Imran 3:135)It is worth noting here that Imam

Al Bukhari and other Muslim scholars relied on this ayah (Al Anfal 8:2) and those similar, as evidence that faith increases and varies in strength from heart to heart. This is also the view of the majority of the reliable and distin-guished scholars of Islam.

The ayah also explains that the true believers hope in none except Allah as they direct their dedication to Him alone, seek refuge with Him alone, and

invoke Him alone for their various needs and even for the fulfillment of their dreams. Their faith tells them that whatever He wills, occurs and that whatever He does not will never occurs. They deeply believe in the fact that it is Allah alone who has the decision in His whole Kingdom with no associates or partners whatsoever. To quote Said ibn Jubair as cited in Tafsir Ibn Kathir, “Tawakkul (faithful reliance on Allah) is the essence of faith.”

Amazingly, the following ayah (Al Anfal 8:3) describes the actions of the believers after their faith has been mentioned. The acts mentioned here include all types of righteous acts such as performing the salah and spending in the cause of Allah. Spending from what Allah has granted includes giving the obligatory zakah as well as the rec-ommended voluntary charity.

Then, the following Quranic expression emphasises and concludes this description of the believers as saying:

It is these who are, in truth, the believers. (Al Anfal 8:4), meaning that those who have these qualities are the believers with true faith.

Religious BrotherhoodThe second ayah that presents

another aspect of the description of the true believers in Allah:

The believers are but a broth-erhood. So make reconciliation between your brothers, and have (piety) of Allah that you may receive mercy. (Al Hujurat 49:10)

Following showing the faith that must be obtained by the believers as well as the righteous actions they should be observing and sincerely per-forming, the Quran states that all Muslims are regarded by Allah as nothing but brothers and sisters under the umbrella of monotheism.

It is reported by Anas that the Mes-senger of Allah said:

‘Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one.’ People asked, ‘O Allah’s Apostle! It is all right to help him if he is

oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?’ The Prophet said, ‘By preventing him from oppressing others.’ (Al Bukhari)

Right Action and ActivismThe above ayah stresses the fact

that all Muslims are but brothers in Islam as is said earlier. One can find many hadiths attesting to this very fact; foremost among which are the following:

Narrated Abdullah bin Umar: Allah’s Apostle said:“A Muslim is a brother of another Muslim, so he should not oppress him, nor should he hand him over to an oppressor. Whoever fulfilled the needs of his brother, Allah will fulfill his needs; whoever brought his (Muslim) brother out of a discomfort, Allah, in return, will bring him out of one of the dis-comforts of the Day of Resurrection, and whoever screened a Muslim, Allah will screen him on the Day of Resur-rection.” (Al Bukhari)

Umm Addarda’ reported: My husband reported that he heard Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) as saying,

Abu Addarda’ narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) said: The supplication of a Muslim for his (Muslim) brother in his absence will be answered. An angel is appointed at the head of the (suppli-cating) person; so every time he makes a supplication for his brother’s good, the angel says: ‘Ameen! May it be for you, too’. (Muslim)

In the hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah, the Messenger of Allah said: …Allah helps a servant so long as the servant helps his brother.” (Muslim)

There are many hadiths with this meaning, such as the following:

Narrated Nu’man bin Bashir: Allah’s Apostle said,

“You see the believers as regards their being merciful among themselves and showing love among themselves and being kind, resembling one body, so that, if any part of the body is not well then the whole body shares the sleeplessness (insomnia) and fever with it.” (Al Bukhari)

Narrated Abu Musa: The Prophet

said, “A believer to another believer is like a building whose different parts enforce each other.” The Prophet then clasped his hands with the fingers interlaced (while saying that). (Al-Bukhari)

In Allah’s saying, “…and have piety of Allah that you may receive mercy,” it is clear that Allah Almighty com-mends Muslims to have piety in all of their affairs and He promises that mercy will be granted to those who fear and obey Him most.

Therefore, brotherhood can be seen as a positive and constructive rela-tionship among all members of the Muslim Ummah under the banner of Islam. A banner that covers all those who obey Allah’s orders and execute what is demanded from them as per-fectly as required while having piety and complete submission to the Will of Allah.

Leadership and obedienceThe third ayah we are concerned

with here is what follows and which may mean,

Only those are believers, who believe in Allah and His Messenger: when they are with him on a matter requiring collective action, they do not depart until they have asked for his leave; those who ask for thy leave are those who believe in Allah and His Messenger; so when they ask for thy leave, for some business of theirs, give leave to those of them whom thou wilt, and ask Allah for their forgiveness: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Annur 24:62)

Scholars of Tafsir (i.e. Interpre-tation of the Quran) see this as a matter of etiquette to which Allah has guided His believing servants. As Allah orders the believers just as He commanded them to seek permission when entering,

He also commanded them to seek permission when leaving, especially when they are doing something together with the Messenger (PBUH) such as the Friday, Eid, or congrega-tional prayers, or a meeting for the purpose of consultation and so on.

Allah commanded them not to leave him in these situations until they had asked his permission. If they did this, then they were of the true believers. Then Allah commanded His Messenger to give permission when someone asked for it, if he wanted to.

Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: “When any of you joins a gathering, let him say Salam, and when he wants to leave, let him say Salam. The former is not more important than the latter.” (Abu Dawud)

However, I think there is more than this in the ayah; though the issue of educating the believers about the eti-quette of dealing with the Prophet (PBUH) is crystal clear in more than one place in the Quran to preserve his lofty status as the Messenger of Allah. But, here I think that the Quran indi-cates it is obligatory for the true believers to realise that they must obey their leader, the Prophet (PBUH), and accept all his decisions in all of their affairs be it private or common.

True believers should realise that they constitute a whole body with a single leadership which should be obeyed all the time. They should realise that if the Prophet (PBUH) gives them permission to leave or refuses to do so, this is for their own good and the good of the whole Muslim Ummah.

Striving against ordealsThe fourth and, thus, final ayah in

which we are concerned here reads what may mean,

Only those are Believers who have believed in Allah and His Messenger, and have never since doubted, but have striven with their belongings and their persons in the Cause of Allah: Such are the sincere ones. (Al Hujurat 49:15)

The Muslim Ummah will never be left alone without being exposed to trials, ordeals and afflictions at the hands of the people of falsehood who are always hostile to Allah, His Mes-senger and the true Muslims. Then, the stand of Muslims must be decided whether to be patient, not to have any doubt, and to strive for the cause of Allah and His faith, or vice versa!

Therefore, those who have perfect faith are those who believe in Allah and His Messenger (PBUH); they do not have any doubts and their faith is never shaken. Rather, their faith remains on conviction.

In addition, it is obligatory on them that they gladly give away their life and the most precious of their wealth and property in obedience to Allah as a means of seeking His Pleasure in this present life and the Hereafter.

Finally, four ayahs in the Quran present a complete description of the believers who have true faith in Allah and His Messenger (PBUH) and who constitute the whole Muslim Ummah that is loyal to Allah and who can enjoin that which is good and forbid that which is evil. They can be summed up as follows:

- A true believer must have sincere faith in Allah and should be performing all commended righteous acts

(Al Anfal 8:2);- All true believers are but brothers

and therefore should do what they have to do to keep this sense of broth-erhood intact (Al Hujurat 49:10);

- All believers constitute the Muslim Ummah with a single leadership that should be respected and obeyed (Annur 24:62);

- As it is inevitable that the true believers of Allah are always fought against and defied, they should have faith, patience, certainty of Allah’s victory and they should strive with all they have be it their life or dear belongings (Al Hujurat 49:15).

courtesy:onislam.net

Those who (in charity) spend of their goods by night and by day, in

secret and in public, have their reward with their Lord: on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Quran, 2:274) “They used to sleep but little at night.

And in the hours of dawn they used to seek forgiveness. In their wealth there was a share for the beggar and the defeated.” (Quran, 51:- 17-19)

“Surely the men and women who give in charity and give to Allah a goodly loan, they shall receive double and for them is a noble reward.” (Quran, 57:18)

Uqbah narrates that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Charity extinguishes the heat of the graves for the

charitable people. And the believer will stand in the shade of his charity on the day of res-urrection.” (Tabrani)

Abu Bakr Al Siddiq (may Allah bless him) narrates: I heard the prophet (PBUH) saying while standing on the pulpit:

“Fear the hell-fire even if it is by a piece of date, for surely it sets right the one who is crooked, it repulses an evil death, and it can fulfill a hungry person just as it can a full person.”

The Prophet (PBUH) said: “Hasten in giving charity for surely calamity does not cross paths with it.” (Tabrani)

Abu Hurayrah narrates that the Prophet (PBUH) said: “There was a man in a wide open field, when he heard a

voice from a cloud saying: ‘Go and irrigate the orchard of such and such person.’

That cloud moved and poured its water onto a stony ground. A drain then gathered all that water.’ The man fol-lowed the water and even-tually saw a man standing in an orchard, transferring the water with his spade. So he asked him:

‘O servant of Allah! What is your name?’ The gardener replied by giving a certain name, the same name which the person had heard form the cloud. The gardener asked him ‘O servant of Allah! Why did you ask me my name?’

The man replied: ‘I heard in a cloud from which this water came down, a voice saying: Irrigate the orchard of

such and such a person.’ It was your name that I heard. Now what do you do in your orchard?’

The gardener replied: ‘Now that you have said this, (this is what I do): I look at the produce of this land, I give one third of it in charity, I, and my family eat one third of it, and I reinvest one third into the orchard.” (Muslim)

Abu Hurayrah narrates that the Prophet (PBUH) said: “The similitude of a miser and a charitable person is like that of two men who are wearing an armour of steel. Their hands are forced towards their upper chests and collar bones. Each time the charitable person gives in charity, his armour opens up from him to such an extent that it even spreads out

his nails and wipes out his footsteps. As for the miser, each time he intends to give in charity, the armour becomes tighter and every link of the armour remains firmly in its place.”

Abu Hurayrah Radhiallohu anhu said: “I saw ”Rasulullah Sallallohu alaihi wasallam demonstrating with his fingers like this: he tried to broaden the neck of his upper garment and it did not expand.” (Bukhari,Muslim)

Anas narrates: Abu Talhah was the wealthiest of all the Ansar in Madinah due to the date orchards which he pos-sessed. Of all his possessions, the orchard, Bayraha’, was the most beloved to him. This orchard faced the Musjid Nabawi. The Prophet (PBUH)

used to go into this orchard and drink of its wholesome water.

Anas says: When this verse was revealed: ‘You will never attain to piety till you spend from that which you love’ (3:92)

Abu Talhah went to the Prophet (PBUH) and said, “O Rasulullah! Allah says: ‘You will never attain to piety till you spend from that which you love’. And of all my wealth, Bayraha’ is the most beloved to me. I am giving it in charity. I hope for its goodness and treasure from Allah.

O Rasulullah! You may utilise it wherever Allah tells you to.” The Prophet (PBUH) said: “Excellent! That is very profitable wealth. Excellent! That is very profitable wealth.” (Bukhari, Muslim)

Spend from that which you love

Allah Almighty says: For only those are true believers who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble; and when His verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and upon their Lord alone do they rely (Al Anfal 8:2). This verse describes the quality of true believers who when Allah is mentioned, they feel a fear in their hearts, and thus implement His orders and abstain from His prohibitions.

06 FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020AFRICA

Call for 'conviction' of officers in Mozambique poll observer murder caseAFP — XAI-XAI

Mozambique’s public prose-cutor yesterday called for an “exemplary conviction” of six elite officers accused of murdering a poll observer ahead of national elections last year, but denied any state involvement in the killing.

Prosecutor Leonardo Cumbe’s remarks marked the end of a trial in the south-eastern city of Xai-Xai for the murder of Anastacio Matavele — a local election observer gunned down behind the wheel of his car just days before the October 15 vote.

Matavele’s killers were caught red-handed after col-liding into another car as they fled the scene, allowing police to link the murder to Mozam-bique’s elite rapid intervention unit.

Six members of the unit have since been arrested, including two officers who were wounded in the accident.

A seventh suspect escaped the crash site before police arrived and is being tried in absentia.

The defendants have been charged with voluntary hom-icide, conspiracy, forgery and illegal use of firearms.

A verdict is expected on June 18.

“There is no doubt that the defendants’ intention was to kill,” Cumbe told the court.

Citing forensic reports, the prosecutor said Matavele’s

vehicle was hit by 13 bullets, seven of which entered the vic-tim’s back and legs.

“The defendants were hunting Mr. Matavele as if he were a rhino,” said Cumbe, who called for a “severe conviction” of the defendants.

The two policemen caught after the car crash had previ-ously confessed to taking part in Matavele’s murder.

Their lawyer, however, claimed they killed the observer in the context of an “armed robbery”. The remaining four defendants have denied all charges.

If found guilty, they could each face up to 24 years in prison.

Meanwhile, Matavele family lawyer Flavio Menete asked judges to hold the state “civilly responsible” for the death.

Last month, the public pros-ecutor refused to compensate Matavele’s family on behalf of the state.

Court documents said the claim was rejected on the basis that the policemen who killed Matavele were acting “at their own risk” and not in service of the government.

“Those who committed the crime are police officers, agents of the state,” Menete told the court.

“They used state weapons, which were picked from the police arsenal and (returned) after the crime.” “Not con-demning the state to pay com-pensation means transmitting the idea that the state allows this type of practise,” he added.

Cumbe debunked the accu-sations, claiming the defendants had planned Matavele’s murder “outside office hours”.

“They were not assigned to any mission the day they mur-dered the activist,” the prose-cutor said, adding that the officers were “taking advantage of their functions”.

It is the first time the killing of a rights defender is brought to court in Mozambique.

Menete claims the murder was “politically motivated”.

“(Matavele) was the holder of electoral information... that he intended to convey... to central level observers,” the lawyer said.

“They silenced Matavele because... they are not yet used to hearing a different opinion.”

Prime Minister of Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez Al Sarraj (right) receives his Maltese counterpart Robert Abela at the GNA headquarters in Tripoli yesterday.

Malta, Libya sign pact to boost bilateral tiesANATOLIA — ANKARA

Malta and Libya yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding for combating irregular migration and consol-idating bilateral relations.

This came during a visit by Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela to Tripoli in which he dis-cussed irregular migration with his Libyan counterpart Fayez Al Sarraj.

This is the first foreign visit for Abela since he took office in January.

Abela also met top Libyan officials including Foreign Min-ister Mohamed Taha Siala and Interior Minister Fathi Bashaga,

daily Malta Today reported.During the talks, Sarraj

praised bilateral relations between the two friendly coun-tries and Malta’s support to the Libyan government.

Touching upon the latest developments in Libya, he stressed the need to defeat the aggressive offensive by warlord Khalifa Haftar and his militias.

For his part, Abela extended support to the Libyan gov-ernment, adding that conflict should be resolved through dialogue.

The Libyan government has been under attack by Haftar’s forces since April 2019, with more than 1,000 killed in the

violence. It launched Operation Peace Storm on March 26 to counter attacks on the capital.

Following the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya’s government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led political deal.

Malta has shut its ports to asylum seekers and migrants since the start of the corona-virus outbreak. However, tightened measures did not stop migrants from coming.

Arrivals of migrants in Malta have increased this year, with around 1,135 people entering as of March, compared to 136 at this point in 2019, according to the UN.

Libyan army destroys 13 armoured vehicles of Haftar militia

ANATOLIA — ANKARA

The Libyan army announced yesterday that it had destroyed 13 armored vehicles belonging to militias of Khalifa Haftar in southern Tripoli, the capital of Libya.

A statement issued via the official Facebook account of the Libyan army-led Oper-ation Volcano of Rage said that three armoured vehicles pro-vided to Haftar’s militias by United Arab Emirates were rendered inoperable by the Libyan forces.

The army has gained ground in Ain Zara and Wadi Al Rabie regions, the statement added.

Earlier yesterday, Libyan army announced that it had destroyed 10 other military vehicles of Haftar’s militias.

Army units have also cleared the Qarizma and Ahya al-Barriya regions in southern Tripoli from militias to “a sig-nificant extent,” army s p o k e s m a n C o l o n e l Mohammed Gununu said in a written statement.

Having recaptured the strategic Al Watiya airbase in western Libya from Haftar’s militias on May 18, the army continues to clear the country of the militias.

Army units surrounded the town of Tarhuna, which is being used as a military and supply base by Haftar’s militias. Some militia groups were forced to retreat from fronts in southern Tripoli to defend the town.

Army units have cleared a wide region from Haftar’s militias, including Hamzah, Yarmuk and as-Sawarih. They also reclaimed some critical points from the militias and took control of the Al Tekbali military camp.

After the Libyan army cleared southern Tripoli of Haftar’s militias, mercenaries reportedly retreated from fronts in Tripoli and were dis-patched to an unknown point from Bani Walid Airport.

The media recently reported that many vehicles carrying mercenaries had retreated from fronts in Tripoli.

Algeria recalls France envoy after airing of documentariesAFP — ALGIERS

Algeria said on Wednesday it would “immediately” recall its ambassador from France for consultations after documen-taries about the North African country’s anti-government protest movement were aired on French public television.

The Interior Ministry said films including two broadcast on Tuesday, while “seemingly spontaneous and under the pretext of freedom of expression, are in fact attacks on the Algerian people and its institutions” including the army.

Citing the “recurrent char-acter” of such programmes on French public TV, it singled out two documentaries broadcast on Tuesday by France 5 and the former colonial power’s Parlia-mentary Channel.

Unprecedented mass pro-tests rocked Algeria early last year to demand the departure of veteran president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, sparked by the ailing 82-year-old’s announcement that he would stand for a fifth term.

In April 2019 he resigned, and in December, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected on an official turnout of less than 40 percent. Analysts say participation was consid-erably lower.

Mass protests against the ruling system only halted when the novel coronavirus arrived in Algeria earlier this year.

Despite the movement sus-pending demonstrations since mid-March, a crackdown has continued against regime opponents and independent media.

The films cited by the Algerian ministry had sparked fierce debates on social media.

“Algeria, my love”, aired by France 5, told the story of the Hirak protest movement through the eyes of five Alge-rians in their 20s from across the country.

Directed by French jour-nalist of Algerian origin Mus-tapha Kessous, it broke with a number of taboos and high-lighted sociocultural divisions driving the movement, trig-gering heated discussion on social networks.

The second film, “Algeria: the Promises of the Dawn” was broadcast on France’s Parlia-mentary Channel.

In its statement, the Algerian ministry cited what it said were “malicious and lasting

intentions on the part of certain circles, which do not wish to see peaceful relations between Algeria and France after 58 years of independence”.

France Televisions, which owns France 5, declined to comment on the Algerian announcement on Wednesday evening.

France and Algeria have often had tense ties since Algeria won independence in 1962 after eight years of war.

In early April, the French ambassador to Algeria, Xavier Driencourt, was summoned to the foreign ministry after state-ments on the France 24 satellite news channel about Chinese medical aid.

Earlier in the year, Teb-boune had called for “mutual respect” in Franco-Algerian relations, saying his country

“will not accept any inter-ference or tutelage” from abroad.

He was referring to state-ments made by French Pres-ident Emmanuel Macron early on in the Hirak protest movement, calling for “a tran-sition of reasonable duration” — remarks seen by Algiers as “interference” in its internal affairs.

In recent weeks, the Algerian government has repeatedly blamed “foreign” NGOs for influencing Algerian media outlets aiming to damage state institutions.

Last month, authorities blocked three news websites that had covered the protests.

Algeria ranks 146 out of 180 countries on RSF’s world press freedom index for 2020.

Amid lockdown, Kenyan medical startup brings clinic to your homeREUTERS — NAIROBI

Nathalie Maikere sat at her dining table, her two children playing video games a few feet away, as a doctor in a lab coat unpacked her medical bag and took her temperature, pulse, and blood pressure.

Maikere is one of over 600 Nairobians getting medical care at home through TIBU Health, a Kenyan startup.

It is a small player in a global movement towards home-based medical care, and its March launch coincided with the coronavirus pandemic that has forced much of the world’s population to stay at home.

“People think that health equals clinic or hospital whenever I’m sick,” said CEO and co-founder Jason Car-michael. “They don’t realise that... often you don’t even need to go to a clinic. Or that it can come to you.” TIBU also admin-isters COVID-19 tests in peo-ple’s homes.

Customers start by requesting medical assistance via a mobile app. They get paired with the closest medical officer or doctor, depending on their complaint. After a triage

call, the health professional travels to the patient.

The process from request to deployment takes on average of about 20-30 minutes, said Carmichael. The key, he added, was the health kit.

“We show up lock, stock and barrel.” The outsized back-packs contain equipment ranging from blood pressure gauges to kit for testing for dis-eases to tools that help with the management of illnesses like diabetes.

There are US companies offering comparable services, like Los Angeles-based Heal and New York-based Pager.

But TIBU’s price point - 1,000 Kenyan shillings (under $10) for a consultation — means it is targeting Kenya’s middle class with a view to expanding through Africa, where few such services exist at scale.

One challenge has been to create a digital system that safely stores patients’ health records.

Although there is a growing push for digitising health records in Kenya, much of the information is still on paper only, raising the risk of ineffi-ciencies and data loss.

Nurses participate in a Zumba aerobic fitness program as a way of helping them to cope with working situations during the coronavirus disease outbreak within the Infectious Disease Unit grounds of the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday.

Kenya: ‘Poor quarantine centres may raise cases’ANATOLIA — ANKARA

Kenyan authorities are “potentially facilitating” a rise in coronavirus infections by forcefully quaran-tining tens of thousands of persons in facilities with undesirable condi-tions, right groups said yesterday.

The quarantine facilities in Kenya “lack proper sanitation, protective equipment and food,” Human Rights Watch (HRW), Kenya Human Rights

Commission, and Journalists for Justice said in a joint statement.

“Kenyan authorities are exposing people to a risk of infection in poorly managed and ill-equipped quarantine facil-ities,” Osieno Namwaya, senior researcher at HRW was quoted as saying.

The authorities have also been accused of forcing people into quarantine “for violating curfew or for not following

orders to wear face masks.” People interviewed by the NGOs described poor conditions of the quarantine facilities, including lack of bedding, water, food, and cleaning supplies, including soaps and detergents.

They said they weren’t told of test results and that staff did not adhere to the government’s own protocols to ensure that those quarantined do not become exposed to the virus.

Prosecutor Leonardo Cumbe’s remarks marked the end of a trial in the southeastern city of Xai-Xai for the murder of Anastacio Matavele — a local election observer gunned down behind the wheel of his car just days before the October 15 vote.

07FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020 ASIA

India sidesteps Trump mediation offer over row with ChinaAFP — NEW DELHI

India yesterday sidestepped US President Donald Trump’s offers to mediate the country’s border showdown with China, saying it was already engaged with Beijing to “resolve this issue”.

Trump’s offer on Wednesday came after Indian defence sources said hundreds of Chinese troops had moved into a disputed zone along their 3,500km-long frontier.

“We are engaged with the Chinese side to peacefully resolve this issue,” External

Affairs Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava told reporters during a weekly media briefing

when asked about Trump’s tweet.

“Our troops have taken a very responsible approach towards border management,” Srivastava added.

India is committed to the objective of maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas with China... At the same time, we remain firm in our resolve to ensuring India’s sovereignty and national security.”

Last year Trump offered to mediate between India and Pakistan over their Kashmir

dispute, but it was tersely rejected by India.

While blaming each other for the flare-up, India and China — the world’s two most pop-ulous countries and nuclear-armed neighbours — have stressed the need to negotiate a settlement to the latest dispute along their tortuous border.

Alice Wells, the top US State Department official for South Asia, said last week that China was seeking to upset the regional balance and had to be “resisted”.

India and China fought a war over India’s northeastern

state of Arunachal Pradesh in 1962. China still claims some 90,000 sq km of territory under New Delhi’s control.

While no shot has been fired across their border for more than four decades, there have been numerous face-offs. In 2017 there was a 72-day showdown after Chinese forces moved into the disputed Doklam plateau on the China-India-Bhutan border.

Punches and stones were thrown this month at Naku La in India’s Sikkim state, which borders Bhutan, Nepal and

China, before “dialogue and interaction” calmed tempers.

The focus has since moved to India’s Ladakh region across the border from Tibet. Indian defence sources say Chinese forces have moved into Indian territory at four points.

The sources said hundreds of Chinese troops and vehicles have taken over the Indian side of the Galwan valley, one of the four disputed sites.

Diplomatic and military observers said both sides seemed to be digging in for another long face-off.

India’s virus deaths top China as global hot spots shiftBLOOMBERG — NEW DELHI

India is the latest country whose coronavirus (COVID-19) death toll has topped the number of lives lost in China, where the pandemic started, as hot spots shift to developing countries ill-equipped to contain its spread.

The South Asian nation’s death toll hit 4,695 yesterday, climbing past the 4,638 fatal-ities from COVID-19 in China.

The nation of 1.3 billion people now has the highest number of fatalities in Asia, excluding Iran, despite the largest lockdown in the world.

The country’s death toll quadrupled in less than a month, accelerating by more than 1,000 over the past week, while infections have been soaring at a similar pace. Gov-ernment experts have begun to acknowledge the outbreak won’t peak until June or July.

The total number of cases in India is already about twice the level in China, and also sur-passes those in Iran. Infections rose to 165,069 yesterday, the ninth highest globally,

according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

While still far behind the number of cases and deaths seen in places like the US, Spain and Italy, the rapid growth of India’s virus burden comes as the pace of new infections starts to plateau or decline in many of the wealthier countries where the pandemic first struck, and explode across the devel-oping world.

In recent weeks, Brazil’s epidemic has quickly grown to be the largest in the world behind only the US, while Peru, Mexico and Chile are all rapidly developing into problem spots.

Health experts warned earlier this year of the dangers the coronavirus presents to developing nations such as India, which possess fewer strategies to contain the dis-ease’s spread than wealthier countries. Lockdowns can’t be maintained for as long in poorer countries where many people depend on daily wages to survive, crowded slum areas make social distancing impos-sible, and health-care systems

are under-resourced even during the best of times.

India’s coronavirus infec-tions are escalating at the fastest pace in Asia as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been forced to start gradually relaxing the country’s nationwide lockdown

to boost economic activity and ease the pain of what’s set to be the economy’s first annual con-traction in 40 years.

The lockdown — which began on March 25 and is set to end on May 31 — was partly aimed at giving the country

more time to build up its health-care system. The government has been scaling up its testing to identify new cases, but India’s huge population means its efforts still only cover a rela-tively small portion of the citizenry.

A young passenger uses a hand sanitiser dispenser before entering the line for the security check-in area at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), in Mumbai, yesterday.

Bangladesh to partly ease lockdown amid virus concernsANATOLIA — DHAKA

Bangladesh will partly ease a more than two-month lockdown due to the novel coronavirus after May 31 for the sake of the country’s economy, a top government official said.

The country initially imposed the nationwide lockdown on March 26 to stem the spread of the coronavirus and it was later extended several times until May 30.

“We have decided to withdraw the nationwide lockdown on a limited scale to resume the country’s eco-nomic activities like most of the European and Western countries,” State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain said.

He added that a gov-ernment gazette in this regard will be published Thursday after final approval from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Experts, however, have expressed concern that the move may exacerbate the coronavirus outbreak in the overcrowded nation of nearly 165 million people.

The leader of a local medical doctors’ foundation, Dr. Shahed Pavel, said they had urged the government to continue the lockdown for at least 15 more days after the Muslim Eid Al Fitr holiday to stem the spread of the virus.

“But citing the country’s economic interests, the gov-ernment has not granted our appeal. Now I earnestly request to ensure social dis-tancing and health guidelines,” Pavel said. “Otherwise, the lethal pandemic may spread on a massive scale within a short time span.”

Bangladesh is experiencing a surging trend in COVID-19.

As of Wednesday a total of 544 people have died from the coronavirus since the country’s first death was con-firmed on March 18. Of these, 275 succumbed to the virus in the last two weeks, according to government data.

Sri Lanka to reimpose selective lockdown after cases spikeAFP — COLOMBO

Sri Lanka will reimpose selective lockdown restrictions from Sunday to restrict large gatherings after recording its biggest daily surge in corona-virus infections — most found in citizens repatriated last week from Kuwait.

The island nation on Tuesday lifted a shutdown on the capital and a neighbouring district, two weeks after easing it in other parts of the nation.

But after more than 250 returnees from Kuwait were found to be infected with coro-navirus, authorities decided to

impose lockdowns on days when crowds were likely to form — including the planned funeral of a popular minister.

The health ministry said that out of 460 Sri Lankans who returned from Kuwait this week, some 252 had tested pos-itive for coronavirus.

All the returnees were being held in quarantine.

Officials said the lockdown will apply on Sunday, the day of the funeral of tea plantation trade union leader and gov-ernment minister Arumugam Thondaman, who died Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of mourners from his Ceylon

Workers Congress party had been expected to attend.

It will then be lifted until Thursday, when it will be imposed again for two days to coincide with a holiday.

Under lockdown restric-tions, no-one is allowed to leave home unless they are involved in essential services.

Officials said new cases of coronavirus were also found at a navy camp outside Colombo.

Some 771 sailors and their immediate family members have so far tested positive from the facility, out of a nationwide total of 1,469 cases. Ten people have died from the virus,

including a woman who returned from Kuwait last week.

Officials said they were scaling back repatriations in order not to overwhelm facilities.

“It is not easy to increase quarantine capacity overnight,” government spokesman Bandula Gunawardana told reporters. “We are also building hospital capacity to bring back more Sri Lankans who are stranded abroad.”

Some 41,000 of around 1.5 million Sri Lankans employed abroad have registered with authorities asking to return home.

We are engaged with the Chinese side to peacefully resolve this issue. Our troops have taken a very responsible approach towards border management: Anurag Srivastava

A makeshift isolation unit for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients in the United Hospital is pictured after a fire broke out and killed several patients, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Five die in Bangladesh hospital fire AFP — DHAKA

Five people were killed in a top Bangladesh hospital on Wednesday after a fire swept through a makeshift coronavirus isolation unit, officials said.

The blaze occurred in Dhaka’s posh Gulshan neigh-bourhood and comes as the country faces a rising number of coronavirus cases.

Fire service official Kamrul Hasan said the fire began when an air conditioner exploded in a shed belonging to United Hospital.

“Fire service teams have controlled the fire in around a hour. Five people have died of suffocation due to the fire,” Hasan said.

The blaze quickly raced through the unit due to the presence of flammable items such as sanitizer, Dhaka police deputy commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakraborty said.

“Three of those who have died are COVID-19 patients and the rest two were COVID-19 negatives,” he said.

Police said the fire origi-nated at 9:48 pm Bangladesh

time (1548 GMT) and soon engulfed the isolation unit, which was built adjacent to the hospital in recent weeks to treat suspected coronavirus patients.

A doctor at the hospital said panic gripped patients as the fire spread.

“We are already very stressed out at work and the fire only added to our headache,” he said, speaking on the con-dition of anonymity. “Thank God they controlled the fire before it reached the main hos-pital. Otherwise, it would have been a catastrophe.”

South Korea virus spike stirs second wave concern, social distancing crackdownREUTERS — SEOUL

South Korea reported 79 new coronavirus cases yesterday, the most in nearly eight weeks, triggering the return of tougher social distancing curbs amid the spectre of a second wave of disease in a country praised for containing the first outbreak.

At least 82 cases this week have been linked to a cluster of infections at a logistics facility run by Coupang Corp, one of the country’s largest online shopping firms, in Bucheon, west of Seoul, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

About 4,100 workers, including 603 delivery people, at the warehouse were believed to have not properly followed social distancing and protective measures, such as mask wearing, KCDC deputy director Kwon Jun-wook told a briefing.

Coupang, one of a group of e-commerce firms whose plants have scrambled to fill a surge in demand, has said the Bucheon centre was disinfected every day, with all employees wearing masks and gloves and their temperatures checked.

“We’ll take every measure we can take until safety is con-firmed,” a Coupang spokes-

woman said.The new cases on a third

straight day of rising infections took South Korea’s tally to 11,344 with 269 deaths by mid-night on Wednesday. A robust testing programme this year was credited with keeping deaths comparatively low in a global pandemic that has now killed more than 350,000.

The warehouse cluster appears linked to an outbreak that emerged in several Seoul nightclubs and bars in early May, the KCDC said, and comes amid efforts to ease social dis-tancing rules. More than 2 million children returned to class on Wednesday, the latest in a phased opening of schools.

Unlike many countries, South Korea did not impose a strict lockdown against the virus.

But the rise prompted health officials to call yes-terday for a return to tougher social distancing rules in major metropolitan areas, including closing some public places, such as museums, and getting employers to adopt flexible work plans.

Health officials said they would perform on-site inspec-tions of logistics centres nationwide, to develop better prevention policies.

Former Malaysian PM expelled from ruling partyREUTERS — KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s ruling party yesterday terminated the membership of his prede-cessor Mahathir Mohamad, a move widely seen as an attmept to consolidate power as he faces a possible chal-lenge to his nascent premiership.

Mahathir, 94, had said he would seek to oust Muhyiddin from office for making a “backdoor arrangement” that brought back into power a graft-tainted party rejected by voters in an election in 2018.

In a letter circulated widely on social media, the party stated that Mahathir automatically ceased to be a member after he made a show of rejecting Muhyiddin’s lead-ership as prime minister and party president by sitting with the opposition when par-liament met last week.

Similar letters were also issued to Mahathir’s son and party deputy president, Mukhriz, and three others aligned with the former prime minister.

An aide to Muhyiddin con-firmed the letters were authentic.

Muhyiddin, once a trusted lieutenant to Mahathir, unex-pectedly emerged as prime minister in March after forging an alliance with the former ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation, to gain a parliamentary majority.

The opposition have accused him of stealing power by shifting alliances instead of earning it at the ballot box.

Mahathir, who resigned the premiership in February as his multi-ethnic ruling coa-lition collapsed, has said he will seek a confidence vote in Muhyiddin’s leadership.

The most obvious point is that a vaccine should first go to health-care workers and others in critical jobs, rather than to those who would pay the most for it. So government action will most likely be necessary to do that.

08 FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMAN

DR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

DR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFIeditorinchief@pen.com.qa

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DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

MOHAMMED OSMAN ALI osman@pen.com.qa

EDITORIAL

IT has been three months since the first case of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged in the State of Qatar. Ever since, the country has recorded over 50,000 cases of infection with the virus, with 33 deaths. The authorities moved quickly to take preventive measures and safeguard the most vulnerable after the first cases were detected and have been greatly suc-cessful in curbing its spread.

The recent increase in the number of confirmed cases has been attributed to the peak phase of the out-break which the country and the region are currently passing through, according to health officials. However, a world-class public healthcare system has resulted in a very high recovery rate from the infection in Qatar. More than 15,000 patients have already fully recovered and discharged from hospitals and quarantine facilities. For the first time yesterday the number of people recov-ering was greater than people being diagnosed with the infection.

So far, more than 0.2 million people have been tested for the coronavirus in the country. With aggressive testing and contact-tracing, health authorities aim to reach positive cases as early as possible to help break the chain of transmission and reduce the spread of infection in the community.

The preventive measures taken by the authorities recently included closure of all non-essential businesses during the Eid holidays, compulsory use of protective face mask in public and the introduction of contact-tracing mobile phone app ‘Ehteraz’. The app helps track COVID-19 cases, informing users if they come into contact with anybody who has tested positive for COVID-19.

At the same time, the government has ensured the protection of migrant workers in the country, both from the infection as well as the economic impact of the global health crisis. Qatar’s efforts to protect the rights of workers and ensuring a state-of-the-art healthcare for all have been lauded by diplomats and community leaders.

Qatar has also been an embodiment of global coop-eration in the fight against the pandemic, sending medical and essential supplies and field hospitals to nations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.

As the country passes through the peak phase of the COVID-19 outbreak, it is vital, more than ever now, that the public adhere to all the preventive and social distancing measures announced by the authorities.

With an aggressive contact-tracing and testing system in place, coupled with all the preventive measures, it is hoped the country will soon pass the peak of the outbreak and see significant reduction in new cases.

Fighting the pandemic

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Quote of the day

Debt relief must be extended to all developing, middle-income countries that request forbearance as they lose access to financial markets.

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General

A research scientist works inside a laboratory of India's Serum Institute, the world's largest maker of vaccines, which is working on vaccines against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pune.

The renowned economist Erik Brynjolfsson recently asked: “At least so far, I haven’t seen any one suggesting to use the market system to allocate vaccines. Not even those who strongly advocate it in other areas. Why is that?”

As one of several people copied at the bottom of the tweet, I feel compelled to take up the chal-lenge. The most obvious point is that a vaccine should first go to health-care workers and others in critical jobs, rather than to those who would pay the most for it. So government action will most likely be necessary to do that. Still, I see considerable use for markets in allocating vaccines - at some margins.

One striking feature of the current vaccine landscape is how many candidates there are, some-times based on different scientific approaches. That is promising, but it means multiple vaccines could be circulating at the same time. Those vaccines could offer varying degrees of protection and risk.

If you had to choose among those vaccines, wouldn’t it make sense to look for guidance from market prices? They will reflect information about the perceived value of both protection and risk. On the same principle, if you need brain surgery, you would certainly want to know what the brain

surgeon charges, although of course that should not be the only factor in your decision.

You might think that you should ignore market information and simply listen to the WHO and CDC. This argument was easier to make before the pandemic, but now those institutions have made several mistakes in communi-cating scientific information, such as initially underplaying the risks of Covid-19 and later overplaying skepticism about masks. It is not obvious that they should be the sole sources of information.

So how might we get market prices for those vaccines? To repeat: The government should allocate a large share of the vac-cines to those working on the front lines. But the U.S. government has performed poorly in procuring tests and masks. What reason is there to fully rely on it for vaccines, a far more vital need?

So it is possible to imagine some of the new vaccine products being sold at market prices, subject to additional regulation where needed. The market prices for vac-cines could be useful for other pur-poses as well. If scientific resources need to be allocated to improve vaccines or particular vaccine approaches, for instance, market prices might be useful signals.

Note also that the scope of the market might expand over time. In the early days of vaccine distri-bution, health-care workers will be a priority. Eventually, however, most of them will have access to vaccines. Selling off remaining vaccine doses might do more to encourage additional production than would bureaucratic allo-cation at a lower price.

The market can also help differ-entiate among vaccines. For example, some may not scale, perhaps because of their costly storage and transport requirements. Nevertheless, it might do the world good if one or two of those vaccines were available as luxury goods, sold on active markets to wealthy indi-viduals. Making it easier for the wealthy to travel safely can boost trade and investment and revitalize business confidence. Rich people might also buy doses for their favorite scientists or even enter-tainers, so there could be a benefit to society at large. And early expe-rience with limited sales may offer lessons in how to make these vac-cines more scalable.

As a purely technical matter, you might be afraid that pure price discrimination will allocate all of the benefits of the vaccine to the sellers. But there is little danger of that outcome, since each person getting a vaccine confers signif-icant benefits on others, through a reduced risk of infection. And if you are worried that poorer people won’t be able to afford the vaccine, give them vouchers or other forms of aid.

Finally, from a purely American standpoint, there is no guarantee that the US will win the race to produce vaccines. Many of the current Chinese efforts, for instance, are based on older vaccine ideas, and might be ready fairly quickly, even though they provide only partial protection. Americans may not be first in line to receive Chinese vaccines, at least not through normal bureaucratic channels.

The author is a Bloomberg opinion columnist.

JAPAN NEWS - YOMIURI

Although the declaration of a state of emergency has been lifted, the economy will remain in a difficult situation for a while. Strategic measures must be implemented to normalize economic activities while strengthening the safety net.

The government approved at a Cabinet meeting a second supplementary budget that includes additional economic measures. These efforts, which include loans from financial institutions and money to be paid by local governments, total about 117 trillion yen, and reach about 234 trillion yen when combined with the first supplementary budget.

The first supplementary budget focused on supporting small and midsize companies and household budgets that have been hit hard by the spread of the new coronavirus. The second one attaches

importance to rescuing people and companies that could not be covered by past measures. It is appropriate to extend strong support to people and com-panies in need.

A new system will be created to enable people who cannot receive on-leave allow-ances from companies to directly seek benefits from the central government. The ben-efits will be 80% of their monthly wage.

Some companies have not been applying for employment adjustment subsidies, which are provided to firms that put workers on leave instead of firing them, because of the complicated procedures involved. Even in that case, the employees will be able to receive benefits.

Freelancers will be eligible for a system, which did not previously cover them, to provide benefits for small and midsize companies and

one-person businesses whose profits have sharply declined. Start-ups that have just been launched and do not meet the requirement of a year-on-year decline in revenues will also be included.

The problem is the slow response. The payment of cash benefits of 100,000 yen per person is notably stagnant. It is necessary to devise measures to ensure prompt payment.With the patchwork of support measures, the system for those measures has become even more complex. Further efforts are needed to make people widely aware of the system. It is vital to examine whether there are wasteful projects and whether the system is being used effectively.

In the Tokyo metropolitan area, a growing number of commercial facilities, restau-rants and others have resumed operations. It is important to create an environment in

which people can go out and engage in consumption with peace of mind.

In the second supple-mentary budget, the gov-ernment significantly increased the amount of subsidies that local governments can use to strengthen their medical systems, compared with the first supplementary budget. The subsidies will be used mainly to support the man-agement of medical institu-tions, and provide medical staffers and others with special remuneration for their services to help secure human resources.

Measures to help the medical field are extremely important. They are also essential in terms of preparing for a second wave of infections. The government should thor-oughly examine whether these support measures are sufficient and consider additional measures if necessary.

Vaccines should not be immune to market forces

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09FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020 ASIA

Chinese lawmakers back HK national security lawAP — BEIJING

China’s legislature endorsed a national security law for Hong Kong yesterday that has strained relations with the United States and Britain and prompted new protests in the territory.

The National People’s Con-gress approved the bill as it wrapped up an annual session that was held under intensive anti-coronavirus controls. The vote was 2,878-1 with six abstentions, in line with the high-profile but largely cere-monial body’s custom of near-unanimous support for all legal changes decided by the ruling Communist Party.

The law will alter Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, or Basic Law, to require the ter-ritory to enforce measures to be decided by the NPC’s standing committee, a small body con-trolled by the ruling party that handles most lawmaking work.

The law reflects the deter-mination of President Xi Jin-ping’s government to tighten control over Hong Kong fol-lowing 11 months of anti-gov-ernment protests.

Activists in Hong Kong say the law will undermine the “high degree of autonomy” promised to the former British colony when it was handed back to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” framework and might be used to suppress political activity.

Premier Li Keqiang, the

country’s No. 2 leader, defended the law as consistent with Bei-jing’s promises. “The decision adopted by the NPC session is designed for steady implemen-tation of ‘one country, two systems’ and Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability.”

The law and the way it is being enacted prompted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday to announce

Washington will no longer treat Hong Kong as autonomous from Beijing. That could hurt the ter-ritory’s attractiveness as a business centre.

Pompeo’s notice adds Hong Kong to the Trump administra-tion’s conflicts with China over trade, technology, religious freedom, Chinese handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the status of Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own territory.

Li called for mutual respect and Sino-US cooperation to promote “extensive common interests” in resolving global problems and promoting trade, science and other fields.

“Both countries stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” Li said.

Yesterday, three pro-democracy lawmakers were

ejected from Hong Kong’s leg-islative chamber during a debate over a bill that would criminalise insulting or abusing the Chinese national anthem.

In an anti-virus measure, Li called for international

cooperation in fighting the coronavirus pandemic but didn’t answer a question about how an investigation into the origins of the pandemic demanded by Washington and some other governments should

be conducted.Beijing has resisted pressure

for an inquiry following crit-icism it mishandled the early response to the disease that emerged in central China in December.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is seen on screens during a press conference held via online video link following the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, yesterday.

14 Afghan forces dead in ‘Taliban attacks’ after ceasefire endsAFP — KABUL

Fourteen members of the Afghan security forces were killed in two separate attacks yesterday in the first deadly assaults officials have blamed on the Taliban since the end of a three-day ceasefire.

The temporary truce ended on Tuesday but an overall lull in the country’s grinding vio-lence has largely held despite the latest attacks, raising hopes the militants and Kabul could soon start much-delayed peace talks.

Taliban fighters attacked a checkpoint in Parwan, north of

the capital, early Thursday, said Waheeda Shahkar, spokes-woman to the provincial governor.

“The Taliban have also suf-fered casualties,” Shahkar said, adding that seven members of the Afghan forces died.

District police chief Hussain Shah said Taliban fighters set fire to the checkpoint, killing five security force personnel. Two more were shot dead.

In the western city of Farah, Taliban gunmen mounted an attack on a police post, killing seven policemen, provincial police spokesman Mohibullah Mohib said.

“Eight Taliban fighters were also killed in the clash that lasted for half-an-hour,” he said, adding four policemen survived the attack.

The Taliban have not com-mented so far.

Yesterday’s attacks are the first such assaults Afghan offi-cials have blamed on the Taliban since the end of the sur-prise ceasefire offered by the militants over the Eid Al Fitr festival.

Afghan security forces, however, carried out air strikes in the south on Wednesday that police said had killed 18 “militants”.

According to Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission, civilian casualties fell by 80 percent during the short truce.

Kabul-based political analyst Sayed Nasir Musawi said he expected the insur-gents to reduce attacks, without officially extending the ceasefire.

“Unofficially, this ceasefire will continue and we will have a meaningful reduction in vio-lence,” Musawi said.

He added that the truce offer from the Taliban was a signal to the Afghan gov-ernment and the United States

that they were ready to start peace talks.

Afghan authorities have responded to the ceasefire by pushing forward with an agreed prisoner exchange, releasing some 1,000 Taliban prisoners this week, with plans to release more in the coming days.

A Taliban delegation was in Kabul yesterday to discuss the prisoner swap with government officials, National Security Council spokesman Javid Faisal said.

The ongoing exchange is part of a US-Taliban deal signed in February, which excluded the Afghan government

Philippines eases one of world’s toughest curbs amid spike in virus casesREUTERS — MANILA

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte eased one of the toughest and longest lockdowns in the world for residents in the capital Manila from June 1, even as the country saw its biggest spike in coronavirus cases.

The Philippines reported 539 infections yesterday, the highest daily tally since it recorded its first case of the coronavirus in January. The

new cases brought the nationwide tally to 15,588, of which 921 have led to deaths.

“For me, this does not look bad,” Duterte said in a late night televised address, citing what he described as the country’s low mortality rate.

His health minister, Fran-cisco Duque, said 90 percent of the country’s COVID-19 cases are “mild,” and only less than 2 percent are “severe and critical.”

Manila’s lockdown will this weekend surpass the 76-day quarantine of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the first out-break of the coronavirus was detected.

The easing could help to reduce damage to an economy that is facing its deepest con-traction in 34 years. The economy unexpectedly shrank 0.2 percent in the first quarter and is expected to fare worse in the second quarter as the

pandemic-induced lockdown shuttered businesses and sapped domestic demand.

The more relaxed rules will be in place from June 1 to 15, and local officials can still place communities deemed as high risk under lockdown.

Health authorities have conducted nearly 290,000 tests since January, equivalent to about 0.26 percent of the 107 million population.

Gatherings of up to 10

people will be allowed. Work-places, shops and some public transportation will reopen and movement in and out of Manila will be permitted, pro-vided the people wear masks a n d o b s e r v e s o c i a l distancing.

Schools, universities, tourist destinations and dine-in restau-rants will stay closed, however, while stay-at-home orders will remain for the elderly and children.

Pakistan uses militant-tracking tech to hunt virusAFP — ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s intelligence services are deploying secretive surveillance technology normally used to locate mili-tants to instead track corona-virus patients and the people they come into contact with.

In a programme publicly touted by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government has turned to the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) for help in tackling the virus, which still is spreading at an accelerating rate across Pakistan.

Details about the project have not been released, but two officials said that intel-ligence services are using geo-fencing and phone-mon-itoring systems that ordi-narily are employed to hunt high-value targets including homegrown and foreign militants.

A lack of awareness, stigma and fear have con-tributed to some people with symptoms not seeking treatment or even fleeing hospitals, while others who’ve had contact with virus patients have flouted self-isolation rules.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior security official said that agencies are now “quite effectively” using the technology to track coro-navirus cases. “The gov-ernment has been successful in tracing even those who tested positive but went into hiding.”

Geo-fencing, a discreet tracking system that alerts authorities when someone leaves a specific geographic area, has helped officials monitor neighbourhoods on lockdown.

The law reflects the determination of President Xi Jinping’s government to tighten control over Hong Kong following 11 months of anti-government protests.

Taiwan govt pledges help for fleeing Hong KongersREUTERS — TAIPEI

Taiwan promised yesterday to settle Hong Kongers who flee the Chinese-ruled city for political reasons, offering help from employment to coun-selling, and prompting angry condemnation from Beijing as it pushes security legislation for Hong Kong.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen this week became the first world leader to pledge spe-cific measures to help people from Hong Kong who may

leave the former British colony because of the new legislation.

Chen Ming-tong, head of Taiwan’s top China-policy maker, the Mainland Affairs Council, told parliament yes-terday that the government will establish an organisation to deliver “humanitarian relief” that includes set-tlement and employment in a joint effort with activists groups.

He said counselling services will also be available for Hong

Kongers, some of whom may take part in increasingly violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

“Many Hong Kongers want to come to Taiwan. Our goal is to give them settlement and care,” Chen said, urging the public not use the word refugee as it could be “emotionally harmful” for people from the city.

Chen did not give details, such as scale and timing of the relief when pressed by law-makers, saying the government

is sti l l working on programme.

China denounced Taiwan’s move, saying its ruling Demo-cratic Progressive Party was seeking to “loot a burning house” and sow discord.

“Bringing black, violent forces into Taiwan will bring disaster to Taiwan’s people,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said, in language Beijing typi-cally uses to refer to Hong Kong protesters.

Hong Kong’s demonstrators have won widespread

sympathy in democratic Taiwan, which China considers as its territory to be taken by force, if necessary. Taiwan has shown no interest in being ruled by autocratic China.

Taiwan has no law on ref-ugees that could be applied to protesters seeking asylum, but its laws promise to help Hong Kongers whose safety and liberty are threatened for political reasons.

Some say Tsai’s gov-ernment is not moving fast enough.

Philippine health minister, Francisco Duque, said 90 percent of the country’s COVID-19 cases are “mild,” and only less than 2 percent are “severe and critical.”

Crashed Pakistan plane hit runway three times on first approach: MinisterREUTERS — ISLAMABAD

The captain of a Pakistani airliner that crashed last week, killing 97 people on board, approached Karachi airport without announcing he couldn’t open his landing gear and hit the runway three times, a government minister said yesterday.

Search teams recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage of the Pakistan Inter-national Airlines Airbus A320 that crashed into a residential neighbourhood of Karachi last Friday, a spokesman for the airline said. Two people on board survived.

Flight PK8303, from the eastern city of Lahore, came down less than a mile short of the runway as it was making a second attempt to land.

The flight data recorder has already been found.

Minister for Civil Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan told reporters the plane’s engines touched the ground three times on the first attempt at landing.

“The pilot never announced his landing gear wasn’t opening. He haphazardly touched the engines thrice with the ground,” Khan said.

“All marks are present (on the runway). He was not at the proper height... Control tower informed him you aren’t at the required height, lower your altitude,” he said, adding that the pilot replied: “I will manage.”

According to communica-tions posted on liveatc.net, an aviation radio monitoring website, the pilot told con-trollers “we’re comfortable now” during the approach, but the reason for the remark has left most experts puzzled.

Shortly after the engines

scraped along the runway in the aborted first landing attempt, the pilot reported problems in maintaining altitude, then said both engines had failed.

Investigators are expected to examine whether the engines

shut down because of their col-lision with the runway, fol-lowing what appeared to be a steeper and faster approach than normal.

The lower part of the engine housing contains key components

including an accessory gearbox and hydraulic pumps.

“All sorts of things can happen to an engine if you bounce it down the runway,” a person familiar with its design said.

Rose petals and candles are seen during a vigil for the victims of the Pakistan International Airlines’ PK8303 plane crash, in Karachi, yesterday.

10 FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020EUROPE

UK’s Johnson eases lockdown as furore over aide rumbles onREUTERS — LONDON

The coronavirus lockdown will ease next week for most of Britain’s popu-lation, Boris Johnson announced yesterday, as a row persisted over the Prime Minister’s closest adviser taking a long-distance journey during lockdown.

In England, up to six people will be able to meet outside and schools will gradually reopen from Monday, Johnson said at a news conference where he was again challenged over his aide Dominic Cummings’ decision to drive 400 km during lockdown.

“These changes mean that friends and family can start to meet their loved ones, perhaps seeing both parents at once or grandparents at once,” he said, adding that outdoor retailers and car showrooms would also be able to open from Monday.

“You could have meetings of fam-ilies in a garden, you could even have a barbecue provided you did it in a socially distanced way, provided eve-rybody washes their hands, provided everybody exercises common sense.”

Johnson stressed that the changes were “small tentative steps forward”, and health experts warned the situ-ation remained finely balanced with new cases declining, but not very quickly.

The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are responsible for their own public health policy.

Johnson’s announcement came hours after more lawmakers from his Conservative Party called for Cum-mings to quit.

The Prime Minister also faces crit-icism for his handling of a pandemic that has left Britain with the world’s second-highest death toll.

Cummings travelled from London to the northern English city of Durham in March with his four-year-old son and his wife, who was sick at the time, to be close to relatives.

A YouGov opinion poll showed a

majority of Britons think Cummings should resign for — in their view —breaking the lockdown rules, but Johnson has said he acted with integrity.

At the news conference, Johnson blocked questions from journalists put to his top medical and scientific offi-cials about Cummings’ behaviour.

Johnson said he wanted to “protect them from ... an unfair and unnecessary attempt to ask a political question”.

The two officials, England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty and Brit-ain’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, also said they did not want to be drawn into politics.

The dispute over Cummings has prompted some to lose faith in the gov-ernment’s strategy, with many people unable to understand how a senior official had not broken the rules by driving across the country when the government repeatedly told people to

“stay home” and “save lives”.The move to ease lockdown

measures came as England launched a new testing and contact tracing

system on Thursday for COVID-19 patients, seen as crucial to helping ease lockdown measures.

Contacts of those who test positive for COVID-19 will be asked to isolate for 14 days, even if they have no symptoms.

The tracing service, which will have a task-force of 40,000 specialists to test those with symptoms and identify their contacts, will initially rely on what the government described as people doing their “civic duty”, but sanctions could be introduced if people did not comply.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have similar programmes just about to launch or already running.

Britain abandoned a strategy of testing and tracing in March when the virus started spreading exponentially and there was insufficient capacity to test more than a fraction of those with symptoms.

Official data show that more than 48,000 Britons have died from con-firmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds the daily news conference on COVID-19 outbreak, at 10 Downing Street in London, yesterday.

French restaurants, museums to reopen with restrictions AFP — PARIS

France said yesterday it would reopen its restaurants — with restrictions — following months of coronavirus closures, as countries across Europe inch out of lockdowns toward a new post-pandemic reality.

Deaths in Europe topped 175,000, while the United States passed the grim mile-stone of 100,000 deaths on Wednesday.

More than 355,000 have now died from the disease glo-bally, and recorded infections have raced past 5.7 million since the disease first emerged in China late last year.

But France crept toward a new normal after weeks of lockdown that has seen new infections and deaths drop.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe unveiled phase two of the country’s deconfinement measures yesterday, which included the reopening of cafes and restaurants along with

museums and monuments on June 2.

But there will be restric-tions: Paris eateries are only allowed to serve on outdoor ter-races, and face masks will be mandatory in museums.

Citizens will also be allowed to travel more than 100km from their homes, just in time for the summer holidays.

“Freedom will be the rule and restriction the exception,” Philippe said.

Elsewhere in Europe, Span-iards were revisiting old joys — but with new social distancing measures.

At a drive-in cinema in Madrid, crowds were delighted to finally be able to go to the movies again, while avoiding crowded theatres.

“Everyone has their own private space, there aren’t many surfaces where you could pick up infection because during the film, no one gets out of their car and if you want to order food you can do that online,” Belen

Perez said, at a screening of “Grease”.

“It’s a great way of being entertained safely.”

Though the US has the highest number of deaths in the world, it is not the most affected in terms of fatalities per million inhabitants.

Belgium leads with 808 deaths per million inhabitants, followed by Spain with 580 and Britain’s 552, according to data

compiled by official figures. The US has 303 deaths per million inhabitants.

Governments around the globe are faced with the pre-carious task of keeping popu-lations safe while trying to kic-kstart their economies, with the world facing a global slump not seen in decades.

The European Union has unveiled a historic ¤750bn recovery plan to get the con-

tinent back on its feet.Amid a deluge of dire news,

there were some promising developments as well.

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche joined forces with US biotech firm Gilead to test a mix of drugs to treat severe cases of COVID-19.

Scientists around the world are racing for a vaccine — or effective treatment — for the disease.

Parisian healthcare workers rally to call for better working conditions and an increase of manpower amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Paris, France, yesterday.

Germany calls in Russian envoy, seeks sanctions over hackingAFP — BERLIN

Germany’s foreign ministry yesterday called in the Russian ambassador to discuss possible sanctions over a 2015 hacking attack on the German parliament, in an escalating diplomatic row.

The ministry said in a statement it had spoken to Sergey Nechayev after evi-dence suggested a Russian mil-itary spy had targeted leading German politicians including Chancellor Angela Merkel.

German prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Russian national Dmitry Badin on May 5 and accused him of spying against the lower house of par-liament in 2015 on behalf of Russia’s GRU military intelli-gence service.

As a result of the warrant,

“the German government will seek in Brussels to use the EU cyber sanctions regime against those responsible for the attack on the German Bundestag, including Mr Badin,” the min-istry said.

Badin is also wanted by the FBI for other cyberattacks, including those targeting the Democrats during the 2016 US presidential election.

The operation aimed at the Bundestag, as parliament is known, involved a group known as Sofacy or APT28 that has also struck Nato members and knocked French TV station TV5Monde off the air.

It is believed to have scooped up data from Merkel’s email account as well as those of MPs. According to Spiegel magazine, hackers managed to completely copy two

of Merkel’s email accounts containing correspondence dating between 2012 and 2015.

Last year, the European Union adopted a cyber sanc-tions regime to impose “tar-geted restrictive measures to deter and respond to cyber attacks”.

Germany’s intelligence services have repeatedly called out attempts by Russian hackers to spy on lawmakers or leading politicians.

Merkel told parliament this month that Russia was tar-geting her in hacking attacks, saying she had concrete proof of the “outrageous” spying attempts and raising the pos-sibility of sanctions.

The following day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Berlin of judging Moscow guilty even though

“there are no facts in relation to Russia”.

Russia has drawn the anger of Western powers over issues ranging from annexing Ukraine’s Crimea to allegedly meddling in elections and backing Bashar Al Assad’s gov-ernment in Syria.

Merkel has walked a fine line, stressing the importance of dialogue even while making clear her disapproval of Russian moves on the world stage.

However, relations have worsened of late, triggered in part by the murder of a former Chechen commander in Ber-lin’s Tiergarten park, which led to Germany expelling some Russian diplomats.

German prosecutors have said they have evidence the killing was carried out on

behalf of Russian or Chechen state agents.

The foreign ministry statement stressed that calling in the ambassador “also comes against the backdrop of the ongoing investigation of the Tiergarten murder case”.

It noted that Germany “may still take further measures” against Russia.

In a speech in Berlin on Wednesday, Merkel said Germany would “doubtlessly” have to contend with Russia during its forthcoming EU presidency, which begins in July.

“We will call out funda-mental violations of interna-tional law where they are com-mitted” including “attacks on western democracies including Germany using hybrid means”, she said.

Nissan employees gather to protest against the closure of the Japanese car manufacturer’s plant, where about 3,000 people are employed, in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday.

Spain’s increase in COVID-19 deaths slows almost to a stallREUTERS — MADRID

Spain said its coronavirus death toll reached 27,119 yesterday, rising by just one for the second day in a row as authorities fine-tune a new way of logging cases and deaths.

The Health Ministry’s data showed 38 people died over the last seven days, down from hundreds of daily deaths reported a month ago, while a total of 237,906 cases have been detected since the beginning of the outbreak.

The government has warned the data may fluctuate in coming days as it adjusts to the new methodology.

Since Spain began to grad-ually ease its stringent

confinement measures at the beginning of May, a handful of minor outbreaks have sprung up across the country, Health Minister Salvador Illa said yesterday.

One cluster was detected in an industrial zone in the Catalan province of Lleida, another in the southern town of Totana, and a third in the central province of Cuenca.

“The good news is that they have been detected and con-trolled very early,” Illa told parliament.

Health emergency coor-dinator Fernando Simon on Wednesday said they were isolated events and there was no evidence of a broad-based resurgence across the country.

Starting Monday, up to six people will be able to meet outside in England, and schools will gradually reopen.

Protest in Barcelona over factory closure

Italy sees 70 new virus deaths, 593 new casesREUTERS — ROME

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 70 yesterday, against 117 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases edged up to 593 from 584 on Wednesday.

The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on February 21 now stands at 33,142, the agency said, the third highest in the world after those of the United States and Britain.

The number of confirmed cases amounts to 231,732, the sixth highest global tally behind those of the United States, Russia, Spain, Britain and Brazil.

People registered as cur-rently carrying the illness fell to 47,986 from 50,966 the day before.

There were 489 people in intensive care on Thursday, down from 505 on Wednesday, maintaining a long-running decline. Of those originally infected, 150,604 were declared recovered against 147,101 a day earlier.

World’s officially oldest man dies in UK aged 112AFP — LONDON

The world’s oldest man, according to the Guinness World Records, has died from cancer in Britain at the age of 112, his family confirmed yesterday.

Bob Weighton, a former teacher and engineer from the central English county Hamp-shire, died “peacefully” in his sleep at home on yesterday morning, they said.

Weighton took up the title of the oldest man in the world in February after the death of the previous holder, Chitetsu Watanabe of Japan.

“With great sadness, the Weighton family announces the death of our beloved Bob Weighton,” relatives said in a statement to Britain’s domestic Press Association newswire.

“A role model to us all, he lived his life interested in and engaged with all kinds of people from across the world.

“He had many, many friendships and read and talked politics, theology, ecology and more, right up until his death.

“He also cared greatly for the environment.” The family said they were grateful that Weighton had remained witty, kind, knowledgeable and a conversationalist “until the very end”. Weighton was born in Yorkshire in northern England on March 29, 1908 and was one of seven children.

He is survived by his three children, 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

South African Fredie Blom claims to have celebrated his 116th birthday this month, but his age has not yet been ver-ified by the records body.

11FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Russia reports over 4,000 virus deathsAFP — MOSCOW

Russia’s coronavirus death toll passed 4,000 yesterday as medics in the second city Saint Petersburg said hospitals were operating at the peak of their capacity.

Health officials reported that 4,142 people had died in Russia from the virus, with 174 new deaths over the last 24 hours. The number of new deaths equalled Russia’s highest daily toll recorded yet on Tuesday. Officials said last week Russia would see a sharp rise in the mortality figures for May as they anticipate deaths of patients who were admitted to hospitals during the peak of the epidemic several weeks ago.

Although the number of new cases has steadily declined, medical workers in Saint Petersburg said hospitals remain at peak capacity.

Sergei Sayapin, a doctor at the Pokrovskaya municipal hospital, told local media that 650 patients were being treated at his hospital last week, which has just over 540 beds.

“People lie on examination

benches, without mattresses or pillows,” Sayapin was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Saint Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov said last week he saw no evidence of the epi-demic declining.

Just 11 percent of the city’s 11,000 beds are currently vacant, according to official statistics.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hailed a trend towards stabilisation in the country’s virus situation and yesterday’s number of new cases was below 9,000 for the fifth day running at 8,371.

Putin earlier this week announced the annual May 9 Victory Day parade would be held in June after postponing the event last month to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The Kremlin said it was coordinating with countries including France to invite their leaders to attend the military showcase.

In Moscow, the worst

affected city, there were 2,054 new cases, the lowest number since late April. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has announced new steps towards lifting lockdown from June 1 including

reopening non-food shops and allowing people to go on walks with masks on. Russia has the world’s third largest number of confirmed cases at 379,051, behind the US and Brazil.

Vehicles spray disinfectant while sanitising a road amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Moscow, Russia, yesterday.

EU wants ¤9bn health boostAFP — BRUSSELS

The EU is asking member states to approve ¤9bn ($9.9bn) in new health spending as part of the bloc’s ambitious post-coronavirus recovery plan, a top official said yesterday.

The spending would be a significant leap forward for European integration as health is currently a solely national responsibility for member states of the European Union.

With this new programme, Brussels hopes to “change the game” in how the EU manages health, EU Health Commis-sioner Stella Kyriakides told journalists. “During the crisis, there was a gap between what citizens expect from the EU and what we could actually do,” she said. The aim is to invest in prevention, crisis pre-paredness, life-saving drugs and equipment, she said.

The programme would also serve to strengthen the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Medicines Agency, both EU agencies.

The commission would also attempt to boost intra-European drug production.

Venezuela reaches deal with UN to buy food, medicine with gold: Official REUTERS — CARACAS

Venezuela has reached a deal with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to destine part of its gold in Bank of England accounts toward the purchase of food and medicine during the coronavirus pandemic, its central bank governor said on Wednesday.

The deal comes after Ven-ezuela’s central bank made a legal claim earlier this month to try to force the Bank of England to hand over part of the 31 tonnes of gold in accounts

belonging to the government of President Nicolas Maduro, whom Britain does not rec-ognise as Venezuela’s legitimate leader due to allegations he rigged his 2018 re-election.

Central bank Governor Calixto Ortega told Reuters that under the arrangement, the UNDP would receive the funds directly, a move meant to assuage concerns about potential corruption.

“It’s not my word, it’s not me saying that I am going to buy food, medicine and medical equipment,” Ortega said in an

interview in his downtown Caracas office.

“It’s the United Nations who is saying that. They are not going to be involved in anything dark that is not neutral and independent.” Any program would still require the Bank of England to release the gold. The Bank of England declined to comment.

In a statement, the UNDP said it was “approached recently to explore mechanisms to use existing resources held by the Central Bank of Vene-zuela in financial institutions

outside the country to fund the ongoing efforts to address the urgent humanitarian, health, and socioeconomic needs arising from the COVID-19 pan-demic.” Ortega said he was optimistic the legal case in Britain would be resolved in the coming weeks.

A six-year economic col-lapse in Venezuela has resulted in hyperinflation and shortages of basic goods, including food and medicines.

Maduro blames US sanc-tions on the OPEC nation’s oil industry for its woes.

While those sanctions have slashed cash flow to the gov-ernment, critics say corruption and misguided economic pol-icies are the root causes of the collapse.

Venezuela has so far been less affected than neighbours by the coronavirus pandemic, with 1,245 cases recorded and 11 deaths. But its hospitals are in disrepair after years of underfunding, prompting con-cerns about preparedness for a larger outbreak.

“This is the worst a nation can experience,” Ortega said.

“We have no income, no way of generating cash flow, and no access to funds we have deposited abroad in the middle of a pandemic.”

The government had previ-ously requested $5bn from the International Monetary Fund to handle the pandemic, an embarrassment for a socialist government that has branded the IMF a tool of US imperialism.

The IMF turned down the request due to a lack of con-sensus on Maduro’s legitimacy.

Brazil tops 25,000 virus deaths, 6th highest in worldAFP — RIO DE JANEIRO

Brazil’s death toll from the new coronavirus surpassed 25,000 on Wednesday, as the country emerged as the latest epicenter in the global pandemic.

The health ministry said it had confirmed 1,086 new deaths in the past 24 hours.

It was the fifth time the number exceeded 1,000 since the crisis accelerated in Brazil a week ago.

That pushed the nationwide death toll to 25,598, the sixth-highest in the world.

The country of 210 million people now has 411,821 con-firmed cases of the virus, second only to the United States. Experts say under-testing means the real figures are probably much higher.

President Jair Bolsonaro is facing mounting criticism over his response to the health crisis.

The far-right leader has downplayed the seriousness of the virus and railed against stay-at-home measures, arguing the economic fallout risks causing more damage than the virus itself.

“The so-called second wave is coming: recession. It will affect everyone, without exception,” he wrote on

Facebook. But most state gov-ernments have stuck to the World Health Organization’s guidance and closed non-essential businesses.

Sao Paulo, the country’s industrial hub and hardest-hit state, extended its stay-at-home Wednesday until June 15, though Governor Joao Doria announced a gradual reopening of “some activities” would be allowed from June 1.

Bolsonaro has meanwhile pinned his hopes on the medi-cation hydroxychloroquine, which — like US President Donald Trump — he has touted

as a potential wonder drug against COVID-19.

Brazil’s health ministry rec-ommends doctors in the public health system prescribe hydroxychloroquine or a related drug, chloroquine, from the onset of COVID-19 symptoms.

It said on Monday it stood by that guideline, despite the WHO ending clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine over con-cerns about its safety and effec-t iveness against the coronavirus.

Brazil is facing the crisis with an interim health minister,

army general Eduardo Pazuello — the third person to hold the post in a month.

His predecessor quit, reportedly because he disa-greed with Bolsonaro on hydroxychloroquine. And the president fired the previous health minister, also after clashing over how to respond to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, hospitals are dangerously close to the breaking point in the hardest-hit areas, and the outbreak is not expected to peak in Brazil until next month.

“We are particularly con-cerned that the number of new cases reported last week in Brazil was the highest for a seven-day period since the out-break began,” Carissa Etienne, director of the Washington-based Pan American Health Organization, said on Tuesday.

One of the country’s best-known doctors, the neurosci-entist Miguel Nicolelis, called it “the worst war Brazil has ever faced.”

“We never had an event like this. We never lost 25,000 people in a span of three months,” Nicolelis, who is coor-dinating the virus response in the impoverished and hard-hit northeast, told AFP.

A government medical worker checks a passenger on a boat in the Melgaco bay, southwest of the island of Marajo, Brazil, yesterday.

Refugees protest in Athens Syrian and Kurd refugees holding asylum status protesting outside the EU offices in Athens, yesterday, against the government’s decision for them to leave accommodation provided through EU programmes by the end of May. Greece has announced that recognised refugees shall leave camps and provided accommodation one month after receiving the asylum status.

Denmark data shows schools' reopening didn't worsen outbreakREUTERS — COPENHAGEN

Sending children back to schools and day care centres in Denmark, the first country in Europe to do so, did not lead to an increase in coro-navirus infections, according to official data, confirming similar findings from Finland yesterday.

As countries across Europe make plans to exit months of lockdown aimed at curbing the virus outbreak, some parents worry that opening schools first might put the health of their children in danger.

Following a one-month lockdown, Denmark allowed children between two to 12 years back in day cares and schools on April 15. Based on five weeks’ worth of data, health authorities are now for the first time saying the move did not make the virus proliferate.

“You cannot see any neg-ative effects from the reo-pening of schools,” Peter Andersen, a doctor of infec-tious disease epidemiology and prevention at the Danish Serum Institute, told Reuters yesterday.

In Finland, a top official announced similar findings on Wednesday, saying nothing so far suggested the coronavirus had spread faster since schools reopened in mid-May.

The number of infected children aged between one and up to 19 has declined steadily since late April, Andersen said, following a slight uptick immediately after the reopening of schools.

But this was too early to have anything to do with the reopening and could be explained by an increase in tests performed, he said.

“Based on preliminary experiences, it does not look like there has been a negative effect on the spread among school children or in the society in general,” Andersen said and called Denmark’s reopening strategy “prudent”.

A steady drop in daily infections, hospital admis-sions and deaths since early April has led Denmark to continue its reopening, with shopping malls, bars, restau-rants allowed to reopen in May.

Croatia reopens borders for 10 EU nations for tourismAFP — ZAGREB

Croatia yesterday reopened its borders without restrictions to citizens from ten European Union countries as the Adriatic nation looks to salvage a vital tourism sector hit by the coro-navirus pandemic.

The “temporary ban on border crossing” has been lifted “for tourism”, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told a Cabinet session.

The measure applies to ten countries who have had simi-larly successful results in con-taining the virus, he said, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Home to 4.2 million people, Croatia has largely kept its

coronavirus outbreak in check, limiting deaths to around 100 and known infections to slightly over 2,000.

When the country started relaxing lockdown measures earlier this month, it opened borders to EU citizens travelling for business purposes, as well as those who own real estate, a boat or have a confirmed accommodation booking in the country.

From now on, citizens of the 10 countries listed will not need to provide any reason for entry and can submit their per-sonal data on a special website before travelling to reduce wait times at the border.

The list will be expanded as the health situation improves in other countries, Plenkovic added.

Norway eases Nordic business travel rulesREUTERS — OSLO

Norway will allow entry to business travellers from all the other Nordic countries from June 1, in a further easing of coronavirus restrictions, the government said yesterday.

The new rules mean business travellers arriving from Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden will no longer be subject to a man-datory 10-day quarantine, which is currently the case for almost all arrivals from abroad. “This is about bringing back everyday work, slowly and controlled. Not every meeting, negotiation and deal can be done digitally,” Industry Minister Iselin Nyboe told a news conference.

In Moscow, the worst affected city, there were 2,054 new cases yesterday, the lowest number since late April.

12 FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020AMERICAS

US coronavirus death toll tops 100,000AFP — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump yesterday marked the “sad milestone” of 100,000 corona-virus deaths in the United States, after his earlier silence prompted criticism that he was failing in his duty to console victims and their loved ones.

“We have just reached a very sad milestone with the coronavirus pandemic deaths reaching 100,000,” Trump posted on Twitter, about 16 hours after the death toll passed the threshold according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

“To all of the families & friends of those who have passed, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathy & love for

everything that these great people stood for & represent. God be with you!”

The US death toll, from 1.7 million confirmed infections, is by far the highest of any nation, and critics have accused the President of an inadequate early response to the pandemic.

Trump has repeatedly said any death from COVID-19 is tragic.

But he has been chided for appearing to concern himself more with the country digging out from economic devastation than consoling tens of thou-sands of American families shattered by the loss of loved ones.

He has also been criticized for repeatedly offering unduly optimistic predictions about the

final death count, only to be quickly contradicted each time by the relentlessly rising toll.

On Wednesday, as many American politicians including the Democratic Party’s pre-sumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden were sharing their condolences and grief over the grim milestone, Trump was tweeting repeatedly about other issues.

He posted more than 40 times on social media — on a variety of subjects but not about COVID-19 victims — between Wednesday evening and his yesterday morning tweet that acknowledged the 100,000 dead.

Democrats savaged the President for appearing insen-sitive to the magnitude of the

moment.“The day the United States

hit 100,000 deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic Trump shares a message calling himself ‘the greatest President in our history.’ His vanity is nause-ating,” congressman Don Beyer tweeted.

Former vice-president Biden, who will challenge Trump for the White House in November, swiftly addressed the milestone by releasing a

video message to survivors.“There are moments in our

history so grim, so heart-rending, that they’re forever fixed in each of our hearts as

shared grief. Today is one of those moments,” Biden said on Wednesday.

“Take some solace from the fact that we all grieve with you.”

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after he received a 2020 hurricane season briefing during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Washington, DC, yesterday.

Trump to target social media with executive order amid criticismAFP — WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump was set yesterday to target social media giants like Twitter, which he accuses of bias against him, with an executive order opening them to new regulation.

“This will be a Big Day for Social Media and FAIRNESS!” Trump said on Twitter.

The wording of the exec-utive order remained under wraps. A White House spokes-woman on Wednesday said only that it would be “per-taining to social media.”

But Trump is on the warpath against Twitter after the platform for the first time labelled two of his tweets, on the increasingly contentious topic of mail-in voting, with fact-check notices.

Although he is the dom-inant US political presence on Twitter and Facebook, a fight with social media also plays into Trump’s narrative ahead of his difficult November ree-lection battle that liberal forces are trying to censor Republicans.

Leaked versions of the executive order in US media suggest that Trump will seek to remove liability protections that the social media giants enjoy over content they publish, thereby opening them to legal action and more gov-ernment oversight.

One consequence of this could be to punish the com-panies over their decisions on what to allow and what to restrict on their platforms.

A draft of the order reported by CNN accuses plat-forms of not showing the “good faith” required under their current self-regulating status.

It attacks online platforms for damaging free expression by being able to “hand-pick the speech that Americans may access.” Democratic Senator Ron Wyden accused Trump of “bullying” social media com-panies into airing his “misin-formation campaigns” and playing “host to his lies.”

In any case, resetting the boundaries of how the mammoth companies operate would likely hit immediate legal and political roadblocks.

The constitution “clearly prohibits the president from taking any action to stop Twitter from pointing out his blatant lies about voting by mail,” Kate Ruane, at the American Civil Liberties Union, said.

A wider debate has long been underway on the power that social media companies wield and what responsibility they bear for posts that are mis-leading or hurtful. Internet services have been struggling to root out misinformation, while at the same time keeping their platforms open to users.

Protesters are shot with pepper spray as they confront police outside the Third Police Precinct in Minneapolis, US, on Wednesday.

Protests rock Minneapolis for 2nd nightAP — MINNEAPOLIS

Violent protests over the death of a black man in police custody rocked a Minneapolis neigh-borhood for a second straight night as angry crowds looted stores, set fires and left a path of damage that stretched for miles. The mayor asked the governor to activate the National Guard.

The protests that began late Wednesday and stretched into yesterday morning were the most destructive yet since the death of George Floyd, who was seen on video gasping for breath during an arrest in which an officer kneeled on his neck for almost eight minutes.

In the footage, Floyd pleads that he cannot breathe and

slowly stops talking and moving.

Mayor Jacob Frey sought calm. “Please, Minneapolis, we cannot let tragedy beget more tragedy,” he said on Twitter.

Protests also spread to other US cities. In California, hun-dreds of people protesting Floyd’s death blocked a Los Angeles freeway and shattered windows of California Highway Patrol cruisers.

Memphis police blocked a main thoroughfare after a racially mixed group of pro-testers gathered outside a police precinct.

The situation intensified later in the night, with police donning riot gear and pro-testers standing shoulder-to-shoulder in front of officers sta-

tioned behind a barricade.Minneapolis police said the

violence contrasted sharply with a mostly peaceful demon-stration on Tuesday afternoon at the street corner where Floyd died.

“They were chanting for things to remain peaceful,” police spokesman John Elder said. “Tonight didn’t have the same feel. And that’s sad.”

Pockets of looting con-tinued yesterday. A liquor store employee displayed a gun as he stood among the debris of broken bottles and beer cans inside the business.

Amid the violence, a man was found fatally shot Wednesday night near a pawn shop, possibly by the owner, authorities said.

US Senators offer bill to prepare for next pandemicREUTERS — WASHINGTON

US senators offered a bipartisan $3bn plan yesterday to prepare for the next global health crisis, putting a premium on fighting disease outbreaks and pandemics like COVID-19.

In a departure from partisan divisions over the novel coro-navirus, Senator Jim Risch, Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Democratic committee members Chris Murphy and Ben Cardin introduced the bill, with high hopes that much of it

would eventually become law.The measure, which was

introduced last week but announced yesterday, would authorize $3bn to rebuild the US pandemic defense system, invest in global vaccine devel-opments and help countries that need it to build up their health systems.

Senate aides said it was not intended to reflect criticism of Republican President Donald Trump’s response to the pan-demic, which has killed more than 100,000 Americans and cratered the US economy.

In a statement, Risch said he saw the “Global Health Security and Diplomacy Act” as a first step toward a carefully coordi-nated approach to global health security.

“We don’t have the luxury of waiting and rebuilding our global public health infra-structure after this crisis is past,” Murphy told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“The next pandemic may be on top of us this winter,” Murphy said.

The measure would also require Trump to develop a

global health security strategy, establish a coordinator for global health security and diplomacy at the State Department and encourage Trump to appoint a senior director for global health to the National Security Council.

It does not discuss the World Health Organization. Accusing WHO of being “China-centric,”

Trump threatened to per-manently halt funding if it does not commit to improvements within 30 days and reconsider US membership.

Social distancing at the parkA girl sits in a field where circles were painted to help visitors maintain social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Trinity Bellwoods park in Toronto, Canada, yesterday.

US indicts Venezuela's former lawmaker linked with MaduroAP — CARACAS, VENEZUELA

US authorities have filed charges against a former Vene-zuelan lawmaker linked with President Nicolás Maduro accusing him of narco-terrorism and weapons crimes.

Federal prosecutors in New York alleged Adel El Zabayar participated with Maduro and other top Venezuelan officials as a key player in a scheme to flood the United States with tons of cocaine.

It follows a similar indictment of Maduro two months ago that US authorities used to announce a $15m reward for the socialist leader’s arrest.

The Trump administration has increased pressure to oust Maduro.

El Zabayar, 56, remains out of US custody and he could not immediately be reached by The Associated Press for comment. Venezuelan officials did not immediately comment on the charges.

El Zabayar served as a law-maker in the government of the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez. He traveled to Syria in 2013, taking up arms to defend its government in the Syrian civil war.

US prosecutors say El Zabayar served as an important intermediary between Vene-zuelan officials and the militant Muslim groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

Zabayar rejected the US indictment on Twitter, declaring it a victory rather than a defeat.

Colombia to ease restrictions from the start of JuneREUTERS — BOGOTA

Colombia will begin easing restrictions put in place to control the spread of the coro-navirus starting from June, President Ivan Duque said on Wednesday, though he asked the public to continue isolating at home and keep using measures to contain the disease.

Colombia has reported more than 24,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the respi-ratory illness caused by the coronavirus, as well as 803 deaths.

The country began a nationwide quarantine in late March.

“The pandemic hasn’t gone away,” Duque said in his tele-vised nightly address. “This is going to be a very important month for all of us.”

Sectors like retail and non-COVID-related medical care can begin normalizing grad-ually once the lockdown ends, but large events, bars and nightclubs will continue to be closed. Restaurants will be open for takeaway orders only, Duque said.

“We are not reviving social life,” Duque said. “We have to continue protecting health and lives and going forward we have to adapt to a disease that will be around for a long time.”

Even as restrictions begin to ease, public transport in cities must not exceed 35% of their capacity and land borders will continue to be closed. International flights, domestic flights and inter-city buses will continue to be suspended.

As part of the relaxed rules, children aged 2 to 5 years old will be allowed out three times a week for 30 minutes from the first of June, while those aged 6 to 17 will be permitted outside three times a week for up to an hour.

Adults under 70 years old will be allowed out three times a week for up to two hours at a time.

People aged 70 and over are considered a high-risk population and should remain at home, though they may go out for 30 minutes three times a week.

Bodies of two missing French snowmobilers found in CanadaAFP — MONTREAL

Police said yesterday they have found two bodies believed to be the last French snowmobilers still missing after their tour group crashed through ice on a Canadian lake in January.

One was located near the site of the accident in northern Quebec on Wednesday, five days after the other was dis-covered further afield on the banks of a river feeding the lake.

“They’re likely our missing snowmobilers since the two bodies were wearing snow-mobile outfits,” Hugues Beaulieu, spokesman for Que-bec’s provincial police, said.

The forensic pathologist will have to confirm their identities “in the next few days,” he said.

Six snowmobilers fell into the icy waters of Lac Saint-Jean, near the mouth of the Grande Decharge River. Authorities said they had been in an area that is off limits to snowmobiles because of thin ice.

They launched a massive search of the area in January, but called it off weeks later due to extreme winter weather after recovering only three out of five bodies. Their guide, a 42-year-old Canadian, died in hospital after trying in vain to rescue the team.

The US death toll, from 1.7 million confirmed infections, is by far the highest of any nation.