SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020 www.thepeninsula.qa14 RABIA II - 1442 VOLUME 25 NUMBER 8456

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2 RIYALS

Qatar calls for restraint after assassination of Iran scientist

QNA — DOHA

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani yesterday made a phone call to Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran H E Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif.

During the call, they discussed bilateral coop-eration relations and issues of common concern.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed during the call the State of Qatar’s strong condemnation of the bombing that took place in Tehran and the assassination of the scientist, Mohsen Fakhri zadeh, head of the Research and Innovation Organisation at the Iranian Ministry of Defence, in an armed attack, considering it a clear violation of human rights.

He expressed the State of Qatar’s condolences to the government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran, stressing that such steps will

only contribute to pouring more fuel to the fire at a time when the region and the international community are looking for ways to reduce ten-sions and return to the table of dialogue and diplomacy.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs called for restraint and finding fundamental solutions for the outstanding issues.

For his part, Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif valued the stance of the government and people of the State of Qatar, stressing the strength of the relations between the two countries.

Deputy Prime Minister and

Minister of Foreign Affairs

makes phone call to Minister

of Foreign Affairs of the

Islamic Republic of Iran.

Such steps will only contribute

to pouring more fuel to the fire

at a time when the region and

the international community

are looking for ways to reduce

tensions.

Heya Exhibition focuses on homegrown talentTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Held under the patronage of H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the 17th Edition of Heya Arabian Fashion Exhibition opened on Friday, at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC), marking the first event of the season hosted by Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC).

The exhibition is part of QNTC’s vibrant calendar of events and is organised this year by Qatar Business Events Corporation (QBEC), a sub-sidiary of QNTC.

Secretary-General of QNTC and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive H E Akbar Al Baker said: “As we host the first major exhibition of the season, I take th is opportuni ty to acknowledge our country’s suc-cessful efforts during this chal-lenging phase, which enabled us to be here today and to resume the activities of the tourism sector.”

“Heya has grown over the years to become a leading exhi-bition of modest fashion, strengthening the country’s position as a hub of fashion inno-vation in the region and beyond. QNTC is working with its partners across the public and private sectors to create offerings tailored to the country’s domestic market and to reenergise its tourism sector,” he added.

The 17th edition of Heya highlights Qatar’s homegrown

talent and local entrepreneurs making their mark in the world of modest fashion. Over 150 brands are being showcased, ranging from high-street apparel, haute couture, and luxury, to the latest modest evening gowns and abayas. The exhibition opened with a daz-zling ceremony attended by dignitaries, exhibitors, and prominent personalities from the world of fashion.

The opening day featured an introductory session by Maha Al Sulaiti, Acting Director

of M7, and a talk show with Amal Ameen of AMICI DI MODA and media personalities Ola Alfares, Asma Al Hammadi, and AlFtoon Al Janahi.

Heya is being organised under stringent precautionary measures in line with the Min-istry of Public Health’s (MoPH) hygiene and safety guidelines, including limiting the visitor capacity to 30 percent, man-datory use of masks, presenting the Ehteraz application on entrance, and following social distancing measures. �P2

HMC launches mental health awareness and screening trainingTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Two of Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) divisions have collaborated to deliver a tailored education and training programme on mental health awareness and screening for healthcare profes-sionals in Qatar.

The accredited one-day training pro-gramme was developed by the Mental Health Services (MHS) team with the support of Hamad International Training Center (HITC) who will include this in their portfolio of public training offerings from January 2021 onwards. The course is tar-geted to all health care professionals and is designed to provide them with a solid understanding of common mental health disorders and how to screen for them.

Director, Hamad International Training Centre (HITC), Senior Con-sultant in Emergency Medicine, Dr. Khalid Abdulnoor Saifeldeen said that while the commitment to develop mental

health expertise among healthcare pro-fessionals has been around for some time, the coronavirus pandemic helped

to galvanise the delivery of this program.

“The importance of mental health as part of holistic care has been evident more so this year as the COVID-19 pan-demic has created a sense of urgency to support skills development, as well as support the wellbeing of those working in health care settings. Enhancing professional skills and capabilities among public and private sector staff will have a positive impact on staff and on patient outcomes across Qatar,” said Dr. Saifeldeen.

“HITC has a passion for developing the skills and knowledge of all health care

professionals and we are honoured to be part of this collaboration that is so important for the population.”

Earlier this month, 200 Emergency Medicine staff completed the course as part of their wide-ranging staff skills enhancement efforts. The Corporate goal is to train all the approximately 1500 EMS personnel by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

The programme lead, AED Clinical Service Development, MHS HMC, Katja Warwick-Smith explained the training course structure placed importance on both academic learning and interactive engagement designed to support the par-ticipants own wellbeing.

The outcome-oriented training is delivered online by experienced mental health professionals. Up to 45 partici-pants can join each session to ensure suf-ficient opportunity for constructive dia-logue. The course has been approved to offer 5 Continuing Professional Devel-opment (CPD) Hours accredited by Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners (QCHP). �P2

Secretary-General of QNTC and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive H E Akbar Al Baker with other officials during the opening of 7th Edition of Heya Arabian Fashion Exhibition on Friday, at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center.

Ashghal develops

40km cycling

path along Doha

Expressway

IRFAN BUKHARI THE PENINSULA

Continuing its policy of promoting healthy lifestyle among the residents, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has developed a 40km long cycling path on the Southern part of Doha Expressway.

The cycling path has one bike bridge, 2,390 lighting poles, 17 cycling parks, 1,930 trees, 24 tunnels, and 17 seats with shades, Ashghal shared information on its twitter handle yesterday.

To provide residents with an opportunity to follow a healthy lifestyle, Ashghal in August this year represented by the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar, had also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Qatar Cyclists Center of the Ministry of Culture and Sports regarding fast cycling track.

At that time, Ashghal official had said Ashghal seeks to create infrastructure that contributes to enhance sport culture among all segments of society, through provision of necessary require-ments and Ashghal is all set to provide a network of cycling and pedestrian paths of about 2,650km by the year 2022.

According to another recent tweet by the Public Works Authority, under the second and third packages of Doha Central Development and Beautification Projects, 58km pedestrian and cycling paths and 41,000 square metre green area will be developed in the area.

In September this year, Ashghal had made a new achievement breaking Guinness World Record title for the Longest Continuous Cycle Path. �P3

QC praises QCB directive on bounced chequesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Chamber’s Banking and Investment Committee held a meeting to discuss the newly issued instructions and controls by Qatar Central Bank (QCB) to limit the phenomenon of bounced cheques, as well as the expected impacts of these instructions on the economic activity.

During the meeting, which was presided over by QC board member Nasser Sulaiman Al Haidar, the committee members welcomed these pro-cedures which aim to fight the phenomenon of bounced cheques.

The meeting also discussed preventing the issuance of new chequebooks for individuals and companies that issued bounced cheques, as issuing new chequebooks is related to the payment of bounced cheques in accordance with

QCB’s instructions.Earlier this month, QCB had

issued instructions and controls to limit the issue of bounced cheque, allowing banks to inquire about their customers and view history of their trans-actions, to enable banks to take appropriate decisions before issuing checkbooks.

The new instructions also oblige banks to list their cus-tomers, who issued bounced cheques, due to nil or insuffi-cient balance, or any other reason that prevents dis-bursement, such as the dif-ference in the signature in the report of the bounced cheques at the Qatar Credit Bureau.

The QC meeting also touched on the effect of sus-pending the company’s accounts which issued bounced cheques and the bank’s refusal to issue chequebooks until it settled these cheques. �P3

4 RABIA II - 1442 VO

Heya has grown over

the years to become a

leading exhibition of

modest fashion,

strengthening the

country’s position as a

hub of fashion innovation in the region and

beyond.

The exhibition is being held with stringent

precautionary measures in line with the

Ministry of Public Health’s hygiene and

safety guidelines.

It features a rich programme of events

spread over five days, including 10 talk

shows, four fashion shows, one

introductory session, and two workshops.

The talk shows feature renowned

personalities from the world of fashion,

media and education.

The importance of

mental health as part

of holistic care has

been evident more

so this year as the

COVID-19 pandemic

has created a sense

of urgency to

support skills

development.

OFFICIAL NEWS

02 SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020HOME

Amir congratulates Albania President

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim

bin Hamad Al Thani and Deputy

Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin

Hamad Al Thani sent cables of

congratulations to President of the

Republic of Albania H E Ilir Meta

on the anniversary of his country’s

Independence Day. Prime Minister

and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh

Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al

Thani also sent a cable of con-

gratulations to Prime Minister and

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the

Republic of Albania H E Edi Rama

on the anniversary of his coun-

try’s Independence Day. -QNA

Qatar condemns

explosion

in Somalia

QNA — DOHA

The State of Qatar voiced strong condemnation and denunci-ation of the explosion which targeted a restaurant in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, leaving dead and injured.

In a statement issued yes-terday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the firm position of the State of Qatar on rejecting violence and ter-rorism, regardless of motives and reasons. The statement expressed Qatar’s condolences to the families of the victims, and to the government and people of Somalia, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

Films highlight green hospitality in QatarQNA — DOHA

Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) has participated with the World Green Building Council and the British Broad-casting Corporation (BBC) in the production of a film in a series of films entitled ‘Building a Better Future’, that explores the impact of buildings on the lifestyles of residents, and the role green buildings play in confronting the climate change crisis.

The series also highlight innovative models and appli-cations of best practices in the construction sector in order

to increase awareness and drive change in the methods of building design, con-

struction and operation.The film, which was

released on November 18, focuses on hospitality and green hotel initiatives in Qatar as part of preparations to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and deals with the role of the QGBC in the rapid development of the hospi-tality sector.

The film highlights the sustainable practices of hotels certified by the ‘Green Key Award’ in Qatar, especially the Education City stadium and other stadiums that will host the 2022 World Cup, and the achievements of the Qatar

Green Building Council initi-atives to support and accel-erate the achievement of sus-tainability goals in the country.

The film sheds light on green practices in three dis-tinct hotels, namely: Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Con-vention Hotel, the W Doha and the Mandarin Oriental Doha, which apply green key policies and strategies and best green practices that are observed in operations.

QGBC Director, Meshal Al Shamari said that the World Green Building Council is an important partner and

supporter of the Qatar Green Building Council in promoting the trend towards adopting green buildings in the country, and QGBC is proud to cooperate with it and with the BBC in this innovative project.

QGBC provides a practical model for implementing sus-tainable best practices that can be applied at the local and global level. The council pro-vides a model for the rest of the institutions and organisa-tions that demonstrates the way hotels can achieve lead-ership in luxury and sustain-ability standards.

QRCS extends COVID-19 control support to SudanTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

A high-profile delegation from Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) is visiting the Republic of Sudan to enhance bilateral relations with the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS), inspect the ongoing field activities carried out by QRCS’s represen-tation mission there, and further pursue QRCS’s human-itarian diplomacy and promotion of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

QRCS’s delegation com-prises Secretary General, Ali bin Hassan Al Hammadi and Head of International Relations and IHL Dr. Fawzi Oussedik.

At Sudan’s Commission of Refugees (COR), the delegation met with Head of Emergencies Committee, Dr. Bilal Ahmed Musa. The meeting was

attended by President of SRCS, Al Fadhel Aamer, officials from both National Societies, and representatives of COR.

They discussed the latest updates of the recent mass dis-placement from Ethiopia to the states of Al Qadarif and Kassala, eastern Sudan.

In coordination with SRCS, QRCS’s delegation held a seminar at Faculty of Law, the renowned Al Neelain University (NU) in Khartoum, under the title of ‘IHL and Contemporary Challenges’.

With a wide VIP attendance, the event involved two parts: A lecture by Al Hammadi on humanitarian diplomacy as an effective tool of IHL enforcement and a lecture by Dr. Oussedik on the contem-porary issues facing the appli-cation of IHL provisions on the

current humanitarian crises and conflicts.

Then, 9,000 masks donated by QRCS were delivered as a gift to the Al Neelain University, in the presence of the university’s President, Dean of Faculty of Law, President of SRCS, Director of the Peace Research Institute, and participants in the

seminar.Aamer appreciated the

efforts done by QRCS in Sudan. “Many thanks to Al Hammadi for being here in Sudan to support the coronavirus (COVID-19) control efforts, which contribute to the com-munity recovery from the impact of floods, and give

institutional backing to SRCS,” he said.

Meanwhile, Khartoum TV honoured Al Hammadi in rec-ognition of QRCS’s role in helping the victims of the recent flash floods as well as providing vital aid in the course of the country’s fight against COVID-19.

Secretary General of QRCS, Ali bin Hassan Al Hammadi with other official during seminar at Al Neelain University in Khartoum.

227 new virus

cases, 281

recoveries: MoPH

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced the registration of 227 new confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Also, 281 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 135,651.

NAWIC Qatar holds its first anniversary celebrationTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC Qatar) has celebrated its first anniversary recently under the slogan ‘67 years globally, one year in the State of Qatar and the Middle East, and many more to come’.

The group celebrated the occasion at the Al-Wadi Doha Hotel in Msheireb Downtown, in the presence of a number of dignitaries, executives and pro-fessionals in the construction sector.

The ceremony was hon-oured by the CEO of Qatar Stock Exchange, Rashid Ali Al Mansouri, President of the Lean Construction Institute (LCI Qatar), Dr. Abdullah

Yaqoub Al Sayed, and the Director of the Technical Office at Public Works Authority (Ashghal), Eng. Ahmed Al Ansari.

Speaking during the event, President of NAWIC Qatar, Eng Billy Teshich, highlighted the achievements of the associ-ation since it was launched in 2019 as the first association of its kind in the Middle East.

She reiterated the associ-ation’s commitment and ded-ication to deliver its vision which is women's empow-erment, and supporting the women’s contribution to the construction industry.

She concluded expressing her gratitude to all the associ-ation’s sponsors, supporters and keynote speakers who

shared their experience through the NAWIC Qatar Events.

Despite the circumstances the world has been going through since beginning of the year 2020, the association committed itself to providing virtual events and seminars in line with the association’s plan for this year. A plan for the next year and NAWIC Qatar’s future aspirations were also presented by founding member Carly-Jane Figgis.

The ceremony was con-cluded by recognising all the association’s sponsors, sup-porters and all the keynote speakers from the public and private sectors.

Dr. Ghada Darwish Karboon, a Board Foundation

Member, said: “We are proud to celebrate this occasion and to w i t n e s s t h e growth of the association since last year. Estab-lishing the asso-ciation is a j o u r n e y w e started together and we’ll carry on to achieve its g o a l s . A m n a Mabrouk, Events M a n a g e r o f NAWIC Qatar, added: “We are proud that we moved on this year steps ahead and we keep moving towards achieving NAWIC goals.

“The construction industry is a vital and broad sector that accommodates women's capa-bilities under various

specialities. It’s an opportunity to highlight women 's achieve-ments in construction though NAWIC Qatar’s activities.”

NAWIC officials with other dignitaries at an event in Doha recently.

The films also highlight

innovative models and

applications of best

practices in the

construction sector in order

to increase awareness and

drive change in the

methods of building

design, construction and

operation.

40 winners of raffle draw to be allocated outlets in Umm Salal Central Fish Market

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Permanent Committee for Central Markets Management of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) has conducted a raffle draw to rent out stores of second phase in the Central Fish Market in Umm Salal.

The raffle draw has been held in coordination with the Aswaq for Food Facilities Man-agement Company, a Hassad subsidiary, said MoCI in a statement on its website.

The winners of raffle draw accounted 40 investors for 13 different types of commercial activities. A total of 114 applica-tions were submitted for raffle draw, of which 70 qualified, while 44 applications were excluded for not meeting the required conditions.

The Permanent Committee for Central Markets Management

said that the winners will be communicated to inform them about rules and regulations for the functioning of the market and the signing of contracts. The Committee had announced the offer of investment opportunities to rent out stores in the second phase in the central fish market in Umm Salal.

The second phase of the central fish market in the Umm Salal area includes 53 investment opportunities, including barns for display and sale of sheep, and stores for selling vegetables and fruits, in addition to the existing stores that practice the same activities.

It also includes butcheries, selling travel supplies, and selling chilled poultry and their products, in addition to the availability of a veterinary clinic and pharmacy to serve the

owners of the barns, and shops for various commercial activities such as the trade of dates and spices, and other commercial activities.

MoCI said that it has worked in coordination with the Aswaq for Food Facilities Man-agement Company to achieve great benefit for tenants and consumers.

MoCI has set oper-ating standards and requirements for deter-mining the value of rents for commercial activities in the market, for the lease period to be two years, renewable for a similar period, provide a guar-anteed cheque for one month of the rent and 24 cheques in the name of Aswaq for Food

Facil i t ies Management Company, the ability to provide products permanently.

The Ministry specified the tenants’ obligations that the tenant begins practising the des-ignated activity within a month from the allocation date, and in

the event of non-compliance, the shop is referred to the first substitute winner, and if the substitute does not respond or is delayed for a month from the date of its notification, the shop is referred to the second alter-native winner.

A raffle draw by MoCI is in progress.

Heya Exhibition focuses on homegrown talentFROM PAGE 1

It features a rich pro-gramme of events spread over five days, including ten talk shows, four fashion shows, one introductory session, and two workshops.

Talk Shows: A series of ten talk shows highlighting fashion icons, designers, leading figures from the edu-cation sector and content

creators is woven through the programme to ensure Heya continues with its tradition of supporting aspiring designers and entrepreneurs.

The talk shows brought out renowned personalities from the worlds of fashion, media and education, including rep-resentatives from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar), Qatar

Business Incubation Center (QBIC), M7 and numerous other organisations.

Fashion Shows: The opening day featured fashion shows presenting winter col-lections by BEENAS and Chic Tag. On the third day of the exhibition (Sunday, 29 November), Heya will host fashion shows by VCUArts Qatar: the 2020 Fashion

Alumni Graduation Show at 8pm and the Faculty Fashion Show at 8.30pm.

To better manage visitor traffic, all guests are required to register at https://app.con-tactless.io/public/workspaces/qbec/events/heya/forms/vis before the event. Upon con-firming the registration, they will receive a QR code, which must be shown at the entrance.

This registration will be valid for entry throughout the five days of the exhibition. Walk-in guests without prior regis-tration may also register in the foyer area.

Heya will remain open till 1 December from 10 am to 10 pm, for women only; children below the age of 13 are not permitted to enter the exhibition.

HMC launches

mental health

awareness and

screening training

FROM PAGE 1

Chairman of Psychiatry and Medical Director of HMC’s Mental Health Service, Dr. Majid Al Abdulla said that the value of the programme in developing mental health knowledge capacity and capa-bility in the country. “This is a wonderful opportunity to promote mental health awareness and education to a wider audience. We are delighted that the HITC will enable other healthcare pro-fessionals from across Qatar to access this training very soon and for only a small nominal fee to cover our administration costs.”

The Mental Health Helpline is accessible via the toll free number 16000 from 9am to 5pm, Saturday to Thursday.

03SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020 HOME

Ooredoo empowers QBC efficiency with smart fleet management solutionTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Ooredoo has announced that Qatar Building Company had seen strong success in transforming its vehicle operations with the Ooredoo fleet management solution powered by the Internet of Things with the rollout to 1,000 vehicles started last year.

Founded in 1971, Qatar Building Company is one of Qatar’s longest-standing and most innovative construction com-panies. Qatar Building Company has three divisions, Civil

Contracting, Production, and Trading.

With Qatar Building Com-pany’s work ramping up amid the wide range of mega-projects boosted by Qatar National Vision 2030, Qatar Building Company faced challenges in keeping track of its fleet of more than 1,000 vehicles – costing the company time and money.

In response, over the past year, Qatar Building Company has rolled out the Ooredoo fleet man-agement solution across their dif-ferent types of fleet vehicles.

Qatar Building Company now automatically re-routes drivers when needed to avoid delays, has real-time visibility of vehicle resources at any time, and can even increase safety by avoiding situations such as sharp turns or speeding. The company is saving costs both on diesel consumption, much reduced, and maintenance. It can now manage fleet opera-tions far more efficiently.

Chief Business Officer at Ooredoo Sheikh Nasser Al Thani said, “Qatar Building Company is an industry leader showing how

using the Internet of Things can drive innovation and save time and money. Our Ooredoo fleet management solution is ideal for a wide range of industries that need to keep track of vehicles – from construction to transpor-tation, education, and government services.”

Qatar Building Company plans in the next phase to extend the Ooredoo fleet management solution to more vehicles in its construction fleet. Ooredoo pro-vides the optimal level of conven-ience with the full installation of

the solution.Ooredoo fleet management

is an end-to-end Internet of Things solution that includes hardware, software, and mobile connectivity, along with 24/7 support. Group Commercial Manager, Qatar Building Company Bader Mostafawi, said: “Since Qatar Building Company rolled out the Ooredoo fleet man-agement solution, we can now easily manage our fleet, increase our productivity, and meet gov-ernment and international standards.

QEERI awarded 3 ISO certifications for management systemTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University, has been awarded the certification for its Inte-grated Management System (IMS) under the ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001:2018 standards.

The achievement follows an extensive auditing process done by Intertek, a Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide.

The certification covers QEERI’s provision of research, development, and innovation services by each of its centres and departments, including the Energy Centre, Water Centre, Environment and Sustainability Centre, Corrosion Centre, Natural and Environmental Hazards Observatory, Earth Science Program, as well as its facilities, including the core labs, outdoor test facility, and solar monitoring stations.

ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001:2018 are the most inter-nat ional ly recognised standards for Quality, Health, Safety, and Environment (QHSE) management systems.

They create a framework that helps organisations ensure that the highest standards for QHSE and accountability are main-tained across the various func-tions, through integrated and standardised policies and procedures.

Executive Director, QEERI, Dr. Marc Vermeersch said, “The ISO certification reiterates that all of our processes and proce-dures have been designed with health, safety and quality as the top priority. It highlights that the work executed by QEERI is of the highest quality and that customers, both internal and external, are safe, while envi-ronmental aspects and asso-ciated impacts are identified by considering the lifecycle per-spective and end-of-life treatment of products and

services at QEERI. The achievement fully underpins our motivation to provide world-class technology and supporting services to our partners and stakeholders.”

Quality Management Director , QEERI , Dr . Muhammed Akmal Rana added, “This certification showcases our commitment to providing a healthy and safe working environment for our employees and all visitors. We are grateful to the team from Intertek, and our staff at QEERI, for working towards this goal in such an efficient manner. The certification demonstrates that QEERI is committed to following the highest global standards for QHSE, as well as strongly aligning with the Qatar

National Vision 2030.”Representatives from

Intertek met with QEERI’s teams and visited its facilities to ensure they were fully com-pliant to the breadth of requirements of the ISO cer-tification process.

Area Manager of Business Assurance at Intertek Qatar, Dr. Sridhar Kasthuri, said, “QEERI demonstrated a high com-mitment across the board from

all the employees as well as the leadership team. The organi-sation showed excellent overall involvement throughout the process, for instance, by including all its staff members in QHSE awareness training and showing a commitment to offering quality services in line with global best practices. It was impressive to witness this kind of dedication to the cer-tification process.”

As a research institute with a national mandate, QEERI is supporting Qatar in tackling its grand challenges related to energy, water, and the envi-ronment in line with Qatar National Vision 2020.

The ISO certification high-lights QEERI’s ability to con-sistently provide products and services that exceed applicable customer, statutory, and reg-ulatory requirements.

Representatives from Intertek and QEERI during ISO certifications presenting event.

Sidra Medicine saves life of Kuwaiti boy with intractable epilepsyTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Salem is a 10 year old boy from Kuwait who suffered from at least 15 to 30 seizures a day. Each seizure could last from a few seconds to up to four minutes, increasing the danger to his physical health.

He was transferred to Sidra Med-icine in Qatar, after his family in Kuwait sought a second expert opinion with the hospital’s renowned specialist treatment program for children with intractable epilepsy.

Salem’s father, Dr. Abdulrahman Abdullah said: “Due to the nature of Salem’s epilepsy, we had to have someone monitoring him all the time as he would have an uncontrollable seizure any minute, with the added risk of hurting himself. And while he was on a good therapy program, including anti-epileptic medications in Kuwait, we had reached a stage where he was no longer responding to conventional treatment or medication.

“Our decision to bring my son to Sidra Medicine was based on several recommendations within the interna-tional and regional paediatric medical faculty. The specialist and advanced therapies that Sidra Medicine offers competes with centres of excellence that are in the US or Europe. My family and I are extremely impressed with the care our son received here,” Salem’s father added.

The Acting Division Chief of Neu-rology at Sidra Medicine, Dr. Husam Kayyali, said: “Salem’s case was brought to our attention when his father reached

out to our international office to save his son’s life. Intractable epilepsy can be a heavy burden, especially on children as they need constant moni-toring and care. Studies have shown that only 3-4 percent of patients with intrac-table epilepsy respond to treatment with antiepileptic medications. Cutting edge advanced therapies such as epilepsy surgery might be the only answer in such cases. After a thorough evaluation of Salem’s case at Sidra Medicine, we decided to proceed with epilepsy surgery.”

Salem was cared for at Sidra Med-icine by a multidisciplinary team of experts from neurology, neurophysi-ology, radiology, nuclear medicine, neuro-psychology and neurosurgery. He was also extensively supported by a

wider team from occupational health, physical therapy, rehabilitative medicine and ophthalmology to ensure a compre-hensive pre and post- operative care program.

Sidra Medicine is one of very few children’s hospitals in the Middle East to have dedicated paediatric experts overseeing the entire spectrum of care for children with complex diseases or health challenges including epilepsy.

“Salem’s treatment program at Sidra Medicine started with a thorough assessment and investigations at the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) with Video-Electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring and advanced neuroimaging such as high-resolution Brain MRI imaging and (positron emission tom-ography) PET scans. It was determined

that Salem had suffered a stroke when he was a fetus. This explained how he started getting refractory epileptic sei-zures when he turned five, which had progressively damaged the left side of his brain,” continued Dr. Kayyali.

After completing the evaluation of Salem’s seizures, Dr. Kayyali and his team consulted with Sidra Medicine’s neurosurgeons, Dr. Ian Pople, Division Chief Neurosurgery, and Dr. Khalid Al Kharazi, and it was decided that Salem would benefit from a left hemisphe-rotomy; an advanced and innovative technique that has proven to reduce the complication rates while maintaining good seizure control.

Salem underwent an MRI on the same day as his surgery. The MRI helped the surgeons determine that the parts within the left side of his brain, which were causing his seizures, are now disconnected.

Salem was then transferred to Sidra Medicine’s paediatric ICU ward and stayed there for three more weeks. He underwent physical and occupational therapy. During this time, the medical team was pleased to observe that Salem did not experience any epileptic sei-zures. He will continue to receive cus-tomised care back home in Kuwait, with physicians at Sidra Medicine coordi-nating his care with a team in Kuwait.

Salem’s father, Dr. Abdullah said, “As a physician myself, I was well aware of the complexities of my son’s case and I am impressed with care, profession-alism and the team-based approach that Sidra Medicine applied in my son’s treatment.”

Salem and his father with Dr. Kayyali, Dr. Ian Pople and Dr. Khalid Al Kharazi.

The certification covers QEERI’s provision of research,

development, and innovation services by each of its centres

and departments, including the Energy Centre, Water

Centre, Environment and Sustainability Centre, Corrosion

Centre, Natural and Environmental Hazards Observatory,

Earth Science Program, as well as its facilities, including the

core labs, outdoor test facility, and solar monitoring

stations.

34 referred to prosecution for not wearing face masks

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) yesterday referred 34 people to the Public Prosecution for not wearing face masks, which is mandatory as part of COVID-19 precautionary measures.

“In line with the cabinet decision based on Law No. 17 of 1990 regarding infectious diseases, 34 people were referred to the Public Prose-cution for non-compliance with wearing masks in places where they are mandator,” the Ministry said.

The Ministry also said that it has referred 15 people for violating the limit allowed in a vehicle, which is specified as four including the driver, except for the members of the same family.

The competent author-ities call on the public to adhere to the precautionary and preventive measures decisions in force to protect them and others from the spread of the coronavirus in society.

Ashghal develops 40km cycling path along Doha Expressway

FROM PAGE 1

The Guinness World Record holder Olympic Cycling Track, designed to be completely sep-arate from road traffic, allows cyclists to speed up to 50 kil-ometers per hour where 29 underpasses and 5 bridges are provided for cyclist paths to facilitate non-stop riding.

The Olympic Cycling Track extends on Al Khor Road with 33 km of length and seven meters width, which can be used for international sports competitions, especially since the Olympic Cycling Track was

designed to allow speeding up to 50 km per hour.

A 7km road linking Doha Expressway and Southern Doha Expressway at the Mesaimeer Interchange opened to traffic in July this year. The road ensures free and direct traffic flow from Mesaieed, Al Wakra and Al Wukair towards Doha, 22 Feb-ruary Street and Al Shamal Road.

The route has 4-6 lanes in each direction to allow some 20,000 vehicles per hour in both directions, saves around 70% of travel time. The road enables a direct link with the Al Janoub,

Ras Abu Aboud and Al Thumama stadiums as it integrates with other major arteries, running from Umm Besher Interchange

on G-Ring Road and Southern Doha Expressway, through Al Wetiyyat Interchange on Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor, onto

Mesaimeer Interchange along with Doha Expressway, E-Ring Road, Industrial Area Road and Rawdat Al Khail Street.

QC praises

QCB directive

on bounced

cheques

FROM PAGE 1

The committee stressed that the QCB’s decision is sound and will serve the national economy, as well as prevent any future problems between customers and businessmen.

The committee urged businessmen to be careful about signing cheques and not to issue any cheque until making sure that there is suf-ficient balance.

It emphasised the need for considering the future economic and social impacts of these procedures on the business community.

The meeting also dealt with the measures taken by banks to protect their cus-tomers in light of the increase of electronic payment, especially during the current implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The committee noted that banks have managed to take all necessary precautions to protect customers during electronic payment proc-esses while increasing ease of dealing and maintaining the confidentiality of cus-tomer data.

04 SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020HOME

QCDC spearheads initiatives to Arabise career guidance resources in QatarTHE PENINSULA — DOHA Qatar Career Development Center (QCDC), a Qatar Foun-dation (QF) member, is striving to address the gap in Arabic resources in the field of career guidance and professional development. Most recently, it supported the launch of the Arabization of the Asia Pacific Career Development Associ-ation (APCDA) Glossary of Career Development Terms.

Director, QCDC, Abdulla Al Mansoori, said, “Through this latest initiative, QCDC has made an important contribution to the promotion of the Arabic lan-guage, offering a resource to Arabic speakers and profes-sionals around the world for creating impactful content and training programs. The achievement will empower career development experts to better guide our youth – not only in Qatar but all across the Arab World – on their ambi-tious career journeys.”

US-based APCDA provides

training for professionals engaged in facilitating career development in the Asia Pacific region and facilitates the exchange expertise on profes-sional projects. And in 2014, an APCDA team from several English-speaking countries including Australia, India, Sin-gapore, and the US, began com-piling the glossary, aiming to offer versions in all languages spoken by its members to

facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise.

QCDC has traditionally par-ticipated in the annual APCDA conference – an international forum for sharing career devel-opment ideas and expertise in the Asia Pacific region. In the context of its ongoing collaboration with APCDA, QCDC has led the devel-opment of the Arabic edition of APCDA’s Glossary of Career Development Terms. The Arabic

edition of the glossary will be dynamic and will change and grow as experts suggest improve-ments or additions.

Executive Director, APCDA, Gulnur Ismayil Isparova said, “There are more than 300 members from over 20 coun-tries around the world under the APCDA umbrella. Association is a wide multicultural and multi-lingual platform. It is important for us to ensure the exchange of ideas and best practices is com-municated smoothly. The glossary gives us chance to understand each other and effectively serve our clients in various corners of our regional coverage. We are thankful to Qatar Career Development Center for this valuable contri-bution and opening access to the APCDA glossary for Arabic speaking nationalities.”

As part of its efforts to promote resources in Arabic, QCDC also launched the online Career Advising System (CAS), the outcome of a strategic part-nership with Kuder. Inc., a

US-based world leader in career planning services, and other government agencies, to integrate customized tech-nology solutions into Qatar’s career guidance system.

The system’s components were tailored to fit Qatari socio-cultural specificities, allowing users to undergo a complete psychometric analysis. Under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, QCDC later rolled out the CAS across public secondary schools in Qatar to help students identify the most appropriate academic and career paths in line with the country’s future needs.

The training program, which benefits academic advisors, human resources pro-fessionals, trainers, teachers, and parents, has seen more than 150 participants graduate. QCDC will be offering the program in English from November 22 to 26, while the Arabic edition of the course will run from December 6 to 10.

Director, QCDC, Abdulla Al Mansoori (right), with Executive Director, APCDA, Gulnur Ismayil Isparova.

QBRI holdswebinar onPursuingCareers inBiotech Industry

THE PENINSULA —DOHA

Efforts to assist policymakers in accurately forecasting and responding to COVID-19 pandemic, as well as supporting the next generation to pursue a career in biotech-nology, provided the context for two webinars recently organised by the Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).

As part of its QBRI Talks webinar series ‘Guide for E a r l y - C a r e e r S T E M Researchers Career Devel-opment’, QBRI held a webinar titled Pursuing Careers in the Biotech Industry, on November 18. During the webinar, Dr. Lawrence Stanton, Director of the Neu-rological Disorders Research Center at QBRI, shared his per-spective on careers in the bio-technology industry, particu-larly the transition from academia to industry and the key differences between these two research environments.

Dr. Stanton also discussed the required skill set for pur-suing a career in the biotech industry, which has been playing a major role globally in developing diagnostics, therapies, and vaccines to fight the coronavirus. This session was moderated by Postdoc-toral Researcher at QBRI, Dr. Adviti Naik.

Through the QBRI Talks webinar series, the institute features inspiring talks from pioneers who discuss their personal journey in a scien-tific career, with the aim of sparking conversation among young minds to actively pursue personal and profes-sional development.

Running in parallel with the career development series, QBRI is also hosting another webinar series dedicated to highlighting various topics of current global significance. COVID-19 Outbreak Pre-diction and Assessment of Pre-vention Policies: A Data Science Approach, was held on November 9, and presented to the audience two COVID-19 prediction models.

The first module used a deep learning approach to forecast the cumulative number of cases based on data from countries with similar demographic, socio-economic and health sector indicators. The model also takes as input adopted lockdown measures.

By contrast, the second approach used a deep learning model for evaluating and predicting the impact of various lockdown policies on daily COVID-19 cases. This was achieved by grouping countries with similar lockdown policies, then training a prediction model based on the daily cases in each cluster along with the data describing their lockdown policies. Once the model is trained, it is used to evaluate scenarios associated with lockdown policies and investigate their impact on predicted COVID-19 cases.

The prediction models were demonstrated by Asso-ciate Professor in the Com-puter Science and Engineering Department at Qatar Uni-versity, Dr. Abdelkarim Erradi whose research activities and interests focus on service-ori-ented computing, cloud services composition and mobile crowd sensing.

Dr. Lawrence Stanton speaking in the webinar

Galfar Al Misnad — Now Aiming For Gold

In 1995, Galfar Al Misnad began its operations through an Oil & Gas project for Qatar Petroleum. The company’s strong work ethics and com-mitment towards delivering

projects of the highest quality ensured the growth of this small construction company into one of the leading con-tractors in Qatar today.

Through its five operating divisions: Infrastructure, Oil & Gas, E & I, Building & MEP, and Facility Management; Galfar Al Misnad executes high value multi-disciplinary projects in key devel-opment sectors of Qatar.

Galfar Al Misnad’s Management System is certified by Bureau Veritas with ISO 9001: 2015; ISO 14001:2015 (Environment); ISO 45001: 2018 (Occu-pational Health & Safety); and ISO TS 29001:2010 (Oil & Gas).

Landmark projects executed by Galfar Al Misnad in Qatar include the Katara Cultural Village, Flowline Project in Dukhan, the construction of 05 tanks in Mesaieed, Khalifa Stadium Energy Centre, Manateq’s Logistics Park in Al Wakrah, GWC’s Office Building and Warehouse in Ras Laffan, 8 Ashghal Schools in Doha, and Facility Man-agement at Qatar University.

Galfar entered their first JV for the Doha South STP Project (Phase 2). Fol-lowing this, the construction company became part of two major nation building JVs: As the lead partner in the JV assigned by Aspire Zone Foundation for the con-struction of the Al Bayt Stadium; as well as the ISG JV which executed the Doha Metro Red Line North for Qatar Rail.

Galfar Al Misnad has been an integral partner in the nation’s preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2022 on various levels right from the beginning. There is now less than two years to go for the tour-nament, and the mega event is scheduled to kick off at Galfar Al Misnad’s prized project, Al Bayt Stadium.

Moreover, the company’s innovative approach towards the design and build of the Energy Centre that provides air-conditioning to the Khalifa International Stadium proved to be so successful, it has been adopted as the standard at all the Energy Centers being constructed for the FIFA World Cup 2022 tournament.

Galfar was also subsequently entrusted with the design and build of the Al Bayt Stadium Energy Centre. Fur-thermore, Galfar Facility Management now handles the facility management

and maintenance of the World Cup sta-diums and various other sports venues for the Supreme Committee.

Over the years, the company has further diversified into activities like Alu-minum Facade, Scaffolding, Painting, Fabrication, and has their own full-fledged Mechanical Workshop. Galfar Al Misnad started spreading its wings outside of Qatar by investing in Galfar Kuwait and then with the acquisition of SAS Power in Ras Al Khaima.

The key to Galfar’s success in Qatar’s competitive construction industry lies in its staunch commitment to safety, quality, and sustainability in all activities. This is exemplified in the long list of international and national accolades received by the company over the years for the same. The company has built up its reputation as a reliable partner which has resulted in all key clients reposing trust in Galfar again and again.

The company places a deep emphasis on the utilization of envi-ronment friendly processes and products in all activities. Additionally, Galfar Al Misnad regularly conducts

environmental awareness workshops and tree planting events to train and educate their employees. Galfar’s HSE team takes these awareness events to schools and offices to further promote green living in Qatar.

Galfar Al Misnad has also made its mark beyond the construction sites with its various employee engagement ini-tiatives. In addition to its extensive involvement in the engineering and construction activities for the FIFA World Cup 2022, the Galfar Al Misnad team aligns itself wholeheartedly with the nation’s vision for the promotion of sports through its various sports teams

Message from Executive Director

Under the visionary leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar has emerged as

a global pioneer. In tandem, we have grown our business from strength to strength since day one. Galfar Al Misnad is now a premier Qatari engineering and contracting company in the country and provides comprehensive solutions for all construction needs.

As we wind up our Silver Jubilee Celebrations, Galfar Al Misnad now looks towards the new era that dawns in front of us with renewed enthusiasm and resurgence. We now aspire for even greater heights for Galfar Al Misnad; where sustainability, inno-vation, and quality merge to create engineering wonders for Qatar, with the active support of all our stakeholders.

It has been a great experience to be an integral part of various nation

building projects of the country including FIFA World Cup 2022 related activities. Our innovation and creativity added path breaking value to the jobs handled by us. Our objec-tives and processes align towards the fulfillment of the requirements of Qatar National Vision 2030.

At this momentous milestone in

our journey, we would like to acknowledge the immense support received from our distinguished cli-entele, who have continuously reposed their faith in us. We are also deeply grateful to our valued sup-pliers and subcontractors, who have ensured that our promise for safety, sustainability, and reliability is always upheld. Our success is due to our tal-ented and inspired employees, who have enabled this achievement through their hard work, dedication and commitment.

I extend my sincere gratitude to all our esteemed clients, associates, Board Members, and Team Galfar for the wonderful journey to this Silver Jubilee, and look forward to the continued support from all for our future endeavours.

Satish G. PillaiExecutive Director

Galfar Al Misnad

who have impressed at the national and international levels.

The Galfar Cricket Team is a leading Premier Division team in Qatar and have won many major tournaments in the country. Nine members of the team also currently play for the Qatar National Cricket Team, including as Captain and Vice-Captain. Galfar is also the official sponsor of the Qatar National Team’s jerseys. Galfar’s football team is an active participant in the annual Workers Cup Tournament held by the SC.

Likewise, the Galfar Toastmasters Club has repeatedly been recognized as the Best Corporate Toastmasters Club

in Qatar. Galfar Toastmasters was insti-tuted in 2009 to enhance the commu-nication skills and leadership capabil-ities of Galfar employees. Over the years, the Club has churned out prize winning speakers and many members have taken on key leadership roles at the Area and Division level of Toastmasters in Qatar.

Due to restrictions imposed by COVID 19, the Silver Jubilee celebrations had to be confined to virtual events, which included an online quiz and a speech competition for employees.

Galfar Al Misnad concluded its Silver Jubilee Celebration with the release of a specially designed silver coin that

commemorates the contracting com-pany’s 25 Years of Operations in Qatar. This coin was presented to employees as a recognition of their contribution towards making this sterling milestone an actuality.

QHSE ACHIEVEMENTS ��Winner of International Safety Award from British Safety Council for the years 2014 (Distinction), 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 (Merit), 2020 (Merit)��Winner of International Safety Award 2020 with Distinction from British Safety Council for Al Wakrah Logistics Park Project��MEED Quality Award Oil and Gas Project of the Year for Dukhan Flow Line Project 2014 and 2017��MEED Quality Award 2016 for Doha South Sewerage Treatment Project��MEED Quality Award for 03 Projects in 2014 – Katara Cultural Village, HV Network, Dukhan Flowline��GSAS 3* Certification for Khalifa Stadium Energy Centre and Office Building Project��GSAS 3* Certification for Ashghal Kindergartens Project��Chevron Phillips Contractor Safety Excellence Award – 2017, 2018, 2019 ��Best HSE Contractor 2019 – Qatar Steel

Al Bayt Stadium - Al Khor CityChilled Water Pumpset at Khalifa Stadium Energy Centre

05SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020 HOME

06 SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020HOME

THE PENINSULA - DOHA Qatar University’s Professor Bassim Hamid Hammadi from the Department of Chemical Engineering- College of Engi-neering, has been named as a Highly-Cited Researcher for 2020 for significant influence in engineering through the publication of multiple papers, highly cited by his peers, over the last decade that is ranked the top 1% by citations in Web of Science, according to Clar-

ivate Analytics. Recently, he was listed in

the 12th Edition of webo-metrics as a Highly-Cited Researcher (h-index >100) according to Google Scholar Citations public profile. With this achievement, he is among the 4,167 Highly-Cited Researchers of all disciplines as of 2020, based on fre-quencies in the Google Scholar Citations database.

This is not the first time Prof. Bassim received such

international recognition. He has been a Highly Cited Researcher in the Engineering field for the last seven years (2014–2020). Besides, he was listed as one of the Most Cited Researchers for Chemical Engineering and Environ-mental Science and Engi-neering Subjects of 2016 by the Shanghai Global Rankings of Academic Subjects.

The Highly Cited Researchers from Clarivate is an annual list recognizing

influential researchers in the sciences and social sciences worldwide. The 2020 list con-tains 3,896 scientists in 21 fields of the sciences and social sciences, including 173 scien-tists in the Engineering field, of which Prof. Bassim is one of them. The list also includes 2,493 Highly Cited Researchers for cross-field performance.

The list focuses on contem-porary research achievement; only highly cited papers in science and social sciences journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection during the 11-year period 2009 to 2019 were surveyed. Highly cited papers are

defined as those ranked in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year.

Prof. Bassim successfully supervised the works of five postdoctoral fellows, 22 PhD. and 26 MSc students, and more than 70 final-year research projects to completion. He achieved a milestone of 21 research grants as a lead prin-cipal investigator.

To date, he published more than 300 articles in indexed journals. According to Google Scholar, his total number of received citations are more than 43,700, and he has an author h-index of 104 and an i-10 index of 282. Prof. Bassim Hamid Hammadi

QU-CENG faculty member named as Highly Cited Researcher for 2020

Al Meera launches ‘Local Fruits and Vegetables’ initiative across branches

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

As part of its longstanding support for local farmers and entrepreneurs, Al Meera Consumer Goods Company (QPSC) has launched the ‘Local Fruits and Vegetables’ initiative in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipality and Envi-ronment (MME) across all branches - the largest grocery retail network in the country.

The initiative is in line with Al Meera’s continuous support for the local producers. The ini-tiative marks the beginning of the season and features a wide variety of premium quality fruits and vegetables at com-petitive prices, whilst also cel-ebrating the achievements of local farms who have increased their production significantly as compared to previous years due to the sustained efforts of the farm owners.

Over 150 farms are partic-ipating in the initiative with a variety of fresh farm vegetables

supported by the MME to gain marketing platform for their produce at commercial outlets.

Through its premium platform, Al Meera gives pro-ducers and start-ups in the food industry the opportunity to showcase their products to the marketplace at prominent and strategic shelf spaces at over 50 branches and benefit from Al Meera’s wide consumer base that is present across the country.

Al Meera said in a statement on the initiative: “The ‘Local Fruits and Vegetables’ initiative aims to support the efforts of Qatar Farms and Premium Qatari Vegetables by providing a platform that is ideal for local farmers to exhibit their produce, gain key visibility, and grow their presence within the marketplace. Additionally, it allows engage in a flurry of new opportunities for cooperation and partnerships. As a country that has been working towards self-sufficiency, initiatives such as this supported by the

Ministry of Municipality and Environment are vital in strengthening local capabilities to produce high-quality, home-grown products and take a leap towards Qatar’s food security.”

As the country’s national retailer, Al Meera enjoys close ties with local farmers and has been instrumental in champi-oning national products at its branches, especially since the blockade in 2017. Al Meera fre-quently offers shelf and kiosk spaces and engages in collabo-rations with key government ministries to promote ‘Made in Qatar’ products through monthly promotions, campaigns, and raffles as part of its unwavering support for local producers and national products.

In line with the Qatar National Vision 2030, Al Meera continues its commitment for local Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) in the food industry on the path to food security, self-sufficiency and economic diversity.

Locally grown fruits and vegetables showcased at a Al Meera outlet under the initiative.

MME educates its

500 workers about

COVID-19 measures

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) represented by the Public Relations Department educated about 500 workers, drivers and technicians of Mechanical Equipment Department about COVID-19 measures.

This came during phase 1 security and safety campaign which was launched by the MME in cooperation with Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS).

The participants received information and practical training in English and Urdu languages at their work sites on how to prevent themselves and other from coronavirus.

The participants in the campaign acquired a number of skills and concepts related to security and safety, consid-ering that safety and health is not just a commitment to instructions, but rather a behavior that an individual acquires, interacts and coexists with to address the pandemic.

The specialists and trainers from the Qatar Red Crescent Society provided detailed explanation on how to to con-front such emergency disasters and rapid response to them.

07SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020 HOME

QF Summit: COVID-19 has catalyzed a digital transformation worldwide

THE PENINSULA – DOHA

The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a catalyst for techno-logical change, experts said during the Doha Smart Cities Summit hosted by Qatar Foun-dation subsidiary Msheireb Properties - with the digital transformation being key to the future.

In a discussion titled ‘Smart City Pandemic Readiness’, speakers addressed how tech-nology has played an important role in dealing with COVID-19 and how it can be used to mit-igate the effects of a pandemic and future crises.

Panelist Lana Khalaf, Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar – which is based at Qatar Foundation’s Qatar Science & Technology Park – said, “We have seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in just two months.

“We have seen the impact of how people and consumers engage on online and different digital channels with the rise of e-commerce. We have seen the rise of remote everything.

“The pandemic has driven a systemic shift across industries spanning every facet. Cities need to respond and plan differently – not only to cope with such a pandemic, and be ready to manage throughout the crisis, but also to be resilient for the future.

“Technology became a critical key to navigate these unprecedented times, and to be able to respond, recover, and

re-imagine – from this pan-demic and for the future – and has driven a systematic shift across industries, including smart cities.”

Intelligent cloud systems, with data and AI at their heart, have been the key technology drivers to empowering inno-vations, sustainability, and resilience through smart cities, Khalaf said, helping countries and cities to endure and adapt. Digital tools like Microsoft Teams, have brought work-forces, teachers, students, and health workers together, on one online platform, to work and learn remotely.

“As we move from a response phase, to a recovery phase, to a re-imagined phase,

we have a collective responsi-bility, rather than an oppor-tunity, to rebuild together,” she said. “And technology will con-tinue have a profound role in the journey beyond this pandemic.

“Recent events have told us that transparency, decisive leadership, and the utilization of science and technology are crucial for success in managing

and combating crisis.” Aseem Joshi, Global Smart

Cities Leader, Honeywell, spoke about events in the past that have served as catalysts for changes in the way that humans behave, act, and do things. “After 9/11, we saw that happen with security,” he explained.

“An event happened, people reacted, and we adjusted to the new normal. I think, in many ways, the pan-demic is going to do the same thing. We’ve learned from these past nine months, and we’ve already started seeing changes happen, and we’re going to make those adjustments.

“When you think about what the priorities of a city are, you want to make sure that people are safe, and the economy can go on. To do this, they need to do two things – they need to reduce the like-lihood of a pandemic occurring, and at the same time, if a pan-demic occurs, they want to make sure that they can respond better to such an emergency.”

According to Joshi, there are three ways technology can help to reduce pandemic likelihood – the first of which includes reducing contact points, which,

in turn, reduces the possibility of getting infected. “We’re already seeing a lot of this,” he said. “Buildings, public spaces, and people are adopting technology where you can go touchless – you see it in elevator buttons, you see it in payments.”

The second includes man-aging virus vectors, as Joshi said: “Viruses are spread in ways such as through air, water, and waste. I see large potential to invest in technology to improve the quality of air – indoor and outdoor – to better manage water, whether fresh or sewerage, and then more generally manage sanitation and waste a lot better.”

Finally, he said, regular health monitoring of travelers is here to stay. “At the same time, I think there is potential for hospitals, for governments, to share data – anonymously, of course,” he said. “But it should be information that can be analyzed to detect anom-alies. So if you suddenly start seeing an increase in a certain type of symptom, that may flag the possibility of a new

situation that needs to be controlled.

“The technology exists, but we don’t actually do that today. I think there is tremendous potential to implement things like AI that can do such work for us in the background.”

Joshi went on to highlight three examples of how to respond better to an emergency, including social distancing, emergency responses, and operations centers, which are essentially infrastructure that enables situation awareness, allowing city administrators to know exactly what is happening in a city.

“I believe that this pandemic will catalyze the adoption of technology in smart cities, and it will not be limited just to the mega cities – this permeates tier 2, tier 3, tier 4 cities, so that every citizen can feel a lot safer,” Joshi concluded.

Khalaf and Joshi were joined by Dr. Saber Trabelsi, Faculty, Texas A&M University at Qatar – a QF partner uni-versity – and Andrey Telenkov, CEO, NTechLab.

Panelist Lana Khalaf, Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar

Speakers during the panel discussion on Smart City Pandemic Readiness.

Qatar Foundation subsidiary hosts Doha Smart Cities SummitFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

Msheireb Properties, subsidiary of Qatar Foundation, organised the first-of-its-kind virtual summit in the region - “Doha Smart Cities Summit,” recently.

The summit featured representa-tives of Msheireb Properties, the leading sustainable real estate devel-opment company in Qatar along with global smart cities leaders, innovators, and experts locally, regionally and internationally.

The speakers discussed the vital role of smart cities for current and future generations and its high capa-bilities to tackle different challenges during pandemic times, and its role in supporting sustainability and water and energy efficiency.

Engineer Ali Al Kuwari, Msheireb Properties Acting CEO, revealed that Msheireb Properties is conducting tests for autonomous vehicles at Msheireb Downtown Doha during the summit. The new autonomous vehicles will be offering their services once the tests are completed.

Al Kuwari said, “Since its inception, Msheireb Properties has taken the responsibility to build a fully sus-tainable smart city, which is Msheireb

Downtown Doha, one of the smartest and most sustainable cities in the world.”

He added, “Smart cities are no longer a matter of choice but rather a global trend adopted by countries and corporates to cope with new societal d e m a n d s , w h e t h e r b y i n d i v i d u a l s , c o m p a n i e s , o r

governmental entities. Smart cities have proven their high capabilities to meet individual and companies’ needs better than conventional cities during the Corona pandemic, in the fields of remote learning, work from home, delivery servicesor unmanned equipment. “

“Msheireb Properties is adopting an “autonomous vehicle” concept, which can be used in many matters, especially in various delivery services, without the need for a driver. Further tests are being con-ducted on this vehicle in our city Msheireb Downtown Doha, and once they are completed, the vehicle will serve residents and tenants,” he stated.

The summit attendees also heard from, Reem Mohammed Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary for Digital Society Development, Ministry of Transport and Communications; Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary-General, Chairman, Supreme Com-mittee for Delivery & Legacy, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, CEO, Vodafone Qatar.

The summit included representa-tives from global leading smart cities, such as Amsterdam and Singapore.

Leonie van den Beuken, Program Director at Amsterdam Smart City, and Tan Puay Hong, Principle Engineer at Land Transport Authority of Singapore, shared the experience of the two cities with the audience.

The summit included a series of panel discussions about a range of spe-cialist areas. The first panel discussed cybersecurity in smart cities and the importance of implementing digital systems services. The second panel focused on mobility and autonomous vehicles and the presentation of a new

transportation business model. The third session was held under the title of “Innovation and Sustainability From Lifestyle Shift to Climate Change.”

The summit ended with a special closing panel session on a pandemic-ready smart city model, outlining smart cities’ readiness and preparedness in the stages of lockdown.

Doha Smart Cities Summit is an important platform for experts, pro-fessionals, and a broader audience to share, inspire, and shape the Smart City industry’s future.

Msheireb tram

The pandemic has driven a systemic shift across

industries spanning every facet. Cities need to

respond and plan differently – not only to cope

with such a pandemic, and be ready to manage

throughout the crisis, but also to be resilient for

the future."

Lana Khalaf,

Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar

Aseem Joshi,

Global Smart Cities Leader, Honeywell

I believe that this pandemic will catalyze the

adoption of technology in smart cities, and it will

not be limited just to the mega cities – this per-

meates tier 2, tier 3, tier 4 cities, so that every

citizen can feel a lot safer."

In a discussion titled ‘Smart City Pandemic Readiness’, speakers addressed how technology has played an important role in dealing with COVID-19 and how it can be used to mitigate the effects of a pandemic and future crises.

The summit featured representatives of Msheireb Properties, the leading sustainable real estate development company in Qatar along with global smart cities leaders, innovators, and experts locally, regionally and internationally.

We have seen the

impact of how people

and consumers engage

on online and different

digital channels with the

rise of e-commerce. We

have seen the rise of

remote everything.

At the top of the agenda for Paris is resolving an aircraft dispute that has seen tariffs imposed on more than $12bn of transatlantic goods, while Berlin is keen to revive free-trade talks, according to senior officials in both countries.

08 SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANDR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

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

EDITORIAL

EARLIER this year, Qatar threw its hat in the ring to bid for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. It is an event - the continent’s biggest national team tournament - that Qatar won handsomely in Jan-Feb in 2019. A year or so after emerging as the champions of the continent, Qatar made it official that it sought to host the AFC Asian Cup for the third time. Qatar hosted Asia’s premier football tournament in 1988 and then again in January 2011, a few weeks after it successfully won the rights to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup at a his-toric FIFA vote in Zurich.

On Friday, the Qatar Football Association (QFA) submitted the third part of the bid file to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) underlining the govern-ment’s pledge of guarantees that are compatible with AFC’s ‘requirements for a successful bid’. The third part of the bid file reflects Qatar’s keen intent on uti-lizing the time-tested experience it has attained over the last two decades by hosting world-class sports events on a regular basis. In the latest pledge, Qatar said hosting the 24-team tournament - including 51 matches - will be completed with highest standards the AFC and FIFA expects from any host country of the AFC Asian Cup.

It is worth noting that in exactly two years’ time, Qatar will welcome the best teams in the globe for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The matches of FIFA’s premier football tournament will be played across eight state-of-the-start stadiums with cooling technology. Qatar has already completed three stadiums with another one set to be unveiled on December 18, 2020, when the Amir Cup final be played at Al Rayyan Stadium. The remaining stadiums will be completed before the end of 2021, one year ahead of schedule.

Qatar is currently hosting the AFC Champions League, East Zone, matches at three 2022 FIFA World Cup venues by creating ‘bubble-to-bubble’ envi-ronment for visiting players, coaching staff and dele-gates for the month-long event. In Sept-Oct, Qatar hosted the AFC Champions League, West Zone, matches in similar fashion drawing international praise from all those who visited Qatar for the matches.

In the third part of the bid file, Qatar has pledged to have ‘best possible facilities for players, fans and partners alike, in line with the values and global stature of the AFC Asian Cup 2027’. For a country which is set to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the decision-makers at AFC should have complete faith that Qatar will deliver a memorable edition of the 2027 Asian Cup. Qatar is the best bet for Asia’s top football event in 2027.

Qatar is the best bet

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Quote of the day

All refugees and migrants, regardless of status,

are entitled to the respect and protection of

their human rights.

Liz Throssell, UN Rights Office Spokeswoman

A file picture of European Council President Donald Tusk meeting with US vice-president Joe Biden during his visit to Brussels on February 6, 2015.

France and Germany are leading efforts in Europe to make early contact with President-elect Joe Biden’s team, with the aim of accelerating talks to normalize trade relations between the US and the European Union.

At the top of the agenda for Paris is resolving an aircraft dispute that has seen tariffs imposed on more than $12bn (¤10bn) of transatlantic goods, while Berlin is keen to revive free-trade talks, according to senior officials in both countries.

“We’re ready and in a position to hold talks immedi-ately,” said Johann Wadephul, a foreign policy expert and deputy caucus leader in parliament for German Chancellor Angela Mer-kel’s Christian Democrats. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who had planned to speak with the president-elect’s team earlier this week, said, “I really hope that this new Biden administration will mean a new start in the relationship between Europe and the US”

Additional E.U. trade prior-ities, which are shared by France and Germany, include removing tariffs the Trump administration put on European steel and aluminum exports; agreeing on new tax rules for digital companies that do business internationally; reaching a limited trade agreement on industrial products; and reforming the World Trade Organization.

The European overtures come after weeks of uncer-tainty over the US transition

that had many allies in a wait-and-see mode. Le Maire had been scheduled to speak with Biden’s team on Monday, but the meeting was postponed, according to a French official, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. German officials expect to make contact in the coming days, Wadephul said.

Germany, which relies heavily on export markets and does $252 billion in bilateral trade with the US each year, is particularly eager to de-escalate tensions with the US, which has imposed tariffs on European exports in the name of shoring up American industries. Pres-ident Donald Trump has threatened multiple times to hit the German auto sector with levies.

Indeed, pressure in Berlin has been mounting for the gov-ernment to contact to the incoming US administration on free trade talks, particularly after China sealed another large-scale trade deal in the Asia-Pacific region.

“China is moving forward with an Asian free trade agreement, this is a wake-up call for Europe,” said Matthias Heider, the chief lawmaker in charge of economic affairs in Merkel’s ruling CDU party. “This should be a top priority for the chancellor.”

While many politicians in Europe expect Biden will make

similar demands on them as Trump did in terms of stepping up security and defense efforts, the prospect of having more open ears in Washington is driving expectations.

“There is a lot of optimism on this side of the Atlantic,” Greek Foreign Minister Nikolaos Dendias said, adding that his government had hopes the incoming administration will have a more active presence in the eastern Mediterranean.

Further encouraging signs have come from Biden’s cabinet appointments, particularly that of Antony Blinken, “who knows Germany and Europe well,” according to Wadephul.

France is pushing for an overhaul of global tax rules to make multinational tech com-panies pay their fair share, but the talks at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have dragged on. In the meantime, the US is threatening tariffs against countries -- including France -- that go ahead with taxes on the revenue of digital firms.

“I will have a discussion about the best way of reducing inequalities in our economic models and of course I will put on the table the question of trade and the question of digital taxation,” Le Maire said in an interview, referring to talks with the incoming administration. “Our goal remains to have an OECD agreement by the first months of 2021.”

THE WASHINGTON POST

The day Joe Biden became president-elect, he listed climate change among his top priorities. Last week, he named former secretary of state John F. Kerry to be his climate czar. It is crucial Mr. Biden and Mr. Kerry follow through. The United States has squandered too much time. The world has almost none left to avoid extreme conse-quences for generations living and those only just being born.

The biggest looming problem is the likelihood that Mr. Biden will face Repub-lican resistance in Congress and a conservative Supreme Court inclined to block exec-utive branch initiatives. Two decades ago, many Repub-licans acknowledged the threat of warming, while the fossil fuel industry funded campaigns to deny it. Now, even major oil companies say

that climate change is a severe problem and favor a carbon tax to address it, but Republicans have made denying scientific expertise, and the science on global warming in particular, a matter of core identity. Still, there is room for hope.

Republicans have posi-tioned themselves not only on the wrong side of the merits but also on the wrong side of public opinion. Exit polls showed that two-thirds of 2020 voters - including a massive chunk of Trump voters - think climate change is a serious problem. Many voters backed the president despite, not because of, his position on climate change. Meanwhile, educated sub-urban voters, once the key-stone of the Republican coa-lition, recoiled from President Donald Trump’s efforts to accelerate the GOP’s transfor-mation into what

then-Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, R, termed “the stupid party.” Many Republican sen-ators still represent these sub-urban constituencies. They should seek ways to show that they are more thoughtful than the president the suburbs just rejected.

They could do this by sup-porting a bipartisan climate plan that is neither the Green New Deal nor the do- nothing-ism that has so long prevailed. A proposal backed by senior Republican luminaries James Baker and George Shultz, along with a massive swath of corporate America, would put a steadily rising fee on carbon emissions and rebate the pro-ceeds back to Americans.

The path is narrow. If Republicans retain the Senate and it becomes clear that major legislation would go nowhere, Mr. Biden would be left with small-bore legislative options: boosting funds for

environmental agencies; securing money to build out electricity transmission lines and public transit; advancing federal incentives for renew-ables. Mr. Biden could get some of these passed early on, in a covid-19 aid bill or a federal budget bill, and maintain pressure for larger climate leg-islation. But he should also prepare for the possibility that the bigger bill never comes.

The Clean Air Act dele-gates substantial authority to the president. The second he enters the Oval Office, Mr. Biden should reinstate and build on Pres-ident Barack Obama’s legacy environmental regu-lations - rules on methane emissions, power plants and auto efficiency, to name a few - and integrate climate considerations into the exercise of every other executive authority he commands.

Europe rushes to woo team Biden in hope of major trade rebalance

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09SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020 MIDDLE EAST

Khamenei vows revenge over slain scientistAP — TEHRAN

Iran’s supreme leader yesterday called for the “definitive punishment” of those behind the killing of a scientist linked to Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear programme, a slaying the Islamic Republic has blamed on Israel.

Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian scientists a decade ago amid tensions over Tehran’s nuclear programme, has yet to comment on the killing yesterday of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. However, the attack bore the hallmarks of a carefully planned, military-style ambush.

The slaying threatens to renew tensions between the US and Iran in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s term, just as President-elect Joe Biden has suggested his administration could return to Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers from which Trump earlier withdrew. The Pentagon announced early yesterday that it sent the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier back into the Mideast.

In a statement, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Fakhrizadeh “the coun-try’s prominent and distin-guished nuclear and defensive scientist.” Khamenei said Iran’s first priority after the killing was the “definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it.” He did not elaborate.

Speaking to a meeting of his government’s coronavirus task force earlier yesterday, President Hassan Rouhani blamed Israel

for the killing. Rouhani said that Fakhrizadeh’s death would not stop its nuclear programme, something Khamenei said as well. Iran’s civilian nuclear pro-gramme has continued its exper-iments and now enriches uranium up to 4.5%, far below weapons-grade levels of 90%.

But analysts have compared Fakhrizadeh to being on a par with Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who led the US’ Man-hattan Project in World War II that created the atom bomb.

“We will respond to the assassination of Martyr Fakhri-zadeh in a proper time,” Rouhani said.

He added: “The Iranian nation is smarter than falling into the trap of the Zionists. They are thinking to create chaos.” Friday’s attack happened in Absard, a village just east of the capital that is a retreat for the Iranian elite. Iranian state television said an

old truck with explosives hidden under a load of wood blew up near a sedan carrying Fakhri-zadeh. As Fakhrizadeh’s sedan stopped, at least five gunmen emerged and raked the car with rapid fire, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency said.

Fakhrizadeh died at a hos-pital after doctors and para-medics couldn’t revive him. Others wounded included Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards. Photos and video shared online showed a Nissan sedan with bullet holes in the windshield and blood pooled on the road.

Hours after the attack, the Pentagon announced it had brought the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier back into the Middle East, an unusual move as the carrier already spent months in the region.

It cited the drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq as the reason for the decision, saying “it was prudent to have additional defensive capabilities in the region to meet any contingency.”

The attack comes just days before the 10-year anniversary of the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari that Tehran also blamed on Israel. That and other targeted killings happened at the time that the so-called Stuxnet virus, believed to be an Israeli and American cre-ation, destroyed Iranian centri-fuges. Those assaults occurred at the height of Western fears over Iran’s nuclear programme. Tehran long has insisted its program is peaceful. However, Fakhrizadeh led Iran’s so-called

AMAD programme that Israel and the West have alleged was a military operation looking at the feasibility of building a nuclear weapon. The Interna-tional Atomic Energy Agency says that “structured program” ended in 2003.

IAEA inspectors monitor Iranian nuclear sites as part of the now-unravelling nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

After Trump’s 2018 with-drawal from the deal, Iran has abandoned all those limits. Experts now believe Iran has

enough low-enriched uranium to make at least two nuclear weapons if it chose to pursue the bomb. Meanwhile, an advanced centrifuge assembly plant at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility exploded in July in what Tehran now calls a sabotage attack.

Fakhrizadeh, born in 1958, had been sanctioned by the UN Security Council and the US for his work on AMAD. Iran always described him as a university physics professor. A member of the Revolutionary Guard, Fakhri-zadeh had been seen in pictures in meetings attended by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a sign of his impor-

tance in Iran’s theocracy.US sanctions lists name him

as heading Iran’s Organisation for Defensive Innovation and Research. The State Department described that organisation last year as working on “dual-use research and development activ-ities, of which aspects are poten-tially useful for nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems.”

Iran’s mission to the UN described Fakhrizadeh’s recent work as “development of the first indigenous COVID-19 test kit” and overseeing Tehran’s efforts at making a possible coronavirus vaccine.

Protesters gather during a demonstration against the killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in Tehran yesterday.

France, UN to host new Lebanon aid conference next weekAP — PARIS

France and the UN will host a new conference next week about aid to Beirut after its devastating port explosion in August, amid political deadlock and a worsening economic crisis in Lebanon, the French presidency said on Friday.

Thousands of Lebanese are struggling to repair homes damaged in the blast, and there

is no government initiative to rebuild what has been destroyed.

French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will co-preside over the video con-ference on December 2, which will also include Lebanese non-governmental groups and other organizations seeking to help, according to Macron’s office.

Nearly four months after the

explosion forced the Lebanese government’s resignation, leaders are still struggling to form a new government amid ongoing political disagreements. The Lebanese army has offered small assistance for rebuilding Beirut, but the country’s severe economic crisis has further deteriorated.

Macron visited Beirut twice in the aftermath of the blast and promised to help the

former French protectorate rebuild. But his initiative and roadmap for a new gov-ernment that would enact urgent reforms has gone nowhere amid Lebanon’s political paralysis, and billions of dollars in international aid remain blocked.

The massive blast killed nearly 200 people and injured more than 6,000 when 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate

detonated at Beirut’s port. It also devastated several neigh-bourhoods, shattering thou-sands of residential, historic and other buildings. It is con-sidered to be one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded. The cause of the explosion still is not known, but it is widely seen as the culmi-nation of decades of corruption and mismanagement by Leb-anon’s ruling class.

Toll rises to 6 in clashes among rival protesters in IraqAFP — NASIRIYAH

The toll from clashes among rival protesters in Iraq’s southern hot spot of Nasiriyah rose to six dead, medics said yesterday, as other cities imposed security measures.

Violence erupted on Friday between the dwindling members of the October 2019

anti-government protest movement and supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, who had called on his followers to hit the streets in a show of force.

In the southern city of Nasiriyah, anti-government activists accused Sadrists of shooting at them and torching their tents in their main gathering

place of Habboubi Square.Clashes continued into the

night, with medics reporting a total of six dead by yesterday morning, five of them from bullet wounds, and at least 60 wounded. But yesterday morning, anti-government pro-testers were already back in the square to rebuild their camp.

Authorities sacked the city’s police chief, launched an inves-tigation into the events and imposed an overnight curfew in Nasiriyah. Other cities also intro-duced security measures, with Kut and Amara further north setting new movement restrictions.

Nasiriyah was a major hub

for the protest movement that erupted in October 2019 against a government seen by demon-strators as corrupt, inept and beholden to neighbouring Iran.

It was also the site of one of the bloodiest incidents of the uprising, when more than three dozen died in protest-related vio-lence on November 28 last year.

Yarmuk residents plan return to war-torn Palestinian camp in SyriaAFP — YARMUK

When Syrian authorities said they would allow returns to the war-ravaged Yarmuk camp for Palestinian refugees in southern Damascus, Issa Al Loubani rushed to sign up and quickly started repairing his home.

Hundreds of former resi-dents have already requested permission to go back to the set-tlement, home to 160,000 Pal-estinian refugees and some Syrian families before the con-flict broke out in 2011.

More than 400 families have returned in the last few months because they cannot afford to rent homes elsewhere after years of displacement, the United Nations said in early November.

Loubani, who first left in 2012, is determined to join their ranks even if the windows of his wrecked apartment are still covered with plastic sheeting.

“Our flat needs major work, but it’s better than paying rent,” said Loubani, who has been living in a Damascus apartment with his wife and daughter.

“We still need electricity, running water, and to clear rubble from the streets” before moving back in, the 48-year-old Palestinian refugee spoke from Yarmuk. Syrian government and allied forces retook the camp in

2018 from the Islamic State group. But two years on, recon-struction has been slow and the scars of war remain visible.

The walls of Loubani’s building are pockmarked with bullet holes. Neighbouring blocks have had their facades blown off or seen their balconies cave.

Some structures have col-lapsed entirely following years of bombardment and heavy fighting.

Loubani’s wife, Ilham, finds an old photo from their wedding in the rubble-strewn alley.

“That’s Umm Walid,” she says, pointing to one of the guests in the picture. Founded in 1957 with tents for Palestinians who fled or were ousted from their homes with the establishment of Israel, Yarmuk grew into a bus-tling neighbourhood.

In 2012, around 140,000 res-idents fled as clashes raged.

Those who stayed faced severe shortages of food and medicine under a withering years-long government siege.

IS entered the area in 2015, bringing further suffering to remaining residents until mili-tants were forced out three years later. This month, the Damascus municipality said residents could register to return to Yarmuk if their homes were structurally sound. Some 600 families have

already signed up, said Mahmoud Al Khaled, a Palestinian who heads a committee that clears rubble in the camp.

But the civil engineer who grew up in Yarmuk said less than half of the buildings were cur-rently safe for reoccupation.

The 430 families that have already returned despite difficult living conditions rely heavily on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Around 75 percent of UNRWA’s 23 premises in Yarmuk, including 16 schools, need to be completely rebuilt, and all three of its health centres have been destroyed.

To compensate, the organi-sation sends a mobile health clinic to the camp once a week and provides buses to transport children to schools in Damascus.

A month ago, Syrian Shehab

Al Din Blidi returned to his home — one of the few apartments in Yarmuk largely spared by the fighting. Its cosy living room with bright paint and uphol-stered armchairs stands in stark contrast with the wasteland outside.

“If we had waited for elec-tricity, water and sewage to return, we would have perhaps” had to wait for a year before coming back, Blidi said.

With little outside help, he said it was up to residents to fend for themselves.

“Reconstruction requires efforts from several countries,” Blidi said.

“In the meantime, we have to make do.” The 60-year-old has managed to secure some electricity for his flat through a long cable connected to a power source beyond the camp.

With no running water, he buys large bottles from outside Yarmuk and stores them at home. But for camp residents displaced to Idlib — the last major opposition bastion, in northwestern Syria — returning is nearly impossible.

“No one in the (opposition-held) north can register to return or even reach Yarmuk,” said Ahmad Khormandi, who left the camp when IS entered in 2015.

He and his family now live in a displacement camp in Idlib province near the border with Turkey. The 43-year-old Pales-tinian said in northwestern Syria that he fears arrest if he returns to Yarmuk. But even if he were allowed back, he said, returning to live in his home would be impossible.

“I don’t have the means to fix my house,” he said.

Issa Al Loubani, a 48-year-old Palestinian refugee, walks with his wife and daughter in a street in the Palestinian Yarmuk camp, on the southern outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus.

13 dead in south

Yemen clashes

AFP — DUBAI

Thirteen fighters were killed in an exchange of artillery fire between pro-government forces and separatists in the southern province of Abyan, military sources said yesterday.

The Southern Transitional Council lost eight men, including two officers, and six others were wounded late on Friday in the latest outbreak of violence between the nominal allies in Yemen’s civil war, an STC source said.

A military source on the Yemeni government side said that five fighters from its ranks were among the dead.

The STC is a separatist organisation that wants the south to secede from the rest of the country, even while it is allied with the central gov-ernment in a fight against their common foe, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, in Yemen’s civil war. The separatists announced in August their withdrawal from talks on a power-sharing deal with the Saudi-backed and internationally-recognised government.

Iran reports slowing of virus infectionsREUTERS — TEHRAN Iran’s Health Ministry yesterday reported a slowdown in coronavirus infections, saying that 89 of 160 cities were out of the designated high risk category.

“I thank our dear people for taking the appropriate pre-cautions and tolerating the restrictions,” deputy health minister Alireza Raisi said on state TV, adding that public adherence was 90 percent.

Still, the government yes-terday announced the closure of most non-essential gov-ernment offices in an effort to stem the spread of the virus.

A health ministry spokes-woman reported 13,402 new coronavirus cases yesterday, pushing the national tally to 935,799 in the Middle East’s worst-hit country.

Sima Sadat Lari told state TV that the death toll had risen by 391 in the past 24 hours to 7,486. President Hassan Rouhani said in televised remarks that he had instructed Iran’s Central Bank to provide the funds needed to import coronavirus vaccines.

Supreme Leader

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

called Fakhrizadeh the

country’s prominent and

distinguished nuclear

and defensive scientist.

Khamenei said Iran’s first

priority after the killing

was the definitive

punishment of the

perpetrators and those

who ordered it.

10 SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Local elections in NigeriaA man casts his ballots for the local elections at a polling station at the Mafoni Internal Displaced People camp near Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, yesterday.

CAR neighbours condemn ‘crimes’ ahead of electionsAFP — LIBREVILLE

Eleven countries in central Africa on Friday called for an end to “crimes” in the troubled Central African Republic (CAR), a month from key elections there.

Members of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), meeting in Gabon, pointed to the armed groups who control two-thirds of the CAR’s territory.

“The crimes committed threaten the unity of the Central African Republic and its

existence,” Gabonese Foreign Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya said.

He urged CAR’s “leaders” to “seize the historic opportunity of the elections to set down the foundations for reconciliation and reconstruction.”

One of the world’s poorest and most volatile countries, the CAR is staging presidential and legislative elections on December 27.

In 2013, the Seleka, a rebel coalition, toppled then-pres-ident Francois Bozize, plunging the landlocked state into

violence that forced nearly a quarter of its people to flee their homes.

Under a February 2019 peace accord between the gov-ernment and 14 armed groups that brought militia chiefs into the government, violence has receded in intensity but remains widespread.

Bozize, 74, and his elected successor, Faustin-Archange Touadera, 63, are among 21 declared candidates for next month’s vote.

Touadera was among six presidents who were present in

Libreville for the summit. The five other countries were rep-resented by delegations.

ECCAS, comprising 11 states in central Africa ranging from Equatorial Guinea in the west to Burundi in the east, was founded in October 1983 with the goal of establishing a common market, a quest that remains elusive.

Gabon’s president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, on Friday handed the revolving chair-manship of the group to his Republic of Congo counterpart, Denis Sassou-Nguesso.

Concerns rise after Algeria President marks a month in hospitalAFP — ALGIERS

A month after Algerian Pres-ident Abdelmadjid Tebboune (pictured) was hospitalised in Germany and tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), uncer-tainty about his health is fuelling questions about the country’s leadership.

Tebboune, who is 75 and a heavy smoker, was admitted to hospital in Germany on October 28 to undergo “in-depth medical examinations”, according to the presidency.

He was transferred from a facility in the Algerian capital days after going into self-iso-lation following reports of novel coronavirus cases among his aides.

The last tweet from his per-sonal Twitter account dates to October 24, and the Algerian presidency has issued a series

of statements on the president’s health.

A day before he was trans-ferred abroad, the presidency said Tebboune’s “state of health does not raise any concern” but a week later it announced that he had contracted the COVID-19 illness.

On November 8, it said Teb-boune was “in the process of completing his treatment” and

that his health was “constantly improving”. A week later it said he had finished treatment and was undergoing “post-protocol medical tests”.

Since then, there has been deafening silence, except for a report last week by the official APS news agency saying that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had sent Tebboune a letter of good wishes.

The fragmented infor-mation and lack of any photo-graphic evidence of Tebboune’s state of health are fuelling spec-ulation at a time when Algeria is experiencing a resurge of its coronavirus outbreak.

For many Algerians, the developments have recalled the power vacuum that followed the hospitalisation of former p r e s i d e n t A b d e l a z i z Bouteflika.

The veteran leader — who

stepped down in April 2019 weeks into mass protests against his bid for a fifth term — had suffered a debilitating stroke in early 2013 and stayed in hospital abroad for nearly three months.

Tebboune’s “long absence due to illness, combined with a ‘protocol’ of information double-speak, indicates that the president really is sick,” Algerian political scientist Mohamed Hennad said.

“Hennad said that “if his prolonged absence poses a problem, it is not because of the illness itself, but because the authorities... complicate things unnecessarily.”

Some are starting question whether Article 102 of Algeria’s basic law should be applied in order to avoid a constitutional crisis.

Hennad said that under the

article, a power vacuum was viewed in two stages: “tem-porary impairment (of the pres-ident), for a maximum duration of 45 days, then resignation” beyond that duration.

Were that to occur, Salah Goudjil, the 89-year-old interim senate president who fought in Algeria’s 1954 to 1962 war of independence against France, would serve as acting president, pending the election of a new head of state.

Tebboune’s illness meant he was out of the country for a November 1 referendum on a revised constitution seen as aiming to bury a mass protest movement and boost the pres-ident, elected on a record low turnout last December.

Algeria has officially recorded more than 80,000 novel coronavirus cases and more than 2,000 deaths.

Iran not to recognise anyBelgian verdicton diplomatAFP — TEHRAN

Iran has said it will not recognise any verdict by a Belgian court against a diplomat accused of plotting to bomb an exiled opposition group’s rally.

Assadollah Assadi, a dip-lomat formerly based in Vienna, faces 20 years in prison if convicted of plotting to target a rally for opposition groups based outside Iran, organised in Villepinte outside Paris for June 30, 2018.

The rally included the Peo-ple’s Mojahedin of Iran (MEK), which Tehran considers a “ter-rorist group” and has banned since 1981.

“We have announced many times and from the beginning that this court is not qualified, and that the judicial process is not legitimate due to (Assadi’s) diplomatic immunity and fun-damental issues,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency. “And even it does lead to a verdict, we will not recognise it,” he added. “He is innocent and it is clear he has been con-spired against.”

The 48-year-old refused to appear as the trial began on Friday, claiming diplomatic immunity, but three co-accused were all in court.

Despite Assadi’s absence, Belgian prosecutors say they have the right to proceed.

The trial is to continue with lawyer Dimitri de Beco repre-senting Assadi.

After Friday’s session, the second part of the trial is scheduled to take place on Thursday. The court is then expected to adjourn to con-sider its verdict before ruling early next year.

Bombing at ice cream shop in Somalia leaves 7 deadAP — MOGADISHU

A local official says a suicide bombing at an ice cream shop in Somalia’s capital has killed at least seven people, and the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabab extremist group has claimed responsibility.

The attack occurred just hours after acting US Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller visited Mogadishu to meet the US ambassador and military personnel and to express appreciation for their work and to reiterate the US commitment to combatting extremist groups.

Somalian government spokesman Salah Omar Hassan announced the bombing’s toll to reporters.

The government said at least eight people were wounded in the “heinous” attack.

Al Shabab often targets the capital.

Burkina Faso oppn leader concedes defeat in electionAFP — OUAGADOUGOU

Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said on Friday that he had received the congratulations of the leader of the opposition, a day after official results showed he was re-elected by a landslide.

Ahead of the election, inter-national diplomatic efforts had stepped up to prevent any pos-sible flare-up in the country and which is struggling with a long-running militant campaign.

Kabore won a large outright majority in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, removing the need for a runoff ballot, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) said.

“I have received on Friday evening the congratulations of the presidential candidate, Zephirin Diabre,” Kabore, 63,

wrote on Twitter.“I salute his approach which

is in line with the republican spirit of our political class,” he added, accompanying his tweet with a photo of the two.

When the CENI announced Kabore’s landslide victory on Thursday, the opposition had said it “reserved the right” to challenge the results.

Diabre’s Union for Progress and Change (UPC) said on its website before Kabore’s tweet it wished to “point out the major shortcomings” which had “marred” the ballot.

However, “considering the difficult situation our country is going through” it reaffirmed its “renewed desire to always preserve peace, stability and security in Burkina Faso by placing the interest of the nation above all other considerations”.

Ethiopian troops take ‘full control’ of Mekelle: GovtREUTERS — ADDIS ABABA

Ethiopian troops have taken “full control” of the Tigray region’s capital Mekelle, the government said yesterday evening, a major development in a three-week-old war that is sending shockwaves through the Horn of Africa.

“The federal government is now fully in control of the city of Mekelle,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement posted on his Twitter page.

He said police were searching for the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), who have been fighting federal forces in the northern region since November 4.

“Federal police will now continue their task of appre-hending TPLF criminals and bring them to the court of law,” said Abiy, who has called the government offensive a law and order operation.

There was no immediate comment from the TPLF.

Claims from all sides are difficult to verify since phone and internet links to the region have been down and access has been tightly controlled since fighting began on November 4.

Authorities had said earlier that government forces were in the final stages of an offensive in the region and would take

care to protect civilians in Mekelle, a city of 500,000 people.

Abiy said the army had secured the release of thou-sands of troops in the Northern Command, a military unit based

in Tigray that was being held hostage by the TPLF.

The army chief of staff, Birhanu Jula, also announced that government forces had taken control of Mekelle, in a statement on the military’s

official Facebook page.State television said that

federal forces were in full control of the city by 7pm.

Earlier yesterday, a dip-lomat in direct contact with res-idents, and the leader of Tig-rayan forces said federal forces had begun an offensive to capture Mekelle.

The government had given

the TPLF an ultimatum that expired on Wednesday to lay down arms or face an assault on the city.

Thousands of people are believed to have died during the fighting this month and around 43,000 refugees have fled to neighbouring Sudan during the conflict.

The northern region of

Tigray also borders the nation of Eritrea and the conflict has stirred concern about an esca-lation around the country of 115 million people, or in the region.

Abiy accuses Tigrayan leaders of starting the war by attacking federal troops at a base in Tigray. The TPLF says the attack was a pre-emptive strike.

Abiy told African peace envoys on Friday that his gov-ernment will protect civilians in Tigray.

The prime minister has said that he regards the conflict as an internal matter and his gov-ernment has so far rebuffed attempts at mediation.

UN says Sudan needs $150m to help Ethiopian refugeesAFP — UM RAQUBA, SUDAN

Sudan needs $150m in aid to cope with the flood of Ethi-opian refugees crossing its border from conflict-stricken Tigray, the UN refugee agency chief said yesterday during a visit to a camp.The Tigray conflict broke out on November 4 between Ethi-opia’s federal forces and leaders of the region’s ruling party.

Sudan has since hosted more than 43,000 Ethiopian refugees fleeing from the intense fighting into one of its most impoverished regions.

“Sudan needs $150m for six months to provide these refugees water, shelter and health services,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi at Um Raquba camp, some 80km from the border.

Grandi called on “donors to provide Sudan with these resources as soon as they can”.

Between 500 and 600 ref-ugees are still crossing the border each day.

Sudan has sought to provide help to accomodate the mass refugee influx as it struggles with its own deep economic crisis.

Some 65 percent of Sudan’s nearly 42 million people live below the poverty line, according to government figures.

As the Tigray fighting rages, Grandi also voiced concern over the fate of tens of thousands of Eritrean ref-ugees living in Ethiopia for decades. “We don’t have access to them,” he said, urging the Ethiopian gov-ernment to authorise visits by the United Nations.

Ethiopian refugees who fled the Tigray conflict, build temporary huts at Um Raquba camp in Gedaref province eastern Sudan, yesterday.

“Federal police will now continue their task of apprehending TPLF criminals and bring them to the court of law,” said Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has called the government offensive a law and order operation.

11SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020 ASIA

Farmers continue protest in India despite talks offerAGENCIES — NEW DELHI

Thousands of farmers in and around the Indian capital yesterday pressed on with their protest against agricultural legislation they said could devastate crop prices, while the government sought talks with their leaders.

Some protesters burned an effigy of Prime Minister Modi and shouted “Down with Modi,” as they rallied on New Delhi’s border with Haryana state.

The protesting farmers were allowed to enter New Delhi late on Friday after a day of clashes with police, who used tear gas, water cannons and baton charges to push them back.

Television images showed some of them moving into the capital while thousands still remained at the outskirts of the city. The Press Trust of India news agency said more pro-testers were heading for New Delhi from northern Punjab state.

Many farmers have camped out on highways in Punjab and Haryana states for the last two months to protest the passing of the legislation. They say the laws could cause the gov-ernment to stop buying grain at guaranteed prices and result in their exploitation by corpora-tions that would buy their crops cheaply. They want the laws scrapped.

The government says the legislation brings about much needed reform agriculture that will allow farmers the freedom to market their produce and boost production through private investment.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said he has invited representatives of the farmers for talks on December 3.

“We have talked before and are still ready for talks,” Tomar said late on Friday.

Home Minister Amit Shah yesterday appealed to the farmers saying that the gov-ernment is ready to hold talks on every issue around the

recently introduced farm laws.Shah said: "I appeal to the

protesting farmers that the gov-ernment of India is ready to hold talks. Agriculture Minister has invited farmers on December 3 to hold discussion. Government is ready to delib-erate on every problem and demand of the farmers."

He added that at many places — state highways and national highways — farmers are staying with their tractors and trolley and braving extreme cold weather. "I appeal to all farmers that the Delhi Police is ready to shift you to a big ground, please go there. You will get police permission to hold your programme there," added Shah.

The Home Minister said health facilities, ambulances and drinking water have been made available along with ade-quate security arrangements at the Nirankari ground in Burari in Outer Delhi.

He insisted that if farmers hold protests peacefully and democratically, it won't cause problems to either the farmers or the public at large. Shah added that if the farmer unions want talks with the government before December 3, they have to shift to the grounds at Burari to hold their protest in a struc-tured manner.

"As soon as you shift to

Burari, the very next day the Central government is ready to have talks with you," added the Home Minister.

There was no immediate response from the farmers. The protesters said they would not return to their homes until their demands were met.

“We are fighting for our rights. We won’t rest until we reach the capital and force the government to abolish these

black laws,” said Majhinder Singh Dhaliwal, one of the leaders.

Opposition parties and some Modi allies have called the laws anti-farmer and pro-corporation.

Farmers have long been seen as the heart and soul of India, where agriculture sup-ports more than half of the country’s 1.3 billion people. But farmers have also seen their

economic clout diminish over the last three decades. Once accounting for a third of India’s gross domestic product, they now produce only 15 percent of gross domestic product, which is valued at $2.9 trillion a year.

Farmers often complain of being ignored and hold frequent protests to demand better crop prices, more loan waivers and irrigation systems to guarantee water during dry spells.

Farmers protest against the newly passed farm bills at Singhu border near New Delhi, yesterday.

Malaysia will go

to the polls only

after pandemic

ends, says PM

AFP — KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia will go to the polls when the coronavirus pandemic is over, the prime minister said yesterday, two days after winning lawmakers’ backing for his government’s 2021 budget.

Muhyiddin Yassin took power in March after pulling his party from Anwar Ibra-him’s ruling coalition to ally with the scandal-tainted United Malays National Organ-isation (UMNO) and others.

Since then, his adminis-tration has been hobbled by constant infighting.

In a speech at a virtual annual general meeting of his Bersatu party yesterday, he expressed confidence that his ruling alliance would win voters’ backing at the next election.

“God willing, if it is allowed by Allah, when the coronavirus pandemic is over, we will hold the general elections,” he said, adding that “we will seek the people’s mandate and let voters decide the government of their choice”.

He did not elaborate.The prime minister -- who

maintains a razor-thin majority -- also said he had a “heart-to-heart meeting” with UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to thrash out any differences between the uneasy allies.

Serum Institute to apply for vaccine licence in ‘2 weeks’BLOOMBERG — NEW DELHI

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government was working with local drug companies to speedily develop a COVID-19 vaccine, even as questions mounted over human trials conducted by AstraZeneca Plc, which is expected to produce the country’s front-runner shot.

Modi, who crisscrossed the country to meet officials at Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Bharat Biotech and the Serum Institute of India Ltd, said his gov-ernment was “actively working”

with scientists and officials to facilitate their vaccine efforts.

The Serum Institute, the world’s largest producer of vac-cines by volume, has partnered with AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University and has already produced millions of doses ahead of approval.

Bharat Biotech is developing a vaccine called Covaxin that could be licensed by the second quarter of 2021.

At a briefing following Modi’s visit, Serum’s Chief Executive Officer Adar Poon-awalla said they expect to apply for an emergency licence

within two weeks. He also said Serum won’t be conducting any new human tests for now after questions over some results prompted Pascal Soriot, Astra-Zeneca’s chief executive officer, said on Thursday that the company will probably conduct an additional global trial to assess the vaccine’s efficacy.

“At the moment the trials are more than enough for the efficacy,” Poonawalla said. “Of course there was a bit of con-fusion in the communication, which will be explained in the coming days, but that’s not

going to affect the emergency use licensure in the U.K. and should not affect it in India at all.”

Poonawalla said the company is continuing to produce and stockpile 50 to 60 million doses a month, which will be ramped up to 100 million shots a month by January or February.

Meanwhile, Cadila’s COVID-19 vaccine is likely to enter phase-III trials next month and a launch is expected by March if things go according to plan, local media reported.

India remains a global hotspot for the virus, although daily infections have been cut in half since a peak of more than 97,000 in mid-September.

The significant drop, though, has raised fresh ques-tions over the South Asian nation’s testing regime and whether it reflects the true state of its epidemic.

Nevertheless, India is rela-tively well positioned. Its neigh-bours will be looking to China and a WHO-backed initiative to score supplies. However, any wide rollout is still likely months, if not years, away.

Green driveStudents join environment activists in planting mangrove trees at a beach in Pekan Bada, Aceh province of Indonesia, yesterday.

North Korea ‘shutscapital to ward off virus spread’AP — SEOUL

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered at least two people executed, banned fishing at sea and locked down the capital, Pyongyang, as part of frantic efforts to guard against the coronavirus and its economic damage, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Friday.

Kim’s government also ordered diplomats overseas to refrain from any acts that could provoke the United States because it is worried about President-elect Joe Biden’s expected new approach toward North Korea, lawmakers told reporters after attending a private briefing by the National Intelligence Service.

One of the lawmakers, Ha Tae-keung, quoted the NIS as saying Kim is displaying “excessive anger” and taking “irrational measures” over the pandemic and its economic impact.

Ha said the NIS told law-makers that North Korea exe-cuted a high-profile money changer in Pyongyang last month after holding the person responsible for a falling exchange rate.

He quoted the NIS as saying that North Korea also executed a key official in August for vio-lating government regulations restricting goods brought from abroad. The two people weren’t identified by name.

North Korea has also banned fishing and salt pro-duction at sea to prevent sea-water from being infected with the virus, the NIS told lawmakers.

There are few ways to inde-pendently confirm the reported fishing ban and other

information given by the NIS to the lawmakers. Ha didn’t say whether the ban applied to all North Korean waters or whether it was still in effect.

North Korea recently placed Pyongyang and northern Jagang province under lockdown over virus concerns. Earlier this month, it imposed lockdown measures in other areas where officials found unauthorised goods and foreign currencies that were brought in, Ha cited the NIS as saying.

North Korea also made an unsuccessful hacking attempt on at least one South Korean pharmaceutical company that was trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine, the NIS said.

The agency has a mixed record in confirming develop-ments in North Korea, one of the world’s most secretive nations. The NIS said it couldn’t immediately confirm the law-makers’ accounts.

North Korea has main-tained that it hasn’t found a single coronavirus case on its soil, a claim disputed by outside experts, although it says it is making all-out efforts to prevent the virus’s spread.

A major outbreak could have dire consequences because the North’s health care system remains crippled and suffers from a chronic lack of medical supplies.

The pandemic forced North Korea to seal its border with China, its biggest trading partner and aid benefactor, in January.

The closure, along with a series of natural disasters over the summer, dealt a heavy blow to the North’s economy, which has been under punishing US-led sanctions.

IS-linked militants kill four in IndonesiaAFP — PALU, INDONESIA

Islamic State-linked extremists killed four people in a remote Christian community on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, authorities said yesterday, with one victim beheaded and another burned to death.

The group of sword-and-gun wielding attackers ambushed Lembantongoa village in Central Sulawesi province Friday morning, killing several residents and torching half a dozen homes, including one used for regular prayers and services, police said.

No arrests had yet been made and the motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

But authorities pointed the finger at the Sulawesi-based East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), one of dozens of radical groups across the Southeast Asian archipelago that have

pledged allegiance to IS.Indonesia, the world’s

biggest Muslim majority nation, has long wrestled with militancy and terror attacks, while Central Sulawesi has seen intermittent violence between Christians and Muslims for decades.

“We reached the conclusion that they (the attackers) were from MIT after showing pictures of its members to relatives of the victims” who witnessed the ambush, said Sigi Regency police chief Yoga Priyahutama.

The makeshift church was empty at the time of the early morning attack by around eight militants, he added.

“People were just in their homes when it happened,” Pri-yahutama said.

Lembantongoa village head Rifai, who like many Indone-sians goes by one name, said one victim was beheaded and another was nearly decapitated.

One of the other all-male

victims was stabbed while a fourth was burned to death in his home, he added. “Some res-idents managed to escape, but the victims didn’t make it,” Rifai said.

Indonesia’s Christians have been targeted in the past, including in 2018 when IS-linked group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah staged a wave of suicide bombings by families —including young children — at churches in the country’s second-biggest city Surabaya, killing a dozen congregants.

If confirmed to be the work of MIT, Friday’s killings would be its first significant attack since the organisation’s leader was killed four years ago by Indone-sia’s elite anti-terror squad, according to Jakarta-based ter-rorism expert Sidney Jones.

“Through the attack... they want to show that police efforts to arrest and kill members of the group did not have any effect on” them, she said.

Philippines in deal

with AstraZeneca

for 2.6 million doses

REUTERS — MANILA

The Philippines will get 2.6 million shots of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca under the country’s first supply deal for a coronavirus vaccine, senior officials said on Friday.

This supply, to be paid for by the private sector, will inoc-ulate just over one million Fil-ipinos as the British drug-maker’s vaccine requires two doses, said Jose Concepcion, a government business adviser representing the private sector.

Carlito Galvez, a top coro-navirus task force official, said authorities were also dis-cussing with AstraZeneca a possible one million more doses.

Those agreed on Friday would cover about one percent of the Philippines’ 108 million population, two-third of which the government hopes to inoculate.

“I appeal to the protesting farmers that the government of India is ready to hold talks. Agriculture Minister has invited farmers on December 3 to hold discussion. Government is ready to deliberate on every problem and demand of the farmers,” the Home Minister said.

12 SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020ASIA

Virus infections in Pakistanabove 3,000 for fourth dayINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

Coronavirus cases in Pakistan have risen by over 3,000 for four out of the last seven days as the second wave of infection spreads across the country.

COVID-19 infections surged by at least 3,045 on Friday, according to statistics issued by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), bringing the total tally to 392,356.

The highest number of infections were reported in Sindh with 1,423 people testing positive for the coronavirus.

Punjab is second with 738 new cases while 447 people tested positive for COVID-19 in I s l a m a b a d . K h y b e r Pakhtunkhwa’s single-day tally was 323, Balochistan’s 38, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 55, and Gilgit Baltistan 21.

After two days of remaining at 7.2 per cent, the country’s coronavirus positivity rate dropped to 6.3 per cent on November 27. With 45 patients succumbing to the virus, the country’s death toll surged past 7,900.

NCOC stats show 15 deaths were recorded in Punjab, 12 in Sindh, nine in KP, six in AJK, and one in GB. Balochistan reported no deaths in the past 24 hours.

There are at least 2,172 patients under critical care while the number of active cases stands at 46,861. NCOC said 281 ventilators are occupied across Pakistan out of 1,760 vents allocated for COVID-19.

In Sindh, 802 people recovered from the virus. The

second highest single-day recoveries were observed in Islamabad at 334 and third in KP with 277 people beating the virus. AJK recorded 103 recov-eries, Punjab 98, Balochistan 30, and 28 in GB.

Meanwhile, several political activists from opposition parties were arrested in Multan after Punjab government denied per-mission to opposition’s anti-government alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for holding jalsa (public gath-ering) in Multan tomorrow and decided to register cases against the violators of the ban on large-scale public gatherings.

In this connection, the pro-vincial administrative machinery, till the filing of this report, did not issue any specific notification to ban PDM gath-ering in Multan while gov-ernment officials said that a noti-fication issued last week is already in effect to ban the public gatherings in the backdrop of rapid spread of coronavirus in Punjab and rest of the country.

The PDM leadership has

been informed about the noti-fication and ban on large-scale public gatherings, sources said.

“There is a complete ban on all types of large-gatherings and only outdoor gatherings will be allowed with upper limit of 300 persons,” reads the noti-fication dated November 19 issued by Punjab’s Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Captain (rtd) Muhammad Usman.

This order shall come into force immediately and shall remain in force till January 31, 2021, unless otherwise amended, the notification reads.

Several activists of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) were arrested across Punjab, it is learnt.

Cases were being registered against the arrested persons for defying ban on public gath-erings, sources said, adding that arrests could be extended to other parts of the province, if required.

A government official, requesting anonymity, told Business Recorder that the gov-ernment’s inaction with respect to November 23 Peshawar jalsa has mounted pressure on Punjab government to take action against violators of public gathering ban in Punjab.

“Ahead of Peshawar jalsa, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa gov-ernment announced that PDM would not be allowed to hold the jalsa in the backdrop of alarming spread of COVID-19 but the jalsa took place and the provincial government did nothing to stop it.

Pakistanis mourn Sharif's motherSupporters of Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister of Pakistan, gather during the funeral ceremony of Sharif’s mother Begum Shamim Akhtar, in Lahore, yesterday.

Pakistan, Germany sign three grant-in-aid agreementsINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

The Government of Pakistan and the Government of Germany signed three grant-in-aid agreements with a cumulative value of €18.5m. Under these agreements, the Government of Germany will provide support to the Government of Pakistan for health facilities and combating polio in the country, along with services towards mitigating energy issues.

The agreements were signed by Noor Ahmed, sec-retary, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Sebastian Jacobi, country director, German

Development Bank-KfW Pakistan.

Under the “Women Employment in Private Health Sector”, KfW will provide a grant of ¤12m exclusively for the establishment of women’s health clinics in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab to promote self-employment of women in the health sector, and training of qualified women to run clinics.

For “polio eradication”, the Government of Germany, through KfW will provide an additional grant of Euro five million to augment the existing support for polio eradication.

This will help the Government of Pakistan to finance polio

vaccines and meet the costs for vaccination campaigns for imple-mentation of Pakistan’s National Polio Emergency Action Plan.

Under the climate change/energy component, a grant of €1.5m is provided to Pakistan to implement accompanying services for the Harpo Hydro-power Project in the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region.

These accompanying measures will be carried out at the project site in support of the main Harpo Hydropower Project to ensure the project sustainability. The accompa-nying services shall comprise assistance to strengthen the power utility.

Khalid Khurshid

nominated as PTI

candidate for GB

CM’s post

INTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

Prime Minister Imran Khan has nominated Khalid Khurshid as Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s candidate for the post of chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). PTI chief organiser Saifullah Khan Nyazee made this announcement through a tweet.

According to sources, Nyazee and federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur met Khan in Islamabad to finalise the name of PTI candidate for the post of GB chief minister.

Khurshid was elected member of the GB Legislative Assembly from GBLA-13 (Astore-1) constituency by defeating the PPP’s Abdul Hameed Khan by a margin of 1,719 votes.

The election for the GB chief minister’s slot, which was earlier scheduled for yes-terday, will now be held tomorrow, according to a noti-fication issued by the GB Assembly Secretariat.

Born on November 17, 1980 in the Rattu area of Shounter tehsil in Astore, Khalid Khurshid did his matric from Public School and College, Gilgit, and received a law degree from Queen Mary University of London.

He contested election from GBLA-13, Astore, in 2009 as an independent candidate but lost. He again lost in the 2015 election.

Khurshid joined the PTI on July 28, 2018, and was later appointed president of the party’s Astore-Diamer division chapter.

Khurshid belongs to a well-known political family of Astore district. His father Mohammad Khurshid Khan was a member of the GB Advisory Council in the early 70s.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to visit GB tomorrow to participate in the oath-taking ceremony of the new GB chief minister.

Addressing PTI workers in Gilgit, Khurshid thanked the prime minister for nominating him for the chief minister’s post.

Anger grows at coronavirus restrictions in Hong KongBLOOMBERG — HONG KONG

As Hong Kong battles a new wave of coronavirus infections with yet another round of social restrictions, a sense of fatigue with the confusing and incon-sistent nature of the city’s pandemic response is setting in among business-owners and residents.

Though the Asian financial center has thus far been rela-tively unscathed — total COVID-19 cases amounting to just 81 cases per 100,000 people out of a densely packed 7 million population — the city has encountered more waves than most other places and is entering its fourth round of

stop-start restrictions.“ H o n g K o n g h a s

undoubtedly been lucky with the pandemic so far. What has been missing is a clear, public road map as to how and when restrictions will be imple-mented and when the rules will be relaxed,” said Nicholas Thomas, associate professor in health security at the City Uni-versity of Hong Kong.

The coronavirus has been an unpredictable and volatile foe, warranting nimble and quick-changing reaction from governments. But as the pan-demic approaches its first anni-versary, Hong Kong’s residents and business-owners are increasingly looking to the

structured response systems in place in regional neighbours like New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore in envy.

The former British colony’s comparatively erratic response is deepening the crisis in an economy already on its knees from months of restive street protests followed by the pan-demic, they say.

The sharp rise in new local cases in the past week is linked to social dancing venues, yet officials have announced a closure of karaoke rooms and massage parlours. Like in pre-vious rounds, the restrictions are imposed for a week or two at a time, leaving business-owners in a state of suspended

animation and unable to plan long term.

“At the moment, I’m waiting to see if they’re closing more classrooms,” said Stephanie Holding, a mother of three sons who runs her own business from home. She would rather see a system that lets people “know what’s affected and when,” she said.

Hong Kong says it takes a flexible “suppress and lift” approach to virus restrictions based on the advice of medical advisers. But other “high risk” businesses like gyms and res-taurants don’t know when they’ll be asked to close, and only some are required to enforce a l i tt le-used

health-code app before allowing patrons in. To add to the confusion, schooling and child care services for younger kids were also shut down again earlier this month — but because of an outbreak of the common cold and not COVID-19.

In other places with different phases or alert levels that determine what restrictions are activated at what stage of infection, “we know we’ve reached this level and this is what will take place next,” said Allan Zeman, an economic adviser to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and Chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group, a major landlord in the city’s business district.

Thai pro-democracy activists continue protestPro-democracy protesters give the three-finger salute as they take part in an anti-government rally in Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday.

China powers up own nuclear reactorAFP — BEIJING

China has powered up its first domestically developed nuclear reactor — the Hualong One — a significant step in Beijing’s attempts to become less dependent on Western allies for energy security and critical technology.

The reactor, which was connected to the national grid on Friday, can generate 10

billion kilowatt-hours of elec-tricity each year and cut carbon emissions by 8.16 million tonnes, according to China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

“This marks China breaking the monopoly of foreign nuclear power technology and officially entering the technol-ogy’s first batch of advanced countries,” CNNC said in a statement.

Nuclear plants supplied less than five percent of China’s annual electricity needs in 2019, according to the National Energy Administration, but this share is expected to grow as Beijing attempts to become carbon neutral by 2060.

Reducing its dependence on Western allies in critical high-tech sectors such as power gen-eration is a key goal in Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” plan.

Thailand signs supply dealfor AstraZeneca vaccineAP — BANGKOK

Thailand on Friday signed a deal to procure 26 million doses of the trial coronavirus vaccine developed by pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca in collabo-ration with Oxford University. It is expected to be delivered in mid-2021.

The doses would cover 13 million people in a population of about 69 million.

Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute signed a non-refundable advance market commitment contract worth 2.38bn baht ($79m) with Astra-Zeneca to reserve the supply of the vaccine candidate. Another 3.67bn baht ($121m) agreement for the purchase of the trial vaccine, known as AZD1222, was signed by the Health Min-istry’s Disease Control Department.

“We have followed the vaccine manufacturers glo-bally, but this group has achieved very high progress,” Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said at the signing. “They are likely to be able to produce the vaccine early next year. Most importantly, we have to get ourselves ready for the domestic process including packaging and logistics.”

Government spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri said offi-cials are still considering how to prioritise vaccine recipients. “Those who work closely with

COVID-19 patients, for example, doctors and nurses, should be among the first people. But this needs further discussion,” he said.

Oxford and AstraZeneca reported on Monday that their trial vaccine appeared to be 62 percent effective in people who received two doses, and 90 percent effective when volun-teers were given a half dose fol-lowed by a full dose.

They did not mention at the time, but later acknowledged, that a manufacturing issue had resulted in “a half dose of the vaccine being administered as the first dose” to some partici-pants, a development that led to criticism that its test results were flawed.

AstraZeneca has said it plans to conduct a new global clinical trial to make a fresh assessment of the vaccine’s efficacy.

The AstraZeneca trial vaccine is regarded as having several advantages over rival vaccines being developed so far for less-developed countries, including cheaper cost and the ability to be stored at temper-atures not as cold as the others.

Under a separate deal in October, the Health Ministry, Siam Bioscience Co and the SCG business conglomerate signed a letter of intent with AstraZeneca on the manufac-turing and supply of the AZD1222 vaccine candidate.

The highest number of infections were reported in Sindh with 1,423 people testing positive for the coronavirus. Punjab is second with 738 new cases while 447 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Islamabad.

13SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020 EUROPE

The draft law would

criminalise the

publication of images of

on-duty police officers

with the intent of

harming their 'physical

or psychological

integrity. It is awaiting

Senate approval.

Protesters, police clash inParis over new security lawAFP — PARIS

Police and demonstrators clashed in Paris yesterday as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against new security legislation, a contro-versy intensified by the beating and racial abuse of a black man that shocked France.

The demonstrations against the security law — which would restrict the publication of police officers’ faces — took place nationwide with 46,000 marching in Paris according to the government and several fires erupting after clashes.

President Emmanuel Macron said late Friday that the images of the beating of black music producer Michel Zecler by police officers in Paris last weekend “shame us”. The incident had magnified con-cerns about alleged systemic racism in the police force.

“Police everywhere, justice nowhere” and “police state” and “smile while you are beaten” were among the slogans bran-dished as protesters marched from Place de la Republique to the nearby Place de la Bastille.

There were tensions in Paris

as a car, newspaper kiosk and brasserie were set on fire close to Place de la Bastille, police said.

Some protesters threw stones at the security forces who responded by firing tear gas, an AFP correspondent said.

Police complained that pro-testers were impeding fire services from putting out the blazes and said nine people had been detained by the early evening.

Thousands also took part in other marches in France, including in Bordeaux, Lille, Montpellier and Nantes.

An investigation has been opened against the four police involved but commentators say

that the images — first pub-lished by the Loopsider news site — may never have been made public if the contentious Article 24 of the security legis-lation was made law.

The article would crimi-nalise the publication of images of on-duty police officers with the intent of harming their “physical or psychological integrity”. It was passed by the National Assembly although it is awaiting Senate approval.

The controversy over the law and police violence is developing into another crisis for the government as Macron confronts the pandemic, its eco-nomic fallout and a host of problems on the international stage.

In a sign that the gov-ernment could be preparing to backtrack, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Friday that he would appoint a com-mission to redraft Article 24.

But he was forced into a U-turn even on this proposal after parliament speaker Richard Ferrand — a close Macron ally — accused the premier of trying to usurp the role of parliament.

For critics, the legislation is further evidence of a slide to the right by Macron, who came to power in 2017 as a centrist promising liberal reform of France.

“The police violence has left Emmanuel Macron facing a political crisis,” said the Le Monde daily.

The issue has also pressured Macron’s high-flying right-wing Interior Minister Gerald Dar-manin with Le Monde saying tensions were growing between

him and the Elysee.The images of the beating

of Zecler emerged days after the police were already under fire over the forcible removal of a migrant camp in central Paris.

A series of high-profile cases against police officers over mistreatment of black or Arab citizens has raised accu-sations of institutionalised racism. The force has insisted violations are the fault of iso-lated individuals.

Three of the police involved in the beating of Zecler are being probed for using racial violence and all four are still being held for questioning after their detention Saturday was extended for another 24 hours, prosecutors said.

In a letter seen by AFP, Paris police chief Didier Lallement wrote to officers warning them they risked facing “anger and fear” in the coming weeks but insisted he could count on their “sense of honour and ethics”.

Demonstrators clash with police during a protest against the ‘global security’ draft law, in Paris yesterday.

Johnson appoints vaccine rollout ministerREUTERS — LONDON

England needs tough restric-tions after its current lockdown ends if hospitals are not to become overwhelmed, a senior minister said yesterday, as the government prepares for a mass vaccine roll-out.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson named Nadhim Zahawi as a new health minister to oversee the deployment of the vaccine as the Financial Times reported that the UK is set to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine next week.

But despite progress with the vaccine, Cabinet Office min-ister Michael Gove said tough measures were still necessary to fight the disease after the current national lockdown ends on December 2.

Writing in The Times, Gove warned that without further restrictions on most of Eng-land’s population hospitals would be overwhelmed. He urged lawmakers to back

government plans in a vote next week. More than 20 million people across large swathes of England will be forced to live under the toughest tier of cor-navirus restrictions. A growing number of lawmakers in

Johnson’s Conservative party have voiced opposition to the tiered restrictions plan.

Some argue that the areas they represent have low infection rates but face the toughest rules, while others say

the new measures will cause unnecessary economic harm to local businesses.

There is also some public opposition to the restrictions. Police in central London said they made over 60 arrests during anti-lockdown demon-strations on Saturday.

Gove said the level of infection across the country remained “uncomfortably and threateningly high.” He noted that the number of hospital beds filled with infected patients was not far from its peak earlier in the year.

From the current high base, the National Health Service would be under severe threat if infections started to rise again and tougher measures were needed to manage the virus, he said. “These new tiers, a longside the wider deployment of mass testing, have the capacity to prevent our NHS being overwhelmed until vaccines arrive,” said Gove.

Police officers take position during an anti-lockdown demonstration in London, Britain, yesterday.

Cars seen submerged in debris after heavy rainfall flooded the town of Bitti, Italy, yesterday.

At least three dead in Sardinia floodsAFP — ROME

At least three people were killed in Sardinia yesterday, Italian media reported, after heavy rain caused flooding and rivers of mud on the Mediterranean island.

Two people were also missing in the north-central town of Bitti, in the province of Nuoro, and the authorities

evacuated some residents from low-lying areas, Italian media reported.

Nuoro mayor Andrea Soddu wrote on Facebook that resi-dents should take “maximum precautions” and stay inside until a red alert was called off.

Heavy rain and strong winds have battered the area since Friday, cutting electricity and phone lines.

Video images on the website of the Unione Sarda newspaper showed a river of water and mud tearing past homes in a town identified as Bitti. The Repubblica news-paper reported that the victims were an elderly couple and a farmer trapped in his truck in a river of mud. In 2013, severe flooding in the north of Sardinia killed 19 people.

Italy reports 686

new virus deaths

REUTERS — MILAN

Italy reported 686 COVID-19-related deaths yesterday, against 827 the day before, and 26,323 new infections, down from 28,352 on Friday, the health ministry said. There were 225,940 swabs carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 222,803.

Italy was the first Western country to be hit by the virus and has seen 54,363 COVID-19 fatalities since its outbreak emerged in February, the second highest toll in Europe after Britain. It has also regis-tered 1.564 million cases.

While Italy’s daily death tolls have been amongst the highest in Europe over recent days, the rise in hospital admissions and intensive care occupancy has slowed, sug-gesting the latest wave of infections was receding. Anti-COVID-19 restrictions would be eased in five regions today.

400,649 deaths fromvirus across EuropeAFP — PARIS

Coronavirus deaths topped 400,000 yesterday in Europe, the world’s second worst-hit region, as parts of the continent began to reopen shops for the holiday season.

Europe crossed the grim barrier yesterday, registering 400,649 deaths according to an AFP tally at 0800 GMT.

Britain accounted for almost two-thirds of the fatal-ities with 57,551, followed by Italy (53,677), France (51,914) and Spain (44,668).

Stores began lifting their shutters in France yesterday, while Poland’s shopping centres will also reopen.

“I’d rather avoid the internet, I’m going to buy things in the shops. They need it,” said Anne Dubois, one of the first customers applauded through the doors by staff at Paris’ vast Galeries Lafayette department store as it opened at 10:00 am.

“Whether or not there’s people here, at least we’ve got our daily life getting back to normal,” said 36-year-old

Aurelie, a manager in the L’Oreal section at Galeries Lafayette.

Belgium will allow shops to reopen from December 1, but keep the current semi-lockdown in place possibly until mid-January. The move mirrors similar easing in Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Ireland has also announced a staggered easing of restric-tions to allow some businesses to reopen and for families to gather ahead of Christmas.

Germany, once a beacon of hope in Europe’s coronavirus nightmare, logged more than one million cases on Friday.

Although the virus spread is slowing thanks to weeks of tough restrictions, Europe remains at the heart of the pan-demic, recording more cases than the United States in the past week.

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute recorded more than 22,000 new daily cases on Friday, pushing the overall total in the country beyond the one-million mark.

UK, France agree on plan to curb Channel migrant crossingsAP — LONDON

The British government said yesterday that it had struck an agreement with France to double the number of French police patrolling beaches in the country’s north in an attempt to stop people crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Britain’s Home Office said

Home Secretary Priti Patel and French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin had agreed on the measure as part of efforts to make the route “unviable” for people-smugglers.

The agreement also will boost surveillance using “drones, radar equipment, optronic binoculars and fixed cameras,” the UK said.

It said the two countries had agreed to spend ¤31.4m ($41m) on the measures.

Migrants have long used northern France as a launching point to reach Britain — usually in trucks or on ferries — and the issue has long strained relations between the two countries.

Many migrants appear to have turned to small boats

organized by smugglers during the coronavirus pandemic because virus restrictions have reduced traffic between France and Britain.

More than 8,000 people have made the dangerous journey so far this year, up from about 1,800 in all of 2019.

Last month, a family from Iran, including two parents and

their children aged 6 and 9, died when their boat capsized in the Channel.

Their 15-month-old son is missing and presumed drowned.

Aid and human rights groups say the best way to stop the journeys is to provide safe routes for people to seek asylum in Britain.

Far-right AfDholds congressdespite viruscurbs in GermanyAFP – BERLIN

Around 600 delegates from Germany’s far right AfD gathered yesterday for a congress that the authorities have warned could become a coronavirus hotspot, as the party increasingly aligns itself with those protesting anti-COVID-19 restrictions.

Alternative for Germany co-leader Tino Chrupalla opened the event by attacking the “state of emergency” policy introduced by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to tackle the health crisis.

“Lives have been broken, there’s a wave of bank-ruptcies... lots of people have lost their jobs,” he told the con-gress being held in a vast hall in a former nuclear plant in the western city of Kalkar.

To win approval for the huge gathering at a time when Germans are asked to limit their contacts to just two households at a time, the AfD had to sign up to stringent rules including compulsory mask wearing and social distancing.

Outside the venue — now a hotel and leisure complex — about 500 people demon-strated against the staging of the conference following a call by the “Stand up to Racism” coalition.

Kalkar’s mayor Britta Schulz had said it was “irre-sponsible” to hold such a big event and warned it could “become a (virus) hotspot,” but acknowledged that the gathering could not be banned.

In contrast, Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union has twice postponed its con-gress to elect a new leader because of the risks of coro-navirus contagion.

The Green party last weekend held its meeting online.

Shrugging off possible risks, the AfD’s health policy spokesman Detlev Span-genberg claimed: “The coro-navirus is comparable to the influenza in terms of the course taken by the illness as well as in terms of its lethality. So the serious measures (taken to fight it) are not proportionate.”

Germany has recorded more than one million coro-navirus infections and close to 16,000 people have died, according to official data.

The AfD has been the focus of repeated contro-versies since it began life as a eurosceptic outfit seven years ago.

AfD politicians are now also regularly marching alongside demonstrators against coronavirus curbs.

14 SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020EUROPE / AMERICAS

Make-or-break Brexittalks resume in LondonAFP — LONDON

European Union chief nego-tiator Michel Barnier resumed make-or-break Brexit talks with British counterpart David Frost in London yesterday with the clock ticking for a deal on future trading arrangements.

It is the first time they have met face-to-face since Barnier went into self-isolation after a member of his team caught coronavirus.

A failure to reach an agreement would see Britain and the EU trading on World Trade Organization terms, with tariffs immediately imposed on goods travelling to and from the continent.

Britain has been largely trading on the same terms with the EU since it officially left the bloc in January as part of a tran-sition agreement that expires at the end of the year. As it stands, it will leaves Europe’s trade and customs area in five weeks with talks on a follow-on agreement stalled over fishing rights and fair trade rules.

Both parties warned on Friday that success was not guaranteed, with Barnier tweeting that the “same signif-icant divergences persist”.

“We are not far from the take it or leave it moment,” he

later told ambassadors from member states, according to a European source familiar with the closed-door meeting. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s lead negotiator Frost said that people were “asking me why we are still talking,” he tweeted.

“My answer is that it’s my job to do my utmost to see if the conditions for a deal exist. It is late but a deal is still possible, and I will continue to talk until it’s clear that it isn’t.”

A no-deal scenario is widely expected to cause economic chaos, with customs checks required at borders.

Concern is particularly acute on the border between EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland, where the sudden

imposition of a hard border threatens the delicate peace secured by 1999’s Good Friday Agreement.

Johnson spoke with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin late Friday and “underlined his commitment to reaching a deal that respects the sovereignty of the UK”. But he also “reaffirmed the need to prioritise the Good Friday Agreement and avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland,” according to a summary of the call released by London.

Johnson earlier told reporters the “likelihood of a deal is very much determined by our friends and partners in the EU”, adding there were “sub-stantial and important differ-ences to be bridged.” A key sticking point is the EU’s demand for a post-Brexit “level playing field”, with punishing trade penalties if either side diverges from agreed standards or state aid regulations, but Britain does not want to be bound by rules made in Brussels.

Britain’s fishing waters are also a hot topic, with sources on Friday saying that Barnier told envoys that London was asking that European access to them be cut by 80 percent, while the EU was willing to accept 15 to 18 percent.

Protest against COVID-19 curbsCoronavirus sceptics protest against restrictions imposed by the government near the Germany-Poland border in Slubice, Poland, yesterday.

Belgium eases some virus restrictionsAP — BRUSSELS

Belgium has relaxed some rules imposed to contain the coro-navirus resurgence but is remaining strict on family gath-erings over Christmas.

Now that all the virus indi-cators are declining, the gov-ernment said Friday that non-essential shops could open under restricted conditions next

week. Prime Minister Alex-ander De Croo said that beyond containing the virus, everyone had to make sure that lone-liness did not strike.

“We must also be sure that during Christmas and New Year people are not alone, so that is why on the evening of December 24 or 25 isolated people, people living alone, will have the possibility to invite up

to two people inside their home,” De Croo said.

It was only a tiny con-cession for the Christmas break, compared to what some other European nations envisage.

One of the hardest-hit countries in Europe, Belgium has reported more than 16,000 deaths linked to the coronavirus.

Prosecutors probingdeath of MaradonaAFP — BUENOS AIRES

Argentine prosecutors are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Diego Maradona and whether it could have involved medical negli-gence, judicial sources said on Friday. “There are already irregularities,” a close family member told AFP.

Maradona’s lawyer, Matias Morla, had earlier called for an investigation into claims that ambulances took more than half an hour to reach the football star’s house in response to an emergency call on the day of his death.

A preliminary autopsy report established that Maradona died in his sleep at noon on Wednesday of “acute lung edema and chronic heart failure.” The prosecutor’s office in Buenos Aires has opened a file entitled “Maradona, Diego. Determination of the cause of death.” “The case was initiated because he is a person who died at home and no one signed his death certificate. It does not mean there are suspicions or irregularities,” a judicial source said, requesting to remain anonymous.

The 60-year-old Argentine football legend was receiving round-the-clock medical care at a house in a gated com-munity in Tigre, north of Buenos Aires, where he was recuperating from surgery to remove a clot on his brain in early November.

“You have to see if they did what they were supposed to do

or if they relaxed,” the family member told AFP.

“The nurse made a statement when the prosecutor appeared on the day of Diego’s death, then expanded her statement and finally went on television to say that what she said was forced on her, so there is some contradiction in her statement,” the close relative said. The prosecutor’s office is awaiting the results of toxico-logical tests on Maradona’s body. The three prosecutors working on the case have requested the star’s medical records, as well as recordings from neighbourhood security cameras.

Another nurse caring for Maradona was likely the last person to see the star alive, at dawn on Wednesday, prose-cutors said in a statement on Friday. “From his words, it could be established that he was the last person to see (Maradona) alive at approxi-mately 6:30 in the morning,” as the night shift at the star’s house was ending, it said.

The nurse, interviewed by prosecutors on Thursday, “referred to having found him resting in his bed, assuring that he was sleeping and breathing normally.” Maradona’s nephew Johnny Herrera was previously believed to have been the last person to see Maradona, at 11:30pm on Tuesday. Investi-gators have also established that Maradona’s personal doctor, Leopoldo Luque, had already made a 911 call at 12:16 pm, requesting an ambulance.

Over 700 gang members arrested in Central AmericaREUTERS — MEXICO CITY

El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have brought criminal charges against more than 700 members of cross-border criminal organisa-tions, primarily the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs, in a US-assisted effort, the US Department of Justice said on Friday.

“The US Department of Just ice and our law enforcement partners in Central America are com-mitted to continued collabo-ration in locating and arresting gang members and

associates engaged in tran-snational crimes,” said US Attorney General William Barr, according to the statement.

The charges resulted from a one-week coordinated law enforcement action under Operation Regional Shield (ORS), a DOJ-led initiative to c o m b a t t r a n s n a t i o n a l organized crime that brings together authorities from El Salvador, Guatemala, Hon-duras, Mexico and the United States.

Tackling transnational human smuggling networks and gangs, including MS-13,

is a top priority for US Pres-ident Donald Trump.

Prosecutors in El Salvador this week filed criminal charges against 1 , 152 members of organized crime groups in the country, pri-marily MS-13 and 18th Street gangs, the statement said.

The national civil police captured 572 of the defendants on charges involving terrorism, murder, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering, human trafficking and human smuggling, among others.

In Guatemala, authorities executed 80 search warrants,

arrested 40 individuals and served 29 arrest warrants against people already in custody, all of whom are members of the 18th Street gang and MS-13, the DOJ said. Guatemalan authorities seized drugs and a firearm, and fi led charges for extortion, illicit association, conspiracy to commit murder and extortive obstruction.

In Honduras, the one-week joint operation resulted in the arrest of over 75 MS-13 and 18th Street gang members and five police officers and the execution of over 10 search warrants.

Anti-govt protest in ChileA demonstrator prepares to throw a stone against a riot police vehicle during a protest against Chile’s government in Santiago, Chile, on Friday.

Sweden seeks more information to reopen 1994 ferry disaster caseAP — STOCKHOLM

Swedish authorities said on Friday they need more infor-mation before deciding whether to reopen the case of a 1994 ferry sinking in the Baltic that killed 852 people, in one of Europe’s deadliest peacetime disasters at sea.

A TV documentary aired September 28 on the M/S Estonia includes video images from the wreck site showing a hole in the hull measuring 4 meters (13 feet) on the star-board side. In 1997, Sweden, Estonia and Finland concluded in a report that the ferry sank after the bow door locks failed in a storm. The report flatly rejected the theory of a hole, which has long been the focus of speculation about a possible explosion on board, or col-lision with another vessel.

“In order to be able to further assess the relevance of the new film material and compare it with the 1997 report from the Joint Com-mission of Inquiry, more doc-uments need to be collected and further analyses carried out,” the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority said on Friday.

The authority also said it needs surveys of the seabed conditions at the site and to make analyses of the ship’s hull structure and materials “to assess the appearance of the holes in the ship’s hull.” It added that investigators have been given the opportunity to review the unedited raw film material and have also inspected the ferry’s bow visor in Sweden. Some 758 bodies remain entombed on the car ferry, which rests 80 meters underwater.

Cuban artists protest against govt over freedom of expressionAFP — HAVANA

About 200 Cuban artists demonstrated outside the coun-try’s culture ministry on Friday in a rare protest over freedom of expression that received support from leading Cuban cinema figures.

The demonstration followed the expulsion by authorities on Thursday night of protesting members of an artists’ collective from their premises in the his-toric centre of Havana.

Authorities said the eviction of the 14 members of the San Isidro Movement was necessary due to COVID-19 protocols since one had returned from Mexico via the United States and not properly quarantined.

They had been protesting for 10 days, with six of them on hunger strike, and their movement had gained signif-icant attention.

Demonstrators outside the culture ministry on Friday demanded “dialogue” and rep-resentatives were waiting to meet with vice minister Fernando Rojas after having gathered there for much of the day.

The demonstration was rare

in Cuba, where permission for such protests is not often given.

Security personnel and uni-formed police watched over the protest from a distance but without intervening.

“On the one hand, we do not have much confidence, but on the other we feel that it is an

obligation,” said activist Michel Matos. “They are public officials of this country and this has become a political situation.”

The San Isidro Movement had been demanding the release of another member of the group, rapper Denis Solis, arrested on November 9 and sentenced to eight months in prison for contempt.

After the raid on their premises, the 14 members of the group were given Covid-19 tests and returned to their homes, with the collective’s head-quarters closed by the author-ities, activists said on social media.

Two of them refused to go home and were arrested again: Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, 32, a plastics artist, and Anamely Ramos, 35.

Some activists said on social media that Ramos had been released. The list of demands

from Friday’s protesters included information on the whereabouts of Otero and Ramos, the release of Solis and an end to the “harassment” of artists.

“It is time for dialogue and I believe that you young people must be listened to,” well-known actor and director Jorge Perugorria, 55, told the protesters.

He was accompanied by prominent filmmaker Fernando Perez, 76.

Amnesty International in a statement called for the release of Otero and Ramos, calling them “prisoners of conscience, imprisoned solely because of their consciously held beliefs”.

US State Department official Michael Kozak said on Twitter that “the international com-munity is demanding the regime respect Cuban human rights.”

A group of young intellectuals and artists demonstrate outside the Ministry of Culture in Havana, Cuba, on Friday.

Concern is particularly

acute on the border

between EU member

Ireland and the British

province of Northern

Ireland, where the

sudden imposition of a

hard border threatens

the delicate peace

secured by 1999’s Good

Friday Agreement.

Los Angeles county announced a temporary ban on gatherings of people from different households under a new “safer-at-home order” triggered by a spike in COVID-19 cases, with religious services and protests exempt.

15SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020 AMERICAS

Guantanamo prisoners see hope in Biden winAP — WASHINGTON

The oldest prisoner at the Guan-tanamo Bay detention center went to his latest review board hearing with a degree of hope, something that has been scarce during his 16 years locked up without charges at the US base in Cuba.

Saifullah Paracha, a 73-year-old Pakistani with dia-betes and a heart condition, had two things going for him that he didn’t have at previous hearings: A favourable legal development and the election of Joe Biden.

President Donald Trump had effectively ended the Obama administration’s practice of reviewing the cases of men held at Guantanamo and releasing them if imprisonment was no longer deemed

necessary. Now there’s hope that will resume under Biden.

“I am more hopeful now simply because we have an administration to look forward to that isn’t dead set on ignoring the existing review process,” Paracha’s attorney, Shelby Sul-livan-Bennis, said by phone from the base on November 19 after the hearing.

Guantanamo was once a source of global outrage and a symbol of US excess in response to terrorism. But it largely faded from the headlines after Pres-ident Barack Obama failed to close it, even as 40 men con-tinue to be detained there.

Those pushing for its closure now see a window of opportunity, hoping Biden’s administration will find a way to prosecute those who can be prosecuted and release the rest,

extricating the US from a detention center that costs more than $445m per year.

Biden’s precise intentions for Guantanamo remain unclear. Transition spokesman Ned Price said the President-elect supports closing it, but it would be inap-propriate to discuss his plans in detail before he’s in office.

The detention center opened in 2002. President George W Bush’s administration transformed what had been a sleepy Navy outpost on Cuba’s southeastern tip into a place to interrogate and imprison people suspected of links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

At its peak in 2003 — the year Paracha was captured in Thailand because of suspected ties to Al Qaeda — Guantanamo held about 700 prisoners from

nearly 50 countries. Bush announced his intention to close it, though 242 were still held there when his presidency ended.

The Obama administration, seeking to allay concerns that some of those released had “returned to the fight,” set up a process to ensure those repat-riated or resettled in third coun-tries no longer posed a threat. It also planned to try some of the men in federal court.

But his closure effort was thwarted when Congress barred the transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo to the US, including for prosecution or medical care. Obama ended up releasing 197 prisoners, leaving 41 for Trump.

The Trump administration approved a single release, a Saudi who pleaded guilty before a military commission.

US vaccine plans take shape; virus curbs stayREUTERS — WASHINGTON

US health authorities will hold an emergency meeting next week to recommend that a coronavirus vaccine awaiting approval be given first to healthcare professionals and people in long-term care facilities.

The meeting, announced on Friday by a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) committee on immuni-zations, suggests that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may be close to authorizing dis-tribution of the long-awaited medication, at least to those considered most vulnerable.

United Airlines has begun moving shipments of the vaccine, developed by Pfizer Inc, on charter flights to ensure it can be quickly distributed once it is approved, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The CDC’s Advisory Com-mittee on Immunization Prac-tices will vote on Tuesday to recommend that the FDA allow healthcare professionals and long-term care facilities to be the first two groups to get initial vaccine supplies, a CDC spokes-woman said.

A green light for any

vaccine would come as welcome news to Americans, who political leaders have clamped under increasingly aggressive measures to curtail the spread of the virus.

Los Angeles county announced a temporary ban on gatherings of people from dif-ferent households under a new “safer-at-home order” triggered by a spike in COVID-19 cases, with religious services and pro-tests exempt.

The order will take effect today and last at least three weeks, until December 20. “All public and private gatherings with individuals not in your

household are prohibited, except for faith based services and protests, which are consti-tutionally protected rights,” it added. The county has suffered over 7,600 coronavirus deaths.

California last week imposed a night-time curfew across much of the state, while Los Angeles county on Wednesday barred dining at restaurants but allowed delivery to continue. All schools can remain open unless they record outbreaks.

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said her latest COVID-19 restrictions on gath-erings also applied to indoor religious services, reducing the maximum number of wor-shippers from 100 to 50 people.

Americans already weary from eight months of lock-downs began the holiday season on Friday under pressure to stay home, avoid gatherings and curtail festive shopping.

Roughly 90,000 patients were being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals, a number that has doubled in the last month to the highest since the pandemic began.

About 880 people were hos-pitalized with COVID-19 on Friday in New Mexico. Governor

A sign on the entrance to a pharmacy reads “COVID-19 Vaccine Not Yet Available”, in Burbank, California, in this November 23 picture.

Michelle Lujan Grisham imposed a lockdown requiring all “non-essential” businesses to close and residents to stay home.

Some politicians and health experts feared Americans trav-elling for Thanksgiving could spread the contagion. Many heeded advice to stay home on

Thursday but others chose to travel, saying they were willing to risk illness to see family.

On the day before Thanks-giving, typically one of the busiest travel days of the year in the United States, more than 1.07 million people transited through US airports — the most

of any day since the start of the pandemic, according to the Transportation Security Admin-istration. More than 4 million travelled through airports from Sunday to Thursday, compared with more than 11 million for the same period last year, TSA data shows.

Democrats eye young voters to win Georgia and the SenateBLOOMBERG — WASHINGTON

Democrats’ chances to win Georgia’s two Senate seats — and control of the US Senate — could hinge on motivating voters under 30 to beat their record turnout in the general election.

While Republicans are more focused on overall turnout in this usually conserv-ative state, Democrats are sys-tematically reaching out to young people who helped Joe Biden (pictured) flip Georgia blue. This demographic, 56 percent of which voted for Biden, will be key to helping Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock beat Repub-lican incumbent Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.

The US Senate would be split 50-50 if Democrats win the two January 5 runoffs, which would give Kamala Harris, as vice-president, the tie-breaking vote to clinch the majority. The stakes are high for Biden’s agenda, since a Repub-lican-led Senate would be able to bury legislation passed by the Democratic-led House.

Yet getting young people to the polls is always challenging, and older people tend to be more reliable voters than young people — with 56 percent of voters 65 and older going for Republican Donald Trump in Georgia.

Add to that the fact that voting tends to drop off heavily in special elections, and those are factors that tend to favour the Republican candidates.

Democrats remain opti-mistic. There are 23,000 Georgia teenagers who were not eligible to vote in the general election but will have

turned 18 in January, according to the Civics Center, an organ-ization focused on registering high schoolers to vote.

Jacinda Jackson, who leads the Young Democrats of DeKalb county, calls them “the margin”. “What you will find is that these young voters put you right over the top to guarantee that win,” Jackson said.

Biden beat Trump by less than 13,000 votes in Georgia. None of the Senate candidates reached the 50 percent threshold that would have allowed them to avoid a runoff.

Jackson called Biden’s win a “grassroots win”, thanks in part to leaders like Stacey Abrams, who has spent the two years since her gubernatorial loss registering Georgians to vote, especially young voters.

There is evidence that her efforts paid off. Voters under 30 made up 20 percent of Georgia’s November electorate compared with 17 percent nationwide, according to mul-tiple exit polls. Even when Trump won Georgia in 2016, voters under 30 overwhelm-ingly voted for Hillary Clinton.

New rule could allow gas, firing squads for US executionsAP — WASHINGTON

The Justice Department is quietly amending its execution protocols, no longer requiring federal death sentences to be carried out by lethal injection and clearing the way to use other methods like firing squads and poison gas.

The amended rule, pub-lished on Friday in the Federal Register, allows the US gov-ernment to conduct executions by lethal injection or use “any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed”.

A number of states allow other methods of execution, including electrocution, inhaling nitrogen gas or death by firing squad. It remains unclear whether the Justice Department

will seek to use any methods other than lethal injection for executions in the future.

The rule — which goes into effect on December 24 — comes as the Justice Department has scheduled five executions during the lame-duck period, including three just days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

A Justice Department official said the change was made to account for the fact the Federal Death Penalty Act requires sentences be carried out in the “in the manner pre-scribed by the law of the state in which the sentence is imposed’’, and some of those states use methods other than lethal injection.

The official said the federal government “will never execute

an inmate by firing squad or electrocution unless the rel-evant state has itself authorized that method of execution”.

The official said two execu-tions scheduled in December would be done by lethal injection but didn’t provide information about three others scheduled in January. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the internal department protocols.

The change is likely to set off intense criticism from Dem-ocrats and anti-death penalty advocates, as the Trump admin-istration tries to push through a number of rule changes before Trump leaves office.

A spokesperson for Biden said earlier this month that the President-elect “opposes the

death penalty now and in the future” and would work to end its use. But he did not say whether executions would be paused immediately once Biden takes office.

Attorney-General William Barr restarted federal execu-tions this year after a 17-year hiatus. This year, the Justice Department has put to death more people than during the previous half-century, despite waning public support from both Democrats and Repub-licans for its use.

All states that use the death penalty allow lethal injection — and that is the primary method in all states where other methods are allowed. As lethal injection drugs become difficult to obtain, some states have begun looking at alternative methods for car-

rying out death sentences. Alabama joined Oklahoma

and Mississippi in 2018 approving the use of nitrogen gas to execute prisoners, allowing the state to asphyxiate condemned inmates with the gas in some cases.

In Florida, an inmate can specifically ask to be put to death by electrocution and in Wash-ington state, inmates can ask to be put to death by hanging. In Utah, prisoners sentenced before May 2004 can choose to be killed by a firing squad.

Trump has spoken often about capital punishment and his belief that executions serve as an effective deterrent and an appropriate punishment for some crimes, including mass shootings and the killings of police officers.

Wisconsin recount sought by Trump ups Biden’s marginREUTERS — LOS ANGELES

A recount in Wisconsin’s largest county demanded by Republican President Donald Trump’s election campaign ended on Friday with Demo-cratic President-elect Joe Biden gaining votes.

After the recount in Mil-waukee County, Biden had a net gain of 132 votes, out of nearly 460,000 cast. Overall, Biden gained 257 votes to Trump’s 125. Trump’s campaign had demanded recounts in two of Wisconsin’s most populous and Democratic-leaning counties, after losing Wisconsin to Biden by over 20,000 votes.

The two recounts will cost the Trump campaign $3m. Dane County is expected to finish its recount soon.

After the recount ended, Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson said: “The recount demonstrates what we already know: That elections in Mil-waukee County are fair, trans-parent, accurate and secure.” The state is due to certify its presidential result on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Chris Krebs, the top US cybersecurity official fired by Trump for saying the November 3 election was the most secure in American history said that the voter fraud allegations made by Trump and his allies are “farcical”.

Chris Krebs told the CBS 60 Minutes program: “There’s no evidence that any machine that I’m aware of has been manipulated by a foreign power,” Krebs said, calling such allegations “farcical claims.” He added: “The American people should have 100% confidence in their vote.”

Kamala Harris visits holiday marketUS Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris greets fans in the Downtown Holiday Market in Washington, DC, yesterday. Harris made it point to shop at local shops for small business.

16SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2020

Museum to record Londoners’ dreams to document pandemic AFP — LONDON

The Museum of London has announced a project to collect the dreams of Londoners during the coronavirus pandemic as a way to document the impact of the crisis.

The lives of inhabitants of the British capital have changed “not just in the day to day” because of the pandemic, but also “in relation to how we sleep and dream”, the museum said.

The project, dubbed “Guardians of Sleep”, will look to collect the dreams in the form of oral histories.

It will also explore what insight dreams might offer into mental health and ways of coping with external stresses, especially in times of crisis.

According to a King’s College London/Ipsos MORI survey in June, the global COVID-19 crisis can trouble the

mind not just during waking hours but also during sleep.

The Museum of London is launching the initiative in part-nership with the Museum of Dreams based at Western Uni-versity in Canada.

Foteini Aravani, digital curator at the Museum of London, said the recording of dreams would allow it to “doc-ument a key shared experience from the pandemic” but also to stretch the definition of a “museum object”.

“Traditionally, when museums have collected dreams it has been in the form of artistic impression, for example, paintings or drawings influenced by the events.

However, this can often disso-ciate the dream from the dreamer,” she said.

“We will collect dreams as first-person oral histories with the aim to provide a more emo-tional and personal narrative of this time for future genera-tions,” she added.

Sharon Sliwinski, creator of the Museum of Dreams, said the research with the Museum of London “aims to provide a rich resource for further under-standing the significance of dream-life as a mechanism for working through social conflict”.

The project will take place in February 2021 with the public invited to speak about their COVID-19 dreams with an international team of trained experts.

The conversations will last approximately half an hour and will then be considered for acquisition.

Turning Torso skyscraperThe Turning Torso skyscraper in Malmo, Sweden, is surrounded by sea smoke on Friday.

French travelling circus stranded in Belgian car parkREUTERS — GEMBLOUX, BELGIUM

The exotic animals are confined to small paddocks, the acrobats have been grounded, and the clowns aren’t able to make an audience laugh anymore.

The coronavirus has brought the curtain down on the Zavatelli Circus, at least for the time being.

Unable to travel or perform across Europe, the French family-run operation is waiting out the pandemic in a car park in the southern Belgium town of Gembloux — and quickly running out of funds to feed its animals.

“For us, the confinement is very difficult because we are not working. We have no cash flow,” said circus director Kevin Dubois. The Zavatelli Circus typically pitches its 600-seater Big Top in 30 cities each year. But since March, when COVID-19 cases began rising in Europe, it has only been able to perform with a reduced capacity, or not at all during Belgium’s spring and autumn lockdowns.

The show features jugglers and acrobats, a conjuror, clowns and a tightrope-walker, and a menagerie including camels, llamas, buffaloes and ponies. Now the staff are living in trailers in the car park, stopping their skills from going rusty with outdoor practice sessions in the crisp Autumn air.

The animals are kept in enclosures under red-and white striped awnings, with straw strewn over the car park’s ground.

“Frankly, it is becoming an issue because we have 60 animals to feed,”

Dubois said. The cost of food for the animals runs to about ¤500 ($600) per week. There are also 23 circus staff to support.

“We don’t know how to make ends meet,” he said.

The Zavatelli Circus is one of three family operations that date back to 1800 and was once known as the Cirque de Paris.

The two others, Armanzo and Anderland, owned by the same family, are also on the rented site in Gembloux, about 50 km (30 miles) south of Brussels.

While the circus could return home to France, it would not be permitted to

perform there either. Belgium, like France, is under its second lockdown since the coronavirus epidemic hit Europe in Feb-ruary. Although shops are expected to reopen soon, cultural operations such as circuses in Belgium must remain closed until further notice.

Dubois lamented the lack of state financial support.

“We have not received any financial assistance (from the authorities). A lot of people gave us bread, carrots, they bring us seeds, hay. But in terms of money, we did not get anything,” Dubois said.

Floye Dubois, a juggler at the Zavatelli Circus, practices in a parking lot where the circus has been maintained under lockdown for about a year, in Gembloux, Belgium, on Thursday.

Painting by Whiteley smashes Australian art auction recordREUTERS — SYDNEY

A painting by famed Australian artist Brett Whiteley has sold at auction for A$6.25m ($4.6m), setting a new record in the country and underscoring the appeal of art investments amid the uncertainties of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Henri’s Armchair” is a chaotic depiction of Sydney Harbour with an elongated viewpoint through the windows of Whiteley’s home in the Lavender Bay area of Sydney. It was last sold by the artist to lawyer Clive Evatt in the mid-1970s after Whiteley refused a request from the state gallery that commissioned the piece

to paint over a matchbook in the painting that suggested drug use.

The sale price, which beat a pre-vious record of A$5.4m, reflects how for those with money to spend, luxury goods are a safe place since travel and socialising are largely out of bounds.

“Being at home, looking at your four walls more than you’re used to, collecting art has come to the fore and we’ve seen a lot more bidding,” said Coralie Stow, Chief Executive Officer of Menzies Art Brands, which ran the sale.

“It’s partly people wanting an outlet that’s creative, that’s enhancing their life, when they’re restricted in

so many other things that they would like to do.” The price also confirms the importance of Whiteley’s “Lav-ender Bay” period, when he was starting his rise to fame and sought refuge in a house where he could perfect his craft on one subject, the harbour, rather than chasing new inspiration.

“There are not too many sure bets in the world of art, but a Whiteley painting from the mid-70s featuring Lavender Bay comes pretty close,” said Ashleigh Wilson, author of Whiteley biography Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing. “That was a period when he really reached the summit of his creativity.” About

20 people attended the Thursday auction in person, including Wilson, but the only bids came over the phone, ensuring the buyer, a private collector, went unidentified. The hammer went down in less than four minutes, Wilson said.

Evatt’s wife Elizabeth, who was selling the piece after her husband’s 2018 death, told the room her late husband had been at the races when Whiteley told him the gallery rejected his work.

She said Evatt paid Whiteley in race winnings from the trunk of his car, and when the gallery changed its mind and requested the canvas, the artist said, “It’s gone, mate”.

Georgia

Aquarium’s

largest female

whale shark dies

AP — ATLANTA

The largest female whale shark at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta has died.

Trixie, who had been at the aquarium since 2006, died Friday, the aquarium said in a statement on its Facebook page.

“She was having difficulty navigating the habitat earlier in the day and then her health rapidly declined,” the aquarium said. “Even after exhaustive veterinary and animal care efforts, she ulti-mately passed away.”

Whale sharks, which are the largest fish in the world, have gray skin with white dots and live in tropical waters across the globe, including Mexico and parts of Asia.

They are considered endangered, according to the International Union for Con-servation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

According to the Georgia Aquarium website, their average length is between 18 and 32.8 feet (5.5 to 10 metres).

Trixie and another female whale shark arrived at the aquarium in 2006 after they were flown more than 8,000 miles from Taipei, Taiwan, on a specially configured freighter. The aquarium cur-rently has three other whale sharks.

“She contributed enor-mously to our understanding of whale sharks and their care,” the aquarium said. “Loss is inevitable, but that does not make it any less painful. We are so proud to have been stewards of her care for 15 years. We will miss you, Trixie.”

The whale shark looks ominous but is actually gentle, eating plankton and small fish in the water and filtering it through its tiny teeth and quarter-size throat. The spotted fish are considered sharks, not whales, despite their size.

Ken Jennings to

be first interim

‘Jeopardy!’ host

AP — NEW YORK

“Jeopardy!” record-holder Ken Jennings will be the first in a series of interim hosts replacing Alex Trebek when the show resumes production next Monday.

Producers announced on Monday that Jennings, who won 74 games in a row and claimed the show’s “Greatest of All Time” title in a compe-tition last year, will host epi-sodes that air in January.

A long-term host to replace Trebek, who died of cancer on November 8, will be named later.

“By bringing in familiar guest hosts for the foreseeable future, our goal is to create a sense of community and con-tinuity for our viewers,” the show’s executive producer, Mike Richards, said.

The show is in its 37th year of syndication. It is still airing shows that Trebek filmed before his death. Art Fleming hosted earlier editions of the game show, including the original “Jeopardy!” that debuted in 1964 on NBC and aired for a decade.

W ALRUWAIS : 23o → 27o W ALKHOR : 19o → 25o W DUKHAN : 22o → 29o W WAKRAH : 22o → 28o W MESAIEED : 22o → 28o W ABUSAMRA : 16o → 22o

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and partly cloudy with a chance of

scattered rain at places.

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WEATHER TODAY

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HIGH TIDE 04:43 – 14:48

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Mara and Dona: Argentine twins a living tribute to soccer greatREUTERS — BUENOS AIRES

In the Rotundo household in Buenos Aires, the spirit of Diego Maradona has a living tribute: twin nine-year-old girls, Mara and Dona, named after the soccer legend who died this week.

The diminutive playmaker, one of the world’s best ever who led Argentina to World Cup glory, inspired avid support through his magic on the pitch and his charisma off it, despite a turbulent personal life dogged by addiction.

Maradona died of heart failure on Wednesday and was laid to rest on Thursday amid huge fanfare and high emotion, with thousands of people

crowding the streets around the capital as his body was taken to be buried.

The naming of the twins was never in doubt, said their dad, Walter Rotundo, who has a tattoo of Maradona on his back and proudly shows a pho-tograph of the soccer star holding a picture of the two girls as infants.

Walter said the decision over the names went back to the 1990 World Cup when he saw Maradona cry inconsolably after losing the final 1-0 to West Germany. He told his wife, Stella Maris Prez, the first time they met that they would one day have two daughters - named after the star.

Maradona has almost cult

status in Argentina, where his nickname “D10S” is a play of the Spanish word for his famed number 10 shirt. Mara and Dona have their own Argentina shirts with the number and their names.

Mara, older than her sister by a minute, said she loved her name and the story behind it.

“It seems very beautiful to me to have this name and what I like the most about this name is knowing why he called me that. I feel that this name is wonderful,” she said.

Dona said Maradona’s death had come as a shock.

“I can’t believe that he died or why he died,” she said. “He is a very good person, he did not deserve that.”

Twin sisters Mara and Dona pose for photos at their house, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday.

The project 'Guardians of Sleep' will collect the dreams in the form of oral histories.