SPORT | 08BUSINESS | 01

Qamco rolls out

strategy to remain

world's lowest-cost

aluminium smelters

Campillo

reigns

supreme at

Qatar Masters

Monday 9 March 2020

14 Rajab - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 24 | Number 8191

OoredooONE *Terms & Conditions Apply

FREE Wi-Fi device!FREE installation! Full fun!

Supreme Committee signs MoU with MADLSA to host visitors during FIFA 2022THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour & Social Affairs (MADLSA), represented by Government Housing and Buildings Department, aimed at providing sustainable accom-modation options, along with investment opportunities to property owners who wish to host visitors during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

The MoU was signed by the Minister of Administrative Development, Labour & Social Affairs, H E Yousef bin Mohammed Al Othman Fakhroo, and SC Secretary General, Hassan Al Thawadi, in the presence of representatives from both entities.

Al Othman Fakhroo said the agreement would create oppor-tunities for the private sector to support the delivery of the World Cup. “The MoU will con-tribute to maintaining the national economic stability after the tournament and benefit investors in Qatar,” said H E Al Othman Fakhroo.

“Both parties will collab-orate closely to ensure the housing provided supports the

delivery of an exceptional fan experience in 2022.”

Al Thawadi said the agreement will help Qatar provide sustainable accommo-dation solutions for fans during the World Cup, eliminating the need to build additional hotels and residential units, thereby avoiding any white elephants. He also highlighted the MoU’s potential to boost Qatar’s economy and provide a boost to the private sector in the lead-up to 2022 and beyond.

“One of our main objec-tives is to utilise the existing accommodation for fans when we host the biggest football

event in the world in 2022,” said Al Thawadi.

“This agreement with MADLSA will help us to fulfil our goal of providing accom-modation options to suit all budgets. We will work closely to MADLSA to carefully evaluate the properties to ensure they are suitable for the many visitors we are expecting during the tournament.”

Al Thawadi continued: “The agreement will also provide a boost to the local economy and support the continued devel-opment of the private sector. It’s an example of the tour-nament legacy being delivered even before the event kicks off.”

Under the MoU, owners will be able to lease their properties to MADLSA for a period of five years. The five-year leases are renewable subject to terms and conditions.

The SC and MADLSA will be responsible for evaluating the proposed properties and selecting those appropriate, according to the SC’s accom-modation standards.

Owners who are interested should visit the following link, where they will find appli-cation details, along with the full terms and conditions: https://www.qatar2022.qa/accommodation.

Message from Canadian Prime Minister

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received yesterday a verbal message from Prime Minister of Canada, H E Justin Trudeau, pertaining to bilateral relations and ways of enhancing them. Canadian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy, H E Joe Clark, conveyed the message during a meeting with Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani. During the meeting, friendship and cooperation relations between the two countries as well as aspects of their development and promotion were reviewed, in addition to discussing a number of issues of mutual interest.

Qatar Petroleum to acquire Yara’s 25% stake in QAFCO

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Petroleum (QP) announced yesterday that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Yara’s 25 percent stake in Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO). The transaction will mark the conclusion of a successful, long standing part-nership.

Since its establishment as a joint venture company in 1969, QAFCO has become the world’s largest single-site urea producer, representing a significant percentage of the world’s traded urea volumes.

Prior to this transaction, QAFCO was owned by Industries Qatar with a 75 percent share and Yara of Norway with a 25 percent share.

Commenting on this acquisition, H E Saad

Sherida Al Kaabi (pictured), the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, said: “We are delighted to have signed this agreement with Yara which will increase our effective share in QAFCO. This is another example of Qatar Petroleum’s suc-cessful implementation of its strategy of capacity and capability building and contrib-uting to the robustness and development of the nation’s oil and gas industry. I would like to thank Yara for their partnership and sincere efforts in supporting QAFCO over the past half century.”

The transaction, in which the parties agreed on a purchase price of $1bn for Yara’s 25 percent share in QAFCO, is conditional upon and cus-tomary regulatory and closing conditions.

MoPH reports three new COVID-19 cases; holds awareness campaign for schools

QNA/THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday reported three new confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the State of Qatar from expatriates, bringing the number of confirmed cases of the virus in the country to 15 cases so far.

The three new cases were admitted to the Communicable Diseases Center under com-plete quarantine, and everyone who shared the residence with them was isolated, in addition to checking all the people who came in contact with them to make sure they are not infected, MoPH said in a statement.

MoPH stressed that the risk of the coronavirus spreading in the country remains low. The contact centre of coronavirus in the Ministry of Public Health receives any reports or inquiries related to the virus around the

clock on the toll-free number (16000).

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, in an ongoing graphic-assisted awareness campaign, have issued tips on how to protect students and staffs in schools and kinder-garten from coronavirus.

“The students and staffs should wash hands with water and soaps from 20 to 40 seconds. If soaps and water are not available, they should clean their hands with hand sani-tizer,” the Ministry tweeted yes-terday evening.

In a tweet, the Ministry of Education and Higher Edu-cation said: “Cleansers should always be used while cleaning toilets, floors, desks, seats, toys and surfaces of other things like handles of doors and windows.”

If the symptoms appear suddenly in a student, he/she

should be isolated from other class fellows and parents and health care providers should be informed as soon as possible, the Ministry has further advised people.

The people have also been advised to ensure that the stu-dents and staffs with symptoms should remain at homes. “The schools should ensure a pretty good ventilation during classes or in the break even if in the winter season,” said another tweet.

The Ministry has also advised people that the stu-dents and staffs should be edu-cated to cover their mouth and nose while coughing and sneezing with a clean napkin and make sure to throw the used napkin in the trash imme-diately. “The students and staffs should not exchange personal belongings and avoid touching eyes, mouth and nose with unclean hand.” �P4

Qatar tops region in starting and developing businessSACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

When it comes to setting up and developing a business, Qatar is the best country in the region, according to a recent global report. Qatar has topped the region in terms of ease of starting and developing a business in the National Entre-preneurship Context Index (NECI) created by Global Entre-preneurship Monitor (GEM). The Index measures and ranks the ease of starting and developing

a business in different countries.In the 2019-2020 report,

Qatar has secured third place in the global ranking, leaving behind US, China, Japan, UK, Germany and other major global economies.

Switzerland has topped the rankings that included 54 coun-tries that were covered in the study, followed closely by the Netherlands.

The outstanding performance of Qatar reflects a strong entre-preneurial spirit amongst its pop-ulation, and a supportive

entrepreneurial ecosystem. The high ranking of the country is a result of the numerous initiatives and efforts undertaken in Qatar to encourage the growth of entre-preneurship, and create a sus-tainable entrepreneurial environment.

It is not the first time Qatar has earned appreciation for creative conducive environment for entre-preneurs. Last year, the World Bank had listed Qatar as one of the top 20 countries in the world in terms of their improvement to the ‘Ease of Doing Business 2020’

score. Qatar had earned spot in the top global business envi-ronment improvers by embarking on ‘an ambitious program to improve its business regulations’ according to the World Bank.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor is a consortium of national country teams, primarily associated with top academic institutions, that carries out survey-based research on entre-preneurship around the world.

According to the report, physical infrastructure is uni-versally rated the most

well-developed of the framework conditions that support entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Education at the school-level is universally regarded as the least developed, weakest condition.

Data from NECI was derived from the 2019 GEM National Expert Survey (NES) in which national experts were asked to assess the national environment for entrepreneurship in terms of 12 GEM-defined framework conditions. These results were used to construct the NECI

which is a composite number to measure and rank the ease of starting and developing a business in each economy.

Four of the top 10 ranked economies in the rankings are from Europe & North America, four are from Asia & Pacific, and two from Middle East & Africa. The finding of the report indicates that innovation and entrepreneurship are increasingly an important part of the business landscape in a wide diversity of countries apart from the “usual suspects”, such as the United States.

“The MoU will contribute to maintaining the national economic stability after the tournament and benefit investors in Qatar,” said Minister of Administrative Development, Labour & Social Affairs, H E Yousef bin Mohammed Al Othman Fakhroo.

This is another example of Qatar

Petroleum’s successful implementation

of its strategy of capacity and

capability building and contributing to

the robustness and development of the

nation’s oil and gas industry.

QNA — DOHA

The Government Communi-cations Office (GCO) said yesterday that in addition to Qatar Airways’ announcement regarding flights to and from Italy, entry to the State of Qatar is temporarily suspended for all those intending to travel from certain countries, as of March 9, 2020. The decision comes as a preventive measure due to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) worldwide.

T h e G o v e r n m e n t

Communications Office said in a statement yesterday that the decision includes the fol-lowing countries: Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria and Thailand.

The statement said that the step comes in line with the State of Qatar's efforts to take all necessary preventive measures to limit the spread of coronavirus.

The decision affects all individuals intending to enter from these countries, including

visas upon arrival, those with a residence or work permit, and temporary visitors.

The State of Qatar urges all citizens and residents to avoid all but essential travel at this time.

The statement said that these precautionary measures may be subject to further updates based on the latest guidance of the national health authorities and international organisations on the spread of coronavirus, in order to ensure the safety of all residents of the State of Qatar.

Temporary suspension of entry of travellers from 14 countries

02 MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020HOME

Al Muraikhi meets Canadian PM's Special Envoy

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, met yesterday with the Canadian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy, H E Joe Clark, who is currently visiting the country. During the meeting, they reviewed bilateral relations, in addition to issues of common concern.

Foreign Minister meets Ugandan counterpart

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met yesterday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uganda, H E Sam Kutesa, who is currently visiting the country. They reviewed bilateral relations, in addition to issues of common concern.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani appointed as

Deputy Group CEO and Acting CEO of Ooredoo QatarTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Ooredoo yesterday announced the appointment of Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani as Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer and Acting Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo Qatar, as of March 8, 2020.

Sheikh Mohammed suc-ceeds Waleed Mohamed Al Sayed, who is retiring. Waleed had held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo Qatar since 2015 and has led the business to continued growth, achieving world firsts and major milestones, such as Ooredoo Qatar being the first company in the world to launch 5G com-mercially during his tenure.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani has held various management positions

within Ooredoo since he joined the company in 2009. Most recently, he was Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo Kuwait and has successfully led the company to reach key mile-stones and increase its share in the market. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ooredoo Algeria. He holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Accounting from the University of Cardiff, UK and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Qatar University.

Sheikh Faisal bin Thani Al Thani, Chairman, Ooredoo, said: “I would like to offer my highest gratitude and extend my warmest thanks to Waleed Mohammed Al Sayed for his val-uable contributions to the growth and success of our company since he joined in 1987.

The years he spent at the company were characterised by persistence and hard work. I would also like to congratulate Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani on his new role and wish him the best of luck.”

Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, Group Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo, said: “The vision and efforts of Waleed Al Sayed have had a great impact on Ooredoo’s reaching the global standing it enjoys today and his accomplishments will continue to bear witness of his good planning and future vision. I thank Waleed for all he’s given us the past thirty years and wish him all the best in the future. I’m also pleased to welcome Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani in his new roles. I’m con-fident in his ability to continue the journey of success.”

Qatar University hosts 14th Career FairTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

In order to provide Qatar University (QU) students and alumni with the opportunity to meet and interact with employers and representatives of companies to seek employment and training opportunities, the 14th Career Fair was inaugurated yesterday at QU.

The event was inaugurated by H E Dr. Saleh bin Mohammed Al Nabit, Chairman of the Planning and Statistics Authority; Dr. Hassan Al Derham, President of QU, and Abdullah Musallam Al Dosari, Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs. The four-day event will continue until March 11 at College of Business and Eco-nomics Building-QU. The event is featuring around 70 infor-mation booths from government and private organizations.

High School students will have the chance to interact with employers and get an insight into the labor market’s needs and employers’ expectations as well as the various training services and internships they can follow to develop their skills, abilities and professional experience.

Haya Al Attiya, Associate Vice-President for Student Success and Development, said: “The QU’s Career Fair is one of the most important events which are held at University. The fair has been divided in to two phases, first phase is for the students seeking for spon-sorship and second phase includes employment opportu-nities for graduated students. In order to provide diverse

opportunities for students QU will continue to host this event annually.”

Maha Al Marri, Director of Career Development Center at QU,said, “The event highlights QU’s commitment to provide the local labour market with highly qualified graduates. CSC offers various services that prepare QU students to join the labour market after graduation. This event will educate students to

explore their options and choose to specialise in the field of their interest.” The event will feature activities and training work-shops which will help the stu-dents in preparing professional life. These workshops will include the methods of writing CVs and tips for interviews. 8-9 March will be open for male stu-dents and 10-11 March will be open for female students, from 9am till 2pm.

H E Dr Saleh bin Mohammed Al Nabit, Chairman of the Planning and Statistics Authority; Dr. Hassan Al Derham, President of QU; and Abdullah Musallam Al Dosari, Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, inaugurating the event.

Works on ‘Al Daayen Park Development Project’ commence THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment allocated a land for building a new park at Al Daayen Municipality that will be a tourist and leisure destination.

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced the com-mencement of the construction works for Al Daayen Park Devel-opment Project, as part of The Supervisory Committee of Beauti-fication of Roads & Public Places in Qatar. The park construction is scheduled to be completed and opened to public in the third quarter of 2020.

Rashed Meshlesh Al Khay-yareen, Director of Al Daayen Municipality at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, stated that the MME allocated a land for building a new park at Al Daayen

Municipality to be a tourist & leisure destination serving the area resi-dents and the surrounding areas. He added that the park area is about 39,000 m2.

Eng. Maryam Al Kuwari, Project Design Manager at the Supervisory Committee of the Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar at Ashghal, said that the park is located there to be an outlet for the families in Al Daayen and Semaisema Areas.

The project includes providing green open spaces with seating areas and Kids playing area. A Fitness Area will be provided, and Pedestrian and Cycle Paths will be built, to encourage people to practice sports and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Engineer Maryam Al Kuwari added that the project includes pro-viding service kiosks that includes restaurants, cafes, toilets and

security rooms. She also noted that the park visitors can use the parking space provided by Al Daayen Municipality, which currently includes 50 parking lots that will be increased in the future. She also said that there will be decorative lighting poles with special dimmed lighting to secure privacy.

Al Daayen Park project is one of the projects of the Supervisory Committee of the Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar, which recently announced the com-mencement of Ras bu Abboud Beach Development Project last months. Also last January, it announced the completion of 30% of Doha Corniche development Works, as part of Central Doha Development Project. The Com-mittee recently completed the works of some parks and plazas in several areas in the country.

SJC organises seminar for law firmsQNA — DOHA

The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) organised an introductory conference for law firms oper-ating in the country, to inform them of the new procedures for logging lawsuits electronically in the electronic portal of the court system.

The conference aimed to acquaint lawyers with the pro-cedures for logging lawsuits electronically without the need to physically going to the court premises, within the framework of developing the judicial system, which contributes to saving time and effort and reducing congestion, in addition to taking lawyers’ comments and inquiries about the programme.

The Vice-President of the Court of Appeal, a member of

the Advisory Committee for the Courts Development Project Judge Nabil Mehdar Al Saadi, said that the introductory seminar comes within the framework of cooperating with lawyers on the electronic logging of the lawsuit. The Chief Judge of the Court of First Instance Professor Muhammad Hassan Al Hail, said that the goal of the online logging

service is to gradually dispense with the traditional paperwork system in the courts to keep pace with the digital devel-opment in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.

A number of attorneys who attended the seminar extended thanks to SJC for the oppor-tunity of getting acquainted with the electronic system, pointing out that the seminar constituted an opportunity to examine the characteristics of the system in its experimental stages.

They praised this important step that would contribute to facilitating litigation procedures and achieving completed justice in accordance with the vision of the wise leadership of the state and in a way that benefits all concerned parties, especially judges and lawyers.

The conference aimed to acquaint lawyers with the procedures for logging lawsuits electronically without the need to physically going to the court premises.

QSC holds autocross eventQNA — DOHA

Qatari Scientific Club (QCS) organised the autocross event, a total of 140 contestants have competed for the fastest race time.

Muhammad Jassim Al Jaber, member of an initiative at Qatari Scientific Club, explained that Autocross is a sport based on racing cars within a specific track, the size and shape of which are deter-mined in advance to push drivers into the circuit and

reach the finish line in the shortest possible time. “In this race, we relied on an automatic timing system that is more accurate,” Al Jaber said.

He added, “We support anyone with talent in the world of motor racing, where we provide the workshop for the automobile mechanics center in Qatar Science Club and provide technical support and advice as well.”

In 2017, QSC launched an initiative in order to spread the motor sport culture.

Minister of Culture praises progress of Qatar Grand PrixQNA — DOHA

The Minister of Culture and Sports, H E Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali, praised yesterday the progress of the Grand Prix of Qatar, in light of the strong participation and the records achieved this year on Losail International Circuit.

His Excellency told the press on the sidelines of the event that Qatar GP proves that the state is capable of hosting the biggest international sporting events no matter how difficult the circumstances are. His Excellency praised the

effort of officials from Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Feder-ation (QMMF) and Losail Circuit Sports Club, saying they worked hard to ensure the competition reflecting the status of Qatar. His Excellency praised the atmosphere, and expressed hope that the remaining rounds of the com-petition of the championships can take place as scheduled.

Earlier yesterday, Tetsuta Nagashima and Albert Arenas claimed wins in the first grand prix of the season that took place in Qatar at Losail Inter-national Circuit.

03MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020 HOME

04 MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020HOME

Al Muraikhi receives credentials of envoys

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, received yesterday a copy of the credentials of H E Jonathan Paul Wilks as Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the State of Qatar. H E the Minister also received a copy of the credentials of H E Harith Lukavic as Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Qatar. The Minister wished the new Ambassadors success in the performance of their duties and assured them of providing all support to upgrade bilateral relations.

Mercure Hotel celebrated International Women’s Day with its guests and staff. The General Manager of the hotel, Sebastien Vincent, joined them for cutting a cake in the lobby. It is celebrated among the Accor Group of Hotels worldwide.

Mercure Hotel celebrates Women’s Day

‘Impregnable Guard 2020’ drill beginsQNA — DOHA

The ‘Impregnable Guard 2020’ military drill started yesterday and will run through March 27. The Chief of Staff of Qatari Armed Forces, H E Lieutenant General (Pilot) Ghanem bin Shaheen Al Ghanem, and a line-up of senior officers from the Qatari Armed Forces; security agencies and a

number of friendly countries attended the beginning of the drill.

The Joint Special Forces, Military Police, Amiri Air Force, Amiri Guard, Ministry of Interior and the Internal Security Force (Lekhwia) will participate in the exercise, in addition to a number of forces from friendly countries, such as the Hashemite Kingdom of

Jordan, Republic of Turkey, Kingdom of Morocco, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Sul-tanate of Oman, the United States of America and the North Atlantic Treaty Organ-ization (Nato). The drill con-sists of scenarios and training that contribute to preparing and training the participating forces to respond to any cross-border security threat.

The Chief of Staff of Qatari Armed Forces, H E Lieutenant General (Pilot) Ghanem bin Shaheen Al Ghanem, during the beginning of the ‘Impregnable Guard 2020’ military drill.

Richard Bentley speaking on architectural photography at the First Photography Forum organised by Youth Hobbies Center at Katara. PIC: QASSIM RAHMATULLAH/THE PENINSULA

Souq Al Wakrah Hotel presents its newest stay & spa offersTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

As a way of providing a sense of relief from the high demands of daily life and heavy workload, Souq Al Wakrah Hotel has carefully crafted a new bundle of luxury offers that guests will surely appreciate and benefit from.

Always keeping in mind the diverse

needs of guests, Souq Al Wakra Hotel’s latest offers have been designed to fully admire the charm of Qatari hospitality while staying in impressively preserved rooms, along with a wide range of spe-cialised spa treatments.

The heritage property has launched a year-round stay offer, the ‘Spa Essence Package’, which includes a

daily breakfast and a choice of any 60-minute spa treatment (per adult, per night). This is definitely a great approach to a well-deserved pampering, to reju-venate the body and mind before returning to the real-ities of work and family life.

On the other hand, the ‘5 + 5 Offer’ is aimed to soothe the tired body and to satisfy the palate. It is a combination of massage sessions from the hotel’s ‘The Spa’, plus

delectable Eastern and Western cuisines through the signature dinner buffets in either of its renowned restaurants, ‘Jarnen’ or ‘Emshoot’, on Thursdays or Fridays. In this offer, guests will receive 5 dinner buffet vouchers with every

purchase of five massage sessions.The Spa at Souq Al Wakrah Hotel

has received several recognitions for its facilities and service excellence. In the recently concluded Ohlala Spa & Wellness Awards Qatar, it bagged two

prestigious awards: ‘Best Signature Treatment’ for the Vichy Shower Massage and ‘Favourite Spa Products’ for the French brand Biologique Recherche that The Spa uses for its treatments.

Record participation at Katara Prize for Arabic NovelRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

The sixth edition of the pres-tigious Katara Prize for Arabic Novel has achieved record participation with a total of 2,220 entries in various cate-gories, a 20 percent increase from last year, the Cultural Village Foundation announced yesterday.

A total of $635,000 will be distributed to this year’s winners to be awarded on October 13 in line with the International Day of Novel that was adopted at the 20th session of the conference of Ministers Responsible for Cultural Affairs in the Arab World.

This year’s 2,220 entries comprise 1,005 unpublished novels, 930 published novels all released last year, 195 unpublished novels by young writers, 75 unpublished studies and 15 published Qatari novels.

Pointing out the continuous increase in the number of par-ticipants joining the Prize every year, Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara, said it clearly reflects its importance and the leading role Katara plays in the field of

Arabic novel and Arab creativity.

In terms of geographical distribution of participants, Egypt and Sudan came first in the Arab countries in terms of numbers with 986 participants, followed by Maghreb countries with 565 entries, then the Levant and Iraq with 533 par-ticipation. Gulf countries reg-istered 124 participants, while 12 entries came from non-Arab countries.

Al Sulaiti highlighted that women’s participation in the Prize this year reached 552 while 1668 entries were by men.

Khalid Abdulrahim Al Sayed, General Supervisor of the Prize, said that the rise in the number of entries for this edition prompted the Prize Committee to increase the number of members of the jury to avoid delay in announcing the results.

Al Sayed stressed that this year has seen the addition of a

new category which is the Qatari novel aimed at enhancing the presence of Qatari novels in local and Arab literary scene as well as encour-aging Qatari novelists to be more creative in this literary genre which has been wit-nessing great momentum on the level of production where a number of young Qatari nov-elists have emerged both on print and online.

One of the richest literary prizes in the world, Katara Prize for Arabic Novel has a total prize of $635,000 to be dis-tributed to 21 winners.

The $300,000 prize will be distributed equally to five winners in the published novel category, while $150,000 will be given away to five winners in the unpublished novel cat-egory each receiving $30,000. In the unpublished studies cat-egory, five winners will be selected to receive $15,000 each, while five winners will be chosen in the unpublished novels by young writers cat-egory to be awarded $10,000 each. One Qatari novelist will be selected to be the very first winner in this new category and receive $60,000.

A total of $635,000 will be distributed to this year’s winners.

Photography forum

MoPH reports 3

new COVID-19

cases; holds

awareness

campaignFROM PAGE 1

The Ministry also assured the parents, in a tweet, that it is in close contact with the Ministry of Public Health for taking preventive measures to protect students and staffs of schools.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education with the Ministry of Public Health and Primary Health Care Corpo-ration has also organised a number of workshops for the nurses of government and private schools to educate them on how to deal with cor-navirus and prevent the spread of the virus.

05MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020 HOME

Paraguay, Qatar discuss boosting relations

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Paraguay, H E Antonio Rivas Palacios, met with Acting Charge D’affaires of the Embassy of the State of Qatar to Paraguay, H E Saeed bin Hamad Al Marri. During the meeting, bilateral relations were reviewed, in addition to issues of common concern.

HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies co-sponsors religious tolerance roundtableTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

In line with its mission to frame debates on Islam in a global context, the College of Islamic Studies (CIS) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) recently hosted a roundtable discussion on the theme of religious tolerance.

Co-sponsored by the Doha Interna-tional Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID), Religious Tolerance: A Catalyst for Peaceful Coexistence utilised case studies from across the Middle East to frame key talking points. Consideration was also given to Qatar’s unique con-tribution to promoting religious tol-erance and peaceful coexistence.

The first panel, beginning with DICID Chairman Dr. Ibrahim Al Nuaimi’s contribution, demonstrated the clear vision Qatar has to promote tolerance and co-existence at home and abroad, while Dr. Hamda Hassan Al Sulaiti, Secretary General–Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, highlighted the functions of Qatari cultural institutions. Dr. Rabia Sabah Al-Kuwari, Professor of Media at Qatar University, discussed

the role of media. Meanwhile, Sheikh Dr. Ali Al Qaradaghi expanded on the role of religion in promoting tolerance and co-existence.

Religious Tolerance: A Catalyst for Peaceful Coexistence featured a second esteemed panel of speakers from dif-ferent faiths and perspectives to high-light the challenges and opportunities for co-existence and tolerance. These included Dr. Maher Khudair, Judge at the Supreme Shari’a Court of Palestine; Omar Ahmed Karim al-Barazanchi, Ambassador of Iraq to Qatar; Dr.

Ahmed Al Qadidi, former Ambassador of Tunisia to Qatar; and the Reverend Paul-Gordon Chandler, Senior Priest at the Anglican Church of Qatar. Pro-ceedings concluded with a question and answer session and further con-tributions from the floor.

Speaking after the roundtable, Dr. Josef Waleed Meri, a historian of inter-faith relations and the history of religion at CIS, who also chaired the second panel, said: “It was an honor to co-sponsor this event with DICID. For me this event was as much about

student participation as it was about the expert speakers who contributed their time and expertise. By pooling our knowledge and resources together we developed a roundtable which framed debates in both a historical and contemporary context.”

“The diversity of guest speakers also reflects a simple truth: you can’t discuss religious tolerance without seeking the perspectives of other reli-gions. The same rule of thumb also applies to peaceful coexistence, which cannot happen without a deeper understanding of different faiths.”

Dr. Al Naimi referred to DICID in his speech as an institution working for interreligious and intercultural dia-logue to prepare future generations with deeply rooted inter-religious and moral values, especially since the world has become a single village, and the fate of its inhabitants is intertwined and interdependent. What happens in the east of the world resonates in the west and vice versa, crossing distances through the spread of information technology and the means of social communication through language.

Sheikh Dr. Ali Al Qaradaghi with dignitaries at the religious tolerance roundtable.

‘Screen For Life’ program achieves highsatisfaction rates in participant surveyTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

‘Screen For Life’, Qatar’s national breast and bowel cancer screening program operated by the Primary Health Care Corpo-ration (PHCC), has been given a ringing endorsement with partic-ipants surveyed about their satis-faction with services and facil-ities at its three dedicated screening suites ranking as ‘excellent.’

Participants were surveyed after undergoing screening at the permanent screening suites in Al Wakra, Leabaib and Rawdat Al Khail health centres. The survey covered 14 questions covering participants’ satisfaction with organisation of their appointment schedule, front desk service, the professionalism and empathy of administration and nursing staff and the clean-liness, location and comfort of

the suites. All three emerged with extremely high satisfaction rates ranging from 94%-99%.

“These results are a massive vote of confidence in the Screen For Life operation and will be a great encouragement to all who work within the service,” said Dr Shaikha Abu Shaikha, PHCC’s Manager of Screening Programs. “The results should also serve as encouragement for those who have not yet taken up the screening opportunity providing them with reassurance of the level of service, comfort and expertise they will receive when they engage with us for screening against these two diseases.”

Screen For Life provides complimentary, biennial bowel cancer screening for men and women aged between 50-74 and complimentary mammogram screening, every three years, for women aged between 45-69.

The two diseases are the most detected cancers in Qatar and early detection of bowel cancer can lead to a 90% survival rate, while early detection of breast cancer has been associated with almost 100 percent recovery rate. Screening is carried out in spa-like suites at the three health centres and, in the case of breast cancer, via a fully equipped mobile unit which tours various sites in the country during special campaigns. Screening appoint-ments can be made by calling the dedicated call centre on 800 112.

‘Screen For Life’ works closely with the Ministry of Public Health, Hamad Medical Corpo-ration and the Qatar Cancer Society to synergise efforts to reduce early deaths from cancer and other chronic diseases by 25% by 2025 in line with National Health Strategy 2018-2022 targets.

Co-sponsored by the DICID, Religious Tolerance: A Catalyst for Peaceful Coexistence utilised case studies from across the Middle East to frame key talking points. Consideration was also given to Qatar’s unique contribution to promoting religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

Ashghal wins ‘Government Sustainability Initiative’ Award from QGBC

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) won the ‘Government Sustainability Initiative’ Award presented by the Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), a member of the Qatar Foun-dation, during the Annual Qatar Sustainabi l i ty Awards Ceremony held on March 4. Ashghal won the award for applying best environmental practices in projects implemen-tation works, said a statement.

Director of QGBC, Eng Meshal Al Shamari, handed over the award to Eng. Salem Al Shawi, Assistant Manager of the Roads Projects Department at Ashghal. The award comes in the context of the depart-ment’s efforts in the field of sustainability.

The Qatar Sustainability Awards, launched by the Qatar Green Building Council, aims to honor the contributions of individuals and institutions in supporting sustainable devel-opment and their commitment to implementing initiatives that enhance sustainability and protect the environment inside and outside of Qatar.

On this occasion, Eng. Salem Al Shawi, Assistant Manager of the Roads Projects

Department at Ashghal, said: “Promoting sustainability and recycling is an essential goal within Ashghal’s Corporate Strategy 2018-2022, which is in line with the efforts of various institutions and in various fields towards a better future for next gener-ations and to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030 sustainable development goals aimed at achieving a balance between economic growth and environment preservation, especially in light of the growing environ-mental challenges around the world.”

Eng. Salem Al Shawi said: “We appreciate the efforts of the Qatar Green Building Council to shed light on

government initiatives in Qatar, as this has an important impact in educating the com-munity and encouraging more entities to engage in activities related to sustainability and intensify cooperation in this field.”

The ‘Government Sustain-ability Initiative’ Award comes in recognition of Ashghal’s efforts in the field of environ-mental sustainability, and in the context of several initiatives by the authority within the roads and infrastructure projects implemented by the Roads Projects Department.

Through these projects, asphalt is recycled and used in the asphalt foundation layer of roads under construction, with a percentage of not less than 15 percent of this layer, which contributes to reducing the waste of implementation works and reducing emissions resulting from the transfer of old asphalt to landfills.

The department also uses old tyres’ crumb rubber in the asphalt surface layer, to produce modified bitumen and use it in asphalt mixtures, which reduces the carbon footprint of the asphalt, increases its flexi-bility and increases the life of the road.

Eng. Salem Al Shawi, Assistant Manager of the Roads Projects Department at Ashghal, with other officials after receiving the award at the ceremony.

06 MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020HOME

QF’s EVMC continues centuries-old Arab legacyTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

No animal is perhaps so closely intertwined with the history, traditions and heritage of a geographical area as horses are to the Arabian Peninsula. Across facts and folklore, the horse has always had as prominent a place in the history of the region as the people who have lived there.

While there is sufficient archeological evidence to support the theory that the rela-tionship is one that predates Islam, it is only after the advent of the religion that clear docu-mentation about the care of horses emerged. In fact, an entire range of research and writing on horse health care were produced across what is now the MENA region.

Ibn Akhi Hizam Al Huttuli, Abu Beker Ibn Al Badr Al Mundir, Ibn Al Ahnaf, and Al Ashraf were some of the experts on hippology who wrote extensively on equine health, care, and treatment in the medieval Islamic civilization. These equine healthcare spe-cialists were adept in the treatment of infectious and non-infectious diseases, surgeries, equine reproduction, and general care.

The books – some of which are still viewed as treatises

– reveal the depth of knowledge that Arab hippiatrists possessed; Akhi Hizam’s Kitab al-furusiyya wa-l-baytara , written around 900 AD, is an example of the writing on specialized horsecare in the region. As an example, in this book Akhi Hizam writes ‘If

you are just on the way (trav-elling), and you have to fix the ‘intisar’ without bandage, take old linseed and fill it in an iron dipper and mix it with hackled borax. Boil it thoroughly and apply it on the tendon of the mount.’

Today, a multi-speciality team situated at the Equine Vet-erinary Medicine Center (EVMC), a Qatar Foundation member is, in a sense, continuing the tradi-tions begun by these elite group of equine experts centuries ago. Here, a dedicated group of

veterinarians, researchers, nurses, technicians, and other support staff man the hospital situated near the Al Shaqab equestrian arena.

“The treatment described by these ancient specialists is the foundation of the treatment plans we use today,” said Dr. Tatiana Vinardell, Head of Research and Education at EVMC. “For instance, as written by Akhi Hizam, tendonitis is still a serious injury in horses. And this kind of treatment – using a poultice – is, though rare today, still used by some people.

“The 21st Century approach to treating tendonitis includes regenerative medicine such as stem cells and other healing enhancers to treat the condition. Additionally, technology such as MRIs and ultrasonography have been developed to give clinicians a clearer understanding of the severity of the disease.”

She notes how Qatar Foun-dation (QF) recognised the need to continue this legacy, which is also an inextricable part of Qatar’s history, as it invested in education, healthcare and research-focused resources to set up the EVMC.

Dr. Stefania Bucca, Senior Reproduction Clinician at EVMC, adds that the centre, which is the

only one of its kind in the region, offers comprehensive and spe-cialized care for all matters related to equine health – much like the hippiatrists centuries ago.

“Those residing and moving around in the deserts loved horses as they loved themselves – especially the Arabian steed,” she said.

“The physique and temper-ament of these horses helped; denser bone structures, physical stamina, and exceptionally friendly dispositions made these animals ideal for human inter-action and endurance riding – both of which were indispen-sable for the Bedouin’s rugged life in the desert.”

They were the perfect choice for ceremonies and pageantry as well; endowed with large eyes and comparatively slender necks and muzzles, the breed was, and still is, prized for appearance as much as for performance.

As it addresses the equine health needs of the wider com-munity in Qatar, the EVMC rep-resents a natural progression of an Arab legacy. While technology has modernized its approach and work, the underlying essence is still the same – taking care of a group of animals who helped to shape the course of the region’s history.

Dr. Stefania Bucca, Senior Reproduction Clinician at EVMC, and Dr. Tatiana Vinardell, Head of Research and Education at EVMC.

Doha’s SME business owners meetat newly opened mid-market hotelTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

A prominent set of business owners of SMEs from Doha met at the newly opened Premier Inn Doha Airport Hotel to inspect their high-quality mid-market product. The meeting was organised in association with Unique Choice Qatar.

Qatar’s hospitality portfolio is predominantly made up of an excellent array of international luxury hotel brands. The need to provide high quality budget accommodation in the 3- and 4-star hotel market is vital as the country builds up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The group discussed various opportunities of collaboration with the hotel management team, and took time to

understand Premier Inn’s business model. The business owners were mainly impressed by the price offered by Premier Inn in an excellent location, and the bedroom and F&B product being consistent and in sync with Premier Inn’s high standards in their hotels in UK and Germany.

Business guests, leisure travellers, sports or educational groups and airport transit pas-sengers will find this accommo-dation option very suitable for their needs mainly because a high-quality product at inter-national standards is packaged together with location and good customer service and offered to guests at an average price of $55-60, which is below the average price for a budget hotel

in most cities. Premier Inn is the UK’s

largest hotel company with over 830 hotels in the UK, and is very popular with international leisure and business travellers. The company is an industry leading budget hotel brand, which has two locations in Doha- one in Education City and a brand new one in Umm Ghuwalina opened in January 2020.

Guests visiting Premier Inn are guaranteed a good night’s sleep, as they fall back on to the super-comfy Hypnos bed, with a choice of pillows and black out curtains to send you off to sleep with ease. There’s plenty of space for little ones, with spacious family rooms accommodating up to two adults and two children, where

kids aged 15 and under stay free. Wake up to the legendary all you can eat breakfast, served in the all-day dining restaurant, Omnia, or take advantage of the 24/7 room service.

For business travellers, the hotel offers a range of well-equipped meeting room facil-ities and business centre

services. With free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, you can stay connected to the office, friends and family. Refreshment packages for delegates are available to book in advance and guests can enjoy free on-site parking.

The hotel is ideally located in the centre of Doha’s Old

Town, just 10 minutes from Hamad International Airport from where it operates a com-plimentary shuttle bus. Guests can discover Doha’s most popular attractions with Souq Waqif, the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and the National Museum of Qatar just a short ride away.

Prominent business owners of SMEs pose for a group photo at Premier Inn Doha Airport Hotel.

‘Color Lab’ exhibition at VCUarts Qatar to explore depths of colorTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Gallery at Virginia Common-wealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar), a Qatar Foundation partner university, will be hosting an exhibition titled, ‘Color Lab’ by artists Liz Nielsen, Vanessa Donoso López, and Melanie McClintock.

Through an interactive col-lection of artist works and work-shops, “Color Lab” explores the shifting face of color, inviting the observer to participate in a series of chromatographic journeys through chromatography, cyanotypes, pho-tograms, and pigments of prove-nance, sourced and apportioned to denote a sense of place.

During the opening of the event, visitors will have an opportunity to participate in color experiments that will result in a final collaborative work with unique takeaways.

The opening reception will take place on Wednesday, March 11 at 6pm and all are welcome to attend. “Color Lab” will run until April 11.

The exhibition Curator is Melanie McClintock, a graduate of the Uni-versity’s home campus in Richmond, Virginia.

“When I was asked to curate a show on color, many potential paths came to mind, so many that I was often simultaneously excited, inspired, and overwhelmed,” McClintock said. “I knew I did not want the show to simply be about the surface of color. It had to be about the depths of color: its mate-riality, the way it moves, the way it

reacts to light, and ultimately, the special places where color melds science and art.”

Liz Nielsen’s works have been exhibited in New York, Chicago, Paris, London, Budapest, Amsterdam and Berlin. Her pho-tographs are printed in an analog color darkroom with handmade negatives and found light sources, and her artwork has been reviewed in The New Yorker, The Financial Times, The British Journal of Photography, The New York Times, LensCulture, FOAM magazine, and ArtSlant among others.

Vanessa Donoso López has exhibited nationally and interna-tionally with recent selected solo exhibitions including, “I shall change the way things are ordered”, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin;, “No fixed color Con-tinuum”, Candyland, Stockholm; “the rain in Spain falls mainly off the plane”, Barcelona; “Scien-tifico-experimental-techno-color-movement”, M’ATUVU Project

Space, Brussels; and “Establishing a Mission” at the Ashford Gallery, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin.

Melanie McClintock’s concepts explore the ideas of time, wor-thiness, and sense of place. She received an MFA in Color and Materials Design from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan; and a BFA in Fashion Design from Virginia Common-wealth University in Richmond, Virginia. While running the Brooklyn-based boutique and gallery, Ai Ai Gasa (2006-08), she curated bi-monthly shows for such local artists including Alex Soto, Bailey Saliwanchik, and Eun-ha Paek. In 2012, she spear-headed a social art program in Indonesia, where she curated six exhibitions of student work in gal-leries throughout Java over two years. A few years later, she curated a show at the Gallery at VCUarts Qatar for Indonesian graffiti artists, Ismu Ismoyo and Tri ‘Vendi’ Effendi, titled “Issue Isme.”

Quiz O’ Mania - Season 1, the

first-of-its-kind quiz contest

to be hosted in Qatar THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Quiz O’ Mania - Season 1 is an interactive and first-of-its-kind quiz competition to be hosted in Qatar for students from grade 7 to 12. The Quiz competition i s o r g a n i s e d b y Speak&Shine — a speakers management and educational event company with QCol-lective Knowledge Solu-tions (India) being the quiz masters and the knowledge partners of the event.

The last date for reg-istrations is March 15, 2020. The quiz is open to all nationalities and students who are a res-ident of Qatar can par-ticipate. The registra-tions are free and stu-dents can register via the link www.speaknshine.com

The 1st season of Quiz O’ Mania expects students registrations over 2,000. The prelim-i n a r y r o u n d s i s scheduled for March 20, 2020 with the Grand Final on April 3, 2020. The venue for the pre-liminary rounds and Grand Final will be announced soon.

The Grand Final is expected to be attended by top embassy officials, dignitaries from the Min-istries alongwith India’s leading nutrition and exercise expert who is a vocal champion of using common sense and un - complicating the act of eating.

Speaknshine is a speakers Management and Educational Events company founded by Nisha Shivram.

The prime objective of the company is to bring powerful keynote speakers to Qatar and also to conduct educa-tional events for stu-dents, corporates and associations. Speakn-shine works on the ide-ology of Qatar’s Vision 2030 focusing primarily on education and youth developmemt.

QCollective Knowledge solutions headed by Dr Nithish Jacob is a platform that enable the students to use essential skills like logical & lateral thinking, visualization and interpre-tation, decision making, observation all coming into play. They have been using this tool and successfully integrated it in the conven-tional educational system of many schools. “What we have seen is a curious mind is more better in learning .and that is exactly what a specially designed quiz can do,” said Dr Nithish Jacob.

B r a v o C r i c k e t Academy & Cric Kingdom by Rohit Sharma are part of the organising team. The event is supported by Official Radio Partners FM 89.6 Qatar ki Dhadkan & Qabayan FM 94.3 - Music Pa More. Associate Partners - Gulf Classic Trading WLL & Fingertips - Just a Click Away. Event Partners - INSIGHT STUDIO, QATARINDIANS.COM, QatarMirror.

InterContinental Doha partners with L’Occitane to celebrate International Women’s DayTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

InterContinental Doha forged partnership with world-renowned brand L’Occitane en Provence to celebrate International Women’s Day which falls on March 8.

InterContinental Doha supports women empowerment and advocates women’s right to succeed at their workplace and at home. Beginning from March 13 until March 31, Inter-Continental Doha, together with L’Occitane, will commemorate International Women’s Day with an exclusive in-room amenity kit specially curated for solo women travellers, with essen-tials including skin care products for face and body.

Amidst the city’s hustle and bustle, this kit is designed for the solo woman traveler who is always on-the-go and looking for the perfect yet natural complexion.

While plenty of companies are now grad-ually putting emphasis on Women

Empowerment, L’Occitane Foundation, which has become a solidified concept in the 2006, has a unique array of programs, activities, and part-nerships that are in existence for over 35 years, such as their partnership with women from Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world.

In hospitality, women take up more than half of students in hospitality programs – which is 67 percent. Yet, study shows that at the same

year, women hold less than 40% of all hotel man-agerial positions and less than 20% in general management roles.

“At InterContinental Doha and IHG, we ensure unwavering support for women leaders by creating programs and workshops to hone their leadership skills and ultimately excel in managerial positions in hospitality. By partnering with L’Occitane, we support solo women travelers in various industries, including hospi-tality, by providing them a luxurious stay with world-class and personalised amenities,” said Dorien Smit, Area Director for Sales and Mar-keting for IHG Northern Gulf.

Beginning from March 13 until March 31, InterContinental Doha, together with L’Occitane, will commemorate International Women’s Day with an exclusive in-room amenity kit specially curated for solo women travellers, with essentials including skin care products for face and body.

07MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Iran: 49 more diefrom virus as tollincreases to 194AFP — TEHRAN

Iran’s health ministry yesterday reported 49 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, the highest toll within 24 hours since the start of the outbreak in the country.

“At least 194 of our compa-triots who fell sick with the COVID-19 illness have passed away,” Health Ministry s p o k e s m a n K i a n o u s h Jahanpour said in a televised news conference.

The outbreak of the virus in Iran is one of the deadliest outside of China, where the disease originated.

Jahanpour added that 743 new infections were also con-firmed within the past 24 hours, bringing the number of cases to 6,566 spread across all of Iran’s 31 provinces.

With 1,805 infections, the capital Tehran remains the province with the most cases, the spokesman added.

But the situation in other provinces continued to deteri-orate, with Jahanpour saying 685 cases were detected in and around Qom, south of Tehran where the country’s first cases were reported.

He said the number of cases was also “rising quickly” in Isfahan, a popular tourist destination, where there were now 564 people sick with the virus.

No official widescale quarantine measures have been enforced but several provinces have announced they would not provide lodging for tourists in an effort to dissuade travel.

Iran has been scrambling to contain the spread of the virus, closing schools and uni-versities until the end of the Iranian new year celebrations and holidays in early April, a period when people typically travel and visit family.

Iran's Health Ministry yesterday said 743 new infections were confirmed within the past 24 hours, bringing the number of cases to 6,566 spread across all of Iran’s 31 provinces.

Iraq says five

dead, 54 infected

with coronavirus

QNA — BAGHDAD/KUWAIT

Iraqi authorities announced yesterday a new death case due to coronavirus (COVID-19), raising the total number of death toll due to the virus to 5.

The Director of media for the provincial Health direc-torate in Babil governorate, Louay Al Rassam, said in a press statement that a 73-year-old man infected with coronavirus died yesterday at one of the hospitals of the province, according to Iraqi news agency.

He also said that the patient was suffering from several chronic diseases and he had a deteriorating health, indicating that the number of people whom got infected with coro-navirus in Iraq have reached to 54, among them 5 deaths.

In the same context, a security source in Nineveh gov-ernorate said that the gover-norate building had been com-pletely evacuated, after a person was suspected to be infected with coronavirus.

He added that the suspected case of the virus was trans-ferred to quarantine until it is confirmed to be safe, noting that the decision to evacuate the governorate building is a pre-caution measure.

Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health announced yesterday registering two new

coronavirus cases bringing the total number of the confirmed cases in the country to 64, according to Kuwait news agency. The ministry official spokesperson, Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad, said in a statement that one of the two news cases was of a female citizen who came back to Kuwait from the Islamic Republic of Iran and the other one was of an expatriate who had travelled to Azerbaijan, via the United Arab Emirates, on a private visit.

The latter had returned on the same flight, via the same route, the spokesperson said,

noting that the male patient did not travel to Egypt over the past six months.

The expatriate checked with an emergency ward of the Min-istry of Health. Personnel after verifying dates of his travel placed him under quarantine because he came back from a state that recorded coronavirus cases. He was being transferred to a specialized hospital.

With recording the two new cases, the overall number of coronavirus infections in the State of Kuwait climbed to 64.

Meanwhile in Oman, Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM)

has announced the cancellation of all events scheduled for March and April due to the virus outbreak.

In a statement yesterday, Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM) said: “All guided tours at the Royal Opera House Muscat and the House of Musical Arts will also be can-celled until further notice”.

On March 5, the Omani Min-istry of Health announced 16 confirmed cases of coronavirus ,15 of them are linked to trav-elling to Iran, and one is linked to travelling to Italy, confirming the recovery of two of them.

A worker in a protective suit sprays a disinfectant near the Iraq-Iran border crossing, yesterday. Baghdad has closed the border gate as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus outbreak.

At least 26 Iraqis among 32 dead in Syria road accidentAP — BAGHDAD

At least 26 Iraqis were among those killed in a Syrian highway accident on Saturday, in which a fuel truck collided with passenger buses and other cars, Iraqi’s foreign ministry spokesman said yesterday.

Ahmad Al Sahhaf said at least 16 Iraqis were also injured in what he described as a “regretful” traffic accident, and not a militant attack. He said the bodies will be transported to Iraq.

Syrian state media quoted local officials saying at least 32 were killed in the accident and 77 were injured.

Iraqi politicians called for an investigation, saying the passengers were Shia pilgrims on their way to visit shrines in Damascus, which has been largely protected from the ongoing war. But such convoys have previously come under attack from armed groups.

Syria’s Interior Minister Mohammed Khaled Rahmoun, who visited the area outside the capital of Damascus late Saturday, told reporters faulty brakes apparently caused the driver to lose control of the fuel truck.

He said at least 15 other vehicles were damaged.

A video from the scene of the crash showed a number of badly mangled vehicles, damaged passenger buses with broken wind-shields and twisted frames, while forklifts worked to remove them from the highway.

Syria’s infrastructure has been devastated by the ongoing civil war, which enters its tenth year next week.

The wreckage of a fuel tanker and a passenger bus after the deadly collision on the road between Damascus and Homs in Syria, on Saturday.

Aid agencies move to block virus outbreak in Syria rebel-held regionAFP — BEIRUT

Aid agencies are moving to prevent a novel coronavirus outbreak in conflict-plagued northwestern Syria, where damaged health infrastructure and massive displacement make containment a nearly impossible task.

Syria has not yet confirmed any coronavirus cases but its "fragile health systems may not have the capacity to detect and respond" to an epidemic, Hedinn Halldorsson, a World H e a l t h O r g a n i z a t i o n spokesman, said.

The risk of an outbreak is especially high and most alarming in Syria's northwest, where some three million people are trapped in a shrinking rebel bastion battered

by months of bombardment.With close to one million

people displaced since December by a Russian-backed regime offensive on the Idlib region, overcrowded settle-ments are teeming with fresh arrivals, and many of the dis-placed are sleeping rough in freezing temperatures.

Medical facilities have been targeted during the latest bombing campaign, further reducing the capacity of a health system ravaged by nearly nine years of conflict.

Unable to provide services from government-held territory inside Syria, the WHO provides cross-border assistance to rebel-held Idlib via Turkey, Halldorsson said.

Health personnel are being trained, "and laboratories in

both Idlib and Ankara are being prepared and stocked to safely test and diagnose the virus", he added.

A Russian-Turkish ceasefire deal went into effect on Friday, bringing relative calm to Idlib for the first time in months.

Misty Buswell of the Inter-national Rescue Committee said the situation in Idlib was "espe-cially ripe for a spread" of the virus.

"An outbreak would be dev-astating for thousands whose health status is already compro-mised due to lack of sufficient food, clean water and exposure to cold weather," she said.

Buswell said the IRC was focusing on "enhancing pre-ventative measures" by raising awareness, providing medical supplies and strengthening disease surveillance and reporting systems.

"If an outbreak is reported, we will work with local health actors to activate a response," Buswell said. Mustafa Al Abdo, the deputy head of Idlib's oppo-sition-run health department,

appealed for the formation of an isolated medical centre that would be ready to receive cases.

He also called on aid agencies to equip health workers with testing kits, medical masks, gloves and other equipment for prevention.

Local doctors are also playing their part in preventing an outbreak. Near the Turkish border yesterday, Zaher Hanak, a Syrian doctor, delivered a health awareness lecture on the novel coronavirus to some 20 attendees. He said the lecture was necessary to combat mis-information on the virus.

Discussing prevention measures, he said local author-ities "are currently looking for a place to quarantine" potential cases.

Iraq protest rally marks Women's DayIraqi women wearing protective face masks, carry pictures of demonstrators who have been killed during the ongoing anti-government protests, during a demonstration to mark the International Women’s Day in Baghdad, Iraq, yesterday.

Israel election challenger gets extra security after threats

AP — JERUSALEM

Israel’s parliament yesterday beefed up the security detail protecting Benny Gantz, the main electoral challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after deeming various death threats against Gantz to be credible.

The threats came in the wake of last week’s volatile and inconclusive election, in which Netanyahu was unable to capture the parliamentary majority needed to form a government.

Gantz revealed that a man tried to assault him on Saturday evening as he arrived at a speaking engagement, and that Netanyahu supporters have been threatening him online.

One post called for Gantz to be murdered just like former

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by a Jewish ultra-nationalist in 1995.

In his comments, Gantz vowed to unseat Netanyahu with a more worthy leadership and warned the prime minister to tamp down his divisive rhetoric before it was too late.

“Netanyahu: The public atmosphere and the threats worry every national leader,” he said. “The incitement is raging everywhere and you are silent.” “I won’t allow you to sow fear. I won’t allow you to turn man against his brother. I won’t allow you to bring about modern Israel’s first civil war in return for a ticket out of your trial,” he added. “Your regime has trampled all norms.” Netanyahu is scheduled to go on trial next week to face cor-ruption charges.

Virus cases rise to

19 in Palestine

QNA — RAMALLAH

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Palestine rose to 19 with three new cases confirmed in Bethlehem, the country’s health ministry said on Saturday. The new cases interacted with those infected at the Angel Hotel in Beit Jala.

They were later quaran-tined at a health facility in Bethlehem. The total number of quarantined cases in Beth-lehem, in addition to the new cases, are 47.

Palestinians clash

with occupation

forces in Jenin

QNA — OCCUPIED JERUSALEM

Dozens of Palestinians suffo-cated during clashes with Israeli occupation forces in the town of Qabatia to the south of Jenin, the northern West Bank, yesterday.

Clashes erupted during an Israeli military incursion into the town of Qabatia. Forces fired a barrage of tear gas can-isters and stun grenades toward residents, causing dozens to suffocate due to tear gas inhalation, local Sources told Palestinian news agency WAFA. Separately, 49 settlers, and two officers from the occupation police, stormed the courtyards of Al Aqsa Mosque, with heavy guard from the Israeli occupation police.

The Ministry of Islamic Waqf at the Palestinian Authority said the settlers later left under the protection of the occupation police.

Syrian state media said at least 32 were killed in the crash outside Damascus.

A picture taken on Saturday shows destruction in the village of Al Nayrab, about 14km southeast of the city of Idlib in, Syria.

African countries vary widely in the level of women’s regular Internet use, which we define as at least a few times a week.

08 MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH 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

IN WHAT could be termed as a great recognition of the sincere efforts for developing, promoting and sus-taining the cultural sector of Qatar at the highest standards, the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) has won two LCD Berlin Awards. NMoQ is the only cul-tural destination in the world to have won two pres-tigious LCD Berlin Awards: the New Culture Destina-tions of the Year award in the ‘Middle East and Africa’ category and the Leading Culture Destinations of the Year award for Best Museum Shop.

By taking cultural experience beyond the borders of the nation, NMoQ sets a new trend of reaching out to people around the world by breaking the barriers of languages, cultures and traditions. Undeniably, this style of functioning inspired the next generation of cultural producers. NMoQ is committed to bringing to life the unique story of Qatar and its people by giving voice to the nation’s rich heritage and culture.

Being a vibrant and immersive space, NMoQ pro-vided an atmosphere conducive for diverse commu-nities to come together and experience Qatar’s past, present and future. By organising events and exhibi-tions, NMoQ lifted the nations pride beyond borders.

LCD Awards highlight the world’s best established and emerging cultural destinations, recognising their exceptional contribution to cultural life. The New Culture Destinations of the Year awards highlight the significant role of culture in changing the perception of towns and cities and influencing their future devel-opment, while the Leading Culture Destinations of the Year awards highlight the experiential shift of cul-tural destinations into social hubs where visitors can explore, dine, shop, work – and even sleep.

“Since the National Museum of Qatar opened last year, it has been widely acclaimed as leading example of modern architecture which, through its exhibitions and offerings, has given citizens, residents and vis-itors a unique opportunity to engage in the country’s history and development. We are honoured that LCD Berlin has chosen the museum and its gift shop to be the recipient of the New Culture Destinations of the Year (Middle East/Africa) and Leading Culture Desti-nations of the Year – Best Museum Shop,” said Ahmad Al Namla, CEO at Qatar Museums.

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the National Museum of Qatar tells the story of the country’s heritage and culture through com-missioned films and artworks, storytelling, artefacts and music, combining wide-ranging scholarship with the voices of the people of Qatar. Culture is an identity. Undoubtedly, NMoQ has succeeded in firmly posi-tioning Qatar and its culture on the global map and also in taking the nation’s fame beyond borders.

Lifting nation’s pride

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OFFICE: TEL: 4455 7741 / 767FAX: +974 4455 7758

MANAGING EDITOR: TEL: 4462 7505

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR: TEL: 4455 7769

LOCAL NEWS SECTION: TEL: 4455 7743

BUSINESS NEWS SECTION: TEL: 4462 7535

SPORT NEWS SECTION: TEL: 4455 7745

ONLINE SECTION: TEL: 4462 7501email: INFO@PEN.COM.QA

PUBLIC RELATIONS: TEL: 4455 7613email: PR@PEN.COM.QA

ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT: TEL: 4455 7837 / 780FAX: 4455 7870, email: adv@pen.com.qa

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT: TEL: 4455 7857email: adv@pen.com.qa

SUBSCRIPTION & DISTRIBUTION: TEL: 4455 7809 / 839 FAX: 44557819, email: info@tawseelqatar.com

D-RING ROAD, POST BOX: 3488, DOHA - QATAREMAIL: editor@pen.com.qa

Quote of the day

Italy should ban all its citizens from travelling

to Europe in order to curb the new coronavirus

outbreak, because we are not able to order such a

thing within (the European Union's borderless area)

Schengen.

Andrej Babis, Czech Prime Minister

The Africa Summit on Women and Girls in Technology in Ghana.

International Women’s Day is an occasion to celebrate progress toward gender equity and assess the road still ahead. According to the United Nations, equal access to the internet and other infor-mation and communications technologies is a key gender equality goal. That’s because it offers women an avenue through which they can claim rights and act on social, economic and political opportunities - whether starting businesses, getting education, finding jobs, obtaining health care, finding banking and other financial services, or joining in a wide variety of activ-ities.

But in Africa, there’s an online gender gap - and it may actually be widening. On the basis of more than 45,800 face-to-face interviews in 34 African countries between late 2016 and late 2018, Afrobarometer reports that women are less likely than men to own mobile phones, to use them every day, to have phones with access to the internet, to own computers, to access the internet regularly, or to get news from the internet or by social media. Gaps range from 11 percentage points in mobile phone ownership and daily use to four points in phone access to the internet among those who own mobile phones.

These findings align closely with Global Findex reports on gender gaps in developing econ-omies: 10 percentage points in mobile phone ownership and six percentage points in mobile phone access to the internet.

African countries vary widely

in the level of women’s regular internet use, which we define as at least a few times a week. At the high end, we find that 58 percent of women in Cabo Verde and 57 percent in Mauritius use the Internet regularly, while fewer than 10 percent do in Mali, Niger, Benin, Madagascar, Burkina Faso and Malawi.

What’s more, the gap between men and women’s internet use also varies. We find no gap in Mauritius, while in Benin, 18 percentage points more men than women regularly access the Internet, with only 7 percent of women regularly going online, as you can see in the figure below.

Both women’s and men’s presence online has increased in recent years in all of the 31 African countries for which Afro-barometer has comparable data. In the five years between Afroba-rometer’s survey rounds in 2011/2013 and 2016/2018, the proportion of women who own mobile phones grew by six per-centage points, while women’s regular internet use more than doubled. In some countries, the gains were much more dramatic: The proportion of women who regularly use the Internet grew by 36 percentage points in South Africa, 30 points in Cabo Verde, 28 points in Tunisia, 25 points in Sudan, 24 points in Mauritius and 22 points in Namibia.

But even so, the average gender gap has widened. Since men’s regular internet use also doubled in the same period, the gender divide expanded from six percentage points to eight. The gap increased by a significant margin - which we define as three percentage points or more - in 14 of 31 countries. The divide

grew most in Benin, by 16 per-centage points, and in Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire by seven points each. It narrowed in only two countries: In Zimbabwe it shrank by three points and in Tunisia by six points.

If African women are still trailing men - and in some places even falling further behind - on this important new path toward opportunity, that’s a problem for gender equity. Digital connection is a prerequisite for the success of many other efforts to empower African women, such as Women in Tech Africa’s work to nurture role models and Melinda Gates’ Group of Seven initiative to ensure access to digital financial services for millions of predomi-nantly rural women.

Several groups are working to close this gap. The African School on Internet Governance, UN Women, and other organiza-tions target barriers contributing to the digital divide, such as una-vailable or unaffordable access, low digital literacy and confi-dence, and lack of relevant content. They are looking to both the private and public sectors for strategies and policies to ensure that women benefit equally from the economic, social and political openings afforded by accessible internet and other new technologies.

Lardies is the former Afroba-rometer data manager.

Dryding is the Afrobarometer assistant project manager for Southern Africa, based at the Institute for Justice and Recon-ciliation in Cape Town.

Logan is director of analysis for Afrobarometer and associate professor in the department of political science at Michigan State University.

AGNES SZUCS ANATOLIA

After the first round of talks, the EU’s chief negotiator pointed out “serious differ-ences” between the EU and the UK on the future of rela-tionship.

“Negotiations are very dif-ficult, but I continue to believe that we can reach an agreement,” Michel Barnier told reporters in Brussels.

The UK left the bloc on Jan. 31 after being a member of the European integration for 47 years. Till the end of this year, the UK and the EU are meant to agree on the terms of economic

cooperation.The first round of negotia-

tions took place in Brussels this week.

“The UK spent a lot of time on insisting its independence. Nobody contends that, but we also ask them to respect our own independence,” Barnier said, implying that the EU sticks to setting its own conditions.

The EU’s negotiation position involves three main chapters: economic part-nership, cooperation on security and foreign policy, and an institutional framework governing future relations.

The most crucial part is

the economic chapter where the EU and the UK have very different opinions.

The EU is open for a free trade agreement that allows zero tariffs and quotas but in return, the bloc insists on ensuring a level playing field for open and fair competition.

The EU asked the UK to formally engage to uphold high standards on social affairs, environmental pro-tection and state aid regu-lation, but there are still very serious divergences between the two sides, Barnier explained.

The UK negotiators are also against the EU’s

condition on combining the trade deal with an agreement on fisheries, which provides reciprocal access to markets and waters, and caps the fishing with quotas.

The partners have dif-ferent opinions on the nature of the agreement, as well. While the EU wants a global framework, the UK prefers sectorial arrangement.

There is disagreement on certain legal aspects of the future cooperation on the fight against terrorism, money laundering, and organized crime.

The next round of negoti-ations will start in London on March 18.

African women have less access to the Internet than African men do, and that’s a problem

/PeninsulaQatar

/ThePeninsulaQatar

/Peninsula_Qatar

/ThePeninsulaNewspaper

+974 6698 6188

www.thepeninsula.qa

‘Serious differences’ on future of EU-UK ties

Established in 1996

CARMEN ALPIN LARDIES, DOMINIQUE DRYDING, CAROLYN LOGAN THE WASHINGTON POST

09MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Erdogan to leave for Belgium today, to hold talks with EU officialsAFP — ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he will hold talks in Brussels yesterday as he called on Greece to “open the gates” for migrants at Turkey’s border trying to get to Europe.

“I will have a meeting with European Union officials tomorrow (Monday) in Belgium,” Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul yesterday.

He added he would discuss the migration issue after Turkey opened its borders.

“I hope I will return from Belgium with different out-comes.” Turkey repeatedly rails against what it describes as unfair burden-sharing, since around four million mostly Syrian refugees live in Turkey.

In 2016, Turkey and the EU agreed a deal in which Brussels

would provide billions of euros in aid in exchange for Turkish authorities preventing the flow of migrants.

But Ankara has repeatedly accused the bloc of not fulfilling promises made as Europe suf-fered the worst refugee crisis

since the Second World War.Over a million people fled to

the continent in 2015. Erdogan’s top press aide Fahrettin Altun has said one of the unmet con-ditions was that the EU would take in refugees from Turkey.

During the same televised speech, Erdogan urged Greece to open its border after clashes in recent days between migrants and Greek police.

“Hey Greece! I appeal to you... open the gates as well and be free of this burden,” he said, adding: “Let them go to other European countries.”

Thousands of migrants massed on the land border with Greece after Turkey last month said it would no longer prevent people from leaving the country.

Turkey’s decision sparked an escalating row between Ankara and Brussels, as well as a war of words

between Turkey and Greece.But Erdogan on Friday

ordered the Turkish coastguard to prevent risky Aegean sea crossings after more than 1,700 migrants landed on Lesbos and four other Aegean islands from Turkey over the past week.

EU foreign policy chief Josep

Borrell and European Council President Charles Michel met Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday.

Erdogan has felt extra pressure as nearly a million people in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib fled towards the Turkish border during the recent Syrian regime assault

backed by Russia and Iran.But Erdogan and his Russian

counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed a ceasefire on Thursday after Turkey launched an offensive against Damascus fol-lowing the deaths of 59 Turkish soldiers in recent attacks blamed on the regime.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan giving a speech during the opening ceremony of North Marmara highway in Istanbul, yesterday.

Separatist attack

leaves several

dead in Cameroon

AP — YAOUNDE

Armed separatists attacked a village in the African nation of Cameroon’s western French-speaking region on Sunday, killing at least seven people, according to a top official and a resident.

Governor Awa Fonka Augustine of the West region said separatists from the coun-try’s troubled English-speaking northwest region crossed over early yesterday and attacked a security post in the village of Galim, killing officers and civilians. The gov-ernor wouldn’t give a death toll but local media and resi-dents said at least seven people were killed.

“Our forces are in search of the attackers who from every indication were out to seize weapons and ammu-nition from the forces,” the governor said.

“I saw the military trans-porting the corpses of four of their colleagues who were at the military checkpoint and we are about to bury three people who were killed in the attack,” said resident Jean Kamfuti.

Cameroon’s Anglophone rebels have been fighting since 2017 to create an independent, English-speaking state in the majority French-speaking country’s western regions.

In addition, a locally made explosive planted in the English-speaking north-western town of Bamenda by suspected separatists who had vowed to disrupt International Women Day activities exploded Sunday as the cer-emony was going on. No one was killed or wounded.

Africa CDC intensifies COVID-19 response in 43 countriesBLOOMBERG — ADIS ABABA

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it’s ramping up expertise across the continent to help fight the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The CDC has trained labo-ratories from 43 countries as Covid-19 cases have been reported in nine African coun-tries, including Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa. Globally, around half the world’s nations have now reported cases of the coronavirus.

Africa CDC was founded in

2017 to support nations to improve surveillance, emer-gency responses and prevention of infectious diseases.

“We want to capacitate member states so they can quickly detect and mitigate the effects of the disease in Africa, and, if widespread transmission occurs, prevent severe illness and death,” Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said in a statement.

Representatives across the 43 laboratories have been trained to “isolate and transport the virus and test for it in the laboratory” and

received kits. Africa CDC also provides additional kits for 1,000 tests to any country that reports cases.

Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coro-navirus and here for maps and charts.

The rapidly spreading virus has wreaked havoc across much of the developed world, infecting more than 105,000 people and killing more than 3,500 people.

So far, cases across Africa remain in the dozens rather than hundreds, and it’s the con-tinent that’s least equipped to

deal with the highly infectious outbreak. Health officials on the continent are still bracing them-selves for the worst-case scenario.

International African hubs such as Ethiopia that are yet to record a single case are allo-cating funds, setting up iso-lation centres and closely screening international trav-ellers. Ethiopia is screening travellers from China, Italy, Japan, Iran and South Korea, the Ethiopian State Minister for Health, Lia Tadesse, said in an interview.

Meanwhile, the Democratic

Republic of Congo said it will quarantine travelers arriving from Italy, France, China and Germany, Health Minister Eteni Longondo said.

Travellers that arrive in Congo from the four countries with no signs of coronavirus face home quarantine for 14 days, according to Longondo. Anyone with symptoms repli-cating the virus “will be trans-ferred to an isolation site” controlled by the health min-istry, the official wrote in letters to the nation’s embassies, which were con-firmed by Longondo.

Report from Ethiopia expected this week in Boeing Max crashAP — ADIS ABABA

When air safety investigators release an interim report on the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max sometime before tomorrow, they are likely to place the blame on the jet’s automated flight control system as well as on the pilots and their training, but it’s unclear yet which side will bear the brunt.

Experts in the US are waiting to see if a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder is released, saying it will be used to train pilots across the globe on what to do when a software glitch causes an in-flight emer-gency. The transcript may not come until the final report, which is expected later this year.

The crash on March 10, 2019 that killed 157 people came almost five months after a similar Max owned by Lion Air crashed off the coast of Indonesia, killing 189. After the Ethiopia crash, avi-ation authorities across the globe grounded the Max until Boeing proves it has fixed the flight control software.

The crash forced Chicago-based Boeing to post its first annual financial loss in more than two decades, and shined a floodlight on the US Federal Aviation Administration, which allows employees of aircraft makers to make key decisions in the process that permits planes to fly.

Criticism has also been directed at Ethiopian Airlines’ pilots.

“It was pretty clear from the get-go they really didn’t under-stand what was happening to the airplane,” said William Waldock, a safety science pro-fessor at Embry-Riddle Aero-nautical University. “When they tried to correct, they actually made it worse.” Last week, a US House committee said a “culture of concealment” at Boeing and poor federal oversight con-tributed to both Max crashes.

At the root of the crashes is Boeing’s software called MCAS, an acronym for Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System. It automatically lowers the plane’s nose to prevent an aerodynamic stall. Initially, pilots worldwide weren’t told about the system, which Boeing said was needed because the Max had bigger, more powerful engines that were placed further forward on the wings than previous-generation 737s.

That’s likely to be where investigators find fault with Boeing. There’s little doubt that MCAS triggered the chain of events that caused both crashes, but Ethiopia’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau will have to determine if the pilots could have saved the airplane had they followed proper procedures, said Peter Goelz, a former US National Transportation Safety Board managing director.

Lebanon celebrate Inernational Women's Day

A Lebanese woman wearing protective gloves and mask due to the novel coronavirus epidemic, flashes the victory sign during a march to mark International Women’s Day in Beirut, yesterday.

Sudan women decry slow progress on rights since Bashir’s fallAFP — KHARTOUM

Sudanese women were at the fore-front of the protests that toppled autocrat Omar Al Bashir but 11 months on, activists are disap-pointed at a lack of progress on women’s issues. “Nothing has been done to meet women’s demands,” said Zeineb Badreddine.

An activist involved from the start of the protest movement that ended Bashir’s

three-decade rule last April, Badreddine will lead a demon-stration in front of the Justice Ministry yesterday to mark International Women’s Day.

Almost 30 years after being fired under Bashir for her “pro-gressive ideas”, she has also returned to teaching. But despite the toppling of the Islamist regime, she says the new government lacks female representation.

When Prime Minister Abdalla

Hamdok formed his government in September, he vowed to improve the situation for women despite the country’s economic and social difficulties.

He allocated four of 17 min-isterial positions to women, including the key foreign affairs portfolio. A woman was also named head of the judiciary.

But the country’s top authority, the joint civilian and military Sovereign Council

charged with overseeing the transition to civilian rule, only has two female members out of 11. “If women had better repre-sentation, they would have more voices to defend their cause,” said Badreddine.

Badreddine decries a lack of legislation criminalising har-assment. Lawyer and women’s activist Inaam Atiq takes aim at a 1991 personal status law, which she says “is causing the

suffering of thousands of women across Sudan”.

Law forbids women to travel abroad unless they have per-mission from a male guardian. “My guardian could be a younger brother that I raised, or even my son,” Atiq said.

Nor do courts specialising in personal status issues consider the results of DNA tests, allowing Sudanese men to shirk parental responsibilities, she said.

Senior figure in Somalia’s Al Shabaab killed in air strike: State mediaREUTERS — MOGADISHU

A senior commander in Soma-lia’s Al Shabaab group with a $5m bounty on his head was killed in an American air strike last month, according to Somalia state media, a blow to the mili-tants’ Islamist insurgency.

According to a Somalia state radio report late on Saturday, Bashir Mohamed Mahamoud was the head of Al Shabaab’s operations and was killed in an American air strike on February 22 in the Sakow district of the

Jubba region in Somalia’s south.Mahamoud sometimes used

the alias Bashir Qoorgaab.“AFRICOM forces killed in an

air strike Bashir Mohamed (qoorgaab), the operation head as well executive member of al Shabaab,” the state radio reported, using an acronym for the US military’s Africa Command.

The radio report said Mahamoud had been respon-sible for a series of attacks on Somalia national army military bases among other attacks.

Somalia’s information

minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir Mareye did not respond to a Reuters’ call for comment.

Since 2008, al Shabaab has been fighting to topple Soma-lia’s central government and establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islam’s sharia law.

The group’s campaign of bombings and gun attacks has targeted Somali military bases and civilian infrastructure including hotels, bars and schools in both Somalia and other regional countries.

Morocco’s RAM

suspends flights

to Venice, Milan

REUTERS — RABAT

Moroccan airline Royal Air Maroc (RAM) said yesterday it has suspended flights to Italy’s Venice and Milan, currently under lockdown by Italian authorities due to a corona-virus outbreak.

Flights to the two cities are planned to resume on April 8, RAM said in a statement.

Earlier in January, the Moroccan airline suspended direct flights to Beijing.

So far, Morocco tested 57 people for the coronavirus, with two testing positive.

The country banned fans from all football matches and cancelled many economic, sports and cultural events involving foreign travellers as authorities continue to implement precautionary measures at entry points and hospitals to prevent the spread of the virus.

“I will have a meeting with European Union officials tomorrow (Monday) in Belgium,” Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul yesterday. He added he would discuss the migration issue after Turkey opened its borders.

10 MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020ASIA

Mayor in virus-hit S Korean city says outbreak may be slowing

REUTERS — SEOUL

The mayor of the South Korean city hardest hit by that country’s coronavirus outbreak expressed cautious hope yesterday that the numbers of new cases may be dropping, after the rate of increase slowed to its lowest in 10 days.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported yesterday 272 new coronavirus cases, for a total of 7,313 in the country. Two further deaths took the toll to 50, it added.

The increase in cases was lower than the same period a day before, though health officials have warned that numbers could fluctuate as more tests are processed.

In the city of Daegu, which accounts for as much as 75 percent of all of South Korea’s confirmed cases, mayor Kwon

Young-jin told reporters the number of new cases has dropped below 300 for the first time since February 29, Yonhap news agency reported.

“The increase in the number of infection cases is showing signs of slowing down,” he said, according to Yonhap.

Daegu and two neighbouring areas have been declared “special care zones” by the

government, which has sent extra medical supplies and staff and deployed military troops to disinfect the streets.

KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong said the decrease appeared to be due to the fact that authorities were nearing the end of testing more than 200,000 members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which was at the centre of the

largest outbreaks.“We put the Shincheonji

church followers in quarantine to prevent the further spread of and tested them, and many of confirmed cases came from them,” she told reporters during a briefing in Seoul.

“The testing of the church fol-lowers is almost finished, so the number of confirmed cases has dropped accordingly.”

Medical staff members wearing protective gear arrive for their shift work to care for patients infected with the new coronavirus at a hospital in Daegu, South Korea.

Maldives confirms first 2 cases of virus; two resort islands locked downREUTERS — MALE

The Maldives has curbed movement on several resort islands, authorities said yesterday, after the country reported its first two cases of coronavirus.

The two infected people, who are both staff at the Kuredu Island Resort, tested positive late on Saturday. They are believed to have caught the disease from

an Italian tourist who has returned to Italy and tested pos-itive there. There are more than 1,400 people on the island, split equally between guests and staff, according to the tourism ministry.

“These two cases which tested positive are from a resort. They are employees of the resort and are now quarantined,” said Ali Waheed, the tourism minister of the island nation, the economy

of which is heavily dependent on foreign tourists.

“The period for the tem-porary restrictions will be decided by the medical teams. Right now, we have identified people who were in contact with the patients and they are in self-isolation along with secondary contacts. At this time we can say that these individuals will be monitored for fourteen days.” Waheed said the country was still

deciding whether tourists who were not in contact with the patients would be allowed to leave. It has banned passengers originating from or who had transited through or spent any time in Italy in the preceding 14 days, effective from yesterday.

Officials at the Kuredu Island Resort were not immediately reachable for comment.

The Maldives Health Pro-tection Agency (HPA) said

yesterday it had introduced “temporary restrictive measures” on a second island after an Italian national developed symptoms at the Sandies resort on Bathala island. It was unclear how many people were on the island.

It added two French nationals on a third island who showed symptoms of the disease had tested negative, and restric-tions on travel there had been lifted.

Bangladesh

confirms first

three cases of

coronavirusREUTERS — DHAKA

Bangladesh yesterday confirmed its first three cases of coronavirus in the south Asian country, said the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).

The affected people, aged between 20 and 35, include two who returned home from Italy recently, IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina told reporters.

The other was a family member of one of those two, she said.

“They are in stable con-dition and are being treated in a hospital,” Sabrina said.

Three more people who came in contact with the infected people have been kept in quarantine as a precaution, she added. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said earlier yes-terday her government was prepared to tackle the virus, urging people not to panic.

“Coronavirus has become a global problem. We are moni-toring the situation round the clock and taking necessary steps,” she said at an event in the capital, Dhaka. The gov-ernment yesterday urged Bang-ladeshi citizens returning from six countries — China, Italy, South Korea, Singapore, Iran and Thailand — to quarantine themselves in their homes for 14 days.

Authorities in Bangladesh say they have strengthened the screening of travellers and more than 400,000 people have been screened.

Experts have warned it may be hard to contain a spread of the illness in densely populated South Asia with its generally poor medical infrastructure.

Hong Kong protesters hold vigil to mourn student’s deathREUTERS — HONG KONG

Hundreds of black-clad Hong Kong protesters, holding candles, returned yesterday to the parking lot where a student fell to his death in November, vowing to continue their fight for greater democracy in the Chinese-ruled city.

The death of Chow Tsz-lok, 22, who fell from the third to the second floor in a parking lot in the eastern Tseung Kwan O dis-trict as police cleared crowds in the area, was the catalyst for some of the most intense clashes since the protests escalated in June last year. Yesterday evening, protesters, mostly in

trademark black clothing and surgical masks, laid down white flowers, origami cranes and mes-sages on coloured post-it notes at a makeshift altar where placards read “Keep the heat; Fight until the end”.

There was a heavy riot police presence nearby and at least one arrest was made.

Anti-government protesters attending a vigil to mourn a student’s death, in Hong Kong, yesterday.

Thousands rally in Asia on International Women’s DayAFP — BANGKOK

Thousands took to the streets across Asia for International Women’s Day yesterday even as the coronavirus outbreak forced the cancellation of events in the region.

In China state broadcaster CCTV highlighted the work of female medical workers on the frontlines in the fight against the virus.

Despite growing fears over the worsening epidemic, marches went ahead in Thailand, Indonesia, Philip-pines and Pakistan.

A women’s marathon planned in India was post-poned over virus concerns as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said prominent women would run his social media accounts for the day.

In South Korea several events were cancelled.

“Although we can’t be physically together, our minds for realising gender equality are stronger than ever,” the country’s gender equality minister Lee Jung-Ok said in a video message.

Many feminist groups held online campaigns instead of

street marches, using hashtags such as #FemaleStrike, #PowerUp and #38Interna-tionalWomensDay to raise awareness of gender inequality.

In Bangkok, protesters called for improved labour protections amid the epidemic that has infected dozens in Thailand, and greater rights under a military-aligned government.

But turnout was lower than last year with organisers saying some had stayed away because of virus fears.

Hundreds of women and

men rallied in the Philippine capital Manila to mark the day.

“The violence and poverty among women are getting worse,” Joms Salvador of women’s group Gabriela said.

At a march in the Indo-nesian capital Jakarta hun-dreds of people, some wearing rainbow make-up, demanded the government revoke laws s e e n a s g e n d e r discriminative.

They also called for laws against abuse and assault for the protection of domestic workers. Women march on International Women’s Day in Bangkok, yesterday.

2,000 villagers flee toescape shootings in Indonesia’s PapuaAP — JAKARTA

A weeklong shootout between security forces and a rebel group near the world’s largest gold mine in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua region has caused nearly 2,000 villagers to flee, officials said on Saturday.

The clashes, which began February 29 near the Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua province, have killed a police officer and injured three others, Papua police chief Paulus Waterpau said.

Rebels in Papua have been fighting a low-level insurgency since the early 1960s, when Indonesia annexed the region that was a former Dutch colony. Papua was formally incorpo-rated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot that was seen as a sham by many.

The mine, which is nearly half owned by US Freeport-McMoRan and is run by PT Freeport Indonesia, is seen by separatists as a symbol of Indo-nesian rule and it has been fre-quent target for rebels.

Waterpau said attackers

believed to be members of the West Papua Liberation Army, the military wing of the Free Papua Organisation, ambushed a police patrol from a hill on February 29, killing one officer and injuring two others.

In a second attack, gunmen shot at a police car on Tuesday, injuring another officer, he said. The attacks occurred in the mining town of Tembagapura in Papua, where the rebels have been fighting a low-level insur-gency for independence.

A local disaster mitigation agency chief, Yosias Lossu, said buses owned by PT Freeport Indonesia evacuated a group of 258 villagers from Banti and Kali Kabur villages on Friday. Another 699 people, mostly women and children, were evacuated early Saturday.

He said about 800 villagers from Longsoran, Batu Besar and Kimbeli villages were evacuated to a police headquarters in Tembagapura on Friday.

“Most women and children are scared and feel intimidated by gunfire near their villages,” Lossu said.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported yesterday 272 new coronavirus cases, for a total of 7,313 in the country. Two further deaths took the toll to 50, it added.

Kerala reports 5 newCOVID-19 cases,back on high alertIANS — THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

With five positive COVID-19 cases, Kerala yesterday sounded an all-around alert, with the state police warning that those who come from countries where coronavirus is raging and fail to report to health authorities will be pros-ecuted.

State Health Minister KK Shailaja yesterday said the state had five new positive cases at Pathanamthitta district, and that they now been isolated in the state-run hospital there.

She said the family con-sisting of a couple — a 54-year-old man and his 53-year-old wife — and their 24-year-old son, had come from Italy on February 29 but behaved irre-sponsibly by not reporting to the authorities.

“At the moment, we are more concerned at giving full medical care to the three and two of their relatives,” said Shailaja.

She said that apart from the trio, the two other confirmed cases were of their relatives - another couple.

“They are a 65-year-old man and his 61-year-old wife. We have now decided to quar-antine the parents of the couple who returned from Italy and are planning to take them to the

Kottayam Medical College hos-pital,” added Shailaja.

“The family did not report about their visit to Italy at the airport counter. After reaching their home in Pathanamthitta, they never contacted the health authorities. Instead, they visited their relatives’ home nearby.

“It was after two of their relatives developed fever and approached the district hospital that the infection was sus-pected. Following queries, the officials then got in touch with the family which returned from Italy. By then they also had developed fever. Following the tests, all the five people have turned out to be positive.

The minister also cautioned people about any laxity. “The people at large should adhere to protocols that have been put out and all those people, who are arriving from affected countries, should report to our health authorities, if not, they are not being responsible,” she said.

Meanwhile, a suspected coronavirus patient, who returned from Saudi Arabia, died in the government Medical College in West Bengal’s Mur-shidabad district yesterday, a senior official said. Two other suspected Conoravirus patients were admitted in the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beliaghat here during the day.

11MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020 ASIA

10 die at collapsed Chinaquarantine hotel; virusspread continues to slowREUTERS — SHANGHAI/BEIJING

Ten people have died and 23 remain trapped after the collapse of a hotel that was being used to quarantine people under observation for the coro-navirus in the Chinese city of Quanzhou, authorities said yesterday.

More than 70 people were believed to have been initially trapped in the seven storey building, which collapsed on Saturday evening.

As of 16.00 Beijing time yes-terday, authorities had retrieved 48 individuals from the site of the collapse, with 38 of them sent to hospitals, the Ministry of Emergency Management said.

Pictures from the site showed rescue workers clad in hard hats, goggles and face masks carrying injured people away to waiting medical staff in white overalls and surgical masks.

A rescue force of over 1,000

people, including firefighters, police forces, and other emer-gency responders, arrived at the site on Saturday night, author-ities told a media conference organised by the Quanzhou government yesterday.

Of the 71 people inside the hotel at the time of the collapse, 58 had been under quarantine, they added.

According to state media outlet Xinhua, the owner of the building, a man surnamed Yang, has been summoned by police.

The building’s first floor had been under renovation at the time of the collapse, the news agency said.

News of the collapse comes as the spread of COVID-19 con-tinues to slow in China.

According to data from China’s National Health Com-mission (NHC), cases fell by roughly one half on Saturday from the day prior.

The agency confirmed 44 new cases of the COVID-19 disease caused by the new coro-navirus as at the end of March 7, a decline from 99 the pre-vious day.

Chinese cities are gradually relaxing quarantine measures put in place over a month ago, while authorities keep a close watch on the virus’ spread overseas.

Of the 44 new confirmed cases, 41 were discovered in Wuhan, the origin of the virus’ outbreak and its hotbed.

The remaining three were

cases imported from outside mainland China.

This marks the second con-secutive day in which all of China’s newly confirmed cases outside of the city of Wuhan originated from overseas. The three cases bring China’s total imported case count to 63.

According to the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, two of the cases found in Beijing originated in Italy and Spain.

As the virus slows its spread in Wuhan, the centre of the epi-demic, authorities have reacted by halting operations of hos-pitals built specifically to house

its patients. State television reported yesterday that opera-tions of 11 makeshift hospitals had been suspended and the remaining ones would be out of service by around March 10, although they could be used again depending on the virus situation.

A man (centre) is being rescued from the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Quanzhou, in China’s eastern Fujian province, yesterday.

Malaysia, Thailand bar cruise ship over virus fearsAFP — KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia and Thailand have barred a cruise ship carrying about 2,000 people, including dozens of Italians, from docking due to fears about the new coronavirus, an official yesterday.

The Costa Fortuna was first turned away from the popular Thai holiday island of Phuket

on Friday, despite there being no suspected virus cases aboard, according to its operator.

Thai authorities had imposed restrictions “on Italians that have transited in Italy in the last 14 days”, Costa Cruises said on Twitter.

The ship is carrying 64 Italians, according to Malaysian officials.

Italy has been hard hit by the virus with more than 230 fatalities, the most deaths from the disease of any country outside China, where the out-break began in December.

On Saturday the vessel tried to dock in the northern Malaysian state of Penang but was also refused entry, local politician Phee Boon Poh said

The decision was taken as

Malaysia had decided to restrict entry of all cruise ships to the country’s ports, he said. Malay-sia’s Star newspaper also reported a ban had been imposed.

After being denied entry by Malaysia, the ship was heading to neighbouring Singapore, said Phee.

The case has similarities with that of the Westerdam, a

cruise ship that was at sea for two weeks and was rejected by five countries over fears its pas-sengers could have the virus.

Cambodia finally allowed it to dock on the country’s southern coast on February 13.

Worldwide, the total number of people with COVID-19 has passed 100,000 while 3,500 have died across 95 nations and territories.

A health services staff wearing protective gear sprays disinfectant in a market as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus in Herat city, Afghanistan, yesterday.

Measures against coronavirus

Mild, moderate virus cases to be isolated at homes in PakistanINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

The government of Pakistan has developed a plan on how to accommodate patients in the event of a sudden outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the country under which mild to moderate patients will be isolated in homes and critical patients will be admitted to hospitals.

There have been six reported cases in Pakistan of which one patient has recovered and been allowed to join his family.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services (NHS) Dr. Zafar

Mirza said that it was possible that the virus could die because of the rising temperature.

“However, as this is a new virus and this is the first out-break in the world we cannot say for sure that the virus will be killed by the increase in tem-perature. So, at the same time, we are also making alternative arrangements to accommodate patients in the event of a sudden increase in cases,” he said.

Dr. Mirza said the disease has a mortality rate of around 2 percent which is why it has been decided that if there is a rise in cases, mild to moderate patients should be in houses — either their own or houses and

buildings selected by the gov-ernment for this purpose —which will be converted into isolation wards.

“As only 20 percent of patients become critically ill, they will be admitted to hos-pital and provided proper care,” he added, explaining that patients who are more likely to develop serious symptoms because of their age, immunity level or pre-existing conditions would be considered critical.

Dr. Mirza added that the recovery of one of the six patients in the country was good news. The novel corona-virus is not similar to the polio or hepatitis viruses, microbiol-ogist Dr. Javed Usman said.

NAB powers are againstfundamental rights: Islamabad High CourtINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has termed the ‘absolute’ and ‘unchecked’ exercise of powers by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman to issue arrest warrants contrary to the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution and certain guidelines to ensure judicious use of such powers.

The observation was part of a detailed judgement issued by the IHC division bench on the bail petitions of former Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) DirectorGeneral Abdul Samad and director Amjad Mustafa Malik in a case per-taining to the auction of fourth generation of broadband cel-lular network technology (4G).

The IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb had earlier granted pre-arrest bail to the former PTA officials through a short order. In the detailed order, the court also highlighted loopholes in the investigation by the ‘poorly’ trained officers who lacked proper skills to probe white-collar crimes.

“The power to arrest is to be exercised fairly, justly, equitably and without discrimination. There must be sufficient incrim-inating material to justify arresting an accused.

“The ‘ incriminating material’ must be of the nature which, prima facie, indicates involvement of the accused in the commission of the offences under the Ordinance of 1999.

“The material brought on record should, prima facie, show existence of criminal

intent or motive, element of conscious knowledge and par-ticipation with the object of obtaining illegal gain or benefit,” the court order explains.

Otherwise the arrest of an accused would be “an abuse of the power to arrest vested under the Ordinance of 1999”, it points out.

“Mere allegations of misuse of authority would not justify depriving an accused of liberty because an irregularity or wrong decision sans criminal intent, mens rea and illegal gain or benefit does not attract the offences.

“The power of arrest under the Ordinance of 1999 cannot be exercised in an indiscrim-inate, reckless or wanton manner, because there are con-flicting fundamental rights guaranteed under the Consti-tution which cannot be ignored,” the IHC judgement says.

It elaborates that the [NAB] power to order the arrest of an accused during inquiry or inves-tigation can have deleterious effects, not only for the latter but also for their family members.

The petitioners seeking bail had also questioned the NAB chairman’s powers to issue arrest warrants, requesting judicial review of the executive power whereby it was intended to deprive them of the right to liberty.

According to the anti-graft watchdog, NAB chairman on receipt of a source report had ordered an investigation on October 16, 2018 though an inquiry had not been conducted before authorising the investigation.

Australia ramps up epidemic preparation as third man dies of coronavirusREUTERS — SYDNEY

A man in his 80s died in a Sydney hospital after testing positive to COVID-19, becoming the third coronavirus-related casualty in Australia, state health authorities said yesterday.

The total number of corona-virus cases now stands at 74 in the country, with state and

federal health authorities fretting over the risk of more widespread community transmission.

The outbreak has killed more than 3,400 people worldwide, spreading across more than 90 nations outside China, where it originated.

New South Wales Health said in a statement, it was “continuing to find and respond to cases as

they are diagnosed to slow any spread of COVID-19 in the community.”

Federal Minister for Health Greg Hunt said yesterday the government has secured an addi-tional 54 million face masks to help protect medical workers.

The masks are scheduled to arrive in Australia between now and the end of April, Hunt added.

On Saturday, the government released an extra 260,000 sur-gical masks from federal stockpile to primary health networks.

“These are for medical services personnel,” said Hunt.

“As we believe that they are required we’ll be distributing them through the primary health network. And if any other

mechanisms are required, we’ll do that.”

“Hunt also called for calm in the community, saying some people have not been their “best selves”, referring to hoarders who have emptied supermarket shelves in recent days.

New South Wales state premier added her weight too, urging people to be “rational”.

“We have everything we need. Nobody needs to fear of running out of anything,” she said.

The calls come as the New South Wales state police yes-terday charged two Sydney women involved in a violent brawl over toilet rolls at a super-market in Sydney’s south-west.

Thai lawmakers

from dissolved

oppn party to

join new party

REUTERS — BANGKOK

Dozens of Thai lawmakers from a prominent opposition party that was dissolved last month said yesterday they will join a new party together to keep their parliamentary seats.

Thailand’s constitutional court dissolved the high-profile Future Forward Party last month, banning its executive members and leaving the rest of its lawmakers to find a new party to join within 60 days or they would lose their status.

The remaining 55 members of parliament of the disbanded party will be officially joining an existing party called Move Forward Party together next week, said Pita Limjaroenrat, who emerged as the group’s new leader.

“Our mission is to continue the ideologies and missions of the Future Forward Party,” Pita told reporters.

“Even though we have a new home, our hearts remain the same. We remain on the side of the people and democracy, stand against the junta staying in power, and drive progressive agendas.”

Little is known about Move Forward Party, which did not have a lawmaker in parliament. The Election Commission said on Friday it just changed its name early last week, possibly to prepare to receive the former Future Forward lawmakers.

The upstart Future Forward Party, hugely popular among young people, came third in last year’s messy election and ini-tially captured 81 out of 500 parliamentary seats but lost many lawmakers through defections and political bans along the way.

The party had been a thorn in the pro-military govern-ment’s side since before the March 2019 general election that saw the junta chief, who seized power in 2014, rein-stalled as a civilian prime min-ister. Future Forward’s charis-matic leader, Thanathorn Juan-groongruangkit, had his lawmaker status suspended a day before the opening of par-liament in May and then dis-qualified in November for holding shares in a media firm..

As the virus slows its spread in Wuhan, the centre of the epidemic, authorities have reacted by halting operations of hospitals built specifically to house its patients.

12 MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020EUROPE

Italy locks down millions as virus deaths leapREUTERS — MILAN

Italy ordered a virtual lockdown across much of its wealthy north, including the financial capital Milan, in a drastic new attempt to try to contain a outbreak of coronavirus that saw the number of deaths leap again sharply yesterday.

The unprecedented restric-tions, which aim to limit gath-erings and curb movement, will impact some 16 million people and stay in force until April 3. They were signed into law over-night by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

The new measures say people should not enter or leave Lombardy, Italy’s richest region, as well as 14 provinces in four other regions, including the cities of Venice, Modena, Parma, Pia-cenza, Reggio Emilia and Rimini.

Only people with proven, work-related reasons, or health problems will be able to move in and out of the exclusion zones. Leave has been cancelled for health workers.

“We are facing a national emergency. We chose from the beginning to take the line of truth and transparency and now we’re moving with lucidity and courage, with firmness and

determination,” said Conte.“We have to limit the spread

of the virus and prevent our hos-pitals from being overwhelmed,” he told a news conference called in the early hours of Sunday.

Italy has been hit harder by the crisis than anywhere else in Europe so far and Sunday’s latest figures showed that starkly.

The number of coronavirus cases jumped 25 percent in a 24-hour period to 7,375, while deaths climbed 57 percent to 366 deaths. It was the largest daily increase for both readings since the contagion came to light on Feb. 21.

Antonio Pesenti, head of the Lombardy regional crisis response unit, told the Corriere

della Sera newspaper the health system in Lombardy was “a step away from collapse” as intensive care facilities came under growing strain from the new cases.

“We’re now being forced to set up intensive care treatment in corridors, in operating the-atres, in recovery rooms. We’ve emptied entire hospital sections to make space for seriously sick people,” he said.

The World Health Organi-sation said it fully supported the actions taken by Italy, which were in line with its guidelines for containing the spread of the virus.

But with the Italian economy already on the edge of recession,

some local politicians pushed back against the measures, which leaked out before the regions were consulted.

The head of Veneto, Luca Zaia, complained he had not been properly consulted and was unhappy that three prov-inces in his region, including Venice, had been included in the clampdown.

“We do not understand the rationale of a measure that appears scientifically dispropor-tionate to the epidemiological trend,” he wrote on Facebook.

On Saturday, health officials had expressed alarm at the apparent lack of concern in the general public, as fine weekend weather attracted large crowds to the ski slopes outside Milan.

But streets were notably quieter than normal as northern cities woke up to the news on Sunday.

“What is happening in my city is worrying me and it is also saddening, because Milan is a lively city and to see it like this today is almost a defeat for me,” said resident Lucia Navone.

“I never would have thought this would happen.”

Tourists wearing protective face masks visit Piazza di Spagna, in Rome, yesterday.

British PM heckled as he visits flood-hit area in EnglandREUTERS — BEWDLEY, ENGLAND

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was heckled by some residents when he visited a flood-hit area in central England yesterday, after the water had subsided.

Last month was the wettest February on record for the United Kingdom, with a suc-cession of storms bringing

widespread flooding to many areas. Johnson was repeatedly criticised by opposition politi-cians at the height of the flooding for not visiting affected communities.

With waters now having sub-sided, Johnson yesterday visited Bewdley in central England to see the recovery operation. Tele-vision footage showed one man shouting “Traitor!” at the prime

minister. A photographer heard some people booing Johnson, while others asked why he had waited until now to come.

Some residents said they were happy that he had now visited.

“There is no water here but you can still see the effects,” local resident Paul Smith, whose home was flooded, told Sky News. “We are just glad to

see him here eventually.” Speaking to reporters during

his visit, Johnson said: “It is all too easy for a prime minister to come to a place in the middle of an emergency, it is not so easy frankly for the emergency services because... they are then diverted from their work for hours and hours.”

“What I have been doing since the flooding began is

coordinating the national response but also looking at what we can do in the next months and years to ensure that this country really is ready to cope with the impacts of flooding,” he said.

The finance ministry said on Saturday said it would use Wednesday’s budget statement to set out a doubling of spending on flood defences to 5.2bn pounds

A protest sign stands next to rows of empty chairs, lined up by family members of victims of the MH17 for each seat on the plane, during a protest outside the Russian Embassy, in The Hague, yesterday.

MH17 relatives protest Russian action with 298 empty chairsAP — THE HAGUE

The families of people killed when a missile shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 set out 298 white chairs outside the Russian Embassy yesterday in a silent protest against Moscow’s lack of cooperation in the investigation into the downing of the passenger jet.

The chairs — laid out in rows like seats in an airplane — represented the victims who died when a Buk missile fired from territory held by pro-Russia separatist rebels shot

down the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight on July 17, 2014, killing everybody on board.

The families stood in silence for two minutes after arranging the chairs and signs including one that read: “Impunity — unacceptable! Someone knows what happened... Justice for MH17.”

The protest came on the eve of a Dutch trial for three Rus-sians and a Ukrainian charged with murders for their alleged roles in the missile strike.

Russia denies involvement and has dismissed the interna-tional investigation that led to

the four suspects being charged, saying it is prejudiced against Moscow. Relatives accuse Russian authorities of seeking to hide the facts about exactly what happened.

Piet Ploeg, who lost his brother, Alex, his sister-in-law and his nephew, said families weren’t accusing Russia of downing the Boeing 777.

“But we are having a protest against the lack of cooperation of the Russian state in the investigation of the downing of MH17. And we want them to cooperate and stop obstructing the investigations.”

Number of UK coronavirus cases rises by 30% to 273REUTERS — LONDON

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United Kingdom has risen by 64 to 273, the Department of Health and Social Care said yesterday, a leap of 30 percent and the biggest one-day increase so far.

More than 23,500 people in Britain have been tested for the virus. So far, two patients have died. The biggest concentration of cases is in London, which has had 51.

Finance minister Rishi Sunak said the government would invest whatever was needed to deal with the spread of the virus, including more money for the health service and help for companies suf-fering short-term cash flow problems. After reports of people stockpiling goods such as hand sanitiser, soap, dried pasta and toilet rolls, the gov-ernment said on Friday that supermarkets had contingency plans in place to prevent shortages.

UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, said it was restricting bulk buying of several products in stores and online. Customers will be limited to buying five units of items such as anti-bac-terial gels and wipes, dried pasta and long-life milk.

Stay at home to slowspread of virus, urgesGerman health ministerREUTERS — BERLIN

Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn called on organ-isers of large public events to cancel them and urged members of the public to stay at home in the hope that staging the coronavirus’s spread would help spare the healthcare system.

With coronavirus cases spreading rapidly, pressure is growing for a broader public health response in the country after Italy locked down swathes of the north to contain the raging epidemic there.

Germany had 902 confirmed cases yesterday afternoon, far short of Italy’s tally of almost 6,000, but that included a large cluster of 392 in one municipality in western Germany. A German national has died from the disease in Egypt.

The task now was to slow the virus’ spread, Spahn said on Sunday.

“Coronavirus has been in Germany since Wednesday last week. Our priority now is to slow its spread,” he said on Twitter.

“The slower the virus spreads, the better the healthcare system can cope.” After Italy and France, Germany has the largest number of cases in Europe, and concern is growing at both the economic and public health consequences of what threatens to become a global

pandemic. Spahn said organ-isers of events with more than 1,000 participants should call them off and said that there would be discussions over coming days over how to mit-igate the economic conse-quences of that decision.

Under Germany’s federal system, the health minister does not have the power to call off individual events, but a lead from the federal gov-ernment typically encourages federal states to follow suit.

“Consider also what in your daily life is so important that you can’t do without it for the next three months, whether that’s an evening clubbing, a family birthday or a club meeting,” Spahn said.

A number of large events, including a travel fair in Berlin, have already been called off, but Jens Spahn said other organisers had been too slow to act.

The German Football League said in a statement that it was in talks with local authorities and clubs over how best to respond. It said the football season would have to be played to an end, but did not specify how.

A public meeting ban would also pose problems for Spahn’s own party, which plans a congress on April 25 to elect a new leader who would run as successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has said this term will be her last.

Litmus test for Macron in French municipal electionsAFP — PARIS

Three years after President Emmanuel Macron swept to power promising a “revolution”, have French voters definitively soured on him?

The first round of municipal elections next weekend is expected to test backing for Macron’s ambitious reform agenda following a second winter of discontent marked by mass protests.

Polls showing Macron’s

four-year-old Republic on the Move (LREM) party struggling in the March 15 vote, to be fol-lowed by a second round on March 22, which come amid a furore over the government’s decision to force through unpopular pension reforms by decree.

The elections also follow the “yellow vest” rebellion of 2018-2019, which lifted the lid on the widespread anger in rural France against a leader seen by critics as the

president of the rich.The coronavirus epidemic

— which has killed a dozen and infected hundreds in France — looms large over the vote.

The government has ruled out postponing the election but analysts have warned that fear of contamination could be a big turn-off for polling station vol-unteers and voters alike.

Macron, who is set to seek a second mandate in 2022 polls, has attempted to downplay the significance of the vote for more

than 500,000 councillors and nearly 35,000 mayors.

“I don’t believe that people will vote for this or that can-didate because they do or do not support the president,” he told reporters in January.

But a fresh electoral setback after the LREM in last year’s European elections finished behind the far-right National Rally would nevertheless show that “Emmanuel Macron’s magic powers are no longer that magic,” Bruno Cautres, a

researcher and lecturer at Sci-ences Po university in Paris, said.

The results will be closely watched for signs of whether Macron’s party of entrepre-neurial political upstarts has managed to put down roots in the provinces.

“This election will be a pre-cious indicator of the penetration of Macronism at the local level,” Martial Foucault, director of the Cevipof research centre at Sci-ences Po university, said.

Bulgaria confirms

first 4 virus cases

ANATOLIA — SOFIA

Bulgaria yesterday confirmed four coronavirus cases out of 70 people tested, the first such confirmed cases in the country.

A 27-year-old who was treated at the Lung Diseases Hospital in the central Gabrovo province and 61-year-old who had contact with the patient both tested positive for the virus, officially known as COVID-19, according to Bul-garian health officials.

In addition, a 75-year-old woman who was treated for respiratory diseases and a female medical staffer at in the city hospital in the northern Pleven province were also diagnosed.

First detected in Wuhan, China, in December, COVID-19 has spread to more than 80 countries.

The global death toll is around 3,500, with more than 100,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

As part of efforts to contain the outbreak, governments have closed borders and sus-pended land and air travel with the worst-hit countries such as China, Iran, and Italy.

The unprecedented restrictions, which aim to limit gatherings and curb movement, will impact some 16 million people and stay in force until April 3. They were signed into law overnight by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. The new measures say people should not enter or leave Lombardy, Italy’s richest region, as well as 14 provinces in four other regions, including the cities of Venice, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia and Rimini.

13MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Fire damages refugee centrein Lesbos, no injuries AP — ATHENS

A fire broke out at a refugee centre on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece’s firefighting service said yesterday, causing considerable damage to a ware-house but no injuries.

It was the second fire at an installation built for migrants, after a reception centre was burned down by unknown per-petrators last Monday. The warehouse, which contained furniture and electrical appli-ances, was completely destroyed, a firefighting spokesman said.

Greece has deployed riot police and border guards to repel people trying to enter the country and the Greek border area has seen violent

confrontations between Greek security personnel and the migrants.

On Saturday, youths threw rocks at Greek police and tried to break down a border fence.

Meanwhile , Cyprus announced it will send security forces to the Greek border to help protect it.

G r e e k g o v e r n m e n t spokesman Kyriakos Kousios said in a statement that the decision to send the force was

announced by Cypriot President Nicos Anastassiades to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitso-takis during a telephone con-versation the two had yesterday morning.

“The President’s proposal was gratefully accepted by Greece’s Prime Minister and, therefore, a force from Cyprus’ security forces will travel to Greece immediately to defend and guard Greece’s, and Europe’s, borders,” the Cyprus spokesman’s statement said.

Greece also arrested five migrants overnight.

Many migrants have reported crossing into Greece, being beaten by Greek author-ities and summarily forced back. EU countries are still dealing with the political fallout

from a wave of mass migration five years ago.

Thousands of migrants have slept under terrible conditions

in makeshift camps near the Greek border.

A migrant walking through the burnt migrant shelter on the island of Lesbos, in Greece, yesterday.

Avalanches kill six in AustriaAFP — VIENNA

Avalanches killed six people in Austria yesterday in two separate incidents, police offi-cials said.

At least five people were swept away yesterday morning by a large avalanche on a mountain in Upper Austria, part of a group walking in snow shoes on the Dachstein range.

Local police said five bodies had been recovered from the avalanche.

They had been hiking at an altitude of around 2,800m (9,180ft) when they were hit, Austria's ORF broadcaster reported.

The victims were thought to be from the Czech Republic, they added.

Several people witnessed the avalanche and immedi-ately informed emergency services, but the hikers were already dead by the time res-cuers got to them.

The victims were taken to Hallstatt for identification.

The avalanche occurred on a snow-shoeing tour, officials said.

Although they did not think there were other victims, mountain rescue workers were searching the site, team leader Christoph Preimes-berger told the Austrian Press Agency (APA).

In January 2019, about 60 residents in the town of Ramsau-am-Dachstein, which also lies in the Dachstein range, escaped another large avalanche which caused sig-nificant damage but no casualties.

Elsewhere yesterday, a 33-year-old police officer died in an avalanche in the southern Carinthia region on the Grossglockner peak.

Local police said he died while taking part in a training exercise.

Argentina reports LatAm’s first death from coronavirusAGENCIES — BUENOS AIRES/ASUNCION/ SAN SALVADOR

A 64-year-old man died in Argentina as a result of the new coronavirus, the first such death in Latin America, health authorities announced on Saturday.

The Ministry of Health said the patient lived in Buenos Aires and had been confirmed with COVID-19 after coming down with a cough, fever and sore throat following a recent trip to Europe.

The patient, who suffered kidney failure, had a history of diabetes, hypertension and bronchitis before being infected with the virus, a statement said.

He had been in intensive care since being admitted to a public hospital Wednesday.

Officials said the man was not one of the eight confirmed COVID-19 cases previously reported for Argentina, but his case was confirmed by tests Saturday.

Research is underway to determine who the patient had been in contact with, author-ities said.

Elsewhere in the region, officials in Peru announced five new cases of COVID-19 infection on Saturday, raising the country’s total to six. Chile said it now had seven con-firmed cases, up from five.

Costa Rica’s Health Min-istry confirmed four new cases of coronavirus, in addition to that of a case involving an American woman announced Friday. Her husband was among the new cases.

Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia also have reported confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.

According to the latest official data, there are more than 101,000 infected worldwide and more than 3,400 deaths.

El Salvador has banned vis-itors from Germany and France

due to coronavirus, after pre-viously barring visitors from Italy, South Korea and Iran, the countries with the largest out-breaks outside China.

Salvadorans and diplomats arriving from the two countries may enter but must spend 30 days in quarantine, President Nayib Bukele said on Twitter late on Saturday.

Bukele also called for stepping up checks on travelers arriving from any country that has coronavirus and for stricter sanitation measures.

“From here on out, a total cleaning of the airport and customs must be done every day,” he said.

There are now more than

106,000 coronavirus cases and more than 3,600 deaths across the world, according to a Reuters tally of government announcements. France has the fifth-highest number of coronavirus cases outside China, while Germany ranks sixth.

El Salvador has no reported cases of coronavirus, even as other nearby countries begin grappling with the disease.

On Saturday, Mexico reported seven instances of coronavirus, up from six.

A 32-year-old Paraguayan who arrived from Ecuador is the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in Paraguay, the country’s health minister

said on Saturday. The patient was in “very good” general health and authorities were monitoring people who had contact with him since he arrived in Asuncion on March 3, Health Minister Julio Maz-zoleni told reporters.

In Ecuador there are 14 confirmed cases of people infected with COVID-19 and 122 suspected cases, according to official figures.

The central laboratory of Paraguay’s Ministry of Public Health confirmed the COVID-19 case on Saturday afternoon, Mazzoleni tweeted earlier.

“Protocols already tested and approved by the WHO are being applied,” he wrote, referring to the World Health Organization.

Health authorities were continuing to monitor 70 others who had arrived from abroad.

Latin American cities hold massive Women’s Day marchesREUTERS — MEXICO CITY/SANTIAGO

From Buenos Aires to Mexico City, women across Latin America’s biggest cities took to the streets for International Women’s Day yesterday, spurred by a growing outcry over inequality and femicide.

As Women’s Day events unfolded worldwide, the Latin American marches were set against a backdrop of broader social unrest in the region.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Chile’s capital city, Santiago, and elsewhere in the country as the marches kicked off.

Police said 1,700 officers were on hand for crowd control nationwide.

“I’m so happy about what’s happening today,” said one protester, who asked to be identified as Patricia V.

“Chile needs women to increase their power in public life, for the good of all women and men. We need more equality not only socially, but e c o n o m i c a l l y a n d politically.”

Marches in Chile turned

out to be massive, in the wake of broader protests against social inequality that began in October and at their peak included more than 1 million people.

In recent days, Chilean senators approved a bill aimed at giving women an equal voice in drafting a new con-stitution, while the President strengthened punishment for femicide, or the murder of women because of their gender.

In Mexico's capital, an afternoon march was expected to bring record numbers of women into the streets fuelled by anger over femicides, which have more than doubled over the last five years.

In the morning, women at Mexico City's massive public square painted the ground with the names of women who have recently been killed, while in the suburb of Ecatepec city, a group of women led a march and held a performance against gender violence, including wearing black plastic bags and calling out, "We're women, not trash."

In Colombia, women in

Bogota planned to celebrate the capital’s first female mayor.

Women’s Day in Argentina lands just over three months into the new administration,

which has announced plans to create a minister for women.

Women in Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital, planned to march on Congress late

yesterday afternoon, and hold work stoppages today (Monday) in support of equal pay and legislation aimed at fighting violence against women.

Women taking part in a rally during the International Women’s Day in Santiago, Chile, yesterday. Rallies were held across the Latin America to mark the day.

An immigration officer checking a woman’s temperature at Francisco Paula Santander International Bridge, in Cucuta, Colombia, at the border with Venezuela, on Saturday.

5.2 magnitude

quake hits

Madeira IslandsREUTERS — LISBON

An earthquake of magnitude 5.2 struck the Madeira Islands, an autonomous region of Portugal and popular holiday spot, on Saturday evening, the European Mediterranean Seis-mological Centre (EMSC) said.

No injuries have been reported and no infrastructure or housing was damaged, according to the national civil protection authority.

The quake had a depth of 5 kilometres. It hit 40 kilo-metres southeast of the Deserta Grande Islands, the national civil protection authority said.

Madeira, an archipelago of four islands off the northwest coast of Africa, is home to just under 270,000 people and is visited by a million tourists each year.

Ronaldinho must

remain in jail:

Paraguay judge

REUTERS — ASUNCION

Former Brazilian international Ronaldinho Gaucho was ordered to remain in jail in Paraguay on Saturday after a judge ruled him a flight risk.

The former Barcelona forward was arrested on Friday for attempting to enter Paraguay with a false passport two days earlier and spent Friday night in a police cell along with his brother and business manager Roberto Assis.

The pair asked to be released into house arrest but that was rejected by the judge, who also dismissed Assis’s claims to have a heart problem because he showed no proof.

Judge Clara Ruiz Diaz said their alleged offence was a “serious one against the interests of the Paraguayan state”.

Because the pair posed a flight risk they must remain in custody, she added.

Under Paraguayan law, officials now have six months to complete their investigation but Ronaldinho’s lawyers, who cal led the decis ion “incredible,” are expected to present an appeal in the coming days.

“He (Ronaldinho) doesn’t understand what’s going on,” Tarek Tuma told reporters.

Saturday’s courtroom drama came after an aston-ishing four days that began on Wednesday when the duo attempted to enter Paraguay with doctored passports.

A judge, though, rejected that idea late on Friday and shortly afterwards the pair were arrested.

A police official told local media the pair had been placed in a cell with one other inmate. They were given soap, cushions and repellent to protect against mosquitoes.

Although workers at the facility took selfies with the famous detainee, officials said the Brazilians did not receive any preferential treatment.

Greece has deployed riot police and border guards to repel people trying to enter the country.

El Salvador has banned visitors from Germany and France due to coronavirus, after previously barring visitors from Italy, South Korea and Iran.

14 MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020AMERICAS

Trump defends coronavirus response as 19 dead in USAFP — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump defended the “perfectly coor-dinated” US response to the coronavirus epidemic yesterday amid heavy criticism over health cuts and strategic blunders that have failed to stem its rapid spread.

The virus has reached 30 US states, killing at least 19 people, while the American capital announced its first case on Sat-urday and 60 million people in California and New York state were under emergency orders.

Trump, who has been accused of peddling misinfor-mation on the outbreak, blamed the media in an early morning tweet for trying to make his government “look bad” as crit-icism mounted with nearly 500 cases recorded.

“We have a perfectly coor-dinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack

on CoronaVirus,” Trump tweeted.

“We moved VERY early to close borders to certain areas, which was a Godsend. V.P. is doing a great job. The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to make us look bad. Sad!”

But Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Mar-yland, criticized Trump’s mes-saging around the outbreak, telling NBC the president “hasn’t communicated the way I would, and the way I might like him to.” Trump has been heavily rebuked for repeatedly contra-dicting the advice of his admin-istration’s experts in his public pronouncements about the coronavirus.

He has downplayed the threat posed by the epidemic, which has killed more than 3,500 people since emerging in China, suggesting cases were “going very substantially down,

not up,” falsely pledging that a vaccine would soon be available and claiming without evidence that the official estimate of the death rate was “false.”

From the start of February, the Trump administration focused on cutting off travel from China and imposing quar-antines in an effort to keep the virus out of the United States.

Epidemiologists say the initial containment effort may have slowed the arrival of the virus but accuse the White House of wasting time with a strategy concerned more with the political narrative than domestic readiness.

Chief among the complaints has been the lack of testing caused by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developing its own flawed kits, rather than using those approved by the World Health Organization.

Critics also point to deep CDC cuts and the White House’s removal of a position on the

National Security Council for responding to pandemics.

Attendee at political summit featuring Trump has coronavirus

AFP — WASHINGTON

A person who attended a gathering of top US political conserv-atives including President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence has tested positive for the new coronavirus, offi-cials said on Saturday.

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is one of the country’s largest annual gatherings of political conserv-atives, attracting thousands, and in addition to Trump and Pence the February 26-29 event near Washington also featured several cabinet members and top White House officials.

“The exposure occurred previous to the conference. A New Jersey hospital tested the person, and CDC confirmed the pos-itive result,” the event’s organizer American Conservative Union tweeted, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The individual is quarantined and under medical care in New Jersey. “This attendee had no interaction with the Pres-ident or the Vice President and never attended the events in the main hall,” the statement added.

US Army

restricts travel

to Italy, S KoreaREUTERS — WASHINGTON

The US Army said yesterday it has decided to restrict travel to and from Italy and South Korea due to coronavirus outbreaks, and will also prohibit foreign troops from participating in US exercises, exchanges and visits in the most affected nations.

The decision, described to Reuters by an Army spokes-woman, follows the confir-mation on Saturday that two additional US servicemembers have tested positive for the virus: a sailor in Italy and a Marine at Fort Belvoir, Virginia — an important military base in a Washington DC suburb.

One US servicemember, a soldier in South Korea, had previously tested positive for the virus.

The restrictions on travel should not be seen as a blanket prohibition, the spokeswoman said, and were focused on sol-diers who had orders to deploy to or depart from Italy and South Korea to another desti-nation, including for an edu-cational opportunity.

The prohibition on foreign troops’ participation in US mil-itary activities appeared more comprehensive.

“Effective immediately, international students from countries with a CDC alert level category 2 and above for COVID-19 will not participate in US scheduled exercises, exchanges and visits,” the spokeswoman said. CDC alert level 3 countries are China, Iran, South Korea and Italy. The CDC has designated Japan as an alert level 2 country, with sustained and ongoing com-munity transmission.

Trump, Bolsonaro discuss Venezuela and bilateral trade AP — PALM BEACH, US

President Donald Trump on Saturday did not commit to continue holding off on hitting Brazil with tariffs on imports of its aluminum and steel, saying “I don’t make any promises.”

Trump commented in the presence of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who Trump was hosting for dinner at his resort home in southern Florida.

In a tweet in December, Trump accused Bolsonaro’s government of hurting American farmers by manipu-lating its currency. He pledged to slap tariffs on Brazilian alu-minum and steel, but withdrew the threat days later.

“We have a very good rela-tionship as to tariffs... we want to always help Brazil,” said Trump, who appeared with Bol-sonaro at the front door of his Mar-a-Lago estate.

US and Brazilian flags flut-tered in the breeze on either side of the doorway.

“The friendship is probably stronger now than it’s never been,” Trump said.

Asked whether his com-ments meant no new tariffs on Brazil, Trump declined to commit.

“I don’t make any promises,” he said, before he led Bolsonaro to a dinner table on the club’s bustling outdoor patio. US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, and Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, both senior White House advisers, were also at the table along with several Brazilian government officials.

Trump also praised Bol-sonaro’s leadership.

“He’s doing a fantastic job. Great job. Brazil loves him and the USA loves him,” Trump said.

Brazil is coping with a double-digit unemployment rate and economic growth that is half of what Bolsonaro promised as a candidate. He is also struggling to get legislation through congress.

White House officials said the crisis in Venezuela, a pos-sible US-Brazil trade deal and Chinese telecom company Huawei were discussion topics for the leaders. A statement the White House released after the meeting did not mention Huawei.

Bolsonaro is on a three-day trip to the United States that includes a visit to the Miami headquarters of US Southern Command, which oversees US military operations in Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

Bolsonaro also scheduled

meetings with Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, both Republicans. Trump is in Florida through Monday.

Trump’s administration has been the most important ally for Venezuela’s opposition since Juan Guaidó leaped to the center of Venezuela’s

tumultuous political landscape more than a year ago. He pledged to force President Nicolás Maduro from power and restore democracy.

Though Guaidó has the backing of more than 60 nations, his popularity has faded, coupled with a failed military uprising.

The US is continuing its “maximum pressure” campaign against Maduro and will con-tinue to work on unspecified “bottlenecks” to a trade agreement with Brazil, said a senior Trump administration official who briefed reporters before the leaders met.

US President Donald Trump speaks with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday.

Canada declares virusoutbreak at care homeAP — VANCOUVER

Canadian officials on Saturday declared an outbreak of the new coronavirus at a long-term care home in North Vancouver after health officials said two elderly residents were diag-nosed with the illness.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, the British Columbia provincial health officer, said the two new cases follow an earlier confir-mation of COVID-19 in a care worker at the Lynn Valley Care Centre. The care home is now in an outbreak protocol, which restricts visitors and enhances health and safety measures.

“We know that the risk to

elderly people having this disease is very concerning, par-ticularly older people with underlying chronic illnesses,” Henry said.

She said a total of six new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in British Columbia.

“The last two cases really are the most concerning to us,” she told reporters, pausing at length at one point to wipe tears from her eyes.

“The message that I think is so important for British Colum-bians today is that you need to stay home if you’re sick,” Henry said. “We are in an extraor-dinary situation. We need eve-rybody to be aware, to look

after your children.” Henry cat-egorized the two most recent cases as community trans-mission, distinct from imported cases when a traveler contracts the illness abroad before

returning home.At least 57 people in Canada

have the virus. British Columbia has activated a pandemics co-ordination plan to respond to the outbreak.

The Lynn Valley Care Centre in North Vancouver, Canada

Kamala Harris endorses Biden; Jesse Jackson backs SandersAP — WASHINGTON

Kamala Harris endorsed Joe Biden yesterday and said she would “do everything in my power’’ to help elect him, becoming the latest dropout from the Democratic race for president to line up behind the former vice- president in his battle with Bernie Sanders for the nomi-nation.

The decision by the California senator who was one of three black candidates seeking to challenge Pres-ident Donald Trump further solidifies the Democratic establishment’s move to close circles around Biden after his Super Tuesday success. Her endorsements comes before the next round of primaries, with six states voting Tuesday, including Michigan and Mississippi.

Sanders, a Vermont senator, countered with his own major endorsement yesterday, announcing that civil rights icon Jesse Jackson was formally backing him.

Jackson appeared with Sanders during a campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He says he chose Sanders after the senator’s campaign offered responses on 13 issues Jackson raised, including protecting voting rights, increasing funding for historically black col-leges and universities and committing to putting African Americans on the Supreme Court, according to pre-pared remarks released by the campaign.

In a statement on Biden, meanwhile, Harris said, “There is no one better prepared than Joe to steer our nation through these turbulent times, and restore truth, honor, and decency to the Oval Office.” “He is kind and endlessly caring, and he truly listens to the American

people,” her statement added.Harris said the United States “is at an inflection

point. And the decision voters make this November will shape the country and the world our children and

grandchildren will grow up in. I believe in Joe Biden.” Among Biden’s former rivals, Amy Klobuchar, Pete

Buttigieg, Beto O’Rourke, Mike Bloomberg, Tim Ryan, Deval Patrick and John Delaney have endorsed him. Sanders has gotten the endorsement of Marianne Wil-liamson and Bill de Blasio.

Also coming out for Biden yesterday were two prominent Mississippi Democrats, former Governor Ray Mabus and Mike Espy, agriculture secretary under President Bill Clinton. Espy is also on the ballot Tuesday as he seeks the party’s Senate nomination for the chance to face the Republican incumbent, Cindy Hyde-Smith, in November.

Harris withdrew from the race in December, ending a candidacy with the historic potential of becoming the first black woman elected president. The former California attorney general was seen as a candidate poised to attract the multiracial coalition of voters that sent Barack Obama to the White House. But she ulti-mately could not craft a message that resonated with voters or secure the money to continue her run.

Biden and Sanders, two white men in their 70s, are now the front-runners for the nomination in what was once a field of candidates that included several woman and much younger politicians.

Harris said in her statement that “like many women, I watched with sadness as women exited the race one by one.” Four years after Hillary Clinton was the party’s nominee, “we find ourselves without any woman on a path to be the Democratic nominee for president.” “This is something we must reckon with and it is something I will have more to say about in the future,” she said.

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders with civil rights activist Jesse Jackson during a campaign rally in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, yesterday.

Cruise ship being

tracked for risk

of coronavirus

REUTERS — WASHINGTON

The United States is tracking a cruise ship that may have shared crew members with a ship carrying people who tested positive for COVID-19, Vice-President Mike Pence said on Saturday.

“We are tracking at this point a ship that may have shared crew with the Diamond Princess or the Grand Princess and we’ve taken decisive action to hold until we do a full medical assessment of the crew on that ship,” Pence said after a meeting with cruise line industry officials in Florida.

The vice-president, who is heading a task force to manage the US response to the disease outbreak, did not identify the ship being tracked.

The Grand Princess is cur-rently in waters off San Fran-cisco after 21 people on board tested positive for a sometimes deadly respiratory illness dubbed COVID-19.

The Diamond Princess cruise liner, also owned by Carnival Corp, the world’s leading cruise operator, was quarantined off Japan in Feb-ruary and was for a time the largest concentration of coro-navirus cases outside China.

Asked if elderly people should avoid cruise ships, Pence said elderly people with serious underlying medical conditions were most likely to become very ill or die from the new disease.

“Those Americans should avoid any activities that might unnecessarily expose them to the coronavirus,” he said.

The vice-president also said that the cruise industry would develop within the next 72 hours expanded testing for the new disease.

In a tweet in December, Trump accused Bolsonaro’s government of hurting American farmers by manipulating its currency.

15MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020 HOME

CROSSWORD MALL ROYAL PLAZA

Inspiring opportunities for personal enrichment at Qatar National Library continue in 2020

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The new year, tinged with the promise of a fresh start, can often be an overwhelming time when personal development takes a back seat to changes at home, work or school. For those seeking to rekindle their quest for growth, Qatar National Library continues to inspire as a beacon of knowledge. The services and resources the Library offers to everyone in Qatar, and particu-larly to members, are the backbone of its mission to spread the light of knowledge in Qatar.

In 2019, the Library built on the momentum of its highly suc-cessful first year by expanding its services and programming to reach all communities in Qatar. Enthusiasm for the Library is borne out by steady growth in visitors and memberships: the newly released 2019 Annual Report highlights a significant swell in membership, with more than 762,000 visits and 42,854 new members registering in the past year. Both numbers are a testament to the Library’s full evolution into a modern hub of creative, educational and social activities.

From a variety of book titles across diverse genres and lan-guages, exhibitions, international festivals, book clubs, talks and classical music nights, the Library

members and visitors enjoyed an abundance of choice in how to make use of the Library’s val-uable resources and facilities to pursue lifelong learning and their personal or professional goals.

For families, the Library is a place where children and parents can read together at weekly Sto-rytime for Children sessions. For students, Homework Club offers a place where they can seek help on assignments in several sub-jects. For researchers, the Library offers practical support to dis-seminate their work — in 2019, 455 research articles were funded through the Library’s open access program, thus sup-porting 517 authors from 38 Qatari institutions since it was launched.

Each day, users continue to take advantage of the Library’s multilingual collection of fiction, nonfiction, children’s and young adult books. Members borrowed more than 780,000 books in 2019, and the Library’s collec-tions are still expanding as members’ needs and user feedback are continuously assessed.

Recognising that lifelong learning begins at home, librarians provided parents and caregivers with numerous ses-sions throughout the year to help them encourage children, including those with disabilities,

to start reading for pleasure at a young age. These programs, and others relating to child safety, health and development, were presented in cooperation with Sidra Medicine, the Qatar Nanny Training Academy and the Wifaq Family Consulting Center.

The Library’s international outreach culminated in the hosting of the country’s first international literature festival, JLF Doha, from December 12 to 14. More than two dozen globally celebrated writers attended this first Middle East edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival, one of the most renowned literary fes-tivals in the world, and hundreds of people from across Qatar took part in a lively exchange of ideas, art and literature.

Opportunities abound to carry forward these valuable exchanges in 2020 and beyond. The Qatari Authors’ Forum, launched by the Library in 2018, continues to engage emerging writers to learn from successful Qatari authors such as Ali Bin Towar Al Kuwari, Saleh Gharib and Jamal Fayez. And the Science Book Forum, which has wel-comed more than 5,000 attendees to date, is developing young scientists from across Qatar through informative lectures.

In addition to offering a path to the future, the Library also

continues to provide a fasci-nating window to the past. Several exhibitions, including the in-progress “Qatar, India and the Gulf: History, Culture and Society,” use items from the Her-itage Library and other partner institutions to tell stories about Qatar’s past and its interactions with the wider world.

Reflecting on the year that lies ahead, Abeer Al Kuwari, Director of Research and Learning Services at the Library, said, “In 2020, we will continue to build on the wonderful achievements of last year, which saw the Library emerge as a central a place for knowledge development in Qatar. The beginning of a new year is a time to reflect on what has passed and set a course for the future, and our programs at the Library in 2020 promise to inspire eve-ryone to learn new things, try new adventures and push them to do better.”

To kick off the new year, the Library has already concluded its successful participation at the Doha International Book Fair and opened “Between East and West: Biblioteca Angelica in Doha” exhibition. The Library also announced its program of events for March, which includes workshops, lectures, musical performances and much more.

People enjoying a musical performance at Qatar National Library.

From a variety of book titles across diverse genres and languages, exhibitions, international festivals, book clubs, talks and classical music nights, the Library members and visitors enjoyed an abundance of choice in how to make use of the Library’s valuable resources and facilities to pursue lifelong learning and their personal or professional goals.

Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2020 action-adventure comedy film based on the video game franchise published by Sega. The film is directed by Jeff Fowler in his feature directorial debut.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

Trance (2D/Malayalam) 2:00 & 11:30pmSonic: The Hedgehog (2D/Action) 2:00 & 6:30pm

Forensic (2D/Malayalam) 2:00, 4:30 & 7:15pm

Baaghi 3 (2D/Hindi) 2:30, 4:00, 8:30 & 11:15pm

The Way Back (2D/Drama) 5:15 & 7:00pm

Come To Daddy (2D/Comedy) 9:45pm

Escape From Pretoria (2D/Thriller) 11:30pm

Trance (2D/Malayalam) 11:00am, 5:15, 8:30 & 111:45pm; Thappad (2D/Hindi) 11:00am, 5:15pmStardog & Turbocat (2D/Animation) 12:15, 2:15 & 4:15pm; Kannum Kannum (2D/Tamil) 11:30, 2:15 & 6:15pm; Ayyappanum Koshiyum (2D/Malayalam)

2:00 & 8:15pmThe Invisible Man (2D/Horror) 9:15 & 12:00pm

LANDMARK

AL KHOR

Baaghi 3 (2D/Hindi) 12:45, 6:00, 8:15, 11:15Forensic (2D/Malayalam) 12:30, 3:00, 3:30, 5:30, 6:15, 8:00, 8:45, 10:30, 12:00 midnight, 1:00amTrance (2D/Malayalam) 3:00 & 8:45pmPon Manickavel (2D/Tamil) 12:30 & 5:45pm

ASIAN TOWN ROXY

FLIK Mirqab Mall

Baaghi 3 (2D/Hindi) 7:10 & 10:10pmEscape From Pretoria (2D/Thriller) 11:10am, 3:25 & 10:55pmForensic (2D/Malayalam) 4:35, 7:15, 9:55 & 0:35amBirds Of Prey (2D/Action) 12:15, 4:25 & 8:35pmOnward (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 11:00am, 12:05, 1:05, 2:10, 3:10, 4:15, 5:15, 6:20, 7:20, 8:25, 9:25, 10:30 & 11:30pmSonic: The Hedgehog (2D/Action) 10:35, 12:35 & 2:35pmThe Call Of The Wild (2D/Drama) 10:15, 1:20, 2:25, 6:35 & 10:45pmThe Invisible Man (2D/Horror) 11:15am, 1:40, 4:05, 5:40,6:30, 8:55 & 11:20pmThe Way Back (2D/Drama) 10:30am, 12:40, 2:50, 5:00 & 11:40pm

Baaghi 3 (2D/Hindi) 10:30am, 11:00am, 12:30, 1:00,

1:30, 4:00, 4:30, 5:20, 7:00, 7:30, 8;20, 10:00, 10:20,

10:40 & 11:00pm

Escape From Pretoria (2D/Thriller) 3:00, 10:10, 10:30,

11:30

Forensic (2D/Malayalam) 10:30am, 12:30, 1:00, 2:00,

3:40, 4:40, 6:20, 7:20, 9:00, 11:20 & 11:40pm

Onward (2D/Animation) 10:30am, 12:30, 1:00, 2:40,

3:50, 5:00, 6:00, 7:10 & 8:15pm

Pon Manickavel (2D/Tamil) 7:30 & 10:00pm

Sonic: The Hedgehog (2D/Action) 11:00am, 12:30,

1:00, 2:00 & 3:20pm; The Way Back (2D/Drama) 2:30,

4:50, 7:00, 8:20, 9:10, 9:30 & 11:50pm

Onward (2D/Animation) 2:15 & 4:15pmForensic (2D/Malayalam) 2:30, 9:00 & 11:30pmBaaghi 3 (2D/Hindi) 2:00, 8:15 & 11:15pmSonic: The Hedgehog (2D/Action) 4:30pmThe Way Back (2D/Drama) 5:00pmCome To Daddy (2D/Comedy) 6:30pm Escape From Pretoria (2D/Thriller) 7:00pm

Forensic (2D/Malayalam) 2:00, 9:00 & 11:30pm Trance (2D/Malayalam) 2:00pmEscape From Pretoria (2D/Thriller) 5:00 & 11:30pmBaaghi 3 (2D/Hindi) 2:00, 4:15, 7:00, 8:30, 11:15 & 11:30pm; Come To Daddy (2D/Comedy) 9:45pm Onward (2D/Animation) 2:30, 4:45 & 6:45pm Sonic: The Hedgehog (2D/Action) 3:00 & 5:00pmThe Way Back (2D/Drama) 4:30 & 6:30pm

Escape From Pretoria (2D/Thriller) 7:00pm

16 MONDAY 9 MARCH 2020MORNING BREAK

Get your complimentary

copy from The Peninsula

office

Boosting tourism

Durian fruit can charge your phone’s battery: StudyIANS — SYNDEY

Imagine if we could use plants and fruit, to store electricity that charges commonly used elec-tronics like mobile phones or even electric cars? Researchers have done just that and developed a method that uses durian and jack-fruit waste to create energy stores for rapid electricity charging.

In the study, published in the Journal of Energy Storage, the research team explaind how they managed to turn the tropical fruits into super-capacitors.

Super-capacitors are like energy reservoirs that dole out energy smoothly. They can quickly store large amounts of energy within a small battery-sized device and then supply energy to charge electronic devices, such as mobile

phones, tablets and laptops, within a few seconds.

“Using durian and jackfruit purchased from a market, we con-verted the fruits’ waste portions (biomass) into super-capacitors that can be used to store electricity efficiently,” said study researcherr Vincent Gomes, Associate Pro-fessor at University of Sydney.

“Using a non-toxic and non-hazardous green engineering method that used heating in water and freeze drying of the fruit’s biomass, the durian and jackfruit were transformed into stable carbon aerogels — an extremely light and porous synthetic material used for a range of appli-cations,” Gomes added.

“Carbon aerogels make great super-capacitors because they are highly porous. We then used the

fruit-derived aerogels to make electrodes which we tested for their energy storage properties, which we found to be excep-tional,” Gomes explained.

According to the researchers, compared to batteries, super-capacitors are not only able to charge devices very quickly but also in orders of magnitude greater charging cycles than con-ventional devices.

Current super-capacitors are made from activated carbon which are nowhere near as effi-cient as the ones prepared during this project, they said.

Explaining why they picked durian and jack fruit, Gomes said: “Durian waste was selected based on the excellent template nature provides for making porous aerogels.”

Dance academy in Brazil has moves for every body typeAFP — SAO PAULO

White or black, skinny or fat, frizzy-haired or straight: at the Marvelous Women dance academy in Brazil, the only thing that can be said of the average class is that there is no average.

“Here, nobody criticises anybody,” is the mantra stu-dents learn on their first day at the Sao Paulo studio, launched by theatre actress Grazi Meyer in 2016 to give women of all backgrounds and body types a space to enjoy dance.

The academy — called

“Maravilhosas” in Portuguese — offers pole dancing classes for all shapes and sizes, and also specially tailored classes for body types that are typically underrepresented in the dance world, not to mention maga-zines, billboards and screens.

There is “MarvelBlack,” the dance “conceived by and for black bodies,” and “Mar-velPlus,” the dance “conceived by and for big bodies.”

Students dance barefoot, in short shorts and tight tops, unconcerned with cellulite, stretch marks or body shape.

The result is at once

liberating and empowering, they say.

“Our bodies carry our stories and our histories,” Meyer, 41, tells students. “When we start to understand our bodies, where they come from and what they represent, we start to see them differently.”

Meyer says her goal is to help students not just under-stand and enjoy their bodies, but use that experience to free themselves from harmful ideas about beauty and a woman’s place in the world.

Women should feel free to dress and be however they

want, she insists.It is still a radical message

in a country with a deep-rooted culture of machismo and shocking levels of violence against women: a femicide is committed in Brazil every seven hours, according to data com-piled by news site G1 ahead of International Women’s Day.

Meyer’s message to her stu-dents is: “We are subjects, not objects.”

“If someone harasses you or stares at you in a way that makes you uncomfortable, don’t think it’s your fault. You have the right to dress how you want

and go where you like,” she says.

“Machismo isn’t our problem. It’s men’s problem.”

Fernanda Ferrao, one of Meyer’s first students, says enrolling at the academy was a life-changing moment.

A 30-year-old black woman, she has learned to be proud of her size and embrace her kinky hair, which she used to straighten.

A journalist by training, Ferrao says the classes inspired her to do something completely unexpected: become a model.

She is now the public face

of one of Brazil’s biggest fitness centre chains.

“I’m fat, I weigh 100 kilos, and I learned that I didn’t have to be skinny to live my life,” she says. Ironically, I now have a job based on the thing I liked least about myself: my appearance.

Her friend and fellow student Cintia Ramos, 30, has undergone a similar transformation.

“Before, I didn’t like my body or the things about my appearance that are ‘black,’” she says, sporting newly frizzy hair.

The classes, Ferrao says, “changed the way I look at myself in the mirror.”

A photo shows a view of hot air balloons gliding over the historical Cappadocia region, located in Central Anatolia’s Nevsehir province, Turkey, yesterday. Cappadocia is preserved as a Unesco World Heritage site and is famous for its chimney rocks, hot air balloon trips, underground cities and boutique hotels carved into rocks.

FAJR SUNRISE 04.34 am 05.50 am

W A L R U WA I S : 19o↗ 22o W A L K H O R : 16o↗ 26o W D U K H A N : 15o↗ 22o W WA K R A H : 16o↗ 27o W M E S A I E E D 16o↗ 27o W A B U S A M R A 14o↗ 22o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 04:24 – 15:44 LOW TIDE 11:59 – 23:14

Misty at places at first becomes moderate temperature daytime with slight dust to dusty at some places at times, relatively cold by night.

Minimum Maximum17oC 27oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.44 am05.42 pm

ASR ISHA

03.08 pm07.12 pm