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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020 / ZUL QAADAH 3, 1441 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17415 12 PAGES 150 FILS

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Opinion

‘Erdoganic’ and sick person’s politics

By Ahmed Al-JarallahEditor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

THE Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is putting his neck on the gal-lows of stringent and merciless account-ability by disregarding history and turn-ing a blind eye to its lessons through his interference in Libya.

He is also leading Turkey into a circle of sickness similar to that of the Ottoman Caliphate.

It seems the leadership of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey did not study the Ottoman history of this Arab country in North Africa to realize the bit-ter outcome of its occupation, and how the Libyans defeated that major empire with their humble capabilities.

Throughout the 300-year period of Turkish occupation of Libya, the Liby-ans achieved many victories against their occupier. None of the 72 governors who ruled it were spared; they faced either murder or suicide or were expelled due to the chaos, injustice and violence brought by the occupier.

Before the Erdogan leadership is-sued orders to its army, mercenaries and DAESH to invade Libya, Erdogan should have studied the history of Suleiman Al-Qanouni to realize the humiliation the lat-ter faced in the nations he had invaded.

He should also have looked into what the two tribes – Jawazi and Mahmoudiya – did to the Turks when they tried to im-pose tribute on them.

With respect to that national resistance, the only option that the Turks had at that time was to surrender to Italian invaders the nations that they had invaded. The Italian invaders also faced a huge share of defeats which led them to leave while nursing their injuries.

There are many historic points that the current children of Seljuks need to contemplate on in every step they take in terms of what happened to them when they attempted to invade “Ad Diriyah” and Hijaz, Egypt and Iraq.

It is true that the Ottoman Empire survived for 400 years, but throughout its life, it suffered from expansionism disease and only managed to restore its proper life through Ataturk’s renaissance.

Mustafa Kamal Ataturk realized from the start that real strength lies in abandon-ing expansionism due to the fact that it is

not possible for adventurist political pro-jects to change the course of history or the habits of nations.

This Ataturk reality is what many foolish politicians ignored, including the Russian czars when they embarked on building an empire through occupa-tion, killings and destruction, the ancient Persians and their current allies who are operating under sectarian banner to serve their expansionism agendas that continue to receive blows, and Hitler whose fasci-nation with the Aryan race rendered him to ignite a world war that not only led to his death but also that of millions of his compatriots as well as the destruction of Germany.

Turkey could have become a major regional economy if it had continued in the path of its founder Ataturk, but eve-rything changed after the start of the Muslim Brotherhood Group’s Justice and Development Party, and the fascination of the Erdoganic faction to revive the Ot-toman Empire.

Hence, we today see the Turkish forces distributed between Iraq, Syria and Libya in a bid to turn the wheel behind. This is the kind of foolishness that the people of Turkey will never overlook and forgive.

Undoubtedly, this adventurous politics have started infesting tumors in the Turk-ish body together with its interference in Libya based on its historic experience.

This only means that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s politics will render Turkey to contract a chronic disease, some-thing that has already started appearing through the resignations and divisions witnessed within the government and the ruling party, the establishment of new opposition parties, and the increasing popular rejection towards reckless mili-tary and economic policies that have led to a massive defi cit due to widespread corruption.

If World War I had led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, there is no doubt that the interference of Turkey will lead to the current Turkish state because it has become a sick person once again.

Email: ahmed@aljarallah.com

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ahmedaljarallah@gmail.com

Kuwait confirms 742 COVID casesKUWAIT CITY, June 23, (KUNA): The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported 742 more cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), raising the count of confirmed cases to 41,033.

The latest infections include 385 Kuwaiti citizens, while the

remaining cases are of several other nationalities, the ministry’s Spokesman Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad said in his daily briefing.

Four additional fatalities due to the viral illness were also reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 334, he added.

Earlier in the day, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health announced that 534 more coronavirus patients had recovered in the past 24 hours, rais-

Health Minister briefs Cabinet

PM Diwan’s photoHH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah chairing Monday’s

Cabinet meeting.

Society warns on leniency

Public Works set forexpat job terminations

Brotherhood mysteries disclosed

‘Treachery and betrayal’

KUWAIT CITY, June 23: Minis-try of Public Works Undersecre-tary Engineer Ismail Al-Failakawi is preparing a list of names of ex-patriate employees whose services will be terminated after obtaining approval from the Minister of Pub-lic Works and Minister of State for Housing Affairs Dr Rana Al-Faris, reports Al-Jaridah daily quoting reliable ministry sources.

The same sources indicated the first list of employees whose ser-vices will be terminated consists of more than 150 Ministry of Pub-lic Works and the Public Author-ity for Roads and Transportation (PART) personnel.

They expected Engineer Al-Failakawi will issue an administra-tive decision in the coming days to end the services of all employees included in the first list, indicating another list is being prepared with the names of employees whose services will be terminated, while the second list to be adopted dur-ing the next two weeks is also expected to include about 150 em-ployees.

Sources pointed out that Min-ister Al-Faris is currently seek-ing to Kuwaitize all sectors of the ministry, and expected the rate of Kuwaitis could reach 100 percent by the end of the current year, reaf-firming a third list to be compiled in the coming months will include the remaining number of expats.

The total number of expatriates employed in the Ministry of Pub-lic Works and the Public Author-ity for Roads and Transportation is 530, they noted.

In the meantime, sources de-scribed the step to end the services of all expatriate employees in the Ministry of Public Works and Public Authority for Roads and Transportation as “daring”, given the number of employees perform-ing technical duties, which makes their presence necessary, unless national personnel are available to take up such positions.

Based on the decision of Minis-ter of Public Works to implement Kuwaitization, the services of four expatriate senior legal advisers to the director general of the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) have been ended, and they will be replaced by Kuwaiti legal advisers, reports Aljarida daily.

According to informed sources, Minister Al-Fares rejected the re-quest of the director general to ex-clude two current expatriate con-sultants, arguing that the decision applies to all four expatriates with-out exception, based on a strategy that needs to be met within a year.

They explained that the higher management of PAHW recently asked all its departments to submit their needs within a week to the administrative and financial af-fairs sector in line with the work interest, following the decision to implement Kuwaitization. This was aimed at taking into consid-

eration the needs of the operating departments after ending the ser-vices of the first batch of expatriate employees in PAHW and prior to ending the services of the second and third batches.

Minister Al-Fares’ decision to replace expatriates working in PAHW with national manpower will affect 398 expatriates who meet the conditions, representing 22 percent of PAHW’s total of 1,743 employees.

The legal department in PAHW will notify those included in the first batch to officially end their services starting from the end of next week. The first batch includes 135 expatriate employees and rep-resent 33 percent of the total expa-triates covered in the decision and seven percent of the total number of employees.

It is worth mentioning that Min-ister Al-Fares excluded in her min-isterial decision those employees who are the children of Kuwaiti and Gulf women, Bedoun resi-dents, and the service employees, including employees in driving and handling service sectors. Also, first and second batches include at least 33 percent of the total expa-triate employees, provided the fi-nal batch includes the remaining expatriate employees.

Kuwait Society of Engineers (KSE) has warned the govern-ment against leniency in the Ku-waitization policy, which entails provision of more opportunities for Kuwaiti youth in the public and private sectors, and increasing the Kuwaiti employment rates in contracts signed by the state, es-pecially in the projects of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and its subsidiaries, Ministry of Pub-lic Works, and other government agencies, reports Aljarida daily.

In a press statement, Chair-man of KSE Eng. Faisal Al-Atel stressed the need to expedite the process of putting an end to the termination of services of Kuwaiti engineers who work in companies that have signed contracts with KPC, revealing that KSC received complaints from some colleagues who sought the society’s assis-tance to ensure they can return to work.

He said the society is in contact with the Minister of Oil Dr Khaled Al-Fadhel in this regard, and a re-quest has been made for providing a list of engineers whose services have been terminated by such companies.

Al-Atel explained that the termi-nation of the services of Kuwaiti engineers and some professionals took place despite statements is-sued by Ministry of Social Affairs that warned against terminating the services of Kuwaiti employ-ees in the private sector until June 2021, adding that the government had issued decisions to ensure all companies contracted by the gov-ernment maintain Kuwaiti work-ers.

KUWAIT CITY, June 23: In a new episode of ‘Treachery and Betrayal’ which continues to disclose the mysteries of the Muslim Broth-erhood since its suspicious establishment in 1928 and since the British planted this de-monic instrument in the Arab world, the Qa-tari activist Khaled Al-Hail, dropped another bombshell that adds ‘prestige’ to the black re-cord of the Muslim Brotherhood founded by the Freemasonry International which contin-ues to be a thorn in the side of the Arabs and a trump card in the hands of Zionism, reports Al-Seyassah.

Al-Hail posted on his Twitter account an audio recording of the meeting allegedly between the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the Kuwaiti academician Hakim Al-Mutairi after he fled to Turkey. In the re-cording they are heard talking about “plans and intentions to spread chaos and violence in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain,” which is considered a crime against the security and stability of Kuwait and the Gulf.

In the meeting – whose timing and date is not precise – most likely took place after the Americans invaded Iraq in 2003 and perhaps after the establishment of what is called the ‘Umma Party’ in 2005 – it appears that Gad-dafi received Al-Mutairi for their first meeting – the meeting happened after it was recom-mended by someone from the Muslim Broth-erhood group.

The leaked audio recording – which was later broadcast by the Al-Arabiya TV chan-nel – revealed the existence of a joint Broth-erhood agenda in which both parties worked, with the aim of spreading chaos in Arab countries in general and the Gulf in particu-lar.

The two sides talked about what Al-Mutai-ri described as ‘the state of the nation’, and Gaddafi told him, according to the records, to “take advantage of the situation in Iraq to spread violence in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, by secretly working with the Iraqi youth and the members of the Mutair tribe, and take advantage of the slogan ‘Creative Chaos’ which was promoted by the Ameri-cans.”

Gaddafi stressed on the need to take advan-tage of this situation and spread violence just like what was done by the Americans in Iraq. He also asked Al-Mutairi to take the sectarian approach by using the Shiite card to spread violence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Gaddafi told Al-Mutairi, to communicate and work in secret with the revolutionary youth. “You must work as a front of the party (the Umma Party). Your talk should have democratic angle and keep in touch with the youth in Iraq and the Al-Mutair tribe and win the confidence of even the Shiites, and those who believe in Wahhabism because they con-sider them as’ infidel’.”

Al-Mutairi said: “All these contacts ex-ist ‘Brother Leader’ and indeed, we told the government (Kuwait) if you support democ-racy in Iraq and the right of the Iraqi people to choose the government, pluralism and parties, why the Gulf states including Kuwait are de-prived of this?”

Gaddafi went on to say, “They say creative chaos.” Al-Mutairi replied: “Yes, let us in-vest in this chaos.” Then al-Mutairi presented Gaddafi with a list of names and said “This is the list of the names of the party leaders.” He also presented the party’s first publica-tion, saying: “I am interested in your opinion, Leader, because the list of names has caused uproar, and the government there was dis-turbed.” There was a brief silence indicating Gaddafi was reading the names on the list.

Gaddafi then said: “If creative chaos is good, and the Americans deal with massacres and destruction, and they say this is creative chaos and therefore let us embrace creative chaos as long as it is good so apply it in Ku-wait and Saudi Arabia.”

Al-Mutairi switched off his phone yester-day to avoid answering questions about the audio clip in circulation and a senior security told the Al-Seyassah daily that the Ministry of Interior has opened an investigation into the audio recording and is initiating legal mea-sures.

Moreover, sources at the Kuwait Univer-sity, where Al-Mutairi was a Professor of Sharia, revealed the university’s administra-tion is monitoring the situation and will wait for the results of investigations and will act accordingly, indicating that it has not received any statements regarding Al-Mutairi’s legal status until now.

For his part, Khaled Al-Hail said: “I am ready to hand over to the security authorities in Kuwait the complete audio recording and I am sure that it is an issue of state security, incitement and conspiracy to overthrow the regime, an issue which also affirms the charge of terrorism and collusion with a foreign en-emy against his homeland and against sister countries.”

He added: “Not only that, I will also reveal the names soon of other prominent personali-ties, including some very well-known person-alities.”

For his part, Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Al-Mulaifi said: “The records of Hakim Al-Mu-tairi are correct, and he implicitly acknowl-edged that when he stated that they were truncated, and these leaks are state security crimes.”

It is noteworthy to mention that Al-Mutairi adopts the ideology of the Muslim Brother-hood, and is one of the supporters of terrorism whose name was included in the list of ter-rorists announced by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain in 2017.

ing to 32,304 the total number of recoveries so far.

Cabinet briefedSheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah

said Monday percentage of re-coveries from coronavirus was around 79 percent, but there was a rise in infections among citizens due to gatherings.

Sheikh Basel, addressing a Cabinet meeting that was chaired by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, said the Ministry of Health has been taking measures to curb spread of Covid-19 to ultimate-ly terminate it.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet dis-cussed a report by the services committee about addressing obstacles facing the construc-tion of cities for laborers, Dep-uty Premier, Minister of Inte-rior and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh said in a statement.

He said His Highness the Prime Minister assigned For-eign Minister Sheikh Dr Ah-mad Nasser Mohammad Al-Sabah to represent him at the conference of Sudan’s partners due in Germany on June 25.

Sheikh Dr Ahmad will also represent His Highness the Prime Minister at the interna-tional pledges summit, on June 27, to mobilize additional fund-ing to develop and deploy coro-navirus vaccines.

The government, on the other hand, condemned the Turkish and Iranian military intervention in northern Iraq, considering them blatant vio-lations of Iraq’s sovereignty and a threat to the nation’s se-curity.

Kuwait, said Al-Saleh, sup-ported all measures conducted by the Iraqi government to pre-serve the country’s sovereign-ty, security and stability.

Credit facilitiesThe Central Bank of Ku-

wait (CBK) stated on Monday that the local banks have pro-vided credit facilities at a total value of KD 2.7 billion (about $8.9 billion) to different busi-nesses since the launching in early April of a government package to stimulate national economy.

In statements obtained by KUNA, the CBK said that 80 percent of the finances, KD 2.16 billion or $7.1 billion, were given to the businesses impacted by the novel corona-virus outbreak.

It pointed out that all eco-nomic sectors have benefited from the granted facilities.

On April 2, the CBK an-nounced that it has adjusted its regulatory instructions and macro prudential policy tools to empower local banks abil-ity to perform their vital role, provide financing to productive economic sectors, and offer li-quidity to help businesses con-tinue operations.

It pointed out that the move aims to avoid turning a short-age in liquidity from turning into long-term solvency is-sues.

The CBK also noted that the instructions issued include a reduction in liquidity require-ments such as the liquidity coverage ratio, the net stable funding ratio, and the regula-tory liquidity ratio.

In addition, they increase the maximum limits for the nega-tive cumulative mismatch and the maximum lending limits to providing financing.

In an effort to target more support for small and medium enterprises, the credit risk weight has been reduced from 75 percent to 25 percent to cal-culate the capital adequacy ra-tio, in order to empower banks to provide more financing to this sector.

Moreover, the CBK instruc-tions allowed banks to release capital conservation buffers within the capital base, thus reducing capital requirements. On financing for private hous-ing and development, the new instructions included increas-ing the ratio of loans to value of the property or the cost of development.

Newswatch

KUWAIT CITY: MP Abdullah Al-Kandari has forwarded que-ries to Minister of Information Mohammad Nasir Abdullah Al-Jabri about the expatriate consultants and reporters in Ku-wait News Agency (KUNA).

He wants to know the number of expatriate consultants and re-porters in KUNA, their nation-alities, qualifi cations, experience, salaries and positions. He asked about the terms of their contracts, contract renewal dates since 2018, and contracts which shift-ed from salaries to wages item throughout the aforementioned period.

Meanwhile, MP Khalil Al-Saleh pointed out the decision of a local bank to terminate the contracts of several Kuwaiti em-ployees is totally unacceptable. He warned such a step will nega-tively affect the job security in the private sector in general, and the banking sector in particular. He called on the relevant authori-ties to interfere in order to rectify this mistake.

In another development, MPs Muhammad Al-Hadiya and Sh-uaib Al-Muwaizri joined their colleagues in voicing objection to the spread of immoral activi-ties, especially in beach resorts and islands.

Al-Hadiya stressed the im-portance of taking tough action against those who tarnish the con-servative nature of the Kuwaiti society and disturb families by en-gaging in immoral activities.

He urged the Ministry of In-terior to intensify security cam-paigns and procedures in order to put an end to such activities and establish more police stations in areas where the number of citi-zens’ complaints about immoral-ity continues to increase.

❑ ❑ ❑

KUWAIT CITY: An offi cial source at the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday expressed the State of Kuwait strong denunciation of the ter-rorist operation that happened in the city of Reading, the United Kingdom, where a number of people were killed and wounded.

The offi cial source affi rmed the State of Kuwait solidarity with the United Kingdom with respect of measures it may take to face various forms of violence, terrorism and extremism.

Moreover, the foreign ministry source expressed sincere con-dolences and solace for the vic-tims’ families wishing the injured quick recuperation. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s Inti-sar Foundation has been using a “unique and innovative” ap-proach to support women suffer-ing from wars by ultimately im-proving their living conditions, a UN offi cial said Monday.

Tareq Al-Sheikh, Secretary General’s Representative and Resident Coordinator in Kuwait, said Intisar Foundation has been active in this domain for 20 years and contributed to alleviating shock of a million Arab women by using psychological therapy.

Al-Sheikh was speaking in a virtual seminar, co-organized by the UN and Intisar Foundation, about psychological therapy to help Arab women overcome im-pacts of confl icts.

The UN, he said, believed women peacekeepers improved performance of peacekeeping missions, promote human rights, protect civilians and encour-age women to be infl uencers in peacekeeping missions.

President of Intisar Founda-tion, Sheikha Intisar Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, said the foun-dation made large strides in re-habilitating a large number of women who were victims of wars. (KUNA)

2ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

editor’s choice

‘I don’t know what came across me’

Man wronged by police saves offi cer from burning car

Metropolitan Police Department bicycle division offi cers stand and watch after police closed the area around Lafayette Park near the White House after protesters tried to topple a statue of Andrew Jackson in the park in Washington on June 22. (AP)

WASHINGTON, June 23, (AP): There was a boom, then the house shook. Daylan McLee thought for a minute it might have been a small earthquake until a relative came running inside to say there had been a car crash involv-ing a police cruiser outside the apartment in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, about 45 miles south of Pittsburgh.

McLee ran outside and pulled an officer from the mangled patrol car as flames began to spread into the cabin. Police officials and others have cred-ited McLee with saving the officer’s life after the Sunday evening crash.

“I don’t know what came across me, but I ripped the door open and just pulled him to safety across the street,” McLee said Monday.

Protests over police brutality following the death of George Floyd in Min-neapolis that have gripped the nation for weeks have laid bare tensions be-tween police and the communities they serve, exposing grave mistrust by civilians, and frustration by law enforcement officers who say they are being painted with too broad a brush. But for McLee, the issue broke through the larger questions on race and policing; it was about saving a life.

Uniontown Police Lt Thomas Kolencik’s voice cracked as he told WTAE-Pittsburgh at the scene Sunday that the department was thankful McLee was nearby when the crash happened.

“Daylan actually said, ‘I’m not going to let him die,’” Kolencik told the TV station. “There’s just no words to describe, you know.”

Several of Officer Jay Hanley’s relatives had thanked McLee on social media Sunday and Monday, noting the officer was undergoing surgery after the crash for a serious leg injury.

McLee said Hanley’s sister had called to thank him, along with a handful of officers and even the police chief.

The 31-year-old said it wasn’t a complicated decision to help another hu-man being. But even some of his close friends wondered if he hesitated be-cause of his previous interactions with a few law enforcement officers.

“No. There is value in every human life. We are all children of God and

I can’t imagine just watching anyone burn,” he said. “No matter what other people have done to me, or other officers, I thought, ‘this guy deserves to make it home safely to his family.’”

McLee filed a lawsuit in late 2018 against four Pennsylvania State Police troopers for wrongful arrest after he spent a year in jail related to a March 2016 fight outside an American Legion bar.

McLee had rushed to the bar in Dunbar, Pennsylvania, after his sister called saying she needed a ride home because she had been drinking and a fight had broken out. When McLee arrived, he disarmed a man who was standing in the parking lot with a gun and threw the weapon aside.

At least one trooper fired shots at McLee as he fled. The trooper said McLee pointed a weapon at him twice, but security footage showed McLee disarming the man, discarding the gun quickly and fleeing when shots were fired.

McLee, a Black man with tattoos visible on his neck and arms and twisted dreads that reach below his chin, spent a year in jail before a jury acquitted him on the charges after reviewing the video. That was a year away from his children, and a year away from his mother, who was ill at the time. She passed away last year.

McLee had another run-in with officers a few months ago, when he ran from a porch gathering after officers in plain clothes and vests approached with guns drawn. He said they did not announce they were officers, and he stopped running and put his hands behind his head when they yelled they were police.

He said he was charged with fleeing and resisting arrest, but said during that arrest an officer kicked him in the face through a fence, splitting his lip. He said the use of force was caught on a security camera and he plans to fight the charges.

But McLee stressed forgiveness, saying he couldn’t blame every police officer for bad interactions he had with any others.

“We need to work on our humanity ... that’s the main problem of this

world. We’re stuck on how to get up or to get even, and that is not how I was raised to be. You learn, you live, you move on and I was always taught to forgive big,” he said. “You can’t base every day of your life off of one interaction you have with one individual.”

McLee’s attorney Alec Wright said he isn’t surprised his client acted quickly and without being jaded.

“Over the course of his life, Daylan McLee has had multiple, unjustified encounters with police officers just because of the color of his skin,” Wright said. “Those encounters make him the perfect candidate to hate and resent the police. But, that is not Daylan... The answer is not to disregard human life; the answer is to accept it for all that it is. That is Daylan.”

Police said the officer McLee helped rescue was flown to a hospital in West Virginia where he underwent surgery and is recovering. McLee said he realized after the crash that he had spoken to Hanley maybe three weeks earlier when the officer was on patrol.

“I realized after, that I’d seen him. He speaks to people; he says hello; he isn’t an officer that harasses anybody. He commented to me about the heat was coming for us,” he said.

McLee has a 13-year-old son, Avian, who he is trying to teach not to judge anyone for the color of their skin, for the job they hold or for what other people might say about them, but to instead look at people as individuals.

“Some people may think I look intimidating ... and I can’t hate the trooper who shot at me for what he doesn’t know,” McLee said.

“I don’t want to be called a hero. I just want to be known as an individual who is an upstanding man. No matter ... what or where, just an upstanding per-son,” he added. “And I hope (that trooper) sees this and knows he’s forgiven.”

Uniontown police would not comment Monday on the crash or McLee’s actions, saying questions should be directed to Pennsylvania State Police who are investigating the crash. Phone calls and emails to a Troop B spokes-man were not returned.

‘We can’t tackle any of the big challenges we face’

Ex-CIA director, defense secretary Gates: US is paralyzedFORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, June 23, (AP): Former CIA director and defense secretary Robert Gates said Monday that the US government is para-lyzed by political polarization and careerism, which has allowed China, Rus-sia and other rivals to make inroads internationally to America’s detriment.

Gates, who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, said in an online speech to a Florida group that partisanship has always been part of US politics dating back to founders John Adams and Thomas Jef-ferson, but only recently has that resulted in the government being unable to tackle major issues such as the coronavirus outbreak. He said congressional members fear taking any stand or making any compromise that could harm their re-election chances.

“Because of our paralysis in Washington, we can’t tackle successfully any of the big challenges the country faces whether its education, immigration, infrastructure,” Gates told the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, a nonpar-tisan organization that meets monthly to hear from prominent newsmakers. “They are just too hard for our politicians across the board. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue.”

Gates, 76 and a Republican, served as CIA director from 1991 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush and defense secretary from 2006 to 2011 under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. His book, “Exercise

Of Power: American Failures, Successes, And A New Path Forward In The New Post-Cold War World,” was recently published.

Gates argues in his book that over the last 25 years, presidents and Con-gress have allowed the nation’s diplomatic strengths such as developmental assistance, communications and cultural connections wither, leaving the mil-itary with a disproportionate role in determining and executing US foreign policy.

Gates has criticized President Donald Trump a divider, domestically and internationally. During Monday’s talk he praised Trump as the fi rst president to understand and tackle the threat China poses economically, but said he undercuts his efforts by weakening the country’s relationships with its allies, calling those “a unique asset for the United States.”

“We have allies – the Russians and Chinese don’t. They have clients,” Gates said. “Those allies are critically important if we want to create an international environment to serve our national interest.”

He also praised Trump for reaching out to North Korea and meeting with Kim Jong-un, saying nothing attempted by previous presidents stopped that country’s nuclear arms program. He said Kim fears that if he surrenders his nuclear weapons, he will be toppled. Gates said it might be time to negotiate a deal where North Korea keeps a limited number in exchange for intensive

inspections.Gates also praised and criticized former vice-president Joe Biden,

Trump’s presumed Democratic opponent in November’s election. He said Biden has been wrong on almost every foreign policy and national security issue over the last 40 years, particularly during the 1980s when Biden was in the Senate and opposed President Ronald Reagan’s policies toward the Soviet Union.

Still, Gates said despite their broad policy differences, he and Biden had a good relationship during the Obama administration and agreed on such issues as Libyan nonintervention when that country’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi , was overthrown and killed in 2011. He called Biden “not only a decent person but a man of real character and integrity.”

He said the Trump administration handed the Chinese and Russians a for-eign propaganda coup when it used police and military force to remove pro-testers so the president could walk to a nearby church to take a photograph.

“Believe me, the videos of what happened that night in Lafayette Square are being distributed all over the world by the Russians and the Chinese,” Gates said. The Chinese can now “come back to us and say ‘How dare you criticize our handling of protesters in Hong Kong. Just look at what hap-pened across the street from the White House.’”

Protesters try to pull down Andrew Jackson statue in DCProtesters tried to pull down a statue of President Andrew Jackson near the White House Monday night before being dispersed by police.

WUSA-TV in Washington reported that police used pepper spray to move protesters out of Lafayette Square, where the Jackson statue is located. Videos posted on social media showed that the protesters had climbed on the statue and tied ropes around it, then tried to pull it off its pedestal.

The statue shows Jackson in a military uniform, riding a horse that is rearing on its hind legs. The 19th century president’s ruthless treat-ment of Native Americans has made his statue a target of demonstra-tors protesting the United States’ legacy of racial injustice.

The Jackson statue remained on its pedestal Monday night.President Donald Trump tweeted late Monday that “Numerous people”

had been arrested for “the disgraceful vandalism.” He added: “10 years in

prison under the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act. Beware!”Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was at the scene Monday night,

and issued a statement saying: “Let me be clear: we will not bow to anarchists. Law and order will prevail, and justice will be served.”

On June 1, law enforcement offi cers forcefully cleared peaceful pro-testers from Lafayette Square so Trump could stage a photo op at a nearby church. (AP)

LOCALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

3

Romanowski lauds contribution to peace

We will continue supporting Kuwait’sefforts to solve Gulf crisis – US envoyKUWAIT CITY, June 23: The American Ambassador to Ku-wait Alina Romanowski af-fi rmed that fi nding a lasting so-lution to the Gulf confl ict is key to establishing regional stability and security, reports Al-Anba daily.

In a special interview with the daily, she assured that her country will continue to support Kuwait’s efforts to fi nd a per-manent solution to the Gulf cri-sis at the earliest, and will work to urge all parties concerned to engage in serious talks to end the confl ict.

Ambassador Romanowski praised the efforts of Kuwait led by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, describing them as delib-erate and continuous to achieve unity in the Gulf ranks.

She highlighted her country’s appreciation for the strong con-tributions of Kuwait and its dip-

l o m a t i c e f f o r t s in the fi eld of conf l i c t r e s o l u -tion and p e a c e , a d d i n g that she is look-ing for-ward for

the two friendly countries to con-tinue working together within the framework of their strong part-nership in this fi eld.

Ambassador Romanowski said Kuwait has a long history of tol-erance and religious acceptance, indicating that her country is

committed to promoting religious freedoms around the world.

She congratulated Kuwait for its recognition of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, calling on the government to take similar steps towards other re-ligious sects that wish to obtain registration here.

The ambassador revealed that the new sanctions on Syria under Caesar’s law are not intended to harm the Syrian people, but to hold the Assad regime account-able for its violence that has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.

She affi rmed that her country will continue its campaign within the coming weeks and months to target individuals and companies that support the Assad regime and hinder peaceful political so-lutions to the confl ict in Syria.

A DIGEST OF PUBLIC OPINION

DIWANIYA‘Kuwait not a temporary abode’

‘Big fish will escape the law’“THE case of the Bangladeshi (the man who had intro-duced himself in Kuwait as an MP in his country), is just a specimen of the State of Kuwait’s torment under the rampancy of corruption at the level of State institu-tions,” columnist and the editor-in-chief of Al-Seyas-sah electronic newspaper Sattam Ahmad Al-Jarallah wrote for the daily.

“The media focus on it should not be just because of diverting the public opinion from other issues issue, but all government offi cials should work seriously and honestly to clean up their departments from corruption and the corrupt if we want the situation to change, if not this Bangladeshi will go and others will come, and they will be more fi erce than him.

“Not just that, those who will take the issue after getting rid of those who are involved in this unlawful trade, because if they have wind in their stomachs they will learn from the experience of others, and they will change methods to increase corruption.

“Given the above, the issue should not be exploited for informational propaganda, because we fear it will disappear when another scandal is revealed and this means corruption will repeat itself or as the Arab proverb says ‘Halima will return to her old habits’ and the situation, shall remain as it is.

“Consequently, we wonder is this the reform we are talking about. Will the suggestions on the agenda of the National Assembly lead to handle the current defect in the country’s population structure? And will these sug-gestions benefi t the national economy?

“There is no doubt that every person accused in the case of the Bangladeshi has his electoral backer, who works day and night to prevent his trial.

“Not only that, it is not ruled out that this man, who has managed to penetrate various state departments, has his own men. In other words, if he has employed some citizens to accompany him, in addition to some MPs and offi cials, is it not possible that he shall use his me-diator (wasta), especially since he is a MP in his coun-try, who also has contacts and acquaintances in Kuwait, who will not abandon him.

“Given the above, we expect this man as usual will leave the country and start practicing his activities from abroad, but under the name of a new company. Moreover, he is likely to return to Kuwait on a new passport.

“Unfortunately, the situations in the country, have reached such a level, and we fi nd ourselves busy with a specifi c issue at the expense of the remaining issues that have been raised, as if Kuwaitis have to live in an epi-demic of corruption and greed, or rather as if they see their homeland as just a market or a hotel, or a tempo-rary homeland, who do not refrain from doing anything to increase their wealth and then escape abroad.

“From now, we expect that the case of the Bangla-deshi will end in nothing, and it will be forgotten, and some small visa dealers will be tried. As for the trade-marks of this trade, they will not be affected but the big visa traders (hamour) will escape the law.

“Rather, we do not rule out that we will see again thousands of victims of these visa traders will be hav-ing fun in Kuwait after the current crisis ends, and the prices of visa may soar. Therefore, nothing will change if the mentality does not change, and if the Kuwaitis are not convinced that their homeland is a permanent homeland and not a temporary abode, they must work for the sake of the continuity of their homeland.”

Also:“We have spoken and the others had spoken also

about the crime that was perpetrated by the visa trad-ers along with the infl uential people who endorsed and signed their transactions because there is another crime that is more serious than it, affecting the course of governmental institutional work,” columnist Talal AbdulKarim Al-Arab wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“As it is well known, in Kuwait, that favoritism, me-diation and bribery has interfered over the past decades in the recruitment and control processes of some po-sitions, and that has caused tremendous administrative corruption and unprecedented job fraud, which led to the fl accidity of government sectors and the failure of some, particularly in the most vital and most important sector that is education. Favoritism has not ended here there has been favoritism in favor of countries which provide labor to the State of Kuwait.

“For years, we have heard about corruption that has seeped into some committees that go abroad to hire workers from several countries order bring manpower from various countries where some of these workers are not specialized. To add insult to injury these commit-tees were formed also through wasta.

“These corrupt people have taken advantage of their

positions for their own gain, and they hired teachers or engineers, for example, in return huge sums of money which was paid in the form of brine and contracts were signed against exchanged benefi ts.

“And it happened that I was on a working visit to an Arab country, during which I visited a friend in the Kuwaiti embassy in that country, and we were talk-ing about the large number of workers of that particu-lar country in Kuwait and the remarkable low level of some of the relevant manpower. He discussed with me the issue of the committees which hire people to work in Kuwait and it was shocking to hear these committee members don’t differentiate between the qualifi ed and unqualifi ed candidates. They are chosen without taking into account the level of their education irrespective whether they are graduates or not.

“The friend compared the work of another country which deals fi rmly with the employment issue far away from any favoritism, hinting this state selects manpow-er from those who have graduated from reputable uni-versities and those who have excelled in their studies.

“Meanwhile, my friend went on to say “this Arab country has a long history in the scientifi c and educa-tional work, but the committees which go to recruit personnel do not take into consideration the needs of Kuwait and there must be a secret behind hiring third-level or lower level employees, and this is what must be revealed.”

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“In 2007, I read the executive summary of ‘Kuwait Vision from 2010 to 2035’,” columnist Jamal Al-Ham-oud wrote for Annahar daily.

“After ten years, the Kuwaiti government announced -- specifi cally in 2017 -- the 2035 ‘New Kuwait Vi-sion’. This is the vision of a homeland ... and it has been decided that we should see its results gradually within 18 years. More than three years have passed, and whoever understands the principles of strategy is concerned because he distinguishes between the vision that is achieved and the dream which is written only as a slogan.

“The vision is a general perspective that summarizes the goal and is followed by steps. The fi rst step is for those responsible for the vision to document its features by making a strategy and roadmap for the remaining 15 years as well as defi ne important milestones, role distribution and business classifi cation.

“After that, specialized teams are formed, each of whom plays the scheduled and emerging role of the features of this strategy. Leaders play the most impor-tant role in the success equation. They are responsible for monitoring performance indicators, supporting all teams, making sure that work is going towards the planned direction, and harnessing and ensuring mu-tual support and complementary situation between the teams and achievement.

“The energies in my homeland are present and the creators are many, but we need to develop professional mechanisms and systems that ensure serving public interest. This is in addition to supporting the decision-making process in a manner which achieves the vision. We need leaders who absorb strategic thought and in-tegrate the stages of applying the vision that must be launched incessantly until it reaches its goal, no matter how different the viewpoints are or even if the faces change.”

❑ ❑ ❑

“The world is heading towards a different approach to the corona pandemic. In Kuwait, we should not be sidetracked from this global trend. The patience of the people is in its fi nal stages. Losses from the quarantine and curfew are almost equal to the return to near nor-mal,” columnist Dahim Al-Qahtani wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“It is time for people to take responsibility for their actions. Physical distancing should be the basis of so-cial life in Kuwait, but without curfew or home quaran-tine. Whoever gives up physical distancing must bear responsibility for that.

“Many Arab countries began to open public places, including the UAE. Likewise, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia decided to abolish all kinds of curfews, which means the countries surrounding us and whose condi-tions are similar to ours have started a different type of transaction. This leads us to a similar treatment, especially if it managed to strike a balance between facing the epidemic and restoring the economic and public life.

“Does this mean the corona epidemic is over? Un-fortunately, the corona epidemic has not changed and it may even have increased in the world in terms of num-bers. Nevertheless, the world in general is no longer able to tolerate more closed public places. People have learned well how to live and co-exist with this epidem-ic.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb

Al-Jarallah

Life returns to 68 post offi cesafter a ‘break’ of four months

‘Employees commit themselves to health requirements’

KUWAIT CITY, June 23: The post-al, transportation and services sec-tors of the Minis-try of Communica-tions resumed their activities Sunday morning after a de-cision issued by the Minister of State for National As-sembly Affairs and Minister of State for Services Affairs Mubarak Al-Haris to return to work and provide the necessary service to the public after a four-month hia-tus, reports Al-Rai daily.

Al-Haris authorized Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commu-nications Kholoud Al-Shehab to assign sector offi cials to follow up on the compliance with health requirements for staff designated to work and the extent to which visitors adhere to the re-quirements.

Al-Rai toured some post offi ces and followed up the activities of employees who did not exceed 30 percent of the total number, according to the decision of the Coun-cil of Ministers.

OperatingAn offi cial source at the

ministry stated that the number of post offi ces op-erating in Kuwait reach 68, in addition to the postal and express mail offi ces in Al-Siddiq and Kuwait Interna-tional Airport, as it gradu-ally provides services to citizens and expatriates. He indicated each post offi ce organizes the method and style of obtaining the date of review while adhering to procedures and health pre-cautions in the designated halls by prohibiting entry to employee offi ces.

The source pointed out that a committee was formed during the corona crisis to deal with accumu-lated parcels, and they were distributed within a short period. He indicated outgo-ing mail has been suspend-ed until now, and expected to return the service when the airspace is opened in the coming period to allow fl ights.

He stated that postal of-fi ce employees have always committed themselves to the health requirements and distributed mail and postal packets to their owners through mobile communi-cation prior to their pres-ence at the offi ce for col-lection.

He pointed out that all mailbox subscriptions end-ed in April but the work continues until the end of the coronavirus crisis.

In the context of media follow-up, media person-nel touring the Ministry of Communications were surprised by the ministry’s “cover-up” of journalists’ requests to cover the story, especially in preventing of-fi cials of the sectors from addressing the media.

Photo by Sameer ShiqerTraffi c rush seen on the roads as life slowly returns to normal.

Students registration continues for 3 days

Private school teachers given choiceto either forgo ‘salaries’ or get fi redKUWAIT CITY, June 23: While some private schools have terminated the services of their teachers to escape paying their salaries during the emer-gency vacation months imposed by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, other schools have given their teach-ers and administrators the option of either waiving off their salaries or getting fired, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting reliable sources.

They affirmed that the administra-tions of a number of private schools have contacted their employees via phone to inform them about the ter-mination of their services, but with the priority of reappointment in the event of a date being set for the resumption of the current school year or the start of the new year.

The sources indicated that some schools are unable to pay the salaries of their employees in light of the cur-rent crisis especially with the failure of parents to pay the last installments of tuition fees in conjunction with the issuance of a decision by the Ministry

of Education not to claim any fees and to postpone the matter until the beginning of next year.

On the other hand, the process of registering the 12th-grade students in science and arts sections for the virtual classes of the educational platform prepared recently by the Ministry of Education within the draft operational plan for imple-menting distance education will begin this week.

Students of public, religious and private schools continue to be regis-tered in the evening centers for a period of three days optionally, after which the lists of virtual classes will be prepared and the launch of dis-tance education in government schools will be planned.

The ministry will also require the private schools to prepare educa-tional platforms in each school to teach the 12th graders online, as well as create virtual classes and distance teaching similar to the pub-lic education sector.

PACI’s statistic reveals perplexing ‘paradox’

Kuwaitis a ‘minority’ in 11 govt agenciesBy Khaled Al-HajiriAl-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, June 23: Amid repeated parliamentary and popu-lar calls to expedite reform in the country by dealing with the demo-graphic imbalance and in the spirit of interpreting the endeavors revealed by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah during his meeting with newspaper editors to flip the stats of 70 percent expats versus 30 percent Kuwaitis, a sta-tistic issued by the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) revealed a perplexing “paradox”.

The “interesting” irony that was revealed by the statistic, which cannot be found in any other coun-tries in the world, is that Kuwaitis constitute a “minority” in about 11 government agencies.

Worst of all, according to the statistic, there are regional and international organizations or companies where Kuwait has the right to appoint citizens for a num-ber of jobs, but despite that, the number of Kuwaitis in such estab-lishments is low.

These entities include Ministry of Health with 26,470 citizens and

34,130 expatriates, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) with 701 citizens and 708 expatriates, Kuwait Airways Corporation with 954 citizens and 6,003 expatriates, Kuwait Flour Mills & Bakeries Company with 151 citizens and 4,653 expatriates, and Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences with 78 citizens and 234 expatriates.

Within the “striking paradoxes” is that the number of citizens in the National Security Agency is only 18 compared to 39 expatri-ates. In the Diwan of His Highness the Crown Prince, there are 421 expatriates and 43 citizens, and in the Arab Oil Company Limited, there are 159 expatriates and four citizens, while in embassies and international organizations, there are about two citizens among 2,586 employees.

At the International Committee of the Red Cross, the number of non-Kuwaitis is 64 compared to just one Kuwaiti, and in the Arab Center for Educational Technologies, there are no Kuwaiti employees.

At the same time, the statistic indicated that the number of work-ers in the government sector, as of the end of last year, was 467,915,

including 344,036 Kuwaitis and 123,879 non-Kuwaitis.

According to the statistic, Ministry of Education is still the major employer with a total of 108,822 employees, of whom 81,514 are Kuwaitis and 27,308 are non-Kuwaitis, followed by Ministry of Health with a total of 60,600 employees, including 26,470 Kuwaitis and 34,130 non-Kuwaitis.

Ministry of Interior comes third with 46,965 employees of whom 39,633 are Kuwaitis and 7,332 are non-Kuwaitis, followed by Ministry of Defense with 44,907 employees including 26,897 Kuwaitis and 18,010 non-Kuwait-is. Ministry of Electricity and Water came fifth with 21,349 employees including 20,224 Kuwaitis and 1,125 non-Kuwaitis.

In sixth place is Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs with 19,384 employees, of whom 15,350 are Kuwaitis and 4,034 are non-Kuwaitis, followed by Ministry of Public Works with 12,815 employees including 12,318 Kuwaitis and 497 non-Kuwaitis. In the eighth place is Ministry of Justice with 11,500 employees including 10,311 Kuwaitis and 1,189 non-Kuwaitis.

Romanowski

LOCALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

4

Photos by Mahmoud JadeedMahboula looks like a deserted city after the lockdown lasting more than three months. Damaged cars litter the streets as wild dogs roam

around (inset).

‘Don’t dump gloves, masks ‘

‘Delivery timings’ set from 6 am to6:30 pm for shops allowed to openKUWAIT CITY, June 23 : Director General of Kuwait Municipality Eng Ahmad Al-Manfouhi has issued an administrative decision to amend the working hours of shops that are permit-ted to open as per articles 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the administrative decision No. 812/2020 issued on 31/5/2020 so that service delivery timings will be from 6:00 am to 6:30 pm, reports Al-Seyas-sah daily.

In his decision, Al-Manfouhi stressed the necessity to abide by all health require-ments contained in the decisions and circulars of the Ministry of Health, Kuwait M u n i c i p a l i t y and competent governmenta l agencies issued in this regard in order to avoid legal account-ability and ap-plication of penalties on those who violate them.

On the other hand, the Engineering Licensing Department of Capital Mu-nicipality, within the framework of the efforts exerted by Kuwait Municipality to confront repercussions of the COV-ID-19 crisis and based on the decisions issued by Eng Al-Manfouhi and those of the Cabinet and Ministry of Health to curb spread of the virus, has issued via online a total of 76 construction licenses since the decision to resume construction permits services, and the undertaking to supervise and connect electricity.

Director of the Engineering Licens-ing Department at Capital Municipality Eng Nizar Al-Awad explained that they reviewed 150 engineering transactions since the issuance of the decision to re-sume construction permit services until May 31, and found observations that required completion. They dealt with six transactions from the engineering

offi ces, and 25 transactions were reject-ed for failure to meet the requirements. They also issued 76 building licenses online.

Regarding the transactions of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry that were responded to, Al-Awad high-lighted 270 transactions that required review of stakeholders to complete the requests, adding that they returned 118 transactions to the Ministry of Com-merce and Industry and approved 411 others.

Meanwhile , Kuwait Municipality denied rumors spread on social media regarding the appointment of an expa-triate as advisor at the Municipality, clarifying that it merely took routine steps as part of annual procedures for renewing contracts, reports Al-Anba daily.

The Municipality disclosed the above-mentioned expatriate has been terminated in line with the replacement and job placement policies, indicating the expatriate is currently completing the notice period for the termination of his services in accordance with the stip-ulations of his employment contract.

In another development , Kuwait Municipality launched a joint aware-ness campaign with the Environment Public Authority (EPA) – entitled “Be-fore Throwing It, Think 1,000 Times” – to educate and raise awareness among citizens and residents about the impor-tance of throwing gloves and masks in the designated places in order to curb the spread of coronavirus, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The campaign is part of the Mu-nicipality’s commitment to boost com-munity participation in protecting the Kuwaiti environment by adopting a healthy method in disposing the above-mentioned items.

The Municipality appealed to eve-ryone to adopt a hygienic method in disposing gloves and masks by mak-ing sure they are thrown in the desig-nated places after use to prevent further spread of coronavirus.

Municipality

Exams postponed: Secretary Gen-eral of Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations (KIMS) Dr Fawaz Al-Rifai has announced that the ex-aminations for specialized training and fellowship programs, which were supposed to start in September 2020, were postponed until January 2021, reports Al-Qa-bas daily.

In his press statement, Al-Rifai confi rmed this decision is based on the keenness and interest of the Health Ministry -- represented by KIMS -- in f a c i l i t a t i n g procedures for trained doctors due to the exceptional circumstances the country is going through in light of the repercussions of coronavirus.

He said it was decided to hold these exams from Jan 17 to Feb 24, 2021 in-stead of the original schedule -- from Sept 6 to Oct 14, 2020; indicating the doctors who applied for the abovemen-tioned programs will be notifi ed about the new tests schedule later.

❑ ❑ ❑

Irregularities reported: The suspen-sion of work for the employment affairs monitors in ministries due to the excep-tional circumstances that the country is going through and the decision to grant rest days to State employees led to the random issuance of decisions on promo-tions which did not meet the conditions set by the law and regulations, reports Al-Anba daily.

Speaking to the daily, the monitors in some ministries where the irregular-ities occurred stressed the need for the competent authorities to activate the relevant law and regulations in order to cancel the delegation, transfer and pro-

Suicide attempted

Garages, shops shutKUWAIT CITY, June 23: The in-spection teams in the Commercial Control and Consumer Protection Sector at the Ministry of Commerce closed garages and upholstery in the Fahaheel industrial area for vio-lating the laws and regulations in force and using the license for other than the nature of work it was is-sued for, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

In a press statement, the min-istry said the inspection teams discovered the fraud during their usual inspection tours targeting the Fahaheel industrial zone which includes shops selling tires and changing engine oils and to monitor the prices.

❑ ❑ ❑

Suicide attempted: An unidenti-fi ed bedoun, who is believed to be a student of the Faculty of Medicine, attempted to commit suicide by con-suming a large of medicine, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

The daily added, when the Op-erations Room of the Ministry of In-terior was informed of the incident, paramedics and police rushed to the spot and rushed the man to the intensive care of a hospital.

He was given a stomach wash and police will interrogate him the reason for attempting to end his life after his condition improves and he is discharged from hospital.

motion decisions which were issued frequently before the election season.

They called on the Cabinet to in-struct the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to issue a circular on auditing all administrative decisions taken from February till date and then cancel de-cisions which do not conform to the

News in Brief

MoI photo

The drug pills seized by the Customs.

Punishment sought as maid accused of beatingof infants says overworked, didn’t mean harm

‘Detention continued to check mental state’

KUWAIT CITY, June 23: Reacting to news re-ports about two Kuwaiti infants severely beaten by an Asian maid yesterday, a large segment of citi-zens and residents say the maid must be punished severely for committing this inhuman act, reports Al-Anba daily.

On the other hand, from a le-gal and security point of view the investigator of the Sabah Al-Salem Police Station has or-dered the continued detention of the maid to determine her mental state as the condition of the in-fants continue to improve.

In the meantime, the maid has been charged with assault, beating and causing severe injury and caus-ing intentional injury to the victims or even attempted murder.

A security source told the daily the Asian maid said during interro-gations yesterday that she has been taking care of feeding, cleaning the house and bathing 5 children of all ages, including the two babies, and that her sponsor and her husband are always allegedly busy and she cares for all children from morning until bed time.

The maid also said the burden is heavy on her and that she could no longer tolerate the inconvenience caused by the fi ve children, not-ing that she did not mean to harm the infants, but was accustomed to beating the children in order to calm them down, as well as to raise and feed the fi ve children, in addition to doing all the house chores.

The defendant reiterated again and again that she did not intend to harm the infants, indicating that she had raised 3 of the victims’ brothers.

The parents denied what the maid claimed that all responsibili-ties were dumped on her in addi-tion to raising the children and said these allegations are to evade guilt.

Earlier it was reported that a fe-male servant of Nepali nationality severely beat two 7-month-old in-fants in Sabah Al-Salem, and their father had rushed them to the hos-pital in critical condition.

❑ ❑ ❑

Brothers-in-law fi ght: An Arab man who is believed to be in his 50s has fi led a complaint with the Far-waniya police accusing his brother-in-law, of same nationality, of injur-ing him in the face and nose, reports Al-Anba daily.

The suspect allegedly threw a heavy ashtray in the face of the vic-tim causing severe bleeding from the nose and he also lost some teeth.

This happened when the sus-pect’s wife called her brother and complained about her husband that he was not fulfi lling his marital duties. When the brother went to see what was happening, he was

attacked by the woman’s husband.The husband said he did not in-

tend to cause harm and said he was not happy with the way his brother-in-law interfered in family matters (between him and his wife).

❑ ❑ ❑

Duo caught with drugs: The Director-General of the Farwaniya Security Directorate Brigadier Ab-dullah Saffah has ordered the refer-ral of two Arab men to the General Department of Drugs Control for possessing narcotics, reports Al-Anba daily.

According to a security source, two suspects attempted to leave Farwaniya, the area that was under total curfew. When the men arrived at the checkpoint, the one behind the wheel appeared abnormal and when police checked the vehicle,

they found 3 sachets of marijuana and drug consuming tools.

Police are interrogating the men to fi nd out if they drugs addicts or promoters of drugs.

❑ ❑ ❑

Police working 24/7: The Ministry of Interior said fi eld security sectors (emergency assistance, traffi c, op-erations, coast guard, public security and border security) are working re-lentlessly to prevent reckless people from violating the law particularly drivers of two-wheelers and ATVs (all terrain vehicles in the Khairan region to protect the safety of other motorists and pedestrians, reports Al-Rai daily.

The ministry has assured these campaigns will continue without interruption and will cover all parts of the country and at various times

Photos by Samer ShaqairKuwait was hit by a freak sandstorm and high winds on Tuesday, June

23. Visibility was poor at many places.

KUWAIT CITY, June 23: The barcode system has pro-tected shoppers from the co-rona pandemic although the markets suffered in terms of the number of shoppers be-lieved to be at least 60 per-cent, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

However, a number of shoppers are in favor of the barcode system saying the system has many benefits. The most important of which is it reduces the risk of corona virus infection.

The officials are of the opinion that the entry to the supermarkets through the bar code system is very important for the protecting of employ-ees, shoppers and even offi-cials themselves from getting infected by the virus.

The officials say the system allows the entry of between 20 and 25 shoppers an hour although the system deprives the markets of 60 percent of the clients.

The Al-Seyassah newspa-per through monitoring the markets has found out that supermarkets and other simi-lar establishments use the barcode system. However, there are some foodstuff cen-ters that allow people to enter without prior appointment but they adhere to the deci-sion issued by the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Health.

Shoppers praise barcode system

GTD nods transfer of cars ownershipKUWAIT CITY, June 23: Gen-eral Traffic Department (GTD) will allow the transfer of owner-ship of vehicles in all governor-ates depending on the capacity of each governorate, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

According to sources, the GTD began work Sunday with issuing vehicle registration books to those whose registra-tion had expired on March 12 onwards. The sources said, the defaulters had not to pay fines and the insurance renewal was good enough.

They noted that the persons

who are willing to transfer ve-hicles can do it to the available means at the respective traffic departments as the government inches towards the second stage until all government offices re-sume normal work.

The sources noted clear in-structions have been issued by the Undersecretary of the Interior Ministry Lt. General Issam Al Naham and Assistant Undersecretary for Traffic Af-fairs Major-General Jamal Al Sayegh for facilitating work of the Kuwaitis and residents.

Drug traders trying to fl ood marketIn less than 48 hours the criminal se-curity sector of the Ministry of Interior thwarted another attempt of pumping of 78 kilos of narcotic pills and 26 kilos of narcotics (Tramadol and chemical pow-der), reports Al-Anba daily.

The air customs offi cials suspected that a parcel which came from an uni-dentifi ed Asian country containing sus-

picious goods and ordered a thorough check.

Earlier the Al-Rai daily had reported that a 30-year-old Kuwaiti was referred to the General Department for Drugs Control (GDDC) for smuggling 120,000 Lyrica pills into the country by hid-ing the contraband inside a parcel of clothes.

Al-Manfouhi

to control the reckless persons. A reliable source said the ministry will spare no efforts to apply the law.

The ministry has called on citi-zens and residents to call 112 if they encounter any reckless road users.

❑ ❑ ❑

5 workers infected: The Ali Sa-bah Al-Salem Suburb Cooperative Society announced that fi ve of its employees are infected with coro-navirus, affi rming these employ-ees have been isolated and all the necessary precautions have been taken, reports Al-Rai daily.

The cooperative revealed that the infected employees are as-signed in the gas cylinders branch: Block Two, Block Five, Plot Sev-en, Maintenance Department and ration food branch.

❑ ❑ ❑

Indian dies in mishap: An Indian, born in 1996, died following a two-vehicle collision opp osite the sub-urb of Sa’ad Al-Abdullah, reports Al-Anba daily.

The corpse has been referred to Forensics. Police are investigating the cause of the accident.

Ex-husband accused of planting ‘voice-tracker’ in woman’s carKUWAIT CITY, June 23 : A Ku-waiti woman has fi led a complaint with the police accusing her ex-husband of planting a mini voice tracker (GPS locator micro spy device) in her car, reports Al-Rai daily.

In her complaint she told police she discovered the device when she went to a garage to repair her car and the device was discovered by the mechanic.

When the complainant took the device to the police station, the fi rst question she was asked if she suspected anyone and without hesitation she pointed a fi nger of accusation at her ex-husband and said he is the one who has been following her and monitoring her movements.

She has provided police with in-formation of her ex-husband. Police have summoned the man for inter-

rogation to hear his side of the story.❑ ❑ ❑

Man attempts suicide: The Jahra police have arrested a Kuwaiti man who is believed to be in his 30s for attempting to end his life inside a police station, reports Al-Anba daily.

According to the security sourc-es the man was detained after his brother fi led a complaint against

him accusing him of consum-ing drugs and harassing the fam-ily and causing trouble with the neighbors.

The brother was then arrested and taken to a police station and the man allegedly broke a piece of ceramic and attempted to slash his wrists.

He was taken to the Jahra Hos-pital under police guard by per-sonnel from the Emergency Medi-cal Services.

Dr Al-Refai

MIDEASTARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

5

A woman walks on American University of Beirut’s (AUB) campus one of the oldest and most prestigious education institutions in the Middle East region on June. 22. AUB President Fadlo Khuri tells The Associated Press in an in-terview that the university is facing its greatest crisis since its founding 154 years ago, in Beirut, Lebanon. The school is planning significant staff cuts and other drastic measures as it grapples to deal with Lebanon’s unprecedented

economic and financial crisis made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. Inset: Fadlo Khuri, President of AUB, gestures during an interview with The Associated Press Monday. (AP)

Thousands at most for HajjNo over-65s

RIYADH, June 23, (AP): A Sau-di official said Tuesday that the Hajj pilgrimage, which usually draws millions of Muslims from all over the world, will only see at the most “thousands” of pilgrims next month due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.

The Kingdom’s Hajj Minis-ter Muhammad Benten said a “small and very limited” number of people already residing in the Kingdom will be allowed to per-form the pilgrimage to ensure so-cial distancing and crowd control amid the virus outbreak globally.

“The number, God willing, may be in the thousands. We are in the process of reviewing so it could be 1,000 or less, or a little more,” Benten said in a virtual press conference

During the press conference, Saudi officials said that no one over the age of 65 will be al-lowed to perform the Hajj and that all pilgrims and those serv-ing pilgrims this year will be quarantined both before and after the pilgrimage.

“This is a very sensitive op-eration and we are working with experts at the Health Ministry,” Benten said, stressing the impor-tance of protecting the lives and health of pilgrims.

Muslims around the world hoping for a once-in-a-lifetime journey to Makkah to perform the Hajj are now going to have to wait until next year, after Saudi Arabia drastically curtailed the pilgrimage due to the pandemic.

The Kingdom said late on Monday that only a very limited number of pilgrims would be allowed to perform the Hajj in Makkah from among residents of various nationalities already inside the country.

While the decision to drasti-cally curb this year’s Hajj was largely expected, it remains un-precedented in Saudi Arabia’s nearly 90-year history and effec-tively bars all Muslims from out-side the Kingdom from travelling there to performing the pilgrim-age.

It’s a blow to those who’ve waited and saved money for years to afford the journey. The Hajj is not only a requirement for all Muslims to preform once in a lifetime, but it is also a chance to wipe away past sins and connect with Muslims from all walks of life.

The Hajj typically draws 2.5

In this Aug 10, 2019 file photo taken with low shutter speed, Muslim pilgrims make their way up a rocky hill known as Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, ahead of sun-rise near the Holy City of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia says this year’s Hajj will not be canceled, but that due to the coronavirus only ‘very limited numbers’ of people will be allowed to perform the major Muslim pilgrimage. The Kingdom said on June 22 that only people of various nationalities already residing in the country would be allowed to perform

the Hajj. (AP)

Al-Qaeda-linked groupdetains ex-commanderBEIRUT, June 23, (Agencies): The main al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria on Monday detained one of its own former commanders who had defected and set up his own hard-line outfi t earlier this year after coming out against a cease-fi re, opposition activists said.

The activists said a big force from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, raid-ed the house of Jamal Zeina, better known as Abu Malek al-Tali, on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Idlib and detained him.

Al-Tali was behind major opera-tions for the group that used to be known as Nusra Front, including the December 2013 kidnapping of 12 Orthodox nuns from Maaloula, a Christian village in Syria that insur-gents controlled for few months dur-ing the country’s nine-year confl ict. Nusra Front exchanged the nuns four months later with women held in Syr-ian government prisons.

In 2014, militants under al-Tali’s command briefl y stormed the Leba-nese border town of Arsal and cap-tured more than two dozen Lebanese soldiers and policemen. Nusra Front exchanged the troops it was holding with prisoners held in Lebanon.

Al-Tali, a Syrian citizen, is known to be a hard-liner who is opposed to a truce reached in March between Rus-sia and Turkey that stopped a Syrian government offensive on Idlib prov-ince, the last remaining rebel strong-hold in the country. The three-month offensive under the cover of Russian airstrikes killed hundreds and sent a million people fl eeing toward the Turkish border.

Al-Tali defected in April and set up his own group that became close to al-Qaeda-linked Horas al-Din group, Arabic for “Guardians of Religion.” Horas al-Din are hardcore al-Qaeda elements who broke away from HTS.

The Britain-based Syrian Observa-tory for Human Rights said al-Tali defected from HTS in April, adding

that he had personally acquired large sums of money from the deal to re-lease the nuns.

The Shaam Newtork, an activ-ist collective, said al-Tali and other former HTS commanders have been opposed to recent policies adopted by the group’s top commander, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who has been taking cautious steps since Turkey sent thousands of soldiers into Idlib earlier this year.

Al-Tali’s son, Orwa, was shot dead in 2017 in an apparent internal feud between militants in northwest Syria.

Elsewhere in Syria on Monday, a senior Kurdish offi cial said 10 French children of detained or de-ceased Islamic State fi ghters were handed over to a delegation repre-senting the French Foreign Ministry. Abdulkarim Omar tweeted that the handover took place in the Qamishli region on Sunday.

Thousands of IS members and their families are in camps and deten-tion centers in northern Syria, includ-ing more than 60,000 mostly women and children held at al-Hol camp in Hasakeh province. Although most of the women and children are from Iraq or Syria, there are about 8,000 from third countries.

Also:BRUSSELS: The European Union and the United Nations will co-chair the fourth Brussels Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region,” which will take place via videoconference on June 30, the European Commission announced Monday.

Around 80 delegates from neigh-bouring countries hosting Syrian ref-ugees, partner countries, EU Member States and international organisations will gather to address key political, humanitarian and regional develop-ment aspects of the Syrian crisis, it said in a press release.

In BriefRIYADH: Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it intercepted ballistic missiles and bomb-laden drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi reb-els in an attack that began the pre-vious night.

The Kingdom has fought a yearslong war against the Iranian-backed Houthis, who seized Ye-men’s capital in September 2014.

The rebels did not immediately acknowledge the attack, though their Al-Masirah satellite news channel said their forces would make an announcement later in the day about “a broad operation in Saudi Arabia.”

The attack began late Monday, with a brief statement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency suggest-ing other drones may have slipped passed Saudi air defenses, without elaborating.

On Tuesday, the SPA news agen-cy quoted the Kingdom’s military spokesman, Col Turki al-Malki, as saying that Saudi air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile fired “toward Riyadh.” The report did not elaborate. Al-Malki said the Houthis launched two other ballistic missiles and eight bomb-carrying drones in the attack, all of which the Kingdom destroyed. (AP)

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IRBIL, Iraq: Dozens of civilians fled villages in northern Iraq on Monday as Turkey stepped up a military campaign targeting Kurd-ish rebels that has drawn condem-nation from Iraqi officials.

Residents loaded trucks with their belongings and shepherds led livestock out of the Iraqi border vil-lage of Keshani as Turkish forces bombarded suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey.

Turkey launched an air and ground offensive into the border region last week in a campaign to root out the PKK, which Ankara maintains has bases in northern Iraq. Those fleeing said they were afraid of airstrikes and Turkish troops entering their homes. (AP)

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BAGHDAD: One katyusha rocket landed in the vicinity of Baghdad airport without causing any casual-ties, the Iraqi military said Mon-day. It was the most recent in a spate of rocket attacks targeting the American presence in the country since the US launched talks with Iraq earlier this month.

The rocket was launched from a village west of the capital near the Abu Ghraib district, according to a military statement. There were no casualties or significant damages.

The US led coalition maintains a presence in an army base adjacent to the airport. Two Iraqi security of-ficials said the rocket fell far from the base. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

It is the fourth attack to target the US presence in Iraq since Wash-ington and Baghdad embarked on strategic talks on June 11. The at-tacks are proving to be a key chal-lenge for Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, whose government has promised to take action against militia groups suspected of orches-trating them. The US has blamed Iran-backed militia groups. (AP)

Sweeping layoffs planned

Lebanon crisis hits AUBBEIRUT, June 23, (AP): One of the Arab world’s oldest and most prestigious univer-sities, which endured civil war, kidnappings and various economic crises, is preparing for what may be the biggest challenge in its 154-year history.

The American University of Beirut is con-fronting a global pandemic, a severe recession and the collapse of Lebanon’s currency – all at the same time – and is planning a series of sweeping layoffs and salary cuts in response.

AUB president Fadlo Khuri said the school, which ranks among the top 150 in the world, will lay off up to 25 percent of its workforce, close administrative departments and shelve an ambi-tious project for a major new medical center.

“The layoffs are very painful,” Khuri told The Associated Press in an interview at the sprawling campus on the Mediterranean Sea. “AUB has never had to do this before, we’ve never been forced to have layoffs.”

The American University of Beirut, which operates under a charter from the state of New York, was the fi rst to introduce American ed-ucation to the Middle East. For generations, it has educated the Arab world’s elite, produced three presidents, around a dozen prime min-isters – including Lebanon’s current premier, Hassan Diab – and countless Cabinet minis-ters and ambassadors.

Its vibrant campus has also been a pillar of Beirut’s cultural and intellectual life, with a di-verse student body and a history of activism.

The announcement has come as a shock to members of the 6,500-strong workforce of AUB and the American University Medical Center. Tens of thousands of Lebanese have already lost their jobs in a worsening eco-nomic crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak.

The crisis is rooted in decades of institu-

tionalized corruption and mismanagement that came to a head last October, igniting mass protests. The economic meltdown has plunged the fragile country into deep uncer-tainty and threatens to unleash further unrest and chaos.

Unemployment has skyrocketed to 35 per-cent, and nearly half the population lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

The crisis has also squeezed the middle class. Lebanese, who have long used the dol-lar and the Lebanese pound interchangeably, have seen the local currency lose nearly 70 percent of its value. With incomes and sav-ings evaporating, many parents have been unable to afford school, and university fees charged in dollars.

Khuri fi rst laid out the painful reality in a memo to staff on May 5, describing the situ-ation as a “confl uence of calamities” that he said together amount to the “greatest crisis since the university’s foundation in 1866.”

He said the university had expected to raise $609 million in revenue for 2019 and 2020, but instead faces real losses of $30 million, an amount that would almost totally wipe out contingency funds it has built up since 2015.

In a June 15 memo, he announced there would be a series of unprecedented layoffs to help cope with the crisis. Khuri told the AP the decision was “very diffi cult personally” but aims at making AUB more sustainable.

The university remained open throughout much of the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war, providing an oasis of calm and greenery even as a number of foreign staff members were kidnapped or killed, including president Mal-com Kerr who was assassinated in 1984 and David Dodge who was acting university pres-ident when he was kidnapped by pro-Iranian gunmen in 1982.

INTERNATIONALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

6

A light artiste performs with red lights in front of the Brandenburg Gate as part of the ‘Night of Light’ campaign in Berlin on June 22. With the protest the event and entertainment industry wants to show its existential situation due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus. (AP)

In Brief

SEOUL: A South Korean group launched hundreds of thousands of leaflets by balloon across the bor-der with North Korea overnight, an activist said Tuesday, despite Pyongyang repeatedly warning it that it will retaliate against such actions.

Activist Park Sang-hak said his organization floated 20 huge balloons carrying 500,000 leaflets, 2,000 one-dollar bills and small books on North Korea from the border town of Paju on Monday night.

Park, formerly a North Korean who fled to South Korea, said in a statement his leafleting is “a struggle for justice for the sake of liberation of” North Koreans.

The move is certain to inten-sify already high tensions between the Koreas. North Korea recently abruptly raised its rhetoric against South Korean civilian leafleting, destroyed an empty, Seoul-built liaison office on its territory and pushed to resume its psychological warfare against the South. (AP)

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SCHIPHOL, Netherlands: Defense lawyers for a Russian charged with involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 cast doubt Monday on pros-ecutors’ assertions that the pas-senger jet was shot down by a Buk surface-to-air missile.

The comments came as Dutch defense lawyers for Oleg Pulatov began listing their requests for fur-ther investigations in the interna-tional probe into the July 17, 2014, downing of MH17.

Defense lawyer Boudewijn van Eijck pointed out to judges that prosecutors were unable to seal off or carry out forensic investigations at the crash scene, which was in a region controlled by pro-Russia rebels fighting against Ukraine’s government.

“For that reason it can’t be ruled out that evidence went missing, was manipulated or even was aug-mented,” Van Eijck said.

The trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with murder-ing all 298 passengers who died on board the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight is still at an early phase, when defense attorneys can ask judges to order further investi-gations. (AP)

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BERLIN: German police conduct-ed raids Tuesday on sites linked to a far-right group after the country’s top security official deemed it ex-tremist.

Interior Minister Horst See-hofer banned the group Nordadler, which means ‘Northern Eagle,’ early Tuesday. His office said the police raids were carried out in four German states.

It said the group acted mainly online, spreading far-right extrem-ist ideology and anti-Semitism.

Authorities say Northern Eagle members see themselves as adher-ents of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

The group uses social media channels such as Telegram, Insta-gram and Discord to promote its ideology, win new members and condone attacks such as the anti-Semitic shooting at a synagogue in Halle last year.

Earlier this year, Seehofer banned the neo-Nazi groups Com-bat 18 and United German Peoples and Tribes. (AP)

‘Candles ... silence’

LONDON, June 23, (AP): The English town of Reading mourned Monday for three people stabbed to death as they sat in a park in what is being treated as a terror attack, gathering for a moment of silence as police questioned the alleged lone attacker.

More than 100 students lit candles and laid flowers in mem-ory of history teacher James Furlong, who was named as one of the victims. At Holt School in nearby Wokingham, where he taught, a flag in the courtyard had been lowered to half-staff.

“He was so passionate and enthusiastic about history and about learning, and anything that was boring, anything you didn’t find interesting, he would make it interesting,� former student Molly Collins told the BBC. “He would spend time with you, he got to know people individually, and he just al-ways went the extra mile for everyone.”

Furlong’s friend, Joe Ritchie-Bennett, 39, was named by his family in Philadelphia as the second victim. The identity of the third victim has not been released.

The stabbing rampage took place Saturday evening as groups of people relaxed in Forbury Gardens park in Reading, a town of 200,000 people 40 miles (64 kms) west of London. A 25-year-old suspect is in custody but officials say the motive for the carnage is unclear.

Chief Constable John Campbell of Thames Valley Police said officers were called to reports of stabbings just before 7:00 pm and arrived to find a “horrific” scene. Unarmed of-ficers detained the suspect within five minutes.

Police have not identified the suspect, but Britain’s na-tional news agency, Press Association, and other media out-lets named the alleged attacker as Khairi Saadallah, a Libyan asylum-seeker living in Reading.

Saadallah had been depressed and received psychologi-cal treatment because of the chaos in Libya after the NATO-backed uprising that toppled and then killed dictator Muam-mar Gaddafi, a family member in Tripoli told The Associated Press.

The relative said Saadallah was born to a wealthy family in the city of Tripoli. He lived in a villa and went to private schools in Libya. Though he supported Gaddafi’s ouster, he became disillusioned with the chaotic aftermath.

The relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she hopes to return to the UK, said Saadallah had lived in Brit-ain since he was 17 and had adopted a western lifestyle, with a girlfriend and tattoos.

The BBC reported that Saadallah was investigated by Brit-ish security services last year over concerns he planned to trav-el abroad to join a jihadi group, but that he was not determined to be a major threat.

Questions were immediately raised about whether he should have been under closer watch. But Mark Rowley, former assis-tant commissioner for specialist operations in the Metropolitan Police, told the BBC that the task is daunting, given that some 40,000 people have touched the system.

“And in that 40,000 are lots of volatile people who dip in and out of interests in extreme ideology, and to spot one of those who is going to go from a casual interest into a deter-mined attacker, which can happen in a matter of days, is the most wicked problem that the services face,” he said.

Police have two weeks to question the suspect without charge because he was arrested under the Terrorism Act.

Police warned the people of Reading to expect disruption in the community as the investigation continues.

The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted the father of Ritchie-Bennett as saying his son had moved to England from the US around 15 years ago. His father, Robert Ritchie, said his son worked for a law firm in London before taking a job about 10 years ago at a Dutch pharmaceutical company that had its British headquarters in Reading. He called him an “absolutely fabulous guy,’’ whom he loved with all his heart.

“We’re mourning, and we’re trying to decide what we’re going to do,” he told the Inquirer. “It’s 3,500 miles away. They are still in lockdown over there with the coronavirus, and I don’t know what else to say.”

As news of the deaths seeped out into the community, friends grieved. Martin Cooper, chief executive of LGBT+ charity Reading Pride, said both Furlong and Ritchie-Bennett were great supporters of the community.

“Their loss is a tragedy to so many people,” said Cooper, who often socialized with them. “They should be remembered as extremely friendly gentlemen who were always fun, engag-ing and a pleasure to be around.”

Reading mournsvictims of attack

US extends green cardbans to non-immigrants

Putting up a ‘Not Welcome’ signWASHINGTON, June 23, (AP): The Trump administration on Monday extended a ban on green cards issued outside the United States until the end of the year and added many temporary work visas to the freeze, including those used heavily by technology companies and multinational corporations.

The administration cast the effort as a way to free up jobs in an econ-omy reeling from the coronavirus. A senior official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity predicted it will open up to 525,000 jobs for Americans, a claim that was immedi-ately challenged by critics.

The ban, while temporary, represents a cut to legal immigration on a scale that had eluded the administration before the pandemic. Long-term changes that would prevent many asylum seekers from getting work permits and would allocate high-tech worker visas differ-ently are also being sought.

Business groups pressed hard to limit the changes, but got little of what they wanted, marking a victory for immigration hardliners as Trump seeks to further solidify their support ahead of the November election.

The ban on new visas, which takes effect Wednesday, applies to H-1B visas, which are widely used by ma-jor American and Indian technology companies, H-2B visas for nonagri-cultural seasonal workers, J-1 visas for cultural exchanges and L-1 visas for managers and other key employ-ees of multinational corporations.

There will be exemptions for food processing workers, which make up about 15 percent of H-2B visas, the offi cial said. Healthcare workers as-sisting with the coronavirus fi ght will continue to be spared from the green-card freeze, though their exemption will be narrower.

“In the administration of our Na-tion’s immigration system, we must remain mindful of the impact of foreign workers on the United States labor mar-ket, particularly in the current extraordi-nary environment of high domestic un-employment and depressed demand for labor,” Trump wrote in his presidential proclamation.

Trump imposed a 60-day ban on green cards issued abroad in April, which was set to expire Monday. That announcement, which largely targeted family members, drew a surprisingly chilly reception from immigration hardliners, who said the president didn’t go far enough.

The new steps to include non-immigrant visas went a long toward appeasing hardliners.

“This is a bold move by the Trump administration to protect American jobs,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for restric-tions. “Not all the items on our checklist of needed actions are included in to-day’s announcement, but the corporate lobbyists who were desperately fi ghting for exceptions to protect their clients’ access to cheap foreign labor have

largely been rebuffed.”Thomas J. Donohue, the US Cham-

ber of Commerce’s chief executive offi cer, said the measures will harm, not help, the American economy.

“Putting up a ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses and other workers won’t help our country, it will hold us back,” he said. “Restrictive changes to our nation’s immigration system will push investment and economic activity abroad, slow growth, and re-duce job creation.”

BSA, a group that represents ma-jor software companies, urged the administration to reconsider, particu-larly changes to the H-1B program, saying they will hinder economic recovery by making it harder to fi ll critical positions.

“Filling these roles that are more abundant than the number of US em-ployees qualifi ed to fi ll them means these jobs can be kept in the US,” the group said. “This allows companies based in the US to remain globally competitive, which in turn boosts the US economy, creating jobs for mil-lions of Americans.”

The freezes on visas issued abroad are designed to take effect immediately. Other changes, including restrictions on work permits for asylum seekers, will go through a formal rule-making pro-cess that takes months.

The administration is proposing a new way of awarding H-1B visas, the offi cial said, awarding them by high-est salary instead of by lottery.

H-1B visas are capped at 85,000 a year for people with “highly special-ized knowledge” and minimum of a bachelor’s degree, often in science, technology, engineering, teaching and accounting. Critics say high-tech companies have used the visas as a tool to outsource jobs to foreigners, replacing Americans.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp was the largest H-1B employer in the 2018 fi scal year, followed by Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, In-fosys Ltd, Deloitte Consulting LLP and Microsoft Corp. Other major employers include Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Google and Facebook Inc.

The rule against asylum seekers, scheduled to take effect Aug 25, would make it much more diffi cult for them to get work permits by, among other things, lengthening the waiting time to apply from 150 days to a year and barring applicants who cross the border illegally.

The 328-page regulation – signed by Chad Mizelle, the Homeland Se-curity Department’s acting general counsel, who is considered an ally of White House adviser Stephen Miller – says limiting work permits will re-move a major incentive for people to come to the United States for asylum.

It is the latest in a long string of measures that make asylum more dif-fi cult to get – almost unattainable, ac-cording to some immigrant advocacy groups.

A woman prays in front of a ‘Cornerstone of Peace’ monument wall on which the names of all those who lost their lives, both civilians and military of all nation-alities in the Battle of Okinawa are engraved, at the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa, Japan on June 23. Okinawan people find it unacceptable that their land is still occupied by a heavy US military pres-ence even 75 years after World War II. They have asked the central government to do more to reduce their burden, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s gov-ernment repeatedly say it is mindful of their feelings,

but the changes are slow to come. (AP)

‘Resentment festers’

Okinawans recall200,000 war deadTOKYO, June 23, (AP): Residents on Okinawa prayed for peace and remembered their loved ones Tuesday on the 75th anniversary of the end of one of WWII’s deadliest conflicts, the Battle of Okinawa, on the southern Japanese island that still has a heavy US troop presence.

At the ceremony held to remember more than 200,000 people, many of them civilians, who died in the fighting near the war’s end, Okinawa Gov Denny Tamaki said the tragic history must be remembered accurately and handed down to younger generations.

Today, many people live in places of conflict, or face poverty, discrimination and environmental pollution, and the fear and economic impact from the coronavirus have further divided societies, he said. It’s more important than ever for everyone to tolerate differences, trust each other and cooperate, he said.

“We must gather our wisdom and push forward to achieve nuclear weapons ban, war renouncement and last-ing peace,” Tamaki said.

Resentment over the continuing heavy US troop pres-ence runs deep on Okinawa.

“Since the end of the war, even when Okinawa was de-prived of human rights and self-governance under the US occupation, we have steadily walked on the path of recon-struction and development while protecting our culture and sincerity we inherited from our ancestors,” Tamaki said.

The majority of US military facilities in Japan are on Okinawa, and more than half of the about 50,000 US troops based in Japan. Okinawans continue to be affected by base-related crime, pollution and noise 75 years since the end of the war, Tamaki said.

Okinawa has asked the central government to do more to reduce their burden, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government repeatedly says it is mindful of their feelings, but the changes are slow to come. Many Okinawans also want a revision to the Status of Forces Agreement with the United States, which gives American military personnel certain legal privileges.

Market Movements 23-06-2020

Business Change Closing ptsAUSTRALIA - All Ordinaries +11.31 6,069.29CHINA - Shanghai SE +5.35 2,970.62HONG KONG - Hang Seng +396.00 24,907.34INDIA - Sensex +519.11 35,430.43JAPAN - Nikkei +111.78 22,549.05PAKISTAN - KSE 100 +301.76 34,039.68S. KOREA - KRX 100 +15.41 4,577.89

Change Closing ptsPHILIPPINES - PSEi -49.65 6,297.78

In this fi le photo, Markus Braun, CEO of fi nancial services company wirecard, attends the earnings press conference in Munich, Germany. (AP)

ex-CEO of Wirecard arrested in case over missing billions

The former CEO of German payment ser-vice provider Wirecard has been arrested in an accounting scandal that centers on a missing sum of 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion), prosecutors in Munich said Tues-day. Markus Braun resigned on Friday after the company disclosed that audi-tors couldn’t fi nd accounts containing the money. On Monday, Wirecard said it has concluded that the money probably doesn’t exist.

Prosecutors said a court issued an ar-rest warrant shortly afterward and Braun

turned himself in on Monday evening. He is accused of infl ating the company’s

balance sheet and revenue, “possibly in collaboration with further perpetrators,” in order to “portray the company as fi nancially stronger and more attractive for investors and clients,” they said in a statement. Braun was arrested on suspicion of incorrect state-ments of data and market manipulation.

Wirecard AG was once regarded as a star of the growing fi nancial technology sector, but its shares have fallen sharply after the company became the subject of

multiple Financial Times reports about accounting irregularities in its Asian op-erations. Wirecard disputed the reports, which started in February 2019, and said it was the victim of speculators.

On Monday the company announced the fi ring of its chief operating offi cer, Jan Marsalek, who had been suspended from the management board last week. German news agency dpa reported that Marsalek had been in charge of overseeing daily op-erations including in Southeast Asia, where the possible fraud occurred. (AP)

Divide refl ects the deep polarization ahead of 2020 presidential election

Politics drive divergent view of US economy, poll showsWASHINGTON, June 23, (AP): Americans’ outlook on the national economy has improved somewhat from its lowest points during the early weeks of the coronavirus pan-demic, but a new poll suggests Dem-ocrats and Republicans are living in alternate economic realities amid the sharpest recession in the nation’s history.

Eighty-fi ve percent of Democrats call economic conditions “poor,” while 65% of Republicans describe them as “good” in a new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Re-search.

This divide refl ects the deep po-larization ahead of the 2020 presi-dential election, as well as a series of indicators that point toward a weak-ened but recovering US economy.

“The economy is in terrible shape and improving rapidly,” said Har-vard University professor Jason Furman, formerly the top economist in the Obama White House. “De-pending on which of the two halves you’re looking at, you’re going to

have a very different interpretation of where we are.”

Americans can see reasons for hope as well as doubt. They face a host of uncertainties about the path of COVID-19, the fate of small busi-nesses with fewer customers and the status of additional government aid.

Overall, 63% of the country says the economy is in poor shape, down somewhat from the 70% who felt that way in May. The change was driven by increasingly optimistic Republi-cans, only 43% of whom described the economy as good a month ago. Two-thirds of Republicans, but just 29% of Democrats, expect improvement over the next year.

Thelma Ross, 78, of Granby, Mis-souri, believes the economy will recover if President Donald Trump can defeat Democratic challenger Joe Biden, the former vice-presi-dent.

“I think it’s going to come back, stronger than ever, if we get the right president in,” Ross said. “President Trump is a businessman.”

Yet she is concerned by the pro-

tests after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, an African Ameri-can, and the calls to remove statues that celebrate the Confederacy and Christopher Columbus. Ross views division as harmful for any econom-ic recovery.

Ross said of Trump: “I pray for di-vine revelation and divine guidance for that man because he needs that right now.”

The survey fi nds that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely than white Americans to say someone in their household has lost a job or other income. That inequal-ity has added to the broader reck-oning with structural racism amid nationwide protests over police bru-tality following Floyd’s death.

Overall, 66% of Hispanic Ameri-cans and 53% of Black Americans say they’ve experienced some form of household income loss, includ-ing layoffs, unpaid time off and cuts in hours or pay. Forty-two percent of white Americans say the same. Thirty-four percent of Hispanics, 29% of African Americans and 20%

of white Americans said someone in their household has been laid off.

The poll fi nds signs that some of those layoffs are becoming perma-nent. Among all those who experi-enced a layoff in their household, 55% say the job defi nitely or prob-ably will return – and 8% say it al-ready has. Still, 36% said the job will most likely not come back, which is signifi cantly higher than the 20% who said that in April.

The economy cratered in March and April as people sheltered in place in hopes of stopping the pan-demic, and the unemployment rate spiked to at least 14.7%. Responses to government surveys suggested the true jobless rate may have been even higher. But it showed signs of reviving in May. Retail sales surged 17.7%, and 2.5 million jobs were added. The unemployment rate im-proved to 13.3%, a number that is still the second highest reading in records going back to 1948.

Leah Avery, 54, lost her job driv-ing a school bus in suburban Dallas. She said she checks her email daily

to fi nd out how schools will reopen. She applied for unemployment ben-efi ts a month ago, but the request has been under review.

“It’s a struggle day by day for us to pay our bills, and I know others are going through the same thing,” she said.

The job loss has only added to her stress. Her aunt died from COV-ID-19, and she needs to take care of her elderly mother and her husband, who has dialysis appointments three days a week. It’s a full-time job with no pay, she said.

“I just have these moments where it makes me cry,” she said. “You don’t know this day from the next day what is going to happen.”

The nearly $3 trillion in approved federal aid has shielded many peo-ple from the pain of the downturn. About two-thirds of Americans still call their personal fi nancial situa-tions good.

A bipartisan group of economists proposed an additional $1 trillion to $2 trillion of aid to sustain any re-covery, including targeted funds for

state and local governments, sub-sidized loans for small businesses, more generous unemployment ben-efi ts and aid for low-wage workers.

“It should be thought of as an investment in the economy,” said Melissa Kearney, a University of Maryland economics professor who helped lead the effort. The proposals are based on ideas shown to boost growth and provide traction for a recovery that is still in its early and fragile stages.

Broxton Sanders, 20, has been selling mattresses while on break from studies at the University of South Alabama. He’s a rising junior majoring in political science, and he would like to one day oversee a hospital for military veterans. He noticed that mattress sales picked up during Memorial Day weekend, but there are days now with few, if any, shoppers.

“The economy defi nitely could be better,” Sanders said. “I’ll be honest, I think we’ve seen the worst of it. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t fall off kilter at any second.”

Amid pipeline battles

LNG ‘shipments’by rail OK’d in USHARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, June 23, (AP): The Trump administration has taken the fi nal step to allow rail shipments of liquefi ed natural gas, a new front in the movement of energy products that had been opposed by en-vironmental groups and 15 states.

The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration pub-lished the rule late last week for ship-ments of the fl ammable and odorless liquid known as LNG.

“The department’s new rule careful-ly lays out key operational safeguards to provide for the safe transportation of LNG by rail to more parts of the coun-try where this energy source is need-ed,” Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said in a statement.

The rule comes amid foundering prices for natural gas in the U.S., as court and regulatory battles over pipe-line projects have slowed movement of the nation’s world-leading gas produc-tion to markets.

The rule requires enhancements - including a thicker outer tank made of steel with a greater puncture resistance - to the approved tank car design that, for decades, has been approved for shipments of other fl ammable cryo-genic materials, such as liquid ethylene and liquid ethane. The rule takes effect in 30 days after it was published.

Previously, federal hazardous ma-terials regulations allow shipments of LNG by truck, but not by rail, except for with a special permit.

The Sierra Club accused the Trump administration of “selling the country out to the fossil fuel industry” for dan-gerous shipments that will travel past homes, schools, businesses and envi-ronmentally sensitive areas.

“This new rule has major impacts on rail safety because the dangers of a possible derailment, spill, or explo-sion would be catastrophic,” Jeff Tit-tel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said in a statement. “This is an accident waiting to happen.”

Some of New Jersey’s train tracks, he said, are a century old or more and aren’t designed to handle such danger-ous cargo,” Tittel said.

The protesting states included Penn-sylvania and New Jersey, where the Trump administration issued a spe-cial permit in December to ship LNG by rail from northern Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale natural gas fi elds to a yet-to-be-built storage terminal at a former explosives plant in New Jer-sey, along the Delaware River near Philadelphia. From there, the LNG is expected to be exported to foreign markets for electricity production, al-though the applicant, a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy, has told federal regulators that some domestic indus-trial use is possible.

The states had argued that the trains will share tracks with passenger trains and travel through congested areas.

Other objecting states were Cali-fornia, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washing-ton, as well as the District of Colum-bia.

The new rule was fi rst proposed in October and comes after President Donald Trump’s executive order last year that, in addition to seeking to speed up oil and gas pipeline projects, directed the transportation secretary to propose a rule allowing LNG to be shipped by rail.

Trump says China trade deal still onWASHINGTON, June 23, (AP): President Donald Trump is tweet-ing that an initial trade agreement with China is still on after a top White House adviser’s comments seemed to suggest it was over, spooking markets late Monday.

Trump tweeted: “The China Trade Deal is fully intact. Hope-fully they will continue to live up to the terms of the Agreement!”

The Trump administration has been extremely critical of China’s efforts to contain the novel coro-navirus early on and the president repeatedly blames China for the pandemic in his remarks, leading to questions about future coopera-tion in areas such as trade.

Peter Navarro, director of trade and manufacturing policy at the White House, told Fox News “it’s over,” when asked a question that was focused on the China trade deal.

Deal“(Trump) obviously really want-

ed to hang onto this trade deal as much as possible. And he wanted them to make good on the prom-ises, because there had been pro-gress made on that trade deal, but given everything that’s happened and all the things you just listed, is that over?” Navarro was asked.

“It’s over, yes,” Navarro replied.But when contacted by The As-

sociated Press, Navarro said his comments had been taken out of context and had nothing to do with the deal.

“I was simply speaking to the lack of trust we now have of the Chinese Communist Party after they lied about the origins of the China virus and foisted a pandem-ic upon the world,” said Navarro, a longtime critic of the Asian coun-try.

In January, the U.S. and China reached an interim trade deal to re-duce tariff tensions. China agreed to buy massive amounts of U.S. products.

United States Trade Representa-tive Robert Lighthizer testifi ed on Capitol Hill last week that he is confi dent China will live up to its purchase commitments even though its economy has been weakened by the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed to con-tain it.

US businesses in ‘survival’ mode raise cash; commodities take off

Existing home sales plunge 9.7% in 3rd straight monthly drop

NEW YORK, June 23, (AP): Live to see another day has become a mantra for companies across all sectors, from restaurants to airlines. The Fed is us-ing its tools to help, but most of the cash is being raised in the private sec-tor.

■ American Airlines will try to raise $3.5 billion to offset the cash it’s burning through with airports still largely empty. The Texas carrier will offer $1.5 billion in senior secured notes and it’s taking out a new loan of $500 million, due in 2024. American is raising another $1.5 billion through the sale of shares and convertible senior notes, the latter due the follow-ing year.

■ TripAdvisor said Monday that it had $693 million of cash and cash equivalents at the end of last month, down $105 million from the end of March. It is looking at how to best raise new funds.

The travel service recorded only 33% and 45% of the unique visi-tors that it had last year in April and May. That trend began to bend the other way in May, when the num-ber of unique users rose about 38% from the previous month.

■ Bed Bath & Beyond an-nounced an $850 million revolv-ing credit facility with a group of banks. The retailer said Monday that the pandemic signifi cantly im-pacted its operations during the fi s-cal fi rst quarter. The chain had to temporarily close its stores in the period. Bed Bath & Beyond expects approximately 95% of its total store fl eet to reopen by the end of this week and nearly all stores to reopen by July.

COMMODITIES: The global pandemic shut down trade and the sale of commodities. It has skewed global trade and economists expect a slow recovery.

■ A sharp increase in commod-ity prices could signal a revival in global economic activity. Prices are sharply lower when compared with last year at this time, but in the past month purchases in China, which can make or break commodity mar-kets, have risen as its industrial ac-tivity recovers.

Crude prices have jumped almost 20% in the past 30 days, the same with gasoline. Two commodities monitored closely because they

can indicate activity in construction - copper and lumber - are up 10% and 15% over the past month, re-spectively.

HOMES: Existing home sales in the US plunged 9.7% in May. It was the third straight monthly decline and further evidence of the harm the virus pandemic has done to the housing market.

The National Association of Re-altors said Monday that the monthly decline pushed sales down to a sea-sonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million, the slowest pace since a home buyers tax credit expired in October 2010.

Sales fell in all regions of the country, with the biggest decline coming in the Northeast where virus infections were especially heavy.

Sales of both existing and new homes have fallen sharply during the traditional spring selling season as communities were locked down to prevent the spread of the corona-virus.

Sales in the Northeast slumped 13.9% from the previous month while sales in the West fell 11.1%. Sales slid 10% in the Midwest and 8% in the South.

The median price of a home sold in May was $284,600, up 2.3% from a year ago.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the Realtors, said based on an-ecdotal reports, he believed May

could turn out to be the bottom for the housing market with sales show-ing a V-shaped recovery in coming months. However, many private economists believe the recovery from the disruptions caused by the coronavirus could take much long-er.

ELECTRIC AVENUE: Tesla postponed its July shareholders meeting until at least mid-Sep-tember. The event likely will be combined with what Elon Musk has termed “battery day,” when the company is supposed to unveil power technology that will work for 1 million miles and have longer range than current models.

TRAVEL: Hard-struck loca-tions like New York City and other tourist destinations have begun to relax restrictions. There are signs that people are becoming mobile, but nothing like before the pandemic.

■ The Transportation Security Administration screened more than a half-million people four days in a row (thru Sunday) for the fi rst time since March 18-21, but numbers are still down 78% from a year ago. Alaska Airlines said Monday that June revenue will be down about 80% from a year ago, but that’s bet-ter than April’s 87% decline and May’s 83% drop.

■ Morocco will reopen cafés, res-taurants, sports clubs, and beaches

starting Wednesday and allow the resumption of domestic air travel and travel between cities. Tangier, Marrakech, Kenitra and the town of Larache will remain in lockdown, because of local clusters of COV-ID-19.

■ Travel restrictions wiped out nearly all travel revenue for Greece in April, with Bank of Greece fi g-ures showing a nearly 99% decline for the month compared with last year. Greece depends heavily on tourism, which accounts for around 20% of gross domestic product.

■ Disneyland Paris will begin to reopen on July 15. The park said Monday that the reopening will be phased and “deliberate,” with stepped up safety measures for its workers and guests. Face masks will be required for all visi-tors 11 and older. Park capacity will be limited.

Disney plans to reopen its parks in Florida and California next month.

DIFFERENT SHADE OF GRAY: Quarantines across the US had a lot of people thinking about a change of color. Paint maker Sher-win-Williams said second-quarter sales declines will not be nearly as bad as it had expected. The compa-ny had projected a sales decline in the mid-teens. It now believes sales will only be down in the mid-single digits with projects at home offset-ting declines elsewhere.

Model homes and for sale signs line the streets as construction continues at a housing plan in Zelienople, Pa., Wednesday, March 18, 2020. U.S. home sales jumped in February to their highest level in 13 years, a trend that

will almost certainly be reversed as the viral outbreak keeps more people at home. (AP)

BUSINESSARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

8

NEW YORK, June 23, (AP): The Trump administration has relented to public pressure and pledged to provide more details about which small businesses received loans from a $600 billion-plus coronavirus aid program. But govern-ment watchdogs say even more transparency is needed to get an accurate picture of who was helped, and who was left out.

Under pressure from Democratic lawmakers and govern-ment watchdogs, the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration said Friday they would disclose the names of small business owners who received $150,000 or more in forgivable loans. The agencies will reveal the general amount these businesses received, their address, demographic data and the number of jobs they helped protect.

But for loans of less than $150,000, the agencies will not name the recipients, revealing only summary information broken down by zip code, industry and demographics.

Experts say this could paint an incomplete or misleading picture. Recipients of smaller loans could be part of a big-ger subsidiary that would be hidden, and it won’t be clear

what percentage of loans went to minority-owned busi-nesses.

A factory located in a minority neighborhood, for ex-ample, could be owned by an individual or conglomerate based elsewhere.

The administration’s new approach on disclosure ”is a big deal compared to where we were, but it’s not enough to have confi dence that this money is going to the right people, who actually urgently need it,” said Danielle Brian, executive director of the nonpartisan Project On Govern-ment Oversight.

Treasury Department spokespeople didn’t respond to a request for comment Saturday, although Secretary Steven Mnuchin has previously said he is concerned about busi-ness owners’ privacy.

Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican who heads the Senate Small Business Committee, said Friday that Treas-ury’s plan to disclose more information strikes the right balance.

As of Friday, the SBA said it had processed 4.6 mil-

lion loans worth about $512 billion. Nearly 75% of the money approved so far has gone to businesses borrowing more than $150,000. But 86% of the loans have gone to businesses borrowing less than $150,000, according to the SBA. The Paycheck Protection Program started in early April and runs out at the end of the month. The loans can be forgiven if businesses use the money to keep employees on payroll or rehire workers who have been laid off.

Several hundred publicly traded companies received these loans despite their likely ability to borrow money elsewhere and, after an outcry, some said they would return the money.

The pandemic has caused a deep recession and the U.S. unemployment rate is above 13% after falling slightly in May. Economists have said the small business loan pro-gram has helped, although it’s hard to know by how much. The SBA has so far only provided general information about the benefi ciaries of its loans, such as the industry they are in and the state in which they are located.

John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of the Small Busi-

ness Majority, said in a statement that minority- and wom-en-owned businesses appear to be getting disproportionate-ly less funding than others, based on surveys of the 65,000 businesses in his network.

“To understand how rampant this problem is, the admin-istration ought to release the loan amount requested and loan amount received for all recipients,” Arensmeyer said.

Watchdogs also are seeking information from the banks that processed the government-loan applications. A U.S. House subcommittee investigating coronavirus relief pro-grams last week asked bank executives for complete lists of applicants and whether they were approved.

Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a con-sumer advocacy organization, says that having a robust picture of how the money was allocated will also help of-fer lessons for the future. The coronavirus pandemic isn’t going away any time soon, and the economy could need another assistance program, he says.

“It’s taxpayer money,” he said. “It is completely reason-able for the public to know who received it.”

More transparency needed to get an accurate picture of who was helped, and who was left out

Treasury too secretive on small business loans: watchdogs

Back off in HK

China urged by EUto move on ‘trade’BRUSSELS, June 23, (AP): Top European Union officials pressed China’s leaders to open the country’s markets further to European com-panies, show stronger leadership in reforming world trade’s governing body and step back from the brink in Hong Kong.

With criticism mounting that the EU has been kowtowing to Beijing, European Council President Charles Michel and EU commission Presi-dent Ursula von der Leyen attempted to strike a tougher tone than usual, af-ter video talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

The 27-nation bloc is China’s biggest trading partner, but also an economic competitor, and as Beijing has become more assertive in recent years, the EU has struggled to balance its commercial interests with a country that it also sees as “a systemic rival.”

“Progress is needed in many areas to re-balance this relationship, and we made clear that we need to resolve concrete problems,” Michel said, fir-ing off a list of outstanding issues like market access, subsidies, regula-tory issues, public procurement, the forced transfer of technologies and WTO reforms.

No Chinese officials took part in the news conference.

Von der Leyen said Brussels and Beijing hope soon to sign an agree-ment on geographical indicators that would protect national producers, but she lamented the general lack of progress, particularly on lifting mar-ket access barriers, since last year’s EU-China summit.

“We continue to have an unbal-anced trade and investment relation-ship,” she told reporters. “We need to follow up on these commitments urgently. And we also need to have more ambition on the Chinese side in order to conclude negotiations on an investment agreement.”

In a statement after the meeting, the Europeans expressed “grave concerns” at China’s decision to impose its se-curity law on Hong Kong, saying that Beijing’s actions contravene its interna-tional commitments and “put pressure on the fundamental rights and freedoms of the population.”

They also raised concerns about human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as reports of people who disappeared after expressing their views on China’s handling of the coronavirus. The “continued ar-bitrary detention” of Swedish citizen Gui Minhai and two Canadian citi-zens - Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor - was also highlighted.

“For the European Union, human rights and fundamental freedoms are non-negotiable,” von der Leyen said.

She also raised concerns about a disinformation campaign by China linked to the coronavirus, and noted, without elaborating, that “we’ve seen cyber attacks on computing systems, on hospitals, and we know the origin of the cyber attacks. ”

While Monday’s video summit did not produce concrete results - no joint statement was issued - the Europe-ans hope it will boost slow-moving talks on an investment agreement they have been working on at tech-nical level, and build some common ground for tackling thorny politi-cal issues at a face-to-face meeting, hopefully late in the year.

The meetings come at a time when China stands accused of trying to in-fluence European officials and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who also took part in the meetings, has twice denied in recent months that the External Action Service - a kind of EU foreign office that he leads - has bowed to Beijing’s pres-sure to alter documents.

Von der Leyen described the EU-China relationship as “not an easy one, but one we’re working on.”

A man wearing a face mask walks past a bank’s electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index at Hong Kong Stock Exchange, June 23. Asian shares were mostly higher on Tuesday, tracking a late rally on Wall Street led by technology shares. (AP)

In this fi le photo provided by Apple Inc, CEO Tim Cook delivers the keynote address during the 2020 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Monday, June 22, 2020, in Cupertino, California.

(AP)

TOKYO, June 23, (AP): Asian shares were higher on Tuesday, recovering from some early losses as regional markets tracked a late rally on Wall Street led by tech-nology shares.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 add-ed 0.5% to fi nish at 22,549.05. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped near-ly 1.0% to 24,748.97 and South Ko-rea’s Kospi climbed 0.6% to 2,138.84. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.2% to 5,954.40, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.2 to 2,970.92.

Shares rose in Singapore and Taiwan but fell in Jakarta.

“It’s back to the regular order of business, which is trying to fi gure out why stocks are so high!” Stephen Innes of AxiCorp said in a commentary. “You can add the resurgence of COVID-19 to the laundry list of things the market doesn’t care about, so it seems.”

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 3,117.86 after initially sliding 0.6% follow-ing weakness in overseas markets as the glob-al tally of coronavirus infections surpassed 9 million. Investors are weighing the risks that rising coronavirus cases could pose to hopes for an economic recovery. That’s led traders to bid up stocks in technology companies

that offer services online, a thriving conduit of commerce through the outbreak.

“In an environment where the WHO had only recently announced on Sunday a record increase in global COVID-19 cases, senti-ment can certainly still turn very promptly with the fl ick of the switch,” Jingyi Pan, a market strategist with IG in Singapore said in a report.

Overnight, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that the coronavirus pandemic “is still accelerating” around the globe. He noted that the most recent 1 million cases of the virus were reported in just the last eight days.

Asian markets initially opened lower, spooked by reported comments by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro suggesting the US trade deal with China was in trouble.

However, Navarro said his comments were taken out of context, and President Donald Trump tweeted that the agreement with Chi-na, the basis for a truce in a tariff war over technology and other problems, is still on. Trump tweeted: “The China Trade Deal is fully intact. Hopefully they will continue to live up to the terms of the Agreement!”

Investors are favoring retailers and other companies that are poised to do well now that more businesses have been given the go-ahead to reopen. But traders are also continu-ing to hedge their bets by snapping up tradi-tionally less risky assets, such as government

bonds and gold, which also rose. Bond yields were mixed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 0.6%, to 26,024.96 after earlier sliding 203 points. The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, climbed 1.1%, to 10,056.47, extending its winning streak to a seventh day.

Small company stocks, which have lagged the broader market’s rebound that began in April, also notched solid gains, with the Rus-sell 2000 index adding 1.1%, to 1,433.53.

While recent US economic data have shown improvement as businesses reopened, it may take years for the economy to fully re-cover. In contrast, it took just a few months for the stock market to rally back to within 9% of its record.

Investors will get a broader look at the state of the economy toward the end of this week, when the government issues data on consumer spending, weekly unemployment aid applications and durable goods orders. On Tuesday, the Commerce Department serves up new home sales fi gures for May.

Benchmark US crude oil was unchanged at $40.46 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 71 cents on Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 19 cents to $42.89 per barrel.

The dollar rose to 107.17 Japanese yen from 106.90 yen late Monday. The euro was trading at $1.1268, up from $1.1262.

NEW YORK, June 23, (AP): Apple on Mon-day provided a glimpse at upcoming software changes designed to make the iPhone even eas-ier to use and also announced a long-anticipated shift to a new type of chip to power its line of Mac computers.

The preview of the next version of the iP-hone’s operating system, known as iOS 14, highlighted Apple’s annual conference for computer programmers and mobile app makers. The event, which was delayed for three weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, took place in virtual form via a webcast from the company’s Cupertino, California, headquarters.

In recognition of the pandemic, Apple’s next

iPhone operating system will include an option to put a face mask on a personalized emoji. Up-graded software for the Apple Watch will also detect when wearers wash their hands.

Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off Monday’s session with remarks that acknowledged the na-tionwide protests triggered by George Floyd’s death last month at the hands of Minneapolis police, as well as the social and business chal-lenges posed by the worst pandemic in a cen-tury.

But most of the presentation revolved around an array of new features that, for instance, could help iPhone users manage their apps better, fi nd new ones, and use their phones to unlock and

start their cars remotely. (Though that last fea-ture will initially only be available for a 2021 BMW model.)

Apple also promised an upgraded version of its digital assistant Siri intended to make it smarter and less cumbersome, helping it fend off rival voice-activated concierges made by Google and Amazon.

Apple also said its Mac computers will begin using its own chips as it phases our the Intel processors that have powered the machines for the past 15 years. Some Macs will have the Ap-ple chips before the end of the year, but the full transition away from Intel chips won’t be com-pleted until 2022.

citing virus, Valentino sues to get out of Fifth Ave lease

Valentino wants out of New York’s prestigious Fifth Avenue.

The Italian fashion house is suing its land-lord, hoping to break its lease early. It says that the coronavirus pandemic has made it impos-sible to offer a high-end shopping experience at the Fifth Avenue address, where it has sold $1,000 pumps and $2,600 clutches since 2013. In a lawsuit fi led Sunday, Valentino said it told landlord Savitt Partners that it would va-cate the store at the end of this year, nearly nine years before it could, but Savitt refused to end the lease.

A lawyer for Savitt declined to comment Monday, adding that his client doesn’t “litigate through the media.”

The pandemic has caused tension between retailers and landlords, with some national chains refusing to pay rent for stores that were forced to temporarily close because of the virus. Last month, mall owner Simon Property Group sued the Gap for three months of unpaid rent that totaled nearly $66 million for 390 locations.

Valentino said in its lawsuit that it has paid its rent, but painted a bleak picture of the future of high-end shopping in New York.

“Even in a post-pandemic New York City (should such a day arrive), the social and eco-nomic landscapes have been radically altered in a way that has drastically, if not irreparably, hindered Valentino’s ability to conduct high-end retail business at the Premises,” the com-pany said in its lawsuit.

Clothing stores in New York reopened their doors for shoppers on Monday since being ordered shut in March. Some have closed fi t-ting rooms, required shoppers to wear masks or have placed hand sanitizer throughout their shops. (AP)

In this fi le photo, AMC Empire 25 thea-

tre appears on 42nd Street in New York. The nation’s largest movie theater chain changed its position

on mask-wearing less than a day after the company became a

target on social media for saying it would

defer to local govern-ments on the issue.

(AP)

Asian stock markets advance, tracking Wall Street tech rally

Traders continue to snap up traditionally less risky assets

Apple previews new iPhone software

National Bank of Kuwait rallies 15 fi ls, FutureKid skids

Kuwait market records strong gains, volume swellsBy John MathewsArab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, June 23: Kuwait stocks swung higher on Tuesday ex-tending its gains to third straight session. The All Shares Index ral-lied 59.61 points to 5,121.16 pts led by heavyweights even as the overall mood turned upbeat.

The Premier Market galloped 82.26 pts to 5,588.18 points taking the month’s gains to 164 pts while Main Market rose 14.21 points. The BK 50 Main index was up 19.82 points at 4,180 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile saw a strong surge following Monday’s uptick. Over 184 million shares changed hands – a 67 pct jump from the day before.

All sectors, barring one, closed in green turf. Banking sector outshone the rest with 1.67 pct gain whereas Consumer Goods slipped 1 percent, the steepest decliner of the day. Banking sector topped in both volume and value with 71.7 million shares valued at KD 25.7 million.

Among the prime movers, National Bank of Ku-wait rallied 15 fi ls to 815 fi ls on back of 9 million shares taking the month’s gains to 44 fi ls while Kuwait Finance House sprinted 9 fi ls to 608 fi ls after pushing 13.6 million shares. Boubyan Bank climbed 10 fi ls to 507 fi ls.

Zain rallied 7 fi ls to 569 fi ls after moving 4.8 million shares while Ooredoo gave up 6 fi ls after settling at 663 fi ls. stc stood pat at 850 fi ls and Agility sprinted 16 fi ls to 705 fi ls on back of 7.7 million shares. Humansoft Holding rose 17 fi ls to KD 2.649 extending last session’s robust gains and KIPCO added 3 fi ls.

The market opened fi rm and headed north in early trade. The main index continued to advance, paced by strong gains by most of the blue chips and closed with robust gains.

Top gainer of the day, Ream rallied 25 pct to 90.7 fi ls and Munshaat climbed 10 pct to stand next. Future Kid skidded 9.6 pct, the steepest de-cliner of the day while Ahli United Bank topped the volume with 23.4 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s upswing, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 72 stocks advanced whereas 35 closed lower. 8,818 deals worth KD 43.4 million were transacted during the session.

National Industries Group dialed up 2 fi ls on back of 2.8 million shares to close at 168 fi ls while Mezzan Holding was down 9 fi ls at 600 fi ls. Bou-byan Petrochemical Co took in 1 fi l and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co followed suit. KPPC inched 05 fi l up to 43.2 fi ls and KCPC edged 1 fi l into red. Shuaiba Industrial closed 3 fi ls lower at 132 fi ls.

Jazeera Airways climbed 7 fi ls to 677 fi ls and ALAFCO paused at 168 fi ls. Kuwiat and Gulf Links Transport Co fell 1.5 fi ls to 49.4 fi ls and Combined Group Contracting Co ticked 1 fi l into green. Inovest was unchanged at 47 fi ls and Edu-cational Holding Group gained 5 fi ls.

Kuwait Cement Co climbed 7 fi ls to201 fi ls and Kuwait Portland Cement dialed up 2 fi ls. Hilal Ce-ment Co fell 3 fi ls to 73 fi ls and Kuwait Foundry Co gave up 9 fi ls. ACICO Industries took in 1 fi l and Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuild-ing Co added 2 fi ls. Gulf Cable jumped 17 fi ls to 555 fi ls.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank rallied 8 fi ls on back of 4.6 million shares and Burgan Bank added 4 fi ls. Kuwait International Bank rose 3 fi ls with a volume of 8.9 million while Warba Bank and Al Ahi Bank dialed up 2 fi ls each.

The market has been upbeat so far during the week gaining 100 points in last three sessions. It has rallied 124 points from start of the month and is down 1,161 points year-to-date.

SCIENCEARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

9

This satellite photo provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, shows a cloud of dust coming from the Sahara desert arriving to the Caribbean on June 22. The massive cloud of dust is blanketing the Caribbean as it heads to the US with a size and concentration level that meteorologists say hasn’t been seen in roughly half a century. (AP)

Sahara dust blankets CaribbeanA vast cloud of Sahara dust is blanketing the Caribbean as it heads to the US with a size and concentration that experts say hasn’t been seen in half a century.

Air quality across most of the region fell to record “haz-ardous” levels and experts who nicknamed the event the “Godzilla dust cloud” warned people to stay indoors and use air fi lters if they have one.

“This is the most signifi cant event in the past 50 years,” said Pablo Méndez Lázaro, an environmental health special-ist with the University of Puerto Rico. “Conditions are danger-

ous in many Caribbean islands.”Many health specialists were concerned about those bat-

tling respiratory symptoms tied to COVID-19. Lázaro, who is working with NASA to develop an alert system for the arrival of Sahara dust, said the concentration was so high in recent days that it could even have adverse effects on healthy peo-ple.

Extremely hazy conditions and limited visibility were re-ported from Antigua down to Trinidad & Tobago, with the event expected to last until late Tuesday. Some people post-

ed pictures of themselves on social media wearing double masks to ward off the coronarivus and the dust, while others joked that the Caribbean looked like it had received a yellow fi lter movie treatment.

José Alamo, a meteorologist with the US National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico, said the worst days for the US territory would be Monday and Tuesday as the plume travels toward the US southeast coast. The main interna-tional airport in San Juan was reporting only 5 miles (8 kms) of visibility. (AP)

In Brief

BRUSSELS: The European Union’s statistical offi ce says the 27-nation bloc is lagging behind its goals in the fi ght against climate change and to promote gender equality.

In a report published Monday as-sessing the EU’s progress in reach-ing the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, Eurostat noted improvement in reducing poverty and improving health over the past fi ve years of data.

But only slow progress, or no overall progress at all, was achieved toward environmental objectives. As for gender equality, the report noted that the EU has “moved away” from the goals.

The 2030 agenda for sustain-able development, which contains 17 goals, was adopted in 2015 at the UN General Assembly.

“Progress towards the EU’s cli-mate and energy targets has in part stalled, as has the shift towards a circular economy,” Eurostat said. “Pressures on ecosystems and biodi-versity have therefore been increas-ing in some areas.”

Commenting on the data during a press conference, European Com-missioner for economy Paolo Gen-tiloni pointed to efforts to reduce the gender pay gap, but the report noted a widening gap between men and women in acquiring education and on the labor market.

Gentiloni expressed concerns that the situation could worsen because of the lockdown measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus. The stringent measures have plunged the EU into a recession of colossal pro-portions.

“We’ll have to look at the conse-quences of the months behind us,” he said. “We should (pay) particular attention to gender gap in our activ-ity.” (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

BEIJING: China on Tuesday launched the fi nal satellite in its Bei-dou constellation that emulates the US Global Positioning System, mark-ing a further step in the country’s ad-vance as a major space power.

The launch of the satellite onboard a Long March-3 rocket was broad-cast live from the satellite launch base of Xichang, deep in the moun-tains of southwestern China, shortly before 10:00 am. About half an hour later, the satellite was deployed in orbit and extended its solar panels to provide its energy.

An initial launch scheduled for last week was scrubbed after checks revealed unspecifi ed technical prob-lems.

The third iteration of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System prom-ises to provide global coverage for timing and navigation, offering an alternative to Russia’s GLONASS and the European Galileo systems, as well as America’s GPS.

The launch of the 55th satellite in the Beidou family shows China’s push to provide global coverage has been “entirely successful,” the system’s chief designer Yang Changfeng told state broadcaster CCTV.

“In actual fact, this also signifi es that we are moving from being a major nation in the fi eld of space to becoming a true space power,” Yang said. (AP)

Science education standards could get rewriteNo change since 2002

YORK, Pennsylvania, June 23, (AP): A group of educators from through-out the state aims to overhaul some of the country’s oldest standards for science education, all while avoiding a protracted political dispute over cli-mate change and evolution.

Pennsylvania’s science standards haven’t changed since 2002, and re-peated efforts in the past to overhaul them stalled during the review pro-cess — which involves an independ-ent commission with input from the state Legislature.

The state has different hurdles than some others, as its standards are not approved directly by the Legislature, though that body can veto them if it disapproves.

“We want to make sure we’re pushing the students,” said Eric Wil-son, director of curriculum, instruc-tion and assessment at Red Lion Area School District.

Wilson is one of two educators from Red Lion on a 60-member com-mittee tasked with the rewrite.

He and fourth grade teacher Carrie Lankford, who has 10 years of experi-ence in environmental science, were chosen out of more than 200 appli-cants by the state Board of Education.

This summer’s review will include a look at the Next Generation Science Standards — a 2013 effort at national standards developed by 26 states out of a framework from the National Re-search Council.

Next Generation standards focus on scientifi c inquiry and “cross-cut-ting” concepts that stretch across aca-demic disciplines.

“It’s really the way of thinking,” Wilson said, noting that knowing how to think like a scientist is useful throughout the workforce.

Christine Royce, professor of science education at Shippensburg University, said observation, asking questions, collecting information and analyzing it are all scientifi c practices that can be applied to any situation.

States with Republican-controlled legislatures, such as Wyoming and Oklahoma, were among the fi rst to reject the Next Generation standards. But since then, all but six states, in-cluding Pennsylvania, have accepted some version of them.

In Pennsylvania, the state Legis-lature could stall the initiative with a bill to block the implementation of the standards. But overcoming a veto by Gov Tom Wolf, who has backed overhauling the standards, would prove a more diffi cult challenge.

Florida, North Carolina, Idaho, Texas and Virginia also have set their

own standards without Next Genera-tion input.

The 2009 and 2010 draft standards for Pennsylvania failed after critics pointed out certain sections about the nature of scientifi c inquiry had been removed.

A former president of the National Science Teaching Association and a member of an 18-member steering committee to review the standards this summer, Royce said some districts, however, voluntarily adopted them.

Districts in the south and east of Pennsylvania have actually been us-ing the Next Generation standards.

Among the core content in those standards is an acknowledgement that climate change is caused by hu-man behavior — a hot button issue that tends to be greeted with skepti-cism among conservatives.

Pennsylvania’s standards have languished untouched since 2002, making them among the oldest in the country, and only briefl y touch on cli-mate change.

Though the state’s current stand-ards do include these things, said Leigh Foy, a York Suburban High School science teacher who leads a climate science workshop for educa-tors, they do not go in depth.

Just last year, Foy had to tackle misinformation over a publication from the Heartland Institute, a con-servative organization linked to the oil industry, claiming climate change was up for debate.

More recently, a West York Area school board member spoke out against a geography textbook, ac-cusing its authors of indoctrinating students about climate change and suppressing critical thinking.

The board voted against approving the textbook before reversing that de-cision in a second vote.

Climate change remains a controver-sial topic in Pennsylvania’s GOP-run Legislature. Some committees have in-vited climate change deniers to testify. But the tides have been changing in several states, where climate change has become a larger part of the curriculum.

Idaho’s state Senate Education Committee recently approved new science standards including teach-ings on climate change, despite earlier pushback among conservatives in the state House. Before that, its last update of science standards was in 2001.

The New Jersey State Board of Edu-cation on June 3 adopted revisions to its learning standards that include climate change, which that state’s fi rst lady, Tammy Murphy, called a symbol of a partnership between generations.

In this June 21, 2015 fi le photo, the sun rises as thousands of revellers gather at the ancient stone circle Stone-henge to celebrate the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, near Salisbury, England. (AP)

Money warnsabout AmazonRIO DE JANEIRO, June 23, (AP): A group of mostly Euro-pean investment fi rms has sent a joint letter to Brazilian ambassa-dors in their countries to express concern over rising Amazon de-forestation.

Storebrand Asset Management, based in Norway, collected the signatures of a total of 29 com-panies, which include Legal & General Investment Management Ltd, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management, and NN Investment Partners. Together, the companies have $3.75 trillion in assets under management, according to a state-ment from Storebrand.

The letter says the “disman-tling of environmental and hu-man rights policies, are creating widespread uncertainty about the conditions for investing in or providing fi nancial services to Brazil.” It was sent on Monday to Brazilian embassies in Norway, Sweden, France, Denmark, Neth-erlands, the US and the UK and requested the start of dialogue to address the matter.

Brazil’s President Jair Bol-sonaro took offi ce in 2019 with pledges to unlock the riches of the vast Amazon, and has repeat-edly opposed large territories being controlled by Indigenous peoples. When Amazon fi res raged last year, he fi rst dismissed data from government space agency Inpe that showed their magnitude, then fi red Inpe’s chief.

Ring of ancient shafts near StonehengeArchaeologists said Monday that they have discovered a major prehis-toric monument under the earth near Stonehenge that could shed new light on the origins of the mystical stone cir-cle in southwestern England.

Experts from a group of British uni-versities led by the University of Brad-ford say the site consists of at least 20 huge shafts, more than 10 meters (32 feet) in diameter and 5 meters (16 feet) deep, forming a circle more than 2 kms (1.2 miles) in diameter.

The new fi nd is at Durrington Walls, the site of a Neolithic village about 2 kms (1.2 miles) from Stonehenge,

Researchers say the shafts appear to have been dug around 4,500 years

ago, and could mark the boundary of a sacred area or precinct around a circular monument known as the Dur-rington Walls henge.

Richard Bates, of the University of St Andrews School of Earth and En-vironmental Sciences, said the fi nd-ings — made with remote sensing and sampling — provided “an insight to the past that shows an even more complex society than we could ever imagine.”

University of Bradford archaeolo-gist Vince Gaffney said it was “re-markable” that Stonehenge, one of the most studied archaeological land-scapes in the world, could yield such a major new discovery. (AP)

Recreational pot laws may boost traffi c deathsNEW YORK, June 23, (AP): Laws legal-izing recreational marijuana may lead to more traffi c deaths, two new studies sug-gest, although questions remain about how they might infl uence driving habits.

Previous research has had mixed re-sults and the new studies, published Mon-day in JAMA Internal Medicine, can’t prove that the traffi c death increases they found were caused by marijuana use.

One study found an excess 75 traffi c deaths per year after retail sales began in Colorado in January 2014, compared with states without similar laws. But it found no similar change in Washington state.

The other study looked at those states plus two others that allow recreational pot sales, Oregon and Alaska. If every state legalized recreational marijuana sales, an extra 6,800 people would die each year in traffi c accidents, the researchers calcu-lated. They found an increase of 2 deaths per billion miles traveled compared with 20 states without those laws. That change

was slightly higher than in the other study.Both involved several years of traffi c

death data from the National Highway Traffi c Safety Administration before and at least two years after retail sales of rec-reational pot began in the states exam-ined. Those sales dates ranged from 2014 to 2016.

The studies lack information on whether motorists were stoned when they crashed. Marijuana can remain in tissues for several days so even if toxicology tests detected it after a fatal crash, that wouldn’t prove the driver was impaired, said co-author Magdalena Cerda, a New York University researcher.

It’s possible that recreational pot laws might affect drivers’ use of other drugs, including alcohol, she noted.

“That’s an open question we need to answer in further research,” Cerda said.

A journal editorial said more rigorous research is needed including studies on how often motorists use drugs.

10ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

editor’s choice

Plants fi ll seats at Barcelona opera house concert

Film tells tale of North Korean orphans sent to Europe

Memories in the scent of treesSEOUL, South Korea, June 23, (AP): Six decades after they returned to their homeland, traces of thousands of North Korean children or-phaned by the Korean War linger for the elderly Europeans whose lives they briefly touched.

The scent of the trees they planted. The memories of their innocent faces. The Korean song they sang.

Some 5,000 orphans were sent to live in Poland, Romania, Bul-garia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany — all communist allies — as part of Soviet-led projects to reconstruct war-ravaged North Korea.

The orphans studied in local schools and made local friends. Then, abruptly, they were called back to North Korea.

“We weren’t told — not at all — they just stopped coming to school,” said Halina Dobek, 87, who taught some of the orphans in Poland. “These children were leaving Poland with no enthusiasm.”

It’s a mostly forgotten slice of Cold War history, but a new docu-mentary shines light on the lives of the orphans whose departure still weighs on the Europeans who knew them.

The film “Kim Il Sung’s Children” — referring to North Korea’s founder and wartime leader — will be released June 25, the 70th an-niversary the Korean War’s start. The three-year conflict destroyed much of North and South Korea, killed more than 1 million people and orphaned an estimated 100,000 children.

Like the war itself, the reconstruction of both countries — in-cluding what to do with the orphans — became a part of the Cold War rivalry. At the same time the North Koreans were being sent for education in Eastern Europe, thousands of South Korean or-phans were being adopted by families in North America and West-ern Europe.

“At the time, the United States and the Soviet Union were com-peting such as who could first send people into space. In this vein, they also competed on ways to show whose political system was more humane and more superior,” said Kim Deog-Young, the film’s director.

When the North Koreans started arriving in Europe, the countries were still reeling from the devastation of World War II. Neverthe-less, they were treated well.

The film shows Bulgarians giving flowers to North Korean chil-dren, clad in identical dark hats and jackets, upon their arrival in 1952.

Katya Panalotova, who lives in the Bulgarian town of Parvomay, recalls in the film that her new classmates were fed five times a day and wore leather shoes while local students had rubber shoes.

Bonds were quickly formed.“We played football and volleyball together on a hill. We were

like brothers,” Veselin Kolev, another Bulgarian, says in the movie.Yet there were also darker moments. Some orphans were haunted

by memories of wartime bombing and hid under tables when they heard the sound of planes.

North Korea sent its own citizens to Europe to teach the children the Korean language, history and culture, while European teachers

handled other subjects. Dobek taught the orphans Polish in Otwock, a town near Warsaw, from 1956-57.

She told AP that the children “needed the warmth of our hearts.”“The younger ones wanted us to stroke their heads, and give them

a hug,” she recalled.Most of the North Koreans lived in dormitories, but a few stayed

with local families.The film includes footage from the Romanian national archive that

shows the orphans saluting a North Korean flag with an image of Kim Il Sung and marching with military-like precision at their new school.

The orphans sang “The Song of General Kim Il Sung” so frequent-ly that some classmates still remember some words. In the film, some elderly Bulgarians sing together in Korean about “our general Kim Il Sung whose name is glorious.”

At Otwock’s Primary School Number 5, where the orphans stud-ied, there are still faded photos of the North Koreans as well as report cards showing they got excellent grades in painting, handicrafts and behavior. In the town, the pine trees the North Koreans planted have grown tall and the remains of an obelisk they put up to memorialize the nations’ friendship can still be found.

Kim visited some of the orphans, including those at Dobek’s school, during a 1956 trip to Eastern Europe.

It was a year later, on Kim’s orders, that the North Koreans started returning home. By 1959, they were all gone.

The film shows footage from 1959 of young North Koreans reach-ing through train windows for farewell handshakes with Bulgarian friends.

A tearful Maria Yamalieva, from Bulgaria, says she and her North Korean friend Kim Jin Wu cried together while hugging before say-ing goodbye.

Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house reopened Monday and performed its first concert since the coronavirus lockdown — to an audience that didn’t have to worry about social distancing.

Instead of people, the UceLi Quartet played Giacomo Puc-cini’s I Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) for 2,292 plants, one for each seat in the theater. The concert was also livestreamed for humans to watch.

The event was conceived by Spanish artist Eugenio Ampu-dia who said he was inspired by nature during the pandemic.

“I heard many more birds singing. And the plants in my gar-

den and outside growing faster. And, without a doubt, I thought that maybe I could now relate in a much intimate way with peo-ple and nature,” he said before the performance.

At the end of the eight-minute concert, the sound of leaves and branches blowing in the wind resonated throughout the opera house like applause.

The theater says it will gift the plants to local health workers as a thank you for their efforts during the pandemic. Spain’s national state of emergency was lifted on Sunday after three months of restrictions on movement and assembly. (AP)

Joel Schumacher, the eclec-tic and brazen filmmaker who dressed New York depart-ment store windows before shepherding the Brat Pack to the big screen in “St. Elmo’s Fire” and steering the Batman franchise into its most ba-roque territory in “Batman For-ever” and “Batman & Robin,” has died. He was 80.

A representative for Schum-acher said the filmmaker died Monday in New York after a yearlong battle with cancer.

A native New Yorker, Schumacher was first a sen-sation in the fashion world af-ter attending Parsons School of Design and decorating Henri Bendel’s windows. His entry to film came first as a costume designer. Schum-acher dressed a pair of Woody Allen movies in the 1970s: “In-teriors” and “Sleeper.”

❑ ❑ ❑

The career of Viggo Mortensen, Aragorn in the popular trilogy “Lord of the Rings” and a protagonist in the Academy Award-winning “Green Book,” will be honored at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

The festival announced Monday that this year’s recipi-ent of its “Donostia Award” will be Mortensen. For the mo-ment, organizers are planning to hold the festival as normal, with film stars flying in from around the world. Spain has lifted most of its restrictions amid the coronavirus pan-demic, which has left more than 28,000 dead in the coun-try.

The Danish-American ac-tor will also present the Eu-ropean premiere of “Falling,” his directorial debut, at the prestigious festival in north-ern Spain between Sept 18-26. (AP)

Russia seeks prison for director

Free ‘Do the Right Thing’ on offerLOS ANGELES, June 23, (AP): “Do the Right Thing” is free to rent on several platforms all week and an online discussion will be held with director Spike Lee on his 1989 film about racism, protests, police brutality and a New York neighborhood in turmoil.

Universal Pictures is offering the film for free from Monday through Sunday on Amazon, Apple, Charter, Comcast, Google, Redbox, Vudu and sev-eral other platforms.

The American Film Institute will host the discus-sion with Lee Thursday at 8 p.m. EDT on its You-Tube channel.

The announcement does not directly mention re-cent worldwide protests brought on by the death of George Floyd, but AFI President Bob Gazzale said in a statement that the film “is a timeless and timely classic” and that Lee “has forever proven himself the voice for change that we need now more than ever.”

“Do the Right Thing,” which stars Lee, Giancarlo Esposito, Ossie Davis and Danny Aiello, was nomi-nated for two Academy Awards and is on the AFI’s list of 100 greatest films of all time.

Other films about racial injustice including 2014’s “Selma” and 2018’s “The Hate U Give” are getting similar treatment amid the protests.

Also:MOSCOW: Russian prosecutors on Monday de-

manded a six-year prison term for an acclaimed theater director accused of embezzling state funds, a case widely seen as politically motivated.

Kirill Serebrennikov, 50, arguably Russia’s best-known theater and film director, and his associ-ates were charged with embezzling 133 million ru-bles (about $2 million) of state funding for a theater project.

The prosecution on Monday amended the amount of allegedly embezzled funds to almost 129 million rubles (over $1.8 million) and asked the court to col-lect the money from the accused.

Investigators initially claimed that the director and his associates stole the funds allocated for stag-ing several productions, one of which never saw the light of day — in fact it was staged to critical ac-claim. The investigators later withdrew that claim, and have not since clarified where they believe money was stolen from.

Serebrennikov had rejected the accusations as absurd, and many in Russia saw the charges as pun-ishment for his anti-establishment views. His pro-ductions, ranging from drama to opera and movies, have mocked official lies, corruption and growing social conservatism.

The director spent almost two years under house arrest between August 2017 and April 2019. Several of his associates spent months in jail.

Serebrennikov’s arrest sent shock waves through-out the country.

Musicians rehearse at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain, June 22. The Gran Teatre del Liceu reopened its doors, in which the 2,292 seats of the auditorium were occupied on this occasion by plants. It was broadcast live online on June 22, when the UceLi Quartet string quartet performed Puccini’s ‘Crisantemi’ for this verdant public, brought in from local nurseries. (AP)

Film director Kim Deog-Young speaks during an interview in Seoul, South Korea, May 29. (AP)

Joel Schumacher

Viggo Mortensen

SPORTSARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

11

3 Pakistan cricketers have virus before ‘risky’ tour

Aussies watching carefully when cricket resumes in England

Soriano returns 3 years later as Villarreal and Sevilla draw

Aguero gives City injury scare during 5-0 win against Burnley

Return of college athletes gives glimpse of back to school

Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez (left), kicks the ball past Burnley’s Charlie Taylor to score his teams second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Burnley at Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, England, on June 22. (AP)

AC Milan score four without Ibrahimovic in win at LecceROME, June 23, (AP): AC Milan had no problem producing goals without the injured Zlatan Ibrahimović in beating a relegation-threatened Lec-ce 4-1 in its fi rst match of the Serie A restart.

Samu Castillejo, Giacomo Bo-naventura, Ante Rebić and Rafael Leão scored for the Rossoneri, who were eliminated by Juventus in the Italian Cup semifi nals following a scoreless draw 10 days ago.

The victory boosted Milan’s chances of qualifying for Europe,

moving level on points with sixth-placed Napoli, which visits Hellas Verona on Tuesday.

Lecce captain Marco Mancosu equalized temporarily by convert-ing a penalty early in the second half but Bonaventura and Rebić quickly restored the visitors’ ad-vantage in a span of three goals in four minutes.

Ibrahimović, who injured his calf

in training last month, is expected back soon.

But his contract, which expires at the end of the season, is a source of debate.

Before kickoff, Milan director of football Frederic Massara said “there will always be space for champions like (Ibrahimović)” but then added the club “needs to contain costs” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Last-place Brescia drew at 10-man Fiorentina 1-1 without captain Mario Balotelli, who did not travel for the game amid a dispute with the club.

Alfredo Donnarumma converted a first-half penalty for Brescia and Fiorentina captain Germán Pezzel-la equalized with a diving header before Martín Cáceres picked up his second yellow card for the Viola.

Franck Ribéry played for Fioren-tina for the fi rst time since Nov. 3 following an injury layoff.

All of the games are being played in empty stadiums.

MANCHESTER, England, June 23, (AP): Sergio Ague-ro handed Manchester City a huge injury worry inside the fi rst week of the English Premier League’s resump-tion by hobbling off with a right knee problem during their 5-0 thrashing of Burn-ley.

“It doesn’t look good,” City manager Pep Guardiola said of the injury to the club’s all-time top scorer.

“We will see tomorrow. He felt something in his knee. He was strug-gling in the last month about some pain in his knee.”

The Argentina striker already ap-

peared in discomfort after having a blocked shot midway through the fi rst half, when he was fouled by Burnley defender Ben Mee in the area in stop-page time to earn a penalty.

Aguero stayed down, clutching his knee, and soon left the fi eld. As he walked past Guardiola in the technical area, Aguero pointed to a region behind his right knee and the coach reacted by shaking his head.

Any lengthy absence would leave City with just one recognized striker, Gabriel Jesus, as the team looks to ne-gotiate its way through a hectic sched-ule since the resumption of soccer af-ter the coronavirus outbreak. City has eight more league games to play be-fore July 26 and is also in the FA Cup, which resumes at the quarterfi nal stage at the weekend.

City is also still involved in the Champions League, which will restart at the last-16 stage in August.

Aguero’s injury aside, it was a good night for City against an injury-hit Burnley that was overwhelmed in eve-ry department.

Wide midfi elders Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden both scored twice, while Spanish playmaker David Silva - wind-

ing down his career at City after 10 years at Etihad Stadium - also netted.

Foden, a highly rated 20-year-old midfi elder, showed why he is being tipped as the long-term replacement for Silva with a performance he described as his best for the club.

He started the scoring in the 22nd minute with a fi erce, low drive from 25 meters and completed it by forcing home a fi nish at the back post in the 63rd.

Mahrez, one of three players to keep his starting place from the 3-0 win over Arsenal last week, scored a superb in-dividual goal in the 43rd and converted the penalty won by Aguero.

Leroy Sane, who has turned down two contract offers from City and could leave in the offseason, entered as a 79th-minute substitute for his fi rst ap-pearance of an injury-hit season.

Second-placed City’s victory en-sured Liverpool cannot clinch the league title against Crystal Palace at Anfi eld on Wednesday. If Liverpool wins, the title could be sealed a day later if City loses at Chelsea.

Off the fi eld, Burnley issued an apology and a strong condemnation of

those responsible for a banner reading “White Lives Matter Burnley” being towed behind an aircraft over the sta-dium at the start of the game.

The aircraft circled moments after the players and coaches of both teams took a knee on the fi eld before kickoff in support of the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

“This, in no way, represents what Burnley Football Club stands for,” the club said in a statement, “and we will work fully with the authorities to iden-tify those responsible and issue lifetime bans.”

All players at Premier League teams have replaced their names on the back of their shirts with the words “Black Lives Matter” in support of a move-ment that has gained popularity world-wide since the killing of George Floyd in the United States last month.

In Madrid, as former Spain interna-tional Bruno Soriano returned to soccer after three years, Villarreal and Sevilla drew 2-2 in the Spanish league.

Soriano went in as a late substitute to make his fi rst appearance with Villarre-al since May 2017 following recurring injuries. The 36-year-old midfi elder, a

member of Spain’s squad at the 2016 European Championship, was expected to miss the rest of the season but was able to recover during the pandemic break.

“I’m not going to lie, at times I thought about giving up, there were too many disappointments in a row,” an emotional Soriano said after. “It’s been hard, but fortunately I’m back. I’m very happy to have gotten this op-portunity again. I tried to give all I had in these fi ve minutes that I got to play.”

Soriano’s teammates cheered loudly when he returned to the dressing room at La Cerâmica Stadium. He went around thanking them one by one as they kept chanting.

Soriano’s return didn’t help Villarreal pick up the home win, though, as it twice relinquished the lead to remain in sixth place with seven rounds left. It could drop to eighth after the round is over.

Sevilla moved to third place with the draw but could lose the position again if Atlético Madrid wins at Levante on Tuesday.

Paco Alcácer put the hosts ahead from close range in the 18th minute but Sergio Escudero equalized in the 39th with a low shot from outside the area.

Pau Torres’ header in fi rst-half stop-page time gave Villarreal the lead again, but Sevilla evened the match with Munir El Haddadi’s beautiful an-gled volley from inside the box in the 63rd.

Villarreal had lost three straight and was back in eighth place before the league was suspended. But it had won all of its three matches since the league resumed - against Celta Vigo, Mallorca and Granada, all by 1-0.

Sevilla was coming off a 0-0 home draw against Barcelona for its second consecutive draw.

Barcelona and Real Madrid are tied for the lead but Madrid has a better goal difference and a better head-to-head record. Madrid next hosts relegation-threatened Mallorca on Wednesday, while defending champion Barcelona hosts Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday.

Also, second-to-last-place Leganés drew with midtable Granada 0-0. Miguel Ángel Guerrero missed a 65th-minute penalty kick for Leganés.

WASHINGTON, June 23, (AP): Late last week, Clemson announced 28 athletes and athletic staffers had tested positive for COVID-19.

On Saturday, Kansas State said it was shutting down its voluntary work-outs for athletes at team facilities after a spike of 14 positive cases.

And on Monday, Notre Dame re-ported one positive among 91 tested football players, Wisconsin had two positives among 117 athletes tested and Iowa’s latest round of testing found nine positives among 40 overall.

As colleges and universities ponder how to reopen campuses to droves of students during a pandemic, sports programs around the country are pro-viding a daily glimpse at the challeng-es that lie ahead - and maybe some solutions.

“When you’re thinking about ath-letes, people are very worried about sports and the close contact they have. And there’s a little bit less concern when it comes to the general student body because of their interactions be-ing different,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security

and a member of the NCAA’s COV-ID-19 advisory panel. “But I do think it speaks to the fact that the colleges are going to have to come up with a plan for dealing with these cases.”

With an eye toward preparing for competition in a couple months - the major college football season kicks

off in most places around the Labor Day weekend - athletic departments began bringing groups of athletes back to campus June 1.

The goal is to create something of a bubble around players, using fre-quent testing to catch positive cases and contact tracing and quarantining

to mitigate spread. Positive tests were anticipated, and

they should be when the rest of the students come back. For athletes, the hope is by mid-July football teams will be able to move into larger group activities, then full-blown practices in early August.

To do so, athletic administrators and coaching staffs are stressing to players that there is only so much that can be put in place to protect them from contracting coronavirus. Some of it is on the players themselves.

Kansas State University athletic di-rector Gene Taylor told The Athletic a spike in cases might have had two causes: A small number of athletes not completing their quarantine af-ter they arrived on campus and been tested, and then that group joining some other athletes in attending an off-campus party.

“It wasn’t that they did anything on purpose. They just weren’t taking it serious,” Taylor told The Athletic.

The University of Houston sus-pended its voluntary workouts on June 12 after six athletes tested posi-tive with symptoms.

BRISBANE, Australia, June 23, (AP): Australia captain Tim Paine will be watching closely when England’s test series against the West Indies starts on July 8 so he can see how cricket is played in the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m fascinated to watch some test cricket again and to see exactly how the series is going to work, and the differ-ent things they’re going to be doing,” he said on a video conference on Tues-day. “It’s going to be something we’re watching really closely ... you want to be able to prepare yourself for what might happen.”

Paine said he was not too concerned about empty grounds because he was familiar with that in club and provincial cricket only a few seasons ago.

The series will be the fi rst major cricket since March, when the outbreak began to shutter global sports. Australia isn’t sure when it will play again; its staging of the Twenty20 World Cup in October was last week described as unlikely.

The uncertainty has left the likes of Paine unsure about how much extra off-the-fi eld work he should do. With the bank accounts of national cricket boards emptying and staff let go in the crisis, Paine joked about having to do extra throw downs during batting practice.

One thing he is sure of, though, is that if and when India arrives for a tour of Australia later this year, Virat Kohli’s tourists will be facing a much tougher home team than the last series Down Under.

Paine was in charge of a team in tur-moil in 2018-19 when India won a test series in Australia for the fi rst time. He’d gone from not being in test selec-tion calculations to being Australia’s test captain in a matter of months dur-ing a turbulent time when then skipper Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were banned for 12 months following a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

India’s Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant dominated the batting in the series as a rebuilding Australia struggled for cohesion and couldn’t produce competitive totals.

“We certainly struggled a little bit last time. Sometimes you’ve got to give credit - (India) played very well,” Paine said. “I’m sure we’ve learned a lot from playing them. We think we’re a better team now than we were then.

“A lot of the time in that last se-ries, we didn’t get enough runs on the board to put them under any pressure. As good as our attack is, you still need to be scoring enough runs to win test matches. We didn’t score a lot of runs

in that test series, and (yet) weren’t miles away.”

Paine, who has since helped Austral-ia overhaul India to return to No. 1 in the test cricket rankings and ushered in the reintegration of Smith and Warner to the national team, is confi dent with the batting depth now.

“We feel if we can get some score-board pressure on, and score runs we know we need to score to win test matches, that our bowling attack (won’t) let us down,” he said.

Meanwhile, three Pakistan cricketers selected for the tour of England have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Uncapped middle-order batsman Haider Ali, fast bowler Haris Rauf, and legspinner Shadab Khan will go into self-isolation, the Pakistan Cricket Board said.

The players showed no symptoms until they were tested on Sunday at Rawalpindi. Allrounder Imad Wasim and fast bowler Usman Shinwari tested negative and will travel on Wednesday to Lahore, where Pakistan will assem-ble before travelling to the Britain on Sunday.

More COVID-19 tests were conduct-ed at Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar on Monday, and the PCB said those results will come on Tuesday.

Pakistan named an extended squad of 29 players for three test matches and three Twenty20s in England from Au-gust.

A PCB medical offi cial said the tour was a “big risk” but necessary to help the country get through the crisis.

“During the pandemic it’s (the tour) a big risk,” said PCB director of medical

and sports sciences Dr. Sohail Saleem on Monday.

“We haven’t experienced (playing during a pandemic), but for both teams it will be a fi rst. The pandemic means risk, but consider them (players) as ... providing people entertainment.”

Saleem said he was encouraged by soccer resuming in Europe, where the Bundesliga in Germany and the Premier League in England have restarted in empty stadiums.

“There’s no crowd in football and there will be no spectators at cricket sta-diums, too,” he said.

“The anxiety level of people sitting at home is rising, but cricket can be seen as lowering these.”

All 29 players will be tested twice for COVID-19 before they board the fl ight to London. Once the team lands in the UK, Saleem said the players will go through another testing session before they start training in quarantine.

“After every 5-7 days we will be car-rying out testing of the players in the UK,” Saleem said.

“Three days before the start of the fi rst test another round of testing of all the players will be done and if a player tests positive, he will be quarantined. We have set the protocol with the Eng-land and Wales Cricket Board.”

Also:MANCHESTER, England: The West Indies cricket squad completed its 14-day isolation period in England and will step up its preparations for next month’s test series by playing a three-day inter-nal warmup match in Manchester.

The tourists have been in quarantine at Manchester’s Old Trafford cricket ground and adjoining hotel since arriv-ing in Britain on June 9.

While the West Indies will start its fi rst warmup game on Tuesday, Eng-land’s 30-man training group will report at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton and be tested for COVID-19 on arrival along with the management team.

Lecce’s Riccardo Sayonara and AC Milan’s Andrea Conti fi ght for the ball during the Serie A soccer match between Lecce and AC Milan, at the Via

del Mare Stadium in Lecce, Italy, on June 22. (AP)

In this Jan 13, 2020 fi le photo, LSU head coach Ed Orgeron holds the trophy after the team’s victory over Clemson in an NCAA College Football

Playoff national championship game in New Orleans. (AP)

In this fi le photo dated Dec 28, 2019, England’s bowler James An-derson, in action on day three of the fi rst cricket test match between South Africa and England at Centu-rion Park in Pretoria, South Africa.

(AP)

SOCCER

SOCCER

CRICKET

Kuwaiti athletes screened for resumption of trainingKUWAIT CITY, June 23, (KUNA): Public Authority for Sport (PAS) Deputy Director General for Competitive Sports Dr. Saqer Al-Mulla said the au-thority started implementing a strategy for resumption of sports training.

In the preliminary steps, ath-letes of track and fi eld, fencing and shooting have been exam-ined to ensure they are free of the infectious disease, the coro-navirus (COVID-19), he said in a statement.

He indicated at plans to sani-tize sports facilities and enforce health terms set by the Minis-try of Health, noting that there would be follow up on imple-mentation of the anti-coronavi-rus scheme by sports clubs and associations.

A tripartite committee group-ing representatives of the author-ity, the MoH and the Kuwaiti Olympic Committee declared on June 17 addoption of a mechn-ism for resuming sports activi-ties as of June 28.

THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Published by: Arab Times Publishing House

Editor-in-ChiefAHMED AL JARALLAH

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BELGRADE, Serbia, June 23, (AP): Novak Djokovic tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday after taking part in a tennis exhibition series he organized in Serbia and Croatia.

The top-ranked Serb is the fourth player to test posi-tive for the virus after first playing in Belgrade and then again last weekend in Zadar, Croatia. His wife also tested positive.

“The moment we arrived in Belgrade we went to be test-ed. My result is positive, just as Jelena’s, while the results of our children are negative,” Djokovic said in a statement.

Djokovic has been criticized for organizing the tourna-ment and bringing in players from other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Viktor Troicki said Tuesday that he and his pregnant wife have both been diagnosed with the virus, while Grigor Dim-itrov, a three-time Grand Slam semifi nalist from Bulgaria, said Sunday he tested positive. Borna Coric played Dimitrov on Saturday in Zadar and said Monday he has also tested positive.

There were no social distancing measures observed at the matches in either country.

“Everything we did in the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions,” Djokovic said. “Our tourna-ment meant to unite and share a message of solidarity and compassion throughout the region.”

Djokovic, who has previously said he was against taking a vaccine for the virus even if it became mandatory to travel, was the face behind the Adria Tour, a series of exhibition events that started in the Serbian capital and then moved to Zadar.

He left Croatia after the fi nal was canceled and was tested in Belgrade.

Despite the positive test, he defended the exhibition se-ries.

“It was all born with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds towards people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this,” Djokovic said. “We organized the tournament at the moment when the virus has weakened, believing that the conditions for hosting the Tour had been met.

“Unfortunately, this virus is still present, and it is a new reality that we are still learning to cope and live with.”

Djokovic said he will remain in self-isolation for 14 days and also apologized to anyone who became infected as a re-sult of the series.

Djokovic’s charity tennis exhibition series, combined with an overall softening of coronavirus restrictions in Ser-bia and Croatia, has been followed by an increase in the

number of positive cases among professional athletes. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic was among

the spectators at the beach resort and will also be tested. “I deeply apologize to anyone that I have potentially put

at risk by playing this tour,” Alexander Zverev wrote on Twitter.

The ATP Tour said in a statement it wished for a com-plete recovery for the players “and members of their staff who tested positive,” adding it has urged strict adherence to social distancing and health and safety guidelines.

In a separate incident, Serbian soccer club Red Star Bel-grade said fi ve of its players had tested positive for the virus.

The Serbian champions said Marko Gobeljic, Njegos Petrovic, Dusan Jovancic, Marko Konatar and Branko Jo-vicic are feeling fi ne and remain in isolation.

Four of the players have displayed symptoms of COV-ID-19 while one has shown no symptoms, Red Star said.

The fi ve players did not attend the team’s last match on Saturday but where there when Red Star played Partizan Belgrade in the Serbian Cup semifi nals this month in front of about 20,000 fans. There was no social distancing and few wore face masks.

There has also been an increase in virus cases among soc-cer players in other countries, notably Russia.

The virus outbreak at the tennis event in Zadar could hurt Croatia’s attempts to restart its lucrative tourist trade, which draws in visitors from around Europe but has slowed sharply during the pandemic. Tourism supplied a quarter of the Cro-atian government’s revenue last year.

Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said authori-ties have taken steps to protect the vulnerable groups in Za-dar by stopping nursing home and hospital visits. He added that Croatia “currently has one of the most favorable situa-tions in Europe” despite a spike in new cases that followed easing of lockdown measures. Croatia is scheduled to host a general election on July 5.

Neighboring Serbia held elections on Sunday. They were preceded by a loosening of lockdown measures, paving the way for the governing right-wing populist party to win a ma-jority. It also made it possible for Djokovic to hold his fi rst Adria Tour event in Serbia last week, and for Red Star to hold soccer games with packed, raucous crowds.

The 2020 tennis season, like all sports, has been massively impacted by the pandemic. Wimbledon was originally sup-posed to start next week but has been canceled outright. The current plan is for Grand Slam tennis to return at the U.S. Open on Aug. 31, with a delayed French Open in September and October.

NEW YORK, June 23, (AP): Major League Baseball plans to unilaterally issue a 60-game schedule for its short-est season since 1878 after the players’ association rejected a negotiated deal of the same length, putting the sport on track for a combative return to the fi eld amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Commissioner Rob Manfred and union head Tony Clark met last week and outlined plans that included ex-panding the playoffs from 10 teams to 16, widening use of the designated hit-ter to National League games and an experiment to start extra innings with a runner on second base. But the latest version of the deal proposed by MLB was rejected by the Major League Baseball Players Association’s execu-tive board in a 33-5 vote on Monday.

Those innovations now disappear.“Needless to say, we are disappoint-

ed by this development,” MLB said in a statement. “The framework provided an opportunity for MLB and its players to work together to confront the diffi -culties and challenges presented by the pandemic. It gave our fans the chance to see an exciting new postseason for-mat. And, it offered players signifi cant benefi ts.”

MLB’s control owners approved going unilaterally with the 60-game schedule in ballparks without fans if the fi nal arrangements can be put in place, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made.

MLB asked the union to respond by 5 pm EDT Tuesday as to whether players can report to training by July 1 and whether the players’ association

will agree on the operating manual of health and safety protocols. The sched-ule would be the shortest since the Na-tional League’s third season.

Given the need for three days of virus testing and 21 days of workouts, open-ing day likely would be during the fi nal week of July. MLB already has started to investigate charter fl ights that could bring players back from Latin America, another person told the AP, also on condition of anonymity because no an-nouncements were made.

The union announced its rejection, and the vote total was confi rmed by a person familiar with that meeting who spoke to the AP on condition of ano-nymity because the balloting was not made public. The decision likely will provoke what fi gures to be lengthy and costly litigation over the impact of the coronavirus on the sport, similar to the collusion cases that sent baseball spi-raling to a spring training lockout in 1990 and a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that wiped out the World Series for the fi rst time in nine decades.

It also eliminates a $25 million post-season players’ pool, meaning players will not get paid anything above meal

TALLADEGA, Ala., June 23, (AP): Even in victory, Ryan Blaney thought about what happened to close friend Bubba Wallace over the weekend. And what happened afterward.

Blaney held onto the lead after a restart with two laps to go Mon-day, earning his second straight win at Talladega Superspeedway on a day that began with NAS-CAR drivers throwing their sup-port behind Wallace.

“I think it’s great that everybody really came together,” Blaney said. “I don’t want it to be remembered as a terrible day or a bad day in NASCAR.

“I want it to be remembered as there was an incident and we all overcame it together and showed that we’re not going to take it any more.”

It was that kind of bittersweet day and weekend.

Blaney nipped Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at the fi nish line by .007 seconds for his fourth win and fi rst since Talladega in October, albeit this time before a most-ly empty venue. It was a race marked by support for Wallace instead of an-other Big One at Talladega, though there was mayhem behind Blaney on the fi nal lap and he also pushed Erik Jones into the wall near the fi nish.

“Just trying to block, block the best we could,” Blaney said. “Block the top, block the bottom ... just beating and banging to the line. ”

Aric Almirola spun at the end and crossed the line almost backward.

Ford has now won nine of the last 10 Cup races at Talladega, and all three Team Penske drivers have won this season.

The racing was overshadowed by an extraordinary act of solidarity with NAS-CAR’s only Black driver. Dozens of drivers pushed Wallace’s car to the front of the fi eld before Monday’s race as FBI agents tried to fi nd out who left a noose

in his garage stall over the weekend.He was emotional after spending

time in the top fi ve before running short on fuel and fi nishing 14th, slap-ping hands with a group of mostly African-American fans.

”I’m proud to stand where I’m at. ... This sport is changing,” Wallace said. “The deal that happened (Saturday) I wanted to show whoever it was, you are not going to take away my smile. I am going to keep on going.”

Wallace took the lead for a lap at one point, and Stenhouse said he noticed the fan reaction, along with the chants of “Bubba” at the start.

“I looked at the stands and watched all the people jump up and cheer,” he said. “That was pretty cool.”

The stock car series was left reeling and angered by the racist act that came less than two weeks after it banned the Confederate fl ag on its properties at Wallace’s urging. It has vowed to per-manently bar the person responsible, but

the investigation was in its early stages.The 26-year-old Wallace was sur-

rounded by all 39 other drivers in the moments before the race and they were joined by their crews in a march down pit road as they pushed his No. 43 to the front of the line. Wallace climbed out of his car and wept.

It was a stirring move to support Wal-lace at a track in the heart of the South where Confederate fl ags have fl own for decades and were seen outside the su-perspeedway all weekend long by fans opposed to NASCAR’s ban.

Standing alongside Wallace for the national anthem was Richard Petty, the 82-year-old Hall of Fame driver known as “The King.” Wallace drives for Pet-ty, who issued a scathing rebuke after the noose was found that called for the “sick person” to be expelled from NASCAR forever - a move NASCAR President Steve Phelps insisted would happen should they be caught.

Latest sports scores at — http://sports.arabtimesonline.com

Sports

CAR RACING

BASEBALL

money during the playoffs and World Series, and the clubs’ offer to forgive $33 million in salary advanced to 769 players at the bottom of the salary scale with lower rates of pay while in the mi-nors: $16,500, $30,000 or $60,000 for each of them.

“It’s absolute death for this indus-try to keep acting as it has been. Both sides,” Cincinnati pitcher Trevor Bau-er tweeted in a rare instance of a player criticizing the union. “We’re driving the bus straight off a cliff. How is this good for anyone involved? Covid 19 already presented a lose lose lose situ-ation and we’ve somehow found a way to make it worse. Incredible.”

Teams lose what would have been a new right to sell advertising patch-es on uniforms, broadcast enhance-ments such as having players wear microphones during games and a 2020 suspension of the luxury tax that for

a 60-game season projected to save the New York Yankees $8.5 million, Houston $3 million, the Los Angeles Dodgers $434,000 and the Chicago Cubs $116,000.

Manfred loses what would have been an additional $60 million to the commissioner’s discretionary fund.

The union said in a statement that the “board reaffi rmed the players’ ea-gerness to return to work as soon and as safely as possible.”

“To that end we anticipate fi naliz-ing a comprehensive set of health and safety protocols with Major League Baseball in the coming days, and we await word from the league on the re-sumption of spring training camps and a proposed 2020 schedule,” the union said.

While the framework had included the expanded playoffs for both 2020 and 2021, and Manfred offered to drop.

League on track for combative return to the fi eld amid coronavirus pandemic

MLB plans 60-game slate, shortest since 1878 as union balks

Blaney wins at Talladega

NASCAR unites behind Wallace

Winner Ryan Blaney (12) approaches the fi nish line as driver Erik Jones (20) crashes at the fi nish of a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega Ala., Monday, June 22, 2020. (AP)

Virus cases at Novak’s event put sports under scrutiny

Djokovic tests positive for coronavirus

In this photo taken Saturday, June 20, Grigor Dimitrov from Bulgaria re-turns the ball to Croatia’s Borna Coric during their semifi nal match at a

tournament in Zadar, Croatia. (AP)

MELBOURNE, June 23, (AP): Australia and New Zealand have become the clear favorites to jointly host the 2023 Women’s World Cup after Japan withdrew from bidding.

The combined bid performed significantly stronger than its only remaining rival, Colombia, in the FIFA inspection report - scoring 4.1 to 2.8.

Japan was marked 3.9 out of 5 and was likely to split the voting on FIFA’s ruling council among the seven Asian Football Confederation representatives.

FIFA, soccer’s world govern-ing body, will vote Thursday.

Praising Japan’s decision to quit the contest as “another impressive show of Asian football unity,” AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa called on Asia members to vote for the cross-confederation bid.

“This is the most technically impressive of the bids that the council must choose from on June 25 and we must be guided by the experts,” he said.

None of the remaining bidders has ever hosted a senior men’s or women’s World Cup. Victory for

the Australia and New Zealand would be the first time a World Cup has been split across two confederations.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a joint statement on Tuesday endorsing a bid they say would “embody our passion for women’s football and proud com-mitment to equality and fairness.”

“Football is the game that con-nects us all. We sincerely hope that an Australia-New Zealand FIFA Women’s World Cup will bring us all together again in 2023, when we can all celebrate humanity, community and unity through football,” the prime min-isters wrote in the joint letter to the FIFA Coucil.

New Zealand is part of the Oceania soccer body that has three FIFA Council members. But New Zealand Football President Johanna Wood is ineligible to vote at the online meeting.

“One of the questions raised or comments made in the evaluation report was, it is a challenge across co-hosting of countries,” Wood told The Associated Press recently.

SOCCER

Australia and NZ favored for WCup

Riseisha High School baseball players celebrate on the mound after defeating Seiryo High School 5-3 to win the National High School Baseball Championship at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, western Japan, on Aug. 22, 2019. Japanese high school baseball players who had their heart set on going to the annual tournament won’t be able to go, with the 2020 event canceled over the coronavirus pandemic. (AP)