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FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020 / SAFAR 15-16, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17499 16 PAGES 150 FILS

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Hope for prosperity

Officials laud new AmirCabinet asks Assembly to pull term termination

MPs asked to convene on October 20

By Saeed Mahmoud SalehArab Times Staff and Agencies

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: The Council of Min-isters sent a letter to the National Assembly, asking for withdrawal of the request to termi-nate the parliamentary term.

The Cabinet also forwarded Decree No. 136/2020, requesting the Assembly to con-vene for the fifth supplementary term on Oct 20, 2020.

The Cabinet took this decision is in view of the passing of HH the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Earlier this week, the Cabinet had made a written request to end the parliamentary sit-

ting.In its latest request, the Cabinet has asked

the top lawmaker to consider the previous re-quest null and void, and to reconvene a com-plementary sitting for the National Assembly on Oct 20, according to the report. No expla-nation has been given for the new request, Al Rai reports.

On Tuesday, Kuwait announced a 40-day mourning and shut the state institutions for three days following the death of Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

While no exact date has been set for new parliamentary elections in Kuwait, they are expected to be held in November or early De-cember.

TUNIS, Oct 1, (Agencies): A bevy of Arab dip-lomats on Thursday paid an emotional tribute to Kuwait’s Late Amir His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, saying the world has lost an “ultimate leader” whose humanitarian acts would forever live in the annals of history.

“We have lost a great Arab leader with the pass-ing of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad,” Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Tunisia Mohammad Al-Ali told KUNA, as he paid his respects to the late Kuwaiti leader.

Echoing Saudi King Salman bin Abdulazizs words, he said his country had lost a “dear brother,” wishing for a more prosperous future ahead for Ku-wait with its new Amir His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah at the helm.

Grieving over the loss of a leader who “dedicated his life to the wellbeing of his people,” Tunisia’s former foreign minister Noureddine Erray said Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad’s passing is a “great loss to the world and humanity as a whole.”

Abdelfattah Mourou, the North African na-tions former chief lawmaker, was confident of the “smooth transition of power (which took place) in Kuwait,” saying the process would further reinforce the country’s “growing presence” in the region.

“Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad was not only a Kuwaiti leader but an advocate of Arab unity and champion of human rights,” said Moroccos ambassador to Tu-nisia Hassan Tariq, adding that his country had also lost a genuine friend.

Paying their respects to the late Kuwaiti Amir, the Palestinian ambassador to Tunisia Hael Al-Fahoum and chief of the Arab Leagues Educational, Cul-tural and Scientific Organization Mohammed Ould Aamar both remembered him as an “incomparable leader.”

DiverseKuwait with demise of the Amir Sheikh Sabah

has lost a great and sagacious leader who spared regional and international nations diverse political crises, said Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in the United Kingdom.

Dubbing the late Amir, who passed away on Tues-day, as leader and mentor of the Kuwaiti diplomacy, Khaled Al-Duwaisan, the State of Kuwait Ambas-sador to the UK, said in a statement to KUNA that Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad was a prominent leader who had played a significant role in tackling tension and resolving conflicts in the Middle East since he served as foreign minister.

He was an extraordinary personality, not only at the Gulf and Arab levels, but also at the global level and this fact was substantiated with his designation as Leader of Humanitarian Action by the United Na-tions (in 2014), Al-Duwaisan said.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad had a good reputation among global and British quarters particularly due

to his role in supporting humanitarian action, the ambassador added.

He recalled Sheikh Al-Ahmad’s role in backing up four conventions for supporting the Syrian peo-ple, latest of which was held in the British capital in February 2016.

The State of Kuwait Embassy in London will be-gin, as of today, receiving condolences via its web-site as a precaution against the coronavirus.

The envoy wished success for the freshly pro-claimed Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, affirming that he “is the best successor of best predecessor.”

His Highness the new Amir, Sheikh Nawaf, will pursue leading the state, guided by the political legacy “he inherited from the late dean of international diplo-macy Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.”

RespectThe Government of India has declared Oct 4, a

national day of mourning, as a mark of respect on the passing away of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the late Amir of the State of Kuwait on Sept 29, 2020, says a press release issued by the Indian Ministry of Home Af-fairs.

The day of mourning will be observed throughout India. The national flag will fly at half mast on all government buildings and all government entertain-ment activities remains cancelled on that day.

Indian External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahman-yam Jaishankar extended heartfelt condolences on the passing away of Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, during a visit to Ku-wait Embassy in New Delhi.

In a statement to KUNA, Jaishankar said: “This is a very difficult day and I am here to express the condolences of the government and people of India on the passing away of the late Amir.

“His Highness was exceptionally well regarded in India. He had contributed a lot to the building of this relationship. He had come here as a foreign minister, as a special envoy, and we were actually looking forward to his visit last year so his passing away was something which has also shaken us and distressed us very deeply. At this time we express our fullest solidarity with the people of Kuwait,” he said.

Jaishankar, who was received by Kuwait Ambas-sador Jassem Al Najem and the embassy officials, also discussed several issues of mutual interest.

During the talks with the Indian External Af-fairs Minister, the Ambassador recalled the visit of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to India in 2006 soon after he assumed power in the same year.

He also remembered the late Amir for his role in fostering international peace and security and his leading role in the global humanitarian fields.

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 1, (KUNA): His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ah-mad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah re-ceived on Thursday a cable of congratulations from Na-tional Assembly Speaker Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanim on taking the helm of power.

The Parliament Speaker, in the ca-ble, expressed sincere felicitations to His Highness Sheikh Nawaf “on tak-ing the helm of power in our country; as Amir and leader, the best succes-sor of the best predecessor,” noting he and the MPs were honored to host him for the oath taking ceremony at Abdullah Al-Salem Hall Wednesday.

Al-Ghanim noted Sheikh Nawaf’s traits as a wise, sincere and firm leader of substantial experience in the realms of politics.

“Although we are deeply distressed over loss of ... His Highness Sheikh Sa-bah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, we are certain you will follow his path and seek to attain aspirations of your faithful people,” Al-Ghanim wrote.

LeadershipHe wished Kuwait would witness

prosperity under “Your Highness’ leader-ship,” invoking His Almighty to grant the Amir long life and good health.

Separately, His Highness the Amir re-ceived a cable of identical content from His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, Chief of the National Guard, wish-ing Sheikh Nawaf heavenly guidance for achieving prosperity, security and distin-guished status for Kuwait among nations.

Deputy Chief of the National Guard Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah also sent a similar cable to Sheikh Nawaf, expressing, in part, strong confi-dence in his capacity to “sail the ship to a brighter and more aloft future for our dear homeland and the faithful citizens, following footsteps of the late, His High-ness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad.”

Another identical cable was addressed to him from His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who expressed pride in the “march of giving and sacrifices” during era of the late Amir, wishing him success in lead-ing the country toward more development and progress.

His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah also ca-bled His Highness the Amir underscoring his devotion and sacrifices for serving Kuwait.

For his part, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah lauded Sheikh Nawaf’s accom-plishments for laying foundations of Ku-wait’s development, wishing that his era would be blessed with peace.

SentimentsHis Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf

addressed cables in reply to the leaders and former leaders, expressing gratitude for their sincere sentiments that came on the occasion of his proclamation.

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf received at the Amiri Terminal on Thurs-day representatives of the Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and the Kingdom Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Prince Moham-mad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz

The representatives include Prince Dr Mansour bin Met’eb bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Minister of State and King’s Ad-viser, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Minister of Energy, Prince Sultan bin Saad Al-Saud, Saudi Ambassador to Kuwait, Prince Turki bin Mohammad Al-Saud, Minister of State, Prince Ahmad bin Fahad bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Deputy Amir of Al-Sharkiah Region.

The Saudi officials expressed condo-lences on demise of the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

They also expressed sorrow to Na-tional Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim, Deputy Chief of National Guard Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Sheikh Jaber Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sa-bah, His Highness Sheikh Nasser Mo-hammad Al-Sabah, His Highness Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and a number of Sheikhs.

His Highness the Amir, meanwhile, received a cable from Bahraini King Ha-mad bin Isa Al-Khalifa Thursday to con-gratulate him on the assumption of office, wishing him success in his leadership of the country towards development.

His Highness the Amir thanked King Hamad for his congratulatory remarks which reflected the deep-rooted relations between State of Kuwait and Kingdom of Bahrain.

He prayed to Allah the Almighty that King Hamad be in good health and for Bahrain to witness further progress and prosperity under his leadership.

His Highness the Amir also on Thurs-day received a cable of congratulations from UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on his assuming the helm of power, wishing Sheikh Nawaf success in leading the country.

Opinion

New era of wisdom, hopeBy Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

IN a country of institutions, transfer of power happens smoothly through prevail-ing legal texts and channels.

Therefore, in a constitutionally well-established country like Kuwait, the transfer of power from the great prede-cessor the late Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad to his successor His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad (May Almighty Allah be of his assistance and guidance) hap-pened calmly and naturally.

The transfer of power in Kuwait is a great symbol of the age-old Kuwaiti heri-tage in this regard, dating back to four centuries ago.

Nonetheless, the confidence that the people of this country had towards the late Amir is the same that they undoubt-edly harbor in the voice of reason in His Highness Abu Faisal, who is humble and close to all the people of Kuwait.

His clear vision, with which he works diligently, silently and wisely, is his ap-parent trait, let alone the fact that the task ahead is great, as he stated in his speech yesterday.

The people of this country are waiting for a lot of things from him, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic and the illness of the late Amir led to a series of problems that need urgent attention and response.

Yes Your Highness, our dear country is today facing delicate circumstances and serious challenges, and there is no way to overcome and escape from their con-sequences except through unity of ranks, concerted and sincere efforts from all of us, and the need for us to work hard col-lectively for the good of Kuwait and its loyal people.

This blessed and beloved country, with its people and rulers, cannot be based on hesitation in taking decisions, as we witnessed in the past months, especially when it comes to matters that affect the daily affairs of the people.

Therefore, His Highness the Amir to-day holds many steps ahead on the social, political, economic, and foreign policy levels. All of them will be a burden on the decision-maker if there is a government that lacks courage and is afraid of moving forward decisively.

Today we are in a country where wrong

governmental treatments have led to stag-nation of waters. Moving the waters and getting rid of the negative consequences caused by the stagnation in our place have become a necessity.

In the current era, there is no room for playing on people’s emotions or suc-cumbing to the desires and interests of those who seek to achieve their goals through constitutional institutions and public funds.

There is no doubt that His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad’s affirma-tion of our pride in “our constitution and our democratic approach” requires the two authorities to translate it with serious work based on creativity in treatments. This can only be achieved through a gov-ernment that derives its strength from the strength of His Highness the Amir, the wise and just, believing in the law as a natural path to evolution.

In light of the brutal storms that the region is witnessing, what Kuwait needs today is to fortify its internal arena with more unity, overcome disunity, prevent attacks on neighbors and brothers, and strengthen national cohesion. This can only be achieved by upholding the na-tional interest over tribal and sectarian interests, and ensuring the language of dialogue prevails among all Kuwaitis.

It is true that the responsibility is great, but His Highness the Amir, who par-ticipated with the nation’s wise men in decision-making and building process for nearly six decades, has the wisdom and experience to enhance the strength of this country. This tried-and-true sword must be a torch where amputation is required, and decisive where firmness is required.

Today, Kuwait has renewed the his-torical national covenant by pledging allegiance to His Highness the Amir on his loyalty and obedience. Therefore, the hope that speaks the language of wisdom begins a new era in the history of Kuwait based on the concerted efforts of every-one to move forward in what befits this country, which is small in terms of its area but great in terms of its message and the solid will of its people.

Email: ahmed@aljarallah.com

Follow me on:

ahmedaljarallah@gmail.com

Newswatch

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait Ministry of Health said Thursday 494 people tested positive for the coronavirus while two persons died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

Ministry spokesman Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad told KUNA total deaths reached 612 and tally of registered infections topped 105,676.

He said distribution of cases in health areas was: 130 in Hawally, 116 in Ah-madi, 87 in the Capital, 83 in Farwaniya and 78 in Jahra.

Al-Sanad said 139 patients were in the intensive care units and total patients re-ceiving treatment was 7,867.

He noted that healthcare workers con-ducted 3,930 swab tests in the past 24 hours to raise number of tests since out-break of the pandemic in the country to 751,163.

He urged the public to abide by the health precautionary measures like physi-cal distancing.

The MoH announced earlier recovery of 509 people recovered from coronavi-rus in the past 24 hours to raise total to 97,197. (KUNA)

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LONDON: The European Medicines Agency has started a “rolling review” process for the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University and As-traZeneca, a move it hopes will speed any eventual approval.

In a statement Thursday, the EU regula-tor said instead of waiting for all of the re-quired vaccine data to be submitted before beginning its assessment, the EMA has begun analyzing the preliminary informa-tion from scientists on the Oxford vaccine.

That data suggests the vaccine “triggers the production of antibodies and T-Cells,” referring to immune system cells that tar-get the virus. The agency said it was wait-ing for data from ongoing late-stage tests

of the vaccine involving thousands of peo-ple, which it hopes will be shared in the coming weeks and months.

“The rolling review will continue until enough evidence is available to support a formal marketing authorization,” the EMA said.

The agency said it could not estimate how long this process might take, but that it would be quicker than the normal evaluation procedure. A similar process was used to issue an approval for rem-desivir, one of the only licensed drugs to treat COVID-19. That approval was issued in just over one month while the standard process can take nearly seven months.

Oxford’s vaccine is designed to reduce disease and transmission. It uses a harm-less virus – a chimpanzee cold virus, en-gineered so it can’t spread – to carry the coronavirus’ spike protein into the body, which should trigger an immune response. The tests are looking at both one-shot and two-shot vaccine doses. (AP)

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ATLANTA: October is prime time for fl u vaccinations, and the US and Europe are gearing up for what experts hope is high demand as countries seek to avoid a “twindemic” with COVID-19.

“Take fl u out of the equation this fall,” said Dr Daniel Jernigan of the US Cent-ers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A record number of fl u vaccine doses are on the way, between 194 million and 198 million for the US alone – seemingly plenty considering last year just under half of adults got vaccinated and there usually are leftovers.

Still, there’s no way to know how many will seek shots this year and some peo-ple occasionally are fi nding drugstores or clinics temporarily out of stock.

Be patient: Flu vaccine ships gradually, in batches, and the CDC and manufactur-ers say more is in transit. (AP)

India declares Day of Mourning

Diplomats recall ultimate leader

KUNA photoRepresentatives of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz led by the Kingdom’s Crown Prince Moham-mad bin Salman arrive in Kuwait to express their condolences on the demise of the Late Amir HH

Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

KUNA photoHH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (right), receives HH the Deputy

Amir of Qatar Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Thani.

LOCALARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020

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HH Amir receives condolences from leaders around the world

HH Sheikh Nawaf sends cables of gratitude

ace over the tragic event. In the meantime, His Highness

the Amir received Thursday a ca-ble of condolences from Hungar-ian President Janos Ader, express-ing deep sympathies on demise of the late Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, and wished Sheikh Nawaf success in his reign.

In return, His Highness the Amir expressed appreciation for sincere condolences and praised deep-rooted ties shared by Kuwait and Hungry.

Also, His Highness the Amir received Thursday a cable of con-dolences from Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, on the demise of His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The cable expressed Eritrean president’s deepest condolences to His Highness the Amir and Ku-waiti people.

In return, His Highness the Amir sent a cable of gratitude and appreciation for sincere sym-pathies, for condolences as well, wishing him good health.

CondolencesMeanwhile, His Highness the

Amir received Thursday a cable from Cuban President Miguel Di-az-Canel expressing condolences on demise of Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The Cuban president under-lined Sheikh Sabah’s prominent role in boosting bilateral relations between the two friendly coun-tries, wishing that His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf and the Kuwaiti people would endure the grave event with patience.

His Highness the Amir replied in a cable, expressing gratitude to the Cuban president for express-ing solidarity and solace over the grave event, wishing him good health and well-being.

In the meantime, His Highness the Amir received Thursday a ca-ble from President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega to express condo-lences over passing away of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Ortega recalled the deceased who was know for his service of humanitarian causes and relentless efforts to boost security and stabil-ity in the region.

His Highness the Amir thanked Ortega, in a cable, for his con-dolences and wished him good health and for his country progress and prosperity.

His Highness the Amir on Thursday also received a cable from Panamian President Lauren-tino Cortizo expressing, in person and on behalf of his people, heart-felt condolences on demise of the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf sent a cable in reply to the Panamian president, expressing sincere gratitude and apprecia-tion for the compassion and solace toward this grave event, wishing him lasting health and well-being.

HeartfeltHis Highness the Amir received

a cable from King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf, offering heartfelt condolences over His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

In the cable, the king of Sweden also congratulated His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ah-mad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, wishing him success. In reply, His High-ness the Amir sent the king a ca-ble, thanking and appreciating him for his kind sympathies.

Meanwhile, Kuwait Ambassa-dor to Malaysia Dr Hamad Bur-hama expressed his grief Thurs-day over demise of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Burhama, who was receiving offi cials to offer condolences on the passing away of His High-ness the Amir, stated, “It is a sad event that affects all Kuwaitis and peace-loving peoples.”

His Highness the late Amir had paid visits of good and construc-tive outcomes to Malaysia and maintained close relations with the Asian nation since a long time ago, he added.

Arab, foreign ambassadors, heads of diplomatic missions, rep-resentatives of the United Nations and the European Union in Ma-laysia, offered condolences at the Kuwaiti embassy over demise of the late Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad.

Malaysian Sports and Youth Minister Reezal Merican, Malay-sian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein offered and signed in the condo-lences book. Other leaders who expressed solace were Malaysian Religious Affairs Minister Zulki-fl i Mohamad and Chairman of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organizations (MAPIM) Mohamad Azmi Abdul Hamid.

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 1, (KUNA): His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received cable of condolences Thursday from U.S President Donald Trump over the passing of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Trump noted in the cable that His Highness late Amir was a friend and partner, underlining that he had honored him with the Legion of Merit, De-gree Chief Commander.

His Highness the Amir replied in a cable expressing gratitude to the U.S. presi-dent for his sincere condolences and praised the solid and historic relations that bind the two friendly countries.

Meanwhile, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received on Thursday a letter of condolences from Iranian President Dr Hassan Rouhani on the demise of the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

President Rouhani eulogized Sheikh Sabah for his role to create an atmosphere of moderation in the region. His Highness the Amir sent a cable in reply expressing gratitude for the solace.

Meanwhile, His Highness the Amir received a cable of condolences from Serb President Aleksander Vucic on the death of his predecessor Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

He hailed Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad for his key role in boosting development in Arab countries and relations between Kuwait and Serbia.

Sheikh Nawaf answered, thanking the Serb leader for the compassion and sol-

KUNA photoKuwait Red Crescent Society volunteers delivering sheltering aid to the fl ood victims.

Dr S. Jaishankar signing the condolence book at the Kuwaiti Embassy in New Delhi.

KRCS delivers sheltering aid to Sudan fl ood victims

Indian FM offers condolences

Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) delivered essential shelter-ing items to fl ood victims in northern Khartoum on Thursday.

The items included sleeping bags, cooking essentials and other items after setting up fi ve camps to

shelter 500 families affected by the disaster, head of KRCS’ delegation Abdulrahman Al-Oun told KUNA.

Sudanese authorities announced a three-month state of emergency, after a rise in rain and the Nile rising to a record percentage.

According to authorities, the fl oods affected over 770,000 people, killed over 130 people and injured 45 oth-ers. It also destroyed about 100,000 houses and two million hectares of farming lands, as well as killing 5,930 livestock. (KUNA)

External Affairs Minister of Republic of India, H.E. Dr. S. Jaishankar signing the Condolence Book at the Embas-sy of Kuwait in New Delhi, extending deepest condolences on the passing away of HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed

Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, late Amir of the State of Kuwait – a visionary leader and a true friend of India. “The im-mense contributions of His Highness in enhancing our bilateral relations will always be cherished,” he said.

World has lost an ‘Amir of humanity’

Level of ties lauded

IKFS condoles demise of HH Amir

Trade with China worth$19b: Kuwaiti diplomat

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: Indo-Kuwait Friendship Society (IKFS), an Indian NRI association known to Indian Embassy in Kuwait, on Tuesday ex-pressed its condolences over the pass-ing of the Amir His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to the people of Kuwait. In a state-ment, Dr Ghalib Al-Mashoor, Presi-dent of IKFS expressed his sorrow and commiserations to the people of Kuwait. We are deeply saddened by the passing of our beloved Amir of Kuwait, His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.” The late ruler was “sincerely devoted, greatly appreciated and had a large place in the hearts of people, and the signifi cant role, played by the late Kuwaiti ruler, in the legacy of the regional bloc, alongside his relent-less and sincere efforts to support its

causes, raise its status and support its growth and development.

“In his passing, the world has lost an ‘Amir of humanity’ and pioneer of development, who strived for good-ness and peace and intended to em-bolden harmony, cooperation and solidarity amongst the peoples of the world. We pray for his soul rest in peace and mercy.”

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 1, (KUNA): China is Kuwait’s largest trading partner with bilateral exchange worth more than $19 billion, Kuwaiti Consul-General in Shanghai Mishal Al-Shemali revealed on Tuesday.

On the occasion of the upcoming 71st anniversary of diplomatic relations be-tween both countries on Oct 1, the diplo-mat praised the level of these ties.

“The People’s Republic of China, since its founding, has made unprecedented achievements across various fi elds and has left an evident global imprint in re-gards to its steps to achieve economic in-tegration,” he told KUNA.

Kuwait’s diplomatic representation in China, he suggested, is the largest with an embassy and three consulates, which illustrates the magnitude of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Additionally, the opening of the con-sulate in Shanghai highlights Kuwait’s keenness to develop and strengthen these relations, economically in particular, he added, as Shanghai is regarded the eco-nomic capital on the Chinese mainland.

He also alluded to the great efforts made by China in confronting the Cov-id-19 pandemic, reducing its numbers and controlling its spread, indicating that cooperation between the two countries on this matter was at the highest levels.

During the pandemic, Kuwait imported a lot of medical equipment from Beijing, used to detect the virus and prevent its spread.

A Chinese expert medical team also visited the country in April to provide support and assistance to Kuwaiti health authorities in combating this pandemic, he mentioned.

The late Amir

LOCALARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020

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Jordan newspapers, social media mournloss of ‘King Abdullah’s departed friend’

China , N Korea , Bangladesh offer condolences

AMMAN, Oct 1, (KUNA): The passing of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and the peaceful transition of power made the front pages in Jordanian news-papers and went viral across the social media spectrum on Thursday.

Jordanian media quoted King Abdullah as saying, We have lost a big brother and wise lead-er who loved Jordan. He was a symbol of humanitarianism and manners.”

Meanwhile, newspapers, front pages of which were printed in black, wished Sheikh Sabah’s successor, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Ja-ber Al-Sabah, success in leading Kuwait.

On his part, board chairman of “Ad-Dustoor” newspaper Mo-hammad Dawoudiya wrote, “Jor-danians are grieving and their king has announced a 40-day mourning for his departed friend.”

He added that “Kuwait will overcome this tragedy and will continue developing under the leadership of His Highness (the newly proclaimed Amir) Sheikh Nawaf.”

Moreover, a columnist in the same newspaper, Ouraib Al-Rantawi, said, “There is no doubt that Sheikh Sabah had a great impact on his people, the Arab World and the internation-al community.”

Sad feelings expressed in mil-lions of posts and tweets were a result of over six decades of achievements by the late Amir, he noted.

He stressed that “losing the wise leader at such a time is a great loss. We are in desperate need for such a man in this age of chaos.”

In the same context, writer Hazim Qashou said His Highness the late Amir was architect of so many unforgettable humanitarian achievements.

On its part, Jordan’s “Al-Rai” newspaper published an article by Bilal Al-Tal, saying in part, “The late Amir had so many great characteristics which we all lost, especially his sense of wisdom in dealing with issues.”

Also, journalist Osama Al-Ran-teesy wrote on “Al-Awwal” news website, “Despite the big loss, Kuwait will continue on the same footsteps of Sheikh Sabah by His Highness Sheikh Nawaf.”

Kuwait has the right to take pride for being the only Gulf country with an elected parlia-ment, an independent media and the right for MPs to grill any se-nior official, he noted.

Meanwhile, “Al-Ghad” news-paper published an analysis on Kuwait’s regional and internation-al policy, as well as on life of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf, who the newspaper said that his assumption of power comes amid regional tensions.

Jordan’s Awqaf ministry is set to hold prayers over the soul of His Highness Sheikh Sabah after Friday’s prayers tomorrow.

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Bangladesh has declared Thurs-day a day of national mourning after the death of Kuwait’s Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, ordering flags on state buildings across the nation to be flown at half-mast.

Prayers will be held at mosques and other places of worship to com-memorate the life of Sheikh Sabah

Al-Ahmad, said a government statement, quoting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s “utter shock” over the Kuwaiti leader’s death.

The Bangladeshi premier ex-tended her “deepest condolences” to the Kuwaiti people over this “un-bearable loss,” as she attributed the tremendous progress in bilateral ties over the years to the late Kuwaiti leader’s shrewd diplomacy.

“The Bangladeshi people will forever appreciate his profound contributions towards peace and stability in the region and be-yond,” she added.

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His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-

Sabah Wednesday received a cable from Chinese President Xi Jinping, extending heartfelt com-miseration over the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

In the cable, the Chinese leader praised the late Amir’s key contri-butions to developing his country in various fields and his ceaseless efforts to promote regional security and stability, in addition to his main role in the development of existing cooperation between Kuwait and China.

His Highness the Amir, in re-ply, sent the Chinese leader a cable thanking and appreciating him for these kind sentiments and sincere condolences, while lauding his-torical close relations between both

sides and looking forward to pro-moting them in all fields.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended his condolences on Thursday over the death of Kuwaits Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

In a cable he sent to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the North Ko-rean leader expressed his “deep-est sympathies” over this immense loss, as he hoped the Kuwaiti people would find solace in this time of grief.

In reply, His Highness the Amir appreciated the North Korean lead-ers commiserations, wishing him health and wellbeing.

‘Losses will be incurred through banks’

Ministry exempts donations for Sudan reliefKUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: The Ministry of Social Affairs, in coordination with its foreign af-fairs counterpart, responded to the request of charitable societ-ies to exempt donations for the relief of Sudan from the deci-sion to transfer donations only through the banks of the receiv-ing countries, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting an official source from the Ministry of Social Af-fairs.

The source told the daily that after checking the procedures of Sudanese banks, it turned out that 40 percent loss will be in-curred if Kuwaiti donations are sent through these banks.

The source also said this led to the issuance of a decision to allow associations to send donations through money ex-

change companies trusted by the benefactors, government agencies and charitable organi-zations; provided the recipient parties in Sudan are recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs.

The source affirmed that the Ministry of Social Affairs granted licenses to more than 11 charitable societies, in ad-dition to the ‘Red Crescent’, to collect donations for the relief of Sudan which was hit with torrential rains and floods re-cently.

According to the source, the collected amount reached more than KD1.3 million. Large sums were transferred by the associations; in addi-tion to the establishment of relief camps, and sending food

packages, medicines and other items needed to help those af-fected by disaster in Sudan and other parts of Africa, the source added.

The source clarified the aforementioned step is not the first of its kind, as it was pre-ceded by the approval granted to the associations to send mon-ey through money exchange companies to help the Lebanese people following the explosion at Beirut port.

The source pointed out the transfer of funds into banks in countries suffering from economic or financial crises could disrupt the disburse-ment process or a huge part of the donation could be de-ducted, leading to the loss of donors’ money.

KUNA photoKuwait Embassy in Qatar opens a ‘condolences book’ on the death of late Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah

Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

KUNA photoProminent personalities offering condolences at the Embassy of Kuwait in Doha, Qatar.

‘World lost a leader who set rules of humanitarian diplomacy’“AFTER a march full of giving in the service of his country and humanity, his benevolent initiatives echoed around the world and the international community – the United Nations – decorated Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad as Leader of Humanity and the country (Kuwait) Country of Hu-manity on September 9, 2014,” columnist retired Lt Colonel Tareq Hamada wrote for t daily.

“The world lost a leader who established the rules of humanitarian diplomacy which earned him respect from international orga-nizations, states and world leaders.

“The great leader, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, has achieved many feats and suc-cesses which cannot be summarized in just one article. It will need volumes. His reign brought stability in the foreign police and this diplomacy and stability bore fruit on Aug 2, 1990, when the whole world stood in support of the Kuwaiti right when the ‘buried’ Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The United Nations Security Council im-mediately issued a Resolution No 678 au-thorizing the use of all means including military force to liberate Kuwait.

“Kuwait, during the reign of the Amir, saw the development of the economy in leaps and bounds in various fields, and his mediation contributed to solving many

crises. The late Amir deserved the title of Sheikh of Arab Diplo-mats and Dean of Arab and Kuwaiti Diplo-macy.

“The whole world is crying out for the for-given God willing, and I stand helpless to ut-ter words that express deep sadness for the departure of the wise

Arab, the leader of humanity and the god-father of diplomacy. His deeds will remain eternal in our hearts and the hearts of many in the world. The passing of His Highness will not only cry for his people, but also for his nation for his unlimited generosity.

“Our hearts ache with pain and agony at the loss of our leader. Nothing remains for us except to pray to Allah Almighty to for-give him. He gave a lot to his people. Oh

God, give him place in Your paradise.”Also:

“Yesterday, we lost a sympathetic fa-ther, the Amir who was compassionate to-ward his people, was forgiven, God willing -- Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. He earnestly traversed the earth for many years to raise the name of Kuwait and its reputation among the nations,” colum-nist Dr Moudi Abdulaziz Al-Hamoud wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“He initiated and blessed the convoys of goodness that reached the farthest corners of the earth. The whole world bestowed upon him the title, ‘Leader of Humanitar-ian Work’.

“He stood with his people during the harsh-est ordeals, against the attacks of treachery and terror that affected a number of them. He carried the burden of his nation and brothers in the Gulf. He sought to heal the rift between them, reunite them and unify their ranks based on his belief that brotherhood is stronger than disagreement. He made his country transcend the wounds of invasion and denial through sacrifice and effort. He called for continuous reconstruction.

“At this point, I can narrate how I was personally touched and others among your sons and daughters as you served in various parts of the State – the latest of which was a ministry. Considering your great support for us, we repeatedly sought your advice and guidance ... In your presence, I never felt the power of the ruler and fear of meet-ing you – may God have mercy on you – as you received us with a smile.”

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“When Muhammad Abdul Qadir Al-Jassim wrote his book, ‘The Last Sheikhs of Prestige’, in 2006, it caused a sensation in the Kuwaiti society. People welcomed the book, starting from the rule of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad until his passing on Sept 29, 2020,” columnist Dr Wael Al-Hassawi wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“He is indeed the last sheikh of prestige, not only in Kuwait, but also in other Arab and Islamic nations, as his moderate poli-cies had a great impact on the people. He was the last of the exceptional leaders who proved to the people that politics is based on justice and equality between people.

“He maintained balance in all his rulings

and decisions. He rejected normalization of ties between Kuwait and the Zionist en-tity. He said we would be the last country to normalize relations with the Zionist entity. Kuwait followed that approach and it did not force its people to normalize ties with Zionists!

“Also, he had an honorable position on the Gulf-Gulf dispute. Kuwait refused to condone conflicts and played the role of mediator between the conflicting parties. He had an honorable position on the Ye-meni dispute, for which we ask God Al-mighty to inject the blood of Muslims, stop the bloodshed between them and fix their conditions!

“We are not going to enumerate the virtues of HH the late Amir, but we must admit we are facing a new stage in our constitutional process. The emirate easily transitioned into the new Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad - may God protect him. This is by the grace and mer-cy of God Almighty. The Kuwaiti house was arranged with ease and pleasure. Praise God as the replacement is the brother of HH the late Amir and his companion for many years!”

— Compiled by Ahmad Al-Shazli

Other Voices

Tareq Hamada

Peruvian embassy congratulates new Amir

Austrian envoy extends condolencesThe Austrian Embassy mourns the passing away of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The Austrian Ambassador Marian Wrba, wishes to ex-tend Austria’s deep condolences to His Highness’ family, to the Government of the State of Kuwait, and to the people of Kuwait.

Austria has the ut-most respect for His Highness and his proven leadership. His Highness was a great statesman and visionary who tire-lessly promoted peace and security. His wise guidance earned Kuwait a globally respected role of a successful regional and international mediator. We mourn the passing away of a truly great statesman, a visionary leader and a sincere friend of our country.

We are very confi dent that His High-ness Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-

Sabah will continue to lead Kuwait on this path that so successfully ensured the growth of Kuwait and ensured the secu-rity of Kuwait and the whole region.

Austria wishes the new Amir of the State of Kuwait all the best.

Meanwhile, Salah from the Embassy of Peru in Kuwait says it’s his pleasure to attach a word for Rolando Lozada the chargé d’affaires a.i. of Peruvian Embassy in Kuwait on this oc-

casion.“I congratulate His Highness Sheikh

Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on this occasion on my behalf and on behalf of the government and people of Peru, and I would like to take this opportunity to wish His Highness success on this great responsibility and we are all confi dent that he is an excellent successor to an ex-cellent predecessor.”

Wrba Lozada

Finance sets Oct 15 deadline forgovt agencies to submit budgetKUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: Ministry of Finance has set Oct 15 as deadline for the ministries, government de-partments and affi liated agencies to submit the draft budget for next fi scal year 2021/2022, noting the Ministry of Finance asked government agen-cies to form committees to follow up the process, reports Al-Anba daily.

The daily quoting official sources added the Ministry of Finance re-quested government agencies to form a committee at each agency to prepare estimates for fiscal year 2021/2022 wherein the Ministry of Finance (General Budget Affairs) is represented, and concerned authori-ties should send a copy of the de-cision on forming the committee to the Ministry of Finance without de-lay to enable the committee to com-plete the required data and forms upon its formation.

They stated that every government agency subject to the supervision of Financial Observers Authority must submit a copy of its draft budget for the new fi scal year to the Offi ce of Financial Controllers for observation and study, 10 days before the meet-ing of the committee concerned with studying the draft budget and the rep-resentatives of Ministry of Finance or before its referral to the Ministry Financial in its fi nal form.

The same sources said the Finance Ministry issued inevitable proposals for the current expenditures. The fi rst chapter of the budget for compensat-ing employees is represented in the amendments made concerning the implementation of laws and decisions issued for the fi scal year or degrees or credits transferred to other bodies un-der the implementation of law, decree or cabinet decision, periodic bonuses or seniority promotions.

Sources indicated it is permissible for all government agencies, after ap-

proval of the Ministry of Finance, to take measures to offer practices and tenders for new proposals included in the government entity draft budget for fi scal year 2021/2022 submitted to the National Assembly provided that the contracts are not awarded until the issuance of the new budget link law.

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Ministry of Electricity and Water has activated its portal with the Pub-lic Authority for Housing Welfare through which transactions related to electricity connection to new plots will be accomplished, as announced by the ministry’s Assistant Undersec-retary for Planning and Development Sector, Ahmad Al-Rashidi, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In a statement, Al-Rashidi said a new service was activated few days ago linking the ministry with the Pub-lic Authority for Housing Welfare through a portal, which on its part, is-sues clearance letter to proceed with the delivery of electricity to the own-ers of plots.

Al-Rashidi pointed out that the ministry is focusing heavily on the digital transformation plan by provid-ing multiple electronic services, as the public can now complete everything they want electronically, including electricity connection and extensions or transfer of specific cable and instal-lation of meters, and most important-ly, first time power connection, then issuance of e-invoice.

With regard to e-messaging in the second part of the digital transfor-mation plan, Al-Rashidi explained “it is related to developing the work within the ministry’s sectors itself through the circulation of electricity correspondence between various or-ganizational units that started in the minister and undersecretary’s offices, followed by planning sector.

Grievances panel rejects ‘CAPT’ moveto award tender to the lowest bidderKUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: The grievances committee has rejected the decision of the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) regarding its approval to award a tender for the supply and installation of 200,000 smart meters to the lowest bid-der, which will return the competition ball to the fi rst, reports Aljarida daily quoting informed sources from CAPT.

They said, “CAPT’s meeting, which was held to discuss the voting on the ten-der, witnessed a great difference in opin-ions that in turn refl ected in the result of the voting. The process had with the ap-proval of 6 out of 11 members to award the tender at the lowest offer based on the recommendation of the Ministry of Elec-tricity and Water”.

The sources ruled out the possibility that the installation of smart electricity meters will start from mid-June of next

year, especially since the grievances com-mittee refused to approve awarding the tender at the lowest prices.

Meanwhile, Head of the South Abdul-lah Al-Mubarak People’s Gathering Khaled Al-Daihani confi rmed that the Ministry of Finance’s circular to reduce the budget of the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) by 20 percent could negatively affect tenders for public buildings, sewage stations and a rain tank; calling for resolving the tenders issue and speeding up the signing of tenders to com-plete such projects in accordance with the timetable, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Al-Daihani conveyed to the daily that PAHW offi cials have affi rmed the forma-tion of a committee for the initial receipt of the projects, indicating the members of the committee include representatives of several government agencies.

LOCALARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020

4

Al-Anba photosTop and above: Plants across the country seen drying up.

Human-related reasons?

Cosmetic agriculture deterioratingKUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: Streets and walk-ways are experiencing “deforestation” de-spite the huge sums of money being spent to improve afforestation in various parts of the country due to its positive health impacts and aesthetics, reports Al-Anba daily.

On walkways and semi-circular bridges on the Sixth Ring Road, the Arabian Gulf Street and the main roads, entrances to cities and in-ternal streets, dry trees can be seen with bare branches raised towards the sky as if they are crying for help but with no answer.

It is worth mentioning that the autumn season and the changes that accompany it are expected soon. The summer heat affected the longevity of these plants along with the re-percussions of the COVID-19 outbreak this year, which paralyzed the country. However, all these factors are not suffi cient to justify the tragic situation of these trees that had been planted based on plans and projects that cost a lot of money.

During the prevailing climate, methods of maintenance, irrigation and special care programs are taken into account so that these funds are not wasted, and the planta-tion of the trees do not turn into something that distorts the general landscape instead

of beautifying it.In addition, the interest in cosmetic agri-

culture projects in Kuwait started in the early 1970s. Kuwait was one of the fi rst Gulf coun-tries that was interested in this fi eld, as it an-nually celebrates the Green Day in October of every year. Since the 1980s, Kuwait has sent students to the best international universities to study agricultural sciences in a bid to de-velop beautifi cation programs in the country and improve the living environment.

While some believe that the inability to improve and develop this sector is due to technical reasons, preceded by reliance on old methods and not keeping pace with tech-nological development in this fi eld, which negatively affects the quality and continu-ity of cosmetic agriculture, others believe the reasons are human-related due to the migration of competent agricultural experts because of lack of incentives, and their re-placement with non-specialized labor force.

This matter has been placed before the concerned parties with the hope of fi nding practical solutions that can revive life of these trees as well as restore Kuwait’s lead-ership in cosmetic agriculture among the countries of the region.

MEW’s statistics opendoor for controversies

Current expansions of housing projects in focus

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: The statistics issued by the Ministry of Electric-ity and Water has opened the door for controversy again regarding the min-istry’s ability to fulfi ll future energy commit-ments, in light of the cur-rent expansions of hous-ing projects, foremost of which is the Mutla’a project, reports Al-Qabas daily.

According to the statistics is-sued two days ago, on future projections of the installed ca-pacity of electric power stations between 2020 to 2025, will re-main constant from the begin-ning of this year until the end of 2022, as it reaches 19,968 MW during that period, noting that it includes 250 MW added re-cently from the combined cycle steam unit project at the Az-Zour South power plant.

As for the real leap, it is sched-uled to take place in 2025, as the total installed capacity is expected to reach 26,518 megawatts, with an increase of 5,700 megawatts at once, as 1,200 megawatts will enter the network from the Al-Khairan power plant project ‘the fi rst phase’ and 2,400 megawatts from the Nu-waiseeb power plant project. The Ministry estimates the cost of the fi rst phase at 850 million dinars, and fi nally 1,800 megawatts of the sec-ond and third phase project for the Az-Zour North power station after their merger.

ObstaclesThere is a concern due to the ob-

stacles that have faced the three pro-jects over recent years, whether the Az-Zour North and Khairan projects that are implemented by the Partner-ship Projects Authority (PPA) or the Nuwaiseeb power plant project to be implemented by the Ministry of Electricity itself, which is the larg-est project in its history, with total

production during various stages of 7,200 MW, said the daily quoting sources.

The sources pointed out that the implementation of these projects is very slow, despite the recent moves, and signing the contract with a glob-al consultant responsible for speci-fi cations for the Az-Zour and Al-Khairan power plants, as well as the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) announcing a tender for soil inspection for the Nuwaiseeb power station site, which witnessed a ma-jor breakthrough after its failure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so that hope remains for a similar step for the other tenders for the same station from the same global consultant, whose documents have also been kept by the agency for a long time.

The sources pointed out that the last steps on the level of these pro-jects are very late, given that the second phase of Az-Zour North — before the decision to merge the second and third phases together — was supposed to enter service cur-rently, and likewise it was assumed that the fi rst phase of Al-Khairan station, and the third of Az-Zour North, construction has begun in them at the moment.

Sources warn that the failure to complete the scheduled stages of the three projects by 2025 means that the ministry will inevitably suffer partial inability to fulfi ll its obliga-tions, expecting that the implemen-tation of the fi rst phase of the Nu-waiseeb station will be delayed — at least — from its scheduled date so it is anybody’s guess about the ability of the PPA and the private sector to complete the projects on schedule.

The sources add that the various regulatory authorities should shake off the dust of bureaucracy and help the ministry to fulfi ll its obligations towards citizens and the state in gen-eral, especially since these control measures also affect what is imple-mented by the PPA.

According to the sources, con-cerns increase not only for the entry of giant housing projects, as well as malls and large commercial expan-sion projects in the coming years, but for the aging of some of the cur-rent stations that have been operat-ing for decades, as it is known that the Doha East and South Shuaiba power stations were due to be put out of service within two years — 2020 and 2021 — a plan that has been postponed due to the delay in

completing new projects, as well as a signifi cant delay in fl oating ten-ders for the rehabilitation of boil-ers and turbines in other plants, to ensure their effi ciency during the coming years, as they are mainte-nance operations that differ signifi -cantly from those that are conduct-ed annually.

Sources said that the stations sector began in early September to implement the annual maintenance program at the level of the various stations, and that arrangements are currently underway with the re-sponsible authorities in the coun-try to facilitate the recruitment of experts from several countries, in-cluding Japan, Italy, India, Malay-sia and Korea, as the matter needs to be approved by the Council of Ministers, the Interior and Health ministries, to facilitate the process of their entry in light of the current conditions.

Informed sources considered that the ministry’s current reassurance that there is an abundance in produc-tion does not mean never worrying about the situation in the future, es-pecially since the plans for building new stations faced a very big disrup-tion in recent years.

New bankruptcy law will put Kuwait among developed countries: MoCIKUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: The Min-istry of Commerce and Industry has said the new bankruptcy law approved by the National As-sembly is modern and serves the economic stage, indicating that it includes more than 300 arti-cles which are aimed at chang-ing the organizational structure of bankruptcy and puts Kuwait in the rank of developed countries, reports Al-Rai daily.

After the new preventive settle-ment law was approved, the min-istry said, “The rules regulating bankruptcy have become a glob-al issue, and the law maximizes the returns of creditors and the

collection of the largest amount of their money.”

The sources stated the law reorganizes the legal framework for bankruptcy provisions con-tained in the Commercial Law No. 68 of 1980, by introducing preventive settlement and re-structuring systems that aim to save commercial enterprises, and enables the bankrupt es-tablishments to start again to conduct business by exempting the remaining debt with regard to small and medium enterpris-es, as well as enabling stalled companies due to external and temporary reasons to obtain the

necessary protection from credi-tors in order to achieve econom-ic goals.

Regarding the most important features of the law, the ministry made it clear that it stipulated the establishment of a bankruptcy department similar to the execu-tion department to give bank-ruptcy issues a kind of privacy and urgency in the implementa-tion. It also gave the supervisory authorities such as the Central Bank and the Capital Markets Authority the necessary fl exibility to set special rules for them given the privacy of private entities to monitor them.

LOCALARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020

5

Private nurseries report on Oct 29

Ministry sets date to update fi lesKUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: Assistant Under-secretary for Social Development at the Ministry of Social Affairs Hana Al-Hajri announced that the ministry has set dates for receiving owners of private nurseries (kindergartens) to update their fi les at the Ministry of Social Affairs building in the Community Development Center starting from Sunday until Oct 29, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In a statement to the daily, Al-Hajri explained that owners of private nurser-ies will be booking appointments through an app called “Wafi ” where they’re sup-posed to submit the required documents.

The documents include original and copies of civil card, license, academic qualifi cation of the license holder and ap-

provals from the municipality, fi re depart-ment, the Ministry of Education, Public Authority for the Disabled and approval of the neighborhood signed by mayor of the region, the company’s incorporation certifi cate for educational companies, ap-proval of the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises Development and Welfare, and the receipt of the fi nancial security deposit in the Ministry’s treasury.

Al-Hajiri also stated that requests will be received from the owners of private nurs-eries during offi cial working hours from 9:00am until twelve noon. She clarifi ed that the Ministry will stop receiving new re-quests to open nurseries, starting from Sun-day until the completion of auditing, update and documentation of all current nurseries.

Late Amir Sheikh Sabah visionedKuwait as regional business hub

‘Kuwait 2035’ brainchild of the departed soul

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: If His Highness the late Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, may God rest his soul, was privileged to have the titles Dean of Diplomacy and Leader of Humanitarian Action, given his prominent roles politically and socially at the global level, we also have the right to describe him with the insightful economic vision and the supervisor of the econom-ic future, reports Al-Rai daily.

This was in more than one po-sition, and it appeared in more than one decision and direction, and it was evident in many of his speeches – may God have mercy on him – during a career that spanned more than 14 years, which was the period of his rule in the country.

Since the beginning of his tenure in power in the country, the late Amir had launched his lofty desire to trans-form Kuwait into a regional and in-ternational fi nancial and commercial center, by developing a national pro-ject that would advance the national economy and enhance the compre-hensive and sustainable development process.

In terms of addressing the imbal-ances in the Kuwaiti economy, His Highness’s directives have always focused on the need to address them through a package of measures to ensure correcting the course of the state budget and activating the role of the private sector to assume its responsibilities by actively contribut-ing to economic activity. The trend towards renewable energy was also one of the Kuwait’s desires to provide part of Kuwait’s needs for generating electricity, in addition to dealing with many economic crises, including the global fi nancial crisis in 2008, to the oil price crises in 2016 and then dur-ing the current fi scal year, when the emerging COVID-19 (corona crisis) shattered the world economy.

Kuwait achieved economic re-vival on more than one level during

the late era, from the completion of many infrastructure projects in sev-eral areas, health, education and oth-ers, to the leaps the country made on the indicators of ease of business and global competitiveness, to the development of the capital market, which was crowned with the promo-tion of the Kuwait Stock Exchange to be among the emerging markets on 3 global indicators. These were among the achievements during the reign of His Highness the late Amir, the establishment of a fund to fi nance entrepreneurs who own small and me-dium enterprises with a capital of two billion dinars.

The late Amir has always empha-sized that structural imbalances in the national economy constitute a heavy burden and a real concern that threat-ens the country’s ability to implement its programs and face its fi nancial ob-ligations, stressing in more than one speech and on numerous occasions, throughout his reign, the need to ad-dress these imbalances, and warning that the effects of our economic real-ity spells dangers, whose limits are diffi cult to predict.

In light of this, His Highness – may God have mercy on him – repeatedly called for a package of measures to be taken to ensure correcting the course of the state’s general budget, espe-cially in light of its dependence on oil, whose prices went through more than one crisis during the reign of the late Amir, so whoever was negatively af-fected by the global fi nancial crisis in 2008 to the ‘oil’ crisis in 2016, then the 2020 crisis, which plunged the price of a barrel as a result of the bat-tle for market shares on the one hand, and the repercussions of the spread of the corona virus on the other hand.

RemediesMore than once the need to fi nd

remedies for misuse of fi nancial sur-pluses was emphasized and not invest-ing them in the correct manner, and to activate the role of the private sector in assuming its responsibilities by ac-tively participating in economic activ-ity, with the need to stop the manifesta-tions of irresponsible consumer waste.

The late Amir had a vision for ‘de-velopment; based on a deep strategic concept that includes economic, polit-ical and security dimensions, starting with the relentless pursuit of the resto-ration of Kuwait’s role as a regional fi nancial and commercial center.

The 14 years in which His High-

ness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad com-manded the Kuwaiti ship was fi lled with many big development and ser-vice projects that contributed to trans-lating His Highness’s vision for the revival and development of the coun-try, in various fi elds, including health, education, housing, and infrastruc-ture, in addition to providing support to the local private sector to play its for role in promoting the process of economic and social development.

BrainchildThe “Kuwait 2035” vision was

the brainchild of the late Amir to transform Kuwait into a regional and global fi nancial and commercial center to attract investment, with the private sector leading the economic activity, achieve human development, promote competition and raise pro-duction effi ciency under a supportive institutional apparatus, while exploit-ing the Kuwaiti potential with all the basic ingredients to launch this future vision and providing investment and development opportunities, given Kuwait’s distinguished geographical location, good legislative structure, an integrated judicial system, and a balanced foreign policy. The period of the late Amir’s rule witnessed the global fi nancial crisis in 2008, which affected the local economy just like the other countries of the world.

The state, under the leadership of His Highness the late Amir, adopted an approach that led to reassuring and reducing the effects of the crisis locally, as the national portfolio was established with a capital of 1.5 bil-lion dinars, with the aim of preserv-ing the stability of the stock exchange market, which reduced the impact of the crisis on investors in the capital market, and contributed to limiting stock declines. The Financial Stabil-ity Law was also approved, with the aim of providing legal protection for troubled companies that are able to continue, in addition to issuing a law to guarantee deposits with banks, as a precautionary measure, to provide reassurance in the banking sector and among depositors, as part of measures taken to limit the effects of the global economic crisis.

Kuwait, during the reign of the late Amir, for the fi rst time, ranked among the top 10 countries that improved in the results of the World Bank In-dex of ease of doing business in 190 countries, in its latest version, with the bank praising the progress made

by Kuwait in enhancing the role of the private sector and improving the busi-ness and investment environment and the assertion that Kuwait is “moving in the right direction.”

Kuwait also came among the most improved countries in the Middle East in terms of developing its com-petitiveness, according to the Global Competitiveness Index issued by the World Economic Forum (Davos) in October of last year, after it jumped 8 places to rank 46 globally out of 141 countries included in the index. .

In support of the Kuwaiti entrepre-neurial youth, and in the interest of de-veloping the small and medium-sized enterprises sector, given the impor-tance it constitutes for any economy, the National Fund for Small and Me-dium Enterprises Development was established in the era of His Highness the Amir, specifi cally in 2012, with a capital of two billion dinars, in order to fi nance the entrepreneurs’ projects, and direct Kuwaiti youth towards private work, to be wealth makers instead of relying on government employment. Within his insightful fu-ture economic vision, came the lofty desire of the late Amir to secure 15 percent of the domestic demand for electricity through renewable energy by 2030, which would save more than $ 2.46 billion annually.

This desire will be implemented by reducing the crude oil used to gener-ate electricity locally, which will in-crease oil exports and refi ned materi-als and maximize state revenues.

The Kuwait Stock Exchange also made great leaps in the era of the late Amir, on several levels.

In 2010, the Capital Markets Au-thority was established with the aim of regulating securities activities in a manner that is fair, competitive and transparent, developing the stock market, diversifying and developing its investment tools, while seeking to comply with international best prac-tices, and providing protection for dealers in securities activity.

The stock exchange was also allo-cated at the end of last year by sell-ing 44 percent of its shares through an auction to the private sector, in addition to citizens subscribing to 50 percent of the company’s shares, and the exchange received the promotion within 3 global indicators for emerg-ing markets, namely, FTSE Russell and Standard & Poor Dow Jones, the latest of which is “MSCI”, which will go into effect next November.

LOCALARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020

6

HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah,1929-2020 – the consummate leader

Business community hails HHlate Amir, ‘prince of humanity’

‘HH believed in importance of projects directed at youth’

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 1: The business community recalled the vision of His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah A l - A h m a d Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in support of the economy, describ-ing it as a bulwark; thanks to what it contained in terms of effective solu-tions and perma-nent initiatives in providing economic solutions that bene-fit the country’s economic sectors in a comprehensive manner, reports Al-Rai daily.

The business said the march of the late Amir in the renaissance of Kuwait, economically and humanely, is long and protracted.

They pointed out that His Highness succeeded, during a long journey of giving, to make Kuwait an oasis of security and stability, in the midst of extremely difficult and complex circumstanc-es.

They indicated that His Highness believed in the importance of projects directed at youth, strength-ening their role and grant-ing them all facilities to contribute to building a sus-tainable future for Kuwait, and worked tirelessly to transform Kuwait into a leading regional financial center.

SectorThey pointed out that His

Highness the late Amir worked to keep the wheel of the economy moving, and to strengthen the role of the private sector in supporting development by diversify-ing sources of income and overcoming obstacles, and easing bureaucracy in front of investors, stating that Sheikh Sabah’s economic fingerprints were clear in the national economy, thanks to his ambition and the dream to transform Kuwait into a financial and commercial center in the region.

Former chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ali Muhammad Thunayan Al-Ghanim said, “His Highness the late Sheikh Sabah was a distin-guished man with a vision that you rarely find in other people and who has distin-guished attitudes towards Kuwait and its people that have prevented it from entering into the problems in the Middle East during the past years.

He was distinguished by the respect of most coun-tries of the world. His naming the Leader of Humanity by the United Nations is a source of pride for Kuwait and its people, he said.

CrisisThe Chairman of the

Board of Directors of the Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Sheikh Ahmad Duaij Al-Sabah, said that His Highness, the late Amir of Kuwait, was known as the first support-er of the banking and financial sector, and the main contributor to quick-ly getting out of the reper-cussions of the 2008 glob-al financial crisis, thanks to his insightful vision, effective solutions and permanent initiatives in providing economic solu-tions that it is in the inter-est of the state’s economic sectors in a comprehensive manner.

The CEO of the National Bank of Kuwait in Kuwait, Salah Al-Fulaij, said, “We have lost one of the most loyal Kuwaiti men through-out history, and one of the most prominent leaders of security and peace in the world.

Al-Fulaij added, “Our late Amir was one of the pillars of the state from the declaration of independence until his death. He succeed-ed during a long journey of giving in making Kuwait an oasis of security and stabil-ity, amid extremely difficult and complex conditions.

The Executive Vice-President of the National Bank of Kuwait Group, Sheikha Al-Bahr, said that the world lost with the death of His Highness the

By Chaitali B. RoySpecial to the Arab Times

A consummate diplomat, peace-maker and a humanitarian, the

death of Kuwait’s Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah marks the end of an era not only for his country but for the region. A statesman of vision, Sheikh Sabah was relentless in the pursuit of his vision of Kuwait as a proactive con-tributor to regional and international stability, and his unflinching belief in Arab unity. Popularly known as the ‘wise man of the region’, he dedicated six decades of his life to public service steering Kuwait and the region, both as the longest-serv-ing foreign minister and later as the Amir through difficult and uncertain waters.

As a diplomat and a foreign policy expert, Sheikh Sabah believed in rec-onciliation and moderation. In his first speech at the UN, he said: “Kuwait’s participation in interna-tional activities clearly indicates that our independence and our member-ship of the UN are not an end by themselves, but are rather a means by which Kuwait can share responsibil-ity in improving the lives of the peo-ple in our country and other coun-tries.” His political objectives always included taking other Arab countries on the road of growth and develop-ment. He believed in the power and importance of Arab unity in over-coming conflict and disagreement in the region as seen most recently in the Qatar conflict.

Humanitarian causes were close to his heart, and for the better part of his tenure as a leader, he invested hand-somely in international humanitarian efforts. In 2014, while recognising the Amir’s role as a leader and sup-porter of the United Nations humani-tarian work, Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General said, “We thank the Amir and the people of Kuwait for their outstand-ing generosity towards people in need. Kuwait has increased its sup-port for multilateral humanitarian action exponentially since the start of the crisis in Syria. In the past two years, Kuwait has donated hundreds of millions of dollars for humanitari-an operations – not only in the Middle East but in Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan. Kuwait’s leadership and funding has saved lives and has galvanised others to participate in coordinated humani-tarian action.”

Sheikh Sabah’s acts of charity, his worldwide relief efforts, and his encouragement of sustainable devel-opment and productive ventures raised the international standing of Kuwait. He also translated his humanitarian objectives through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Science (KFAS), in addition to other relief and voluntary youth institutions and philanthropic organisations. In 2014, the Arab Family Organization presented the former Amir with the first Arab world prize for humanitar-ian endeavour and societal enhance-ment, in appreciation of his continu-ous efforts to support the Arab coun-tries and boosting their status and value on the world stage.

One of the most important acts held under his command was Kuwait’s leading role in coordinating relief efforts and contributing to the Syrian humanitarian crisis. Not only did Kuwait host three major International Pledging Conferences for Syria, but it was also one of the few countries that fulfilled all its promises. In Feb 2016, Kuwait co-chaired the fourth international con-ference in London. Total Kuwaiti aid for Syrians in the four conferences reached $ 6.6 billion.

Sheikh Sabah’s approach to aid was pragmatic. He was not fond of prestige projects. Instead, assistance from Kuwait went directly into sus-tainable development projects that allowed beneficiary countries to develop themselves. His Highness encouraged considerable investment in development and human capital in Africa. In 2013, he invited the African and Arab leaders to attend the 3rd Arab-Africa Summit in Kuwait. The attendance was record-breaking. For his role in narrowing the gap between Africa and the Arab world, Sheikh Sabah was granted an “honorary membership” of the African Union. Whether it was Ebola, the Palestine crisis, the resettlement of refugees, developing infrastruc-ture, encouraging agriculture and food development, or scientific research funding Sheikh Sabah was prompt, decisive and progressive in his efforts. The lives he touched spanned cultures and continents.

A unique diplomat, his reconcilia-tion efforts with Iraq was extraordi-nary. He hosted a donor conference for the former aggressor and pledged millions for the reconstruction of Iraq. In the end, he was a consummate leader who straddled the pre-oil world in which he grew up, and the fast-paced evolving present with ease and with his wisdom and vision earned the admiration and respect of his peers and juniors alike. As he steps into the other half of eternity, we reach out to diplomats, former ministers, and ordi-nary citizens for their response.

Dr Massouma Al Mubarak First Woman Cabinet Minister

of KuwaitHis Highness Sheikh Sabah

Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was an extraordinary combination of sim-

plicity, wisdom and generosity. He was a messenger of peace and bridged conflicts all over the world. He gained the love of his people, even the young ones who called him ‘Baba Sabah’. He gained the respect of world leaders with his honest diplo-macy. He was kind to the poor and needy all over the world. For so many decades, his hands were reaching out to the poor wherever they are. Therefore he was recognised and awarded by the United Nations.

HE Michael DavenportAmbassador of Great BritainSheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah

was for decades a force for peace and stability in Kuwait’s neighbourhood. As Foreign Minister for 38 years, he shaped Kuwait’s post-independence foreign policy and helped to found the Gulf Co-operation Council. As Amir he established Kuwait as a leading humanitarian donor across the region, helping to relieve suffer-ing in places torn apart by conflict. He will also be remembered for forg-ing ever closer bonds between Kuwait the United Kingdom. We mourn his passing and share Kuwaitis’ grief in their loss.

HE Jonathan GilbertAmbassador of AustraliaHis Highness Sheikh Sabah

Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah will be remembered by Australians for not just working to build a modern-Kuwait, but also his tireless efforts to promote peace, security and prosper-ity in the Middle East. Under his leadership, Kuwait scaled up its humanitarian efforts across the region, including in Yemen, Syria, Libya, and Iraq. The Amir’s agenda was one of peace, underpinned by a commitment to mediation and humanitarian efforts. He will be missed. Australia mourns his loss.

Dr Moudhi Al HumoudFormer Cabinet Minister and

Former President of Arab Open University

Sheikh Sabah al Ahmad Al Sabah will be remembered because of his efforts and successes in diplomacy, governance and humanitarian work. His leadership and personal initia-tives made him a unique global lead-er. Under his guidance, Kuwait’s Humanitarian outreach program assisted numerous survivors of natu-ral disasters, as well as survivors of war-torn countries and refugee camps worldwide. His Highness sought ear-nestly to resolve conflict within the Gulf States. He was pioneering in his efforts to rebuild Iraq and Syria, as well as playing an active role in resolving the conflict in Yemen. As a ruler, he was keen about the welfare of his people and adhered to the democratic approach in his rule. He was a strong proponent of youth ini-tiatives and played a pivotal role in the promotion and support of female empowerment. The life of Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah will for-ever remain ingrained in the history of Kuwait, and his vision will guide us into the future.

HE Alina L. RomanowskiAmbassador of USAHH Sheikh Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad

Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was an exceptional leader who worked tirelessly to pro-mote peace and unity in the region. He was known for his wisdom and human-itarian efforts, with an impact on the lives of countless people around the globe. He was also a special friend to the United States, and one that we will never forgot. The world has lost a great leader today. The Amir was a cherished leader and special friend to the United States and his legacy will live on.

HE Sibi George Ambassador of IndiaHis Highness Sheikh Sabah

Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was someone who led this country through many challenges for several decades. He was Foreign Minister of Kuwait for over forty years and Amir for over fourteen years. Kuwait and its people will miss him dearly. For India, he was a great friend and a well-wisher. He contributed immensely in building our bilateral partnership. He visited India on several occasions, including his memorable State visit in 2006. With his passing away, the Indian community in Kuwait has also lost a benevolent leader who showered spe-cial care and affection on them. Indians today are loved and respected in this country. Their contributions to the economic progress of Kuwait is well appreciated by the people of Kuwait. We cherish his special liking for Indians and the special care he took of Indians here.

HE Nabila Al Mulla First Female Ambassador from

the GCC, and First Woman from the Middle East to Chair the International Atomic Energy Agency

Sheikh Sabah was unique in his leadership. I have known and worked under his guidance for four decades. May his spirit of compassion and brotherhood among our people pre-vail forever. May his innate quest for reconciliation and moderation remain a beacon for all. May his ability to rise above calamities be appreciated and emulated.

HE Syed Sajjad HaiderAmbassador of PakistanHis Highness Sheikh Sabah

Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Amir of Kuwait has passed away plunging his country into mourning for a leader regarded by many people as a savvy diplomat, and humanitari-an champion. Sheikh Sabah ruled Kuwait since 2006 and steered its foreign policy for almost 50 years. I had the opportunity of meeting him twice in Oct 2006 with my then Foreign Minister and later in Jan 2020. On both these occasions, I

found him highly energetic, and well versed in global issues. The late Amir was loved by the Pakistani people for his benevolent support and kindness towards them. History will always remember him as ‘the man of peace’.

Dr Lubna Al QadiDirector of Women’s Research

Studies Center, Kuwait University.Shaikh Sabah Ahmad Jaber

Al-Sabah was not just a ruler but a father to his citizens. He was a cham-pion for women’s rights even before he became the ruler. He not only declared Kuwait’s commitment to Gender Equality in 2015 when sign-ing Kuwait’s support for the Sustainable Development Goals at the UN. He had gender empower-ment inserted in the Vision of New Kuwait. He strived to bring the region together and smooth the differences as a kind father wanting unity instead of strife. He rose to help any country in crisis regardless of religion as only a humane leader would do. In these times of unrest with dictators in some countries, he will be missed for his diplomacy ,his vision of spreading peace and his example as a wise and kind leader loved and mourned by his people.

HE Benedict GublerAmbassador of SwitzerlandI heard with profound sorrow

about the passing away of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. I can only recall his world-renowned leadership in negotiating peace for the Middle East. He was also the recipient of several awards including the recent US Legion of Merit, Degree Chief Commander, in recog-nition of his efforts in the field of Human Rights. He was also a beloved friend of Switzerland and its people. I remember being received with courtesy and kindness by His Highness. I will always remember him as a great leader and an outstand-ing statesman.

Hisham IbrahimPresident of General Union of

Palestinian Engineers To be a true leader, one must be

benign, impartial, courageous, and most importantly, selfless/altruistic. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was characterised by all these powerful adjectives, specifical-ly in his dealings with the Palestinians and their country. Sheikh Sabah had the urge and drive to help many countries, when service and assis-tance were needed, despite the risks that awaited him. Kuwait had a sig-nificant, historical role when it came to defending the rights of Palestinians. The earliest contribution Kuwait made to Palestine was in the field of medicine and education. Kuwait helped build Al Maqased Hospital and the Jerusalem University in Palestine. Also, Kuwait has donated millions through UNRWA to support the lives of Palestinian refugees in various places. In 1965, the Palestinian Revolution was founded in Kuwait and supported by its lead-ers and people. After the Naksa of 1967, many Palestinian families migrated to Kuwait, where they final-ly felt protected, educated, and most importantly respected. These contri-butions never stopped, and they go on to this day. That’s what altruism is, and that is why the former Amir can be described as an altruistic leader.

Nejoud Al YaqoutPoetSome rulers leave behind an awe-

inspiring legacy. Sheikh Sabah is one such ruler. His seamless expertise in the realm of foreign relations and his charitable and humanitarian efforts are testaments to his innate capacity for leadership. The wisdom in which he handled certain regional challeng-es will remain an indelible imprint in the history of Kuwait and that of the world. And how can we forget the way in which he showed his paternal instincts during the terrorist attack on the Imam Al Sadiq mosque in Kuwait in 2015? Even though the area was not yet cleared, he risked his life to rush to the scene of the attack, pro-claiming poignantly: These are my children. May his legacy inspire lead-ers across the globe to choose unity over divisiveness.

Pinak MaitraGroup CFO KipcoHis Highness Sheikh Sabah

Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah had qualities that many world leaders could use more - A man of wisdom, full of compassion, he took action to help people in trouble anywhere in the world. He has a positive attitude to life, and he had a forgiving spirit. He was a leader with immense patience.

Soumaya Al AzemPhilanthropist Awarded the

Federal Order of Merit by Germany

To be charitable, to feel empathy for the unfortunate, to give from the blessings we receive is what every religion teaches. And these values are held high in Kuwait society. Many crises in the world have found an immediate response in Kuwait, and with the Syrian crisis, it has echoed at even different levels. Giving is some-thing that everybody can do. Financial giving is one aspect, but to give time and effort is sometimes more difficult, especially with our lives being busy. It is also essential to motivate and inspire others. The humanitarian summits held in Kuwait under the leadership of His Highness the Amir did just that, and it united so many on a newfound ground of giving. The role model His Highness set has inspired Kuwait and neighbouring countries to act quickly and to help and share.

The Amir was a cherished leader and special friend to the United States and his legacy will live on.

The Canadian PM with the late Amir.

Canada offers condolences

late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, a bril-liant leader and wise man who devoted his life to the service of his people and his nation and the service of all humanity.

Al-Bahar added, “The visionary left us, and we have lost a national leader who has defined the path of modern Kuwait’s develop-ment and renaissance in all fields, and his sincere his-torical positions in the ser-vice of his country and nation will remain eternal in the memory of genera-tions.”

The CEO of the Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Ilham Mahfouz, explained that His Highness the late Amir was an open economic thinker, who con-tributed to enhancing the performance of all econom-

ic sectors in the country and enhancing the business environment in the local market through his keen-ness to direct support to all business sectors and facili-tate their work.

The late Amir believed in the importance of projects directed at youth, enhanc-ing their role and giving them all the facilities to contribute to building a sus-tainable future for Kuwait, and he also worked to trans-form Kuwait into a leading regional financial center, he said.

CEO of GMC Behbehani Company, Adel Behbehani, said that His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad was like the compassionate father to all the people of Kuwait, and explained that he always asked about his acquain-

tances and followed their news and conditions when meeting with him on every occasion.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kuwait Airways, Captain Ali Al-Dukhan, mourned the death of the late leader of humanity, His Highness the late Amir of the coun-try Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad.

Al-Dukhan said, “On my own behalf and on behalf of my brothers, members of the (Kuwaiti) board of directors and all of its employees, the company regrets the loss of the Amir of the country and its dear father, the Prince of Humanity, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, may God rest his soul in peace.

“Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah tirelessly served the people of Kuwait. His leadership, his vision, and his generosity towards the Canadian troops stationed there will not be forgot-ten. Today, our thoughts are with all who are mourning his passing.”–PM Trudeau.

❑ ❑ ❑

Official Statement from Canadian Ambassador to the State of Kuwait:

It is with great sadness and grief that we learned of the passing of HH the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. Our deepest condo-lences and sympathies go to the Al-Sabah family and the people of Kuwait. His great contributions to his country and to the world will never be forgotten. His tireless dedication to serve his country for the past 40 years made him an exemplary leader on the international stage and a steady advocate for peace and stability. He was celebrated as a humanitarian lead-er, and his efforts helped so many escape poverty and suffering. He was a true friend and ally of Canada who recognized the many pillars that kept our countries connected, notably trade, investment, education and humanitarian approaches to foreign policy. Kuwait and the world have lost a great statesman indeed.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau,

today issued the following statement on the death of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of Kuwait:

“It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of Kuwait. On behalf of the Government of Canada, I offer my deepest condolences to the Ruling Family, the Government of the State of Kuwait, and the people of Kuwait.

“His Highness Sheikh Sabah dedicated his life to the service of his country. He was recognized worldwide as a great humanitar-ian leader. Under his leadership, Kuwait has led humanitarian relief efforts and interna-tional development work in countries around the world, providing assistance to victims of conflict and those in need. His Highness will be remembered for his com-mitment to fostering dialogue and the peaceful settlement of disputes, as well as to promoting collaboration between nations to address global challenges.

“Canada and Kuwait enjoy a long-stand-ing friendship, which continued under His Highness’ leadership, as demonstrated by our cooperation on regional security and the expansion of our economic ties. His Highness’ generosity towards the Canadian Armed Forces troops stationed in Kuwait will also not be forgotten.

“Today, Canada joins the people of Kuwait in honouring their leader and his profound legacy.”

Photo of HH the late Amir being placed and prayers being offered (right).

Bhutan offers prayers across countryH.E. Tshering Gyaltshen PenjorAmbassador of the Kingdom of

Bhutan to Kuwait❑ ❑ ❑

On behalf of the members of the Royal Bhutanese Embassy in Kuwait, I

express my personal sympathy, heartfelt and deepest condolences to the Government and the people of Kuwaiton the sad passing away of His Highness Late Sheikh SabahAl-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah; an exem-plary leader and the Amir of humanitarian known for his political wisdom, diplomacy and humanitarian effort.

Under the wise lead-ership of His Highness, Kuwait has not only achieved peace, prog-ress and prosperity but also a high interna-tional standing in the global community. His Highness leaves behind a legacy of outstanding contributions to the advance-ment of peace and stability. The demise of His Highness is a great loss not only to Kuwait but also to the international com-munity.

Bhutan highly values its friendship with Kuwait which is based on mutual goodwill,

trust and respect that has been fostered by our leaders at the highest political levels and nurtures by our people over the years. The People of Bhutan had the utmost love, respect and admiration for His Highness Sheikh Sabah.

The Late Amir Sheikh Sabah was a good friend of Bhutan and contributed greatly to strengthening relations between Bhutan and Kuwait. To honour His Highness, the Royal Government of Bhutan has decided to fly the Bhutanese National flag at half-mast on 30th September 2020 across the country and in the Bhutanese embassies, missions and consulates abroad.

His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, King of Bhutan,offered prayers and Karmi Tonchoe (thousand butter lamps) for His Highness the Late Amir of Kuwait in Samdrupjonghar, as His Majesty is on a tour to the southeastern region of the coun-try. Prayers were conducted by the people of Bhutan across the nation to pray for the departed soul to rest in peace in paradise.

In this hour of grief, we convey our deep-est condolences, sympathy and deep sorrow to His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, mem-bers of Al-Sabah Ruling Family, Governmentof Kuwait and to the friendly people of Kuwait.

May the departed soul rest in peace and the people of Kuwait be granted fortitude and strength during this time of grief.

Penjor

INTERNATIONALARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020

7

China

Hotel bookings 50% higher

Virus has Chinese touristsheading for internal travelHONG KONG, Oct 1, (AP): Millions of Chinese tourists usually spend their weeklong National Day holidays trave-ling abroad.

This year, travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pan-demic mean that some 600 million tourists - about 40% of the population - will travel within China during the holiday that began Thursday, according to Ctrip, China’s largest on-line travel agency.

That’s still down 25% from last year, when tourists took 782 million domestic trips and generated tourism revenue of 650 billion yuan ($95.4 billion), according to government data. The dip comes as some in China remain wary of the coronavirus and opt not to join the holiday rush. The coun-try’s borders remain closed to international visitors.

The eight-day holiday this year, which coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival, will be a litmus test of whether China’s tourism industry can bounce back follow-ing the battering it took earlier in the year. Travel within the country, and sometimes even within cities, was restricted beginning with the Lunar New Year as China fought the spread of the coronavirus that emerged in the central city of Wu-han and has sickened more than 34

million people, killing over a million. The weeklong holiday in October is typically the busiest

time for domestic travel.With the world’s biggest-spending tourists spending their

money travelling domestically, local governments are of-fering discounts and subsidies to tourists, including free or heavily discounted tickets to attractions.

Zhao Kerui, a designer with a fl exible working schedule, often takes several trips abroad each year. Last year, he vis-ited Malaysia and Japan. He had planned to visit Istanbul in Turkey or to Jeju island in South Korea this year, but even-tually decided to instead visit cities like Chengdu, known for being the home of pandas, as well as scenic Guilin, famed for its karst limestone hills.

“To take a trip abroad, you will be quarantined for half a month when you arrive, and when you return, it’s another half a month of quarantine,” Zhao said. “One month is gone with you doing nothing at all. “

Cao Ke, a science researcher based in Shanghai, usu-ally would spend his National Day holiday relaxing at the beaches in Thailand’s Phuket island. This year he’s heading to the southern coastal province of Fujian in China, hoping to take some nice photos.

“I usually prefer traveling abroad, because there are too many people traveling domestically, and accommodation and meals become very expensive,” said Cao.

PopularThat’s a sentiment shared by many Chinese who can af-

ford to fl y overseas for holidays but now are barred by fl ight cancellations and quarantine restrictions. Thailand, one of the most popular destinations among Chinese travellers, closed its airports to international commercial fl ights in April and has yet to fully reopen to tourism.

So instead, Chinese visitors will be crowding into popu-lar attractions, such as the Disneyland resort in Shanghai and the research base for panda breeding in the southwest-ern city of Chengdu, Ctrip’s report said.

China is one of the few countries in the world where millions are freely touring around the country, while most countries are discouraging unnecessary travel as they battle coronavirus outbreaks.

China has reported no new locally-transmitted coronavi-rus infections since Aug. 16, and the country’s culture and tourism ministry last month eased restrictions on tourist sites, allowing them to operate at 75% capacity. Visitors also are encouraged to obey social-distancing rules during their travels.

The number of tourists at top attractions across the coun-try jumped nearly 159% in the second quarter of the year compared to the previous quarter, at the height of pandemic shutdowns.

The number of tourists visiting resorts and engaging in rural tourism in July and August was about 90% of last year’s level, Shan Gangxin, an offi cial with China’s min-istry of culture and tourism, told reporters in Beijing this week.

Hotel bookings are 50% higher compared to last year, and airline reservations are on a par with 2019, helped by discounts for hotels and fl ights, according to data from Flig-gy, Alibaba’s online travel arm.

Zeng Xiaoqi, a 24-year-old nurse from central China’s Hunan province, planned a trip to Beijing for the holidays to celebrate her mother’s 50th birthday.

“Before I left, I took the nucleic acid test in my home-town and called the tourist sites I wanted to go to ask if the site is open during the holiday week, and how tickets could be booked,” said Zeng. “I didn’t depart until all the prepara-tion was done.”

She said that she was not worried about traveling within China, as most areas are currently fairly low-risk when it comes to the coronavirus.

Nonetheless, as a precaution, Zeng said she was well-equipped with masks, hand sanitizer, and wet tissue for the fl ight and high speed train to Beijing.

Railway authorities said they expect 108 million train journeys to be made between Monday, Sept. 28 and Oct. 8, or an average of almost 10 million per day. Overall, train and airline passenger numbers are still forecast to be lower than in previous years amid concerns that restrictions could be re-imposed if new cases are detected.

Like many other Chinese, Zhao plans to stick to domestic trips for the next few months.

“To be honest, it’s the same whether I travel abroad or around China,” he said. “I do it to relax.”

Also:HONG KONG: Hong Kong police arrested at least 60 peo-ple on suspicion of unauthorized assembly on China’s Na-tional Day holiday Thursday after crowds gathered on the streets of a popular shopping district chanting pro-democ-racy slogans.

Those arrested included two district councilors, police said in a statement posted on Facebook. They said the peo-ple were arrested after they ignored repeated warnings ask-ing them to disperse.

Carrie Lam also accused some foreign governments of holding “double standards” and leveling unjustifi ed ac-cusations against the authorities who implement the new law.Online calls urged people to join protests, and crowds turned up at Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay shopping district, some people chanting “Disband the police” and “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our time,” a popular pro-democ-racy slogan that has been banned by the Hong Kong govern-ment for alleged secessionist sentiments.

A heavy police presence outnumbered the protesters at the scene.

National Day, which celebrates the founding of the People’s Republic of China, has become a day of protest in Hong Kong by those who oppose Beijing’s increasing control over the semi-autonomous city. Large-scale protests are forbidden because of social distancing restrictions due to the coronavirus.

In the afternoon, police cordoned off some areas in the district and searched people on the streets. On several oc-casions, they unfurled warning banners that urged protest-ers to disperse, saying they were participating in an illegal assembly.

Protests against the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese governments swelled last year, and Beijing clamped down on expressions of anti-government sentiment in the city with a new national security law that took effect June 30.

Lam

The Cathedral is illuminated in the evening next to the Hohenzollern Bridge and the Musical Dome in Cologne, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. (AP)

Planned Brexit bill

EU takes legal action against UKBRUSSELS, Oct 1, (AP): The European Union took legal action against Britain on Thursday over its plans to pass legis-lation that would breach parts of the le-gally binding divorce agreement the two sides reached late last year.

The EU move underscored the wors-ening relations with Britain, which was a member of the bloc until Jan. 31. Both sides are trying to forge a rudimentary free trade agreement before the end of the year, but the fi ght over the controver-sial UK Internal Market bill has soured relations this month.

European Commission President Ur-sula von der Leyen said that the British plan “by its very nature is a breach of the obligation of good faith laid down in the Withdrawal Agreement.”

“If adopted as is, it will be in full contradiction to the protocol of Ireland-Northern Ireland” in the withdrawal agreement,” she said.

EU leaders fear that if the U.K. bill becomes law, it could lead to the re-imposition of a hard land border be-tween Northern Ireland, which is part of Britain, and EU member Ireland, and erode the stability that has un-derpinned peace since the 1998 Good Friday accord.

The EU had given London until Wednesday to withdraw the bill, but U.K. lawmakers voted 340-256 Tuesday to push the legislation past its last major hurdle in the House of Commons.

Von der Leyen said “the deadline lapsed yesterday.

The problematic provisions haven’t been removed.

Therefore this morning, the com-mission has decided to send a letter of formal notice to the U.K. government,” which augurs the start of a protracted le-gal battle.

“The commission will continue to

work hard towards a full and timely im-plementation of the Withdrawal Agree-ment,” she said. “We stand by our com-mitment.”

The bill must also be approved by the UK’s House of Lords, where it is sure to meet strong opposition because it breaches international law.

Helena Kennedy, an opposition La-bour Party member of the House of Lords, said the bill was “a fl agrant breach of international law,” and Parliament’s upper chamber would try to stop it.

“People come to the courts in the United Kingdom because our judiciary is respected.

Our respect for the law is one of our badges - a badge of honor,” she told the BBC. “Well it’s gone down.”

ReactionThe British government stood its

ground in an immediate reaction to the EU move, saying “we need to create a legal safety net to protect the integrity of the U.K.’s internal market, ensure min-isters can always deliver on their obliga-tions to Northern Ireland and protect the gains from the peace process.”

If the Internal Market Bill becomes law, it will give Britain the power to disregard part of the Brexit withdrawal treaty dealing with trade to and from Northern Ireland, which shares a 300-mile (500-kilometer) border with the Re-public of Ireland.

The UK government says it respects the Good Friday peace accord and the Brexit withdrawal agreement, but wants the law in case the EU makes unreason-able demands after Brexit that could im-pede trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s large parliamentary majority ensured the bill passed its fi nal House of Commons vote

on Tuesday night, despite resistance from opposition parties and even some members of the governing Conservative Party.

At the same time, EU and U.K. of-fi cials were continuing talks on a trade deal, going into detailed negotiations over everything from fi sheries rights, state aid rules and legal oversight in case of disputes.

Hundreds of thousands of jobs are at stake on both sides, especially in nations close to Britain like France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte sought to play down the signifi cance of the European Commission’s action, and instead focus on seeking a trade deal.

“Don’t look for too much behind this,” Rutte said about the start of legal action. “It is normal procedure, more adminis-trative than political.”

Time is short for the UK and the EU to mend fences.

A transition period that followed Brit-ain’s Brexit departure ends in less than 100 days, on Dec. 31.

The EU-UK trade negotiating session is supposed to wrap up Friday but ex-pectations are that negotiations will con-tinue right up to an Oct. 15-16 EU sum-mit, which British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set as a deadline for a deal.

The EU said talks could continue right up to the end of the month.

Britain says it wants a free trade deal along the lines of the one the EU has with Canada, allowing for goods to be traded with no tariffs or quotas.

The EU says if the UK wants access to EU markets it must respect standards that EU companies have to live by since Britain is just too close to allow for un-dercutting rules that would allow for so-called “dumping” of UK merchandise at prices lower than in the EU.

Britain

The honored Christian Dros-ten poses for the media during a ‘Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany’ hando-ver ceremony at the Bellevue palace in Berlin, Germany, on

Oct 1. (AP)

Gonzalez Christodoulides

Madrid to obey virus rules: Madrid will carry out a national order restricting mobility in large Spanish cities with rapid virus spread but its regional president announced Thursday she will fi ght the Spanish government’s resolution in the courts because she deems it arbitrary.

Spain’s offi cial gazette on Thursday published the Health Ministry order that gives the coun-try’s 19 regions two days to imple-ment limits on social gatherings and shop opening hours and re-stricts trips in and out of any large cities that have recorded a 2-week infection rate of 500 cases per 100,000 residents.

Countrywide, only Madrid and nine of its suburban towns met the criteria as of Thursday.

Spain’s central government and regional offi cials in Madrid have been at odds for weeks over how to respond to the pandemic while the spread of the virus in the Spanish capital surged to the highest level in Europe’s second wave of infec-tions.

The center-right Madrid gov-ernment has resisted the stricter measures in the city of 3.3 million and its suburbs for fears of damag-ing the economy. Regional chief Isabel Díaz Ayuso also claims that Spain’s national left-wing coalition is targeting Madrid for political reasons and disregarding her ef-forts to contain the spread of the virus.

“This government is not in re-bellion,” she said Thursday, pledg-ing to comply with the national or-der but adding that she would take it to court “to defend the legitimate interests of the people of Madrid so that the measures conform to the regulations, to the reality, so they are objective and fair.”

Speaking at the regional assem-bly, Díaz Ayuso said her challenge was to avoid a “return to the queues of hunger and unemployment” that she blamed on the national Social-ist government. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

Smuggling boat located: A sailboat believed to be carrying dozens of migrants has been lo-cated drifting south of the southern Greek island of Crete, Greece’s coast guard said Thursday.

One coast guard patrol boat and one coast guard lifeboat were near the sailboat, which was located in the morning and hadn’t issued a distress signal, the coast guard said. The vessel was drifting but it wasn’t immediately clear whether

Europe

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers his speech during the ‘Advancing and Defending International Religious Freedom Through Diplomacy’ symposium, in Rome, Wednesday, Sept.

30, 2020. (AP)

it had a propulsion or steering problem. The coast guard said esti-mates put the number of people on board at around 60.

Thousands of migrants make their way to Greece each year, the vast majority from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands.

But Greek authorities have re-ported an increase in the number of incidents where smugglers use larger vessels like yachts or sail-boats to sail further south and head directly toward Italy. The country is a more attractive destination for many than the overcrowded, squal-id migrant camps on the Greek is-lands. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

Clash among migrants: Two people were killed and 18 others were hurt in a clash among mi-grants in the northwestern part of the country, Bosnian police said Thursday.

The violence took place late

Wednesday in the northwestern town of Bihac, police said. A po-lice patrol came to the scene fol-lowing a call from a Bihac resident.

The injured migrants, including 10 seriously, have been transferred to a local hospital.

It wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the clashes, but the mi-grants’ long journeys and uncertain future often lead to tensions among them.

Migrants have fl ooded into the northwestern Bosnian town be-cause it’s located near the border with European Union member na-tion Croatia.

Thousands of people who fl ed poverty or violence in their home countries have been stuck in Bos-nia and other Balkan countries as they try to reach Western Europe. Many migrants have been sleeping rough or in makeshift camps.

Aid workers have voiced fears over conditions that migrants face as cold weather approaches with

the end of summer. (AP)❑ ❑ ❑

Spain rebuffs Turkey’s: Spain’s foreign minister on Wednesday said her country rejects Turkey’s unilateral search for energy re-serves in the eastern Mediterrane-an, adding that such actions hinder a negotiated way out of a territorial dispute that has ratcheted up re-gional tensions.

Spanish Foreign Minister Aran-cha Gonzalez Laya expressed support for fellow European Union member Cyprus as Turkey contin-ues to prospect for gas in waters where the Mediterranean island nation claims exclusive economic rights.

“We don’t believe there is a uni-lateral solution to the problems of the eastern Mediterranean region,” Laya said after talks with Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christo-doulides. “And therefore, we re-ject unilateral moves that are not helping in fi nding a long-lasting solution.”

Spain’s top diplomat said ne-gotiations and dialogue are the only way to resolve the complex maritime boundaries issue, which also triggered a weeks-long naval standoff between NATO allies Greece and Turkey this month.

“I’m saying this as this is ex-actly what Spain is doing to de-limit its maritime borders with its neighbors. So I’m not preaching anything different from what I’m practicing,” Laya said.

Meanwhile, Greek Foreign Min-ister Nikos Dendias said Athens supports Cyprus’ call for fresh EU sanctions against individuals and companies involved in Tur-key’s gas search amid “intensifi ed Turkish wrongdoing in the wider region.”

Dendias said after talks with

Christodoulides late Wednesday that the possibility for more eco-nomic measures against Turkey should remain open in case it car-ries on with its ”illegal” actions. The leaders of the EU’s 27 mem-ber nations are expected to discuss potential sanctions against Turkey, which is not a member, at a two-day summit starting Thursday. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

Pell returns to Vatican: Car-dinal George Pell, who left the Vatican in 2017 to face child sex-ual abuse charges in Australia, re-turned to Rome on Wednesday to fi nd a Holy See mired in the type of corruption scandal he worked to expose and clean up.

The 79-year-old Pell arrived at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport on a fl ight from Sydney wearing a blue surgical mask. He waved briefl y to reporters before getting into a waiting car without making any comments.

The trip is his fi rst back to Rome after he took a leave of absence as Pope Francis’ fi nance czar in 2017 to face historic sexual abuse charg-es stemming from his time as the archbishop of Melbourne.

After he was absolved by Aus-tralia’s High Court in April, Pell said he wanted to return to Rome to clean out his Vatican apartment, but intended to make Sydney his home.

It wasn’t immediately clear how long Pell would remain in the Vatican or what his agenda might involve.

The Vatican didn’t immediately say if he would meet with Fran-cis. The pope never turned on Pell throughout the Australian court proceedings, keeping his job va-cant for two years so as to not pre-judge the outcome. (AP)

Market Movements 01-10-2020

Business Change Closing ptsAUSTRALIA - All Ordinaries +60.04 6,069.38EUROPE - Euro Stoxx 50 +0.48 3,194.09FRANCE - CAC 40 +20.60 4,824.04INDIA - Sensex +629.12 38,697.05PAKISTAN - KSE 100 +105.44 40,676.92PHILIPPINES - PSEi +80.64 5,944.87S. KOREA - KRX 100 +38.45 4,972.11

Change Closing ptsCHINA - Shanghai SE -6.31 3,218.05GERMANY - DAX -29.96 12,730.77

American Airlines ticket agent Henry Gemdron, left, works with a customer at Miami International Airport during the coronavirus pandemic, Wednes-day, Sept. 30, 2020, in Miami. The airline industry has been decimated by

the pandemic. (AP)

Time runs out on aid

American, Unitedto furlough 32,000WASHINGTON, Oct 1, (AP): Ameri-can Airlines and United Airlines say they will begin to furlough 32,000 employees after lawmakers and the White House failed to agree on a broad pandemic relief package that includes more federal aid for airlines.

American Airlines CEO Doug Park-er said that if Washington comes up with a deal with $25 billion for airlines “over the next few days,” the company will reverse 19,000 furloughs set to be-gin Thursday and recall the workers.

United said the impasse forced it to furlough 13,000 workers. United said it told leaders in the Trump administra-tion and Congress that if payroll aid is approved in the next few days, it too could undo the furloughs.

The moves by two of the nation’s four biggest airlines represent the fi rst - and likely the largest part - of invol-untary job cuts across the industry in coming days.

Airline employees and executives made 11th-hour appeals this week to Congress and the Trump administra-tion to avert furloughs when a federal prohibition on layoffs - a condition of an earlier round of federal aid - expires Thursday.

The passenger airlines and their la-bor unions are lobbying for taxpayer money to pay workers for six more months, through next March. Their re-quest is tied up in stalled negotiations over a larger pandemic relief measure.

Industry offi cials acknowledged that prospects were bleak for action before Thursday’s deadline. They said, how-ever, they were cheered that the House this week included airline payroll help in a $2.2 trillion relief plan that moved closer to Republicans’ preference for a lower price tag.

“It provides a glimmer of hope that something will get done,” said Nicho-las Calio, president of the trade group Airlines for America.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday night that the admin-istration wants to help hotels, airlines and schools. He said he was talking with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi but hinted that the White House doesn’t want to go above about $1.5 trillion - $700 million below the House Demo-crats’ fi gure.

“I don’t think we’re going to make signifi cant progress” until Thursday,

he said on Fox Business.Calio foreshadowed the comments

of American and United by suggest-ing that Thursday might not be a hard deadline - airlines could undo some furloughs if a deal between the White House and congressional Democrats appeared imminent.

“Ideally, if it’s going to go beyond Thursday they will be close to a deal and say, ‘Hang on for a couple days,’ and we can wait,” he said. “Beyond that, the notices have gone and fur-loughs will go into effect.”

Sara Nelson, president of the As-sociation of Flight Attendants, said she still expects action by Congress because majorities in the House and Senate have signaled support for more airline relief. She said a bailout that keeps airline workers employed would be cheaper for the government than putting them on the unemployment line during a pandemic.

“These are people who are not going to be able to pay their rent, they are not going to be able to take care of them-selves,” Nelson said on CNBC.

Beyond American and United, smaller airlines have sent layoff warn-ings to several thousand employees. Delta and Southwest, which entered the pandemic in stronger fi nancial shape than American and United, have shed thousands of jobs through volun-tary departures but don’t plan to lay off workers immediately.

Airlines have persuaded tens of thousands of employees to take early retirement or severance deals. But even after those offers, the airlines have more pilots, fl ight attendants, mechan-ics and other workers than they need.

Critics say airlines shouldn’t get special treatment, and that subsidiz-ing their workforces will only delay the companies’ need to adjust to the downturn in travel - which even air-line trade groups think will last three or four years.

“The airlines are always the fi rst ones begging for support. They get bailed out over and over again,” Ve-ronique de Rugy, a research fellow at George Mason University and column-ist for a libertarian magazine, said in a recent interview. “Airlines have a his-tory of not preparing properly for the next emergency because they know they are going to be bailed out.”

Google to pay $1 billion over 3 years for news content

Google will pay publishers $1 bil-lion over the next three years for their news content.

The internet search giant said said Thursday that it has signed agreements for its news partner-ship program with nearly 200 publications in Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

“This fi nancial commitment - our biggest to date - will pay pub-lishers to create and curate high-

quality content for a different kind of online news experience,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.

On Thursday, Google’s News Showcase is launching in Brazil and Germany, featuring story panels that let publishers pack-age stories with features like timelines. It will appear fi rst on Google News on Android, then Apple iOS, before it is rolled out to Google Discover and Search.

The funding builds on a news

licensing program launched by Google in June, as it seeks de-fuse tensions with the belea-guered news industry. News companies want Google, and its Silicon Valley rival Facebook, to pay for the news content that they siphon from commercial media while taking the lion’s share of ad revenue.

Skeptics remain, however. The European Publishers

Council said it’s an attempt by

Google to stave off legislation and government action to get them to negotiate.

“Many are quite cynical about Google’s perceived strategy,” said Angela Mills Wade, executive di-rector of the council. “By launch-ing a product, they can dictate terms and conditions, undermine legislation designed to create con-ditions for a fair negotiation, while claiming they are helping to fund news production.” (AP)

This fi le photo shows Google’s headquarters in Mountain View,

California. Google said Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, it

will pay publishers $1 billion over the

next three years for their news content. (AP)

US consumer spending gains slow to 1% in Aug

More Americans sign contracts to buy homes

WASHINGTON, Oct 1, (AP): U.S. consumer spend-ing slowed in August and personal income fell as a $600 weekly benefi t for Americans who are unem-ployed during the pandem-ic expired.

The Commerce Department re-ported Thursday that spending grew by just 1%, the weakest growth since spending fell 12.7% in April when rapidly spreading COVID-19 infections shut down large parts of the economy.

A 2.7% drop in income in August followed a gain of 0.5% in the previous month. The drop refl ected the expira-tion of the $600 expanded unemploy-ment benefi t on July 31. Congress has so far failed to come up with a new virus relief package that would restore that benefi t.

Economists fear that without further government support, the economy will slow signifi cantly in the fi nal three months of this year.

Infl ation, as measured by a gauge tied to consumer spending, rose 0.3% in August and is up 1.4% over the past 12 months. That is well below the Fed-eral Reserve’s target to achieve 2% an-

nual gains in infl ation.The Fed in August said it was chang-

ing its policy to delay rate hikes until infl ation has risen above 2% for a pe-riod of time, a change that should keep consumer and business borrowing costs lower for an extended period of time. The Fed projected no hikes of its benchmark rate through 2023.

The 2.7% drop in incomes refl ected a huge 14.8% decline in the category that covers government payments includ-ing unemployment benefi ts. Democrats and Republicans have been unable to restore the expired benefi ts because of wide differences between the two sides on how much additional support to pro-vide.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held talks Wednesday about a massive COVID-19 rescue package, meeting face to face for the fi rst time in more than a month in a last-ditch effort to seal a tentative accord on an additional round of coronavirus relief.

At issue is a long-delayed package that would extend another round of $1,200 direct stimulus payments, re-store bonus pandemic jobless benefi ts, speed aid to schools and extend assis-tance to airlines, restaurants and other struggling businesses. A landmark $2 trillion relief bill in March passed with sweeping support and is credited with helping the economy through the

spring and summer. The 1% rise in consumer spending

was driven by a 1.4% gain in spending on services with big gains coming for spending on food services and hotel and motel accommodations, two areas that were hit hard during the lockdowns. Spending on goods durable goods such as autos was up 0.9% in August while spending on nondurable goods such as food and clothing fell 0.1%.

Consumer spending is closely watched because it accounts for 70% of economic activity in the U.S.

Economists believe GDP growth, which fell at a record annual rate of 31.4% in the April-June quarter will rebound by a record amount in the Ju-ly-September quarter but could face a severe slowdown in the current quarter in the absence of further government help.

Meanwhile, more Americans signed contracts to buy homes in August, sug-gesting the hot U.S. housing market will continue to churn well into fall.

The National Association of Real-tors said Wednesday that its index of pending sales rose 8.8% to a record high of 132.8. An index of 100 rep-resents the level of contract activity in 2001. It had sunk to a low of 69 in April, when buyers and sellers were sidelined as the coronavirus swept through the U.S.

Contract signings are a barometer of

fi nalized purchases over the next two months, so this month’s numbers point to continued strong sales into October.

The housing market has been one of the highlights of the U.S. economy, which is still trying to get back its pre-virus momentum. Contract signings are now 24.2% ahead of where they were last year, after falling behind last year’s pace earlier in the year because of the pandemic.

The positive pending home sales numbers follow a pair of indicators showing continued strength in the housing market. The National Asso-ciation of Realtors said last week that sales of existing homes rose 2.4% in August to its highest level since 2006. Sales are up 10.5% from a year ago and back to pre-COVID-19 levels of early 2020. Also last week, the Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes rose a solid 4.8% in August after surging 13.9% in July.

Historically low interest rates of less than 3% are pushing buyers into the market, even as home prices rise due to lack available properties.

The median price for an existing sin-gle-family home reached $315,000 in August, up 11.7% from August 2019. The median price of a new home sold in August was $312,800.

All four regions of the U.S. saw more contract signings for the third straight month.

In this fi le photo, sunlight refl ects off the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, during a rain shower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Dubai-based construction company that helped build the world’s tallest building and other engineering marvels in the United Arab Emirates announced on Oct 1, it would

enter liquidation, the fi nal step in a long collapse from the country’s economic crisis a decade ago hastened by the coronavirus pandemic. (AP)

DUBAI, Oct 1, (AP): The Dubai-based construction company that helped build the world’s tallest building and other engineering marvels in the Unit-ed Arab Emirates announced Thursday it would enter liquidation, the final step in a long collapse from the country’s economic crisis a decade ago hastened by the coronavirus pandemic.

Arabtec Holding PJSC made the announcement after emails circulated Wednesday among developers suggest-ing the firm’s end had come. Despite trying to claw its way out of the chaos left by Dubai’s 2009 financial crisis, the firm ended last year with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and losses.

Arabtec chairman, Waleed al-Mu-hairi, said in a statement published by Abu Dhabi’s state-linked newspa-per The National that after years of setbacks, Arabtec’s projects were se-verely hit by the economic fallout of the pandemic.

“Despite efforts to pursue legal and commercial entitlements and a restruc-

turing of the company’s finances and op-erations, the situation in which Arabtec finds itself today is untenable,” he said.

The Dubai Financial Market halted trading on Arabtec shares late Wednes-day. Among Arabtec’s biggest inves-tors is the Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.

Founded in 1975, Arabtec has built both skyscrapers and the infrastructure needed to pump oil and natural gas in this OPEC-member nation. It helped build the Burj Khalifa, the centerpiece of mod-ern downtown Dubai that at 2,717 feet (828 meters) is the world’s tallest build-ing. It also built the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace hotel and a major centerpiece of Dubai’s upcoming Expo 2020 world’s fair.

But Arabtec, like other construction firms, has struggled to come out of the shadow of Dubai’s 2009 financial crisis, which saw its property market collapse and the city ultimately receive $20 billion in bailouts from Abu Dha-bi, the Emirates’ oil-rich capital.

DETROIT, Oct 1, (AP): On his first day in Ford’s top job, CEO Jim Farley is replacing the company’s chief finan-cial officer and announcing other struc-tural and management changes.

The company says Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Tim Stone is leaving Oct 15 to be chief operating officer at an artificial intelligence com-pany. Stone had a short stay at Ford, joining the company from Amazon in April of last year.

He’ll be replaced by John Lawler, a 30-year company veteran who has been running autonomous vehicle op-erations.

During Stone’s tenure, the company has struggled in the midst of an $11 bil-lion restructuring plan designed to cut expenses and raise capital for spending on new technology such as autono-mous and electric vehicles. Wall Street analysts raised questions about the pace of the restructuring.

Farley says in the statement that Ford has made progress under retir-ing CEO Jim Hackett, but he wants to speed up its transformation, which has been in the works for over a year.

The company has plans to grow revenue and hit a sustained 8% pretax profit margin, but Ford gave no time frame to reach that goal.

“We are going to compete like a

challenger – allocate capital to higher growth and return opportunities to cre-ate value – and earn customers for life through great products and a rewarding ownership experience,” Farley said in a prepared statement.

Ford says it will expand its com-mercial vehicle business with new software services. It also plans to offer more electric vehicles around the globe including a Transit van and F-150 pick-ups. There also are plans for an electric Mustang, as well as unspecified SUVs including the Lincoln luxury brand.

Ford also plans to add more afford-able electric vehicles to its lineup. Spokesman T.R. Reid said they would be largely for emerging markets, al-though they could be global. The ve-hicles are likely to be developed as part of a joint venture with Indian automak-er Mahindra.

Farley is retooling the company’s management structure into three re-gional business units: The Americas and International Markets, Europe, and China. He also plans a new business out of the self-driving system created by Argo AI, a subsidiary in which Ford is the primary investor. Reid said Argo software and autonomous vehicle tech-nology would go to other Ford units, including programs to help businesses with logistics.

Collapse of Co will likely have a further knock-on effect on industry

Dubai-based Arabtec to fi le for liquidation

New Ford CEO replaces CFO

TEHRAN, Iran, Oct 1, (AP): Iran’s currency dropped Thursday to its lowest value ever at 300,000 rial for each dollar amid severe U.S. sanc-tions against the country.

The rial has tumbled from a rate of around 262,000 in mid-Septem-ber, a 12% drop.

Iran’s currency was at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

U.S. sanctions have caused Iran’s oil exports, the country’s main source of income, to fall sharply.

Following President Donald Trump’s decision more than two years ago to withdraw the U.S.

from the nuclear deal and reim-pose crippling trade sanctions on Iran, the currency unexpectedly rallied for some time.

Iranian officials for months have warned exporters to bring their foreign earnings home from abroad or face having their export licenses revoked, and the central bank has warned it would publish the names of violators.

In June, the central bank reported that Iranian companies export more than $40 billion in non-oil products per year, and officials say some 50% of that remains abroad. Traders blame the sanctions for sparking a failure in returning export earnings.

Iran’s rial sees a new recordlow amid biting US sanctions

BUSINESSARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020

9

German watchdog fines H&M $41m for spying on workers

A German privacy watchdog said Thursday that it is fi ning clothing retailer H&M 35.3 mil-lion euros ($41 million) after the company was found to have spied on some of its employees in Germany.

Hamburg’s data protection commissioner said in a statement that the Swedish company collected private information about employees at a customer service center in Nuremberg, “ranging from rather harmless details to family issues and religious beliefs.”

The information was recorded on a network drive accessible to up to 50 managers and

“used, among other things, to obtain a detailed profi le of employees for measures and deci-sions regarding their employment.”

The data protection commissioner, Johannes Caspar, said that “the combination of collecting details about their private lives and the record-ing of their activities led to a particularly inten-sive encroachment on employees’ civil rights.”

The privacy violation was discovered after the data briefl y became visible to all people on the company network, resulting in news reports about the information gathering.

H&M said in a statement that the practices

in Nuremberg didn’t correspond to company guidelines but that it nevertheless took full re-sponsibility and had apologized unreservedly to the employees. The company said it would examine the fi ne issued.

Casper welcomed H&M’s decision to pay compensation to employees at the Nuremberg service center and take measures to prevent fu-ture privacy breaches, saying the steps “show the intention to give the employees the respect and appreciation they deserve as dependent workers in their daily work for their company.” (AP)

In this fi le photo, an H&M store is shown in New York. A German privacy watchdog said Thursday that it is fi ning clothing retailer H&M 35.3 million euros ($41 million) after the company was found to have spied on some of its employees in Germany. (AP)

Wall Street ticks up amid stimulus hopes

Nissan employee testifi es against American on ‘trial’ in Tokyo court

Trading notably erratic in recent weeks

TOKYO, Oct 1, (AP): A Nissan em-ployee has testifi ed that he worked with another former Nissan executive, American Greg Kelly to fi nd ways to pay the automaker’s former chairman, Carlos Ghosn without fully disclosing his compensation.

Toshiaki Ohnuma, a star witnesses for the prosecution, described to the Tokyo District Court his job in human resources at Nissan Motor Co., where he said he handled executive compen-sation matters, including working with Kelly on fi nding ways to pay Ghosn without disclosing it.

Disclosing annual executive pay over 100 million yen (about $1 million) became a requirement in Japan from 2010. Ghosn had been getting about 10 times that. Japanese executives who get giant paychecks are rare, and Nis-san was leery of public criticism over the issue.

After 2014, Kelly handed over his duties dealing with pay to another Ni-ssan executive, Hari Nada, Ohnuma said. Nada also is scheduled to be a witness for the prosecution.

“There was decided paid compen-sation for Mr. Ghosn but also unpaid compensation,” a gray-suited Ohnuma, wearing a mask for the pandemic, told the court solemnly.

He referred to Ghosn as “Ghosn-san,” adding the Japanese honorifi c.

“We worked together to consider how to avoid disclosure of the unpaid compensation,” Ohnuma said of his work with Kelly.

Kelly, a former Nissan executive vice president, is the only person to stand trial in what prosecutors have portrayed as a systematic plot to under-report Ghosn’s compensation.

He has been charged with under-reporting Ghosn’s compensation by 9.3 billion yen ($88 million) over several years.

Ohnuma said he has worked at Nis-san since 1982. He was the company’s general manager from 2007 through March 2019. Ghosn was arrested and charged with Kelly in November 2018. Ghosn jumped bail late last year and es-

caped to Lebanon, a nation that has no extradition treaty with Japan.

Both Ghosn and Kelly say they are innocent.

In a statement as the trial opened ear-lier this month, Kelly stressed that the compensation plans were intended to be a legal way to keep Ghosn at Nissan. Famous for leading Nissan’s turna-round in the late 1990s, Ghosn might have opted for other high-paying jobs.

The prosecutors for the case have told the court that a deal was made with Ohnuma and Nada.

In a recent briefi ng to reporters, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Hiroshi Yamamoto declined comment on that, saying such deals don’t have to be made public.

“The prosecutors have properly charged those who needed to be charged,” Yamamoto told reporters.

Yokohama-based Nissan as a com-pany was charged and pleaded guilty. It is being tried with Kelly in the same court. The trial is expected to last about a year.

Earlier, prosecutors outlined how several people at Nissan were involved in promising Ghosn pay, exploring

various methods, such as stock options, pay through overseas companies and consulting fees.

Prosecutors have not explained how trying to avoid disclosure of un-paid compensation constitutes a crime. Prosecution for falsifying fi nancial re-ports is rare in Japan.

The maximum penalty for Kelly, if convicted, given the multiple counts of the same charge he faces, is up to 15 years in prison or 80 million yen ($755,000) in fi nes, or both.

The conviction rate in Japan is high-er than 99%.

Some members of Japan’s business community have expressed alarm over the trial. Jacques Deguest, an expert on Japanese business and law, denounced it as unfair, calling it a “witch hunt,” with Kelly getting singled out.

“This is dangerous for the attractive-ness of Japan both for recruiting talent as well as doing business in Japan,” said Deguest, who is also a consultant.

“Japan would have been better showing to the world a fair trial with all responsible people treated the same way.”

NEW YORK, Oct 1, (AP): Wall Street is ticking higher in Thursday morning trad-ing with hopes that Wash-ington can get past its par-tisanship to deliver more support for the economy.

The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher as talks continue on a deal that could send more cash to Americans, re-store jobless benefi ts for laid-off workers and deliver assistance to airlines and other industries hit par-ticularly hard by the pandemic.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 19 points, or 0.1%, at 27,801, as of 10:06 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nas-daq composite was 1% higher.

The moves were tentative, though, and the S&P 500 lost most of its earlier gain of 1%. The Dow had been up 259 points. Trading has been notably erratic in recent weeks, with several big shifts in momentum pushing markets around within a day.

Treasury yields also ticked higher after a report indicated the pace of lay-offs across the country may have slowed last week. The number of workers fi l-ing for unemployment benefi ts fell to 837,000 from 873,000 the prior week. It’s a larger decline than economists ex-pected, though the number remains in-credibly high compared with before the pandemic. Other economic reports were mixed. Consumer spending strengthened by more than expected in August, which is key because it’s the main driver of the U.S. economy. But personal incomes weakened by more than expected, and growth in the country’s manufacturing sector also fell short of forecasts.

The data add to an already cloudy picture on the economy, which has seen some slowdowns recently after the last round of stimulus approved by Congress expired. The Walt Disney Co. and other major companies have announced even more layoffs this week, and the clock is ticking on Washington to offer more support.

The CEO of American Airlines said that it would reverse the furloughs of 19,000 workers if Washington can reach a deal with $25 billion for airlines “over the next few days.” United Airlines told government leaders that it could also undo the furloughs of 13,000 workers.

Airline stocks were higher in Thurs-day morning trading, at least for now. American Airlines climbed 1.4%, and United Airlines was up 0.3%, though their movements were volatile.

Rising and falling hopes for a deal on Capitol Hill sent stocks on a roller-coast-er ride Wednesday, much as they have over the last several weeks.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke for 90 minutes on Wednesday, and hopes for an agreement helped send the S&P 500 up as much as 1.7% during the day. But after Pelosi said in the afternoon that they still had “areas where we are seek-ing further clarifi cation,” the index gave

up all but 0.1% of its gain before resum-ing momentum at the end of the day.

The pair have worked effectively to-gether in the past, and they helped drive through the previous economic rescue approved by Congress in March. But the country’s partisan divide has only deepened since then, which has stymied progress on aid that investors say is cru-cial for the economy. The next election is only about a month away.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 0.70% from 0.69% late Wednesday.

In Asian markets, trading on the To-kyo Stock Exchange was suspended due to a technical failure in its computer sys-tems.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange said it plans for normal trading to resume on Friday. Offi cials said trading was halted early Thursday because rebooting the huge system after the malfunction would have caused confusion.

TSE President Koichiro Miyahara re-peatedly apologized for the disruption to trading on the world’s third largest ex-change, where about 70% of brokerage trading both by value and volume is by foreigners.

The outage on the exchange eclipsed Japan’s main economic news of the day, the fi rst improvement in manufacturing sentiment in three years, despite the pan-demic.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.0% in the afternoon to fi nish at 5,872.90. Share prices also rose in Southeast Asia and India. Trading in stock markets for South Korea, Hong Kong and mainland China was closed for national holidays.In Europe, Germa-ny’s DAX returned 0.1%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.6%. The FTSE 100 in London added 0.3%.

A report showed that unemployment rose for the fi fth straight month among countries that use the euro amid concern that extensive government support pro-grams won’t be able keep many busi-nesses hit by coronavirus restrictions afl oat indefi nitely.

Ops to resume on Friday

German joblessrate dips in Sept

Computer glitch haltsTokyo Stock Exchange

BERLIN, Oct 1, (AP): Germany’s un-employment rate declined in September despite the coronavirus pandemic, of-fi cial data showed Wednesday. Jobless fi gures have been kept lower by exten-sive use of a short-term salary support program, but estimates show that the number of people receiving that support is also falling.

The unadjusted jobless rate, the head-line fi gure in Germany, was down to 6.2% from 6.4% in August, the Federal Labor Agency said. Some 2.847 million people were registered as unemployed - 108,000 fewer than the previous month, but 613,000 more than a year earlier.

That jobless rate stood at 5% in March, the last month before the impact of the pandemic was refl ected in unem-ployment fi gures.

In seasonally adjusted terms, unem-ployment dipped to 6.3% in September from 6.4% in August.

Rises in unemployment in Germany and elsewhere in Europe have been moderate by international standards be-cause employers are making heavy use of salary support programs, often re-ferred to as furlough schemes, that allow them to keep employees on the payroll while they await better times.

In Germany, Europe’s largest econo-my, the labor agency pays at least 60% of the salary of employees who are on reduced or zero hours.

The labor agency said Wednesday it paid out for 4.24 million people in July, the most recent month for which it has fi gures. That was down from 4.63 mil-lion in June and a peak of 5.95 million in April, but far above the pre-crisis level in February of just 134,000. Germany has 83 million inhabitants.

The Ifo economic think-tank said this week that, according to its calculations, the number of people in the program was down to 3.7 million in September, though the number remains relatively high in manufacturing industry.

Germany won’t be scaling back the program soon. The governing coalition has agreed to allow employees to remain in it for up to 24 months rather than the regular 12.

TOKYO, Oct 1, (AP): Tokyo Stock Exchange plans to resume normal operations Friday after it halted trading for the day due to what they said was a malfunction in its com-puter systems – the worst such out-age ever.

There was no indication that the outage at the world’s third-largest exchange resulted from hacking or other cyber-security breaches.

“We are extremely sorry for the troubles we have caused,” exchange President and Chief Executive Koi-chiro Miyahara told reporters late Thursday.

Some time later, the exchange issued a statement saying it would open as usual on Friday. It said it foresaw no problems with resuming trading.

Miyahara and other exchange officials said a computer hardware device they called “machine one” failed and the backup “machine two” didn’t kick in, so stock price information was not being relayed properly.

The officials characterized the problem as a memory malfunction.

They said that rebooting the sys-tem during a trading session would have caused confusion for investors and other market participants.

Perplexed passers-by stud-

ied quote-less electronic screens in Tokyo’s financial district and newspapers’ evening editions car-ried listed company’s names, but blank prices.

Brokerages were fielding a flood of calls from frustrated investors.

“There should be a plan ‘B’,” Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co, told broad-caster NHK.

The Japan Exchange Group is the world’s third largest bourse after the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, with market capitalization of nearly $6 trillion.

The outage Thursday also affect-ed other, smaller stock exchanges in Japan.

Foreigners account for about 70% of all brokerage trading in the Tokyo exchange, both in terms of value and volume, so news of the outage left investors both in Japan and overseas wondering what hap-pened.

The malfunction of basic hard-ware drew attention to vulnerabili-ties in the country’s digital systems. Newly appointed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has made upgrad-ing such infrastructure a priority, viewing it as critical to Japan’s com-petitiveness.

Data shows improvement for the fi rst time in three years

Japan’s ‘tankan’ survey shows improved sentimentTOKYO, Oct 1, (AP): Japanese manufacturers’ sentiments im-proved for the fi rst time in three years, a quarterly Bank of Japan survey showed Thursday, as the nation grappled with stagnation worsened by the coronavirus pan-demic.

The headline measure for the “tankan”, tracking sentiment among large manufacturers, stood at minus 27, an improvement of seven points from the previous survey that came out in July.

The tankan measures corporate sentiment by subtracting the num-ber of companies saying business conditions are negative from those responding they are positive.

That measure had declined for six quarters straight, to an 11-year low, before Thursday’s report.

Sentiment among large non-manufacturers improved by fi ve points to minus 12.

Despite some positive signs in the tankan, the numbers are still in the minus range, meaning pes-simism is still rampant in Japan Inc and the world’s third largest economy has a long way to go be-fore it’s on a solid growth track.

Worries also remain about a second wave of COVID-19 infec-tions. Japan has never had a total lockdown, and businesses have been trying to return to normal with mask-wearing and social-distancing measures.

The pandemic has squelched overseas tourism, which had sus-tained economic activity in recent years.

Although exports have been falling in recent months, there are some signs of a recovery as over-seas demand picks up. The Bank of Japan has continued to pump ample cash into the system. The government has doled out cash handouts to encourage consumer spending.

In this fi le photo, currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. Trad-ing in stock markets for South Korea, Hong Kong and mainland China was closed for national holidays. (AP)

Koichiro Miyahara (second from left), President and CEO of To-kyo Stock Exchange, Inc (TSE), and other offi cers bow during a press conference at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Oct 1, in Tokyo. Trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was suspended Thursday because of a problem in the system for relaying market information. Most other Asian markets were closed for national holidays. (AP)

In this fi le photo, former Nissan Motor Co. executive Greg Kelly arrives for the fi rst trial hearing at the Tokyo District Court in Tokyo. A Nissan employ-ee testifi ed Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020 that he worked with another former Nissan executive, American Greg Kelly to fi nd ways to pay the automaker’s former chairman, Carlos Ghosn without fully disclosing his compensation.

(AP)

Business PlusPlus

They’re massively unprofitable and

they’ve never been able to figure it out

‘

’

The richest 1% of Americans owned

one-third of the nation’s wealth in

2019, down slightly from nearly four-

fifths in 2016. But wealth grew for the next-richest 9% of

the population

‘

’

Low-key strategy may not generate enthusiasm many technology offerings do

Secretive, never profi table Palantir makes its market debutlonger span, Palantir has accumulated $3.8 billion in losses, raised about $3 billion and listed $200 million in outstanding debt as of July 31.

Palantir, named for the mystical all-seeing stones from Tolkien’s “Lord of The Rings,” has recently been deepen-ing its relationship with Uncle Sam, including winning a modest contract early in the COVID-19 pandemic for helping the White House gather data on the virus’ impact.

Senior emerging technology analyst Brendan Burke of Pitchbook says he isn’t worried that Thiel’s association with Trump will hurt the company if Trump loses the election.

“The political connections don’t appear to be the main driver of their recent substantial contract wins,” he said, although he noted that govern-ment contracts can be more volatile than corporate ones, where Palantir’s foothold is less fi rm.

Palantir offers two software plat-forms. Foundry is designed to link disparate and largely incompatible data sources into a central operating system. It’s the company’s primary hope for broadening its business.

An earlier product, Gotham, has been used by defense and intelligence ana-lysts and police departments to identify patterns deep within datasets. But the value of “predictive policing” tools developed with the platform have been questioned for their potential to unfairly target people of color. The New Orleans and New York City police departments, once customers, have used it.

A 2017 research paper by Uni-versity of Texas sociologist Sarah Brayne, who studied the Los Angeles Police Department’s use of Gotham, found the software could lead to a proliferation of unregulated per-sonal data collected by police from commercial and law enforcement databases.

On Monday, Amnesty International issued a briefi ng that says Palantir is failing to conduct human rights due diligence around its contracts with Im-migration and Customs Enforcement, calling it “deeply ironic” that the com-pany crows about its determination not to work with regimes like China that abuse human rights.

Palantir’s ICE contracts involve the maintenance and improvement of two products used in deportation raids. One of them, its web-based Falcon tool, has enhanced data accessible to investigators “involving the illegal movement of people into, within, and out of the United States,” according to documents obtained by The Associat-ed Press, including court records, and by the nonprofi t Electronic Privacy Information Center in a freedom-of-information request.

Palantir has acknowledged in its SEC fi ling that “unfavorable coverage in the media” and from social activists could hurt its business. It also says its contractual obligations might prevent it from being able to defend its actions publicly, although it recently named a former Wall Street Journal reporter to its board.

Negative publicity over ICE con-tracts may also have hurt company re-cruitment on college campuses. (AP)

In this photo provided by the New York Stock Exchange, traders (foreground center), gather at a post on the NYSE trading fl oor during the direct listing of Palantir Technologies on Sept 30, 2020. Shares of data-mining company Palantir jumped 47% to $10.67 on their fi rst day of trading. The company was born 17 years ago with the help of CIA seed money. Palantir isn’t selling

new shares to raise money. Instead, it’s listing existing shares for public trading. (AP)

Report shows gains in income and wealth for lower-income and Black families in 2019

Healthy US economy failed to narrow racial gapsWASHINGTON, Oct 1, (AP): The solid growth that the United States enjoyed before the viral pandemic paralyzed the economy this spring failed to reduce racial disparities in Americans’ income and wealth from 2016 through 2019, according to a Federal Reserve report.

Though Black and Hispanic house-holds reported sharper gains in wealth than white households did, those in-creases weren’t enough to noticeably narrow the racial gaps. The typical white family possessed eight times the wealth of Black families and fi ve times the wealth of Hispanic families in 2019, the Fed said.

The Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances, released every three years, analyzed incomes and wealth in 2019. The survey found that income for the typical U.S. family rose 5%, adjusted for infl ation, from 2016 to 2019 to $58,600. That was weaker than the 9% income gain the typical family received from 2013 through 2016.

The survey provides a trove of information on family fi nances in the United States, from the percentage of households that own stock (53%) to the proportion that have a retirement account (50%).

While the report shows increases in income and wealth for lower-income and Black families, many economists worry that the pandemic has reversed those gains. Job losses this year have been concentrated among lower-income workers in the restaurant, hotel, retail and travel industries. Those workers are disproportionately non-white.

Some measures did show a narrow-ing of income disparities. Average income among the wealthiest one-tenth of American families fell 6%, largely because of a steep fall among the richest 1%, Federal Reserve economists said. By contrast, average incomes among the bottom 60% of families rose.

Yet average fi gures can be skewed

by huge incomes at the very top. The Fed report noted, for example, that while average incomes for all families fell 3% from 2016 through 2019, excluding the richest 1%, average incomes rose 3.1%. Income for the richest Americans can fl uctuate more sharply year to year than income for lower-income earners, Fed economists said, and likely fell because of smaller gains from stock, bond and property sales.

Economists typically look at median incomes, which refl ect the midpoint of all earners, as a way to fi l-ter out the extremes. Median income among the poorest one-fi fth of Ameri-cans rose 3%, while median income for the richest one-tenth increased 6%, the Fed said.

The median family income for whites grew 6%. For Black house-holds, it was slightly better at 7%. For Hispanic families, incomes fell 1%. Median income for white families last year was $69,000, compared with $40,300 for Black families and $40,700 for Hispanics.

Poorer Americans and Black and Hispanic households did gain wealth from 2016 through 2019, mostly from an increase in home ownership and

home values. But those increases came from such low levels that they didn’t much narrow overall income disparities, the Fed said.

Black households, for example, reported a 33% gain in net worth and Hispanic families 65%. Wealth in white households increased just 3%. While encouraging, median wealth for white families in 2019 was still much higher, at $188,200, compared with $24,100 for Black families and $36,200 for Hispanics.

Economic research has found that differences in inheritances are a major factor behind the racial wealth gap. A separate Fed note released Monday found that 30% of white families report receiving an inheritance - three times the corresponding proportion of Black families and four times that of Hispanic families.

‘The richest 1% of Americans owned one-third of the nation’s wealth in 2019, down slightly from nearly four-fifths in 2016. But wealth grew for the next-richest 9% of the population’, the Fed said in another research note. So that the richest one-tenth of families owned 71% of wealth, unchanged from 2016.

By Frank Bajak

Seventeen years after it was born with the help of CIA seed money,

the data-mining outfi t Palantir Tech-nologies is fi nally going public in the biggest Wall Street tech offering since last year’s debut of Slack and Uber.

Never profi table and dogged by ethical objections for assisting in the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown, Palantir has forged ahead with a direct listing of its stock.

In its stock offering, the company isn’t selling newly minted shares to raise money; it’s simply listing existing shares for public trading. The shares began trading Wednesday afternoon after an initial delay, jump-ing 55%.

The low-key strategy may not gen-erate the enthusiasm many technology offerings do. But it’s in character for a secretive company long reliant on spies, cops and the military as custom-ers - and whose founders are holding onto voting control of the company.

The big question for both inves-tors and company management: Can Palantir successfully transition from a business built on the costly hand-

holding of government customers to serving corporate customers at scale? The company is a hybrid provider of software and consulting services that often embeds its own engineers with clients.

Analysts say its future depends on selling multinationals on its tools for gathering disparate data from an ever-expanding data universe and using artifi cial-intelligence technol-ogy to fi nd previously undetectable patterns. Those can theoretically guide strategic decisions and identify new markets much as they have aided in tracking terrorists and sorting military intelligence.

The company sets itself apart from most U.S. technology providers, and just moved its headquarters to Denver from Silicon Valley. Palantir colors itself patriotic and belittles other tech fi rms that won’t unquestionably sup-port U.S. dominance in war-fi ghting and intelligence.

“Our software is used to target terrorists and to keep soldiers safe,” CEO Alex Karp wrote in a letter accompanying Palantir’s offering pro-spectus. While Karp acknowledged the ethical challenge of building

software that “enables more effective surveillance by the state,” Palantir’s prospectus touts its work helping U.S. soldiers counter roadside bombings and fi ght the Islamic State group.

But investors also have to reckon with the Peter Thiel factor.

The iconoclastic entrepreneur and PayPal co-founder endorsed President Donald Trump in 2016, worked on his transition team and holds the largest chunk of Palantir stock. Thiel already exerts tremendous power from the board of Facebook, which dominates global media and seeks to create a digital currency.

In its IPO prospectus, Palantir paints a dark picture of faltering government agencies and institutions in danger of collapse and ripe for rescue by a “central operating system” forged under Thiel’s auspices. As the offering is structured, Thiel will be the dominant voice among the Palantir co-founders who will retain voting control.

“Is that someone who you want deciding how a component of the (na-tional) security apparatus is designed?” asked New York University business professor Scott Galloway. “If you believe that power corrupts and checks

and balances are a good idea, this is just from the get-go a really bad idea.”

Earlier in September, BuzzFeed reported that Thiel hosted a known white nationalist, Kevin DeAnna, at a 2016 dinner party, citing emails it obtained and published whose authors refused to talk to the online news out-let. Thiel declined through a spokes-man to discuss the report with The Associated Press. Critics say he shares the blame for Facebook’s incomplete removal of toxic disinformation dis-seminated by the pro-Trump far-right fringe.

Then there are Palantir’s funda-mentals, which Galloway considers lousy. The company has just 125 customers in 150 countries, includ-ing Airbus, Merck, Credit Suisse and the Danish National Police. Slightly less than half its 2019 revenues were from government agencies, and three clients - which Palantir did not name - accounted for almost a third of revenues.

“They’re massively unprofi table and they’ve never been able to fi gure it out,” Galloway said, noting that it took Google three years to earn a prof-it, and Amazon seven. Over a much

Shell plans to cut up to 9,000 jobs as oil demand slumps

Energy producer Royal Dutch Shell said it’s planning to cut between 7,000 and 9,000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2022 following a collapse in demand for oil and a subsequent slide in prices dur-ing the coronavirus pandemic.

The company said around 1,500 employees have already agreed to take voluntary redundancy this year and that it’s looking at a raft of other areas where it can cut costs, such as travel, its use of contractors and vir-

tual working. Overall, it said it expects the cost-

cutting measures to secure annual cost savings of between $2 billion and $2.5 billion by 2022.

“We have to be a simpler, more streamlined, more competitive organi-zation that is more nimble and able to respond to customers,” Ben van Beur-den, the company’s chief executive, said. “To be more nimble, we have to remove a certain amount of organiza-

tional complexity.”In June, rival BP said it was cutting

around 10,000 jobs from its workforce to cope with the impact of the virus.

Shell also said that it expects third-quarter production to be between 2.15 million and 2.25 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, and that daily pro-duction levels have been impacted by between 60,000 and 70,000 barrels because of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP)

This fi le photo, shows the Shell logo at a petrol station in

London. Royal Dutch Shell said on Sept 30,

2020, it is planning to cut between 7,000

and 9,000 jobs world-wide by the end of

2022 following a col-lapse in demand for oil and a subsequent

slide in oil prices dur-ing the coronavirus

pandemic. (AP)

In this fi le photo, the Wall Street sign is framed by a giant American fl ag hanging on the New York Stock Exchange. (AP)

SCIENCEARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020

11

Air leak on ISS

UAE to send unmannedmission to moon in ’24DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Oct 1, (AP): The United Arab Emirates plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024, a top Emirati offi cial said Tuesday, the latest gamble in the stars by the oil-rich nation that could see it become only the fourth nation on Earth to accomplish that goal.

The announcement by Dubai’s Ruler Sheikh Moham-med bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also serves as the Vice President and prime minister of the hereditarily ruled UAE, shows the rapid expansion of the space program that bears his name. Already, an Emirati space probe is hurtling through space on its way to Mars while last year it sent its fi rst astronaut to the International Space Station.

“It will be an Emirati-made lunar rover that will land on the surface of the moon in 2024 in areas that have not been explored previously by human missions,” Sheikh Moham-

med wrote on Twitter. He did not elaborate on the loca-

tion that the UAE planned to explore, nor how they would launch the rover into space. The launch of its Amal, or “Hope,” probe to Mars took place at Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center in July. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which launched that probe, said noth-ing had been decided about the launch of the moon rover and declined to comment when reached by The As-sociated Press.

The Emirati rover will study the lunar surface, mobility on the moon’s surface and how different surfaces interact with lunar particles, the government later said. The 10-kilo-gram (22-pound) rover will carry two high-resolution cam-eras, a microscopic camera, a thermal imagery camera, a probe and other devices, it said.

Sheikh Mohammed said the rover would be named “Rashid,” the same name of his late father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. Sheikh Rashid was one of the origi-nal founding rulers of the United Arab Emirates, a federa-tion of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula.

SuccessfulSheikh Mohammed made the announcement on Twit-

ter after a closed-door meeting with offi cials. State media photographs of the meeting showed him and others wearing masks due to the coronavirus pandemic.

If successful in 2024, the UAE could become the fourth nation on Earth to land a spacecraft on the moon, after the US, the Soviet Union and China. India tried and failed to land a spacecraft last year.Israel as well saw its own small spacecraft crash into the lunar surface last year before touchdown, failing in an ambitious attempt to make history as the fi rst privately funded lunar landing.

In July, the UAE’s Amal probe was launched from Ja-pan. It remains on its way to Mars and is set to reach the red planet in February 2021, the year the UAE celebrates 50 years since the country’s formation. In September that year, Amal will start transmitting Martian atmospheric data, which will be made available to the international scientifi c community, offi cials say.

A successful mission to the moon would be a major step for the oil-dependent economy seeking a future in space. The UAE also has set the ambitious goal to build a human colony on Mars by 2117.

❑ ❑ ❑

Mars: A network of salty ponds may be gurgling beneath Mars’ South Pole alongside a large underground lake, rais-ing the prospect of tiny, swimming Martian life.

Italian scientists reported their fi ndings Monday, two years after identifying what they believed to be a large bur-ied lake.

They widened their coverage area by a couple hundred miles, using even more data from a radar sounder on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter.

In the latest study appearing in the journal Nature As-tronomy, the scientists provide further evidence of this salty underground lake, estimated to be 12 miles to 18 miles (20 kilometers to 30 kilometers) across and buried 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) beneath the icy surface.

Even more tantalizing, they’ve also identifi ed three small-er bodies of water surrounding the lake. These ponds appear to be of various sizes and are separate from the main lake.

Roughly 4 billion years ago, Mars was warm and wet, like Earth. But the red planet eventually morphed into the barren, dry world it remains today.

The research team led by Roma Tre University’s Sebas-tian Emanuel Lauro used a method similar to what’s been used on Earth to detect buried lakes in the Antarctic and Canadian Arctic. They based their fi ndings on more than 100 radar observations by Mars Express from 2010 to 2019; the spacecraft was launched in 2003.

All this potential water raises the possibility of microbial life on — or inside — Mars. High concentrations of salt are likely keeping the water from freezing at this frigid location, the scientists noted.

The surface temperature at the South Pole is an estimated minus 172 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 113 degrees Celsius), and gets gradually warmer with depth.

These bodies of water are potentially interesting biologi-cally and “future missions to Mars should target this re-gion,” the researchers wrote.

❑ ❑ ❑

Space station: A small air leak at the International Space Station fi nally has been traced to the Russian side, following a middle-of-the-night search by astronauts.

NASA said Tuesday that the two Russians and one Ameri-can on board were awakened late Monday to hurriedly seal hatches between compartments and search for the ongoing leak, which appeared to be getting worse. It was the third time in just over a month that the crew had to isolate themselves on the Russian side, in an attempt to fi nd the growing leak.

It turns out instead of the leak getting bigger this time, a temporary temperature change caused the erroneous cabin air pressure reading, according to NASA. The leak was fi rst spotted a year ago.

NASA offi cials stress that the leak remains small and pos-es no danger. The astronauts will now use leak detectors to try to pinpoint the leak in Russia’s main living and working compartment, called Zvezda, Russian for Star.

Space station deputy program manager Kenny Todd said the good news is that “instead of a bunch of haystacks, we’re down to maybe one haystack.” But he added: “It’s still a needle we’re looking for.”

NASA is sending up extra air supply tanks on its next space station delivery, scheduled for a Thursday departure from Virginia.

As long as the leak does not worsen, Todd said, the space station should be fi ne through next spring.

In two weeks, two Russians and an American are sched-uled to arrive at the space station, followed by crew of three Americans and a Japanese on SpaceX’s second launch of astronauts, now targeted for Oct. 31.

During a news conference Tuesday from Houston, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, the commander, announced that the SpaceX capsule would be called Resilience — to refl ect how the world is coping with this year’s challenges.

“We hope that it brings a smile to your face and we hope that it provides something positive in your lives. Quite frankly, we hope that it’s an inspiration,” Hopkins said of the name and the mission.

Space

In this photo made available from the Twitter account of UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Emirati offi cials brief Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum about a possible moon mission on Sept 29, 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Sheikh Mohammed made the announcement Tuesday on

Twitter that his country plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024. (AP)

This electron microscope image made available and color-enhanced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infec-tious Diseases Integrated Research Facility in Fort Detrick, Md in 2020, shows the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (orange), isolat-ed from a patient. One of COVID-19’s scariest mysteries is why some peo-ple are mildly ill or have no symptoms and others rapidly die – and scientists

are starting to unravel why. (AP)

Discovery

Germany welcomes China plan: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has welcomed China’s plan to be carbon-neutral by 2060, contrasting it with the US failure to abide by the goals of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord.

In a speech Wednesday to Germany’s parliament, Merkel stressed the signifi cance of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s announce-ment last week as the European Union debates ramping up its own medium- and long-term emissions reduction goals.

“I think it’s beyond debate that we need to work with China when it comes to protect-ing the climate,” she told lawmakers. “China is now the biggest emitter worldwide and it’s very important that China contributes to ef-forts to protect the climate.”

Without naming the United States — the world’s second-biggest source of manmade greenhouse gases — she added: “And unlike other large emitters, it’s encouraging that Chi-na stands by the Paris climate accord.”

Merkel said the target set by Beijing should be seen in light of the economic development China still has ahead of it compared to other industrialized nations.

“This is a very ambitious goal that should spur us in Europe to really fulfi l our targets,” she said.

The EU recently proposed raising its target for cutting planet-warming greenhouse gases to at least 55% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels. Some of the 27-nation bloc’s members, particularly in the coal-reliant east like Poland, are opposed to the goal, however.

Germany’s environment minister said she hoped to reach consensus among EU mem-bers during her country’s current six-month presidency of the bloc.

International climate policy is gaining mo-mentum and we are perhaps at a crucial turn-ing point for the future of this planet,” Svenja Schulze said Wednesday before a meeting with EU environment ministers in Berlin. “Two of the world’s most economically ro-bust regions, the EU and China, are reinforc-ing the effectiveness of the Paris agreement.”

Asked whether Europe shouldn’t be setting its sights even higher and aim for a 65% reduc-tion, as scientists have suggested is necessary to achieve the Paris accord’s goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), Schulze said the current proposal envisages a review every fi ve years.

“What’s important to me is that we reach an agreement,” she said. “We need this signal now.”

❑ ❑ ❑

No wild animals in parks: France’s envi-ronment minister has announced a gradual ban on using wild animals in traveling circuses, on

keeping dolphins and killer whales in captiv-ity in marine parks and on raising mink on fur farms.

Barbara Pompili, France’s Minister of Ecological Transition, said in a news con-ference Tuesday that bears, tigers, lions, el-ephants and other wild animals won’t be al-lowed any more in travelling circuses “in the coming years”.

In addition, starting immediately, France’s three marine parks won’t be able to bring in nor breed dolphins and killer whales any more, she said.

“It is time to open a new era in our re-lationship with these (wild) animals,” she said, arguing that animal welfare is a prior-ity.

Pompili said the measures will also bring an end to mink farming, where animals are raised for their fur, within the next fi ve years.

The ban does not apply to wild animals in other permanent shows and in zoos.

Pompili did not set any precise date for the ban in travelling circuses, saying the process should start “as soon as possible”. She prom-ised solutions will be found for each animal “on a case-by-case basis”.

The French government will implement an 8 million-euro ($9.2 million) package to help people working in circuses and marine parks fi nd other jobs.

“That transition will be spread over several years, because it will change the lives of many people,” she said. (AP)

In this June 24, 2020 fi le photo, a volunteer receives an injection at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg. Refrigeration, cargo planes, and, above all, money: All risks being in short supply for the international initiative to get coronavirus vaccines to the world’s most vulnerable people. (AP)

Why virus hitting some harder than others

Immune system holds clues to reactionNEW YORK, Oct 1, (AP): One of COVID-19’s scariest mysteries is why some people are mildly ill or have no symptoms and others rapidly die – and scientists are starting to unravel why.

An international team of researchers found that in some people with severe COVID-19, the body goes rogue and attacks one of its own key immune de-fenses instead of fi ghting the coronavi-rus. Most were men, helping to explain why the virus is hitting men harder than women.

And separate research suggests that children fare better than adults thanks to robust “fi rst responder” immune cells that wane with age. They’re the latest in a list of studies uncovering multiple fea-tures of the immune system’s intricate cascade that can tip the scales between a good or bad outcome. Next up: Figur-ing out if all these new clues might offer much-needed ways to intervene.

“We have the knowledge and capa-bility of really boosting many aspects of the immune system. But we need to not use the sledge hammer,” cautioned Dr Betsy Herold of New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who co-authored the child study.

Adding to the complexity, people’s wildly varying reactions also refl ect oth-er factors, such as how healthy they were to begin with and how much of the virus – the “dose” – they were exposed to.

“Infection and what happens after infection is a very dynamic thing,” said Alessandro Sette, a researcher at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in San Diego, who is studying yet another piece of the immune response.

Immune primer There are two main arms of the im-

mune system. Innate immunity is the body’s fi rst line of defense. As soon as the body detects a foreign intruder, key molecules, such as interferons and in-fl ammation-causing cytokines, launch a wide-ranging attack.

Innate immune cells also alert the slower-acting “adaptive” arm of the immune system, the germ-specifi c sharpshooters, to gear up. B cells start producing virus-fi ghting antibodies, the proteins getting so much attention in the vaccine hunt.

But antibodies aren’t the whole story. Adaptive immunity’s many other in-gredients include “killer” T cells that destroy virus-infected cells – and “mem-ory” T and B cells that remember an in-fection so they spring into action quicker if they encounter that germ again.

A missing pieceUsually when a virus invades a cell,

proteins called Type I interferons spring into action, defending the cell by inter-fering with viral growth. But new re-search shows those crucial molecules were essentially absent in a subset of people with severe COVID-19.

An international project uncovered two reasons. In blood from nearly 1,000 severe COVID-19 patients, researchers found 1 in 10 had what are called auto-antibodies – antibodies that mistakenly attack those needed virus fi ghters. Espe-cially surprising, autoimmune disorders tend to be more common in women – but 95% of these COVID-19 patients were men.

The researchers didn’t fi nd the dam-aging molecules in patients with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19.

In another 660 severely ill patients, the same team found 3.5% had gene mutations that didn’t produce Type I in-

Neanderthal genes may be liabilityfor COVID-19 patients, says studyBERLIN, Oct 1, (AP): Scientists say genes that some people have inher-ited from their Neanderthal ancestors may increase their likelihood of suf-fering severe forms of COVID-19.

A study by European scientists published Wednesday by the journal Nature examined a cluster of genes that have been linked to a higher risk of hospitalization and respiratory fail-ure in patients who are infected with the new coronavirus.

Researchers Hugo Zeberg and Svante Paabo determined that the genes belong to a group, or haplo-type, which likely came from Nean-derthals. The haplotype is found in about 16% of the population in Eu-rope and half the population in South Asia, while in Africa and East Asia it is non-existent. Modern humans and Neanderthals are known to have in-terbred at various points in history, resulting in an exchange of genes than can still be found today.

The genes are one of several risk factors for COVID-19, including age, sex and pre-existing conditions like obesity, diabetes and heart prob-lems.

Zeberg and Paabo, who work at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden

and the Max Planck Institute for Evo-lutionary Anthropology in Germany, noted that the prevalence of the par-ticular Neanderthal gene group is highest in people from Bangladesh, where 63% are estimated to carry a copy of the haplotype.

They cited studies from the UK showing that people of Bangladeshi descent have about two times higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than the general population.

“It is striking that the genetic her-itage from the Neanderthals has such tragic consequences during the current pandemic,” Paabo said in a statement. “Why this is must now be investigated as quickly as possible.”

But Andre Franke, director of the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology at the University of Kiel, Germany, said the fi ndings have no immedi-ate impact on the treatment of COV-ID-19. In a comment ahead of the study’s fi nal publication, Franke said one interesting question arising from the study is why that haploytpe – un-like most Neanderthal genes – sur-vived until today.

“Perhaps it’s good for a very active immune system if one doesn’t have other risk factors,” he suggested.

terferons.Each of those silent vulnerabilities

was enough to tip the balance in favor of the virus early on, said Dr Jean-Laurent Casanova, an infectious disease geneti-cist at Rockefeller University in New York, who co-leads the COVID Human Genetic Effort. He is paid by the How-ard Hughes Medical Institute, which also helps fund The Associated Press Health and Science Department.

Certain interferons are used as medi-cines and are under study as a possible COVID-19 treatment; the auto-antibody discovery adds another factor to con-sider.

Kids’ immunity revs fast It’s not clear why children appear

less at risk from COVID-19. But oc-casionally they’re sick enough for hos-pitalization, giving Herold’s team the opportunity to compare 60 adults and 65 children and teens at New York’s Mon-tefi ore Health System.

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In this June 6, 1966, fi le photo, civil rights activist James Meredith grimaces in pain as he pulls himself across Highway 51 after being shot in Hernando, Miss., during his Walk Against Fear. ‘Walk Against Fear: James Meredith,’ scheduled to air Thursday, Oct. 1, on the Smithsonian Channel, examines the life of a US Air Force veteran-turn-human right agitator whose admission into the University of Mis-

sissippi forced President John F. Kennedy to send federal troops into the state to quell a white supremacy uprising. (AP)

‘I can relate to the struggles of people’

Wilmore talks politics, culture and connects on new showBy Lynn Elber

Larry Wilmore has been down the road as a talk show host before, with a Comedy Central show that was here and gone in two seasons

— taking with it his droll and incisive brand of satire.“Wilmore”, his new weekly series for the recently launched Pea-

cock streaming service, came together on the fl y but, as he describes it, promises to be a better fi t for the writer, performer and producer of shows like “black-ish” and “The Mayor”.

The half-hour show debuted recently with soccer great Megan Ra-pinoe, Missouri Democratic Congressional candidate Cori Bush and comedian-writer Amber Ruffi n, another new Peacock host.

The contest between President Donald Trump and former vice-pres-ident Joe Biden will loom large on “Wilmore”. But the host-producer said the focus will be his and his guests’ perspective on events rather than a string of one-liners.

Not that the candidates, Trump in particular, are off the hook. Asked for an example of his approach, Wilmore cites a test episode in which he shared a “little glimmer of hope” that the president will pay with voters for allegedly mocking American war dead (which Trump has denied doing).

There’s more on Wilmore’s mind than politics. The onetime “sen-ior Black correspondent” (among other roles) on Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” notes that he was addressing Black Lives Matter on his 2015-16 Comedy Central “Nightly Show”.

“Wilmore” itself arose indirectly from a conversation about the po-lice custody death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Wilmore discussed the series in a recent Associated Press interview that was edited for clarity and length.

AP: What’s the look of “Wilmore” and what’s the format?Wilmore: The stage is very simple. It’s really a chair and two big

monitors. The show’s format is also very simple, because it’s just not the scale of what a “Daily Show” does, the correspondents and a big set and budget. It’s really meant to be more of me hanging out, being with the audience, talking about the election and then talking about the culture with guests who are going to appear (virtually) on our screens. And having some fun with the couple of bits at the end. Hopefully, it will connect.

AP: Who do you see as the right guests to take part in the conversa-tions you want to have?

Wilmore: We’re looking for all kinds of people. People who are on the front line of protesting. People from the sports world, because I’m a big sports fan. Maybe some pundits, a few politicians. I’ve always liked people who have something to say, but maybe a lot of people don’t know who they are, those up-and-coming folks.

AP: You said the project came together in a hurry. How so?Wilmore: When the George Floyd thing happened, (Peacock execu-

tive) Dan Shear approached me about making some kind of statement if I wanted to. It felt a little out of place and I have my podcast for that, but it led to a conversation about having a regular thing where I’m

weighing in on the events of the day, not just the election but the cul-ture, and using the time between now and the election as a framework. We’re really going to try to hit certain topics, from voter suppression to disinformation to protests.

AP: When the election is over, can you foresee the direction your show goes?

Wilmore: We’ll probably do a couple of shows right after the elec-tion. And I think we’ll probably meet and say, “Hey guys, do we want to keep doing this, does it feel like a series we’d like to continue? And if we do, do we want to build it out a little more?” But these things have a life of their own, too. If it takes off, what are we supposed to do? Let’s keep doing it. But if the audience says, “No, Larry, we’ve heard enough,” then it’s OK (laughs).

AP: You seem to have such an even-keel attitude. Where does that come from, and how do you maintain it during diffi cult times?

Wilmore: I’ve learned over the years that the things I’m going to get most upset about should be about things with more importance. For instance, my kids or my family, I’ll save the energy for that. Or if it’s about underdogs or some cause that I think I could lend my voice to. Television is so ephemeral. Who am I to get upset over losing a show? I’m upset when I see the schools not too far from me that some people have to go to. And how tough it is for families right now. I grew up with a single mom raising six kids, and there were many times we had nothing. I can relate to the struggles of people. (AP)

NEW YORK: The surest sign of how the coronavirus shutdown has devastated the television industry is the fourth-place fi nish of CBS in what was nominally the fi rst week of a new fall season.

The network’s viewership was down a whopping 61% from the premiere week last year, the Nielsen company said.

CBS has essentially been America’s favorite television network for two decades. But that success was built primarily on its scripted dramas and comedies, particularly crime procedurals like “NCIS.” The shutdown in TV pro-duction because of the pandemic means CBS is struggling to cobble together a competitive schedule each week.

ABC, NBC and Fox were all down from last year, too. But be-tween pro football and the return of some popular unscripted shows like “The Masked Singer” and “Danc-ing With the Stars,” they weren’t hurt as much as CBS. Fox’s ani-mated series, including the ageless “The Simpsons,” are also back.

Overall television viewing was down 13% compared to the same week last year, with the decline more pronounced among younger viewers, Nielsen said.

Some scripted series have re-sumed production and are expected to gradually return to the air. CBS’ “FBI” will start fresh episodes on Oct 6, for example, with NBC’s “This is Us” due back Oct 27.

Technically, CBS was actually the fi fth-place network last week, with Fox News Channel reaching more viewers in prime time. Fox News recorded an important mile-stone as the fi rst cable network to beat all of the broadcast networks in viewership over a three-month period, Nielsen said. That’s testa-ment to the popularity of Fox’s political programming and the summer cupboard being barren for the broadcasters.

NBC led the season-opening week, averaging 5.5 million view-ers in prime time. Fox had 3.9 mil-lion, ABC had 3.8 million, CBS had 2.7 million, Univision had 1.14 million, Ion Television had 1.11 million, Telemundo had 1 million and the CW had 570,000.

Fox News Channel dominated the cable networks, averaging 3.73 million. ESPN had 2.91 million, MSNBC had 1.9 million, TNT had 1.82 million and CNN had 1.2 million.

Nielsen has also begun releas-ing a list of the top shows on streaming services, based on the total number of minutes watched, although the timing lags behind the TV ratings. For the last week of August, Nielsen said Netfl ix’s “Lucifer” starring Tom Ellis was the most popular streamed show, with 2 million minutes watched, followed by “Cobra Kai” and

reruns of “The Offi ce.”❑ ❑ ❑

NEW YORK: Thousands of schoolteachers will receive $500 grants from author James Patter-son to help students build reading skills, especially as schools strug-gle to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Whether students are learning

virtually at home or in the class-room, the importance of keeping them reading cannot be under-scored enough,” Patterson said in a statement Tuesday.

“Reading teaches kids empathy, gives them an escape when they most need it, helps them grapple with harsh realities, and perhaps most importantly, will remind them that they are not alone —

even if they’re unable to see their teachers, classmates and friends in-person,” he said.

The grant program is adminis-tered by Patterson and by Scholas-tic Book Clubs, which will provide teachers 500 club points to go with the $500 from Patterson. Out of more than 100,000 applicants, 5,000 teachers will receive grants and club points. (AP)

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‘Borat’ sequel to be released before election

Meredith fi lm weighs his ‘complicated’ lifeBy Russell Contreras

A new documentary is diving into the complicated, and sometimes contradictory life of James Mer-

edith, a Black civil rights fi gure who helped change Mississippi.

“Walk Against Fear: James Meredith,” scheduled to air Thursday on the Smithsonian Channel, examines the life of a US Air Force veteran and human rights agita-tor whose admission to the University of Mississippi forced President John F. Kennedy to send federal troops into the state to quell a white supremacy uprising. It was one of the most violent moments of the Civil Rights Movement and Meredith’s determination to enroll in Ole Miss forever transformed life in the American Deep South.

Known as a bold, stubborn character from the move-ment, Meredith was later shot during a peaceful dem-onstration in Mississippi, and years later drew anger from civil rights leaders for endorsing former Klans-man David Duke for Louisiana governor. He shunned interviews and openly supported former segregationists who he said he was helping transform.

But Meredith told The Associated Press on Tuesday he believed all of his actions in his life had been pre-destined by higher forces. “My life has always been ac-cording to a plan,” Meredith said. “And I was not the engineer of most the plan.”

Born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, Meredith graduated from high school in St. Petersburg, Florida, and enlist-ed in the US Air Force, where he took courses at New Mexico Western College — now Western New Mexico University — in Silver City, New Mexico. Those class-es in New Mexico changed his life and set him on a path to become a writer. “It was the most important thing that ever happened to me,” Meredith said.

The experience in New Mexico also got him thinking of attending Ole Miss, an all-white college that barred Black students.

The documentary follows Meredith from his deci-sion to challenge the University of Mississippi’s seg-regationist policies and then a governor who personally tried to refuse to admit him.

Meredith eventually attended classes thanks to fed-eral court orders only to see white students walk out

in protest.Later, he set out on a public “Walk Against Fear” in

1966 to prove that a Black man could walk peacefully in Mississippi. He was shot on the second day. AP pho-tographer Jack Thornell captured a haunting image of Meredith grimacing in pain as he tried to pull himself across Highway 51 after being shot in Hernando, Mis-sissippi.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Meredith recalled. “The only thing that mattered to me was that I wasn’t dead.”

Meredith said he had been reluctant to open up about his life but was pleased with a BBC project about him that involved Sol B. River, a British theater director and fi lmmaker. River approached Meredith about the docu-mentary idea and he agreed.

“He’s an extremely intelligent and complex man,” said River, who spent years getting to know Meredith. “I hope that people will see this from the viewpoint from the fi rst person ... almost as if they are James Mer-edith going through this.”

❑ ❑ ❑

Harry Belafonte made history in early 1968. But it was lost to history.

While the Vietnam War was raging and civil unrest was convulsing American cities, TV talk show host Johnny Carson did something special: He stepped away from “The Tonight Show” perch for a week.

Then something even more special happened: Bela-fonte took over.

For fi ve nights, the Black singer, actor and activist entertained white middle America with his cool wit and an astonishing array of guests — the Rev. Martin Lu-ther King Jr., Sidney Poitier, Robert F. Kennedy, Paul Newman, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Petula Clark, Bill Cosby, Diahann Carroll and Lena Horne, among others.

That fascinating week of late night is the subject of the new Peacock documentary “The Sit-In,” which aired recently and celebrates Belafonte’s strategic and profound mix of art and politics.

“His goal was to show exactly the ease in which Af-rican Americans and whites could be with each other and get along,” director Yoruba Richen tells The As-sociated Press.

The fi lmmakers initially faced a terrible roadblock: The record of that week is mostly gone. In order to save money, NBC taped over old episodes to fi lm new ones.

All Richen had to work with was interviews with King and Kennedy and a song by blacklisted singer Leon Bibb. Later, she managed to track down some scattered audio recordings.

“When we started, it was a little bit discouraging,” says producer Joan Walsh. “We just made it our mis-sion to kind of create the feeling of the times.”

Interviews with as many surviving guests as possible, archival footage and several hours sitting down with the 93-year-old Belafonte helped fi ll in the gaps, offering a fascinating look at a special time on TV.

In addition to his high-powered guests, Belafonte showed home movies of his family water-skiing and boating — conscious efforts to connect with his white audience.

“He was showing us his life,” says Walsh. “It went a long way to kind of normalize Black middle class and Black upper middle class life.”

The fi lm suggest that Carson knew he wasn’t really able to discuss the racial divide and divisive arguments about the war so endorsed Belafonte, a huge star who could appeal to both Blacks and whites in a time of seg-regation.

Also:NEW YORK: Borat is back. Sacha Baron Cohen has fi lmed a sequel to his 2006 fi lm “Borat! Cultural Learn-ings of America for Make Benefi t Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” that Amazon plans to release before the election.

The streaming giant confi rmed Tuesday that it has acquired worldwide rights to the fi lm. It’s reportedly ti-tled: “Borat: Gift of Monkey to Vice Premiere Mikhael Pence to Make Benefi t Recently Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan.”

Reports have steadily accumulated about the project throughout the summer as it was fi lmed in secret dur-ing the pandemic. In early July, Rudy Giuliani called the police on Cohen after an interview in which Cohen emerged in character. Giuliani told Page Six: “This guy comes running in wearing a crazy, what I would say was a pink outfi t. It was a pink... with lace.” (AP)

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Television

‘Steve on Watch’

Harvey talks on show revival and NBC splitLOS ANGELES, Oct 1, (AP): Having his daytime talk show canceled by NBC last year hasn’t stopped Steve Harvey.

While he waited for a new opportunity, the come-dian continued to make his presence regularly felt on TV as the host of “Family Feud” and as an emcee for multiple recurring jobs, including the annual Miss Universe pageant.

It didn’t take long for Harvey to seal a deal with Facebook Watch and launch the new talk show “Steve on Watch.” The fi rst season debuted at the beginning of 2020 with strong numbers, and has already started releasing episodes of the second season, which pre-miered recently on the streaming platform.

The new season was taped from Harvey’s Atlanta home in a newly constructed set to adapt to the coro-

navirus pandemic. The produc-tion features about 50 live vir-tual audience members through Zoom as Harvey delves into human interest stories, viral sensations and interviews with celebrity guests including Ga-brielle Union, Jack Black and Steph Curry.

In an interview with The As-sociated Press, Harvey opened up about his split with NBC, how Facebook has given him

more creative control and his thoughts on Ellen De-Generes, a fellow talk show host who was accused of having a toxic work environment.

AP: What were your initial thoughts after NBC canceled your talk show?

Harvey: One of my buddies called me and said “Maybe you should do a letter writing campaign?” I said “No, I’m not going to do that.” People would say you should go up there and talk to them and sit down. I’m not doing none of that. I move on. I was on a talk show for seven years... Seven’s a good run.

AP: Why weren’t you stressed over NBC’s deci-sion?

Harvey: My life is a testament to people who are watching me, especially young people. Life evolves all the time and it always changes. You got two things you can do with change: You can react to the change or you could participate in the change. I don’t react. I participate. I saw it coming. They had leaked it a year before that they were going to let the show go and re-place it. I just went to work. I just kept on doing what I was doing. Sometimes when you get rid of something good, you might end up getting rid of yourself.

AP: Your facial expression is saying a lot right now...

Harvey: You got to be careful. I’m one of... favor-ites. You’ve got to be careful how you handle me.

AP: Do you have more creative control at Face-book?

Harvey: Absolutely. They understood. Let’s just take away all of the trimmings and let’s get to what this guy really does. Let’s play to his strong suits. They come up with a format where I can do just that. These human-interest stories, I do well with everyday people. I talk to people on different levels.

AP: How did your relationship with Facebook come together?

Harvey: I don’t really know how the talks initi-ated. I think when they heard that I was leaving NBC, I think between them and IMG (Harvey’s producing partner), some conversations started. I was doing real-ly well digitally out there. I was actually getting more visitors and more views on my digital platform than I was on the TV show. I think the global recognition kind of put the two of us together.

AP: According to Facebook, your fi rst season had 22 million unique viewers. Did that give you confi r-mation about your show?

Harvey: I never lost faith in the process of who I am as a talent or what I’m able to do with the right team around me. Facebook Watch did a really smart thing. They surrounded me with top quality people. It was nothing wrong when the show got canceled on NBC. It was nothing wrong with it at all. The num-bers were what they were. Anybody else could stay on TV with that. Trust and believe they can. Those same shows is on there with that number and a lesser number and still on TV.

AP: What’s you biggest takeaway from the ordeal?Harvey: I’m here to inspire people to never give up.

When the door closes in your face, quit standing there beating on the door. Some doors close for a reason. My time at NBC was what it was. It was a good time. I learned a lot. It really opened the door to come to Facebook and do something that hadn’t been done be-fore.... to take a full-fl edged talk show and put it on the digital form.

AP: What did you think of allegations against Ellen DeGeneres, one of which claimed that racially insen-sitive remarks were made?

Harvey: She don’t need to let people drag her reputation down like this. The Ellen DeGeneres that I know.... Let me put it to you this way. I don’t care who don’t like it. I’m a 63-year-old Black man. I know racism. I don’t care where it is, you can’t fool me with it. You can’t fake me with it. You can’t slide it behind me. I’ve been around Ellen way too many times... El-len DeGeneres is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met in this business.

Also:NEW YORK: Like a lot of young people, 11-year-old Izzy Bee has a special bond with animals. Unlike a lot of young people, she shares it with one of the planet’s most cuddly — koalas.

“It’s hard to explain,” she says from her home in Australia. “When I’m with them, it’s just sort like really calming. They sort of like understand me in a way.”

Izzy is showing that unusual bond in the new Netflix series “Izzy’s Koala World,” which follows the girl as she helps her veterinarian mom and takes care of the tree-climbing marsupials. It premiered Sept. 15.

“They all seem to gravitate towards her,” says her mom, Ali. “They’re wild animals, they’re terrifi ed. They need that calming, gentle, quiet, loving pres-ence.”

Izzy and her family live on Magnetic Island, which sits off the east coast of Australia and is home to hun-dreds of koalas. The animals rely on the eucalyptus tree for both habitat and food. They sleep for 18-22 hours a day.

When koalas on the island need help, Izzy and her family welcome them into their animal sanctuary and nurture them until they’re ready to be released back into the wild.

“Do you need cuddles this morning?” she will ask one in her care. She’s also learned some tricks to dis-cover how they’re feeling. “You can learn a lot from looking at their poop.”

Harvey

Musician Mac Davis performs at the Texas Film Awards in Austin, Texas on March 6, 2014. Davis, a country star and Elvis songwriter, died on Sept 29, 2020 after heart surgery. He was 78. (AP)

Argentine cartoonist ‘Quino’ dead

Country star Mac Davis dies at 78NASHVILLE, Tenn, Oct 1, (AP): Country star Mac Davis, who launched his career crafting the Elvis hits “A Little Less Conversation” and “In the Ghetto,” and whose own hits include “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me,” has died. He was 78.

His longtime manager Jim Morey said in a press release that Davis died in Nashville on Tuesday after heart surgery and was surrounded by fam-ily and friends. Davis had a long and varied career in music for decades as a writer, singer, actor and TV host and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006. He was named 1974’s entertainer of the year by the Academy of Country Music and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“Thank you, dear Lord Jesus, for letting us know the man to whom you gave the most incredible talent,” said Reba McEntire in a statement. “He entertained and spread joy to so many people. What a wonderful legacy he left all of us with his music. Mac was one of a kind. I’m so blessed to have been one of his many friends.”

Born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised in Georgia, Davis was inspired by fel-low Lubbock native Buddy Holly, but it was Elvis who gave him his fi rst mu-sical big break. Davis worked as a staff songwriter in Los Angeles for Nancy Sinatra’s publishing company when in 1968 Presley cut the funky “A Little Less Conversation,” which Davis had written with Aretha Franklin in mind.

Although it had a little success at the time, the song became a bigger hit after Presley’s death, being covered by more than 30 artists and topping charts every-where from Canada to Denmark. Davis’ most licensed TV soundtrack song, “A Little Less Conversation” reached No. 1 in the UK in 2002 after it was used in a Nike commercial and was featured in the hit movie “Ocean’s 11.”

Davis also helped craft the senti-mental “Memories” that was a corner-stone of Elvis’ celebrated 1968 come-back TV special, and two other songs that were key to Presley’s revival: The somber ballads “In the Ghetto”

and “Don’t Cry Daddy,” both top 10 singles which marked rare times Pres-ley covered material with any kind of political or social message.

“In the Ghetto” was the story of a young Black man raised in poverty who turns to crime and ends up dead, a story Davis would say was based on a child-hood friend. “Don’t Cry Daddy,” in which a son consoles his grieving father after the boy’s mother dies, appealed per-sonally to Presley, who lost his beloved mother when he was in his early 20s.

“A small town boy who’d achieved the greatest kinds of fame, he remained a good guy, a family man,” said coun-try star Kenny Chesney. “That was Mac: a giant heart, quick to laugh and a bigger creative spirit. I was blessed to have it shine on me. And Mac, who was joyous, funny and created a fam-ily around him, never stopped writing great songs, creating music and inspir-ing everyone around him.”

Davis got a recording deal of his own in 1970, recording “Hooked on Music,” “It’s Hard to be Humble,” and “Texas in my Rearview Mirror,” and getting cross-over success on pop charts. He had his own TV series, “The Mac Davis Show” on NBC, and also acted in TV and fi lm, including alongside Nick Nolte in the football fi lm “North Dallas Forty.” He even starred on Broadway, in “The Will Rogers Follies” and toured with the mu-sical. The group Gallery had a hit on his song “I Believe in Music.”

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Joaquín Salvador Lavado, an Argentine cartoonist better known as “Quino” whose satirical comic strip about a socially conscious girl named Mafalda with a loathing for soup found fans across Latin America, Europe and beyond, died Wednesday. He was 88.

Quino’s “Mafalda” comic strip was fi rst published in 1964 and the humor-ist maintained a dedicated following throughout his career even after he moved onto other projects, skewering social con-ventions through ordinary characters who endured absurdity, exploitation, authori-tarianism and their own limitations.

“I don’t think my cartoons are the sort

that make people laugh their heads off. I tend to use a scalpel rather than tickle the ribs,” Quino said in an interview with The UNESCO Courier that was published in 2000. ‘’I don’t go out of my way to be humorous; it’s just something that comes out of me. I’d like to be funnier, but as you get older you become less amusing and more incisive.”

Quino, who had suffered health problems in recent years, was remem-bered affectionately by comic fans, cultural commentators and Argen-tina’s political class, which was fre-quently the target of his acerbic humor.

“Quino died. All good people in the country and in the world will mourn him, ” tweeted Daniel Divinsky, the cartoonist’s former editor.

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Ar-gentina’s vice president and former two-term president, uploaded a video to Twitter in which Quino had wished her good luck in governing. De Kirchner said Quino had “said things that could not be said” - a reference to censorship during Argentina’s military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s - and that he “chal-lenged society with great strength.”

Quino was “creator of the unforget-table Mafalda and one of the most inter-national cartoonists in Spanish,” the Ma-drid-based Royal Spanish Academy said. “His precise words traveled to both sides of the Atlantic thanks to his cartoons and his peculiar sense of humor.”

Mafalda, whose 6-year-old pro-tagonist ponders the world’s prob-lems to her parents’ bemusement, has sometimes been compared to the “Peanuts”comic strip created by Charles Schulz.

Mafalda “was an inquisitive, intelli-gent, ironic, non-conformist girl, con-cerned with peace and human rights, who hates soup and loves the Beatles,” according to Quino’s offi cial website. The comic strip was introduced to Europe by Italian writer vv and was eventually translated into two-dozen languages, the website said. Quino’s books were published in China, but didn’t fi nd a wide following among English-speaking readers.

Obituaries

In this Nov 26, 2008 file photo, Argen-tine cartoonist Joaquin Salvador La-vado, better known as ‘Quino,’ poses with his character Mafalda during a news conference in Mexico City. La-vado passed away on Sept 30, 2020, according to his editor Daniel Divinsky who announced it on social media.

(AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File)

Union Legend

LOS ANGELES: Chrissy Teigen said she and John Legend are in “deep pain” following her miscarriage, which she announced on so-cial media early Thursday. Teigen wrote that they were “driving home from the hospital with no baby. This is unreal.”

“We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before. We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions. It just wasn’t enough,” she wrote, alongside a picture of herself in tears on a hospital bed. Another image showed her and Legend grieving together over a bundle cradled in her arms.

Revealing they had chosen the name Jack, the model and the musician wrote of their love for their lost son, who would have been their third child.

“To our Jack - I’m so sorry that the first few moments of your life were met with so many complications, that we couldn’t give you the home you needed to survive. We will always love you,” she wrote. (AP)

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AUSTIN, Texas: Prosecutors in Texas have rejected a drunken driving charge against conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones, who was arrested in Austin earlier this year. The Travis County at-torney’s offi ce rejected the misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated against Jones on Sept 18, records show.

A Travis County sheriff’s deputy pulled Jones over on March 10 for going 5 mph above the speed limit, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The deputy was responding to a call from the Infowars host’s then-wife, Kelly Morales, who reported that he was driving a black Dodge Charger and may have been drinking, ac-cording to an affi davit.t (AP)

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LOS ANGELES: Gabrielle Union and NBC

Variety

French actress Juliette Binoche poses on the Green Carpet during the 16th Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) in Zurich, Switzerland on Sept 30. The festival runs

between Sept 24 to Oct 4. (AP)

said Tuesday that they have settled their dif-ferences in their dispute over her fi ring as a judge on “America’s Got Talent,” which she said was retaliation for her complaints that the

show tolerated racism on the set.“We’ve reached an amicable resolu-

tion,” Union and the network said in a joint statement. “NBC Entertainment appreciates

the important concerns raised by Gabrielle Union and remains committed to ensuring an inclusive and supportive working envi-ronment where people of all backgrounds are treated with respect.”

Both sides declined further comment, and would not give further details.

Union, known for her roles in the fi lms “Bring It On” and “Bad Boys II,” appeared on the talent showcase created by Simon Cowell for a season, until she and fellow fi rst-year judge Julianne Hough weren’t asked to return.

Variety reported soon after that Union, who is Black, believed she was fi red because she had asked NBC and the show’s producers to respond to an environment that tolerated racist jokes and remarks from judges and producers.

Union gave detailed accounts of the issues in a complaint to the California De-partment of Fair Employment and Housing that she fi led in June, saying she received criticism of her hair from producers that were rooted in racism.

“Union, a black woman, was singled out due to her physical appearance and discriminated against by NBC due to the fact that her hair did not fi t within the white image that NBC apparently sought to con-vey to the audience,” the complaint stated, adding that a network executive and a show producer “informed Union’s manager that her hair was ‘too wild’ and that it needed to be ‘toned down.’” (AP)

SPORTSARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020

14

Everton and Newcastle advance to quarter-fi nals

Man City march on in League Cup, Man United also throughLONDON, Oct 1, (AP): In this con-gested season like no other, coaches are typically using the English League Cup to rest and rotate key players.

Not Pep Guardiola.The Manchester City manager fi eld-

ed all of his top available stars against Burnley in a bid to stay on course for a fourth straight title in the competition, and it paid off.

Raheem Sterling scored twice, off-season signing Ferran Torres added the third, and Kevin De Bruyne ran the game in City’s 3-0 win in a one-sided last-16 match.

Manchester United, Everton and Newcastle also advanced to the quar-ter-fi nals, joining Tottenham after their penalty-shootout win over Chelsea on Tuesday.

Determined to win any trophy go-ing, Guardiola might have also wanted City to rediscover some rhythm after a wild 5-2 loss to Leicester in the Pre-mier League on Sunday – one of his heaviest defeats as a manager.

His team did just that, with Sterling looking more at home as a makeshift central striker – in the absence of the injured Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Je-sus – than he did against Leicester.

The England international could have had two or three goals before opening the scoring in the 35th minute by lashing in a left-footed fi nish from Benjamin Mendy’s cross.

Torres squared the ball across the face of goal to set up Sterling for a simple second goal in the 49th, and the roles were reversed in the 65th as Torres ran through to curl home a fi n-ish with aplomb for his fi rst goal since joining from Valencia in August.

“It was for the rhythm, and because these players wanted to play,” Guar-diola said of his strong team selection. “This competition is special to us and there is just two games – this one and Leeds (in the league) on Saturday – be-fore the international break. After our result (on Sunday), it was important today.”

City have won fi ve of the last seven editions of the League Cup. One more triumph will draw the team level on overall League Cup titles with Liver-pool, who have captured it eight times.

Unlike Guardiola, Man United man-ager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fi elded a lineup full of fringe players but it was still enough to see off Brighton 3-0 in the teams’ second meeting in four days.

While the fi rst game was decided by a 100th-minute penalty by Bruno Fernandes on Saturday, United had the cup match wrapped up much ear-lier thanks to a 44th-minute header by Scott McTominay, a low fi nish by Juan Mata in the 73rd, and a defl ected free kick by substitute Paul Pogba in the 80th.

Mata, a 32-year-old playmaker fi rm-ly down the pecking order at United these days, was the team’s outstanding player. He also set up McTominay’s goal.

“I feel good physically and mental-ly, and have a passion for the game,” Mata said. “I have a lot of football left in my legs and my mind.”

Dean Henderson pulled off a couple of great saves for United – particularly one down low to deny Leandro Tros-sard in the second half, when the score was 1-0 – to show he is in prime shape to come in for long-time goalkeeper David De Gea if ever needed.

DÜSSELDORF, Germany, Oct 1, (AP): A return to the Bundesliga rel-egation fi ght was never part of the plan for Loris Karius.

More than two years after making some bad mistakes for Liverpool in the Champions League fi nal, the German goalkeeper has returned to his home-land for the latest move in trying to re-build his once-promising career.

Union Berlin may be far from the peak of European soccer, but it could

offer the ideal place for Karius right now. The fi rst step could come Friday when Union play Mainz, Karius’ old club.

“I’m looking forward to my new op-portunity in Berlin and I’m happy to be playing in the Bundesliga again,” Karius said Monday after his season-long loan from Liverpool was con-fi rmed. “Union is a special club, one that has earned a great deal of respect, not just by promotion to the Bundes-

liga. I would like to play my part in this positive development and help to achieve the great goal of staying in the Bundesliga.”

When Karius left the Bundesliga in 2016, he was an up-and-coming goal-keeper with a dependable reputation. That came from helping Mainz estab-lish itself in the Bundesliga and move

away from the threat of relegation. A successful loan spell would help Un-ion - the only current Bundesliga club which once played in the Cold War-era East German league - to do the same.

Karius spent two years in Liver-pool trying to confi rm himself as fi rst-choice goalkeeper ahead of Simon Mignolet. That seemed to have paid off when he started the Champions League fi nal in Kyiv, but the game changed everything.

SOCCER

SOCCER

Back in Germany, Karius seeks to rebuild career

Kimmich scores winning goal

Bayern pip Dortmund,lift German Super Cup

Bayern’s Lucas Hernandez (left), and Dortmund’s Marco Reus vie for the ball during the German Bun-desliga Super Cup soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in Munich, Ger-

many on Sept 30, 2020. (AP)

West Ham’s Sebastien Haller tries a bicycle kick which was saved by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford during the English League Cup, Round of 16 soccer match between Everton and West Ham at the Goodison Park stadium in Liverpool, England on Sept 30,

Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema (left), controls the ball in front of Valladolid’s Raul Garcia (right), during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Valladolid at Alfredo di Stefano

Stadium in Madrid, Spain on Sept 30, 2020. (AP)

Inter’s Alexis Sanchez goes for the ball during the Serie A soc-cer match between Benevento and Inter Milan at the Ciro Vigo-rito Stadium in Benevento, Italy

on Sept 30, 2020. (AP)

Atalanta’s Ruslan Malinovskiy (right), jumps for the ball against Lazio’s Bastos during the Serie A soccer match between Lazio and Atalanta at the Olympic Stadium in

Rome, on Sept 30, 2020. (AP)

MUNICH, Oct 1, (AP): Joshua Kimmich scored the winning goal as Bay-ern Munich shrugged off concerns about fi xture con-gestion to beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 and lift the German Super Cup.

Dortmund fought back from 2-0 down to level the score, before Kimmich and the two goalkeepers made the difference.

Bayern’s Manuel Neuer showed superb reactions to palm away Erling Haaland’s shot when one-on-one with the Norwegian striker. Dortmund’s stand-in keeper Marwin Hitz could only parry Kimmich’s shot back to the midfi elder in the 82nd minute and Kimmich stretched to fl ick in the re-bound while falling.

For Bayern it was a morale-boosting recovery after losing 4-1 to Hoffen-heim on Sunday to end a 32-game un-beaten run. It also marked the third win in a row against Dortmund.

Bayern have played for fi ve trophies since coach Hansi Flick took charge in November and won them all, but all that success has made for more fi xture congestion in the already packed 2020-21 season. The win over Dortmund came just six days after another Super Cup, when Bayern beat Sevilla 2-1 in extra time in UEFA’s ceremonial sea-son-opener.

Kimmich’s winner was the second Bayern goal on a rebound after Coren-tin Tolisso was left with a simple fi n-ish to open the scoring in the 18th when Hitz pushed his fi rst shot onto the crossbar following a lightning-fast counterattack the length of the fi eld.

Bayern made it 2-0 through Thomas Müller’s header in the 32nd after Dort-mund backed off Alphonso Davies and gave him time to play a cross perfectly weighted to meet Müller arriving at the far post.

Haaland hauled Dortmund back into the game, setting up Julian Brandt to score in the 39th and then scoring him-self in the 55th in a move which began when Manuel Akanji muscled Lewan-dowski off the ball in the midfi eld.

Dortmund’s Danish midfi elder Thomas Delaney played the fi nal pass for Haaland on that move. However, Delaney was later at fault for the win-ner as he dawdled on the ball and Kim-mich dispossessed him.

Neither team fi elded a fully fi rst-choice lineup, with Bayern missing the injured Leroy Sané and Leon Goretz-ka, while David Alaba was an unused substitute with a muscle problem.

US defender Chris Richards came on as a 76th-minute substitute for Bay-ern in his third appearance for the fi rst team.

Lewandowski and Müller were each playing the Super Cup for the 10th time. All of Müller’s appearances were for Bayern, while Lewandowski made three for Dortmund earlier in his career. Schalke’s win on penalties over Dortmund in the 2011 game was the last time Bayern didn’t qualify as the league or cup winner.

Dortmund made do without Thor-gan Hazard, who is injured, while fi rst-choice goalkeeper Roman Bürki and winger Jadon Sancho were unwell. Both tested negative for coronavirus.

It was the last game before retire-ment for Bibiana Steinhaus, who in 2017 became the fi rst female referee to oversee men’s Bundesliga games.

MILAN, Oct 1, (AP): New signing Achraf Hakimi scored one goal and helped set up two more as Inter Milan beat Benevento 5-2 in Serie A.

Romelu Lukaku netted twice and Roberto Gagliardini also scored in the fi rst half as Inter were 4-1 up by half-time.

Substitute Lautaro Martínez capped the scoring for Inter in the second pe-riod.

“The outright biggest source of sat-isfaction for a coach is to see that, no matter who’s playing, the idea of the game doesn’t change. It’s a style of play that we’ve been pursuing since last year,” Inter coach Antonio Conte said.

“We’ve got more options and we’re a team that likes to play, that attacks and that creates lots and lots of chanc-es. We’ve got to work more on our bal-ance because today we also conceded two goals.

But I enjoy watching the team play like they did tonight, with incisive at-tacking moves.”

The match was one of three Serie A games that were postponed from the opening round – because they in-volved teams which played deep into last season.

Atalanta, who reached the Cham-

pions League quarter-fi nals, routed Lazio 4-1 in a match between two of last season’s surprises.

In Benevento, Inter took less than 30 seconds to open the scoring as Hakimi burst down the right and rolled the ball across for Lukaku to tap into the back of the net.

Hakimi, who joined from Real Ma-drid in the offseason, was involved again for Inter’s second in the 25th as his cross was knocked down by Ashley Young for Gagliardini to volley home.

Benevento goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò gifted Inter another just three minutes later with a woeful kick straight at Gagliardini, who set up Lu-kaku for an easy fi nish.

Inter returned the favor shortly af-ter as goalkeeper Samir Handanović kicked the ball to Gianluca Caprari, who fi red into the bottom left corner.

Hakimi got on the score-sheet three minutes from halftime as Lukaku could only scuff at Young’s cross and Hakimi pounced to net his fi rst Serie A goal.

Martínez was brought on in the 65th and he scored just six minutes later with a powerful effort into the far bot-tom corner.

Caprari scored another consolation for Benevento shortly after.

Alejandro “Papu” Gomez again starred for Atalanta with two goals.

Gomez had scored one and set up another two in Saturday’s 4-2 victory at Torino.

The Argentina midfi elder did even better on Wednesday with goals in either half. The second was an angled strike into the top right corner.

Robin Gosens and Hans Hateboer netted Atalanta’s fi rst two goals. Fe-lipe Caicedo gave Lazio a glimmer of hope shortly before Gomez’s second goal.

Andrey Galabinov scored twice to help 10-man Spezia earn their fi rst Se-rie A victory, a 2-0 win at Udinese.

Both sides had goals ruled out be-fore Galabinov opened the scoring in the 29th minute.

Spezia captain Claudio Terzi was sent off following a second yellow card in the 66th but Udinese failed to make the man advantage count.

They were pushing hard for the equalizer in injury time when Spezia countered and Galabinov sealed a mo-mentous win.

Newly promoted Spezia are playing in Serie A for the fi rst time.

MADRID, Oct 1, (AP): Vinícius Júnior scored after coming off the bench as Real Madrid defeated Vallad-olid 1-0 for their second win in a row in the Spanish league, while Atlético Madrid were held to a scoreless draw against promoted Huesca in a disap-pointing fi rst start for Luis Suárez.

Vinícius Júnior netted the winner midway through the second half after Madrid’s forwards struggled again in

Everton’s 4-1 win over West Ham – secured by a second hat trick of the season by Dominic Calvert-Lewin – came at a cost.

Richarlison and Allan, two Brazil-ians who have been key to the team’s perfect start to the season in the Pre-mier League, went off injured in the second half.

Allan, the midfi eld anchorman signed from Napoli in the offseason, looked particularly seriously as he in-dicated a tear to his left groin muscle before being helped off the fi eld.

Calvert-Lewin took his haul of goals this season to eight in fi ve games by opening the scoring in the 11th and adding more goals in the fi nal 12 min-utes. He also scored a hat trick in Ever-ton’s other home game so far, against West Bromwich Albion in the league.

Richarlison scored Everton’s other before hobbling off with an apparent ankle injury that he initially tried to run off.

Everton have opened a season with six straight wins in all competitions for the fi rst time since 1938.

Fourth-tier Newport were looking to reach the last eight for the fi rst time in their 108-year history, and were on course to do so at the expense of New-castle heading into the 87th minute.

Newcastle avoided a major up-set, though, as Jonjo Shelvey took the game to spot kicks with a curling shot into the top corner to make it 1-1. Newcastle then recovered after an ear-ly miss by Joelinton in the shootout to prevail 5-4.

attack. The young Brazilian broke the deadlock from close range after a de-fensive mistake by Valladolid defend-ers inside the area.

He had been on the fi eld for less than 10 minutes after replacing strik-er Luka Jovic, who missed another chance to impress as a starter. Jovic had two of the best scoring opportuni-ties of the game but couldn’t capitalize on them, fi rst with a close-range shot in the fi rst half and then with a header after halftime.

Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane started the match with two strikers, but Karim Benzema also was far from his best up front.

“It was diffi cult in the fi rst half, but we changed the game after we switched the scheme (to a 4-3-3) and I entered the match with (Marco) Asen-sio,” Vinícius Júnior said.

Vinícius Júnior became the fi rst for-ward to score for Madrid this season after they opened their title defense campaign with a 0-0 draw at Real Sociedad and a 3-2 win against Real Betis thanks to a late penalty kick con-verted by defender Sergio Ramos.

Madrid again were without Eden Hazard, who had recovered from an ankle injury but now is nursing a right leg muscle injury.

The victory left Madrid at the top of the standings with seven points, along with Getafe, Valencia and Villarreal. Madrid and Getafe have a game in hand.

Valladolid, winless after four matches, had a few good chances on counterattacks and forced Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to make a couple of good saves.

Barcelona visit unbeaten Celta Vigo on Thursday.

Barcelona and Atlético had their fi rst two matches postponed because of the participation in the quarter-fi nals of the Champions League in August.

Madrid had one game postponed af-ter reaching the round of 16.

Suárez followed up his promis-ing debut for Atlético with a lacklus-ter performance in his fi rst start on Wednesday.

Three days after scoring two goals and setting up another in about 20 min-utes off the bench in Atlético’s 6-1 win over Granada, Suárez struggled in the team’s 0-0 draw at Huesca.

The former Barcelona player started alongside young Portugal forward João Félix, but the duo failed to spark the attack for Diego Simeone’s team.

The Uruguay striker had the game’s best chance after a perfect through-ball by Félix in the 59th minute, but he failed to get past goalkeeper Andrés Fernández inside the area and eventu-ally had his shot blocked.

Suárez was substituted by Diego Costa less than three minutes af-ter the miss, but the Brazilian-born striker also couldn’t do much up front. Atlético pressured near the end but failed to capitalize on a couple of good opportunities from inside the area.

“What we did in the second half is the right path,” Simeone said. “We just couldn’t capitalize on our chances.”

Huesca, back in the topfl ight after a year in the second division, were look-ing for their fi rst win of the season after two draws and a loss. Huesca next visit Elche, another promoted club who on Wednesday defeated Eibar 1-0.

Villarreal rebounded from a 4-0 loss at Barcelona with a 3-1 home win against Alavés.

Paco Alcácer opened the scoring in the 13th minute and sealed the victory in the 67th. Gerard Moreno converted a 45th-minute penalty kick after Ala-vés had equalized through Édgar Mén-dez in the 36th.

Alavés remain winless after four rounds. Villarreal had a draw and a win before the loss to Barcelona at the Camp Nou stadium.

SOCCER

SOCCER

SOCCER

Villarreal run over Alavés 3-1

Sinclair, Thorns down Reign

Spezia earn their 1st Serie A victory

Real Madrid beat Valladolidas Suárez and Atlético held

PORTLAND, Oregon, Oct 1, (AP): Christine Sinclair had three goals and the Portland Thorns beat OL Reign 4-1 in a National Women’s Soccer League fall series match.

Sinclair scored her fi rst in the 40th minute off a pass from Lindsey Horan, then added a penalty kick in stoppage time before the half.

Sinclair hadn’t scored against the Reign since 2013, a string of 18 match-es. The longtime captain of the Canadian national team is the international goals record holder among men or women.

Portland’s Rocky Rodriguez scored from near the penalty spot in the 57th minute. After Bethany Balcer scored for the Reign to close the gap to 3-1,

Sinclair completed her third NWSL hat trick in the 74th.

The Thorns were coming off a 3-0 win over the Utah Royals in the fall series. The NWSL’s regular season was canceled because of the coronavi-rus, but the teams have been playing regional games in local markets after playing in the Challenge Cup tourna-ment in Utah this summer.

The Reign were coming off a 2-2 draw against the Royals on Saturday.

The match was originally scheduled for Sept 12, but because of poor air quality in the Pacifi c Northwest caused by wildfi res, it was pushed to Sept 15. When conditions didn’t improve, it was eventually moved to Wednesday.

Hakimi inspires Inter towin, Atalanta top Lazio

SPORTSARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020

15

Houston Astros pitcher Jose Urquidy throws against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning of an American League wild-card series baseball game

on Sept 30, 2020 in Minneapolis. (AP)

New York Yankees’ Gio Urshela hits a grand slam off Cleveland Indians relief pitcher James Karinchak during the fourth inning of Game 2 of an American League wild-card baseball series on Sept 30, 2020 in Cleveland.

(AP)

Knight Riders beat Royals by 37 runs

Kolkata hands Rajasthan first loss in IPLDUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Oct 1, (AP): Fast bowlers Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi ran through Rajasthan Royals’ top order batting to earn a 37-run win for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.

The 20-year-old Nagarkoti grabbed 2-13 while Mavi got the prized wick-ets of Sanju Samson (8) and Jos Buttler (21) to restrict Rajasthan at 137-9.

No. 7 batsman Tom Curran top-scored with 54 off 36 balls and was one of three Rajasthan batsmen to reach double figures.

“It was a little different after seeing the wicket, thought it would be flat,

but it was seaming around so I kept it tight,” Mavi said. “I’ve played against some of these big players before, I knew what they would do so I made sure I just stuck to the lines and lengths.”

Earlier, after being sent in to bat, Kolkata owed their total of 174-6 to Shubman Gill’s 47 off 34 balls up

front and Eoin Morgan’s unbeaten 34 off 23 deliveries.

Jofra Archer pinned down Kolkata’s batsmen with fine figures of 2-14 and had Gill caught off his own bowling in the 12th over.

Nagarkoti and Mavi’s early strikes left Rajasthan reeling at 42-5 in the eighth over before Rahul Tewatia was clean bowled by leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy to make it 66-6 in the

11th over.C u r r a n

reduced the margin of defeat with some late hitting that included succes-sive sixes off Sunil Narine to complete his half century in an otherwise disappointing performance by

Rajasthan’s top order batsmen.“We lost too many wickets up front,

a few of us probably thought we’re still playing at Sharjah,” said Rajasthan skipper Steven Smith, who was caught

behind in the second over after scoring only three. “We probably didn’t adapt as well as we could have to the wicket and the dimensions. We’ll wait and see about switching the XI around.”

Kolkata’s persistence with Narine as an opener failed for the third suc-cessive match when the West Indian left-hander played onto left-arm seam-er Jaydev Unadkat in the fifth over and was clean bowled for 15.

Andre Russell (24 off 14 balls) and Nitish Rana (22 off 17 balls) couldn’t capitalize on good starts but Morgan hit two sixes and a four which pro-pelled Kolkata’s total in the end.

It was Rajasthan’s first loss in the tournament after they won both their previous games at Sharjah.

There is a four-way tie atop the leader-board after all eight teams played three games each with Kolkata, Rajasthan, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore all having four points.

On Thursday, defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on Kings XI Punjab as both teams look for their second win in the tournament.

CRICKET

Nagarkoti

Yankees rally to beat Indiansto reach ALDS vs rivals Rays

Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette tags out Tampa Bay Rays’ Randy Arozarena (56) as he gets caught attempting to steal second base during the sixth inning of Game 2 of an American League wild-card baseball series on Sept 30, 2020 in St Petersburg, Florida. (AP)

Astros win as Twins lose 18th straight in playoffs

CLEVELAND, Oct 1, (AP): DJ LeMahieu’s tie-breaking single in the ninth inning off Cleveland closer Brad Hand sent the New York Yankees into the AL Division Series with a wild 10-9 win over the Indians in a rain-delayed Game 2 that started in September and ended in October.

At 4 hours, 50 minutes – even without the delays – it was the longest nine-inning game (regular season or postseason) in major league history.

LeMahieu, the AL batting champi-on during the shortened, 60-game reg-ular season, grounded his hit into cen-ter field to score Gio Urshela, who hit a go-ahead grand slam earlier. Down 9-8, the Yankees tied it in the ninth on Gary Sánchez’s sacrifice fly off Hand, who went 16 of 16 on save tries during

the season.The Yankees stumbled into the

postseason. But their heavy-hitting lineup came alive over two nights in chilly, empty Progressive Field. New York pounded Cleveland ace Shane Bieber in the opener and now the Yankees, who hit seven homers in the two games, have found their swing as the calendar flips to the month that defines them.

They’ll play rivals Tampa Bay in a best-of-five ALDS in San Diego next week.

Aroldis Chapman got the last six outs for the Yankees, aided by a spec-tacular play from Urshela at third base to begin an inning-ending double play that kept it a one-run game in the eighth. The Indians got the tying run to first in the ninth on a strikeout passed ball with two outs before Chapman struck out pinch-hitter Austin Hedges.

The Yankees rejoiced in the dugout but didn’t celebrate on the field – they simply lined up and bumped fists.

For the Indians, a season of adver-sity ends with more heartache. They

Bekele wary of new course in LondonLONDON, Oct 1, (AP): Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele warned that valuable seconds could be lost on the curves of the modified London Marathon course in pursuit of Eliud Kipchoge’s world record.

The longtime rivals spoke at a news conference Wednesday from a biosecure hotel reserved for elite marathoners ahead of Sunday’s race.

“It’s not an easy thing running curves,” the 38-year-old Bekele said. “Maybe at some point you are losing some speed because of

curves, some seconds, it’s affect-ing maybe some times. We will see on Sunday.”

Athletes will compete on a 26.2-mile (42.2 kilo-meter) closed-loop course con-sisting of 19.6 clockwise laps around St. James’ Park. The traditional course along the River Thames was scrapped because of the c o r o n a v i r u s pandemic. Only elite men and

women are competing and no

spectators are permitted.“It’s a new course. At this

moment, it’s really difficult to say if it’s a really fast course or not,” Bekele said.

The 35-year-old Kipchoge is seeking his fifth London victory. The Kenyan is the world-record holder (2 hours, 1 minute, 39 sec-onds) who last year became the first person to run a marathon dis-tance in under 2 hours, in an unof-ficial exhibition.

Bekele, a three-time Olympic champion on the track, won the 2019 Berlin Marathon in a time that was only 2 seconds off Kipchoge’s world record set the year before, also in Berlin. He said the repetitiveness of the course could be a problem.

twice rallied to tie the Yankees and took the lead in the eighth on César Hernández’s bloop RBI single off Chapman only to have Hand give it away.

Sánchez, benched in Game 1, had a two-run homer and Giancarlo Stanton connected on a solo shot for New York, who were down 4-0 in the first.

Down 8-6 and their postseason in jeopardy of a quick ending, the Indians tied it in the seventh on pinch-hitter Jordan Luplow’s two-out, two-run double off right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga following a gutty move by Indians acting manager Sandy Alomar Jr.

With two on, Alomar, who has filled in most of the season while Terry Francona deals with health

issues, sent Luplow to the plate instead of Josh Naylor, who became the first player in major league history to get five hits in his first five postseason plate appearances.

Luplow smoked a ball to center that went over Aaron Hicks’ head and brought in two to tie it, sending Cleveland’s bench into a frenzy.

A two-time All-Star, Sánchez was benched for the opener after hitting .147 over 60 games, and he batted ninth for the first time in his career in Game 2.

But he rewarded Boone’s faith by connecting in the sixth inning off Indians rookie Triston McKenzie with a wind-aided shot to right that barely cleared the wall and snapped a 6-all tie.

MARATHON

Bekele

Before the game, Boone said he was playing Sánchez because “I know the impact he can have with certainly one swing”.

The Indians will now head into an offseason of uncertainty.

All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor went 1 for 8 in the series and may have played his last game in Cleveland. The Indians have him under contract for one more season, but he’s turned down several offers and the club may have no choice but to trade him before he’s a free agent.

Rays 8, Blue Jays 2In St Petersburg, Florida, Hunter

Renfroe hit a grand slam and the top-seeded Tampa Bay Rays won a post-season series for the first time in 12 years, overpowering the young Toronto Blue Jays 8-2 to finish a two-game sweep of their AL wild-card matchup.

Renfroe launched the first playoff grand slam in franchise history during a six-run second inning. Tyler Glasnow kept Tampa Bay ahead from there, allowing two runs – on a pair of hom-ers by Danny Jansen – in six innings.

Mike Zunino hit a two-run homer off Blue Jays ace Hyun Jin Ryu during Tampa Bay’s big inning. Manuel Margot and Randy Arozarena also drove in runs as the Rays advanced to the AL Division Series against either the New York Yankees or Cleveland Indians.

Astros 3, Twins 1In Minneapolis, Carlos Correa hit a

two-out, tie-breaking home run in the seventh inning for the Houston Astros, who produced another stifling pitching performance and swept Minnesota with a 3-1 victory Wednesday that sent the Twins to a record 18th straight postseason loss.

Nine months after Houston’s rules-breaking, sign-stealing system was revealed, the Astros advanced to the Division Series in Los Angeles. As the sixth seed, they’ll face the Oakland Athletics or Chicago White Sox in a best-of-five matchup starting Monday at Dodger Stadium.

Kyle Tucker hit two RBI singles for the Astros and made a key throw from left field for the inning-ending out in the fifth.

Rookie Cristian Javier worked three hitless innings in relief for the victory in his postseason debut and Ryan Pressly pitched a perfect ninth against his former team, giving the Houston bullpen a total of 9-2/3 scoreless innings in this wild-card series with three hits allowed.

Nobody on this Twins team has had a hand in more than six of the playoffs losses, but for the second straight year one of baseball’s most potent lineups limped through a brief postseason cameo.

BASEBALL

Steelers-Titans matchup postponed

Broncos & Jets square off looking to avoid 0-4 startsEAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, Oct 1, (AP): Banged up, struggling and desperate for a win.

That describes both the Denver Broncos and New York Jets, who’ll square off Thursday night at MetLife Stadium with their seasons spiral-ing, coaches on the hot seat and rosters ravaged by injuries.

Yeah, this might not exactly be a meaty match-up for a p r i m e - t i m e TV audience. But, the results of this game could have intriguing consequences.

The Broncos and Jets are both 0-3 for the second straight sea-son, and each is looking to avoid dropping their first four games in consecutive years for the first time in franchise history. Barring a tie, it’s about to get worse for one of them.

The woeful starts have made Fangio and Jets coach Adam Gase the targets of plenty of criticism and cast some doubts on their long-term futures with their teams. Speculation has been flying that Gase could be out as soon as Friday if the Jets lose.

That’s easier said than done, of course.

The Jets have been inept on offense, and Sam Darnold has not played like a quarterback on the verge of taking the next step in his third year. The defense has also been alarmingly porous. New York’s injury list is longer than a shopping receipt, with Le’Veon Bell, Breshad Perriman and Denzel Mims among those sidelined.

The Broncos have had similar issues on all counts. Their roster sported a combined 18 Pro Bowls when the 53-man roster was finalized. Now, it has just Melvin Gordon’s pair of all-star appearances after Von Miller, Jurell Casey, Courtland Sutton, Phillip Lindsay and A.J. Bouye all got hurt.

They’re also about to start their third straight different quar-terback. Brett Rypien will make his first NFL start, going Thursday night in place of the benched Jeff Driskel - who had taken the place last week of the injured Drew Lock.

❑ ❑ ❑

The Tennessee Titans have at least one more day to see if the team’s coronavirus outbreak is under control before their game with the Steelers is rescheduled for Monday or Tuesday.

Only one new positive test

result came back Wednesday, a day after the Titans had three players and five team personnel test positive for COVID-19. More daily test results are upcoming.

The league announced the postponement from Sunday afternoon on Wednesday.

The Titans hope to be allowed back inside their facility Saturday, though coach Mike Vrabel said that could happen before then or later. The Titans are preparing to play as early as Monday. Vrabel said he’s confi-dent the NFL will allow them some time to practice before the game.

❑ ❑ ❑

Rookie edge rusher Chase Young could miss Washington’s game Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, and perhaps more, after suffering a groin injury in a Week 3 loss at Cleveland.

Young, the No. 2 overall pick, did not practice Wednesday. He instead spent time working out to the side and riding a stationary bicycle.

NFL Network reported Washington considers Young week to week with a “moderate groin strain.” But defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said it was too early to make a decision about Young’s status for the Ravens game.

❑ ❑ ❑

Fifteen NFL teams play their home games on artificial turf. Cleveland Browns center JC Tretter wants to see that number reduced to zero.

The NFL Players Association president cited the league’s offi-cial injury reports from 2012-2018 to state his case that natural grass fields provide a much lower risk for injuries, compared to artificial surfaces, during practices and games.

The analysis shows that play-ers have a 28% overall higher rate of non-contact lower extremity injuries on turf. Non-contact knee injuries occur at a 32% higher clip and non-con-tact foot or ankle injuries are 69% percent more likely on arti-ficial fields.

The Denver Broncos signed free agent defensive lineman Timmy Jernigan on Wednesday after placing five-time Pro Bowler Jurrell Casey on injured reserve along with tackle Elijah Wilkinson and linebacker Austin Calitro.

The Broncos (0-3) also pro-moted running back LeVante Bellamy and outside linebacker Derrek Tuszka from their prac-tice squad ahead of their Thursday night game against the New York Jets (0-3).

NFL Roundup

Gase

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) is sacked by Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Mike Hilton (28) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game on Sept 14, 2020 in East

Rutherford, NJ. (AP)

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ARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2-3, 2020 16

PARIS, Oct 1, (AP): Once Australian Open champion Sofi a Kenin got go-ing, she kept going – right into the third round of the French Open.

The fourth-seeded American started slowly Thursday under a closed roof on Court Philippe Chatrier before pull-ing out a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ana Bogdan.

“I knew I had to fi ght. She was play-ing well,” Kenin said. “First set just didn’t go my way. I couldn’t fi nd my rhythm. I knew I needed to somehow change my game or else I’m going to be out. Did not want that, defi nitely.”

She also nearly stumbled at the end, too.

Kenin held three match points with Bogdan serving at 5-1 but failed to con-vert them all. In the next game, Kenin had to save three break points before fi -nally winning on her fourth match point.

“I was getting a bit down on myself,” Kenin said. “But I guess it helped to-day.”

It was far easier for top-ranked No-vak Djokovic when he followed Kenin on Chatrier. With the roof open and sun-shine bathing the tournament’s biggest stadium after days of miserable weather, Djokovic routed Ricardas Berankis 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

“I had less drop shots than the fi rst match but I served very well today,” Djokovic said in French moments after his victory. “It’s really lovely to see fans after two or three months without fans.”

The unexpected sunshine seemed to bother him a little, so Djokovic’s team gave him a hat he could wear while sit-ting on the side of the court.

Djokovic is going for a second title at Roland Garros after winning in 2016, and for an 18th Grand Slam overall to move two behind Roger Federer’s men’s record. Djokovic has dropped only 10 games so far and next faces lucky loser Daniel Elahi Galan.

While Djokovic has won 81 career titles, the 153rd-ranked Colombian has never won one and this will be his fi rst appearance in the third round of any ma-jor tournament.

Same goes for Roberto Carballes Baena.

He advanced by beating ninth-seeded

Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 in a match lasting fi ve hours.

Shapovalov committed 106 unforced errors in the match, compared to 42 for Carballes Baena, and twice served for the match. The Canadian also had more winners than Carballes Baena, 65-31.

Carballes Baena sank to his knees af-ter Shapovalov hit a forehand long and let out a loud shout of delight.

“It is a dream for me to win a match like this on this court. I tried to be very solid and focus on my game,” the Span-iard said. “He’s very aggressive but I think I did a very good match.”

Carballes Baena will next play 18th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, who has never reached the fourth round at Roland Gar-ros.

The 21-year-old Kenin, meanwhile, will next play qualifi er Irina Bara and another victory will equal her best per-formance at Roland Garros. She reached the fourth round last year in her second appearance at the tournament.

Earlier, former champion Jelena Os-tapenko advanced to the third round when she beat second-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-2.

Even though there were late-morn-ing blue skies for their match, the roof stayed closed over the main court.

Ostapenko won her only major title in 2017 at Roland Garros. The unseeded Latvian will next face either 29th-seed-

ed Sloane Stephens or Paula Badosa.Pliskova’s twin sister, Kristyna, was

also playing a former French Open champion. She was facing 2016 winner Garbiñe Muguruza.

In other women’s matches, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-3. The sev-enth-seeded Kvitova reached the semifi -nals at Roland Garros in 2012.

Also, No. 8 Aryna Sabalenka beat Daria Kasatkina 7-6 (6), 6-0, but Danish teen Clara Tauson’s surprise Roland Gar-ros run ended when she lost to unseeded American Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-3.

Other than former Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki, the 17-year-old Tauson was the fi rst Danish woman in the second round of any ma-jor tournament since 1989.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla, Oct 1, (AP): LeBron James fi nally got an easy Game 1 in the NBA Finals.

A very easy one, at that.Anthony Davis scored 34 points,

James had 25 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists and the Los Ange-les Lakers rolled past the Miami Heat 116-98 on Wednesday night.

“The bigger the moment, he’s just raising his play,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said about Davis, who was mak-ing his Finals debut and made it look easy.

The Heat left beaten and battered. Point guard Goran Dragic left in the second quarter and, a person with knowledge of the situation, said he was diagnosed with a torn plantar fas-cia in his left foot – which obviously jeopardizes his availability for the rest of the Finals. And All-Star center Bam Adebayo left in the third quarter after apparently aggravating a left shoulder strain.

“We’re much better than we showed tonight,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You have to credit the Lakers, and we’ll get to work for the next one.” Game 2 is Friday night.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 13 points, Danny Green had 11 and Alex Caruso fi nished with 10 for the Lakers.

They returned to the fi nals for the fi rst time in a decade and sent a very clear message. James’ teams had been 1-8 in Game 1 of past Finals, with losses in each of the last seven openers.

Not this one.“We kind of picked it up on both

ends of the fl oor,” Davis said.Jimmy Butler fought through a

twisted left ankle to score 23 points for Miami. Kendrick Nunn scored 18 points for the Heat, Tyler Herro had 14 and Jae Crowder 12.

“I, and we, are here for him,” But-ler said about Dragic. “We know how much he wants to win, how much he wants to go to war and battle with us. And obviously, we love him for that and we want him out there with us. But whatever the docs tell him to do, that’s what he’s got to do. ... He’s got to take care of himself fi rst.” Adebayo was held to eight points in 21 min-utes, and Miami went with subs for a fourth-quarter burst that turned a total rout into something only slightly more palatable in terms of fi nal margin.

The Lakers did whatever they want-ed. They outrebounded Miami 54-36, led by as many as 32 points, and made 15 3-pointers – a big number for a team that doesn’t necessarily count on piling up that many points from be-yond the arc. They’re 21-3 this season when making at least 14 3s.

The only stretch that provided hope for Miami came in the fi rst six minutes. The Heat scored on six con-secutive possessions in what became a 13-0 run to take a 23-10 lead midway through the opening period.

So, the fi rst six minutes were fi ne for Miami.

Everything else was all Lakers.“You have to get a feel for how

hard Miami plays,” James said. “They smacked us in the mouth and we got a sense of that. ... From that moment when it was 23-10, we started to play to our capabilities.” The simplest way to sum up what happened over the rest of the opening half is this: Lakers 55, Heat 25. The Lakers came into Game 1 ranked 21st out of the 22 teams that spent time in the bubble from 3-point range, making only 33.6% of their tries from deep at Disney. They were the only team in the postseason to have two games shooting less than 25% on 3s.

Perhaps they were due. The Lakers went 9-for-11 on 3’s in the fi nal 16 minutes of the fi rst half. Of the nine Lakers who played in the fi rst two quarters, eight tried a 3-pointer – and all eight made at least one.

They closed the fi rst quarter on a 19-3 run. Herro banked in a 3 from a sharp angle for a 43-41 Miami lead with 7:33 left in the half, and then the Lakers took off again, this time on a 24-5 burst to go into the break with a 65-48 lead.

The Lakers started the third on an-other run, this one 18-3, and the rout was offi cially underway.

“You can learn so much more from a win than you can in a loss,” James said. “I can’t wait for tomorrow for us to get back together and watch the fi lm and see ways we can be better.” Butler turned his left ankle in the fi nal seconds of the fi rst half, remained in the game and started the second half. ... It was the 19th time that Miami lost a game this season after leading by double digits at some point.

The Lakers improved to 17-15 in Game 1s of title series. ... Davis was 10 for 10 from the foul line, plus added nine rebounds, fi ve assists and three blocks.

Latest sports scores at — http://sports.arabtimesonline.com

Sports

BASKETBALL

TENNIS

Lakers roll in NBA Finals Game 1Heat beaten

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic plays a shot against Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis in the second round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France on Oct 1. (AP)

Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James (left), passes the ball while pressured by Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo (13) during the second half of Game 1 of bas-ketball’s NBA Finals 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP)

Carballes Baena stuns Shapovalov

Kenin takes a while to win, Nole breezes into 3rd round

LONDON, Oct 1, (AP): The Premier League is asking foot-ball’s lawmakers to allow more flexibility and leniency for ref-erees assessing handballs after being told by players and man-agers that the current regula-tions are too harsh.

England’s top division has fielded complaints after a num-ber of incidents in the o p e n i n g rounds of the sea-s o n , including that Eric D i e r should not have con-ceded a penalty for Tottenham against Newcastle on Sunday when a ball came off his outstretched, raised arm.

Despite facing away from the ball, Dier was penalized because his arm was adjudged to be in an unnatural position after jumping to challenge Andy Carroll for the ball.

The penalty – awarded after a VAR review – allowed Callum Wilson to score and secure a 1-1 draw for Newcastle in stop-page time at Tottenham.

“You cannot jump without your hands,” Dier told the BBC. “You cannot defend without using your arms to balance and move so it is what it is.”

Premier League referees, though, have to abide by the laws of the game formulated by the International Football Association Board. There is, however, English influence on the panel that first met in the 19th century. The home nations in the United Kingdom – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – have half of the votes and world govern-ing body FIFA has the other four.

A clarification to the hand-ball law in 2019 stated that hands or arms cannot make a players’ “body unnaturally big-ger”.

The Premier League’s

Professional Game Match Officials body hopes the Laws of the Game could be updated and will ask IFAB for greater latitude.

Six of the 20 penalties awarded in the opening three rounds of the season have been for handball.

The Premier League has already responded to criticism by encouraging referees to soft-en their interpretation of hand-balls while still working within the spirit of the Laws of the Game.

According to a presentation shared within the Premier League, referees have now been told to consider the expected position of the arm – rather than just being outside the body line – when determining whether a handball should be penalized.

“Where the arms are clearly used for balance and/or protec-tion,” the presentation slide states, “it is less likely to be penalized”.

That is also the case “where it is clear the player does not have the ability to react” and when the arm does not clearly block a direct shot.

The Premier League’s inter-pretation of the law should also see players not penalized if:

– the “ball travels from close proximity where the player has a limited opportunity to respond”.

– the “player falls and the hand/arm is between the body and the ground to support the body, but not extended laterally or vertically away from the body”.

Based on the Premier League’s revised guidance for referees to interpret the laws, Victor Lindelof would not have con-ceded a penalty for Manchester United in a loss to Crystal Palace this month because his arm was in a natural running position.

SOCCER

EPL ‘asking’ forchanges to law

Juventus to face Barcelona in CL group stageGENEVA, Oct 1, (AP): Cristiano Ronaldo and Li-onel Messi will face each other in the Champions League group stage for the fi rst time.

Messi’s Barcelona was drawn from the pot of sec-ond-seeded teams Thursday into the group where Ronaldo’s Juventus team were already placed as a top seed. The group was later completed by Dy-namo Kyiv and Ferencváros.

The 35-year-old Ronaldo and the 33-year-old Messi had a nine-year rivalry in the Spanish league when the Portugal star was with Real Madrid. How-ever, they could never face each other so early in the Champions League then because clubs from the same country are separated in the draw.

They did meet in the 2009 fi nal, when Messi scored as Barcelona beat Ronaldo’s Manchester United 2-0.

Juventus and Barcelona were paired in the group stage of the 2017-18 season – Ronaldo’s last in Madrid when he helped Real win a fourth Cham-pions League title in fi ve seasons. Messi scored twice in a 3-0 home win over Juventus, before the teams drew 0-0 in Italy.

The stellar clash of superstars still left space for intriguing draws in the other seven groups.

Defending champions Bayern Munich were grouped with Atlético Madrid, Salzburg and Loko-motiv Moscow.

Paris Saint-Germain, the beaten fi nalists last season, were reunited with Manchester United – which they lost to in the round of 16 in 2019 – and Leipzig, which they beat in this year’s semifi nals. Newcomers Istanbul Başakşehir are also in that group.

Liverpool, the 2019 champions, are top-seed-

ed in a group of teams with reputations for play-ing open attacking soccer – Ajax, Atalanta and Midtjylland of Denmark, another Champions League debutants.

Six-time European champion Liverpool and four-time winner Ajax have met only once before in the competition, in 1966. Ajax eliminated Liverpool from the European Cup second round after a 5-1 fi rst leg win in Amsterdam.

Real Madrid, the record 13-time champions, head a group with storied European histories in-cluding Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter Milan and Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Sevilla and Chelsea, winners of the past two Eu-ropa League titles, will play two more Champions League newcomers, Krasnodar and Rennes.

Manchester City, seeking their fi rst title, were second-seeded in a group with two former winners, Porto and Marseille, plus Olympiakos.

Zenit St Petersburg, top-seeded as Russian league champions, will play Borussia Dortmund, Lazio and Club Brugge.

UEFA will publish a full match schedule Friday. The group stage starts on Oct 20 and is scheduled to run through Dec 9.

Games can be made up until Jan 28 if any are postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Group A: Bayern, Atlético, Salzburg, Lokomotiv.Group B: Real, Shakhtar, Inter, M’gladbach.Group C: Porto, Man City, Olympiakos, Marseille.Group D: Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta, Midtjylland.Group E: Sevilla, Chelsea, Krasnodar, Rennes.Group F: Zenit, Dortmund, Lazio, Brugge.Group G: Juventus, Barcelona, Kyiv, Ferencváros.Group H: PSG, Man United, Leipzig, Başakşehir.

St Louis Cardinals left fi elder Dylan Carlson makes the catch for the out on San Die-go Padres’ Manny Machado during the seventh inning of Game 1 of a National League wild-card baseball series on Sept 30, 2020 in San Diego. (AP) – See Page 15

Dier