Saturday 20 June 2020

28 Shawwal - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8294

SPORT | 06BUSINESS | 01

Build a better,

greener world

economy after

pandemic: Stiglitz

'Big Three'

rivalry great

promotion for

sport: Djokovic

NEW DEATHS

TOTAL DEATHSTOTAL

DEATHS

TOTAL

RECOVERED

GLOBALLY

C VID-19

C VID-19

QATAR UPDATES ON 19 JUNE 2020

TOTTOTTOTTOTTOTTOTALALALALALAL

DEATHS

TOTTOTTOTTOTTOTTOTALALALALALAL

RECOVERED

8,680,065 458,854 4,576,536

NEW CASES ANNOUNCED

1,021

793

NEW RECOVERIES

1,767

ACTIVE CASES

19,960

TOTAL RECOVERIES

65,409

TOTAL

POSITIVE

NEW CASESANNOUNCED

NEW RECOVERIES

ACTIVECASES

TOTALRECOVERIES

UK-Qatari Typhoon Air Force Squadron begins flyingQNA — LONDON

The UK Royal Air Force and Qatar Amiri Air Force Typhoon Squadron, known as No.12 Squadron, have marked an important milestone as they commenced flying as a Joint Squadron.

Based at RAF Coningsby, No.12 Squadron is a unique ini-tiative between the UK and Qatar and will provide the Qatar Amiri Air Force with valuable expe-rience operating the Typhoon as they prepare to receive their first aircraft. With deliveries com-mencing in 2022, the aircraft are part of a GBP5.1bn deal between BAE Systems and the Gov-ernment of Qatar.

The flags of both nations were raised at RAF Coningsby this week as Typhoons with new Squadron markings flew for the first time, signaling the Squadrons readiness to train pilots and ground crew from both air forces.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “No.12 Squadron is a testament to our enduring friendship and commitment to Qatar, the only nation with which the UK has a Joint Squadron. Together we are pro-tecting populations and

securing our mutual interests across the Middle East.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs, H E Dr. Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah said: “The first flight of No. 12 Squadron

marks an important milestone in the commitment of the Qatari Amiri Air Force and the Royal Air Force to deliver on excellence.

“The raising of the flags of The State of Qatar and the

United Kingdom side by side in commemoration of the first joint flight represents the alignment of vision and strategy in building for a stable and prosperous future for both nations and the world.” �P3

Qatar confirms readiness to support IAEA’s efforts against COVID-19QNA — VIENNA

The State of Qatar expressed gratitude for the exceptional efforts made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to confront the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including the initiative presented by the IAEA Director-General to assist member states with nuclear-derived technologies to detect COVID-19 infection, stressing determination to continue support IAEA’s efforts in this field and other areas.

In a statement delivered via

video conferencing to the IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Permanent Represent-ative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations and interna-tional organizations in Vienna, Ambassador, H E Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri addressed the Israeli nuclear capabilities. He said in this regard that Qatar regrets that efforts to establish a free zone of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East have been hindered by the absence of political will by some parties, including parties

that adopted the Middle East resolution within the resolu-tions pack of the 1995 Review Conference.

H E the Ambassador referred to the United Nations General

Assembly Resolution No. (A/RES/74/75) of December 23, 2019, which confirmed, among other things, that the resolution on the Middle East adopted by the 1995 Review

and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty will remain in effect to achieve its goals and objectives, calling for immediate steps to be taken to fully implement that resolution.

At the end of his statement, Qatar’s Permanent Represent-ative underscored that the many challenges facing multi-lateralism and efforts to disar-mament and control armament in this difficult period require that everyone be at the level of responsibility so that the next Review and Extension

Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons can overcome the obstacles that accompanied the 2015 Review Conference, warning that the failure of the next conference to achieve tangible results regarding the disarmament of the Middle East region of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction will lead to weakening the con-fidence in the credibility of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation and the non-proliferation system itself.

MADLSA closes 56 worksites for violating work hours decisionQNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (MADLSA), represented by the Labor Inspection Department, conducted extensive inspection campaigns from June 15 to 18 to ensure companies’ compliance with Ministerial Decision No. 16 for 2007 specifying working hours during the summer for work performed under the sun or in the open places.

During the campaigns, 56 companies were notified of the closure of worksites for three days for violating the provisions of the decision.

Most of the violating com-panies working in the con-tracting sector work in the regions (Al Sailiya, Al Hilal, Al Wakrah, Rawdat Al Hamama, Al Kharaitiyat, Al Gharafa, Umm Sneem, Lusail, Al Kheisa, Al Khor, Izghawa, Ain Khaled, Fereej Al Murra, Unaizah, Al Thumama, Muaither, Frij Al Manasir).

The Ministry called on all companies in different sectors to adhere to work hours during the summer for work per-formed under the sun or in open workplaces to avoid closing the workplace that

doesn’t adhere to the provisions of the Ministerial Decision for a period that does not exceed a month.

Ministerial Decision No. 16 for 2007 determines the working hours for work per-formed in the sun or open spaces during the period from June 15 to August 31 of each year, so that it does not exceed five hours in the morning shift and ends before 11:30am, while the evening shift starts at 3pm.

The Ministry of Adminis-trative Development, Labor, and Social Affairs has dedicated the hotline (40280660) and email to report violations in this regard.

These measures come from the State of Qatar’s keenness to ensure the safety and health of workers and the work environment.

MoPH issues guidelines for praying in mosquesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has issued guidelines to perform prayers in mosques during gradual lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in Qatar. As many as 500 mosques

reopened in the country on June 15 under phase one easing restrictions of coronavirus.

The mosque should open five minutes before the call for prayer and should close five minutes after the prayer, said the Ministry in the guidelines

posted on its website.The mosques’ doors should

close once the prayer starts or when the mosques agreed capacity is reached. The guideline asked for ensuring proper hand sanitizing before entering the mosque. As per the guidelines, the toilets and ablution places will be closed and the temperature of all workers should be checked. All employees and worshippers should have Ehteraz app and their status should be green to allow entry. Masks must be worn by all- the wor-shipers and mosques’ employees and workers.

Worshippers and the mosques’ employees and workers are encouraged to use a tissue when coughing or sneezing and dispose of it directly into a waste bin. Sani-tizers should be provided at the entrance and multiple locations in the mosque. Surfaces, carpets, corridors, and areas where shoes are kept should be cleaned and disinfected after each prayer and regularly.

A housekeeping record log must be maintained at the mosque and worshipers must be encouraged to bring their own Qur’an or use their phone application to read it.

At least half of the windows and doors should be kept open during prayer time to ensure proper ventilation inside the mosque. They can be closed after the prayer ends, and wor-shipers leave the mosque.

Packs of tissue papers should be available and waste bins should be distributed throughout the mosque. The worshipers will not be allowed

to enter the mosque without wearing a mask and bringing their prayer mat. A minimum safe distance of 1.5 meters should be maintained between worshipers and they should be encouraged by the Imam.

According to the guidelines, floor markings should be used on the mosque’s carpets to guide the worshipers’ position and maintain physical dis-tancing. Enough space should be provided on the sides of the mosque to allow for worshipers’ exit from the first rows without the need to go through the others. �P2

An illustrative picture released by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs to educate worshippers about preventive and precautionary measures to follow for performing prayer in mosque.

The first flight of No. 12 Squadron marks an important milestone in the commitment of the Qatari Amiri Air Force and the Royal Air Force to deliver on excellence.

The raising of the flags of The State of Qatar and the United Kingdom side by side in commemoration of the first joint flight represents the alignment of vision and strategy in building for a stable and prosperous future for both nations and the world.

H E Dr. Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, Deputy PM and Minister of State for Defence Affairs

The Ministry called on all companies in different sectors to adhere to work hours during the summer for work performed under the sun or in open workplaces to avoid closing the workplace.

Steady fall in new

COVID-19 cases

QNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) reported yesterday 1,021 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, with 1,767 recoveries from the disease in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries in Qatar to 65,409. The Ministry also recorded seven deaths due to the virus.

The Ministry stated that in the last 24 hours, 16 new cases have been admitted to intensive care due to health complications related to the virus, bringing the total number of cases currently in intensive care to 221.

The MoPH explained that the new cases had the virus trans-mitted to them from people who had been previously infected, as the Ministry of Public Health con-tinues to conduct investigative and proactive testing, which con-tributes to early detection of cases. The new confirmed cases of infection have been intro-duced to complete isolation in the various medical facilities in the country, where they receive the necessary healthcare according to the health status of each case. �P2

Addressing the IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Ambassador, H E Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri also said that Qatar regrets that efforts to establish a free zone of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East have been hindered by the absence of political will by some parties.

02 SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 03.14 am 04.44 am

W A L R U WA I S : 29o↗ 35o W A L K H O R : 30o↗ 40o W D U K H A N : 30o↗ 37o W WA K R A H : 24o↗ 40o W M E S A I E E D 30o↗ 37o W A B U S A M R A 33o↗ 37o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 02:13 – 16:59 LOW TIDE 09:59– 00:00

Hot daytime with slight dust at places at times, relatively hot by night.

Minimum Maximum31oC 41oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.35 am06.29 pm

ASR ISHA

02.58 pm07.59 pm

Qatar Charity opens educational, development projects in SomaliaQNA — KISMAYO, SOMALIA

Qatar Charity has opened educational and development projects in the Somali city of Kismayo, in Jubaland state, as part of its development initi-ative under the patronage of Qatar’s Ambassador to Somalia, H E Hassan bin Hamza Hashem.

First Deputy President of Jubaland state of Somalia Mohamud Sayid Adan, deputies, and ministers in the federal and state government attended the inauguration ceremony.

The First Deputy President of Jubaland expressed thanks

and appreciation to the State of Qatar for its constant endeavour to assist the needy groups and establish qualitative projects. He also commended Qatar Charity’s role and initiatives in the state.

In a speech on this occasion, he called for increasing devel-opment projects to meet the needs of the population, describing the projects that were opened as a qualitative shift in the fields of education

and housing.Interior Minister of Jub-

baland State Mohamed Warsame Darwish expressed thanks and gratitude to the Qatar Charity for having responded to the state’s call to implement these projects.

He stressed that Jubbaland State was in urgent need of such educational services and that the state is ready to provide all logistical and security facilities for the establishment of other projects.

Qatar’s Ambassador to Somalia, H E Hassan bin Hamza Hashem underlined the support and standing of the State of Qatar with the Federal Republic of Somalia and work to implement development projects, stressing the impor-tance of Somalia’s stability and sovereignty on its soil.

In a speech on this occasion, H E the Ambassador said that

H E Jubaland President Ahmed Madobe thanked the State of Qatar and Qatar Charity for supporting the state by imple-m e n t i n g d e v e l o p m e n t projects. “During our meeting with him, he stressed the pro-vision of all facilities for the implementation of other projects,” he added.

The first project is a center that includes a basic and sec-ondary school of 12 classrooms, an administration building, a mosque, a green square, activity and meeting hall, a surface well, a medical clinic, a center for memorizing the Holy Qur’an and shops, as a charitable endowment. This project is con-sidered the first of its kind and its cost is QR1.4m. The second project consists of houses for the poor that includes 24 housing units and a mosque that accommodates 750 worshipers, and its cost is QR1.8m.Aerial view of newly built project site.

Officials during the inauguration ceremony.

Spotlight on women empowerment at DFI’s ‘Short Film of the Week’RAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

Qatari short film “Gubgub” is a little gem of a movie that everyone needs to see.

Written and directed by Qatari filmmaker Nouf Al Sulaiti, “Gubgub” can now be viewed for free via the YouTube channel of Doha Film Institute (DFI) as its latest “Short Film of the Week” which was uploaded on Thursday on the channel.

The film depicts the story of an adventurous young girl, who goes crab hunting with her family. Discouraged when her father undervalues her accom-plishments compared to her brother’s, she sets out to win his approval. On her quest, she finds herself battling for a catch with Nawaf, a boy who shares her goal.

Beautifully shot with Qatar’s mangroves in the background, the beauty of the film lies in the underlying themes and values it carries that the filmmaker was able to effectively convey

within the nine-minute run of the film.

The film is empowering to women as the main character Jawaher played by Fatima Al Nahdi exhibits resolute deter-mination to prove her worth while at the same time reveals her inherent kindness and unselfishness by secretly helping someone not expecting anything in return.

“I wrote the story because I wanted to empower young girls to just feel that they can do whatever they set their mind to, something that’s so dear to my heart because I want girls to follow their dreams no matter what and not have anything stop them,” said Al Sulaiti in a behind the scenes interview.

She shared how a lot of people tried to dissuade her when she started to pursue filmmaking telling her that cre-ating films was not for women.

“I could not believe that there are people out there that could say that to me or to other women. It could be very

discouraging when you start to believe that, and it can stop a lot of young girls from following their dreams and that makes me very sad,” she said.

Part of Al Sulaiti’s moti-vation as a filmmaker is to shine positive light on the society and culture of the region which not many films nowadays project, she stressed.

To her filmmaking is hard yet beautiful and rewarding as

it entails collaboration and strong teamwork to achieve the vision of the director and the whole team of bringing the story to the screen.

With a great passion for sto-rytelling, Al Sulaiti has worked on numerous film projects, both fiction and documentary.

A DFI-supported film, “Gubgub” has already taken part in a number of interna-tional film festivals. It received

much acclaim at the 2018 edition of Ajyal scooping two awards including Best Short Film in the Mohaq category and the first-ever recipient of Abdulaziz Jassim Award for Best Performance at the Made in Qatar Awards for its lead Fatima Al Nahdi.

Launched in April, DFI’s “Short Film of the Week” brings the very best of DFI-supported films for movie buffs to enjoy in the comfort of their own homes. It aims at encouraging people to stay home amid COVID-19 pandemic while lending support to Qatari films and Arab cinema.

The series kicked off with the short narrative “Al Johara” helmed by Qatari filmmaker Nora Al Subai. Other films which had been featured were “Amer: An Arabian Legend” by Jassim Al Rumaihi, “Red” by Kholood Al Ali, “Elevate” by Hamida Issa, “In the Middle” by Mariam Al Dhubhani and “The Unlucky Hamster” by Abdulaziz Mohammed Khashabi.

A still shot from the Qatari short film “Gubgub” by Nouf Al Sulaiti.

QU-YSC begins summer 2020 activities with training programTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar University’s Young Scien-tists Center (QU-YSC) started a new initiative for this summer, which is a research internship program that started on June 14 via distance learning platforms, preserving the principle of social divergence and in line with the country’s efforts to continue the educational process in innovative ways in light of the current health conditions.

The establishment of QU-YSC is a positive step for Qatar University towards achieving one of its most important goals in attracting Qatari students to study scien-tific, health and engineering disciplines consistent with the Qatar Vision 2030 in building a knowledge-based economy.

The internship program provides an interactive educa-tional opportunity that is dis-tinguished by merging under-graduate students with high school students to achieve the desired benefits.

The program aims to develop leadership skills on distance

learning and the skill of critical thinking and problem solving, in addition to developing the ability to research and analyze infor-mation. The internship held over a period of three weeks also aims to develop one of the most important skills that university students must acquire, which is scientific research, where the student will learn the basics of doing scientific research starting with formulate goals and defining a research plan that includes design, implementation and evaluation.

The joint program between high school and university stu-dents also offers many activities, weekly assignments and follow-up workshops, which aim to develop key competencies among students such as research skills, engineering design and inno-vation. During the training, stu-dents will apply the knowledge gained in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics at work to designing and developing products and innovations that serve various sectors such as health, production and education.

The internship offered by

the QU-YSC is distinguished from other training programs by providing a great opportunity for students at Qatar University to enhance their interaction with younger students from the sec-ondary stage to develop their skills in counseling and com-munity service, increase the sense of cooperation between then and develop their capabil-ities in innovation and inno-vation. This opportunity was announced among university and high school students, and it was very popular in terms of the number of registrants and those wishing to join.

Dr. Noora Al Thani, Director of QU-YSC, addressed the trainees, saying, “One of the most important tasks in any society is education and training for young people. It is the key to progress and the development of society and a strong knowledge-based economy.” she also stated, “Such training opportunities help its affiliates to plan for their future, expand their awareness, and make the right decisions that will make them active members of society.”

Talabat goes local with its latest collection '+974'THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Talabat, the leading delivery app in the region, introduces the ‘+974’ collection. The Made in Qatar collection highlights national products and services that are available on the platform as part of its commitment to supporting local businesses and commu-nities.

The “Made in Qatar” line offers a lot of advantages, especially in the current situ-ation. Supporting local busi-nesses means sustaining local employment and prioritising local suppliers. Some of the brands included in the new col-lection involve several busi-nesses such as: Mazzraty, Baladna, Raw Middle East, Qatarat, NAFCO Doha Dates, Ahliya Water and more.

Mohamad Rankoussi, General Manager of Mazzraty, said: “Talabat has provided us with an opportunity to connect with customers we were not able to access previously. High speed, instant delivery is defi-nitely the future, and talabat is one of the best partners to guide companies towards that”.

With a strong investment in health and safety as well as

marketing and communica-tions, the main purpose of the talabat programme is to support and promote Qatari products increasing self-suffi-ciency and economic diversi-fication in a responsible and sustainable way.

Francisco de Sousa, Man-aging Director of Talabat Qatar, said, “Talabat Qatar has always been looking at Made in Qatar brands in a special way. During recent years, the talabat platform has contributed tre-mendously to the growth of many local businesses within Qatar and beyond.” The “+974” collection is one of the many other ways talabat is showing

its commitment to Qatar and its people.

Francisco de Sousa added: “At talabat, we pride ourselves in playing our part in growing Qatar’s business community and helping Qatari businesses achieve even more success. Apart from integrating our delivery solutions with local F&B businesses, we have also set up agreements with local entities, such as Bedaya, to support Qatari entrepreneurs and empower them to launch their business ideas - ranging across all industries and not just F&B - as we owe it to the local community.”

Mubarak Al Sahuti, Business Relations Director, Hassad Food commented, “To ensure the health and safety of our customers, as well as meet all their needs, we are coop-erating with talabat to deliver our ‘Doha Dates’ products to valued cus-tomers. The talabat team’s high professionalism has made our partnership a real success.” To find out which Made in Qatar brands are available on talabat, check out the “+974” collection on the app.

The First Deputy President of Jubaland state of Somalia, Mohamud Sayid Adan, expressed thanks and appreciation to the State of Qatar for its constant endeavour to assist the needy groups and establish qualitative projects. He also commended Qatar Charity’s role and initiatives in the state.

FROM PAGE 1The Ministry explained that the deaths recorded yesterday were of patients who were receiving the necessary medical care in intensive care and they were aged 77, 71, 69, 65, 64, 40, and 34 year. The Ministry of Public Health offered sincere condolences and great sympathy to the families of the deceased.

The MoPH confirmed that efforts to tackle the COVID-19 virus in the State of Qatar have succeeded in flattening the curve and reducing the impact of the virus by a large percentage thanks to the decisions of the ban, the pre-ventive measures taken, and the awareness and cooper-ation of all members of society, besides, there is also a relatively low average number of figures concerning newly registered cases and hospital admissions.

The Ministry urged anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19 to either quickly contact the 16000 helpline or go directly to one of the des-ignated health centers for testing.

FROM PAGE 1

A response procedure in alignment with MoPH guidance should be in placed to deal with suspected cases. An isolation room should be assigned at the mosque, and the residency of workers to separate suspected cases until the medical team from MoPH is alerted.

As per the guidelines, all employees are encouraged not to go to work if they have res-piratory symptoms or fever and should report sick to their employer. Vulnerable groups are advised to pray at home and Children aged 12 and below are not allowed to enter the mosques. Each mosque should have a sticker or poster at its entrance indicating the maximum occupancy.

The guideline aims at pro-viding research-based guidance on best practices to facilitate a gradual and safe restoration to mosques and the development of effective measures to protect the health of worshippers and mosque workers by reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection during the performance of the prayer in the mosque.

MoPH issues guidelines for praying in mosques

Steady fall in new

COVID-19 cases

03SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020 HOME

Submissions for 8th Ajyal film fest openRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

Doha Film Institute (DFI) is inviting filmmakers in Qatar and around the world to submit their films to take part in the eighth edition of the annual Ajyal Film Festival set to take place from November 18 to 23.

“Submissions for the 8th edition of our Ajyal Film Fes-tival (18-23 November) are now open. Submit your films and be part of this annual celebration of local, regional and interna-tional cinema,” DFI has tweeted.

Ajyal, an Arabic word for ‘generations’, bridges gaps and bring generations together through activities and events which inspire creative inter-action among the various sectors of the regional community.

Last year’s edition of the festival witnessed a diverse programme of 96 films from 39 countries around the world comprising 23 features and 73 shorts, including 50 from the Arab World and 56 by women filmmakers. It presented an exciting slate of film screenings, events, exhibits and

performances during its six-day run with key personalities in films and arts including regional and international talent in attendance.

Like in the previous edition, this year’s festival format includes the Ajyal Competition, as well as the Made in Qatar section.

Alongside the official film programme, the festival also features special screenings, the-matic tributes, Cinema Under the Stars and the Creativity Hub.

The official selection for the Ajyal Competition has two cat-egories including Feature Film Competition and Short Film

Competition which both showcase a selection of nar-rative and documentary films from around the world for or about youth.

The Ajyal Competition cat-egories are divided into three sections based on the age of jurors. Mohaq (New Moon) section has jurors aged eight to 12, while Hilal (Crescent) section is for jurors 13 to 17 years old and Bader (Full Moon) for jurors 18 to 21 years old. Last year witnessed over 450 young jurors from 45 countries, including 48 international jurors who travelled to Doha for the event.

In addition there is also the Bariq (Sparkle) section which is composed of a short film programme ded-icated to the youngest audience members, with jurors-in-training aged 4 to 7 and their families.

One of the highlights of the festival is the Made in Qatar section which showcases films shot in Qatar or made by indi-viduals of any nationality who currently reside in Qatar.

Submission for Ajyal Com-petition closes on August 9 and for Made in Qatar section on September 3.

Racecar by QF partner Texas A&M at Qatar students teaches more than just engineeringTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Senior engineering students at Texas A&M University at Qatar who spent the better part of two semesters designing, building and testing a car were disappointed they didn’t get to race in this year’s Shell Eco-Marathon in Malaysia but have accepted this disap-pointment with the grace and maturity that characterizes graduates of the university.

The Shell Eco-Marathon Asia is an annual competition for teams in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions. More than 100 teams from all over Asia and the Middle East test their self-built, energy-efficient cars in the Shell Eco-marathon Mileage Challenge to see which team can travel the farthest using the least amount of energy.

The students — Syeda Manahil Akhter, Mubarak Al Sowaidi, Ayan Zia, Anurag Srivastava, Faisal Al Hababi, Mohammad Qureshi, Hassan Haider, Youssef Mortada, Sami Auji, Abdullah Yousuf and Omad Khodr — are all mechanical engineering majors who grad-uated in May and were working on the car as part of their senior capstone design project.

They had to abandon finishing building their car in early March when Texas A&M at Qatar (and much of the world) closed its physical doors due to the COVID-19 virus. But instead of giving up in frustration, the students continued to collaborate virtually to finish their project and turn in their final report.

The project gave the students a chance to work on a project together much like they would expect to find in the workplace, team

manager Akhter said. “We started with the computer design during the fall semester,” Akhter said. “We had meetings to discuss ideas and solutions, and then we started ordering and fabricating parts to build the car. We’re still trying to find ways to perfect the design. It’s disappointing, especially not being able to compete in the race, but we’ll pass the torch to next year’s team.”

A major challenge was simply logistics: the scope of the project was so huge and so many parts needed to be ordered or fabri-cated since the team had trouble sourcing what they needed from local vendors. This meant the students needed to have their design — on paper — completed early enough to get the parts together.

Zia said working together on the project was not a problem since most of the team members knew each other so well from study abroad and projects they’d worked together during their time together at Texas A&M at Qatar. “The whole team just came together,” Zia said. “We broke up into smaller subsystems and sub teams, and each did their jobs. Every engineer needs to have hands-on experience because it makes you think in a different way.”

Auji said that breaking into sub teams to focus on smaller, individual parts of the work was a good idea considering there was such a big team. “This project was such a different experience from other projects we’ve done that were mostly theoretical,” Auji said. “It gave us experience working in a big group and on subsystems. It was very

beneficial and will help us when we go into industry.”

With their eye on graduating and joining the workforce, the students said they made the most of their time on the project by devel-oping and polishing the skills they’ll need to succeed in the workplace. Among the skills students learned in the course of their cap-stone project were teamwork and commu-nication — both with each other and with experts and working professionals — along with time management, project management, leadership and how to handle stress.

For Srivastava, the chance to design and build his own race car was something he’d waited three years for, since before he started his university education. “I’ve wanted to be on this team since I entered university because I thought it was a really cool opportunity to design a vehicle for the future. If you think you’re a good student with good grades, then I challenge you to take on this project. It tested our patience. We had to integrate everything we’ve learned in university. You will find out how good you really are.”

For Al Sowaidi, the project was the fin-ishing touch on his academic career, which he resumed after working in industry for a time. “This group works in harmony in a way I hadn’t seen in the workforce. There are obstacles in every project but the way we tackled issues makes me proud to be part of this team. When we graduate, I know my team members will not just do good, they will do great.” Students during Shell Eco Marathon.

Kahramaa conducts drills to check ability to curb spread of COVID-19THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) conducted mock drills on June 15 and 16 2020 to test the ability and readiness of its vital facil-ities to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Kahramaa said in a statement that the drills were part of its’s keenness to ensure the sustainability of the service and provide a healthy and safe environment for its employees and all those dealing with it,

The mock drills which were conducted at the National Control Center and the Distri-bution Control Center aimed to test the readiness of officials and the ability and effectiveness of Kahramaa’s plans and risk mitigation measures for emer-gency conditions and the read-iness of the two centers to face such risks in order to ensure the sustainability of the service and the health and safety of the people.

With the spread of the coronavirus and announcing it as a global epidemic, Kahramaa formed a crisis management team headed by its President Eng. Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari.

The sub-teams were also set up to follow up the devel-opments of the virus and

combat its consequences by enforcing state preventive and precautionary measures in a way that ensures the sustaina-bility of the service and safety of Kahramaa’s employees and all those dealing with it.

The risk assessment team of the main crisis management team worked on identifying and

analyzing all operational risks related to the coronavirus for all departments, and making sure that all plans are ready and effective through several phases, including the evaluation phase by identifying internal and external risks according to several scenarios to ensure the work progress.

A view of the mock drill conducted by Kahramaa to check its readiness to curb the spread of COVID-19

QRCS signs pact with Turkish and Sudanese counterpartsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has signed an agreement with the Turkish Red Crescent and the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) to launch a new project to enhance the efforts of fighting coro-navirus (COVID-19) in Sudan.

Amid preventive measures, the $1.2m scheme was signed remotely by Ali bin Hassan Al Hammadi, Sec-retary-General of QRCS, Dr. Ibrahim Altan, Director-General of the Turkish Red Crescent, and Afaf Ahmed Yahya, Secretary-General of SRCS.

The three parties are working together under the umbrella of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, building upon their strong and historical relations. In the face of the current Corona-virus (COVID-19) pandemic, humanitarian organizations have to join hands with the government health care systems to deal with the crisis.

Al Hammadi welcomed the agreement as “inspired by our humanitarian responsibility of helping the Sudanese people to overcome the COVID-19 disease” and “another manifestation of the excellent humanitarian diplomacy adopted by our Qatar”.

“This tripartite agreement reflects the deep-rooted bonds of

fraternity among Qatar, Turkey, and Sudan,” said Al Hammadi. “This step testifies to QRCS’s outstanding role in the global humanitarian arena, within the parameters of its funda-mental principles”.

He hoped that this achievement would be the cornerstone of a broader scope of partnership with the fellow National Societies, in light of QRCS’s endeavors to defend humanitarian causes and help those in need around the world.

Dr. Altan said the Turkish Red Crescent would deliver the medical supplies and materials procured by QRCS to the needy in Sudan, by improving the capacity of SRCS to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is a global challenge that must be addressed through interna-tional solidarity and cooperation. In these unprecedented times, the importance of strengthening coop-eration and coordination between the Movement members within the framework of combating COVID-19 is once again emerged as an essential duty,” he added.

According to him, the Turkish Red Crescent has committed itself to continuing to give support to SRCS as a sister National Society in these difficult times.

In her remarks, Dr. Yahya said, “I take this opportunity to express my sincere and grateful thanks for

the generous support from QRCS and the Turkish Red Crescent, which will make it easier for us to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sudan, by providing health and psycho-logical care for the victims”.

She particularly thanked Al Hammadi and his team for working towards stronger cooperation, and larger common grounds, with other National Societies.

Eng. Ibrahim Abdullah Al Maliki, Chief Executive Director of QRCS and Acting General Director of Relief and International Development Division, said, “I am happy with such closer ties among the three organi-zations, which would translate into more effective COVID-19 control operations in Sudan”.

This agreement, he noted, proves QRCS’s great work to support humanitarian causes and reduce the risks of disasters and emergencies to the vulnerable everywhere.

QRCS has been operating in Sudan since 2003, with its represen-tation mission established in 2007. Over 13 years, it conducted numerous relief and development projects there, including urban development, water supply plants, drinking water wells, rehabilitation of health facilities, medical convoys, educational subsidies, multi-sector development projects, and relief interventions in response to flash floods.

Last year’s edition of the festival witnessed a diverse programme of 96 films from 39 countries around the world comprising 23 features and 73 shorts, including 50 from the Arab World and 56 by women filmmakers.

UK-Qatari Typhoon Air Force Squadron begins flying

FROM PAGE 1

The UK has a long history of working with interna-tional partners in the Armed Forces, with such defense engagement recognized as key to strengthening partner-ships and promoting its

n a t i o n a l i n t e r e s t . However, No. 12 Squadron is the first Joint Squadron in the RAF since the Second World War and the Battle of Britain.

The Joint Squadron was established on July

24, 2018, to strengthen cooperation between the British Royal Air Force and the Qatari Amiri Air Force and strengthen the long-term bilateral security and defense relationship between the two countries.

Heavy rain lashes Istanbul

04 SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020GULF / MIDDLE EAST

Palestinians gather to protest against Israel’s annexation plan towards some areas of West Bank, at Jabalia camp in Gaza City, Gaza, yesterday.

Europe, US win vote rebuking Iran over nuclear inspectionsBLOOMBERG — DUBAI

The US and Europe won a key vote admonishing Iran for its failure to cooperate fully with global nuclear monitors, widening a rift with China and Russia, both allies of Tehran.

The resolution that passed yesterday with 25 votes at the International Atomic Energy Agency calls on Iran to grant access to inspectors who want to visit two sites that may have hosted low-level nuclear activ-ities two decades ago. Growing rancor over the issue forced diplomats to break Covid-19 social-distancing measures in order to conduct a physical vote at the IAEA’s headquarters in Vienna.

“The European Union con-tinues to fully support the work of the IAEA in monitoring and verifying the entirety of Iran’s nuclear activities,” Peter Stano, the EU’s foreign-policy spokesman, said in an emailed statement after the vote.

“We also support all efforts to facilitate the IAEA in carrying out its mandate. Iran should cooperate with the IAEA in full and in a timely manner in line with i t s safeguards agreements.”

Underscoring the diver-gence between US and EU positions, however, a European diplomat said the so-called EU-3 that drafted the resolution and are signa-tories to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran -- Germany, France and the U.K. -- wanted to remain in dialog with Tehran. They maintained their oppo-sit ion to the Trump

administration’s “maximum pressure,” said the diplomat.

China and Russia rejected the resolution, while seven nations including India, Pakistan and South Africa abstained. Together, the coun-tries that withheld their support are building more than half of the world’s new nuclear reactors — a critical measure for the IAEA, which was founded to promote peaceful uses of atomic energy.

Ahead of the vote, China warned that even a toned-down rebuke of Tehran over its alleged lack of cooperation with inspectors could unravel global efforts to contain the spread of atomic weapons, as well as sounding the death knell for the already belea-guered 2015 accord.

“The root causes of this

situation lie in the unilateral and bullying practices of the US,” Beijing envoy to the IAEA Wang Qun said.

President Donald Trump took the US. out of the Iran deal in 2018 as he ramped up an economic offensive against the Islamic Republic, but other signatories led by the Euro-peans vowed to salvage the pact. Iran responded to the US exit by gradually breaking some of its enrichment obligations.

Iran rejected the resolution and said it would give an “appropriate response.” Tehran’s permanent represent-ative to the IAEA warned the world body risked “destroying” the 2015 deal. IAEA inspectors conducted record visits in Iran last year, including 33 snap inspections. Stricter monitoring, including at short notice, was a critical plank of the landmark agreement.

The resolution adopted by the IAEA’s board was the first formal rebuke of Iran since 2012. Russia, which hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for talks this week, said that the even the milder reprimand that was eventually passed in Vienna was overblown and risked escalating tensions.

“Undoubted progress has been made in the work between Iran and the secretariat on the issue of access,” Moscow’s envoy Mikhail Ulyanov said in a statement. “The tension around the issue of access in this particular case seems com-pletely abnormal, since there is no the slightest risk of proliferation.”

Baykah Alomour, a living proof of Palestinian heritageANATOLIA — GAZA CITY

Baykah Alomour in the southern Gaza Strip stands as one of the last historical houses in the seaside Palestinian territory.

“This baykah links us to our past,” Qasem Aimera said. “It is a constant reminder of our hope to return to our land.”

Located in the town of al-Fukhari in Khan Younis, Baykah Alomour was built by Qasem’s grandfather, Aimera Alomour, in 1949, one year after the Nakba, a term used by the Pal-estinians to refer to the expulsion of hundreds of thou-sands of Palestinians by Zionist gangs from their homes in his-torical Palestine in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

Alomour used part of the baykah for housing, while the rest of the building was used for storing crops, especially wheat, lentils and grain.

The baykah initially covered an area of 300 cubic meters, but it was reduced to only 72 meters after it was hit by an Israeli missile during Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip in 2014.

“We lost more than two thirds of the land due to the Israeli bombing and erosion,” Qasem explained.

In 2019, Qasem joined hands with his siblings to restore the baykah and turned it into a hosting space where they receive their guests and other visitors.

“We were determined to restore it at our expense despite

the deteriorating economic conditions,” Qasem said. “It is more of a treasure to us.”

Qasem turned a corner inside the baykah into a museum where his grandfa-ther’s belongings are displayed.

Among items on display are a 100-year-old sworn and mihbash - a traditional carved wooden coffee grinder consists of base and pestle. Neighbors also brought in their inherited belongings to be displayed at the baykah.

Baykahs are usually built of sandstones and clay and they have a very distinguished archi-tecture structure. Its ceiling is supported by stone arches, a number of windows, wooden doors and small cabinets con-structed deep into the walls.

According to Qasem, all Pal-estinian villages used to build baykahs in historical Palestine before Nakba for various purposes.

He said while most Pales-tinian villagers used baykah for housing, Bedouins like his own clan used it for storage.

Listening to narratives from her grandfather about the Pal-estinian life before Nakba, Alaa Saleh, 23, a refugee from the town of Qbeba in historical Pal-estine -- central Israel -- was driven by her curiosity to visit and explore the baykah.

Her grandfather had wit-nessed the Nakba when he was young and was determined to pass on all his memories about Qbeba to his grandchildren.

“It feels like walking into one of my grandfather’s stories.

I relived the details of our ancestors living in the occupied Palestinian villages,” she said.

Saleh said that she would bring her children to visit the baykah in the future.

Ghassan Weshah, head of the history and archaeology department at the Islamic Uni-versity in Gaza, underlined the importance of reminding future generations of Palestinians of their roots.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Weshah said baykahs are a proof of Palestinian existence before the Israeli occupation.

“The best way to save history is by maintaining our heritage monuments as possible as we can because seeing is better than hearing or reading in books,” he said.

Iran urges social distancing as coronavirus cases top 200,000REUTERS & ANATOLIA — DUBAI

Iran’s tally of confirmed coro-navirus cases topped 200,000 yesterday, as state media continued to warn about a lack of proper social distancing despite a new surge of infec-tions.

Daily deaths have exceeded 100 most of this week, for the first time in two months. The Health Ministry announced 120

deaths in the previous 24 hours, taking the total to 9,392, and 2,615 new cases for a total of 200,262.

State television showed several families picnicking without masks or social dis-tancing. Reminded about the fact that one person was dying every 12 to 15 minutes, an uni-dentified family father said:

“My daughter was getting depressed. We really had to get

out of the house.” The parliamentary research

centre issued a report in April suggesting that the actual number of coronavirus deaths might be almost twice the official figure.

State television quoted Hossein Erfani, head of the Health Ministry’s contagious disease care department, as saying provinces will be allowed to decide locally to impose or

suspend restrictions in the fight against the virus.

“Depending on whether it is high-, medium- or low-risk, each province and county will decide on imposing necessary restrictions or suspending them,” Erfani said.

Six of Iran’s 31 provinces are currently high-risk corona-virus areas, state said.

Morocco’s Health Ministry registered 206 new infections

along with 40 recoveries in the past 24 hours.

The ministry said that the country’s infections stood at 9,280, including 213 deaths and 8,081 recoveries.

In Palestine, Health Minister Mai Al Kaila confirmed 39 new infections. She said that Pales-tine’s total infections, including cases in Jerusalem, jumped to 834, including five deaths and 611 recoveries.

COVID-19: Six

deaths in Oman;

five in Kuwait

ANATOLIA — KUWAIT/MUSCAT

The health authorities yesterday reported new deaths from the coronavirus in Kuwait and Oman.

The Omani Health Ministry said in a statement that six more deaths were confirmed from COVID-19, bringing the country’s death toll to 125.

The statement added that 852 new infections were reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the infections tally in Oman to 27,670, including 13,974 recoveries.

In Kuwait, the Health Min-istry announced five more fatalities from the virus along with 604 new infections over the past day.

Kuwait’s infections count surged to 38,678, including 313 deaths and 30,190 recoveries.

Yemeni militias capture Socotra security directorate

ANATOLIA — ADEN

Forces of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) yesterday captured the building of the security direc-torate of Yemen’s Socotra island, a Yemeni official said.

The anonymous official said that the STC forces took control of the security admin-istration building of Socotra, located in the western region of Hadiboh.

The official stressed that clashes between the gov-ernment forces and the STC forces are still going on.

Meanwhile, a Yemeni min-ister called on Saudi Arabia to stop “this mess,” referring to the conflict between the STC and the government forces in Hadiboh.

Yemen’s southern prov-inces have witnessed repeated clashes between government forces and STC fighters since the latter declared self-rule in Aden late April.

Yemen has been devas-tated by a conflict that esca-lated in March 2015 after Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital, Sana'a, and forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee the country.

Cars move in a street during heavy rain in Davutpasa and surrounding areas in Istanbul, Turkey, yesterday.

Turkey's AK Party nominates Speaker for second termANATOLIA — ANKARA

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party yesterday nominated Mustafa Sentop for a second term as parliament speaker.

Speaking to reporters in parliament, Naci Bostanci, the party’s parliamentary group head, said that after talks with ruling party lawmakers, “most of our colleagues said that they wanted to see Mustafa Sentop run again.”

Sentop’s term started in February 2019 and will end on July 12. He is expected to be re-elected on July 7. Sentop later told reporters his candidacy had “became definite.”

Turkey’s parliament is set

to elect a new speaker on July 7 after all the candidates file their declaration of intent by July 6 at the latest. Lawmakers will elect the new speaker through a secret ballot of up to four rounds on a single day.

In the first two rounds, the candidates will seek a super-majority of 400 lawmakers in the 600-seat parliament.

In the third and fourth rounds, if necessary, a simple majority of 301 lawmakers will be enough to elect a new speaker. The opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is expected to back Sentop.

The AK Party holds 291 seats in parliament, while the MHP has 36.

Palestinians demonstrate against Israel’s annexation plan in West Bank and GazaAGENCIES — GAZA CITY

Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip yesterday-against the Israeli plan of annexing large parts of the West Bank lands.

Dozens of demonstrators joined a rally in the Jordan Valley area, which is threatened to be annexed by Israel amid an intensive presence of the Israeli army forces.

The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, chanted anti-Israel slogans and carried banners that stressed on sticking to the Palestinian lands and rejecting the Israeli plans of confiscating it.

The Occupation Forces and a special Israeli force arrested

three Palestinian citizens in the city and camp of Jenin.

A special force of the Israeli Arabized units arrested two young men whose identity is still unknown, while they were near the martyr Khalil Suleiman Governmental Hospital in Jenin, while the occupation forces arrested Abboud Abu Siriya from Jenin camp near Salem camp, local sources told Pales-tine's Wafa news agency.

Also, the occupation forces stormed the town of Qabatiya and stormed the eastern neigh-borhood, which led to the out-break of confrontations between the youths and the occupation forces, which fired metal bullets and sound bombs.

The occupation forces intensified their presence in the

vicinity of the city, especially near the Hadada tourist village, the Arab American University, the vicinity of the towns of Silat Al Harithiya and Yamun, and Jenin-Haifa Street.

Earlier yesterday, the Israeli occupation forces arrested four citizens from the town of Qaffin, north of Tulkarm

Meanwhile, dozens of Pal-estinians prayed yesterday on the lands that were bulldozed by Israeli army bulldozers in the village of Harres, northwest of the West Bank city of Salfit.

Several Palestinian factions in Palestine Liberation Organ-ization (PLO) called on the Pal-estinians to conduct the weekly Friday prayers on the Pales-tinian lands, which Israel plans to confiscate.

The resolution that passed yesterday with 25 votes at the International Atomic Energy Agency calls on Iran to grant access to inspectors who want to visit two sites that may have hosted low-level nuclear activities two decades ago. China and Russia rejected the resolution, while seven nations including India, Pakistan and South Africa abstained.

05SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020 AFRICA

Healthcare providers attend the 4th Zumba dance session organised by the Nursing Council of Kenya at Kenyatta stadium where screening booths and isolation field hospital are installed for the COVID-19 cases, in Machakos, Kenya, yesterday.

COVID-19 warriors

Global emergency aid delivery could end next month: UNAP — JOHANNESBURG

A global emergency delivery service that has kept tonnes of humanitarian aid flowing despite coronavirus travel restrictions could shut down next month if funding can’t be found to keep it running, the World Food Program warned yesterday.

The shortfall comes “just as demand for this service is reaching its peak,” WFP said. Of the $965m to keep the service going through the end of the year, $178m has been confirmed.

While nations that are tradi-tionally the world’s top human-itarian donors were distracted by the growing pandemic earlier this year, the WFP, the United Nations’ logistics leader, heaved the emergency operation into

place with unprecedented reach.The emergency delivery

effort involves almost 120 coun-tries, Amer Daoudi, WFP senior director of operations, said in April.

Travel bans imposed by national governments closed borders and airports around the world, badly wrenching supply chains and stranding humani-tarian workers and supplies.

The emergency delivery service has been key in shipping tonnes of aid for the pandemic and other crises like HIV and cholera that need drugs and vac-cines to keep flowing. The UN and various health entities have openly worried about dangerous delays in many countries’ vacci-nation campaigns, saying the lives of up to 80 million children under the age of 1 could be at

risk. So far, the World Food Pro-gramme emergency service has completed 375 cargo and pas-senger flights, delivering more than 2,500 aid workers with “enough cargo to fill 120 jumbo jets waiting to be transported in coming weeks,” the WFP said.

“I’ve never been involved in anything like this before. I don’t think any of us have,” Stephen Cahill, WFP’s director of logistics, said in April.

“We’re seeing countries taking measures we think aren’t always rational. When you start closing borders, we start to get very nervous.” He spoke on April 16, when the world had more than 2.1 million coronavirus cases. Yesterday, the number of cases was over 8.5 million, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.

Arab League plans urgent meeting on Libya conflict

AFP — CAIRO

The Arab League yesterday announced plans to hold an urgent virtual foreign ministers meeting to discuss the esca-lating conflict in Libya.

The meeting, to be held at Egypt’s request via video con-ference, comes as fighting con-tinues between rival adminis-trations based in Libya’s capital and the west.

“Coordination is currently underway with the current session’s head (the Sultanate of Oman) to determine the meeting’s date, which is expected to be next week,” said Arab League deputy head Hossam Zaki.

Egypt, which backs forces of eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar, is pushing for a peace deal in Libya.

Earlier this month, it pro-posed an initiative calling for a ceasefire and peace talks fol-lowing a series of military vic-tories for Tripoli’s UN-recog-nised government.

Haftar has since last year sought to regain control over the west, fighting the Gov-ernment of National Accord (GNA) in an abortive attempt to seize Tripoli.

Libya has been mired in chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moamer Qadhafi. Besides Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia back Haftar’s forces, while the GNA is supported by Turkey.

Virus cases in Africa rise to 275,327ANATOLIA — ADDIS ABABA

The total number of corona-virus cases in Africa rose to 275,327, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in an update on Friday.

The death toll across the continent climbed to 7,395, it said, adding 125,316 patients have so far recovered.

South Africa has the highest number of cases that now stood at 83,900 followed by Egypt’s 50,400.

Nigeria in West Africa reg-istered 18,500 cases, Sudan in East Africa 8,000 and Cam-eroon in Central Afri ca 10,100.

Confirmed cases in the Southern Africa region reached 87,900, North Africa 74,600, West Africa 57,300, East Africa 29,300 and Central Africa 26,200. At least 3,100 patients have died so far in North Africa, 1,800 in Southern Africa, 1,000 in West Africa, 883 in East and 571 in Central Africa.

Since originating in China last December, the pandemic has claimed over 454,200 lives in 188 countries and regions. The US, Brazil and Russia are currently the world’s worst-hit countries. More than 8.5 million cases have been reported worldwide, while nearly 4.17 million patients have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

AFP — ALGIERS

Algeria has intensified a crackdown on an anti-government protest movement, targeting social media users in a bid to stop demonstrations resuming once coronavirus restrictions end.

Weekly protests rocked the North African country for more than a year and only stopped in March due to the novel corona-virus outbreak.

The “Hirak” protest movement caused the downfall of former president Abdelaziz

Bouteflika in April 2019 after 20 years in power. It has continued demanding an overhaul of Alge-ria’s governance system, in place since independence from France in 1962.

Authorities have made about 200 arrests linked to the protests since the country’s coronavirus restrictions came into effect three months ago, according to Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights.

“The authorities have taken advantage of the lull to arrest the maximum number of activists,”

he said. Protesters are being pursued for “crimes of opinion and expression connected to posts on social media, particu-larly Facebook”, he said, with some of their homes searched and mobile phones confiscated.

Most of the authorities’ actions are based on changes to the penal code that were passed in April amid the health crisis and have been denounced by human rights activists. Salhi called the moves “an irresponsible attack, verging on provocation, against fundamental human rights”.

Sudanese pharmacists holding banners, protest against medicine shortage during the struggle against the novel coronavirus, in Khartoum, Sudan, on Thursday.

Protest against medicine shortage

Clamour grows in Africa to rename Lake VictoriaANATOLIA — NAIROBI

Coinciding anti-racist protests sweeping the world, the clamour is growing in Africa to rename Lake Victoria which lies in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Known as Africa’s pride, the largest tropical lake with a surface area of 59,947sqkm was named after Queen Victoria by the British explorer John Hanning Speke in 1850.

“Lake Victoria is our pride as Africans. It has the name the British have chosen. We want it back,” said Victor Onyango, a businessman from Kenya, who lives on the shores of the lake.

There is already an online petition where Kenyan, Ugandan, and Tanzanian cit-izens are urging their govern-ments to shed the colonial legacy by renaming the lake.

The lake is the source of the Nile River and the

second-largest freshwater lake in the world after Lake Superior in North America.

Among the various ethnic groups that live around the lake, it goes by indigenous names such as Nalubaale, Nyanza, Ukerewe, and Lolwe.

Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, renowned Kenyan scholar and former director of the anti-corruption commission said it was nonsensical to call the lake as Victoria.

“I do not doubt in my mind that all these colonial names should be changed. If you look at the history of many African countries the very first thing that they did was to change the colonial names,” he said.

Among the notable names that were changed in the African continent over the years include Salisbury, which became Harare and Lourenço Marque which was renamed as Maputo.

“I am wondering why we

did not change the name of Lake Victoria. Queen Victoria was one of the leading sup-porters of slavery and I hope that the African community will take a decisive move to have that lake renamed,” said Lumumba.

He said that Africans are torturing themselves by living with the disreputable historical landmarks and figures which have never been part and parcel of their plight.

“I do not doubt in my mind that Lake Victoria should be renamed, Victoria falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya should be renamed. You cannot continue to give dignity to these colonialists. Even Egerton University should be renamed, “he added.

The Kenyan scholar said the protests all over the world fol-lowing the murder of George Floyd in the US is an outpouring of the pent-up anger sup-pressed over many years.

Every action counts,UNHCR says on World Refugee DayREUTERS — NAIROBI

The United Nations’ refugee agency is marking this year’s World Refugee Day with the message that “every action counts”, as it faces the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic and record numbers of people forced from their homes by war and extreme weather.

Conflict, hunger and economic upheaval had displaced nearly 80 million people worldwide, half of them children, by the end of 2019 — nearly twice as many as a decade ago.

In Africa alone, fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso and the Sahel region have contributed to the number of refugees surging to 6.3 million, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UNHCR director for East Africa, Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes said.

“I think we are witnessing today record levels of forced dis-placement, where almost close to 80 million people are displaced worldwide. This breaks down as 1 percent of humanity,” she told Reuters.

“One person in every 97 persons is forcibly displaced. On the (African) continent, we also see rising numbers. We started the decade with about 2.2 million and that has almost tripled.” Nkweta-Salami said the coronavirus outbreak had presented more chal-lenges. In Kenya, the government and the UNHCR have provided items such as face masks and sanitisers in the Dadaab refugee camp, close to Somalia.

It houses more than 217,00 people, making poor sanitation and overcrowding a big concern. The agency said in May at least two people had tested positive for COVID-19 at the camp.

“On World Refugee Day, I think the message we have this year, notably that together we can make a difference and that every action counts,” Nkweta-Salami said.

“I think is one that should resonate in the hearts of most people globally, I would say more than it would have done in a year in which we were not all confronting the same situation.”

Algeria cracks down on activists in bid to break protest movement

Libya’s Al Sarrajdenouncesatrocities byHaftar forcesANATOLIA — ROME

The head of Libya’s interna-tionally-recognised government pledged he will never allow a dictatorship to surface in the country and urged European countries and the UN to continue to support efforts for a political solution of the Libyan conflict.

In an article published by Italian daily La Repubblica yes-terday, Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj denounced the atrocities and destruction perpetrated during the offensive launched by forces loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar.

“Our capital and the broader western region of Libya has been confronted by tyranny through an illegal and immoral offensive led by a rogue general,” Al Sarraj wrote, referring to Haftar.

“During this time, we have witnessed the atrocities that war brings, especially a war led with no regard for common ethics let alone adherence to international law.”

The UN-recognised gov-ernment based in the capital Tripoli has been under attack by Haftar’s forces since April 2019, with more than 1,000 killed in the violence.

The government launched Operation Peace Storm against Haftar in March to counter attacks on the capital and recently regained strategic loca-tions, including Tarhuna, Haftar’s final stronghold in western Libya.

“Now, as promised, our stance has shifted from defensive to offensive, and we will not stop until all remnants of this wicked militia return to where they

came from, and Libyans are finally given the opportunity they deserve to become prosperous within a democratic context,” the Libyan prime minister said.

Libya’s government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political settlement have repeatedly failed.

Recalling that, Al Sarraj asked for the UN to continue its support in unifying Libyans and “working towards a political solution as it has done”.

Al Sarraj noted that pre-vious UN-led efforts to achieve a political deal through several meetings held with Haftar — such as those in Paris, Palermo and Berlin — failed as Haftar used them only “to buy time.”

The premier also stressed that Libyan people reserved the right to defend themselves at a time when the UN had not taken any concrete steps to stop Haftar’s offensive. Instead, he expressed “appreciation and gratitude” for Turkey’s support against the aggression.

In an article published by a Italian daily yesterday, Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj denounced the atrocities and destruction perpetrated during the offensive launched by forces loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar.

06 SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020ASIA

‘Hurt and angry’, Modi warns China over border clashAFP — NEW DELHI

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday that his country was “hurt and angry” after a border clash with China that left 20 troops dead, and warned that the army has been given free reign to respond to any new violence.

India and China have blamed each other for the high altitude clash on their con-tested Himalaya frontier on Monday which also left Chinese casualties after brutal fights with nail studded batons, rocks and rods covered in barbed wire.

Modi called a rare meeting with opposition party leaders to discuss the simmering crisis hours after China released 10 Indian troops, including two majors, it had seized in the battle in the Galwan valley of Ladakh region.

Amid mounting calls for a

boycott of Chinese products and highly-charged public funerals for the dead soldiers, Modi said “the entire country is hurt and angry at the steps taken by China”.

The prime minister denied that any Chinese forces were “inside our territory” and insisted that “upholding sov-ereignty is foremost” for his H i n d u n a t i o n a l i s t government.

“The armed forces have been given a free hand to take all necessary steps,” Modi said.

India and China have rushed reinforcements to the border since the most serious incident between the world’s

two most populous countries in more than four decades. The neighbours fought a full-scale border war in 1962 and have not agreed a frontier since.

A m i d i n t e r n a t i o n a l concern over the clash, top US officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have sided with India in accusing China of escalating tensions.

The release of the 10 sol-diers late on Thursday, con-firmed by Indian security offi-cials, followed several rounds of talks between top military officers and the foreign min-isters on both sides.

China did not confirm the release but a foreign ministry

spokesman said there were no Indian troops “currently detained” and that the two countries “are in dialogue to resolve the matter on the ground through military and diplomatic channels”.

Eighteen troops were being treated for serious injuries after the battle, the Indian mil-itary said. Security officials said that four were in critical condition.

China has admitted that its forces suffered casualties but has not given figures.

Funerals for the Indian sol-diers, many attended by thou-sands of people, have become rallying points for calls to

boycott China. Chinese flags and posters of China’s Pres-ident Xi Jinping have been burned in several cities.

The Indian Premier League, the world’s wealthiest cricket tournament, said its governing council would meet next week to “review” spon-sorship deals after “the border skirmish that resulted in the martyrdom of our brave” soldiers.

The league’s title sponsor is Chinese telephone maker Vivo.

Major generals from the two armies held new yes-terday in a bid to calm the mil-itary face-off in the remote

valley and at other spots.The foreign ministers from

the two countries have also held telephone talks but warned each other against further violence in public statements.

Beijing said that India should “not underestimate China’s firm will to safeguard its territorial sovereignty,” after talks between Wang Yi and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Jaishankar said that China had launched a “pre-medi-tated” attack which would have a “serious impact” on relations between the neighbours.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi observes a two-minute silence to pay tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives following a clash between India and China, during a virtual conference, in New Delhi.

India reports record rise in virus cases as major city locks downREUTERS — CHENNAI

India reported a record daily jump in the number of novel coronavirus cases yesterday as the southern city of Chennai locked down following fresh outbreaks there.

Given India’s high popu-lation density, experts have long worried that a sustained COVID-19 outbreak would lead to pressure on its stretched healthcare system.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lifted most restrictions

that were part of a nearly three-month nationwide lockdown on June 8, despite the continuing rise in cases.

Data from India’s federal health ministry yesterday showed an additional 13,500 cases over the previous 24 hours, with over 300 deaths.

India now lags only the United States, Brazil and Russia in total number of infections and has reported four times more than China, which has a similar size population and is

where the virus originated late last year.

Yesterday, the southern state of Tamil Nadu imposed a lockdown with tough restric-tions in Chennai and sur-rounding districts until June 30.

Roads in Chennai, known as “India’s Detroit” for its large car-making industry, were largely empty yesterday and most shops were closed amid heavy police patrolling to ensure adherence to the rules.

“Police officers and medical

professionals are fighting for you. Please cooperate and be hopeful,” Tamil Nadu state Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said in a tweet yesterday.

“Let’s follow social dis-tancing, stay aware and win this battle against this pandemic.” Tamil Nadu has tested over 800,000 people for COVID-19 — the highest number in the country — and its mortality rate is nearly a third of the national average.

But it has been facing

criticism over delayed reporting of deaths, and the number of cases and casualties have been rising steeply in recent days, mainly in and around Chennai.

Restrictions elsewhere in India, where states have their own powers to set health rules, have largely been eased.

Roads and businesses in the capital New Delhi, where several politicians including the state health minister have tested positive for the virus, were largely open yesterday.

Myanmar sees

23 coronavirus

cases in deported

migrant workers REUTERS—YANGON

Myanmar reported 23 cases of coronavirus infection yesterday among a group of people held in quarantine there after being deported from Thailand.

The health ministry said in a statement the group had tested positive while in a quar-antine center in the south-eastern Kayin state.

Thant Zin Aung, a law-maker for Myanmar’s Mya-waddy township, which borders Thailand, said all 23 had been deported to Myanmar from Thailand on June 8. They had been in a Thai detention centre close to the Malaysia border over visa violations, he said. At least some had earlier been detained in Malaysia.

Malaysian and Thai author-ities have been detaining and deporting migrants from Myanmar in recent weeks as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Many are believed to be refugees from the Rohingya ethnic minority.

The 23 cases were the most officially reported in a single day in Myanmar, which has recorded only 286 cases of the virus so far and six deaths. Testing has been limited.

Thailand has reported no local transmission of the coro-navirus for almost a month, only imported cases. Taweesin Wisanuyothin, spokesman for the Thai government’s COVID-19 Administration Center, said the public health ministry had carried out random tests on more than 500,000 people including migrant workers but did not find any infections.

South Korea’s unification minister steps down over rising tensions with NorthREUTERS — SEOUL

South Korean President Moon Jae-in yesterday accepted the resignation of the minister responsible for relations with North Korea, as tensions with Pyongyang rise over the activ-ities of defectors in the South and stalled diplomacy.

South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, who oversees engagement with North Korea, offered on Wednesday to quit, taking responsibility for the worsening ties.

“There are many wounds in inter-Korean relations, and it’s more difficult to treat them if you add another wound,” Kim said in his farewell speech to ministry employees, adding that the current tensions should be defused.

Moon’s approval rating, which had improved over his government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, has fallen to 55 percent, the lowest level in

about three months, due to worries over North Korea, a Gallup Korea poll showed on Friday.

North Korea has snubbed Seoul’s calls for engagement as efforts to restart inter-Korean economic projects stalled due to international sanctions designed to rein in the North’s nuclear and missile programmes.

Pyongyang has also taken issue over defectors in the South sending propaganda leaflets into North Korea.

Citing Seoul’s failure to stop the defectors, North Korea this week blew up the joint liaison office on its side of the border, declared an end to dialogue with South Korea and threatened mil-itary action.

A North Korean defector-led group said on its website on Friday it had scrapped a plan to send hundreds of plastic bottles stuffed with rice, medicine and face masks to North Korea by throwing them into the sea near

the border on Sunday.It said the decision was taken

“in consideration of the South Korean public’s uneasiness” after threats from Pyongyang and an appeal from the Seoul gov-ernment to desist.

A spokeswoman for the Uni-fication Ministry said it would seek to impose penalties for vio-lations of a law governing inter-Korean exchanges and cooper-ation. After a flurry of barbed statements earlier this week,

North Korean officials did not issue direct criticism of South Korea for a second day in a row yesterday. But state media kept up a steady stream of reports on North Koreans “exploding with anger” at the South.

South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul waves as he leaves the office after a farewell ceremony at the government complex, in Seoul, yesterday.

Bangladesh arrests over 50 traffickers in crackdownREUTERS — DHAKA

Bangladesh police have arrested more than 50 people accused of extorting money from people on false promises of jobs overseas in a major crackdown on human traf-ficking after 30 migrant workers were murdered in Libya.

The series of arrests began after 30 migrants, including 24 Bangladeshi, were abducted and killed by traffickers in the African nation three weeks ago. The Libyan government issued arrest warrants for suspects fol-lowing the deaths.

The arrests in Bangladesh were mostly made in Dhaka, the capital, and included a ring-leader who sent about 400 Bangladeshis to Libya illegally in the last decade, police said.

“(Arresting traffickers) is a

part of the regular duty of Bang-ladesh Police but obviously this is the strongest operation against traffickers in recent times,” said Sohel Rana, spokesman of the Bangladesh Police said yesterday.

He said most of the accused were being charged under a 2012 law that criminalized traf-ficking in Bangladesh with pen-alties ranging from five years to life imprisonment.

Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest exporters of labour and depends heavily on money sent home from overseas workers, with about 700,000 people going overseas to jobs each year. Remittances are the nation’s second-largest source of foreign earnings after its massive textile industry.

But unlicensed brokers are known to charge workers thou-sands of dollars with promises

of good jobs abroad that don’t exist. Campaigners say that the country’s dependency on unof-ficial brokers for recruitment opens the path to exploitation.

The United Nations’ Inter-national Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates there are about 21,000 Bangladeshi migrants in Libya, accounting for about 3 percent of the migrant population.

The IOM said migrants from Bangladesh reported the highest costs of journey to travel to Libya in comparison to migrants from other coun-tries, paying on average $3,200 per person.

The migrants killed in Libya last month were crossing the desert from the seaport of Benghazi in search of work and were taken hostage by an armed group and were tortured for ransoms before being shot.

The killings underscored the dangers that migrants can face in Libya which is home to a large number of migrant workers but where violence and lawlessness allows traffickers to operate.

The Bangladesh Police has committed to working with international organisations such as Interpol to prevent traf-ficking related issues.

The South Asian nation has been on a US State Department watchlist for the past three years over its record on human trafficking, putting it at risk of a downgrade that could trigger sanctions, limiting access to international aid.

While the police said progress as being made, some human rights activists voiced concerned that many of those arrested this month may walk free due to the country’s low con-viction rate for trafficking crimes.

ICJ urged to make Rohingyagenocide report publicANATOLIA — DHAKA

Over two dozen rights groups from various countries are urging the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to make Myanmar’s report on the Rohingya genocide available to the public.

Myanmar submitted the report to the ICJ late last month, stating what the government had done to prevent further acts of gen-ocide against the country’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.

In the joint letter sent to the ICJ on June 17 and made available to Anadolu Agency, 30 Rohingya rights groups expressed fears of misinformation if the report remains confidential.

“We fear that keeping the reports confidential will undermine their effectiveness and allow Myanmar to skirt its obligation to comply with the Court’s Order, and its continuing obligations under the [UN’s] 1948 Genocide Convention,” it states.

“We would like to respectfully urge the Court to make the 23 May 2020 report and all future reports (including any responses from The Gambia) available to the public on the Court’s website.”

According to a January 23 ruling by the ICJ, Myanmar is obliged to take all measures to protect the Rohingya community from mental and physical harm, as well as from the deliberate infliction of life conditions that cause their “physical destruction” and measures “intended to prevent births within the group.”

India and China have blamed each other for the high altitude clash on their contested Himalaya frontier on Monday which also left Chinese casualties after brutal fights with nail studded batons, rocks and rods covered in barbed wire.

07SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020 ASIA

China inspects food imports over virus fearsAFP — BEIJING

China has launched a nationwide campaign to inspect food imports after a new coro-navirus outbreak emerged at a wholesale market in Beijing, with experts suggesting it shares similarities to European strains.

Authorities have been testing hundreds of thousands of people for the contagion while neighbourhoods have been locked down and schools closed to prevent a second wave of the epidemic that China had largely brought under control.

Another 25 cases were con-firmed in Beijing yesterday, taking the total number of infections since last week to 183.

Chinese authorities shared the genome data of the latest outbreak with the World Health Organisation and international scientific community on Thursday.

Initial findings suggest it “came from Europe”, but differs from what is currently spreading there, said Zhang Yong of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It is older than the virus currently circulating in Europe,” Zhang said in a report published by the Communist Party’s anti-c o r r u p t i o n w a t c h d o g yesteriday.

Zhang raised the possibility of the virus lurking in imported frozen food or in the wholesale market itself, resulting in sim-ilarities to older strains.

The virus was detected on chopping boards used to handle imported salmon at the market,

and Beijing officials yesterday advised citizens to dispose of frozen seafood and bean products bought from Xinfadi.

Xinfadi supplies more than 70 percent of Beijing’s fresh produce and has been tempo-rarily closed due to the cluster.

The virus is believed to have first appeared at a market that sold live animals in the central city of Wuhan.

Song Yueqian, an official at the General Administration of Customs, said the agency had launched a nationwide drive to inspect all fresh products kept in cold temperatures coming “high-risk countries”.

The products include seafood, meat and frozen veg-etables, Song said at a press conference.

On Thursday, he said authorities had inspected 15,638 samples — all of which tested negative.

China also suspended

imports of products from German meat company Toennies after an employee tested positive for the virus there, though Song said they “have not discovered any evi-dence of infection through eating food” so far.

“There is no evidence to prove other ways of trans-mission [besides aerosols, res-piratory droplets or close contact],” Feng said.

But Feng advised con-sumers to avoid touching raw fish or meat and be aware of hygiene when preparing food.

Scientists cautioned against making early conclusions on the Beijing cluster.

“It is possible that the virus

now causing an outbreak in Beijing had travelled from Wuhan to Europe and now back to China,” said Ben Cowling, a professor at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health.

But he said that the first case had not yet been identified and it may be too late to find out how this outbreak started.

Francois Balloux of Uni-versity College London wrote on Twitter that — based on the data shared — there had been local transmission for some time before the outbreak was identified.

“Their position in the tree does not allow to confidently assign a geographic origin to the

lineage. They co uld have orig-inated from essentially any-where,” he wrote.

The city also suspended several bus routes between Beijing and surrounding Hebei province from yesterday, on fears of the new outbreak spreading beyond the capital.

The resurgence came after China had largely brought the virus under control and eased restrictions on movement inside the country.

There are now 293 people ill with COVID-19 in China, the highest number since early May.

Until recently, most new cases had been imported by nationals returning from abroad.

People wearing face masks wait in a queue to undergo COVID-19 tests, in Beijing, yesterday.

China charges two detained Canadians with espionageREUTERS — BEIJING

Chinese prosecutors said yesterday they have charged two detained Canadians for suspected espionage, indict-ments that could result in life imprisonment, in a case that has driven a diplomatic wedge between Ottawa and Beijing.

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor were arrested in late 2018 on state security charges, soon after Canadian authorities arrested Huawei Technologies Co’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver on a US warrant.

While China maintains the detentions are not linked to Meng, former diplomats and experts have said they are being used to pressure Canada.

China has repeatedly called for Meng’s release, and has warned Canada that it could face consequences for aiding the United States in her case.

F o r e i g n m i n i s t r y spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing yesterday that the indictments were “of par-ticularly serious circumstances which violated Article 111 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China,” which per-tains to espionage and state secrets.

Under that article, a con-viction can carry a sentence of from 10 years to life impris-onment “when circumstances are particularly serious”.

“The facts are clear and the evidence is solid and sufficient. He should be held accountable for criminal responsibility under the above mentioned charge,” Zhao said of Kovrig, before making the same statement about Spavor.

The charges mean a formal trial can begin.

Canada has called the arrests “arbitrary”. The Canadian Embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, China’s envoy to Canada, Cong Peiwu, told Reuters the two detained men were “in good health.” The foreign ministry said yesterday that consular visits to detainees had been suspended due the coronavirus.

The ruling Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission said last year that Kovrig is accused of “stealing and spying on sen-sitive Chinese information and intelligence.” It said Spavor provided Kovrig with intelli-gence, without giving details.

Sleep and Netflix ahead for Malala as she finishes Oxford degreeREUTERS — LONDON

She is known the world over for her campaign for girls’ education. Now Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has finished her degree at Oxford University and, like all students, is just looking forward to some sleep and some movies.

With universities in Britain temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Yousafzai posted pictures on social media which showed her celebrating with a cake and bal-loons, and covered in foam, paint and confetti as per tra-dition for Oxford students on the last day of their final exams.

“Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I com-pleted my Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford. I don’t know what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep,” she said on her Twitter and Instagram feeds.

Congratulations poured in on social media, including from aid charity Oxfam, which said: “Congratulations, you are an inspiration!”.

Hollywood and Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who has 54 million Instagram followers, said: “Congratula-tions Malala!! That’s amazing.”

Yousafzai, now 22, survived being shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, after she was targeted for her cam-paign against efforts by the Taliban to deny women education.

She had become known as an 11-year-old writing a blog under a pen name for the BBC

about living under the rule of the Pakistani Taliban. A gunman arrived at her school, asking for her by name. He opened fire on her and two classmates on a bus.

She was airlifted to a hos-pital first in Pakistan and then to an intensive care unit in England for multiple operations. After recovering, Yousafzai attended school in England, before winning the place at Oxford.

At the age of 17, in 2014, Yousafzai became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her education advocacy. Through her Malala

Fund, she has also become a global symbol of the resilience of women in the face of repression.

“Like many of you, the pan-demic has changed a lot about my final year of university,” she wrote in a post to graduates in the Malala Fund’s digital news-letter for young women, Assembly, speaking about how her brothers kept interrupting her studies.

“It’s hard not to think about all the moments we’re missing. But we didn’t miss out on the most important thing: our education.”

Pakistani activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai

Ties in Malaysia’s oppn fray as talks on PM candidate failREUTERS — KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia’s opposition has failed to resolve wrangling over which of its two most senior leaders should spearhead its challenge to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration.

The opposition has been scrambling to muster a credible alternative to Muhyiddin, who was unex-pectedly made prime min-ister in March after a week of political turmoil punc-tuated by the shock resig-nation of his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad.

But its search for a leader has been unable to settle on either Mahathir or Anwar Ibrahim, veteran politicians who joined hands in 2018 to oust then prime minister Najib Razak, with Anwar becoming Mahathir ’s successor-in-waiting.

Muhyiddin’s appointment was the unintended conse-quence of a plan, green-lit by Mahathir, to block Anwar from becoming prime min-ister, after Mahathir became convinced Anwar would not be able to command a

majority. But Mahathir ended up being outplayed by col-leagues and close allies, who included Muhyiddin.

Anwar’s People’s Justice Party, which holds 38 of the 222 seats in Malaysia’s par-liament, said it cannot accept Mahathir back at the helm, insisting that the only way forward is to place Anwar as the opposition’s prime min-isterial candidate.

In a statement, the party said it remained “open to discussing with all parties”, including Mahathir, on ways to “save Malaysia and return the people’s mandate”.

The party issued its statement after its partners in the Pakatan Harapan pact made known their support for Mahathir to lead them, and set up the stage for his return to a possible third term as prime minister.

Mahathir had pushed for a confidence vote in par-liament in Muhyiddin’s leadership, and has said that the prime minister will face “very big trouble” as the opposition will seek to oust him at every turn.

Activist Joshua Wong to run for Hong Kong legislatureREUTERS — HONG KONG

Prominent Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong said yesterday he planned to run for a seat in the Chinese-ruled city’s legislature, setting up a new battle with authorities after being barred from running in previous polls.

Wong, who was 17 when he became the face of the 2014 s t u d e n t - l e d U m b r e l l a Movement, has not been a leading figure of the often-violent protests that have shaken the semi-autonomous financial hub for the past 12 months.

However, he has drummed up support for the pro-democracy movement overseas, meeting with poli-ticians from the United States, Europe and elsewhere, drawing the wrath of Beijing, which says he is a “black hand” of foreign forces.

He was disqualified from running for the less important district council elections last year on grounds that advocacy of Hong Kong’s self-determi-nation violates electoral law, which he described at the time as political censorship.

He intends to run in a primary for the pro-democracy camp that will

choose candidates for the Legislative Council vote on September 6.

“If more people vote for us... it could generate more pressure and more hesitation for Beijing,” Wong said, in front of campaign posters with the slogan “Ballot, or bullet.”

Wong has said he supports the idea of a non-binding ref-erendum for people to have a say over Hong Kong’s future but that he is against independence.

Electoral rules after Hong Kong’s 1997 return to China

from Britain effectively guar-antee that the legislature is stacked in Beijing’s favour, with only half the seats directly elected.

The rest are picked by business and professional groups called “functional con-stituencies,” which are dom-inated by pro-establishment figures.

In 2016, the pan-demo-cratic camp won 29 seats, but then lost six when candidates were disqualified after China’s national parliament ruled their oaths of office were invalid.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike pompeo said on yesterday the United States would in future treat Hong Kong as a Chinese city rather than an autonomous one to the extent that China treats the territory as a Chinese city.

Pompeo told the online Copenhagen Democracy Summit that elections due in Hong Kong in September would "tell us everything that we need to know about the Chinese Communist Party's intentions with respect to freedom in Hong Kong."

Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong poses with a supporter after announcing his plans to run for legislature, in Hong Kong, yesterday.

Authorities have been testing hundreds of thousands of people for the contagion while neighbourhoods have been locked down and schools closed to prevent a second wave of the epidemic that China had largely brought under control.

“Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford. I don’t know what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep,” Malala said on her Twitter and Instagram feeds.

Energy access specialists said the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated a hunger for electricity in rural communities to keep health centres functioning, children learning or televisions on for information, especially as workers who lost jobs in cities headed home.

08 SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANDR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

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

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ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

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EDITORIAL

AFTER showing tremendous strength and resilience in face of COVID-19 pandemic, Qatar Airways is now fast resuming its flight schedules to different parts of the world.

Qatar Airways’ leading role in aviation industry during coronavirus crisis has won international appreciation. During this global health crisis, Qatar Airways continued to operate a significant schedule operating over 15,000 flights to take over 1.8 million people home.

Qatar Airways cargo division also prioritised medical and aid shipments working closely with governments and NGOs to transport over 200,000 tonnes of essential supplies to impacted regions.

During this unprecedented crisis, Qatar Airways also continued to work closely with the US government and airports to take over 160,000 stranded people home from Australasia, Africa, India and the Middle East.

The national carrier of the State of Qatar has now reaffirmed its further commitment to the US with the resumption of flights to New York (JFK) from yesterday (rising to 10 weekly from July 2) and to Boston, Los Angeles and Washington Dulles from July 1.

This will see the airline’s US network rebuild to 39 weekly flights by mid-July 2020. With strong existing partnerships with American Airlines and JetBlue in place, the restarting of these flights brings even greater ben-efits to Qatar Airways passengers.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, H E Akbar Al Baker, said: “Since the pandemic outbreak, at Qatar Airways we have been completely focused at fulfilling our mission to bring people home. We worked closely with governments around the world to ensure their stranded citizens could travel home safely and our repa-triation efforts were widely recognised and applauded.”

Recently, Qatar Airways reinstated flights to Tan-zania’s capital announcing the airline will operate three times weekly to Dar es Salaam. On June 12 Qatar Airways had resumed flights to Istanbul, the biggest city of Turkey.

By the end of June, the airline aims to have 80 des-tinations in the schedule including 23 in Europe, four in the Americas, 20 in Middle East/Africa and 33 in Asia-Pacific.

The new independent data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), released this month, reaffirmed Qatar Airways as the airline that worked dil-igently to take people home safely and reliably during coronavirus crisis.

Qatar Airways’ over 1.3 billion revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) during the month of April accounted for 17.8 percent of the global market, over triple its nearest competitor and more than the next four airlines combined.

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Quote of the day

Nobody called into question that the European

Commission would issue bonds. It's no

exaggeration to say we are facing the biggest

economic challenge in the history of the European

Union.

Angela Merkel, German Chancellor

A view of solar panels installed by Arnergy Solar Limited at an isolation centre for the coronavirus disease patients in Lagos, Nigeria.

The coronavirus pandemic roiling the global economy has sparked fears for the emerging off-grid clean energy busi-nesses serving poorer customers from Africa to Asia - but in northern Kenya’s Kalobeyei refugee settlement, the lights are staying on.

US-based firm Renewvia Energy is running two solar mini-grids in the area, pro-viding power to 600 house-holds of refugees mainly from South Sudan and the local host community, as well as businesses, churches, school and health facilities.

Backed by donor funding from Britain and Germany, the mini-grids are part of a wider push by the Kenyan government to provide all its citizens with modern, affordable and reliable energy by 2022 - eight years ahead of a global deadline.

Renewvia, which already operates 11 mini-grids in sub-Saharan Africa, secured the investment it needed for 10 more such projects in Kenya and Nigeria in February, right before the coronavirus crisis hit, and plans to push ahead with them.

Its founder and CEO Trey Jarrard believes the pandemic will be “a blip for this sector”, because electric power is needed to advance other areas of economic devel-opment, from health to edu-cation and gender equality.

“I think the demand is there,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We haven’t seen much of a dif-ference in terms of how much energy we’re selling in the communities we’re serving right now.” Nearly 550 million Africans without electric power already spend money on dirty energy sources such as ker-osene and diesel, or cut down forests for fuel. Buying power from a solar mini-grid operator would save them both cash and time, Jarrard added.

Energy access specialists said the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated a hunger for electricity in rural com-munities to keep health centres functioning, children learning or televisions on for information, especially as workers who lost jobs in cities headed home.

“People are seeing it is an essential service and are willing to pay for it in a crisis,” said Leslie Labruto, head of global energy for Acumen, a nonprofit that invests in inno-vations to tackle poverty.

She pointed to the rapid growth of the off-grid clean energy sector in developing countries, where it has expanded into a market worth about $1.75 billion over the past decade, providing power to 470 million people as well as about 370,000 jobs, many with small, local companies.

But that growth rate and investment remain too low to reach Sustainable Devel-opment Goal 7 (SDG7) to provide clean power to all, including the poorest, by 2030.

Now measures to curb the pandemic, including lock-downs, curfews and their economic fallout, have created further challenges for the hundreds of firms pro-viding off-grid power.

“We can’t afford to see no sector in a couple of months when companies have gone bankrupt,” said Labruto. “We need these companies to achieve SDG7.” Back in March, Acumen began con-vening companies, investors and industry associations to try to set up a fund to limit the damage if the pandemic meant customers could not pay for energy services, supply chains stalled and investment flows dried up.

The relief fund now is set to launch in July, offering energy access companies in Africa and Asia cheap loans for up to three years to maintain existing services and retain the staff they need to

expand in future.“The point of this is to pre-

serve jobs,” said Labruto, adding that nearly 500 com-panies from 40 countries had registered early interest in applying to the fund.

Investors have also responded well, she said. The debt fund hopes to attract close to half its $100-million target by July, helped by grants from Sweden’s development agency and several philan-thropic foundations, which will be used to reduce risk.

The fund aims to provide capital to at least 70 com-panies, Labruto said, adding it would not be suitable for bailing out smaller firms as they would struggle to pay back loans.

In an open letter, major off-grid energy organisations appealed last month to donors, foundations and others for an extra $25 million in grants “to avoid the most severe impacts - including the bankruptcy of energy access companies, halting progress of the SDGs and leaving com-munities in the dark”.

The Green Climate Fund, one of the biggest sources of international climate finance for developing countries, con-firmed to the Thomson Reuters Foundation it was considering putting money into the Acumen-led energy access relief fund.

It is exploring options to support small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) working on renewable energy “to remain financially solvent, going concerns at a time when businesses are facing significant liquidity con-straints due to COVID-19”.

BLOOMBERG

By rejecting President Donald Trump’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the Supreme Court provided an unexpected lifeline to roughly 650,000 undocumented immigrants, known as Dreamers, who were facing the threat of deportation. Congress should seize the opportunity to give the Dreamers permanent protection and a pathway to the citizenship they deserve.

Created by President Obama in 2012, DACA allows undocumented immigrants brought to the country before the age of 16 to work in the US and defer deportation, with the opportunity to renew their status every two years. The

Trump administration announced an end to the program in 2017, arguing that Obama’s original order was illegal.

In its 5-4 decision, the court rejected the administra-tion’s reasons for terminating the Dreamers’ protections as “arbitrary and capricious.” The conservative minority objected on grounds that many legal commentators had expected to prevail - namely that the adminis-tration was within its rights to reverse an earlier exercise of executive discretion. Whatever the constitutional merits, the immediate outcome should be cele-brated: A cruel and ill-judged policy has been blocked.

Given the broad public support for allowing Dreamers

to remain in the country, it’s unlikely the president will attempt to relitigate the question before the November election. Yet the reprieve does not relieve Congress of its obli-gation to devise a long-term solution for those currently enrolled in DACA, as well as the 1.6 million additional undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as minors.

The persistent failure of both parties to pass legislation protecting the Dreamers is a national disgrace - and a dis-service to their families, their employers, and the taxpayers who’ve invested in their edu-cations. Even now, bipartisan legislation that provides legal status and a path to citi-zenship for the Dreamers together with increased

border-security funding should be embraced as a viable compromise. The like-lihood that Congress will take action in an election year, amid an ongoing health emergency, might seem remote - but, following the Court’s ruling, both parties have something to gain from finally drawing a line under the issue.

In allowing DACA to stand, the Supreme Court has advanced the interests of all Americans by giving hun-dreds of thousands of young people the opportunity to work and prosper in the only country most have ever known. Congress should now step up, pass a law to entrench this result, and bring years of needless disruption and anxiety to an end.

Pandemic sparks push to keep green energy-access firms switched on

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A new day for the dreamers

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“The world is in a new and dangerous phase. Many people are understandably fed up with being at home. Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “But the virus is still spreading fast, it’s still deadly and most people are still susceptible,” he said, with the most vulnerable set to suffer the worst.

09SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020 EUROPE

WHO warns world in‘new and dangerous phase’ of pandemicAFP — GENEVA

The coronavirus pandemic is now in a “new and dangerous phase”, the World Health Organization said yesterday, with the disease accelerating at the same time as people tire of lockdowns.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (pictured) urged nations and citizens to remain extremely vigilant, as the number of cases reported to the UN health agency hit a new peak.

“The pandemic is acceler-ating. More than 150,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported to WHO yesterday -- the most in a single day so far,” Tedros told a virtual press conference. He said almost half of those cases were reported from the Americas, with large numbers also being reported from South Asia and the Middle East.

“The world is in a new and dangerous phase. Many people are understandably fed up with being at home. Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies,” he said. “But the virus is still spreading fast, it’s still deadly and most people are still susceptible,” he said, with the most vulnerable set to suffer the worst.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 454,000 people and infected more than 8.5 million since the outbreak began in China late last year.

Italy’s top health agency yesterday urged caution after last week seeing “warning signs” of new coronavirus transmission, especially over outbreaks of cases in Rome.

WHO emergencies director

Mike Ryan said countries needed to be on alert for second waves of infection — and second peaks within the first wave if it is not properly suppressed.

“You may have a second peak within your first wave, and then you may have a second wave: it’s not either or,” the Irish epidemiologist said.

While increased numbers of confirmed cases could be down to improved testing, he said unexpected rising hospi-talisation and death figures were a better indicator of a resurgence. “Exiting lock-downs must be done care-fully,” he said.

“If you don’t know where the virus is, the chances are that the virus will surprise you.”

Ryan said countries needed

to be more agile and react quickly and precisely to new clusters, and he praised the intensity of investigations going on in Beijing, which is battling a new outbreak. “When you see a cluster, you have to jump on the cluster... if we want to avoid the blunt instrument of lockdown,” he said.

Beijing’s fresh coronavirus outbreak emerged at a wholesale market, with the total number of infections since last week now at 183.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said virus sequences from the new outbreak were already available for study. “As we understand it, the virus is closely related to the European strain,” she said.

Ryan explained that strains were on the move around the world, saying “many of the viruses that circulated in New York were of European origin”, while “Japan has reimported cases from Europe”. He said it was “reassuring” that the Beijing outbreak looked like human-to-human trans-mission, squashing the hypothesis that the the virus had jumped the species barrier again from animals.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson practices COVID-19 social distancing with schoolchildren on a visit to Bovingdon Primary Academy in Hemel Hempstead, Britain, yesterday.

UK unveils £1bn schools ‘catch-up’ plan after lockdown due to virusAFP — LONDON

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday said that English schools would receive £1bn ($1.2bn) in funding to help pupils catch up after missing months of classes due to the coronavirus.

The announcement came as health minister Matt Hancock said the government had lowered the country’s corona-virus alert level, after a recom-mendation by scientific advisers.

The move from Level 4, where transmission is high or rising, to Level 3, where the epi-demic is in general circulation, was “a big moment for the country”, he said. The gov-ernment is grappling for pos-itive news after facing sustained criticism over a broken pledge to have all primary school children in England return before the summer break.

It is also struggling to get all pupils back for the new aca-demic year in September if

social distancing rules requiring people to keep two metres apart remain in force.

The new money includes £650m for state-run primary and secondary schools to “lift educational outcomes”, and £350m to help tutor the most dis-advantaged youngsters. Headteachers will be able to decide how to spend the £650m.

But the government said it expects it to be spent “on evi-dence-based interventions”, in particular small group tuition.

Concern has risen about the impact of school closures on children, particularly those with no computer or internet access.

“This £1bn catch-up package will help head teachers to provide extra support to children who have fallen behind while out of school,” Johnson said. British schools have been closed to most pupils since late March, when the country headed into lockdown as the virus peaked.

Some primary school year

groups and older students pre-paring for exams were able to come back to school in England earlier this month.

But the government back-tracked on the remainder, after concern from teaching unions about staff shortages, and restrictions on space due to social distancing rules.

Johnson is under growing pressure to relax the rules to one metre to make it easier for schools and hospitality busi-nesses to restart.

Scientists said there had been a “steady” and continuing decrease in COVID-19 cases, indicating transmission was no longer considered “high or rising exponentially”.

Hancock said the down-grade in the alert level was a sign the country was “getting back on its feet”, after more than 42,000 deaths from over 300,000 positive cases.

But there are regional var-iations about easing restrictions across the UK.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin discusses a diesel fuel leak at a thermal power station in Krasnoyarsk Region and its damage control during a video conference call with officials at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, yesterday.

France told to scrap rule criminalising ‘terror apology’ downloadsAFP — PARIS

France’s highest constitutional authority yesterday scrapped a new offence that could see people jailed and fined heavily for downloading content that can be interpreted as an apology for terrorism.

The crime, dubbed “pos-session of an apology for ter-rorism”, infringed on France’s long-held constitutional guar-antee of freedom of expression in a way that was not nec-essary, appropriate, or propor-tionate, the Constitutional Council ruled. The new crime came into being following a decision of France’s highest appeals court in January.

The appeals court ruled on a challenge brought by a man who was jailed after being arrested with videos on his laptop and two mobile phones that prosecutors said amounted to an apology for terrorism.

The new crime was pun-ishable by five, seven or 10 years in prison and a fine of between €375,000 and €750,000. Rights bodies had criticised the January ruling by the appeals court as an attempt to get around two earlier deci-sions by the Constitutional Council against an offence of “habitual” consultation of ter-rorist sites.

“It is a fresh victory,” said

Friday Patrice Spinosi, a lawyer for France’s Human Rights League and the plaintiff in the case, who had been sentenced to an effective four years in prison.

“The appeals court was trying to reestablish this crime of consulting terrorist sites with an artificial construction. The Constitutional Council has con-firmed the jurisprudence,” he told said. In its ruling, the council — the body tasked with ensuring that laws conform to the constitution — pointed to a principle in France’s post-rev-olution Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, on which the country’s founding law is based.

Dated 1789, it guarantees “the free communication of thoughts and opinions” and the right of every citizen to “speak, write and print freely” unless the right was exercised abu-sively and in violation of the laws of the land.

The council said the purpose of the offence created by the appeals court ruling was to prevent dissemination of dangerous ideas and the indoc-trination of individuals to commit acts of terror.

But as it stands, even a person who has no intent of perpetrating terrorism, nor is an apologist for such acts, can be found guilty and jailed.

Spain revises COVID-19 deaths upwards to above 28,000REUTERS — MADRID

Spain’s health ministry raised its coronavirus death toll to 28,313 yesterday after ironing out database inconsistencies, and said the disease was under control in Spain’s nine remaining active clusters as it prepared to reopen to tourism.

The death toll had not been updated since June 7, when Spain reported 27,136 deaths while it was implementing a new methodology for logging cases and deaths. The new tally includes 53 fatalities over the past week till Thursday.

Spain is preparing to end its state of emergency on Sunday, allowing free travel across the country and opening up its borders to much-needed European tourism.

Health Minister Salvador Illa said all arriving pas-sengers would have their temperature taken, submit information on whether they have had the virus — which could prompt further tests — as well as provide their whereabouts in Spain.

Illa also told a news con-ference around 34 coronavirus clusters had been detected in the past six weeks, but that number had now fallen sharply.

“Nine clusters are still active, but all are under control,” Illa said, adding that nursing homes and slaughterhouses were among the venues where they were detected.

Amid repeated changes in recent weeks on when and how to open its borders to foreign tourists, Spain said on Tuesday it might impose a quarantine on British trav-ellers in response to a similar policy announced by Britain.

A foreign ministry source said yesterday that Spain expected a decision very soon in its talks with Britain on whether to establish a travel corridor to facilitate tourism and avoid imposing a quar-antine on travellers.

Putin accuses West of ‘insulting’ Russia over WWII legacyAFP — MOSCOW

President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of “mean” attempts to insult Russia by re-writing World War II history as Moscow prepares to commem-orate Soviet victory with a Red Square parade.

In a lengthy article in the National Interest, a conserv-ative US magazine, Putin warned against “historical revi-sionism,” saying downplaying the role of the Soviet Union in World War II helped undermine the current world order.

“Desecrating and insulting

the memory is mean,” he wrote in the article published late on Thursday. Some official decla-rations commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War “mention all participants in the anti-Hitler coalition except for the Soviet Union,” he complained.

“Meanness can have different manifestations, but this does not make it less disgusting,” he added. An estimated 27 million Soviet troops and civilians were killed in World War II and the Red Army’s triumph is a huge source of pride in Russia.

Putin was angered by a

European Parliament resolution last year saying the 1939 Mol-otov-Ribbentrop Pact between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union helped pave the way for WWII. “I believe that it is unacceptable to equate liber-ators with occupants,” he wrote.

Putin has blamed the Western powers and Poland in particular for World War II, pointing to various treaties signed with Nazi Germany before the conflict began in 1939. “We do not know if there were any secret ‘protocols’ or annexes to agreements of a number of coun-tries with the Nazis,” Putin wrote.

German far-right AfD hardliners win court challengeAFP — BERLIN

A radical wing of Germany’s far-right AfD party yesterday won a court challenge over the expulsion of a firebrand member, undermining leaders who want to contain the ultra-conservative camp.

Andreas Kalbitz was head of the Brandenburg chapter of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, but was thrown out

of the party in May for hiding past membership in the neo-Nazi group “German Youths Loyal to the Fatherland”.

Kalbitz’s sacking fanned the flames of an increasingly hostile feud between the party’s pop-ulist, more moderate conserv-atives, and elements close to the extreme right-wing scene.

Despite his removal, Kalbitz continued to exert influence in the party and brought a

challenge against the expulsion to a Berlin court. Yesterday, the court found he could not be simply ejected based on the party leaders’ decision until the AfD’s own arbitration body decided on the case.

The ruling was a setback to party moderates, who had sought to sideline the most radical elements and keep the AfD as a viable alternative for middle-class voters turned off

by any association with radical skinheads. Police recently placed the entire Brandenburg chapter of the AfD under surveillance over its extremist tendencies.

But the AfD’s most hardline faction, led by another fire-brand Bjoern Hoecke is believed to make up one-third of the party’s supporters.

Protesting against Kalbitz’s ousting, Hoecke had posted a video message deploying rhetoric

resonant of 1930s fascism as he accused AfD leaders of “treason against the party”.

The AfD began seven years ago as a eurosceptic outfit before shifting its focus to immigration as public anger grew over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision in 2015 to keep Germany’s borders open to a million asylum seekers, many fleeing war in Syria and Iraq.

The United States, which had complained of being singled out in the initial text, withdrew from the council in 2018 and was not present yesterday. But a number of its allies took the floor to hail the changes made to the text, stressing that racism was a global issue.

10 SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020EUROPE

UN rights body condemns 'systemic racism'AFP — GENEVA

The UN’s top human rights body yesterday condemned discrim-inatory police brutality and demanded a report on “sys-temic racism”, but rights groups accused Washington of wielding pressure to strip out any mention of the United States in the resolution.

The UN Human Rights Council’s 47 members approved by consensus a revised reso-lution, which was presented by African countries for an urgent council debate, called following the death of George Floyd in US police custody.

Floyd’s killing on May 25, after a white Minneapolis police officer — since charged with murder — pressed a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes, fuelled a national and global uproar over racism and police brutality.

An initially strongly-worded text proposed earlier this week had called for a high-level international inves-tigation into police violence against people of African descent in the United States. But it was watered down in recent days, first to remove the call for an international probe, and finally to strip away any mention of the United States.

This sparked outrage from rights groups, which accused Washington and its allies of lob-bying heavily to revise the text — a charge that the US mission

in Geneva declined to respond to. Burkina Faso’s ambassador, who presented the resolution on behalf of African states, acknowledged yesterday that “numerous concessions” had been made to “guarantee a con-sensus” on the text.

The approved resolution calls for UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet to “prepare a report on systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies”.

It adds that the report should especially pay attention to “those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and of people of African descent, to contribute to accountability and

redress for victims”.It also calls on Bachelet to

examine government responses to “peaceful protests, including the alleged use of excessive force against protesters, bystanders and journalists”.

The United States, which had complained of being singled out in the initial text, withdrew from the council in 2018 and was not present yesterday. But a number of its allies took the floor to hail the changes made to the text, stressing that racism was a global issue.

Australia’s representative, for instance, celebrated the “acknowledgement that this problem does not belong to any one country. It is a problem around the world”.

Rights groups, however, slammed the revision. “By bul-lying other countries to water down what would have been an historic resolution and exempting itself from interna-tional investigation, the United States is yet again turning its back on victims of police vio-lence, and black people,” said Jamil Dakwar, head of the American Civil Liberties Union’s human rights division.

He said it was “absurd” for the text not to mention the US, “where police kill people, par-ticularly black people, at alarm-ingly higher rates compared to other developed countries.” Salma El Hosseiny of the Inter-national Service for Human Rights said many delegations

A woman wearing a protective face mask holds a sign during the Black Lives Matter protest, following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, in Birmingham, Britain, yesterday.

from Europe and Latin America especially had worked to ensure the US mention was removed from the text, charging that they had helped “subvert the debate into an ‘all lives matter’ discussion.

Human Rights Watch’s Geneva director John Fisher meanwhile insisted that “the efforts of the US to avoid council attention only highlights why such scrutiny is needed, and how far there is still to go

to dismantle the pernicious structures of institutionalised racism.” He celebrated mean-while that the resolution “opens the door to bring increased international attention to vio-lations both by the US and other powerful states in future.”

The urgent UN debate began on Wednesday with an impas-sioned speech via video link by Floyd’s brother Philonise, who said his brother had been “tor-tured to death” as witnesses

begged the officer to stop.He urged the council to

establish an independent inter-national commission of inquiry — one of the UN’s highest-level probes — as called for in the initial version of the draft resolution.

While there will be no inter-national probe into the situation in the United States, Bachelet has been called upon to present her report on “systemic racism” globally in a year’s time.

Belarus’ riot police officers detain an opposition supporter during a gathering to support candidates seeking to challenge President Alexander Lukashenko in August’s polls, in Minsk yesterday.

Italy sewage study says virus was there in December 2019AFP — ROME

The coronavirus was present in two large Italian cities in December, more than two months before the first case was detected, a national health institute study of waste water has found.

That suggests the virus appeared in Italy around the same time it was first reported in China. Researchers dis-covered genetic traces of Sars-CoV-2 — as the virus is offi-cially known — in samples of waste water collected in Milan and Turin at the end of last year, and Bologna in January, the ISS institute said in a statement yesterday.

Italy’s first known native case was discovered mid-Feb-ruary. The results “help to understand the start of the cir-culation of the virus in Italy,” the ISS said. They also “confirm the by-now consolidated inter-national evidence” as to the strategic function of sewer samples as an early detection tool, it added.

The results feed into an effort by scientists around the world to trace the virus’s family tree. Chinese scientists have said the virus likely emerged in a market that sold wildlife in the central city of Wuhan in December, but Beijing officials have recently suggested that it may have originated elsewhere. And some studies and reports have suggested that the virus might have been present in China before December.

Italy was the first European country to be hit by the virus and the first in the world to

impose a nationwide lockdown. The first known case, other than a couple of visiting Chinese tourists, was a patient in the town of Codogno in the Lombardy region.

On February 21 the gov-ernment ordered Codogno shut-tered, followed by nine other towns across Lombardy and Veneto. By early March it had extended the shutdown across the country and has now recorded more than 34,500 deaths.

ISS water quality expert Giuseppina La Rosa and her team examined 40 waste water samples from October 2019 to February 2020. The results, con-firmed in two different labora-tories by two different methods, showed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in samples taken in Milan and Turin on December 18, 2019 and in Bologna on January 29, 2020. Samples from October and November 2019 were negative, showing the virus had yet to arrive, La Rosa said.

The data was in line with results obtained from retro-spective analysis of samples of patients hospitalised in France, which found positive SARS-CoV-2 cases dating back to the end of December, the institute said. It also pointed to a recent Spanish study that found genetic traces in waste water samples collected in mid-January in Barcelona, some 40 days before the first indigenous case was discovered.

The ISS is launching a pilot study on priority sites identified in tourist resorts in July, and expects to setup a nationwide surveillance network of waste water by the autumn.

Belarus accuses foreign powersof destabilisation ahead of pollsAFP — MINSK

President Alexander Lukashenko yesterday accused foreign powers of seeking to destabilise Belarus as he intensifies a crackdown on the opposition ahead of August’s election.

In power since 1994, Lukashenko is seeking a sixth term in the August 9 presi-dential election. Several of his critics including former banker Viktor Babaryko, seen as Lukashenko’s leading election rival, have been jailed in the run-up to the vote.

“The focus of all political interests is on Belarus. Both from the West and the East,” the 65-year-old strongman told officials in a thinly-veiled ref-erence to Russia on Friday.

Authorities had uncovered

a plot to “destabilise Belarus” and organise a popular uprising.

“Not only certain puppets that we had here but also pup-peteers who are located outside Belarus have been unmasked,” Lukashenko said. On Thursday, authorities arrested the 56-year-old Babaryko on sus-picion of financial crimes.

He formerly headed Bel-gazprombank, a Belarus sub-sidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom. A total of around 20 people have been detained in connection with investigations linked to Belgazprombank.

Babaryko’s 30-year-old son Eduard was also detained on suspicion of tax evasion. The head of the state control com-mittee, Ivan Tertel, has claimed Babaryko was in cahoots with “puppeteers” from Moscow

— “big Gazprom bosses” or even “higher-placed” figures.

Yesterday, the general prosecutor’s office said it opened a criminal case into organising or participating in a criminal group. The penalty for those crimes is up to 15 years.

“The criminal activity of defendants in the Bel-gazprombank case created a real threat to the national security of Belarus,” general prosecutor Alexander Konyuk said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said Moscow did not favour any particular candidate in the election. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said the case around Belgazprombank was the ex-Soviet country’s “internal affair.”

Switzerland to allow gatherings of up to 1,000 people

AFP — GENEVA

Switzerland announced yes-terday that gatherings of up to 1,000 people would be per-mitted next week, in a fourth stage of gradually easing the restrictions imposed to control COVID-19.

The wealthy Alpine nation has managed to avoid the worst of the coronavirus pan-demic, despite its border with northern Italy — Europe’s early epicentre for deaths and infections.

The physical distancing requirement is being cut from two metres to 1.5 metres from Monday, while the midnight curfew on restaurants and nightclubs is also being lifted, as is the requirement to be seated at tables in bars.

The maximum size of gatherings will be raised on Monday from 300 to 1,000 people, the government said, so long as the number of people to be contact-traced in case of an infection remains at no more than 300, through measures such as separating groups into sections.

Any number of people can gather from today for political demonstrations — so long as participants wear a mask.

‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Alien’ star Ian Holm dies aged 88AFP — LONDON

Oscar-nominated British actor Ian Holm, famed for his roles in Hollywood block-busters “Lord of the Rings” and “Alien”, died on Friday aged 88, his agent said.

Nominated for an Oscar for his por-trayal as the coach Sam Mussabini in the 1981 award-winning film “Chariots of Fire” — which also saw him earn his second BAFTA and best supporting actor award at the Cannes Film Festival — Holm appeared in a host of top interna-tional films. He played the main antag-onist Ash in the first “Alien” movie, and featured in “The Madness of King George” and “The Aviator”.

Holm suffered with a Parkinson’s related illness, his agency said in a

statement. “It is with great sadness we can confirm that the actor Sir Ian Holm CBE passed away this morning at the age of 88,” said the statement.

“He died peacefully in hospital with his family and carer.” US actress Mia Farrow led a parade of stars paying their respects, calling Holm “unfailingly bril-liant”. “He was among the giants of the theatre,” said Farrow, who appeared on stage with Holm at the Royal Shake-speare Company (RSC).

British comic and actor Eddie Izzard tweeted: “The great Ian Holm is dead. Wonderful actor and it’s so sad to see him go. Farewell, you did great work Sir.” Director Edgar Wright said Holm was “a genius actor who brought considerable presence to parts funny, heartbreaking and

terrifying”. Among the other notable movies he appeared in were “Oh! What A Lovely War”, “Time Bandits”, “The Day After Tomorrow”, and “The Fifth Element”. His final film role came in 2014 in “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”.

His portrayal of Bilbo Baggins in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy secured global fame in later life. But he had already established himself before that as a star of the theatre with the RSC, which he joined in 1958, and appeared regularly on British TV.

He won a Tony in 1967 for his per-fomance as Lenny in the premier of Harold Pinter’s play “The Homecoming” on Broadway. He was Pinter’s favourite actor: “He puts on my shoe, and it fits!” the playwright is reported as saying.

Ukraine mulls reimposing curbs as new cases riseAFP — KIEV

Ukraine said yesterday that it was considering the reimpo-sition of coronavirus restric-tions in several regions as infections surged after the lifting of a lockdown.

Health Minister Maksym Stepanov told reporters that “in certain regions, strict restrictions must be imposed” again after the country eased lockdown measures.

Stepanov did not clarify which restrictions should be re-introduced or where.

He added that the number of coronavirus patients who needed to be hospitalised was also rising across the country.

Yesterday, Ukraine regis-tered its largest daily increase in coronavirus infections, with the new cases rising by 921 in a single day and the total caseload now approaching 35,000.

Ukrainian authorities said that the number of cases had risen in 15 out of 24 regions.

The western regions of Lviv and Rivne and the capital Kiev were the hardest-hit.

In this file photo of April 29, 2019, British actor Ian Holm poses on the red carpet arriving for the UK premiere of the film Tolkein in London.

Brazil’s Health Ministry reported 978,142 total confirmed cases and 47,748 related deaths on Thursday evening. The count has risen by a daily average of 25,000 new cases and 1,000 fatalities for the past week.

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Brazil to exceed 1 million confirmed virus cases as total deaths near 50,000REUTERS — RIO DE JANEIRO

Brazil was on track to surpass 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases, second only to the United States, with total deaths fast approaching 50,000 as the country struggles with a tense political climate and worsening economic outlook.

Brazil confirmed its first case of the virus on February 26. It has spread relentlessly across the continent-sized country, eroding support for right-wing President Jair Bol-sonaro and raising fears of eco-nomic collapse after years of anemic growth.

The true extent of the out-break in Brazil far exceeds official figures, according to many experts, who cite a lack of widespread testing in the country as a factor adding to many uncertainties about the disease.

“That number of 1 million is much less than the real

number of people who have been infected, because there is under-reporting of a mag-nitude of five to ten times,” said Alexandre Naime Barbosa, a medical professor at the São Paulo State University.

“The true number is probably at least 3 million and could even be as high as 10 million people.”

Brazil’s Health Ministry reported 978,142 total con-firmed cases and 47,748 related deaths on Thursday evening. The count has risen by a daily average of 25,000 new cases and 1,000 fatalities for the past week.

But by yesterday afternoon, a consortium of Brazilian news

outlets keeping an independent tally of COVID-19 statistics from state health officials reported the country had already passed the benchmark of 1 million con-firmed cases.

COVID-19 arrived in Brazil via wealthy tourists returning from Europe to major south-eastern cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, but has spread deep into the interior, reaching 82% of Bra-zil’s municipalities, health ministry data shows.

The country still has had no permanent health minister after losing two since April, following clashes with the president. Bol-sonaro has shunned social dis-tancing, calling it a job-killing

People walk at a popular shopping street amid the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, yesterday.

measure that was more dan-gerous than the virus itself.

He has promoted two anti-malarial drugs as remedies, chloroquine and hydroxychlo-roquine, despite little evidence they work.

The former army captain’s handling of the crisis has prompted Brazilians to bang pots and pans regularly outside their apartments in protest, but

it has not stopped him from wading into costly political battles with his own cabinet and the Supreme Court, stoking fears of instability.

Pressure from Bolsonaro and public fatigue after months of ineffective state and local iso-lation orders has led governors and mayors to begin lifting restrictions on commerce and other economic activity. Public

health experts have warned that loosening restrictions too soon threatens to accelerate con-tagion and drive up fatalities.

A worsening outbreak could weigh on already-grim eco-nomic forecasts. The gov-ernment has said the economy will contract by 4.7% this year, while economists surveyed by the central bank think it will fall more than 6%.

US Navy confirms demotion of captainof virus-hit carrierAFP — WASHINGTON

The US Navy said yesterday that it would not reinstate the captain of a coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier, saying he was in part to blame for the severity of the crisis on the warship.

Admiral Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations, said Brett Crozier, who was fired as captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in April, was guilty of “questionable judgment” in handling an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the nuclear-powered ship in March.

Gilday likewise faulted Rear Admiral Stuart Baker, Crozier’s direct supervisor as the car-rier’s strike group commander, for poor leadership.

“It is my belief that both Admiral Baker and Captain Crozier fell well short of what we expect of those in command,” Gilday said.

“In reviewing both Admiral Baker’s and Captain Crozier’s actions, they did not do enough, soon enough, to fulfill their primary obligation” to keep the ship’s 5,000 crew safe.

After a two-month investi-gation, the Navy decided that Crozier would not return to the Roosevelt and not be eligible to captain another ship.

Baker’s expected pro-motion meanwhile has been placed on hold, pending further review.

The coronavirus outbreak on board the Roosevelt was one of the first US crises of the pan-demic, crippling the massive ship and forcing it to hold for more than a month in port in Guam.

It raised questions about US war-fighting readiness and worries about potential out-breaks on other ships. More than 1,000 of the crew, including Crozier, ultimately tested positive for the disease, though few showed serious symptoms and only one died.

The case broke into the news after a letter written by Crozier complaining of lack of support in dealing with the out-break was leaked to the media at the end of March.

While an initial probe seemed to support Crozier’s complaints, a deeper investi-gation showed Crozier and Baker both failed to take good command in the face of the crisis, Gilday said.

They “failed” in evacuating sailors off the ship into seques-tered facilities in Guam quickly, he said.

Crozier was focused more on the sailors’ comfort, arranging hotel rooms rather than accepting facilities already prepared in gyms, Gilday said.

“Get them off quickly was the primary thing,” he said.

“The issue here is really standards of performance par-ticularly in crisis.”

Californians ordered to wear face masks in publicAFP — LOS ANGELES

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered all Californians to wear face masks in public in a bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

“Science shows that face coverings and masks work,” Newsom said in a statement. “They are critical to keeping those who are around you safe, keeping businesses open and restarting our economy.”

His order came following a decision last week by officials in Orange County, south of Los

Angeles, to rescind an order requiring people to wear masks in public. Three other counties — Fresno, Riverside and San Bernardino — had also walked backed on requirements to wear face coverings because of public pressure.

“Simply put, we are seeing too many people with faces uncovered - putting at risk the real progress we have made in fighting the disease,” Newsom said. “California’s strategy to restart the economy and get people back to work will only be successful

if people act safely and follow health recommendations.”

N u m e r o u s s t u d i e s worldwide have shown that wearing face coverings reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.

However wearing a face mask in many parts of the United States has increasingly taken on a political dimension. For many on the right, wearing a mask is seen as bowing to government authority, while on the left it is seen as beneficial to limiting the spread of the virus.

Newsom in mid-March became the first governor in the

US to issue a stay-at-home order and subsequently left it up to counties and cities to decide on whether to maintain the order as well as require-ments on face coverings and other restrictions.

The issue set off a fire-storm of controversy in Orange County, once a bastion of Republican politics, where some residents and local offi-cials challenged an order to wear face coverings while in public, at work or a business where social distancing is not possible.

US Disneyland workers say proposed July reopening may be too earlyREUTERS — LOS ANGELES

Unions representing 17,000 workers at Walt Disney Co’s Disneyland Resort in Cali-fornia have told the state’s governor they are not con-vinced the theme park will be safe enough to reopen by the company’s July target date.

In a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday, the unions said they had been in discussions with Disney since mid-March when Dis-neyland was closed to help curb the coronavirus pan-demic. The resort in Anaheim, in southern California, houses both the Disneyland theme park and the California Adventure Park, both of which the company has targeted to reopen on July 17.

“Unfortunately, despite intensive talks with the company, we are not yet con-vinced it is safe to reopen the parks,” the letter from the Coa-lition of Resort Labor Unions said. sney will need Newsom’s approval to open Disneyland’s gates to the public.

A Disney spokeperson said Friday the company had put the safety of workers and guests “at the forefront of our planning”. “We look forward to continued dialogue with our unions on the extensive health and safety protocols, following guidance from public health experts, which we plan to implement as we move toward our proposed, phased reo-pening,” the spokesperson said.

The closure of Disney theme parks around the world cost the company an estimated $1bn from January through March. Disney plans to reopen Walt Disney World in Florida on July 11 and has outlined extensive measures from requiring masks and temper-ature checks to suspending parades, fireworks displays and other activities that create crowds.

In support of DACA programPeople hold signs during a rally in support of the Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, in San Diego, California. The Supreme Court dealt President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration efforts a fresh blow on Thursday when it rejected his cancellation of a program protecting 700,000 “Dreamers,” undocumented migrants brought to the United States as children.

Facebook pulls Trump ads which used Nazi symbolAFP — SAN FRANCISCO

Facebook on Thursday removed ads by President Donald Trump’s campaign con-taining a symbol used by Nazi Germany, the latest move in a heated battle over inflam-matory political content on social media.

The leading social network, which has drawn fire over its hands-off approach to political speech in recent months, said the campaign messages with an inverted red triangle and used in Nazi camps violated a policy against “organized hate” and were taken down.

“We don’t allow symbols that represent hateful organi-zations or hateful ideologies unless they are put up with context or condemnation,” Facebook head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher said at a House of Representatives committee hearing.

“That’s what we saw in this case with this ad, and anywhere

that that symbol is used we would take the same actions.” Facebook’s move comes as it faced intense pressure to remove incendiary comments from the president which critics said promoted violence.

Recently Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg reiterated that the platform will steer away from moderating political speech but would enforce its rules barring content promoting physical harm.

In a tweet from a “Trump War Room,” the campaign con-tended the upside-down red triangle symbol at issue was “widely used” in reference to left-wing activist group Antifa.

Watchdog group Media Matters replied with a tweet saying that is not the case.

Since early this month, the Trump campaign has been running “fearmongering” ads about what it says is a far-left group called “antifa,” according to Media Matters.

The upside-down red

triangle was apparently a new addition to the ad, according to Media Matters, which found at least 88 ads on Facebook pages with that symbol. “Despite vio-lating Facebook’s terms of service, the ads were approved by Facebook in the first place,” said Media Matters president Angelo Carusone.

Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign spokesman, said that “Facebook still has an inverted red triangle emoji in use, which looks exactly the same, so it’s curious that they would target only this ad.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defa-mation League, said the presi-dent’s campaign “needs to learn its history, as ignorance is no excuse for using Nazi-related symbols.” Greenblatt added on Twitter:

“The Nazis used red tri-angles to identify their political victims in concentration camps. Using it to attack political oppo-nents is highly offensive.”

New Mexico protester was unarmed when shot: LawyerREUTERS — TAOS

A New Mexico protester was unarmed when he was shot during a demonstration earlier this week to remove a conquistador statue in Albu-querque, the man’s lawyer said.

A video of the incident appears to show protester Scott Williams, 39, picking up a skateboard and hitting sus-pected shooter Steven Baca, 31, with it before Baca shoots Wil-liams with a handgun.

“Williams was not armed and that is clear when he picked up the skateboard,” his attorney Laura Schauer Ives said late on Thursday. “It does not make sense that he would pick up a skateboard if he had a weapon,” she added.

Monday’s shooting incident has raised questions about why Albuquerque police did not intervene sooner as civilian vigilantes and members of a heavily armed militia tried to protect the statue from pro-testers who wanted to pull it down.

A New Mexico prosecutor on Wednesday dropped a shooting charge against Baca, of Albuquerque and called for further investigation after alle-gations Williams was armed.

Williams, an artist and a student at the University of New Mexico, was in stable con-dition after receiving multiple gunshot wounds to his torso, Schauer Ives said.

Jason Bowles, an attorney representing Baca, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bowles previously said Baca, who was defending the statue, would plead not guilty to remaining charges against him, the Albu-querque Journal reported.

Albuquerque Police Department Commander Art Sanchez said officers did not intervene sooner in the standoff as they did not want to escalate the situation. The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Thursday removed a statue of colonial governor Diego de Vargas before a planned demon-stration against it.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump issued a joint statement to mark Juneteenth. “This Juneteenth, we commit, as one Nation, to live true to our highest ideals and to build always toward a freer, stronger country that values the dignity and boundless potential of all Americans.”

12 SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020AMERICAS

US marks ‘Juneteenth’ end of slavery amid protests for racial justiceAFP — WASHINGTON

Juneteenth celebrations marking the end of slavery in the United States were being held across the country yes-terday with the holiday taking on added significance this year amid nationwide protests for racial justice.

In a stark illustration of the tensions roiling the nation, President Donald Trump issued a solemn statement commem-orating Juneteenth while at the same time threatening protestors on Twitter.

Juneteenth marks the day — June 19, 1865 — when a Union general arrived in Galveston, Texas, and informed slaves that they were free — two months after the Civil War had ended and two-and-a-half years after president Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Demonstrations, prayer services and cultural celebra-tions of food and music will be held from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles to honor the day.

This year’s celebrations come against a backdrop of protests for racial justice fuelled by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Several commemorations have gone virtual to account for

the coronavirus pandemic, but many are going ahead as planned or with modifications such as social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines.

Trump scheduled a re-election campaign rally on Juneteenth in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his first since the pandemic began. But he was forced to change it to today amid an outcry over his provocative choice of date and location — Tulsa suffered one of the coun-try’s worst racist massacres, in 1921, when as many as 300 black Americans were killed.

The Republican President and First Lady Melania Trump issued a joint statement yes-terday to mark Juneteenth. “Juneteenth reminds us of both the unimaginable injustice of slavery and the incomparable joy that must have attended emancipation,” it said.

“This Juneteenth, we commit, as one Nation, to live true to our highest ideals and to build always toward a freer,

stronger country that values the dignity and boundless potential of all Americans.”

At the same time, Trump issued a blunt warning to counter-protestors at his Tulsa rally. “Any protesters, anar-chists, agitators, looters or low-lifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minne-apolis,” he said. “It will be a much different scene!”

Nancy Pelosi, the Demo-cratic speaker of the House of Representatives, also issued a statement commemorating Juneteenth. “Sadly, this Juneteenth comes during a moment of extraordinary national anguish, as we grieve for the hundreds of Black Americans killed by racial injustice and police brutality,” Pelosi said.

“This Juneteenth must be a day of reflection that moves our nation to finally confront and combat its long and shameful history of systemic racial

People kneel as they raise their fists during a protest to mark Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in Texas, two years after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves elsewhere in the United States, amid nationwide protests against racial inequality, in Washington, DC, yesterday.

injustice targeted at commu-nities of color.”

Pelosi also recalled that she had ordered the removal this week of portraits of leaders of the pro-slavery Civil War South from the US Capitol.

Monuments depicting Con-federate generals or soldiers have been toppled by protesters or ordered removed by local governments in a number of US cities during the past few weeks.

Video of Floyd’s death ener-gized a quest for equality among African Americans who decry how systemic racism and injustice have been allowed to fester in the world’s flagship democracy.

Millions of people have taken to the streets of cities in

the US and beyond under the “Black Lives Matter” banner to protest racial injustice and police brutality. Further fuelling tensions, a police officer in Atlanta last week shot dead a black man who was running away after a scuffle during a drunk-driving arrest.

Both offending officers in the incidents have been charged with murder, and the killings have spurred US lawmakers to introduce sweeping new police reforms.

In Washington, several streets have been closed to traffic and there was a strong police presence in the new “Black Lives Matter” plaza near the White House, where protesters were to converge in the afternoon.

In Tulsa, a day-long “I, Too, Am America” rally for justice is planned and the civil rights activist Al Sharpton is scheduled to give a speech. Dozens of events are planned in New York including a march to City Hall demanding “justice, dignity and equality” for black Americans.

Chicago will host a “Black Lives Matter Block Party” fea-turing voter registration drives.

Pressure has mounted for Juneteenth to be declared a national holiday and New York and Virginia have moved to make it an official state holiday.

Several major US com-panies including Nike and Twitter recently announced they were making Juneteenth a paid holiday for employees.

Judge weighs US bid to stop release of John Bolton’s bookAP — WASHINGTON

Former national security adviser John Bolton created a “mess” of his own making by moving to publish his book without receiving final author-ization that the manuscript was free of classified information, Trump administration lawyers argued yesterday in urging a judge to block the book’s release.

But a lawyer for Bolton described the government’s request as surreal and imprac-tical, particularly since copies of the book have already been released to leading news media organizations and have received substantial publicity.

US District Judge Royce Lam-berth did not immediately rule, saying he wants to review addi-tional information in a case that raises core First Amendment and national security concerns.

He pressed both sides on their positions, making it clear he was troubled by the govern-ment’s contention that Bolton had bailed prematurely on the prepublication review process designed to protect against the disclosure of classified infor-mation. But he also asked the Justice Department what he was supposed to do since “the horse seems to be out of the barn” now that copies of the book have been distributed.

Justice Department attorney David Morrell said Bolton should not be rewarded for a problem that he himself had created. “He has flung the barnyard doors open. He has let the horses out, and now he looks at us collectively and says, ‘What are you going to do about it?’” Morrell said.

The Justice Department sued to halt next week’s release

of “The Room Where it Hap-pened,” insisting that the book contained classified infor-mation that could damage national security and that Bolton had failed to complete a prepublication review process.

Bolton’s lawyers argued that he had labored painstak-ingly for months with the White House to address con-cerns over classified infor-mation. In late April, Ellen Knight, the career official with whom he had worked most closely and who had done a line-by-line edit, notified him that she had completed her revisions and that the revised manuscript did not contain classified information.

But another White House official soon after embarked on an additional review and iden-tified material that he said was classified, prompting the

administration to warn Bolton against publication.

That late-stage, end-round around Knight’s judgment by a political appointee was trou-bling, said Bolton attorney Chuck Cooper.

“The question becomes, Is she an authorized official? Well, there’s no doubt that she is. Did she confirm that the infor-mation is unclassified? There’s no dispute by the government that she did,” he added.

Bolton’s lawyers have argued that the White House assertions of classified material are a pretext to censor him over a book the administration simply finds unflattering.

“If the First Amendment stands for anything, it is that the Government does not have the power to clasp its hand over the mouth of a citizen attempting to speak on a matter of great

public import,” they wrote in a court filing.

The book, due out on Tuesday, depicts a president whose foreign policy objectives were inexorably linked to his own political gain. It recounts how Trump “pleaded” with China’s Xi Jinping during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects, and how he linked the supply of military assistance to Ukraine to the country’s will-ingness to conduct politically charged investigations into Biden - allegations that were at the heart of an impeachment trial that ended with the presi-dent’s acquittal in February.

Trump on Thursday called the book a “compilation of lies and made up stories” intended to make him look bad. He tweeted that Bolton was just trying to get even for being fired “like the sick puppy he is!”

Trump says mail-in voting is top threat to his re-election

REUTERS — WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said expanded mail-in voting could cost him re-election in November, according to a Politico interview published yesterday, as states continue to press for absentee balloting amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Trump and his fellow Republicans have said voting by mail invites tampering, although numerous studies have found little evidence of widespread voter fraud con-nected to mail-in balloting, and have filed lawsuits and threatened to withhold federal funding over the issue.

“My biggest risk is that we don’t win lawsuits,” Trump told Politico in the interview, con-ducted on Thursday. “If we don’t win those lawsuits... I think it puts the election at risk.”

The coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 118,000 Americans and led to fears of a second wave of infections in the autumn, has pushed a number states to expand mail-in voting. Some parts of the country have seen a recent spike in cases.

Long lines in Georgia’s nominating contest last week following other voting problems in several other states in recent weeks also have raised con-cerns about potential voting problems in November’s pres-idential contest.

Meanwhile, lawsuits over mail-in voting have been filed in several states, including Cal-ifornia, Texas and Arizona.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll in April showed most Americans, including a majority of Repub-licans, want the government to require mail-in ballots for the November 3 presidential election if the coronavirus out-break continues to be a threat.

In March, as Congress wrestled with coronavirus economic relief and Demo-crats pushed to expand access to voting, including mail-in balloting, Trump told Fox News: “If you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” Asked if he would accept the results of the election no matter the outcome, Trump told Politico that was a question “you can never answer”.

Constant fireworks frazzle nerves in NYREUTERS — NEW YORK

Complaints are skyrocketing about thundering fireworks exploding over otherwise quiet US neighbourhoods, fraying nerves already frazzled by COVID-19 restrictions.

Even in the city that never sleeps, weary New Yorkers in the first half of June lodged a one-hundredfold increase in com-plaints compared to the year-ago period, of explosions that begin before sundown and rattle windows into the morning. The city’s 311 hotline received 2,492 fireworks complaints from June 1-16, up from just 25 in the same period in 2019.

The pyrotechnics occur almost nightly across the five boroughs of New York, once the US epicenter of coronavirus infections, which recently achieved the nation’s lowest rate of virus spread.

“We have been terrorized by the fireworks for weeks now,” said Tanya Bonner, a government policy consultant in her 40s who lives in upper Manhattan, where Columbia University’s athletics complex had been converted into a COVID-19 field hospital.

“It is very bad up here. This area also has many essential workers - and they need rest.” Bonner, who suffers from dia-betes, high blood pressure and

asthma and must leave her apartment windows open, said she can sleep only by turning her television volume “way up” even though “the fireworks happen so close to my window that it is impossible to drown it out.”

“Fireworks are illegal in New York City,” New York Police Detective Sophia Mason responded in an email. But New Jersey legalized some fireworks in 2017. From January 1 through June 14, the New York Police Department has seized fire-works on 26 occasions, made eight arrests, issued 22 criminal court summonses, and responded to 2 fireworks-related injuries, Mason said.

In Massachusetts, which has the country’s strictest pro-hibitions against fireworks, police blamed a spike in com-plaints in Boston and other municipalities on a stretch of warmer weather after months of stay-at-home orders.

“It’s just been months now of young people being inside, being bored,” said Lieutenant Sean Murtha of the Worcester Police Department, roughly 47 miles (76 km) west of Boston.

“It’s been a stressful time for everybody, an oppressive time,” said Murtha, who noted recent reports of gunshots that turned out to be fireworks were double the five-year average, totaling 27 in May.

Fauci predicts no more US lockdownsAFP – WASHINGTON

The United States does not need more widespread lockdowns to bring its COVID-19 outbreak under control, despite the fact that the national daily infection rate has stayed flat, leading government expert Anthony Fauci said.

The physician-scientist added he was optimistic the world would soon have a vaccine that would end the pandemic, calling early trial results “encouraging”. “I don’t think we’re going to be talking about going back to lockdown,” he said when asked whether

places like California and Texas that are seeing a surge in their caseload should reissue stay-at-home orders. I think we’re going to be talking about trying to better control those areas of the country that seem to be having a surge of cases.”

The US leads the world in the number of confirmed infec-tions and in deaths, with the fatality toll approaching 120,000. But while former epi-centers New York and New Jersey have controlled their outbreaks, the virus is now increasing in 20 states — cre-ating a plateau in the national case graph.

Fauci stressed a localized approach as the country returns to normal — including on the crucial question of when to reopen schools. “Counties where there are certainly no cases at all, there’s no problem with the schools opening,” he said.

“There are other parts where there’s a modest amount of infection (where) you may delay school openings.”

For those regions in between, “you want to make some modification of the process, namely: alternate days, morning versus afternoon, seating people apart from each other wearing masks.”

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio greets Inspector Isa Abbassi of the 120th Precinct as New York City’s second Black Lives Matter mural is painted by volunteers between Borough Hall and the 120th Precinct in the Borough of Staten Island, yesterday.