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WEDNESDAY JUNE, 2020

210 FILS ISSUE NO. 8516

China, India agree to reduce tensions after deadly clash

Aniston dishes on her triumphant performance on ‘The Morning Show’ 7 CELEBS

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210 fils (includes VAT)

TOTAL CASES

ACTIVE CASES

DEATHS

DISCHARGED

NEW CASES

CRITICAL

23,062

5,545

67

17,450

655

36

BAHRAIN

HRH the Crown Prince chairs Government Executive Committee meeting

TDT | Manama

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin H a m a d A l K h a l -

ifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, chaired yesterday the 327th meeting of the Government Executive Committee, held

remotely.During the session, the lat-

est developments on meas-ures to combat the corona-virus (COVID-19) were dis-cussed.

Topics related to the fur-ther development of the transportation and telecom-munication sectors in the Kingdom were also reviewed.

HRH the Crown Prince during the meeting

Missile Attack on Saudi

Saudi air defenses intercepted at least four ballistic missiles launched by Houthi rebels at Riyadh, Najran and Jazan, and destroyed eight explosives-laden drones

• Bahrain strongly condemns Houthi attack on KSA

• Rebels threatened to carry out more powerful strikes

• The Shura Council affirmed solidarity with Saudi Arabia in confronting terrorism

Bloomberg Middle East

Saudi Arabia came under a missile and drone at-tack from Iran-backed

Yemen rebels that targeted the capital and other cities, as in-ternational efforts to end their five-year war have floundered.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the attacks targeted the Defense Minis-try, a military base and intel-ligence and other locations in the three cities. The rebels also threatened to carry out more powerful strikes, ac-cording to their Al Masirah news channel.

Bahrain, yesterday strong-ly condemned the Irani-an-backed attempt to target the capital and other cities in the brotherly Kingdom of Sau-di Arabia through the use of ballistic missiles and drones.

The Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen’s brave forces intercepted these missiles and drones before reaching their targets, thereby

thwarting the planned attack. Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) praised the bravery of the forces.

The Shura Council also strongly condemned the at-tempted attack yesterday, re-iterating Bahrain’s unwaver-ing support to Saudi Arabia against any attempt to subvert its security, backing all meas-

ures to defend its territories and interests.

The Shura Council affirmed solidarity with Saudi Arabia in confronting terrorism as well as attempts to target its interests and stability, urging the international community to deter the terrorist militias and maintain regional security and peace.

Self-isolation exit test appointment bookings online

TDT | Manama

The Information and eGovernment Author-ity (IGA) announced

yesterday that individuals who are under home isolation can book their self-isolation exit test appointment via the “BeAware” Bahrain app.

In a tweet put out from the ministry’s official account, their announcement clarified that the new feature of the app only allows self-isolating users to book the exit appoint-ment.

The exit test itself will take place as usual, at the Bah-rain International Exhibi-tion and Convention Centre via a drive-through testing service booth that has been

set up there. This allows all the individ-

uals who are self-isolating to take the test from their own cars, not having to leave their private spaces.

Users of the “BeAware” app can book their exit test ap-pointments three days before their government-mandated self-isolation period is sched-uled to end.

O n c e t h e y h av e g o n e through the drive-through test, they do not need to go back to receive their test re-sults. It can easily be viewed on the app.

The tweet from IGA’s offi-cial twitter account also ad-vised residents and citizens to download the app from the url- http://bahrain.bh/apps.

Representational image courtesy of Bloomberg

GCC Chief condemns attacks on Saudi ArabiaGCC Secretary General

Dr. Naif Fallah Mubarak Al-Hajraf condemned the Houthi militia’s attack on Riyadh, Jazan and Najran, which targeted civilians and civil objects.

In a statement, he said that these hostile acts, which rep-resent a flagrant violation of international laws and norms that prevent targeting civilians and civil objects, are aimed to subvert the security and stability of Saudi Arabia and the region.

Dr. Al-Hajraf praised the efficiency and prepar-edness of the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces, which intercepted the ballistic missiles and bomb-laden UAVs before they reached their targets.

He affirmed GCC support to Saudi Arabia, backing all measures it takes to preserve

its security and stability and the safety of its citizens. He also urged the internation-al community to assume its responsibilities and stand firmly in the face of the Houthi militia in its contin-uous attempts to destabilize regional security and peace.

Two more COVID-19 deaths; confirmed cases in Bahrain surpass 23,000TDT | Manama

The Ministry of Health announced yesterday

two more deaths from the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Both of the deceased were Bahraini men. They were aged 57 and 91. Their passing brought the over-all number of virus-related casualties in the Kingdom to 67.

The Health Ministry ex-pressed its condolences to the victims’ families.

Meanwhile, it was an-nounced early this morning that out of 8,313 COVID-19 tests conducted yesterday, 655 new cases were detect-ed.

From these, 379 were ex-patriate workers, 264 were contacts of active cases, and 12 were travel-related. Their detection brought the overall confirmed cas-es in Bahrain to more than 23,000 from the time the first cases were reported.

There were also 588 ad-ditional recoveries from the virus yesterday, the Health Ministry said. After con-firming that the patients were free of COVID-19, they were released from their respective isolation and treatment centres. That brought the total number of discharged in Bahrain to 17,450.

The total number of cur-rent active cases increased to 5,545, of which 117 are receiving treatment, with 36 in critical condition. The remaining 5,509 are stable.

The total tested increased to 494,028.

GCC Chief Al-Hajraf

02WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

Repatriation assistanceFirst nine of 16 chartered flights carrying hundreds of Indian nationals depart, remainder to fly today

• A jumbo jet carrying 282 passengers was used in the chartered flights repatriation mission for the first time from Bahrain

• The Indian government yesterday rejected the Kerala state government’s request that all incoming passengers from abroad must provide COVID-19 negative certificates on arrival

TDT | Manama

Private organisations in Bahrain chartered 16 Gulf Air flights to three differ-

ent Indian cities, at the request of many stranded Indian na-tionals.

Nine of the flights departed yesterday while the remaining seven are scheduled to fly today.

Of yesterday’s nine flights, three were arranged by Bahrain Keralyeeya Samajam (BKS) and four others by other regional community organisations to the coastal Indian state of Kerala.

The two other flights, under the initiative of the Indian Club Bahrain (ICB), flew to the state capital cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The ICB’s flight to Hyderabad carried 282 passengers hailing from the Indian state of Telan-gana in a jumbo jet. It was the first time that a jumbo jet was used for a repatriation mission from Bahrain. The flight depart-ed the Kingdom at 5.59pm, in association with the Telangana Cultural Association and Telan-gana Jagruthi Bahrain.

Despite a delay in landing permission approvals, for this jumbo jet flight to Hyderabad, Gulf Air officials extended the scheduled time by an hour. The Indian Club officials extended their heartfelt thanks to them for their consideration and sup-port for the stranded passen-gers.

All of the 16 charter flights have been approved by the In-dian Embassy. Except for a few cases for whom ticket charges were waived on humanitarian grounds, all passengers were expected to pay for their own flight tickets.

The Indian government yes-terday rejected the Kerala state government’s demand that all incoming passengers from abroad must provide COVID-19 negative certificates on arrival.

As per the government’s re-vised procedures for the op-eration of chartered flights to repatriate stranded Indians, the organisations must receive clearance from the state gov-ernments of each flight’s desti-nation as well as the Embassy’s. Passengers before they boarded the Jumbo Jet repatriation flight to Hyderabad

HRH the Premier receives Italian AmbassadorTDT | Manama

His Royal Highness the Prime Minister Prince

Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa received at his palace in Rif-fa yesterday newly appointed Italian Ambassador to Bahrain Paola Amadei.

HRH the Premier congratu-lated Ambassador Amadei on her appointment to her post, wishing her every success in carrying out her diplomatic du-ties so as to further bolster rela-tions between the two friendly countries.

HRH the Prime Minister af-firmed the Kingdom’s keenness to enhance its cooperation with Italy across various fields.

The Italian envoy expressed

her sincere thanks and appreci-ation to HRH the Premier for his support and interest in boosting bilateral cooperation in various

sectors. She also conveyed to HRH the

Prime Minister the greetings and appreciation of the Italian

government for the efforts he is making to enhance the level of cooperation between the two friendly countries.

HRH the Prime Minister with Ambassador Amadei during their meeting

Foreign Minister congratulates HRH Princess Sabeeka on new awardTDT | Manama

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Abdullatif bin

Rashid Al Zayani, set out con-gratulations to the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) president, HRH Princess Sa-beeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, the Wife of HM the King, on the SCW winning the Honor-ary Award for Excellence in ‘Caring for Arab Family 2020’.

The minister noted that it reflects the full faith of inter-national organizations in the SCW’s efforts to support Bah-raini women’s advancement at all levels and to promote their contribution to the develop-ment process. He expressed his pride in SCW being cho-sen for this award, thereby acknowledging HRH Princess Sabeeka’s great attention to promote Bahraini women and families as a key pillar of the development process in Bah-rain.

Al Zayani also stated his ministry’s keenness to build cooperation with SCW through

supporting its initiatives and highlighting its achievements at various regional and inter-national forums.

HRH Princess Sabeeka

Foreign Minister Al Zayani

Solid Bahraini-Omani relations saluted

TDT | Manama

HM the King’s Diplomatic Affairs Advisor, Shaikh

Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mo-hammed Al Khalifa, received the Dean of Diplomatic Corps and Omani Ambassador to Bahrain, Abdulla bin Rashid Al Medailwi yesterday for a meeting.

The diplomatic affairs ad-visor applauded the strong, deep-rooted brotherly rela-

tions that the two countries share, under the leadership of HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and HM Sul-tan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman. He also highlighted the steady progress of mul-ti-level bilateral relations that they share.

The ambassador (left) con-gratulated Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed (right) on his appoint-ment to his post, wishing him further success.

H M t h e K i n g ’ s D i p l o m a t i c A f f a i r s A d v i s o r r e c e i v e s o u t g o i n g U S A m b a s s a d o r

HM the King’s Diplomatic Affairs Advisor, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, met with the outgoing US Ambassador to Bahrain, Justin Siberell yesterday. The advisor hailed Siberell’s efforts to strengthen the solid relations between Bahrain and the United States and wished him further success. The US Ambassador was grateful for the kingdom’s support during his tenure, wishing Bahrain further progress and prosperity. Above, the Diplomatic Affairs Advisor (right) receives the US Ambassador (left).

School results to be released electronicallyTDT | Manama

Education Minister Dr. Ma-jid bin Ali Al Nuaimi has

announced that school results will be released electronically, after their official approval.

He said that the decision not to distribute paper results and certificates as usual is in line with the Education Ministry’s keenness to implement the precautionary measures taken by the Kingdom to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19), especially social distancing, as well as its efforts to transition to electronic services.

The Minister indicated that the results will be avail-able on the educational por-tal edunet.bh for all school levels, adding that third in-termediate and secondary school students will also be able to receive their certifi-cates via their Microsoft365 accounts.

Graduation and good con-duct certificates will also be e-mailed to secondary educa-

tion graduates, the Minister added.

In this context, the Edu-cation Ministry’s Planning and Information assistant undersecretary Nawal Al Khater said that students who may not be able to ac-cess the service should con-tact technical support on 17-278777 during official working hours.

Students may also send their queries regarding their Microsoft365 accounts by vis-iting yalla365.net/yalla-form or by e-mailing their requests to [email protected], Al Khater said.

She added that within the ongoing cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the Information and e-Gov-ernment Authority (iGA), the results of the third intermedi-ate and secondary school stu-dents will also be available on the national portal Bahrain.bh, or they can be download-ed from iGA applications on bahrain.bh/apps.

Bahrain-Oman relations hailed

CPISP Alumni provides guidance to studentsTDT | Manama

A virtual panel session titled “How to Utilise This Sum-

mertime Productively” was held yesterday to discuss ideas and ex-change publicly available resourc-es for students to productively use their summer this year, despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic.

The session was organised by the Crown Prince’s International Scholarship Program Alumni As-sociation (CPISPAA). The present-ers were CPISP alumni Mahmood Abdulla, Ahmed Al Bardooli, and

Eman Al Sabah. The panel session addressed topics like how to im-prove professional skills, search for virtual internships, pursue a personal project or business, and to enhance their CVs,

“The CPISP Alumni Association is continuously looking for ways to give back to the community. In this virtual panel session, the alumni shared their experience and knowledge with the partici-pants. “These types of events al-low the association to engage with current university students and provide them with useful advice that will guide them throughout

theiWr academic and profession-al journeys.

“The session is in line with the association’s mission of giving back to the community and hold-ing events that share knowledge with students and professionals in Bahrain,” said the CPISPAA presi-dent Mahmood Abdulla.

The CPISPAA was founded in 2019 to build a community for CPISP alumni, letting them build professional and academic net-works, as well as provide guidance to their peers and contribute to the principles set by the schol-arship.


Royal support saves food truck ownersHH Shaikh Nasser steps in to halt municipal decision to remove food trucks from their Southern Governorate location

TDT | Manama

Around 50 Bahraini food truck owners have re-ceived timely support,

as His Majesty the King’s Hu-manitarian Work and Youth Affairs representative, National Security Advisor and Royal Hu-manitarian Foundation (RHF) Board of Trustees chairman His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, stepped in to halt a municipal decision to remove their trucks from their location in the Southern Governorate.

HH Shaikh Nasser, who is also the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports (SCYS) chairman, on Monday ordered to support and ease obstacles to youth com-mercial activity, especially mo-bile food trucks, shortly after a group of the owners pleaded to HH Shaikh Nasser through a video posted on Instagram, stating that they were asked by the authorities to evict their location near Al Estiqlal High-way.

HH Shaikh Nasser called for a meeting between the related authorities to organise and sup-port youth commercial busi-nesses and to develop frame-works, systems, and infrastruc-ture to invigorate the sector. The meeting will be held at the SCYS headquarters and will be attended by representatives of the food truck owners, as well as representatives of several authorities, which include the Youth and Sports Affairs Min-istry, the Industry, Commerce and Tourism Ministry, the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry, and the Southern Governorate Police Directorate.

HH Shaikh Nasser also in-structed those concerned to submit a report on the solutions aimed at galvanising the sector, preserving gains, supporting the interests and initiatives of the youth, and protecting their projects.

On the same day on Monday, shortly before HH Shaikh Nas-ser’s instructions were issued, a group of Bahraini food truck owners appealed in a video, saying: “We are pleading to HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa to stand with us. We are Bahraini youth. We have families to support. We are un-

employed and some of us are retirees. Around 40 to 50 trucks are here. We depend on these trucks to make a living.”

The group, which included Bahraini men and women, also said in the video while address-ing HH Shaikh Nasser: “We are pleading for your support. The Southern Municipality and Southern Governorate in-formed us that they will remove our trucks on July 4.

“At first, they said we should back up from the road by a dis-tance of 20 metres, and we did that. This land belongs to the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry. We are standing on the prop-erty of the government and we have Commercial Registrations. We are serving our homeland and represent it in an honour-able way by creating a Bahraini brand. “We need your support. We are providing for our chil-dren and families, especially during the current crisis caused by the coronavirus. Where can we go? Wherever we go we are

evicted, despite that we are le-gal and abiding by the law. We need you to stand with us.”

Several food trucks have chosen a side road, which is parallel to Al Estiqlal Highway and near Al Estiqlal Walkway, in the northern parts of Rif-fa (Buhair), to position their trucks and sell different meals and snacks.

Food tucks have become pop-ular in Bahrain in recent years. This encouraged the authori-ties to introduce new rules and regulations to organise their activities.

Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani issued a min-isterial resolution in 2017 to regulate the work of mobile res-taurants and food trucks. Some of the main points mentioned in the resolution included that the owners of food trucks shall be Bahraini, permits shall be obtained from the Health Min-istry and the concerned munic-ipalities, and to not hinder the flow of traffic.

We are pleading to HH Shaikh Nasser

to stand with us. We are Bahraini youth. We have families to

support. Around 40 to 50 trucks are here. We depend on these trucks

to make a livingBAHRAINI FOOD TRUCK OWNERS IN A VIDEO

TO HH SHAIKH NASSER BIN HAMAD AL KHALIFA

: Two of the food truck owners who spoke in their video on social media in an appeal to HH Shaikh Nasser

Executive, legislative branches cooperation important for Kingdom

TDT |Manama

Keeping in line with His Majesty King Hamad bin

Isa Al Khalifa’s vision to main-tain a successful legislative experience within the King-dom, Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa has praised the co-operation between the legis-lative and executive branches to benefit Bahraini citizens and to enhance the standards of services.

Shaikh Khalid received Speaker Fawzia bint Abdullah Zainal for a meeting yesterday, where he also highlighted HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister’s keen interest in consolidating cooperation with the Council of Representatives.

HRH the Premier considers the Council of Representatives as the house and voice of the

people. He regularly encour-ages ministers and officials, within their capacities, to com-municate effectively and posi-tively with the Council, Shaikh Khalid added.

Shaikh Khalid noted that HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander, and First Deputy Prime Minis-ter, consistently takes interest and interacts with the Coun-cil regarding local issues and topics.

The Speaker on her part, expressed the Council’s deep pride in the directives and un-limited support they receive from HM the King, to enhance cooperation and coordination between all branches to better serve the Kingdom, its citizens and various fields.

Fawzia pointed out that reg-ular discussions and coordina-tion between the two branches,

especially considering the cur-rent global situation caused by COVID-19, is crucial.

She further hailed the coop-eration between the Council and the government, led by HRH the Premier and support-ed by HRH the Crown Prince, as well as the distinguished ef-forts exerted by Team Bahrain and the preventive measures taken to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Speaker stressed that reg-ular discussions

and coordination between the two branches, espe-

cially considering the current global

situation caused by COVID-19, is crucial.

Seen above, the Deputy Prime Minister (right) receives Speaker

B D F C o m m a n d e r - i n - C h i e f r e c e i v e s F i n a n c e M i n i s t e r

Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa received the Minister of Finance and National Economy Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa yesterday. The meeting reviewed topics related to cooperation and coordination between the BDF and the ministry. Above, the BDF Commander (right) with the Finance Minister

‘Bahrainouna’ contest winners announcedTDT Manama

The executive office of the national plan “Bahrainou-

na” has announced the winners of the photography and videog-raphy contest “Bahrain Through Our Lens”.

The contest started on Jan-uary 8 and lasted for a whole month, with a total of 500 crea-tive works from more than 210 participants.

All entries were evaluated by a jury, in addition to electronic voting by the public, with more than 3,760 votes during the vot-ing phase from February 16 to

March 31. In the photography category, as per the jury’s assess-ment, Sanaullah Muhammad Ali won the Khalifa Shaheen Photography Award for first place with a cash prize of BD500, while Isa Saleh Isa Al Taraif took second place with a cash prize of BD300. Third place was claimed by Ahmed Yusuf Ahmed Sayyad with a cash prize of BD200.

Fatema Foozy Ahmed Khalaf received the highest number of public votes through the “Bah-rainouna” website, earning a cash prize of BD300.

In the Videography catego-

ry, Mohamed Sadeq Al Asfoor’s creative work was the highest rated by the jury, and he won a cash prize of BD300. Peter An-thony JR Villarba Lee received the highest number of public online votes to win a cash prize of BD300.

The contest aimed to provide an opportunity for profession-al and amateur photographers from the citizens and residents of the Kingdom to unleash their creativity and express their views on the values of citizen-ship by reflecting them in pho-tographs and videos.


Advances in waste managementAbout 1.8M tonnes of construction, household, commercial and agricultural waste deposited into Askar landfill in 2019

• A total of 355,000 tonnes of construction and demolition waste has been converted into materials that can be used in infrastructure projects, reducing the amount of this type of waste received at the landfill by 52 per cent in 2019

• The total volume of waste is expected to go down to around one million tonnes per year with the implementation of new waste management initiatives

TDT | Manama

Around 1.8million tonnes of waste was deposited into the Askar landfill in

2019, according to Works, Mu-nicipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Eng. Essam bin Abdulla Khalaf, who added that work is now ongoing to re-duce this amount significantly through the implementation of new strategies including recy-cling programmes.

The Minister affirmed that one of the greatest challenges faced by the Works Ministry is dealing with accumulated waste, especially following the expan-sion of urban areas across the Kingdom.

The Minister indicated that from the total volume of waste last year, demolition and con-struction waste amounted to

the highest portion at 38 per cent, with a quantity of 677,000 tonnes.

It was followed by house-hold waste at 32 per cent in the amount of 566,000 tonnes, while commercial and industrial waste was 24 per cent of the total, amounting to 424,000 tonnes. Agricultural waste amounted to seven per cent of the overall volume at 126,000 tonnes.

The Works Minister pointed out that these numbers and sta-tistics are the main reference through which the Ministry is creating a database to enable it to deal with existing challenges.

He noted that the national strategy adopted by the Cabinet in 2018 has allowed for the tran-sition to modern and advanced procedures.

This is based on several ini-tiatives, and through these, the

amount of waste is expected to reduce significantly in the coming years, he said. The Min-ister expects the total volume to go down to around one million tonnes of waste per year, as com-pared to the 1.8million tonnes in 2019.

The initiatives being imple-mented included short, medium and long-term projects.

Short-term initiativesThe management and opera-

tion of the Askar landfill using advanced technology has been running since November 1 last year, and it will extend the life of the current landfill for an ad-ditional six years.

A facility for recycling con-struction and demolition waste has also been operational since January last year. A 10-year con-tract was signed through a part-

nership with the private sector to separate construction and demolition waste and convert it into materials that can be used in infrastructure projects. Bid-ding for this project was award-ed to Nass Asphalt by the Tender Board, and a total of 355,000 tonnes of construction waste has already been processed, re-ducing the demolition and con-struction waste received at the landfill by 52 per cent in 2019.

Medium-term initiativesWork to establish a facility

for recycling green waste and converting it into fertilisers has begun, in cooperation with Ur-basir Cleaning Company. The pilot project in Hoora A’ali on a land area of 5,000 square meters started in July of 2018, convert-ing approximately 10 tonnes of green waste daily to fertilisers.

After the success of this pilot project, it was decided to part-ner with the private sector to launch further projects to con-vert part of the green waste into fertilisers, which can be used locally in the agricultural sector.

Long-term initiativeThe establishment of a facility

to convert waste that cannot be recycled into energy through incineration. A tender has been launched to appoint a consulting company to conduct a techni-cal, financial and legal study to implement this conversion into energy.

Part of work being done at Askar landfill last year

One of the greatest

challenges faced by the Ministry is dealing with accumulated

waste, especially following the expansion of urban areas across the Kingdom

WORKS, MUNICIPALITIES AFFAIRS AND URBAN PLANNING MINISTER

ENG. ESSAM BIN ABDULLA KHALAF

Two Asian men get 10 years’ jail for selling drugsTDT | Manama

The First High Crimi-nal Court yesterday

sentenced two Asian men to 10 years’ imprisonment after finding them guilty of illegally selling drugs in the Kingdom.

Both men, including one who remains at large, were fined BD5,000 each, depor-tation, and were banned from re-entering the King-dom.

They were arrested last March for the charge of ille-gal sale of heroin, morphine and methamphetamine.

Secret informants tipped off the Anti-Narcotics Di-rectorate in the Interior Ministry about the defend-ants’ illegal activities. An ambush was set up after an informant contacted one of the defendants requesting to buy BD50 worth of drugs from him.

At the time of delivery, the defendant was caught red-handed while handing over five rolls that con-tained heroin and were wrapped in aluminium foil.

The defendant led the cops to his accomplice’s house, where he wasn’t found, but a bag containing an amount worth BD2,000 in different currency notes was discovered in a bag of the accomplice.

Investigations showed that the second defendant wires money to a third party who resides in Pakistan, and the latter directs him to are-as where he can collect the substance.

Then, the second defend-ant would hand it over to his accomplice to peddle it, af-ter dividing it and wrapping it in aluminium foil. They were charged with running a drug trafficking ring.

Two men arrested for impersonating officers, robberyTDT | Manama

Two individuals have been arrested for im-

personating police officers and then detaining another person while stealing his possessions, the Ministry of Interior has announced.

The Ministry said that the Southern Governorate Police director-general re-ported the incident, which took place in the Ras Zu-waid area, involving the two suspects, aged 29 and 43.

The pair arrested a 33-year-old man while he was driving his vehicle, and then stole his wallet, his mobile phone and a sum of money in his possession.

The director-general noted that upon receiving a report of the incident, an investigation was car-ried out, which resulted in identifying and arrest-ing the two individuals, as they were found to have been involved in another similar case.

The director-general in-dicated that the necessary legal measures have been taken and the case has been referred to the Public Pros-ecution.

R o a d s a f e t y p r o c e d u r e s i s s u e d b y t h e I n t e r i o r M i n i s t r y

The Ministry of Interior has issued a series of road safety procedures for drivers in different situations, including in case of a car fire, a dust storm, or a technical fault in the vehicle. These were released in coordination with the General Directorate of Traffic as part of a “Stay Safe” campaign. Above and left, the guidelines as issued by the Interior Ministry on social media.

$43.4was the price of Brent

crude by 1413 GMT


China proposes ‘fast track’ arrangements with India, RussiaReuters | Beijing/Hong Kong

The Chinese government’s top diplomat Wang Yi yes-

terday proposed a “fast track” arrangement for the move-ment of people and goods with India and Russia.

Ministers from China, Rus-sia and India should together discuss trade, energy, trans-port, education and health, Wang said in a statement on the foreign ministry’s website.

Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi

Saudi quiet; Dubai extends gainsCommercial banks boost Bahrain index

Reuters

Saudi Arabian shares closed up yesterday, reversing earlier losses following

the kingdom’s decision to bar arrivals from abroad to attend the annual Haj pilgrimage due to the coronavirus, while prop-erty shares boosted Dubai’s index.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index ended up 0.1 per cent, helped by a 2.2pc gain in Dr Su-laiman Al-Habib Medical Ser-vices.

The kingdom is to limit the number of domestic pilgrims to around 1,000 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, after barring Muslims abroad from the rite for the first year in mod-ern times.

Official data showed that Saudi Arabia earns around $12 billion a year from Hajj and the year-round pilgrimage umrah.

The week-long Hajj is due to start by the end of July.

Bahrain index was supported by activities in the Commercial Banks, investment, services and industrial sector.

GFH Financial Group, Alu-minium Bahrain, APM Termi-nals Bahrain, Ahli United Bank

and National Bank of Bahrain were the gainers yesterday.

The index rose 0.14pc or 1.81

points to close at 1,280.33 points Dubai’s main share index ad-

vanced 1.4pc, extending gains from the previous session after the emirate announced on Sun-day that it would allow tourists to enter from July 7 in a further easing of its coronavirus-related lockdown.

Emaar Malls owner and oper-ator of the world’s largest shop-ping centre Dubai Mall, surged 7.4pc, whereas its parent com-pany Emaar Properties EMAR.DU was up 1.8pc.

The Abu Dhabi index eased 0.6pc, driven down by a 1.4pc

fall in the country’s largest lend-er First Abu Dhabi Bank.

On Monday, rating agency Fitch said asset quality of Unit-ed Arab Emirates banks is under pressure.

The Qatari index was flat, with Qatar National Bank ris-ing 1.7pc.

The lender is set to raise 1.2 billion Chinese yuan ($169.87 million) through five-year bonds it sold on Monday with a 3.85pc annual rate.

The blue-chip index in Egypt gained 0.2pc, bolstered by a 6.6pc increase in investment bank EFG Hermes.

Egypt will from Saturday lift a night-time curfew that had been imposed since March 25 to curb the spread of the new coronavi-rus, the prime minister’s media adviser said.

Closing Bell SAUDI 0.1pc to 7,265 pts

ABU DHABI 0.6pc to 4,320 pts

DUBAI 1.4pc to 2,121 pts

QATAR n at 9,261 pts

EGYPT 0.2pc to 10,765 pts

BAHRAIN 0.1pc to 1,280 pts

OMAN 0.4pc to 3,525 pts

KUWAIT 1.5pc at 5,588 pts

Official data showed that Saudi Arabia earns around $12 billion a year from Hajj and the year-round pilgrimage umrah.

Bahrain All Share IndexIndex 1,280.33

Previous 1,278.52

Change + 1.81 0.14 %

YTD Change - 20.49 %

Volume 5,671,641.00

Value BD 546,926.06

Market Cap. BD 7,945,224,213

Italy arrests Siemens, Alstom executives over Milan dealsReuters | Milan

Italian tax police arrested 13 people, including executives

of the Italian units of Germany’s Siemens and France’s Alstom, in an investigation into alleged bribery relating to Milan sub-way contracts, prosecutors said yesterday.

Among those arrested were

officials at ATM, the Milan mu-nicipal transport company, and executives at Italian IT service provider Engineering Informat-ica and three other contracting companies, Milan prosecutors said in a statement.

The companies themselves were also being investigated, under an Italian law that holds

firms liable for crimes by their managers, the prosecutors said, adding that the tax police were searching homes and offices in 15 cities.

An Alstom spokesperson said in an email the company was cooperating.

Siemens said the offices of Sie-mens Mobility in Milan had been

searched and the company was cooperating with the authorities. It said it had zero tolerance for corruption or any violation of competition rules.

ATM said the allegations relat-ed to two of its officials. It denied the company itself had any role in the alleged activities and said it was cooperating with the in-

vestigation. An Engineering In-formatica spokeswoman said the firm had been notified. “We are looking into the circumstances of this investigation and do not have any further update at this time,” she added.

Other firms did not immedi-ately respond to requests for comment. The prosecutors said

those arrested were suspected of bribery, disrupting an auction, embezzlement, misuse of office and forgery in public acts.

The suspected bribes amount-ed to 125,000 euros paid or promised from October 2018 to July 2019 in relation to eight contract tenders worth 150 mil-lion euros.

Oil up after Trump assurance on China trade dealReuters | London

Oil prices rose yesterday in a volatile session after

US President Donald Trump soothed jangled nerves over the status of the US-China trade deal.

Markets were unsettled by surprise comments from White House trade adviser Pe-ter Navarro who said the hard-won deal was “over”.

President Trump later wrote in a tweet that the agreement was “fully intact”.

Brent crude rose 27 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $43.35 a barrel by 1413 GMT, having skidded to a session low of $42.21. US oil was up 28 cents, or 0.7pc, at $41.01 after touching a low of $39.76.

Oil prices were also support-ed by data showing that the historic downturn in the euro zone economy eased again this month as businesses resumed activity across the region.

“Looking at the strength of the physical market and re-covering global oil demand, we think that the crude oil price is still on its way higher,” Nordic bank SEB said in a note.

On the supply side, US and

Canadian oil and gas drillers have cut the number of rigs they are operating to a record low, complicating any efforts to raise output, even with the encouragement of higher pric-es. “US onshore production has now given up two full years of (volume) gains,” said Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp.

US oil rigs contracted for drilling dropped by 10 to 189 last week, their lowest since June 2009, according to week-ly data from energy services company Baker Hughes.

Bank of America (BofA) Global Research has lifted its oil price forecast for this year. It now expects Brent crude to average $43.70 a barrel in 2020, up from a previous esti-mate of $37.

Sanofi clinches $2 bn vaccines deal with Translate BioReuters | Paris

French drugmaker Sanofi has agreed a potential $2

billion vaccines deal with Translate Bio, expanding their collaboration in development of an inoculation against COV-ID-19 and sending the US bio-tech company’s shares soaring.

The deal strengthens Sa-nofi’s credentials in a market engaged in a frantic race to find a safe and effective vac-cine against the coronavirus disease that has killed more than 472,000 worldwide.

The companies said they would expand their partner-ship to develop a wide range of mRNA vaccines. The mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) technology, an area of Trans-

late Bio expertise, instructs human cells to make specific proteins that produce an im-mune response to a disease.

Sanofi expects its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate to enter clinical trials by the end of the year and, if successful, gain regulatory approval in the second half of 2021.

A researcher works in an industrial development laboratory at Sanofi Pasteur plant

Disney+ to debut in eight more countries in Europe

Reuters

Walt Disney Co said on Tuesday it would

launch Disney+ in eight more countries in Europe, as millions of people stuck at home due to coronavi-rus-induced restrictions turn to streaming services for entertainment.

Disney+ will debut in Por-tugal, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Belgium and Luxembourg on Sept. 15, the home of Mickey Mouse said.

The streaming service that featured the popular series “The Mandalorian” is live in eight countries in Europe, including the Unit-ed Kingdom.

Disney+, which made its debut in November in the United States, attracted more than 50 million paid users, Disney said in April.

A smartphone with displayed “Disney” logo

Trump to extend US work visa freeze to year-end• The move expected to ree up 525,000 jobs

• Order includes H1-B visas provided to 85,000 workers

AFP | Washington

US President Donald Trump will prolong a ban on US employment

permits to year-end and broad-en it to include H1-B visas used widely in the tech industry, the White House said Monday.

A senior administration of-ficial told journalists that the move would free up 525,000 jobs, making a dent in the high unemployment rate caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“President Trump is focused on getting Americans back to work as quickly as possible,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.

Trump had endlessly touted a strong economy, but now finds himself desperate for a political

boost ahead of the November election.

An executive order, expect-ed later Monday, will extend and widen the 60-day freeze Trump placed on new work permits for non-US citizens two months ago.

The administration official said the new order would ex-tend to the end of 2020 and include H1-B visas provided to 85,000 workers each year with special skills, many of them joining the US technolo-gy industry. It will also cover most J visas, common for aca-demics and researchers, and L visas used by companies to shift workers based overseas to their US offices.

The official said the order was necessary to respond to

soaring unemployment that re-sulted from the COVID-19 shut-down.

The official stressed the H1-B visa freeze was tempo-rary while the programme is restructured, from an annual lottery that feeds coders and other specialists to Silicon Val-ley, to a system the gives priori-ty to those foreign workers with the most value.

Trump “is going to prioritize those workers who are offered the highest wages,” as an indi-cator that they can add more value to the US economy, the official said.

“It will eliminate competition with Americans... in these in-dustries at the entry level, and will do more to get the best and the brightest.”

Silicon Valley giant Google has been one of the leading beneficiaries of the H1-B visa system that President Donald Trump is putting on hold


Microsoft ends game streaming, teams up with FB• Microsoft Mixer will be shuttered on July 22

• The gamers will be encouraged to transition to Facebook Gaming

AFP | San Francisco

Microsoft said Monday it was throwing in the towel on its livestream

gaming platform and teaming up with Facebook to better compete with rivals like Amazon-owned Twitch.

Microsoft Mixer will be shut-tered on July 22, the tech giant said in a statement.

“It became clear that the time needed to grow our own lives-treaming community to scale was out of measure with the vision and experiences that Mi-crosoft and Xbox want to deliver for gamers now, so we’ve decid-ed to close the operations side of

Mixer and help the community transition to a new platform,” the Mixer team said.

The gamers will be encour-aged to transition to Face-book Gaming, which has some 700 million people who

play or watch games every month.

“We will work to transition the Mixer community over the next few weeks. Starting on July 22, all Mixer sites and apps will redirect users to Facebook Gam-

ing,” said by Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, the gaming division of Microsoft,

Microsoft announced it was buying the livestream service Beam in August 2016 to bol-ster its effort to boost its ranks

of people who play and watch games online.

But the service, renamed Mixer in 2017, struggled to gain traction against Twitch, Goog-le-owned YouTube and Face-book Gaming.

Spencer said the move to shut-ter Mixer would allow Microsoft to focus on its other gaming ef-forts including “the world-class content being made by our 15 Xbox Game Studios, the evo-lution of Xbox Game Pass, the launch of Xbox Series X, and the global opportunity to play any-where with Project xCloud,” re-ferring to the cloud-based game service.

“Bringing that vision to life, for as many people as possible, will see us working with dif-ferent partners, platforms, and communities for years to come,” Spencer added.

“It will also see us adjusting our strategy to best serve play-ers wherever they gather daily, which includes the category of livestreaming.”

Picture courtesy of Ars Technica

The move to shut-ter Mixer would

allow Microsoft to focus on its other gaming efforts in-cluding “the world-

class content being made by

our 15 Xbox Game Studios, the evolu-tion of Xbox Game Pass, the launch of Xbox Series X, and the global oppor-tunity to play any-where with Project

xCloud

Europe 2020 auto sales to plunge record 25pc: industry groupParis

Auto sales in Europe this year will tumble a record

25 percent due to the corona-virus pandemic which has left manufacturers facing a “major economic crisis”, a top indus-try group said Tuesday.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association(A-CEA) also urged the Europe-an Union and member state governments to help the in-dustry recover and safeguard jobs.

EU car sales will “tumble by more than three million from 12.8 m units in 2019 to some 9.6 m units this year”, ACEA said in a statement.

So far this year, the auto mar-ket has shrank 41.5 per cent

due to the impact of coronavi-rus lockdowns but ACEA said the situation should improve somewhat as restrictions are eased.

“In terms of percentage change, the bleak outlook rep-resents the sharpest drop ever witnessed by Europe’s auto-mobile sector,” it said.

EU car sales will “tumble by more than three million units this year”, ACEA said

Amazon pledges $2 billion investment to fight climate changeAFP | Washington

Amazon yesterday pledged to invest $2 billion in projects

aimed at combatting climate change, stepping up efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of the tech giant and others.

The Climate Pledge Fund will back efforts by startups and oth-er firms in multiple sectors to “facilitate the transition to a zero carbon economy,” Amazon said in a statement.

The initiative “will look to invest in the visionary entre-preneurs and innovators who are building products and ser-vices to help companies reduce their carbon impact and operate more sustainably,” said Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.

“Companies from around the world of all sizes and stages will be considered, from pre-prod-uct startups to well-established enterprises. Each prospective investment will be judged on its potential to accelerate the path to zero carbon and help protect the planet for future genera-tions.”

The move follows an an-nouncement by Bezos last year that Amazon would accelerate its own efforts to cut its carbon footprint while encouraging oth-

ers to join his “Climate Pledge” aimed at meeting goals of the Paris accord on climate ahead of schedule.

Since then, the pledge has been joined by other companies including US-based telecom gi-ant Verizon, British consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser

and India-based tech giant In-fosys.

Amazon has said it is on track to run on 100 percent renewa-ble energy by 2025 and would become carbon neutral by 2040.

It also will deploy more than 100,000 electric delivery vans to replace gasoline-powered

vehicles for its logistics opera-tions. The first will hit the road in 2021, with the fleet to be fully operational in 2030.

The new fund will invest in companies in multiple indus-tries, including transportation and logistics, energy generation, storage and utilization, man-ufacturing and materials, cir-cular economy, and food and agriculture.

Amazon will also seek oth-er investors to add to the fund which is aimed at efforts to “de-carbonize the economy and pro-tect the planet.”

Sense of urgencyThe news c o m e s

amid growing c o n -cerns on cli-mate change and with the US administration on course to withdraw from the global agree-ment aimed at curbing emissions.

Some scientists have warned that climate change is acceler-ating, making mitigation efforts more urgent.

The last five years have been the hottest on record, as has been the last decade, according

to the European climate moni-toring network.

Amazon has faced criticism, including from some of its own employees, that it has failed to move quickly enough on cli-mate change.

The company, which is a major cloud com-puting service provider, says it has invested in 91 renewable energy projects around the globe.

It has also made in-vestments in re-forestation projects a ro u n d t h e

world, and stepped up efforts to reduce its use of packaging materials.

The company, which has expanded its workforce

to meet consumer de-mands during the coronavirus pandem-ic, is also being scru-tinized for its grow-

ing power in retail by lawmakers and anti-

trust enforcers.

Amazon Employees for Climate Justice walked out and rallied at the company’s headquarters in September 2019 to demand that leaders take action on climate change

Global trade set to shrink 18.5 per cent in Q2: WTOAFP | Geneva

Global trade is expected to drop around 18.5 per cent

year-on-year in the second quarter of this year in a huge coronavirus-driven plunge which nonetheless could have been much worse, the World Trade Organization said yes-terday.

The WTO said that in the first quarter, the volume of mer-chandise trade shrank by three percent compared to the same three months in 2019.

“Initial estimates for the sec-ond quarter, when the virus and associated lockdown measures affected a large share of the global population, indicate a year-on-year drop of around 18.5 percent,” the global trade

body said in a statement.However, it said the expect-

ed plunge was better than the WTO’s worst-case scenario for the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on global trade -- and that the world economy may have bot-tomed out in the second quarter of the year. “The fall in trade we are now seeing is historically large -- in fact, it would be the

steepest on record. But there is an important silver lining here: it could have been much worse,” said outgoing WTO director-gen-eral Roberto Azevedo.

“This is genuinely positive news but we cannot afford to be complacent.”

Outlook ‘highly uncertain’In its annual trade forecast

issued in April, the WTO forecast that volumes would contract by between 13 per cent at best and 32 percent at worst in 2020.

“As things currently stand, trade would only need to grow by 2.5 pc per quarter for the remainder of the year to meet the optimistic projection,” it said.

“However, looking ahead to 2021, adverse developments, including a second wave of COV-ID-19 outbreaks, weaker than expected economic growth, or widespread recourse to trade restrictions, could see trade expansion fall short of earlier projections.”

The WTO said the outlook for the global economy over the next two years remained “highly uncertain”.

The WTO said the outlook for the global economy over the next two years remained “highly uncertain”


Microsoft ends game streaming, teams up with FB• Microsoft Mixer will be shuttered on July 22

• The gamers will be encouraged to transition to Facebook Gaming

AFP | San Francisco

Microsoft said Monday it was throwing in the towel on its livestream

gaming platform and teaming up with Facebook to better compete with rivals like Amazon-owned Twitch.

Microsoft Mixer will be shut-tered on July 22, the tech giant said in a statement.

“It became clear that the time needed to grow our own lives-treaming community to scale was out of measure with the vision and experiences that Mi-crosoft and Xbox want to deliver for gamers now, so we’ve decid-ed to close the operations side of

Mixer and help the community transition to a new platform,” the Mixer team said.

The gamers will be encour-aged to transition to Face-book Gaming, which has some 700 million people who

play or watch games every month.

“We will work to transition the Mixer community over the next few weeks. Starting on July 22, all Mixer sites and apps will redirect users to Facebook Gam-

ing,” said by Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, the gaming division of Microsoft,

Microsoft announced it was buying the livestream service Beam in August 2016 to bol-ster its effort to boost its ranks

of people who play and watch games online.

But the service, renamed Mixer in 2017, struggled to gain traction against Twitch, Goog-le-owned YouTube and Face-book Gaming.

Spencer said the move to shut-ter Mixer would allow Microsoft to focus on its other gaming ef-forts including “the world-class content being made by our 15 Xbox Game Studios, the evo-lution of Xbox Game Pass, the launch of Xbox Series X, and the global opportunity to play any-where with Project xCloud,” re-ferring to the cloud-based game service.

“Bringing that vision to life, for as many people as possible, will see us working with dif-ferent partners, platforms, and communities for years to come,” Spencer added.

“It will also see us adjusting our strategy to best serve play-ers wherever they gather daily, which includes the category of livestreaming.”

Picture courtesy of Ars Technica

The move to shut-ter Mixer would

allow Microsoft to focus on its other gaming efforts in-cluding “the world-

class content being made by

our 15 Xbox Game Studios, the evolu-tion of Xbox Game Pass, the launch of Xbox Series X, and the global oppor-tunity to play any-where with Project

xCloud

Europe 2020 auto sales to plunge record 25pc: industry groupParis

Auto sales in Europe this year will tumble a record

25 percent due to the corona-virus pandemic which has left manufacturers facing a “major economic crisis”, a top indus-try group said Tuesday.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association(A-CEA) also urged the Europe-an Union and member state governments to help the in-dustry recover and safeguard jobs.

EU car sales will “tumble by more than three million from 12.8 m units in 2019 to some 9.6 m units this year”, ACEA said in a statement.

So far this year, the auto mar-ket has shrank 41.5 per cent

due to the impact of coronavi-rus lockdowns but ACEA said the situation should improve somewhat as restrictions are eased.

“In terms of percentage change, the bleak outlook rep-resents the sharpest drop ever witnessed by Europe’s auto-mobile sector,” it said.

EU car sales will “tumble by more than three million units this year”, ACEA said

Amazon pledges $2 billion investment to fight climate changeAFP | Washington

Amazon yesterday pledged to invest $2 billion in projects

aimed at combatting climate change, stepping up efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of the tech giant and others.

The Climate Pledge Fund will back efforts by startups and oth-er firms in multiple sectors to “facilitate the transition to a zero carbon economy,” Amazon said in a statement.

The initiative “will look to invest in the visionary entre-preneurs and innovators who are building products and ser-vices to help companies reduce their carbon impact and operate more sustainably,” said Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.

“Companies from around the world of all sizes and stages will be considered, from pre-prod-uct startups to well-established enterprises. Each prospective investment will be judged on its potential to accelerate the path to zero carbon and help protect the planet for future genera-tions.”

The move follows an an-nouncement by Bezos last year that Amazon would accelerate its own efforts to cut its carbon footprint while encouraging oth-

ers to join his “Climate Pledge” aimed at meeting goals of the Paris accord on climate ahead of schedule.

Since then, the pledge has been joined by other companies including US-based telecom gi-ant Verizon, British consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser

and India-based tech giant In-fosys.

Amazon has said it is on track to run on 100 percent renewa-ble energy by 2025 and would become carbon neutral by 2040.

It also will deploy more than 100,000 electric delivery vans to replace gasoline-powered

vehicles for its logistics opera-tions. The first will hit the road in 2021, with the fleet to be fully operational in 2030.

The new fund will invest in companies in multiple indus-tries, including transportation and logistics, energy generation, storage and utilization, man-ufacturing and materials, cir-cular economy, and food and agriculture.

Amazon will also seek oth-er investors to add to the fund which is aimed at efforts to “de-carbonize the economy and pro-tect the planet.”

Sense of urgencyThe news c o m e s

amid growing c o n -cerns on cli-mate change and with the US administration on course to withdraw from the global agree-ment aimed at curbing emissions.

Some scientists have warned that climate change is acceler-ating, making mitigation efforts more urgent.

The last five years have been the hottest on record, as has been the last decade, according

to the European climate moni-toring network.

Amazon has faced criticism, including from some of its own employees, that it has failed to move quickly enough on cli-mate change.

The company, which is a major cloud com-puting service provider, says it has invested in 91 renewable energy projects around the globe.

It has also made in-vestments in re-forestation projects a ro u n d t h e

world, and stepped up efforts to reduce its use of packaging materials.

The company, which has expanded its workforce

to meet consumer de-mands during the coronavirus pandem-ic, is also being scru-tinized for its grow-

ing power in retail by lawmakers and anti-

trust enforcers.

Amazon Employees for Climate Justice walked out and rallied at the company’s headquarters in September 2019 to demand that leaders take action on climate change

Global trade set to shrink 18.5 per cent in Q2: WTOAFP | Geneva

Global trade is expected to drop around 18.5 per cent

year-on-year in the second quarter of this year in a huge coronavirus-driven plunge which nonetheless could have been much worse, the World Trade Organization said yes-terday.

The WTO said that in the first quarter, the volume of mer-chandise trade shrank by three percent compared to the same three months in 2019.

“Initial estimates for the sec-ond quarter, when the virus and associated lockdown measures affected a large share of the global population, indicate a year-on-year drop of around 18.5 percent,” the global trade

body said in a statement.However, it said the expect-

ed plunge was better than the WTO’s worst-case scenario for the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on global trade -- and that the world economy may have bot-tomed out in the second quarter of the year. “The fall in trade we are now seeing is historically large -- in fact, it would be the

steepest on record. But there is an important silver lining here: it could have been much worse,” said outgoing WTO director-gen-eral Roberto Azevedo.

“This is genuinely positive news but we cannot afford to be complacent.”

Outlook ‘highly uncertain’In its annual trade forecast

issued in April, the WTO forecast that volumes would contract by between 13 per cent at best and 32 percent at worst in 2020.

“As things currently stand, trade would only need to grow by 2.5 pc per quarter for the remainder of the year to meet the optimistic projection,” it said.

“However, looking ahead to 2021, adverse developments, including a second wave of COV-ID-19 outbreaks, weaker than expected economic growth, or widespread recourse to trade restrictions, could see trade expansion fall short of earlier projections.”

The WTO said the outlook for the global economy over the next two years remained “highly uncertain”.

The WTO said the outlook for the global economy over the next two years remained “highly uncertain”


9,233,876

475,173

4,972,023

Deaths

Recovered:

New cases

New deaths +51,301

+1,689

Covid-19 Cases:

Country Total cases

new cases

Total deaths

New Deaths

Total recovered

Active cases

Serious, Critical

Tot cases/1m pop

Egypt 56,809 2,278 15,133 39,398 41 555

Saudi Arabia

164,144 +3,139 1,346 +39 109,885 52,913 2,122 4,717

UAE 45,683 +380 305 +2 33,703 11,675 1 4,620

Kuwait 41,033 +742 334 +4 32,304 8,395 165 9,612

Oman 32,394 +1,318 140 +3 17,279 14,975 97 6,349

Qatar 89,579 +1,176 99 71,501 17,979 225 31,904

Middle East

Country Total cases New deaths Total Deaths

USA 2,390,268 +71 122,681

Brazil 1,113,606 51,407

Russia 599,705 +153 8,359

India 441,948 +15 14,030

UK 305,289 42,647

Spain 293,584 28,324

Peru 257,447 8,223

Chile 250,767 +3 4,505

Italy 238,720 34,657

Iran 209,970 +121 9,863

Germany 192,429 +8 8,977

Turkey 188,897 4,974

Mexico 185,122 +759 22,584

Pakistan 185,034 +105 3,695

G l o b a l C o u n t r i e s w o r s t a f f e c t e d

Figures as of closing

News in brief South Korea reported 46 new

coronavirus cases on Tuesday after health authorities declared the country was battling a second wave of infections that had been circulating for weeks. Officials reimposed some social distancing measures in late May following fresh clusters in and near Seoul, and most cases reported in the past week have been domestic infections. Of the 46 new cases reported Tuesday -- taking the country’s total to 12,484 -- 30 were people arriving from overseas.

British counter-

terrorism police have been given until June 27

to question a suspect in an attack which saw three

people stabbed to death in a park, officers said. “Detectives were... granted a warrant of further detention until Saturday June 27, and the man remains in police custody,” Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) said in a statement late Monday. A 25-year-old man, widely identified as Libyan Khairi Saadallah, was arrested near the scene of Saturday’s attack in Reading, west of London.

Singapore’s parliament was dissolved Tuesday for an election even as the

city-state struggles to recover from a major coronavirus outbreak that has swept through crowded migrant worker dormitories. A raft of safety measures will be in place to prevent infections,

with voters required to wear masks and gloves at polling stations while campaign rallies look set to be banned.

India said yesterday it intended to expel half the staff in Pakistan’s embassy in New Delhi

over what it said was spying by officials there. “They have been engaged in acts of espionage and maintained dealings with terrorist organizations,” the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement. India will cut staff in its own embassy in Islamabad by the same amount, the statement added.

A man crashed his car into the entrance gate of the

Chinese embassy in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires in a victimless incident that is under investigation according to police. The driver, a 24-year-old Argentine, was unharmed and was arrested and brought before the federal justice system on charges of “public intimidation”.

Human clinical trials in Brazil for a potential

coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University started this weekend, sponsor Lemann Foundation said in a statement late on Monday. Trials will count on 2,000 health worker volunteers in Sao Paulo and 1,000 people in Rio de Janeiro and are being conducted by

Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo and hospital chain Rede D’Or, respectivelly.

India to expel half Pakistan’s embassy staff over spying

Trials with Oxford COVID-19 vaccine start

in Brazil

Police given more time to quiz UK terror

suspect

Only 1,000 Hajj pilgrims Saudi to allow 1,000 pilgrims of various nationalities already in the kingdom

• Pilgrimage limited to those below 65 years of age

• Coronavirus test mandatory for pilgrims

• Muslim World League endorses the government move

AFP | Riyadh

Saudi Arabia yesterday said only around 1,000 pilgrims of various nationalities al-

ready in the kingdom will be al-lowed to perform a dramatically scaled-down hajj, as it battles a coronavirus surge.

The decision to exclude pil-grims outside Saudi Arabia, a first in the kingdom’s modern history, sparked disappointment among Muslims worldwide even as many accepted it was necessary due to the health risks involved.

The reduced number is a far cry from the 2.5 million who attended the five-day ritual last year and it remains unclear what the selection process will be for this year’s hajj, scheduled for the end of July.

“The number of pilgrims will be around 1,000, maybe less, maybe a little more,” Hajj Min-ister Mohammad Benten told reporters in Riyadh.

“The number won’t be in tens or hundreds of thousands” this year, he added.

The pilgrimage will be limited to those below 65 years of age and with no chronic illnesses,

Health Minister Tawfiq al-Ra-biah said.

The pilgrims will be tested for coronavirus before arriving in the holy city of Mecca and will be required to quarantine at home after the ritual, Rabiah added.

The Saudi decision to hold a “very limited” hajj is fraught with political and economic peril and comes after several Muslim nations pulled out of the ritual that forms one of the main pillars of Islam.

‘It’s destiny’The decision comes as Saudi

Arabia grapples with a major spike in infections, which have

now risen to more than 161,000 cases -- the highest in the Gulf -- with more than 1,300 deaths.

“Saudi Arabia has chosen the safest option that allows it to save face within the Muslim world while making sure they are not seen as compromising on public health,” Umar Karim, a visiting fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said.

Saudi Arabia has said the hajj will be open to people of various nationalities already in the king-dom, without specifying how many Saudis will be permitted or what the selection process will be.

But Benten said the govern-ment will work with various diplomatic missions in the king-dom to select foreign pilgrims residing in Saudi Arabia who fit the health criteria.

Religious sanction In a statement that gave the

decision the cover of religious sanction, the Saudi-based Mus-lim World League said it en-dorsed the government move for the health and safety of pilgrims, according to state media.

The prestigious Islamic in-stitution Al-Azhar in Cairo also welcomed the move, calling it “wise and based on Islamic ju-risprudence”.

And Youssef Al-Othaimeen, secretary general of the Organ-isation of Islamic Cooperation, said in a statement carried by state media that he “appreci-ated the utmost care given... to the health and safety of the pil-grims”.

But the decision still risks an-noying hardline Muslims for whom religion trumps health concerns.

Ahmed al-Khoury, a Jordani-an resident of Riyadh, shrugged off the coronavirus health warn-ings, telling he saw “no reason” to cancel or limit the pilgrimage.

Sanitation workers disinfect the area around the Kaaba in Mecca’s Grand Mosque, emptied of the usual hordes of foreign pilgrims by coronavirus restrictions introduced by the Saudi authorities in March

The reduced number is a far cry from the 2.5 million who attended the five-day ritual last

year

China, India agree to reduce tensions after deadly clash

• Meeting lasted 11 hours

• Presses Russia to fast track S-400 delivery

AFP | New Delhi

Ch i n a a n d I n -dia have agreed

to reduce tensions a week after their deadliest clashes in over 50 years on the disputed Himalayan border left 20 Indian troops dead in brutal hand-to-hand fighting.

The June 15 battle, reportedly fought with fists, clubs and rocks, was the first time troops have been killed on their frontier since 1975 and marked a major deterioration in ties between the two Asian gi-ants.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that after talks between the top re-gional military commanders on Monday, both sides “agreed to take necessary measures to promote a cooling of the situation”.

The Press Trust of India said the meeting was between Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, com-mander of the 14 Corps, and Major General Liu Lin, commander of the Tibet Military District.

“The holding of this meeting

shows that both sides want to deal with their disagreement, manage the situation and de-escalate the situation through dialogue and consultations,” Zhao told a regular news conference.

The two sides “exchanged frank and in-depth views” and “agreed to maintain dialogue and jointly

committed to pro-moting peace and tranquillity in the border areas”, Zhao added.

There was no of-ficial comment from

New Delhi but an Indian army source said that after the meeting, reportedly lasting almost 11 hours, that there was a “mutual consen-sus to disengage”.

The meeting came ahead of virtual talks between the foreign ministers of India, China and Rus-sia later Tuesday.

While Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar made no direct men-tion of the clashes in his opening remarks, Russia’s Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow saw no need to mediate between the two coun-tries.

The Times of India reported that Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in Moscow this week, would press Russia to fast-track delivery of its S-400 missile defence system as well as spares for fighter planes, tanks and sub-marines.

China launches final satellite to complete rival to GPS

Beijing

China yesterda launched the final satellite in

its homegrown geoloca-tion system, completing a network designed to rival American GPS as it jostles for market share in the lu-crative sector.

Footage broadcast live on television showed a rocket blasting off with the sat-ellite from a mountainous region of southwest China, which state media hailed as another milestone in the country’s space pro-gramme.

The Beidou system -- named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper constellation –- works on a network of about 30 sat-ellites and competes with the US’s Global Position-ing System (GPS), Russia’s GLONASS and the European Union’s Galileo.

The Beidou system works on a network of about 30 satellites


AFP | Cairo

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has upped the ante in the chaotic conflict in Libya, warning Cairo could intervene militarily to halt a march eastwards by the Turkey-backed forces of the UN-recognised government.

Sisi’s tough words came after the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) pushed back the forces of eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar defeating his 14-month bid to capture the Libyan capital.

On Saturday, the Egyptian general-turned-president warned that if pro-GNA forces advanced on the strategic city of Sirte -- some 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli -- it could provoke “direct” intervention by Cairo.

- What did Egypt say? -Sisi said attacking Sirte or the Al-Jufra airbase would be tantamount to crossing a “red line” and cited defending

Egypt’s western border as grounds for “direct intervention”.The stalemated offensive on Tripoli by Sisi’s ally Haftar crumbled after Turkey threw its military weight behind

the GNA.With Ankara’s support, the GNA has scored a series of military victories and vowed to move further to retake the

coastal city of Sirte, a gateway to Libya’s key oil export ports.Sisi’s declaration was backed by the speaker of Libya’s eastern-based parliament Aguila Saleh, and allies in the

region including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Jordan.But it drew the ire of the GNA, which denounced it as a “declaration of war”.

Will Egypt go to war in Libya?

Analysts have dismissed the possibility of all-out war

between Egyptian and Turkish forces in Libya.

“It is highly unlikely that Egypt will enter a direct war in Libya,” said Hassan Nafaa, political science professor at Cairo University.

Sisi’s message was “more a political one than a military one: ‘That Egypt stands by its allies’,” he said.

Neither Egypt nor its Arab allies have “the illusion that they are going to roll back the GNA into Tripoli. It’s more just de-fensive,” agreed Claudia Gazzini of Brussels-based think tank the International Crisis Group.

Sisi’s tough stand was a warn-ing “to alert the Americans mainly” that the latest push by Turkey constituted a threat, she added.

What are the stakes for Egypt?

Egypt’s long and porous desert border with Libya has been a major concern for Cairo, especially since the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi triggered chaos in its neighbour.

Egyptian leaders have blamed major attacks within its borders on militants sneaking across the Libyan border.Cairo “distrusts the Government of National Accord and sees Turkey’s involvement as a serious threat,” said

Yezid Sayigh, senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment.Its backing for Haftar primarily “derives from the hope that he can deliver a secure and stable common border,”

he added.Earlier this month, Egypt proposed a peace initiative for Libya, which it dubbed the “Cairo Declaration”, calling

for a ceasefire, the disbanding of militias and the withdrawal of mercenaries.But the plan, unveiled by Sisi with Haftar at his side, was dismissed by the GNA and Ankara as an attempt to buy

time for the strongman’s forces to regroup.- Why does Egypt worry about Turkey? -Relations between Cairo and Ankara have deteriorated dramatically since Sisi led the army’s 2013 ouster of his

predecessor Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was supported by Turkey.Now that they stand on opposing sides of the Libyan conflict, Egypt fears that militias allied with Turkey could

penetrate its borders.“The biggest fear there is that if the GNA advances, it means Turkey advances and this means that Egypt’s foe

becomes a neighbour,” said Gazzini.“This is a scenario they would like to avoid.”For that to happen, Egypt may intervene to at least ensure that Haftar’s forces stand their ground in Sirte and

Jufra, according to Nafaa. “Direct intervention would help them considerably by securing their rear, freeing up troops to redeploy to central Libya, and strengthening morale,” said Sayigh.

What’s next?

While a direct Egyptian intervention would boost Haftar’s chances of keeping control of Sirte, Egypt still sees this as a “last resort”, analysts say.

“The possibility that Egypt will intervene directly is increasing, although I think the Sisi administration strongly prefers not to, and will only do so as a last resort,” said Sayigh.

Egypt boasts one of the Middle East’s largest militaries with between 438,000 and 458,000 active personnel, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

It is among the top recipients of US military aid, receiving nearly $1.3 billion. This is part of Washington’s policy to help Cairo combat jihadists in the Sinai.

In May, the US also approved a $2.3 billion deal for the purchase of attack helicopters for Egypt.Sisi has not elaborated on his plans for any intervention, but has urged Egyptian troops to “be prepared to carry

out any mission, inside our borders, or if necessary, outside our borders.”He also told Libyan tribes that Egypt was ready to support, arm and train their young.Any Egyptian military intervention would come at a heavy financial cost for the country’s economy which had

been showing some signs of recovery following years of political turmoil.“It is a high risk initiative if Egypt were to embark on this,” said Gazzini.It could, however, result in a “strategic stalemate which hopefully could lead to a more serious diplomatic effort

by the international community to produce a lasting political settlement of the Libyan conflict,” said Sayigh.

Arab League urges Ethiopia to delay filling Nile dam

Cairo

The Arab League urged Ethiopia on Tuesday to delay

its filling of the Nile me-ga-dam it is constructing until a comprehensive deal is reached with Egypt and Sudan.

It called on “all par-ties to avoid taking fur-ther escalatory actions” and for Addis Ababa not to fill its Renais-sance Dam “without reaching an agreement with the downstream countries”.

The resolution sub-mitted by Egypt and ap-proved by Arab foreign ministers, except for Djibouti and Somalia, was passed in a virtual conference requested by Cairo.

Ethiopia has signalled it will start in July to fill the reservoir of the $4.6-billion dam, on which it broke ground nearly a decade ago.

The League’s meeting comes after the latest round of three-way ne-gotiations on the dam project faltered.

Egypt has written to the UN Security Council asking for its interven-tion, while Sudan, also a downstream country, has taken a more reserved approach in the tussle.

Egypt views the dam as a threat to its lifeline water supplies, while

Ethiopia sees it essen-tial for its electricity needs.

The UN on Monday urged the three coun-tries to “work together” to resolve differences on the project that has been a long-running source of regional tension.

Construction works at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) near Guba in Ethiopia

Powerful quake strikes Mexico, tsunami alert droppedMexico City

A powerful 7.4 magnitude earth-quake struck southern Mexico on

Tuesday, leaving one person dead but an initial tsunami warning was later reversed.

The epicenter was near Crucecita, in the southeastern state of Oaxaca, with shock waves felt as far away as Mexico City, some 700 kilometers (430 miles) distant, where it sent frightened resi-dents rushing into the streets.

The US Geological Survey reported that the quake struck with a magni-tude of 7.4, at a depth of 23 kilometers. After initially publishing a reading of 7.1, the Mexican Seismological Service revised its figure to 7.5.

“It’s confirmed it was a 7.5 magni-tude. Fortunately there’s no damage, in any case we’re going to continue to call for caution as there may be aftershocks and we must all take care without wor-rying,” said President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in a video published on social media.

“Strategic installations didn’t suffer

any damage, that is to say, ports, air-ports, refineries, hydroelectric plants, everything is in a good condition,” said Lopez Obrador after speaking to David Leon, the national coordinator of Mexico’s Civil Protection force.

Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat told Milenio TV station that “there was a small collapse, one person was injured and another died,” adding that the state suffered minor damage.

Mexican Oil said its refinery in Sali-na Cruz, Oaxaca had been shut down as a precaution after a fire broke out.

People gather outside a hospital in Mexico City after a powerful quake rocked the south of the county


The possibility of a military incident or an accidental shot fired is rising. If a

crisis were to erupt, the repercussions

on bilateral relations would be

catastrophic

WU SHICUN

PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SOUTH CHINA SEA STUDIES, A

GOVERNMENT THINK TANK

Sumatran tiger killed in suspected poisoningJakarta

A Sumatran tiger has been found dead in a suspect-

ed poisoning, an Indonesian official said Tuesday, a day after alleged poachers were charged with killing another of the critically endangered big cats in a separate case.

The buried carcass of a male tiger was uncovered in North Sumatra’s Batang Ga-dis national park following a tip off, according to park authorities, who said some of the creature’s pelt as well as organs were missing.

“Our preliminary con-clusion is that the tiger was poisoned,” park spokesman Bobby Nopandry said.

Locals, including a village head, said the poisoning was orchestrated by farmers who were angry the tiger had killed their livestock, he added.

Human-animal conflicts are common in the South-east Asian archipelago -- es-pecially in areas where the clearing of rainforest to make way for palm oil plantations is destroying natural habitats.

In the past year Sumatra has seen a spate of fatal tiger attacks on humans.

Indonesia is also battling rampant poaching, which ac-

counts for a l m o s t a l l Sumatran tiger deaths, ac-cording to TRAFFIC, a glob-al wildlife trade monitoring network.

On Monday police in Suma-tra’s Aceh province said they had arrested four suspected traffickers for killing a Suma-tran tiger and attempting to sell its body parts.

US, China tension soars

China warns risk of naval incident with US on the rise

• US deployed 375,000 soldiers and 60 per cent of its warships in the region

Beijing | AFP

The US military is deploy-ing “unprecedented” numbers to the Asia-Pa-

cific region, raising the risk of an incident with China’s navy, a senior Chinese official said yesterday.

Tensions between the two superpowers have soared on multiple fronts since President Donald Trump took office in 2017, with both countries flex-ing their diplomatic and mili-tary muscle.

The United States’ regular “freedom of navigation” oper-ations in the South China Sea

-- where China and neighbour-ing countries have competing claims -- angers Beijing, and China’s navy usually warns off the US ships.

For its part, Beijing has infu-riated other nations by building artificial islands with military installations in parts of the sea.

“The US military deployment in the Asia-Pacific region is un-precedented,” said Wu Shicun, president of the National Insti-tute of South China Sea Studies, a government think tank.

“The possibility of a military incident or an accidental shot fired is rising,” Wu said.

“If a crisis were to erupt, the repercussions on bilateral rela-tions would be catastrophic.”

Wu spoke at the presentation of a report by his institute on the US military presence in the region.

The report said the US has deployed 375,000 soldiers and

60 per cent of its warships in

the Indo-Pacific region. Three US aircraft carriers have been

sent to the region.During former president Ba-

rack Obama’s eight years in of-fice, the US navy conducted four freedom of navigation opera-tions while there have been 22 of them under Trump, Wu said.

The two militaries “Should step up communication” in or-der “to prevent strategic mis-understanding and miscalcula-tion”, according to the report.

High-level military meetings should resume, a direct phone line should be opened and joint naval manoeuvres should be done, it says.

The report says China does not regard the United States are a potential rival or “envis-age a new cold or hot war with the US”.

The document warns that “deteriorating military relations would substantially increase the possibility of a dangerous inci-dent, a conflict or even a crisis.”

The United States runs regular operations in the South China Sea

An official takes a sample from the carcass of a male Sumatran tiger found buried at the Batang Gadis national park

KNOW WHAT

Tiger parts are widely used in traditional medicine -- particularly in China -- despite overwhelming scientific evidence they have no beneficial value.

Sumatran tigers are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with fewer than 400 believed to remain in the wild.

US, Russia divided over Chinese role in nuclear talks• The two sides met in Vienna to discuss a replacement for the New START treaty

• China has shown no interest in taking part

• US and Russia still hold more than 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons

AFP | Vienna

Crucial negotiations to re-place a nuclear disarmament

treaty between the US and Russia were overshadowed on Tuesday by a divide between Washing-ton and Moscow over whether China should be brought to the table.

The two sides met in Vienna to discuss a replacement for the New START treaty, which limits each side to 1,550 deployed nu-clear warheads but which is due to run out in February.

The leader of the US delega-tion Marshall Billingslea told reporters on Tuesday that China had an “obligation to negotiate

in good faith with us and the Russians”.

China’s absence from the talks meant they “stood up not just the United States and Russia but they stood up the entire world”, according to Billingslea.

US President Donald Trump has insisted China be includ-ed in disarmament talks, citing what he says is the free rein Bei-jing has had to develop weapons systems.

However, Russia’s envoy to the Vienna talks, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, said on Tuesday it was “unrealistic to count on China’s partici-pation”.

“We will not use our influence on Chi-na as the Americans want,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying by news agency RIA Novosti.

China has shown no interest in taking part.

Observers fear New START could go the way of sever-al other international agreements, which have fallen by the w a y s i d e d u r i n g Trump’s tenure in

line with his “America First” foreign policy.

Last month, Trump pulled out of the Open Skies Treaty, which allowed Russia, the Unit-ed States and 32 other nations to conduct surveillance flights over one another’s territory at short notice.

He earlier pulled out of the In-termediate Range Nuclear Forc-es Treaty, a key agreement from the Cold War, and has also left the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers hanging by a thread after withdrawing

and reimposing sanctions on Tehran.

‘Cultural awareness’ needed

The US

justifies its focus on China by saying that it believes Beijing is “racing towards parity” with the US and Russia in terms of its nuclear arsenal and is not being transparent about its intentions.

Billingslea said the American delegation shared detailed

intelligence with Russia for the first

time in recent memory regard-ing the nuclear programmes of “third parties” -- an oblique ref-erence to China.

However, the US and Russia still hold more than 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear weap-ons, according to the Stockholm I n - ternational Peace

Research Institute.According to the

institute’s latest research, Rus-sia has 6,375 nuclear warheads, including those that are not de-ployed, and the United States has 5,800.

By contrast, China has 320, France 290 and the UK 215.

Experts say the Trump ad-ministration’s insistence that China should be a part of the talks casts doubt on whether it is serious about reaching an accord.

Some even go as far as to sug-gest that the focus on China could become a pretext for the US to abandon the agreement.

However, Billingslea has not ruled out an extension of the bilateral accord.

Russia regularly parades its nuclear-ready missile systems


Biden’s first campaign fundraiser with Obama set to raise $4 millionReuters | New York

US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s first

2020 fundraiser with former President Barack Obama has netted more than $4 million from more than 120,000 peo-ple ahead of their joint appear-ance on Tuesday, the campaign said.

The virtual event could amount to Biden’s largest haul from small-dollar donors and comes on the heels of the Democratic Party and his campaign outraising President Donald Trump in May for the first time, $80.8 million to $74 million.

The Republican president, who has been campaigning for a second term since 2017, still has a spending advantage ahead of the Nov. 3 presiden-tial election.

Trump’s campaign, party and other fundraising entities had $265 million in cash at the end of May. The Democrats and Biden, who launched his campaign in April 2019, held a combined $122 million, not including some fundraising entities that have not disclosed their records.

Early in the 2020 campaign,

Biden’s weak fundraising num-bers compared to some of his Democratic competitors were a source of concern. But he has seen his fundraising from donors pick up in recent weeks as his lead in national opinion polls grew and the country re-acted to incidents of police brutality.

The event on Tuesday also shows the drawing power of Obama. He endorsed Biden, his former vice president, in April but has not been active-ly campaigning for Biden as in-person events were largely canceled due to the corona-virus.

Democratic US presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden

UK COVID-19 death toll tops 54,000 including suspected casesReuters | London

The United Kingdom’s sus-pected COVID-19 death toll

has hit 54,089, according to a tally of official data sources that underline the country’s status as one of the worst hit in the world.

The Reuters tally comprises fatalities where COVID-19 was mentioned on death certifi-cates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland up to June 12, and up to June 14 in Scot-land. It also includes more re-cent hospital deaths.

Unlike the lower death toll published daily by the govern-ment, the death certificate fig-ures include suspected cases.

The Office for National Sta-tistics (ONS), which updates the figures on a weekly basis, said on Tuesday the number of deaths involving COVID-19 in England and Wales up to June 12 rose to 48,866.

Prime Minister Boris John-son is due on Tuesday to an-nounce cinemas, museums and galleries in England can reopen next month in a bid to revitalise the lockdown-hit economy.

But the large death toll means criticism over his han-dling of the pandemic - that Britain was too slow to impose a lockdown or protect the el-

derly in care home - is likely to persist.

Johnson has said the gov-ernment has followed the best scientific advice and in April described its response to the pandemic as an “apparent suc-cess”.

Britain has the second-high-est death toll in the world on a per capita basis, according to Reuters calculations based on deaths following confirmed coronavirus tests.

However, testing and meth-ods of recording deaths differ between countries and British ministers say it will take some time before proper compari-sons can be made.

The death toll issued dai-ly by the government, which measures deaths where pa-tients had tested positive for coronavirus, stood at 42,647 on Monday, up 15 on the day in the smallest increase since mid-March.

Top German court reimposes data curbs on FacebookReuters | Karlsruhe, Germany

Facebook must comply with an order by Germany’s an-

titrust watchdog to curb data collection from users, a top German court ruled on Tues-day, in a setback for the US so-cial network company.

The Federal Court’s interim order, which suspends a deci-sion by a lower court, backs the Federal Cartel Office’s orig-inal view that Facebook had abused its market dominance to gather information about users without their consent.

“I’m delighted by this deci-sion,” said cartel office Pres-ident Andreas Mundt. The ruling showed that “if data are collected and exploited il-legally, it should be possible to take antitrust action to prevent the abuse of market power.”

Facebook did not immedi-ately respond to a request for comment.

Germany has been at the forefront of a global backlash against Facebook, which faces increasing criticism that it is being used to spread political disinformation.

The country ’s antitrust watchdog had objected in particular to how Facebook pools data on people from third-party apps - including its own WhatsApp and Insta-

gram - and online tracking of people who do not have ac-counts via Facebook “like” or “share” buttons.

In its decision, the Federal Court said it did not object to the cartel office’s assertions that Facebook was abusing its market dominance and that the company’s use of data lacked adequate consent on the part of its users.

In its original order in Feb. 2019, the cartel office said Facebook would only be al-lowed to assign data from WhatsApp or Instagram to its main Facebook app accounts if users consented voluntarily.

C o l l e c t i n g d a t a f r o m third-party websites and as-signing it to Facebook would similarly require consent. If such consent is withheld, Facebook would have to sub-stantially restrict its collection and combining of data.

Sudan, US near 1998 embassy bombings settlementKhartoum

Sudan is close to a deal with the United States to com-pensate the victims of 1998

embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, Foreign Minister Asma Abdalla said Tuesday.

“The final touches of a settle-ment with victims of embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam are being finalised,” Abdalla told AFP in an interview.

“We now have a delegation in Washington negotiating with the victims’ lawyers and officials at the US Department of State.”

The twin bombings took place in August 1998 when a mas-sive blast hit the US embassy in downtown Nairobi, shortly followed by an explosion in Dar

es Salaam.The attacks claimed by Al-Qa-

eda killed a total of 224 people and injured around 5,000 -- al-most all of them Africans.

The US has accused Sudan of aiding militants linked to the jihadist bombings and demand-ed compensation for victims’ families.

Sudan has since August been led by a transitional administra-tion following the military oust-er of president Omar al-Bashir in the wake of mass protests against his rule.

Under Bashir’s 30-year rule, the country adopted a more radical course of Islam, hosting Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden between 1992 and 1996.

This strained ties with the US, which blacklisted Sudan as a

state sponsor of terrorism.The post-Bashir government

has sought to boost the coun-try’s international standing and rebuild ties with the US.

In February, Sudan had to compensate families of victims of the USS Cole bombing in 2000 in Yemen’s Aden harbour, for which Al-Qaeda also claimed responsibility.

Khartoum had always denied any involvement but agreed to the settlement to fulfil a key US condition to remove it from Washington’s terrorism black-list.

After the deal on the embassy bombings, Sudan “will have ful-filled all the requirements” to be removed from the US blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, Abdalla said.

Members of a family who lost a relative, stand next to a plaque bearing the names of those killed in the August 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi

$4 trillion fund holders tell Brazil to halt deforestationAFP | Paris

Investment funds managing close to $4 trillion in assets

called on Brazil yesterday to halt deforestation of the Amazon in an open letter warning that bio-diversity loss and carbon emis-sions pose a “systemic risk” to their portfolios.

The managers from countries across Europe, Asia and South America expressed their fears that the government in Brasilia was using the COVID-19 crisis to push through environmental de-regulation that could “jeopard-ise the survival of the Amazon”.

“We are concerned about the financial impact that deforest-ation and the violation of the rights of indigenous peoples may have on our clients and inves-tee companies, by potentially increasing reputational, opera-tional and regulatory risks,” the

letter said.While lockdowns linked to

the coronavirus pandemic are likely to see the world’s carbon emissions fall several percentage points, increased deforestation in the Amazon could actually increase Brazil’s annual contri-bution to global warming.

Environmentalists warn 2020 is on track to be the most destructive year ever for the world’s biggest rainforest, with even more losses than in dev-astating fires that triggered a global outcry last year.

A total of 829 square kilo-metres (320 square miles) in the Brazilian Amazon, 14 times the area of Manhattan, was lost to deforestation in May alone, according to satellite data from Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE).

That was a 12-percent in-

crease from last year, and the worst May since record keeping began in August 2015.

Activists accuse Brazil’s Pres-ident Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right climate change sceptic, of em-boldening those responsible for deforestation with calls to legalise farming and mining on protected lands.

The fund managers, who col-lectively control more than $3.75 trillion worth of assets, urged Bolsonaro’s administration to show a “clear commitment” to reducing deforestation and to protect indigenous rights.

Ripple effectsSeiji Kawazoe, from Japan’s

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management -- one of more than two dozen firms to sign Tues-day’s open letter -- said avoiding negative impacts from climate

change had become a prime con-cern of the holding.

“The Amazon is one of (the) primary areas of rainforest which impacts the global cli-

mate and we joined the letter to call for urgent action from the government to avoid taking ac-tions that have a negative impact on climate change,” he told AFP.

Corey Klemmer, director of engagement at letter signato-ry Domini Impact Investment, said that his firm was “acutely concerned” about deforestation.

“Pushing the Amazon past a tipping point would have ripple effects that are difficult to esti-mate,” he said.

These effects could be as ge-ographically distant as affecting crops in the US Mid-west due to decreased rainfall as well as stemming the flow of new phar-maceuticals derived from Ama-zonian plants, Klemmer added.

Funds represented in the let-ter include Britain’s LGPS Cen-tral, France’s Comgest, and KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund.

“As financial institutions, we see deforestation and the associ-ated impacts on biodiversity and climate change as systemic risks to our portfolios,” they wrote.

Environmentalists warn 2020 is on track to be the most destructive year ever for the world’s biggest rainforest


World’s best restaurant serves food in phase with the moon

AFP | Paris

The world’s best restaurant is now serving food according

to the phases of the moon, its chef told AFP.

Argentinian Mauro Colagreco already uses biodynamic prin-ciples -- following the natural cycles -- in the kitchen garden of his Mirazur restaurant over-looking the Mediterranean on the French Riviera.

From now on, he said, he would follow the same princi-ples on the plate too.

Colagreco, the first foreign chef ever to get the maximum three Michelin stars in France, said he decided to make the leap during the coronavirus lock-down as he sought solace in his vegetable patch.

“I did not see myself reopen-ing in the same way that I had closed three month earlier,” Co-lagreco told AFP.

The chef was hailed as a magi-

cian last year when the Mirazur topped the 50 Best Restaurants in the World ranking for his “exquisite seasonal food”, often drawn from his own “cascading vegetable gardens”.

But Colagreco said that he wanted to go further, “not in changing the style of my cooking but in the soul of the restaurant”.

Since the Mirazur at Menton reopened on June 12, it has been serving menus based on flowers, fruit, leaves and roots, all intri-cately linked to the lunar cycle.

Leaves best with rising moonAnd the chef said some of his

classic dishes, such as salt-crust-ed beetroot with caviar cream, might have to wait their turn.

On “leaf days”, for example, when the moon is rising, the leaves that go with the alpine lamb and algae strudel would be at their best.

“During the lockdown, I worked a lot in the garden. It allowed me to work o u t a l l m y worries and to really be in contact w i t h t h e earth,” the 4 3 -y e a r- o l d said.

“I began to

question a lot of things -- the way we work, the way society is developing and the way we produce and consume.

“We wanted to shake that equation and to say that the gar-den was part of the restaurant and the restaurant was part of the garden.”

Farmers traditionally plant-ed and harvested according the moon, said Colagreco and “the lunar calendar is one of our guides in the garden.

“A lot of what we do is biody-namic. For example, when we sow spinach we do it on a leaf day (when the moon is rising) because there will be a bigger concentration of energy on that part of the plant.”

Shrimps with rose

petals

Colagreco is convinced his customers will be able to taste the difference.

And on a flower day, when the moon is in any of the air signs, shrimps with rose petals, rhu-barb and almond milk is likely to tickle the tastebuds that bit more.

“We are trying to get a mes-sage across about seeing nature in another way and having a more direct contact with it,” the chef told AFP.

He said he wasn’t forcing bi-odynamic ideas down an-yone’s throat and he didn’t want it to be-come “a dog-m a ” i n

h i s

kitchen.“We are introducing the idea

with tact,” Colagreco insisted.While the chef said it might

take some time for Asian and American foodies to return to the Mirazur on the French-Ital-ian border, he saw encouraging signs of a post-lockdown recov-ery.

His Paris restaurant, Grand-coeur, was doing well since it re-opened and “everything points to a strong revival”, he added.

‘We wanted to... say that the garden was

part of the restaurant and the restaurant was

part of the garden.’

P r o t e s t o r s t r y t o t o p p l e s t a t u e

o u t s i d e W h i t e H o u s e

A crowd of protestors try to topple the statue of former US president Andrew Jackson near the White House as police clash with protesters to break up new demonstrations that erupted in Washington. Jackson, in office from 1829 to 1837, owned more than 500 slaves over his lifetime and was a key figure in the forced relocation of nearly 100,000 Native Americans, otherwise known as the Trail of Tears.

M a c r o n a ‘ m u r d e r e r ’ i f F r e n c h

p o l i c e c h o k e h o l d n o t b a n n e d , s a y s

v i c t i m ’ s f a t h e r

The father of a delivery man who was killed in January during an identity check by Paris police issues a stark warning to President Emmanuel Macron, saying he is ‘a murderer’ if he doesn’t stop police from using the chokehold manoeuvre. Cédric Chouviat, a 42-year-old father-of-five, reportedly said he couldn’t breathe seven times in 22 seconds as the officers appeared to pin him down. Four police officers have now been questioned over his death.

Judge orders Brazil’s Bolsonaro to wear mask• Bolsonaro regularly breaks the social distancing measures

AFP | Brasília

A federal judge in Brazil or-dered President Jair Bol-

sonaro to wear a face mask in public, after the far-right leader repeatedly flouted the corona-virus containment measures in place in Brasilia.

Judge Renato Borelli ordered Bolsonaro, who has famously compared the new coronavirus to a “little flu,” to stop ignoring the capital city’s mask decree, or face a fine of 2,000 reals ($390).

“The president has a consti-tutional obligation to follow the

laws in force in the country, as well as to promote the general welfare of the people, which means taking the necessary measures to protect citizens’

right to health,” the judge wrote in his ruling Monday.

The decision also applies to Bolsonaro’s cabinet and staff.

The case was brought by a

lawyer who said the president should be held to account for his “irresponsible behavior.”

Masks have been mandato-ry in public in Brasilia since April to curb the spread of the virus.

Bolsonaro regularly breaks the social distancing measures in place in the capital, giving handshakes and hugs at rallies by his supporters, hosting bar-becues, hitting the shooting range and going out for hotdogs, generally without a mask.

His former education min-ister Abraham Weintraub was fined 2,000 reals last week for attending a pro-Bolsonaro rally in Brasilia without a mask.

Brazil has the second-highest COVID-19 death toll in the world, after the United States, at more than 51,000.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro wears a face mask as he arrives at a flag-raising ceremony at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia

Syria refuses to ‘bow’ to US sanctionsDamascus

Syria refuses to “bow” to Washington’s demands

under the latest US sanctions, Foreign Minister Walid Mual-lem said Tuesday, charging that the sole aim was to undermine support for President Bashar al-Assad.

“If they (Washington) dreamt that Syria and its people would bow to their conditions, then I

would say let them keep dream-ing because this will never hap-pen,” Muallem told a news con-ference in Damascus, nearly a week after the Caesar Act came into force.

The sanctions laid down in the law, according to US offi-cials, aim to force Assad to ac-cept UN Security Council Res-olution 2254 of 2015 that calls for a ceasefire, elections and political transition in Syria.

But the real objective is “to in-fluence upcoming presidential elections” in Syria scheduled for next year, Muallem said, and weaken support for Assad ahead of polling.

“President Assad will remain as long as the Syrian people want him to,” the foreign min-ister stressed.

The Caesar Act, which took effect last Wednesday, punish-es under US law any company

that works with Assad, casting a cloud over efforts to rebuild Syria.

It seeks to prevent any nor-malisation with Assad’s regime without accountability for hu-man rights abuses, and also blocks US reconstruction as-sistance. The first designations target 39 people or entities, including Assad and his wife Asma -- the first time she has been slapped with US sanctions.

12 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

celebs

Across1- Futile; 5- Rent-___; 9- Shed feathers; 13- Puzzled; 15- Go ballistic; 16- Gallic girlfriend; 17- Transmits; 18- Jutting rock; 19- Studies; 20- Hanoi holiday; 21- Do the deck; 23- Mental pictures; 25- Bound; 26- Person with a cool job?; 27- Prophesy; 30- It may be picked; 31- Representative; 32- Reinforce; 37- Wet septet; 38- Alcoholic drink; 40- Search; 41- Live feed of CNN, e.g.; 43- Slow on the uptake; 44- Sushi choice; 45- Inheritrix; 47- Coiffure; 50- Exclamation to express sorrow; 51- Walk stealthily; 52- Spot on the tube; 53- Trident-shaped letter; 56- Gillette brand; 57- Human leg joint; 59- Gnu cousin; 61- Churn; 62- Architect Saarinen; 63- Fable finale; 64- One’s partner; 65- Bridle part; 66- Wise;

Down 1- Immense; 2- To ___ (perfectly); 3- “___ She Lovely?”; 4- Beatty of “Deliverance”; 5- Area with coin-operated games; 6- Low-___ diet; 7- Turkish honorific; 8- The killing of a king; 9- ___, I’m Adam; 10- Last Greek letter; 11- Fabric woven from flax yarns; 12- Actress Harper; 14- Help; 22- Elfin; 24- Take ___ your leader; 25- Keyed up; 26- Don Juan’s mother; 27- Swift; 28- Gothic-type arch; 29- Actual; 32- Poppycock; 33- Software buyers; 34- Nota ___; 35- Minus; 36- Supplements, with “out”; 38- Guidebook for travelers; 39- Kon-Tiki Museum site; 42- King mackerel; 43- Crown; 45- Wear; 46- Guido’s high note; 47- Try to pick up; 48- Month of showers; 49- San Marino surrounder; 51- Poi source; 52- Polo of “Meet the Parents”; 53- Graph prefix; 54- Obstacle; 55- Goofing off; 58- Society page word; 60- ___ Lobos;

S U D O K U C R O S S W O R D

Yesterday’s solutionYesterday’s solution

How to playPlace a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

Aniston dishes on her triumphant performance on ‘The Morning Show’ANI | Washington

American actor Jennifer Aniston, who essayed the role of Alex

Levy on the web TV series, ‘The Morning Show,’ shared her experi-ences about the role with former ‘Friends’ co-star and gal pal Lisa Kudrow.

According to Variety, the Apple TV Plus drama escalates to a Season 1 finale dramatic and exciting ending, which has Alex coming to terms with her co-host Mitch Kessler’s (Steve Carell) firing over sexual harassment allega-tions. And eventually, she joins forces with her new co-host, Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon), to stop the chauvinistic network president, Fred Micklen (Tom Irwin), who enabled Mitch to get away with his behaviour for so long.

In an interview for Variety’s Actors on Actors issue, on news-stands this week, American actor Lisa Kudrow asked her former ‘Friends’ co-star Aniston how she prepared for Alex’s breakdown- a tour-de-force moment of acting, on ‘The Morning Show.’

Aniston said, “It was just a boil-ing point, and I think it was just all of the years. And then Hannah’s death [Gugu Mbatha-Raw] hap-pened, and then all of it kind of boiled and it just exploded, and it happened right when we were on air.”

Gerard Butler to star in Ric Roman Waugh’s action thriller ‘Kandahar’ANI | Washington

Hollywood star Gerard Butler is set to reteam with ‘Green-land’ and ‘Angel Has Fallen’

director Ric Roman Waugh on action thriller ‘Kandahar.’

According to Variety, CAA Media Finance is representing the film’s US rights, and Capstone is handling in-ternational and will present the pro-ject to buyers at the virtual Cannes Market.

Waugh will direct from a screen-play that he wrote with former mil-itary intelligence officer Mitchell LaFortune, based on the latter’s ex-periences at the Defence Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan at the time of the Snowden leaks.

‘Kandahar’ will feature Butler as Tom Harris, an undercover CIA op-erative working in the Middle East. An intelligence leak that dangerously exposes his classified mission and reveals his covert identity. Stuck in the heart of hostile territory, Harris and his translator must fight their way out of the desert to an extraction point in Kandahar while eluding the elite special forces hunting them.

The film is being produced by Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee at Thunder Road Films, the producer of the ‘John Wick’ and ‘Sicario’ franchises, pro-duction house G-BASE’s Alan Siegel and Butler, and Capstone Group’s Christian Mercuri. Rob Moran will executive produce along with Bren-don Boyea and Jonathan Fuhrman.

The principal photography of the ‘Kandahar’ will take place on location in the Middle East.

the movie marks a re-union for Butler, Waugh, Iwanyk and Siegel, who most recently teamed on STX’s upcoming thriller ‘Greenland,’ set for a wide theatrical re-lease.

Waugh also directed Butler in ‘Angel Has Fallen,’ the follow-up to ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ and ‘London Has Fallen,’ which have collectively earned nearly 400 million USD worldwide.

Michael Keaton in talks to return as BatmanANI | Washington

Actor Michael Keaton, who starred in Tim

Burton-directed Batman films, is currently in talks to reprise the character for Warner Bros.’ upcoming DC film ‘The Flash.’

According to The Holly-wood Reporter, actor Ezra Miller might play the role of Barry Allen or the Flash in the Andy Muschietti di-rectorial.

As per the sources of the outlet, the role that is be-ing envisioned for Keaton will be of a mentor or a guide similar to the role of Samuel Jack-son as Nick Fury in the Marvel universe.

K e a t o n f i r s t starred in the title role of 1989’s ‘Bat-man.’ He then later reprised the role in the second installment of the film in 1992.

Pink says therapy is the only reason she is still with her husbandANI | Washington

American singer Pink re-vealed that the couple’s

therapy is the glue to her 14-year long marriage with her husband, Carey Hart.

According to Fox News, the 40-year-old singer had a can-did discussion on Instagram

Live with therapist Vanes-sa Inn on Friday (local time). She said counsel-ling saved her marriage

with Hart.T h e ‘ Wa l k M e

Home’ singer said, “I got a lot of s**t for telling people that Carey and I have been in couple’s counselling with Vanessa. So, I talk to

Vanessa on my own and I also talk to Va-

nessa with Carey and for Carey and me.”

She then admitted, “It’s the only reason that we’re still together because, you know, I think partners af-t e r a l o n g time, we just speak -I can’t say it’s a man a n d w o m a n thing, I think it’s a partner thing, a spouse thing - that you just speak two different languages.”

T h e p a i r - P ink and H a r t h av e been mar-ried s ince 2 0 0 6 a n d s h a re t wo c h i l d r e n , Willow and Jameson.

Pink contin-

ued, “You need someone to hear both of you and then translate it for you, and with-out Vanessa translating for me for the last 18 years, I mean we would not be together.”

The ‘Just Like Me’ song-stress explained that their different upbringing affected the way they communicated.

“We just wouldn’t because we are not taught as

kids how to have r e l a t i o n s h i p s , how to get along with people,” she said.

“And intima-cy is the part that’s hard for me,” Pink ad-mitted before revealing ther-apy exercises

assigned by Inn has helped her

with intimacy.

Atkinson was ‘so proud’ to be part of ‘The Lion King’IANS | Los Angeles

Veteran English actor Row-an Atkinson, who had lent

his voice to Zazu in “The Lion King”, says he was proud to have been a part of the 1994 animated movie.

“I was so proud really in the end to be part of this movie because I didn’t want to do it

actually because voiceovers are generally...voice work is some-thing that I’ve never done and I never liked it because I feel as though I am a visual artiste if I am in anything... and it seemed to be a pointless thing to do the film,” he said.

“But the co-writer of ‘Mr. Bean’ series Robin Driscoll said

‘I’ve been offered this movie called ‘The Lion King’ and I really can’t be bothered to do it’. He said ‘Well come on! It’s Disney, you might as well!’ and then I didn’t realise it would turn into the really very spe-cial film, which it did,” added Atkinson.

On June 24, 2020, “The Lion

King” will be celebrating its 26th anniversary. The film has established a legacy that com-prises a direct-to-video sequel, a spin-off movie, a 2019 film remake, a television film sequel, two spin-off television series, three educational shorts, sev-eral video games and merchan-dise.

Gerard Butler

Jennifer Aniston

PinkMichael Keaton

12 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020

celebs

Across1- Futile; 5- Rent-___; 9- Shed feathers; 13- Puzzled; 15- Go ballistic; 16- Gallic girlfriend; 17- Transmits; 18- Jutting rock; 19- Studies; 20- Hanoi holiday; 21- Do the deck; 23- Mental pictures; 25- Bound; 26- Person with a cool job?; 27- Prophesy; 30- It may be picked; 31- Representative; 32- Reinforce; 37- Wet septet; 38- Alcoholic drink; 40- Search; 41- Live feed of CNN, e.g.; 43- Slow on the uptake; 44- Sushi choice; 45- Inheritrix; 47- Coiffure; 50- Exclamation to express sorrow; 51- Walk stealthily; 52- Spot on the tube; 53- Trident-shaped letter; 56- Gillette brand; 57- Human leg joint; 59- Gnu cousin; 61- Churn; 62- Architect Saarinen; 63- Fable finale; 64- One’s partner; 65- Bridle part; 66- Wise;

Down 1- Immense; 2- To ___ (perfectly); 3- “___ She Lovely?”; 4- Beatty of “Deliverance”; 5- Area with coin-operated games; 6- Low-___ diet; 7- Turkish honorific; 8- The killing of a king; 9- ___, I’m Adam; 10- Last Greek letter; 11- Fabric woven from flax yarns; 12- Actress Harper; 14- Help; 22- Elfin; 24- Take ___ your leader; 25- Keyed up; 26- Don Juan’s mother; 27- Swift; 28- Gothic-type arch; 29- Actual; 32- Poppycock; 33- Software buyers; 34- Nota ___; 35- Minus; 36- Supplements, with “out”; 38- Guidebook for travelers; 39- Kon-Tiki Museum site; 42- King mackerel; 43- Crown; 45- Wear; 46- Guido’s high note; 47- Try to pick up; 48- Month of showers; 49- San Marino surrounder; 51- Poi source; 52- Polo of “Meet the Parents”; 53- Graph prefix; 54- Obstacle; 55- Goofing off; 58- Society page word; 60- ___ Lobos;

S U D O K U C R O S S W O R D

Yesterday’s solutionYesterday’s solution

How to playPlace a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

Aniston dishes on her triumphant performance on ‘The Morning Show’ANI | Washington

American actor Jennifer Aniston, who essayed the role of Alex

Levy on the web TV series, ‘The Morning Show,’ shared her experi-ences about the role with former ‘Friends’ co-star and gal pal Lisa Kudrow.

According to Variety, the Apple TV Plus drama escalates to a Season 1 finale dramatic and exciting ending, which has Alex coming to terms with her co-host Mitch Kessler’s (Steve Carell) firing over sexual harassment allega-tions. And eventually, she joins forces with her new co-host, Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon), to stop the chauvinistic network president, Fred Micklen (Tom Irwin), who enabled Mitch to get away with his behaviour for so long.

In an interview for Variety’s Actors on Actors issue, on news-stands this week, American actor Lisa Kudrow asked her former ‘Friends’ co-star Aniston how she prepared for Alex’s breakdown- a tour-de-force moment of acting, on ‘The Morning Show.’

Aniston said, “It was just a boil-ing point, and I think it was just all of the years. And then Hannah’s death [Gugu Mbatha-Raw] hap-pened, and then all of it kind of boiled and it just exploded, and it happened right when we were on air.”

Gerard Butler to star in Ric Roman Waugh’s action thriller ‘Kandahar’ANI | Washington

Hollywood star Gerard Butler is set to reteam with ‘Green-land’ and ‘Angel Has Fallen’

director Ric Roman Waugh on action thriller ‘Kandahar.’

According to Variety, CAA Media Finance is representing the film’s US rights, and Capstone is handling in-ternational and will present the pro-ject to buyers at the virtual Cannes Market.

Waugh will direct from a screen-play that he wrote with former mil-itary intelligence officer Mitchell LaFortune, based on the latter’s ex-periences at the Defence Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan at the time of the Snowden leaks.

‘Kandahar’ will feature Butler as Tom Harris, an undercover CIA op-erative working in the Middle East. An intelligence leak that dangerously exposes his classified mission and reveals his covert identity. Stuck in the heart of hostile territory, Harris and his translator must fight their way out of the desert to an extraction point in Kandahar while eluding the elite special forces hunting them.

The film is being produced by Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee at Thunder Road Films, the producer of the ‘John Wick’ and ‘Sicario’ franchises, pro-duction house G-BASE’s Alan Siegel and Butler, and Capstone Group’s Christian Mercuri. Rob Moran will executive produce along with Bren-don Boyea and Jonathan Fuhrman.

The principal photography of the ‘Kandahar’ will take place on location in the Middle East.

the movie marks a re-union for Butler, Waugh, Iwanyk and Siegel, who most recently teamed on STX’s upcoming thriller ‘Greenland,’ set for a wide theatrical re-lease.

Waugh also directed Butler in ‘Angel Has Fallen,’ the follow-up to ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ and ‘London Has Fallen,’ which have collectively earned nearly 400 million USD worldwide.

Michael Keaton in talks to return as BatmanANI | Washington

Actor Michael Keaton, who starred in Tim

Burton-directed Batman films, is currently in talks to reprise the character for Warner Bros.’ upcoming DC film ‘The Flash.’

According to The Holly-wood Reporter, actor Ezra Miller might play the role of Barry Allen or the Flash in the Andy Muschietti di-rectorial.

As per the sources of the outlet, the role that is be-ing envisioned for Keaton will be of a mentor or a guide similar to the role of Samuel Jack-son as Nick Fury in the Marvel universe.

K e a t o n f i r s t starred in the title role of 1989’s ‘Bat-man.’ He then later reprised the role in the second installment of the film in 1992.

Pink says therapy is the only reason she is still with her husbandANI | Washington

American singer Pink re-vealed that the couple’s

therapy is the glue to her 14-year long marriage with her husband, Carey Hart.

According to Fox News, the 40-year-old singer had a can-did discussion on Instagram

Live with therapist Vanes-sa Inn on Friday (local time). She said counsel-ling saved her marriage

with Hart.T h e ‘ Wa l k M e

Home’ singer said, “I got a lot of s**t for telling people that Carey and I have been in couple’s counselling with Vanessa. So, I talk to

Vanessa on my own and I also talk to Va-

nessa with Carey and for Carey and me.”

She then admitted, “It’s the only reason that we’re still together because, you know, I think partners af-t e r a l o n g time, we just speak -I can’t say it’s a man a n d w o m a n thing, I think it’s a partner thing, a spouse thing - that you just speak two different languages.”

T h e p a i r - P i nk a nd H a r t h av e been mar-ried s ince 2 0 0 6 a n d s h a re t wo c h i l d r e n , Willow and Jameson.

Pink contin-

ued, “You need someone to hear both of you and then translate it for you, and with-out Vanessa translating for me for the last 18 years, I mean we would not be together.”

The ‘Just Like Me’ song-stress explained that their different upbringing affected the way they communicated.

“We just wouldn’t because we are not taught as

kids how to have r e l a t i o n s h i p s , how to get along with people,” she said.

“And intima-cy is the part that’s hard for me,” Pink ad-mitted before revealing ther-apy exercises

assigned by Inn has helped her

with intimacy.

Atkinson was ‘so proud’ to be part of ‘The Lion King’IANS | Los Angeles

Veteran English actor Row-an Atkinson, who had lent

his voice to Zazu in “The Lion King”, says he was proud to have been a part of the 1994 animated movie.

“I was so proud really in the end to be part of this movie because I didn’t want to do it

actually because voiceovers are generally...voice work is some-thing that I’ve never done and I never liked it because I feel as though I am a visual artiste if I am in anything... and it seemed to be a pointless thing to do the film,” he said.

“But the co-writer of ‘Mr. Bean’ series Robin Driscoll said

‘I’ve been offered this movie called ‘The Lion King’ and I really can’t be bothered to do it’. He said ‘Well come on! It’s Disney, you might as well!’ and then I didn’t realise it would turn into the really very spe-cial film, which it did,” added Atkinson.

On June 24, 2020, “The Lion

King” will be celebrating its 26th anniversary. The film has established a legacy that com-prises a direct-to-video sequel, a spin-off movie, a 2019 film remake, a television film sequel, two spin-off television series, three educational shorts, sev-eral video games and merchan-dise.

Gerard Butler

Jennifer Aniston

PinkMichael Keaton

Liverpool return to Anfield as Man City aim to prolong title wait

AFP | London

Liverpool’s 30-year wait to win the English title could come to an end this week,

but the Reds must rely on Man-chester City dropping points at Chelsea.

Jurgen Klopp’s men host Crys-tal Palace in the first Premier League game at Anfield for 110 days.

A 0-0 draw at Everton in their first match for three months on Sunday means the champagne will remain on ice even if Liv-erpool return to winning ways.

However, victory for Klopp’s side will leave City needing to win at Stamford Bridge 24 hours later to deny Liverpool the title.

Palace were the last visiting team to win a league match at Anfield over three years ago.

The Eagles impressed in their comeback with a 2-0 win at Bournemouth on Saturday to close to within four points of the European places and Klopp was impressed with what he saw.

“I saw Crystal Palace and they look like a proper-oiled ma-chine,” said the German.

“They have four times in a row now a clean sheet, so it will be a tough job 100 per cent, I know

that. But that is how the Premier League is always, so no problem with that.”

Liverpool are hopeful of hav-ing Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson back fit after both were badly missed in the Mer-seyside derby.

City’s strength in depth was on

show as Pep Guardiola was able to make eight changes for Mon-day’s 5-0 thrashing of Burnley.

Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling are among those expect-ed to come back into the side for the stiffer test of Chelsea, who will be looking to cement their place in the top four.

Frank Lampard’s men came from behind to beat Aston Vil-la 2-1 on Sunday to open up a five-point lead over Manchester United and Wolves.

“Now we have three points when some teams have lost points around us,” said Lampard.

“We played well in patches but when they put us under pres-sure slightly, I thought we gave it away too easily - things we will definitely have to clean up on in the future games coming up.”

Pogba backD e p e n d i n g o n t h e o u t-

come of City’s appeal against a two-season ban from Euro-pean competition, fifth place could be good enough to quali-fy for next season’s Champions League.

United are in pole position to take advantage of their local rivals’ punishment and made an impressive return despite being held to a 1-1 draw at Tottenham on Friday.

Paul Pogba won the penalty, converted by Bruno Fernandes, for United’s equaliser on his first appearance since December 26

as a substitute.Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is ex-

pected to pair the two star midfielders together from the start for the first time against Sheffield United on Wednesday.

The Blades have taken just one point from their opening two games of the restart, but can still move above the Red Devils with victory at Old Trafford.

Wolves picked up where they left off by beating West Ham 2-0 to move into the top six and will be confident of another victory when they host Bournemouth at Molineux.


Liverpool could seal a first Premier League title in 30 years this week

Liverpool’s Fabinho in action with Everton’s Richarlison

I saw Crystal Palace and they look like a

proper-oiled machine. They have four times in a row now a clean

sheet, so it will be a tough job 100 per cent, I know that.

But that is how the Premier League is

always, so no problem with that.

JURGEN KLOPP

Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United celebrates after scoring his sides first goal with teammate Paul Pogba

Liverpool players during training (file photo)

Kevin De Bruyne slots home Manchester City’s second goal from the penalty spot

Burnley condemn ‘White Lives Matter’ flyover bannerReuters | Manchester

A plane carrying a banner de-claring ‘White Lives Matter

Burnley’ flew over Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium on Mon-day at the start of the Premier League game against Burnley.

The plane appeared shortly af-ter players from both teams took a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. There was no indication who had or-ganised the plane and banner.

Burnley issued a statement at

halftime during the game saying the club “strongly condemns” the actions and adding that they will work with authorities to identify those behind the move and issue lifetime bans.

All of the players in the 12 Pre-mier League games since the restart of the season after the COVID-19 stoppage have worn ‘Black Lives Matter’ on their shirts in place of their names.

This follows the league for-mally joining the international protest campaign sparked by

the death last month of George Floyd, a Black man, while in Minneapolis police custody.

Burnley said: “The club has a proud record of working with all genders, religions and faiths through its award-winning Community scheme, and stands against racism of any kind.

“We are fully behind the Pre-mier League’s Black Lives Mat-ter initiative and, in line with all other Premier League games undertaken since Project Re-start, our players and football

staff willingly took the knee at kick-off at Manchester City.

“We apologise unreservedly to the Premier League, to Man-chester City and to all those helping to promote Black Lives Matter,” the Lancashire club said.

Burnley captain Ben Mee said after the game, which his side lost 5-0, that the players had heard whispers that something may have been planned and that he was embarrassed by the scene. A “White Lives Matter Burnley” banner is seen tied to a plane above the stadium

Djokovic tests positive for COVID-19Novak Djokovic becomes the fourth player to contract the virus after taking part in his exhibition tennis tournament in the Balkans

• Djokovic apologised to those infected during his tournament

• Dimitrov, Coric and Troicki had tested positive earlier

AFP | Belgrade

World number one Novak Djokovic said yesterday he had test-

ed positive for coronavirus, the Serb star becoming the fourth player to contract the virus after taking part in his exhibition ten-nis tournament in the Balkans.

Djokovic, who is “not show-ing any symptoms” according to a statement from his spokes-person, joins Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki in testing positive for COVID-19.

Djokovic said his wife Jelena also tested positive while the results of their children were negative.

“I am extremely sorry for each individual case of infection,” the 33-year-old Serb said in a state-ment.

“I hope that it will not com-plicate anyone’s health situation

and that everyone will be fine,” the 17-time Grand Slam winner said, adding that he would go into self-isolation for the next 14 days.

Bulgaria’s Dimitrov, the world number 19, announced on Sun-day he had tested positive after pulling out of the event, the big-gest since the tennis season was halted because of the pandemic.

Croatia’s Coric and Troicki

of Serbia also followed suit on Monday, revealing they also had tested positive.

The final in the Croatian coastal town of Zadar was can-celled Sunday while the final stop in Bosnia, due in early July, has also been scrapped after the news of Djokovic’s infection.

“Unfortunately, due to all events in the past days we decid-ed that now the most important

thing is that the epidemiolog-ical situation is stabilised and everyone recovers,” tournament director Djordje Djokovic, the player’s younger brother, said in a statement.

“Now we remain focused on the support to all those infected ... wishing that they recover as soon a possible.”

Some 4,000 fans had watched the first leg of the tournament

in Belgrade earlier this month, while a similar crowd attended the Zadar event.

“What was meant to be a major, nice tennis story ended with an even bigger collapse,” Croatia’s Sportske Novosti daily newspaper commented yester-day.

“Damages could be immense, for both the health of many and (Croatia’s) tourism.”

Feliks Lukas, director of WTA Croatia Bol Open, earlier warned against “incredibly bad” organisation in Zadar. Local me-dia reported that social distanc-ing measures were not respected by fans or players in Zadar, as was also the case in Belgrade.

The slew of positive tests raises questions over the sport’s planned return in August.


Hon. Chairman Najeb Yacob Alhamer | Editor-in-Chief Mahmood AI Mahmood | Chairman & Managing Director P Unnikrishnan Advertisement: Update Media W.L.L | Tel: 38444692, Email: [email protected] | Newsroom: Tel: 38444680, Email: [email protected]

Subscription & circulation: Tel: 36458394 | Email:[email protected] | Website: www.newsofbahrain.com | Printed and published by Al Ayam Publishing

Unfortunately, due to all events in the past days

we decided that now the most important thing is that the epidemiological

situation is stabilised and everyone recovers

DJORDJE DJOKOVIC

Klopp surprised by 20-point gap to Man City

AFP | London

Liverpool manager Ju-rgen Klopp believes

Manchester City’s stun-ning form since the Premier League restart underlines the achievement of his side in building a 20-point gap at the top of the table.

City’s 5-0 demolition of Burnley on Monday, despite making eight changes from the side that beat Arsenal last week, means Liverpool cannot clinch a first league title for 30 years when they host Crystal Palace on Wednesday.

Liverpool could still be crowned champions this week though, should City fail to maintain their im-pressive form away at Chel-sea on Thursday.

“What I realised when I watched the game last night is, how is it possibly anybody is 20 points ahead of this team? So we must have done some things pretty well,” Klopp said at his pre-match videoconference.

“City is flying again, two games, eight goals is im-pressive but should not be a surprise. It’s a quality side.”

BRAVE CF champion “Predator” fires back at Ayoub: ‘He won’t get close to my belt’ TDT | Manama

Cleiton “Predator” Silva is enjoying his stay at the top

of BRAVE CF’s Lightweight di-vision and is intent on main-taining his position for years to come. He also welcomes any challenges ahead of him, albeit with a warning - no one is get-ting close to his title.

After Amin Ayoub recently revealed he’s angling for a title fight and showed he uses a pic-ture of Cleiton as motivation for his daily workouts, the champ himself declared Ayoub would never get close to winning BRAVE CF’s Lightweight belt.

Silva was keen to stress that the latest call-out doesn’t faze him at all, but also said he wouldn’t allow anyone to sim-ply call him out without any repercussions.

“It’s easy to speak from afar. He can do that all he wants. I saw that he uses a picture of mine as motivation, and that’s as close as he’ll get to my title.

I’m the BRAVE CF world champion and I’ll remain

at the top for a long time. Any-one can come and challenge me, but don’t think you’re coming out unscathed. No one is taking the belt off my waist. Less alone this Amin Ayoub person”.

Cleiton has made waves since signing with BRAVE CF in 2018. He won his two first fights with the organization, finishing the tough Ahmed Amir at BRAVE CF 11, and then submitting Marcelo Bustos at BRAVE CF 15.

The two victories earned him

a title shot against then-cham-pion Luan Santiago. “Miau” and “Predator” developed one of the biggest rivalries in Brazil-ian MMA’s recent history with Cleiton shocking the world by quickly submitting his arch-en-emy in the main event of BRAVE CF 25. The champ was supposed to defend his title at BRAVE CF 35, before the coronavirus pan-demic forced BRAVE Combat Federation to postpone the show.

Guardiola fears Aguero’s City season is over AFP | London

Manchester City’s all-

time top scorer Sergio Aguero could be out for the rest of the season after suf-

fering a knee injury during Monday’s 5-0

Premier League win over Burn-ley at The Etihad.

“It doesn’t look good. We are going to see tomorrow. He was struggling in the last month with a problem in the knee. We will see what he has done but it doesn’t look good for the season,” said Guardiola.

Aguero went down under a challenge from defender Ben Mee on the stroke of halftime with the Burnley captain ruled by VAR to have made contact with his foot.

The Argentine limped off to be replaced by Gabriel Jesus, the club’s only other recognised central striker.

Seven more Pakistan cricketers have coronavirus ahead of UK tour

AFP | London

Seven more Pakistan play-ers due to tour England in

August have tested positive for coronavirus, the country’s cricket board said, taking the total to 10 since the first results were announced this week.

Pakistan are due to depart for England on Saturday ahead of a series that will see them play three Tests and three Twenty20 internationals against England, starting in August.

Despite the new cases, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief executive Wasim Khan insist-ed the tour would go ahead.

“The tour is very much on the track and the squad will depart as per schedule,” said Khan.

“Fortunately, all first-choice Test players, barring wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan, are negative which means they can start training immediately after they are tested and given all clear when they arrive in UK,” he added.

Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Wahab Riaz, Imran Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Kashif Bhatti are the latest to be di-agnosed with the virus.

It comes after three cricket-ers Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and Haider Ali tested positive on Monday.

The team’s massage thera-pist has also tested positive.

Pakistan is experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases, with more than 185,000 so far, including 3,695 deaths, while cases are falling in Britain.

Khan expressed disappoint-ment so many players had test-ed positive.

“We gave players the guidelines but we can’t stop them from meeting their relatives,” he said.

All players that tested negative will undergo another screening for the virus in Lahore on Thursday before heading to England on a chartered plane two days later.

Pakistan players during training (file photo)

Cleiton ‘Predator’ Silva celebrates after a win

Formula One to sell squares on chequered flag for charity

Reuers | Lahore

Formula One fans can buy individual squares

on the race-ending cheq-uered flag, starting with next month’s season-open-ing Austrian Grand Prix, to help raise money for charity, it announced.

The sport said 56 of the black and white squares will be available for fans to have their name printed on, with the remaining 24 allotted to the race promoter, as part of a #WeRaceAsOne initiative.

That initiative, launched yesterday, aims to combat racism and promote diver-sity while also helping those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The squares, which will be mounted and framed afterwards, will be sold for 200 pounds ($250.50) each.

David Beckham waves the chequered flag at the end of 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix

Jurgen Klopp

Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, Dusan Lajovic, Austria’s Dominic Thiem, Germany’s Alexander Zverev pose for a photo with the ballkids during Adria Tour at Novak Tennis Centre in Belgrade, Serbia

Sergio Aguero

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