Bahrain ready...2020/07/19 · Bahrain’s highest court on 13 July 2020 upheld death sen - tences...
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Bahrain ready If world nations, especially Islamic countries are ready to abolish death penalties • Foreign ministry categorically rejects allegations against recent verdicts TDT | Manama B ahrain yesterday con- firmed that it would seri- ously consider abolishing death sentences “should coun- tries of the world, especially the Islamic countries, agree to take a position” on the matter. “The death penalty is im- posed only very rarely in Bah- rain,” Ministry of Foreign Af- fairs said adding that it is given “in only gravest of the cases.” The ministry said this in a statement “categorically re- jecting” allegations that the death sentences against two for bombing a convoy and killing a police officer were unfair. The allegations, the Minis- try said, are “misleading” and “false” and from groups having a clear history of “systemati- cally spreading anti-Bahrain propaganda”. The verdicts, the ministry said, are also “fully consistent with the international law and human rights principles adopt- ed by the United Nations. Bahrain’s highest court on 13 July 2020 upheld death sen- tences against the two men, issued by a criminal court in December 2014. The ministry pointed out that the court upheld all guarantees for defendants during all stages of the trial. “Every stage of the two men’s trial and appeal process met all the requirements of due pro- cess and fair trial, including legal representation and the examination of all the evidence against them.” A total of 15 judges reviewed the case in trial and appeal courts over a period of six years. The verdict, the ministry said, was unanimous based on the evidence proving the con- victs “criminal responsibility.” “As in other countries, Bah- rain’s laws and criminal jus- tice system aim to protect the private rights of citizens and residents, maintain the stabil- ity of society, and uphold the rights of any person accused of an offence,” the statement said. 6 US passenger flights to India can resume July 23 5 BUSINESS WORLD SPORTS Hamilton takes record 90th pole Lewis Hamilton breaks records as Mercedes lock out front row in Hungary | P 08 SUNDAY JULY, 2020 210 FILS ISSUE NO. 8540 Fire damages cathedral in France, arson probe launched Charlize Theron accepts Kofi Kingston’s WWE invitation 7 CELEBS 19 WHATSAPP 3844 4692 TWITTER @newsofbahrain MAIL [email protected] WEBSITE newsofbahrain.com FACEBOOK /nobmedia LINKEDIN newsofbahrain INSTAGRAM /nobmedia 210 fils (includes VAT) TOTAL CASES ACTIVE CASES DEATHS DISCHARGED NEW CASES CRITICAL 40119 4,115 124 31,765 531 51 BAHRAIN The death penalty is imposed only very rarely in Bahrain, in only gravest cases, and is not inconsistent with international human rights law, as confirmed in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights FOREIGN MINISTRY Embarrassed In September 2019, Sheikh Sabah under- went medical tests shortly after arriving in the United States, leading to a meet- ing with President Donald Trump being called off. Saudi hosts G20 talks on debt crisis, virus recovery Riyadh G 20 nations will consider widening debt relief for coronavirus-hit poor countries in the second half of 2020, the group’s finance ministers and central bankers said yesterday after talks aimed at spurring global economic recovery. The world’s 20 most industrialised na- tions announced a one-year debt stand- still for the world’s poorest nations in April, but campaigners have criticised the measure as grossly inadequate to stave off the knock-on effects of the pan- demic. World Bank president David Malpass yesterday called for the debt suspension initiative to be extended through the end of 2021, while multiple charities includ- ing Oxfam said it needs to be stretched through 2022 to avert a “catastrophe for hundreds of millions of people”. In their final statement after the vir- tual talks hosted by Riyadh, the G20 ministers and bankers said they would “consider a possible extension of the (debt suspension initiative) in the second half of 2020.” So far, 42 countries have applied for the initiative, asking for a cumulative $5.3 billion in debt to be deferred, the statement said. Yesterday’s talks, chaired by Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan and central bank governor Ahmed al-Kholifey, came as the surging pandem- ic continues to batter the global economy and campaigners warn of a looming debt crisis across poverty-wracked developing nations. Meanwhile, Germany pledged $3.4 billion at a meeting of G20 finance min- isters to help the world’s poorest coun- tries. The funds will be made available as long-term loans for the International Monetary Fund’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT). Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan Ministry rejects allegation against recent verdicts as ‘false’ and ‘misleading’ Kuwait’s ruler hospitalised, crown prince steps in Kuwait City K uwait’s crown prince stepped in as partial rul- er yesterday after the hospi- talisation of the 91-year-old emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, state news agency KUNA said. “The crown prince (Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah) is to temporarily execute certain prerogatives of the emir,” his half-brother, the head of state’s office announced, quoted by KUNA. The agency reported earlier that Sheikh Sabah, ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state since 2006, was hospitalised “to undergo medical tests”. In September 2019, Sheikh Sabah underwent medical tests shortly after arriving in the United States, leading to a meeting with President Don- ald Trump being called off. The emir had his appendix removed in 2002, two years after having a pacemaker im- planted. In 2007, he under- went urinary tract surgery in the United States. Sheikh Sabah argued last year for de-escalation in the Gulf as tensions surged be- tween the US and its arch-foe Iran. He is widely regarded as the architect of modern Kuwait’s foreign policy. Sheikh Nawaf, 83, is an elder statesman who has held high office for decades, including the defence and interior port- folios. Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah 35 million Iranians face virus infection Tehran P resident Hassan Rou- hani said yesterday that 35 million Iranians may contract the coronavirus, as the country still did not have herd immunity al- though a quarter of the pop- ulation may have already been infected. It appears to be the first time a senior Iranian official has indicated the country is seeking to defeat COVID-19 via herd immunity. The virus has killed more than 588,000 people and infected nearly 14 million around the world since first being detected in China late last year. Iran has been battling a resurgence of COVID-19, with figures showing a rise in both new infections and deaths since a two-month low in May. Twitter says hackers ‘manipulated’ employees to access accounts Washington T witter said yesterday that hackers “manipulated” some of its employees to access accounts in a high-profile attack, including those of Joe Biden and Elon Musk, and apol- ogized profusely for the breach. Posts trying to dupe people into sending the hackers Bitcoin were tweeted by the official ac- counts of Apple, Uber, Bill Gates and many others on Wednes- day, forcing Twitter to lock large numbers of accounts in damage control. The hack has also raised ques- tions about Twitter’s security as it serves as a megaphone for politicians ahead of November’s election. More than $100,000 worth of the virtual currency was sent to email addresses mentioned in the tweets, according to Block- chain.com, which monitors crypto transactions. “We know that they accessed tools only available to our in- ternal support teams to target 130 Twitter accounts,” said a statement posted Saturday on Twitter’s blog. For 45 of those accounts, the hackers were able to reset passwords, login and send tweets, it added, while the personal data of up to eight un- verified users was downloaded. “We’re embarrassed, we’re disappointed, and more than anything, we’re sorry,” Twitter said. “We know that we must work to regain your trust, and we will support all efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice.” Twitter locked down affect- ed accounts and removed the fraudulent tweets. It also shut off accounts not affected by the hack as a precaution. Most of those have now been restored, Twitter said on Sat- urday. For the 130 accounts that were accessed, Twitter said the hack- ers were able to see personal information including email addresses and phone numbers. Iran’s rial hits new low Reuters | Dubai T he Iranian rial fell to a new low against the US dollar on the unofficial mar- ket yesterday and has now seen its value fall by almost half in 2020 as the economy comes under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic and US sanctions. The dollar was offered for as much as 255,300 rials, up from 242,500 on Friday, ac- cording to foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. The eco- nomic daily Donya-e-Eqte- sad’s website gave the dollar rate as 252,300, compared with 241,300 on Friday. The currency has lost nearly 48 per cent of its val- ue in 2020, more than half of that in the past month.
Transcript of Bahrain ready...2020/07/19 · Bahrain’s highest court on 13 July 2020 upheld death sen - tences...
Bahrain ready If world nations, especially Islamic countries are ready to
abolish death penalties
• Foreign ministry categorically rejects allegations against recent verdicts
TDT | Manama
Bahrain yesterday con-firmed that it would seri-ously consider abolishing
death sentences “should coun-tries of the world, especially the Islamic countries, agree to take a position” on the matter.
“The death penalty is im-posed only very rarely in Bah-rain,” Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs said adding that it is given “in only gravest of the cases.”
The ministry said this in a statement “categorically re-jecting” allegations that the death sentences against two for bombing a convoy and killing a police officer were unfair.
The allegations, the Minis-try said, are “misleading” and “false” and from groups having a clear history of “systemati-cally spreading anti-Bahrain propaganda”.
The verdicts, the ministry said, are also “fully consistent with the international law and human rights principles adopt-ed by the United Nations.
Bahrain’s highest court on 13 July 2020 upheld death sen-tences against the two men, issued by a criminal court in December 2014.
The ministry pointed out that
the court upheld all guarantees for defendants during all stages of the trial.
“Every stage of the two men’s trial and appeal process met all the requirements of due pro-cess and fair trial, including legal representation and the examination of all the evidence against them.”
A total of 15 judges reviewed the case in trial and appeal courts over a period of six years.
The verdict, the ministry said, was unanimous based on the evidence proving the con-victs “criminal responsibility.”
“As in other countries, Bah-rain’s laws and criminal jus-tice system aim to protect the private rights of citizens and residents, maintain the stabil-ity of society, and uphold the rights of any person accused of an offence,” the statement said.
6
US passenger flights to India can resume July 235BUSINESS
WORLDS P O R T S
Hamilton takes record 90th poleLewis Hamilton breaks records as Mercedes lock out front row in Hungary | P 08
SUNDAYJULY, 2020
210 FILS ISSUE NO. 8540
Fire damages cathedral in France, arson probe launched
Charlize Theron accepts Kofi Kingston’s WWE invitation 7 CELEBS
19WHATSAPP3844 4692
TWITTER@newsofbahrain
WEBSITEnewsofbahrain.com
FACEBOOK/nobmedia
LINKEDINnewsofbahrain
INSTAGRAM/nobmedia
210 fils (includes VAT)
TOTAL CASES
ACTIVE CASES
DEATHS
DISCHARGED
NEW CASES
CRITICAL
40119
4,115
124
31,765
531
51
BAHRAIN
The death penalty is imposed only
very rarely in Bahrain, in only
gravest cases, and is not inconsistent with international
human rights law, as confirmed in Article
6 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political RightsFOREIGN MINISTRY
E m b a r r a s s e d
In September 2019, Sheikh Sabah under-went medical tests
shortly after arriving in the United States,
leading to a meet-ing with President
Donald Trump being called off.
Saudi hosts G20 talks on debt crisis, virus recoveryRiyadh
G20 nations will consider widening debt relief for coronavirus-hit poor countries in the second half
of 2020, the group’s finance ministers and central bankers said yesterday after talks aimed at spurring global economic recovery.
The world’s 20 most industrialised na-tions announced a one-year debt stand-still for the world’s poorest nations in April, but campaigners have criticised the measure as grossly inadequate to stave off the knock-on effects of the pan-demic.
World Bank president David Malpass yesterday called for the debt suspension initiative to be extended through the end of 2021, while multiple charities includ-ing Oxfam said it needs to be stretched through 2022 to avert a “catastrophe for hundreds of millions of people”.
In their final statement after the vir-tual talks hosted by Riyadh, the G20 ministers and bankers said they would “consider a possible extension of the (debt suspension initiative) in the second half of 2020.”
So far, 42 countries have applied for the initiative, asking for a cumulative $5.3 billion in debt to be deferred, the
statement said.Yesterday’s talks, chaired by Saudi
Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan and central bank governor Ahmed al-Kholifey, came as the surging pandem-ic continues to batter the global economy and campaigners warn of a looming debt crisis across poverty-wracked developing nations.
Meanwhile, Germany pledged $3.4 billion at a meeting of G20 finance min-isters to help the world’s poorest coun-tries. The funds will be made available as long-term loans for the International Monetary Fund’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT).Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan
Ministry rejects allegation against recent verdicts as ‘false’ and ‘misleading’
Kuwait’s ruler hospitalised, crown prince steps in
Kuwait City
Kuwait ’s crown prince stepped in as partial rul-
er yesterday after the hospi-talisation of the 91-year-old emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, state news agency KUNA said.
“The crown prince (Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah) is to temporarily execute certain prerogatives of the emir,” his half-brother, the head of state’s office announced, quoted by KUNA.
The agency reported earlier that Sheikh Sabah, ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state since 2006, was hospitalised “to undergo medical tests”.
In September 2019, Sheikh Sabah underwent medical tests shortly after arriving in the United States, leading to a meeting with President Don-ald Trump being called off.
The emir had his appendix removed in 2002, two years
after having a pacemaker im-planted. In 2007, he under-went urinary tract surgery in the United States.
Sheikh Sabah argued last year for de-escalation in the Gulf as tensions surged be-tween the US and its arch-foe Iran.
He is widely regarded as the architect of modern Kuwait’s foreign policy.
Sheikh Nawaf, 83, is an elder statesman who has held high office for decades, including the defence and interior port-folios.
Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah
35 million Iranians face virus infection
Tehran
President Hassan Rou-hani said yesterday that
35 million Iranians may contract the coronavirus, as the country still did not have herd immunity al-though a quarter of the pop-ulation may have already been infected.
It appears to be the first time a senior Iranian official has indicated the country is seeking to defeat COVID-19 via herd immunity.
The virus has killed more than 588,000 people and infected nearly 14 million around the world since first being detected in China late last year.
Iran has been battling a resurgence of COVID-19, with figures showing a rise in both new infections and deaths since a two-month low in May.
Twitter says hackers ‘manipulated’ employees to access accountsWashington
Twitter said yesterday that hackers “manipulated” some of its employees to
access accounts in a high-profile attack, including those of Joe Biden and Elon Musk, and apol-ogized profusely for the breach.
Posts trying to dupe people into sending the hackers Bitcoin were tweeted by the official ac-counts of Apple, Uber, Bill Gates and many others on Wednes-
day, forcing Twitter to lock large numbers of accounts in damage control.
The hack has also raised ques-tions about Twitter’s security as it serves as a megaphone for politicians ahead of November’s election.
More than $100,000 worth of the virtual currency was sent to email addresses mentioned in the tweets, according to Block-chain.com , which monitors crypto transactions.
“We know that they accessed tools only available to our in-ternal support teams to target 130 Twitter accounts,” said a
statement posted Saturday on Twitter’s blog. For 45 of those accounts, the hackers were able to reset passwords, login and send tweets, it added, while the personal data of up to eight un-verified users was downloaded.
“We’re embarrassed, we’re disappointed, and more than anything, we’re sorry,” Twitter said.
“We know that we must work to regain your trust, and we will support all efforts to bring the
perpetrators to justice.”Twitter locked down affect-
ed accounts and removed the fraudulent tweets. It also shut off accounts not affected by the hack as a precaution.
Most of those have now been restored, Twitter said on Sat-urday.
For the 130 accounts that were accessed, Twitter said the hack-ers were able to see personal information including email addresses and phone numbers.
Iran’s rial hits new lowReuters | Dubai
The Iranian rial fell to a new low against the US
dollar on the unofficial mar-ket yesterday and has now seen its value fall by almost half in 2020 as the economy comes under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic and US sanctions.
The dollar was offered for as much as 255,300 rials, up from 242,500 on Friday, ac-cording to foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. The eco-nomic daily Donya-e-Eqte-sad’s website gave the dollar rate as 252,300, compared with 241,300 on Friday.
The currency has lost nearly 48 per cent of its val-ue in 2020, more than half of that in the past month.
02SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
The project is particularly important,
especially, in light of the difficult
circumstance the world is going
through, which is also destabilising oil
prices. SHAIKH MOHAMMED BIN KHALIFA AL
KHALIFA, MINISTER OF OIL.
Royal Humanitarian Foundation (RHF) Secretary-General Dr Mustafa Al-Sayyed with Interior Ministry Undersecretary Shaikh Nasser bin Abdulrahman Al-Khalifa during a discussion on humanitarian, social work and community partnership. Dr Al-Sayyed outlined the RHF services benefiting orphans and widows supported by HM the King. He updated the undersecretary on RHF development projects and relief aid provided to brotherly and friendly affected countries.
Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs Wael bin Nasser Al-Mubarak with a member of the Representatives Council Mahmood Al Bahrani. They discussed issues related to the electricity and water sector and reviewed future projects of the Electricity and Water Authority (EWA). The meeting also shed light on ways of boosting cooperation between EWA and the Representatives Council to optimize services.
Turning govt buildings green Siemens, EWA, Ministries of Sports, education, and Health, and Real estate
authority join hands for a pilot project
• Project costs 742 thousand Bahraini dinars
• Expenses to be recovered in 4 four years
• Annual savings of around 23 per cent
TDT | Manama
Ba h r a i n a n n o u n c e d launching a pilot project to reduce the consump-
tion of electricity and water at four government-buildings for 742 thousand Bahraini dinars.
Siemens, a German multina-tional conglomerate company, is executing the project at the Ministries of Sports, education, and Health and Real estate au-thority.
Cost of the project, Siemens said, is expected to be recovered in less than four years through savings on annual electricity and water bills.
Shaikh Nawaf bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, CEO of the Electricity and Water Authority, and Bas-sem Akkawi, General Manag-er of Siemens, Bahrain Branch signed the deal.
Ayman Tawfiq Al-Muayyad, the Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs, Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the Direc-tor-General of Real Estate Reg-ulatory for the Survey and Real Estate Regulatory Authority, Dr Mubarak Mohamed Juma, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Resources and Services Affair for the Ministry of Education, Dr Waleed bin Khalifa Al Mana, the Undersec-
retary of the Ministry of Health for the Ministry of Health, and James Estlake, the CEO of Tat-weer for Tatweer Petroleum company also signed the deal.
The project, also the first joint
effort between National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA) and the Electricity and Water Authority, is launched under the patronage of Shaikh Mohammed bin Khal-ifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil.
Commenting on the project, Shaikh Nawaf said the project would achieve an annual sav-ings of around 23 per cent by retrofitting energy appliance in the buildings.
Siemens, he said, is fully re-sponsible for executing the project and proper operation of the replaced equipment during the contractual period includ-ing the replacement of dam-aged equipment at their own expense.
The move is aimed at re-ducing the Kingdom’s carbon footprint, and dependence on natural gas used for producing electricity and water.
The project, Shaikh Moham-med, said is particularly impor-tant, especially, in light of the difficult circumstance the world is going through, which is also destabilising oil prices.
Bahrain issues first “Renewable Energy Certificate” TDT | Manama
Bahrain issued its first “Re-newable Energy Certifi-
cate” (REC) yesterday, a mar-ket-based policy instrument aimed at catalysing the devel-opment of renewable energy in the Kingdom.
REC certificates are issued for every 1 MW hour of elec-tricity generated from a re-newable energy source.
Investors who are unable to produce renewable ener-gy themselves are allowed to purchase the certificate from its holder.
Issued by SEA through a fully electronic system, the first 5000 tradable certificates hold great promise in promot-ing the renewable energy mar-ket development in the King-dom, said Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) President, Dr Abdulhussein bin Ali Mirza.
The move is in line with the directives of the Government Executive Committee, chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Su-preme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister.
The launch, part of a pi-lot project to study the pro-gramme’s flexibility and ap-plication mechanisms at the national level, aims at regis-tering all renewable energy systems in stages.
Blockchain solutions are employed to ensure transpar-ency and authenticity of cer-tificates issued.
SEA issues a certificate when a producer record the productivity of their renew-able energy systems on the electronic platform set up its management.
“The system will provide an opportunity for investors and financing institutions to evaluate investment oppor-tunities, finance sustainable
energy projects and verify the energy output,” Dr Mirza said.
KNOW WHAT
Renewable Energy Certificate is a rela-tively new and chal-
lenging tradable instrument, which
holds great promise in promoting renew-able energy market
development.
In Bahrain, the certificate is issued for every one meg-awatt-hour of elec-tricity produced and approved by SEA.
The project, also the first joint effort between National
Oil and Gas Au-thority (NOGA) and the Electricity and Water Authority, is launched under the patronage of Shaikh
Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa,
Minister of Oil.
Zero new deathsTDT | Manama
Bahrain yesterday re-ported zero coronavi-rus deaths, for the third
time this month, as the num-ber of COVID-19 recoveries rose to 31,765.
There are currently 51 COV-ID-19 cases in the Kingdom, who are in a critical condition, the ministry of health wrote on its twitter handle.
The number of people cur-rently undergoing treatment in the Kingdom, the ministry said, is 87.
As of yesterday, there are 4,115 active coronavirus cases in the Kingdom, of which 4,114 patients are stable.
The Health Ministry also said it conducted 7,037 COV-ID-19 tests yesterday bringing the number of all such tests conducted since the recording of the first case in the Kingdom to 710,686.
The ministry also detect-ed 531 new cases yesterday, of which 297 are expatriate workers, 234 are contacts of active cases. No travel related cases were reported.
Some 577 more people, the ministry said, are cured of their infection yesterday.
GCC round up Saudi yesterday recorded
2,565 new coronavirus cases yesterday, increasing the total number of confirmed cases to 248,416.
There are 51,751 active cases, of which 2,182 are receiving
treatment in the intensive care units.
The total recoveries rose to 194,218 by adding 3,057 new recovered cases. The death toll from the virus hit 2,447 with 40 new fatalities in the last 24 hours.
289 new cases in the UAEUAE yesterday reported 289
new positive cases taking the total number of COVID-19 in-fections there to 56,711.
By adding one more fatality yesterday, the country’s toll now stands at 338. Health min-istry there also announced the full recovery of 469 cases tak-ing the number of recoveries to 48,917.
683 new cases in KuwaitKuwait yesterday reported
683 new COVID-19 cases and three more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 58,904 and the death toll to 407, the Health Ministry said in a state-ment. Currently, 9,477 patients are receiving treatment, in-cluding 137 in ICU, the state-ment added. The ministry also announced the recovery of 639 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 49,020.
Oman reports 1,311 new cases Oman’s ministry of health
yesterday recorded 1,311 new cases and 1,322 new recoveries. Ten new deaths took the toll there to 308. The sultanate also reported a total of 65,504 cases and 42,772 recoveries.
Dr Mirza
03SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
Using modern technology to
accelerate digital transformation is one of the set
goals of the Labour ministry
JAMEEL HUMAIDAN
LABOUR AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTER
Finding job has never been easier!
Labour ministry launches interactive e-services
• Electronic employment fair now has nearly 2000 vacancies listed
TDT | Manama
Hiring an employee or getting hired in Bahrain has never been this eas-
ier, thanks to the Labour Minis-try’s new e-services.
Making life easier for job seekers and employers here in Bahrain are some of the brand new services rolled out by the Ministry of Labour and Social development.
Electronic employment fair, which now has nearly 2000 va-cancies, job-seeker registration, on the job training, e-Evaluation of Job seekers are some amongst them.
So, if you are need of a job, all needed is logging on to www.mlsd.gov.bh and make a choice.
The services, Labour and Social Development Minister, Jameel bin Mohammed Ali Hu-maidan said, are designed to provide a platform for employ-ers and job-seekers to commu-nicate and interact easily.
“Using modern technology to accelerate digital transforma-tion is one of the set goals of the
Labour ministry,” the minister said.
Humaidan added: “Bahrain is working hard to justify its prestigious international status as a country with one of the best governments.”
The interactive e-Servic-es, the minister said, ena-bles employers to remain in-formed about job-seekers and choose those who meet their needs from the national talent pool.
“The facility, which also al-lows employers to update their vacancy status, makes the hiring process hassle-free.”
Making this facility further secure is its direct link to the Information e-Government Au-thority, the Social Insurance Organisation and the Labour Fund (Tamkeen).
“Any data provided by the beneficiary, whether an em-ployer or a job seeker, must be identical to the data in those government agencies,” the min-ister said.
Explaining further, the min-ister said that in going forward all labour-related transactions will be electronic, through the Labour Ministry’s website, www.mlsd.gov.bh, to save time and efforts of employers and job-seekers.
eServices for employers Humaidan said that the min-
istry would introduce the e-ser-vices for employers soon.
The new services are for delivering e-consultations for employers, approve training sessions and trainers, as well as allow to register information
about labour accommodation and report labour accidents, among others.
Unemployment support services, institutions services, Financial assistance services, Family social services, Child-hood social services, elderly social services, and NGOs ser-vices are some of the other listed services on the ministry page.
eServices as listed on the Labour ministry web page www.mlsd.gov.bh
KNOW WHAT
Labor force, total in Bahrain was reported at 978,649 in
2019, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from offi-
cially recognised sources.
Illegal ‘botox’ services: Five health facilities, doctors in the dockTDT | Manama
Bahraini authorities yester-day initiated legal actions
against five health institutions and doctors there for offering unlicensed cosmetic services in the Kingdom.
The National Health Regula-tory Authority (NHRA) said the doctors there were performing procedures like “botox” and “dermal fillers” without nec-essary specialisations or per-missions from the authority.
Violators are referred to public prosecution and insti-tutions to the Authority’s Ac-countability Committee for further action.
According to the Supreme Council of Health, only plas-tic surgeons, dermatologists, otolaryngologists are allowed to perform services like Fill-er and Botox. When it comes to oral procedures, it should come through a dentist.
Violating institution will face strict actions, warned the authority.
The authority also advised service providers to take nec-essary approvals from the authority before carrying out such procedures.
Written approvals from the authority are required for doc-tors to offer any cosmetic pro-cedures in the kingdom, for which application could be mailed to [email protected] with proof of training in the required field of study.
Those seeking to obtain such services can find qualified pro-fessionals from their list pub-lished on the NHRA’s website or social media handles.
Copy and paste this link to find the list of licensed pro-fessionals in the Kingdom: https://www.nhra.bh/Depart-
ments/HCP/?page=68NHRA warned legal actions
against all those who violate Bahrain’s law in this regard.
According to the circular no (9) of
2018, it is a criminal offence to start prac-tising any healthcare service at any health care facilities in the Kingdom before the
concerned practition-er receiving a license issued by the NHRA.
NHRA, in the circular, warns that it will
take necessary legal actions against any healthcare facility
which violate related laws.
Picture courtesy of Al Ayam
Shahrakan sewage network works beginTDT | Manama
Improvement works of sanitary drainage
network in the Shahra-kan area have started, announced the Minis-try of Works.
Shahrakan is a vil-lage situated in the western side of the Kingdom of Bahrain, south of the village of Malkiya. It has a popu-lation of approximate-ly 3,000 people.
The works, which is part of an integrated system of drainage ser-vices, will serve blocks 1042, 1044, 1213 in Shahrakan, said Fathi Abdulla Al Farea, Di-rector, Sanitary En-gineering Planning & Projects Directorate at the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning.
As part of the works, the ministry, he said, will improve the E3G pumping station, de-velop new connection lines, replace 110 me-ters of sewage lines to serve 400 properties and housing units.
Gulf Horizons Company for Excavations and Equipment Rental is contractors of the project which costs 221,664 thou-sand dinars.
Pictures courtesy of AlAyam
MV Safeen Tiger makes maiden port of call in Bahrain TDT | Manama
MV Safeen Tiger vessel made her maiden port of call in
Bahrain on Thursday as part of a new UAE-Indian Sub-Continent Gulf Service (UIG) linking UAE and Bahrain to the broader Gulf region and Indian Sub-Conti-nent.
To mark the occasion, a plaque exchange was held at Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP) between Susan Hunter, CEO of APM Ter-minals Bahrain and Bader Hood Al Mahmood, The Assistant Un-dersecretary for Ports Affairs, Ministry of Transportation & Telecommunications for Bah-rain. Representatives from APM Terminals Bahrain, Ports Af-fairs-Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunication and Seahorse Shipping Agency were present.
Safeen Tiger is the first ves-sel to be deployed by Safeen Feeders on the new UIG service which is a partnership between Abu Dhabi Ports’s ’Safeen Feed-ers’ and Bengal Tiger Line.
Ports on the rotation of this service include Khalifa Bin Sal-
man Port (Bahrain) – Dammam – Jubail – Khalifa Port – Jebel Ali – Karachi – Kandla – Mun-dra – Nhava Sheva – Khalifa Port – Jebel Ali.
The service connects Bahrain to the Indian Sub-Continent providing direct access for ex-porters and importers to new markets making trade more competitive, while also pro-
moting transhipment and hin-terland opportunities through Khalifa Bin Salman Port.
Welcoming the new service, Al Mahmood said: “Safeen Feeders’s services will not only position Kingdom in interna-tional markets but also contrib-ute to the growth of trade and commerce in line with Bahrain’s 2030 Vision through creating a
steady and sustainable diversi-fied economy.”
“We believe that Safeen Feed-ers will significantly improve trade between the fast-grow-ing markets in the region and broaden the services offerings to our valued clients thus en-hancing our contribution to the Kingdom’s economy,” Susan Hunter added.
Safeen Tiger is the first vessel to be deployed by Safeen Feeders on the new UIG service
TDT | Manama
Ban on fishing practises that decimate marine life during breeding season is a global
custom to help replenish the dwin-dling the marine resources, said a top marine expert.
The effort is necessary for ensur-ing the preservation of marine life, which is also the key to achieving marine food security, said Khalid Abdulla Al-Shirawi Maritime Control Director at the Agricul-ture and Marine Resources in the Ministry of Works, Municipali-ties Affairs and Urban Planning to AlAyam.
There is currently a ban in place on the fishing and sale of Shrimp here in the Kingdom, which would end on July 31. The six-month ban as per resolution No. 18 for the year 2020 began on February 1.
Al-Shirawi said the shrimp fish-ing ban enforced in the Kingdom was part of a wider effort, which also caters to other areas to ensure the protection of our resources from depleting.
Ban based on breeding seasonThe bans will come into effect
based on the breeding season of each species as identified by a study conducted.
Based on which, crab fishing ban will be from March 15 to May 15 of each year, shrimp fishing ban previously (4 months) from March 15 to July 15 each year was later increased to 6 months from February 1 to July 30 each year. Its implementation started in 2018.”
A l - S h i raw i f u r t h e r p o i n t-ed out that there is a ban on shrimp fishing with benthic trawl nets (Al-Karaf - Al-Kufa) as per Resolution No. (205) for the year 2018 of November 15, 2018.
Authorities here, he said, is also enforcing a ban on catching King-fish with nets in the local water from August 15 to October 15 each year.
The move comes in implemen-tation of a decision of the GCC Agriculture Affairs Committee, taken at its 23rd meeting in Ri-
yadh (Saudi Arabia) on June 16, 2012, which stipulates that the GCC member-states shall take all necessary measures to protect kingfish. These include increasing the size of meshes on fishing nets and fixing a season when fishing (with nets) is banned.
The ban was first implemented in 2015 in line with the GCC deci-sion, said Al-Shirawi.
On this note, the Maritime Con-trol Director pointed out, “not
hunting marine species carrying eggs during the breeding season is essential for preventing the fish stock from depletion.”
“The ban in the breeding sea-son is one of the most effective scientific methods in maintain-ing the fish stock, and these methods are followed all over the world.”
Al-Shirawi said that the Agricul-ture and Marine Resources Agency is cooperating with relevant au-thorities here to implement these decisions.
“We have a clear working mech-anism where the Maritime Con-trol Administration, the General Command of the Coast Guard and the Supreme Council for the En-vironment work hard to maintain the Kingdom’s precious marine re-sources.”
More marine patrols Looking ahead, Al-Shirawi, the
Maritime Control Director, revealed that there is an integrated plan to educate the fishermen on the neces-sity of preserving marine life and in-crease marine patrols to implement the law effectively and control the violating fishermen.
04SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
We talk so casually about the “new normal” and about “social dis-tancing”. They are trending
phrases in conversations and seem to en-capsulate our new attitudes and ways of living. Unfortunately, in many cases, that’s all they seem to be: empty words which are disconnected from our adoption of safety measures that the government has put in place to protect us in this time of horrific health crisis.
T i m e a n d again, author-ities have an-nounced that g a t h e r i n g s are prohibited even for acts such as praying together and c e l e b r a t i o n s and even for funerals. De-spite this, many people contin-ue to risk their lives and those of their loved ones with reck-less behavior. In the most recent contact trac-ings, the Min-istry of Health found that nine h o u s e h o l d s represent ing 26 people were infected by the c o r o n a v i r u s simply because a 21-year old man chose to attend a gathering to mourn the passing of a relative. Similarly, a couple spread the infection among their family and the woman’s office colleagues as well because of risky social actions.
These are testing times for the whole world. Bahrain has done very well in con-trolling the virus considering that we are such a small and close-knit community with high population density. Despite ris-ing infection rates, fatality numbers are still low because of excellent health infrastruc-ture and the testing and treatment is still largely free for all residents.
Six months into the pandemic – it was officially announced as such in February – patience and protocol is slowly unravelling everywhere. Most governments, staring at economic breakdown, are done with hand-outs and want people back at work and in shops, restaurants and beaches, fuelling the economy. But is that wise? What is the use of a rising GDP when illness and death hurt the population?
Bahrain’s approach is still the wisest. Our government has not let its guard down and continues to recommend all the safety measures first enforced such as wearing masks, hygiene and social distancing and protecting the most vulnerable with extra measures. Now we, the citizens must do our bit and follow the guidelines and make sure we keep our end of the deal for a safe and healthy future.
C A P T A I N S C O R N E R
SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2020
This means they were broadly advocates of a federated (or
confederated), centralized European state, without
ever having the necessary political debate that
raged in the US in the 1790s between the
advocates of centralism (Alexander Hamilton) and decentralization (Thomas
Jefferson).
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
DR. JOHN C. HULSMAN
I have long suspected that the endless undoubtedly boring Eu-ropean summit meetings are so
turgid for a reason. It is easy to get lost in the byzantine complexities of false agreements that actually solve nothing. And that is how the EU likes it: For us to have little idea that it is a paper tiger, so much less than meets the eye in terms of its geostrategic power.
But crises clarify. And there is absolutely no doubt that the coro-navirus has made crystal clear that the old model governing the EU has finally, after a brilliant 70-year run, entirely run out of steam. The sup-posed deal over emergency Europe-an coronavirus funds pledged last week to the plague-ravaged south, far from being a concord, has ex-posed the EU’s haplessness for all to see.
First, if you are brave enough to wade through the actual agreement reached, it becomes palpably clear that it is full of policy holes. The Eurogroup of finance ministers has recommended using the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), estab-lished in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession, to meet the southerners’ needs.
A basic problem with this is that the ESM was set up in the wake of an asymmetric shock — the par-ticular economic follies of Greece and possibly other southern econ-omies — rather than the symmetric shock of a global pandemic. In other words, there can be no doubt that Greece was largely to blame for its own parlous situation. The same
cannot now be said of the Southern European states ravaged by a global pandemic. The basic issue of fairness is in real question.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte rightly calls the proposed €540 billion ($587 billion) rescue plan “a trap.” The accord is there to only deal with the immediate impact of the virus. However, over the much larger rescue efforts necessary to revive the Italian and other south-ern economies necessitated by the debilitating lockdown, normal con-ditionality will be imposed.
This is understandably political-ly toxic in Italy, where it is seen as surrendering basic sovereignty to the uncertain mercies of economic overlords the EU, the International Monetary Fund and the Europe-an Central Bank. No Italian leader could accept such colonization and survive. In true Kafkaesque fash-ion, no country in the south that truly needs the ESM can politically accept it. These design flaws have become so obvious that the deal has unraveled almost immediately upon delivery.
This amounts to more than Eu-rope’s glaring inability to behave as a union when it truly counts; it also illustrates the limits of the guiding philosophy of the EU. The “Monnet method” — functionalism — is a pol-icy strategy based on the advocacy of small, technocratic, apolitical agree-ments being agreed to precisely be-cause they seemed secondary, or technical, eventually amounting to decisive movement toward a con-federated European state.
In the 1950s, rather than talking about grand visions of European
union (a Valhalla that had far less than majority support), it was better to discuss seemingly inoffensive coal and steel union, even as the latter led to further economic union, and then to a degree of political union. Large political questions were to be pur-posefully avoided in favor of getting to large political answers (always in the direction of ever closer union) through the backdoor of technical, apolitical initiatives. Over decades, functionalism met with the great-est of success, as a broadly united Europe emerged, all without ever answering the basic question of what sort of political construct was truly being created.
While this seemed clever and it worked for a long while, in actuality, functionalism has stored up a great deal of trouble for Europe, which has come home to roost since the Great Recession of 2008. The founders of the EU wanted a powerful Hamilto-nian Brussels without ever having their Hamiltonian moment..
This means they were broadly advocates of a federated (or confed-erated), centralized European state, without ever having the necessary political debate that raged in the US in the 1790s between the advocates of centralism (Alexander Hamilton) and decentralization (Thomas Jef-ferson). In the end, the federalist ad-ministration of George Washington opted for Hamilton’s centralizing vision, won overwhelming re-elec-tion and a popular mandate for the national government to assume state debt, while at the same time estab-lishing a powerful national Treas-ury, brilliantly headed by Hamilton himself.
Due to an overly clever function-alism, present European leaders (with the honorable exception of President Emmanuel Macron of France) shied away from this diffi-cult argument in the happier times that preceded the coronavirus. But the failure of functionalism over the past 70 years to decisively answer the question of what sort of union Europe was to become is now fatally handicapping basic and necessary efforts to combat the coronavirus — the political risk event of our gen-eration.
The result is an EU built only for sunny weather, which trundles along nicely in good times, but is fatally overmatched in bad ones. A political union that no one really believes in and whose members are not willing to make the basic sacrifice of blood and treasure for is a union only in name. And, without the Hamiltoni-an moment in these times of crisis, Europe will be increasingly unfit for purpose.
A FOOL THINKS HIMSELF TO BE WISE, BUT A WISE MAN KNOWS HIMSELF TO BE A FOOL.WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Once again the leaders, the busi-ness houses and the people of the Kingdom of Bahrain have
come together in the spirit of patriot-ism and unity to raise defenses against an unusual and unseen enemy – the COVID-19 virus pandemic.
In just 24 hours, these parties, led by the example of HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, have raised over BD 21 million to help people and business-es struck by the impact of the virus. The funds, under the project ‘Feena Khair’ (There is Good in Us) will be used for business support and medical support as well as humanitarian food and clothing aid.
The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce & Industry also provided its spacious and centrally-located old premises for use by the COVID-19 task force.
In the midst of our peculiar con-dition of isolation, social dis-tancing and despair, we must rejoice in this stream of com-passion that has sprung from amidst us to counter the harsh reality of the crisis. It is praise-worthy of the big businesses to have come forward to sup-port the vision of the leaders of Bahrain and keep the hu-manitarian consideration as the first priority in this crisis.
Long after the dust has set-tled around the world, those who will be remembered are leaders who led from the heart. Undoubtedly, the response of Bahrain’s lead-ership will shed a beacon of light on our historic response. Inspired by His Majesty, our Crown Prince and First Dep-uty Premier guided the gov-ernment in the crucial early days to approach the sensi-tive themes of quarantine and treatment with compassion. When he returned from his
sojourn abroad, our beloved Prime Minister immediately galvanized the Cabinet and government officials, displaying his admirable energy and crisis management in managing the situation.
I am sure you will all agree that this has inspired our business houses and individuals to donate so generously and tap the vein of goodness within us and reach out to help fellow-residents of Bahrain. The days are challenging but when we have great leaders, we all rise to the occasion and to greater heights of goodness than we ourselves thought possible.
Yes indeed. There is good in us all..
(Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood is the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Tribune and the President of the Arab-African Unity
Organisation for Relief, Human Rights and Counterterrorism)
Great leaders inspire us to
goodness
CAPT. MAHMOOD AL MAHMOOD
I am sure you will all agree that this has inspired our
business houses and individuals
to donate so generously and
tap the vein of goodness within us and reach out
to help fellow-residents of
Bahrain.
EU doomed without the Hamiltonian moment
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte calls the proposed €540 billion rescue plan a trap.
HH Shaikh NasserTaking our health protocol seriously
(Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood is theEditor-in-Chief of The Daily Tribune andthe President of the Arab-African UnityOrganisation for Relief, Human Rights andCounterterrorism)
Bahrain has done very well in controlling the virus considering that we are such a small and close-knit community with high population density.
We have a clear working mechanism where the Maritime
Control Administration, the General Command of the Coast Guard and the Supreme Council for the Environment work hard
to maintain the Kingdom’s marine resources
KHALID ABDULLA AL-SHIRAWI
Let’s not be selfish!
Staying away from hunting marine species
carrying eggs during the breeding season is
essential for preventing the fish stock from
depletionKHALID ABDULLA AL-SHIRAWI
MARITIME CONTROL DIRECTOR AT THE AGRICULTURE AND MARINE RESOURCES IN THE
MINISTRY OF WORKS
As our seas are running out of fish, Bahrain’s Maritime Control Director speaks on the importance of preventing overfishing and respecting fishing ban during breeding seasons
A representative picture showing Cod and other commercial ground fish are caught in a net in the Gulf of Maine. (Courtesy of National Geographic)
There is currently a six-month ban in place on the fishing and sale of shrimp here in the Kingdom, which would end on July 31. (picture courtesy of Albilad)
Police arrest two people with BD4,000 worth hashishTDT | Manama
Bahrain’s anti-drug police yes-terday arrested two people and
seized half-a-kilogram of narcotic hashish valued at 4,000 dinars.
The arrest was announced by the Director-General of the General Department of Investigation and Criminal Evidence.
The arrests followed an investi-gation by the anti-drug police on the activities of the suspects in the Kingdom.
The suspects were caught red-handed as they were attempt-ing to sell about half-a-kilogram of
narcotic hashish, said the Direc-tor-General.
No further details regarding the suspects’ nationality or investiga-tion are revealed.
L e g a l m e a s u r e s a r e t a k-en to refer the case to Public Prosecution.Picture courtesy of Al Ayam
The arrests followed an investigation by the anti-drug police on the
activities of the sus-pects in the Kingdom.
05SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
Chinese ports hit capacity as virus tests slow clearing: shippersReuters | Beijing
Testing of imported food for the novel coronavirus is
pushing capacity at some ma-jor Chinese ports to their limit, major shippers told customers this week, warning of additional fees and possible diversions to other ports.
China stepped up inspections of imported food last month af-ter an outbreak of the corona-virus among people working at and visiting a major food market in Beijing.
“Import container pick-up activities have been severely impacted and as a result reefer plugs are highly utilised espe-cially at the port of Yantian and Ningbo,” said German shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd in a customer notice on Friday.
A person who answered the phone at one of Ningbo port’s terminals referred Reuters to the port company’s headquarters,
which was closed after business hours. Nobody at Yantian port could be reached.
Though it has only found the virus in a handful of samples out of more than 200,000 tested so far, China continues to inspect cargoes and carry out tests on a large portion of arrivals.
Hapag-Lloyd warned that containers could be discharged at an alternative port and that cargo owners would be liable for additional costs.
Top container shipper Maersk also told customers on Wednes-day that it has been diverting cargo from Yantian port in the
southern city Shenzhen because of limited reefer plugs.
The port is one of China’s top ports for frozen meat.
“The terminal yard density for reefer units at Yantian has reached critical levels,” it said in the letter seen by Reuters urg-ing customers to book to nearby
ports Nansha or Chiwan instead.Any cargoes arriving in Yan-
tian would face a congestion sur-charge of $1,000 per container, it said.
“There are enough plugs for reefers at major ports and the offload process is also normal,” said Ding Li, secretary general at the China Ports & Harbours Association.
Yantian port has added 35 per cent more plugs recently to tackle the congestion, and plug utilisation rates at Ningbo port are at 65-70pc, Ding said.
“The current bottleneck is in-sufficient inspection and disin-fection capacity for the reefers at customs. But they are working on it,” she said.
Responding on Saturday, Maersk said Chinese customs have added additional resources to accelerate customs clearance and that Yantian is now the only port still struggling to discharge
all inbound reefers.“During the past week, cus-
toms inspection capacity and speed have been improved,” Maersk said, but added it would take some time for Yantian to clear its congestion.
A cargo ship carrying containers is seen near the Yantian port in Shenzhen, following the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Guangdong province, China
KNOW WHAT
Reefers, or chilled containers used for meat and fresh pro-
duce, must be plugged in for the contents to
be kept cool or frozen.
EU virus rescue plan in balance as leaders clash• A new proposal would keep the total recovery budget at 750 million euros
AFP | Brussels
EU leaders wrangled over the size and rules of their huge post-coronavirus
economic recovery plan Satur-day, seeking to overcome fierce resistance from the Netherlands and its “frugal” friends in a sec-ond day of intense debate.
European Council president Charles Michel proposed a fresh plan after his initial blueprint for a 750-billion-euro ($850 billion) package ran into stiff resistance from the richer northern mem-ber states.
“There’s a very tough battle in the offing,” a senior diplomatic source told AFP, predicting the marathon talks would take at least 12 more hours, stretching into early Sunday and could then still fail.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has insisted member states retain final approval of EU fund-ing -- an effective veto -- for national recovery plans for the likes of Spain and Italy, whose economies were ravaged by the virus and its lockdowns.
He says EU oversight is nec-essary to oblige countries to re-form their labour markets to make them better able to cope with future crises.
In a concession to Rutte’s demands, Michel’s new plan includes a “super emergency brake” that gives any country a three-day window to trigger a review by all member states of another’s spending plans.
An official from a non-frugal
state insisted that this does not amount to a right of veto, but admitted that it remains to be seen whether countries such as Spain and Italy will accept the compromise.
Meanwhile, a European source said the frugal countries
were still not happy with the broader package and were seek-ing more cuts.
“There are many more issues to solve but the proposal on governance as put forward by Michel is a serious step in the right direction,” a Dutch dip-lomat said, but warned “many issues remain”.
Right of vetoBefore talks with all 27 leaders
restarted, Michel held a round-table with Rutte, German Chan-cellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and the Italian and Spanish PMs to test out his new proposal. After brief session with all 27 members, they broke off again for more consultations.
The leaders of some smaller countries -- Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg and Malta -- left the venue to enjoy drinks and chips on a sunny square -- while France, Germany, Italy and Spain faced off against the Frugals.
Michel’s new proposal would keep the total recovery budget at 750 million euros, but shift the balance slightly from grants -- down from 500 million to 450 million -- to loans, which rise from 250 million to 300 million, according to a document.
While Rutte was alone in his hard line on the need for unani-mous approval of grants, Austria also raised objections.
“The ratio of grants versus loans simply has to be differ-ent,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told reporters, though he said
talks were moving in the right direction.
As a further sweetener for Austria, the Netherlands and the other “frugals” -- Sweden and Denmark -- Michel’s new plan sees a hike in the rebates they get on their EU contributions.
“That’s not quite enough for us. We want a bit more, but the direction is a good one,” Kurz said
‘Zero grants’But more problems lie ahead.
A European diplomat told AFP if the member states agree on the
volume of plan, “then I am quite optimistic”.
But the diplomat warned that the frugals would not be content with reducing the amount of grants to 450 billion euros and would push for more to become loans, subject to repayment. “They wanted zero grants,” he said.
What EU officials call the “Rule of Law” issue will also be a stumbling block. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban could yet veto any attempt to tie budget funds to states upholding European legal standards.
Germany’s Merkel and Portugal’s Costa celebrate birthdays at EU summit
An EU post-coronavirus recovery plan has run into stiff resistance from some member states
Australian brand fined over ‘anti-virus activewear’ claimSydney
A popular Australian active-wear brand has been fined
for implying its “anti-virus” leggings and tops are effective at protecting wearers against the coronavirus, health officials said.
Lorna Jane was fined almost Aus$40,000 (US$28,000) over claims on its website that “an-ti-virus activewear” protects from infectious diseases and for implying it was effective against COVID-19, the Therapeu-tic Goods Administration said in a statement on Friday.
“This kind of advertising
could have detrimental conse-quences for the Australian com-munity, creating a false sense of security and leading people to
be less vigilant about hygiene and social distancing,” Depart-ment of Health Deputy Secre-tary John Skerritt said.
The website mentioned COV-ID-19 alongside a description of a “non-toxic mist” that it claimed creates a “perma-nent, chemical-free shield” that protects against infectious diseases.
The firm has since re-brand-ed the clothing “anti-bacterial” and said in a statement it never meant to claim the garments would fully protect wearers but instead provide “an added pro-tection like hand sanitiser but for the clothes you wear”.
“We are not trying to profiteer in any way on the fear around COVID-19,” the statement said.
Parts of Australia are currently dealing with a resurgence in coronavirus infections
US passenger flights to India can resume July 23Reuters | Washington
The government of India has agreed to allow US air
carriers to resume passenger services in the US-India mar-ket starting July 23, the US Transportation Department said on Friday.
India, citing the coronavi-rus, had banned all services, prompting the US in June to accuse India of engaging in “unfair and discriminatory practices” on charter air car-riers serving India.
India’s Ministry of Civil Avi-ation said on Twitter it was moving to “further expand our international civil aviation op-erations” and arrangements from some flights “with US, UAE, France & Germany are being put in place while sim-ilar arrangements are also be-ing worked out with several other countries.”
“Under this arrangement,” it added, “airlines from the con-cerned countries will be able to operate flights from & to In-dia along with Indian carriers.”
Fire damages cathedral in France, arson probe launched• The blaze destroyed stained glass windows and the grand organ at the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral, which dates from the 15th Century
AFP | Nantes
A fire broke out in three places at the gothic ca-thedral of Nantes in
western France yesterday, de-stroying stained glass windows and the grand organ and spark-ing an arson investigation.
Catholic officials mourned the loss of priceless artefacts and paintings as well as the 17th century organ -- a star attraction of the cathedral.
Regional fire chief Laurent Ferlay however said the dam-age was not comparable to last year’s devastating blaze at No-tre-Dame cathedral in Paris.
Passers-by saw flames behind the rosette of the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul and alerted emergency services a little be-fore 08:00 am (0600 GMT).
Roughly 100 firefighters rushed to the scene and man-aged to save the structure, built between the 15th and 19th cen-turies, Ferlay said.
Nantes prosecutor Pierre Sennes said the fire had started
in three different places, so a judicial investigation for arson was immediately opened.
“When we arrive at a place where a fire has taken place, when you see three separate fire outbreaks, it’s a question of common sense, you open an investigation,” Sennes told AFP.
The prosecutor said inves-tigators had found no sign of a break-in, but noted that one fire has started near the organ, while the other two were at the other end of the cathedral.
‘An unimaginable loss’Catholic official Father Fran-
cois Renaud, who oversees the cathedral, surveyed the damage with firemen and told AFP the
organ console had “completely disappeared”, describing it as “an unimaginable loss”.
“The console of the choir organ has gone up in smoke along with the adjoining wood-en choir stalls. Original stained glass windows behind the great organ have all shattered,” he said.
While the blaze was still rag-ing, President Emmanuel Ma-cron tweeted support for “our firefighters who are taking all kinds of risks to save this gothic jewel”.
Prime Minister Jean Castex later inspected the damage along with the French ministers of the interior and culture.
He set the investigation and subsequent reconstruction as priorities, saying “the state will play a major role” in the latter.
The building was last hit by fire in 1972 and its roof took more than 13 years to repair.
Cathedral rector Father Hubert Champenois said
“everything was in order last night,” and that “a very close inspection was made before it closed, like every other evening.”
Ferlay played down any com-parison with the 1972 blaze or with Notre-Dame, which caught fire during repair work in April last year.
Reinforced roofMuch of Notre-Dame’s roof
and wooden structure was de-stroyed, its steeple collapsed and fumes containing toxic molten lead billowed into the air.
Another church in Nantes -- the Basilica of St Donatian and St Rogatian -- was struck by a fire in 2015 that destroyed three-quarters of its roof.
“I would like to stress that following the 1972 fire, the roof was redone with concrete rein-forcement,” Ferlay said.
Aside from the destroyed or-gan, officials said other items lost included a painting by 19th century artist Hippolyte Flan-drin and stained glass windows on the facade, some of which contained remnants of 16th cen-tury glass.
Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot called the destruction of Flandrin’s painting of Saint Clair healing the blind “a pain-ful loss”.
The organ dated back to 1621 and had undergone five resto-rations since -- the latest one in 1971.
During the 18th century rev-olutionary period, authorities had wanted to melt down its pipes for scrap, but the organ-ist argued it could instead be used for “revolutionary cere-monies”, according to historian Paul Chopelin.
06SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
14,306,466
601,667
8,546,368
Deaths
Recovered:
New cases
New deaths +126,636
+3,127 Country Total
casesnew cases
Total deaths
New Deaths
Total recovered
Active cases
Serious, Critical
Tot cases/1m pop
Saudi Arabia
248,416 +2,565 2,447 +40 194,218 51,751 2,182 7,131
UAE 56,711 +289 338 +1 48,917 7,456 1 5,731
Kuwait 58,904 +683 407 +3 49,020 9,477 137 13,784
Oman 65,504 +1,311 308 +10 42,772 22,424 164 12,815
Egypt 86,474 4,188 27,302 54,984 41 844
Qatar 106,308 +410 154 +1 103,023 3,131 132 37,862
Middle East
Country Total cases New deaths Total Deaths
USA 3,799,780 +436 142,500
Brazil 2,053,174 +165 78,097
India 1,076,747 +543 26,828
Russia 765,437 +124 12,247
Peru 345,537 12,799
South Africa 337,594 4,804
Mexico 331,298 +736 38,310
Chile 328,846 +98 8,445
Spain 307,335 28,420
UK 294,066 +40 45,273
Iran 271,606 +148 13,979
Pakistan 261,916 +68 5,522
Saudi Arabia 248,416 +56 2,447
Italy 244,216 +20 35,042
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
Covid-19 Cases:
Firemen battle blaze at Nantes cathedral in western France
Trump’s White House moves Bush, Clinton portraits to disused room
AFP | Washington
In a break with tradition, the White House of President Donald Trump
has removed the portraits of two recent presidents, Bill Clinton and George W Bush, from the building’s entrance hall, CNN reported .
The two paintings were moved from the Grand Foyer, where the portraits of recent presidents usually hang, to the Old Family Dining Room, which CNN described as “a small, rarely used room that is not seen by most visitors.”
It said the room was mainly used to store tablecloths and furniture.
In place of pictures of Trump’s recent predecessors, there now hang pictures of William McKinley, who was assassinated in 1901, and of The-odore Roosevelt, his vice president who succeeded him upon his death, sources told CNN.
The news network said that Trump would have seen the two portraits on a daily basis in their previous position.
Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton said in his re-cently published book that Trump “despised” both Bush and Bush’s father.
Hillary Clinton, wife of the former president and former Secretary of State, became an object of Trump’s ire when she ran against him in 2016, and has been a frequent critic of his leadership. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
CNN said the portraits had been moved within the last week.
A portrait of Barack Obama, the president who directly preceded Trump and who has been a frequent subject of his attacks, is not due to be formally unveiled during Trump’s first term, CNN said.
Twitter attack was work of young hacker pals: NYTAFP | San Francisco
Hackers involved in the high-profile hijacking
of Twitter accounts earlier this week were young pals with no links to state or organized crime, The New York Times reported.
The attack, which Twitter and police are investigat-ing, started with a playful message between hackers on Discord, a chat service popular with gamers.
The paper said it had in-terviewed four people who participated in the hacking, who shared logs and screen-shots backing up their ac-counts of what happened.
“The interviews indicate that the attack was not the work of a single country like Russia or a sophisticat-ed group of hackers,” the Times reported.
“Instead, it was done by a group of young people - one of whom says he lives at home with his mother - who got to know one an-other because of their ob-session with owning early or unusual screen names, particularly one letter or number, like @y or @6.”
Bill Clinton Hillary Clinton stand by their offical White House portraits during the unveiling event hosted by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush in 2004
This is not the first fire at the cathedral. It was damaged by
Allied bombing in 1944, during WWII, and then in 1972 its roof
was largely destroyedKNOW WHAT
News in brief u Thousands
of mainly young and black-clad Thai protesters converged at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument as the city’s largest and rowdiest anti-government protest
in years stretched deep into the night. Thailand, a kingdom whose rambunctious politics is defined by coups and often deadly street protests, is facing an unprecedented economic shock due to the coronavirus pandemic. With the economy in freefall, anger is boiling against a government stacked with elderly former generals and supporters of the royalist establishment.
u A drug dealer convicted of murdering five people, including two young girls, was executed by lethal injection, the third federal inmate to be put to death in the United States this week. Dustin Lee Honken, 52, of Britt, Iowa, was pronounced dead at 4:36 pm (2036 GMT) at Terre Haute prison in the midwest state of Indiana, the Justice Department said. Honken was convicted in Iowa in 2004 of the 1993 murders of two drug dealers who became government informants and were going to testify about his methamphetamine operation.
u John Lewis, the civil rights warrior who marched with Martin Luther King Jr and was nearly killed in police beatings before serving for decades as a US congressman, died
late Friday aged 80. The African-American icon spent his life getting into what he liked to call “good trouble” -- the confrontations necessary to improve the American democracy by ending discrimination and racial injustice.
u The leader of the Taliban has reshuffled his team of negotiators ahead of peace talks with the Afghan government, adding four close aides to the group. sources in the movement said. Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada made the appointments to strengthen his control over the team, a Taliban commander, based at an unknown location in Pakistan.
u A young man was shot to death in a fishing village in Venezuela during a protest over gasoline rationing, opposition deputies and a local human rights group said. Jose Luis Albornoz, 19, died Thursday of a shot to the chest allegedly fired by a member of the National Guard, which was clearing the protest on Toas Island in northwestern Zulia state, said Avilio Troconiz, an opposition deputy.
u Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Russia’s Far East in a rare show of defiance against the Kremlin as they protested the arrest of a popular governor. The huge rallies in the city of Khabarovsk on the border with China present a growing headache for the Kremlin, observers say, and come after President Vladimir Putin this month oversaw a controversial vote that allows him to extend his hold on power until 2036.
u The black boxes of a Ukrainian passenger plane Iran forces mistakenly shot down in January have arrived in France, French air investigators said. A source at France’s Bureau for Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) said the boxes had arrived and would be at the agency from Monday. A 20-member international team would examine the boxes.
Thai youth take to street in pro-
democracy protest
Taliban reshuffle
negotiators ahead of
Afghan talks
US congressman
John Lewis dead at 80
Reuters | Tokyo
Ikuko, the “big sister” of To-kyo’s Akasaka geisha district, came to the capital to seek
her fortune in 1964, the year Tokyo first hosted the Olym-pics. But the novel coronavirus pandemic has made her fear for her centuries-old profession as never before.
Though the number of geisha - famed for their witty conver-sation, beauty and skill at tradi-tional arts - has been falling for years, Ikuko and her colleagues were without work for months due to Japan’s state of emer-gency and now operate under
awkward social distancing rules.“There were more than 400
geisha in Akasaka when I came, so many I couldn’t remember their names. But times changed,” Ikuko, now 80, said.
These days, only roughly 20 remain, and there aren’t enough engagements to take on new ap-prentices - especially now.
Coronavirus-induced austeri-ty has slashed expense accounts, and many people remain wary of spending hours in the elegant but closed traditional rooms where geisha entertain.
Engagements are down 95 percent, and come with new rules: no pouring drinks for cus-
tomers or touching them even to shake hands, and sitting 2 me-tres apart. Masks are hard to wear with their elaborate wigs, so they mostly don’t.
“When you sit close, you can talk with feeling, your passion comes through,” Ikuko said, wearing a black silk kimono pat-terned with irises. “When you’re two metres apart, conversation breaks down.”
Geisha aren’t the only Jap-anese artists in danger. Per-formers of “jiutamai,” an an-cient women’s dance, as well as makeup artists, wig stylists and kimono dressers, confessed to worry the coronavirus could further imperil their niche professions.
“Every single one of my events has been cancelled,” said Mit-sunaga Kanda, who has spent decades doing elaborate makeup for geisha and dancers.
“We touch their skin and their face, all over, and while we don’t talk we’re very close - something we’re very aware of now,” added Kanda, donning a mask and face shield to work on dancer Tokijyo Hanasaki.
A fading professionThough the ancient capital of
Kyoto is best known for geisha, Tokyo has six geisha districts of its own. But discouraged by the rigour of geisha life with its hours of artistic practice, fewer now join.
Akasaka had 120 geisha 30 years ago. Now all of Tokyo has
only some 230.Lessons and kimono are ex-
pensive, with pay dependent on popularity. And some skills, such as the witty conversation that make older geisha like Ikuko especially popular, can only be gained through time.
“Our income has been down to zero,” Ikuko said. “I have a bit of wherewithal, but it’s been very hard for the younger ones. The geisha association has helped with rent.”
All geisha, as freelancers, can also apply for 1 million yen in government subsidies, which she believes most did.
“I was just full of anxiety,” said fellow geisha Mayu, 47. “I went through my photos, sorted my kimonos..
“The thought of a second wave is terrifying.”
Still, every effort is being made.
“We arrange things in the larg-est room possible,” said Shota Asada, owner of the luxurious restaurant where the geisha en-tertain. “Anything to keep this culture alive.”
Change for survivalMichiyo Yukawa, an ex-geisha
who owns an Akasaka bar and
hosts occasional geisha events, thinks geisha may need to adapt so that more ordinary people can appreciate their charm.
“They have a special beauty,” she said. “They’ve gone through training other people haven’t, they spend a lot of money on this - and it’s made them special. Having this disappear would be sad.”
Ikuko fears an extended pan-demic could prompt some geisha to quit.
“Now is the worst of the worst,” she said. “How are we going to get through? It’ll take all of our body and soul.”
SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
Socially distant geisha struggle to survive in coronavirus shadow
Mayu adjusts Koiku’s kimono, both of who are geisha, as Koiku wears a protective face mask to pose for a photograph
Superheroes praise US 6-year-old who saved sister from dog attackAFP | New York
Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spiderman... superheroes have
lined up in recent days to praise the courage of a six-year-old boy who was mauled while saving his little sister from a dog attack.
“You’re a hero, what you did was so brave, so selfless, your sister is so lucky to have you as a big brother,” said Chris Evans, the actor who played Captain America in the Avengers movies, of which the little boy is a big fan.
“Your parents must be so proud of you,” said Evans.
Bridger Walker, who lives in the western US state of Wyoming, put him-self between a German Shepherd mix and his little sister on July 9 as the dog was about to attack the four-year-old girl.
He was bitten badly in the cheek and underwent emergency surgery during which he had 90 stitches put in his face.
“If someone had to die, I thought it should be me,” the little boy’s parents said he told them afterwards.
His story went viral on US social me-dia and a number of celebrities re-sponded to an appeal by his aunt on Instagram for messages of support for
the boy.Among them was Robert Downey Jr,
who plays Iron Man in the Avengers se-ries, who promised Bridger “something special” for his next birthday.
Chris Hemsworth, the actor who played Thor in the superhero films, also praised Bridger as “an absolute inspiration.”
“Your courage is beyond belief and we are all so impressed by you, and we’re thinking of you,” he said.
“I know you’re an Avengers fan and so myself and all the team, we’d be honored to have you on the team, and we love you and we’re sending you our support.”
Maki, Mayu, Ikuko and Koiku, who are geisha, greet Fujima Hideka, a dance master of Japanese traditional dance
Avengers fans in Hollywood in April 2019
07
Geishas famed for their witty conversation, beauty and skill at traditional arts
Maki, Mayu, Koiku and Ikuko, who are geisha, wear protective face masks as they walk to a restaurant after attending a dance class
Mitsunaga Kanda, a makeup artist and Yurie Hatanaka, a wig stylist, wear protective face masks and face shields as they work on a jiutamai dancer
Though the ancient capital of Kyo-to is best known for geisha, Tokyo has six geisha districts of its own. But discouraged by the rigour of geisha life with its hours of artis-
tic practice, fewer now joinKNOW WHAT
The face mask debate ‘doesn’t make sense’ to Rita WilsonANI | Washington
Rita Wilson, who was one of the first celebrities to contract coronavirus,
said that the debate around wearing a face mask during the pandemic “doesn’t make sense.”
The statement came during Friday’s ‘CBS This Morning’ show where she was speaking to Gayle King.
“Why wouldn’t you wear a mask if it’s good for your health? It doesn’t make sense,” The Hollywood Re-porter quoted Wilson as saying.
“I don’t understand why some-thing that’s so easy to do has become an issue or something that people are coming up against,” Wilson added.
Ellie Goulding releases her new album ‘Brightest Blue’ANI | Washington
British singer-songwriter El-lie Goulding, has released
her much-anticipated studio album ‘Brightest Blue’.
The 33-year-old musician took to Instagram on Friday and shared the news of the re-lease of her fourth studio set.
She shared some of her pho-tographs, expressing ehow “blissfully happy” she is for the album.
“Today, ironically, I feel com-pletely unjudged, I just feel the light and love from everyone,” Goulding wrote.
The ‘Love Me Like You Do’ singer further wrote, “My al-bum, Brightest Blue, speaks for itself and I’m so blissfully happy for it to arrive. Please tell me what you think- today is only about the music, be-cause that’s all I have, beyond everything- it was always just about the music. Everything
else is just noise :) “According to Billboard, the
album is split into two halves and features an a-team of guests including Juice WRLD, Lauv, blackbear, Diplo, Swae Lee, and writer-and-pro-ducer assists from Tobias Jesso Jr., Starsmith, ILYA, serpentwithfeet, Chairlift’s Patrick Wimberly and Jim Eliot.
‘Brightest Blue’ carries the previously-released tracks
‘ W o r r y About Me’, ‘Power ’ , ‘ S l o w G r e -n a d e ’ , a n d 2 0 1 9 t u n e s ‘ C l o s e To Me’ a n d ‘ H a t e Me’.
08 SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
celebs
Across1- Runs through; 6- Frighten; 11- Literary monogram; 14- Seventh sign of the zodiac; 15- Tapestry; 16- One ___ time; 17- Abrasive mineral; 18- One who arrives tardy; 20- German article; 21- Romantic couple; 23- Designer Simpson; 24- Taboos; 26- Deprived of office; 28- Citrus fruit; 30- Tree insect; 31- Quotes; 32- Aquarium buildup; 33- Conscription org.; 36- Gag reflex?; 37- Catches; 38- Ammo; 39- Shortened version of actor Stallone’s first name; 40- Spacious; 41- Actress Witherspoon; 42- Multitude; 43- Egg yolk; 44- Proph-esy; 47- Distributed cards; 48- Tennis champ Chris; 49- Bandage; 50- Center starter; 53- Duck, e.g.; 56- How some losses are shown; 58- Hellenic vowel; 59- Living in a city; 60- Guarded; 61- Rule, for short; 62- French Impressionist; 63- Warble;
Down 1- Hill toy; 2- Duration; 3- Civil-rights leader; 4- It’s cold!; 5- Maxims; 6- Type of pitch; 7- Pull an all-nighter; 8- Illustrative craft; 9- ___ Dawn Chong; 10- One on the run; 11- Do-mesticates; 12- Inscribed pillar; 13- Having auricular protuberances; 19- Redolence; 22- Digit of the foot; 25- Draft classification; 26- Pet term for man’s best friend; 27- Ages; 28- Adolph of publishing; 29- Unit of currency in Iran and Yemen; 30- Responsibility; 32- Battery terminal; 33- Protected from the weather; 34- Just okay; 35- Simmer; 37- Miffed; 38- Offer; 40- Pulpit; 41- Willingly; 42- “You are ___”; 43- Kyoto currency; 44- Not as many; 45- Like Humpty Dumpty; 46- Put a new price on; 47- Failed to; 49- Highland hillside; 51- French father; 52- Pastoral poem; 54- Lift giver; 55- Son of, in Arabic names; 57- Classical starter;
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.
Charlize Theron accepts Kofi Kingston’s WWE invitation
Fox | Los Angeles
Charlize Theron isn’t a stranger to stunts giv-en her day job as an
actress – but that doesn’t mean she isn’t eager to test those physical and acting chops in the wrestling ring.
The “Old Guard” actress recently c o n n e c t e d w i t h famed WWE star Kofi Kingston during an interview, and he praised her ability to grasp physical styles of acting and performing “so naturally.”
“I think you might ac-tually have a career or a future, if you wanted it, as a WWE super-star,” Kingston, 38,
raved to the 44-year-old box office draw. “The fact for you to be able to pick up those
moves so naturally; I would love to see you go one-on-one with a Becky Lynch or like a Sasha Banks. Or Bayley, or Char-
lotte [Flair]. I feel like you w o u l d f i t right in.”
“ Wo w, i s t h i s a n i n -vite?” Ther-on inquired, drawing a head nod from the WWE tag team champion.
“Yes! When and where?” exuded Ther-
on. “I know we’re in a crisis situation right now, so it’s not any time soon. But that sounds awesome and I will get my a-- kicked. So that would be really entertaining for everybody to watch because I am a mere actor.”
So what skills does Theron have in her arsenal that could aid her in the ring?
Though she admitted she doesn’t quite have the wres-tling or mixed martial arts background, the “Mad Max: Fury Road” star said she was a ballerina when she was young-er and could certainly integrate her pirouette skills to counter an oncoming airstrike – but Theron said the physical story-telling element of ballet excites her about being in the ring.
“That would be so much fun,” Theron said.
Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans land Netflix roles in $200m spy thrillerANI | Washington
‘Avengers: Endgame’ writ-er-director duo -- Russo
brothers -- are all set to bring actors Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans together for their new Netflix venture, a spy thriller ‘The Gray Man’, following the massive success of ‘Extraction’ on the online platform.
According to Deadline, the new project, based on the best-selling book of the same name by Mark Greaney, comes with a budget of a whopping USD 200 million.
Helmed by Joe and Anthony Russo, famously known as the Russo brothers, the cinematic hunk-off will be bankrolled
by their new content com-pany AGBO. With ‘The Gray Man’, the director duo in-tends to create a new James Bond-level film franchise.
“The idea is to create
a franchise and build out a whole universe. We have all committed to the first movie and that’s got to be great to get us to the second movie. We think Netflix is the perfect place for this film,” Joe said.
“These are master assassins, and Gosling’s character gets burned by the CIA and Evans’ character has to hunt him down,” he added.
Besides Joe, the script has also been penned by none oth-er than the ‘Captain America’ and ‘Avengers’ screenwriters, Stephen McFeely and Chris-topher Markus.
‘The Gray Man’ revolves around the story of an ex-CIA operative turned killer as he is pursued by an old colleague.
Previously, the Russo broth-ers collaborated with Netflix for the Chris Hemsworth star-rer ‘Extraction’ which released earlier this year.
Dakota Fanning reveals what Brittany Murphy taught herIANS | Los Angeles
Actress Dakota Fanning has opened up about her child
star days. She has revealed what she learned from her late actress Brittany Murphy while working on the 2003 film “Up-town Girls”.
“She just taught me to al-ways have fun. She was such a ray of light and had such a playful spirit,” Fanning said of Murphy, who died in 2009 at the age of 32, during an inter-view, reports etonline.com.
“She made every day special for me. She was so won-derful.”
Fanning also praised Hol-l y w o o d s t a r Tom Cruise, who helped her cele-brate her birth-day on the set of 2005’s “War Of The Worlds”.
“It was when C o l d S t o n e Creamery was just sort of a thing and Tom and (director)
Steven Spielberg, they brought in the marble slab on set and had the people making the ice cream for my 11th birthday,” she recalled.
“It was very fun.”Fanning also got the chance
to have a guest role on the hit sitcom “Friends”, starring Jen-nifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc,
Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer.
“I was really star-struck. I’d met a
lot of people. I’d worked with Rob-ert De Niro and
Denzel Wash-ington, but these peo-p l e w e r e
in my living room all the time on the
show,” she ex-plained.
“So I felt like I knew them more, s o I w a s kind of even more star-struck by m e e t i n g them all,” she added.
‘My brain started winding’: Jim Carrey recalls being in HawaiiANI | Washington
American-Canadian actor Jim Carrey recounted his
terrifying experience while in Hawaii during the false missile alarm two years ago.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 58-year-old actor joined Jimmy Fallon on ‘The Tonight Show’ on Thursday night (local time). The New York Times bestselling author shared that the cover of his book represented his face “af-ter being told that I have ten minutes to live.”
The ‘Bruce Almighty’ star went on to explain that two years ago he was in Ha-waii with his daughter while writing when his assistant called him crying to inform him about the missile believed to be headed toward the island and that they had “ten minutes left.”
Ellie Goulding
Rita WilsonDakota Fanning
Charlize Theron Jim Carrey
The face mask debate ‘doesn’t make sense’ to Rita WilsonANI | Washington
Rita Wilson, who was one of the first celebrities to contract coronavirus,
said that the debate around wearing a face mask during the pandemic “doesn’t make sense.”
The statement came during Friday’s ‘CBS This Morning’ show where she was speaking to Gayle King.
“Why wouldn’t you wear a mask if it’s good for your health? It doesn’t make sense,” The Hollywood Re-porter quoted Wilson as saying.
“I don’t understand why some-thing that’s so easy to do has become an issue or something that people are coming up against,” Wilson added.
Ellie Goulding releases her new album ‘Brightest Blue’ANI | Washington
British singer-songwriter El-lie Goulding, has released
her much-anticipated studio album ‘Brightest Blue’.
The 33-year-old musician took to Instagram on Friday and shared the news of the re-lease of her fourth studio set.
She shared some of her pho-tographs, expressing ehow “blissfully happy” she is for the album.
“Today, ironically, I feel com-pletely unjudged, I just feel the light and love from everyone,” Goulding wrote.
The ‘Love Me Like You Do’ singer further wrote, “My al-bum, Brightest Blue, speaks for itself and I’m so blissfully happy for it to arrive. Please tell me what you think- today is only about the music, be-cause that’s all I have, beyond everything- it was always just about the music. Everything
else is just noise :) “According to Billboard, the
album is split into two halves and features an a-team of guests including Juice WRLD, Lauv, blackbear, Diplo, Swae Lee, and writer-and-pro-ducer assists from Tobias Jesso Jr., Starsmith, ILYA, serpentwithfeet, Chairlift’s Patrick Wimberly and Jim Eliot.
‘Brightest Blue’ carries the previously-released tracks
‘ W o r r y About Me’, ‘Power ’ , ‘ S l o w G r e -n a d e ’ , a n d 2 0 1 9 t u n e s ‘ C l o s e To Me’ a n d ‘ H a t e Me’.
08 SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
celebs
Across1- Runs through; 6- Frighten; 11- Literary monogram; 14- Seventh sign of the zodiac; 15- Tapestry; 16- One ___ time; 17- Abrasive mineral; 18- One who arrives tardy; 20- German article; 21- Romantic couple; 23- Designer Simpson; 24- Taboos; 26- Deprived of office; 28- Citrus fruit; 30- Tree insect; 31- Quotes; 32- Aquarium buildup; 33- Conscription org.; 36- Gag reflex?; 37- Catches; 38- Ammo; 39- Shortened version of actor Stallone’s first name; 40- Spacious; 41- Actress Witherspoon; 42- Multitude; 43- Egg yolk; 44- Proph-esy; 47- Distributed cards; 48- Tennis champ Chris; 49- Bandage; 50- Center starter; 53- Duck, e.g.; 56- How some losses are shown; 58- Hellenic vowel; 59- Living in a city; 60- Guarded; 61- Rule, for short; 62- French Impressionist; 63- Warble;
Down 1- Hill toy; 2- Duration; 3- Civil-rights leader; 4- It’s cold!; 5- Maxims; 6- Type of pitch; 7- Pull an all-nighter; 8- Illustrative craft; 9- ___ Dawn Chong; 10- One on the run; 11- Do-mesticates; 12- Inscribed pillar; 13- Having auricular protuberances; 19- Redolence; 22- Digit of the foot; 25- Draft classification; 26- Pet term for man’s best friend; 27- Ages; 28- Adolph of publishing; 29- Unit of currency in Iran and Yemen; 30- Responsibility; 32- Battery terminal; 33- Protected from the weather; 34- Just okay; 35- Simmer; 37- Miffed; 38- Offer; 40- Pulpit; 41- Willingly; 42- “You are ___”; 43- Kyoto currency; 44- Not as many; 45- Like Humpty Dumpty; 46- Put a new price on; 47- Failed to; 49- Highland hillside; 51- French father; 52- Pastoral poem; 54- Lift giver; 55- Son of, in Arabic names; 57- Classical starter;
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.
Charlize Theron accepts Kofi Kingston’s WWE invitation
Fox | Los Angeles
Charlize Theron isn’t a stranger to stunts giv-en her day job as an
actress – but that doesn’t mean she isn’t eager to test those physical and acting chops in the wrestling ring.
The “Old Guard” actress recently c o n n e c t e d w i t h famed WWE star Kofi Kingston during an interview, and he praised her ability to grasp physical styles of acting and performing “so naturally.”
“I think you might ac-tually have a career or a future, if you wanted it, as a WWE super-star,” Kingston, 38,
raved to the 44-year-old box office draw. “The fact for you to be able to pick up those
moves so naturally; I would love to see you go one-on-one with a Becky Lynch or like a Sasha Banks. Or Bayley, or Char-
lotte [Flair]. I feel like you w o u l d f i t right in.”
“ Wo w, i s t h i s a n i n -vite?” Ther-on inquired, drawing a head nod from the WWE tag team champion.
“Yes! When and where?” exuded Ther-
on. “I know we’re in a crisis situation right now, so it’s not any time soon. But that sounds awesome and I will get my a-- kicked. So that would be really entertaining for everybody to watch because I am a mere actor.”
So what skills does Theron have in her arsenal that could aid her in the ring?
Though she admitted she doesn’t quite have the wres-tling or mixed martial arts background, the “Mad Max: Fury Road” star said she was a ballerina when she was young-er and could certainly integrate her pirouette skills to counter an oncoming airstrike – but Theron said the physical story-telling element of ballet excites her about being in the ring.
“That would be so much fun,” Theron said.
Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans land Netflix roles in $200m spy thrillerANI | Washington
‘Avengers: Endgame’ writ-er-director duo -- Russo
brothers -- are all set to bring actors Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans together for their new Netflix venture, a spy thriller ‘The Gray Man’, following the massive success of ‘Extraction’ on the online platform.
According to Deadline, the new project, based on the best-selling book of the same name by Mark Greaney, comes with a budget of a whopping USD 200 million.
Helmed by Joe and Anthony Russo, famously known as the Russo brothers, the cinematic hunk-off will be bankrolled
by their new content com-pany AGBO. With ‘The Gray Man’, the director duo in-tends to create a new James Bond-level film franchise.
“The idea is to create
a franchise and build out a whole universe. We have all committed to the first movie and that’s got to be great to get us to the second movie. We think Netflix is the perfect place for this film,” Joe said.
“These are master assassins, and Gosling’s character gets burned by the CIA and Evans’ character has to hunt him down,” he added.
Besides Joe, the script has also been penned by none oth-er than the ‘Captain America’ and ‘Avengers’ screenwriters, Stephen McFeely and Chris-topher Markus.
‘The Gray Man’ revolves around the story of an ex-CIA operative turned killer as he is pursued by an old colleague.
Previously, the Russo broth-ers collaborated with Netflix for the Chris Hemsworth star-rer ‘Extraction’ which released earlier this year.
Dakota Fanning reveals what Brittany Murphy taught herIANS | Los Angeles
Actress Dakota Fanning has opened up about her child
star days. She has revealed what she learned from her late actress Brittany Murphy while working on the 2003 film “Up-town Girls”.
“She just taught me to al-ways have fun. She was such a ray of light and had such a playful spirit,” Fanning said of Murphy, who died in 2009 at the age of 32, during an inter-view, reports etonline.com.
“She made every day special for me. She was so won-derful.”
Fanning also praised Hol-l y w o o d s t a r Tom Cruise, who helped her cele-brate her birth-day on the set of 2005’s “War Of The Worlds”.
“It was when C o l d S t o n e Creamery was just sort of a thing and Tom and (director)
Steven Spielberg, they brought in the marble slab on set and had the people making the ice cream for my 11th birthday,” she recalled.
“It was very fun.”Fanning also got the chance
to have a guest role on the hit sitcom “Friends”, starring Jen-nifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc,
Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer.
“I was really star-struck. I’d met a
lot of people. I’d worked with Rob-ert De Niro and
Denzel Wash-ington, but these peo-p l e w e r e
in my living room all the time on the
show,” she ex-plained.
“So I felt like I knew them more, s o I w a s kind of even more star-struck by m e e t i n g them all,” she added.
‘My brain started winding’: Jim Carrey recalls being in HawaiiANI | Washington
American-Canadian actor Jim Carrey recounted his
terrifying experience while in Hawaii during the false missile alarm two years ago.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 58-year-old actor joined Jimmy Fallon on ‘The Tonight Show’ on Thursday night (local time). The New York Times bestselling author shared that the cover of his book represented his face “af-ter being told that I have ten minutes to live.”
The ‘Bruce Almighty’ star went on to explain that two years ago he was in Ha-waii with his daughter while writing when his assistant called him crying to inform him about the missile believed to be headed toward the island and that they had “ten minutes left.”
Ellie Goulding
Rita WilsonDakota Fanning
Charlize Theron Jim Carrey
BRAVE CF 37 fight card is announced for Sweden debutTDT | Manama
Scandinavian fans will be in for a treat for BRAVE Com-
bat Federation’s first-ever fight card in Sweden. BRAVE CF 37 will take place on August 1st in Stockholm and will feature one of the biggest prospects in the region in the main event. Louis “Spartacus” Glismann will make his much-anticipated promo-tional debut against undefeated Finnish fighter Henri Lintula.
At 6-1 in his professional re-cord, Glismann has been honing his jiu-jitsu skills in Copenha-gen, at the Arte Suave gym, and the Danish representative hopes to make waves in his first ap-pearance for a truly global pro-motion. “Spartacus” has five of his six wins via submission and hopes to make six in seven when he meets Lintula in Stockholm.
He will face another grappler in what promises to be an excit-ing matchup, as Lintula is also
known for his offensive ground skills, having finished four of his five wins via submission - with the other victory coming by way of TKO due to ground and pound.
In the co-main event, BRAVE CF 37 will bring exciting Light Heavyweight action as Italy’s Riccardo Nosiglia looks to make a similar impact to his coun-tryman Enrico Cortese and get his BRAVE Combat Federation career off to a winning start as he meets Anton Turkalj, who fights at home in Sweden.
Also set for the show is a Heavyweight showdown be-tween Turkey’s Fatih Aktas and Irman Smajic, from Sweden. At Featherweight, Brazilian Michael Deiga-Scheck returns to action at BRAVE CF against Swedish Fernando Flores. BRAVE CF 37 will be held in partnership with Bulldog Fight Night, a leading local Swedish promotion.
Marathon of BRAVE CF events begin with five shows in next five weeks in EuropeTDT | Manama
BRAVE Combat Federation, the only truly global MMA
promotion, under the leader-ship of HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, is set to begin a marathon of events, which will take the Kingdom of Bah-rain’s flag to the highest places in sports once again.
There will be five incredible
shows in Europe in the next five weeks, beginning with BRAVE CF 35, in Romania.
The show is set to be head-lined by Italy’s Enrico Cortese, one of the best-kept secrets in European MMA. “The Killing Machine” will be taking on Claudiu Alexe in the main event, as the experienced kickboxer makes his MMA debut at the highest level. Other fighters in-
clude France’s Abou Tounkara and Mamadou Lamine Sene, who take on Marvin Belecclu and Ion Grigore respectively.
One week later, for the second show in-a-row in the Eastern European country, BRAVE CF 36 will take place on July 27th. Five days, and almost 3,000 kilome-ters, later, on August 1st, BRAVE Combat Federation will land in Scandinavia, for its first-ev-
er Sweden show, BRAVE CF 37. Swedish will also host two other events, BRAVE CF 38 and BRAVE CF 39. The marathon of events will put BRAVE CF at the helm of MMA in Europe, as the promo-tion continues its commitment with the continental scene by empowering athletes, nation-al federations, and promotions with a worldwide stage to show-case their talents.
09SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
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]
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Hamilton takes record 90th poleLewis Hamilton breaks records as Mercedes lock out front row in Hungary
• Stroll qualified third fastest as Racing Point impressed again
AFP | Budapest
Lewis Hamilton broke the circuit lap record and drew level with Michael Schumacher for another
feat yesterday as he claimed a record-in-creasing 90th pole position for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
The six-time world champion clocked a stunning time of one minute and 13.447 seconds on his second run in final qual-ifying to finish just ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes reeled off their 65th front-row lockout.
It was Hamilton’s second successive pole of the COVID-19 delayed season and a Schumacher-equalling seventh pole at the Hungaroring, where he seeks his eighth victory to draw level with another Schumacher achievement for wins on the same track.
Schumacher won eight times at the French Grand Prix.
“I have to pinch myself,” said Hamil-ton. “It doesn’t register. It’s quite hum-bling because I work with an incredible bunch of people who do an amazing job here and back home.
“And Valtteri doesn’t make it easy for me. It takes perfection to do laps like that so this is one of the things I enjoy most.”
Bottas said he expected it to be close. “We seem to be on another level, pretty far ahead of the others. My laps were ok, but I couldn’t go faster really.”
Behind the two ‘black arrows’, the controversial ‘pink Mercedes’ of Rac-ing Point were third and fourth with Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez ahead of
a much-improved showing by four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc for Ferrari.
“I am very happy at the moment,” said Stroll. “Was strong all the way through qualifying, the whole weekend, really.”
Red Bull disappoint Max Verstappen was a disappoint-
ed seventh for Red Bull, Lando Norris eighth ahead of his McLaren team-mate Carlos Sainz with Pierre Gasly, in his 50th Grand Prix, 10th for Alpha Tauri.
On a cool, damp afternoon at the Hun-garoring, where blazing sunshine has been the norm over 35 years, the air temperature was 19 degrees and the track 28.6 as the session began.
The Q1 action produced drama and
suspense, the track evolution – as the temperature fell -- creating faster times right to the final seconds.
This resulted in the two Racing Points snatching first and second places ahead of Hamilton’s Mercedes, with Perez lead-ing Stroll in the ‘pink panthers’ private duel.
Out went Kevin Magnussen of Haas, Daniil Kvyat of Alpha Tauri, Romain Grosjean in the second Haas, Antonio Giovinazzi and his Alfa Romeo team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, four of them pow-ered by Ferrari engines.
For the first time since the 2018 Ital-ian Grand Prix, Williams saw both cars through to Q2, George Russell winding up in ninth place. “That’s a lap! That’s a lap!” he shouted aloud on team radio.
In Q2, Hamilton was soon on top with 1:14.261, pursued by Bottas, two-tenths adrift, both running on medium com-pound tyres while behind them, on softs, Vettel and Verstappen led the chase.
Leclerc jumped to third in the final seconds as Daniel Ricciardo of Renault failed to make the top-10 shootout along with the two Williams of Russell and rookie Nicholas Latifi, Esteban Ocon in the second Renault and Red Bull’s Alex-ander Albon.
The luckless London-born Thai driver complained on team radio: “Sorry, guys, but I told you ‘Don’t put me in traffic’.”
He had earlier struggled with his car’s balance and handling, problems that the team intended to solve during a ‘night’ shift on Friday.
In Q3, Mercedes again set the pace with Hamilton breaking the track lap record and the 1:14 barrier with a lap in 1:13.613 and Bottas three-tenths adrift on their opening runs.
Lewis Hamilton steers his car during qualifying
Quartararo takes pole at Spanish MotoGP
AFP | New York
Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo will start in
pole position in Sunday’s Spanish MotoGP after set-ting a lap record in qual-ifying with a time of one minute, 36.705 seconds in Jerez yesterday.
The Frenchman broke his own lap record set earlier in the third free practice to finish ahead of Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales and Hon-da’s world champion Marc Marquez in a frantic final session in which three rid-ers crashed. Suzuki’s Alex Rins crashed at turn 11 and was taken to the medical centre where a shoulder dislocation and fracture was confirmed before he was moved to hospital.
“After the crash, Alex had a lot of pain in his right shoulder,” the Suzuki team said in a statement.
“He was taken to the Cl-inica Mobile for an X-ray, where doctors detected a fracture and dislocation, ad-ministering a mild sedative to ease the pain.”
Fakhreddine forced to drop out, Cortese to face kickboxer Claudiu Alexe at BRAVE CF 35TDT | Manama
BRAVE Combat Federation’s return to action won’t have
Mohammad Fakhreddine in its main event. Officials have announced that “The Latest” has been unable to fly into Ro-mania due to Covid-19 restric-tions that have been recently imposed in the country. That means Enrico Cortese will now face kickboxer Claudiu Alexe at BRAVE CF 35 in a Catchweight of 88 kg.
“The Latest” Fakhreddine will have to wait for his num-ber one contender’s bout as a win against Cortese would guarantee him a shot at reign-ing Middleweight world champion Daniel “Gaucho”. For Cortese, a bout against MMA newcomer 18-5 (kickbox-ing record) Alexe is a chance to keep active and showcase that he’s ready to be in the conver-sation for a title shot of his own at the organization.
Aside from a change in the main event, BRAVE CF can also confirm that Abou Tounkara
will now take on Marvin Be-lecciu, and the new co-main event of BRAVE CF 35 will be the Heavyweight duel between Ion Grigore and Mamadou Lamine Sene.
Finally, a new bout has been added to the fight card, with local Bantamweights Mihal Laurentiu and Ioan Vranceanu and Welterweights Mirel Dragan and Olaru Marian having the chance to shine on the international stage set by the fastest-growing MMA organization in the world.
Mohammad Fakhreddine
Fabio Quartararo in action during qualifying
BRAVE CF 35 Fight CardCatchweight (88kg): Enrico Cortese vs Claudiu AlexeHeavyweight: Ion Grigore vs Mamadou Lamine Sene
Flyweight: Ana Maria Pal vs Malin HermanssonLightweight: Marvin Belecclu vs Aboubakar Tounkara
Bantamweight: Mihal Laurentiu Iorga vs Ioan VranceanuWelterweight: Mirel Dragan vs Olaru Marian
BRAVE CF 37 Fight CardWelterweight: Henri Lintula vs Louis Glismann
Light Heavyweight: Riccardo Nosiglia vs Anton TurkaljHeavyweight: Fatih Aktas vs Irman Smajic
Featherweight: Fernando Flores vs Michael Deiga-Scheck
Hamilton is favourite to triumph for the eighth time at the Hungaroring and equal a record
for most wins at the same grand prix held by retired Ferrari great Michael Schumacher, who
won eight times in FranceKNOW WHAT
