THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAITEstablished in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com

SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021 / SHABAAN 8, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17642 16 PAGES 150 FILS

basketball

ice hockeyPages 15 & 16 Page 15

Two sentenced

Cases top 1,000

Minister Al-Ali to restructure State Security apparatus

Vaccination push in virus surge

MP submits bill on dodgy interestBy Saeed Mahmoud Saleh

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, March 20: MP Sh-uaib Al- Muwaizri has submitted a bill to refund the loan interest that banks and other fi nancial institutions have illegally collected from clients.

According to the bill, the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) will form a committee to review the loans that the local banks and fi nancial institu-tions granted to their clients from 1992 till date.

He suggested the concerned com-mittee will assess the collected inter-est payments to ascertain they are in line with Law No. 32/1968 and 68/1980.

In case the committee fi nds out that the interest payments were collected illegally, the concerned banks and fi nancial institutions will be obliged to transfer the corresponding amount to the clients’ bank accounts or that of the heirs in case the benefi ciary passed away.

The committee will submit reports to the Assembly every three months.

Meanwhile, the parliamentary Interior and Defense Affairs Com-mittee on Thursday discussed bills on amending the National Assembly Election Law and the law on disquali-fying candidates convicted of offend-ing others.

Chairman of the committee MP Mubarak Al- Arow disclosed that the government is uncooperative as it did not attend the meeting to present its opinion on these bills. He said the committee postponed talks on these bills until its next meeting in order to listen to the opinion of the govern-ment.

He also affi rmed the commitment of the committee to fi nalize its reports to pave way for their inclusion in the

agenda of the upcoming session. On the other hand, the Budgets and

Final Accounts Committee discussed last week the budget of Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) for fi scal 2021/2022 and its fi nal ac-counts for fi scals 2018/2019 and 2019/2020.

The committee then issued a state-ment, revealing that the budget of Nazaha for fi scal 2021/2022 reached KD 10 million that is 26 percent higher than the previous year.

The committee also tackled ways to reduce the budget in light of the current economic situation and coro-navirus crisis, which resulted in limit-ing activities such as exhibitions and training courses.

It affi rmed strong coordination between Nazaha and the Ministry of Finance to reduce the budget and in-form the committee about the results later.

It looked into the efforts exerted by Nazaha to combat corruption, in-dicating the authority has received 340 calls about corruption since its establishment.

It deliberated on the appointment policy of Nazaha, during which it stressed the need to grant equal op-portunities to applicants by minimiz-ing the personal interview factor.

It added that the Financial Control-lers Bureau (FCB) praised the com-mitment of Nazaha to address viola-tions as part of its efforts to protect public funds.

MP Osama Al-Shaheen submitted a proposal for ministries and other public institutions to carry out pub-lic awareness campaigns aimed at encouraging citizens and expatriates to get vaccinated against coronavi-rus. He said these campaigns must urge citizens and expatriates to get vaccinated rather than forcing them to do so.

Field for the recruitmentof ‘domestics’ expandedKUWAIT CITY, March 20: The field for the recruitment of domestic workers expanded after the Philip-pines announced recently that the domestic labor recruitment offices in Kuwait are now allowed to hire Filipino domestic workers after the suspension which lasted for more than a year, quoting Al-Qabas daily quoting reliable sources.

Sources confirmed that India also allowed Kuwait’s labor re-cruitment offices to hire female workers and approve employment contracts through them after im-posing the recruitment ban for quite some time.

Sources told the daily that the re-cruitment of female workers from India has become official, as the la-

bor recruitment offices are now pro-cessing applications and contracts in coordination with the Indian Em-bassy which previously stopped the endorsement of contracts for Indian female workers.

Sources expect the recruitment of thousands of Filipino and Indian workers before the holy month of Ramadan in order to radically ad-dress the shortage of domestic work-ers.

Sources also disclosed that work is underway to approve contracts for Kuwaiti labor recruitment offices through the Sri Lankan Embassy, which allows recruitment only through sponsors while prohibiting offices. Sources expect a break-through in this regard soon.

KUWAIT CITY, March 20: After the Court of Appeals turned down the verdict of the Criminal Court and sentenced two State Security officers identified only as N.T. and F.S. to seven years imprison-ment with hard labor and dis-missal from office, the State Security apparatus was hit by a storm, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

The Criminal Court had earlier found the two men not guilty and released them and the Public Prosecution took the case to the Court of Ap-peals.

The State Security officers were charged with misappro-priating important documents pertaining to the Financial In-telligence Unit, illegally enter-ing the computer room of the apparatus and having access to sensitive, information and data.

In this context, senior sourc-es told the daily, Minister of Interior Sheikh Thamer Al-Ali has transferred a number of se-nior officers in the State Secu-rity Agency to the Ministry’s office and replaced them with other second row officials, in-dicating this step is being car-ried out in full cooperation and coordination with the head of the State Security, Major Gen-eral Salem Al-Nawwaf, based on an extensive study and comprehensive reports sub-mitted by Al-Nawwaf.

ProcessThe sources indicated Min-

ister Al-Ali is in the process of compiling a list of the names of officers holding the rank of Colonel who will be promoted to the rank of Brigadier and those holding the rank of Brig-adier to Major-General for the approval of the cabinet, pro-vided that new blood will be pumped into the security sec-tors during the coming period.

The sources said after the recent events that resulted from the leak of information, and after the verification, the minister decided that a large number of former senior of-ficials should be referred to the Ministry’s office and a number of lower rank officers should be promoted particu-larly those whose records are clean to assume senior posi-tions, except for one colonel who remains who remains at the State Security.

The sources stated that Min-ister Al-Ali has asked Major General Salem Al-Nawwaf to reconsider the structure of the apparatus and to remove all those related to previous events from high ranks to re-activate the role of the appa-ratus and restore its prestige away from any suspicions.

The sources indicated that the same directives also stipu-late the development of new and comprehensive percep-tions to deal with develop-ments on the external and internal arenas and distancing the security role from any in-terference by any parties that try to impede it from carrying out its responsibilities.

PlannedThe sources indicated that

the changes that have been made and those that are planned in the next stage will affect all old leaders and those with high ranks without exception in preparation for the launch of the process of rebuilding the apparatus on new professional, scientific and skillful founda-tions and eradicating many of the perceptions that dominated during the last period.

The sources emphasized that the train of change will not stop at the State Security but will continue to advance to include most sectors including criminal investigations and service departments.

The sources admitted that the State Security Appara-tus deviated from its course in the recent period and from the national role entrusted to it in fortifying and protecting the security of the country and its various institutions which allowed some of its affiliates to abuse their authority in spy-ing on some citizens, stressing that it cannot be allowed to fall to the level of the practices of similar agencies in repressive states and republics of fear.

KUWAIT CITY, March 20, (Agencies): The Ministry of Health (MoH) is about to em-bark on a big aware-ness campaign during the next few days – in many languages and in various places and regions – to encourage people to register for the Covid-19 vaccina-tion platform, and then receive the vaccine, re-ports Al-Jarida daily.

The sources told the daily many workers are unable to visit the vaccination centers; therefore, the Ministry of Health has decided to reach them at their work places, pointing to the expansion of vaccination campaign during the coming period.

The health sources explained that the vaccination centers dur-ing the month of Ramadan will work in what the ministry called during ‘comfortable hours’ to provide vaccine during the fast-ing period and after breaking the fast, whether in the main vaccination center in Mishref or in other centers. However, all these details are expected to be announced within the next few days.

The same sources announced the opening of other vaccina-tion centers soon, as the Ministry targets other segments for vac-cination during the next stage, stressing that there is no justifi-cation for delay and reluctance to receive the vaccinations, in light of many great indications for the safety and effectiveness of vac-cines, as vaccinations in Kuwait are very safe.

SymptomsThe sources indicated no

symptoms have been shown by those who received the ‘Covid 19’ vaccination that are of any cause for concern. Therefore, those eligible for vaccination should hurry and receive the vac-cination to protect themselves and society.

Kuwait on Friday reported 1,519 new coronavirus infections and eight virus-related deaths to raise the total to 216,586 and 1,210 respectively, the health ministry said.

The number of people hospi-talized with the virus currently stands at 14,554, with 225 of them in intensive care units, ac-cording to ministry spokesman Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad.

He revealed that some 9,742 swab tests were conducted over the last day out of a total of 1,951,691, adding that the posi-tive case to test ratio amounted to 15.6 percent over the past 24 hours.

The ministry had earlier re-ported that some 1,273 more people had been cured from the virus over the past day, raising the total of those to have over-come the disease to 200,822

He went on to urge nationals and expatriates alike that abiding by health precautions, mainly, following social distancing rules, is the only way to halt the spread of the virus.

Kuwait Ministry of Health (MoH) will receive Pfizer-BioN-Tech COVID-19 vaccine ninth batch next Sunday, said the min-istry Thursday.

In remarks to KUNA, the As-sistant Undersecretary for Medi-cines and Medical Supplies at the Ministry, Dr. Abdullah Al-Bader, affirmed that the ministry contracted with the international company (Pfizer) directly.

He stressed that the ministry constantly and carefully moni-tors the vaccines’ safety after their use, in addition to follow-ing up information and data on the safety, efficacy and quality of vaccines locally and globally and take the necessary measures to ensure the safety of citizens and residents.

Al-Bader called on citizens and residents to register on the vaccination platform while tak-ing all preventive measures and avoiding contact with others and ensuring the implementation of the physical distancing strategy.

The National Guard Bureau has called on its employees to receive the vaccination to pro-tect against the Covid-19 virus in order to ensure their safety and the safety of society, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

A man visits the al-Malwiya minaret at the Al-Mutawakkil Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, March 19. (Inset): People fly a wishing lantern ahead of the Persian New Year – Nowruz – meaning New Day, in Tehran, Iran. (AP)

Newswatch

KUWAIT CITY: The Administrative Court has rejected the lawsuits demanding the end of the partial curfew in the country and sent a series of very important messages to the government, stressing the need to re-view the 12-hour ban period (from 5 pm to 5 am), which increases the losses in various sectors, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The court however called on the con-cerned authorities to continuously review the restrictions and measures in a bid to strike a balance between serving public interests, securing the safety of the society and safeguarding the health system on one hand and preserving the rights of individu-als and their economic and social rights in movements and travel on the other hand.

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DUBAI: A drone attack struck an oil in-stallation in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Ri-yadh on Friday, the Saudi state-run news agency reported, igniting a blaze at the fa-cility deep in the kingdom’s territory.

The dawn attack caused no injuries or damage, and did not disrupt oil sup-plies, according to the offi cial Saudi Press Agency.

The kingdom is facing more frequent airborne assaults as Saudi-led coalition forces battle Iran-backed Houthi rebels across the southern border in Yemen. Most recently, drones struck Ras Tanura, the country’s largest crude oil refi nery with capacity of 550,000 barrels a day, raising concerns about the expanding ca-pabilities of Saudi arabia’s regional foes.

Details about Friday’s attack remained slim, and authorities did not name the facil-ity. Saudi arabian Oil Co., the kingdom’s oil giant, operates a refi nery just southeast of Riyadh that produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other products for consumption around the capital. (Agencies)

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MENLO PARK, California: Facebook says it is working on a version of its In-stagram app for kids under 13, who are technically not allowed to use the app in its current form due to federal privacy regulations.

The company confi rmed an earlier re-port by Buzzfeed News on Friday, saying it is “exploring a parent-controlled experi-ence” on Instagram.

The move came just a day after facebook announced a slew of new measures intend-ed to keep teenagers safe on Instagram — but that announcement made no mention of the plan to build an Instagram for kids.

Critics raised concerns immediately, saying a kid-friendly Instagram is just a way for facebook to expand its user base and condition children into using its prod-ucts so it can later make money off of them. (AP)

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ANKARA: Turkish authorities have asked three Istanbul-based Egyptian opposition TV channels to soften their critical politi-cal coverage of Egypt’s government, as Turkey seeks to repair frayed ties with Cairo, offi cials at one of the channels said

Friday.Ayman Nour, an exiled Egyptian op-

position fi gure and head of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked al-Sharq television station, confi rmed in televised comments that Turkish offi cials demanded that the channels tone down their rhetoric. He said they were not ordered to shut down or to stop airing programs.

“A dialogue has started between us and Turks in the framework of changing the rhetoric (of these channels),”Nour said.

An editor at al-Sharq told The Associ-ated Press that Turkish offi cials made the request during a meeting in Istanbul on Thursday with managers from al-Sharq and two other channels, Mekamleen and Watan. The offi cials told the broadcast managers they could continue to make programs about Egypt but not against the Egyptian government, citing Turkey’s negotiations with Egypt, according to the editor. (AP)

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UNITED NATIONS: The United States warned Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday that the Biden administration will not recognize the result of its upcom-ing presidential election unless the voting is free, fair, supervised by the United Na-tion and represents all of Syrian society.

The acting U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, said that “it’s clear that the regime will leverage the upcoming presidential elec-tions in May to unfairly claim Assad’s legitimacy.”

Stressing that the Biden administration’s opposition to elections that aren’t free, fair, representative and U.N.-supervised, De-Laurentis echoed U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in saying that “a cred-ible political settlement cannot wait.”

He spoke at an event marking 10 years of confl ict in Syria organized by the Syr-ian National Coalition, which represents groups opposed to Assad. (AP)

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ISTANBUL: Turkey has withdrawn from a landmark European treaty protecting women from violence that it was the fi rst to sign 10 years ago and that bears the name of its largest city.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decree early Saturday annulling Turkey’s ratifi cation of the Istanbul Convention is a blow to women’s rights advocates, who say the agreement is crucial to combating domestic violence.

Violence against and killing of wom-en is on the rise in Turkey, according to rights groups.

A total of 77 women have been killed since the start of the year, according to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform. At least 409 women were killed in 2020, accord-ing to the group.

Some offi cials from Erdogan’s Islam-oriented party have advocated a review of the agreement, claiming it encourages di-vorce and promotes LGBT culture which they say are contrary to the country’s con-servative values. (AP)

2ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021

editor’s choice

In collaboration with playwright and director Karim Rashid, Abu Dhabi Festival announced the launch of its annual UAE Theatre Circle, hosting a

series of Arabic interactive panels and discussions led by international theatre leaders and staging three plays in Arabic and English. The event is part of Abu Dhabi Festival’s strategy and vision to nurture the next generation of emerg-ing theatre makers and equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to develop the national theatre sector.

The in-depth talks and workshops will be held online until 8 April, 2021. Students and theatre enthusiasts can register here.

The UAE Theatre Circle will also stage three plays from April to November in partnership with The Junction. The first will take place on 7 to 10 April at The Junction in Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue of Jeffrey Hatcher’s English-language suspense thriller, Holmes and Watson, directed by Gautam Goenka. Additional plays featured at The Junction later this year include 10%, in Ara-bic and 12 Angry Jurors, in English.

H.E. Huda I. Alkhamis-Kanoo, Founder of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and Artistic Director of Abu Dhabi Festival, said: “In a progres-sive society where many cultures coexist, theatre gives us new perspectives and creates dialogue. Investing in young Arabic language theatre makers, ADMAF supports as a fundamental part of the UAE’s flourishing arts eco-system. Through training and mentorship with leading industry professionals, the UAE Theatre Circle cultivates emerging talent to realize their potential.”

The event commenced on 11 March with a panel led by Iraqi-Swedish play-

wright and director Dr. Karim Rashid and included individual interviews with five theatre artists, as well as presentations, videos and discussions, in addi-tion to a Q&A session with attendees. Rashid will moderate the remaining conversations in the series.

The second talk titled Young People and the Future of Theatre, will take place on 18 March, with speaker Yasser Al-Qerqawi, Director of Programs and Partnerships at the UAE’s Ministry of Tolerance. The talk will explore the artistic and cultural aspirations of younger generations in the UAE and how theatre can enhance or achieve them. It will look at interactive theatre as a medium for cultural exchange in Arab societies, creating a new relationship between performers and audience. Al Gergawi will also discuss what cultural administrations do to invest in youth theatre as a means of supporting and promoting culture and high art.

“Abu Dhabi’s strategy to combat Covid-19 does not focus solely on medi-cal actions and social distancing, but also includes the intellectual aspects and cultural rapprochement efforts. This in particular encouraged me to take part in this unprecedented battle to safeguard our memory, and to overcome these challenges with our hope, enlightenment and intellectual capabilities.” said Dr. Ghuloom.

The third session, The Contemporary City and Forms of Theatre, will be held 22 March, with professor and theatre director Lina Abyad. She will speak about theatre in today’s Arab city, the division and tension between art and the public and how interactive theatre creates a new type of cultural exchange

in Arab societies. Abyad will also examine the relationship between Arab theatre and international theatre in the future.

The fourth session, The Theatre in Multicultural Societies, experiences From Arabic Theatre In the Diaspora, will take place on 25 March with Dr. Johanna Sellman, assistant professor of Arabic literature in The Ohio State University, and researcher on migration, literature and theatre. Sellman will explore the issue of contemporary Arab theatre makers in diaspora feeling the need to navigate expectations of western audiences, and she will look at collaborations between professional theatre makers and local diasporic com-munities.

On 1 April, the fifth session, Emirati Theatre and Future Generations, will provide an overview of the diverse theatre styles in local festivals. Actor, writer and theatre and television director Habib Ghuloom will look at up-coming developments in theatre festivals, outcomes of the establishment of performing arts academies in the Emirates and the connections and divisions between art the public in the UAE.

A panel discussion on 8 April will bring all the speakers together for a con-versation titled At the Threshold of the Future of Theatre, with Karim Rashid, Yasser Al-Qerqawi, Lina Abyad, Dr. Johanna Sellman and Habib Ghuloom.

For more information, please visit: AbuDhabiFestival.ae, and follow Abu Dhabi Festival on Facebook (abudhabifestival), Twitter(@abudhabi_fest) and Instagram (@abudhabifestival) for more updates on the year-long 2021 pro-gramme and upcoming events.

Abu Dhabi nurtures performing arts

Theatre circle continues year-long program

Main picture: Lina Abyad. Inset left: Johanna Sellman and right: Yasser Al-Qerqawi

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

Over 117,000 people engaged in first hybrid eventThe Emirates Airline Festival of Literature (29 January-13 February) is cel-

ebrating a hugely successful edition after reporting strong engagement for its first hybrid festival, staging a blended programme of virtual and physically present authors across three venues.

More than 90 authors took part in this year’s festival, of which almost a third were Emirati. The balanced programme offered an equal split of Arabic and English language sessions. Socially distanced measures meant audience numbers were restricted compared with previous years, but thousands of visi-tors were still enabled to enjoy the live sessions in person, with others engag-ing via the digital pass.

International authors from 26 countries joined the Festival virtually, includ-ing Nobel Prize winner Malala, Elif Shafak, Amin Maalouf and Lemn Sissay, all of whom had sold-out live audiences attending the sessions with a locally based moderator on stage in Dubai.

The Festival has been praised for enabling many of the events to be enjoyed live, in a safe and socially distant way. The Festival’s digital ticket, giving ac-cess to a dozen live streamed sessions including Malala and Elif Shafak, and a dedicated creative partnership link enabled creative professionals from as far afield as Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, and the USA to view the sessions.

Festival director Ahlam Bolooki said: “It has been an exhilarating few weeks, with some unprecedented challenges. Our amazing team rose to these beautifully, and I am so proud of them for making the Festival possible. The audiences who came during the three weekends were thrilled to be able to once again enjoy our unique Festival atmosphere and experience it safely as a live event. We’ve also had a wonderful response to the mix of sessions which enabled authors from all parts of the globe to be part of the festival virtually, when they couldn’t join us physically.”

Thousands of pupils from 82 schools throughout the UAE benefited from

the Students’ Edition of the Festival, featuring exclusive sessions from Ali Sparkes, Isabel Thomas, Julia Johnson, Ben Baily Smith & Sav Akyüz, Sam Copeland, Fatima Albreiki, Sanaa Chabbani, Obada Takla, and Nafya Alyasi, which were available to view from 7 February – 4 March 2021 for schools that registered to participate.

The Festival was held with the support of Founding Partners Emirates Air-line and the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, the Emirate’s dedicated author-ity for culture, heritage, arts, and literature.

Badr Abbas, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Africa, Emir-ates Airline said: “This year’s festival took place in a changed world, and even if part of the event went virtual, the community still managed to safely get together outdoors for live sessions, workshops and performances. This will always be one of Dubai’s most dynamic events, and we look forward to sup-porting many more years of festivals that include a diverse range of topics and speakers, supported by the energy and enthusiasm of literary lovers.”

For the first time the Festival took place across three weekends and three venues - Jameel Arts Centre (29-30 January), the big middle weekend at the Festival’s home, the InterContinental Dubai Festival City (4-6 February) and Alserkal Avenue (12-13 February).

Dubai Culture & Arts Authority sponsored a ‘Spotlight on Emirati Talent’. HE Hala Badri, Director General of Dubai Culture, praised the great suc-

cess of the Festival this year and the remarkable interaction of audiences. She said: “The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature once again embodied a great model for cooperation and integration in support of cultural and creative industries and creative talents. The event presented an innovative platform for cultural dialogue that allowed the world to be witnesses from different perspectives, enhancing Dubai’s position as a thriving global hub for cul-ture, writers and thinkers. Our Emirati talents stood out in this year’s edition through a rich and fun programme that we had devoted to these distinguished

talents on Emirati Day, as part of our efforts to enable participation every-where and for everyone while also supporting local talents. We were very pleased to see the remarkable interaction of various groups of society with this day, with more many visitors having attended its activities, reflecting the vitality of our society and their interest in culture and creativity as well as providing a promising and bright future for the Emirati community based on knowledge and thought.”

The ‘Spotlight on Emirati talent day’ included a discussion between HE Hala Badri and HE Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri on the UAE’s cultural visa for creatives. H.E. Noura Al Kaabi also spoke on the future of the Arabic language.

A highlight of the middle weekend of the Festival was the celebration of the new children’s books from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. There was also the launch of the book Young Voices of Arabia, celebrating the first regional winners of Voices of Future Generations.

The opening events at Jameel Arts Centre (29-30 January) included the 2020 Booker-nominated novelist Avni Doshi, art and design workshops and exhibitions, poetry, creative writing and more. The final weekend included HE Omar Ghobash, Lemn Sissay in conversation, and an inspiring festival finale celebrating poetry, with Dana Dajani, Lemn Sissay, Afra Atiq, Mark Fiddes, Shamma Al Bastaki, Danabelle Gutierrez and Zeina Hashem Beck.

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will return in 2022.The Festival is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Moham-

med Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the Unit-ed Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai.

More information can be found online and year-round news of #Emir-atesLitFest on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

You can also tune in to the Foundation’s two podcasts; the Best of the Emir-ates LitFest, and the Boundless Book Club.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021 3

Fajr ........ 04:32Sunrise .. 05:51Zohr ....... 11:56

Asr .......... 15:23Maghrib .. 17:59Isha ........ 19:16

Prayer TimingsExpected weather for the next 24 hours:

By Day: Rather hot with light to moderate north westerly wind to northerly wind with speeds of 12-38 km/h and some scattered clouds will appear.

By Night: Rather cold with light

to moderate north westerly wind to light variable wind with speeds of 08-35 km/h.Station Max Exp Min RecKuwait City 29 18Kuwait Airport 30 19Abdaly 30 12Bubyan - -

Jahra 30 17Failaka Island - -Salmiyah 26 19Ahmadi 25 20Nuwaisib 29 16Wafra 30 17Salmy 29 13

Weather

VACCINE REGISTRATION WEBSITE: https://cov19vaccine.moh.gov.kw/SPCMS/CVD_19_Vaccine_Registration.aspx

Eve-teasers will be dealt with strictly: Maj-Gen Al-Zuabi

Technology to replace physical visits to police stations by publicKUWAIT CITY, March 20: The Assis-tant Undersecretary for Public Security Affairs at the Ministry of Interior Major-General Faraj Al-Zuabi indicated about proposals and ideas that would reduce the frequency of the public’s visits to police stations, by replacing this step with modern technology, reports Al-Anba daily.

In a press statement, he highlighted that there are studies related to the reg-istration of some reports such as online cases of lost property, whereby the per-son fi les his case of lost property online according to specifi c controls, and then obtains an abstract that is taken to the rel-evant authority.

Major-General Al-Zuabi announced a quasi-contract among the Public Security Sector, the Directorate General of Inves-tigations, and the insurance companies.

He explained that the reconciliation or-der would be activated without the need for any of the involved parties to visit the police stations. The offi cer, after inspect-ing the incident and acknowledging the parties are at fault, gives the victim a pa-per which the latter needs to take to the insurance company to initiate the repair of his car, all of which takes a short time that may not exceed 30 minutes.

During the years 2018, 2019 and 2020, about 120,000 reconciliation orders were

made on various types of traffi c accidents. The new ideas will enter into force after overcoming simple components repre-sented in the work of application and be-ing associated with insurance companies. Reconciliation orders will be made on-line, and this falls within the framework of the strategy of the Minister of Interior Sheikh Thamer Al-Ali to expand the use of communication technology.

Regarding the phenomenon of eve-teasing and harassment, Major-General Al-Zuabi stressed that he does not tol-erate such cases, and that the police are deployed with clear instructions to deal with them in this regard so that any har-asser is arrested and referred to the police station and the victim is summoned for investigation.

He added that the harasser is referred to the relevant authority, but if it is a ju-venile, he will be referred to the Juvenile Prosecution.

Major-General Al-Zuabi highlighted the cooperation of the owners of com-mercial complexes and the appointment of private security guards to reduce the phenomena of eve teasing and harass-ment.

He affi rmed the presence of security points and the proliferation of police of-fi cers inside the complexes to address such unacceptable behaviors.

KUNA photoPakistan’s President Arif Alvi received the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister and State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad

Al-Sabah and the accompanying delegation in Islamabad on Friday.

Cleaning companies warned

‘Remove rubble, waste in 2 mths’By Abdul Nasser Al-Aslami

Al-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, March 20: The Minis-ter of State for Housing and Urban Devel-opment, Minister of State for Municipal Affairs, Shaya Al-Shaya, has given the cleaning and road works departments in the concerned governorates three months to remove rubble and waste, to eliminate the negative phenomena in Al-Wafra and Abdali farms and the surrounding areas.

He stressed the contracts of the clean-ing companies in all the governorates must be followed up to every minute de-tail to ensure that there is no discrepancy and called for terminating the contract of any cleaning company if the work is not completed in the specifi ed time limit.

Al-Shaya said during his fi eld tour – accompanied by the presence of the Di-rector-General of the Municipality, Engr Ahmed Al-Manfouhi in Al-Wafra - the Cabinet meetings have touched on the level of hygiene, expressing dissatisfac-tion as a result of a failure to follow up, and this is unacceptable, and “it saddens me seeing the waste for a month in one of the sites without any move to clean this area.”

Al-Shaya called on the directors of cleaning companies to prepare daily, weekly and monthly reports on clean-ing work in the governorates, especially areas that suffer from neglect, such as farms.

He said many complaints were re-ceived about non-urban landscapes on farms, which put pressure on Municipal offi cials to intensify businesses in those areas, calling on farm owners to coop-erate with the municipality and not to dump waste in places not designated for it, whether in the squares or between ag-ricultural holdings.

He stressed the need to raise the level of hygiene in the agricultural areas of Al-Wafra, Kabd and Al-Abdali within two months.

For his part, Eng Al-Manfouhi said that all cleaning departments must work and rectify the faults related to Al-Wafra farms, stressing that all possible mecha-nisms will be provided to the departments in order to address and follow-up work.

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Training engineers: The Undersecretary for the Offi ce of the Minister of State for Youth Affairs, Dr. Meshaal Al-Rabe’ea, has signed a memorandum of under-standing (MoU) with the Limak Compa-ny for training female Kuwaiti engineers,

MPW mulls plan

‘At work’ via phoneKUWAIT CITY, March 20: The Ministry of Public Works (MPW) in coordination with the Civil Service Council (CSC) is planning to make it possible for the min-istry employees to mark their fi ngerprint attendance via the smart phone, reports Al-Anba daily quoting reliable sources.

The sources added the idea was pre-sented by the ministry to the CSC as part of its strategy, which aims to pro-tect its employees from the Corona pan-demic, and that the ministry is waiting for a response from the CSC.

The sources explained the total num-ber of employees at the MPW is 14,800. The sources noted the idea initiated by the ministry comes in light of the contin-ued implementation of the precaution-ary measures imposed by the health authorities in the country to limit the spread of the new coronavirus.

The sources pointed out the ministry has set various guidelines for its em-ployees, and among these measures are social distancing, preventing em-ployee from visiting offi ces unless in ur-gent issues, constant use of sterilizers, and adherence to guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health.

Boost eyed in multi-lateral ties

Kuwait FM meets Pakistan President, PM

ISLAMABAD, March 20, (KUNA): Pakistan and Kuwait have expressed their desire to pro-mote economic relations with each other during the visit of Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Sheikh Dr. Ah-mad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah to Pakistan.

Talking to his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmoud Qureshi at Pakistan Foreign Offi ce here in Islamabad, the visiting Kuwaiti Foreign Minister said his country wants to promote economic relations with Pakistan.

He appreciated the positive contribution of more than 100,000 expatriate Pakistanis to-wards the development of the State of Kuwait.

He thanked Pakistan for support and coop-eration during the global pandemic, in par-ticular in the health sector and food security of Kuwait.

According to the Pakistan Foreign Offi ce, during the meeting, the Foreign Ministers re-viewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including cooperation in political, economic, defense, trade and investment sectors, and manpower export, and discussed ways to en-hance people-to-people linkages between the two countries.

The resolve to continue close collabora-tion in multilateral fora, in particular the United Nations and the Organization of Is-lamic Cooperation (OIC), was reaffi rmed.

During the meeting, Qureshi said that Pa-kistan is desirous to increase the volume of bilateral trade with Kuwait. He further said, “We are looking forward to the early conven-ing of the Fifth Joint Ministerial Commission between Pakistan and Kuwait.” He said there are vast opportunities of cooperation be-tween the two countries in the areas energy, technology, health, education and defense.

Qureshi pointed out that more than 100,000 Pakistanis living in Kuwait are play-ing a positive role in the development of the country. He said Pakistan has transformed its geopolitical priorities into geo-economic priorities.

The Pakistani Foreign Minister said that Pakistan is facilitating the foreign investment in different sectors of economy, adding that

Pakistan’s ranking in the ease of doing busi-ness has improved.

He welcomed Kuwaiti investment in the country. The Foreign Minister thanked Ku-wait for supporting the Kashmir resolution passed by the OIC foreign ministers at its meeting in Niger.

Earlier in the day, the visiting Kuwaiti dig-nitary reached the Pakistan Foreign Offi ce here in Islamabad where his Pakistani coun-terpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi welcomed him. The visit of the Kuwaiti Foreign Min-ister comes in the backdrop of the bilateral meeting held with Foreign Minister Qureshi on the sidelines of the 47th Session of OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Niamey, Ni-ger, in November 2020.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi received the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister and State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah in Islamabad on Friday.

The offi cials discussed the two countries’ close, historical bilateral relations, and means to develop these multi-faceted ties into a stra-tegic partnership, along with several issues of mutual concern.

Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Af-fairs Ali Al-Saeed, Kuwait’s Ambassador to Pakistan Nasser Al-Mutairi, Deputy Assis-tant Foreign Minister for the Foreign Minis-ter’s Offi ce Ahmad Al-Shuraim and a num-ber of senior Foreign Ministry offi cials also attended the talks.

Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Ah-mad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah also met on Thursday with Pakistani Prime Min-ister Imran Khan on the occasion of his of-fi cial visit to the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

During the meeting Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad delivered a written letter from Kuwait’s Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah to his Pakistani counterpart related to bilat-eral relations and ways to enhance them in all fi elds.

The meeting was attended by Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs Ambassa-dor Ali Al-Saeed, Kuwait Ambassador to Pa-kistan Nasser Al-Mutairi, Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for Foreign Minister Offi ce Affairs Counselor Ahmad Abdulrahman A-Shuraim and a number of senior offi cials at the ministry.

KUNA photoKuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah delivers the written message from the Kuwaiti Prime Minister to the Prime Minister of Pakistan

Imran Khan.

‘Daman’ inks deal

Students called

Smart, rapid solutions

‘Register for vaccine’

KUWAIT CITY, March 20: The Health Insurance Hospi-tals Company (Daman) announced the signing of a Unifi ed Health File System (EMR) agreement with InterSystems - a leader in innovative data technology - to help customers fi nd smart solutions and rapid interoperability, reports Al-Jarida daily.

The agreement was signed during the virtual ceremony by Dr Muhammad Al-Qanaei - acting CEO of Daman, and Ali Abi Raad, Regional Director for the Middle East and India at InterSystems.

The agreement is part of a comprehensive strategy to develop the electronic medical records system and provide Daman health facilities with the latest technologies and ap-plications to launch an integrated electronic medical system to meet the needs of the health care network, medical staff and patients. Daman will implement and develop the unifi ed health fi le in two phases.

The fi rst phase will start now in primary health care cent-ers in the areas of Hawally, Farwaniya and Dajeej, while the second phase will be implemented in succession in 12 simi-lar centers and three hospitals spread over the governorates of Kuwait.

In this context, Director of the Information Technology Department at Daman Engr Abdullah Al-Najjar said: “As one of the strategic projects in the National Development Plan (New Kuwait 2035), the vision of Daman Company is to contribute to the development of the health sector in terms of quality, indicators and health care services in the State of Kuwait.

In order to achieve these goals, Daman adopts the appli-cation of modern scientifi c systems with best practices and international standards as basic elements for achieving smart and practical health care through digital transformation.

He added the agreement allows patients to access their fi les at any time and from anywhere through multiple elec-tronic channels, and it also provides the medical team with the ability to know and analyze the health status of each pa-tient separately.

InterSystems Regional Director for the Middle East and India Ali Abi Raad added: “The health care sector in the State of Kuwait is witnessing a tangible qualitative shift in focus on digital transformation and investment in health care, as they are two main axes of the vision of (New Kuwait 2035).”

KUWAIT CITY, March 20: The Ministry of Education has called on all students who are 16 years and above to register on the Ministry of Health’s website to get the COVID-19 vaccine, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Assistant Undersecretary for Special and Quality Educa-tion Dr Abdul-Mohsen Al-Huwaila said all employees of private schools with different educational systems, along with male and female students whose ages are 16 years old and above, are invited to register for vaccination.

Al-Huwaila explained the health authorities in the coun-try recommended the initiative to register for vaccination in order to protect all people and contribute to accelerating community immunity, as it is the only way out of the corona crisis and return to normal life.

He pointed out this call is in light of the results of coordina-tion between the ministries of Health and Education in adding all members of the educational and administrative bodies in special education schools in the category of workers provid-ing basic services who are given priority in vaccination.

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College of Medicine: The Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the Kuwait University, Dr. Iman Maqdis, has stressed on the importance of the activities of the 25th annual scientifi c poster conference of the College of Medicine in providing distinct research opportunities in the Faculties of the Medical Sciences Center and other scientifi c colleges in a manner that they contribute to identifying ex-isting research activities and exploring and discussing new collaborative opportunities in the fi eld of scientifi c research, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

Maqdis said in a press statement on the sidelines of the launch of the virtual conference the continuation of the Col-lege of Medicine in providing its educational services annu-ally stems from the reality of its scientifi c responsibility and the academic and administrative excellence of this ancient scientifi c edifi ce.

which falls within the project included in the state’s development plan, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

Al-Rabe’ea said in a press statement this project aims to empower women, activate their role and qualify them to work in the private sector within an integrated training program targeting newly graduated Kuwaiti engineers from various disciplines presented by the Limak Company under the supervi-sion of the offi ce.

He explained the program will soon be announced on the website of the Offi ce of the Minister of State for Youth Af-fairs, pointing to the offi ce’s endeavor to provide job opportunities for Kuwaiti youth and solve the unemployment prob-lem that youth suffer from.

It is noteworthy to make a mention that the project is included in the State’s development plan, which is working to prepare integrated programs within the National Youth Policy projects and has been approved by the Council of Minis-ters in charge of implementing them and the Offi ce of the Minister of State for Youth Affairs.

LOCALARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021

4

PART takes advantage of partialcurfew to repair roads: Qazwini

‘Emergency teams working 24/7 to receive complaints’

Photo by Bassam Abu ShanabOne of the roads being repaired.

Steps taken by health minister hailed

Physiotherapists deserve infection, risk & pollution allowances: Khamis

By Marwa Al-BahrawiAl-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, March 20: The head of the Kuwaiti Physiotherapy Society, Hana Al-Khamis, has called on the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to approve the payment of ‘infection, risk and pollution’ allowances to workers of the Ministry of Health in various job cat-egories, including ‘physiotherapy’ pointing to the sac-rifices made by everyone during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying their efforts must be appreciated.

Al-Khamis, in a press statement, praised the step taken by Minister of Health, Dr Basil Al-Sabah to address the CSC to disburse these allowances and preserve the leave balance for all employees in all job categories without exception, noting that all workers in the Ministry of Health are in the same boat and there must be no differentia-tion between them, since everyone works for Kuwait.

She stated that the infection, risk and pollution allowances are due also to physiotherapists due to the risks they are exposed to similar to other profes-sions, stressing the need to compensate

the employees for their accumulated leave balance to protect their moral and material rights, calling on the CSC to resolve the issue as soon as possible to encourage and motivate workers in the Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is racing against time to provide immu-nity for the community against (Covid-19), as citizens and residents flock in their hundreds every day at the 15 vaccination centers distributed over the six governorates to receive the vac-cine.

The head of the Public Health Department at the Jahra Health District, Dr Firas Al-Shimmari, said the Al-Naseem Health Center working 12 hours a day, receives between 350 and 500 people daily to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Al-Shimmari said the center has started receiving patients suffering from chronic diseases, including chest allergies, pointing out that allergies which he called simple ones such as itchy skin or mild chest do not affect the health of the patient and it is safe to receive the vaccination, unlike patients suffering from acute allergies.

Al-Shimmari pointed to the coordi-nation and cooperation with the Al-Rashed Center for Allergy to iden-tify various types of allergy cases which helps reduce the number of people admitted to hospitals.

KUNA photosTop and above: People seen shopping during the partial curfew in some of the cooperative societies.

Plenty of consumables, easy shopping during partial curfewThe consumer cooperative societ-ies will continue to serve the citi-zens and residents from 5:00 pm until 10:00 pm every day during the curfew - the partial curfew is from 5:00 pm until 5:00 am - if the visitor obtains permission (barcode) from the Ministry of Commerce and

Industry.The spokesman for the consumer

cooperative societies said the coop-eratives sector will continue to pro-vide services to its visitors.

He added, plenty of products are available whether in terms of fruits, vegetables or other consumables

and said there is no need to panic.He said all visitors must adhere to

precautionary measures, especially when it comes to wearing medical mask and physical distancing.

The partial curfew that came into effect on March 7 is expected to end on April 8. (KUNA)

Municipal Council to hold extraordinary session MondayKUWAIT CITY, March 20: The Municipal Council will hold an extraordinary session next Monday to consider some of the requests the council has received, foremost of which is the request from the Ministry of Health to reallocate government land that was previously allocated for building private hospitals, reports Al-Jarida daily.

The council will also discuss the request of the office of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad regarding the reorganiza-

tion of some of the plots of land belonging to His Highness located in the East and Raqqa region and the development of the surrounding road network, in addition to discussing the request submitted by the Federation of Consumer Cooperative Societies and the Mishref and Al-Rawdah societies following the decision taken by the Municipal Council.

The council also examined several proposals, the most prominent of which is the proposal of Member Abd al-Salam Al-Randi on increasing the

percentage of construction in private housing areas and in modern areas, and the proposal submitted by member Mishaal Al-Hamdan regarding the allocation and maintenance of beaches where people go for swimming and making necessary security and safety arrangements.

This is in addition to the proposal submitted by member Maha Al-Baghli on the use of smart traffic signals and suggestion of another member Dr Hassan Kamal regarding providing power supply to residential plots.

KUWAIT CITY, March 20: Director of the Highway and Bridge Maintenance Department at the Public Authority for Roads and Trans-portation (PART) Engr Muhammad Al-Qazwini said in a press statement that PART is currently carrying out its work at the Sixth Ring Road, King Fahad Expressway, Fifth Ring Road, Ghazali Road, and Jahra Road, reports Al-Anba daily.

He indicated that King Fahad Expressway project is divided into four phases and work is cur-rently ongoing in full swing, especially during the partial cur-few period.

Engr Al-Qazwini revealed that there are clear and explicit directives from the Minister of Public Works and the State Minister for Information Technology Dr Rana Al-Faris and the Director General of PART Engr Soha Ashkanani to take advantage of the partial curfew period to carry out max-imum repair works and cover the larg-est possible area of the road network.

He said, “We have emergency teams working 24 hours a day to receive complaints and to ensure safe-ty”, adding that the complaints are dealt with immediately.

Affirming that PART is con-cerned with building highways and internal roads, bridges and infra-structure, Engr Al-Qazwini revealed that, “In the future, we will start with the railway or the metro proj-ect”.

He added, “As for the Road Maintenance Department, it super-vises the maintenance of all high-ways and bridges, including pedes-trian bridges”.

Engr Al-Qazwini explained that all procedures are carried out with the application of security and safety rules in coordination with the con-cerned parties, especially the Ministry of Interior, which cooper-ates continuously with PART in clos-ing roads and securing traffic.

Al-Khamis

LOCALARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021

5

R E M E M B E R W H E N

A DIGEST OF PUBLIC OPINION

diwaniya‘Govt needs to expedite economic reforms ... let ‘future funds’ be’“IN LIGHT of the intensifi cation of the crisis between the executive and legislative authorities, which disrupted the formation of the new govern-ment and led to the postponement of the National Assembly sessions for a month, a bill came to withdraw 5 billion dinars from the Future Generations Fund to bridge the budget defi cit, which will reach 55.4 bil-lion dinars in the next fi ve years, adding to the fl are-up and anger of the parliament and the people,” columnist Mishari Al-Matraqa wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“Kuwait is a rich country and reaching this economic downturn and its exposure to the lack of cash and the inability to pay salaries and subsidies opens the door wide to questions related to who is responsible for this miserable situation, and why the matter was allowed to reach this stage? Why does the government not think outside the fund and look for solutions other than the money of future generations?

“In fact, the government’s project to withdraw ‘billions’ annually from the Future Generations Fund puts it at the crosshairs of criticism, and strengthens the viewpoint of those who accuse it of being confused and not having a clear vision to run the country.

“At heart is not only the economic issue but also the health one after a decision was made to allow the return of immigrants, and then cancelling the decision after a few hours. The situation gave the government critics an opportunity to say what they want because the gov-ernment deals with important issues in a superfi cial and random manner and the solutions are temporary, hasty and ill-considered.

“The government is required to review its policies and accelerate the pace of economic reforms through deliberate plans that do not depend on touching citizens’ salaries or imposing taxes on them but by making use of Kuwait’s money with investments at home and abroad, rational-izing government spending and reviewing foreign aid on which billions are spent annually. What we lack is good management, proper planning, fi ghting spoilers, and working in the interest of Kuwait not in the interest of individuals.”

Also:“During the past period, the government has taken several escalating

measures against the opposition MPs in particular and the rest of the members in general including the most important of which is not only suspending sessions but also closing the door to passing transactions. The government also has raised its escalating tone in some of its measures against reformers outside parliament, and this is a clear and defi ant tone that was not known in previous governments,” columnist Tha’ar Al-

Rashidi wrote for Al-Anba daily. “With this approach the government wants to dot the i’s and cross

the t’s and publicly announce that it has the upper hand. In the past, the government was the one that had the upper hand as well but it did not announce this openly but rather preferred to make secret moves (under the table) through bargaining with MPs during interrogations or during political crises, but the government, with this new approach knows that it will face off the table and that it will reduce its deals under the table but work openly (the US President Donald) Trump style.

In both cases, the government controls the political scene and most of the game’s strings and there is no need for it to conclude its deals or an-nounce its direction over or under the table, or behind or in front of the scenes, in both cases it has at least the predominant strings of the game.

“When the government showed its face publicly in this way to impose its control in the open it would have met some popular or logical accept-ance if it were in its new line to confront opposition politically or went or fi ght corruption with the same intensity and tone and announced it explic-itly and even presented it as part of its work program that it is supposed to adopt it after it is formed.

“If the government was serious in the beginning with a new approach, and if it really wanted to confront opposition in a scientifi c and successful manner, it would have been more appropriate for it to include its speech and program of action -- decisions and laws -- and adopt projects that concern the people, such as the housing issue and the citizen’s well-being, and declare it is for the benefi t of the citizens and not against them.

“Its program should also include a message containing the announce-ment of clear steps to combat corruption, the most important of which is closing the gate of fi nancial waste in bids (tenders) based on favoritism and nepotism to those close to the government.

“Starting to close the fi les of corruption that are still open is an inevi-table necessity and leaving them unresolved or leaving them suspended is a catastrophe because it indicates the government’s approach has only changed against the opposition and reformers, and this is a bad sign for the political street but I hope that the government will change its approach completely at all levels without discrimination.

“With the next session we will know in what direction we are heading.”❑ ❑ ❑

“The news that attracts the attention of the viewers or readers is the news of the dismissal of ministers from their posts. This word ‘dismissal’ undoubtedly means a great deal in the concept of government service. It indicates the gravity of the mistake committed as a result of the exploita-tion of the ministerial position or the occurrence of a major mistake”, columnist Adel Al-Ibrahim wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“When you realize that the reason for the dismissal is that the minister

does not adhere to health measures to confront COVID-19, such news is shocking. Does the penalty require removal from offi ce?! Yes, this is what happened in Jordan recently where two ministers were dismissed for violating the precautionary measures.

These are the steps that must be taken here in Kuwait. Unfortunately, many offi cials are far from adhering to the government’s health measures, so how can the average citizen be persuaded?!

In previous articles and others, we indicated the importance of adher-ing to health instructions if we really want to overcome the ordeal of the pandemic and relieve the increasing pressure on health services, which undoubtedly is now beginning to groan from the increase in the number of cases particularly in intensive care.

The example comes from the commitment of those in charge of eve-rything that is required and commendable, especially with regard to gov-ernment work, which issues instructions and directives to the public and imposes fi nes and penalties on those who do not abide by them!

If those who issue these instructions are not committed to implement-ing them, then where is the example for others?! The example now is necessary in all matters of life, particularly the government performance due to its direct attachment to the citizens. It is the behavior of the offi cials that the citizens see, and the behavior that they must follow.”

❑ ❑ ❑

“Two weeks ago, the government imposed partial curfew as the num-ber of people infected with coronavirus doubled, the intensive care cases increased and we returned to square one,” columnist Abdulqader Abdul-mohsen Al-Hamoud wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“I do not blame the government for making this decision. Unfortunate-ly, some people cannot and do not respect health procedures and regula-tions.

“According to social media reports, the Ministry of Health recorded dozens of infections due to a wedding ceremony, social event or dinner banquet.

“The blame is not on government decisions, but on non-compliant peo-ple. As for the government’s fl aws, its procedures regarding those violat-ing health regulations are lax. We all hope to see military men roaming the streets and residential areas, as well as the Municipality men check-ing the restaurants and men’s salons and assigning women to monitor women’s salons throughout the country. We want the law to be strictly enforced.

“The strict application of the law could lead us to a smaller number of infection and get us closer to resumption of normal life like other coun-tries, especially since the curfew caused huge losses to many establish-ments and these losses are still increasing day by day.”

— Compiled by Ahmad Al-Shazli

Mishari Al-Matraqa

© N.M.M.

Photograph courtesy of The Center for Re-search and Studies on Kuwait and the work of Dr Yacoub Al-Hijji in the book Old-Kuwait: Memories in Photographs fi rst published in 1996.

Courtesy of The Center for Research and Studies on Kuwait

As their ship approached a safe harbor after weeks of sailing in the open sea, the mariners of Kuwait stood hold-ing their drums, ready to celebrate their safe arrival. This is a Kuwaiti boom entering the port of Maturah in Oman, her deck alive with song.

Elements of music and folklore existed as part of the culture of old Kuwait. Ladies sang and danced in wedding ceremonies. Men played the lute and danced, and bedouins of

the desert played rababah and sang in their tents. The sailors of Ku-wait also had special songs and the rhythm was intricate and beautiful. Some sea captains took a lute player and singer on board to soothe the spirits of the sailors. Such a player held a special place on Kuwait’s sailing ships and was paid a hand-some fee for his talent. (From the book ‘Old Kuwait: Memories in Photographs’)

Music and songs

‘Insurance forworkers soon’

By Marwa Al-BahrawiAl-Seyassah Staff and

AgenciesKUWAIT CITY, March 20: Member of the Kuwaiti Pharmacist Association Abdulaziz Al-Khaldi an-nounced the Association will soon launch a health insurance program for the associations of medical pro-fessions.

Al-Khalidi said in a press statement the Kuwaiti Phar-maceutical Society, the Ku-waiti Doctors Association and the Kuwaiti Dental As-sociation will provide health insurance services for their members soon, in coopera-tion with the Arab company “SAICO” through the Saico health program.

❑ ❑ ❑

Confusion: Following the publication of a report in Al-Qabas daily in its March 10 issue under the title ‘Chang-ing the university calendar confuses the registration of job seekers’, the Civil Ser-vice Commission (CSC) an-nounced today, the registra-tion for graduates of both the Kuwait University and the Public Authority for Applied Education which is seen as ‘exceptional’, reports Al-Qa-bas daily.

The announcement by the CSC stated in the interest of the graduates who were un-able to register in the ‘74th lot’ that began March 5 and ends on March 19.

Heavy fi nes in funds scamSinger jailed for insulting judiciary

By Jaber Al-HamoudAl-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, March 20: The Court of Cassa-tion overturned the ver-dict issued by the Ministe-rial Court against former senior health offi cials who were accused of embezzle-ment and misappropria-tion of public funds in a contract of the Ministry of Health. The court instead settled at imposing a fi ne of KD 20,000 each on the de-fendants.

According to the case fi le, the Ministerial Court previously sen-tenced the defendants, namely for-mer minister of Health Dr. Ali Al-Obaidi, two former undersecretaries in the same ministry Dr Khalid Al-Sahlawi and Dr Mahmoud Abdul Hadi, and an offi cial of an American company, to seven-year imprison-ment with hard labor and payment of KD 10,000 for suspending the execution of the sentence.

The court also ordered the removal of the Kuwaiti offi cials from their gov-ernment positions and the deportation of the fourth defendant after serving the term. The defendants were also ordered to repay $ 81 million and pay a fi ne that is double that amount.

In addition, the court exonerated Dr

Al-Obaidi and others, including a for-mer assistant undersecretary and a for-mer director, in a second case wherein they were accused of making illicit gains in a medicine sale contract to the ministry.

It is worth mentioning that the for-mer minister Dr Al-Obaidi is the fi rst minister in the country to be referred to the court, let alone being convicted, after he was referred by the committee that was formed to fact-fi nd the accu-sations leveled against the ex-minister. It also referred to the court the former undersecretary of Ministry of Health Khalid Al- Sahlawi, former assistant undersecretary Mahmoud Abdul-Hadi and the manager of a foreign company. They were released on bail worth KD 3,000 each and banned from travelling.

According to sources, the commit-tee questioned the former minister and offi cials about hiring an insurance company to play the role of mediator, complete all pro-cedures, and fi x appointments for patients. For this role, the com-pany received amounts exceed-ing tens of mil-lions.

The commit-tee obtained the statements of the Ministry of Health and State Audit Bureau in this regard as well as the amount statement, and it studied the documents relating to the matter.

❑ ❑ ❑

Singer gets 2 years: The Court of Cassation has upheld the verdict of the Court of Appeals and put behind bars a well-known singer Khaled Al-Mulla for two years and ordered him to pay 1,000 dinars to suspend the enforcement of the verdict and also to sign a pledge of good conduct for three years for insulting the judiciary through a song during a TV program, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

After the Criminal Court earlier ac-quitted Al-Mulla and the verdict was appealed by the Public Prosecution.

The complaint was fi led by the Su-preme Judicial Council but the Pros-ecution after interrogation had released him on personal guarantee but charged him with insulting the judiciary.

The artiste had denied the accusa-tion, stressing that he did not intend to offend the Kuwaiti judges, but rather his words intended for judges outside the country in addition to criticizing the impersonators in their respective fi elds.

❑ ❑ ❑

10 years for woman: The Criminal Court has sentenced a Kuwaiti woman to 10 years imprisonment and obliged her to return the money to the victim 200,000 dinars which she had with-drawn from her bank account after stealing her ATM card and also bor-rowing money from other people after impersonating the victim, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

The victim was surprised by the multiplicity of fi nancial claims against her, from individuals and banks, and she was subjected to executive meas-ures, including search and arrest war-rant, travel ban, and others without the slightest guilt.

Drifting and the phoenixBy Ahmad alsarraf

Drifting means the loss of the abil-ity to control a situation like a

boat being swept away by waves and winds, and those aboard are unable to control its direction.

We have been living for half a cen-tury or more in a state close to drifting or this is what an observer of the general po-litical situation feels.

We have also been economi-cally living for more than half a century in a state of hand to mouth, mean-ing we extract oil and spend its proceeds on our needs, and more properly on our luxuries without thinking of fi nding an alternative to our only resource or at least rational-izing our expenditures, as if oil will last forever, and the need for it will never end.

Our fi nancial behavior when the price of a barrel of oil was well above one hundred dollars is the same with the price of a barrel half that price.

Although the rational government has developed many fi ve-year and ten-year plans, often economic, dur-ing the past half century, none of them were implemented in a correct

manner and what was implemented was not reviewed and no one was held accountable and none of the plans were reconsidered and this is a case of drifting in which the state lives.

We have never had a plan or vi-sion for the future of the most im-portant sector, which is education. For example, 70 years ago we had an industrial institute, and since that day the state spent billions on it, and today we do not have a single Ku-waiti carpenter or mechanic, and we continue to spend billions more on it and on religious education, and we already know that it is waste of money, or water poured on an empty vessel.

As for the economic situation, solutions exist, known, and are ap-plicable. Moreover, political and administrative solutions are many and available, but it seems that no one knows the reason behind this in-sistence for keeping us in a state of drifting.

Despite this bitter or sad situation, the closest to the hopeless, there is still a ray of hope that the phoenix will rise one day and transform sad-ness into joy, and put an end to this apparent indolence and hesitation in taking a decision. This hollow trans-gression on all that we love and re-spect. Is anyone answering?

❑ ❑ ❑

email: a.alsarraf@alqabas.com.kw

alsarraf

Al-Mulla

Other Voices

LOCALARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021

6

‘Activate legal mechanism’

Hold Israel accountable for ‘violations’ – KuwaitGENEVA, March 20, (KUNA): Kuwait on Thursday ap-pealed to the UN Human Rights Council to activate legal mechanisms to guarantee accountability of the Israeli oc-cupation for continued violations of the Palestinians’ rights and to prevent it from impunity.

This came in Kuwait’s speech delivered by Permanent Representative to the UN and other international organi-zations in Geneva Ambassador Jamal Al-Ghunaim before the 46th session of the Council held from February 22 to March 23 on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Ambassador Al-Ghunaim said that Kuwait condemns all fl agrant violations of international hu-man rights’ laws committed by Israel, the occupying force, against the unarmed Palestinian people.

He said Kuwait calls on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities so as to guarantee respect for the principles and provisions of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that should be applicable to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

He pointed to seriousness and gravity of the unremitting violations committed by the occupying force, Israel, against the Palestinian people, many of which mounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Deterioration This requires continued discussion of the deterioration of

the human rights’ situation in the occupied Arab territories within the framework of Article 7 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, he pointed out.

Kuwait voiced regret that the international community keeps silent before Israel’s indifference towards internation-al law and the UN resolutions, at a time when all countries are required to take deterrent measures against the Israeli occupation in order to stop committing its crimes against unarmed Palestinian civilians.

Ambassador Al-Ghunaim reiterated that Israel contin-ues to practice the policy of racial discrimination and eth-nic cleansing against Palestinians, topped with their basic right to life and self-determination, whereas the occupation should end with establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with the UN relevant decisions.

The continuation of Judaizing Jerusalem and changing its historical and religious status, as well as destroying pub-lic and private properties and excavations under Al-Aqsa Mosque and other religious places are clear and explicit violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention, he made clear. Such acts undermine international efforts aiming to put an end to the occupation and establish a sovereign Palestinian state, he underlined.

Also:RAMALLAH: Israeli troops on Friday shot dead a 45-year-old Palestinian east of Nablus city, Palestinian health de-partment said in a statement.

Atef Hanayshe was fatally shot in the head in the village of Bait Dejen east of Nablus, the statement said.

He was shot shortly after Palestinians staged a demonstra-tion in the village protesting construction of an Israeli settle-ment in the region.

❑ ❑ ❑

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian elections commission on Sat-urday began accepting candidacy applications ahead of the May 22 parliamentary elections.

Bids are only being accepted for parties of no less than 16 members and no more than 132, the commission said in a statement.

Shortage of teachers in public schools; large number leaving

Severe shortage in eight specialties

KUWAIT CITY, March 20: According to statistics is-sued by the Ministry of Education, there are 74,326 teachers in public education schools in the 2020/2021 academic year, including 50,720 Kuwaitis and 23,606 non-Kuwaitis in all four educational levels, reports Al-Rai daily.

The statistics indicated a severe shortage of teachers in eight specialties in three educational stages, in which number of Kuwaiti teachers is 6,131, and expatriate teachers is 9,939; in other words, 38.2 percent citizens and 61.8 percent expatriates. The highest shortage of teachers is in the second-ary stage for the subjects of Arabic, English, French, mathematics, phys-ics, chemistry, biology and geology.

Will the shortage of expatriate teachers stranded in their countries due to the no-entry decision lead to confusion in the educational process?An educational source

KUNA photoVice-President of the Romanian Senate Stefan-Radu Oprea meets Kuwaiti Ambassador to Romania Talal Al

Hajeri.

Missing Kuwaiti since 2015 on agenda

Romania seeks to enhance relations with KuwaitVIENNA, March 20, (KUNA): Vice-President of the Romanian Senate Stefan-Radu Oprea affi rmed Friday his country’s desire to strengthen economic and investment relations with the State of Kuwait.

This came during a meeting with the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Romania Talal Al Hajeri.

Oprea described the Romanian-Kuwaiti Joint Committee for Eco-nomic and Technical Cooperation as important to employ economic cooperation for increasing invest-ment opportunities between the two countries.

He also stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation with the

Kuwait National Assembly due to its great role in consolidating construc-

tive cooperation between the two countries in various fi elds.

For his part, Ambassador Al-Hajri affi rmed desire of Romanian politicians and the government to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries and to support joint cooperation in various fi elds.

The meeting also dealt with latest developments in the case of the Ku-waiti citizen, Muhammad Al-Baghli, who has been missing in Romania since August 2015, he added.

Kuwait-Romania relationship dates back to 1963, as the State of Kuwait was one of the fi rst Gulf countries to establish diplomatic ties with the European country.

KUNA photoThe leader of the League, Senator Matteo Salvini, receives Ambassador

Sheikh Azzam Al-Sabah at the headquarters of the Italian Senate.

Salvini seeks boost in ties

Kuwait ambassador to Italy affi rms strength of Kuwaiti-Italian relationsROME, March 20, (KUNA): The leader of the League, one of the largest parties in the Italian ruling coalition, Senator Matteo Salvini on Friday expressed his personal aspiration to strengthen friendly relations between his country and the State of Kuwait.

The Kuwaiti embassy to Italy said in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that Senator Salvini, during his meeting with Ambassador Sheikh Azzam Mubarak Al-Sabah, praised the pivotal role of Kuwait in enhanc-ing security and stability in the region and its moderate and bal-

anced approach. Salvini added that the success of

Kuwaiti mediation in achieving Gulf reconciliation is greatly appreciated, hoping to expand eco-nomic, investment and trade rela-tions between his country and the State of Kuwait, especially in light of Italy’s presidency of the G20 in its current session.

For his part, Sheikh Azzam Al-Sabah affirmed the strength of Kuwaiti-Italian relations, noting the interest of Italian officials in the field of exempting Kuwaiti citizens from travel visas to countries in the European Schengen area.

‘Scientifi c poster’

Kuwait University to launch eventKUWAIT CITY, March 20, (KUNA): Kuwait University, represented by the Research Sector, Offi ce of Foreign Co-operation and Consulting, will launch the scientifi c poster event for the academic year 2020/2021 for humanitarian and scientifi c colleges with the participation of researchers from the Kuwait Institute for Scientifi c Research. The uni-versity said in a press release Friday that the scientifi c poster event this year witnesses for the fi rst time the participation of the Faculties of the Medi-cal Sciences Center, and will

be held under the patronage of Acting University President Dr. Fayez Al Dhafi ri. She add-ed that according to the social distancing policy, it was de-cided to hold the event of the scientifi c poster remotely this year, pointing to the research sector’s endeavor to provide opportunities for communica-tion between researchers in various disciplines. She indi-cated that the research sector is keen to continue provid-ing its services and research and scientifi c contributions to researchers in the current cir-cumstances.

affi rmed the seriousness of the situa-tion in schools due to the large number of teachers who are leaving, unless an urgent government decision is issued for them to return.

He explained that all the solutions studied by the educational zones to avoid the current shortage of teachers in some specializations are useless, even with the online transfer of teachers, because they are temporary solutions that may com-pensate for the shortage in a school but lead to a defi cit in others.

The number of students in some vir-tual classes is large, which has opened up the appetite of those who have been cut short for years to enroll in adult education centers.

The statistic showed that the number of female Kuwaiti teachers exceeded the expatriate teachers in the four edu-cational stages, but in specifi c speciali-zations. To be precise, there are 33,265 Kuwaitis (69.9 percent) compared to 14,308 expatriates (30.1 percent). The number of Kuwaiti teachers decreased signifi cantly in the secondary stage, reaching 1,847 teachers, while the number of expatriate teachers is 4,231.

PromotionsWhile the Ministry of Education

is now conducting promotions for its teachers and administrators, a source indicated that excused absences for teachers who are stuck abroad threaten their job promotion, and decrease the required experience days according to Civil Service Commission Decision No. 3/2017. This decision only ex-cludes those on periodic leave, schol-arship leave, conscription and sports leave.

A school director criticized the Ministry of Education’s decision re-garding online education for the fi rst three primary grades, stressing that the shortage of teachers at this stage in his school is huge because three expatriate teachers traveled overseas.

He asked, “So how will the short-age be compensated? Will it be by increasing the teacher’s quorum from the virtual classes to an unreasonable extent?”

An offi cial source from the Ministry of Education played down the negative effects in schools due to the lack of teachers, stressing that, “The situation is not too bad, as the number of those stranded abroad is not high.”

KUNA photoVice-President of the Romanian Senate Stefan-Radu Oprea with Kuwaiti Ambassador to Romania

Talal Al Hajeri.

Market Movements 19-03-2021

Business Change Closing ptsINDIA - Sensex +641.72 49,858.24PAKISTAN - KSE 100 +177.22 44,901.31

Change Closing ptsAUSTRALIA - All Ordinaries -44.02 6,959.59JAPAN - Nikkei -424.70 29,792.05GERMANY - DAX -154.52 14,621.00FRANCE - CAC 40 -64.83 5,997.96EUROPE - Euro Stoxx 50 -30.52 3,837.02S. KOREA - KRX 100 -68.27 6,554.12PHILIPPINES - PSEi -194.75 6,436.10

Les Wexner exits board, severs last ties to retail empire

Billionaire retail icon Les Wexner is severing his last ties with the retail empire that he founded in 1963.

L Brands, which operates Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, said Thursday that Wexner, 83, along with his wife Abigail, will not stand for re-elec-tion to the board at the annual shareholders’ meeting in May.

The company, based in Co-lumbus, Ohio, also announced

that Francis Hondal, president of loyalty and engagement at Mastercard, and Danielle Lee, chief fan officer for the National Basketball Association, have been named as two new inde-pendent members of its board.

With these changes, the board will consist of 10 direc-tors, nine of whom are inde-pendent and six of whom are women, including the chair.

The news to leave the board

follows Wexner’s decision to step down as CEO and chair-man of the board of L Brands to become chairman emeritus last year.

“I am more confident than ever that we have very positive momentum as we approach the planned separation into two businesses,” Wexner said in a statement. “Now is an ideal time for Abigail’s and my transi-tion from the board.”

Wexner transformed one clothing store under The Limit-ed moniker into a global empire that housed a number of labels such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Express, Lane Bryant and Vic-toria’s Secret. But the company struggled in recent years, hurt by competitors’ more inclusive strategies as well as increas-ing competition from online and discounters that offered better prices. (AP)

This file photo shows retail mogul Les-

lie Wexner, at the Wexner Center for

the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. Wexner is sev-ering his last ties with the retail empire that he founded in 1963.

(AP)

Banks say ending exemption will discourage them from making loans

Fed to end relaxed capital requirements for large banksWASHINGTON, March 20, (AP): The Federal Reserve says it will re-store capital requirements for large banks that were relaxed as part of the Fed’s efforts to shore up the fi nancial system during the early days of the pandemic.

The Fed said it will not extend the relief from what is called the supple-mentary leverage ratio past March 31. The easing of the regulation had been intended to give banks fl ex-ibility in what assets they could hold to meet regulatory’ requirements during the turmoil of the pandemic, when banks were having to sud-denly write down billions of dollars of loans.

The banking industry had lobbied for an extension of the relief but on Thursday the Fed said that since the requirements were relaxed last year “the Treasury market has stabilized.”

Shares of the large Wall Street banks fell in early trading, with JPM-organ Chase and Wells Fargo down around 3%. The Dow Jones Indus-trial Average dropped 263 points, or 0.8%. The yield on the 10-year Trea-sury rose to 1.74% from 1.70%

The supplementary leverage ratio requires large banks to hold capital equal to about 3% of their assets. The required ratio is higher - 5% - for banks that are deemed most important to the overall fi nancial system The rule was adopted as part of regulatory reforms after the 2007-2008 global fi nancial crisis and re-cession. The idea was to ensure that banks kept enough capital on hand to survive market meltdowns.

Yet the rule has also been blamed for magnifying the turmoil that erupted in the fi nancial markets a year ago when the pandemic fi rst hit hard. Banks, for-eign central banks and hedge funds, among others, had desperately sought to dump Treasurys and other bonds to raise cash. Treasury yields spiked in re-sponse. To calm the lending markets, the Fed stepped in to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of Treasurys on its own.

The fi nancial industry argues that the rule discourages banks from holding Treasurys because doing so increases their assets and reduces their supplementary leverage ratio. This undermines their ability to act

as intermediaries in the Treasury market and facilitate trading, banks assert.

Another issue is that the Fed’s Treasury purchases have fl ooded the banking system with cash reserves. These reserves lower a bank’s SLR by increasing its assets. Total bank reserves now stand at nearly $3.5 trillion, up from roughly $1.5 trillion before the pandemic.

Treasurys are considered low risk and cash reserves are regarded as risk-free. But the SLR, unlike other bank capital requirements, doesn’t take risk into account.

A year ago the Fed temporarily exempted Treasury securities and cash reserves from the SLR calcula-tion. That exemption is set to expire March 31. Bank lobbyists argue that without an extension of the exemp-tion, large banks will be less likely to hold Treasury securities.

If that were to happen, interest rates could rise, making loans more expensive. The yield on the 10-year Treasury serves as a benchmark for mortgage rates and other borrowing costs. Banks also say that ending the exemption will discourage them from making loans, which would re-duce their capital.

But some high-profi le Democrats in Congress oppose continuing the exemption, thus heightening the pressures the Fed is facing. Earlier this month, Sens. Elizabeth War-ren, D-Mass., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, urged Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other top banking regu-lators to reject the banks’ push for an extension.

“The banks’ requests for an ex-tension of this relief appear to be an attempt to use the pandemic as an excuse to weaken one of the most important post-crisis regulatory re-forms,” the senators wrote.

If banks worry about running short of capital, Warren and Brown said, they could bolster their balance sheets by suspending dividend pay-outs.

“We are also confi dent that the thousands of community banks that are not subject to the SLR require-ments would be happy to accept de-posits that large banks may reject,” they said.

US jobless claims rise to 770KLayoffs still high

WASHINGTON, March 20, (AP): The number of Americans seeking unem-ployment benefits rose last week to 770,000, a sign that layoffs remain high even as much of the US economy is steadily recovering from the coronavirus recession.

Thursday’s report from the La-bor Department showed that job-less claims climbed from 725,000 the week before. The numbers have dropped sharply since the depths of the recession last spring but still show that employers in some industries continue to lay off workers. Before the pandemic struck, applications for unemploy-ment aid had never topped 700,000 in any one week.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths out weekly variations, dropped to 746,000, the lowest since late November.

A total of 4.1 million people are continuing to collect traditional state unemployment benefi ts, down 18,000 from the previous week. Including separate federal programs that are in-tended to help workers displaced by the health crisis, 18.2 million Ameri-cans were receiving some form of job-less aid in the week of Feb 27, down by 1.9 million from the week before.

The continuing layoffs are occur-ring even as the overall job market has shown solid improvement. Last month, US employers added a robust 379,000 jobs, the most since October and a sign that the economy is strengthening as consumers spend more and states and cities ease business restrictions.

No single factor fully explains the still-high level of weekly applications for state unemployment aid. The fi g-ures have been clouded by backlogs in processing and by evidence of fraud at the state level. In addition, the expan-sion of supplemental federal unem-ployment benefi ts has likely encour-aged more jobless Americans to apply for aid.

In addition, last month’s severe win-ter weather elevated jobless claims in Texas. And California has reported an uptick in applications because of lay-offs at bars, restaurants, retailers and other services businesses - all of which have been hard hit by the pandemic.

Yet with vaccinations accelerat-ing, hopes are rising that Americans will increasingly travel, shop, eat out and spend freely after a year of virus-induced restraint.

President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package is also expected to help accelerate growth, especially with most adults this week receiving $1,400 stimulus checks that should fuel more spending. An extension of $300 week-ly unemployment benefi ts into early September will provide support, too, along with money for vaccines and treatments, school re-openings, state and local governments and ailing in-dustries ranging from airlines to con-cert halls.

“Labor market strains are ongoing, but we expect fi lings (for unemploy-ment aid) to start declining as restric-tions are lifted and more normal op-erations resume,” Rubeela Farooqi, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a research note. “As businesses return to full capacity, job and income prospects will improve and, combined with fi scal support, will provide a powerful lift to the econo-my.’’

At the same time, the nation is still roughly 9.5 million short of the number of jobs it had in February 2020. And Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested Wednesday after the Fed’s latest policy meeting that the overall economic outlook remained cloudy.

“The state of the economy in two or three years is highly uncertain,” Pow-ell said at a news conference after the Fed signaled that it expects to keep its key interest rate near zero through 2023 despite some solid economic gains and concerns about rising infl a-tion pressures.

By most barometers, business activ-ity in the economy’s vast and hard-hit service sector is still far from normal. The data fi rm Womply said, for ex-ample, that as of early last week 63% of movie theaters, galleries and other entertainment venues were closed. So were 39% of bars, 32% of gyms and other sports and recreation businesses and 30% of restaurants.

A man walks past the signs of an employment agency on March 2, 2021, in Manchester, NH. The number of Ameri-cans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to 770,000, a sign that layoffs remain high even as much of the US economy is steadily recovering from the coronavirus recession.Thursday, March 18, report from the Labor

Department showed that jobless claims climbed from 725,000 the week before. (AP)

Move to help vulnerable nations

G7 suggest boosting IMF reservesLONDON, March 20, (AP): The Group of Seven lead-ing industrial nations on Friday proposed bolstering the International Monetary Fund’s reserves for the fi rst time since 2009, so the Washington D.C.-based insti-tution can provide more fi nancial support to develop-ing nations during the coronavirus crisis.

At a virtual discussion hosted by Britain’s Treasury chief, Rishi Sunak, the seven fi nance ministers backed a “new and sizeable” increase in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights, a type of reserve that effectively sup-plements existing reserves of member countries.

No fi nancial details were disclosed and any increase will have to be signed off by other countries at the

IMF’s spring meeting in April.So-called SDRs, which were last issued in 2009

as part of the international response to the global financial crisis, could free up resources for devel-oping nations to pay for coronavirus vaccines and food imports, as well as providing them with fur-ther financial buffers.

“Today’s milestone agreement among the G-7 paves the way for crucial and concerted action to support the world’s low-income countries, ensuring that no coun-try is left behind in the global economic recovery from coronavirus,” said Sunak, who chaired the meeting as part of Britain’s presidency of the G-7 this year.

Oil market still weak and fragile

By Kamel Al-HaramiIndependent Oil Analyst

IN ORDER to meet our govern-ment’s annual salary of KD 16 bil-lion, the oil price should reach $70 on a daily ba-sis for a full year. Any fi gure below this will cause scratching of the head to fi nd the nec-essary funds from differ-ent resources. At the same time, the level of salaries will be increasing on a yearly basis due to the entry of new graduates in the labor market. Also, our govern-ment is forced to hire very eligible Kuwaitis, which is a must in our constitution.

The recent surge in oil prices gave our government hope that a price of $70 per barrel could ease the pressure on it. However, this hope was short lived, as the prices have gone back to low 60s, which is not good. This forces us to go back to the blackboard in search for viable solutions.

Depending on oil as the sole source of income is no longer an option, as most of the oil experts expect the oil prices will not revive

in the coming months, and consid-ering the fact that the market is still weak and fragile.

This is the main reason behind Saudi Arabia’s decision not to put one million barrels into the market during the last two months and this might continue for another month into April. This is because there are no signs of any increase in the demand, and this could continue for some time.

We in Kuwait have to remem-ber that the oil price must reach $70 a barrel in order to be able to pay salaries. We also need an oil price of $90 per barrel to balance our total budget. This is another hard and tough challenge for the government.

Again, we have to dig into our reserves and overseas assets or borrow from local and interna-tional banks.

The question however is wheth-er to remain, and for how can we go on borrowing.

This is a question that is be-ing asked daily by all of us. This question represents the stumbling block for our parliament’s hesi-tation in approving the govern-ment’s loan request.

Increase in oil prices is not the solution but replacing oil with oth-er sources of income is.

❑ ❑ ❑

email: naftikuwaiti@yahoo.com

$75/bbl is bare minimumto pay salaries in Kuwait

Al-Harami

Erdogan fi res cenbank govISTANBUL, March 20, (AP): Turkey’s president has fired the central bank gov-ernor, who in his four months in office had won the praise of investors for hik-ing interest rates and promising tighter monetary policies.

In a decree published in the Official Gazette early Saturday, President Re-cep Tayyip Erdogan announced the de-parture of Naci Agbal, a former finance minister. He is to be replaced by a bank-ing professor who has argued for lower

interest rates.Agbal was brought in to lead the cen-

tral bank after the Turkish lira hit record lows and inflation soared. In his months in office, Agbal had hiked the benchmark rate a total of 875 basis points, working to rebuild the credibility of the central bank after it was damaged by years of unortho-dox policies. Agbal’s most recent hike of 200 points on Thursday took the rate to 19 percent, which was higher than analysts expected.

BUSINESSARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021

9

founder of Chinese e-commerce firm Pinduoduo departs

Colin Huang, founder of the Chinese e-com-merce firm Pinduoduo, stepped down as chair-man Wednesday just as the company’s annual user base surpassed that of rival Alibaba.

Huang, who founded Pinduoduo in 2015 and is China’s third-richest man with a net worth of about $56 billion, said that he is giv-ing up the chairmanship to pursue research in food and life sciences.

Huang’s board seat will be taken by CEO Chen Lei, according to the company.

Shares of Pinduoduo, which is listed on Nasdaq, tumbled 11% following the an-

nouncement.Huang departs with Pinduoduo achieving

record growth. The company on Wednesday said its annual active users reached 788.4 mil-lion in December, up 35% compared with the same time last year, and exceeding the user base of 779 million counted by rival Alibaba Group Holding.

Quarterly revenue spiked 146% from a year earlier, to $4 billion. For comparison, in its most recent quarter, Amazon recorded $125 billion in revenue, $66 billion coming from on-line sales alone.

Chen thanked Huang for his leadership of Pinduoduo over the last six years during a conference call. “We will cheer him on as he explores new frontiers for Pinduoduo in years to come,” Chen said.

Pinduoduo’s meteoric rise has narrowed the gap between the company and Alibaba, which is still the country’s largest e-commerce platform by revenue and monthly active users.

The Shanghai company stands out be-cause of its team purchasing model, where users can get bigger discounts if they team up with friends or other users to buy in bulk. (AP)

In this file photo, a man talks on his phone as a woman rides on an electric bike past a company logo at the Alibaba Group headquar-ters in Hangzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. (AP)

A taxi driver stands next to his cab as they march slowly blocking the traf-fic along one of the avenues in Barcelona downtown, Spain on March 18, 2021. Hundreds of yellow-and-black cabs disrupted Barcelona’s road traf-fic on Thursday to protest against the return of the ride-hailing giant Uber to

the northeastern city after a 2-year hiatus. (AP)

BERLIN, March 20, (AP): The Ger-man economy - Europe’s biggest - will grow by 3.1% this year, the government’s panel of independ-ent economic advisers forecast on Wednesday, cutting its previous pre-diction somewhat.

The panel’s new outlook com-pared with a forecast of 3.7% in No-vember, made at the beginning of a second round of coronavirus-related closures that are largely still in place.

Last year, Germany’s gross do-mestic product shrank by 4.9%. That ended a decade of growth and was the biggest decline since the fi nan-cial crisis in 2009. However, Germa-ny’s economy did better than several others in the 19-country eurozone as it was supported by manufacturing, which has taken less of a hit than ser-vices during the pandemic.

For 2022, the economists predict-ed growth of 4%.

“Despite the second wave of infec-tions and, at least here in Germany, an ongoing lockdown, we are far from the diffi cult economic situation in Spring 2020,” panel member Volker Wie-land said. World trade has picked up signifi cantly, he said, with economic activity improving in China, Asia and the United States in particular.

Germany’s economy grew 0.3% in the fourth quarter compared with the previous three-month period. Wieland said a drop is expected in the current quarter, but the recovery should resume thereafter - helped by progress in a so-far slow vaccination campaign.

German authorities started loosen-ing some virus-related restrictions in recent weeks, opening hairdressing salons, some schools, nonessential shops and museums.

But much remains closed. Restau-rants, bars, hotels and many culture, leisure and sports facilities have been shut since early November. Most lockdown measures are in place un-til at least March 28. Authorities are due to consider the way forward on Monday, and now face a steady rise in new infections as a more conta-gious coronavirus fi rst detected in Britain takes hold.

A “third wave” of infections could, if it is heavy, delay the recov-ery, Wieland said.

“But there would only be a signifi -cant decline in economic output if there were far-reaching restrictions or closures in industry in Germany,” he said.

Authorities haven’t yet imposed any such restrictions. Wieland said they should be avoided by speeding up vaccinations, expanding testing and improving technology-based in-fection tracking.

Co seeking regulatory permission

Taxi driver unions protest Uber’s return to BarcelonaBARCELONA, Spain, March 20, (AP): Hundreds of yellow-and-black taxi cabs disrupted traffi c in Barcelona on Thursday to protest the return of the ride-hailing giant Uber to the northeastern Spanish city after a 2-year hiatus.

The US-based multinational was driven out of the streets of Barcelona in February 2019, when regional au-thorities ordered that rides arranged through mobile apps had to be hired at least 15 minutes in advance.

At the time, Uber said the require-ment was “totally incompatible with the immediacy of on-demand services.”

But Uber resumed operating in the city of 5.4 million residents this week, allowing users to order rides from over 350 regular cabs charging with taxi-meters.

The company said it is seeking regulatory permission to also offer fi xed rates for rides, Uber’s original model.

The company’s current plat-form in Barcelona also provides car-sharing services and displays information about public transpor-tation, following a similar initiative

in London, Paris, Lisbon and Rome, Uber said in a statement.

The return has angered cab driver unions in the Catalonia region’s capital. Three columns of taxis made their way through Barcelona’s main thoroughfares on Thursday, advancing toward the seat of the re-gional parliament.

Representatives of the Elite Taxi union called drivers who are work-ing with Uber “traitors” and called the company’s re-entry in Barce-lona illegal.

Syed Junaid, a driver represent-ing Pak Taxi, an association of cab drivers of Pakistani origin, said that Uber was using the coronavirus pandemic to lure hard-hit drivers and pit them against their peers in order to gain a foothold in the mar-ket.

“That’s what they’ve done in oth-er cities around the world,” Junaid told The Associated Press. “We won’t allow them to do it here, be-cause we have overcome the worst and we are about to leave the pan-demic behind, so we don’t need their platform to survive.”

Bank of England stands pat on ratesCentral Bank voices cautious optimism over UK economic outlook

LONDON, March 20, (AP): The Bank of Eng-land voiced cautious opti-mism Thursday about the UK’s economic outlook in the wake of a sharp fall in coronavirus infections and the rapid rollout of the na-tion’s COVID-19 vaccina-tion program.

In a statement, the policymaking Monetary Policy Committee noted some “positive” recent economic developments as it kept the bank’s main interest rate unchanged at the record low of 0.1%. All nine mem-bers of the committee also voted against any further increase in the bank’s bond-buying program.

The decision to keep interest rates on hold had been widely predicted in financial markets following Britain’s improved coronavirus situation.

“The rates of covid infections and hospitalizations have fallen markedly across the United Kingdom and the vaccination program is proceeding at a rapid pace,” the committee said in minutes published alongside the deci-sion. “Looking ahead, the expected easing of covid restrictions made it likely that there would be increases in both supply and demand over the com-ing months.”

The combination of falling corona-virus infections - new cases are run-ning at around 5,000 a day against a peak of nearly 70,000 a day in early January - and the rapid rollout of vac-cines has spurred hopes about a pick-up in economic activity in the spring as lockdown restrictions are lifted.

The turnaround is notable since Britain has had Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, with around

126,000 dead.The British government, which is re-

sponsible for the lockdown in England, has laid out a path for easing restric-tions over the coming weeks but insists that it will be guided by the “data, not dates.” The other nations of the UK – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – are following similar lockdown eas-ing timetables.

By mid-April, the British govern-ment hopes that retailers in England selling nonessential items, such as footwear and books, will be able to reopen. Pubs are also set to reopen out-doors from that date, with indoor serv-ing following on May 17.

Also bolstering the anticipated re-covery has been the speed at which

the coronavirus vaccines have been injected into people’s arms, certainly when compared with other nations in Europe. By Wednesday, more than 25 million people in the UK had received a first dose of vaccine, nearly half of its eligible adult population.

However, vaccine supply issues are cropping up and could impinge on the anticipated recovery. On Thursday, the British government said planned vac-cinations for people under 50 may be delayed for up to a month amid a short-fall in supply, partly due to reduced deliveries from the Serum Institute of India.

The British economy has been one of the worst-performing over the past year and remains around 10% smaller

than it was in early 2020. Many blame that on the Conservative government’s repeated failures to back lockdown re-strictions early enough.

In a report Thursday, the well-re-spected Resolution Foundation think-tank said the delays cost thousands of lives and deepened the economic crisis.

“Going timidly and late on lock-downs has been a disaster, causing many thousands of avoidable deaths,” said Mike Brewer, chief economist at the Resolution Foundation. “Fur-thermore, delays to restrictions have meant them needing to be tougher and longer-lasting than in other countries, thereby worsening the economic dam-age.”

China slams US plan to expelphone carriers in tech ‘clash’BEIJING, March 20, (AP): China’s government called on Washington to drop efforts to expel three state-owned Chinese phone companies from the United States in a new clash over tech-nology and security.

The Federal Communications Com-mission voted Wednesday to begin re-voking the companies’ U.S. licenses. It said they are security risks controlled by the communist Beijing government.

The foreign ministry accused Wash-ington of misusing security complaints to hurt Chinese commercial competi-tors.

The United States should “stop the wrong practice of generalizing the concept of national security and politicizing economic issues” and “stop abusing state power to un-reasonably suppress Chinese enter-prises,” said a ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian.

The decision adds to mounting U.S.-Chinese conflict over the ruling Com-munist Party’s industrial plans, access to American technology and accusa-tions of computer attacks and theft of business secrets.

President Joe Biden has said he wants a better relations with Beijing but has given no indication he will roll back sanctions imposed by his predecessor, Donald Trump, that limit Chinese access to U.S. technology and financial markets.

The latest announcement came as U.S. and Chinese envoys were flying to Alaska for the highest-level face-to-face meeting between the two sides since Biden took office in January.

Zhao said Beijing will “take neces-sary measures to safeguard the legiti-mate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises” but gave no details. Of-ficials have issued similar warnings in the past but those usually have resulted in no action.

The latest action targets China Unicom Americas, a unit of China Unicom Ltd.; Pacific Networks Corp. and ComNet (USA) LLC, a unit of Pa-cific Networks. They sell international voice and data service.

The companies were ordered to ex-plain their ownership and operations, and “failed to address the serious na-tional security threats posed by their continued operation in the U.S.,” said Commissioner Brendan Car in a state-ment.

National security officials “advise that traffic on these networks ‘remains subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government,’” Carr said. He said some Chinese tele-com companies have operated in the United States for decades and “secu-rity threats have evolved substantially in the intervening years.”

Earlier, state-owned China Mo-bile Ltd. was blocked in 2019 from entering the U.S. market on security grounds.

Trump also blocked access to most U.S. technology for telecom equip-ment giant Huawei Technologies Ltd. and some other Chinese tech compa-nies. Trump issued an order prohibiting Americans from investing in securities of companies deemed by the Pentagon to be linked to China’s military.

Economists predict growth of 4% for 2022

German panel cuts 2021 outlook to 3.1%

In this file photo, lorries pass a checkpoint to embark by ferry to Europe, at the port in Dover, England. Britain’s Office for National Statistics said on March 12, 2021, that the British economy shrank in January as the nation was

hit by a new round of coronavirus restrictions and Brexit slashed exports to the European Union. (AP)

BUSINESSARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021

10

US air travel rises to highest levels yet since pandemic hit

More than 1.3mn people screened

WASHINGTON, March 20, (AP): Across the United States, air travel is recovering more quickly from the depths of the pandemic, and it is showing up in longer airport security lines and busier traffi c on airline web-sites.

The Transportation Security Administration screened more than 1.3 million people both Friday and Sunday, setting a new high since the coronavirus outbreak dev-astated travel a year ago. Airlines say they believe the numbers are heading up, with more people booking fl ights for spring and summer.

“Our last three weeks have been the best three weeks since the pandemic hit, and each week has been bet-ter than the one prior,” American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said Monday.

Airline stocks rose across the board. Shares of the four biggest U.S. carriers hit their highest prices in more than a year.

However, the airlines still have far to go before travel fully returns to pre-pandemic levels.

While the number of people passing through airport checkpoints has topped 1 million for four straight days and the 7-day rolling average is the highest in the pan-demic era, passenger traffi c is still down more than 50% in March compared with the same period in 2019.

Parker said American’s bookings are now running just 20% below 2019 levels. A factor appears to be traveler confi dence now that more people are getting vaccinated against COVID-19. About 70 million Amer-icans, or 21%, have received at least one dose, and 37 million have completed their vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said Monday that bookings began picking up fi ve or six weeks ago.

Since the pandemic hit, air travel has picked up a few times - mostly around holidays - only to drop back down. This time, the recovery “seems like it’s real,” Bastian said during the same J.P. Morgan investor con-ference at which Parker spoke.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said his airline will generate “core” cash instead of burning cash for March, and he expects the positive trend to continue in the months ahead.

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said during a Washington Post webcast that his airline could break even by June, “where you have had much of the popula-tion vaccinated.”

Southwest said in a regulatory fi ling that for March and April will be better than expected as passenger traf-fi c and fares rise. The airline said people are booking leisure trips to beach and mountain destinations but business travel is still lagging.

United led a rally in airlines shares, closing up 8.3%. American gained 7.7%, Delta rose 2.3%, and South-west added 1.8%.

FedEx’s profi t nearly triples as online shopping grows

FedEx said that its profi t nearly tripled in its most recent quarter, despite win-ter weather that hobbled some of its facilities.

Online shopping has surged during the pandemic as more people avoid going inside stores. That has made package delivery companies like Fe-dEx in high demand.

CEO Frederick Smith said he ex-pects demand to “remain very high for the foreseeable future.”

Besides delivering shoppers’ or-

ders, the company has also been shipping COVID-19 vaccines, which Smith called “the most important work in the history of FedEx.”

The Memphis, Tennessee-based company reported net income of $892 million for the three months ending Feb. 28, compared with $315 million in the same period the year before.

Adjusted earnings came to $3.47 per share, beating Wall Street expec-tations, according to Zacks Invest-ment Research.

FedEx said icy weather last month hindered several of its facilities, in-cluding some of its largest ones in Indiana, Tennessee and Texas, caus-ing it to lose $350 million in operating income.

The company said revenue rose 23% to $21.5 billion, also beating ex-pectations.

Shares of FedEx Corp., which have more than doubled in the last year, rose 3.7% to $273.13 in after-hours trading Thursday. (AP)

In this Tuesday, Dec 29, 2020, fi le photo, a FedEx delivery

vehicle makes a U-turn near the Denver Pavilions, in downtown

Denver. (AP )

Wall St closes lower; bank stocks fallGlobal markets follow US stocks down after Fed bump

NEW YORK, March 20, (AP): Wall Street closed out a choppy week of trad-ing Friday with major stock indexes mostly lower and all fi nishing in the red for the week.

The S&P 500 ended 0.1% lower after reversing a small gain. The benchmark index, which hit an all-time high on Wednesday, posted its fi rst weekly decline in three weeks. Losses by banks, industrial companies and technology stocks weighed on the market. They off-set gains in companies that rely on consumer spending, healthcare and other sectors.

Bond yields were mixed, though the 10-year Treasury yield inched higher. The closely watched yield, which infl uences interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, has hovered this week near the highest level since January.

Higher yields put downward pressure on stocks generally, in part because they can steer dollars away from the stock market and into bonds instead. That makes in-vestors less willing to pay as high prices for stocks.

“Overall, the very near term concerns are going back to some of the bigger picture questions,” said Barry Bannister, chief equity strategist at Stifel. “How high can yields go and what does that mean for stock valuations?”

The S&P 500 lost 2.36 points to 3,913.10. The Dow Jones Indus-trial Average fell 234.33 points, or 0.7%, to 32,627.97, pulled lower by fi nancial companies. The tech-nology-heavy Nasdaq Compos-ite rose 99.07 points, or 0.8%, to 13,215.24.

Smaller company stocks also notched gains. That helped the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies claw back some of its losses from a day earlier. It picked up 19.96 points, or 0.9%, to 2,287.55.

A late-burst of selling may have

been caused by “quadruple witch-ing,” the simultaneous expiration of four kinds of options and futures contracts. The phenomenon hap-pens four times a year and forces traders to tie up loose ends in con-tracts they hold.

Bank stocks fell after the Fed-eral Reserve announced it would end some of the emergency meas-ures put in place last year to aid the fi nancial industry deal with the pandemic. The move will re-store some of the capital require-ments for big banks that were

suspended in the early months of the viral outbreak, in order to give banks fl exibility. The banking in-dustry had hoped those measures would be extended.

The announcement briefl y raised concerns about more bond selling, but those fears have been tem-pered, Bannister said.

Big bank stocks were particu-larly hurt, since the Fed’s meas-ures mostly apply to the nation’s largest banks. Citigroup and Bank of America dropped 1.1%, while JPMorgan Chase slid 1.6%.

Several Big Tech companies rose. Netfl ix gained 1.5% and Amazon.com added 1.6%. Face-book, meanwhile, climbed 4.1%. Even so, the S&P 500’s tech sector fell, weighed down partly by Visa. Shares in the fi nancial services company fell 6.2% for the biggest decline in the S&P 500 following reports that the Justice Department is investigating the company over its debit card practices. Mastercard fell 2.9%.

As interest rates have risen, pric-ier stocks like technology compa-

nies have fallen.The yield on the 10-year US

Treasury note rose to 1.73% from 1.72% late Thursday. The prospect of higher interest rates as bond yields rise has some investors con-cerned that economic growth could slow.

There are also concerns that the rise in bond yields could be a har-binger of infl ation. Fed offi cials said earlier this week that they may let the U.S. economy “run hot” for some time in order to not stymie the economic recovery as the pan-

demic eases.Shares of transportation com-

pany FedEx leaped 6.1% after the company reported earnings well above analysts’ estimates.

Shares of Nike fell by 4% after the athletic apparel company said pandemic-caused congestion at ports caused sales to slow in the last quarter.

Global stock markets followed Wall Street lower on Friday after rising U.S. bond yields dampened buying enthusiasm driven by the Federal Reserve’s promise of low interest rates.

London and Frankfurt opened lower and Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong also retreated.

The FTSE 100 in London fell 1.2% to 6,696.57. The DAX in Frankfurt lost 0.6% to 14,684.63 while the CAC in Paris declined 0.7% to 6,020.89.

In Asia, the Shanghai Compos-ite Index tumbled 1.7% to 3,404.66 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 1.4% to 29,792.05. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong retreated 1.4% to 28,990.94.

The Kospi in Seoul shed 0.9% to 3,039.53 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gave up 0.6% to 6,708.20.

India’s Sensex advanced 0.5% to 49,474.99. New Zealand and Singapore gained while Bangkok and Jakarta retreated.

Also Friday, Japan’s central left its easy monetary policy and in-fl ation goal of 2% unchanged but widened the band in which long-term interest rates will be allowed to rise or fall around its target to 0.25% from 0.2%.

In energy markets Friday, benchmark US crude added 4 cents to $60.10 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercan-tile Exchange. Brent crude, the basis for international oil prices, shed 1 cent to $63.27 per barrel in London.

The dollar edged down to 108.64 from Thursday’s 109.00. The euro advanced to $1.1932 from $1.1915.

A woman wearing a protective mask walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities fi rm Friday, March 19, in Tokyo. (AP)

SCIENCEARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021

11

Virus deaths rise again

As shots lag, Italy’selderly pay a priceBERGAMO, Italy, March 20, (Agencies): One year ago, Bergamo’s state-of-the-art Pope John XXIII Hospital verged on collapse as doctors struggled to treat 600 patients, with 100 of them in intensive care. Army trucks ferried the dead from the city’s overtaxed crematorium in images now seared into the collective pandemic memory.

The picture is much improved now: The hospital is treat-ing fewer than 200 virus patients, just one quarter of whom require intensive care.

But still unchanged as Italy’s death rate pushes upward once again is that the victims remain predominantly elderly, with inoculation drives stumbling in the country and else-where in Europe.

“No, this thing, alas, I was not able to protect the elderly, to make clear how important it would be to protect the elderly,’’ said Dr Luca Lorini, head of intensive care at the hospital named for the mid-20th century pope born in Bergamo. “If I have 10 elderly people over 80 and they get covid, in their age group, eight out of 10 die.”

That was true in the first horrifying wave and remained “absolutely the same” in subsequent spikes, he said.

Promises to vaccinate all Italians over 80 all by the end of March have fallen woefully short, amid well-doc-

umented interruptions of vaccine supplies and organiza-tional shortfalls. Just a third of Italy’s 7.3 million doses administered so far have gone to that age group, with more than half of those who carry memories of World War II still awaiting their first jab.

“We should have already finished with this,” Lorini told The Associated Press.

Italy’s new premier, Mario Draghi, pledged during a visit to Bergamo on Thursday that the vaccine campaign would be accelerated. His remarks came as he inaugurated a park to honor Italy’s over 104,000 dead. Through early March, two-thirds of those deaths have been among those over 80.

“We are here to promise our elderly that it will never happen again that fragile people are not adequately helped and protected. Only like this will we respect those who have left us,” Draghi said on the anniversary of the first army convoy carrying the virus dead from Bergamo.

VaccinationsItaly can hope to see its future by looking to Britain, the

first country in Europe to authorize widespread vaccina-tions. More than 38% of the UK population has been inocu-lated since early December, starting with those over 70, health care workers and staff of care homes.

Britain, which leads Europe in virus deaths, has seen the percentage of fatalities among those over 75 diminish from 75% of the total before the vaccination campaign to 64% in the week ending March 5. Deaths across Britain have dropped from an average of 128 a day in the most recent seven-day period, from a high of 1,248 in the week ended Jan 20 – also thanks to lockdown measures.

Along with health care workers, Spain, France and Italy prioritized vaccinating residents of nursing homes, by far the single hardest-hit population in the spring surge. They account for nearly a third of the dead in Italy’s first wave, and a third of France’s pandemic death toll of nearly 91,100.

In France, COVID-19 infections and deaths in care homes have been steadily trending downward as the num-bers of vaccinated has climbed, with 85% having received at least one shot. Early signs are that the proportion of ICU patients aged 75 and older has also started to decline since February, with nearly half in this age group at least par-tially vaccinated. The improved picture for residents of care homes comes despite a renewed worsening of France’s outbreak.

Spain has seen a huge drop in infections and deaths in nursing homes, following the first phase of its vaccination program, with a significant decline in deaths.

In Italy, where vaccinations of nursing home residents got under way in January, compared with mid-February for other elderly, lower infection rates in nursing homes have been declared “an early success.”

“We cannot count it as a victory, absolutely not, of the vaccine strategy,” Dr. Giovanni Rezza, director of infec-tious diseases at the Health Ministry, acknowledged recent-ly.

Rezza said Friday that they aim to double the 200,000 daily vaccinations now that the AstraZeneca shot is being used again. Its use was suspended briefly after reports of blood clots in some recipients of the vaccine, even though international health agencies urged governments to press ahead with the shot, saying the benefits outweighed the risks.

With Italy’s infection rate up for the seventh straight week propelled by the fast-moving UK variant, more than 2.5 million Italians over 80 are awaiting their shots. What’s worse, many still have no indication when they might get them.

BurdenLuca Fusco founded a group to remember the dead and

advocate for justice in their memory after his father died of COVID-19 on March 11, 2020.

His mother, who celebrated her 83rd birthday on the anniversary of her husband’s death, still hasn’t received an appointment to be vaccinated more than a month after sub-mitting a request. Fusco said that was true for most of the several hundred elderly in their small town near Bergamo, noting they were being required to travel 30 miles (20 kilo-meters) to get each shot, a burden for many.

Italy’s aim is to vaccinate 80% of the population by September, and Draghi has appointed an army general to relaunch the campaign. Fusco said his group, “Noi Denunceremo,” (“We Will Denounce”) will act as a watch-dog on the issue.

“Draghi said that by September, we will all be vaccinat-ed. Perfect,’’ Fusco said. “We have taken note of it. If this is not true, we will make our voices heard ... and we will ask Draghi for explanations.”

Italy on Friday reported 386 COVID-19 deaths, bringing total mortalities since the outbreak of the pandemic to 104,241.

Italy’s health ministry further reported 25,735 new infec-tions in the same period, taking the tally to a tad over 3.3 million, the ministry added in a statement.

The number of recoveries also rose to 2.67 million, it noted.

Meanwhile, Russia’s daily confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday climbed by 9,632 along with an additional 392 resulting deaths.

The caseload for the fourth most affected nation has now hit more than 4.44 million as deaths registered a combined 94,659, authorities said.

The UK on Friday reported 101 deaths from COVID-19 and 4,802 new cases in the past 24 hours.

The new figures pushed overall infections and death toll to 4.28 million and 126,026 respectively, the British Department of Health and Social Care said in a press state-ment.

Meanwhile, the Department said that the number of people who got the first shot of COVID-19 vaccines climbed to a little over 26 million.

Coronavirus

A medical staff member tends to a patient in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit of the Papa Giovanni XIII hospital in Bergamo, Italy on March 18. Bergamo’s state-of-the-art Pope John XXIII Hospital verged on collapse last March: as army trucks ferried virus dead from the city’s over-taxed crematoria, doctors struggled to care for 600 COVID patients, 100 in intensive care. One year later, the picture is much improved: the hospital now is treating fewer than 200 virus patients, just one

quarter of those requiring intensive care. (AP)

The night sky glows following the eruption of a volcano on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula not far from the capital Reykjavik, late Friday March 19. The long dormant volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland flared to life Friday night, spill-ing lava down two sides in that area’s first volcanic eruption in nearly 800

years. (AP)

Discovery

Dormant volcano comes to life: A long dormant volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland flared to life Friday night, spilling lava down two sides in that area’s first volcanic eruption in nearly 800 years.

Initial aerial footage, posted on the Facebook page of the Icelandic Meteorological Office, showed a relatively small eruption so far, with two streams of lava running in opposite directions. The glow from the lava could be seen from the outskirts of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, which is about 32 kilometers (20 miles) away.

The Department of Emergency Management said it was not anticipating evacuations because the volcano is in a remote valley, about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the nearest road.

The Fagradals Mountain volcano had been dormant for 6,000 years, and the Reykjanes Peninsula hadn’t seen an erup-tion of any volcano in 781 years. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

Bronze bull figurine found: Heavy rainfall in southern Greece has led to the discovery of a bronze bull figurine believed to have been a votive offering made to Zeus in Ancient Olympia as early as 3,000 years ago.

Greece’s Culture Ministry said Friday that the small, intact figurine was found after an archaeologist spotted one horn pok-ing out of the ground following recent rain-fall in the area.

The excellently preserved figurine was transported to a lab and initial examination indicates it dates from the Geometric period of ancient Greek art, roughly 1050 BC to 700 BC.

It is believed to have been a votive offer-ing to Zeus made as part of a sacrifice, as the sediment cleaned from the statuette bore distinct burn marks, the Culture Ministry said.

Thousands of votive offerings are believed to have been made at the altar of Zeus. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

WH picks Nelson to lead NASA: US President Joe Biden has chosen a former senator from Florida who flew on the space shuttle right before the Challenger accident to lead NASA.

Biden on Friday announced his intent to nominate Bill Nelson as the space agency’s administrator.

If confirmed by the Senate, Nelson will become NASA’s 14th administrator, suc-ceeding another former member of Congress, Jim Bridenstine, a Republican from Oklahoma. Nelson currently serves on the NASA Advisory Council.

Nelson promised, if confirmed, to “help lead NASA into an exciting future of pos-sibilities.” The space agency is working to send astronauts back to the moon this decade and counting more than ever on private US companies and even other countries to get that job — and others – done.

“Its workforce radiates optimism, inge-nuity and a can-do spirit,” Nelson said in a statement. “The NASA team continues to achieve the seemingly impossible as we venture into the cosmos.”

Nelson, 78, grew up near Cape Canaveral and was serving as a Democratic

Draghi

‘People can rest assured vaccines are safe’

COVID shot expert: next target cancerBERLIN, March 20, (AP): The scien-tist who won the race to deliver the first widely used coronavirus vaccine says people can rest assured the shots are safe, and the technology behind it will soon be used to fight another global scourge – cancer.

Ozlem Tureci, who co-founded the German company BioNTech with her husband, was working on a way to harness the body’s immune system to tackle tumors when they learned last year of an unknown virus infecting people in China.

Over breakfast, the couple decided to apply the technology they’d been researching for two decades to the new threat, dubbing the effort “Project Lightspeed.”

Within 11 months, Britain had authorized the use of the mRNA vac-cine BioNTech developed with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, followed a week later by the United States. Tens of millions of people worldwide have received the shot since December.

“It pays off to make bold decisions and to trust that if you have an extraor-dinary team, you will be able to solve any problem and obstacle which comes your way in real time,” Tureci told The Associated Press in an inter-view.

Among the biggest challenges for the small, Mainz-based company that had yet to get a product to market was how to conduct large-scale clinical tri-als across different regions and how to scale up the manufacturing process to meet global demand.

AssetsAlong with Pfizer, the company

enlisted the help of Fosun Pharma in China “to get assets, capabilities and geographical footprint on board, which we did not have,” Tureci said.

Among the lessons she and her hus-band, BioNTech chief executive Ugur Sahin, learned along with their col-leagues was “how important cooperation and collaboration is internationally.”

Tureci, who was born in Germany to Turkish immigrants, said the com-pany, which has staff members from 60 countries, reached out to medical oversight bodies from the start, to ensure that the new type of vaccine would pass the rigorous scrutiny of regulators.

“The process of getting a medicine or a vaccine approved is one where many questions are asked, many experts are involved and there is exter-nal peer review of all the data and scientific discourse,” she said.

Amid a scare in Europe this week over the coronavirus shot made by British-Swedish rival AstraZeneca, Tureci dismissed the idea that any corners were cut by those racing to develop a vaccine.

“There is a very rigid process in place and the process does not stop after a vaccine has been approved,” she said. “It is, in fact, continuing now all around the world, where regulators have used reporting systems to screen and to assess any observations made with our or other vaccines.”

Tureci and her colleagues have all received the BioNTech vaccine them-selves, she told the AP. “Yes, we have been vaccinated,” she said.

As BioNTech’s profile has grown

during the pandemic, so has its value, providing funds the company can use to pursue its original goal of develop-ing a new tool against cancer.

ImmuneThe vaccines made by BioNTech-

Pfizer and U.S. rival Moderna uses messenger RNA, or mRNA, to carry instructions into the human body for making proteins that prime it to attack a specific virus. The same principle can be applied to get the immune sys-tem to take on tumors.

“We have several different cancer vaccines based on mRNA,” said Tureci, who is BioNTech’s chief med-ical officer.

Asked when such a therapy might be available, Tureci said “that’s very difficult to predict in innovative devel-opment. But we expect that within only a couple of years, we will also have our vaccines (against) cancer at a place where we can offer them to people.”

For now, Tureci and Sahin are try-ing to ensure the vaccines govern-

ments have ordered are delivered and that the shots respond effectively to any new mutation in the virus.

On Friday, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded the wife and husband one of the country’s high-est decorations, the Order of Merit, during a ceremony attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel, a trained scientist herself.

“You began with a drug to treat cancer in a single individual,” Steinmeier told the couple. “And today we have a vaccine for all of humani-ty.”

Tureci said ahead of the ceremony that getting the award was “indeed an honor.”

But she insisted developing the vac-cine was the work of many.

“It’s about the effort of many: our team at BioNTech, all the partners who were involved, also governments, regulatory authorities, which worked together with a sense of urgency,” Tureci said. “The way we see it, this is an acknowledgement of this effort and also a celebration of science.”

GENEVA, March 20, (AP): The head of a World Health Organization team working with Chinese col-leagues to finish a long-awaited report into the origins of the coro-navirus acknowledged its authors could face “pressures” but insisted the final product will have a unani-mous green light from all of the team’s science-minded members.

Peter Ben Embarek, an expert on food safety and diseases that jump from animals to humans, said in interviews on Wednesday and Thursday that the team hopes the report – now totaling some 280 pages and complete with graphs, dates and annexes – will be ready for release next week.

The report is a first-phase study that is expected to be followed by a more in-depth look as part of guide-lines set by Chinese officials and the WHO team.

Ben Embarek, who led a 10-per-son international team of experts that visited China in January and February, acknowledged that politi-cal pressures have loomed large over the virus pandemic.

“We are in the world that we live in,” he said. “It’s possible that there will be pressures from right to left.”

“What we can guarantee is that everyone will be on board” and “unanimous” in their backing of the report once that the text is complet-ed, Ben Embarek said. The “fine-tuning of the text” has centered on scientific issues, while some Chinese-English translation issues were “taking a lot of time,” he said.

He said the report was being written by all of the experts and part of a “long and complex” process.

China’s Global Times newspaper on Wednesday published an inter-view with Liang Wannian, the head of the Chinese side of the team, who pointed to political pressures that amounted to “huge disrespect

to the work of our scientists.”Liang was quoted as saying

some politicians and international media had “insisted on politicizing the scientific issue of tracing the source of COVID-19, regardless of scientific facts, for their own per-sonal gain, arbitrarily misinterpret-ing the scientific findings and reports of our joint team.”

He took pains to emphasize the spirit of cooperation among the sci-entists and said both sides had cooperated openly and fully throughout the month-long investi-gation, and that “results of this joint study in China are the consensus of Chinese and foreign experts.”

Liang echoed the comments from Ben Embarek about the extended time to publish the report, saying the process required to present a com-plete and scientifically rigorous report “takes some time.”

The team did not find cases of COVID-19 before December 8, 2019, he said.

Ben Embarek cited the need to investigate the possible role in the pandemic of local trade of wild ani-mal products from farms in and around southern China in 2019 and beyond to a market in the city of Wuhan, which could have been a way that the virus entered into a large city that was tied into global supply chains.

“We don’t know yet the origins of the pandemic.” He said cold-chain transmission including through fro-zen food packaging was a “possi-ble route” of spread, but that the issue requires further exploration.

Liang promoted Chinese govern-ment claims of other sources of the pandemic saying that cold chain transmission “plays an important part in the origin and transmission of the epidemic.” The international team left open the possibility of the cold chain playing a role in the transmission.

Virus study to have unanimitydespite pressure: WHO expert

Health

Nelson Biden

congressman when he launched aboard space shuttle Columbia on Jan 12, 1986. His commander was Charles Bolden Jr, who later served as NASA administrator under president Barack Obama at Nelson’s urging. (AP)

❑ ❑ ❑

NASA completes test firing: NASA completed an engine test firing of its moon rocket Thursday, after the first attempt in January ended prematurely.

This time, the four main engines of the rocket’s core stage remained ignited for the full eight minutes. Applause broke out in the control room at Mississippi’s Stennis Space Flight Center once the engines shut down on the test stand.

NASA officials called it a major mile-stone in sending astronauts back to the moon, but declined to say when that might occur or even whether the first test flight without a crew would occur by year’s end as planned. (AP)

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This image released by Saban Films shows Kerry Bishé, (left), and Joel McHale in a scene from the fi lm ‘Happily.’ (AP)

‘America’s Most Wanted’ returns with new ways to fi ght crime

Marvel’s ‘Falcon’ promises action, explores race, patriotismNEW YORK, March 20, (AP): When Steve Rogers handed Sam Wil-son his Captain America shield at the end of Marvel’s massive 2019 event “Avengers: Endgame,” Wilson tried it on for a beat. “How does it feel?” the wrinkled Rogers asked. “Like it’s someone else’s,” Wilson responded.

That reluctance and skepticism is front-and-center as Wilson’s story continues in “The Falcon and the Winter Solder,” a new six-episode Disney+ series that promises an exploration of patriotism and race alongside its shootouts and soaring chase scenes. The series launched Friday.

While “Endgame” appeared to promise a quick transition for An-thony Mackie’s Falcon to take up the Captain America mantle, as he has in the comics, the creator of “Falcon” promises only complications. Malcolm Spellman said the series will explore “the confl ict for a Black man confronting those stars and stripes.”

He said the Wilson/Falcon character is set to “emerge from this story as a hero of the times and a hero of the people today. And that journey of whether it’s even appropriate to deal with the symbol, the Stars and Stripes, to me, felt super, super relevant and timely.”

So will there be a Black Captain America by the time the fi nal credits roll in April? Mackie, steeped in Marvel’s renowned secret-keeping after playing Falcon since 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Sol-dier,” will only say this: “I’m very happy with the end of ‘Falcon,’ and I feel like I have one of the most unique, coolest characters in all of comic book movies.”

Unlike the mostly insular “WandaVision,” the fi rst Marvel series launched after “Endgame,” “Falcon” promises a larger scope of globe-

trotting adventure with implications for multiple characters in upcom-ing series and fi lms.

Spellman drew inspiration from race-conscious “buddy two-hand-ers” like “Lethal Weapon,” “48 Hours” and “The Defi ant Ones,” high-lighting the warm chemistry between Mackie and Sebastian Stan, who joined Marvel movies as Bucky Barnes in 2011’s “Captain America: The First Avenger.” In comics, Barnes has also taken up Cap’s shield, lending an inherent tension to the series titular pairing.

Stan says “Falcon” allowed the two actors to fi nd new shadings to their roles, even after so many fi lm appearances, by “honoring the things that we have understood about them so far in the movies and then also staying open to taking them down a new path and fi nding the middle ground between those things. Of course, the more time you have, the more interesting they can get.”

Character Spellman, who was a producer and writer on the hit series “Empire,”

says he’s looking to deal with potentially hot-button subjects honestly without alienating the audience. The story, featuring the return of Dan-iel Brühl as Zemo and Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, also intro-duces a character named John Walker, played by Wyatt Russell. In the comics, Walker becomes US Agent, a sometime antagonist to Captain America who twists American patriotism to darker ends.

Mackie teases a plot that’s “very timely and very important.” And Spellman says he’s looking to upend expectations. “I’ll just promise everyone this: What you think is happening after ‘Endgame’ is not what’s happening in this series,” he said.

Also:NEW YORK: In a clip from the premiere of Fox’s fresh take on “America’s Most Wanted,” a series where viewers are told about crimes in the hope of leading to an arrest, new host Elizabeth Var-gas examines a 3D avatar of a suspect who appears to be standing next to her on set.

“Standing next to him you can learn a lot,” said Vargas, circling the likeness of a male. “One of the fi rst things, he’s on the tall side.”

“America’s Most Wanted” premiered March 15 at 9 pm EDT on Fox.

Vargas said these renderings are actually far more specifi c.“Our viewers can see distinctive tattoos or scars or moles or even,

for example, a distinctive way of walking,” said the host in a recent interview.

Vargas, who covered countless crimes in past jobs including host-ing ABC’s “World News Tonight” and “20/20,” said she “couldn’t be more excited” for this opportunity to help close the loop on some of these cases.

“We used to get a lot of viewer reaction but we weren’t set up to han-dle any of those tips. I mean, what we just did was call up the detective on the case and say, ‘Let me forward this to you,’” she said. “Now I get to tell the stories and ask the audience for help.”

The series will also take advantage of the advancements in DNA research. “With all these people on DNA database and the fact that law enforcement can fi gure out if the DNA at a crime scene ... It’s extraordinary.”

NEW YORK: Conservative com-mentator Dan Bongino has joined a scramble to inherit the radio talk show mantle left behind by the death of Rush Limbaugh.

Cumulus Media’s Westwood One said Bongino will begin a new three-hour radio program from 12 pm to 3 pm, Eastern, the same time slot Limbaugh occupied before his death due to lung cancer in Febru-ary. Bongino’s news and opinion show will launch May 24 in markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

Limbaugh’s show is syndicated to more than 600 markets through Premiere Networks, which has not announced future plans. Since the star’s death, the show has featured guest hosts and old tapes of Limbaugh.

That is setting off a race to offer an alternative in that time slot, said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine. Dana Loesch and Erick Erickson are among the personalities being bandied about, he said.

“There is no clear-cut favorite at this time,” Harrison said. “It is generally accepted that no one can replace Rush Limbaugh, even Rush Limbaugh as a posthumous performer.”

Bongino, a former Secret Ser-vice agent, has become a popular commentator on Fox News Chan-nel, featured frequently on Sean Hannity’s show. He has a podcast and is considered a rising star in the community of conservative commentators.

“I’m excited to embrace the immense power of radio to connect with my listeners live for three hours every day,” said Bongino. “This is an incredible privilege, and I pledge to honor the trailblazing work of those who came before me.”

Although he’s starting with slots on Cumulus-owned stations in some big cities, it’s not im-mediately clear how many markets Bongino will be heard in. (AP)

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LOS ANGELES: A longtime Los Angeles television news reporter and his photographer were among fi ve people seriously injured Friday when an allegedly drunk driver crashed his SUV into a building along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, offi cials said.

At the time of the crash, FOX

11 reporter Hal Eisner, a well-re-spected journalist in Los Angeles for more than 38 years, had been working on a story with photojour-nalist Joab Perez Friday afternoon about the famous El Capitan Theatre and Los Angeles County’s partial reopening this week, which allows for movie theaters to open at limited capacity, according to FOX 11. Perez has been with the

station for nearly three years.The male driver has been ar-

rested on suspicion of driving un-der the infl uence, the Los Angeles Police Department said. He told police he fell asleep at the wheel but failed fi eld sobriety tests.

Authorities believe he was driving while intoxicated when he drove the SUV the wrong way and ran off the road, LAPD Capt.

Brian Wendling said. The crash occurred along the Walk of Fame near the well-known intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.

Two of the other victims were tourists from Washington, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said on Twitter. One suffered severe injuries, including broken ribs and a broken leg. The other had mod-

erate injuries, such as lacerations and abrasions.

Moore said the victims were all listed in stable condition about three hours after the crash.

The SUV crashed into a glass storefront on West Hollywood Boulevard around 3 p.m., striking several pedestrians, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. (AP)

Film

Variety

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A tale of dead body and 10 millennials

Slick Airbnb horror thriller in ‘Happily’By Jocelyn Noveck

‘How did we fi nd this place, anyway?’Wait, where have we heard that before?

Actually, it’s a familiar line in a new genre of thriller that’s emerged the last few years: Airbnb horror fi lms. There are a few constants: Attractive millennials, lots of good things, a gorgeous week-end rental. And then something scary happens, and fi nally someone says: “Wait, how did we fi nd this place?” Oops! Suddenly everyone realizes that the house actually chose THEM. By then, it’s too late to escape.

By the time “Happily,” an ambitious, sometimes compelling but wildly uneven debut feature by Ben-David Grabinski, gets to this point, it’s already lost us a bit, and started feeling like yet another slick hip-ster horror fi lm - you know, for those who like their millennials attractive and their chef-quality kitchen appliances even more so. That’s too bad, because the setup - the fi rst act, as it were - is delicious.

“Happily” begins with this question: Does the “law of diminishing returns” apply in a biological sense to marriages, or can a couple remain as in-fatuated with each other as the day they met, year after year? The test case is Tom (Joel McHale) and Janet (Kerry Bishe), an absurdly attractive couple still in the honeymoon phase of their marriage. These two can’t go to a party without having a steamy tryst in the bathroom.

Their friends are annoyed - and not just because the bathroom is tied up. They’re annoyed because this honeymoon phase has lasted 14 years and shows no sign of abating.

“They’re going home for Round 2,” quips their jaded friend Karen at one such party, voice drip-ping with jealousy. She and husband Val do not have the same problem. Another “problem” Janet and Tom have is that they always forgive each oth-er for any transgression. Genuine forgiveness, not

the tired cease-fi re some couples fall into.A few nights later at dinner, Karen and Val drop

Janet and Tom from an upcoming weekend vaca-tion and return their deposit. “Everyone hates you,” Karen explains. “You never even fi ght!” The cou-ple protests, but they’re proving Karen’s point by engaging in hanky-panky under the table.

Problems Shaken, they go home and tell each other: “We

are not the weird ones. They are.” Soon though, they have worse problems. A creepy older man (Stephen Root) shows up at their house with a briefcase, explaining that he works for “the city” and they have a major malfunction - a rare dual malfunction - in that the law of diminishing returns inexplicably doesn’t apply to them. It all needs to be corrected with an injection. Once injected, they “will fi nally be totally normal.” And they don’t have a choice.

Not to reveal too much, but violence ensues. Now it’s a tale of a dead body. And a weekend getaway with eight friends - because they’re sud-denly invited again. And this time, they have a ter-rible secret.

The second act turns into something more mud-dled and less interesting. It doesn’t help that none of these friends are even remotely appealing or com-pelling. Not nervous Patricia (Natalie Morales), who made the house booking, and her odd husband Donald (Jon Daly), not jealous Karen (Natalie Zea) who wants to sleep with Tom to prove he’s get-ting tired of his wife, and her always-annoyed hus-band Val (Paul Scheer), not nasty, puzzle-obsessed Richard (Breckin Meyer) and his poor mistreated girlfriend Gretel (Charlyne Yi). Only Carla (Shan-non Woodward) and her partner Maude (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) seem the least bit worth spending a weekend with.

Why are they all even there? Well, there’s a

frightening reason they ended up in this particular house, which emerges in due course. But what we’re really asking is, why are these people even together? Nobody seems to enjoy each other or have any fun at all. OK, there’s the tense atmosphere caused by the unexpected murder and all, but there’s no sense these people EVER enjoyed each other.

Without spoiling any secrets, the fi lm progresses in horror-fi lm mode before, in its third act, tying things up in a somewhat clever, unexpected way. By then, though, you may have given up on this group.

Call it the law of diminishing returns.“Happily,” a Saban Films release, has been rated

R by the Motion Picture Association of America “for sexual content, language throughout and brief violence. “ Running time: 96 minutes. Two stars out of four.

MPAA defi nition of R: Restricted. Under 17 re-quires accompanying parent or guardian.

Also:LOS ANGELES: Four years after “Justice League” underwhelmed both critics and audiences, fi lm-maker Zack Snyder has come back to fi nish what he started. He left the original fi lm amid a family tragedy and confl icts with the studio, and says he’s never actually seen it (Joss Whedon took over and fi nished the fi lm that came to theaters in 2017). This version, debuted on HBO Max last Thursday, is a four-hour epic about Ben Affl eck’s Batman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, Ray Fisher’s Cyborg and more. There are new characters and plot-lines and over 2,500 new visual effects, but amazingly only one brand new scene was fi lmed, with Jared Leto’s Joker. The Synder army will no doubt be watching “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” in one sitting, but the good news for everyone else is you can break up the four hours however you like. (AP)

Limbaugh Bongino

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People & Places

NEWS/FEATURESARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021

13

People

Hammer under assault probe

Lawyers to appeal‘wife beater’ rulingLONDON, March 20, (AP): Lawyers for Johnny Depp told Britain’s Court of Appeal that the actor’s ex-wife, Amber Heard, did not donate all of her $7 million divorce settlement to charity as she claimed, part of arguments seeking to overturn a ruling that the actor assaulted Heard during the couple’s mar-riage.

The Hollywood star is seeking permission to appeal a High Court ruling in November, when he lost his libel lawsuit against The Sun newspaper for labeling him a “wife beater” in an article. Depp lost the case - thought to be one of the biggest English libel trials in recent history - following a three-week trial in July.

High Court Justice Andrew Nicol ruled that lawyers for Sun publisher News Group Newspapers proved

during the trial that the allega-tions against Depp, made in a April 2018 article, were “sub-stantially true.”

The judge ruled that Depp, 57, assaulted Heard on a dozen occasions and put her in fear for her life three times.

On Thursday, Depp’s law-yers argued for an appeal based on what they said was fresh evidence that Heard did not donate the entire amount of her $7-million divorce settlement

to two charities. Lawyer Andrew Caldecott said the donation claims

gave Heard a “considerable boost to her credibility as a person” and that they had “tipped the scales against Mr. Depp from the very beginning.”

Neither Depp nor Heard were present for Thurs-day’s hearing in London.

The couple divorced in 2016. Caldecott alleged that the one of Heard’s supposed charitable benefi ciaries, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, wrote to Depp’s business adviser in 2019 to say Heard had not made any donations. Caldecott called Heard’s claims a “cal-culated and manipulative lie” in written submissions to the judge.

“It’s a false plus to her and a false minus to him,” he said Thursday.

Caldecott also argued that Nicol, the High Court judge, unfairly rejected evidence unfavorable to Heard during last year’s trial. He said the judge should have placed more importance on recordings in which Heard appeared to admit to assaulting Depp when she was heard saying “I can’t promise I won’t get physi-cal again.”

Conduct Her “promise about future conduct suggests that

this is not necessarily a one-off,” the lawyer said. During the trial, the judge - and the public - heard

lurid accounts from Depp and Heard in which each accused the other of abuse.

Nicol accepted Heard’s claim that she feared for her life on several occasions, including during what Heard described as a “three-day hostage situation” in Australia in March 2015 while Depp was fi lming a “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie.

The judge found that 12 of the 14 instances of do-mestic violence cited had occurred and said that was suffi cient to rule against Depp in his libel suit against the newspaper.

Depp acknowledged wide-ranging drug problems but accused Heard of making up abuse allegations and insisted he was “not a violent person, especially with women.”

His lawyers argued that the allegations caused “se-rious harm” to the actor’s reputation and “signifi cant distress and embarrassment.”

❑ ❑ ❑

Actor Armie Hammer is under investigation for sexual assault, Los Angeles police said Thursday.

Hammer’s attorney denied the allegation.Hammer is the main suspect in a sexual assault

that was reported to police on Feb. 3, LAPD spokes-man Officer Drake Madison said. Police would give no further details on the incident or who made the report.

Earlier Thursday at a video news conference, a woman said that on April 24, 2017, in Los Angeles, Hammer raped her for four hours, slammed her head against a wall and committed other violent acts against her.

The Associated Press does not generally identify al-leged victims of sexual assault.

The woman appeared on camera but identifi ed her-self only by her fi rst name, Effi e.

“During those four hours I tried to get away but he wouldn’t let me,” she said through tears. “I thought that he was going to kill me. He then left with no con-cern for my well-being.”

The woman’s attorney, Gloria Allred, said they had given evidence to Los Angeles police, including photos of Effi e’s injuries. Allred declined to say when they made the report, and would not confi rm that it was the one made in February that the LAPD is in-vestigating.

RelationshipEffi e was 20 when she and Hammer met on Face-

book and began a relationship in 2016, and they had their last contact last year, Allred said.

Hammer’s attorney said in a statement that from the beginning he has maintained that all of his interactions with Effi e and every other sexual partner “have been completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory.”

The statement called her allegations “attention seeking and ill-advised” and said “her own corre-spondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations.”

“With the truth on his side, Mr. Hammer welcomes the opportunity to set the record straight,” Andrew Brettler said.

The statement included a screenshot that Brettler said was a text message exchange in July of last year between Hammer and Effi e, in which she expresses a desire for rough, forceful sex with him, and he re-sponds by saying he no longer wants a relationship with her.

The 34-year-old actor was married at the time to television personality Elizabeth Chambers. They di-vorced last year.

Hammer fi rst gained fame through playing twins in 2010’s “The Social Network,” and is best known for his starring roles in 2017’s “Call Me By Your Name” and 2013’s “The Lone Ranger.”

Most recently, Hammer starred in the Netfl ix re-make of “Rebecca.” A sequel to “Call Me by Your Name” with Timothée Chalamet has also been in development. Allegations of sexual violence in recent months have derailed Hammer’s career.

Depp

Grammy-winning songwriter Starrah poses for a portrait in Beverly Hills, Calif, on Sept 16, 2020. The hitmaker for the likes of Drake, Rihanna, Maroon 5, Camila Cabello, Nicki Minaj, Halsey and Katy Perry released her debut full-length album ‘Longest Interlude’ last Wednesday. (AP)

A mad scientist in the music studio

It’s now Starrah’s turn to shineBy Mark Kennedy

Freshly minted Grammy-winning songwriter Starrah has long

helped others be stars. Now it’s her turn to shine.

The hitmaker for the likes of Drake, Rihanna, Maroon 5, Camila Cabello, Nicki Minaj, Halsey and Katy Perry is releasing her debut full-length album this week, a natu-ral extension for the self-taught stu-dio prodigy.

“I just really love hearing new sounds and experimenting with mu-sic,” she says. “I just feel like a little mad scientist in the lab when I put stuff together and just see what it does.”

The 13-track “Longest Interlude” - out Wednesday - showcases her command of R&B, hip-hop and pop skills, all delivered in an achingly personal collection she likens to opening her diary.

“I personally feel like the only thing that’s missing from a lot of music right now is just the raw emotion and honesty, like vulner-ability,” she says. “Everybody wants to be cool. Nobody wants to be vulnerable.”

Starrah has tapped some musical royalty for producing help, includ-ing James Blake, Skrillex, Boi1da and Nile Rogers. She recorded some of the songs at Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles recorded. She says it’s all a bit surreal.

“The only time I heard about the Beatles was a music class so it’s crazy to think that I recorded my music in the studio that they worked, with Rogers — a legend,” she says. “It’s hard to wrap my mind around it sometime, but it’s really cool. It’s like a dream.”

She’s co-written songs that have over 14 billions streams, among them Cabello’s “Havana,” Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You,” Drake’s “Fake

Love,” Halsey’s “Now or Never,” Maroon 5 and SZA’s “What Lovers Do” and Perry’s “Swish Swish” fea-turing Nicki Minaj.

More of her songs include The Weeknd’s “Starboy” album cut “True Colors,” Rihanna’s “Needed Me” and Beyoncé’s “Already” from “Black Is King.” She also worked on multiple tracks for Madonna’s latest album, “Madame X.”

Starrah won a Grammy on Sunday for working on Megan Thee Stal-lion’s “Savage Remix” featuring Be-yoncé. She previously scored a 2018 ASCAP Pop Music Songwriter of the Year award - becoming the fi rst woman in nearly two decades. She also landed a spot in Forbes’ 30 Un-der 30 in 2019.

Experimented Not bad for a Black and LGBTQ

woman in a male-dominated fi eld who was working in public storage when she fi rst got noticed. “To see her go from public storage to the Forbes list is something nobody can take away,” says her manager, Nick Jarjour.

She grew up as Brittany Hazzard in a small town in Delaware, the youngest of eight brothers and sis-ters. Music was always a big part of her life. She used to fall asleep to music and wake up to it the next morning. “When I was a kid, I just used to just play around with music all day,” she says.

Starrah experimented with online music programs like FruityLoops and Audacity, watching YouTube tutorials and learning how to loop instrumentals. “Anything I could do to try to learn how to make beats or learn how to make music,” she re-calls.

Jarjour remembers fi rst hearing Starrah while listening to a college radio R&B show. Her song, “Drank Up” came on and he immediately spent hours searching her Sound-

Cloud profi le.“From the fi rst second I heard her,

chills went through my whole body and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” he says. “It is really aston-ishing to see how far she’s come, but it’s no surprise because she had that drive inside her from the beginning.”

Her appetite for music is broad. As a kid, she was raised on a sonic diet of Britney Spears, Eve, Ruff Ryders and Lil’ Bow Wow. These days, she feeds her “eclectic palate” everything.

“I don’t limit myself to what I listen to, honestly,” she says. “One day I could be listening to NBA YoungBoy or Kodak Black. And the next day I’m listening to Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke or Coltrane or Skrillex.”

Trust and mutual respect are key whenever Starrah decides to help someone on their song, not the popu-larity of the artist, and she hopes for just “good vibes.” She’s currently working on Normani’s next album and the upcoming animated musical “Century Goddess.”

“When I’m writing for an artist, I feel like it’s important for me to sit down and have a conversation with them and see where they’re at in life and just what kind of music do they want to make,” she says. “I’m highly empathetic so I can pretty much put myself in that person’s shoes and write, if necessary for them, from their perspective.”

Despite her impact, she usually shuns the limelight, even preferring to distort photo portraits or partially cover her face. She says she values her privacy and didn’t get into the music business for fame.

“If you think of anything other than the music, it’s a distraction to me. If you’re focused on a personal-ity attached to the music, it just takes away from the music,” she says. “I just feel like that should be the focal point.” (AP)

Kelly Marie Tran, a voice cast mem-ber in the Disney animated film ‘Raya and the Last Dragon,’ runs out to introduce the film to the audience, March 19, in Los Angeles at El Capi-tan Theatre’s reopening day, follow-ing its shuttering more than a year ago due to the coronavirus pandemic. Theater reopenings are part of the entertainment industry’s gradual road to recovery as states begin loosening

restrictions. (AP)

Peretti Dyson

ROCHESTER, NY: Voting is open for the next inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, with Call of Duty, Guitar Hero and Animal Crossing among the 12 fi nalists.

Also on the ballot announced are: FarmVille, FIFA International Soccer, Mattel Football, Microsoft Flight Simula-tor, Pole Position, Portal, StarCraft, Tron and Where in the World is Carmen San Diego.

“These fi nalists embody what it means to be a good game,” said Jon-Paul Dy-son, director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong museum, where the hall of fame is housed.

To be inducted, games have to have longevity, geographical reach and leave a mark on the industry and pop culture.

The winners are chosen by an inter-national committee of journalists and scholars versed in video games and their role in society. Fans can weigh in as part of an online “Player’s Choice” ballot through March 25.

The three inductees will take their place in the hall of fame during a virtual ceremony May 6, joining 28 past honorees that include Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto III, John Madden Football, Pac-Man and Microsoft Solitaire.

The hall inducted its fi rst class in 2015 with the goal of recognizing electronic games of all types — arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile. (AP)

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NEW YORK: Elsa Peretti, who went from Halston model and Studio 54 regu-lar in the 1960s and ’70s to one of the world’s most famous jewelry designers with timeless, fl uid Tiffany & Co collec-tions often inspired by nature, has died. She was 80.

She died Thursday night in her sleep at home in a small village outside Bar-celona, Spain, according to a statement from her family offi ce in Zurich and the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation.

Peretti’s sculptural cuff bracelets, bean

Variety

This image released by Disney Plus shows Anthony Mackie, (left), and Sebas-tian Stan in a scene from ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,’ streaming from

March 19. (AP) — Details on Page 12

designs and open-heart pendants are among her most recognizable work. She lent her classical aesthetic to functional goods, too, including bowls, magnifying glasses, razors and even a pizza cutter done in sterling silver, a metal she fa-vored and helped popularize as a luxury

choice.“Elsa was not only a designer but a

way of life,” Tiffany said in a statement Friday. “Elsa explored nature with the acumen of a scientist and the vision of a sculptor.”

Born in Florence, Italy, to wealthy,

conservative parents and educated in Rome and Switzerland, Peretti moved to Barcelona in her 20s and began working as a model, where she tapped into a com-munity of artists that included Salvador Dali, according to an August profi le in The Wall Street Journal’s magazine. A short time later, she decamped for New York and started modeling for Halston and other top designers, jumping into the art and fashion jet set. It’s then she began to make jewelry, tapping the designers she worked for to incorporate her pieces.

It was Halston, a close friend, who introduced her to the highest echelons at Tiffany, an exclusive collaboration that lasted throughout her career.

The outspoken Peretti began designing for Tiffany in 1974. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of her signature wrist-hugging Bone Cuff, Tiffany launched fresh versions, including some with stones of turquoise and jade.

Describing herself as “retired” to the Wall Street Journal, she kept her hand in, communicating with artisans around the world and checking on the work of her ateliers.

“Her inspiration was often drawn from everyday items — a bean, a bone, an ap-ple could be transformed into cuffl inks, bracelets, vases or lighters,” the family statement said. “Scorpions and snakes were turned into appealing necklaces and rings, often in silver, which was one of her preferred materials. (AP)

Music

SPORTSARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021

14

NZ beat B’desh by 8 wickets in 1st ODINicholls makes unbeaten 49 in his 50th ODI

DUNEDIN, New Zealand, March 20, (AP): New Zea-land needed just over 21 overs Saturday to overtake Bangladesh’s total of 131 and win the fi rst of three one-day cricket internationals by eight wickets.

Bangladesh, recently out of managed isolation, was never comfortable in unfamiliar bat-ting conditions at the University Oval and was bowled out by New Zealand in only 41.5 overs. Mah-mudullah’s 27 from 54 balls was its highest score.

After Martin Guptill crashed 38 runs from 19 balls with three fours and four sixes at the top of the order, New Zealand was always on target to win plenty of overs to spare.

Henry Nicholls made an unbeaten 49 in his 50th ODI to steer New Zea-land to victory in the 22nd over, com-bining in a 65-run partnership for the second wicket with Devon Conway (27).

New Zealand won the toss and sent

in Bangladesh in cool and overcast conditions. When Trent Boult pro-duced a late out-swinger with the fi rst ball of the match which surprised and beat Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal, it was clear the tourists were in for a tough day.

Swing was short-lived but Bang-ladesh struggled to score freely on a pitch which was slow and holding and against a New Zealand attack which produced containing lines and lengths.

Bowling into the batsmen and pitch-ing short of a length, the New Zealand bowlers — especially Boult who took 4-27 — cut down scoring options both square of the wicket and down the ground. Bangladesh struggled to 33-2 after 10 overs and posted their 50, with three wickets down, in the 16th over.

Thanks to Guptill, New Zealand’s 50 came without a wicket down and in only fi ve overs, and it reached 100 in the 16th over. Bangladesh had lost all 28 of its previous ODIs against New Zealand in New Zealand, mainly be-cause of the discomfort of its batsmen in conditions which favor the bowlers and the problems its bowlers have had in adapting to those conditions.

Monaco win at Saint-Etienne

Leeds end London hoodoo by defeating Fulham in EPLLONDON, March 20, (AP): Patrick Bamford responded to his omission from the England squad with a goal as Leeds ended their misfortunes in London by beating Fulham 2-1 in the Premier League.

Fulham missed a chance to move out of the relegation zone for the first time since December.

After Bamford’s 29th-minute open-er, Fulham’s Joachim Andersen equal-ized with his first goal for the club, and Raphinha notched Leeds’ winner.

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Monaco coasted at struggling Saint-Etienne to a 4-0 win and moved to one point behind French defending cham-pion Paris Saint-Germain and title rival Lyon, ahead of their clash this weekend.

Monaco, which has lost only once in 17 games, remains a title contender.

Lyon and PSG are level on points, with PSG second on goal difference.

Stevan Jovetic was given a rare start for Monaco as star striker Wissam Ben Yedder was rested. The lively Jovetic hit the crossbar with a 20-meter shot, smacked the post from the penalty spot,

and put Monaco ahead with a crisp low shot - all inside the first 13 minutes.

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Nabil Fekir scored from a great solo effort to help Real Betis beat Levante 2-0 at home to stay near the top of the Spanish league.

Fekir received the ball just past the centerline, spun around his marker, and then slalomed past three more defenders before slotting the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Aitor Fernández. Juan Jiménez added to Fekir’s 70th-minute opener when he finished off a ball Fernández blocked inside the six-yard box.

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Substitute Gianluca Scamacca scored twice to help Genoa come from

behind and win at fellow struggler Parma 2-1 in Serie A.

Graziano Pellè scored a spectacular opener but Scamacca was brought on at halftime and turned the match around.

Genoa moved nine points above the drop zone while Parma remained four points from safety.

Parma ended a 17-match winless run last weekend by surprising Roma 2-0.

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One goal from Marcel Sabitzer was enough for Leipzig to beat Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 away and keep its pressure on Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich.

Eight rounds remain after this week-end. Leipzig next hosts Bayern on April 3 after the international break.

Emil Forsberg, Dani Olmo and Christopher Nkunku had Leipzig’s best chances in the first half, only to see their efforts foiled each time by Bielefeld goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, the home side’s best player.

Jack Kennedy aboard Minella Indo runs in to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase event on day four of the Chel-tenham Festival at Cheltenham, England, on March 19. (AP)

Minella Indo wins Cheltenham Gold CupCHELTENHAM, England, March 20, (AP): Minella Indo held off stable-mate A Plus Tard to win the Chelten-ham Gold Cup in a dominant day for the Irish at Britain’s most prestigious jumps race.

Ridden by jockey Jack Kennedy, 9-1 shot Minella Indo outlasted A Plus Tard in a shootout from the top of the straight, winning by a length and a quarter.

Al Boum Photo, the 9-4 favorite, was denied a three-peat, fi nishing four-and-a-quarter lengths away in third af-ter winning in 2019 and last year.

Trainer Henry de Bromhead made history by taking home wins in all three of the Cheltenham Festival’s marquee

races - the Champion Hurdle, Cham-pion Chase and Gold Cup.

Based in Knockeen, Co. Water-ford, De Bromhead saddles Minella Indo and A Plus Tard. Fellow Irish-man Willie Mullins trains Al Boum Photo.

“The GOLD CUP is coming back home to Waterford,” De Bromhead said on Twitter.

Rachael Blackmore, who later col-lected the trophy as the Festival’s top rider, tried to rally her mount but

Minella Indo held steady.“I landed over the last,” Kennedy

said, “and he pricked his ears, he was pulling up, but it wasn’t out of tired-ness and when he heard Rachael com-ing back at him, he took off again. It’s unbelievable stuff.”

Kennedy added: “I can’t believe it, this is what I’ve dreamt of since I was a child. I’m just so grateful to Henry and (owner) Barry Maloney for giving me a chance and the opportunity to ride him. This is what I live for.”

Native River, the 2018 winner, was fourth, followed by Frodon in fi fth.

The stands were empty due to coro-navirus restrictions. Normally, about 70,000 fans attend the Gold Cup.

Chiefs top Hurricanes in Super Rugby AotearoaWELLINGTON, New Zealand, March 20, (AP): The Hamilton-based Chiefs rallied from 26-7 down at halftime to beat the Wellington-based Hurricanes 35-29 on Saturday, ending an 11-match losing streak in Super Rugby’s New Zealand compe-tition.

The Hurricanes scored four tries to one in a dominant fi rst half, then managed only a single long-range

penalty to fullback Jordie Barrett in a second half in which the Chiefs scored four tries.

Barrett’s penalty, from a wide angle near halfway, gave the Hurri-canes a 29-28 lead with seven min-utes remaining. But backrower Luke Jacobson crashed over three minutes later for the match-winning try, con-verted by fullback Damian McKen-zie who was infl uential in the Chiefs’

second-half revival.Scrumhalf Luke Campbell

scored for the Hurricanes in what proved to be flurry of tries from the 11th to the 16th minutes of the first half. The Chiefs hit back quickly through Kaleb Trask, then the Hurricanes scored again through hooker Ricky Riccitelli to take a lead which endured well into the second half.

Fulham’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek, (left), and Leeds United’s Mateusz Klich challenge for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Leeds United, at Craven Cottage Sta-dium, London, England, on March

19. (AP)

CRICKET

SOCCER

HORSE RACING

SPORTSARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021

15

Florida outlasts Virginia Tech opener

Oral Roberts shocks Ohio State, first big upset of NCAA tourneyWEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, March 20, (AP): Oral Roberts pulled off the fi rst major upset of the fi rst NCAA Tournament in two years, holding off second-seeded Big Ten power Ohio State 75-72 in overtime.

The Golden Eagles got poised, im-peccable performances from their two star players, guard Max Abmas and forward Kevin Obanor, to become the ninth 15 seed to win a fi rst-round game and the fi rst since Middle Tennessee shocked Michigan State in 2016. Last year’s tournament was called off be-cause of the pandemic.

Obanor scored seven of Oral Rob-erts’ 11 points in overtime, including two free throws with 13 seconds left, and fi nished with 30 points and 11 re-bounds. Abmas, the nation’s leading scorer, had 29 points.

Ohio State could have tied it in the closing seconds of overtime, but Duane Washington Jr.’s open 3-pointer from straight away bounced off the side of the rim, and Oral Roberts celebrated its fi rst tournament win since 1974.

The Golden Eagles (17-10) ad-vanced to play seventh-seeded Florida in the South Region on Sunday.

E.J. Liddell scored 23 points to lead the Buckeyes (21-10). Washington scored 18 but made just 7 of 21 shots.

Florida 75, Virginia Tech 70In Indianapolis, Colin Castleton

scored 19 points and grabbed 14 re-bounds, Tre Mann hit a step-back 3-pointer with 23 seconds left in over-time and seventh-seeded Florida held off No. 10 seed Virginia Tech.

Florida was cheered on by Keyontae Johnson, who has supported and inspired his teammates from the bench since his return from a scary medical episode. Johnson collapsed on the court during a game in December and was forced to sit out the rest of the season.

Castleton was dominant on the in-side and Mann showed up with a pair of key 3-pointers late for the Gators (15-9).

Mann hit a 3 with 2:49 left in regula-tion, a shot that became huge as Vir-ginia Tech rallied in the closing sec-onds and forced overtime on Nahiem Alleyne’s 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left. Mann’s second big 3-pointer gave the Gators a 74-70 lead and proved enough after Cordell Pemsel’s missed jumper with 10 seconds left.

Mann, an all-SEC performer, fi n-ished with 14 points. Scottie Lewis added 15 for the Gators.

Alleyne was brilliant for the Hokies (15-7) through regulation but was held to just one basket in overtime. He fi n-ished with 30 points and scored the fi -nal 12 of regulation for Virginia Tech.

Baylor 79, Hartford 55In Indianapolis, MaCio Teague

scored 22 points and top-seeded Bay-lor shook off a slow-as-molasses start to roll past 16th-seeded Hartford.

Baylor opened its March Madness run at the same stadium the Final Four will take place in during the fi rst week of April. The Bears (23-2) will next face ninth-seeded Wisconsin.

Teague went 4 for 8 from 3-point range, Davion Mitchell scored 12 points and the Bears did what 1s do to

Ohio State’s Duane Washington Jr. (4) drives against Oral Roberts’ Carlos Jürgens (11) during the sec-ond half of a first-round game in the NCAA men’s college basket-ball tournament, on March 19, at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette,

Indiana. (AP)

Florida forward Anthony Duruji (4) gets a dunk over Virginia Tech for-ward Keve Aluma (22) in overtime of a first round game in the NCAA men’s college basketball tourna-ment at Hinkle Fieldhouse in India-

napolis, on March 19. (AP)

16s - slowly overpowered them with waves of talent.

Austin Williams scored 19 points to lead the Hawks (15-9).

Wisconsin 85, N. Carolina 62In West Lafayette, Ind., North Caro-

lina coach Roy Williams lost his fi rst opening-round NCAA Tournament game in 30 tries as ninth-seeded Wis-consin blew out his eighth-seeded Tar Heels.

Brad Davison scored 29 points for the Badgers, who negated North Caro-lina’s size advantage by draining 13 of 27 3-pointers. The Badgers (18-12) had lost four of fi ve entering the tour-nament.

Davison made 5 of 7 3-pointers and 10 of 15 shots overall. D’Mitrik Trice scored 21 points for Wisconsin.

Although Williams had won all 14 of his fi rst-round games with Kansas and his fi rst 15 with UNC, the loss by this uneven Tar Heels team was hardly a shock. North Carolina came in on a three-game winning streak but did not win four in a row all season.

Armando Bacot scored 15 points for UNC (18-11).

Villanova 73, Winthrop 63In Indianapolis, Jeremiah Robinson-

Earl had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and fi fth-seeded Villanova pulled away in the second half for a 73-63 victory over 12th-seeded Winthrop.

Villanova (17-6) had lost both games since senior point guard and Big East co-player of the year Collin Gillespie tore a ligament in his left knee during the Wildcats’ victory over then-No. 14 Creighton on March 3. That made Winthrop, which came in with just one loss this season, a popu-lar upset pick.

But Robinson-Earl delivered when the Wildcats needed him, making four free throws that launched a 9-0 run to give Villanova its biggest lead at 60-47. The Wildcats will face 13th-seeded North Texas in the second round on Sunday.

D.J. Burns Jr. led Winthrop (23-2) with 12 points.

N. Texas 78, Purdue 69In Indianapolis, Jason Hamlet

scored 24 points and Thomas Bell had 16, along with some game-changing defense in overtime, to lift 13th-seeded North Texas past No. 4 seed Purdue.

Hamlet and Bell led the Mean Green (18-9) to a regular-season Conference USA title last year but missed a chance at the tournament when the season was canceled by COVID-19.

They made sure things kept going this time, earning a second-round date with Villanova.

Bell opened overtime with a 3, then altered two Purdue shots underneath to help the Mean Green turn the extra ses-sion into a laugh. North Texas scored the fi rst 11 points.

Hamlet did most of his damage during a pair of sublime 8-0 personal runs in the second half, each of which stopped the Purdue momentum in its tracks.

Freshman Jaden Ivey fi nished with a career-high 26 points to almost single-handedly keep the Boilermakers (18-10) in the game.

Nole ‘pulls out’ of Miami OpenMIAMI, March 20, (AP): Top-ranked Novak Djokovic pulled out of the upcoming Miami Open, citing coronavirus restric-tions as he joined Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on the side-line.

The tournament begins Tues-day, with only 750 fans allowed on the grounds per session. The pandemic is also affecting atten-dance by players.

“I decided to use this pre-cious time at home to stay with my family,” Djokovic said in a statement. “With all restrictions, I need to fi nd balance in my time on tour and at home.”

Nadal pulled out Tuesday, citing a bad back that bothered him during the Australian Open. Federer, mounting a comeback from knee surgery, withdrew March 1. They’re based over-seas, as is Djokovic.

“This has been a diffi cult year for everyone,” Miami Open tour-nament director James Blake said in a statement, “but especially for players with families.”

NHL Results/Standings

WASHINGTON March 20 (AP): Results and standings from the NHL games on Friday.Washington 2 NY Rangers 1Calgary 4 Toronto 3Vancouver 3 Montreal OT 2St Louis 2 San Jose SO 1Vegas 4 Los Angeles 2

East Division GP W L OT Pts GF GAWashington 30 20 6 4 44 105 89NY Islanders 31 19 8 4 42 90 71Pittsburgh 30 18 11 1 37 96 85Boston 28 16 8 4 36 77 66Philadelphia 28 15 10 3 33 92 99NY Rangers 29 12 13 4 28 86 78New Jersey 27 10 13 4 24 68 86Buffalo 29 6 19 4 16 61 101

Central Division GP W L OT Pts GF GATampa Bay 29 21 6 2 44 106 69Florida 29 19 6 4 42 100 83Carolina 29 20 7 2 42 99 75Chicago 31 14 12 5 33 94 102Columbus 31 12 12 7 31 83 101Nashville 30 13 16 1 27 73 98Dallas 26 9 10 7 25 74 71Detroit 31 10 17 4 24 71 101

West Division GP W L OT Pts GF GAVegas 28 21 6 1 43 94 63Colorado 28 18 8 2 38 91 65Minnesota 28 18 9 1 37 87 69St Louis 30 15 10 5 35 91 97Los Angeles 29 12 11 6 30 85 83Arizona 30 12 13 5 29 72 91San Jose 28 11 13 4 26 81 98Anaheim 31 9 16 6 24 70 105

North Division GP W L OT Pts GF GAToronto 31 19 10 2 40 105 83Edmonton 33 20 13 0 40 112 95Winnipeg 30 18 10 2 38 98 87Montreal 30 13 8 9 35 95 83Vancouver 34 16 16 2 34 95 106Calgary 31 15 13 3 33 87 95Ottawa 33 10 20 3 23 87 130

Note: Two points for a win one point for overtime loss. The top four teams in each di-vision will qualify for playoffs under this sea-son’s temporary realignment.

Ovechkin scores 2 late goals as Capitals hold off Rangers

Flames edge slumping Maple Leafs 4-3 for Sutter’s 4th win

WASHINGTON, March 20, (AP): Alex Ovechkin scored twice in the final seven minutes to extend his goals streak and rally the Washington Capitals to their seventh victory in a row, 2-1 over the New York Rangers.

Ovechkin tied it on a rebound with 6:42 left and put the Capitals ahead on a nearly identical play with 3:33 remaining. He has scored in five consecutive games and has seven goals in the past seven.

Washington’s longtime captain leads the team with 14 goals. After moving into sole possession of sixth place on the NHL career goals list this week, Ovechkin added Nos. 719 and 720 to move closer to Marcel Dionne in fi fth.

Ovechkin kept the Capitals win-ning streak alive after a lackluster fi rst 50 minutes. They had only 12 shots on net before the play that led to his tying goal, and New York was cruising toward a second consecu-tive shutout victory.

Instead, Vitek Vanecek could cel-ebrate his 13th victory of the season after stopping 32 shots. New York’s only goal came on the power play when Artemi Panarin scored his eighth of the season.

Flames 4, Maple Leafs 3In Toronto, Mark Giordano

broke a tie on a power play midway through the second period, Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves and Cal-gary beat slumping Toronto.

Matthew Tkachuk, Derek Ryan and Christopher Tanev also scored, and Rasmus Andersson had two as-sists. The Flames improved to 15-13-3, winning for the fourth time in fi ve games since Darryl Sutter returned as coach after Geoff Ward was fi red.

Mitch Marner, Jason Spezza and Alexander Kerfoot scored for Toron-to, and Frederik Andersen stopped 14 shots. The Maple Leafs, coming off a four-day break after dropping a pair last weekend, have lost six of seven to drop into a tie for the North Division lead with Edmonton. They had a nine-point division lead March 3.

The teams will complete the two-game set Saturday night.

Blues 2, Sharks 1, SOIn San Jose, California, Vladimir

Tarasenko scored the decisive goal in a shootout and St. Louis beat San Jose to snap a fi ve-game losing streak.

Tyler Bozak scored a short-hand-ed goal on his 35th birthday to tie it in the third period. Jordan Binning-ton made 30 saves and helped the Blues kill a penalty in overtime.

St. Louis won it in the shootout when Brayden Schenn and Tarasen-ko scored against Martin Jones. Bin-nington sealed it with a save against Kevin Labanc.

Ryan Donato scored his fi rst goal in 21 games, and Jones made 33 saves for the Sharks.

The teams will fi nish the two-game set Saturday night.

Canucks 3, Canadiens 2, OTIn Montreal, J.T. Miller scored at

2:01 of overtime to lift Vancouver past Montreal for its fourth straight victory.

Miller scored his ninth of the sea-

San Jose Sharks right wing Kurtis Gabriel (29) battles for the puck against St Louis Blues defenseman Vince Dunn (29) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif, on March 19. (AP)

Eovaldi continues to struggle

Nats reliever Harris out with blood clotWASHINGTON, March 20, (AP): Washington Nationals reliever Will Harris has a blood clot in his right arm and the team doesn’t expect him to be in the bullpen on opening day.

Harris is leaving spring training camp to be examined by a specialist, manager Dave Martinez said Friday.

Martinez said. “Until we know more about it, then I got to assume that he’s going to not start with us this season.”

Red Sox 11, Rays7Nathan Eovaldi continued to strug-

gle in his third start for Boston, sur-rendering fi ve runs on eight hits and a walk in four innings. Eovaldi has a 10.61 ERA this spring. Hunter Renfroe hit his second home run. Prospect Jar-ren Duran had four hits and is batting .407 this spring.

Rich Hill was knocked around in his third start for Tampa Bay, yield-ing three runs on fi ve hits and a walk in 2-2/3 innings. Starter Chris Archer came on in the fourth, striking out two in two perfect innings. Yandy Díaz had two hits, including his fi rst home run. Mike Zunino also homered, Yo-shi Tsutsugo had two hits and Willy Adames and Joey Wendle both tripled.

Mets 8, Cardinals 5Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam,

Pete Alonso doubled for the fi fth time this spring and Tomás Nido homered and doubled. Jeff McNeil, in the midst of a 2-for-27 skid, was hit by a pitch three times.

Taijuan Walker made his second start, allowing a bad-hop single and a walk in four shutout innings. Jerry Blevins, who returned to the Mets to vie for a bullpen spot, pitched a perfect inning.

Blue Jays 8, Tigers 1Robbie Ray made his fourth start for

Toronto, pitching 5-1/3 innings and giving up a run on four hits and a walk, striking out seven. Vladimir Guerrero Jr went 3 for 3, raising his average to .600 this spring. Jonathan Davis and Joe Panik each had two hits.

Casey Mize struggled for a third straight start in his fourth appearance for Detroit, surrendering fi ve runs on eight hits and a walk in 3 2/3 innings. JaCoby Jones had two hits, including his fi rst home run. Miguel Cabrera struck out twice in three trips and is batting .160 this spring.

Dodgers 7, Rangers 2Julio Urías made his fourth start

for Los Angeles, allowing two hits in four shutout innings, striking out three. Max Muncy and Chris Taylor each had three hits, Edwin Rios doubled twice and Mookie Betts also doubled.

Kyle Cody made his second start for Texas, surrendering fi ve runs on eight hits and a walk, retiring seven batters. Ronald Guzmán hit his third home run, connecting off Kenley Jansen.

Angels 4, Royals 4 (9 Innings)Dylan Bundy gave up one earned in

his third start for Los Angeles, yielding three hits while striking out six in fi ve innings. Scott Schebler hit his third home run and also singled and scored on Jo Adell’s double.

Cubs 6, Athletics 1Zach Davies made his third start for

Chicago, pitching four innings and al-lowing an unearned run on four hits and three walks. Willson Contreras hit his third home run and Anthony Rizzo had three hits. Ian Happ had a three-run double and Jason Heyward doubled and singled.

Frankie Montas made his second start for Oakland, yielding two runs on four hits and a walk, striking out four in three innings. Chad Pinder had two hits.

Rockies 9, Indians 4Jon Gray went fi ve innings in his

second start for Colorado, allowing

three runs on fi ve hits, striking out six. Sam Hilliard and Dom Nuñez hom-ered.

Aaron Civale made his third start for Cleveland, yielding three earned runs on four hits and a walk in four innings. Roberto Pérez and Franmil Reyes each hit their second homers.

Brewers 9, Diamondbacks 3Billy McKinney hit home runs in

consecutive at-bats, connecting with the bases empty in the sixth and with two on in the eighth to put Milwaukee on top. McKinney has four homers this spring.

Adrian Houser made his fourth start. Houser, competing for the fi fth spot in the rotation, settled down after Chris-tian Walker’s three-run homer in the fi rst, pitching 3-1/3 innings and allow-ing six hits and two walks. Closer Josh Hader struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning.

Nationals 10, Astros 9Josh Bell hit his fourth homer of

the spring for Washington, a three-run shot. Victor Robles launched his third home run, and Josh Harrison also went deep.

Michael Brantley and Alex Breg-man went back-to-back against Na-tionals reliever Daniel Hudson. Hous-ton starter Luis Garcia was tagged for fi ve runs and six hits in 1-2/3 innings.

Orioles 11, Pirates 9Trey Mancini hit his fi rst home run

since missing last season following surgery for colon cancer. He singled and scored twice as well. Ryan Mount-castle, who drove in three runs, and Cedric Mullins also went deep for Bal-timore. Wade LeBlanc did not allow an earned run in three hitless innings.

Veteran newcomer Todd Frazier hit his third homer for Pittsburgh and knocked in three runs. Ke’Bryan Hayes had two doubles, giving him six this spring, and is batting .433 with a 1.285 OPS.

Braves 4, Twins 2Atlanta starter Ian Anderson struck

out nine in 4-1/3 innings. He allowed two runs and four hits with one walk. Will Smith whiffed two in a hitless in-ning of relief.

Minnesota starter Randy Dobnak went 3-1/3 innings, giving up only an unearned run and one hit with fi ve strikeouts and no walks. Miguel Sanó went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and is batting .125 this spring.

Phillies 4, Yankees 1Iván Nova started against his former

team and tossed three effective innings for Philadelphia, permitting just one run and one hit despite three walks. The Phil-lies didn’t get a hit until the eighth but scored four times in the ninth. Both clubs fi nished with two hits.

Touted youngster Deivi García, trying to win a rotation spot, threw three shut-out innings for New York and has a 1.64 ERA. He worked around four walks and did not allow a hit while striking out two. Aroldis Chapman, Darren O’Day, Justin Wilson and Chad Green each fi red a hit-less inning of relief.

Mariners 7, White Sox 6AL Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis

hit his fi rst homer of the spring, connect-ing off new Chicago starter Lance Lynn. Lewis scored twice and fi nished 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a walk. Mitch Hani-ger, Kyle Seager and top prospect Jarred Kelenic also had two hits for the Mari-ners. Marco Gonzales gave up fi ve runs and nine hits in 4-2/3 innings.

son moments after Montreal’s Josh Anderson failed to convert a break-away attempt.

Nick Suzuki forced overtime with

a power-play goal with 57 seconds left in overtime with Montreal on a two-man advantage with goalie Jake Allen off for an extra attacker.

Adam Gaudette and Nils Hoglander scored in regulation for Vancouver, and Thatcher Demko stopped 29 shots for his eighth victory in nine starts.

Corey Perry also scored for Mon-treal. The Canadiens are 0-6 in over-time this season.

The teams will complete the two-game series Saturday night.

Knights 4, Kings 2In Los Angeles, William Karls-

son had the winning goal, Max Pa-cioretty scored twice and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Los Ange-les Kings.

Robin Lehner made 23 saves as the Golden Knights won their fi fth straight. It was the fi rst start for Lehner since Feb. 7 because of a concussion.

Alex Iafallo and Trevor Moore scored for the Kings, who have dropped three of four. Jonathan Quick made 29 saves.

Calgary Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom (25) makes a save as Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) and Flames left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) look for a re-bound during the first period of an NHL action in Toronto, Ontario, on

March 19. (AP)

ICE HOCKEY

Boston Red Sox starting pitch-er Nathan Eovaldi (17) delivers against the Tampa Bay Rays in the first inning of a spring training baseball game on March 19, in Fort

Myers, Florida. (AP)

BASEBALL

TENNIS

BASKETBALL

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ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2021 16

SportsPeople take pictures of the Olympic rings installed by the Japan Olympic Museum in Tokyo, March 19. (AP)

TOKYO, March 20, (AP): Specta-tors from abroad will be barred from the Tokyo Olympics when they open in four months, the IOC and local or-ganizers said Saturday.

The decision was announced after an online meeting of the Internation-al Olympic Committee, the Japanese government, the Tokyo government, the International Paralympic Com-mittee, and local organizers.

The move was expected and ru-mored for several months. Offi cials said the risk was too great to admit ticket holders from overseas during a pandemic, an idea strongly op-posed by the Japanese public. Japan has attributed about 8,800 deaths to COVID-19 and has controlled the virus better than most countries.

“In order to give clarity to ticket holders living overseas and to enable them to adjust their travel plans at this stage, the parties on the Japanese side have come to the conclusion that they will not be able to enter into Japan at the time of the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” the Tokyo or-

ganizing com-mittee said in a statement.

About 1 million tickets are reported to have been sold to fans from outside Japan. O r g a n i z e r s have promised refunds, but this will be

determined by so-called Authorized Ticket Resellers that handle sales outside Japan. These dealers charge fees of up to 20% above the ticket price. It is not clear if the fees will be refunded.

“We could wait until the very last moment to decide, except for the spectators,” said Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the organizing com-mittee. “They have to secure accom-modations and fl ights. So we have to decide early otherwise we will cause a lot of inconvenience from them. I know this is a very tough issue.”

IOC President Thomas Bach called it a “diffi cult decision.”

“We have to take decisions that may need sacrifi ce from everybody,” he said.

The fi nancial burden of lost ticket sales falls on Japan. The local organ-izing committee budget called from $800 million income from ticket sales, the third largest income source in the privately fi nance budget. Any shortfall in the budget will have to be made up by Japanese government entities.

Overall, Japan is offi cially spend-ing $15.4 billion to organize the Olympics. Several government au-dits say the actual cost may be twice that much. All but $6.7 billion is public money.

About 4.45 million tickets were sold to Japan residents. Organiz-ers are expected next month to an-nounce the capacity at venues, which will be fi lled by local residents.

The ban on fans from abroad comes just days before the Olym-pic torch relay starts Thursday from Fukushima prefecture in northeast-ern Japan. It will last for 121 days, crisscross Japan with 10,000 run-ners, and is to end on July 23 at the opening ceremony at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

The relay will be a test for the Olympics and Paralympics, which will involve 15,400 athletes enter-ing Japan. They will be tested before leaving home, tested upon arrival in Japan, and tested frequently while they reside in a secure “bubble” in the Athletes Village alongside To-kyo Bay.

Athletes will not be required to be vaccinated to enter Japan, but many will be.

In the midst of Saturday’s meeting, Bach and others were given a remind-er about earthquake-prone northeast-ern Japan - and Japan in general.

A strong earthquake shook Tokyo and triggered a tsunami warning as Bach and others made introductory re-marks before the virtual meeting. The strength was put a 7.0 by the US Geo-logical Survey and the location was in northeastern Japan, an area hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

“I think the screen is shaking. Have you noticed the screen is shak-ing,” Tamayo Marukawa, Japan’s Olympic minister, said as she made her presentation from Tokyo talking remotely to Bach visible on a screen in Switzerland. “We’re actually in the midst of an earthquake right now.”

IOC President Bach calls it a diffi cult decision

Spectators from abroad to be barred from Tokyo Oly

Magic end Nets winning streakKings sweep Celtics

ORLANDO, Florida, March 20, (AP): Aaron Gordon scored a sea-son-best 38 points, Evan Fournier added 31 and the Orlando Magic held off Brooklyn’s furious fourth-quarter rally to beat the Nets 121-113 on Friday night.

The Magic overcame Kyrie Ir-ving’s season-best 43 points to end a nine-game losing streak and stop Brooklyn’s winning streak at six games. The Nets also had their franchise-record, eight-game road winning streak halted.

Orlando led 103-84 at the end of the third quarter, but the Nets opened the fourth with a 16-1 run. However, the Nets would get no closer than 104-100 after Gordon and Fournier revived the Magic offense.

Gordon tipped in an airball that gave Orlando a 114-105 lead and his 3-pointer seconds sealed the victory.

Two nights after rallying from 16 points down in a win in Indiana, the Nets were trying to pull off their sec-ond-largest comeback in a win this season. However, the Nets couldn’t overcome an off night by superstar guard James Harden and an Orlando team that shot 51.2% from the floor and drilled a season-best 21 3-pointers.

Gordon was 14 of 20 and 7 of 8 on 3s to easily surpass his previous sea-son high of 24 points. Nikola Vucevic added 22 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists for Orlando.

Pistons 113, Rockets 100In Houston, Frank Jackson had a

season-high 23 points and Detroit handed Houston its franchise-record 19th straight loss.

Winless since Feb. 4, Houston struggled to find answers for Detroit’s ball movement and Jackson’s shoot-ing. Jackson was 5 of 5 from 3-point range and 7 of 10 overall.

Jerami Grant added 18 points, Josh Jackson had 15, and Isaiah Stewart 13.

John Wall had 21 points and seven assists for Houston.

Jazz 115, Raptors 112In Tampa, Fla., Donovan Mitchell

scored eight of his 31 points in the final minute and a half to lead Utah past Toronto.

Pascal Siakam’s 3-point shot at the final horn spun around and out for the Raptors. They have lost seven straight.

Joe Ingles added 19 points to help Utah avoid losing on consecutive nights for the first time since Jan. 5-6. Rudy Gobert had 15 points and 16 rebounds.

Siakam led Toronto with 27 points and nine assists. With the return of forward OG Anunoby from a six-game absence due to health and safety proto-cols, the Raptors played for the first time in months with their whole team.

Kings 107, Celtics 96In Boston, Richaun Holmes had 25

points, 11 rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals and Sacramento swept the season series with Boston for the first time since 2007.

De’Aaron Fox scored 29 points, Buddy Hield had 22 and Harrison Barnes added 15 points and 13 rebounds for Sacramento. The Kings have won consecutive games for the first time since Feb. 6-7.

Jaylen Brown had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Boston. The Celtics lost for the fourth time in five games to again fall below .500.

Spurs 116, Cavaliers 110In Cleveland, Keldon Johnson had

23 points and career-high 21 rebounds, Dejounte Murray added 22 points and San Antonio beat Cleveland.

Tim Duncan was the last Spurs play-er with a 20-point, 20-rebound game in 2013 and had their last 11-offensive board performance in 2010.

DeMar DeRozan had 20 points and seven assists in his return to the Spurs after missing four games for the funer-al of his father.

Warriors 116, Grizzlies 103In Memphis, Tenn., Andrew

Wiggins scored a season-high 40 points, Jordan Poole added 25 starting in place of injured Stephen Curry, and short-handed Golden State beat Memphis to open a two-game set.

Damion Lee had 21 points, also a season best, and the arriors won their third in the last four games despite miss-ing several key players. Curry bruised

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) competes for a rebound with Sacramento Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) in the fi rst half of an NBA basketball game, March 19, in Boston. (AP)

Infantino awarded $1 million annual bonus

Revenue on track, reserves downin FIFA coronavirus-era accountsGENEVA, March 20, (AP): FIFA expects to hit its four-year revenue target of $6.44 billion up to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Total spending of $1.04 billion in 2020 included $270 million in grants to soccer bodies worldwide as part of a COVID-19 relief plan, FIFA’s annual fi nancial report said on Friday.

It also included a $10 million donation to the World Health Organization.

FIFA again awarded its president Gianni Infantino a $1 million annual bonus to raise his overall pre-tax pay above $3 million in 2020, matching his 2019 income.

The pandemic relief payments helped reduce FIFA’s re-serves by $705 million in 2020. They stood at almost $1.9 billion by the end of the year.

FIFA gets most of its money from the four-yearly men’s World Cup, and said on Friday it already sealed 92% of its income target from broadcasting rights.

Contracted income from all sources to the end of 2020 was more than $5.1 billion, or 80% of revenue budgeted for the 2019-2022 fi nancial period, according to the FIFA document.

Fewer sponsor slots for the 2022 World Cup have been sold compared to the same stage before previous editions of the tournament.

After a near-total shutdown of soccer worldwide last year, FIFA advanced money due to its 211 national member fed-erations and the six continental governing bodies.

Hundreds of millions of dollars more was made available in grants and loans for specifi c projects.

FIFA made savings by the forced cancellations of youth

tournaments, its annual congress scheduled in Ethiopia, and the annual awards ceremony in Milan.

“Travel was reduced to the bare minimum, and a large-scale switch to online meetings and training produced sig-nifi cant cost savings,” the FIFA fi nancial report said.

Administration and governance spending of $169 million was $42 million less than the planned budget for 2020.

The FIFA document showed Infantino got a base salary of 1.95 million Swiss francs, ($2.1 million) plus a bonus of just over 1 million Swiss francs ($1.08 million).

The package totaled 3 million Swiss francs ($3.2 million) - the same as in 2019 - when some allowances were added.

FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura got a 50,000 Swiss francs ($54,000) raise in her bonus from 2019 for a

pre-tax package of more than 1.6 million Swiss francs ($1.72 million).

The six continental presidents who sit on FIFA’s ruling council each received a net income of $300,000, plus some expenses. Other council members each got $250,000 after tax.

The highest paid committee members were audit and compliance chairman Tomaž Vesel and chief ethics inves-tigator Maria Claudia Rojas, who each got $246,000. Vesel also chairs the compensation panel which oversees pay for senior management.

FIFA is one of the most transparent international sports bodies in publishing what it pays senior offi cials.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jarrett Culver (23) fouls Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, March 19, in Phoenix. Phoenix won 113-101. (AP)

NBA Results/Standings

WASHINGTON, March 20, (AP): NBA results and standings on Friday.Sacramento 107 Boston 96San Antonio 116 Cleveland 110Orlando 121 Brooklyn 113Detroit 113 Houston 100Indiana 137 Miami 110Golden State 116 Memphis 103Utah 115 Toronto 112Denver 131 Chicago OT 127Portland 125 Dallas 119Phoenix 113 Minnesota 101

Eastern ConferenceAtlantic Division

W L Pct GBPhiladelphia 28 13 .683 -Brooklyn 28 14 .667 -1/2New York 21 21 .500 7-1/2Boston 20 21 .488 8Toronto 17 24 .415 11

Southeast Division W L Pct GBMiami 22 20 .524 -Atlanta 21 20 .512 -1/2Charlotte 20 20 .500 1Washington 15 25 .375 6Orlando 14 27 .341 7-1/2

Central Division W L Pct GBMilwaukee 26 14 .650 -Indiana 18 22 .450 8Chicago 18 22 .450 8Cleveland 15 26 .366 11-1/2Detroit 12 29 .293 14-1/2

Western ConferenceSouthwest Division

W L Pct GBSan Antonio 22 16 .579 -Dallas 21 19 .525 2Memphis 18 20 .474 4New Orleans 17 24 .415 6-1/2Houston 11 29 .275 12

Northwest Division W L Pct GBUtah 30 11 .732 -Denver 25 16 .610 5Portland 25 16 .610 5Oklahoma City 17 24 .415 13Minnesota 10 32 .238 20-1/2

Pacifi c Division W L Pct GBLA Lakers 28 13 .683 -Phoenix 27 13 .675 -1/2LA Clippers 26 16 .619 2-1/2Golden State 22 20 .524 6-1/2Sacramento 17 24 .415 11

BASKETBALL

OLYMPICS

SOCCER

his tailbone Wednesday night against Houston, and James Wiseman and Eric Paschall were unavailable under the NBA’s health and safety protocol.

Nuggets 131, Bulls 127, OTIn Denver, Jamal Murray scored 34

points, including a tying 3-pointer in the final second of regulation and a crucial jumper in the final seconds of overtime, lifting Denver past Chicago.

Nikola Jokic had 34 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists in helping the Nuggets to their eighth win in nine games. Michael Porter Jr. added 19 points.

Pacers 137, Heat 110In Miami, Malcolm Brogdon scored

27 points on 10-of-12 shooting to help Indiana beat Miami.

Domantas Sabonas had 13 points and 15 rebounds, and T.J. McConnell had 16 points and 15 assists. Doug McDermott and Justin Holiday added 17 points each. The Pacers shot 20 of 36 on 3-pointers and Brogdon tied a season high with seven.

Seiko