MUHARRAM 4, 1443 AH THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2021 16 Pages Max 50º Min 33º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18504 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Food trucks struggle amid Win for Biden as Senate After 60 yrs of Indian rule, Goa’s Sancho, Varane arrivals raise 3 pandemic, licensing woes 8 passes infrastructure bill 13 disappearing Portuguese legacy 15 expectations for Solskajer Back to school from Sept, with 20 students per class Masks a must • Group activities banned • MP calls to cut PCR test cost to KD 10 By B Izzak Foreign schools will be allowed to offer online dance, the minister said. a PCR test every week on Sunday. Students are pro- classes before Sept 26, with students attending on- The duration of each period has been extended to hibited from gathering in any form, while all group KUWAIT: Public, private and foreign schools will campus classes from that date, Mudhaf told a virtual one hour from 45 minutes to allow teachers to com- activities are banned, he underlined. reopen for on-campus learning in late September and press conference following a Cabinet meeting. For pensate for any loss in education due to the closure MP Mohammad Al-Huwaila yesterday called on early October amid stringent health precautions by public and private Arabic schools, classes will be of schools from last year due to the coronavirus pan- authorities to reduce the cost of the PCR test from KD authorities, Education Minister Ali Al-Mudhaf said divided into two groups: The first group will go to demic. Like the overwhelming majority of countries 20 to KD 10. MPs Abdulkarim Al-Kandari and Khalil yesterday. All foreign-language schools will reopen for school on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, while the around the world, Kuwait shut down schools and uni- Al-Saleh meanwhile called on the government to facil- students on Sept 26, while public and private Arabic second group will go on Monday and Wednesday. In versities in the last academic year due to the pan- itate the return of foreign domestic helpers to help schools will reopen on Oct 3, the minister said. The the next week, groups will swap attendance, with the demic and resorted to online education. working families who are scheduled to return to work maximum capacity for any classroom will be 20 stu- second group going on Sunday, Tuesday and Mudhaf said a majority of teachers, students and on Aug 15. The two lawmakers said strict government dents, with students sitting two meters apart. A strict Thursday and the first on Monday and Tuesday. The administrators have been vaccinated, and those who procedures have made it difficult and extremely mask mandate for students will be enforced, he added. groups will continue to alternate on-campus atten- choose not to get vaccinated are required to undergo expensive to bring back helpers or recruit new ones. News in brief Algeria mourns TikTok most downloaded app 69 dead as Med SAN FRANCISCO: TikTok was the world’s most downloaded app last year, overtaking Facebook wildfires spread and its messaging platforms, market tracker App Annie said Tuesday. TikTok, owned by China- TIZI OUZOU, Algeria: The death toll climbed to at based ByteDance, is believed to have one billion least 69 as firefighters, soldiers and civilian volunteers users worldwide including more than 100 million in battled blazes in forests across northern Algeria yes- the US, and its short-form videos are especially terday, in the latest wildfires to sweep the popular with young smartphone users. — AFP Mediterranean. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune declared three days of national mourning starting from today, and authorities say they suspect wide- Instagram unveils new tools spread arson after so many fires erupted in such a short space of time. WASHINGTON: Instagram yesterday In an update, state-run news agency APS said the announced new measures to curb abusive and rash of more than 50 fires that broke out Tuesday had racist content on the image-centric social net- claimed four more lives, in addition to state televi- work. The Facebook-owned platform said it sion’s toll of 65 dead, including 28 soldiers deployed would start using “stronger warnings” when peo- to help overstretched emergency services. Several ple post potentially offensive comments, and a arrests have been announced, but the identities or new “hidden words” feature that enables users to suspected motives of those detained have not been filter abusive messages. Instagram will also allow disclosed. users to limit comments and message requests Images of trapped villagers, terrified livestock and during “spikes of increased attention”. — AFP forested hillsides reduced to blackened stumps were shared on social media, many of them accompanied by pleas for help. AFP journalists saw villagers des- New Samsung foldable phones perately trying to put out the spreading fires with makeshift brooms in an effort to save their homes. TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria: A couple watches a fire in the forested hills of the Kabylie region yesterday. —AFP Continued on Page 2 SAN FRANCISCO: Samsung unveiled two upgraded folding smartphones yesterday as the South Korean sector leader sought to killed and 2.5 million displaced in the Darfur con- head off rising competition from Chinese firms Sudan to hand flict, which erupted in the vast western region in in a fast-evolving market. The Galaxy Z Fold3 2003. The “cabinet decided to hand over wanted and Z Flip3 offer sleeker designs, improved officials to the ICC,” Foreign Minister Mariam Al- water resistance and more durable screens are Bashir to ICC for Mahdi was quoted as saying by state news agency available for pre-ordering for delivery later SUNA, without giving a timeframe. this month in the United States, Europe and war crimes trial The cabinet’s decision to hand him over came South Korea. — AFP during a visit by ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, KHARTOUM: Sudan will hand longtime autocrat but it still needs the approval of Sudan’s ruling sov- Omar Al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court ereign council, comprised of military and civilian Iraq blast kills 8 troops along with two other officials wanted over the figures. Yesterday, Khan met with the leader of the Darfur conflict, officials said yesterday. Bashir, 77, sovereign council, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, BAGHDAD: A blast killed eight members of the has been wanted by The Hague-based ICC for more as well as Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, its deputy KHARTOUM: In this file photo taken on Aug 19, 2019, security forces yesterday during an operation in than a decade over charges of genocide, war crimes chair. Daglo said Sudan “is prepared to cooperate Sudan’s deposed military ruler Omar Al-Bashir looks northern Iraq to detonate explosives planted by and crimes against humanity in the Sudanese region. with the ICC,” SUNA reported. on from a defendant’s cage during the opening of his the Islamic State group, a security source said. The United Nations says 300,000 people were Continued on Page 2 corruption trial. — AFP A military sapper was preparing a charge to detonate unexploded ordnance laid by the mili- tants in Salaheddin province “when a mistake was made and the explosion happened”. The French capital the previous day and blast killed six soldiers and two policemen Messi eyes penning a two-year contract with the charged with oil field protection. — AFP option of a third season. PSG quickly emerged as the glory as Paris favorites to sign Messi following the Dubai passenger volumes slump shock of his departure last week from goes crazy Barcelona and he arrives eyeing a fifth Champions League, with the most DUBAI: Dubai International Airport reported PARIS: Lionel Messi set his sights on recent of his four victories with his old yesterday a 41 percent drop in traffic in the first more Champions League glory after club coming in 2015. “I have said many half of 2021, but said it anticipates “robust being unveiled as a Paris Saint- times that my dream is to win another growth” after the easing of travel restrictions. Germain player yesterday as hundreds Champions League and I think I am in The number of passengers that passed through of fans gathered outside the club’s the ideal place to have that chance the world’s largest airport for international trav- stadium hoping to see their new idol. and to do it,” Messi told reporters el fell to 10.6 million in the first six months of The 34-year-old Argentinian superstar inside a packed auditorium, with the audience including his wife Antonella, PARIS: PSG’s Qatari President Nasser Al-Khelaifi poses alongside Argentinian foot- 2021, according to a statement from the Dubai was presented to media from all over ball player Lionel Messi as he holds up his number 30 shirt at Parc des Princes the world at a news conference at the their children, and his father and Media Office. — AFP (See Page 8) stadium yesterday. — AFP Parc des Princes after arriving in the agent, Jorge. — AFP (See Page 16) 2 Established 1961 Local Thursday, August 12, 2021 Kuwait’s Amir receives letter from Saudi King KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah reads a letter from King Salman Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, delivered to him by Saudi Ambassador Prince Sultan Bin His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Saad Bin Khaled Al Saud. — Amiri Diwan and KUNA photos meets His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. meets His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.