SHAWWAL 24, 1441 AH TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020

20 Pages Max 48º Min 32º 150 Fils Established 1961

ISSUE NO: 18157 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net

China virus cluster grows China industrial output Bollywood mourns death of Marcelo takes knee, Hazard 6 as Europe borders reopen 9 continues slow recovery 14 young heartthrob Rajput 20 off as Real return with win

Assembly session to go ahead despite govt health warning

Action demanded against human trafficking • MP asks about 60,000 ‘missing’ files

By B Izzak Thursday if necessary. He said the first day will be allocated to debating two grillings KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem said against Minister of Education Saud Al-Harbi for not cancelling the yesterday that the Assembly sessions today and tomorrow will go current school year over the virus, and Minister of Finance Barrak ahead as scheduled to debate the questioning of two ministers Al-Sheetan over a variety of issues, mainly contracts signed during and other issues related to the coronavirus. The speaker’s the coronavirus crisis, not acting sufficiently regarding a major cor- announcement came after a strong warning by the health ministry ruption scam and others. Sheetan yesterday denied rumors on that it was not responsible for the consequences of the sessions social media that he has resigned, insisting that he will attend the because they do not meet health requirements in the face of the Assembly session to refute all allegations. coronavirus outbreak. The Audit Bureau said yesterday that government agencies The health ministry warning was expressed in a letter sent by signed some 732 contracts in the past three months during the the government to the Assembly, saying that because the number of coronavirus crisis and the contracts are worth KD 916 million. The those expected to attend will exceed 100 people, the ministry is health ministry signed 248 contracts worth KD 249 million. not responsible for the consequences. The ministry demanded that In the meantime, MPs yesterday called on authorities to reveal “virtual sessions” should be held to conduct Assembly business, but the names of MPs and officials suspected of playing a major role in Ghanem said there are legislative and constitutional restrictions a visa trading scam run by a Bangladeshi lawmaker. The interior against holding sessions online. ministry has described the scam as one of the biggest “trafficking in HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah visited persons” and residency scams in the country, saying that a network the Assembly yesterday and informed the speaker that the govern- of government officials and companies were involved in the scam. ment presence will be limited just to secure the legal requirements MPs and local media however said at least two current MPs and KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem speaks during a press of the sessions. Ghanem said the government letter will be placed a former MP are involved in the case and called for the publication conference at the National Assembly yesterday. – Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh on the agenda for debate. He said the Assembly may also meet on Continued on Page 16

The officer who shot Brooks – identified as Another killing Garrett Rolfe – has been dismissed. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said his office would decide whether to lay criminal charges against Rolfe of black man in by mid-week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. James Clyburn, an African-American US fuels tension member of Congress from South Carolina, said he was incensed by the killing. WASHINGTON: The fatal shooting of a black man “This did not call for lethal force. And I don’t by a white police officer in Atlanta has poured more know what’s in the culture that would make this guy fuel on the raging US debate over racism, prompt- do that. It has got to be the culture. It’s got to be the ing another round of street and the resig- system,” he said, speaking on CNN’s “State of the nation of the southern city’s police chief. The death Union”. Clyburn is among the lawmakers debating of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks was ruled a homi- how to reform a judicial system seen by critics as cide by the county medical examiner’s office on stacked against poor and minority citizens and Sunday, a day after the Wendy’s restaurant where which has proved stubbornly resistant to change. he died was set on fire and hundreds of people Some activists on the left have taken up “defund marched to denounce the killing. the police” as a rallying cry, one that US President His deadly encounter with police on Friday drew has jumped on to use as a cudgel expressions of outrage, shock and dismay in a against his Democratic rival for the White House, country deeply shaken by civil unrest since the May . Biden, for his part, has tried to distance 25 police killing in Minneapolis, Minnesota of the party from the defund movement, instead advo- George Floyd, an unarmed black man. Atlanta cating increased funding for community policing. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced at a news Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American congresswoman from Minnesota, called his proposal “ludicrous” and conference Saturday that Police Chief Erika Shields ATLANTA: People use their cellphones to document a muralist painting the face of Rayshard Brooks had decided to step down. “I do not believe this was instead supported dismantling troubled police outside a burned Wendy’s restaurant on Sunday. — AFP a justified use of deadly force,” Bottoms said. Continued on Page 16

visitor can insert their arms, and they are outfitted with Retirement shoulder-length black gloves for added protection. “It Philippine really feels good; I missed her so much!” 68-year-old Unsteady Trump Silvio Nagata told AFP after enjoying a long, emotional home offers hug with his sister, Luiza Yassuko, who is 76, at a retire- journalist ramp walk raises ment home in the affluent Morumbi neighborhood. ‘hug curtain’ “Because of the pandemic, I wasn’t able to visit her, convicted especially because at my age I’m also part of a high-risk health questions SAO PAULO: A retirement home in Brazil has come up group,” Nagata said. “It’s an excellent system – it’s great to be able to take her in my arms,” said Nagata, a retired WASHINGTON: As US President Donald with a creative solution to allow friends and families to enjoy personal contact with aging residents particularly civil servant. “There were 12 of us brothers and sisters, Trump turned 74 on Sunday, an incident a day and she was practically a mother to me,” he went on. earlier in which he appeared unsteady on his vulnerable to the coronavirus: a “hugging curtain”. The large plastic curtain, installed in a retirement home in the “She didn’t get married so she could take care of us.” feet has revived questions about his health as he Nurses carefully disinfect the plastic curtain after heads into a grueling re-election campaign. city of Sao Paulo, allows residents on one side and visi- tors on the other to engage in the sort of comforting each use. “When we saw that this pandemic was going Scrutiny of a president’s health is always intense, to last a long time, we had to find a safe way to let fami- and Trump has generally appeared vigorous for hugs that COVID-19 has made impossible for months. The curtain has pockets through which resident and lies see the residents and let the aging residents know his age. Results of a routine physical released that their loved ones are thinking of them,” said Mairo early this month showed he was overweight – Martins, an physical therapist at the facility. : Philippine journalist Maria Ressa speaks 110 kg – but with otherwise normal test results. For visitors, the feeling of being able to take a loved during a press conference after attending the But his appearance Saturday at the US mili- one in their arms is deeply moving, especially as the court’s verdict promulgation yesterday. — AFP tary academy in West Point, New York raised pandemic continues to rule out normal human contact. new questions about apparent signs of unsteadi- “It’s good for them, but for us too; it’s been a while since ness, balance problems and trouble enunciating MANILA: The head of a Philippine news website we could hug anyone,” said Murilo Meira, 51, during a certain words. Since Trump has regularly known for its tough scrutiny of President Rodrigo visit to 90-year-old Nair da Costa Marques, who need- mocked the health and acuity of his presumptive Duterte was convicted of libel yesterday and faces ed a nurse’s help to stand for the much-awaited hug. election opponent, Democrat Joe Biden – who is a lengthy jail term in what is being seen as a blow to Sao Paulo state is Brazil’s richest and most populous three years his senior – the question of physical media freedom in the country. Maria Ressa, chief state, with 46 million inhabitants, but it is also the hard- fitness could weigh heavily in the campaign est-hit by the coronavirus. There have been 172,875 executive of and a former CNN journalist, ahead. was charged with “cyber libel” over a 2012 article After a widely circulated video on Saturday confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10,581 deaths, according to the latest official tally. Brazil has registered that linked a businessman to illegal activities. showed Trump walking tentatively and unsteadi- SAO PAULO: Suzane Valverde hugs her 85-year-old moth- the second-largest number of coronavirus deaths in the In handing down the verdict, Judge Rainelda ly down a long ramp after delivering a er Carmelita Valverde through a transparent plastic cur- Estacio-Montesa said the exercise of a freedom Continued on Page 16 world, at 42,720, and of people infected (850,514), after tain at a senior nursing home on June 13, 2020. —– AFP the . — AFP Continued on Page 16