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MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 / RAMADAN 7, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17667 16 PAGES 150 FILS LEADING KUWAIT JOURNALIST LAMENTS SUFFERING OF IRANIANS ‘Hope for Iran, region in new regime’

Opinion Infi ltration, lies, crisis hallmark of Tehran

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times UNDOUBTEDLY, the event transpiring in Iran is funny to the point of shedding tears. This is due to the shortsightedness of the leaders of the Mullahs regime, who are under the illusion that they can deceive the international commu- nity with what they promote internally, which its scoundrels fall for. This happened at the time when the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency announced that it had raised the uranium enrichment to 60 percent and is producing nine grams of pure uranium per hour. President Hassan Rouhani announced his country’s ability to achieve 90-percent en- richment. However, Iranian lawmakers revealed that they visited the site of Natanz nuclear reac- tor and noticed heavy damages as a result of highly explosive materials weighing about 150 kilograms brought into it through devices that had undergone maintenance. Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council Mohsen Rezaei revealed the theft of documents related to the nuclear program, on which the Israeli intelligence had put its hands, as per the announcement made by Ahmed Al-Jarallah (right) delivering his speech during the online Ramadan evening celebration organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) at its head- Netanyahu two years ago. quarters in Paris. Irrespective of the truth that the Tehran re- gime is trying to conceal, there is another side of the picture that requires research and scruti- Al-Jarallah favors reins to NCRI in Ramadan speech ny. It has been recurring since 1999, and based on the words of its senior officials, including Khamenei himself, the nuclear program is in- (NCRI) in its headquarters in Paris. tended for peaceful purposes. KUWAIT CITY, April 18: The Iranian regime is backward, and it has deprived Iran and its people of their great civilization, says He pointed out that the Tehran regime has exhausted Iran and its neighbors through Nonetheless, it is common knowledge that terrorism and exporting sectarianism, which “we witnessed only during the eras of Kho- nuclear enrichment in peaceful programs does Editor-in-Chief of the Arab Times and Al-Seyassah newspapers meini and Khamenei.” not exceed the threshold of five percent of en- Ahmed Al-Jarallah. “On the occasion of the holiest of months — the month of Ramadan, I congratulate the richment, or even 20 percent in the best case. Al-Jarallah made the statement when he delivered a speech during the online Ra- Iranian people and wish them lasting good. These people are suffering due to their back- Therefore, when Tehran announces that its response to the Natanz incident is to raise the madan evening celebration organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran ward regime, which has exhausted the people and the great Iranian state,” Al-Jarallah level of enrichment to that percentage, there is asserted. no explanation for it except that its nuclear pro- He also congratulated NCRI President-elect gram is originally intended for military use and Valid complaints need correction: Ali Al-Baghli Maryam Rajavi. “We hope she takes over the not for peaceful purposes. reins of leadership for these great people who This means the regime, from the top of its are suffering from the woes and intelligence hierarchy to the lowest, is eluding and conceal- massacres of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,” ing its evil intention in this matter. Over 30 States helped set us free; he added. This also means that all the reports of the in- He stressed that on this occasion, it can be ternational organizations, the US sanctions, and said that Iran is isolated because it is a threat to even the measures taken by Israel to stop this the world and it will not succeed in realizing its program were on point. dreams. He said these dreams are bigger than In this regard, there is similarity between respect for rights honors liberation Iran’s capabilities, which will not be able to oc- North Korea and Iran, given that Pyongyang cupy the Arab countries or control the region. for years stalled to open its nuclear facilities KUWAIT CITY, April 18: The National Offi ce for Human Rights He indicated that Iran will remain isolated until to international inspectors, and then suddenly called on the legislative and executive authorities to pay attention the terrorist regime falls; because it disturbed announced its success in manufacturing an to the strong criticisms and observations that Kuwait receives re- the world like Hitler, Mussolini and other re- atomic bomb and a long range ballistic mis- garding the human rights situation in the country, following the Newswatch gimes which collapsed. sile with the ability to fly thousands of kilo- specialized reports recently released by Amnesty International, the He explained these fallen regimes were en- meters. US State Department, and the British House of Commons. gaged in dictatorship, terrorism, killing and Therefore, this type of adventurous and rogue A member of the Board of Directors of the Diwan, the head of KUWAIT CITY: The National Seismic Network of the harmed their people for the sake of fulfilling regimes cannot be trusted for their similarity in the complaints and grievances committee, lawyer, Ali Al-Baghli, Kuwait Institute for Scientifi c Research on Sunday moni- the demands of their rulers or their regimes. objectives and schemes. Tehran may surpass said in a statement to the media, that “the observations and criti- tored two local earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.8 and He thanked the National Council of Resis- Pyongyang by practicing mass terrorism in cisms contained in these reports contain a lot of validity, and ac- 2.7 on the Richter scale, at 9:53 and 10:03 in the morning. tance of Iran, wishing the whole world will terms of forming sabotage networks such as Al- cordingly the two authorities must take into account these aspects, The network said in a press statement that the two quakes stand with the council. He clarified that stand- Qaeda, ISIS, Hezbollah and other organizations and try to change many of the laws that cause serious setbacks in coincided with an earthquake that struck northwestern Ira- ing with this council is tantamount to bring- that exercise terrorism around the world. Kuwait’s rating among many international organizations, and in nian province of Bushehr with a magnitude of 5.8 on the ing down the regime which is harmful for the Nonetheless, no country can guarantee this Richter scale, 250 km from Kuwait City, at 9:40 am local more than one fi eld, not only on the issue of time. The Iranian authorities announced earlier today that region, Arab and Islamic countries, and other type of regime. For instance, China and Russia human rights. an earthquake had a magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter scale nations. have been unable to restore the North Korean He called for ensuring respect for human hit the port (Gnaoua) in the Bushehr province (southwest) He believes this is the right time to review Workers Party regime into the international rights principles by the offi cial authorities of the country. what is inside Iran, particularly the production arena due to its continuing violations of char- in the places where complaints are received, At least one person was injured, Iran’s state-run IRNA of weapons of destruction which Tehran uses to ters and agreements. investigating them in police stations and news agency reported. State TV shared mobile phone pic- fight against countries in the region. “Demons Thus, Moscow and Beijing will not be able prosecution offi ces, and by patrols of the tures of cracked and collapsed walls in the area of the port own these weapons. We can say it is possible to revamp the Tehran regime, which does not Ministry of Interior and places of detention, city of Bandar Genaveh, the temblor’s epicenter. for them to possess such weapons to threaten differ from the Pyongyang regime. and making awareness efforts for community Video shot by a bystander at a construction site near Bandar Genaveh appeared to show landslides in nearby the entire humanity,” he warned. Indeed, Russia and China, as well as the members towards respecting human rights foothills. Both state TV and the semioffi cial Tasnim news He concluded: “Thank you to the esteemed United States, and Arab and African coun- principles in daily dealings, whether in homes agency rebroadcast the footage. lady - Maryam Rajavi. I wish she takes over the tries have had their unfortunate share of or offi ces. Al-Baghli Three aftershocks of magnitude 4 followed the initial mantle of power in this country for the evils in Iran’s terrorism. Therefore, the regime will Al-Baghli explained that the issue of hu- quake, the report said. (Agencies) this region to end; especially since the region is not hesitate to export weapons of mass de- man rights is very important for a country like Kuwait, which at- ❑ ❑ ❑ known for the cooperation and good relations struction to its scoundrels to exercise nuclear tracted more than 30 countries to liberate it from the Iraqi invasion KUWAIT CITY: MP Hamad Saif Al-Harshani claimed between its countries.” blackmail even in the countries it considers in 1991, due to its constitution and its honorable history in the fi eld the Muslim Brotherhood is behind every disaster, while it Rajavi, the President-elect of NCRI which friendly. of democracy and free speech, and that it is in the strategic and hu- hides behind charitable institutions like the Social Reform is affiliated to the People’s Mujahedin of Iran There is no doubt that Washington and Tel manitarian interest of the state in preserving human rights. It is es- Society (SRS) to realize its goals. (MEK), warned about the destructive policies Aviv will not allow the power maniacs in Iran sential to the life of states, and that the two authorities must respect He said the SRS supports terrorism, so the concerned au- of the Iranian regime in the Middle East and to reach the point of no return with this proj- the title that Kuwait acquired from the United Nations as a center thorities must shut down the society. He added many coun- their repercussions on the conditions of Irani- ect. They will therefore continue their efforts for humanitarian work, and it should not be left to be a mere slogan. tries criminalized the acts of the Brotherhood after realizing ans. to protect their allies and Iran’s neighbors from He concluded by calling for a response to many of the issues that its main objective is to check the stability of states. He pointed out that many opposition MPs belong to She said the Iranian regime continues to sow any reckless behavior such as the downing of raised by those reports by amending existing legislation that con- division, destroy Syria and displace more than tradicts human rights, and does not refl ect Kuwait’s well-known the Brotherhood, indicating the aim of these MPs is to the Ukrainian plane. weaken the State and control it with the support of for- 10 million people there. Also, the patience of the Iranians will soon history in the region towards freedom of expression and respect for eign parties. He said their target is not limited to National She added the Tehran regime stabbed the run out. This is after being under the weight of human rights. Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim as they want to Palestinians through its incessant efforts to a stifling living crisis that has been ongoing for occupy the Assembly speaker and prime minister posts in maintain the state of division, as well as dis- four decades due to the use of all of the state’s order to control the entire country. The Brotherhood does mantling Lebanon and forming deadly militias resources for military programs and for sup- not believe in the Constitution and laws, he asserted. in Iraq and Yemen. porting terrorism, especially after the expan- 4 new COVID-19 fatalities Several MPs responded to Al-Harshani; such as MP sion of the opposition. Abdulaziz Al-Saqaabi as he wondered who stands be- Also: hind Al-Harshani. He urged Al-Harshani to face the op- Given that the retribution of the Tehran re- KUWAIT CITY, April 18, (Agencies): Ministry of Health registered RIYADH: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia re- four new COVID-19 fatalities and 1,388 new infections in the past 24 position MPs with evidence and adhere to the rules on fair gime has become a global necessity, the best competition, instead of instigating others to act against cently called on Iran, to avoid acts gearing to- and effective means is the support of the op- hours. wards escalation and instability in the region, The Ministry’s spokesman Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad told KUNA that charitable work that Kuwait has always been proud of. position from the international community, as He said the opposition MPs will continue walking on the saying that Tehran should focus on negotia- it alone is able to topple the regime from the the death toll increased to 1,440 and total infections jumped to 255,860 reform path and they will never succumb to blackmail. since the beginning of the pandemic. tions to settle the matter of its nuclear program. inside in the absence of a UN resolution to dis- ❑ ❑ ❑ A statement by the Saudi Foreign Ministry cipline this from the outside. He added that 1,360 patients have recovered from the virus in the past 24 hours to reach 239,027 recoveries, which make the ratio of KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait Finance House will fund four- said that Iran should seek a peaceful nuclear Email: [email protected] recoveries 93.42 percent from total conducted tests. year university scholarships for 100 girls from the Roh- program under the supervision of the Interna- ingya refugee community in Bangladesh, Kuwait Red tional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), adding Follow me on: The spokesman pointed out that 250 new patients were sent to the intensive care units, to increase the number of patients who are receiv- Crescent Society (KRCS) said on Sunday. that such step will prevent the proliferation of The move was put in place after an agreement singed weapons of mass destruction. ing health care to 15,393 patients. between the Kuwaiti-based relief organisation and the Moreover, in the past 24 hours 8,577 tests were conducted to make Saudi Arabia expressed concerns over the re- Asian University of Bangladesh, based in Dhaka. cent announcement by Iran to enrich uranium [email protected] the total conducted tests reach 2,213,624, which make the ratio of in- Speaking to KUNA, KRCS Secretary General Maha fections at 16.18 percent, he added. Al-Barjas praised the Kuwaiti private sector’s support of with 60 percent purity, a matter going against The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has spent 5.185 the organisation’s humanitarian endeavours, focused on Tehran’s intentions of a peaceful nuclear pro- million dinars following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the relief, educational and health initiatives. gram. Ramadan Timings form of contracts that the DGCA has signed for various services. She called for ensuring the right to education for all, The Kingdom stressed that it was paramount A government report, a copy of which has been obtained by the Al- including displaced people affected by armed confl ict, in to reach an agreement that would prevent Iran Iftar ...... Monday ...... 18:17 Seyassah daily, states the total money approved that were allocated for order to create a sustainable means of livelihood. (KUNA) from obtaining nuclear arms, which causes dis- Imsak ...... Tuesday ...... 03:44 the item was 25 million dinars. tress to countries in the region. ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 2

Air connectivity will energize economic recovery IATA urges ME to develop aviation restart roadmap

he International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on governments have long established global best practices for working together with industry and across the Middle East will put the region on a solid footing for recovery. Tin the Middle East to develop re-start plans to safely re-link their citizens, with each other. This same approach will help the re-start. There are two ends to IATA Travel Pass will help to conveniently manage health credentials, businesses and economies to global markets when the COVID-19 epidemio- every route. Both must be prepared or the restart cannot happen,” said Al Awadhi. while protecting against fraud. “With Qatar Airways already piloting IATA logical situation permits. IATA also called for regional coordination to ensure IATA highlighted two critical areas of areas where governments need to Travel Pass and Emirates, Etihad and Gulf Air signed-up for trials, the Gulf is that the plans can be efficiently implemented and urged governments to re- work together: at the forefront of preparations,” said Al Awadhi. main vigilant about the industry’s financial situation. ■ Operational restart Continued financial relief essential “Re-establishing air connectivity will energize the economic recovery from A successful operational restart will include bringing aircraft and termi- The financial trauma of the COVID-19 crisis continues. In 2020 Middle COVID-19. With millions of jobs at risk from the prolonged shutdown, not nals back into service. Airlines need to ready their crew, technical personnel East airlines posted losses of $7.1billion in 2020; a loss of $68.47 for each a day should be lost once the epidemiological situation enables a re-opening. and aircraft. After a year of lockdowns, this requires refresher training and passenger flown. With traffic at less than 20% of 2019 levels, the cash burn Restarting safely after a year or more in lockdown will need careful prepara- checks. A regional overview is needed to (1) ensure that the one country’s continues even with severe cost-cutting. tions. At the national level it is important that governments work with in- restart qualifications are accepted by its regional partners and (2) ensure that Airlines in the region received $4.8 billion in government aid in 2020. Most dustry, so everyone understands the benchmarks that need to be achieved to sufficient infrastructure capacity is ready to meet demand as markets unlock. of this support ($4.1 billion) was distributed through direct cash injections. facilitate the lifting of travel restrictions. And at the regional level, where ■ Travel Credentials Despite this several airlines in the Middle East remain at risk of bankruptcy traffic is expected to ramp-up first, it is critical that governments are talking Testing and vaccinations will play a role in opening borders to travel as the or business administration. to each other so that all parties are aligned and ready for a restart,” said Kamil pandemic comes under control. Simple, efficient, and harmonized standards “A financially viable air transport sector will be needed to energize the Al Awadhi, IATA Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East. for what credentials people will need to travel will boost consumer confidence recovery. Government relief for airlines has avoided massive failures that IATA data shows January air passenger traffic in the region was down and give strength to the recovery. would jeopardize a restart. This has not been uniform across the region. With 82.3% compared to January 2019. The ongoing crisis puts over 1.7 million The ICAO Council’s recent approval of requirements for globally accepted no clear timeline to recovery the situation is far from resolved. Governments jobs in the Middle East and $105 billion in GDP at risk. COVID-19 test certificates, including the technology framework for secure that have provided relief will need to be prepared for more. And governments “This is a unique situation. But we have good practices to rely on. Safety is the digital versions and the future incorporation of vaccination certificates pro- that have not yet stepped-up must recognize the growing risks to their econo- top priority for anything associated with aviation. That is because governments vides a global framework. Cooperation for a harmonized implementation mies as the crisis drags on,” said Al Awadhi.

Leisure travel to recover. Inset: Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market Domestic, short-haul travel to lead recovery ME leisure travel spend to pass pre-COVID levels

ccording to a recent YouGov survey, commissioned by Reed Exhibitions, facilitate travel recovery, such as more widespread testing. ATM 2021’s strategic partners include Dubai’s Department of Tourism Athe organiser of Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2021, the amount of mon- “Leisure travel will lead the recovery, initially through domestic and short- and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) as Destination Partner, Emaar Hospital- ey that Middle East travellers spend on international leisure travel, will begin haul travel, which peaked by as much as 85% of all overnight arrivals in the ity Group as Official Hotel Partner and Emirates as Official Airline Partner. to exceed 2019 pre-COVID levels, in as little as three years. This is supported Middle East during 2020. This will gradually return to normal over the next Dubai is one of the safest cities in the world to visit with a wide range of by forecast analysis carried out by Tourism Economics (TE)*. four years at around 70%, as international travel becomes more popular and precautionary measures in place to ensure the safety of tourists at every stage “This is very encouraging,” said Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, takes greater market share,” said Curtis. and touchpoint of their travel journey, from arrival to departure. Dubai’s Arabian Travel Market, which will take place in-person at the Dubai World In addition to our international participation, a whole host of exhibitors commitment to maintaining the highest standards of hygiene and safety and Trade Centre (DWTC) 16-19 May 2021. from the Middle East will be participating at ATM this year, including the its effective citywide management of the pandemic received a strong endorse- “In 2019, spending on international leisure travel in the Middle East was tourism boards from the UAE’s emirates with major exhibits from Dubai, ment from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), which gave the significant, representing 47% of the total overall travel spend, compared with Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman and Fujairah. There will also be city a ‘Safe Travels’ stamp. 37% spent on domestic leisure travel and 8% each on international and do- a variety of other ME exhibitors including Emirates, Etihad Airways, Saudi About Arabian Travel Week mestic business travel. Tourism Authority, Bahrain Tourism & Exhibitions Authority, SAUDIA, Arabian Travel Week is a festival of events taking place within and alongside “In 2020, spending on international leisure travel was only 20% of the Jordan Tourism Board, Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board, NEOM, Emaar Arabian Travel Market 2021. It includes ATM Virtual, ILTM Arabia, Arival amount spent a year earlier. However, this year, spending compared with Hospitality Group and Jumeirah International, amongst others. Dubai, the Travel Agents’ Academy, The ATM Influencers day, the Digital 2019, will recover to around 50%. It will increase to 75% in 2022 and 95% Now in its 28th year and working in collaboration with DWTC and Dubai’s Influencer Speed Networking and Travel Forward – a new travel tech and hos- in 2023, until 2024, when spending in this segment will exceed pre-COVID Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), the theme of pitality innovation event launching this year. It also features the ATM Buyer levels by up to 10%,” added Curtis. ATM 2021 will be ‘A new dawn for travel and tourism’. Forums, ATM Speed Networking Events as well as The Saudi, India and China According to research by TE and its parent company Oxford Economics, the A comprehensive programme of seminars will explore the inevitable road Summits. Providing a renewed focus for the Middle East’s travel and tourism vaccine rollout, pent up demand supported by high consumer savings, employ- to recovery by addressing the current state of the industry, examining emerg- sector, Arabian Travel Week will take place in Dubai from Sunday 16th to ment recovery and travel restrictions, will motivate the return to global econom- ing trends and how innovation technology, sustainability and engaging with Thursday 26th May 2021. www.wtm.com/arabian-travel-week/en-gb.html ic growth of 5.6% this year, the fastest economic recovery in 40 years. The total the next generation of global travellers, will drive the industry forward. About Reed Exhibitions Global contribution of the travel and tourism industry in 2019 accounted for 10.4% of In particular, a host of world-class technology experts are lined up to speak Reed Exhibitions is a leading global events business. It combines face-to- total GDP worldwide, highlighting its importance to the global economy. at the Travel Forward Theatre, providing industry-leading insights and dis- face with data and digital tools to help customers learn about markets, source In advanced economies, household savings rates have jumped from less cussing the latest technological advances and specifically how they will deter- products and complete transactions at over 400 events in 22 countries across than 10% of income prior to 2020, to a spike of 25% during lockdown, before mine the future direction of travel. 43 industry sectors, attracting more than 7 million participants. Our events dropping to just over 15% as restrictions were eased. ATM 2021 will also play an integral role in Arabian Travel Week and for leverage industry expertise, large data sets and technology to enable our cus- In terms of vaccine rollout, although distribution maybe uneven and there- the first time, a new hybrid format will be in place. This means an additional tomers to connect face-to-face or digitally and generate billions of dollars of fore inhibit some destinations from welcoming tourists, many popular leisure virtual ATM will be organised to run the following week, which will comple- revenues for the economic development of local markets and national econo- destinations such as the UAE, US, UK, Israel, Spain and Turkey aim to have ment the in-person event by accommodating visitors who may be unable to mies around the world. Reed Exhibitions is part of RELX, a global provider of up to 70% of their populations vaccinated before the end of 2021. Other mea- travel to Dubai. The inaugural ATM Virtual 2020 attracted 12,000 online at- information-based analytics for professional and business customers. www. sures will be necessary and are likely to be introduced in many destinations to tendees from 140 countries, over three days. reedexhibitions.com

editor’s choice ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 3

Weather Expected weather for the next with speeds of 12-38 km/h and Jahra 38 24 Prayer Timings 24 hours: some high clouds will appear. Failaka Island - - Fajr ...... 03:56 Asr ...... 15:22 By Day: Hot with moderate to fresh Station Max Exp Min Rec Salmiyah 33 26 Sunrise .. 05:19 Maghrib .. 18:16 north westerly wind with speeds of Kuwait City 37 25 Ahmadi 34 25 Zohr ...... 11:47 Isha ...... 19:37 20-60 km/h causing rising dust. Kuwait Airport 37 22 Nuwaisib 39 21 By Night: Fair with light to Abdaly 38 21 Wafra 38 23 moderate north westerly wind Bubyan - - Salmy 37 19

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

Mabanee Co dips 9 fi ls, Humansoft Holding gains Kuwait stock market slips into red turf, volume swells By John Mathews Arab Times Staff ■ UUS$/KDS$/KD 0.30140/500.30140/50 KUWAIT CITY, April 18: Kuwait stocks ▲ Euro/KD 0.3613 slipped into a shallow trough on Sunday after logging modest gains in last two ses- ■ Yen/KD 0.0027 sions. The All Shares Index clawed back from steep mid-session losses to close 5 ▲ British £/KD 0.4172 points down at 5,948.51 pts even as the broader sentiment remained positive. Indian Rs/KD The Premier Market slipped 10.32 points ■ 0.0040 to 6,519.72 points paring the month’s gains to 195 points whereas Main Market scaled ■ Philippines Peso/KD 0.0062 7 points. The BK Main 50 was up 12.96 pts at 4,991.34 points. The volume turno- ▲ FTSE +36.03 pts at closing April 16 ver meanwhile rose for the second straight session. Over 309 million shares changed hands – a 23 percent jump from the previ- ▲ Nikkei +40.68 pts at closing April 16 ous session. The sectors closed mixed. Technology outshone the rest with 1.16 percent gain ▲ Gold 1766.45 per oz (London) whereas Insurance sector shed 2.24 per- cent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume ▲ NYMEX crude $63.11 per barrel wise, Financial Services topped with 131 million shares while Banking sector domi- ▲ Brent crude $66.72 per barrel nated in value with KD 10.5 million. Among the notable losers, sector bell- LIBOR rate 0.18825% wether National Bank of Kuwait slipped 4 fi ls to 826 fi ls after pushing 2.5 million shares while Kuwait Finance House fell 2 1 fi l to 213 fi ls after moving 8.9 million fi ls with a volume of 3.7 million shares and shares and Kuwait International Bank fol- is down 48 fi ls month-to-date. Mabanee Co lowed suit to end at 205 fi ls. Burgan Bank slid 9 fi ls extending Thursday’s downtick dialed down 1 fi l whereas Boubyan Bank and Kuwait Insurance Co skidded 41fi ls closed 3 fi ls in green on back of over 2 mil- with thin trading. lion shares. Zain was unchanged at 603 fi ls and stc Ahli United Bank BSC fell 1 fi l to 214 too did not budge from its earlier close of fi ls whereas Warba Bank stood pat at 246 900 fi ls. Logistics major Agility climbed 4 fi ls. Al Ahli Bank gave up 2 fi ls and Ahli fi ls to 758 fi ls taking the month’s gains to United Bank Kuwait inched 1 fi l up to 314 32 fi ls while Humansoft Holding sprinted fi ls. 15 fi ls to KD 3.847. Boursa Kuwait Secu- KIPCO eased 1 fi l to 162 fi ls whereas Photo by Mahmoud Jadeed rities slipped 7 fi ls to KD 1.109 and Inte- National Investment Co dialed up 2 fi ls on People lining outside the vaccination center. grated Holding took in 1 fi l. Aznour tripped back of 1.2 million shares. Al Imtiaz Invest- 1 fi l after moving 2.4 million shares. ment held ground at 114 fi ls Kuwait In- National Industries Group paced 4 fi ls vestment Co climbed 5 fi ls to 170 fi ls with on back of 3.2 million shares taking the a volume of 3.3 million shares and Interna- Covid jabs ‘slow down’ in Ramadan month’s gains to 21 fi ls and Gulf Cables tional Financial Advisors added 3 fi ls. dialed down 2 fi ls. Boubyan Petrochemical Noor Financial Investment Co climbed Co eased 1 fi l to 903 fi ls whereas Al Qurain 4 fi ls to 234 fi ls whereas Tamdeen Invest- Petrochemical Co scaled 4 fi ls. Jazeera Air- ment slipped 3 fi ls. The Securities Holding ‘Ban on expats entry stays’ ways lost altitude with a 7 fi ls drop to 620 ticked 0.8 fi ls up while Arzan Investment Power cut as ‘strangers’ visiting fi ls and ALAFCO took in 1 fi l. and KMEFIC added 1 fi l each. First Invest- The market opened fi rm and moved ment closed 3.3 fi ls in green with brisk trad- By Marwa Al-Bahrawi sideways in early trade. The main index ing. Aayan Leasing gained 7 fi ls on back of building found to mine ‘Bitcoin’ Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies headed south amid selling in some of the 10.6 million shares. heavyweights and plumbed the day’s low- KFIC eased 1 fi l to 110 fi ls and KAMCO KUWAIT CITY, April 18: The Ministry of and frequented by people who are strangers KUWAIT CITY, April 18: While the est level of 5,942 pts past the mid-session. trimmed 0.5 fi ls. Unicap added 2.1 fi ls and Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy to the area. They bring large devices to draw government and health authorities are It rebounded thereafter to pare back most of Al Deera Holding darted 8 fi ls to 210 fi ls. has launched a campaign, which is the fi rst electrical current to feed devices which are racing against time to vaccinate groups the losses before slipping again in the fi nal International Financial Advisors rose 3 fi ls of its kind in the history of the ministry, to used to illegally mine Bitcoin in Kuwait. minutes to close with small losses. to 111 fi ls and Kuwait Financial Centre track rental properties where “Bitcoin” is The meter reading showed unusual con- and other segments included in the na- Top gainer of the day, Al Rai Media (Markaz) ticked 0.3 fi ls higher. Gulf Insur- being mined locally and illegally, reports sumption of electricity exceeding the average tional campaign, with the aim of acquir- Group soared 21 percent to 29.7 fi ls and ance Group added 4 fi ls whereas Al Ahleia Jiyad sprinted 9.33 pct to stand next. Am- Al-Anba daily. meter reading, which confi rmed that there is ing the community immunity, the global Insurance shed 15 fi ls. The ministry started its campaign after unjustifi ed electricity consumption in the wal Investment skidded 15.23 percent, the Kuwait Cement Co dialed up 2 fl s where- reports were made to the inspectorate team property. Usually such kind of consumption vaccination index shows Kuwait has re- steepest decliner of the day and Bayan In- as Burgan Company For Well Drilling was via social media about the presence of a is an indication of sinister practices in regard markably declined in the daily average vestment topped the volume with 35.5 mil- unchanged at 142 fi ls. Combined Group device that is being used in a building for to the consumption of electricity. lion shares. Contracting Co gave up 3 fi ls and KCPC exploiting electricity in violation of the law, The team disconnected electricity in that of vaccination in the fi rst fi ve days of Despite the day’s downtick, the market paced 3 fi ls. Shuaiba Industrial gained 5 fi ls. according to eyewitnesses. building and a citation was issued. It is the Ramadan. spread was skewed towards the winners. 71 The market was mixed during the previ- In a press statement, the Deputy Head fi rst time the team is cutting off electricity The number of people vaccinated until yesterday stocks advanced whereas 47 closed lower. ous week. The main index closed higher in of the inspectorate team at the Ministry of to a property where digital currencies are Of the 131 counters active on Sunday, 13 three of the fi ve sessions scaling 27 points was 819,000, an increase of only 46,000, compared closed fl at. 10.770 deals worth KD 33.5 week-on-week. It has rallied 172 points Electricity and Water Ahmed Al-Shammari, mined. to the total number of vaccinated people last Tuesday who went to the aforementioned building Al-Shammari warned that no violator million were transacted during the session. from start of the month and is up 402 points accompanied by the team offi cer Ali Al- will be excluded, and laws will be applied -- the fi rst day of the month of Ramadan -- reached In the banking sector, Gulf Bank eased year-to-date. Zainal, explained that there were violations to everyone. 773,000, which means that the daily average of vac- related to electricity installations, which re- He called on the landlords to ensure that cination in the fi rst week of Ramadan was estimated ‘Charities complying with rules’ quired placing a warning poster on the fi rst their tenants are not using their properties at 9,200 people injected per day. visit, as no one was available in that build- in a manner that violates the laws, and that For its part, informed health sources told Al-Seyassah ing. Due to the way the electricity box was they should call the concerned authorities as about the decrease in the daily vaccination rate in the closed which raised suspicion, the inspec- soon as they realize unlawful operations are country, pointing out that if the Ministry of Health con- ‘Teams formed to monitor donations’ tors went on to open it and found tampered being carried out on their properties. tinues to vaccinate 10,000 people per day, it will actu- wiring, which is a violation of the applica- Al-Shammari affi rmed that the ministry KUWAIT CITY, April 18: Assistant ble laws. will track the rented houses that are used for ally succeed in reaching the fi rst million before the end Undersecretary for Social Development Al-Shammari said the violators were not these purposes and that consume electric- of Ramadan, but this is absolutely not enough to fi ght the Sector at the Ministry of Social Affairs House collapses cooperative, and the team was forced to ity excessively, indicating that the violators pandemic and reach community immunity in a timely Hana Al-Hajri confirmed that the min- open the box only to fi nd explicit violations use government homes in private residential manner. istry has formed inspection teams tasked and extensions that violate one of the wings areas due to the low value of the electrical The sources emphasized that the slowdown in health to monitor the donation collection ac- Family rescued of this building. tariff, which amounts to 2 fi ls per kilowatt, refl ected negatively on catching up with the global im- tivities of charitable societies during He went on to explain that the residents and therefore their profi ts are high because munization train, after the rate for vaccinated people fell the holy month of Ramadan, reports Al- KUWAIT CITY, April 18: Fire-fighters of the area said the building is fully rented the cost of the electricity tariff is low. Jarida daily. rescued an Asian family after their house on the fi rst day of Ramadan and along with that Kuwait in Rumaithiya Area collapsed early Sun- dropped to the 47th place instead of the 44th globally, Al-Hajri revealed that two violations were recorded on the first and second day, Kuwait Fire Force (KFF) said. and continued to decline until yesterday pushing Kuwait KFF Department of Public Relations to 48th in the world among the 177 countries that have days of the holy month, asserting this is a good indication that the charities are said in a press statement the building begun vaccination against the virus. collapsed because construction work- ❑ ❑ ❑ complying with the regulations. She said the inspection teams consist of repre- ers nearby failed to put support pillars sentatives of the concerned authorities, causing its collapse. Airport traffi c: Kuwait International Airport operated a Fire-fighters rushed to the scene and total of 182 commercial fl ights -- 89 departures and 93 affirming these teams will continue to follow up donation campaigns and en- rescued the three-member Asian family arrivals -- in the fi rst three days of the blessed month of from the collapsed building. Ramadan, reports Al-Qabas daily. sure strict compliance with the regula- The firefighters rescued the family tions. According to the latest statistics, India and United Arab and transferred them hospital, while the On the participation of volunteers in Emirates (UAE) topped the list of destinations during the investigation teams were examining the the ‘Ramadan donations’ campaign, Al- scene. abovementioned period; followed by Saudi Arabia, Tur- Hajri said the volunteer teams are allowed key, Qatar and Bahrain. to participate provided they are affi liated An offi cial source from the airport revealed that pas- with well-known charities authorized to donations, but they can advertise or pro- senger movement is proceeding smoothly in line with the engage in such a campaign. She clarifi ed mote charitable projects through the desig- Cabinet’s decision to ban the entry of non-Kuwaitis until these volunteers are not allowed to collect nated automated links. further notice; while Kuwaitis, their fi rst-degree relatives and accompanying workers are allowed to enter the coun- The check post after the hit. No one was hurt. try. The source said there is no change in the number of Motorist runs over checkpoint arriving passengers as it is still within the normal level -- not more than 1,000 passengers per day, affi rming the By Munif Nayef However, no one was mention that, a few days medical and technical teams are ready to provide all ser- Al-Seyassah Staff hurt in the accident. The ago, a tragedy occurred vices to travelers. driver of the vehicle was on the Maghreb High- The source confi rmed all the circulars issued by civil The border security men abnormal. The driver has way, which resulted in aviation authorities are in line with the directives of manning a security check been arrested and de- the death of the martyr health authorities in implementing the health regulations post at the entrance to tained at the area police Sa’ad Al-Enezi on duty in to curb the spread of the new strains of coronavirus from Jahra opposite the club station. a run over accident when different countries around the world. escaped unhurt when The alertness of the a reckless Kuwaiti mo- Meanwhile, a source from the Directorate General of an unidentifi ed a Kuwaiti security men prevented torist was attempting to driving a vanette ran into them from getting injured. escape from the check- Civil Aviation (DGCA) affi rmed the approval of laborato- the checkpoint. It is noteworthy to point. ries within the MUNA program to ensure the reliability of PCR examination certifi cates for passengers from Pakistan and the Philippines. ‘Unfi t’ foodstuff seized The source said the entities operating at the airport are exerting tremendous efforts to better serve travelers, fa- cilitate passenger movement and implement health regu- Beggars, vendors held in Mahboula lations to curb the spread of corona. Following are the accredited laboratories in the Philip- KUWAIT CITY, April 18: The Public Se- and Fahaheel Police Station, in coordination pines: curity Sector in the Ministry of Interior, in with the Municipality branch in Ahmadi, 1. Detoxicare Swab Center in Batangas, Nueva Ecija cooperation with Kuwait Municipality, car- tracked down street vendors and beggars in and Quezon City ried out a security campaign in Mahboula, Mahboula. 2. One World in Bulacan, Makati and Pasay resulting in the confi scation of foodstuffs The campaign led to the confi scation found to be unfi t for human consumption of an undisclosed quantity of food items 3. MP Diagnostics in Mandaluyong and Manila and arrest of street vendors and beggars, re- found to be unfi t for human consumption, 4. Hi-Precision Diagnostics - Covid Pass in Quezon ports Al-Rai daily. in addition to the arrest of 11 street ven- City The Public Relations and Security Me- dors and beggars who were referred to the 5. Philippine Airport Diagnostic Laboratory dia General Department at the ministry re- concerned authority for the necessary legal Pakistan: Excel Laboratory in Islamabad, Karachi, La- vealed that a security team from Ahmadi measures hore and Multan - Covid Pass ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 LOCAL 4 MoH unveils plan to open 50 clinics for quitting smoking – Dr Al-Shatti

‘Increasing prices of tobacco products vital’

KUWAIT CITY, April 18: Sabah Specialized Medical District Di- HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad. rector and Vice-Pres- ident of the National Program for Smoking Control Dr Ahmed Al- Shatti has unveiled the Ministry of Health’s plan to open 50 clinics for quitting smoking in primary health care centers and hospitals in the next five years -- 10 clinics annually, re- ports Al-Jarida daily. Speaking to the daily, Al- Shatti disclosed the country KUNA photos A photo from the honoring of IDF by the Indian Embassy. spends about KD 419 mil- National Assembly Speaker Al-Ghanim. lion annually due to the direct Indian Embassy felicitates IDF Covid-19 warriors and indirect effects of smok- Audiences of HH the Amir ing -- a huge burden on the KUWAIT CITY, April 18: The Em- fi rmed a new panel of Indian doctors “We at the embassy will do everything State budget. He stressed the His Highness the Amir, Sheikh His Highness also received at bassy of India in Kuwait, in asso- from different specialties has been spe- we can to help support the community importance of increasing the Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sa- Bayan Palace His Highness the ciation with the Indian Professionals cifi cally formed for this purpose. in this crisis period. Despite all the chal- bah, received at Bayan Palace this Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Network (IPN) Kuwait felicitated the Further details related to the tele- lenges we continue our consular services. prices of tobacco products through the implementation morning, His Highness the Crown Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Dep- Indian Doctors Forum (IDF) Kuwait consultation are expected to be re- We had a few cases of infections in the Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad uty Prime Minister and Minister of – a group of Indian doctors who part- leased by the embassy in due course, embassy, we managed it pretty well, we of selective tax as soon as Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali nered with the embassy in offering free including general instructions for tested them multiple times, we treated possible, indicating the rate of His Highness the Amir also re- Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister, medical tele-consultations to Indians tele-consultations, timings for these them, we home quarantined them, we did diseases caused by smoking ceived, at Bayan Palace, Speaker Minister of Justice and Minister of in Kuwait during the peak period of the consultations, contact details of panel contact tracing, but we made it a point in the country is very high. He of the National Assembly, Marzouq State for Integrity Promotion Affairs Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. doctors, Indian languages spoken by that our consular services and commu- added the imposition of tax Ali Al-Ghanim. Abdullah Yousef Al-Roumi. (KUNA) The event was held under the title the panel doctors and so on. The am- nity welfare efforts continue. on tobacco products in differ- ‘Felicitation of Indian Doctors: Co- bassador encourages the Indians in “It makes each of my offi cers and staff ent countries has been proven vid-19 Warriors’ in a largely virtual Kuwait to avail of this facility. in the consular and community welfare event on April 17, 2021. Dr. Amir Ahmed, President of the wings and every member of the mission to be effective in reducing the Amir congratulates president Speaking on the occasion, the Am- Indian Doctors Forum, also addressed a Covid-19 warrior. I thank ICSG for the number of smokers. bassador of India to Kuwait H.E. Sibi the audience on this occasion and shed proactive role they continue to play with He pointed out that the latest George said the event was a really special light on the activities of the IDF and our many Indian associations and groups statistical reports on Kuwait, of Zimbabwe on National Day event as it was to felicitate and honor the how and to what extent the IDF has to ensure that no one goes hungry. in cooperation with the World Covid-19 warriors, especially the doctors been serving the Indian community. “I thank the Indian Doctors’ Forum, its Health Organization (WHO), KUWAIT CITY, April 18, (KUNA): progress and prosperity. who wholeheartedly served the Indian The felicitation ceremony was fol- President Dr. Amir Ahmed, its immedi- showed that the percentage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf His Highness the Crown Prince community during the hour of crisis, go- lowed by a brainstorming session ate past President Dr. Surinder Nayak, adults who are smoking in the Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent a Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al- ing beyond their call of duty. through which expert insights were who was the president when the tele- Kuwaiti society is 20.5 per- cable of congratulations to President Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness Referring to the doctors as an embodi- drawn from the experiences of medi- consultation group was formed, former cent -- 39.2 percent of whom ment of the indomitable human spirit, cal experts in tackling the current Co- presidents, offi ce bearers and senior doc- of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangag- the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah are males and 3.3 percent are wa on the occasion of his country’s Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent ambassador stated that felicitation was vid-19 situation and associated reper- tors who joined the event. females; while 15.4 percent of just a small gesture from the part of the cussions including on mental health. “I thank IDF for its humanitarian adolescents in the age group 13 National Day, wishing him good similar cables to President Mnan- embassy to express heartfelt gratitude. Medical experts rendered practical efforts and its many endeavors in sup- to 15 years old are smoking -- health and for the Republic further gagwa. The Indian envoy also highlighted that suggestions and sound medical advice on porting the Indian community, includ- 23.2 percent boys and 8.3 per- the event was also a brainstorming ses- how to, individually and/or collectively, ing its efforts to fi ght the pandemic,” cent girls. sion on what the embassy, in association effectively deal and fi ght this pandemic the Indian envoy said. ‘Six teams work round the clock’ with the community could do together in the coming days. During the course The event provided a unique oppor- Common to help the community to face the chal- of the event, an on-the spot quiz competi- tunity for participants to learn about He disclosed that smoking is lenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. tion focusing on Covid-19 was conduct- strategies on effective Covid-19 han- most common among the age Co-ops being continuously The ambassador announced the IDF ed for young student participants. dling coming directly from the medi- group of 30 to 40 years old, fol- has once again volunteered to provide The event generated a tremendous cal community. lowed by the age group 18 to free medical advice and counseling sup- response with hundreds of people from For more details about the event, 29 years old. port via tele-consultations to the Indians different walks of life in Kuwait par- please visit the website and social me- ‘monitored’ in holy month living and working in Kuwait. He con- ticipating virtually. dia handles of the embassy. He added the number of clin- ics dedicated for quitting smok- KUWAIT CITY, April 18: The As- at the Mishref Auditorium, followed by ing under the ministry currently sistant Undersecretary for Coopera- Khaldiya Cooperative Society. Rawda stands at seven, emphasizing tive Society Affairs at the Ministry of and Hawally Cooperative Society will these clinics have strong in- Social Affairs Salem Al-Rashidi says be allocated as the Capital Governor- frastructure for helping people the mechanism adopted to follow up ate’s auditorium as well as Riqqa Co- who want to quit smoking. the activities of cooperative societ- operative Society. He affi rmed the ministry re- ies during the month of Ramadan The rest of the cooperative societies cently launched an extensive intensely monitors the purchasing will be allocated auditoriums soon in media campaign on stopping policy, so that there is no pile up of order to carry out the vaccination cam- the consumption of all types goods in the market, and to ensure all paign. of tobacco under the slogan, commodities are provided as much Regarding the initiative of some co- “Commit to quitting tobacco as possible to the public, reports Al- operative societies to distribute more consumption during the Co- Anba daily. than one Ramadan basket to the share- vid-19 pandemic.” He said this In an exclusive press statement, he holders, Al-Rashidi affi rmed that the campaign targets all segments indicated that there are six inspection distribution of the baskets, either Ra- of society with the aim of edu- teams – one in each governorate – that madan or others, is based on the fi nan- cating them about the dangers work round the clock and continuously cial ability of the cooperative societies of smoking. conduct inspection campaigns. in this regard. He also revealed that around Meanwhile, Al-Rashidi explained He stressed that the cooperative eight million people die annu- that the vaccination campaign in the societies have the right to distribute ally due to smoking -- seven cooperative societies has started, and such baskets if it has financial capa- million due to direct smoking some supermarkets have started re- bility to do so, and the ministry does and one million due to passive ceiving the auditoriums designated not interfere in that, adding that the smoking or forced smoking, as- for that purpose. cooperative law allows this through serting that eliminating smok- The Mishref Cooperative Society a budget approved by the general as- ing is the cornerstone of devel- was the fi rst to vaccinate its employees sembly. opment in any country. New schools project Experts mission concludes in Sabah Al-Nasser remain suspended ‘IMF experts praise efforts of CBK in By Abdulrahman Al-Shimmari enhancing banking, financial sector’ Al-Seyassah Staff KUWAIT CITY, April 18: The them, while noting the Kuwaiti authori- KUWAIT CITY, April 18: The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) an- ties ’rapid and decisive action to ad- Ministry of Education has listed nounced the conclusion of the mis- dress the health and economic impacts several educational construction sion of experts from the International of the coronavirus pandemic despite projects in Sabah Al-Nasser, which is one of the old areas and Monetary Fund (IMF), which carried the grave challenges posed by the pan- where the student population is out their work online from April 4-8 demic. dense. within the framework of the prelimi- Like other Gulf Cooperation Coun- The ministry says it has given nary periodic consultations for the cil (GCC) countries, Kuwait suffered this area priority in establishing year 2021 in accordance with Article from the repercussions of the pan- new schools given the density of Four of the agreement on establish- demic; in addition to the oil price shool-going children. ing the fund. decline and reduction of oil produc- The projects that were includ- The Central Bank issued a press tion under the OPEC Plus Agreement ed in the Education Ministry con- statement in which it revealed that which imposed heavy burdens on struction plan for the 2015/2016, it coordinated with the IMF and the economic activity and financial bal- 2019/2020 included the con- concerned local authorities in mak- ances in 2020. struction of new schools in the ing the necessary arrangements; Commenting on the economic per- Sabah Al-Nasser, and the estab- such as collecting data and schedul- formance in 2020, the IMF experts said lishment of two middle schools ing meetings with senior officials in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of for boys and girls was offered governmental and non-governmental Kuwait shrank by about eight percent in one tender and the ministry is agencies to discuss the economic (six percent for non-oil sectors) last still awaiting approval from the conditions, financial policy, mone- year; while the overall budget balance Audit Bureau to start implemen- tary policy, and strength of the bank- decreased remarkably compared to the tation of the project, and that the ing and financial sector. previous year. procedures for floating a tender The IMF experts praised the efforts The IMF experts expect gradual re- for the establishment of a pri- of CBK in strengthening the bank- covery in 2021 considering the revival mary school for boys have being ing and financial sector. Governor of domestic and external demands as completed. of the Central Bank Dr Muhammad vaccination operations continue. Nev- The ministry also included Al-Hashel disclosed the IMF experts ertheless, they pointed out that a great in its construction plan for commended CBK for its continuous deal of uncertainty surrounds such ex- 2020/2021 and 2024/2025 the monitoring of credit risks, as well as pectations for various reasons; includ- establishment of two Kindergar- tens in the Sabah Al-Nasser. fortifying the regulatory and supervi- ing the continuation of the pandemic, However, the new Municipal- sory frameworks aimed at ensuring and global and local measures to curb ity’s requirements related to car financial stability. the spread of the virus. parking inside has led to insuf- The IMF experts pointed out that In conclusion, the IMF experts ficient spaces available for pre- even if the Kuwaiti banking sec- emphasized the importance of con- prepared models so they have to tor experienced shocks in 2020, it tinuing to prioritize the fight against be re-designed accordingly pro- remains resilient and enjoys a good corona and mitigate its effects, espe- portional to the designated land level of capitalization and liquidity; cially on the most vulnerable groups, area. thanks to the prudent supervisory until the recovery is stabilized on a However, a new tender has to role of CBK. steady path; followed by the need to be floated through the Central The CBK governor revealed the control public finances and imple- Agency for Public Tenders, but IMF experts highlighted the nature of ment strong structural reforms to all this is subject the availability the structural challenges the Kuwaiti maintain fiscal buffers and enhance of budgets. economy is facing and ways to address economic growth. ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 LOCAL 5 REMEMBER WHEN

Local Architecture

The new British Residency was nearly was always built around a courtyard fi nished when Alan Villiers took this where a brackish water well or a fresh- Photograph courtesy photograph of it in 1939. A highly water cistern stood. In daytime, there modern building in Kuwait at the time, would be plenty of sunshine through- of The Center for Re- it was located on the waterfront near out the house. Invariably, a few stairs search and Studies on the ruler’s palace at the eastern end of led to the roof, a much preferred place the walled city. It later became the Brit- for sleeping during hot summer nights. Kuwait and the work ish Embassy in Kuwait. Close to the house stood the diwaniya, of Dr Yacoub Al- The architecture in old Kuwait is or men’s meeting place, with its pri- characterized by its success in “trans- vate entrance and coffee-hearth in the Hijji in the book Old- forming the local values and way of life center. It was there that the men of the Kuwait: Memories into architectural terms,” as stated by a house would entertain their guests. contemporary architect of Kuwait. The In nearby villages, however, houses in Photographs fi rst Kuwaiti master builder, known locally were less sophisticated and blended published in 1996. as ustad, drew no plans on papers; he beautifully with the surrounding en- fi gured the proportions and made the vironment. Some were fi shermen’s plan in his mind. His success, however, homes; others, such as the romantic in using traditional techniques with lo- kubar, were retreats that belonged to cally available materials such as mud, city dwellers. They resided there in the gypsum, coral and mangrove poles, is spring when the desert bloomed after all too evident. the winter rains. (From the book ‘Old A house or a mosque in old Kuwait Kuwait: Memories in Photographs’) Courtesy of The Center for Research and Studies on Kuwait © K.O.C. diwaniya A DIGEST OF PUBLIC OPINION ‘No solution except democracy ... must stick to it, develop it’

“THE former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is credited for saying: ‘De- eration in terms of political and parliamentary work. labeling them ‘bedoun’ in a relentless effort to preserve an electoral bloc at the mocracy is the worst system humanity has known, but it has never known a better “Unfortunately, the Kuwaiti democracy has lost its glamour and this is part expense of the homeland. system’. Consequently, I believe, there is no solution for humanity except to con- of the state of decline that has affected state institutions, and perhaps that is also “On the internal front, the society is divided in light of the continuous escalation tinue this system, stick to it, build on it and develop it. The role of upholding this due to the desire to bring people to a state of despair or disbelief in democracy against the heads of the legislative and executive authorities, disrupting the work of system rests with the governing institution, the legislative and executive authorities, and parliament, but I am completely and firmly sure that democracy cleans by the latter by opting not to cooperate with it and refusing to work with its president. and the combined political, cultural and social forces and the elite,” columnist Bas- itself and what happened on that day could occur in all parliaments and old “This happens at a time when a quarter of the nation is groaning and moaning sam Al-Asousi wrote for Al-Qabas daily. democracies, but it is important for the MPs to know that democracy primarily under the weight of consumer while the government has turned a deaf ear to these “Since democracy rule by the people, of the people and for the people through means construction, work and production and it is not a clowning, stubbornness, moans and groans fl attening the gravity of their demands, missing out on itself a their representatives who are elected via the ballot box to protect the institutions, challenge, or imposing the matter by force. This gives us a serious indication golden opportunity to buy an inner calm that will extend for a long time by resched- oversight, legislation, and defend the inherent rights and of how the situation would be if these elements were able to take over power or uling their debts. Continuing to ignore them will help to demolish the temple on freedoms of people from injustice. Although democracy authority, God forbid. everyone’s head. has many benefi ts, it sometimes has side effects and foul “Unfortunately, in the midst of the turmoil that occurred in the Parliament, is- “What the country is going through is the result of mismanagement of the state of secretions. sues such as reform and development of education, housing, fi nancial reform and affairs by the former government and the same situation continues to date.” “In the current Kuwaiti scenario, we fi nd there is a group the budget defi cit were lost. Cases and personal and vengeful battles took over the ❑ ❑ ❑ of elements which has managed to sneak in through the bal- center stage. “It seems the winds of a new Arab Spring have begun to blow in the region. The lot boxes and took advantage of the state of popular dis- Also: content and anger at the government’s performance and fi rst of these winds blew in the sisterly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” columnist reached the Parliament and not only started to make noise “Today, Kuwait looks isolated from the Gulf reality, while its sisters appreciate Mubarak Mazeed Al-Moasherji wrote for Al-Rai daily. and disturbance, but also violated the rules of the game and its credit and historical position, and internationally it is far from its allies Britain “Thanks to God, the wise Hashemite leadership, along with the people who gath- used insults and threats and practiced all kinds and forms of and the United States and it relies on old agreements with each of them without ered around the leadership that they have trusted for decades, made these winds bullying and political blackmail to attract attention, sabo- moving to revive them and renew them in proportion to the confused and dangerous dissipate and their hope was shattered. In Kuwait, we have started to see, hear and tage and work for the early dissolution of the Parliament. conditions of the region, Kuwait is not very interested in enhancing its investments smell some of these poisonous winds. “This happened because the results were not to their lik- Al-Asousi in the two countries in order to renew its connection with them and the trust between “A lawmaker called for dragging people into the streets, another called for dem- ing or for implementation of the aspirations and desires of each of them,” columnist Dr Ali Al-Huwail wrote for Al-Rai daily. onstrations to hold merchants accountable, and others demanded for a democracy some parties that are not in their interest to continue the Parliament in the exercise of “Locally, the executive and legislative authorities are fl oundering without prec- tailored to their size. its role and work, so we have not seen or heard that those elements have a program, edent. The former does not have a program for development and the second does “Rumors are transmitted by the hour, the last of which is about a piece of land plans or reform project, so there is no difference between them and the government. not know the way to monitor and reform, and the government seems incapable of owned by a Sheikh who passed away that has been divided, priced and distributed. They are two sides of the same coin and all of their speeches were populist and performing the simplest tasks entrusted to it. “This rumor was denied through an advertisement published in all daily news- demagogical for which some common mobs cheer. “The streets of Kuwait are hit with heavy rainfall revealing corruption in the papers. If the three authorities in the country and the honest national media did not “The world has witnessed what happened in the past two days in the National road works while the state (the Ministry of Public Works and the Public Authority stop this torrent of malicious rumors, as well as the enormous lies and ridiculing of Assembly -- non-ethical transgression on democratic values, norms and regulations, for Roads and Land Transport) is still busy with its preparations for roads work, the symbols of the country and its national constants, then we will not be safe from and before them social morals to the extent that the guards intervened to impose sitting on the ‘billion’ budgets, and the armies of workers are unable to repair them the Arab Spring winds. order inside the Abdullah Al-Salem Hall and without that intervention the hall may in time with required quality, and neither the National Assembly nor the govern- “We support a constructive democracy that knows its limits. We reject chaos have resembled a wrestling arena. ment intends to change the law so the state could directly contract with international in the name of democracy. We welcome personal freedoms and expression of “It was a continuous thrilling movie fi lled with suspense, and I can almost assure companies, taking advantage of the opportunity to expose the corruption of many of opinions, provided that differences in opinions are neither provocative nor aimed you that entire Kuwait and the entire Gulf have followed what happened in that the private companies and the current popular anger against as a result of its modest at weakening national unity which could lead to suspicion and betrayal of various movie on the social media. It is painful that the heroes of that terrifying movie are performance and corruption. components of the Kuwaiti people.” a group of MPs led by some doctors, lawyers, former policemen and businessmen, “The services in general are all fl awed and declining in quality while the Parlia- meaning that they are the elite in society but set a bad precedent to the current gen- ment is bent on itself. It wants to lay down laws to naturalize illegal residents by — Compiled by Ahmad Al-Shazli ‘Patrols cannot breach areas’ Other Voices ‘Deal fi rmly with beggars’ 2 stories and football match KUWAIT CITY, April 18: Assistant Under- By Ahmad alsarraf The defendants were charged with reckless driving, failure to comply with secretary for Public Security Affairs at the hese are two inconceivable stories Ministry of Interior Major-General Faraj Al- the police orders to stop and attempting Tthat are almost half a century apart to escape law, intentionally removing Zoubi said public security patrols are forbid- between their fi ctional events, brought the vehicle plates to conceal their iden- den to enter governorates which do not fall together by a round piece of leather tity, hunting for birds in a populated called soccer ball. area, hunting illegally, failure to obtain within their jurisdiction to prevent unfortu- The events of the fi rst inconceivable nate accidents that result from security chases hunting license and verbally abusing story began when the security authori- patrolmen. and cause loss of life and leave behind innocent ties revealed that a football player was The men were taken into custody, victims (bystanders and pedestrians) who hap- involved in a but after about an hour an MP went to pen to be present during the chase, as well as scandal of im- the police station and requested their moral assault on release and after a tug-of-war between to protect the patrols vehicles from damage, a girl, and the since many patrol cars and other vehicles get the executive authority and the MP of player was re- the legislative authority, the latter won damaged during the chase, reports Al-Qabas ferred for inves- and an order was issued to release the daily. tigation and was defendants without a case registered This came on the sidelines of the fi eld tour of se- taken into cus- against them, perhaps after it became curity points in the areas of the Ahmadi Governo- tody. clear that whoever was entrusted with Photo by Bassam Abu Shanab The incident protecting the law had a relationship rate of Al-Zoubi who was accompanied by Ahmadi of this crime co- A couple of young men are out with their guitars to spend the spare time at the Governor Sheikh Fawaz Al-Khaled to follow up the with the ‘football’ as was the case in the beachfront. incided with the fi rst fi ctional incident and that his father efforts exerted by securitymen to implement the imminence of alsarraf partial curfew. was a electoral manager. the Kuwaiti na- Consequently, it deserved the inter- Beating boredom at beachfront Major-General Al-Zoubi has told the securitymen to deal tional football team traveling, when it fi rmly with beggars who are active especially during this vention of infl uential parties for his ben- was at the height of its glory, to partici- efi t and his companion in the crime so To beat the boredom and escape the have a lot of free time on hand and don’t time. pate in a decisive tournament in a GCC He said instructions have been issued to all police stations that their arrest would not affect the per- near imprisonment situation imposed by know to spend this time so a majority of state, and since the player is one of the formance of our national football team the spread of Covid-19 infections, most them take to the beach during the non- not to release the beggars from prisons and not to accept any top players of the team, demands have mediation on their behalf. which was scheduled to meet the Eng- people prefer to go the beaches, reports curfew time. The beaches in all the gov- been made by a group of “honorable land in the World Cup tie in the midst Al-Seyassah daily. ernorates and the waterfronts witness a He pointed out the public security sector has adopted an people” for his release to represent his In light of the precautionary meas- remarkable presence of people of differ- urgent security plan to curb all kinds of thefts, especially of Ramadan. country and to achieve victory for his Here, too, after the order to cover up ures, including less working hours in ent ages who prefer to spend time en- theft of vehicles and homes by increasing patrols in areas team and then return with the trophy and government institutions and even pri- joying sea water and sunlight, cycling or which are prone to theft. the crime was issued, everyone went vate companies, citizens and residents various types of exercises. back to his cell pending his trial. to perform the noon prayer. The patrol On another issued, the senior Interior Ministry offi cials The “honorable mediators” justifi ed said the public security sector in cooperation with the Ku- men went with them to perform an addi- that the matter “will be done in secre- tional rak’ah to thank the Lord because wait Municipality removes abandoned cars which have be- cy”, then everyone went to perform the come a major source of crisis in several aspects, which the they are still alive and were not killed in Health steps cause: fi shermen noon prayer with the innocence of the the accident and they were not arrested, criminals may exploit to disturb public security. children in their eyes. ❑ ❑ ❑ because they risked their lives while As for the events of the following performing their duty. ‘Low turnout, fi sh rates still high’ 55% hold top jobs: EFG Hermes Financial Group re- unconceivable story occurred when a The question: Is it our right to wish vealed that Kuwaitis hold 55 percent of managerial positions police patrol received a complaint about a dear and higher authority to intervene KUWAIT CITY, April 18: Fish prices implementation of health regulations as one in local banks and these banks are now planning to increase a group of reckless people hunting for to put a happy conclusion to the second increased remarkably at the beginning of of the reasons behind the low turnout of fish this percentage, reports Al-Rai daily. birds in a reserve where hunting in for- inconceivable story especially since our Ramadan due to the lack of supply of vari- buyers. The group cited the annual reports of Kuwaiti banks for bidden. Upon arrival, the patrolmen football situation is already hopeless. ous types, which made the market witness Jaid Fadel, a salesman, disclosed that due the year 2020, stating that 55 percent of the management po- found there were fi ve cars and the men Kuwait was traumatized by the crime low demand despite the availability of all to the partial curfew; the market opens from sitions (excluding middle management) are occupied by Ku- were hunting using hunting rifl es and of a patrolman manning the checkpoint types of local fish in small quantities so they 7:00 am to 4:30 pm so the revenue is lower waitis. In Kuwait Finance house (KFH) and Boubyan banks, their vehicles had no number plates. run-over. Honorable Minister of Inte- were replaced with imported fish,” reports than the previous years when the market 70 percent of management positions are held by Kuwaitis, The perpetrators got into their vehi- rior, what about the culprit? And when Al-Rai daily. operated until 10:00 pm. the group disclosed. cles and fl ed, and after a long and dan- will the ministry issue a clear statement The daily’s staff visited Sharq Market He clarified all types of local and import- Earlier, the Central Bank of Kuwait issued a circular to all gerous chase, a vehicle was stopped and that puts an end to gossip? recently to observe the fish selling move- ed fish are available, but the prices are high local banks to nationalize jobs in upper and middle depart- it turned out, horrifi cally, that one of the ❑ ❑ ❑ ment, during which they noticed the low because of the low supply brought about by ments; in addition to obligating them to increase the percent- perpetrators was a police offi cer and the turnout of buyers while the prices are high. the lack of fishermen and decisions to ban age of Kuwaitis in upper and middle positions by up to 70 other a teacher. e-mail: [email protected] They cited the market administration’s catching fish and shrimp in certain areas. percent.

ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 INTERNATIONAL 7

Monarch continues reign alone America

Kemp, others censured Queen says goodbye to Philip WINDSOR, England, April 18, (AP): Sitting by herself at the funeral of Prince Philip on Saturday, Queen ‘Royal funeral’ Republicans talk Elizabeth cut a regal but solitary fig- ure: still the monarch, but now alone. The queen sat apart from family members at the simple but somber Harry, William seen chatting together ‘unity’ in Georgia ceremony at Windsor Castle, in accor- dance with strict social distancing LONDON, April 18, (AP): A year with William as “space at the moment.” dren who is William and Harry’s cous- ALPHARETTA, Georgia, April duct business after long days. rules during the coronavirus pandem- after they last saw one another, Prince On Saturday, William and Harry in. 18, (AP): Kelly Loeffler had a The trend nonetheless shows ic. But if the ceremony had been for William and his brother Prince Harry walked in silence on either side of Rumors of a rift between the broth- warning.The former U.S. senator Kemp has work to do to shore up anyone else, at her side would have put their fraught relationship aside as their cousin, Peter Phillips, as they ers - William, the heir, and Harry, the from Georgia, defeated in a his right flank ahead of 2022. been her husband of 73 years, who they said farewell to their grandfather joined other senior royals in Philip’s “spare” – have rumbled at least since January runoff amid Republican “I’m disappointed in Kemp, gave a lifetime of service to the crown. at his funeral on Saturday. funeral procession. At one point 2019. That’s when Harry and Meghan infighting, told her hometown and I’d absolutely consider some- Wearing a face mask, the queen was The brothers were somber and silent Phillips fell behind slightly to allow separated from the Royal Foundation, GOP committee Saturday that one else,” said Ruth Anne Tatum, dressed all in black, except for the as they walked together in a proces- the brothers to walk side by side - a originally set up as the brothers’ joint only a unified party can avoid a a retired Alpharetta schoolteacher diamond brooch that flashed on her sion behind Prince Philip’s coffin visual echo of the moment the pair, as charitable venture, to set up their own repeat in the 2022 midterms. who was among the scores of left shoulder - a piece she had often before his funeral at Windsor Castle boys in 1997, walked behind the coffin platform. That year, Harry said he “What I saw in my campaign is first-time delegates to attend the worn on engagements with her hus- along with their father, Prince Charles, of their mother Princess Diana in loved his brother dearly but they were that we need to do better. We just Fulton County convention. band. and other close relatives. They were another royal funeral televised around “on different paths” and have “good need to get to Tatum said she traveled to The monarch’s four children - seen chatting and walking together the world. days” and “bad days.” work doing Washington for the Jan. 6 rally in Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince after the service concluded. The brothers sat opposite each other Many believe that William was it,” Loeffler which Trump addressed support- Andrew and Prince Edward - sat near- It was the first time the brothers had in St George’s Chapel for the funeral, angered and hurt by Harry’s decision told Fulton ers before some of them stormed by, as did the queen and Philip’s eight been together in public since Harry which was attended by only 30 people to speak so publicly about the royal County the U.S. Capitol as Congress tal- grandchildren. The stripped-back ser- stood down from royal duties and because of coronavirus restrictions. family’s issues during the Winfrey Republicans lied Biden’s Electoral College vice made their loss somehow more moved to the US with his wife While William sat next to his wife interview. In one explosive allegation, at their annu- victory. She said she was not personal for people who often live Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and Kate, Harry was on his own because they said a family member - not the al conven- among the insurrectionists but their lives in public. their son Archie in early 2020. Meghan is pregnant with their second queen or Philip - had expressed “con- tion. argued that the event has been Just 30 mourners were allowed to Tensions between Harry, 36, and child and was advised by her doctor cerns” about Archie’s possible skin Yet Repu- unfairly pinned on Trump. attend the service for the prince, who William, 38, came to the fore after not to make the long trip. color before he was born. Meghan has blicans can’t “I’m so tired of all the lies and died April 9 at the age of 99. The Harry and Meghan gave a revealing Afterwards, Harry, William and a Black mother and a white father. seem to get the corruption and the cheating,” entire royal procession and funeral interview to US talk show host Oprah Kate strolled together outside the cha- Days after the interview aired, past 2020. Loeffler Tatum said, pointing at Democrats took place out of public view within Winfrey last month. The couple por- pel. Moments later, the brothers William insisted “we are very much In the and Republicans alike. “All of the grounds of the castle, a 950-year- trayed the royal family as indifferent walked together alone while Kate not a racist family,” and said he had hours after Loeffler’s plea, at them,” she said. old royal residence 20 miles (30 kilo- to Meghan’s mental health struggles, spoke to Zara Tindall, another of not spoken to Harry since the broad- least 10 local party committees meters) west of London, but was and Harry described his relationship Queen Elizabeth II’s eight grandchil- cast. voted to condemn Gov. Brian Votes shown live on television. Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Debbie Dooley, an activist who Hundreds of people lined the streets Raffensperger or both for not helped organize the resolutions, outside the castle to pay their respects two brothers had grown apart. photo of the queen and Philip, smiling think, down to the junior guardsmen, helping overturn President said the votes are enough to show to the prince. Some held Union flags The procession traversed the and relaxing on blankets in the grass in is a known fact.’’ Donald Trump’s November Kemp faces a “divided grass- and clutched flowers, while others grounds of Windsor Castle, passing the Scottish Highlands in 2003. The William and Harry were part of the defeat. Two counties already had roots” that should make establish- wore custom face masks featuring the military detachments arrayed under palace said the casual, unposed photo nine-member royal contingent, done so. Additionally, Georgia ment Republicans nervous. royal’s photo. bright blue skies. was a favorite of the queen. although their cousin, Peter Phillips, GOP Chairman David Shafer Indeed, Kemp’s 2022 prospects “We have been inspired by his Inside the medieval Gothic chapel, Composing a wreath atop the coffin walked between them. There was no eagerly noted in his rounds to aren’t just about whether he can unwavering loyalty to our queen, by his the setting for centuries of royal wed- were flowers chosen by the queen, obvious tension between the brothers, local conventions that he’s sued win nomination for a second service to the nation and the dings and funerals, this service was including white lilies, small white whose relationship has been strained “a Republican secretary of state.” term. He remains a solid favorite. Commonwealth, by his courage, forti- quiet and without excessive pageantry. roses, white freesia, white wax flower, since Harry’s decision to quit royal And in Fulton County, the state’s His only opponent thus far, tude and faith,” the dean of Windsor, Philip was deeply involved in planning white sweet peas and jasmine. A note duties and move to California. After most populous, a flood of new Vernon Jones, is a former David Conner, said in his call to prayer. the ceremony. At his request, there from the monarch was attached, but its the service, they walked back to the delegates ousted several incum- Democrat best known as an out- The nation honored Philip with a was no sermon. There were also no contents were not disclosed. castle together, seeming to chat amia- bent officers despite their pledged spoken Black supporter of Trump. minute’s silence observed across eulogies or readings, in keeping with The funeral reflected Philip’s mili- bly. fealty to Trump. And Kemp boosted his standing the United Kingdom at 3 p.m., its royal tradition. tary ties, both as the ceremonial com- Their appearance at the service The tension reflects the former by signing the recent Georgia beginning and end marked by a gun Former Bishop of London Richard mander of many units and as a veteran stirred memories of the 1997 funeral president’s ever-tightening grip on election law overhaul and defend- fired by the King’s Troop Royal Chartres, who knew Philip well, said the of the Royal Navy who served with of Princess Diana, when William and the Republican Party and suggests ing it against criticism from liber- Horse Artillery. The final shot sig- 50-minute service reflected the prefer- distinction during World War II. More Harry, then 15 and 12, walked behind that even unabashed conservatives als and corporate leaders. naled the start of a funeral service ences of the prince, who was a man of than 700 military personnel took part their mother’s coffin accompanied by like Kemp are at the mercy of Yet Trump’s loss - followed by steeped in military and royal tradi- faith but liked things to be succinct. in the commemorative events, includ- Philip. continued finger-pointing and Loeffler’s and Sen. David Perdue’s tion, but infused with the duke’s “He was at home with broad church, ing army bands, Royal Marine buglers As Philip’s coffin was lowered into competition to be the loudest losses in January - show how peril- personality. high church and low church, but what and an honor guard drawn from across the Royal Vault, Royal Marine buglers echoes for Trump’s false assertion ous a Trump-branded party is in Philip’s body was carried to St. he really liked was short church,” the armed forces. sounded “Action Stations,” an alarm of a rigged 2020 election. Georgia. Distancing yourself from George’s Chapel at the castle on a Chartres told the BBC. Lt. Gen. Roland Walker, regimental that alerts sailors to prepare for battle Trump costs votes within the GOP Targets Land Rover that the prince himself had Philip’s coffin was draped with lieutenant colonel of the Grenadier - included in the service at Philip’s core, while hugging Trump too specially designed. It was followed by Philip’s personal standard, topped Guards, said his unit was honored to request. He will rest there, at least until Kemp and Raffensperger were tightly juices the left and costs members of the Royal Family, includ- with his Admiral of the Fleet Naval take part because of its close relation- the queen’s death, alongside the both the targets of Trump’s ire votes in the middle, especially ing Princes William and Harry, who Cap and sword. The sword was given ship with the prince. Philip served as remains of 24 other royals, including after they certified Democrat Joe among moderates in metro Atlanta. made their first public appearance to him by his father-in-law, King regimental colonel of the guards, its King George III, whose reign included Biden’s narrow win in Georgia. “I don’t know what it’s going together since Harry and his wife, George VI, on the occasion of his mar- honorary leader, for 42 years. the years of the American Revolution. Some counties added demands to take to get past it,” said Trey Meghan, gave a controversial inter- riage to the queen in 1947. “This is a privilege,” he told the The queen and Philip are expected to that Raffensperger resign. Kelly after he lost his bid for view to U.S. television host Oprah The monarch offered her own BBC. “Because my understanding is be buried together in the Royal Burial A Kemp aide focused on how another term as Fulton GOP Winfrey in which they discussed the touches to the day. Ahead of the funer- he planned this, so we’re here because Ground on the Frogmore Estate close few counties out of 159 have for- chair. Earlier, he’d stood behind a difficulties of royal life and how the al, Buckingham Palace released a he wanted us to be here, and that, I to Windsor Castle. mally condemned the governor, sign dubbing Georgia “Trump saying he’s “grateful” for grass- country” and declared loudly to roots support and looks forward 330 delegates - a local record for to a primary campaign where he an open convention, according to Three shot dead can tout his “successful record.” party officials - that “the 2020 KENOSHA, Wis, April 18, (AP): A A Raffensperger aide did not election was stolen.” shooting at a tavern in Wisconsin respond to a request for comment. He even called Fulton, long a killed three people and seriously Indeed, the pair staved off Democratic bastion, “the U.S. injured two others early Sunday, a some condemnations. Gwinnett capital of voter fraud.” sheriff’s department official said. County, part of the metro Atlanta His opponent, Susan Opraseuth, The shooting happened at Somers core, voted down the measures. A likewise panned “an unconstitu- House Tavern in the Village of handful of other counties, includ- tional election,” but she threw in Somers, Kenosha County Sgt. David ing Fulton, censured her outsider, anti-establishment Wright said. Raffensperger but had no floor status that Kelly couldn’t counter. The suspected shooter was not vote at all on Kemp. Other coun- “Our current trajectory demands immediately captured. Wright said the ties avoided votes altogether change,” she said, following the shooting appeared to be a “targeted when they adjourned because too roadmap Trump used in 2016 and and isolated incident,” and authorities few delegates remained to con- that Kemp followed in 2018. didn’t believe the general public was in danger. Citigroup profit triples in Q1, tops estimates; revenue down

Citigroup’s profi ts more than tri- or $1.06 a share, in the same losses they might incur as the banking division, as its custom- pled in the fi rst quarter, the bank- period a year earlier. The bank’s economy nosedived in the early ers more aggressively paid down ing conglomerate said, helped by profi ts were well above the $2.60 months of the pandemic. Now their debts in the past year dur- the release of billions of dollars per share that analysts had been that the economy is recovering, ing the pandemic. Citi has a sub- A Citibank offi ce is from its loan-loss reserves. The looking for, according to FactSet. banks are able to release those stantial credit card business that open on Jan 13, 2021 bank also announced plans to Like its major Wall Street funds. leans toward “revolving” custom- in New York. (AP) scale back its global consumer competitors, Citigroup was able Citi had a $3.85 billion one- ers – those who keep a steady banking franchise outside the to release billions from its loan- time gain from releasing its loan- balance on their cards – and a US. loss reserves this quarter, which loss reserve, which the bank said signifi cant chunk of Americans The New York-based compa- directly benefi ted its bottom line. “refl ects the improving economic used their government stimu- ny said it earned a profi t of $7.94 The big banks collectively set outlook.” lus payments to pay down debt. billion, or $3.62 per share, com- aside tens of billions of dollars Citigroup saw lower revenue Revenues from credit cards fell pared to a profi t of $2.54 billion, a year ago to cover the potential and interest income in its global 18% from a year ago. (AP)

Market Movements 16-04-2021 Change Closing pts Change Closing pts AUSTRALIA - All Ordinaries +36.83 7,317.46 PAKISTAN - KSE 100 -81.04 45,230.18 JAPAN - Nikkei +21.70 29,642.69 CHINA - Shanghai SE -17.73 3,398.99 S. KOREA - KRX 100 +34.07 6,878.54 PHILIPPINES - PSEi +16.75 6,539.96 INDIA - Sensex +259.62 48,803.68 Business

CEO says group kicking 2021 off to a relatively strong start Mideast’s largest mall operator to expand amid vaccine hopes DUBAI, April 18, (AP): The Middle East’s earnings plummeted by 122%, resulting in largest operator of malls expects revenue losses of $25 million. and earnings to climb back to pre-pandemic Despite last year’s slump, Majid Al Fut- levels by the end of next year and is mov- taim plans to unveil 30 new movie theater ing full steam ahead with plans to develop its screens this year in Saudi Arabia, is develop- Home construction rebounds biggest mall ever. ing it’s biggest mall project ever in Riyadh, In a wide-ranging interview with The As- and is opening what will be the largest mall sociated Press on Thursday, Majid Al Fut- in Oman at the end of 2021. taim CEO Alain Bejjani said business is “Every country has had their own set of steadily rebounding amid vaccine rollouts in challenges to deal with. The reality is the some countries of the region, kicking 2021 fastest recovery is the UAE... and we expect in March after frigid February off to a relatively strong start. very fast recoveries in other markets like “We’re not out of the woods across the Saudi Arabia,” Bejjani said. “We have also markets, but things are improving,” Bejjani seen Egypt being very resilient.” said. “Going back to the pre-pandemic levels The United Arab Emirates has rapidly US jobless claims plunge to 576,000, lowest since pandemic – to 2019 level- in my opinion, will happen by rolled out COVID-19 vaccines, which are the end of 2022 in terms of fi nancial results.” free of charge for citizens and residents. The company’s plethora of retail and Saudi Arabia is also expanding its vaccina- WASHINGTON, April 18, (AP): US housing leisure holdings include the iconic Mall of tion rollout and has offered all residents free Turkish CB keeps key rate unchanged construction rebounded strongly in March the Emirates in Dubai, hundreds of VOX coronavirus treatment since the start of the with home builders recovering from an unusu- cinema screens and more than 350 Carre- pandemic. ally frigid February that shut down projects. four grocery stores in the Middle East and It’s not back to business as usual just yet, Builders began construction on new homes and beyond. Named after its Emirati billionaire though. Majid Al Futtaim – like many busi- Turkey to ban cryptocurrencies founder, the company’s largest markets are nesses globally – is having to adjust to new apartments at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.74 the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and realities, including the potential imposition million units in March, the Commerce Department re- Egypt, but its reach extends as far as Paki- of so-called “digital passports.” In Bahrain, for buying ‘goods and services’ ported Friday, a 19.4% increase over February when stan, Kenya and Uzbekistan. for example, where Majid Al Futtaim oper- housing construction fell by 11.3%. The company’s projections of a rebound ates 30 cinema screens, only people who’ve ANKARA, Turkey, April 18, (AP): President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Severe storms raked several regions of the country in Feb- and its plans for expansion refl ect the faster been vaccinated or recently recovered from Turkey’s central bank is banning last month fi red his third central bank ruary, setting construction back. than anticipated recovery of Middle East COVID-19 will be allowed into cinemas, the use of cryptocurrencies such as head in less than two years, raising According to the report, applications for building permits, economies from the coronavirus pandemic, gyms and other select spaces soon. bitcoin in payments for goods and concerns about a possible return to a good sign of future activity, increased by 2.7% to a season- though uneven vaccine distribution remains Bejjani said the company is “very sup- services, according to a decision pub- unconventional monetary policy as ally adjusted annual rate of 1.77 million units. a concern. portive of any measure” that gives customers lished in the country’s Offi cial Ga- Economists expect housing construction to remain strong the country struggles with persistent this year given the record low level of homes for sale. A new Majid Al Futtaim, which employs some the feeling of being safe. zette on Friday. infl ation. 43,000 people regionally, saw its revenue “Whenever there is an additional regulation, The decision comes as many in report from mortgage giant Freddie Mac concluded that the plummet by 7% to $8.9 billion last year and that actually gives people even more certainty, The Turkish currency plummeted housing market is 3.8 million single-family homes short of Turkey have turned to cryptocurren- against the dollar, following the ap- what’s needed to meet demand - a 52% increase from a sig- earnings drop by 19% to around $1 billion I think this is a plus, whether it is the vaccine cies to shield their savings from rising due to coronavirus lockdowns and restric- passport, whether it is something else,” he pointment of Sahap Kavcioglu who, nifi cant housing shortage in 2018. tions. The hardest-hit side of the business said. “At the end of the day, what’s important infl ation and the Turkish currency’s like Erdogan, has argued for lower “We expect the pace of housing starts to moderate slightly was its leisure and entertainment arm, where is that people want to go back to normal. Peo- slump. interest rates. Typically, higher inter- over the balance of 2021 but still look for starts to increase revenue fell by 49% to $380 million and ple want to go back to consumption.” In a statement explaining its rea- est rates shore up a currency and help more than 6% this year,” Nancy Vanden Houten, lead econo- sons, the bank said transactions car- combat infl ation. Erdogan has argued mist at Oxford Economics, said in a research note. ried out through the use of cryptocur- the contrary, that high rates cause in- Housing was one of the star performers last year in an rencies presented “irrevocable” risks. economy struggling with a global pandemic. Housing con- fl ation. struction rose 6.9% to 1.38 million units for the year. Crypto assets are “neither subject Kavcioglu however, has since re- to any regulation and supervision Builders are currently grappling with lumber prices, which assured investors by indicating that have tripled in the past year, and supply chain shortages mechanisms nor a central regulatory the bank will follow a tight monetary for such things as appliances while home buyers are facing authority. Their market values can be policy until infl ation is brought under higher housing prices because of the low inventories. How- excessively volatile,” the bank stated. control. ever, builder confi dence remains strong. The latest National It also cited their use in ”illegal ac- Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo survey saw an tions due to their anonymous struc- “The Monetary Policy Committee has decided to keep the policy rate increase in its confi dence index to 83 in April, up from 82 in tures,” and their possible use “illegal- March. Any reading above 50 shows builders are optimistic ly without the authorization of their (one-week repo auction rate) con- about the future. stant at 19%,” the bank said follow- holders.” Construction The restriction would come into ef- ing its closely watched meeting. “The fect on April 30, the bank said. (Central Bank) will continue to use The Commerce report Friday showed that construction of decisively all available instruments single-family homes was started at a seasonally adjusted annual Also: in pursuit of the primary objective of rate of 1.24 million units in March, up 15.3% from February. ANKARA: Turkey’s central bank kept price stability.” Construction in the smaller and often more volatile apartment Before he was fi red last month, sector jumped 30% to an annual rate of 477,000 units. a key interest rate unchanged at 19%, By region of the country, construction was up in all parts in its fi rst rate decision since the sur- Naci Agbal, the previous central bank of the country except the West which saw a 12.6% decline. governor, had raised interest rates by People walk in Mall of the Emirates, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on April 15, prise appointment of a new governor Construction activity surged 122.8% in the Midwest and 2021. The Middle East’s largest operator of malls, Majid Al Futtaim expects revenue that shook confi dence in the coun- a more-than-expected 2 percentage posted gains of 64% in the Northeast and 13.5% in the South. and earnings to climb back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of next year and is try’s economy. points, taking the rate to 19%. In a separate report, the number of Americans applying for moving full steam ahead with plans to develop its biggest mall ever. (AP) unemployment benefi ts tumbled last week to 576,000, a post- COVID low and a hopeful sign that layoffs are easing as the economy recovers from the pandemic recession. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications plummeted by 193,000 from a revised 769,000 a week ear- lier. Jobless claims are now down sharply from a peak of 900,000 in early January and well below the 700,000-plus level they had been stuck at for months. The decline in unemployment claims coincides with other evidence that the economy is strengthening as vaccinations accelerate, pandemic business restrictions are lifted in many states and Americans appear increasingly willing to travel, shop, eat out and otherwise spend again. In March, employ- ers added a healthy 916,000 jobs, the most since August, and the unemployment rate fell to 6%, less than half the pandemic peak of 14.8%. Other healthy economic data was reported Thursday, underscoring that a potential boom, much-anticipated by economists, may be getting under way. Trillions of dollars of government stimulus, including $1,400 checks largely distributed last month, have maintained overall household income despite widespread job losses in the pandemic. Those checks, supplemented by higher savings that many households have managed to build, drove retail sales sharply higher in March. Sales at stores, car dealers, restaurants and bars jumped 9.8%. It was the biggest gain since retail sales soared 18% in May of last year in a partial bounce-back from the virus’ initial blow. Spending “Today’s report shows just how willing American con- sumers are to spend when the means and options are avail- able,” said Maria Solovieva, an economist at TD Bank. “Fast vaccination and removal of restrictions burst the spending fl oodgates wide open.” For the week ending March 27, 16.9 million people were continuing to collect unemployment benefits, down from 18.2 million in the previous week. That decline suggests that some of the unemployed are being called back to jobs. Yet the still-high number of ongoing recipients shows that even as the economy has improved in recent weeks, millions are facing a loss of a job or income and have been struggling to pay bills or rent. The last time the jobless rate was this low, weekly claims were around 350,000, still well below their current level.

In this fi le photo, a hiring sign shows outside of a res- taurant in Prospect Heights, Illinois. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefi ts fell sharply last week to 576,000, a hopeful sign that lay- offs are easing as the economy recovers from the pan- demic recession. (AP) ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 BUSINESS 9

Algorand and BridgeTower Capital announce strategic partnership

BridgeTower Capital, a global private eq- gorand as a preferred blockchain for Bridge- into place our effort to bring a new-world staking product has grown substantially be leveraging Algorand to allow investors uity firm, focusing on traditional private eq- Tower products and services. Beyond the vision to private equity to maximizing the to more than $60 million assets under to become shareholders in their tokenized uity investments and blockchain and DeFi elementary requirement of an open, public growing opportunities in blockchain and delegation within two months of launch. private equity firm and admire their lead- markets, announced today a partnership network, Algorand’s technology enables a DeFi in private equity. It’s gratifying to see BridgeTower will aggressively add self- ership in tokenized security offerings.” with Algorand. Algorand, the creator of the set of high performing Layer-1 blockchains it coming together and to now see others hosted Nodes over the coming months. Today, nearly 1 million transactions per world’s first pure proof-of-stake foundational that provide security, scalability, complete enthusiastically validating the vision.” “Algorand’s partnership with BridgeTower day are posted on Algorand’s blockchain. blockchain, is a leading blockchain technol- transaction finality, built in privacy, Co- BridgeTower is bringing a traditional is based on our aligned vision to provide In addition, over 4.5 million assets have ogy company accelerating the convergence Chains, and advanced smart contracts. operational business approach to its de- access to decentralized assets and prod- been issued on chain and more than 500 of decentralized and traditional finance. “Algorand was a clear choice given centralized finance business by building ucts as well as a shared focus to expand companies are currently developing ap- BridgeTower will use Algorand’s technol- their technology, team and leadership recurring revenue and EBITDA growth opportunities in financial services through plications on Algorand, taking advantage ogy as the underlying blockchain solution position in the digital marketplace,” said as well as providing funding to growth advanced blockchain technology,” said of the unique layer-1 smart contracts and to issuance of the BridgeTower Capital to- BridgeTower Chief Executive Officer Cory companies with to create increased valu- David Markley, Business Solutions at Al- the other functionalities enriching the plat- kenized digital security. It will also use Al- Pugh. “It is another important piece falling ations. BridgeTower’s current blockchain gorand. “We are excited BridgeTower will form. (Agencies) New Treasury office to oversee billions in virus relief package

Aid includes $1400 for individuals

WASHINGTON, April 18, (AP): The Treasury De- Focus on making jobs safer partment has created a new office to supervise the dis- bursement of the billions After ‘union fight’, Jeff Bezos of dollars in relief money authorized by Congress to combat the coronavirus- to focus on Amazon workers related recession. Officials said Wednesday NEW YORK, April 18, (AP): After a union battle at an Ala- that the goal is to streamline the bama warehouse, Amazon process and ensure all eligible founder Jeff Bezos said that as groups have access to the aid. executive chairman he will fo- The Office of Recovery Pro- cus on making the company a grams will oversee the release of better place to work. $420 billion in support from the Bezos made the disclosure $1.9 trillion package that President Thursday in his annual letter to Joe Biden pushed through Con- shareholders. He said he didn’t gress last month, the Treasury said. take comfort in the outcome of That package included payments the recent union election in Bes- of up to $1,400 for individuals, ex- tended emergency unemployment semer, Alabama, even though benefits, rental assistance, support workers there overwhelmingly for small businesses and state and rejected a union. local governments. “I think we need to do a bet- The new offi ce will also be responsi- ter job for our employees,” said In this file photo, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks during his news ble for supervising programs under the Bezos, who will be stepping conference at the National Press Club in Washington. After a union control of Treasury that were approved down as CEO later this year and battle at an Alabama warehouse, Bezos vowed to focus on making by Congress last year. In all, Congress will be executive chair of the Amazon a better and safer place to work. (AP) online shopping giant. has approved around $5 trillion in as- lead to similar efforts through- However, some of the work sistance to help millions of people who Part of his focus as chair will lost their jobs, and also businesses that be to make warehouse jobs out the company. practices claimed by those were forced to close due to the pan- safer. He said about 40% of The union push was the seeking a union were unseemly demic. injuries are sprains and strains biggest in Amazon’s 26-year and Bezos defended the com- Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally caused by repeating the same history and only the second pany against the worst of those Adeyemo said the goal of the new motions and are more likely to time that an organizing effort allegations. offi ce was to “get relief distributed happen during a worker’s fi rst from within the company had “If you read some of the news quickly and into the hands of those six months in the job. He said come to a vote. But Bessemer reports, you might think we who need it most.” training may help those “work- was always viewed as a long have no care for employees. In In a separate report Wednesday, ing in a physical role for the fi rst shot since it pitted the coun- those reports, our employees Treasury said that another 2 mil- time.” try’s second-largest employer are sometimes accused of being lion relief payments with a value of Last week, workers in Ala- against warehouse workers in desperate souls and treated as more than $3.4 billion have been dis- bama handed the online retail a state with laws that don’t fa- robots,” Bezos wrote. bursed over the past week. giant a decisive victory when vor unions. Alabama is one of “That’s not accurate. They’re That brings the total payments they voted against forming a 27 “right-to-work” states where sophisticated and thoughtful made since March 12 to 159 mil- union and cut off a path that la- workers don’t have to pay dues people who have options for lion with a value of more than $376 bor activists had hoped would to unions that represent them. where to work.” billion. These individual payments total up to $1,400 per person, with the large bulk of the money com- covery offi cer. He will work offi ce will oversee a number of for small businesses and loans for ing in the form of direct bank de- closely with Gene Sperling, relief programs dealing with such airlines and national security indus- posits made by the IRS. named by Biden as White House areas as state and local government tries. The new Treasury offi ce will be coordinator for the government’s support, emergency rental assis- Those seeking more informa- led by Jacob Leibenluft, who was rescue efforts. tance, support for homeowners to tion can email Offi ceOfRecov- designated as Treasury’s chief re- Treasury offi cials said the new meet mortgage payments, support [email protected]. GM to invest $2.3 bln in Tennessee battery plant NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 18, ing a separate $2.3 billion, 2.5 showrooms during the fi rst half tail how much the state had pro- (AP): General Motors and LG million-square-foot battery fac- of 2022, will go an estimated 300 vided in incentives but said that Energy Solution on Friday an- tory in Lordstown, Ohio, near miles (482 kilometers) per charge. information would come out soon. nounced plans to invest more than Cleveland, that will employ about GM is likely to need far more “We will accommodate the $2.3 billion to build a second U.S. 1,100 people. battery capacity if it’s able to de- companies as they determine what electric vehicle battery factory in “We are taking bold steps nec- liver on a goal of converting all of strategies they’re going to take for Spring Hill, Tennessee. essary to accelerate toward an all- its new passenger vehicles from manufacturing,” Lee told report- The project is a joint venture electric future and to support our internal combustion engines to ers. “The demand for their prod- between GM and LG Energy, vision of zero crashes, zero emis- electricity by 2035. ucts is enormous, we think this is making it one of three U.S. fac- sions and zero congestion,” said Gov. Bill Lee declared the new a very wise investment.” tories that will build electric vehi- GM CEO Mary Barra at a news battery plant project “the largest Industry analysts have said au- cles. The 2.8-million-square-foot conference in Nashville. single investment of economic tomakers face a global shortage of plant is expected to create 1,300 GM has previously announced activity in the state’s history” batteries as the industry moves away manufacturing jobs in Maury that the Cadillac Lyriq electric while praising the project. Lee, a from gasoline powered vehicles. County when it opens in 2023. SUV will be built at the Spring Republican, and his top economic Most of the world’s batteries are The joint venture already is build- Hill complex. The SUV, due in development chief declined to de- built in China and other countries. Deal to boost Bentley’s digital capabilities Bentley Systems acquires INRO Software EXTON, Pa., April 18, (Agencies): Administration Trafi kverket, and tonomous vehicles, and potential Bentley Systems, the infrastruc- the public transport system of São congestion charging. With respect ture engineering software com- Paulo SPTrans. to their traditionally circumscribed pany, announced the acquisition INRO’s products include Emme, use of transportation modeling of INRO Software, a global leader a multimodal transportation plan- tools in isolation and only on occa- in multimodal transportation plan- ning system for urban, regional, sion, multiple advantages are now ning, traffi c simulation, and mo- and national transportation fore- attainable through mobility digital bility visualization software. The casting; Dynameq, a vehicle-based twins, which can be continuously acquisition expands Bentley’s ca- traffi c simulation platform for city- updated with as-operated engineer- pabilities in the important growth wide traffi c planning; and CityPhi, ing conditions and with observed area of mobility digital twins, just a mobility visualization solution traffi c data. Mobility digital twins as countries including the U.S. providing data visualization and bring these functions together so are poised to make a generational visual analytics of large-scale mo- that infrastructure planning and investment in infrastructure, and bility and geospatial datasets. simulations can be continuously as transportation systems must Combining the capabilities of valuable throughout engineering, evolve faster to accommodate both INRO’s advanced traffi c and vehi- construction, and operations. urbanization and carbon reduction cle simulation with Bentley’s pas- The pandemic experience rein- goals, and the transition to electric senger and pedestrian simulation forces the resilience value of sus- and autonomous vehicles. and civil design software, includ- taining “evergreen” planning and INRO, based in Montreal, Que- ing CUBE, Streetlytics, LEGION, engineering modeling and simula- bec, Canada, has for more than and OpenRoads, places Bentley in tion to maintain fi tness for purpose 40 years contributed to the ad- a very strong position to deliver during unanticipated eventualities. vancement of mobility simulation comprehensive mobility digital With the priority now on “build- and modeling for metropolitan, twins of multimodal transportation ing back better,” it is increasingly regional, and national transport systems at urban, metropolitan, re- recognized that the most economi- and transit operators and planning gional, and national scale. cal way to augment infrastructure agencies. Users of its multimodal Urban planners are seeking to capacity, while accomplishing the simulation offerings include some understand the ongoing impacts- needed energy transitions toward of the world’s busiest transit sys- on transportation system perfor- climate sustainability, is to opti- tems and metros, such as Trans- mance, reliability, and accessibil- mize the utilization, confi guration, port for London, Transport for ity-of the new opportunities and and life extension of existing mo- New South Wales, the Washing- challenges of private and shared bility assets, while adding inte- ton State Department of Trans- mobility, the propensity for cy- grated and appealing public transit portation, the Swedish Transport cling or walking, connected au- options. ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 BUSINESS 10

Mercedes rolls out luxury electric car in duel with Tesla

In this photo Daimler AG unveiled a battery-powered coun- makers are also adding large screens to their standard used in the European Union. The provide by terpart to its top Mercedes-Benz luxury sedan interiors. company is offering a year’s free charging German as German carmakers ramp up their challenge The EQS is the sibling to the company’s S- through Ionity, a network of highway charging car maker to electric upstart Tesla. Class large internal-combustion sedan, the stations built by a group of major automakers. Mercedes and The EQS is the first Mercedes-Benz vehicle luxury brands flagship model that sells for German carmakers were slower to develop taken in March to be built on a framework designed from the $110,000 and up. The two cars aim at the same all-electric models until tougher environmental 2021 shows start as an electric car, rather than using com- upper end of the market, though the EQS is set regulations and sales lost to California-based an EQS car in ponents from an internal-combustion vehicle. apart by being build on the company’s electric- Tesla pushed them to ramp up their efforts. Volk- Stuttgart, Ger- Mercedes underscored the car’s technologi- vehicle architecture, or EVA. Mercedes isn’t swagen sold 422,000 electric vehicles last year many. (AP) cal features by equipping it with a sweeping saying yet how much the EQS will cost when it and developed the ID.3, a compact it hopes will touchscreen panel that stretches across the reaches customers later this year. win over mass-market buyers, while its Porsche entire front of the car’s interior in place of a Daimler said the vehicle will get 770 kilome- division has come out with the Taycan sports car. conventional dashboard. Tesla and other car- ters (478 miles) on a full charge under testing BMW launched the iX3 electric SUV. (AP)

Treasury reverses a decision made by Trump admin in December US lifts Vietnam, Switzerland from currency manipulator list

WASHINGTON, April 18, (AP): Viet- Nations that have been alleged by nam and Switzerland have been re- the U.S. to be participating in manipu- moved from the list of nations labeled lation generally engage in selling their by the U.S. as currency manipula- own currency and buying U.S. dol- tors, reversing a decision made by the lars as a way of lowering the value of Trump administration in December. their currency while boosting the value $1,400 stimulus checks helped In its semi-annual report to Congress of the dollar. A weaker currency can on currency manipulation, the first un- make a country’s exports cheaper on der the Biden administration, the U.S. foreign markets while making imports Treasury Department said Friday that no more expensive. country currently meets the U.S. criteria In the history of these twice-a-year as a manipulator. It said, however, that reports to Congress going back to March retail sales soar 9.8 pct Vietnam, Switzerland, as well as Tai- 1988, Treasury has only branded three wan, will be under enhanced monitoring. countries as currency manipulators. At the higher level of scrutiny which The Trump administration named Chi- the report called “enhanced engagement,” na as a currency manipulator in 2019 Latest sign that US economy is improving Vietnam, Switzerland and now Taiwan during a standoff over tariffs. The will be subjected to closer review of their United States had also named China as practices as part of laws passed by Con- a currency manipulator from 1992 to NEW YORK, April 18, ton, said she used the first two stimu- gress requiring the administration to call 1994. Treasury also imposed that label lus checks to catch up on rent and bill out nations that are engaging in alleged on Japan and Taiwan in the 1980s. (AP): Newly vaccinated payments. With the most recent one, currency manipulation to gain unfair trade Being designated as a currency ma- and armed with $1,400 she spent $500 on Levi’s jeans, Old advantages over the United States. nipulator can mean the imposition of stimulus checks, Ameri- Navy clothing and shoes from Finish The Treasury did not designate U.S. economic sanctions if a period of Line. Another $500 went to restocking China as a currency manipulator, negotiations fails to resolve the issues cans went on a spending her pantry with things that will last a something the Trump administration that the U.S. finds objectionable. spree last month, buying long time on the shelf, such as ketchup, had done in 2019 during a tense trade Private analysts supported the Biden ad- new clothes and going out sugar, spices and Clorox wipes. stand-off with the world’s second larg- ministration’s withdrawal of Vietnam and “I finally caught up on my bills and est economy. China is included on a Switzerland as currency manipulators. to eat again. could go on a bit of a spending spree,” list of 11 countries being monitored at Eswar Prasad, an economics pro- Retail sales surged a seasonally says Golden, who works in accounts a lower level than Vietnam, Switzer- fessor at Cornell University, said that adjusted 9.8% after dropping about receivable at a school system. land, as well as Taiwan. the new administration had decided 3% the month before, the Com- Americans spent their cash on cars, Also on the list with China are Japan, against using the report as an overtly merce Department said Thursday. eating out and home renovations, ac- South Korea, Germany, Ireland, Italy, political tool that ensnared U.S. allies. The rise in March was much better cording to the Commerce Department. India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand “This will help rebuild some of the than the 5.5% increase Wall Street But sporting goods stores saw the big- and Mexico. Only Ireland and Mexico credibility of the report so it will serve analysts had expected. gest jump in sales, up 23.5% in March were added to the list Friday. a useful purpose when it is truly need- Thursday’s report, which cov- from the month before. It was followed None of the countries on either list has ed in the future to highlight unfair cur- ers about a third of overall consumer by clothing stores, where sales soared U.S. economic sanctions against them rency management practices of other In this file photo, a salesperson helps a customer shopping for Bean Boots spending, is the latest sign that the 18.3%. due to alleged currency manipulation. countries,” Prasad said. at the L.L. Bean flagship retail store in Freeport, Maine. (AP) economy is improving as vaccinations That’s welcome news for clothing accelerate, business restrictions are re- sellers, which lost sales last year after laxed and more people are willing to having to temporarily shut their stores Recovery on the radar head out to shop or eat. Employers, at the start of the pandemic. Compa- for example, added 916,000 jobs last nies have said people are starting to so- month, the most since August. And cialize again and are using their stimu- U.S. consumer confidence surged in lus checks for new outfits. Delta Air loses March to the highest level in a year. Levi Strauss said shoppers are buy- A third round of stimulus checks ing up wide leg and loose fitting jeans $1.2 bln in Q1 was sent out beginning in the middle as they emerge from a year stuck at of March, with most adults receiving home. At Macy’s, there’s more de- $1,400. So far, about 159 million di- mand for dresses as proms and wed- NEW YORK, April 18, (AP): Delta Air dings resume. And teen retailer Ameri- Lines lost $1.2 billion in the first quar- rect payments have been paid out to households, totaling $376 billion, the can Eagle said sales are rising due to ter, more than expected, but executives “pent-up” demand for its fashions. said Thursday that the airline could be U.S. government said. The New York Federal Reserve But not all retailers are benefiting: profitable by late summer if the budding Bed Bath & Beyond, the seller of recovery in air travel continues. Bank, which surveyed more than 1,000 people, said households planned sheets and shower curtains, said this CEO Ed Bastian said Thursday that week that most of its customers don’t ticket sales have been stronger in the to spend about a quarter of their most recent stimulus checks on goods. The qualify for stimulus checks, and those last two weeks than at any time since the that do are spending them on food, pandemic hit the U.S. last year. So far rest of the money would be used to pay down debt or put aside for savings. clothes and gadgets, stuff the company most of the people boarding planes are doesn’t sell much of. vacationers booking trips to mountains, Teresa Golden of Renton, Washing- beaches and resorts. The increase in passengers, combined with lower costs for labor and fuel, ‘The bar has been raised’ helped Delta generate $4 million in cash per day in March after burning cash for the past year. “It’s clear that our business is turn- A year after stocks soared, CEOs ing the corner and we’re moving into an active recovery phase,” Bastian said in an interview. “We see the business must now show it was warranted continuing to improve as consumer con- NEW YORK, April 18, (AP): It’s time the S&P 500 the following day, ac- fidence grows.” to show the receipts, CEOs. cording to Savita Subramanian, equity However, Delta forecast that second- For more than a year, investors have strategist at Bank of America. quarter revenue will be down 50% to This earnings season, many analysts 55% compared with the same quarter in been pushing up stock prices, even though the pandemic caused profits to expect companies to again get little to 2019, which analysts said fell short of no boost for reporting stronger-than- expectations. crater for companies. With COVID-19 vaccines going into arms and business- expected earnings, given how much The company’s shares, which have their stocks have already rallied on more than doubled since last May, fell es reopening, investors want to see that faith rewarded with some proof of fat those expectations. 3%. That’s why it’s important to remem- Several airlines have reported that profit growth, starting now. Not only are expectations high for ber that a “blowout quarter doesn’t bookings began to pick up in February mean blowout market,” Subramanian and gained speed in March. Delta’s this upcoming earnings season, which got going Wednesday with reports said in a BofA Global Research report. bookings doubled from January to Analysts and investors are expecting March, although 10% to 15% are us- from JPMorgan Chase and other big banks, they’re rising even more by the profits to zoom even higher through ing credits from previously canceled the summer, with growth forecast to flights. U.S. leisure sales have recov- day. When the first quarter began, ana- lysts were forecasting earnings growth soar above 50% in the third quarter. ered to 85% of pre-pandemic levels, But several challenges lie ahead that Delta said. of less than 16% for S&P 500 compa- nies. Now, those same analysts say the could threaten such lofty targets in Airlines are adding flights for the coming quarters and years. summer vacation season in the expec- tally should be closer to 25%. If companies end up reporting better Chief among them is the prospect tation that passengers will show up. of inflation. As the global economy American Airlines said Wednesday that numbers than analysts predicted - which is what usually happens - this may be the recovers, prices are rising for oil and it expects to run about 90% of its U.S. many other commodities that compa- pre-pandemic schedule this summer. best reporting season for growth in more than a decade, according to FactSet. nies use to make things. Production The only threat Bastian sees to the re- problems caused by the pandemic are covery is a resurgence of the virus. Delta’s During the summer of 2010, S&P 500 companies reported 34% growth coming also causing shortages of semiconduc- view - that it sees “a path to profitability in tors and other products, ratcheting up the September quarter” - assumes that the out of the Great Recession. “The bar has been raised, but not prices even higher. U.S. will reach so-called herd immunity Some companies will be able to pass and slow the spread of COVID-19 by late by enough,” Deutsche Bank strategist Binky Chadha said of expectations for those higher costs on to their custom- spring or early summer. ers, by raising prices at the register. As bookings rise, Delta on May 1 will this earnings season. Even the best profit growth in a de- The company behind Huggies diapers stop blocking middle seats, a policy it and Kleenex tissues said recently that adopted in the early days of the pandem- cade may not juice stock prices further, though, because the S&P 500 has al- it would raise list prices for most of its ic to reassure nervous flyers. This week, North American consumer products, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and ready soared more than 80% since hit- ting a bottom in March 2020. for example. Kimberly-Clark said it Prevention published a study estimating needed to raise prices by “mid-to-high that leaving middle seats empty reduces Last quarter, for example, com- panies that reported higher sales and single digits” because of the higher the risk of COVID-19 transmission by prices it was paying for commodities. up to 57%. earnings than expected actually lagged But any drop in sales that results from the higher costs, or the inability of companies to pass on higher prices, would squeeze profit margins for com- panies as the year progresses. Higher inflation is something that the Federal Reserve actually wants to see, and it has said that it will allow inflation to rise above its 2% target for a while before it tries to tamp down ris- ing prices across the economy. In the longer term, companies could also face profit pressure from higher tax rates as President Joe Biden pushes for corporate America to help pay for his plan to rejuvenate the nation’s infra- structure. If tax hikes pass, the impact on businesses would likely be felt next year. Strategists at Goldman Sachs say they expect the focus of investors to In this file photo, several dozen mothballed Delta Air Lines jets are parked turn toward such proposals, and away on a closed runway at Kansas City International Airport in Kansas City, from the threat of inflation and higher Missouri. (AP) interest rates, “as the taxman cometh.” ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 SCIENCE 11

Coronavirus

Shot hesitancy persists US gets creative in ‘vaccine outreach’ BATON ROUGE, La., April 18, (AP): Brass bands playing at a 24-hour drive-thru coronavirus vaccine event. Doses delivered to commercial fishermen minutes from the docks. Pop-up immunization clinics at a Buddhist temple, homeless shelters, truck stops and casinos, with shots available at night or on weekends. And now, door-to-door outreach getting underway in neighborhoods where few people have gotten vaccinated. Louisiana is making a full-court press to get shots in arms, with aggressive - and sometimes creative - outreach to make it as easy as possible to get vaccinated. The effort comes as vaccine supplies are surging but demand is not. The state has enlisted health care workers, colleges, com- munity groups and church pastors to help cajole the hesitant and set up vaccination events. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has thrown open vaccine access to anyone age 16 or older. The health department has launched a call center to answer vac- cine questions and set up appoint- ments for those without internet access or limited tech skills. Civic organizations and faith-based groups working with the state have started using get-out-the-vote tactics, knocking on doors and making phone calls, to pitch the vaccine. But even with widespread ease of access, Louisiana officials struggle Edwards with a problem almost as vexing as COVID-19 itself: How to persuade Blanca Ortiz, 84, celebrates after learning that she will be dismissed from the Eurnekian Ezeiza Hospital, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, those who are iffy about the shot to roll up their sleeves. Aug. 13, 2020, several weeks after being admitted with COVID-19. Photographer Natacha Pisarenko said the moment was one of the few she witnessed in months “I, quite frankly, don’t know what folks are waiting for. It of covering COVID-19 in which doctors and nurses allowed themselves to feel joy. ‘The moment made all of us in the room with her laugh and feel hopeful again,’ just doesn’t make sense to me, but I’m going to continue to Pisarenko said. ‘It was the brightest moment for me while covering such a heavy story.’ (AP) appeal to them,” Edwards said. Health officials anticipate a difficult time reaching the threshold scientists believe is needed to stop uncontrolled spread of COVID-19, a benchmark of 70% or higher of the Health population having immunity either through vaccination or past infection. The problem has taken on particular urgency as more virulent and contagious virus strains reach the United States. US ramping up coronavirus gene-mapping Concerns State surveys indicate 40% or more of Louisiana residents are hesitant about getting the vaccine or entirely unwilling to do so. And while Louisiana is administering doses at rates $1.7b network to track virus variants greater than some other Southern states, it remains among WASHINGTON, April 18, (AP): The the bottom six in vaccinating adults 18 and older, according US is setting up a $1.7 billion national to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. network to identify and track worri- After child’s death, US regulator Other states also are trying novel approaches, either some coronavirus mutations whose because they’ve seen noticeable dips in vaccine interest or spread could trigger another pandemic have concerns about equitable access. Even with the resis- wave, the Biden administration warns about Peloton treadmill tance, the United States has shown remarkable progress: As announced Friday. NEW YORK, April 18, (AP): Safety off when not in use, and a safety of Friday, more than 200 million doses have been adminis- White House officials unveiled a regulators warned people with kids key is removed. tered to Americans, and nearly half of American adults have strategy that features three compo- and pets Saturday to immediately But the safety commission said received at least one dose. nents: a major funding boost for the stop using a treadmill made by that in at least one episode, a child Alaska’s health department is weighing creating vaccine Centers for Disease Control and Peloton after one child died and was pulled under the treadmill Prevention and state health depart- others were injured. while a parent was running on it, clinics in airports. Ohio’s health agency asked vaccine pro- The US Consumer Product suggesting it can be dangerous to viders to develop sites near bus stops and to consider offer- In this photo released by Roscosmos ments to ramp up coronavirus gene- Space Agency, Russian cosmonaut mapping; the creation of six “centers of Safety Commission said children children even while a parent is ing mobile immunization services. In Connecticut, the Sergey Kud-Sverchkov sits in the excellence” partnerships with universi- and at least one pet were pulled, present. health department launched an effort to call residents direct- chair shortly after landing a Russian ties to conduct research and develop pinned and entrapped under the If adults want to keep using the ly to schedule appointments. Mississippi is working with Soyuz MS-17 space capsule south- technologies for gene-based surveil- rear roller of the Tread+ treadmill, treadmill, the commission said, local organizations to bring vaccinations directly to home- east of the Kazakh town of lance of pathogens; and building a data leading to fractures, scrapes and they should use it only in a locked bound elderly people. Alabama’s health agency surveyed Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, system to better share and analyze the death of one child. room so children and pets can’t vaccine reluctance to determine how it should craft messag- April 17. A Soyuz space capsule car- information on emerging disease The safety commission said in a come near it. When not in use, the ing to appeal to the hesitant. rying NASA’s Kate Rubins and news release and in emails that it treadmill should be unplugged and threats, so knowledge can be turned knows of 39 “incidents” with the the safety key taken out and hid- Dr. Catherine O’Neal, chief medical officer of Our Lady Russians Sergey Ryzhikov and into action. Sergey Kud-Sverchkov landed at treadmill, involving “multiple” or den away. The commission also of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Louisiana’s capital, “Even as we accelerate our efforts to “dozens” of children, but it did not said to keep exercise balls and Baton Rouge, said she’s hearing from people who believe 0455 GMT Saturday in the steppes of Kazakhstan. (AP) get shots into arms, more dangerous specify a number of children. It other objects away from it, because vaccine misinformation from social media, but also from variants are growing, causing increases said the majority of the incidents those have been pulled under the those who simply don’t have a sense of urgency about get- in cases in people without immunity,” resulted in injuries, including the treadmill, too. ting a shot. Others worry about side effects. White House coronavirus adviser Andy one death. Peloton is best known for its “We have enough vaccine. ... If you want an appointment, Discovery Slavitt told reporters. That “requires us The commission posted a video stationary bikes, but it introduced you can get it within a week,” O’Neal said. But for many to intensify our efforts to quickly test on its YouTube page of a child the treadmill about three years ago “there’s no driving force on when they’ll get it.” for and find the genetic sequence of the being pulled under the treadmill. and now calls it the Tread+. It costs Nearly 31% of the state’s population has received at least 3 astronauts return to Earth: An virus as it spreads.” Of the 39 incidents, 23 involved more than $4,000. American astronaut and two Russians have children, according to New York- Sales of Peloton equipment one dose of a vaccine that can require two doses, according Effort to state data. More than 22% have been fully immunized. returned to Earth after six months aboard based Peloton Interactive Inc.; 15 have soared during the pandemic the International Space Station. The new effort relies on money included objects like medicine as virus-weary people avoid gyms Shane Pizani, a former Marine who lives in a New A Soyuz space capsule carrying NASA’s balls, and one included a pet, it and workout at home instead. The Orleans suburb, contracted COVID-19 shortly after approved by Congress as part of Kate Rubins and Russians Sergey Ryzhikov President Joe Biden’s coronavirus said. company brought in $1 billion in Thanksgiving, with lingering symptoms for more than a and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov landed at 0455 Peloton said in a news release revenue in the last three months of month. Still, he was jittery about the vaccine. relief package to break what experts GMT (12:55 a.m. EDT) Saturday in the say is a feast-or-famine cycle in US that the warning from the safety 2020, more than double its reve- To alleviate his worries, he did research and discussed it steppes of Kazakhstan. commission was “inaccurate and nue from the same period a year with his doctor, gaining information he said put him more at Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian preparedness for disease threats. The misleading.” It said there’s no rea- before. ease. When he got his first shot in mid-February, he had a space agency Roskosmos, said all three coronavirus is only one example. son to stop using the treadmill as The commission did not say how panic attack. were feeling well after they were extracted Others pathogens have included Ebola long as children and pets are kept many of the Peloton treadmills Still, he got the second dose and then went to work to from the capsule and began reacclimating to and Zika, and respiratory viruses like away from it at all times, it is turned have been sold. the pull of gravity. SARS in 2002 and MERS in 2012, persuade his mom - who repeated anti-vaccine conspiracy which did not become major problems theories she saw on social media. The three had arrived at the orbiting labo- fall we need to massively scale up our Genomic Epidemiology. Finally, $300 ratory complex on Oct. 14. in the United States. Typically, the “I just kept on, kept on, kept on. I told her, ‘We’re going government scrambles to counter a genomic surveillance,” said Esther million will go to set up the data shar- There now are seven people aboard the Krofah, who directs the Faster Cures ing system, which is being called the to stop coming around with the kids, because I cannot live ISS: NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and potential threat, but funding dries up with myself if I gave you COVID and something happened Russians Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov when it recedes. The new genomic initiative of the Milken Institute. “It’s National Bioinformatics to you,’” Pizani said. “So, she finally went and got her arrived on April 9; Americans Michael surveillance initiative aims to create a the insurance program that you need Infrastructure. appointment.” Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, permanent infrastructure. to have in place not just now, not just for COVID, but going forward for Also: Recovery and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi, came aboard in “It’s a transformative amount of November on the SpaceX Crew Dragon money,” Mary Lee Watts, federal other pathogens of concern.” NEW YORK: Federal officials on Kerri Tobin, an education professor at Louisiana State Resilience, the first ISS docking under affairs director at the American Society Genomic sequencing essentially Friday reversed Trump administra- University, initially worried the vaccine came together too NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. (AP) for Microbiology, said in a recent inter- involves mapping the DNA of an tion restrictions on using human fetal quickly to be safe. Then, she watched as more friends in the ❑ ❑ ❑ view. “It has the potential not only to organism, the key to its unique fea- tissue for medical research. health care industry and others she trusted posted on social get ahead of the current crisis, but it is tures. It’s done by high-tech machines The changes clear the way for using Ontario limits outdoor gatherings: that can cost from several hundred government money on work that in the media about receiving their doses. Canada’s most populous province is limit- going to help us in the future. This is a “I see someone else doing it and they are OK. And that program that has been underfunded for thousand dollars to $1 million or more. past has led to treatments for a variety ing outdoor gatherings to those in the same Technicians trained to run the machines of diseases, including COVID-19. keeps happening,” she said. household and will close playgrounds and years.” Tobin received her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at The Biden administration’s move and computing capacity to support the Government scientists now will be golf courses amid a record wave of corona- able to resume research that uses tis- the end of March. virus infections fueled by variants, Ontario’s comes as a variant known as B117, whole process add to costs. Another Health officials believe that sort of word-of-mouth among premier announced Friday. The decision which first emerged in the United hurdle is getting local, state and federal sue from elective abortions. Scientists friends and family will help boost vaccinations. sparked widespread condemnation in a Kingdom, has become the predominant labs all working together. at universities also can now apply for Surveys show those who are reticent or don’t want the province already on lockdown. strain in the US. In hard-hit Michigan, The CDC and collaborating labs federal grants without getting approv- vaccine cross racial groups and regions. A recent LSU sur- Police in Ontario will have the authority the more transmissible mutation were completing only 116 coronavirus al from a special ethics panel for any vey showed greater uninterest from Republicans than to require any individual not at home to accounts for more than half the cases, gene sequences a week at the end of such work. Democrats. State officials have particular concern about provide a reason that they’re out and pro- according to CDC data. That’s also the last year, according to the CDC’s Health and Human Services southwest Louisiana, where people are struggling with vide their address. Tickets can be written. case in Minnesota. Vaccines are effec- website. “We started in a hole,” said Secretary Xavier Becerra determined recovery from back-to-back hurricanes and appear less “Law enforcement now has the ability to tive against the so-called UK variant, Slavitt. there were “no new ethical issues that ask anyone outside their residence, includ- require special review,” so the agency focused on the pandemic. but other mutations circulating around The White House says the weekly ing motorists, to indicate their purpose for the globe have shown resistance to cur- count is now about 29,000, but experts will return to using procedures that had In each instance, Louisiana’s health department and state leaving home and provide their address,” say in a large, diverse country like the been in place for decades before then- officials are trying to find a persuasive approach. For exam- rently available vaccines. the Ontario Provincial Police tweeted. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle U.S. those numbers need to be much President Donald Trump’s administra- ple, data shows Black people have gotten vaccinated at But at least three other police forces in higher to keep pace with potential tion changed the policy in June 2019, a lower rates so the state reached out to African American Walensky said Friday the US is now the province are declining to do random averaging nearly 70,000 new coronavi- changes to the virus. Viruses are high- statement from the agency said. pastors and is hosting immunization events at their churches. stops and Toronto Mayor John Tory said rus cases daily, up from about 53,000 ly efficient at spreading, developing Those provisions include following The state’s historically Black college system is doing its he is very concerned about arbitrary stops. just four weeks ago. Hospitalizations mutations that enable them to keep applicable laws, such as obtaining own targeted outreach enlisting alumni, and faith-based and Quebec closed its border to Ontario and reproducing. informed consent from anyone donat- Ontario Premier Doug Ford said interpro- have been trending higher, and deaths social organizations to encourage people to get vaccinated. were up for the third day in a row. White House officials said the gov- ing such tissue. The changes were Some parishes have started delivering vaccines to seniors vincial travel will be limited. Big box stores will be limited to 25 percent capacity. Along with relaxed restrictions on ernment is releasing to states and ter- detailed in a notice to researchers. who are disabled at home and worked out deals with ride- gatherings and indoor dining, the emer- ritories an initial $240 million out of Two dozen members of Congress share services to offer free transportation to vaccination Schools are already closed and students will resume online learning next week. Ontario gence of variants that spread more eas- $1 billion allocated to expand genom- who had written to Becerra urging the events. has averaged almost 5,000 new infections a ily is part of the reason for the worsen- ic sequencing. Another $400 million change praised the move. The restric- Such vaccine outreach may be further complicated by this day in recent days. ing trend. will go to launch the six research tions were “politically motivated and week’s pause of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine Ford complained about crowded parks “In order for us to even have the pos- partnerships with academic institu- unnecessary,” they wrote earlier this after reports of rare blood clots in six women who received and playgrounds, but made no mention of sibility of getting back to normal by the tions, dubbed Centers of Excellence in week. it. Experts say it’s too early to tell whether that will increase workplaces where the virus is spreading. reluctance in Louisiana and elsewhere. The new restrictions do not include man- Mike Bayham, secretary of the Republican Party of dated paid sick days, which health experts Louisiana, had a rough battle with COVID-19 in March have said would protect vulnerable essential 2020. He was bedridden for a week and dealing with symp- workers and help stop the spread of the virus in workplaces and the community at Dunleavy, a Republican, outlined plans southeast Alaska, that rely heavily on sum- toms for weeks longer. for a national marketing campaign aimed at mer tourism. He’s now received his first shot - and he’s encouraging large. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ luring tourists using federal aid money and He said the state has not ruled out suing fellow Republicans to do the same. Bayham tells friends and said the vaccine offering is “probably the federal government, as Florida has, over colleagues the vaccine is one of the greatest achievements of Alaska to offer tourists ‘jabs’: another good reason to come to the state of the issue. Donald Trump’s presidency, and he shares details of what it Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Friday Alaska in the summer.” About 40% of those eligible for a vaccine feels like to have COVID-19. that COVID-19 vaccines would be made Dunleavy and other state leaders have in Alaska, who are 16 or older, are fully “You don’t want this virus. Whatever the vaccine can do available at key airports in the state starting been pushing to allow large cruise ships to vaccinated, according to the state health to you, the virus is far worse,” Bayham said. June 1, in unveiling plans aimed at bolster- return to Alaska after COVID-19 restric- department, and health officials have been ing the state’s pandemic-battered tourist tions kept them away last year, hitting hard looking for new ways to encourage more industry. businesses and communities, particularly in Tory Dunleavy people to get vaccinated. (AP) Music MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 FFeatureseatures drew Wyeth’sbest knownwork, with N.C.Wyethin the1920s.An- have paintedinMaine, starting J. Brownawell Farnsworth Director gift tothemuseum’scollection,” deeply gratefulforthistreasured the Wyethfamilyandweare to havetheongoingsupportof eth artworkheldbytheFarnsworth. already substantialcollectionofWy- that capturefi a trioofpaintingsby Wyeth Cushing; “Islander,”oneof Wyeth attheOlsonHouseinnearby of watercolorspaintedbyAndrew Room” and“Geraniums,”apair reported Thursday. the gifts,PortlandPressHerald 15, didnotdisclosethevalueof major exhibitionbeginningMay plans todisplaythepaintingsina thanks tothelate Maine’s FarnsworthArtMuseum, of Wyethshavebeendonatedto seven paintingsbythreegenerations Ballet and with companiesincludingthe the companyin2018. new productionof“SwanLake”for the thronein2012andproduceda Queen ElizabethII “Jubilee PasdeDeux”tocelebrate “Asphodel Meadows.”Hecreateda iety,” “SymphonicDances”and works, including“TheAgeofAnx- and createdseveralacclaimed dence attheRoyalBalletin2012 concentrating onchoreography. danced withthecompanybefore Ballet SchoolinLondonand wasn’t immediatelygiven. in astatement.Acauseofdeath grieve ourloss,”thefamilysaid respect ourprivacytoenableus our family,wewouldaskthatyou death ofourbelovedLiam.” we announcethetragic,untimely that “itiswithgreatsadness legations, hasdied.Hewas35. career wascloudedbyabuseal- British choreographerwhose Australia National Ballet,the York City PORTLAND, Maine: LONDON: a Thing,”byAerosmithandfeaturedin1998’s“Armageddon.”Itwas in fi “She hastalent.Shereally,reallywantsthis.” ing offthat.’” are youdoingit?Whyencouragingher?Shecan’tmakealiv- when Iwas14or15,”Warrensaid.“Mymomwouldbesaying,‘Why Warren, andacoincidencethatshecalls“socool.” by thepandemic,airsApril25,birthdayofherlatefather,David Academy Awardsceremony,originallysetforFebruaryanddelayed whose fi decades anddecades,neverwins.” Warren said.“Ifeellikeateamthat’sgonetotheWorldSeriesfor up short. be Warren’sfi work in“TheLifeAhead”starringSophiaLoren. Warren wouldbeoverjoyedtowinabestoriginalsongOscarforher LOS ANGELES,April18,(AP):Foradozenandmorereasons,Diane 12-time OscarnomineeDianeWarren hopesfor‘awesome’win Three generationsofWyeths “The Farnsworthissofortunate The latestWyethgiftaddstoan The giftincludes“Roomafter The Rocklandmuseum,which He workedaroundtheworld, He wasnamedartist-in-resi- Scarlett trainedattheRoyal “At thisdiffi Scarlett’s familysaidSaturday Her giftsanddriveledtosuccessinarangeofpopmusicgenres Warren, whogrewupinLosAngeles,recountedherdad’sreply: “He believedinmesomuchhewouldtaketomusicpublishers A triumphwouldbeespeciallysweetfortheveteransongwriter “Yeah, itwouldbegreattowin.It(expletive)awesome,” A trophyfortheItalian-languagefi lm, withherpastOscarcontendersincluding“IDon’tWanttoMiss ’s best known paintings; and ’s bestknownpaintings;and This imagereleasedbyA24showsStevenYeun,(foreground),inascenefrom‘Minari.’‘Minari’isnominatedforbestpicturefo rst Oscarbidwasin1988(fortheromcom“Mannequin”).The ❑ . (AP) Ballet,theNorwegian Queensland Liam Scarlett shing scenes. cult timeforallof saidinastatement. rst after11previousAcademyAwardnominationscame Betsy Wyeth N.C. Wyeth ’s 60 years on ’s 60yearson Miami City Christopher Twenty- Balletin Jamie Jamie , astar . New

company AdobeInc.whohelped founder ofthemajor software “Chuck” Geschke LOS ALTOS, Calif.: (AP) continues tocreateartinMaine. son ofAndrewandBetsyWyeth, at theOlsonHousein1948.Jamie, “Christina’s World,”waspainted lm’s song,“IoSi(Seen),”would year’s SuperBowl. lins, whoproducedTheWeeknd’shalftimeshowatthis kets, it’sstillagreatgame,peoplecare,”saysCol- set offi best-picture nomineesas“oneofthemostauteur-driven buzz generatedinanormalyear.Soderberghpraisesthe streamed andmorediversethanever—lackthekindof demic, andthisyear’sOscarnominees—whilewidely Award showviewershiphascrateredduringthepan- but certaintofallfromlastyear’s23.6millionviewers. an awardshow.” us toreallychallengealltheassumptionsthatgointo advantage oftheopportunitythat’sbeenpresentedto with CollinsandSher.“Allofusthisyearhavetaken for me,”SoderberghsaidinarecentZoominterview the wayit’salwaysbeendone’—that’sarealredfl done acertainwayandtheansweris,‘Becausethat’s ie, whenIaskaquestionaboutwhysomethingisbeing opportunity to,fi railway hubindowntownLosAngeles. but UnionStation,theairy,ArtDeco-MissionRevival Dolby Theatre(thoughtheisstillakeylocation), show won’tbetheAcademyAwards’usualhome, on ABC,therewon’tbeanaudience.Thebaseofthe like neverbefore.WhenthebroadcastbeginsApril25 the basicformathasbeenstubbornlyimmutable. in futility.Tweakshavebeentriedalongtheway,yet American institution,hastypicallyprovenanexercise are goingtoknow:‘We’vegotputourseatbelton.’” ately,” saysSoderbergh.“Rightoutofthegate,people convinced he’sgotadoozyofanopeningscene. the telecastnotlikeaTVshowbutmovie.Andhe’s ducing withStaceySherandJesseCollins,istotreat viewers thatthisyear’stelecastisdifferent. N ‘Oscars telecastwillbe3-hourmovie’ Collins wasalsoaproduceroflastmonth’sGrammy “If theteamsinSuperBowlarefromsmallmar- No matterhowgoodajobtheydo,ratingsareall “At anystepinthecreativeprocessofmakingamov- For theproducers,challengesofCOVIDarean But thisyear,thepandemichasshakenOscars Changing theAcademyAwards,a93-year-old “We’re goingtoannounceourintentionimmedi- The conceptfortheshow,whichSoderberghispro- ❑ Variety bergh believestheAcademyAwardswillconvince inety seconds.That’showquicklyStevenSoder- lms.” —theco- nally, rethinktheOscars. Charles By JakeCoyle Pandemic hasupendedtheOscars.Good,producers say Film himself animmigranttoItalyfromSenegal,playstheboy. gradually fromdistrusttolove.ImpressivenewcomerIbrahimaGueye, lese youngsterknownasMomotohersmallbrood,andthepairmove their children.Shereluctantlyaddsanorphaned,street-toughSenega- prostitute andHolocaustsurvivorwhohelpssexworkersbytakingin “and that’sthegoal.” ed “IoSi”forthefi ‘Being nominatedtrulyisanhonor’ In “TheLifeAhead,”LorenplaystheagedMadameRosa,aformer Warren’s musicandlyricsare“amazing,”saidPausini,whorecord- cretGeschke Scarlett task andsharestheOscarnomination. match. Italianpopstar-songwriterLauraPausiniwasbroughtinforthe — Loren’ssonrealizedtheItalian-languagefi written themusicandwordsforsongwhendirectorEdoardoPonti tice ThurgoodMarshall. thing” for“Marshall,”abiopicaboutthelateUSSupremeCourtJus- with Commononthe2019Oscar-nominated“StandUpforSome- Gaga —andWarrenhaslikelyworkedwiththem. Time” byCher.Tossoutabigname—Beyoncé,JustinBieber,Lady a hittune,oneofWarren’smanythatinclude“IfICouldTurnBack “The LifeAhead”broughtanewformofcollaboration.Warrenhad She’s aconfessedworkaholicwhotypicallywritessolobutjoined lm. Thesongandthemoviecarrysamemessage, ag should weexpectaheistfi From thedirectorof“Ocean’s11”and“LoganLucky,” actly? IftheOscarsareamovie,whatkindwillitbe? movie, notawebinar.Butwhatdoesthatmean,ex- every nomineehasspent45minuteswiththeproducers. satellite hook-ups.Somematerialwillbepre-taped; London, and,asoflatelastweek,aboutadozenremote to compromise.Therewillbeahubfornomineesin persistently highinEuropeandelsewhere—leading regulations areineffectsomecountriesandcases priate safetyprecautions. pressed thenomineestoattendinperson,withappro- ceptance speechesmadeinahoodie.Theproducers wear. ThisistheOscars,afterall;therewillbenoac- ers havemadeastandagainstbothZoomandcasual February’s largelyvirtualGoldenGlobes.Theproduc- needs tohaveaspecifi watch showslikethisthatismissingforme.Avoice.It sary orinsincere.That’sthekindofintentionwhenI really attackedeverythingthatfeelsgenericorunneces- a showthatwasmadebysmallgroupofpeople institution. Wewantyoutofeellikeyou’rewatching “We wantyoutofeellikeitwasn’tashowmadebyan the storytellersforeachchapter,”saysSoderbergh. throughout theshow.Sopresentersareessentially overarching themethat’sarticulatedindifferentways lins, isstandardbanterbeforeanawardhandedout. the ensemblecast.Onethingyouwon’tsee,saysCol- (Questlove ismusicdirector.)Presentersareconsidered creen lookandamorecinematicapproachtothemusic. Soderbergh envisionsthebroadcastasathree-hour Some bristledattheacademy’sstance—lockdown The Oscars,mostassuredly,willdiffergreatlyfrom “It’s goingtofeellikeamovieinthatthere’san “When youseecastmembersgouptogiveawards, Technically, thebroadcastwillhaveamorewides- and mypersonalpreoccupation.” room. Thatwasjustaweirdalignmentofcatastrophe presenters. That’sit.Thosearetheonlypeoplein COVID world.Ithastobethatway.Nominees,guests, doesn’t feelpersonal,”Soderberghsays.“We’reina Oscars wanttoexude,too. session feel.Thatsenseofcommunityissomethingthe Awards, atelecastthatdrewpraiseforitspersonal,jam- Message “My bigthinghasalwaysbeen:It’snotintimate.It he hasbeen aguideandhero for technology industry, forwhom entire Adobecommunity andthe pany said. Los Altos Francisco BayArea at age81. mat technology,orPDFs—died develop PortableDocumentFor- “This isahugeloss forthe Geschke, wholivedinthe Storytellers c voice.” , diedFriday,thecom- lm? lm neededlyricsto suburbof San r theOscarAwardswhichwillbebroadcastonApril25.(AP) experience ofbringingamovietofruition. room,” hesaid,recallingitasa“averybrightday”intheup-and-down accident, recalledPonti,awriteraswellstageandscreendirector. to introducehercreation,shewaswearingacastfromhousehold artist.’” I wouldloveasonginmymoviebecauseDianeWarrenisgreat when somethingclicksforDianeWarren,youjustsay,‘Absolutely, “She hadgottenaholdofthescriptandsomethingclickedforher.So into productionwithPonti’slegendarymother. Warren, whoapproachedhimin2019before“TheLifeAhead”went version overtheclosingscene.FilmmakerPontigladlygivescreditto to beseen.” performance. “It’ssosimplebutit’sprofound,becauseweallwant to knowthatyou’reseen,’shesaid,breakingbriefl Warren’s approachtothesong. margins of—andlargelyareinvisibletosociety,whichprompted Life BeforeUs”isawrenchinglytenderstoryofthosewholiveonthe technology thatprovideda radical Adobe PostScript, aninnovative said. “Theirfi create andcommunicate,” Narayen that hasrevolutionized howpeople veloped groundbreakingsoftware Chuck and company’s employees. Narayen decades,” AdobeCEO The thirdmovieadaptationofthe1975RomainGarynovel“The “With herbrokenhandandguitar,shesangthesonginmyliving When WarrencametohisLosAngeles-areahomeearlylastyear “I hadn’tevenconsideredhavingasonginthemovie,”hesaid. The songbecameanintegralpartofthemovie,heardinitstranslated “The fi “As co-foundersofAdobe, rst thingIcameupwith,sittingatmypiano,was,‘Iwantyou the show’sdirector,GlennWeiss.(AP) drews —planstobeintheproductiontruckalongside as hisowncinematographerunderthealiasPeterAn- unions.” business. It’sapredominantlyblue-colorindustry,with community. Therearealotofmisperceptionsaboutthe we’re pullingthecurtainbackandlettingthemintoour outside inwithahighdegreeofcynicismandstark, “Erin Brockovich.”“Insteadoflookingatitfromthe chained” andSoderberghfi the veteranproducerof“GetShorty,”“DjangoUn- egory’s craftandnominees. what wewanttodo,showwhat’spossible.” say it’sabouthopeandscope,”hesays.“Thatiskindof Hollywood. the Oscarswillbecathartic,andashotinarmfor and streamingservicesproliferate.Soderberghhopes year fortheindustrythatsawmovietheatersshuttered poned bytwomonths,followapunishingpandemic backslapping fortheindustry.Thisyear’sawards,post- Hollywood —amomentofrefl next week. antining thatwillbeineffectforattendingnominees protocols —includingthekindsoftestingandquar- to productionduringthepandemic,mappingoutsafety ocean liner),Soderberghhelpedleadtheindustryback daring fi making inarestlesssprintofadventurous,conceptually from theculturalcenter.Butafterreturningtomovie- studios weren’tinnovatingandthatmovieshaddrifted goodbye eightyearsago.Hiscriticismthenwasthatthe one forSoderbergh,whodramaticallybidHollywood ing together.“I’mfeelingprettyamped,”hesays. for thememoir,sure,”hesays.Butshowiscom- whole otherfascinatingcomponent.“Oh,it’sachapter are “mind-numbing,”Soderberghsays.Theegos,a COVID-19 conditionsandrestrictions.Thelogistics are strugglingtostickwiththeteleprompter.” people walkingupthatjustmetinthegreenroomwho you’ll seeaconnection,”Collinssays.“Itwon’tbetwo wrote inanemailtothe John Warnock On Oscarnight,Soderbergh—whotypicallyserves “Snark issomethingthatwedidn’twant,”saysSher, That includesanaffectionatecelebrationofeachcat- “The clichewhenyougointotopitchamovieis The Oscarsareanannualmeeting,ofsorts,for The roleofAcademyAwardssaviorisanunlikely It’s undeniablyalottopulloff,withever-fl rst productwas lms (someshotoniPhones,onemadean Shantanu de- lmslike“OutofSight”and proud of his family.(AP) tor, PremiereProand Photoshop.” ubiquitous PDF,Acrobat, Illustra- software inventions, includingthe in someofthemosttransformative novation inthecompany,resulting instilled arelentlessdriveforin- publishing revolution.Chuck on paperandsparkedthedesktop new waytoprinttextandimages His wifesaidGeschke wasalso ection, aspirationand y intoanacappella uctuating ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 NEWS/FEATURES 13

People & Places

People

Tries to fi nd harmony Mystikal opens up on dropped rape charge NEW YORK, April 18, (AP): After spending more than four years under the “bad dream” of rape and kid- napping charges that were recently dismissed, rapper Mystikal says he wants to shed the sexually-charged songs of his past, and now has a higher audience in mind. “When I look back and listen to the music, man — I was a nasty lil’ rapper!” he said with a hint of embar- rassment in an interview with The Associated Press. “A lot of my music now, I imagine myself rapping it to God and if I can rap it, I’m proud.” The Louisiana hip-hop legend spoke to The Asso- ciated Press in one of his fi rst interviews after fi rst- degree rape and second-degree kidnapping charges stemming from a 2016 allegation were dismissed in December. The rapper, who pleaded guilty in 2003 to sexual battery and served six years in prison, initially denied involvement with the woman and spent 18 months in jail before being released on a $3 million bond. Louisiana’s Caddo Parish District Attorney closed the investigation after new evidence was presented to a second grand jury that de- clined to bring an indictment. Mystikal The district attorney then fi led to dismiss the charges. The long ordeal “was like a reoccurring bad dream,” he said. “I didn’t know how it was going to work out.” Now he wants to make changes to his career — and In this Jan. 27, 2021 file photo, a model wears a creation for Fendi’s Spring-Summer 2021 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Paris. (AP) life — as he tries to fi nd harmony beyond a troubled past. Though Mystical says he “can’t go to God” with lines like the dirty opening verse of his hit “Shake Ya A(asterisk)(asterisk),” don’t expect him to start ap- Fashion pearing on the gospel charts. Dismissal Within days of the case’s dismissal, a blitz of fi lm trailers for Eddie Murphy’s highly anticipated “Com- Virus forces a rethink ing 2 America” began airing, featuring “Feel Right,” Mystikal’s 2015 smash with Mark Ronson. The New Orleans product said he had no idea the song would be Fashion industry evolves amid pandemic used, but he doesn’t believe in coincidences. “It felt like God was winking his eye at me,” he PARIS, April 18, (AP): The pandemic said, smiling. “That’s what strengthens my spirituality has torn a multibillion-dollar bite out right now, things like that.” of the fabric of Europe’s fashion in- Mystikal maintained his innocence, but few sought dustry, stopped runway shows and Gucci celebrates 100 years with his work. But bookings for live performances are forced brands to show their designs picking back up, and his life story will digitally instead. the ‘Aria’ collection by Michele be featured on the upcoming season of TV One’s Now, amid hopes of a return to near- popular music docuseries “Unsung.” normality by the year’s end, the indus- Mystikal’s most recent trouble began in October MILAN, April 18, (AP): Gucci crea- tension” of Ford’s decade at Gucci try is asking what fashion will look tive director Alessandro Michele from 1994-2004. 2016 after his performance at a “Legends of Southern like as it dusts itself off and struggles Hip-Hop” concert in Shreveport, Louisiana. Accord- is celebrating the fashion house’s “Tom understood right from the to its well-heeled feet again. 100th anniversary this year, giv- beginning that Gucci had some ing to police records obtained by the AP, Mystikal and Answers vary. Some think the ing historic sweep to a collection kind of magnetism, this cult power,” a few members of his entourage, including hopeful Diane Warren arrives at the 90th Fashion Week format, in use since unveiled virtually Thursday that Michele said. rapper Averweone “Lil Hood” Holman, partied with Academy Awards Nominees Lun- the 1940s, will be radically rethought. embraced its equestrian heritage, Michele, who took over as crea- Holman’s female friend and her boyfriend. cheon in Beverly Hills, Calif on Feb 5, Others believe Asia will consolidate borrowed references from the Tom tive direction of Gucci six years ago, The victim, who told police they continuously gave 2018. Warren is nominated for an Os- its huge gains in infl uence. Many see Ford era and outright stole from the put a fetishized spin on Gucci’s her drinks, became separated from her boyfriend for a car for best original song for her work brands seeking greater sustainability to French sister-brand Balenciaga. trademark equestrian references, few hours, the records said. When they reconnected, in ‘The Life Ahead’ starring Sophia court a younger clientele. “Gucci was born under some including riding caps, fringed leath- the boyfriend said she seemed disoriented. Loren. (AP) — Details on Page 12 kind of constellation, because the er riding crops and spit-polished Holman told investigators that he and the victim Impact power it holds is nearly inexplica- boots mixed with glamorous se- were both intoxicated and had intercourse. He said “The impact of the pandemic will be ble,’’ Michele told a video press quined evening wear, or subverted they were the only ones in the room. unquestionably to increase the impor- conference. with erotic sheer dresses of logo- Police noted that while the victim said she didn’t re- Variety tance and infl uence of Asia on fash- The celebration party was set in emblazoned netting. Models dan- member certain parts of the night, she recalled waking ion,” said Gildas Minvielle, economist a fi lm-set version of London’s Sa- gled long jewelry from their noses. up on a bed with her panties down and Holman’s pe- at the Institut Francais de la Mode in voy Hotel, where fashion house In one of the collection’s most sur- founder Guccio Gucci got inspira- prising turns, Michele borrowed, or nis out. She also had another memory of her buttocks LOS ANGELES: J-Lo and A-Rod are no Paris. hurting with Mystikal standing behind her, according tion to return home to Florence and hacked, looks directly from Balencia- longer J-Rod — offi cially. “Luxury in Europe has already re- open his own leather goods shop, ga, the Paris fashion house owned to the police report. Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez bounded but it’s only because it’s specializing in travel bags that he by the same parent company, Ker- Mystikal told police he wasn’t in the room during told the “Today” show Thursday in a globalized, only because of Asian buy- had admired working as a bellhop ing. They included a version of the the incident and he “did not hear anything.” But DNA joint statement that they are calling off ers,” Minvielle said. “They spent on in London. Balenciaga Jackie bag and a glittery forensic tests showed the rapper had an intimate phys- their two-year engagement. European brands.” The collection was titled “Aria,” a silver suit emblazoned with both Gu- ical encounter with the victim. “We have realized we are better as Asian buyers are still considered reference to another Italian creation, cci and Balenciaga. Mystikal hesitantly admitted to AP that a sexual friends and look forward to remaining so. a largely untapped market, yet their lyric opera. Models walked down This was the fi rst collection of encounter did happen. He described it as consensual, We will continue to work together and wealth has recently tipped over that of long corridor runways outfi tted with 2021 for Gucci, which has left the believing the victim stated she was raped rather than support each other on our shared busi- Westerners. China, in particular, was hundreds of fl ashing cameras nailed fashion calendar and committed to admit the indiscretion to her boyfriend. nesses and projects,” it said. already considered the worldwide en- to the wall in the place of absent pa- only presenting two collections a “There was additional information that surfaced “We wish the best for each other and gine of growth in the luxury industry parazzi. A medley of Gucci-themed year. The video presentation stuck that the original grand jury did not have an opportuni- one another’s children. Out of respect for before the pandemic. Its quicker con- pop songs — proof, if needed, of the strictly to the runway format during ty to consider at the time that the charges were brought them, the only other comment we have tainment of the virus will leave it in an brand’s enduring relevance — pro- a pandemic year of experimenta- forward,” said Britney Green, who oversaw the case to say is thank you to everyone who has vided the soundtrack. tion that has all but shut down in- sent kind words and support.” even stronger position. for the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Offi ce. “We “In the next 50 years money will The fi rst look was a jag on Tom person shows. The couple started dating in early Ford’s 1996 red velvet suit, with a Refl ecting on the century marker, then decided that the case needed to stop there because 2017. They issued a statement in March come from the East as it has been the (second) grand jury did not return an indictment kinky leather harness over a pow- Michele said Gucci’s magic is its abil- that disputed reports they were breaking (coming) in the last 50 years from the der blue shirt. Michele said in notes ity to redefi ne itself over time, unbe- after the review of the additional evidence.” up. West,” said Long Nguyen, chief fash- that he had “plundered” the “sexual holden to any strictly defi ned image. The woman or a representative for her could not be The couple was given the nickname ion critic of The Impression. reached for an interview. “J-Rod” three years ago after they landed This could see a designer aesthetic Motives on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. that panders more to Chinese tastes. way shows that can be astronomically are all awaiting a return to the runway (AP) Another trend that’s been strength- expensive — for relatively little return. and to come back to the physical ex- The AP was unable to obtain the secret grand jury ❑ ❑ ❑ ened during the pandemic is the deci- Paris couture designer Julien perience.” documents that were the basis for the dismissal as they sion to forgo the frenetic pace of run- Fournie said the virus has led him to Stella McCartney, who unveiled remain sealed. Prosecutors do not plan to recharge CAMBRIDGE, Mass: Viola Davis was way calendar shows. question “whether fashion shows were her fall collection off-schedule last Mystikal, and will not charge the victim, believing she named Woman of the Year on Friday As the virus tore across the globe really necessary” in the fi rst place. month, said that the industry has been had no improper motives. by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding from East to West, these morphed The virus saw many brands, includ- seriously questioning the relevance “We never want to be a part of any process that has Theatricals. overnight from a live, in-person, sen- ing Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen of seasons “even before COVID,” as an innocent person tied up in the criminal justice pro- “Viola has inspired our company with her incredible grit and determination, sory experience to a pre-taped digital and Bottega Veneta of French luxury climate change has sadly highlighted cess,” said Green. “I just want to say that there is a and we cannot wait to celebrate her suc- display released online. Many pre- giant Kering, tearing up the traditional how absurd it is. distinction between not guilty and innocent, and that cesses, strong character and wonderful dicted devastation for the industry, but calendar to show their new collections “There was a moment at the begin- also because the case is dismissed or a case is resolved talent,” said Jessica Moore, the group’s houses have proved surprisingly resil- when it suits them — both creatively ning of lockdown — in the sky there in a fashion other than at trial, that it doesn’t necessar- president, in a statement. ient. That’s because the system was and fi nancially. Saint Laurent started were no airplanes, you could hear ily mean that an incident did not happen.” Davis is scheduled to be honored April already overdue a shift. the trend last year, drawing headlines birds,” McCartney said. “Everyone Holman pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of sim- 22 in an online ceremony that will include Since the advent of social media, for quitting Paris Fashion Week to was talking about nature reclaiming its ple kidnapping in June 2019 and was sentenced to a roast, a discussion and a speech from Da- brands have become much less reli- “take control of its pace.” rightful place,” she added, expressing time served, court records show. vis as she is presented with her ceremonial ant on traditional advertising outlets frustration with the industry’s lifestyle Mystikal burst onto the music scene in the mid-90s pudding pot. Because of the pandemic, the such as fashion magazines. Now, they Advantage that requires thousands of kilometers with the regional smash “Here I Go.” A hip-hop hy- event will not include its traditional parade create their own online channels, cir- The advantage for these brands is to of travel per year. brid with the tongue-twisting speed of Twista com- through the streets of Cambridge. cumventing the glossies, to get their set dates on their own terms, with col- McCartney said that across the in- bined with Busta Rhymes-like theatrics, Mystikal “We’re very excited to honor Viola Da- designs out. lections that don’t compete with oth- dustry now there is a sense that brands crafted crossover hits like “Danger (Been So Long)” vis as our 71st Woman of the Year because “Each brand is a media entity unto ers for attention at the same time. Yet must embrace sustainability “in order and the Neptunes-produced “Shake Ya A(asterisk) of her immense impact in Hollywood, itself,” Nguyen said, calling the way many nostalgic critics, buyers and con- to survive,” especially to attract the (asterisk)” featuring Pharrell Williams, earning him a especially in such a historic and diffi cult the industry operates “obsolete.” sumers argue that nothing can replace young, more environmentally con- 2001 Grammy nomination. (The radio version is titled year for the arts,” said Natalie Needle, the Moreover, as buyers themselves the physical runway experience. scious consumer. “Shake It Fast.”) event coordinator and producer. move online, houses have necessarily “Brands have been deciding more One example of such eco-thinking In 2002 he was charged with aggravated rape and In March, Davis became the Oscars’ become much less dependent on tradi- and more when their optimal time to is in reducing waste in collections. extortion after his then-hairstylist said he forced her most nominated Black female actor ever tional sales outlets such as department show is... They want to control their Luxury giants have been criticized in to perform sex acts on him and two bodyguards in re- when she landed her fourth nomination, this one for her lead role in “Ma Rainey’s stores. business more and that is their right,” the past for burning unused or unsold taliation for allegedly cashing $80,000 worth of unau- Black Bottom.” Some houses have done better than Pascal Morand, Paris fashion federa- luxury goods. thorized checks from his account. The fi lm, based on an August Wilson expected with the new digital format. tion Executive President. And McCartney also doesn’t seem The acts were fi lmed and the video sealed his fate. play, is set around a recording session in Smaller brands, in particular, have “But this is not the end to Fashion to think that this will be the end of the Hoping to dodge the potential life sentence a rape charge 1920s Chicago as a blues band awaits welcomed the break from staging run- Week. No matter what people say they runway show. can carry in Louisiana, Mystikal pleaded guilty in 2003 the arrival of Ma Rainey. The movie to sexual battery and served six years in prison. also includes the fi nal performance from He said his faith sustained him during his 18 months actor Chadwick Boseman, who died last behind bars in the most recent case. Mystikal, 50, un- year of cancer. (AP) derstands the public may not be as forgiving. ❑ ❑ ❑ in which news around the globe was pair of butterfl y wings — offers protec- “I can’t do nothing about that, but I try to un- dominated by the virus that has killed tion, as does the nurse’s face mask. THE HAGUE, Netherlands: A photo derstand where they’re coming from,” he said of nearly 3 million people, including more “This iconic image of COVID-19 me- critics. “At this point in age, I’m just grateful to symbolizing “love and compassion” of an 85-year-old Brazilian woman getting than 360,000 in hard-hit Brazil. morializes the most extraordinary moment still be able to participate. At my concerts, man, I The image by Danish photographer of our lives, everywhere,” said jury mem- still (have a) packed house after all this time. It’s her fi rst embrace in fi ve months from a nurse through a transparent “hug curtain” Mads Nissen captured the moment Rosa ber Kevin WY Lee. “I read vulnerability, amazing.” was named the World Press Photo of the Luzia Lunardi was hugged by nurse loved ones, loss and separation, demise, He has received suggestions to have women he’s in- Year on Thursday. Adriana Silva da Costa Souza at the Viva but, importantly, also survival — all rolled volved with sign non-disclosure agreements, but says The choice of a winning photo por- Bem care home in Sao Paulo on Aug 5. into one graphic image. If you look at the he’d rather mature in his decision-making. traying the global pandemic was almost A curtain of clear plastic - its yellow image long enough, you’ll see wings: a inevitable for the contest covering a year edges folded into a shape resembling a Lopez Davis symbol of fl ight and hope.” (AP) ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 SPORTS 14

Russian Mishina and Galliamov win pairs free skating Shcherbakova seals Russia’s fi rst World Team Trophy victory OSAKA, Japan, April 18, (AP): World champion Anna Shcherbakova won the women’s free skate to seal Russia’s fi rst- Britain, Canada, Italy advance to 2022 qualifying in BJK Cup ever victory at the fi gure skating World KRALJEVO, Serbia, April 18, (AP): Britain, Canada, Italy and Also advancing were Kazakhstan, Latvia, Netherlands and Po- Team Trophy. Ukraine were among the eight countries that reached the qualifying land. Britain beat Mexico 3-1, Canada defeated Serbia 4-0, Italy First after the short program, the round of the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup with victories. eliminated Romania 3-1 and Ukraine shut out Japan 4-0. Kazakh- 17-year-old Shcherbakova opened with a These were the fi rst matches in the women’s tennis team compe- stan got past Argentina 3-2, Latvia beat India 3-1, Netherlands quadruple fl ip and followed with a triple tition since its name was changed from Fed Cup last year. edged China 3-2 and Poland defeated Brazil 3-2. fl ip-triple toe loop combination en route to a score of 160.58 points. Only the United States and Japan have 133.19 points. Compatriot Karen Chen fi n- points are combined across the four disci- Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto moved up to won previous World Team Trophy compe- ished sixth with 127.24 points. plines with the highest point total winning. titions, fi rst held in 2009. Team USA has Teams from Japan, the United States, A limited number of fans were allowed four victories and Japan has two. Canada, France, Russia and Italy com- into Maruzen Intec Arena even though FIGURE SKATING The biennial World Team Trophy fea- peted. Italy was fourth with 72 points fol- Osaka is experiencing a surge in COV- tures the six best fi gure skating teams from lowed by France with 67 and Canada with ID-19 cases. second place with 150.29 points after an the 2020-21 season. 57. On Saturday, Japan’s second-largest city impressive Matrix routine that included “To fi nally be in fi rst place means a lot Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Gal- recorded over 1,161 cases, the third highest fi ve triple jumps. to us,” Tuktamysheva said. “This is a little liamov of Russia won the pairs free skat- Russia’s Elizaveta Tuktamysheva was practice (for) the Olympic Games. It is im- ing with 151.59 points. Alexa Knierim and daily tally. third with 146.23 points. portant to have World Team Trophy before Brandon Frazier of the United States were With less than a year to go until the Bei- jing Olympics, many of the world’s top The result of the women’s free skate en- the Olympic Games, now we know what second with 133.63 points followed by Russia’s Anna Shcherbakova performs sured Russia, with 125 points, would win to do.” Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan skaters are in Osaka, eager to get in anoth- during the women’s free skating program of its fi rst World Team Trophy. The United U.S. national champion Bradie Tennell with 130.83. er competition after several International the ISU World Team Trophy fi gure skating States - the defending champion - was sec- delivered a solid performance but under- Each country sends two men, two wom- Skating Union events were canceled due to competition in Osaka, western Japan, on ond with 110 followed by Japan with 107. rotated a few jumps. She placed fourth with en, one pair and one ice dancing entry. The the pandemic. April 17. (AP) Chiefs edge Crusaders 26-25 Ko wins Lotte Championship with Brumbies & Force win weekend Super Rugby Australia matches tournament-record 28-under 260 SYDNEY, April 18, (AP): The ACT They showed that confidence by calm- Brumbies beat the Melbourne Rebels ly rallying to regain the lead with 26-20 and the Western Force edged McKenzie’s late penalty, which New South Wales 31-30 in weekend capped his personal 16-point haul. Super Rugby Australia matches. The Chiefs then won a vital turn- The Brumbies led the Rebels 19-7 at over and a lineout in the last seconds halftime. The bonus point earned by of the match to shut out the Crusaders. the Rebels kept the Melbourne side in The Crusaders scored the first try of the hunt for a playoff spot ahead of the match through center Leicester next week’s matches. Fainga’anuku and held a 7-0 lead In Perth, the Western Force also before McKenzie kicked three penal- kept their playoff hopes alive when ties to give the Chiefs a 9-7 advantage Argentinian flyhalf Domingo Miotti after 26 minutes. kicked a penalty after the final siren to Mo’unga kicked a penalty, then lift his side to its one-point victory along with captain Scott Barrett creat- over the Waratahs. ed a try for fullback Will Jordan that The Waratahs were on track for gave the Crusaders a 17-9 halftime their first win of the season after fly- lead. half Ben Donaldson kicked his sixth In a thrilling second half, center goal of the night to give the visitors a Alex Nankivell scored in the 47th min- 30-21 lead. But Jordan Olowofela ute to cut the lead to one point. The scored a try in the 72nd minute and a Crusaders re-established a six-point clutch Miotti conversion from the lead with a try to hooker Codie Taylor sideline reduced the margin to two after a rolling maul in the 53rd minute. points. The Chiefs enjoyed a period of dominance out of which winger Jonah Lowe scored a try to put them ahead RUGBY 23-22 until Mo’unga’s penalty gave the Crusaders a short-lived lead. While the Crusaders still lead the The Waratahs lost a lineout with championship, their recent form makes just seconds remaining to give the them seem anything but invincible. Force one final chance of victory. The Force unleashed phase after phase Their regular offside play has been after the final siren in a bid to find the more heavily penalized this year than winning points, and they got their in the past and Mo’unga’s form as a chance when the Waratahs were penal- playmaker has been mixed. ized for offside. The Dunedin-based Highlanders Miotti stepped up and calmly slotted were clinging to the hope of a playoffs the 21-meter penalty from straight in place until Friday when they beat the front of the posts. Auckland-based Blues 35-29. They The first-place Queensland Reds now have a much stronger role in the had a weekend bye. playoffs race. In Hamilton, New Zealand, Fullback The exceptional Highlanders’ head Damian McKenzie kicked a penalty coach Tony Brown has the leanest Lydia Ko, of New Zealand, hits from the 13th tee during the fi nal round of the Lotte Championship golf tournament, on April 17, in Kapolei, Hawaii. Inset: with two minutes remaining to give roster in Super Rugby Aotearoa but Ko holds the Lotte Championship trophy after winning the golf tournament. (AP) the Hamilton-based Chiefs a 26-25 already has engineered wins over the win over the Christchurch-based Crusaders and the Blues, who started Crusaders in Super Rugby Aotearoa. the season among the title favorites. Korda struggles Indians win by 13 runs The Crusaders still hold a seven- Under Brown, the Highlanders point lead over the Chiefs in the cham- appear likely to become a major force pionship table. But the four-time in the future as they develop their KAPOLEI, Hawaii, April defending champion Crusaders have young lineup. had two losses and a narrow overtime The Blues, in contrast, are headed 18, (AP): Lydia Ko is golf- Mumbai roars back to beat Hyderabad win in their last three games and the for another season of underachieve- ing like she is a kid again. CHENNAI, India, April 18, (AP): Chiefs, with four-straight wins, are ment after losing three of their last In other words, she’s tough Sunrisers Hyderabad failed in its chase heading into the playoffs with more four games. Their inability to secure a to beat. Queensland clinches Australian for the third straight time in the Indian momentum. world-class coach who can draw the Premier League as defending cham- In a seesaw match, the Crusaders best from a star-studded roster has led No one came close at this week’s pion Mumbai Indians won by 13 runs. led 25-23 after a penalty to flyhalf to years of poor performances and Lotte Championship. Ko torched fi rst-class cricket title over NSW Jonny Bairstow made a brisk 43 off Richie Mo’unga in the 66th minute. another false dawn this season which Kapolei Golf Club and tourna- BRISBANE, Australia, April 18, with 3-42. 22 deliveries and fellow opener David The Chiefs, who lost all of their began with promise. ment records in the process. A (AP): Queensland has won its ninth Defending champion New South Warner scored a 34-ball 36 before Hy- matches last season under British and They’ve also seen regular slumps in fi nal-round 65 Saturday left her Sheffi eld Shield fi rst-class cricket title Wales resumed on Sunday at 140-5 derabad collapsed to 137 all out in 19.4 Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland, the form of leading players such as the at 28-under 260 and seven shots in Australia, outclassing New South still trailing by 106 runs. The visitors overs, losing its last eight wickets for have found new confidence this year All Black brothers Rieko and Akira ahead of everybody. Wales by an innings and 33 runs in the were under pressure after test No. 3 47 runs. under caretaker Clayton McMillan. Ioane. It brought back vivid memories of fi nal at Allan Border Field. Marnus Labuschagne completed his Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar claimed the teenager from New Zealand who The Bulls clinched victory before score of 192 runs on Saturday to lift 3-19 and Trent Boult provided Mum- became the youngest golfer – female lunch on the fourth day of the sched- Queensland to a fi rst-innings total of bai a perfect fi nish with 3-28. or male – to rise to No. 1 the world in uled fi ve-day match after leg spinner 389 and a 246-run overall lead. Earlier, Kieron Pollard’s unbeaten 2015. She is the LPGA’s youngest-ev- Mitch Swepson (3-68) helped bowl out The Blues sustained just their sec- 35 off 22 lifted Mumbai’s total to er winner, major winner, Rookie and New South Wales for 213 in the visi- ond loss in 14 games against Queens- 150-5 as the West Indian power-hitter Player of the Year. tors’ second innings. land despite boasting a world-class struck two sixes off the last two deliv- Ko, who turns 24 next Saturday, Queensland celebrated after fast bowling attack of Michell Starc, Ha- eries from fast bowler Bhuvneshwar won 14 times in her fi rst 81 starts, in- bowler Brendan Doggett (3-37) zlewood and off-spinner Nathan Lyon. Kumar (0-45). “Great effort from the cluding twice as an amateur in 2012 claimed the fi nal wicket to fall, snar- Indian Premier League duties meant bowling unit, we knew it was not go- and ’13. But she had only won once ing Australian fast bowler Josh Hazle- New South Wales was without Aus- ing to be easy,” Mumbai skipper Ro- since – three years ago – until Satur- wood caught behind for three. tralian test players Steve Smith, Pat hit Sharma said. “The pitch is getting day. Fellow pace bowler Xavier Bartlett Cummins, David Warner and Moises slower and slower, bowlers are always was also impressive for Queensland Henriques. in the game till 20 overs.” Hyderabad looked in control after GOLF Bairstow had quickly bludgeoned four sixes and three boundaries. Hyderabad enjoyed an opening stand of 67 runs “When it doesn’t happen you do before Bairstow was out in unusual doubt,” Ko said. “If I said I didn’t fashion in the eighth over. The Englishman dragged his back In this photo provided by the NHRA, Brittany Force drives in Top Fuel doubt myself at all it would be a lie. qualifying on April 17, 2021, in the DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide I wondered if I’d ever be back in the foot onto his stumps and was out hit- Nationals drag races at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las winners circle, but obviously I’m wicket while trying to pull left-arm Vegas. (AP) grateful for all that’s happened in my spinner Krunal Pandya. career so far. “It’s been a fun week in Hawaii and to be back in this position is obviously CRICKET Brittany Force in top spot in super cool.” Ko came up three strokes shy of the LPGA record of 31 under. That was set Mumbai stood out in the fi elding too Top Fuel qualifying in Vegas by Sei Young Kim, who fi nished tied with Krunal’s brother, Hardik, running with Inbee Park, 22-year-old Nelly out Warner in the 12th over and he also LAS VEGAS, April 18, (AP): Brittany We want to go out and win this Korda and Irish rookie Leona Maguire hit the stumps to leave Abdul Samad Force took the No. 1 spot in Top Fuel thing and bring home our first win of at 267. stranded in the 18th over. qualifying in the DENSO Spark Plugs the season.” Park and Kim, both from South Earlier, Sharma scored 32 after he NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Las Robert Hight in Funny Car, Greg Korea, are ranked 2-3 in the world Nelly Korda hits out of a greenside bunker on the fi rst green during the fi nal became the fi rst IPL captain this sea- Vegas Motor Speedway. Anderson in Pro Stock and Matt Smith and Korda is fourth. Kim beat Park round of the Lotte Championship golf tournament, on April 17, in Kapolei, son to bat fi rst after winning the toss. Force had a final qualifying run of in Pro Stock Motorcycle also took top in a Lotte playoff six years ago, while Hawaii. (AP) Sharma provided a decent start of 3.732-seconds at 320.66 mph in her spots in their respective categories at Maguire was in the midst of a brilliant 55 runs off 39 balls with Quinton de dragster for her first No. 1 qualifier of college career at Duke. Saso led after two rounds. Ko and Korda struggled early and when Ko Kock (40), but Hyderabad pulled back the year and 21st of her career. The Park, who vacationed in Hawaii as Korda surged ahead Friday, with Ko’s missed a long birdie putt at No. 8 she through its Afghanistan spinners Mu- former world champion sat out most of DRAG RACING a child, now has fi ve Top-Five fi nishes 21 under score after 54 holes a shot was three shots ahead. That fl ipped a jeeb Ur Rahman (2-29) and Rashid last season because of the coronavirus at Lotte, but no wins. With her 63, she better than Lotte’s 72-hole tournament switch. Khan (0-22). Mujeeb had de Kock pandemic. shared low-round honors Saturday record. That was set at Ko Olina Golf She birdied the next four holes and caught at deep mid-wicket in the 14th “It just shows this team has picked the second race of the NHRA Camping with Jenny Shin. Club, which hosted Lotte its fi rst eight six of her last 10. She was fl awless, over and Bairstow held onto a brilliant up right where we left off,” Force said. World Drag Racing Series season. Shin tied for sixth another two shots years. again. Low rounds were common this legside catch to dismiss Ishan Kishan. “We had a long time being away from Eliminations are Sunday. back with Wei-Ling Hsu, Sarah Schm- It wasn’t a huge surprise. In Ko’s week, but no one came close to catch- But Pollard’s brisk knock in the end the races, and coming back to Hight made it a clean sweep in nitro elzel, reigning US Women’s Open last round two weeks ago she closed ing Ko, who tried to “keep it simple” proved enough for Mumbai to cruise Gainesville (last month), we found our qualifying for John Force Racing, champ A Lim Kim and 19-year-old the ANA Inspiration, the year’s fi rst and admitted she was inspired by to its second win in the tournament af- routine pretty quickly. Coming here earning his 69th No. 1 qualifier thanks Yuka Saso, making her sixth LPGA major, with a 62. In her last 100 holes Hideki Matsuyama and Jordan Spi- ter losing the opening game to Royal and taking this No. 1 qualifier (spot), to a run of 3.882 at 331.85 in his start. she has just one bogey. eth’s recent wins. Challengers Bangalore. we’re pumped. Camaro. ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 SPORTS 15

DeGrom strikes out 9 in row as Mets split with Rockies Rays beat Yankees, drop New York to AL-worst 5-9 NEW YORK, April 18, (AP): Manuel Margot hit a tiebreaking two-run hom- er, Tyler Glasnow overcame cramps MLB Results/Standings and poor control to pitch fi ve innings of one-run ball and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Yankees 6-3 and dropped WASHINGTON, April 18, (AP): Re- New York to an AL-worst 5-9. sults and standings from the MLB New York lost its seventh straight games on Saturday. series to the Rays is last this late in the Toronto 5 Kansas City (7 innings 1st game) 1 season for the fi rst time since 1991, Tampa Bay 6 NY Yankees 3 Oakland 7 Detroit 0 per Elias Sports. Fans in the Bronx Cincinnati 3 Cleveland (10 innings) 2 again booed the Bombers, but they Boston 7 Chic. White Sox 4 were more restrained a day after some Kansas City 3 Toronto (7 innings 2nd game) 2 Baltimore 6 Texas 1 hurled baseballs and other items on the Houston 1 Seattle 0 fi eld late in an 8-2 loss to the Rays. Chicago Cubs 13 Atlanta 4 NY Mets 4 Colorado (7 innings 1st game) 3 Dodgers 2, Padres 0 St Louis 9 Philadelphia 4 In San Diego, Mookie Betts made Milwaukee 7 Pittsburgh 1 an outstanding diving catch and Clay- Miami 7 San Francisco (10 innings) 6 ton Kershaw starred on the mound and Colorado 7 NY Mets (7 innings 2nd game) 2 LA Dodgers 2 San Diego 0 at the plate for Los Angeles. Washington 6 Arizona 2 Kershaw (3-1) struck out eight American League while working six innings of three- East Division W L Pct GB hit ball. He also drew a bases-loaded Boston 10 4 .714 _ walk against Yu Darvish (1-1) in the Baltimore 7 8 .467 3-1/2 fi fth, leading Los Angeles to its eighth Tampa Bay 7 8 .467 3-1/2 straight win. Justin Turner hit a solo Toronto 7 8 .467 3-1/2 New York 5 9 .357 5 homer in the ninth. Central Division W L Pct GB Mets 4, Rockies 3, 1st Game Kansas City 8 5 .615 _ Rockies 7, Mets 2, 2nd Game Cleveland 7 7 .500 1-1/2 Chicago 6 8 .429 2-1/2 In Denver, New York Mets pitcher Minnesota 6 8 .429 2-1/2 Jacob deGrom struck out nine straight Detroit 6 9 .400 3 batters against Colorado, falling one West Division shy of matching Tom Seaver’s ma- W L Pct GB Los Angeles 8 5 .615 _ jor league record, and fi nished with Seattle 9 6 .600 _ 14 strikeouts to win the doubleheader Oakland 8 7 .533 1 opener. Houston 7 7 .500 1-1/2 Texas 6 9 .400 3 German Márquez pitched a two- National League hitter for his second career complete East Division as the Rockies won the nightcap, stop- W L Pct GB ping a seven-game losing streak and New York 6 4 .600 _ Miami 7 7 .500 1 the Mets’ four-game winning streak. Philadelphia 7 7 .500 1 Josh Fuentes broke open the game Washington 5 7 .417 2 with a three-run homer in the fi fth off Atlanta 6 9 .400 2-1/2 Central Division Jacob Barnes. W L Pct GB Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (74) and defenseman Roman Josi (59) defend against Carolina Hurricanes left wing Warren Foegele (13) Cubs 13, Braves 4 Cincinnati 9 5 .643 _ during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., on April 17. (AP) Milwaukee 8 6 .571 1 In Chicago, Kris Bryant and Willson St Louis 7 7 .500 2 Contreras each homered twice, and Chicago 6 8 .429 3 Chicago won on an afternoon when Pittsburgh 6 9 .400 3-1/2 West Division Atlanta returned Sean Kazmar Jr to the W L Pct GB major leagues for the fi rst time in 13 Los Angeles 13 2 .867 _ years. San Francisco8 6 .571 4-1/2 Panthers top Lightning to Javier Báez and David Bote also San Diego 9 7 .563 4-1/2 Arizona 5 10 .333 8 homered for the Cubs. who stopped a Colorado 4 11 .267 9 three-game losing streak. Trevor Wil- liams (2-1) allowed one run and four hits in fi ve innings. Astros 1, Mariners 0 In Seattle, Zack Greinke pitched move into 2nd in Central eight sharp innings, rookie Taylor Jones drove in the only run and de- pleted Houston ended a six-game los- ing streak. Buchnevich scores hat trick on birthday in Rangers’ 6-3 win Greinke (2-1) allowed four hits and walked none. He struck out six, two on 67 mph curveballs. Ryan Pressly TAMPA, Florida, April 18, (AP): Bran- pitched the ninth for his fi rst save. don Montour, Patric Hornqvist and NHL Results/Standings Jonathan Huberdeau scored in the first BASEBALL period, and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3. WASHINGTON, April 18, (AP): Results and standings from the NHL games on Saturday. Greinke fi nished the game with Frank Vatrano and Anthony Duclair also NY Rangers 6 New Jersey 3 Edmonton 3 Winnipeg 0 2,705 career strikeouts. His teammate, Washington 6 Philadelphia 3 Florida 5 Tampa Bay 3 Justin Verlander (18th at 3,013), and scored as Florida jumped one point ahead of Pittsburgh 3 Buffalo 2 Carolina 3 Nashville 1 the Washington Nationals’ Max Scher- Washington Nationals’ Juan Soto Tampa Bay for second place in the Central Di- Ottawa 4 Montreal 0 Minnesota 5 San Jose 2 hits a sacrifice fly during the fourth Arizona 3 St Louis 2 Dallas 5 Columbus 1 zer (22nd at 2,808) are the only active vision. Sam Bennett had two assists and Sergei Chicago 4 Detroit 0 players ahead of him on the career list. inning of a baseball game against Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots. East Division West Division Nationals 6, Diamondbacks 2 the Arizona Diamondbacks at Na- tionals Park, on April 17, in Wash- Hurricanes 3, Predators 1 GP W L OT Pts GF GA GP W L OT Pts GF GA In Washington, Yan Gomes hom- ington. (AP) In Raleigh, N.C., Jani Hakanpaa scored his fi rst Washington 45 29 12 4 62 160 135 ered off Luke Weaver (1-1), drove in Pittsburgh 44 28 13 3 59 150 122 Colorado 43 30 9 4 64 154 101 goal with Carolina, breaking a tie in the third period NY Islanders 44 27 13 4 58 126 105 Vegas 43 30 11 2 62 142 96 two runs and became the fi rst major across the front, numbers on the back and leading the Hurricanes to the victory. Boston 42 24 12 6 54 119 107 Minnesota 43 27 13 3 57 132 115 league catcher to throw out Tim Lo- and caps, with white pants. Boston was Hakanpaa, a defenseman acquired Monday at the NY Rangers 44 22 16 6 50 146 115 Arizona 45 20 20 5 45 121 141 castro on a steal attempt after 29 con- Philadelphia 44 20 18 6 46 128 161 St Louis 43 19 18 6 44 124 135 the fi rst of seven big league teams that trade deadline from the Anaheim Ducks, was in his New Jersey 43 14 23 6 34 106 145 San Jose 44 18 22 4 40 118 149 secutive swipes to start his career, and will don a new City Series look this second game with Carolina. He blasted in a shot with Buffalo 44 11 26 7 29 107 152 Los Angeles 42 16 20 6 38 114 127 Washington strung together consecu- season. 11:05 left for just his second goal in 49 career games Central Division Anaheim 45 14 24 7 35 101 142 tive wins for the fi rst time this season. in the NHL. GP W L OT Pts GF GA North Division Athletics 7, Tigers 0 Carolina 43 29 10 4 62 140 104 GP W L OT Pts GF GA Locastro was thrown out making a Toronto 44 28 12 4 60 145 117 dive into second base in the third in- In Oakland, California, Matt Olson, Wild 5, Sharks 2 Florida 45 28 12 5 61 143 123 Aramís García and Mark Canha each Tampa Bay 44 29 13 2 60 149 115 Winnipeg 45 27 15 3 57 144 120 ning and left the game with a dislo- In St. Paul, Minn., Mats Zuccarello had a goal and Nashville 46 24 21 1 49 121 130 Edmonton 43 26 15 2 54 137 120 cated left pinkie fi nger. homered and Oakland shut out Detroit an assist, and the Wild stayed hot at home. Chicago 45 21 19 5 47 127 139 Montreal 42 19 14 9 47 125 119 for a second straight game while win- Joel Eriksson Ek, Zach Parise, Kirill Kaprizov and Dallas 43 17 14 12 46 122 109 Calgary 44 19 22 3 41 116 129 Blu Jays 5, Royals 1, 1st Game ning its seventh win in a row. Nico Sturm also scored on a night when 12 different Columbus 46 15 22 9 39 114 154 Vancouver 37 16 18 3 35 100 120 Detroit 46 16 24 6 38 103 145 Ottawa 45 15 26 4 34 122 164 Royals 3, Blue Jays 2, 2nd Game After Oakland’s 3-0 victory Friday, Wild players had at least one point. Kaapo Kahkonen Note: Two points for a win one point for overtime loss. The top four teams in each division will qualify for playoffs In Kansas City, Mo, Steven Matz (3- Cole Irvin (1-2) struck out six, didn’t made 26 saves as Minnesota won its third straight under this season’s temporary realignment. 0) held Kansas City without a hit into walk a batter and allowed four hits and improved to 17-4-0 at home this season. the sixth inning, and Jonathan Davis over six innings to earn his fi rst victory and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered off since joining the A’s. The last time the ICE HOCKEY loss at Calgary last Saturday. Captain Connor McDa- Mike Minor (1-1) for Toronto in the A’s blanked the Tigers on back-to- vid and Leon Draisaitl each had two assists. seven-inning doubleheader opener. back days was in June 1973 when Ken Edmonton (26-12-2) pulled within three points of Matz allowed only a pair of walks Holtzman and Catfi sh Hunter did it on Blackhawks 4, Red Wings 0 Winnipeg for second place in the North Division. before Nicky Lopez’s blooper to left Oakland’s way to the second of three In Detroit, Malcolm Subban made 29 saves for his The Jets (27-15-3) were playing their fourth game with one out in the sixth. Matz gave up straight World Series championships. second shutout of the season, leading the Blackhawks in six nights. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 shots Andrew Benintendi’s two-out double Reds 3, Indians 2, 10 Innings to the road win. in the loss. later in the inning and wound up pitch- Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist for Chicago, In Cincinnati, Josh Naylor lined into Coyotes 3, Blues 2 ing six innings with fi ve strikeouts. a triple play in the eighth inning, then which was coming off a 4-1 loss to last-place Detroit on Thursday night. Alex DeBrincat, Wyatt Kalynuk In Glendale, Arizona, Darcy Kuemper stopped 20 Cardinals 9, Phillies 4 let a routine grounder roll through his shots in his return to the lineup, and the Coyotes ral- In Philadelphia, Yadier Molina hit legs at fi rst base with two outs in the and Pius Suter also scored, and Vinnie Hinostroza had three assists. lied for the win. two home runs, doubled and drove in ninth that led to Cincinnati’s tying run Arizona got off to a sluggish start in its fi rst home four runs, and Nolan Arenado and Paul before pinch-hitter Tyler Stephenson’s Rangers 6, Devils 3 game in three weeks, falling into a 2-0 hole in the DeJong also homered for St. Louis. single off Oliver Perez (0-1) in the In New York, Pavel Buchnevich scored three fi rst period. Ryan Helsley (1-0) allowed a run in 10th won it. times on his 26th birthday, and the Rangers beat the 1-2/3 innings of relief to earn the vic- Devils for their third win over their Hudson River ri- Stars 5, Blue Jackets 1 Tucker Barnhart homered in the sec- In Dallas, Joe Pavelski had a goal and an assist, tory. St Louis won for just the second ond for the Reds. Sean Doolittle (2-0) vals in fi ve days. time in its last seven games, breaking It was Buchnevich’s fi rst career hat trick. Artemi and Dallas scored four times in 6½ minutes in the pitched a scoreless 10th for the win. second period. the game open with six runs in the Sonny Gray made his fi rst appearance Panarin added a goal and three assists as the Rangers third off Matt Moore (0-1). Moore improved to 12-4-3 in their last 19 games. Florida Panthers left wing Anthony Duclair (91) Denis Gurianov, Jamie Benn, John Klingberg and of the season for the Reds after being Esa Lindell also had a goal and an assist for the Stars, recorded consecutive outs to start the sidelined with a muscle strain in his Capitals 6, Flyers 3 is held up by Tampa Bay Lightning defense- frame before a two-out barrage. man Erik Cernak (81) during the third period of who are on a season-high six-game point streak (3- back. He gave up two runs and six hits, In Philadelphia, Alex Ovechkin scored twice to 0-3). Rookie goalie Jake Oettinger made 20 saves in striking out six over 4 1/3 innings. an NHL hockey game, on April 17, in Tampa, Red Sox 7, White Sox 4 move within one goal of Marcel Dionne for fi fth Florida. (AP) improving to 5-0-1 this season against Columbus. In Boston, Wearing their new blue- Marlins 7, Giants 6, 10 Innings place on the NHL’s career goals list. Vladislav Gavrikov scored for the Blue Jackets, and-yellow uniforms, Boston beat Chi- In Miami, Jorge Alfaro hit a game- Dmitry Orlov, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Conor Sheary 2-2 in their past 14. Jared McCann also scored for who are 0-4-1 in their last fi ve games and 2-10-2 in cago when Marwin Gonzalez homered ending, two-run double, and Miami and Anthony Mantha each added goals while John Pittsburgh, which earned its 59th point to move one their last 14. Joonas Korpisalo was pulled after allow- to key a four-run rally in the eighth rallied from two-run defi cits in the Carlson had four assists for Washington, which in- ahead of the idle New York Islanders, and remain ing four goals on 16 shots. inning. ninth and 10th innings. creased its lead in the East Division to four points The uniforms – lacking any red – three behind the Washington Capitals. Senators 4, Canadiens 0 San Francisco led 5-3 before RBI over the New York Islanders. In Montreal, Drake Batherson had two goals and an as- honor the Boston Marathon with the singles in the ninth by Alfaro and Star- Oilers 3, Jets 0 colors that stretch across the fi nish line Penguins 3, Sabres 2 sist for last-place Ottawa, which had dropped fi ve of six. ling Marte off Jake McGee. The closer In Buffalo, N.Y., Tristan Jarry stopped 27 shots In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Mike Smith stopped 26 Artem Zub and Nikita Zaitsev also scored for the of the famous race. They featured yel- threw 35 pitches in the inning, retiring shots in his third shutout of the season, sending Ed- low tops with powder-blue lettering as the Penguins eliminated the Sabres from playoff Senators and Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris each Adam Duvall on an inning-ending fl y- contention. monton to the victory. had two assists. out that stranded the bases loaded. Bryan Rust and Evan Rodrigues scored second- Tyson Barrie, Jesse Puljujarvi and Alex Chiasson Matt Murray made 23 saves in his fi rst shutout of Orioles 6, Rangers 1 period goals in helping the Penguins improve to 10- scored for the Oilers, who had not played since a 5-0 the season and No. 11 for his career. In Arlington, Texas, Trey Mancini had a tiebreaking RBI double in the eighth inning for Baltimore. The Orioles got all their runs Nemechek wins NASCAR truck race at Richmond against three relievers after Rangers rookie starter Dane Dunning threw RICHMOND, Va, April 18, (AP): John Hunter repeat winner in the series this year. He’s also Motor Speedway. six scoreless innings. They snapped Nemechek passed team-mate Chandler Smith with won six of the 12 stages in the first six races of Todd Gilliland was sixth, followed by Ben a 1-1 tie off Joely Rodriguez (0-1) 17 laps to go and outran team owner Kyle Busch to the season. Rhodes, Enfi nger, Sam Mayer and Austin Hill. in his season debut. Maikel Franco win the NASCAR Truck Series race at Richmond “Coming from 18th to sec- Ankrum, who was 28th in the point standings hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Raceway. ond in the fi rst stage was pret- entering the race but fi nished ninth overall last sea- Brett de Gues. Nemechek, already the series points leader, ty good,” Nemecheck said, son, hoped the fi nish was a beginning of a better Brewers 7, Pirates 1 gave Kyle Busch Motorsports its fourth consecu- adding that seeing Busch right stretch. In Milwaukee, Brett Anderson tive victory in the series but deprived Busch of a behind him for the last several “For me, I’ve never lost faith in my team” he pitched seven effective innings and victory at the only track where he hasn’t won in laps was unnerving. said. “Every race we’ve gone to, we’ve had top-10 Milwaukee built a big lead early and the Truck Series. Busch also was trying to become “He defi nitely tried in turn or top-fi ve speed.” breezed past Pittsburgh. the only driver to win in all three of NASCAR’s three. He got to my bumper Sauter said he was frustrated despite his good Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a leadoff single top series on the 0.75-mile, D-shaped oval. and got me loose, but I knew fi nish. Tampa Bay Rays’ Ryan Thomp- in the fi rst inning and the Brewers went Tyler Ankrum passed Smith to take third, with he wasn’t going to wreck me,” “This is probably my absolute favorite track that son (81) delivers a pitch during the on to score fi ve times, with every run Johnny Sauter fi fth. Nemechek Nemechek said. we go to and I love this type of racing,” he said. “I eighth inning of a baseball game coming with two outs. Bradley, who Nemechek, who was second behind Grant After Nemechek won at Las never drove so hard to fi nish fi fth in my whole life. against the New York Yankees, on had three hits, tripled and scored in the Enfinger in the first stage and won the second, Vegas, Busch won at Atlanta and Martin Truex Jr I was just hanging on. It just would not turn. Got April 17, in New York. (AP) second as Milwaukee made it 7-0. led a race-high 114 laps and became the first won in a Busch-owned truck on the dirt at Bristol some work to do.” ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 16

Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech, (second from left), scores his side’s opening goal during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in London, England. (AP) Sports Latest sports scores at — http://sports.arabtimesonline.com Sheffield United relegated Spurs stop Suns’ 10-game home winning run Chelsea reach FA Cup final to Lakers hold off Jazz in OT LOS ANGELES, April 18, (AP): Dennis Schröder hit the tying basket to force overtime and finished with 25 end Man City’s quadruple bid points, and the Los Angeles Lakers held off the Utah Jazz 127-115 on LONDON, April 18, (AP): Manchester Pep Guardiola will return even sooner if they can produce a negative corona- Saturday in a game between short- City’s quadruple dream has been next Sunday with City for the League virus test result. handed teams. extinguished by Chelsea. Even more Cup final but with doubts over whether With six games remaining, the Schröder got by Royce O’Neale for concerning could be the injury to De Bruyne will be fit to face Tottenham. Premier League lost its first team on a layup with 3 seconds remaining to tie Kevin De Bruyne for the ongoing pur- The influential Belgian playmaker Saturday. Sheffield United experi- it at 110 and force overtime after the suit of a treble. hobbled off with an apparent ankle enced the joint-earliest relegation in Lakers got outscored 28-16 in the Chelsea will be back at Wembley injury just as City are entering a crunch the competition’s history, alongside fourth. Stadium next month for the FA Cup period of the season. Ipswich, Derby and Huddersfield after Andre Drummond added 27 points final after a 1-0 victory over City was A 11-point Premier League lead losing 1-0 to Wolverhampton. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 25 makes collecting that trophy a near- points for the Lakers, who blew a clinched by Hakim Ziyech on certainty but there is also a first Last season both Wolves and Saturday. Sheffield United finished in the top 14-point lead early in the fourth before Champions League semifinal with outscoring Utah 17-5 in the extra ses- City for Guardiola against Paris Saint- half of the standings. Wolves have plummeted to 12th this campaign and sion. Germain in what remains the priority The NBA-leading Jazz were with- title for the club. Willian Jose’s goal confirmed the end of last-place United’s two-season stay out injured starters Donovan Mitchell, While Guardiola has been in charge Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert. almost five years at City, Thomas in the top division. Chicago Bulls guard Coby White (0) drives to the basket next to Cleveland Tuchel has only been at Chelsea three Mitchell will be out at least a week with a sprained right ankle he sus- Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (31) during the first half of an NBA basketball months. game in Chicago. (AP) After picking up the pieces follow- SOCCER tained in a win over Indiana on Friday ing the firing of Frank Lampard, the night. An MRI showed there was no structural damage. Spurs 111, Suns 85 ond-highest total in his career - and German now has a shot at a trophy in In Phoenix, Rudy Gay scored 19 Kemba Walker made a 3-pointer the FA Cup final . Chelsea remain in Newcastle moved nine points clear Jordan Clarkson led Utah with 27 points against his former team. Ersan points, Drew Eubanks added 13 points with 24 seconds left to help Boston Champions League contention with of the relegation zone with a 3-2 vic- beat the Golden State Warriors 119- Ilyasova added a season-high 20 points and 13 rebounds in his first start of the Real Madrid awaiting in the last four. tory over West Ham. 114. The performance against City will Newcastle led through Issa Diop’s before fouling out in overtime and Joe season and the short-handed San Antonio Spurs had a surprisingly dom- Curry scored 47, including a offer Tuchel encouragement of silver- own-goal and Craig Dawson was sent Ingles had 20 points and a career-high- 3-pointer to cut Golden State’s deficit ware. While Timo Werner struggles for off for receiving a second booking in tying 14 assists. Bojan Bogdanovic inant 111-85 win over the Phoenix to two points with 19 seconds left. But had 19 points as Utah’s two-game goals, assists are less of a problem. It the buildup. Joelinton’s tap-in extend- Suns. he missed a shot from just inside half winning streak ended. was his 12th of his first season at ed Newcastle’s lead before halftime The Spurs were playing without a court on the Warriors’ next posses- Injured Lakers superstars Anthony handful of their main rotation players, Chelsea, setting up Ziyech for the close- but it was wiped out by Diop’s header sion, dooming their last chance for a Davis and LeBron James watched in including leading scorer DeMar range finish in the 55th minute in an in the 73rd and Jesse Lingard’s penalty win. street clothes. But the Lakers had new DeRozan, but still controlled almost unguarded net after American goalkeep- after Ciaran Clark handled. er Zack Steffen was left stranded. addition Drummond and Markieff the entire game. The 6-foot-9 Eubanks Grizzlies 128, Bucks 115 Newcastle recovered its lead There were no Chelsea fans to wit- Morris back in the lineup, along with has had an increased role over the past In Milwaukee, Grayson Allen is ness the goal in person. But they through substitute Joe Willock’s pow- Kyle Kuzma and Schröder. All four few weeks and finished with his sec- helping the Memphis Grizzlies pro- should be allowed back into Wembley erful header. had been dealing with various ail- ond double-double in the past four duce an ideal start to their longest road Los Angeles Dodgers second “I’m not going to take anything for baseman Chris Taylor throws to for the May 15 final as coronavirus ments. games. trip in two decades. granted,” Newcastle manager Steve Clarkson hit a go-ahead 3-pointer Allen shot 7 of 10 from 3-point first for the double play as San restrictions are eased. Celtics 119, Warriors 114 Diego Padres’ Manny Machado How to get safely back into venues Bruce said. “I’ve always said it’s the with 8.7 seconds left in regulation. He range and scored 26 points to lead six (13) slides in late to second during will be assessed at Wembley on accumulation of points, and 35, in my had 10 points in the fourth, when the In Boston, Jayson Tatum got into a Grizzlies in double figures as Memphis the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday when up to 4,000 locals from opinion, is not enough, so you won’t get Jazz opened with an 18-4 run to get shootout with Stephen Curry, and beat the Milwaukee Bucks 128-115. in San Diego. Padres’ Wil Myers the north London district are allowed me jumping and hollering at the moment. within two. Schröder scored the Celtics came out on top. Allen’s seven 3-pointers represented a was out at first. Dodgers won 2-0. in to see Leicester take on Southampton We’ve still got six games to play.” Lakers’ final six points of regulation. Tatum scored 44 points - the sec- career high. (AP) — See Page 15 Memphis has begun its seven-game road swing by winning on back-to- back nights. The Grizzlies opened the trip Friday with a 126-115 victory at Musiala stars Chicago. Wizards 121, Pistons 100 Bayern close in In Washington, Russell Westbrook Barca win Copa del Rey had his 25th triple-double of the sea- on league ‘title’ son, Bradley Beal scored 37 points and the Washington Wizards beat the BERLIN, April 18, (AP): Detroit Pistons 121-100 . Bayern Munich teenager Jamal Westbrook finished with 15 points, Musiala starred for the Bavarian 14 rebounds and 11 assists in the powerhouse to go seven points fourth straight win for Washington clear in the Bundesliga before (23-33), which continues its late-sea- coach Hansi Flick said he want- son push. ed to leave at the end of the Westbrook has 171 triple-doubles, season. 10 shy of Oscar Robertson’s record. Musiala scored two goals and Bulls 106, Cavaliers 96 was involved in the other as Bayern held on for a 3-2 win at In Chicago, Nikola Vucevic scored third-place Wolfsburg. 25 points, Lauri Markkanen added 16 Following Leipzig’s scoreless off the bench and the Chicago Bulls draw with Hoffenheim the night beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-96 to before, it meant Bayern are snap a five-game losing streak. closing in on a record-extend- Denzel Valentine had 13 points off ing ninth consecutive title with the bench as the Chicago reserves just five rounds of the season accounted for 45 points. remaining. The Bulls were playing for a second That’s not enough to con- straight game without All-Star Zach vince Flick to stay. LaVine, who is in the NBA’s health and safety protocol and not with the team. Colin Sexton and Darius Garland SOCCER had 22 points apiece as the Cavaliers dropped their second straight and “I would like to get out of my fourth in five games. contract at the end of the sea- son. That’s a fact,” Flick told Sky Sports Germany after the NBA Results/Standings game. Flick has a contract with Bayern to 2023 but has clashed WASHINGTON, April 18, (AP): NBA with sporting director Hasan results and standings on Saturday. Salihamidžić. He has also been LA Lakers 127 Utah OT 115 linked with the Germany Barcelona players hold the trophy as they celebrate after winning the Spanish Copa del Rey final 2021 against Athletic Bilbao at La Cartuja stadium in Chicago 106 Cleveland 96 Seville, Spain. (AP) Washington 121 Detroit 100 national team job, which will be Boston 119 Golden State 114 vacant once Joachim Löw steps Memphis 128 Milwaukee 115 down after this summer’s San Antonio 111 Phoenix 85 European Championship. Eastern Conference Messi nets 2 as Catalans rout Bilbao Atlantic Division The 18-year-old Musiala W L Pct GB opened the scoring in the 15th Philadelphia 39 17 .696 - minute when he eluded three SEVILLE, Spain, April 18, at a crucial junction for Barcelona and that he wanted to put an end to his at a stadium closed to fans due to coro- Brooklyn 38 18 .679 1 Wolfsburg defenders before Messi. Barcelona have seen their highly successful two decades with navirus restrictions. Boston 31 26 .544 8-1/2 (AP): Lionel Messi scored New York 30 27 .526 9-1/2 squeezing his shot under goal- finances badly damaged by the pan- Barcelona. Since then, he has only said “This is a very special cup for me to Toronto 23 34 .404 16-1/2 keeper Koen Casteels. twice as Barcelona beat demic and their former president Josep he will make a decision when his con- lift (as captain),” Messi said. “It is too Southeast Division Musiala was again involved Athletic Bilbao 4-0 to win Bartomeu was forced to resign after tract is up at the end of this season. bad we cannot celebrate it with our W L Pct GB for Bayern’s second in the 24th, Atlanta 30 26 .536 - the Copa del Rey final, giv- the team’s poor performance last sea- Messi did not mention his plans family and fans. But that is the situa- Miami 28 28 .500 2 playing in David Alaba. son and alleged administrative irregu- after the game. He smiled broadly tion we have to accept.” Charlotte 27 28 .491 2-1/2 Casteels cut out the Austrian ing Ronald Koeman his Even though Messi avoided the Washington 23 33 .411 7 defender’s cross but dropped larities. Bartomeu has denied any when he received the trophy from Orlando 18 38 .321 12 first title as coach of the wrongdoing. Spain’s King Felipe VI, one of the few burning question of his future, his per- Central Division the ball right at the feet of Eric formance will raise hopes for W L Pct GB Maxim Choupo-Moting, who Catalan club. But the peak of the club’s crisis dignitaries along with Spanish Prime came last summer when Messi said Minister Pedro Sánchez in attendance Barcelona fans of the soccer great Milwaukee 35 21 .625 - gratefully tapped it in. Messi’s two goals came after staying at Camp Nou. Indiana 26 29 .473 8-1/2 Wout Weghorst pulled one Antoine Griezmann finally beat Chicago 23 33 .411 12 And for Joan Laporta, who returned Cleveland 20 36 .357 15 back against the run of play in Bilbao goalkeeper Unai Simón to the club’s presidency last month, Detroit 17 40 .298 18-1/2 the 35th, but Thomas Müller with the opener on the hour-mark. Messi should have an easy choice Western Conference crossed for Musiala to head in ahead of him. Southwest Division his second goal two minutes W L Pct GB “Leo is the best player in the world, Dallas 30 25 .545 - later. All Wolfsburg coach SOCCER Leo has deep roots in this club, and I Memphis 29 26 .527 1 Oliver Glasner could do was am convinced that he wants to stay,” San Antonio 27 28 .491 3 shake his head. Laporta said. “We will do all we can New Orleans 25 31 .446 5-1/2 But his team regrouped after Houston 14 42 .250 16-1/2 Frenkie de Jong headed in a second for him to stay with us. That is what Northwest Division the break. Bayern left too much goal in the 63rd before Messi dealt a we most want. And today Messi gave W L Pct GB room for Paulo Otavio to cross double blow to put the result beyond a master class of soccer while being Utah 42 15 .737 - from the left for Maximilian Denver 36 20 .643 5-1/2 any doubt by the 72nd. supported by a great team.” Portland 32 23 .582 9 Philipp to score in the 54th. It is Barcelona’s first title since win- Bilbao has now lost two Copa del Oklahoma City 20 36 .357 21-1/2 Jérôme Roussillon missed ning the Spanish league in 2019. Rey finals this month at La Cartuja Minnesota 15 42 .263 27 another good chance for Koeman, a former Barcelona defender, Stadium in Seville. Bilbao lost 1-0 to Pacific Division Wolfsburg as Bayern held on W L Pct GB returned to coach the club last summer Real Sociedad just two weeks ago Phoenix 40 16 .714 - for the win. after Barcelona finished last season when they met in the 2020 final that LA Clippers 39 19 .672 2 It was Wolfsburg’s first without a title for the first time since Athletic Bilbao’s Mikel Vesga jumps for the ball during the Spanish Copa had been postponed due to the pan- LA Lakers 35 22 .614 5-1/2 defeat at home this season. Golden State 28 29 .491 12-1/2 2008. del Rey final 2021 between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona at La Cartuja demic. Sociedad’s reign as Copa Sacramento 22 34 .393 18 Barcelona’s record 31st cup comes Stadium in Seville, Spain. (AP) champion lasted all of 14 days.

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