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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 / MUHARRAM 26, 1444 AH emergency number 112 NO. 18070 16 PAGES 150 FILS

Deal seen as Iran pulls

KUNA photo
His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah re-
ceived Tuesday a letter from Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani ad-
dressed to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
Opinion
non-starter N-demands
Pact must meet national interests, says US
WASHINGTON, Aug 23, (Agencies): The US Depart-
ment of State affirmed the US would only sign off on
a deal with Iran that meets its core national security
interests.
“We stated in March when thereafter -- after months of painstaking
diplomacy and dialogue -- we arrived at the text, essentially of a deal
that we were prepared for a mutual return to full implementation of the
JCPOA based on that text that was on the table at the time,” Spokesman
for US Department of State Ned Price said in a press briefing.
He noted that Iran turned down the proposed text and was not prepared to
sign it.
“The EU did table a (new) text more recently. That is the text that has been
the topic of some discussion between the various parties over the past couple
of weeks,” he said.
He indicated that the EU had based its proposal on the March text and
presented to Iran.
“In turn, responded with several comments. This is why it has taken us
some additional time to review those comments and to determine a response
of our own,” he clarified.
Price stated that the US is currently consulting with its partners before
responding to Iran’s comments.
“At the same time, we are engaging with our partners with the EU, with
our European allies on the way ahead. These consultations have taken place
at various levels.” he said.
He unveiled that Iran had dropped in its new response the demand to lift its
Revolutionary Guards Corps from the US Foreign Terror Organizations list.
Continued on Page 3

O leaders of the new era … Here

are some hotbeds of corruption
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
UNDOUBTEDLY, there are many files
that the new era is supposed to work on in
order to achieve transparency in the man-
agement of public money, and to combat
corruption that has struck the roots of al-
most all institutions in the country.
One of the most important of these
files, of course after “wasta” and the cor-
rupt job appointments, is the cost of state
projects. This needs a complete review
from the last three decades until today
because of the manipulation that cannot
be condoned.
In this regard, there is an anecdote cir-
culating in the country. An American offi-
cial met a Kuwaiti official, and while they
were talking, the American said, “Look at
that project. It cost us a million dollars,
which is a very high cost, we think”.
Months later, the American official
visited Kuwait and met the same official.
The Kuwaiti official said to him, “Look at
that project”. The American said, “I don’t
see any project. It is an empty land”. The
Kuwaiti said, “That’s right. This project
cost us KD20 million”.
The American commented, “Now I
know why the Arabs are not advancing”.
The Kuwaiti’s response was, “This is an
Arab industry. A road does not cost more
than KD 300,000, but commissions and
change orders increase the price. Because
we need to maintain it every year, we
put bad asphalt, and so everyone siphons
from the project”.
In one of the reports issued by the
Arabian Gulf Center for Studies and Re-
search on the overt and covert corruption
in Kuwait, a total of 20 sectors were con-
sidered as most wasteful of public money
and systematic looting. The most promi-
nent of them is the Ministry of Public
Works, as it wastes not only money, but
also time. This increases the consequent
Newswatch
KUWAIT CITY: A Kuwaiti delega-
tion will head to the Iraqi capital –
Baghdad – this week to resume the
Kuwaiti-Iraqi negotiations on Khor
Abdullah and to strengthen coordi-
nation to address pending issues as
the negotiations stopped for almost
two years due to the Corona pan-
demic, reports Al-Anba daily quot-
ing sources.
Sources disclosed the delega-
tion includes Undersecretary of the
Ministry of Communications Eng
Kholoud Shehab, Assistant Under-
secretary for the Transportation Sec-
tor Eng Jamal Al-Kandari, and some
other officials.
Sources said Khor Abdullah is im-
portant as it is the navigation channel
between the Kuwaiti islands – Bubi-
yan and Warba and Iraq’s Faw
peninsula. Sources stressed the need
to complete the demarcation of mari-
time borders with Iraq.
Sources affirmed the political lead-
ers of both countries are keen on fi-
nalizing this step without affecting
relations between these countries. Soldiers stand by as supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr protest in front of the Supreme Judicial Council, in Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 23,
❑ ❑ ❑ 2022. Dozens of supporters of al-Sadr, an influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, rallied on Tuesday in Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone, demanding
KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait Ministry the dissolution of parliament and early elections. The demonstration underscored how intractable Iraq’s latest political crisis has become. (AP)
of Foreign Affairs expressed sorrow
over the landslide incident that oc-
curred in Iraq’s Karbala Governo- Iraq judiciary suspends work
rate, which resulted in the death and
injury of a number of people.
The Kuwaiti ministry offered con-
dolences to the Iraqi leadership, peo-
ple and the victims’ families, wishing
the injured speedy recovery. (KUNA)
Sadrists demand Assembly dissolution
❑ ❑ ❑ BAGHDAD, Aug 23, (Agen- The Coordination Framework
cies): Hundreds of supporters of has said that parliament would
KUWAIT CITY: A limited fire broke
out at the outer layer of the new ex-
tension of Kuwait 360 Mall on Tues-
Conviction of Ukraine loses 9,000 an influential Shiite cleric in Iraq
rallied on Tuesday in Baghdad’s
have to convene to dissolve itself.
On Tuesday, it urged al-Sadr’s

Najib upheld soldiers during war

losses in the various institutions of the
country.
There are projects that are priced more
than two or three times their cost. This
is due to the fact that some of those in
charge of it have “a wide liability”. They
are anchored by quotas, which means that
this company obtains a specific project
after it pays “handouts” to other compet-
ing companies, and compensates for this
with change orders, and the poor quality
of the materials used, while there are oth-
er projects that are monopolized by some
companies.
According to estimates, the annual
losses incurred by the public money an-
nually amount to hundreds of millions
of dinars, which go to friends and loved
ones.
Kuwait suffers from this systematic
looting of public money, whereas Bah-
rain, the Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
and Oman have remedied the matter a
long time ago.
In the UAE for example, when officials
discovered that a company had tampered
with a project, they arrested all of its own-
ers and referred them to the court, which
sentenced them to prison and reimbursed
the sums they had taken from all the pro-
jects it had executed in the past years.
In Saudi Arabia, the issue of recovering
looted money through projects is well
known.
In all these countries, the method of
awarding and supervising tenders was
reconsidered, and project costs were re-
duced, which saved tens of billions, but
in Kuwait, the oversight bodies are still
“staggering”.
Perhaps these oversight bodies were
also infected with the disease of corrup-
tion, and they also need treatment, as is
the case with other corrupt sectors.
O leaders of the new era, addressing
this matter is the first step in the path
of transparency. Dealing with it firmly
increases the citizens’ reassurance that
we have entered a new era, especially
after the bold measures that followed
the decisive speech of His Highness the
Amir.
Email: ahmed@aljarallah.com
Follow me on:
ahmedaljarallah@gmail.com
day afternoon and was timely put out,
Kuwait Fire Force (KFF) said.
Fire brigades from Sabhan, Far-
waniya and Mishref managed to
subdue the blaze after evacuating the
Mall partially as a precaution, accord-
ing to a statement from the KFF pub-
lic relations and media dept.
The Mall will resume normal op-
eration soon, the statement said, not-
ing that investigations are underway
to determine the cause of the fire.
(KUNA)
❑ ❑ ❑ sentence.
ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad court
Tuesday summoned former Prime
Minister Imran Khan to appear next
week to answer contempt charges
over his verbal threats to a judge at
a weekend rally. Police meanwhile
registered another case against him
on charges of defying a ban on rallies
in Islamabad.
The latest development indicated
that Pakistan’s government is step-
ping up pressure on Khan, who has
been holding mass rallies, seeking to
return to power. Separately, police
raided overnight the apartment of
Khan’s close aide Shahbaz Gill in
the Pakistani capital, and took him
away in handcuffs for interrogation.
(AP)
Day by Day
THANK YOU, leaders of the new
era for your decisive action on the
issue of donations.
Yes, it is no secret that money
from donations including zakat
money have been misused, ma-
nipulated, spent abroad (no one
knows for whose benefit), distrib-
uted honestly or is spent on the
‘beloved’, the partisans or for the
purpose of ‘nikah al-misyar’ – a
type of marriage contract permis-
sible by some Muslims but consid-
ered forbidden by others.
We repeat, thank you leaders of
the new era for issuing an order to
the concerned authorities to pay
this money to the needy in Ku-
wait -- in a country where 180,000
people are banned from travel for
failing to pay ‘meager’ debts.
… Yet, tomorrow is another
day.
Zahed Matar
PUTRAJAYA, Aug 23, (AP):
Malaysian ex-Prime Minister
Najib Razak began his 12-
year prison sentence Tuesday
after losing his final appeal in
a graft case linked to the loot-
ing of the 1MDB state fund,
with the top court unanimously
upholding his conviction and
Najib, 69, was whisked away
to Kajang prison on the outskirts
of Kuala Lumpur after the ver-
dict. He became the first former
prime minister to be imprisoned,
four years after he was charged
with corruption following his
election ouster.
The five-member Federal
Court panel said it found the
High Court judge was right in his
judgment and that Najib’s appeal
was “devoid of any merits.”
“This is a simple and straight-
forward case of abuse of power,
criminal breach of trust and
money laundering,” said Chief
Justice Maimun Tuan Mat, who
read out the verdict.
“We are unable to conclude
that any of the findings of the
High Court, as affirmed by the
Court of Appeal, were perverse
or plainly wrong so as to warrant
appellate intervention. We agree
that the defense is so inherently
inconsistent and incredible that
it does not raise a reasonable
doubt on the prosecution case,”
she said.
The court ordered Najib, who
has been out on bail pending ap-
peals since his sentence in 2020,
to begin his time behind bars. He
also must pay a 210 million ring-
git ($47 million) fine.
1MDB was a development
fund that Najib set up shortly af-
ter taking power in 2009. Investi-
gators allege at least $4.5 billion
was stolen from the fund and
laundered by Najib’s associates.
Najib was found guilty in 2020 of
seven charges of corruption for
illegally receiving $9.4 million
from SRC International, a former
unit of 1MDB.
NIKOPOL, Aug 23, (AP): Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine has already killed some 9,000
Ukrainian soldiers since it began nearly six
months ago, a general said, and the fighting
Monday showed no signs that the war is abat-
ing.
At a veteran’s event, Ukraine’s military
chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said many of
Ukraine’s children need to be taken care of
because “their father went to the front line
and, perhaps, is one of those almost 9,000 he-
roes who died.”
In Nikopol, across the river from Ukraine’s
main nuclear power plant, Russian shelling
wounded four people Monday, an official
said. The city on the Dnieper River has faced
relentless pounding since July 12 that has
damaged 850 buildings and sent about half its
population of 100,000 fleeing.
“I feel hate towards Russians,” said
74-year-old Liudmyla Shyshkina, standing
on the edge of her destroyed fourth-floor
apartment in Nikopol that no longer has
walls. She is still injured from the Aug. 10
blast that killed her 81-year-old husband,
Anatoliy.
“The Second World War didn’t take away
my father, but the Russian war did,” noted
Pavlo Shyshkin, his son.
The U.N. says 5,587 civilians have been
killed and 7,890 wounded in the Russian
invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24,
although the estimate is likely an under-
count.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian
Presidential Press Office, honour guard
soldiers prepare to raise the Ukrainian na-
tional flag during State Flag Day celebra-
tions in Kyiv, Ukraine, Aug. 23, 2022. (AP)
heavily fortified Green Zone, de-
manding the dissolution of par-
liament and early elections.
The demonstration outside the
Supreme Judicial Council and
parliament buildings in the Iraqi
capital underscored how intrac-
table Iraq’s latest political crisis
has become.
The followers of the cleric,
Muqtada al-Sadr and his politi-
cal rivals, the Iran-backed Shiite
groups, have been at odds since
after last year’s parliamentary
elections.
Al-Sadr won the largest share
of seats in the October vote but
failed to form a majority govern-
ment, leading to what has be-
come one of the worst political
crises in Iraq in recent years. His
supporters in late July stormed
the parliament and have held fre-
quent protests there.
Caretaker Prime Minister
Mustafa Al-Kadhimi last week
called a meeting of senior politi-
cal leaders and party representa-
tives to find a solution - but al-
Sadr’s party did not attend.
The firebrand cleric’s support-
ers pitched tents outside of the
Supreme Judicial Council and
carried banners calling for the
authorities to dissolve parliament,
schedule early parliamentary
elections, and combat corruption.
They decried what they say is the
politicization of the judiciary in
favor of the Coordination Frame-
work, an alliance of Iran-backed
parties and al-Sadr’s Shiite rivals.
The Supreme Judicial Council
and Federal Supreme Court in
a statement said they have sus-
pended court sessions after re-
ceiving “threats over the phone”
to pressure them to dissolve par-
liament. That step would leave
Iraq with both a paralyzed parlia-
ment and judiciary, and a care-
taker government that can only
perform some of its duties.
Al-Sadr’s Baghdad office in a
statement called for the resigna-
tion of the chief of the Supreme
Judicial Council, which has is-
sued arrest warrants for three
members of al-Sadr’s party, ac-
cused of threatening the judi-
ciary.
camp to “retreat from occupying
constitutional state institutions,
and return to the forces that be-
lieve in peaceful and democratic
solutions.”
On Tuesday, al-Kadhimi left
a regional meeting of leaders
in Egypt to return to Baghdad
following the developments.
A statement from his office
warned that suspending the judi-
ciary could push the country into
“grave dangers” and called for
calm and resumption of political
talks.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mo-
hammed al-Halboosi tweeted ap-
peals to protesters not to quarrel
with the judiciary, which he said
was crucial at a time of crisis.
The United Nations also
sounded the alarm on further po-
litical paralysis in Iraq.
“The right to peaceful protest
is an essential element of democ-
racy. Equally important is the
assertion of constitutional com-
pliance and respect for state in-
stitutions,” it said in a statement.
“State institutions must operate
unimpeded in service of the Iraqi
people, including the (Supreme
Judicial Council).”
Al-Sadr last Wednesday gave
the judiciary a week to dissolve
parliament, to which it responded
saying it has no authority to do
so. His supporters stormed par-
liament in late July.
On Saturday, he called on his
followers to be ready to hold
massive protests all over Iraq
but then indefinitely postponed
them after Iran-backed groups
called for similar rallies the same
day, saying he wants to preserve
peace and that “Iraqi blood is in-
valuable” to him.
Iraq’s outgoing President Bar-
ham Salih on Tuesday called for
cooler heads to prevail after the
country’s judiciary suspended
its activities, saying the move
should not be a catalyst for fur-
ther unrest.
The dormancy of the judiciary
risks putting the country on a
“dangerous” path, he said in a
statement, underlining “peaceful
protest and freedom of expres-
sion” as constitutional rights.

Prayer Timings
Fajr ........ 03:57 Asr .......... 15:25
Sunrise .. 05:20 Maghrib .. 18:21
Zohr ....... 11:51 Isha ........ 19:42
Kuwait’s main tourist attraction the Kuwait Towers sitting on the edge of the blue sea. It is a group of three towers that symbolizes Kuwait’s economic resurgence. They were inaugurated on February 26, 1977.
Park proposal rejected
Decision to establish walkway
to serve Daiya area cancelled
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: The Minister
of Municipal Affairs Dr. Rana Al-Fares
has canceled the Municipal Council’s de-
cision to establish a walkway within the
boundaries of Zain-
ab Primary School
for Girls, reports Al-
Qabas daily.
In a letter she
sent to the director
general of Kuwait
Municipality, Dr.
Al-Fares rejected
the proposal of the
Head of the Mu-
nicipal Council Ab- Dr Al-Fares
dullah Al-Mahri to
establish a public park for recreational
sports activities to serve the inhabitants of
Daiya area.
She referred to the letter of the Min-
istry of Education regarding the Munici-
pal Council’s decision issued on May
27, 2021 to approve the construction of
a walkway within the boundaries of the
Zainab Primary School for Girls based on
the approval of the Ministry of Education
at the meeting of the State Property Pro-
tection Committee held on November 30,
2020.
Dr. Al-Fares explained that the deci-
sion was approved by the former min-
‘8-year-old youngest to die’
‘406 committed suicide in 4 years’
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: An explora-
tory study prepared by the Kuwait Human
Rights Office sheds light on the spread of
suicidal behavior during the past four years
and called for the need to expand the scope
of work for citizens and residents, both
adults and children, especially those who
are prone to end their lives when faced with
difficulties, reports Al-Qabas daily.
The study, which covered 2018 until
2021, revealed 406 people have ended their
lives, most of them males and 17 children
in their late teens, 52% of them Kuwaitis.
The study added the youngest of those who
committed suicide was an 8-year-old Ku-
waiti who died on August 3, 2021.
The nationalities of the children who com-
mitted suicide varied according to the order
as -- 10 Kuwaitis, two Indians, 2 bedoun, one
British, one Yemeni, and another Syrian.
The study showed an increase in the
number of cases of attempted suicide for
children during 2020, during the height of
the Corona epidemic and the accompanying
health precautions, and the number of Ku-
waitis was the biggest.
The study said 88% of the suicide cases
in the four years on which the study was
based were for non-Kuwaiti ‘residents’,
while 35 Kuwaitis committed suicide and
13 bedoun.
The data showed a noticeable increase
in the cases of attempted suicide for those
over the age of 21 between the two time pe-
riods (2018-2019) and (2020-2021), where
in the first period it was 57 cases, and in the
second period it jumped to 101, with an in-
crease of 56%.
VACCINE BOOSTER REGISTRATION: https://cov19vaccine.moh.gov.kw/SPCMS/CVD_19_Vaccine_Booster_Registration.aspx
ister of Municipal Affairs on June 29,
2021, as per which the Head of the Mu-
nicipal Council Abdullah Al-Mahri sub-
mitted a proposal to establish a public
park for recreational sports activities to
serve the people of Daiya area in part of
the premises of a school located in the
area.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Educa-
tion was addressed for its opinion on the
proposal. The ministry sent a letter on
June 27, 2022 with its disapproval of the
issuance of the decision to establish the
walkway, as well as its disapproval of
the proposal to establish a public park for
recreational sports activities to serve the
people of Daiya area. This is because the
school building is included in the min-
istry’s construction plan for demolition
and reconstruction. The design of a typi-
cal school building has been taken into
consideration, including a yard for sports
activities, a walking track, outdoor play-
grounds and parking lots.
This comes in the sense that it provides
an educational, sports and recreational
service for students in the morning peri-
od. It is allowed to be used by the people
of the area after official working hours
and on official holidays without deduct-
ing any space from the total spaces of the
school.
Professor of Psychology at Kuwait Uni-
versity, Dr. Amthal Al-Huwaila, said sui-
cidal behavior has existed since the history
of mankind living on this earth.
Al-Huwaila added: “The causes of suicide
are different, some of them are for economic,
emotional and social, and sometimes they
are attributed to personal disorders in addi-
tion to drug abuse of various kinds.”
KUNA photo
A limited fire broke out in the outer layer
of the extension work at 360 Mall. Time-
ly arrival of firemen prevented the fire
from spreading.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 2
Weather
Expected weather for the next with light to moderate northwest- Jahra 49 35
erly wind with speeds of 10-38
24 hours: Salmiyah 40 35
By Day: Hot with light to mod- km/h. Ahmadi 40 35
erate freshening at times north- Station Max Exp Min Rec
westerly wind with speeds of 12- Kuwait City 44 35 Nuwaisib 43 31
40 km/h. Kuwait Airport 46 35 Wafra 46 30
By Night: Hot to rather hot Abdaly 47 30 Salmy 45 29
Photo by Mohammad Morsi
More ex-MPs join poll run
‘Decision on petitions in 48 hours’
By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh
Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: The General De-
partment for Election Affairs at the Min-
istry of Interior has asked the concerned
citizens to closely monitor its decisions on
petitions regarding the electoral rolls as per
clauses two, three and four of Article Nine
(bis) of decree number 5/2022 on amending
Elections Law number 35/1962.
The department disclosed that these petitions will be
reviewed within 24 hours for submission and they will
be referred to the First Instance Court, which will issue
a decision within 48 hours.
The following police stations have been tasked to receive
electoral roll petitions:
● First Constituency: Daiya Police Station
● Second Constituency: Shamiya Police Station
● Third Constituency: Khairan Police Station
● Fourth Constituency: Omariya Police Station
● Fifth Constituency: Adan Police Station
Meanwhile, several former MPs announced their plan to
contest the elections: Adel Al-Damkhi and Saleh Ashour for
the First Constituency, Ahmed Al-Hamad and Muhammad
Al-Abduljader for the Second Constituency, Ahmed Asskar
and Ammar Al-Ajmi for the Third Constituency, Fayez Al-
Jomhour and Musaed Al Ardi for the Fourth Constituency KUNA photo
and Nayef Al Merdas for the Fifth Constituency; in addition Kuwait’s new Ambassador to the United Kingdom Bader Al-Awadhi presents his
to Kuwait Engineers Society Chairman Faisal Duwaih Al- credentials.
Atel for the Fourth Constituency.
Regarding the performance of the previous National As- New Kuwait envoy to UK takes charge
sembly, 44 MPs submitted a total of 1,322 proposals -- 930
in the first year of the 16th parliamentary term and 392 in
the second year; covering important issues like education,
economy, retirees and healthcare.
Kuwait’s new Ambassador to the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland Bader Al-Awadhi on Tuesday
Al-Awadi conveyed to Mrs. Busby the
greetings of the political leadership of
Kuwait and officials of the Kuwaiti Min-
On education, the proposals include canceling the con- presented a copy of his credentials to istry of Foreign Affairs.
dition for master’s degree students to devote full time for Director of Protocol and Vice-Marshal of Both sides reviewed the friendly rela-
their studies, allocate a special section in the Students the Diplomatic Corps at the Foreign and tions and expressed desire to further ce-
Affairs Deanship to process the transactions of disabled Commonwealth Office Victoria Busby. ment the strategic partnership between
students and providing health insurance for scholarship During the meeting, Ambassador both countries in all areas. (KUNA)
students.
On the economy, the proposals include forming a higher
committee in the Council of Ministers to monitor markets Respite for ‘deceived’ expats
and intensify efforts to control prices, in addition to sus-
pending the collection of loan payments from the owners of
small and medium enterprises (individuals and companies).
On retirees, the proposals include expanding the cover- PAM opens visa transfer window
age of health insurance for retirees (Afia) by adding more
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: While the Pub- tee in various regions of the country, during
diseases and medicines; as well as adding Kuwaiti house lic Authority for Manpower announced the the first half of this year.
wives and elderly women to the beneficiaries of Afia and
opening of the door for workers to transfer Al-Mutairi said that the tripartite commit-
hiring some retirees to fill vacancies in Kuwaiti embassies their work permits – workers who were af- tee was able to seize 600 domestic workers
and consulates.
fected due to fake or closed companies, af- working in the private sector, whether they
On health care, the proposals include the establishment of ter submitting complaints and taking legal were registered as absconders or not work-
an integrated hospital for the elderly and the establishment measures, responsible sources explained ing with their original sponsors.
of an emergency unit in every primary clinic. that this procedure will benefit hundreds of Al-Mutairi added that legal measures
❑ ❑ ❑ deceived expatriates, who were brought in were taken against 2,029 violating work-
‘Nazaha’ statistics: Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority by companies and then closed their files af- ers who were arrested during the inspection
ter their entry into the country which is seen tours by the Tripartite Committee, in addi-
(Nazaha) is currently reviewing 88 corruption reports; while as this is not the fault of the affected work- tion to the registration of other violations
the Public Prosecution is dealing with 10 corruption reports
ers, reports Al-Qabas daily. by the Inspection Department of Establish-
referred by the authority, reports Al-Rai daily. The Data Recording Monitor at the In- ments and non-compliant employers.
The daily obtained a copy of the latest statistics from the spection Department of PAM, Bashayer Al-Mutairi called on business owners to
authority, which revealed that the Court of Cassation issued Al-Mutairi, stated that the authority gives update the data and ensure that the work-
four convictions and two acquittals on cases filed by the au- the worker brought to Kuwait on closed or ers are given their rights and prevent them
thority, while one case is still pending. non-existent facilities the right to transfer from working for others to avoid violations,
Also, one case is currently in the Criminal Court (first his residency, calling on any worker affect- stressing that if the facility was permanently
instance) and another in the Court of Appeals. The First ed by this matter to review the authority to closed and there was no real work, there are
Instance Court issued two convictions and two acquittals complete legal procedures against violating financial fines of up to 2,000 dinars mini-
by the Court of Appeals. and non law-abiding employers. mum for each worker and up to 3 years in
In addition, a case is pending in the investigation commit- PAM revealed that it has recorded 1,314 prison, noting that strict measures are being
tee for the trial of ministers, while an acquittal ruling was labor violations, during 73 inspection cam- taken against any sponsor who shelters vio-
issued by the Ministers Court. paigns carried out by the Tripartite Commit- lators of the residence and labor laws.
 ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022

LOCAL 3

diwaniya A DIGEST OF PUBLIC OPINION

‘Political waste being recycled to satisfy those with family, tribal link’
“I AM afraid that some countries and regimes will be motivated to establish
ministries and create an official structure for political waste with a large-sized
banner, with colors and decorations and the banner ‘The Ministry of Political
Waste Recycling welcomes you’ will be placed on the main gate,” columnist
Khaled Ahmed Al-Tarrah wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“A bureaucratic and financial burden that people bear and that states and
regimes that have left behind politically, socially, culturally and scientifically
will become a legacy whose weight is known only to those affected and those
who are waiting to realize what was promised to them promising will wait for
transformations.
“A remarkable political phenomenon of Arab origin,
which is summarized in the immortalization of what is
called in the encyclopedia of senior officials and offi-
cials in the state, including ministers and ambassadors,
so that they are not dispensed with at all, but of course
with great selectivity, which is made by known and the
known only to market the unilateral government deci-
sions.
“Ministers and representatives, some of whom de-
serve to be honored and benefit from them developmen-
tally, culturally and scientifically are dispensed with by
a reckless government decision and with extreme selec-
Al-Tarrah
tivity when they step down from their work after giving
and leaving a wealth of achievements and transformations in various fields.
“It is customary in Kuwaiti governments not to embrace competencies, while
others, who have modest experience are embraced and official positions are dis-
tributed among them, as if they were the decision makers throughout life which
were imposed on people without practical, scientific and professional standards.
“I came to the conclusion that we are facing the phenomenon of political
waste recycling, a tumorous phenomenon that is swollen politically and so-
cially, but the people do not have the right to object, as governments see what
the people do not see.
“Yes, there is an Eastern and Arab phenomenon in particular that is preva-
lent in underdeveloped societies and countries, when the arms of governments
are very generous and affectionate in embracing the deterioration caused by
senior officials and former ministers but they continue to play the politically-
motivated musical chair.
“Instead of succeeding in recycling waste in a way that is beneficial and use-
ful to countries and peoples, political waste is being recycled with the aim of
satisfying others based on family, tribal or sectarian affiliations.”
Also:
“The threats posed by drug dealers from outside Kuwait to the loyal and
well-known police officers, whether in the anti-drugs department or in the Cen-
tral Prison must be taken into consideration by senior officials because they re-
ally mean what they say. The issue for them is either a murderer or a murdered
person, that is to say a matter for survival to be or not to be,” columnist Talal
Al Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“Whoever is arrested among them knows the verdict against him, so no one
will be allowed to hinder his access to millions, and put him in prisons awaiting
execution.
“The drug dealers in Iran and Afghanistan have strong and long arms inside Ku-
wait, and these arms must be cut sooner than later. The strong message was deliv-
ered by burning an officer’s car, threatening to burn his house and killing him, and
this matter is not an isolated incident, as their arms in Kuwait facilitate their task.
“It may be one of the arms inside the prison itself, where the prison is an im-
portant market for drug dealers, and from the prison the information is passed
to Iran, including names, phone numbers and addresses, and I do not think that
this information is hidden from the concerned authorities or that I added to them
new information.
“They know a lot that we do not know but we are talking about what the
Kuwaiti street is obsessed with, and we demand the cutting off the arms of
drug dealers inside Kuwait, who carry out threats cooked abroad, especially
in the Islamic Republic of Iran, with which we must have serious cooperation
to combat this scourge, and its cultivation and distribution centers that are no
longer a secret to anyone.
“There is a scheme from outside Kuwait to destroy our youth and at the
same time obtain money to finance the wars in Yemen and Syria, and support
the party in Lebanon, so they will not stop at a certain point, and they have no
objection to turning Kuwait into a battlefield for their interests.
“The concerned authorities are under obligation to take the initiative and
activate the administrative deportation of the suspects, not just the culprit, and
show neither mercy nor pity. Enough is enough, the knife has reached the bone.”
❑ ❑ ❑ vate sectors, and spread of corruption under pretext of combating it.
“The statement of a reliable source about the referral of unproductive of-
ficials for retirement, which was published on a website, brought a smile to
people’s faces,” columnist Dr Hind Al-Choumar wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“Here, a legitimate question is raised about the procedures for appointing
and selecting officials, evaluation and production criteria, and justifications for
referring them for retirement.
“Is there a law that protects the rights and decisions of officials, and guarantees
objectivity and equality in decisions regarding the appointment, evaluation and
privileges of officials, since they assumed office by virtue of Amiri decrees as
per the nomination of ministers and approval of the Civil Service Commission?
“It is undiplomatic to release media statements from time to time about re-
ferring officials for retirement, instead of thanking them after their retirement
without holding them solely liable for mistakes that they are not directly re-
sponsible for.
“If the media depicted them in a bad way after being in the headlines of
news about their institutions, I think that the document on referring them for
retirement under the pretext of pumping young blood is not a trump card when
talking about improving the government’s performance.”
❑ ❑ ❑
“For the sake of the future of their children and the next generations, citizens
must support the action of the political leadership — the most recent of which
was changing the rules of the political game in Kuwait,”columnist Sami Abdu-
latif Al-Nisf wrote for Annahar daily.
“These rules were close to being bad and destructive, similar to the experi-
ence of Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia and Libya whose citizens were pushed into
rivalry, exacerbation and poverty. They lost awareness of the dangers and con-
spiracies around them.
“In the past decades (not only in recent years), we experienced what has been
happening in the abovementioned countries. We were exposed to security risks,
the most serious of which were the invasion, economic disasters, climate, other
crises and political blockages. People in and outside the country paid the price.
“What do you, the proud people of Kuwait, want in the coming days and
years? Do you want to return to the years of strife, destruction and brink of a
conflict that neither stays nor leave due to our choices in the elections?
“Kuwait is at a crossroads. Despite the constructive public response to the
new political approach of the leadership and the reward for charity, we have
seen nothing but crises, blockage, fighting over projects in the public and pri-
“This time, are we going to choose national, sober and sane faces that believe
in the principles of cooperation with the authorities?”
— Compiled by Ahmed Al-Shazli

Parents role ‘vital’ to curb Other Voices

At last the Minister of Social

drugs spread in their kids
Awareness fair opens in Avenues Mall
The Director-General of the General Department of Relations and Security Media at
the Ministry of Interior, Major General Tawhid Al-Kandari, during the opening of the
‘Weyak’ awareness exhibition to prevent the scourge of drugs.
Deal seen
Continued from Page 1
“We are encouraged by the fact that
Iran appears to have dropped some of
its nonstarter demands such as lifting
the FTO designation of the IRGC. But
as you’ve heard from us over the past
couple of days, there are still some out-
standing issues that must be resolved,”
he elaborated.
Price affirmed that the US administra-
tion is working as quickly as possible to
put together an appropriate response to
the Iranian paper.
“I can guarantee you that we will not
take one day longer than is necessary to
provide our response to the EU. As I said
before, we have been prepared, going
back to last spring, to return to compli-
ance with the JCPOA on a mutual ba-
sis,” he stressed.
He reiterated that the US was dealing
with Iran’s nuclear program as a national
security challenge and is consulting in-
ternally with partners as well through
the lens of foreign policy and national
security.
Price argued that Iran became had
been emboldened when the last admin-
istration opted to abandon the JCPOA.
“The pace of Iran-backed attacks af-
ter the last administration abandoned the
JCPOA went up by about 400 percent,”
he said.
Price described the former president
Donald Trump’s policy of maximum
pressure on Iran as a demonstrable fail-
ure.
“So, the idea that a new strategy of so-
called maximum pressure would some-
how cow Iran into submission, not only
in the nuclear realm, but also when it
comes to its support for terrorist groups
and proxies, that has been a demonstra-
ble failure,” he pointed out.
He, however, suggested that the out-
come of the ongoing discussions still
remains uncertain “as gaps do remain”.
Also:
CAIRO: President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi
of Egypt met Monday with the lead-
ers of Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab
KUNA photo
Emirates and Bahrain, his office said,
as world powers and Iran seek to end 16
months of negotiations over the revival
of Tehran’s landmark nuclear deal.
El-Sisi and Emirati President Mo-
hammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan re-
ceived King Abdulla II of Jordan, Iraqi
caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa Al-
Kadhimi and Bahrain’s King Hamad
bin Isa Al Khalifa at the airport in the
Mediterranean city of el-Alamein.
The UAE leader arrived at the coastal
city a day earlier and held separate talks
with his Egyptian counterpart that fo-
cused on ties between the regional allies,
el-Sissi’s office said.
The five-party talks focused on con-
solidating ties and cooperation between
their countries, according to an Egyptian
statement, which did not elaborate.
Earlier in the day, an Iraqi statement
said the talks would discuss regional
security along with energy, investment,
and climate change.
The meeting took place in el-Alamein,
the scene of one of the fiercest battles
World War II that helped decide the con-
flict’s outcome.
Neither statement mentioned Iran and
the ongoing efforts to revive its 2015 nu-
clear deal with the world powers.
Many of the Gulf nations - Saudi Ara-
bia, in particular - have grave concerns
about Iran’s activity in the region. They
fear that reviving the 2015 deal would
include economic relief for Tehran’s
hard-line regime, allowing it to expand
its meddling in their internal affairs.
Iraq has hosted several rounds of talks
between Iran and its regional rival Saudi
Arabia, whose ties worsened consider-
ably in 2016. That’s when Saudi Arabia
removed its diplomats after protesters
attacked its embassy in Tehran and con-
sulate in Mashhad in retaliation for the
kingdom executing a prominent Shiite
cleric.
There were also talks recently between
Iran and Egypt as both governments
explore ways to ease decades-long ten-
sions. Diplomatic relations between
Egypt and Iran were frozen after Egypt
signed its 1979 peace treaty with Israel
and Iran underwent its Islamic Revolu-
tion.
Affairs takes the ‘right’ step
By Ahmad alsarraf money that the charity society will
collect from the gullible and those
A fter a long wait, the Minister of
Social Affairs has issued a cir-
looking for heavenly reward go.
For half a century, many have ex-
cular to regulate charity work and ploited charitable work to meet their
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23, (KUNA): The Di- putting emphasis on charities that illegitimate ends, including personal
rector-General of the General Department they submit studies and reports on and partisan enrichment, and the fi-
their projects, nancing of suspicious foreign parties.
of Relations and Security Media at the Min- for approval, The testimony of former MP Ah-
istry of Interior, Major General Tawhid Al- complete with mad al-Fadhl, in the National Assem-
Kandari, stressed the great role of the family a bank state- bly’s records, is the best evidence.
in educating their children about the dangers ment showing In one of them, he showed how
transactions charity societies were able in a rela-
of drugs and raising their level of awareness. and transfers, tively short period to collect more
This came in a press statement Tuesday, on the occa- including those than 720 million dollars, of which
sion of the opening of the awareness exhibition (Weyak) coming from only 10% was spent inside the coun-
to prevent the scourge of drugs, which is organized by abroad. try and the rest went where no one
the General Department of Relations and Security Me- The innova- knows and for what purpose, and no
dia at the Ministry of Interior in the Avenues Mall, in tive Minister one knows anything about it till to-
alsarraf
cooperation with Zain Communications Company and Fahd Al-Shari- day.
the Kuwaiti Cartoon Society. aan has also issued an important cir- We also wish the honorable min-
Major General Al-Kandari called on parents to inform the cular to all charities, especially those ister to prevent charity societies,
concerned authorities about their children suffering from drugs that are suspicious about the actions whether openly or secretly affiliated
and substance abuse for effective treatment and rehabilitation, of their boards of directors, of the with political or military organiza-
without considering this incident as a criminal precedent. necessity of directing unconditional tions, Shiite or Sunni, and even those
He pointed out that the administration’s doors are open to charitable work revenue inside the affiliated with clubs and associations
parents to answer inquiries related to drugs, pointing to the state to fund necessary service pro- of public benefit, to refrain complete-
possibility of receiving inquiries through the emergency num- jects, according to a previous deci- ly from participating in any way in
ber 112 or through the hotline of the General Administration sion of the Council of Ministers. supporting any candidate or move-
for Drug Control at 1884141 or through the ministry’s official The issuance of the latest decision
ment in the upcoming elections, and
accounts on social media. came as a shock to the senior super- prevent spending their money on any
He said that the exhibition comes in implementation of the visors of the projects of charitable kind of advertising and other things,
directives of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense associations outside Kuwait, and to
and Acting Minister of Interior Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al- and issue a stern warning, if proven
the army of their partners who often
Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah to intensify various activities to belong to the same religious-political
guilty, they will face the music.
The sources of funding for reli-
raise awareness of the dangers of drugs and psychotropic sub- party that runs these associations,
stances on members of society. gious political parties that use charity
knowing that these charitable asso- funds to support their candidates in
He added that the exhibition aims to enhance awareness of ciations belong to only two religious
the dangers of drugs and psychotropic substances on the in- the elections must also be monitored.
parties and the reports and scandals Other government agencies, as
dividual and society, as well as enhance communication with of the their countless fictitious pro-
the public in order to achieve integration in the efforts exerted we and our colleague Badr Khaled
jects involving huge money. al-Bahr demanded, must restrain the
between official agencies and community institutions. In light of this government awak-
He pointed out the ministry’s keenness to cooperate with so- supervisors of the funds of the Min-
ening, we also call on the Minister of
ciety groups and institutions to confront the drug scourge and istry of Awqaf and its independent
spread awareness and ways to prevent and address it. Social Affairs to monitor the fund- affiliates to stop their support for any
raising activities which are spreading
electoral campaign, in addition to the
and increasing in the media and hold necessity of seeking to impose cen-
accountable those responsible, and
Customs seizes 10 kilos of punish their misguided claims that
sorship on the only charity society
that is not subject to the supervision
donating ten dinars, for example, will of the Ministry of Social Affairs.
hashish at Abdali border turn a person’s bad deeds into good,
without evidence. ❑ ❑ ❑
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: The customs officers manning the There is no mention of where the e-mail: a.alsarraf@alqabas.com.kw
Abdali port have arrested an unidentified man coming from
Iraq for attempting to smuggle into the country more than 10
kilos of hashish, reports Al-Anba daily.
The daily added the narcotics were neatly hidden inside an
“electric heating device”.
The Director of the General Administration of Customs,
Suleiman Abdulaziz Al-Fahd, has given instructions to cus-
toms officers to check all goods and shipments arriving in the
country, by air, land and sea, and during the regular inspection
of people arriving into Kuwait on one of the transport buses
from Iraq the passenger’s luggage was placed on a detector
and officers discovered something was amiss and ordered a
thorough check and the drugs were found hidden inside an
electric heating device.
The suspect and the contraband have been referred to the
General Department of Drugs and Alcohol Control.
❑ ❑ ❑
‘Kratom seized’: The customs officers thwarted an attempt
to bring 140 kilos of the narcotic substance (kratom) into Ku-
wait recently through the Air Customs Administration, reports
Al-Anba daily.
According to a customs statement, the suspicious shipments
were monitored and subjected to strict inspection, and 140
kilos of kratom were found. The contraband arrived from an
unidentified Asian country.
Kratom is forbidden in Kuwait because people who use
kratom report both stimulant-like effects (increased energy,
alertness and rapid heart rate) and effects that are similar to
opioids and sedatives (relaxation, pain relief and confusion)
The Director General of Customs, Suleiman Al-Fahad,
praised the joint cooperation between the Ministry of Interior
represented by the Anti-Narcotics Department and the Gen-
eral Administration of Customs represented by the Customs
Research and Investigation Sector, which resulted in the arrest
of the accused and their referral to the competent authorities.

LOCAL
Books delivered to Dept of Supplies
& Stores for distribution to schools
MoE signs over 6 contracts to supply school furniture
MPW opens bidding for supply, installation
& maintenance of surveillance cameras
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: The
Ministry of Public Works re-
cently opened the bidding for
the supply, installation, opera-
tion and maintenance of sur-
veillance cameras in its sites,
reports Al-Anba daily quoting
sources.
Sources said the deadline for
submitting bids is on Sept 12,
while the preliminary meeting to
inquire about the bidding is sched-
uled for Aug 29 at the ministry’s
head office.
Sources revealed the project
was offered to local companies
specialized in the abovemen-
tioned works and registered in
the Central Agency for Public
Tenders.
On the other hand, statistics is-
sued by the ministry showed that
the asphalting of internal roads
from Aug 10-17 in Abu Fatira,
Sabah and Firdous health districts
covered an area measuring 22,440
square meters.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
4
KUWAIT CITY, Aug
23: The Director of
the Supply and Stores
Department at the
Ministry of Education,
Matrouk Al-Mutairi,
confirmed that the pro-
cess of preparing to
provide the school’s re- KUNA photo
quirements, including HH the Prime Minister receives the Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs
textbooks, furniture of Qatar.
and labor, is underway
HH Premier receives Qatari Deputy PM
and will be completed
before the start of the
new school year, re-
ports Al-Jarida daily.
HH the Crown Prince receives
He explained, that text-
books have begun to grad- minister of oil and KPC’s CEO
ually reach the Department KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23, (KUNA): leum Corporation (KPC) Sheikh
of Supplies and Stores for His Highness the Crown Prince Nawaf Saud Nasser Al-Sabah.
distribution to schools. Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Meanwhile, His Highness the
Regarding the distribution Al-Sabah received at Bayan Palace Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad
of books for the educational on Tuesday Deputy Prime Minister, Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah received
stages in the various educa- Minister of Oil, Minister of State for Tuesday Qatari Deputy Prime Min-
tional regions, Al-Mutairi Cabinet Affairs Dr. Mohammad Al- ister and Foreign Minister Sheikh
stated that the distribution of Fares. Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-
books for the primary stage His Highness also received Chief Thani on the occasion of his visit to
has been completed for the Executive Officer of Kuwait Petro- the country.
Capital, Mubarak Al-Kabeer,
Jahra and Hawalli regions,
and for the intermediate
stage, books were distributed
to schools in the Mubarak
Al-Kabeer, the Capital, Jahra
and Hawalli regions, and for
the secondary stage, books
were distributed in the Capi-
tal, Mubarak Al-Kabeer and
Jahra regions.
He added, the distribution
process is being completed to
the rest of the schools in the
educational areas for all stu-
dents before the start of the
new school year.
Fulfilled
With regard to school fur-
niture, Al-Mutairi stated that
more than 6 contracts for
school furniture have been Musallam Al-Subaie Fahd Al-Shariaan
signed, and part of these con-
tracts have been fulfilled, and Al-Shariaan okays use of Mobile ID
the entire quantity will be
supplied in the coming days
-- distributing new furniture
to schools which urgently
Complete all transactions as
need them due to the increase
in the number of students, or soon as possible: Al-Subaie
to replace damaged furniture.
As for the service contracts KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: The Acting
Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social
for guarding and cleaning
the schools, Al-Mutairi indi-
Affairs and Community Development, Technical failure
Musallam Al-Subaie, has canceled the
cated that the signing of all
contracts for guards for the
prior appointments for the visitors in vari-
ous departments of the ministry, reports
in France delays
schools of all educational
districts have been com-
Al-Qabas daily.
The ministry said in a statement that issuance of visas
pleted, with the exception of the step came “in line with the directives
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: The
the Mubarak Al-Kabeer edu- of the Council of Ministers to facilitate
French Embassy in Kuwait said
cational area, which will be the work mechanism within the various
the pace of issuing visas will be
signed in the coming days. sectors of the state, in order to facilitate
slow this week due to a technical
the visitors’ transactions, and on the in-
With regard to cleaning structions of the Minister of Commerce failure in France, and expressed its
contracts, Al-Mutairi indi- and Industry and the Minister of Social deep regret for the circumstances,
cated that contracts have been Affairs and Community Development what it called, beyond its control,
signed for all educational Fahd Al-Shariaan.” reports Al-Qabas daily
districts, except for the Capi- The source stated that the undersecre- “We regret to inform you that
due to a technical failure in France,
tal Educational District, and tary directed “not to specify or restrict the
visa issuance will be slower this
they will also be signed in the visitors with specific dates, but to receive
them on a daily basis and to complete all week, and we thank you for your
coming days. understanding,” the embassy said
Al-Mutairi praised the ef- their transactions as soon as possible in
accordance with the established laws and on its Twitter account.
forts of all employees in the regulations.”
administration to complete Meanwhile, Minister Al-Shariaan has Al-Shariaan issued a circular to all State
the requirements of schools approved the use of digital civil identi- agencies based on Cabinet Resolution
to prepare for the new school fication card (Mobile ID) in all govern- No. 1008 (51 of 2020) on using the ‘Mo-
year despite the difficult cli- mental agencies, reports Al-Rai daily. bile ID’ application for processing gov-
matic conditions. In a bid to ease procedures for citizens, ernmental transactions.
 ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022

LOCAL 5

Sudanese govt expresses thanks and appreciation to Arab countries

Kuwait makes final arrangement in support of Sudan: envoy

KHARTOUM, Aug 23, (KUNA):
Kuwait’s Ambassador to Sudan,
Dr. Fahad Al-Dhafiri said on Mon-
day that the process of support and
assistance that Kuwait will provide
to Sudan in the face of the rain and
torrential crisis will start within two
days.
Al-Dhafiri said in a statement to
Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that
within the framework of the helping
hand provided by Kuwait to vari-
ous brotherly and friendly countries,
“the delegation of the Kuwaiti Red
Crescent Society will arrive in Khar-
toum within the next two days to
make final arrangements to start the
aid process, which will take place in
two phases, the first includes provid-
ing food and shelter assistance. The
second relates to health and environ-
mental support.”
Al-Dhafiri pointed out that the
Kuwait Red Crescent Society gained
great experience in dealing with the
rain and flood crises in Sudan after
the air bridges and the aid provided
during the past two years.
He added that Kuwait, as a center
for humanitarian work in the world,
will spare no effort in supporting
brotherly countries, especially Su-
dan, and providing a helping hand
and assistance in facing the crisis.
Campaign
He stressed that “the embassy is
in contact and coordination with the
Sudanese Foreign Ministry and the
Sudanese Red Crescent Society to
find out the most important needs
and materials required in the relief
campaign that will be implemented
by the Kuwait Red Crescent Soci-
ety.”
Sudan declared a state of alert and
emergency regarding the disasters of
rain and floods and the damage that af-
fected the country, while the Sudanese
Foreign Ministry expressed in a state-
ment its thanks and appreciation to the
Arab countries for their support, prais-
Dr. Fahad Al-Dhafiri, Kuwaiti ambassador to Sudan
ing the spirit of cooperation that pre-
vailed in the joint meeting with Arab
ambassadors, during which the extent
of the damage and losses as a result of
the rains and torrents.
In this context, the Sudan Civil
Defense Council said that the losses
KUNA photo
of rain and floods rose to 83 deaths
and 36 injuries, in addition to the de-
struction of more than 43,000 homes
and 127 facilities and shops.
Sudan’s Council of Ministers de-
clared on Sunday a state of alert and
emergency regarding the flood disas-
ters that affected six states, namely
River Nile, Gezira, White Nile, West
Kordofan, South Darfur and Kas-
sala.
During their meeting, the Council
stressed importance of mobilizing
popular efforts to attract internal and
external humanitarian support from
official and popular bodies to pro-
vide a helping hand and assistance
to those affected by the situation in
the states.
The cabinet meeting directed the
National Civil Defense Council to
carry out its role in coordination
with the emergency committee of
the Sovereignty Council through its
branches in the states, the allocated
budget, the support coming from in-
side and outside and the humanitar-
ian organizations.
Acting Minister of Cabinet Affairs
Osman Hussein Osman, affirmed
opening of an account in local and
foreign currencies to attract support
and stand beside those affected in the
states by torrential rains and floods.
Osman said “we announce mobi-
lization of the popular and official
effort to help the affected people and
strengthen early warning and follow-
up systems in order to avoid poten-
tial damage, explaining that rains
had caused severe damage to citi-
zens, as well as in the field of health
and education, and the collapse of
schools and institutions, which re-
quires urgent intervention.
For his part, Acting Interior
Minister, Lieutenant-General An-
nan, affirmed that the losses were
confined to six states, most notably
River Nile, Gezira, White Nile, West
Kordofan and Kassala, saying, “we
have distributed all our supplies and
humanitarian aid, and the convoys
will go to those states in the coming
days.”
He reviewed the extent of damage
in the states, especially collapse of
houses and the number of deaths and
injuries.

Commerce preparing to issue decision linking payment

of institution’s share to giving approval for holding AGMs
Companies must pay 1% of their annual profits
The Guest Show poster
TGS presents Dr Nair
This Thursday The Guest
Show (TGS) presents Dr Su-
sovana Sujit Nair, a medical
oncologist with the Kuwait Can-
cer Control Center since 2011.
Dr Nair is a well-known medical
professional in Kuwait who’s
also very closely involved in
spreading community aware-
ness and organizing medical
health camps. In 2019, she
won the Nari Udyami Award
for her extensive community
work centred on breast cancer
awareness.
Dr Nair is very active with
the Indian Doctors Forum, a
premier social-cultural organi-
zation association of Indian
medical professionals in Ku-
wait. During the lockdown, she
Citizens and residents purchase
nine tons of ‘gold’ in six months
served in a team of doctors
responsible for managing on-
cologic patients suspected of
having COVID-19.
Dr Nair is a very interesting
person. Apart from practising
medicine, she is also a very
good singer and she’s ready to
share her music with you if she
has the time.
Dr Nair grew up in a small
town in India. Before coming to
Kuwait she worked in Vellore,
Chennai and Pondicherry.
On The Guest Show, she will
share her experience of work-
ing in India, her activism in
spreading cancer awareness,
cancer detection and treatment
in Kuwait and dangers of smok-
ing, and her life journey.
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23:
The companies listed on
the KSE market (stock ex-
change), particularly the
shareholding companies
must be prepared once
again or show their com-
mitment to pay 1 percent
of their net profits annually
as a condition for holding
their annual general as-
sembly meetings, since the
Ministry of Commerce and
Industry is expected to is-
sue in the near future, a new
procedural amendment re-
lated to the requirements
for holding general assem-
bly meetings for companies
particularly the sharehold-
ing companies, reports Al-
Rai daily.
In this regard, the daily has
learned from relevant sources
that the ministry officials are
preparing to issue a ministe-
rial decision linking the listed
companies’ commitment to pay
the share owed by them to the
Kuwait Foundation for the Ad-
vancement of Sciences.
Contribution
According to the expected deci-
sion, the annual general assembly
meetings of joint-stock and hold-
ing companies that have not paid
their share to KFAS, which are es-
tablished in accordance with Law
No. 46 of 2006 regarding zakat
and the contribution of public and
closed joint-stock companies to the
state budget of one percent will be
suspended.
Kuwaiti companies do not pay
direct taxes, but they are obliged
to pay a percentage of their prof-
its to support national labor and
the Kuwait Foundation for the
Advancement of Sciences, and Minister of State for Youth Affairs, Abdullrahman Al-Muatiri, with the President of the 76th UN General Assembly
KUNA photo

and Maldives’ Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: Gold pur-
chases by citizens and residents in Ku-
wait from January to the end of June
2022 was about 9 tons of bullion, coins
and ready-made gold works, which is
the same value as purchases during the
first half of 2021, but there are clear
changes in the policy acquisition as it
increased in bullion and coins that are
treated investment only, while it rela-
tively decreased in purchase jewelry
wear, reports Al-Anba daily.
The World Gold Council said Ku-
wait’s purchases during the first half
of 2022 were relatively distributed
by 23.3% or 2.1 tons for the coun-
try’s purchases of bullion and gold
coins, while the ready-made jewelry
accounted for 76.7% of the total gold
purchases or 6.9 tons.
This is in view of the global geo-
political factors in addition to the
economic variables, on top of which
comes the high inflation rates and the
subsequent successive increases in in-
terest rates by the US Federal Reserve,
which increased the attractiveness of
the dollar and the tendency towards
saving.
However, the gold market in Kuwait
translated this into increases in the
acquisition of bullion and gold coins,
which reached its peak during from
April until the end of June 2022.
an additional percentage as za-
kat on money, estimated in to-
tal at 4.5 percent, while foreign
companies pay profits estimated
at 15 percent according to a
legislative amendment made in
2008, which is a lower rate than
the previous rate, which was up
to 55 percent.
Taxes are imposed on the prof-
its of joint-stock companies,
which come at about 1 percent
zakat, 2.5 percent to support
national labor and 1 percent as
a share to the institution, while
taxes are imposed on the profits
of closed joint-stock companies
at 1 percent zakat and 1 per cent
of the institution’s share.
Over the past years, Commerce
Ministry had disrupted this obliga-
tion, as companies were no longer
obliged during that time to provide
proof that they had paid the insti-
tution’s share in order to acquire
the date to hold their annual gen-
eral assembly meetings, so that
the Ministry at that time had an
opinion that argued that the link
between the two issues was illegal.
Kuwaiti, UN officials discuss
‘youth empowerment’ efforts
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23, (KUNA):
Minister of State for Youth Af-
fairs Abdullrahman Al-Muatiri and
President of the 76th UN General
Assembly, Maldives’ Foreign Min-
ister Abdulla Shahid discussed in a
meeting Tuesday ways to empower
the youth.
The Ministry of State for Youth
Affairs said that Al-Mutairi, also
Minister of Information and Cul-
ture, and Shahid focused during
their meeting on ways to enable
youths to achieve their dreams and
aspirations.
Members of Shahid’s accompany-
ing delegation were present at the
meeting.

5 scout associations partake Arab Scout Course

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: The activities of
the Arab Scout Course to develop the capa-
bilities of trainers (training assistants and
leaders), which was hosted by the State of
Kuwait, represented by the Kuwait Scout
Association, in cooperation with the Arab
Participants in the course during the closing ceremony.
Scout Region and the Arab Scout Organiza-
tion, with wide Arab participation, was con-
cluded over a week, reports Al-Rai daily.
The Deputy Regional Director and Direc-
tor of the Educational Methods Department
of the Arab Scout Organization, Rifaat Al-
Sibai, said that the course included present-
ing 16 training programs aimed at improving
the scout movement, including leadership
qualification systems approved and applied
in five scout associations, the life cycle of an
adult leader in scouting, the foundations and
Al-Rai photo
principles of adult education, and evaluation
of impact and results.
Training, as well as recent trends in train-
ing adults and determining the training needs
of occupants of scouting missions, noting
that the course also included a program on
the skills of a successful coach, methods of
counseling, the role of the mentor with the
individual and the group, the organization,
management and evaluation of the training
session, and the steps of preparing, design-
ing and implementing the training package
and other things.
He stated that the last day witnessed the
participants presenting 12 training sessions
prepared and presented by representatives
of 5 Arab scout associations from Tunisia,
Algeria, Kuwait, Libya and Egypt, pointing
out that the course program was implement-
ed within 42 hours.
Al-Sibai expressed his sincere thanks and
appreciation to the Kuwait Scout Association,
president, members and affiliates, for their
sincere efforts in favor of the Kuwaiti Scout
Movement in particular and the Arab Scout
Movement in general after the return to normal
life as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
 Berkshire Hatha-
way Chairman
and CEO Warren
Buffett smiles dur-
ing an interview
in Omaha, Neb.,
with Liz Claman
on Fox Busi-
ness Network’s
‘Countdown to the
Closing Bell,’ May
7, 2018. Buffett’s
company now has
clearance to boost
its current 20%
stake in Occiden-
tal Petroleum up
to 50%. (AP)
Market Movements
Change Closing pts
PAKISTAN - KSE 100 +540.12 43,366.78
US stocks waver day after big stumble
NEW YORK, Aug 23, (AP): US stocks wa-
vered in afternoon trading on Wall Street
Tuesday, but remain in the red for the week
following the biggest pullback in the S&P 500
since mid-June.
The S&P 500 fell 0.1% as of 12:08 p.m. Eastern.
The benchmark index is down 2.2% for the week fol-
lowing a sell-off on Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 127 points, or
0.4%, to 32,935 and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%.
Energy stocks made solid gains as U.S. crude oil prices rose
3.7%. Exxon Mobil gained 3.8%.
Health care stocks fell broadly and checked gains elsewhere
in the market. Eli Lilly fell 1.7%.
Investors had several earnings reports to focus on as the lat-
est round of corporate financial results comes to a close. More
than 95% of companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings,
with overall growth of about 6%, according to FactSet.
Forecasts
Macy’s rose 5% after beating Wall Street’s second-quarter
financial forecasts and J.M. Smucker gained 3% after reporting
strong earnings. Zoom Video slumped 15.1% after cutting its
profit and revenue forecasts for the year.
Twitter slipped 5.3% on reports that a former head of secu-
rity filed whistleblower complaints with U.S. officials, alleg-
ing that the company misled regulators about its cybersecurity
defenses and its problems with fake accounts. The allegations
come amid the ongoing dispute with billionaire CEO Elon
Musk, who is trying to withdraw his $44 billion takeover bid
for the social media company.
Investors are looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s annual
meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this week as they
grapple with uncertainty over inflation, the economy and the
central bank’s plan to fight high prices. Worries about infla-
tion and recessions globally have brought the euro below parity
with the dollar, breaking a psychological barrier in the markets.
Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped
to 3.00% from 3.03% late Monday. It remains below the yield
on the two-year Treasury, a gap viewed by many investors as a
potential signal for a coming recession.
Inflation remains at its hottest level in four decades and
that is straining businesses and consumers. The U.S. econ-
omy shrank during the first half of 2022, though consumer
Buffett company likely to boost stake in Occidental
Warren Buffett’s company has received broader sell-off Monday and as specula-
clearance to boost its 20% stake in Occi- tion cooled over the potential for Berkshire
dental Petroleum to as much as 50%, but to buy the entire company.
it’s not immediately clear how many more Berkshire doesn’t typically comment
shares Berkshire Hathaway plans to buy on its stock investments beyond what it
or whether it will consider buying the entire is required to disclose, and Buffett didn’t
company. respond to questions about Occidental
Shares of the of the oil producer soared on Monday. But Buffett told shareholders
nearly 12% Friday after the Federal Energy at the company’s annual meeting in April
Regulatory Commission revealed that it that he started buying Occidental shares in
had approved Berkshire’s request to buy late February because what the CEO was
up to 50% of the Houston company. telling investors then “made nothing but
Shares slid 3% to around $69 amid a sense” to him.
23-08-2022
Business
Change Closing pts
SAUDI - Tadawul -139.71 12,420.77
UAE - DFM -15.42 3,392.69
JAPAN - Nikkei -341.75 28,452.75
EGYPT - EGX 30 -108.35 10,137.89
PHILIPPINES - PSEi -86.03 6,618.38
Global shares mixed amid speculation about Fed rate hike
spending and the employment market remain pockets of
strength. The Fed has been raising interest rates to pump
the brakes on the economy to bring inflation under control.
Wall Street is concerned that the Fed could hit the brakes too hard
and veer an already slowing economy into a recession. Minutes last
week from the Fed’s July board meeting affirmed plans for more
rate hikes Investors could gain more insight into the Fed’s future
plans at the annual meeting this week, which starts Thursday and
includes a speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday.
Global shares were mixed Tuesday amid speculation about
another interest rate raise by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Benchmarks in Asia finished lower in Japan, Australia, South
Korea and China, but European indexes were mixed, rising in
France and Germany while falling in Britain. Oil prices rose.
Europe
France’s CAC 40 added 0.2% in early trading to 6,391.76.
Germany’s DAX rose 0.3% to 13,265.61. Britain’s FTSE 100
fell 0.4% to 7,503.25. U.S. shares were set to drift higher with
Dow futures up 0.3% at 33,145.00. S&P 500 futures were up
0.3% at 4,153.25.
Investors are grappling with uncertainty over when the
highest U.S. inflation in decades will ease significantly, how
much the U.S. Fed will have to raise interest rates in order to
get it under control and how much the rate hikes will slow the
economy.
Asia
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1.2% to finish at 28,452.75.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slid 1.2% to 6,961.80. South Korea’s
Kospi dipped 1.1% to 2,435.34. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed
0.8% to 19,503.25, while the Shanghai Composite was little
changed, inching down less than 0.1% at 3,276.22.
“Investors are being cautious as continuous risk-off flows
have hit global markets,” said Anderson Alves at ActivTrades,
noting that rising gas prices were a big risk, especially for Eu-
rope.
The Euro sculpture stands in front of the former European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 13, 2022.
Oil The euro has fallen below parity with the dollar, diving to its lowest level in 20 years and ending a one-to-one ex-
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.25 to change rate with the US currency. (AP)
$91.61 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added
$1.01 to $97.49 a barrel. Who wins ... who loses?
Currencies
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 137.26 Japanese
yen from 137.49 yen. The euro was little changed at 99 cents.
One-to-one exchange rate ends
NEW YORK, Aug 23, (AP): The euro has fallen below parity
with the dollar, diving to its lowest level in 20 years and ending
a one-to-one exchange rate with the U.S. currency.
It’s a psychological barrier in the markets. But psychology is
important, and the euro’s slide underlines the foreboding in the
19 European countries using the currency as they struggle with
an energy crisis caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Here’s why the euro’s slide is happening and what impact
it could have:
■ It means the European and American currencies are worth
the same amount. While constantly changing, the euro has
dropped just below a value of $1 this week.
A currency’s exchange rate can be a verdict on economic
prospects, and Europe’s have been fading. Expectations that
the economy would see a rebound after turning the corner from
the COVID-19 pandemic have been replaced by recession pre-
dictions.
More than anything, high energy prices and record inflation
are to blame. Europe is far more dependent on Russian oil and
natural gas than the U.S. to keep industry humming and gener-
ate electricity. Fears that the war in Ukraine will lead to a loss
of Russian oil on global markets have pushed oil prices higher.
And Russia has been cutting back natural gas supplies to the
European Union, which EU leaders described as retaliation for
sanctions and weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
Energy prices have driven euro-area inflation to a record
8.9% in July, making everything from groceries to utility bills
more expensive. They also have raised fears about govern-
ments needing to ration natural gas to industries like steel,
glassmaking and agriculture if Russia further reduces or shuts
off the gas taps completely.
The sense of doom increased as Russia reduced the flows
through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to 20% of
capacity and said it would shut it down for three days next
week for “routine maintenance” at a compressor station.
Natural gas prices on Europe’s TTF benchmark have soared
to record highs amid dwindling supplies, fears of further cut-
offs and strong demand.
“If you think Euro at parity is cheap, think again,” Robin
Brooks, chief economist at the Institute of International Fi-
nance banking trade group, tweeted Monday. “German manu-
facturing lost access to cheap Russian energy & thus its com-
petitive edge.”
“Global recession is coming,” he said in a second tweet.
■ The euro was last valued below $1 on July 15, 2002.
The European currency hit its all-time high of $1.18 shortly
after its launch on Jan. 1, 1999, but then began a long slide,
falling through the $1 mark in February 2000 and hitting a re-
cord low of 82.30 cents in October 2000. It rose above parity
Pilot shortages on horizon in Mideast
WFS to focus on reshaping airline resilience
GENEVA, Aug 23: The International Air Transport Associa-
tion (IATA) announced that the 2022 World Financial Sym-
posium (WFS) will focus on reshaping airline resilience. The
event will take place from19-22 September in Doha, Qatar,
with Qatar Airways as the host airline.
Following the greatest shock to aviation in history,the indus-
try is emerging rapidly from the pandemic and government-
mandated travel restrictions of the past two years. Industry
losses are expected to reduce to $9.7 billion this year from
nearly $180 billion in red ink in 2020-21. As travel barriers fall
in most regions,very strong demand is supporting expectations
for a recovery to pre-COVID-19 traffic levels by 2024, with
profitability a possibility in 2023.
At the same time airline debt levels have soared as carriers
borrowed to stay aloft during the crisis. And finance depart-
ments across the industry will face challenges as the industry
achieves its 2050 fly net zero commitment.
“Airlines are resilient. Now is the time to build on the hard
work and difficult restructurings of the past two years to seizeop-
portunities coming out of the crisis.
Finance will play a vital role in supporting the ongoing recov-
ery while creating a sustainable capital structure to support our
ambitious environment agenda,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Di-
rector General.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr.
Akbar Al Baker said: “We are honored to be hosting the first
in-person WFS since 2019 during our milestone 25th year of
Berkshire’s Occidental purchases and a
$20 billion investment in Chevron shares
early this year allowed Buffett to capital-
ize on the surge in oil prices after Russia
invaded Ukraine. Edward Jones analyst
Jim Shanahan said he thinks it’s likely
that Berkshire will keep buying Occidental
shares when the price drops below $60
again. The shares are up 13% in just the
past 30 days, and up 130% this year. But
he doesn’t think it’s likely that Berkshire will
try to acquire the whole company unless
Occidental shares fall significantly. (AP)
in 2002 as large trade deficits and accounting scandals on Wall
Street weighed on the dollar.
Then as now, what appears to be a euro story is also in many
ways a dollar story. That’s because the U.S. dollar is still the
world’s dominant currency for trade and central bank reserves.
And the dollar has been hitting 20-year highs against the curren-
cies of its major trading partners, not just the euro.
The dollar is also benefiting from its status as a safe haven
for investors in times of uncertainty.
■ Many analysts attribute the euro’s slide to expectations
for rapid interest rate increases by the U.S. Federal Reserve to
combat inflation at close to 40-year highs.
As the Fed raises interest rates, the rates on interest-bearing
investments tend to rise as well. If the Fed raises rates more
than the European Central Bank, higher interest returns will
attract investor money from euros into dollar-denominated
investments. Those investors will have to sell euros and buy
dollars to buy those holdings. That drives the euro down and
the dollar up.
Last month, the ECB raised interest rates for the first time
in 11 years by a larger-than-expected half-percentage point. It
is expected to add another increase in September. But if the
economy sinks into recession, that could halt the ECB’s series
of rate increases.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy looks more robust, meaning
the Fed could go on tightening - and widen the rate gap.
■ American tourists in Europe will find cheaper hotel and
restaurant bills and admission tickets. The weaker euro could
make European export goods more competitive on price in the
United States. The U.S. and the EU are major trade partners, so
the exchange rate shift will get noticed.
In the U.S., a stronger dollar means lower prices on imported
goods - from cars and computers to toys and medical equip-
ment - which could help moderate inflation.
■ American companies that do a lot of business in Europe
will see the revenue from those businesses shrink when and if
they bring those earnings back to the U.S. If euro earnings re-
main in Europe to cover costs there, the exchange rate becomes
less of an issue.
A key worry for the U.S. is that a stronger dollar makes
U.S.-made products more expensive in overseas markets, wid-
ening the trade deficit and reducing economic output, while
giving foreign products a price edge in the United States.
A weaker euro can be a headache for the European Central
Bank because it can mean higher prices for imported goods,
particularly oil, which is priced in dollars. The ECB is already
being pulled in different directions: It is raising interest rates,
the typical medicine for inflation, but higher rates also can slow
economic growth.
operations. This vital symposium will bring together financial
leaders from airlines and our many supply chain partners to
discuss and debate the path forward and the challenges to be
overcome.”
A highlight of the WFS Opening Plenary will be an onstage
discussion with Akbar Al Baker and Willie Walsh on the theme
of the industry’s future.
Also:
DUBAI: In a newly released update on pilot shortages in
the aviation sector, global management consultancy Oliver
Wyman found that, as air travel demand continues to recover
this year, demand for airline pilots will outstrip supply in most
regions globally between 2022 and 2024 – with the Middle
East feeling the effects first.
According to André Martins, Partner – Head of IMEA
Transportation and Services at Oliver Wyman, “We expect the
Middle East to be the region affected soonest by the shortage
outside of North America, driven by a projected sharp increase
in air travel demand over the next few years, new players en-
tering the market and big tourism developments happening in
the region”.
The new figures from Oliver Wyman show that this spike in
demand for air travel coincides with flat then declining supply of
pilots in the region, due to a combination of lay-offs during the
COVID-19 pandemic, a falling number of newly-certified pilots,
and retirements eventually outstripping new pilots.
 ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022

BUSINESS 7

Musk subpoenas former Twitter CEO Dorsey

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has
subpoenaed his friend and for-
mer Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
as part of an effort to back out
of his $44 billion agreement to
acquire the company Dorsey
helped found, according to court
documents.
Twitter and Musk are headed
for an Oct. 17 trial in Delaware
that should determine whether
or not Twitter can force the bil-
lionaire to go through with the
acquisition.
Twitter has subpoenaed a
host of tech investors and en-
trepreneurs connected to Musk,
including prominent venture
capitalist Marc Andreessen and
David Sacks, the founding chief
operating officer of PayPal.
Musk has claimed that Twitter
failed to provide adequate infor-
mation about the number of fake,
or “spam bot,” Twitter accounts,
and that it has breached its ob-
ligations under the deal by firing
top managers and laying off a
significant number of employees.
Musk’s team expects more infor-
mation about the bot numbers to
be revealed in the trial court dis-
covery process, when both sides
must hand over evidence.
Twitter argues that Musk’s
reasons for backing out are just
a cover for buyer’s remorse.
Shortly after Musk agreed to pay
38% above Twitter’s stock price,
the stock market stumbled and
shares of the electric-car maker
Tesla, where most of Musk’s per-
Technology entrepre-
sonal wealth resides, lost more neur and former Twitter
than $100 billion of their value. CEO Jack Dorsey leaves
The subpoena was served after his talk with French
last week. It asks Dorsey for President Emmanuel
documents and communica- Macron at the Elysee
tions related to the acquisition, Palace in Paris on June
as well as information on the ef- 7, 2019. Tesla CEO Elon
fect of fake or spam accounts on Musk has subpoenaed
Twitter’s business and its meas- his friend Dorsey in his
urement of daily active users. legal fight to get out of his
A lawyer representing Dorsey $44 billion commitment to
did not immediately respond purchase Twitter. (AP)
to a message for comment on
Monday. (AP)

Talks on new funding from IMF

4 firms shortlisted for Egypt’s $2b industrial project

CAIRO, Aug 23, (Agencies): Anchorage Investments, which
develops, implements, and operates industrial projects in the
chemicals and blue hydrogen sectors, has shortlisted four
international contractors in the second phase of the EPC
(engineering, procurement, and construction) tender for the
Anchor Benitoite project.
The USD 2 billion project comprises a chemicals com-
plex that will be built in the industrial zone of the General
Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE)
in Egypt.
The four shortlisted companies are HYUNDAI Engineer-
ing & Construction Co., Ltd. (HDEC), SAMSUNG Engi-
neering Co., Ltd. of South Korea, TECHNIP ENERGIES,
S.p.A. of Italy, and TECNICAS REUNIDAS, S.A. of Spain.
Each company is experienced in the applications of propane
dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene.
The firms were selected based on a thorough evaluation
process which included strict criteria and a scoring system.
The successful contractor, selected in the final stage of the
tender, will be responsible for executing the Front-End Engi-
neering Design (FEED) phase, followed by the full engineer-
ing, procurement, construction, commissioning, and launch
of operations.
Scheduled to be completed within three years after the
FEED phase, the project aims to contribute to Egypt’s GDP,
and increase its chemical exports and foreign direct invest-
ments.
Dr. Ahmed Moharram, Founder and Managing Director of
Anchorage Investments, said: “The international companies
that qualified for the second phase are world-class contrac-
tors who have proven track records and global experience.
Our selection reflects how Anchorage Investments is keen to
make the Anchor Benitoite project a lighthouse project that
meets international standards and delivers for investors who
are looking to strengthen their presence in Egypt.”
He added: “More than 20 international companies with
high credit ratings will participate in the Anchor Benitoite
project, including reliable foreign financial institutions and
commercial banks.”
The project is in line with the Egypt’s plans to promote
foreign direct investment, which has increased significantly
in recent months.
Several Saudi Arabian companies signed agreements in
June to invest USD 7.7 billion in Egypt, with Saudi Arabia
expressing its intention to allocate USD 30 billion of invest-
ments in the North African country. Gulf states have pledged
more than USD 22 billion to support the Egyptian economy,
including billions in industrial projects.
Also:
CAIRO: Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli said
Monday the talks between his government and the Interna-
tional Monetary Fund on new loan agreements have entered
the final stage.
“Egypt pursues an effective economic reform program
which helped secure high growth rates but the coronavirus
pandemic and the war in Ukraine acted as a brake on these
rates,” he regretted.
The prime minister made the comments during the Youth
Forum, being hosted by New Alamain city northwest Egypt,
according to a statement from his office.
He noted that Egypt is one of the few countries that still
offer subsidy to staples and pursue housing programs geared
for low-, and medium-, income people.
The government works with the Central Bank of Egypt
to contain the rising inflation which proved to be a global
problem, Madbouli said, voicing hope the signs of recovery
would appear in the few months ahead.

An offshore drilling rig is seen in the waters off Cy-
prus’ coastal city of Limassol, July 5, 2020, as a sail-
boat sails in the foreground. A new gas discovery
off Cyprus’ southern coast that’s estimated to con-
tain around 2.5 trillion cubic feet of the hydrocarbon
Move to secure alternative sources
bolsters Europe’s efforts to secure alternative energy
sources, the Cypriot energy ministry said on Mon-
day, Aug. 22, 2022, as a supply crisis triggered by
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to trouble the
continent. (AP)
the bottomline
ROME: Pope Francis on Tuesday imposed an Oct. 1 deadline
for all Holy See offices and Vatican-linked institutions to de-
posit their assets with the Vatican bank.
Francis’ decree follows his decision earlier this year to
entrust management of all Vatican assets to one office - the
patrimony office known as APSA - in a bid to end decades
of mismanagement that culminated with a scandal over a 350
million-euro investment in a London property. Ten people,
including former Vatican officials and external brokers, are
on trial in the Vatican tribunal on finance-related charges re-
lated to the deal.
The Vatican’s economy ministry in July issued a new in-
vestment policy requiring all Vatican departments to transfer
their assets and investments to APSA via its accounts at the
Vatican bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works,
or IOR. No specific deadline was given, but the decree pub-
lished Tuesday says all assets must be transferred by Sept.
30. (AP)
❑ ❑ ❑
VILNIUS: Lithuania’s foreign minister said Tuesday that if
the EU won’t agree on a visa ban for Russian tourists, he
won’t rule out looking for a regional solution that could in-
volve the Baltic states, Poland and possibly Finland.
Gabrielius Landsbergis said Tuesday he prefers “a Euro-
pean solution because it’s the most sustainable and legally
correct.”
“If such a solution is not found, we do not rule out looking
for a regional solution,” Landsbergis said. He didn’t elabo-
rate on what that might be. (AP)
❑ ❑ ❑
BUDAPEST: Hungary’s government has ordered an inves-
tigation of domestic low-cost carrier Wizz Air over what
it calls possible breaches of consumer protection laws, the
flights are delayed or cancelled, according to Hungary’s state
news agency MTI.
Other complaints included Wizz Air failing to provide ac-
commodation and rebooking for affected passengers, failure
to respond to consumer complaints within 30 days and operat-
ing a paid customer service line, which violates Hungarian law
and consumer rights, the ministry said in a statement. (AP)
❑ ❑ ❑
SOFIA: Bulgaria’s interim government signaled its readiness
to negotiate with Russian energy company Gazprom on the
resumption of natural gas deliveries, the caretaker energy
minister said Monday.
Rosen Hristov didn’t set a date for talks with the firm,
but said that the gas demands of the industry and heat-
ing companies were forcing the government to begin talks
with Gazprom to renew supplies which he called “inevi-
table.”
Bulgaria’s contract with Gazprom expires at the end of
2022, but Russia halted deliveries in late April after the pre-
vious pro-Western government in Sofia refused Gazprom’s
demand to pay for it in rubles.
❑ ❑ ❑
DHAKA: Schools in Bangladesh will close an additional day
each week and government offices and banks will shorten
their work days by an hour to reduce electricity usage
amid concerns over rising fuel prices and the impact of the
Ukraine war.
The reduced hours take effect Wednesday. In Bangladesh,
most schools are closed on Fridays, but now will also close
on Saturdays, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam
said Monday.
He said government offices and banks will cut their work
days to seven hours from the previous eight hours, but that
private offices will be allowed to set their own schedules.

Cyprus says new gas discovery second such investigation it has launched against an airline
since June.
The probe, ordered by Hungary’s Ministry of Justice
comes after the ministry said it received an increase in com-
Supply disruptions caused by the Ukraine war have led to
soaring world prices for energy and food.
Bangladesh has been taking measures in recent weeks
to ease pressure on its declining foreign currency reserves.

‘aids’ Europe’s energy search

plaints against the Budapest-based airline over its failure Last month, fuel prices were raised by more than 50%.
to provide information and assistance to customers whose (AP)

NICOSIA, Aug 23, (AP): A new natural
gas discovery off Cyprus’ southern coast
that is estimated to contain around 2.5 tril-
lion cubic feet of the hydrocarbon bolsters
Europe’s efforts to secure alternative en-
ergy sources, the Cypriot energy ministry
said Monday, as a supply crisis triggered
by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues
to trouble the continent.
The ministry said in a statement that the discovery
by partners Eni of Italy and France’s Total was made
at the Cronos-1 well 160 kilometers (100 miles) off
the coast in 2,287 meters (7,500 feet) of water inside
Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone and is the second
deposit that the Eni-Total consortium has discovered
there.
The consortium hasn’t provided any estimates regarding
how much natural gas is contained in the initial “Calypso”
field found in 2018. But Eni said in a statement Monday that
the Cronos-1 discovery “can unlock additional potential in
the area” and is part of the company’s “successful effort to
provide further gas supply to Europe.”
The Cronos discovery brings the number of deposits found
off Cyprus to four - two by Eni-Total, one by ExxonMobil
and partners Qatar Petroleum estimated to hold 5-8 trillion
cubic feet of gas and another by Chevron and partners Shell
and Israeli NewMed Energy that contains up to 4.4 trillion
cubic feet.
The Energy Ministry said the Eni-Total consortium’s drill
ship Tungsten Explorer has now relocated to a new well tar-
get to “assess the quantities of gas with greater precision.”
The Cypriot government has said that Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine provided an additional impetus to the search for
alternative fuel sources, especially after the European Union
confirmed that natural gas could act as a bridge fuel until
2050 as part of the bloc’s transition to cleaner energy.
Energy Minister Natasa Pilides said the EU’s drive to
wean itself off Russian gas further entrenches Cyprus’ inclu-
sion into the 27-member bloc’s energy planning.
Pilides said the fact that the new discovery is in an area
adjacent to where ExxonMobil is drilling could pave the way
for cooperation with the Eni-Total consortium.
She added that the most likely scenario for getting gas to
European markets remains conveying it through a pipeline to
Egyptian processing plants for liquefaction and then trans-
porting it by ship.

Developers seek mineral rights leases

Twin Metals sues Biden administration

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug 23, (AP): The developers of a pro-
posed copper-nickel mine upstream from the Boundary Wa-
ters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota sued
the Biden administration Monday to seek the reinstatement
of federal mineral rights leases that are crucial to the $1.7
billion project.
Twin Metals Minnesota alleged in its lawsuit, filed in fed-
eral court in Washington, that the Department of the Interior
acted illegally earlier this year when it canceled the leases.
The company asked the court to declare that those leases re-
main valid and in force, so that it can proceed with the envi-
ronmental review and permitting process.
The proposed underground mine, southeast of Ely near
Birch Lake, is struggling to survive amid shifting political
winds. The Obama administration, in its final weeks, chose
not to renew the two leases, which had dated back more
than 50 years. The Trump administration reversed that deci-
sion and reinstated the leases. But the Biden administration
canceled the leases in January after reviving a potential 20-
year mining moratorium in that area that the Obama admin-
istration tried to launch.
After the change in administrations in 2021, the lawsuit
alleges, Interior officials “exacted a tightly coordinated set of
unlawful actions” that culminated in the loss of Twin Metals’
leases. “This coordinated campaign constituted nothing less
than an unlawful attempt to rewrite the policy choices that
Congress has made about the proper balance between envi-
ronmental concerns and the availability of mining on public
lands,” the lawsuit says.
Officials with the Interior Department declined to com-
ment on the lawsuit.
“We are standing up for our right to a fair and consist-
ent environmental review of our proposed mining project,”
Dean DeBeltz, Twin Metals’ director of operations, said in
a statement. “Our plan is backed by decades of exploration
and analysis and is rooted in the most environmentally so-
phisticated design, which is tailored for our project location
and mineral deposit. It deserves a fair evaluation by federal
regulators based on its merits.”
The moratorium proposal would “withdraw” 352 square
miles (912 square kilometers) within the Rainy River watershed
in the Superior National Forest from new mineral leasing for 20
years. That threatens to doom Twin Metals. But it would not af-
fect a separate project, the proposed PolyMet mine near Babbitt
and Hoyt Lakes, which lies in a different watershed.
The U.S. Forest Service issued a draft environmental as-
sessment in June to lay the foundation for the moratorium,
saying it aimed “to prevent further negative environmental
impacts from future mining operations.” The public com-
ment period closed Aug. 12. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland
will make the final decision.
Environmental groups have been fighting Twin Metals for
years, saying the risk of acid mine drainage poses an unac-
ceptable threat to the country’s most-visited federally desig-
nated wilderness area.
“The Trump administration illegally reinstated these min-
eral leases,” Chris Knopf, executive director of Friends of the
Boundary Waters Wilderness, said in a statement. “After care-
ful consideration of law, policy, and science, the Department
of Interior properly prevented this illegal mining operation
from going forward. This frivolous lawsuit puts profits over
people and threatens the clean water of the Boundary Waters.”
Twin Metals, owned by the Chilean mining company An-
tofagasta, contends that its underground design and other
features would prevent acid formation by limiting the expo-
sure of the sulfide-bearing ore to the effects of air and water.
It was in the early stages of of seeking state permits when
the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources shut down
its own environmental review process in February, citing the
company’s loss of its federal leases.
 ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022

BUSINESS 8

The Hyundai company

logo is displayed Sunday, fire risk prompts recalls Dutch govt under fire
Sept. 12, 2021, in Littleton,
Colo. Hyundai and Kia are Hyundai and Kia are telling owners of some of their large SUVs Dutch lawmakers broke into their summer vacations Tuesday
telling owners, Tuesday, to park them outdoors and away from buildings after a series of to debate the government’s contentious plans to slash nitrogen
Aug. 23, 2022, of some fires involving trailer hitch wiring. emissions that have sparked angry protests by farmers.
large SUVs to park them The Korean automakers are recalling more than 281,000 vehi- The debate was called after Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra
outdoors and away from cles in the U.S. because of the problem, but they haven’t figured said in a newspaper interview that the goal of reducing emis-
structures after a series out how to fix it yet. The automakers reported 25 fires or melting sions by 50% by 2030 was not set in stone. Hoekstra’s Christian
of fires involving trailer incidents in the U.S. and Canada caused by the problem, but no Democrats party, which traditionally wins votes among farmers
hitch wiring. The Korean crashes or injuries. The recalls cover more than 245,000 Hyun- and in rural communities, has been losing support in polls since
automakers are recalling dai Palisade and over 36,000 Kia Telluride SUVs from the 2020 the government published its nitrogen targets.
more than 281,000 vehi- through 2022 model years. Hoekstra’s comments caused friction in Prime Minister Mark
cles in the U.S. because In documents posted Tuesday by the U.S. National Highway Rutte’s four-party ruling Cabinet and led to lawmakers backing a
of the problem, but they Traffic Safety Administration, the companies said debris and call for a debate that will be the first major test of unity since the
haven’t figured out how to moisture can accumulate in a circuit board in the tow hitch wiring. coalition took office in January after the country’s longest ever
fix it yet. (AP) That can cause an electrical short, which can lead to a fire. (AP) government formation negotiations. (AP)

The Conversation

Big gaps exist between rural and urban areas

Six benefits that metaverse offers to colleges

The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news,
analysis and commentary from academic experts.
❑ ❑ ❑
E ven though it’s unclear what exactly the metaverse is and whether it even
exists, colleges and universities have jumped onto the metaverse bandwag-
on. They have augmented in-person and remote video learning with features
such as gamified interactive virtual worlds, virtual reality and mixed reality.
In one of the largest efforts thus far, 10 U.S. colleges and universities have
teamed up with U.S. technology company Meta and Irish virtual reality platform
Engage to create 3D digital versions of their campuses, known as a metaversity.
Students will engage in learning wearing immersive virtual reality headsets.
In my recent research, I have examined the metaverse and how it affects or-
ganizations and societies. I see six benefits that the metaverse offers to colleges.
Colleges are facing budget constraints and lack access to resources necessary
for learning. The metaverse can help them overcome such constraints.
For example, Nashville, Tennessee-based Fisk University hasn’t purchased
cadavers due to high costs and maintenance challenges. The university is en-
hancing its pre-med program with virtual reality cadavers, which are a more
affordable alternative.
In the virtual reality lab, a human heart can be pulled out from a cadaver’s
chest cavity. It creates the sense that students can feel the weight of the heart in
their hands and examine it. They can enlarge it. The class sees and touches the
ventricle walls. Students can compare different hearts to understand the results
of health decisions that humans made when they were alive. They engage in
By Nir Kshetri
University of North Carolina - Greensboro
discussion and agree on the correct diagnosis.
Virtual cadavers don’t degrade and are easy to maintain. Additional features,
such as surgical procedures and comparative learning between humans and ani-
mals, can be added over time.
Virtual training provides an effective means of visually demonstrating con-
cepts with step-by-step instructions to illustrate tasks. They provide opportuni-
ties for learning by doing. Immersion in games can increase engagement in
learning activities.
Atlanta’s Morehouse College has piloted a metaversity that involves courses
in world history, biology and chemistry. The college found that virtual reality
classes increased student satisfaction, engagement and achievement compared
to traditional and online formats and increased students’ academic performance.
For instance, the virtual reality world history class had a 10% increase in stu-
dents’ GPAs compared with the same class taught via Zoom and face-to-face
the year before.
The internet performs well for sending emails, spreadsheets and PDFs from
one device to another to be reviewed or modified independently and asynchro-
nously. It wasn’t built for person-to-person type live and interactive experi-
ences, especially with many participants. Likewise, virtual spaces such as Zoom
mostly allow a single conversation. In physical events, participants can move
fluidly from one conversation to another.
Some universities are using metaverse technologies to overcome limitations
of the internet and video meeting tools. Metaverse-related technologies bridge
the gap between real-life and virtual interactions by allowing people to interact
more naturally.
Professors and students at the University of Chicago and the University of
Pennsylvania use virtual meeting space Gather, which mimics features of real-
life interactions. Users create avatars and navigate a virtual map that represents
the physical environment, such as a building. The proximity chat feature make
users feel that they are running into other students and professors in the hall. Us-
ers see and hear video and audio feeds of participants close to them. When they
move away, the sounds cannot be heard and the video disappears. Unlike on
Zoom, users aren’t forced to be in a single conversation. They can move fluidly
between conversations as speakers or listeners.
The University of Pennsylvania’s computer and information science depart-
ment used Gather to recreate Levine Hall, which is home to the department. The
virtual building’s layout mimics classrooms, laboratories, elevators, stairwells
and other features of Levine Hall. The student-run hub of technological innova-
tion, Weiss Tech House, has also been recreated virtually.
The Gather space accommodates 200 students and supports multiple conver-
sations simultaneously. There are six virtual spaces that correspond the build-
ing’s six floors. Small groups can branch off into subgroups to work on tasks or
engage in conversation.
In some situations, learning in real-world environments, such as those involv-
ing chemical experiments and flying airplanes, is risky. In such cases, special
equipment, such as virtual reality headsets, software and special gloves for hap-
tic responses, can create immersive simulations of real environments. Learners
feel as though the digital world is real. (AP)

German gas storage 80% full

Inflation rate in Germany

to hit new high in winter
BERLIN, Aug 22, (Agencies): The Central
Bank of Germany (Deutsche Bundesbank)
drew a gloomy economic outlook for the
country this winter, expecting the Inflation
rate to nearly 10 percent.
The economic output in Germany stagnated in spring
2022, according to the Federal Statistical Office’s flash
report released on Monday.
A Ford logo is seen on signage at Country Ford in Graham, N.C., Tuesday, July 27, 2021. Ford Motor Co.
is cutting about 3,000 white-collar workers as it moves to reduce costs and make the transition from internal The seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product
combustion to electric vehicles, leaders of the Dearborn, Mich., automaker announced Monday, Aug. 22, (GDP) stagnated in the second quarter compared with the
2022, in a companywide email. (AP) previous quarter.
The economy was caught between opposing forces in
Bid to lower costs the second quarter.
On the demand side, the economy was buoyed mainly
by private consumption, according to the Bundesbank’s
Economists believe that the probability of GDP declin-
ing in the approaching fourth quarter of 2022 and the first
quarter of 2023 has increased considerably. --
Regarding Inflation, the report said the exceptionally
strong rise in seasonally adjusted harmonised consumer
prices (HICP) continued into the second quarter.
Energy prices went up as crude oil prices continued to
increase. The latter had risen even more sharply in euro
terms as a result of the marked depreciation against the
US dollar, the Bundesbank’s experts explained.
This development obscured the temporary reduction in
fuel taxes (fuel rebate).
The lower tax rates were introduced as part of the three-
month relief package as of June and were probably also
passed on to end customers for the most part, the report
states.

Ford cutting 3,000 white-collar jobs latest Monthly Report.

DETROIT, Aug 23, (AP): About 3,000
white-collar workers at Ford Motor Co.
will lose their jobs as the company cuts
costs to help make the long transition
from internal combustion vehicles to
those powered by batteries.
Leaders of the Dearborn, Michigan,
automaker made the announcement
Monday in a companywide email, say-
ing that 2,000 full-time salaried work-
ers would be let go along with another
1,000 contract workers.
The cuts represent about 6% of the
31,000 full-time salaried work force in
the the U.S. and Canada. Ford’s 56,000
union factory workers are not affected.
Some workers also will lose jobs in India.
The job losses come at a time of un-
precedented change in the auto industry
that for more than 100 years has made a
living by selling petroleum-powered ve-
hicles. Governments across the globe are
pushing to eliminate combustion auto-
mobiles to mitigate the impact of climate
change. Companies like Ford are orches-
trating the wind-down of their combus-
tion businesses over multiple years, even
though they are still generating the cash
to fund electric vehicle development.
Ford has said it plans for half of its
global production to be electric vehi-
cles by 2030.
Executive Chairman Bill Ford and
CEO Jim Farley said in the email to
employees that Ford will provide sever-
ance benefits and significant help for the
workers to find new jobs. They wrote
that Ford has a chance to lead in the new
era of connected and electric vehicles.
The elimination of coronavirus mitigation measures
went hand in hand with a strong increase in consumer
spending on services to which access had previously been
restricted, the Bank’s experts write.
Exports also provided a boost, noted the economists.
Business investment in new machinery and equipment
is likely to have risen only marginally at most owing to
the high level of uncertainty and supply bottlenecks.
Construction investment is likely to have fallen sharp-
ly, according to the report.
High energy prices and concerns about a gas shortage
also had an impact on enterprises.--
However, the most recent data suggest that industry
and foreign trade have withstood the negative factors to
date.--
Electricity and gas tariffs were again raised significant-
ly in the second quarter. Although the cost of services
continued to rise markedly up to May, prices declined
distinctly in June. --
The sharp rise in prices continued in July. Food prices,
in particular, continued to climb very sharply.
Economists expect new records for the Inflation rate
in the autumn, with another marked rise expected once
the measures contained in the relief package expire in
September. --
The increase in the general statutory minimum wage
and the depreciation of the euro will bring additional cost
pressures in the coming months.
In addition, a levy on gas tariffs is to be introduced in
October, while the VAT rate on gas is to be lowered at
the same time.
 ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022

BUSINESS 9

Macy’s lowers outlook despite solid second quarter
Macy’s cut its outlook for the year Tuesday
despite topping Wall Street expectations
as it faces a glut of unsold inventory that
has afflicted almost the entire retail sector.
The department store earned $275 mil-
lion, or 99 cents per share, in the three-
month period that ended July 30, or $1 if
one-time charges are removed. That easily
topped the per-share earnings of 86 cents
that industry analysts had expected, ac-
cording to a survey by FactSet.
Sales slipped roughly 1% to $5.6 billion,
but that was also stronger than anticipated.
Shoppers walk into
a Macy’s department
store on Feb 22,
However, sales and profit are down from related merchandise like casual wear and 2021, at Miami Inter-
last year. home furnishings to clear it, he said. national Mall in Doral,
Sales at stores opened at least a year Americans are under financial pressure Fla. Macy’s reported
fell 1.5%, or 1.6% including licensed busi- from inflation that is hovering near four- fiscal second quarter,
nesses like cosmetics. Online sales fell 5%. decade highs. That has registered across Aug 23 that beat Wall
“We delivered sold results despite the the retail sector in the last few months with Street estimates, but
challenging environment,” said CEO Jeff few exceptions. lowered its outlook
Gennette. Shoppers are trading down to cheaper as it faces a glut of
Macy’s cut orders where it could to better brands, looking for discounts, and mak- inventory it needs to
sync with customer demand, but Gennette ing fewer visits to stores. Kohl’s last week clear amid inflationary
said inventory in some categories remains slashed its sales and profit expectations for pressures are making
high. The company is cutting prices on sea- the year, a result of its stepped up price cut- shoppers pull back.
sonal goods, private label and pandemic- ting to shed unwanted merchandise. (AP) (AP)

‘The harm company was claiming too speculative’

Judge rules against Ben & Jerry’s in fight over Israel sales
WASHINGTON, Aug 23, (AP): A federal judge on Monday rejected a request
by Ben & Jerry’s to block a plan by its corporate parent to allow its products
to be sold in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank against the wishes of
the Vermont ice cream maker’s independent board of directors.
US District Court Judge Andrew Carter said Ben & Jerry’s failed to show
that the decision by London-based consumer goods conglomerate Unilever
would hurt Ben and Jerry’s social mission or confuse its customers.
In his three-page decision, Carter said that the harm Ben & Jerry’s was
claiming was “too speculative.”
“The products sold in Israel and the West Bank will use no English trade-
marks, instead displaying new Hebrew and Arabic language Ben & Jerry’s
trademarks,” the decision said. “Thus, the products sold in Israel and the West
Bank will be dissimilar from other Ben & Jerry’s products, mitigating, if not
eliminating, the possibility of reputational harm.”
Ben & Jerry’s spokesman Sean Greenwood said Monday that the company
had “no new position for us to share at this time.”
Ben & Jerry’s complaint in the case filed last month outlined the company’s
tradition of social activism over its 44-year history, including opposition to US
nuclear weapons spending in the 1980s, and in the 1990s, supporting farmers.
Activism
That activism continued after it was purchased by Unilever in 2000 with the
focus on, among other issues, migrant justice and climate change. In the after-
math of the 2020 death of George Floyd, Ben & Jerry’s became an advocate
for Black Lives Matter.
Last year Ben & Jerry’s independent board said it was going to stop selling
its ice cream in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and contested east Jerusalem,
saying the sales in the territories sought by the Palestinians are “inconsistent
with our values.”
Earlier this year, Unilever announced that it was selling its business inter-
est in Ben & Jerry’s in Israel to its Israeli licensee, which would market the
products with Hebrew and Arabic labels.
In its suit, Ben & Jerry’s argued the move by Unilever “poses a risk” to the
integrity of its brand. Ben & Jerry’s also claimed the deal violated the 2000
acquisition agreement that allowed Ben & Jerry’s to continue its progressive
social mission independent of business decisions made by Unilever.
An email sent to Unilever was not immediately returned Monday, but the
company has said in the past it did have the right to the sale and that, “The deal
has already closed.”
While the 2000 acquisition agreement allowed the Ben & Jerry’s board to
make decisions about the company’s social mission, it stipulated Unilever
would have the final word on financial and operational decisions.

Cineworld faces challenges ‘It’s almost overwhelming’

Conditions dimming at As Amazon grows, so does its eye on consumers

‘many’ movie theaters
LONDON, Aug 23, (AP): Condi-
tions are dimming at many movie
theaters around the world.
Cineworld Group PLC, one of
the industry’s biggest theater op-
erators, confirmed Monday that it’s
considering filing for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection in the U.S.,
as it contends with billions of dol-
lars in debt and more empty seats in
front of its screens than expected.
The British company, which
owns Regal Cinemas in the United
States and operates in 10 countries,
said its theaters remain “open for
business as usual” as it consid-
ers options for relief from its debt
load. Cineworld said it expects to
continue operating even after any
potential filing, though its stock
investors could face steep or total
losses on their holdings.
Cineworld faces challenges
specific to itself after building up
$4.8 billion in net debt, not includ-
ing lease liabilities. But the entire
industry is navigating a tenuous
recovery after the pandemic shut
theaters worldwide.
Moviegoers
To be sure, moviegoers have
streamed back into theaters this
year to see blockbusters like “Spi-
der-Man: No Way Home,” “Top
Gun: Maverick,” and ”Jurassic
Park: Dominion.” Industry giant
Warner Discovery has said it’s
doubling down on theaters and
moving away from debuting films
on its HBO Max streaming service.
But this summer’s $3.3 billion in
ticket sales is still running nearly
20% behind the summer of 2019,
before the pandemic, as of Sunday,
according to data firm Comscore.
And there don’t seem to be any big
hits on the immediate horizon to
make those numbers much better.
Cineworld said its admissions
levels have recently been below
expectations. And with a “limited
film slate,” it expects the lower
levels to continue until November.
That would mean an additional
crunch to its finances.
Holding
Cineworld said it’s holding talks
with lenders and other major stake-
holders as it reviews its financial
options. It also said it expects “ulti-
mately to continue its business over
the longer term with no significant
impact upon its employees.” It has
about 28,000 workers, according to
the company’s website.
Even if employees could make
it through intact, shareholders may
not. The company warned again
Monday that a transaction to ease
the debt on its balance sheet could
hurt its stock investors.
The company’s stock in London
tumbled 21.4% to the equivalent
of roughly 3.8 US cents. That fol-
lowed a 58.3% plunge on Friday
after The Wall Street Journal re-
ported the company was preparing
to file for bankruptcy protection
within weeks.
Shares of other theater chains
also stumbled Monday, but no-
where near as much as Cineworld.
Cinemark Holdings fell 5.8% to
$15.33, for example.
Its executives said earlier in Au-
gust that the next two months will
be challenged by a dip in new re-
leases. But they also said they’re
hopeful for a strong close of the
year.
LOS ANGELES, Aug 23,
(AP): From what you buy
online, to how you remem-
ber tasks, to when you
monitor your doorstep,
Amazon is seemingly eve-
rywhere.
And it appears the company
doesn’t want to halt its reach any-
time soon. In recent weeks, Ama-
zon has said it will spend billions
of dollars in two gigantic acquisi-
tions that, if approved, will broad-
en its ever growing presence in the
lives of consumers.
This time, the company is target-
ing two areas: health care, through its
$3.9 billion buyout of the primary care
company One Medical, and the “smart
home,” where it plans to expand its
already mighty presence through a
$1.7 billion merger with iRobot, the
maker of the popular robotic Roomba
vacuum.
Unsurprisingly
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a com-
pany known for its vast collection of
consumer information, both mergers
have heightened enduring privacy con-
cerns about how Amazon gathers data
and what it does with it. The latest line
of Roombas, for example, employ sen-
sors that map and remember a home’s
floor plan.
“It’s acquiring this vast set of data
that Roomba collects about people’s
homes,” said Ron Knox, an Amazon
critic who works for the anti-monop-
oly group Institute for Local Self-Re-
liance. “Its obvious intent, through all
the other products that it sells to con-
sumers, is to be in your home. (And)
along with the privacy issues come the
antitrust issues, because it’s buying
market share.”
Amazon’s reach goes well beyond
The Amazon logo is seen in Douai, northern France, April 16, 2020. In Au-
gust 2022, Amazon has said it will spend billions of dollars in two gigantic
acquisitions that, if approved, will broaden its ever growing presence in the
lives of consumers. This time, the company is targeting two areas: health
care and the ‘smart home’. (AP)
that. Some estimates show the retail gi-
ant controls roughly 38% of the US e-
commerce market, allowing it to gath-
er granular data about the shopping
preferences of millions of Americans
and more worldwide. Meanwhile, its
Echo devices, which house the voice
assistant Alexa, have dominated the
US smart speaker market, accounting
for roughly 70% of sales, according
to estimates by Consumer Intelligence
Research Partners.
Ring, which Amazon purchased in
2018 for $1 billion, monitors door-
steps and helps police track down
crime — even when users might not
be aware. And at select Amazon stores
and Whole Foods, the company is test-
ing a palm-scanning technology that
allows customers to pay for items by
storing biometric data in the cloud,
sparking concerns about risks of a data
breach, which Amazon has attempted
to assuage. “We treat your palm sig-
nature just like other highly sensitive
personal data and keep it safe using
best-in-class technical and physical
security controls,” the company said
on a website that provides information
about the technology.
Networks
Even consumers who actively avoid
Amazon are still likely to have little
say about how their employers power
their computer networks, which Ama-
zon — along with Google — has long
dominated through its cloud-comput-
ing service AWS.
“It’s hard to think of another organi-
zation that has as many touch points as
Amazon does to an individual,” said
Ian Greenblatt, who heads up tech re-
search at the consumer research and
data analytics firm J.D. Power. “It’s
almost overwhelming, and it’s hard to
put a finger on it.”
And Amazon — like any company
— aims to grow. In the past few years,
the company has purchased the Wi-Fi
startup Eero and partnered with the
construction company Lennar to offer
tech-powered houses. With iRobot, it
would gain one more building block
for the ultimate smart home — and, of
course, more data.
Devices
Customers can opt out of having
iRobot devices store a layout of their
homes, according to the vacuum mak-
er. But data privacy advocates worry
the merger is another way Amazon
could suck up information to integrate
into its other devices or use to target
consumers with ads.
In a statement, Amazon spokesper-
son Lisa Levandowski denied that’s
what the company wants to do.
“We do not use home maps for tar-
geted advertising and have no plans to
do so,” Levandowski said.
Whether that will relieve concerns
is another matter, especially in light
of research about Amazon’s other
devices. Earlier this year, a group of
university researchers released a report
that found voice data from Amazon’s
Echo devices are used to target ads to
consumers — something the company
had denied in the past.
Umar Iqbal, a postdoc at the Univer-
sity of Washington who led the research,
said he and his colleagues found Echo
devices running third-party Skills, which
are like apps for Alexa, that communi-
cate with advertisers.
Levandowski said consumers can
opt out of receiving “interest-based”
ads by adjusting their preferences on
Amazon’s advertising preferences
page. She also said Amazon doesn’t
share Alexa requests with advertising
networks.
 ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022

BUSINESS 10

c-LEcta reports record year with significant growth

c-LEcta, a biotechnology company with tech-
nology leadership in enzyme engineering
and bioprocess development, successfully
continued its dynamic business development
in fiscal year 2021.
“We are very proud of our performance in
recent years. Our products have provided
good growth momentum, but also great resil-
ience due to the diverse use cases and this
has supported us over the last two years. To
continue to drive this growth in the long term,
we have continued to build our team this year
and are now pleased to have 120 highly qual-
ified employees on board. We plan to contin-
ue to invest in additional staff and equipment
in the future, as well,” commented Thomas
Pfaadt, CFO of c-LEcta GmbH.
The EXCiPACT certification of c-LEcta’s
high quality standards in production and
distribution was a highlight of the past year.
The requirements for these certifications go
beyond those of ISO 9001 and represents an
international seal of approval that guarantees
the highest quality standards for pharmaceu-
tical excipients and other critical input materi-
als in the pharmaceutical industry. The certifi-
cation confirmed the high quality standards of
c-LEcta and reduces the effort for customers
regarding supplier audits in the future.
The product NuCLEANase, a specially op-
timized enzyme preparation that cleaves all c-LEcta reports record
types of DNA, was launched in October 2021. year with significant
This can be used to remove DNA residues
growth
from products manufactured by using micro-
organisms such as enzymes for the food and
feed industries. NuCLEANase was already in
high demand at the time of its sales launch,
which only underscores its great market po-
tential. (AP)

Breakthrough enables bio-friendly materials

Nexus announces launch of PressON™ posterior lumbar fixation system

SALT LAKE CITY, Aug 23, (AP): Nexus Spine, a developer of biome-
chanically-advanced solutions for spinal pathologies, announced the full
commercial launch of its PressON™ posterior lumbar fixation system.
PressON™ features rods that press onto pedicle screws rather than at-
tach using set screws. This novel design is approximately one quarter
the size of traditional systems, is faster to implant, 1 is biomechanically
stronger, 2 eliminates the possibility of set screw loosening, and allows
for intraoperative construction of patient-specific rods. This full mar-
ket release adds to the company’s growing compliant mechanism-based
portfolio, including its line of flexible Tranquil™ titanium interbody fu-
sion devices, and follows a lengthy validation phase of refinements and
system enhancements.
Nexus’s use of compliant mechanism technology allows for the crea-
tion of novel designs that behave in fundamentally new ways to solve
unmet clinical needs. Compliant mechanisms function by bending rather
than sliding. As an example, PressON™ incorporates flexible bores that
are stretched over pedicle screw heads during implantation. The result-
ing elastic interference fit between screw and rod does not use tradi-
tional set screws, which have been shown to loosen during implantation
and postoperatively. 3, 4 Thomas Sweeney, II, MD, PhD, the surgeon
designer of the system, commented, “There hasn’t been meaningful in-
novation in non-deformity posterior fixation technologies in a very long
time. PressON™ is unlike anything else on the market in the way that the
components are connected. Not only does it result in a construct that is
smaller, stronger, and faster to implant, but it is also unique in its ability
to create patient-specific multilevel rods intraoperatively. As a result, it
eliminates the need for rod bending and the pain associated with improp-
erly bent rods and rod creep. PressON™ is uniquely poised to disrupt
the posterior lumbar fixation market that has long been mired by a lack
of differentiation.”
“Our expertise in compliant mechanism engineering allows us to do
some really unique things,” commented David Hawkes, President of Nex-
us Spine. “The ability to secure PressON™ rods through elastic interfer-
ence rather than using set screws is certainly a paradigm shift. We are in
the process of shining a light on the incidence and harmful effects 4 of set
screw loosening through clinical and benchtop research. We look forward
to sharing the results of these studies soon.”
Bending
Compliant mechanisms mimic nature by providing motion and force
transmission through bending rather than from traditional sliding joints.
This breakthrough enables bio-friendly materials such as titanium to func-
tion more like human tissues, at the macro and microscopic levels. This
approach utilizes modern mathematical modeling, 3D finite elemental
analysis, and 3D printing to drastically improve the way that spinal im-
plants perform. Nexus compliant mechanism-based devices have been
implanted in patients since 2015 with the goal of achieving faster healing
with less pain and at a lower cost.
PressON™ is a unique pedicle screw-based spinal fixation system
that features rods that are elastically pressed on to screw heads instead
of tightened using traditional set screws, which are prone to loosening
and subsequent construct instability. 4 PressON™ employs compliant
mechanism technology to match the patient’s specific anatomical needs,
eliminating spinal rod-bending and other painful persuasion techniques
currently used in spinal surgeries. Additionally, PressON™ is substan-
tially faster 1 and easier to implant and is roughly one quarter the volume
of competitive devices, thus decreasing incision length and soft tissue
irritation.
Tranquil™ is a flexible interbody fusion device made of titanium that is
shaped and engineered using compliant mechanism principals to behave
like spinal trabecular bone by mimicking its stiffness, resulting in a device
that is 1/10th the stiffness of traditional competitive interbody fusion im-
plants. Tranquil™ is available in cervical, ALIF, PLIF, TLIF, steerable
TLIF, and DLIF configurations.
Nexus Spine develops industry-leading spinal implants by leverag-
ing our novel compliant mechanism engineering expertise. Our innova-
tive and evidence-based approach continues to advance the standard of
surgical technologies through a rigorous focus on improving clinical
outcomes while being easier to implant. Our streamlined spinal fusion
systems minimize implant bulk, surgery time, and hospital handling,
which make them especially well-suited for the ambulatory surgery
center setting.

‘Incredible expertise’ Consumers have rights to access safer alternatives

Athletic Greens names Dr

Attia as Scientific Advisor
NEW YORK, Aug 23, (AP): Ath-
letic Greens, the pioneer in foun-
dational nutrition, announced that
Dr Peter Attia has been named
Scientific Advisor to the company.
Dr Attia, who received his medical
training at Stanford University, the
Johns Hopkins Hospital and Na-
tional Institute of Health, is a phy-
sician in private practice at Early
Medical focused on the applied
science of longevity, the extension
of human life and well-being. At-
tia is also host of the podcast, The
Peter Attia Drive Podcast.
“Longevity is predicated on five
pillars, of which nutrition is an im-
portant one. The challenge is that it
can be very difficult for people to
get adequate and appropriate nutri-
tion day in and day out. Therefore,
having a foundational program
like AG1 makes it easier to go on
autopilot and get the important, es-
sential nutrients that we want and
need access to,” said Dr. Attia. “I
take a scoop of AG1 every day, re-
gardless of what else I’m eating. I
just know if I’m taking AG1, I’m
getting exactly, if not probably a
little bit more, than what I need.
I look forward to partnering with
them to help people live healthier
and longer lives.”
Focus
As Athletic Greens continues
to develop foundational nutrition
solutions and focus on research
to enhance its flagship product,
AG1, Dr Attia will assist with the
company’s efforts around research
related to health, diet, longev-
ity, neurobiology and consumer
behavior, assisting in new and
existing product development, it-
eration and testing, and advising
on emerging consumer trends and
scientific research.
“Having the incredible expertise
of medical leaders like Dr. Peter
Attia is essential to our approach
of continuous improvement, and
allows us to incorporate leading
scientific thinking into our product
development, customer experience
and innovation approach,” said
Athletic Greens Founder and CEO,
Chris Ashenden. “With Peter’s
guidance, we will continue to lean
into research and development on
the science of longevity and health
span, and work to deliver the power
of foundational nutrition, through
products like AG1, as effectively
and simply as possible.”
Combines
AG1 by Athletic Greens is a
direct-to-consumer nutrition drink
that combines nine synergistic
health products into one with 75
of the highest quality ingredients.
AG1 by Athletic Greens is designed
to remove the friction of covering
common daily nutritional support
needs of a modern lifestyle by pro-
viding nutrients and comprehensive
benefits spanning improved gut
health with pre and probiotics, im-
mune support, energy and improved
mental focus; all packed into a one-
minute daily habit.
Dr Peter Attia is a physician
at Early Medical focusing on the
applied science of longevity. His
practice deals extensively with
nutritional interventions, exercise
physiology, sleep physiology,
emotional and mental health, and
pharmacology to increase lifespan
(how long you live), while simul-
taneously improving healthspan
(the quality of your life).
Measured approach to e-cigarette
taxation essential, says RELX Int’l
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug 23,
(AP): RELX International, a respon-
sible electronic cigarette company,
is cautioning authorities against in-
creasing the customs duties levied on
e-cigarette products.
A move on this would make these safer smok-
ing alternatives as expensive as tobacco ciga-
rettes. Increased taxation could spur the growth
of black-market activities, put consumers’
health at risk, reduce government tax income,
and make the city/country a less attractive op-
tion for investment and entrepreneurship.
In recent years scientific research, as well
as national healthcare providers, including the
United Kingdom’s National Health Service
(NHS), have recognised e-cigarette products
as a safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes, and
have highlighted their use as a ‘stop smoking
aid’. In contrast, the World Health Organisa-
tion warns that tobacco kills up to half of its
users, and is responsible for the deaths of more
than eight million people per year. Tobacco
cigarette smoking can also put a strain on pub-
lic healthcare systems and government funds,
due to its link with diseases such as cancer,
heart disease, and COPD.
Evidence
Considering the mounting evidence that
showcases e-cigarettes are a safer alternative
and/or a tool for consumers to quit smoking
altogether, it’s logical that authorities maintain
a lower tax rate compared to tobacco prod-
ucts. This would align with global best prac-
tices in terms of taxes associated with high-risk
vs. low-risk products. For example, taxes are
steeper on higher-risk hard liquor and, like-
wise, sugar-rich beverages are taxed more than
healthier alternatives.
Global research also reveals that taxes levied
to push people away from alcohol and ciga-
rettes (also known as Sin Tax) mostly hits peo-
ple who can least afford to pay it. This means
that this taxation conflicts with one of the eight
Principles of Harm Reduction, which “Calls for
the non-judgmental, non-coercive provision of
services and resources to people who use drugs
and the communities in which they live in order
to assist them in reducing attendant harm”.
Relapsing
Robert Naouss, External Affairs Director at
RELX International, says “RELX International
believes legal-age consumers have the right to
access less harmful alternatives to combustible
cigarettes, rather than being forced to continue
with the latter or relapsing into old habits/prod-
ucts. In the same vein, it’s important they are
not pushed into considering the use of black-
market products, purely because they are a less
expensive alternative to those available via le-
gal, regulated channels.”
Products smuggled into countries and sold
via the black-market are unregulated and of
questionable quality, as per the US Food &
Drug Administration department. These prod-
ucts can even find their way into the hands of
young people and can cause major health issues
[6]. In scenarios such as this, governments must
contend with a loss of tax revenue on individ-
ual products, while also dipping into financial
reserves to fund health facilities that address
smoking related diseases. Authorities should
also consider that taxation and the growth of il-
licit trade has the potential to drive away inves-
tors and entrepreneurs, who wish to enter the
market and create employment opportunities,
further impacting government income and the
economy.
Measured
RELX International believes it is in the au-
thorities’ best interest to take a measured ap-
proach to taxing e-cig products, so consumers
can continue to have the option of safer, acces-
sibly priced alternatives to tobacco products.
RELX International founded in 2019, RELX
International is a multinational electronic cig-
arettes company that markets and sells RELX,
The World’s Advanced vape brand powered
by SuperSmooth™ technology. RELX, Asia’s
leading e-cigarette brand, is widening its foot-
print across the world, it is currently available
in 40+ countries such as the UK, France, Italy,
Germany, Indonesia, Philippines, Canada,
KSA and the UAE. What sets RELX apart
from competition is the fact that it has a full
ecosystem (such as closed pods, disposables,
device, and power bank accessories) that are
designed at a cutting-edge research and de-
velopment center and produced at one of the
world’s largest e-cigarette factories. RELX’s
mission is to make RELX a trusted brand
for legal age adult smokers through state-of-
the-art products, industry-leading technolo-
gies, and scientific advances in collaboration
with talented and committed people around
the globe. The company has attracted global
talents from Uber, Procter & Gamble, Ap-
ple, Beats, and L’Oréal. RELX is proud to be
listed in Dubai Duty Free, the first duty free
channel in the world.
 Everything you need to know about 2022 Emmy Awards

Formidable newcomers, previous winners vying for best series honors

LOS ANGELES, Aug 23, (AP): Are you ready for some football?
Fine, but the return of the NFL is why the 2022 Emmy Awards
have been drop-kicked from their usual Sunday berth to Monday.
Television’s top awards rotate among the top four networks, and
this year’s broadcast home, NBC, has reserved the second Sunday
night in September for Tampa Bay vs. Dallas. After the Emmys
slogged through two years of pandemic-restricted ceremonies, a
Television
Winners in 25 key categories including best drama and comedy
series will be announced during the broadcast ceremony, with the
rest divvied up between the Sept 3 and 4 creative arts awards. An
edited version of the weekend ceremonies, with categories includ-
ing sound editing and cinematography, will air at 8 pm EDT Sept.
10 on FXX.
Who is hosting the Emmys ceremony?
the Building.”
Among the nominated actors, those hoping to be repeat victors
include Jason Sudeikis of “Ted Lasso,” Jean Smart of “Hacks” and
Zendaya of “Euphoria.” Check out the full list of Emmy nominees.
What were the most surprising Emmy nods?
So many, where to begin? The farewell season of “This Is Us”
got a single nomination, for original music and lyrics, after reaping

day’s delay seems a minor annoyance.
The industry is expected to put on its Monday best, swan down
the red carpet and celebrate itself and the wealth of shows across
streaming services, cable and, to a degree that pales compared to
years’ past, old-school network fare.
But what’s a Hollywood awards show without a TV audience?
A low-rated disappointment, and that’s where you come in. If you
decide to do your bit and tune in, here’s a roadmap to everything
you need to know about the 2022 Emmys.
When are the 2022 Emmys?
The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards are set for Monday, Sept 12,
at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. The roughly three-hour
ceremony will begin at 8 pm EDT and air live on NBC and, for free,
on the streaming service Peacock.
But the Emmys, with 118 total awards, aren’t a one-day affair.
The honor usually goes to a comedian with a link to the net-
work airing the event, and NBC stayed the course: It chose “Sat-
urday Night Live” veteran Kenan Thompson, a first-time Emmy
host who’s been preceded in the emcee job by a number of “SNL”
stars. The ceremony has tried going without a host, most recently in
2019, but the results weren’t always pretty. Or entertaining.
Which shows are nominated for the top awards at the Em-
mys?
Some previous winners are vying again for best series honors,
including “Ted Lasso,” a freshman when it won 2021’s best com-
edy series, and “Succession,” which claimed the 2020 best drama
award. (The series didn’t air during the eligibility window for 2021,
when “The Crown” won.)
There are also formidable newcomers, including the dystopian
drama “Squid Game” and comedy crime romp “Only Murders in
Emmys for several cast members in years past. It was a similar case
for the last year of “black-ish,” which ended its groundbreaking
run with just two creative arts nominations. On the flip side, it was
far from a slam dunk that Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer,” with its
controversial anti-transgender comments, would earn a best variety
special nomination. It did.
Who decides the Emmy winners?
The more than 17,000 voting members of the TV academy are
eligible to decide nominees and winners in 14 categories, including
drama, comedy and limited series. The acting awards, including
lead, supporting and guest actors, are determined by peer groups,
as are directing, writing and other individual areas of achievement.
The number of nominees in most categories generally is tied to the
number of submissions, with exceptions including best comedy and
dramas series: They get eight nominees each.

Variety
Features

This image released by HBO Max shows Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen in a scene from ‘House of the Dragon’, a prequel to ‘Game of Thrones’. (AP)

Television

CHERRY HILL, NJ: A horror

New set of characters in ‘GoT’ prequel
movie convention promoter says
it is assisting authorities following
charges against actor Gary Busey
involving alleged sexual offenses
at an event in New Jersey earlier
‘House’ keeps dragons, adds diversity
this month. By Brooke Lefferts and Mike Cidoni Lennox Sapochnik, Clare Kilner, Geeta Vasant Patel and what makes it so special.”
Busey, 78, was charged Friday
with two counts of fourth-degree Greg Yaitanes. “House of the Dragon” screenwriter Charmaine De-
criminal sexual contact, one count T he prequel to “Game of Thrones” is set to forge
its own storytelling path, with a new set of char-
There was a conscious push to be inclusive behind Graté said “it was important for George (R.R. Martin,
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022

of attempted criminal sexual con-
tact and one count of harassment
following alleged actions Aug 12-
14 at the Monster Mania Conven-
tion at the Doubletree Hotel in the
Philadelphia suburb of Cherry
Hill, police said Saturday.
Monster-Mania Convention
said in a Facebook post that after
attendees complained, an unspeci-
fied “celebrity guest was removed
from the convention and instructed
not to return.”
“Monster-Mania also encouraged
the attendees to contact the police
to file a report,” the company said,
adding that behavior that compro-
mised the safety and well-being of
attendees would not be tolerated.
“Monster-Mania will continue to as-
sist the authorities in any and every
way possible,” it said.
“It was about contact. It was
about touching,” Lt Robert
Scheunemann told The Phila-
delphia Inquirer of the muliple
complaints police had received
about Busey’s conduct.
Busey, who lives in Malibu,
California, was scheduled as a
featured guest for all three days of
the event.
Police did not immediately re-
spond to a message seeking details.
It also wasn’t clear whether Busey
has an attorney to comment on the
charges, and a representative didn’t
immediately return a message seek-
ing comment Saturday.
Busey is widely known as a
character actor, largely in supporting
roles, though he came to attention
and was nominated for an Oscar for
best actor for playing the title role
in the 1978 film “The Buddy Holly
Story.” Busey began his show
business career as a drummer in The
Rubber Band. He appears on several
Leon Russell recordings, credited
as playing drums under the name
“Teddy Jack Eddy” a character he
created when he was a cast member
of a local television comedy show
in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called The
Uncanny Film Festival and Camp
Meeting on station KTUL (which
starred fellow Tulsan Gailard
Sartain as “Dr Mazeppa Pompa-
acters and a more diverse team behind the scenes.
“House of the Dragon” takes place two centuries
before the events of the original series, which ended
its hit eight-season run in May 2019. The 10-episode
prequel on HBO and will be available to stream on
HBO Max.
The story focuses on House Targaryen, made fa-
mous in “Game of Thrones” by Emilia Clarke’s Dae-
nerys and her fearsome dragons. But don’t expect
“House of the Dragon” to be a remake of “Game of
Thrones,’’ cast member Steve Toussaint said.
“It’s been done and they did it exceedingly well,”
said Toussaint, who plays the very rich Lord Corlys
Velaryon. “You know you’re in that world, but
you’re seeing a different story, different characters,
different motivations.”
Among the new faces in the clan is Prince Dae-
mon Targaryen, played by Matt Smith. His villain-
ous character is a lot more complex than he appears
to be on first viewing, the actor said.
“I think the reason I’ve had fun is because he’s
maybe not just a villain,” he said. “I think there’s ac-
tually a huge amount of fragility and depth and inner
madness there. ... It’s not black and white. It can go
either way with Daemon at any point.”
Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire and Blood,”
the drama was co-created by Martin and Ryan Con-
dal, whose credits include the 2016-19 sci-fi drama
“Colony.” Condal is an executive producer and co-
showrunner with director Miguel Sapochnik, who
brings his experience on “Game of Thrones” to the
prequel.
“House of the Dragon,” much like its predeces-
sor, focuses on familial succession with a female
heir being overlooked. But Sapochnik notes a key
difference between the two series: The team mak-
ing the prequel is more diverse, including a 50-50
split between male and female directors, including
zoidi”). (AP)
❑ ❑ ❑
LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II
has eaten jam sandwiches every
day since she was a toddler, ac-
cording to her former private chef.
Darren McGrady claims on
his YouTube channel that the
monarch favors a strawberry McGrady
the scenes, Sapochnik says. a prequel executive producer) for it to be this way.
Female-driven characters, female-driven shows and
Recognized
female-driven writers rooms just sort of elevates the
“We really tried to, as much as possible, hire as story. That’s a wonderful way to expand the universe.”
many female crew as we could, because we think
that’s a really important shift that needs to be both Also:
recognized, acknowledged, acted upon, maybe give
LONDON: Prince Andrew will be the subject of a sa-
opportunities to people who don’t get opportuni- tirical TV musical in the latest season of shows from
ties,” he explained. UK broadcaster Channel 4.
The team making “Dragon” is equally as diverse, Queen Elizabeth II’s second son stood down
and — for the fantasy genre — boasts a relative from royal duties after a disastrous interview in No-
bounty of women in the writers’ room. The gender vember 2019 discussing his ties with the late child
balance affects the show’s story and tone, according
sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a special BBC
to some of its female cast members.
Newsnight program.
The series opens with an aristocratic council nam-
Channel 4 said the interview, widely regarded as
ing Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) as heir to a public relations catastrophe for the Duke of York,
the Iron Throne, bypassing his older cousin Princess
will be “reimagined” as part of the musical. Critics
Rhaenys Velaryon (Eve Best). But Viserys must tore into the prince for appearing to show no em-
have his own heir, with dreams of power held by
Daemon, his younger brother, and Viserys’ daughter pathy for the abused victims of Epstein, who killed
Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy plays the adult himself in prison in August 2019.
version, Milly Alcock the youth). Comedian Kieran Hodgson is to lead a cast of com-
ics in “Prince Andrew: The Musical,” a 60-minute pro-
“You definitely don’t feel like a device or a prop and
you don’t feel like the mother,” said Olivia Cooke, who gram described as a “satirical send-up of the life and
plays the adult Alicent Hightower, longtime friend to times” of the duke set to a musical score.
Rhaenyra. “You feel that you’ve got a fully fledged The show is part of a 40-year anniversary season
character which is really nourishing to play.” of shows called “Truth or Dare” for Britain’s fourth
The ensemble cast also includes Emily Carey, TV broadcaster, which launched in 1982. It has not
Graham McTavish, Fabien Frankel, Rhys Ifans and yet been announced exactly when it will air.
Andrew has been in UK headlines for years due
Sonoya Mizuno.
Carey, who plays the younger Alicent, calls the in- to his marriage and divorce with Sarah “Fergie” Fer-
clusion of women in all aspects of production a step guson.
“in the right direction” for the fantasy genre. But he has tried to stay out of the public spotlight
Although virtually every female character faces after reaching a multimillion-pound settlement last
misogyny, each is “still a fully fledged, three-di- year with a woman who filed a US lawsuit accusing
mensional female character,” Carey said. “They still him of sexual assault when she was 17. Andrew was
have multiple other story lines and a whole life away stripped of his honorary military titles in January and
from that misogynistic story line. They’re not just told he can no longer use the title “his royal high-
put in the show to serve a purpose. And I think that’s ness.” (AP)
preserve made from fruits picked butter and a spread of jam, then “The queen was always jam
in her Balmoral Castle grounds in cut out into circles the size of an first,” he said in a separate video.
Scotland. old British penny. “The jam went on followed by that
“The queen was served jam As part of the genteel tradition delicious, clotted cream.”
pennies in the nursery as a little of afternoon tea, McGrady, who As well as the preserve, the 96-
girl. She’s had them for after- says he was a chef to the queen year old monarch has always been
noon tea ever since,” he says in a for 11 years, also revealed the partial to fresh strawberries. “The
recently surfaced video published monarch’s solution to a familiar queen would eat strawberries three
in July last year. The sandwiches quandary for British scone lovers: or four nights a week in Balmoral if
Busey are made from bread with a little jam first or cream? they were in season,” he says. (AP)

NEWS/FEATURES
People & Places
People
Wap faces at least 5 yrs
‘Kelly threats made
her fear for her life’
CHICAGO, Aug 23, (AP): A mother whose daugh-
ter prosecutors say R. Kelly abused starting when she
was 14 told jurors Monday at the singer’s federal trial
that she lied to a state grand jury 20 years ago, in part
because she and her husband felt threatened by Kelly
and feared for their lives if they told the truth.
The mom, who used the pseudonym, “Susan,” in
court at the trial in Chicago, described how she, her
husband and Kelly were crying when the parents con-
fronted the Grammy-winner at a hotel in the early
2000s about whether he was abusing their daughter.
She testified they were startled when Kelly told them,
“You are with us or against us.”
She said she took those words to mean “that they
were going to harm us if we didn’t do what they
wanted us to do.” Among the
directives from Kelly and an
associate was that they had to
lie that their daughter was not
in a video and that they had to
leave the country immediately
for several weeks, she testified.
“We were very, very fright-
ened,” she told jurors.
She added later that she lied
to the grand jury “because we
feared for our lives and we
Kelly were intimidated.” She said
she also feared for the well-
being of her daughter, who warned her parents at the
time that she might commit suicide if they refused to
do what Kelly asked them to do.
Kelly, 55, is on trial in his hometown on charges
that include production of pornography, enticing mi-
nor girls and obstruction justice by successfully rig-
ging his 2008 child pornography trial in state court, at
which he was acquitted.
Convictions
Kelly is already staring at a 30-year prison sentence
imposed by a federal judge in New York in June for
his 2021 convictions on racketeering and sex traffick-
ing charges.
Susan’s daughter, who went by the pseudonym
“Jane,” was among the prosecution’s first witnesses as
the trial began last week. Jane told jurors that she also
lied to the same grand jury prior to 2008 trial when
she said she was not the 14-year-old girl in a video
with Kelly. Jane, now 37, told jurors last week that, in
fact, she had been abused hundreds of times by Kelly
before she had turned at 18.
On Monday, in an often contentious cross-examina-
tion, Kelly attorney Jennifer Bonjean repeatedly ques-
tioned Susan about whether she truly felt her life was
in any danger from Kelly or his associates.
“No one actually threatened you, did they?” Bon-
jean asked.
“Yes, they did,” Susan answered.
Bonjean also asked why, if Susan felt so threatened
by Kelly, she and her family continued to mix with
Kelly socially for the next 20 years. She answered that
Kelly was their sole income for a period, paying her
musician husband to work on Kelly recordings. She
also said she worried about Jane’s welfare if they cut
ties with Kelly.
The husband, Jane’s father, died last year, she told
jurors.
During her cross, Bonjean highlighted Susan’s tes-
timony that she lied to the Illinois grand jury, asking
if she was “telling the truth now.” Susan said she was.
Push
Prosecutors from the Cook County state’s attor-
ney’s office chose in the mid-2000s to push ahead
with charges and to take the case to trial in 2008 de-
spite what they knew was a major hurdle: their inabil-
ity to call the girl in the video to testify.
After acquitting Kelly in the 2008 trial, some jurors
told reporters that that they had no choice but to find
Kelly not guilty because the girl - who by then was in
her 20s - did not take the witness stand to confirm it
was, in fact, her in the video.
Federal prosecutors at the current trial played
excerpts of that and other videos they say show
Kelly when he was around 30 abusing a 14-year-
old Jane.
Kelly has been trailed for decades by allegations
about his sexual behavior. The scrutiny intensified
during the #MeToo era and following the 2019 release
of the Lifetime television docuseries “Surviving R.
Kelly.”
Also:
CENTRAL ISLIP, NY: Rapper Fetty Wap pleaded
guilty Monday to a conspiracy drug charge that car-
ries a mandatory five-year prison sentence, admit-
ting that he participated in a massive drug trafficking
racket that moved drugs from the West Coast to Long
Island.
The plea in Central Islip came before US Magistrate
Judge Steven Locke, who had revoked his bond and
sent him to jail two weeks ago. After the plea, he was
returned to jail to await sentencing, though a date was
not immediately set.
Locke revoked the rapper’s $500,000 bail, secured
by property he owns in Georgia, after prosecutors
said that Wap, whose real name is Willie Maxwell,
threatened to kill a man during a FaceTime call in
2021, violating the terms of his pretrial release in his
drug case.
The “Trap Queen” rapper was initially arrested last
October on charges alleging he participated in a con-
spiracy to smuggle large amounts of heroin, fentanyl
and other drugs into the New York City area.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and
possess controlled substances, the top charge in an in-
dictment against him, though the plea pertained only
to cocaine. It carries a mandatory minimum sentence
of five years in prison while federal sentencing guide-
lines are likely to recommend about two additional
years in prison. The plea spared him from a poten-
tial life sentence if he had been convicted on all the
charges he faced.
His lawyers did not immediately return messages
seeking comment.
Maxwell and five co-defendants were accused of
conspiring to possess and distribute more than 100
kilograms (220 pounds) of heroin, fentanyl and crack
cocaine between June 2019 and June 2020. Two code-
fendants also have pleaded guilty and await sentenc-
ing.
The scheme allegedly involved using the US Postal
Service and cars with hidden compartments to move
drugs from the West Coast to Long Island, where they
were stored for distribution to dealers on Long Island
and in New Jersey, prosecutors said.
Maxwell rose to prominence after “Trap Queen,”
his debut single, reached No. 2 on the US Billboard
Hot 100 chart in May 2015.
Green Day performs during the Outside Lands Music Festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. (AP)
Singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright
III is photographed at The Associated
Press headquarters in New York. (AP)
Domingo Lijo
Variety
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: Opera star
Placido Domingo’s name has appeared
in an investigation of a sect-like organiza-
tion in Argentina that also had US offices
and whose leaders have been charged
with crimes, including sexual exploita-
tion.
Domingo, the Spanish opera singer
who has faced accusations of sexual har-
assment from numerous women over the
past three years, has not been accused of
any wrongdoing in the Argentina case.
“Placido didn’t commit a crime, nor is
he part of the organization, but rather he
was a consumer of prostitution,” said a
law enforcement official, who spoke only
on condition of anonymity because the
investigation continues. Prostitution is
not illegal in Argentina.
Law enforcement officers have carried
out dozens of raids in Buenos Aires
targeting the Buenos Aires Yoga School,
which “built a cult around its leader”
and reduced members to “a situation of
slavery and/or sexual exploitation,” ac-
cording to prosecutors’ documents in the
Argentine case against the school.
The organization set up a business
structure that included offices in Argen-
tina and the United States, including
branches in at least three US cities: Las
Vegas, Chicago and New York.
So far, 19 people have been detained
in Argentina, while at least three suspects
are thought to remain at large inside the
South American country and four are
being sought in the United States.
Domingo has not spoken publicly
about the latest developments and his
representatives did not respond to re-
quests for comment.
Wiretaps that were part of the judicial
investigation recorded conversations in
which a man who authorities identify
as Domingo spoke to a member of the
group, identified as Susana Mendeliev-
ich, about meeting up with the opera star
while he was in Buenos Aires for a series
of concerts in April.
The organization had ties to other
well-known public figures and their
names should become public once
indictments are made official, the judicial
official added.
Percowicz, along with other members
of the group, has been arrested under the
order of Judge Ariel Lijo, who placed
Music
New music takes inspiration from turning 75
Loudon goes back to basic on ‘Lifetime’
NEW YORK, Aug 23, (AP): Lou-
don Wainwright III points out that
the first line of the first song on his
first album, released when he was 23,
is about aging: “In Delaware when I
was younger.”
So it’s no stretch that the folk sing-
er’s first album of new compositions
in eight years, “Lifetime Achieve-
ment,” is loosely based on turning 75.
It’s on sale Friday.
The new song “How Old is 75?,”
where he sings, “in five years I’ll be
80. I’ll hear the fat lady,” is one of
Wainwright’s signature mixes of hu-
mor and poignant observation. Three-
quarters of a century is a milestone,
not just because it’s a big number, but
because he’s now lived longer than
his father and mother.
“The aging thing has always been
on all of my records,” he said. “But
actually, it really applies to me
now.”
Over the course of 15 songs, Wain-
wright sings about pieces of his life
scattered in various locales, walking
through an old lover’s town, imagin-
ing himself at the gates of hell and
the perspective of a dog caught in the
middle of a divorce.
Realizes
The title cut’s narrator realizes that
all of life’s momentary achievements
mean little next to love — either from
a partner or audience, depending on
your interpretation.
And family. Always family.
Anyone who’s listened to the man
that Rolling Stone called “the poet
laureate of family dysfunction” knows
about the competition with his father,
his divorces from singers Kate Mc-
Garrigle and Suzzy Roche, the dam-
age caused by the distant upbringings
of son Rufus and daughter Lucy, both
accomplished artists of their own.
Wainwright quips about “a couple
of tense Thanksgiving dinners,” but
is endlessly drawn to his own life for
dozens of properties and vehicles under
embargo.
The organization had approximately
179 students, all of whom were ranked in
Actors Sharlto Copley, (left), Iyana Halley, Leah Jeffries and Idris Elba pose
together at the world premiere of ‘Beast,’ at the Museum of Modern Art. (AP)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
material, reasoning there will always
be listeners who can relate.
“How could I not write about that?”
he said. “What’s a better topic than
that? I could write about imagining
what it’s like to ride the rails or pick
cotton. I’m just writing about what
happened to me. That started at the
very beginning; I wrote my first song
about going to boarding school in
Delaware.”
“Lifetime Achievement” is essen-
tially Wainwright and his guitar — or
banjo on “How Old is 75?” — with
adornments added later. He usually
performs alone, so starting alone is
the approach that he feels fits best in
the studio.
Wainwright “was something like
an old man even when he was young,
so he takes to the subject of aging
with grace and insight,” music critic
Stephen Deusner wrote in a review of
the album for Uncut.
Visits
The singer grew up in the New
York City suburbs of Westchester
County and now lives on the eastern
end of Long Island. He jokes about
fitting in an interview along with
“maintenance visits” to doctors in a
trip to the city.
He can remember specifically what
made him want to be a performer. At
age 7, he sang a song to his mother
and her sister, bathed in their adora-
tion, and knew he wanted that feeling
again.
Throughout his career, Wainwright
has been able to toggle between hu-
mor and seriousness in a way uncom-
mon to most songwriters.
The new “Fam Vac” is laugh-out-
loud funny: the narrator wants a vaca-
tion from, not with, his family. At the
same time, the way he sang of feeling
adrift following the death of his moth-
er in 2001s “Homeless” is chilling in
its naked emotion.
“I think of myself as a switch-hit-
seven levels.
In order to advance, members had
to participate in numerous courses and
carry out tasks, with Percowicz holding
12
ter,” he said. “I can do funny, and I
can do really down and depressing.
I’m goofing on it now, but I can do
very serious songs. I decided I can do
both and I have done both.”
It can be a tough line to walk. When
the novelty song “Dead Skunk” be-
came his first hit in the early 1970s
— his only hit, really — that briefly
became a trap.
Suggested
His record company was unen-
thused when Wainwright suggested
his breezy “The Swimming Song”
as a new single; they wanted another
silly animal song. The last laugh: 50
years later, “The Swimming Song”
has more than 17 million plays on
Spotify; “Dead Skunk” is at 3.5 mil-
lion.
Wainwright’s 76th birthday is com-
ing up in a few weeks, right when he’s
heading out on his first post-pandemic
tour. He’s starting in England, where
he generally draws larger audiences
than at home.
“I’m so delighted when young peo-
ple come up to me and say ‘my mom
loved your records’ or ‘my grandfather
loved your records,’” he said. “And
then they say, ‘but I love your records,
too.’ That, of course, is the most excit-
ing thing. Then I feel like I’m 22.”
Wainwright never figured he’d be
making music this long. While going
out on the road is much harder, and
Wainwright can see a deadline com-
ing on that part of his career, he ex-
pects to write songs as long as inspira-
tion strikes.
“When you start out in show busi-
ness, or any business ... you have your
fantasies about how big it’s going to
get, how famous you’re going to get,
how much money you’re going to
make,” he said. “I had all of those. I
hoped that I would make a little more
money than I have, but looking back,
it’s been great. I got to do what I
wanted to do.”
the final decision on who could advance.
(AP)
❑ ❑ ❑
BOSTON: Officers with the Boston Police
Department’s harbor patrol unit are used
to helping boaters in distress, but last
weekend Officer Joe Matthews came to
the rescue of a groom in danger of miss-
ing his own wedding.
Patrick Mahoney was scheduled to
get married on Thompson Island in the
middle of Boston Harbor on Saturday,
but the boat that was supposed to ferry
him to the island where his bride-to-be
was already waiting broke down, police
said in a post on their website.
It gets worse. The groomsmen, pho-
tographer, DJ and floral arrangements
were also stuck on the mainland.
Enter Matthews, who transported more
than a dozen people to the island on
his police boat so Mahoney’s marriage
to Hannah Crawford could go on as
scheduled.
“They were there very quickly to get
my groomsmen and all of our vendors
out here to the island and kind of save the
day,” Mahoney told The Boston Globe.
Matthews was only too happy to help.
“It was good to get a nice call for a
change and help people out,” he said.
(AP)

SCIENCE
Health
UK to lower dose
Pfizer seeks ‘okay’
of updated booster
WASHINGTON, Aug 23, (AP): Pfizer asked US regula-
tors Monday to authorize its combination COVID-19 vac-
cine that adds protection against the newest omicron rela-
tives - a key step toward opening a fall booster campaign.
The Food and Drug Administration ordered vaccine
makers to tweak their shots to target BA.4 and BA.5 that
are better than ever at dodging immunity from earlier vac-
cination or infection.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech aim to offer updated
boosters to people 12 and older, and shots could begin
within weeks if the FDA quickly clears the modified vac-
cine — a step not expected to require waiting on new stud-
ies.
Moderna is expected to file a similar application soon
for updated boosters for adults. The
US has a contract to buy 105 million
of the Pfizer doses and 66 million
Moderna ones, assuming FDA gives
the green light.
“It’s going to be really important
that people this fall and winter get
the new shots. It’s designed for the
virus that’s out there,” White House
COVID-19 coordinator Dr Ashish
Jha said last week.
For now at least. BA.5 currently is
Jha causing nearly all COVID-19 infec-
tions in the USand much of the world. There’s no way to
know if it still will be a threat this winter — or if another
mutant will have replaced it.
The vaccines currently used in the US still offer strong
protection against severe disease and death, especially if
people have gotten their recommended boosters. But those
vaccines target the coronavirus strain that spread in early
2020 and their effectiveness against infection has dropped
markedly as new mutants came along, particularly the su-
per-contagious omicron family.
Genetic
How would combo shots work? Sort of like a second-
generation vaccine. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines
contain the genetic instructions for the spike protein that
coats the coronavirus, to train the immune system to rec-
ognize the real virus. The new combo doses will contain
instructions for both the original spike target and the spike
mutations carried by BA.4 and BA.5.
The news comes after Britain a week ago became the
first in the world to authorize a different update to Mod-
erna’s COVID-19 vaccines — shots that add protection
against the original omicron that struck last winter.
European regulators also are considering the original
omicron versions by Moderna and Pfizer. The US opted
not to use that earlier tweak — setting up a fall where dif-
ferent countries will be using different versions of booster
shots to rev up protection against another possible winter
surge.
In the US, the FDA will be relying heavily on scientific
testing of prior tweaks to the vaccine recipe — rather than
a study of the newest boosters that could take months — to
decide whether to fast-track updated shots for fall.
Pfizer previously announced results from a study that
found its earlier omicron tweak significantly revved up
antibodies capable of fighting the first omicron version,
called BA.1, and to a lesser degree the genetically distinct
BA.4 and BA.5 omicron relatives. Its application to the
FDA contains that data plus animal testing of the newest
recipe update.
It’s similar to how flu vaccines are updated every year
without having to undergo large studies.
Pfizer and BioNTech expect to start a trial using the
BA.4 and BA.5 boosters in the coming weeks, to shed ad-
ditional light on how well tweaked shots work. Moderna
has begun a similar study although full results wouldn’t be
available before a fall booster campaign.
Infection
“It’s clear that none of these vaccines are going to com-
pletely prevent infection,” said Dr. Rachel Presti of Wash-
ington University in St. Louis, a researcher with the Mod-
erna trial.
But prior studies of variant booster candidates show
“you still get a broader immune response giving a variant
booster than giving the same booster” again, which should
be helpful even if a newer omicron relative emerges, she
added.
Pfizer and Moderna don’t make the only US vaccine
options. Novavax makes a more traditional, protein-based
shot — and U.S. health authorities just expanded its use
for people as young as 12. Novavax also plans to offer a
variant update later in the year.
Also:
LONDON: British health authorities will begin offering eli-
gible people just a fraction of the normal monkeypox vac-
cine dose to stretch supplies by about five times, in line
with similar decisions to extend available doses in Europe
and the US.
In a statement Monday, Britain’s Health Security Agen-
cy said patients at clinics in Manchester and London
would soon get just one fifth the regular monkeypox vac-
cine dose as part of ongoing research, citing earlier work
suggesting the smaller dose provided as effective an im-
mune response as a full dose.
Last week, the European Medicines Agency authorized
the move for its 27 members across the continent, echoing
the decision made by US regulators earlier this month.
“Adopting this tried and tested technique will help to
maximize the reach of our remaining stock,” said Dr
Mary Ramsay, head of immunization at Britain’s Health
Security Agency. She said the lowered doses would en-
able health workers to vaccinate “many more thousands
of people.”
Last week, British officials said there were early signs
the monkeypox outbreak is slowing and that case numbers
are declining. Nearly 3,200 cases have been reported in
the U.K. since May, with 99% of infections among men.
About 70% of cases are in London.
As of last week, UK authorities said more than 35,000
vaccines had been administered primarily to men who have
sex with men, their close contacts, and health workers.
Globally, the supply of monkeypox vaccines is extreme-
ly limited. There is only one supplier — Denmark’s Ba-
varian Nordic — and most doses have already been bought
by the U.S., Canada, Europe and other rich countries.
Bavarian Nordic estimated its production capacity for
this year was about 30 million doses. No monkeypox vac-
cines have so far been allotted to Africa, which has re-
ported more than 70 suspected deaths, the highest number
anywhere.
To date, more than 41,000 cases of monkeypox have ap-
peared worldwide in 94 countries. The World Health Or-
ganization and other health agencies do not recommend
mass vaccination, but have advised countries to improve
their monkeypox surveillance, testing and encouraged oth-
er measures to slow the disease’s spread.
WHO has recommended that men at high risk of the dis-
ease temporarily consider reducing their number of part-
ners.
This image provided by NASA shows a false color composite image of Jupiter obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope on July 27, 2022. The planet’s rings
and some of its small satellites are visible along with background galaxies. (AP)
New space telescope shows Jupiter’s auroras, tiny moons
The world’s newest and biggest space telescope is
showing Jupiter as never before, auroras and all.
Scientists released the shots Monday of the solar
system’s biggest planet.
The James Webb Space Telescope took the
photos in July, capturing unprecedented views of
Jupiter’s northern and southern lights, and swirling
polar haze. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a storm big
enough to swallow Earth, stands out brightly along-
side countless smaller storms.
A dead fish lies in the shallow water
of the German-Polish border river
Oder in Lebus, Germany on Aug 18.
Germany says several substances
seem to have contributed to a mas-
sive fish die-off in the Oder River that
forms much of the country’s border
with Poland. (AP)
Myllyvirta Moskwa
Discovery
No single cause for fish deaths: Sev-
eral substances seem to have contributed
to the massive fish die-off in the Oder
River that forms much of Germany’s bor-
der with Poland, a German official said
Monday.
Numerous theories have been floated
about the cause of the environmental
disaster, but so far none have been con-
clusive, a spokesman for Germany’s
Environment Ministry said. He rejected
suggestions from a senior Polish official
that Germany was spreading “fake news”
about pesticides being behind the envi-
ronmental disaster.
“The search for the causes of the fish
die-off in the Oder still haven’t been
completed,” said Andreas Kuebler, the
ministry spokesman. “So far we have sev-
eral organic and inorganic substances that
could be responsible.”
“It seems to be a cocktail of chemi-
cals,” he told reporters in Berlin. “Ac-
cording to our information so far, none
of these substances alone led to the fish
die-off. It must still be assumed that this
could be a multi-causal incident.”
Kuebler said a type of algae that nor-
mally grows in brackish water and pro-
duces a substance toxic to fish may also
have played a role in the disaster.
Recent lab results showed a sharp
growth of Prymnesium parvum in the
Oder that could only have resulted from
increased salt levels caused by an “indus-
trial discharge,” he said.
Dead fish in the Oder were first noticed
by fishermen in southwestern Poland in
late July, but German authorities said they
weren’t officially notified by their Polish
counterparts until the second week of Au-
gust. Poland’s government is trying to track
down those responsible. Ten tons of dead
fish have been removed from the river.
Warsaw lashed out over the weekend,
with Environment Minister Anna Mosk-
wa accusing Germany of spreading “fake
news” about the levels of pesticides in the
river. (AP)
❑ ❑ ❑ tent in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo, on July 13, 2019. A new case of the
Carbon emissions dip: China, the
world’s top emitter of carbon dioxide that
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
13
One wide-field picture is particularly dramatic, The infrared images were artificially colored in blue,
showing the faint rings around the planet, as well white, green, yellow and orange, according to the US-
as two tiny moons against a glittering background French research team, to make the features stand out.
of galaxies. NASA and the European Space Agency’s $10 billion
“We’ve never seen Jupiter like this. It’s all quite in- successor to the Hubble Space Telescope rocketed
credible,” said planetary astronomer Imke de Pater, away at the end of last year and has been observing
of the University of California, Berkeley, who helped the cosmos in the infrared since summer. Scientists
lead the observations. hope to behold the dawn of the universe with Webb,
“We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be peering all the way back to when the first stars and
honest,” she added in a statement. galaxies were forming 13.7 billion years ago. (AP)
Health
Child died of brain-eating amoeba: CDC
New Ebola case tied to previous outbreak
BENI, Congo, Aug 23, (AP): A new the Allied Democratic Forces rebels amoeba typically occur in southern
case of the Ebola virus has been con- who have killed more than 2,000 peo- states because the amoeba thrives in
firmed in Congo’s eastern Beni city, ple in over a year, according to various waters that are warmer than 86 degrees
Congo’s ministry of health announced rights groups. Fahrenheit (30 Celsius). But infections
Monday, saying it is linked to a previ- ❑ ❑ ❑ have migrated north in recent years, in-
ous outbreak. cluding two cases in Minnesota since
Testing by a lab at the National Federal health officials confirmed 2010.
Institute for Biomedical Research in that a Nebraska child died from a rare Texas and Florida recorded the most
Goma confirmed the case was the infection caused by a brain-eating infections with 39 and 37 cases re-
amoeba after swimming in a river near
Ebola Zaire strain and was genetically spectively, and the amoeba is typically
linked to Congo’s 10th outbreak in Omaha. found in southern states because it
The Centers for Disease Control and
Ituri and North Kivu provinces from thrives in waters that are warmer than
2018 to 2020 that killed more than Prevention confirmed the presence of 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius).
the naegleria fowleri amoeba in the
2,000 people, the ministry said. But infections have migrated north
The case involved a 46-year-old child, according to the Douglas County in recent years, including two cases in
Department of Health in Omaha.
woman who was admitted to the Beni Health officials believe the child Minnesota since 2010, Douglas Coun-
hospital in late July and died Aug. 15 became infected while swimming in ty Health Director Dr. Lindsey Huse
after suffering symptoms associated the Elkhorn River, a few miles west of noted during a news conference.
with Ebola. Omaha. Authorities have not released “Our regions are becoming warm-
“Our team on site in Beni has car- the child’s name. er,” she said. “As things warm up, the
ried out a dignified and secure burial People are usually infected when water warms up and water levels drop
and also decontaminated the hospital because of drought, you see that this
water containing the amoeba enters
where the patient stayed,” the ministry the body through the nose while swim- organism is a lot happier and more
said. typically grows in those situations.”
ming in or diving into lakes and rivers.
There are more than 130 high-risk Other sources have been documented, According to the National Water
contacts that have been identified, of Information System, the surface water
including tainted tap water in a Hou-
which 71 have been seen. The others ston-area city in 2020. temperature near where the child was
remain at large, the ministry said. swimming was between 86 and 92 de-
“We call on the population to calm Fatal grees.
down and to respect hygienic meas- Jacob Lorenzo-Morales, a re-
It is the second death in the Mid-
ures,” the ministry’s statement added. west this summer from primary ame- searcher at the Universidad de La La-
Congo has recorded 14 Ebola out- bic meningoencephalitis, an infection guna in the Canary Islands who has
breaks since the virus was discovered
in the conflict-ridden country in 1976.
caused by the amoeba that has proved studied naegleria fowleri, said Thurs-
day that an increase in infections since
fatal in 97% of reported cases. A Mis-
The last outbreak from April to July souri resident died of the infection in 2000 can be blamed on two factors:
took place in another region in Equa- July after swimming at Lake of Three better knowledge and diagnosis of the
teur province, killing five people. Fires in southwestern Iowa, health of- disease, and the rising temperature in
Ebola is spread by contact with ficials have said. bodies of water providing “a perfect
bodily fluids of an infected person or Symptoms of the infection include environment” for the amoeba to thrive.
contaminated materials. However, the fever, headache, nausea or vomiting, Researcher Sutherland Maciver,
early symptoms of fever and muscle progressing to a stiff neck, loss of bal- who has studied the amoeba at the
aches resemble those of other com- ance, hallucinations and seizures. Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences
mon diseases like malaria. In addition The CDC says naegleria fowleri in- at Edinburgh Medical School in Scot-
to vaccinations, there is now effective fections are rare, with about three cases land, says not all infections are report-
treatment available that, if received in the United States every year. There ed and that the 430 cases that have ever
early, can improve chances of survival been reported worldwide are almost
were 154 cases reported between 1962
significantly. and 2021 in the US, with only four sur- certainly an undercount. And, he said,
This latest announcement in Beni vivors. Only about 430 cases have ever scientists cannot say with certainty that
comes as the region is under threat been documented globally. the Nebraska case is directly attribut-
from various rebel groups, including In the US, infections from the able to climate change.
causes global warming, has seen a nota- data shows that carbon emissions dropped The downward trend began last year
ble dip in its emissions over the past three 1.4% in the first three months of the year, and accelerated over the winter. The de-
quarters - but it’s not clear how long the compared to the prior year, making it the cline continued but was milder this spring.
drop will continue. third consecutive quarter to show a drop - It’s not clear whether China’s emis-
A new analysis of China’s economic and the longest sustained dip in a decade. sions will continue to fall this year. Over
the past decade, five shorter dips were fol-
lowed by rebounding emissions.
China’s recent emissions decline was
driven by decreased output in cement,
steel and power industries, as well as
COVID lockdown measures, according
to an analysis by Lauri Myllyvirta, a
Finland-based climate and energy analyst
at the Centre for Research on Energy and
Clean Air.
“Steel and cement are China’s second
and third largest emitting sectors, and the
demand for both sectors is largely driv-
en by construction activity,” but policy
changes on real estate lending and debt
have at least temporarily depressed the
construction sector, Myllyvirta wrote in
an analysis for Carbon Brief.
Whether China meets its long-term
goal to become carbon neutral by 2060
depends in large part on what happens in
its power sector.
And that depends upon how quickly
the world’s second largest economy can
move away from coal.
China’s leaders have recently doubled-
Health workers wearing protective suits tend to an Ebola victim kept in an isolation down on plans to promote coal-fired pow-
er, calling for coal production capacity to
Ebola virus has been confirmed in Congo’s eastern Beni city, Congo’s ministry increase by 300 million tons this year, or
of health announced on Aug 22 saying it is linked to a previous outbreak. (AP) 7% over last year. (AP)
 ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022

SPORTS 14

Judge hits 47th home run MLB Results/Standings

WASHINGTON, Aug 23, (AP): Results
and standings from the MLB games on
Monday.
Tampa Bay
Miami
Atlanta
2
3
2
LA Angels
Oakland
Pittsburgh
1
0
1

as Yankees hold off Mets

Kansas City 6 Chicago W. Sox 4 Philadelphia 4 Cincinnati 1
NY Yankees 4 NY Mets 2 St Louis 1 Chicago Cubs 0
Texas 2 Minnesota 1 Milwaukee 4 LA Dodgers 0
American League National League
East Division East Division
W L Pct GB W L Pct GB
New York 75 48 .610 — New York 79 45 .637 —
Tampa Bay 66 55 .545 8 Atlanta 76 48 .613 3
Cardinals pip Cubs Toronto 65 55 .542 8-1/2 Philadelphia 67 55 .549 11
Baltimore 63 58 .521 11 Miami 53 69 .434 25
Boston 60 62 .492 14-1/2 Washington 41 82 .333 37-1/2
Central Division Central Division
W L Pct GB W L Pct GB
Cleveland 64 56 .533 — St Louis 70 51 .579 —
Minnesota 62 58 .517 2 Milwaukee 65 56 .537 5
Chicago 62 60 .508 3 Chicago 52 69 .430 18
Kansas City 50 74 .403 16 Cincinnati 48 72 .400 21-1/2
Detroit 47 76 .382 18-1/2 Pittsburgh 47 75 .385 23-1/2
West Division West Division
W L Pct GB W L Pct GB
Houston 78 45 .634 — Los Angeles 84 37 .694 —
Seattle 66 56 .541 11-1/2 San Diego 68 56 .548 17-1/2
Texas 56 66 .459 21-1/2 San Francisco 60 61 .496 24
Los Angeles 52 70 .426 25-1/2 Arizona 55 66 .455 29
Oakland 45 78 .366 33 Colorado 53 70 .431 32

Wijnaldum likely to miss World Cup

Iñaki gets WCup chance

Milwaukee Brewers’ Keston Hiura (18) hits a home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles. (AP)
NEW YORK, Aug 23, (AP):
Aaron Judge connected off
Max Scherzer for his ma-
jor league-leading 47th
home run, Andrew Be-
nintendi drove in two runs
and the New York Yankees
beat the Mets 4-2 Monday
night for their first Subway
Series win this season.
The Yankees, in a historic skid
with 14 losses in 18 games com-
ing into this matchup in the Bronx,
built a 3-0 lead on DJ LeMahieu’s
first-inning
sacrifice fly,
Judge’s home
run off Scher-
zer (9-3) in the
third and dou-
bles by Isiah
Kiner-Falefa
and Benintendi
in the fifth.
Yankees
Judge rookie Oswaldo
Cabrera mis-
played a popup in the fifth, and the
Mets’ Daniel Vogelbach followed
with a two-run homer that made it
3-2.
Domingo Germán (2-2) gave up
two runs - one earned - in 6 1/3 in-
nings. Jonathan Loaisiga finished
with four outs in a row for his first
save since Aug. 17 last year.
BASEBALL
Scherzer (9-3) allowed four runs
for the second straight start, raising
his ERA from 1.93 to 2.33 in the
two outings. He gave up seven hits
in 6 2/3 innings.
Cardinals 1, Cubs 0
In Chicago, Albert Pujols hit ca-
reer homer No. 693, Jordan Mont-
gomery pitched a one-hitter and St.
Louis won its season-best eighth
straight.
Pujols led off the seventh with a
drive to left-center for his seventh
homer in his last 10 games and No.
14 overall in his final big league
season.
Chicago’s Drew Smyly (5-7) be-
came the 449th pitcher to surrender
a homer to the 42-year-old Pujols.
Montgomery (7-3) struck out
seven and walked none in his first
career complete game, improving to
4-0 in four starts since he was ac-
quired in an Aug. 2 trade with the
New York Yankees.
Braves 2, Pirates 1
In Pittsburgh, Jake Odorizzi
struck out seven and Michael Harris
II hit a two-run homer to lead At-
lanta past Pittsburgh.
The Braves have won 12 of 14 to
pull within three games of the New
York Mets in the NL East.
Odorizzi (5-5) allowed one run
on four hits in six innings, retiring
14 of the final 15 batters he faced.
Harris hit the 13th homer of his
rookie season into the left-field
bleachers off a curveball from
Roansy Contreras (3-4).
Kenley Jansen struck out two in a
perfect ninth for his 29th save.
Rangers 2, Twins 1
In Minneapolis, Adolis García
homered and Corey Seager singled
home the go-ahead run in the sixth
inning as Texas beat Minnesota.
Twins star outfielder Byron Bux-
ton exited in the seventh with right
hip tightness.
A.J. Alexy (1-0) pitched 2 1/3
scoreless innings in relief of starter
Cole Ragans. Brett Martin, José
Leclerc and Matt Moore blanked
the Twins the rest of the way, with
Moore earning his third save of the
season.
Sonny Gray (7-4) gave up two
runs on five hits while fanning six.
The Twins turned a triple play be-
hind him in the fourth.
Texas took three of four in the
weekend wraparound series and is
5-3 since replacing Chris Wood-
ward with interim manager Tony
Beasley last week.
Rays 2, Angels 1
In St. Petersburg, Randy Aroza-
rena hit a tiebreaking home run in
the fifth inning and Tampa Bay beat
Los Angeles.
Jeffrey Springs (6-3) pitched ef-
fectively into the sixth inning for
the Rays, who have won eight of
10 and moved a half-game ahead of
Toronto and Seattle in the AL wild-
card race.
Arozarena hit his 17th homer of
the season off Tucker Davidson
(2-4) after Mike Trout had tied the
game in the fifth with an RBI single.
Shawn Armstrong pitched the
ninth to earn his first save for the
Rays.
Phillies 4, Reds 1
In Philadelphia, Noah Synder-
gaard pitched seven strong innings
to stay unbeaten with Philadelphia.
Nick Castellanos and Bryson Sto-
tt hit back-to-back homers for the
Phillies off Cincinnati’s Luis Cessa
(3-2).
Syndergaard (8-8) allowed one
run on three hits with one strikeout
and two walks.
Philadelphia moved ahead of idle
San Diego into the second NL wild-
card spot.
Royals 6, White Sox 4
In Kansas City, Drew Waters
drew a bases-loaded walk to break
an eighth-inning tie in his major
league debut, boosting Kansas City
past Chicago.
Joe Kelly (1-3), the seventh of
eight White Sox pitchers, hit a pair
Philadelphia Phillies’ Noah Synder-
gaard pitches during the second
inning of a baseball game against
the Cincinnati Reds in Philadelphia.
(AP)
of batters to start the inning. Ryan
O’Hearn singled, and Waters drew
a five-pitch walk with one out to
break a 4-all tie.
White Sox starter Michael Kope-
ch exited the game after facing just
four hitters, retiring none. Manager
Tony La Russa said Kopech had a
hamstring issue.
Amir Garrett (3-1) pitched a
scoreless eighth and Scott Barlow
finished for his 20th save.
Brewers 4, Dodgers 0
In Los Angeles, Eric Lauer and
four Milwaukee relievers combined
to hand Los Angeles its first shutout
of the season at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers, with the best record
in baseball and the highest-scor-
ing team in the majors, had their
nine-game home winning streak
snapped. Los Angeles was blanked
for the sixth time overall this season
after completing a weekend sweep
of Miami with 19 runs and 34 hits
in a three-game series.
Lauer (9-5) allowed five hits in
five innings. He struck out two and
walked two. The Brewers bullpen
allowed three hits the rest of the
way.
Luis Urías snapped an 0-for-21
slump with a home run in the fourth
inning. He entered as a defensive re-
placement at third base in the third.
His solo drive came with two outs
off Julio Urías (13-7), who gave up
two hits in six innings, struck out
seven and walked one.
The Brewers scored three times
in the ninth off Phil Bickford.
Marlins 3, Athletics 0
In Oakland, rookie Edward Ca-
brera pitched two-hit ball over eight
innings in another impressive start,
Charles Leblanc homered Miami
beat Oakland.
Cabrera (4-1) retired the final 14
batters in the longest outing of his
career. He struck out seven and
walked three in the 101-pitch per-
formance.
Tanner Scott followed with one-
hit relief for his 18th save.
Leblanc connected in the second
off Adam Oller (2-6).
The A’s drew their second-lowest
home crowd of 2,630.
thanks to African ‘roots’
MADRID, Aug 23, (AP): Iñaki Wil-
liams is enjoying yet another season
as a starter for Athletic Bilbao.
The only debate about his role in
Basque Country is whether he should
play more up front as a true striker or
out on the wing.
Williams’ spot with Spain’s nation-
al team was never assured, though, so
when the call to play for Ghana came,
his decision wasn’t that hard to make.
Ahead of the World Cup, Ghana
aggressively recruited players from
abroad with connections to the Af-
rican nation, and Williams fitted the
bill.
The 28-year-old Williams was born
in Spain to parents who are from Gha-
na. They moved to Spain several dec-
ades ago and, to be able to stay there,
were advised by a charity worker to
say they had fled a civil war in Liberia.
Now, with slim hopes of being
called up again by Spain - he made
one appearance in a friendly in 2016
- Williams became one of five play-
ers to accept a recent invitation to join
Ghana’s national team and play at the
World Cup.
“Even though I was born in Spain,
my roots and my blood are African
and Ghanese. This is the correct deci-
sion,” Williams said. “With my age,
at my peak as an athlete, it is the right
time to do this. The train will only
come by once and I have to take it.”
SOCCER
His first appearance for Ghana
could come in a friendly match
against Brazil on Sept. 23, one of two
World Cup warmup matches for the
national team that month.
Williams said the support he re-
ceived from his family and vothers in
a recent trip back home helped him
make the decision to switch to Ghana.
Williams is one of the few Black
players to ever play for Athletic, the
traditional Spanish club that has an
internal code to only sign local-born
players or those who have come
through the soccer academies of
teams in the Basque region.
Williams was a member of Spain’s
youth squads and played in a friendly
against Bosnia in 2016. He had not
been called up recently by Luis En-
rique and did not appear to be in the
coach’s plan for the World Cup.
FIFA eligibility rules allow coun-
tries to recruit players from their global
diaspora if the players meet the condi-
tions related to their nationalities. Play-
ers are allowed to switch allegiance
to a new national team if they never
played a competitive game for the first
country they were eligible to represent.
Ghana qualified for its fourth World
Cup, and first since 2014, by eliminat-
ing Nigeria in a two-leg playoff in
March. It is in Group H along with
Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay.
Dropped by the Netherlands be-
cause of his lack of game time at Paris
Saint-Germain last season, Georginio
Wijnaldum moved to Roma on loan
partly in an attempt to revive his in-
Roma’s Georginio Wijnaldum
plays during a friendly soccer
match against Shakhtar Donetsk at
Rome’s Olympic Stadium. (AP)
ternational career ahead of the World
Cup.
It hasn’t gone to plan.
Wijnaldum broke the tibia in his
right leg during practice on Sunday
and might not be fit in time for the
World Cup. He will undergo more
tests this week.
In the 2020-21 season, Wijnaldum
was a star of the Liverpool team and
captained the Dutch in the absence of
the injured Virgil van Dijk.
However, after being continually
overlooked in his only season at PSG,
Wijnaldum was dropped by Nether-
lands coach Louis van Gaal for his
team’s four matches in June. He has
made 86 international appearances,
scoring 26 goals.
Mexico coach Gerardo Martino
was heavily criticized for his team´s
attacking struggles in the last matches
in World Cup qualification. Now,
he’ll have to figure out how to im-
prove the offense without one of his
top players.
Sevilla forward Jesus “Tecatito”
Corona broke his left fibula and rup-
tured ankle ligaments this week and
will be out for four to five months,
the Spanish club said. That is likely to
rule him out of the World Cup, though
Jaime Ordiales, the head of Mexico’s
national teams, said Corona will be
given until the last minute to have him
on board for Qatar.
“It´s a serious injury,” Ordiales
said, “but we have seen some impres-
sive recoveries in the past, so we’re
going to wait and hope for the best.”
Mexico, which finished second in
the CONCACAF qualifiers behind
Canada, scored just four goals in its
last five qualifying matches. That
was with Corona playing alongside
Raul Jimenez and Hirving Lozano in
Martino´s 4-3-3 formation.
Now Martino, who guided Para-
guay to the World Cup quarterfinals
in 2010, will have to try to awaken
his offense without Corona and with
Jimenez battling to rediscover his best
form after fracturing his skull in 2020.
Jimenez came on as a substitute
in Wolverhampton’s 1-0 loss to Tot-
tenham in the Premier League on Sat-
urday, having missed the start of the
season with a knee injury.

SPORTS
New York Jets wide receiver Tarik Black, (center), is tackled on the run by Atlanta Falcons linebacker Mykal Walker, (below), during the first half
of an NFL football game in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP)
Mariota, Ridder solid for
Falcons in loss to NY Jets
Streveler finishes 8 of 11 for 119 yards
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.,
Aug 23, (AP): Marcus Mariota
is feeling - and playing - like a
starter again.
After leading Atlanta to scores on
two of his three drives in the Falcons’
24-16 loss against mostly New York
Jets backups Monday night, Mariota
appears to have strengthened his hold
on the quarterback job.
“The last couple years were a good reset
for me, but I’m excited about the opportu-
nity, excited about this team,” said Mariota,
who was a backup the last two years in Las
Vegas and hasn’t started a regular-season
game since 2019 with Tennessee.
Mariota was 6 of 10 for 132 yards and a
touchdown pass to Olamide Zaccheaus be-
fore giving way to rookie Desmond Ridder
with a 10-0 lead in the second quarter.
“I’m pleased with Marcus,” Falcons
coach Arthur Smith said. “Looked like he
got into a good rhythm.”
Ridder, a third-round pick out of Cincin-
nati, wasn’t too shabby, either, going 10 of
13 for 143 yards and leading the Falcons to
two field goals during his three series that
were marred by penalties.
“He’s young, spunky and he’s showing
flashes out here today,” said tight end Kyle
Pitts, one of only a few projected Falcons
starters who played.
Pitts made his presence felt quickly with
a 52-yard reception on Atlanta’s second
play from scrimmage. He got wide open on
Bryce Hall, who’s competing with rookie
Sauce Gardner for a starting job at corner-
back, to put the Falcons at the Jets 9.
“Well, you know, it makes it easy when
you’ve got a guy like Kyle,” Mariota said.
“But yeah, we felt good about the player,
New York Jets quarterback Chris St-
reveler (15) celebrates after tight end
Lawrence Cager runs in a touchdown
during the second half of an NFL foot-
ball game against the Atlanta Falcons in
East Rutherford, N.J. (AP)
Tom Brady ‘ends’ 11-day break,
rejoins Buccaneers for practice
TAMPA, Fla., Aug 23, (AP): Tom Brady
returned to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on
Monday, ending what has been described as
an 11-day, prearranged break from training
camp for personal reasons.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion
didn’t address the media after practicing.
Teammates and coach Todd Bowles said the
45-year-old quarterback was sharp throwing
the ball and essentially took up where he left
off when he left the team on Aug. 11.
FOOTBALL
“If anybody can get away with the
11-day break during training camp, it’s
Tom,” tight end Cameron Brate said. “He
came back, kind of firing on all cylinders
again. We’re all excited he’s back and
ready to move on.”
While he was away, Brady missed two
preseason games that Bowles said the quar-
terback would not have played in even if he
were with the team.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
15
Big Ten clash
College football resumes int’l play
WASHINGTON, Aug 23, (AP): College
football has been around the world since Ire-
land first hosted a game more than 30 years
ago, with locales as disparate as Tokyo and
Toronto staging games.
Australians loved the touchdowns and
halftime theatrics, not to mention the hot
dogs and beer, the latter of which ran out
during California’s 51-31 win over Hawaii
in 2016. Fordham and Holy Cross have
taken their rivalry abroad twice, the second
time before not quite 2,500 fans in Bermuda
in 1995.
Now, college football takes the leap again
when Nebraska faces Northwestern in Dub-
lin on Saturday in the first regular-season
international game in five years.
FOOTBALL
“We intend to kick off the season every
year in Ireland,” said John Anthony, found-
er of Anthony Travel and Irish American
Events, the game’s organizer.
Ireland has a five-game deal in place for
the series dubbed the Aer Lingus College
Football Classic. Notre Dame was set to
headline the first one, against Navy, in 2020
but it was called off because of the pandem-
ic. Last year’s Nebraska-Illinois game was In this file photo, Northwestern head
moved to Champaign for the same reason. coach Pat Fitzgerald talks to reporters
Notre Dame and Navy will now play at during an NCAA college football news
conference at the Big Ten Conference
Aviva Stadium in next year’s opener. Based Media Days at Lucas Oil Stadium in In-
on the 2020 figures - 40,000 tickets sold in dianapolis. Northwestern is set to kick
the U.S. - it should sell out with capacity off its season on Aug. 27, 2022, against
near 49,000. Nebraska. (AP)
The Big Ten showdown Saturday will
have attendance in the “mid-30s,” Anthony
said, including 13,000 fans coming from the
United States.
Organizers were expecting 18,000 Amer-
icans and 5,000 Europeans with an econom-
ic impact of 63 million euros ($63 million)
sees it a long-term investment by govern-
ment partners.
“The COVID backdrop obviously had an
impact, but this is about getting it back and
growing it over the next number of years,”
Chambers told The Associated Press. “It’s
on the Irish economy. Besides the U.S. trav- something we’re committed to. We’re confi-
elers, only another 3,000 are coming from
outside Ireland. The economic impact has
been downgraded to “at least” 40 million
euros ($40 million), Anthony said.
International ticket sales were hurt by
COVID-19 concerns, and local fans have
dent around the economic evaluation of this
and the benefit it brings the country but also
the opportunity it brings for everyone that’s
coming, whether it’s tourism, enterprise,
personal or business.”
Anthony would not disclose specifics
not seen an American football game live of how much the teams get financially but
Hasnain replaces Afridi since 2016 when Georgia Tech beat Boston
College, 17-14. It probably didn’t help, too,
for Northwestern it will “replace the rev-
enue that they could get from a home game
that both Nebraska and Northwestern are ... they’re not doing it for less than that.”
felt good about the look and hats off to Kyle ISLAMABAD, Aug 23, (AP): Pakistan fast bowler Moham- coming off 3-9 seasons. Northwestern, a private institution, did not
for executing it.” mad Hasnain has replaced the injured Shaheen Shah Afridi Still, it’s providing the largest inbound respond to a request for comment.
The drive stalled, though, and the Fal- for the Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates. tourism event of the year for Ireland. And “(A) school does not make this decision
cons had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by The 22-year-old Hasnain returned to cricket in June as a Northwestern home game, it figures to because they want to make a bunch of mon-
Younghoe Koo. But Mariota led Atlanta into after remodelling his bowling action. He was suspended draw more than the average attendance of ey. They want it for the experience for their
the end zone on the next possession. He hit in February after being called by umpires during the 30,679 at Ryan Field last season. student-athletes and their university and fol-
a wide-open Anthony Firkser for a 39-yard BBL. Ireland Minister for Sport Jack Chambers lowing and their constituency,”
gain to get to the Jets 14, and then found
Zaccheaus for a 13-yard TD two plays later.
The Jets sat most of their projected start-
ers, including quarterback Joe Flacco - who
took over as New York’s QB1 in place of
the injured Zach Wilson. Coach Robert
Saleh said after the game the Jets will treat
this week as a “dress rehearsal” for the regu-
lar season and the starters are expected to
play Sunday against the Giants.
Wilson is out a few weeks as he recovers
from a bone bruise and surgically repaired
torn meniscus in his right knee, with his
availability for the season opener against
Baltimore on Sept. 11 uncertain. It would be
Flacco under center if Wilson can’t go, but
Mike White got the start against the Falcons
and was mostly ineffective with the back-
ups.
FOOTBALL
White went 12 of 17 for 90 yards, and
the offense punted on each of his first four
series before Greg Zuerlein’s 44-yard field
goal ended the first half with the Jets trail-
ing 16-3.
“It was one of those preseason games
where you couldn’t get into a rhythm,”
White said.
Fourth-stringer Chris Streveler, who
hadn’t thrown a pass in team drills before
leading the Jets to two touchdowns in the
preseason opener at Philadelphia, was at it
again against Atlanta.
The former CFL quarterback, who had
previous NFL stints with Arizona, Balti-
more and Miami, replaced White in the third
quarter and engineered TD drives in his first
two series.
First came a 34-yard TD pass to Law-
rence Cager, then an eight-play drive that
was capped by La’Mical Perine’s 7-yard run
that gave the Jets a 17-16 lead 11 seconds
into the fourth quarter.
Streveler finished 8 of 11 for 119 yards
and the TD, and was intercepted by Teez
Tabor. He also led the Jets with 33 yards
rushing on six carries.
Jets defensive lineman Bradlee Anae,
competing for a roster spot on a deep unit,
made his case to stick around. He sacked
Franks, causing him to fumble, and then
picked up the ball and rumbled 30 yards into
the end zone for a touchdown in the rain that
gave New York a 24-16 lead.
Ridder led the Falcons to the Jets 1 in his
first series, but a false start penalty on offen-
sive lineman Jalen Mayfield on fourth down
had Atlanta opt instead for a 23-yard field
goal by Koo.
The coach said the break had been
planned since well before the start of train-
ing camp last month.
“His presence is different, just the leader
he is, the type of guy he is,” linebacker La-
vonte David said. “It’s great to have a guy
like that back. He came back ready to take
off where he left off.”
In Brady’s absence, backup Blaine Gab-
bert and third-stringer Kyle Trask shared
most of the snaps in practice and during pre-
season losses to the Miami Dolphins and In-
dianapolis Colts. Bowles said it has not been
determined if - or how much - Brady might
play in Saturday night’s preseason finale at
Indianapolis.
The quarterback’s return comes as the
Bucs continue to deal with injuries to an of-
fensive line facing the prospect of entering
the Sept. 11 season opener with at least two
new starters. Center Ryan Jensen was lost to
a knee injury on the second day of camp and
left guard Aaron Stinnie suffered a season-
ending knee injury against the Titans last
weekend.

Indian cricket players pose for a photograph with the trophy after winning the series on the last day of the One-Day International cricket match between Zimbabwe and India at Harare Sports
Gill century leads India to ODI series sweep in Zimbabwe
Shubman Gill scored his first one-
day century and snatched a game-
clinching catch in the second-last
over as India held off Zimbabwe’s
fightback to win the final ODI by 13
runs on Monday and sweep the se-
ries 3-0.
Gill’s 130 from 97 balls formed
the bulk of India’s total of 289-8
at Harare Sports Club after the
visitors chose to bat first. He hit 15
Man United spring back to
life with win over Liverpool
MANCHESTER, England,
Aug 23, (AP): Finally, there
are signs of life at Manches-
ter United.
Against a backdrop of protests
against the club’s ownership,
United delivered a performance of
intensity and spirit to beat fierce ri-
vals Liverpool 2-1 and claim their
first points in the Premier League
this season.
Composed finishes by Jadon Sancho
in the 16th minute and Marcus Rash-
ford in the 53rd earned a victory at Old
Trafford that will bring some respite
for under-pressure manager Erik ten
Hag, who made a huge statement in his
team selection by dropping star striker
Cristiano Ronaldo and club captain
Harry Maguire and was validated.
Suddenly, the heat is on Liverpool -
widely expected to be a title contenders
again this season - with Jürgen Klopp’s
team still waiting for a win after three
games and now languishing behind
United in the standings on just two
points.
Mohamed Salah scored an 81st-
minute consolation but it was another
below-par display from Liverpool after
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (left), challenges for the ball with Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino during the
English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford stadium, in Man-
Editor-in-Chief Editorial Office:
AHMED AL JARALLAH Airport Road, Shuwaikh
Fans gather to protest against
the Manchester United own-
ers outside the Old Trafford
ground, Manchester, England
before the English Premier
League match between Man-
chester United and Liverpool.
(AP)
Latest sports scores at — http://sports.arabtimesonline.com
Club in Harare, Zimbabwe. (AP)
fours and a six and shared a 140-
run stand for the third wicket with
Ishan Khan, who made 50.
Zimbabwe’s chase appeared
over at 169-7 and the home team
was seemingly on course for an-
other heavy defeat.
But Sikandar Raza was at the
heart of a late surge by Zimbabwe
with his 115 from 95 balls. His in-
nings meant Zimbabwe needed 17
Angry fans in ownership protest
draws with Fulham and Crystal Palace,
even if this was a first league loss in
2022.
What is historically the biggest
game in English soccer was preceded
by a pre-match protest by thousands of
United fans angry at the direction and
state of the club under their owners of
17 years, the Glazer family.
The support-
ers called for the
U.S-based Glaz-
ers to sell the club
as they walked to
Old Trafford then
gathered on the
concourse out-
side the storied
stadium, in front
of a large police
presence. Many
lingered as the Rashford
match began.
The pressure was on United after
losses to Brighton (2-1) and Brentford
(4-0) to open the season, and the play-
ers fed off a frenzied atmosphere that
seemed to affect Liverpool early on.
Lisandro Martinez, an offseason
signing at center back who has come
under enormous criticism in recent
days, was particularly impressive and
chester, England. (AP)
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Sports
off the last two overs.
Raza had already hit three sixes
and he attempted a fourth over
long-on midway through the penul-
timate over.
Gill came running in from the
boundary and dived forwards full
length to hold the catch just off the
ground and end Raza’s fightback.
Avesh Khan sealed it next over
by bowling Victor Nyauchi for a
set the tone by clattering into Salah
in the first minute, then barging into
the Liverpool forward after getting up
off the ground. Later in the first half,
Raphael Varane, who replaced Magu-
ire, virtually rugby-tackled Luis Diaz
to the ground, to roars of approval from
United’s fans even if it earned him a
booking.
Sancho’s goal came in United’s best
spell of the game, the winger showing
great composure to trick James Milner
by feigning to shoot, cut back inside
and place a shot into the corner as Vir-
gil van Dijk bizarrely stood motion-
less in front of him. It was the seventh
straight Premier League match that
Liverpool had fallen behind.
The stadium erupted again when
Anthony Martial, a halftime substitute,
played through Rashford and the strik-
er sprinted toward the area before plac-
ing a calm finish inside the near post.
United had to defend stoutly at times
but hung on to end an eight-match win-
less run against Liverpool and a losing
streak of four matches in the league
stretching back to the end of last sea-
son.
It’s down to United to string a run of
similar battling performances together,
starting at Southampton next weekend.
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duck, with Zimbabwe all out for
276 in 49.3 overs. Khan ended with
3-66 and India came away with a
3-0 series win.
Gill’s first ODI century was on the
cards after the 22-year-old right-
hander made 64, 43 and 98 not out
last month in West Indies and 82
not out in the first game of this se-
ries. “Gill batted brilliantly, he has
been in very good form,” said India’s
Ten Hag will have Casemiro, whose
$60 million signing from Real Ma-
drid was completed , available for that
game and the Brazil midfielder was
presented on the field before kickoff.
Roma make it 2 wins out of two
Injury-hit Juventus held by Sampdoria
MILAN, Aug 23, (AP): Injury-
hit Juventus clearly missed Án-
gel Di María as they were held to
a 0-0 draw at Sampdoria in Se-
rie A. Di María had added some
much-needed flair to the Juven-
tus side and scored on his debut
last weekend as well as provid-
ing an assist as the Bianconeri
opened the season with a 3-0 win
over Sassuolo.
However, he went off injured
in that match and could also miss
next weekend’s key game against
Roma, which beat newly promot-
Girona top Getafe
for 1st league win
MADRID, Aug 23, (AP): Former Major
League Soccer scoring leader Taty Cas-
tellanos netted his first goal in the Span-
ish league as Girona beat Getafe 3-1 for
their first win of the season.
Girona also got on the board with
Cristhian Stuani and an own-goal by
Getafe defender Domingos Duarte.
Enes Unal scored for Getafe when his
team already trailed by three goals.
Getafe had opened with a 3-0 home
loss to Atlético Madrid, while Girona
started with a 1-0 loss at Valencia.
Castellanos, playing on a one-season
loan from New York City FC, scored his
first league goal from inside the area in
the 64th minute.
Girona is back in the first division af-
ter a three-year absence. Like NYC it is
controlled by City Football Group, the
parent company of Manchester City.
Getafe, which dropped to last place
with the loss, had defender Fabrizio An-
gileri sent off deep into stoppage time.
The match marked Girona’s debut of
Brazilian forward Reinier, who came
off the bench in the second half after
arriving on loan from Real Madrid fol-
lowing a stint with Borussia Dortmund.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
Axar Patel. “He was also man-of-
the-match against the West Indies
recently. So this is the biggest takea-
way for us from this series.”
Zimbabwe seamer Brad Evans,
the son of former Zimbabwe bats-
man Craig Evans, took 5-54 in just
his fifth ODI and made 28 in an
eighth-wicket partnership of 104
with Raza that nearly got his team
home. (AP)
Sampdoria’s Mehdi Leris (right), and Juventus’ Mattia De Sciglio battle for
the ball during the Serie A soccer match between Sampdoria and Juventus
at Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Genoa, Italy. (AP)
ed Cremonese 1-0 on Monday to
make it two wins out of two.
Juventus were also missing
Paul Pogba as well as Federico
Chiesa, Kaio Jorge and goalkeep-
er Wojciech Szcz sny, while
veteran defender Leonardo Bo-
nucci was only fit for a place on
the bench.
Sampdoria had hit the wood-
work - twice - in a 2-0 loss to
Atalanta last weekend and did so
again in the opening few minutes
following Mehdi Léris’ effort.
Shortly afterward, Juventus al-
most scored an own-goal as Bian-
coneri forward Dušan Vlahović
kicked a corner
onto his own
post.
Juventus
thought they
had broken the
deadlock in the
65th minute
but Adrien Ra-
biot’s strike
was disal- Smalling
lowed because
Vlahović was in an offside posi-
tion in the buildup.
Rabiot, who had missed the
opening match through suspen-
sion, recently saw a proposed
move to Manchester United fall
through.
Juventus’ new signing Filip
Kostić almost won it right at the
death, but his effort was brilliant-
ly parried by home goalkeeper
Emil Audero.
Roma sent messages of support
to injured teammate Georginio
Wijnaldum before and during its
narrow victory over newly pro-
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16
Empty seats, soccer
‘returns’ to Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine, Aug 23, (AP): With
two teams playing in an empty sta-
dium hundreds of miles away from
their hometowns, the Ukrainian soccer
league started its new season Tuesday
after a poignant ceremony paying trib-
ute to those fighting in the war with
Russia.
The opening match at Kyiv’s
65,500-seat Olympic stadium - where
spectators were not allowed in - saw
two teams from the war-torn east of the
country, Shaktar Donetsk and Metalist
1925, play out a 0-0 draw. The result,
though, was always going to be an af-
SOCCER
terthought.
It was the first top-level soccer
match played in the country since Rus-
sia’s invasion in February, and the
decision to restart the league has been
hailed as a defiant sign that Ukrainians
are ready to restore some sense of nor-
mal life. Although this game felt far
from normal.
Ukraine remains under martial law
and large public gatherings have been
banned in the capital ahead of the Inde-
pendence Day holiday Wednesday due
to fears of potential Russian bombard-
ment.
Police stood guard in front of the
turnstiles, where weeds have grown
after stadiums were closed six months
ago, but no fans showed up to the
arena.
Players from the two teams entered
the field with blue and yellow Ukrain-
ian national flags draped over their
shoulders and observed a minute of
silence while the names of Ukrainian
cities where people had died in the war
were displayed on a large screen.
Players raised a Ukrainian flag at
the stadium that once belonged to Da-
nylo Myhal, a Canadian of Ukrainian
descent.
moted Cremonese.
The Roma players wore shirts
bearing the words “Forza Gini”
(“Stay strong Gini”) as they
warmed up for the match and
Chris Smalling also held up a
Roma jersey with Wijnaldum’s
name and number after scoring
the only goal of the match.
Wijnaldum, who was signed on
loan from Paris Saint-Germain
earlier this month, fractured his
tibia during a training session on
Sunday. There was a further in-
jury blow for Roma just before
halftime when Nicolò Zaniolo
was stretchered off after seem-
ingly dislocating his shoulder.
Roma had also won their open-
er 1-0 against Salernitana while
Cremonese had narrowly lost 3-2
to Fiorentina in their first match
back in the top flight since 1996.
Both sides had several chances
to take the lead and Cremonese
goalkeeper Ionu Radu pulled
off a number of impressive saves.
The visiting team went agoniz-
ingly close shortly after the break
when Cyriel Dessers’s effort
crashed off the crossbar.
Dessers also sent two acrobatic
overhead kicks narrowly past the
post.
Roma hit the woodwork too
when Radu tipped Stephan El
Shaarawy’s shot onto the bar.
But the hosts broke the dead-
lock in the 65th when a corner
was floated in from the left and
Smalling headed in at the back
post. Cremonese almost leveled
in stoppage time as Charles Pick-
el’s volley clipped the outside of
the right upright.
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