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TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 DHUL HIJJAH 14, 1441 AH
ESTABLISHED IN 1981 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI VOL. 39 NO. 264 | PAGES 18
OMAN DAILY
MUSCAT: Marriages in Oman hit a five-year low, while divorces registered an increase in 2019 with more than 10 cases a day.
The marriage graph, according to National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), has been showing a downtrend since 2015 when the number of persons entered into the wedlock stood at 25,659 against 18,243 in 2019.
Divorces, on the other hand, registered a continuous jump, starting with 3,619 cases in 2015 to 3,728 in the same year.
While Muscat Governorate
topped the list of divorces with 823 out of a total 3,662 cases in 2018, the national percentage of divorces stood at 18.3 in 2018, 17.3 in 2017 and 14.05 in 2016.
There were 3,662 divorce cases filed in 2018, around 3,867 in 2017 and 3,376 cases in 2016.
“These figures are alarming and call for action. The impact from divorce – both psychological and social -- is known to most people, and if there are children involved, they tend to be at risk of developing psychological distress, said Dr Hamed al Sinawi, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital.
The Department of Blood Bank Services has said that there is an urgent need for blood donors at the Central Blood Bank in Bausher. The department said that the blood bank is facing a sharp fall in stocks of various groups of blood. DETAILS ON P2
MARRIAGES AT FIVE-YEAR LOW
#Living_with_COVID19
Be Careful,Be Responsible!
GENEVA: The World Health Organization on Monday warned there might never be a “silver bullet” for the coronavirus, as Australia’s second-largest city went under curfew and the number of global infections passed 18 million.
The world’s hope of ending the current cycle of outbreaks and lockdowns rests on a vaccine, but the UN health agency said governments and citizens should focus on what is
known to work: Testing, contact tracing, maintaining physical distance and wearing a mask.
“We all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection”, WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference.
“However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment — and there might never be”, he said.
“For now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control. Do it all”.
Despite months of economically crippling restrictions, the pandemic is gathering pace with the worldwide death toll nearing 700,000 and a White House adviser warning the virus is “extraordinarily widespread” in the United States. DETAILS ON P5
‘No silver
bullet’ for virus,
warns WHO
URGENT NEED FOR BLOOD DONORS
S A M U E L K U T T Y
TURN TO P3
2 TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 www.omanobserver.om
OMAN
Rh positive
ANY COVID-19 RECOVERED PERSON WHO HAS NO SYMPTOMS FOR MORE THAN 14 DAYS CAN DONATE BLOOD PLASMA
EAT
DRINK
EXERCISE
WEAR
DISTRACT
KNOW
SLEEP
Eating regularly before donating will help to keep your blood sugar levels stable. This is important so that you don’t feel lightheaded or dizzy after your donation.
Drink 500ml of water immediately before you give blood. It is essential to avoid alcohol before and after donating as this may affect hydration levels and delay recovery.
Avoid doing any vigorous exercise or heavy lifting the day of your donation — both before and after you’ve given blood. Keeping your body in a rested state.
We will need to roll up your sleeve past your elbow when you give blood — to allow easy access to your veins. To make sure that you are comfortable, please wear clothing with loose sleeves.
It is normal to feel nervous when you come along to donate. You may want to bring a friend to wait with you or feel free to bring a book to read or listen to some music while you donate.
Although most people can give blood, there are some restrictions — depending on things like your health, medication and whether you’ve been abroad recently.
Get a full night’s sleep of between 7 to 9 hours before donation. This will help you to feel more alert when you give blood, which will in turn reduce the risk of feeling unwell.
Blood bank seeks donors
TIPS FOR SAFE DONATION
MUSCAT: The Bausher Blood Bank requested both citizens and residents to donate blood and take part in the national life-saving mission in the wake of the shortage in the supply during the Eid holidays.
“Blood donors are welcomed to visit the Department of Blood Services between 8 am to 5 pm and donate blood as we have a shortage of blood of various types”, a statement from the Central Blood Bank said.
“There has been a 40 per cent reduction in the number of blood donors who come to the Central Blood Bank since COVID-19 pandemic broke out”, Dr Zainab bint Salim al Fanna al Araimi, Director of Blood Banks Services at the Ministry of Health, earlier said.
Muscat Governorate alone needs 70-100 blood units daily for the governorate’s health institutions. Patients with genetic blood diseases, tumours and those from traffic accidents, who need blood.
A person can donate plasma or blood after 14 days of COVID-19 recovery only if they are not older than 60-65 years of age, do not have uncontrolled diabetes or hypertension, do not have chronic kidney, heart, lung or liver disease.
Women who have ever become pregnant are excluded from plasma donation. A baby has genetic material from both the mother and the father. So, when a woman gets pregnant, she develops antibodies against the father’s genetic material (human leucocyte antigen). This HLA antibody can lead to a transfusion related complication called Transfusion related acute lung injury (TRALI).
The department has taken all the necessary measures to protect donors visiting the central blood bank including social distancing by limiting the number of donors at a particular time.
Those who are willing to donate blood can book their time between 8 am and 5 pm from Saturday to Thursday through WhatsApp 94555648 or by calling 24591255.
K A B E E R Y O U S U F
WASHINGTON: Space tourism com-pany Virgin Galactic on Monday announced a partnership with engine-maker Rolls-Royce to build a super-sonic commercial airplane that flies at three times the speed of sound.
The aircraft would travel at Mach 3 — rather than the Mach 2 speed of Concorde, the pioneering jet that oper-ated from 1976 to 2003.
Any new supersonic plane would have to solve the problems that doomed Concorde, in particular noise and fuel consumption.
“We are excited to... unveil this initial design concept of a high speed air-craft, which we envision as blending safe and reliable commercial travel with an unrivalled customer experi-ence”, said George Whitesides, Chief Space Officer at Virgin Galactic.
The aircraft’s draft design showed a plane with a triangular “delta wing” carrying between nine and 19 passen-gers at an altitude of more than 60,000 feet, or 18,000 metres — about twice as high as normal commercial flight.
The plane would take-off and land at existing airport runways.
Virgin Galactic said its team would “work to address key challenges in thermal management, maintenance, noise, emissions and economics that routine high speed commercial flights would entail”.
— Reuters
FROM PAGE 1
However, in some cases, divorce, which is a personal choice, could be the only solu-tion to end an other-wise traumatic life, he said.
Reducing the rate of divorces has been a topic of interest in sev-eral countries where nationwide pro-grammes are prepared to develop public awareness about the importance of mar-riage and family.
“The divorce rate tends to be higher in the first few years of marriage, then appears to decrease in later years. The first three years of marriage seem to be the most risky period”, he said.
Quoting a report, Dr Hamed said that there are changes in the concept of marriage observed in the GCC countries which includes a gradual move away from arranged marriages, relative delay in the age of marriage, and emergence of marriag-es across ethnic and class boundaries.
Arranged marriages often deprive young
couples of their right for free choice of their partners so they find themselves non-com-parable with differenc-es in perceptions about life.
Other issues involved in the increasing number of divorces include incompatibility between couples in age, physical and sexual appeal, financial and social status etc.
Most importantly, said Dr Hamed, is fail-ure to understand that a family requires com-mitment and hard work.
“In some families, the husband is frequently absent and fails to share in household
duties and child rear-ing which is left to the wife to handle”, he said.
According to Dr Hamed, promoting freedom of choice regarding marriage partners is likely to reduce divorce rate.
The Ministry of Social Development launched marriage counselling services in 2014 to offer Omani couples advice on married life and to educate them about potential chal-lenges.
Along with counsel-ling, all sections of the media should also be used to educate about the sanctity of mar-riage and family life, Dr Hamed said.
www.omanobserver.om TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 3
OMAN/WORLDVIRGIN EYES MACH 3 SUPERSONIC FLIGHT
Over 10 divorces a day
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Mohd Al Rashdi [email protected]
Ali Al [email protected]
Salalah Office
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Nizwa Office
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Suhar Office
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12 die in South Korea rainsSEOUL: At least a dozen people have been killed over the weekend due to storms with heavy rains and landslides in South Korea. Between Saturday and Monday night, 12 people died and 13 went missing, according to local media reports citing the emergency management agency on Monday.
The regions around Seoul and central South Korea were hit hardest by the storms. In the city of Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, a temporary building belonging to a semiconductor factory was destroyed by a landslide, killing three, the news agency Yonhap reported.
In the province of Gyeonggi a family of three was killed after their house was destroyed by a mudslide.
Malaysia to return mask fineBANGKOK: Malaysian authorities will rescind penalties imposed on people found not wearing face masks inside cars, the country’s defence minister said on Monday. “I already spoke to the police and the MoH [Ministry of Health], and the police will cancel the fines,” Ismail Sabri Yaakob said during a press briefing. Wearing masks on public transport and in designated public spaces, such as cinemas, markets and tourist attractions, has been mandatory since Saturday, as part of Malaysia’s attempts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Malaysia’s Ministry of Health has reported 8,999 cases of the virus since January and 125 related deaths, while 8,664 of those diagnosed have recovered, according to the ministry.
Pets can get coronavirusGrEifSwALd: A study by Italian scientists has found that people can transmit the coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 to cats and dogs. The study tested 540 dogs and 277 cats living in households in northern Italy, particularly in Lombardy, where someone was infected with the virus or in areas where there were many cases. The study, which has not been peer-reviewed yet, found coronavirus Antibodies in 3.4 per cent of dogs and 3.9 per cent of cats, indicating they were infected with the virus. Swab tests for active virus infections were negative in all animals, as the virus shedding period ended after two weeks. The tests were conducted between March and May of this year.
— Agencies
4 Tuesday, augusT 4, 2020 www.omanobserver.om
world
LONdON: As the world awaits a COVID-19 vaccine, the next big advance in bat-tling the pandemic could come from a class of biotech therapies widely used against cancer and other disorders — Antibodies designed specifically to attack this new virus.
Development of mono-clonal Antibodies to target the virus has been endorsed by leading scientists. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert, called them “almost a sure bet” against COVID-19.
When a virus gets past the body’s initial defenses, a more specific response kicks in, triggering produc-tion of cells that target the invader. These include Antibodies that recognise and lock onto a virus, pre-venting the infection from spreading. Monoclonal Antibodies — grown in bio-reactor vats — are copies of these naturally-occurring proteins. Scientists are still working out the exact role of neutralising Antibodies in recovery from COVID-19, but drugmakers are confident that the right Antibodies or a combination can alter the course of the disease that has claimed more than 675,000 lives globally.
“Antibodies can block infectivity. That is a fact,” R e g e n e r o n Pharmaceuticals executive Christos Kyratsous said.
The US government in June awarded Regeneron a $450 million supply con-tract. The company said it can immediately begin pro-duction at its US plant if reg-ulators approve the treat-ment. Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Amgen, and GlaxoSmithKline
were cleared by the US gov-ernment to pool manufac-turing resources in order to scale up supplies if any of these drugs prove success-ful.
Even with that unusual cooperation among rivals, manufacturing these medi-cines is complex and capac-ity is limited. There is also a debate over whether a sin-gle antibody will be powerful enough to stop COVID-19.
Unlike vaccines, which activate the body’s own immune system, the impact of infused Antibodies even-tually dissipates.
Still, drugmakers say mon-oclonal Antibodies could temporarily prevent infec-tion in at-risk people such as medical workers and the elderly. They could also be used as a therapeutic bridge until vaccines become wide-ly available. — reuters
Next big CoVId-19 treatment may be manufactured Antibodies
A Lab technician works at Sorrento Therapeutics where efforts are under way to develop an Antibody, STI-1499, to help in prevention of COVID-19 in San Diego, California. — reuters file photo
When a virus gets past the body’s initial defenses, a more
specific response kicks in, triggering
production of cells that target the invader.
these include antibodies that
recognise and lock onto a virus,
preventing the infection from
spreading. monoclonal antibodies — groWn in bioreactor vats — are
copies of these naturally-occurring
proteins
GENEVA: The World Health Organization warned on Monday that there might never be a “silver bullet” for the new coronavirus, despite the rush to discover effective vac-cines.
The WHO urged gov-ernments and citizens to focus on doing the known basics, such as testing, contact trac-ing, maintaining physi-cal distance and wear-ing a mask in order to suppress the pandem-ic, which has upended normal life around the globe and triggered a devastating economic crisis.
“We all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press confer-ence.
“However, there’s no silver bullet at the
moment -- and there might never be. For now, stopping out-breaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control. Do it all,” he urged.
The novel coronavi-rus has killed nearly 690,000 people and infected at least 18.1
million since the out-break emerged in Wuhan in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.
The WHO began pressing China in early May to invite in its experts to help investigate the animal origins of COVID-19.
The UN health agen-cy sent an epidemiolo-gist and an animal health specialist to Beijing on July 10 to lay the groundwork for a probe aimed at identifying how the virus entered the human species.
Their scoping mis-sion is now complete, said Tedros.
“The WHO advance team that travelled to China has now con-cluded their mission to lay the groundwork for further joint efforts to identify the virus origins,” he said.
— AFP
www.omanobserver.om TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 5
WORLDWHO WARNS
THERE MAY NEVER BE A COVID-19
‘SILVER BULLET’
A health worker ties a ‘rakhi’ (sacred thread) on the wrist of her coworker before collecting swab samples for COVID-19 coronavirus, during the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan, in Kolkata, India, on Monday. — AFP
The WHO urged
governments and
citizens to focus on
doing the known basics,
such as testing, contact
tracing, maintaining
physical distance and
wearing a mask in order
to suppress the
pandemic, which has
upended normal life
around the globe and
triggered a devastating
economic crisis.
Leaders recall ‘political titan’ who pushed for peace in
N IrelandDUBLIN: The smiles and hand-shakes among leaders from the two parts of Ireland attending a meeting last week in Dublin were arguably the legacy of the late Nobel peace laureate John Hume, who died on Monday.
Shortly after Hume’s death was announced, he was remembered by Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin as “one of the towering figures of Irish public life of the last cen-tury.”
Martin last week hosted lead-ers from both sides of Northern Ireland’s ethnic and sectarian divide at a meeting of the North South Ministerial Council, a body set up in the wake of the 1998 Belfast Agreement, a peace deal for Northern Ireland which Hume helped negotiate.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that “without John Hume there would have been no Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, “refer-ring to the 1998 deal, which was also endorsed by the European Union and the United States.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair, who negotiated the agreement with Hume and oth-ers, recalled “a political titan” whose contribution to peace in Northern Ireland was “epic.”
That contribution saw Hume share the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with David Trimble, then the head of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), after the two men forged a partnership that crossed Northern Ireland’s eth-nic and sectarian divide.
— dpa
6 TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 www.omanobserver.om
WORLD
SPACEX BRINGS ASTRONAUTS SAFELY HOME IN MILESTONE MISSIONWASHINGTON: America’s first crewed spaceship to fly to the International Space Station in nearly a decade returned safely to Earth on Sunday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico.
The mission, carried out jointly by Nasa and the private company SpaceX, demonstrated that the United States has the capacity once more to send its astronauts to space and bring them back.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour splashed into the water off Pensacola, Florida at 2:48 pm (18:48 GMT), trailed by its four main parachutes.
It was the first water landing for a crewed US spaceship since the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mis-sion.
“It’s truly our honour and privilege,” said pilot Doug Hurley, who was joined on the mis-sion by commander Bob Behnken.
“On behalf of the Nasa and SpaceX teams, welcome back to planet Earth and thanks for flying SpaceX,” replied SpaceX’s Mike Heiman, to laughter in the control room.
A flotilla of civilian boats swarmed the landing zone as a recovery ship sped to the scorched capsule and hoisted it aboard with its crane.
The Coast Guard said it had
warned people to stay away from the capsule but “numerous boat-ers” ignored the requests.
The “capsule was in the water for a good period of time,” said Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine, “the boats just made a beeline for it.”
The hatch opening was delayed as a team worked to stop a poten-
tially dangerous leak of rocket fuel vapor.
“What’s not com-mon is having pas-sers-by approach the vehicle at close range with nitrogen-tetroxide in the atmosphere... We need to make sure we’re warning peo-ple not to get close to the spacecraft in the future,” Bridenstine said.
Around an hour after splashdown, the astronauts exit-
ed the capsule and headed for shore on a helicopter.
They were reunited with their families in Houston, where they walked off a plane — in apparently good physical shape and upbeat spirits — at a military base.
Addressing a socially distanced welcome ceremony in a hangar, Behnken, a veteran of the Space Shuttle programme, praised the SpaceX team behind the successful mission. — AFP
JALALABAD: At least 20 people have been killed in a raid claimed by the IS group on an Afghan prison, officials said on Monday, shattering a ceasefire between the Taliban and government forces marking the holiday of Eid al Adha. Fighting was still raging on Monday, a day after gunmen stormed the prison hold-ing around 1,700 mostly IS or Taliban inmates in the eastern city of Jalalabad. The IS news outlet Amaq announced its fighters were behind the raid, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. Gunmen remained holed up inside and around the prison, Nangarhar governor’s spokes-man Attaullah Khogyani said. Several armoured vehicles and scores of securi-ty personnel were seen deployed in the area, and gunfire and explosions could be heard.
Lebanon FM resigns in protest at mishandling of crisisBEIRUT: Lebanon’s foreign minister announced his resignation on Monday in protest at the government’s mishandling of the worst economic crisis in decades that has forced Beirut to ask for IMF sup-port. “I have decided to resign today as foreign minister,” Nassif Hitti said in a statement seen by AFP, charging that the government had shown no will to initiate reforms demanded by international donors. “I participated in the government under the logic of serving one boss, which is Lebanon,” Hitti said. “But I found that in my country there are many bosses and contradictory interests. “If they don’t unite in the interest of the Lebanese peo-ple ... then the ship, God forbid, will sink with everyone on board.”
Landslides kill 8 as Nepal monsoon death toll climbKATHMANDU: Landslides caused by monsoon rain on Monday killed at least eight construction workers in central Nepal, officials said. Bhagawati Nepal, deputy mayor of the affected Melamchi municipality, a small town around 50 km to the north of Kathmandu, said that all the deceased were workers involved in construction of a community hall. She said that the workers were sleeping when landslides buried theirmakeshift shelter at around 3 am. — Agencies
20 killed in Afghan prison raid claimed by IS
IN BRIEF
The mission, carried out jointly by Nasa
and the private company SpaceX, demonstrated that the United States has the capacity
once more to send its astronauts to space and bring
them back.
www.omanobserver.om Tuesday, augusT 4, 2020 7
WorldIN BRIEF
Wockhardt to supply millions of doses of vaccines to UKBENGALURU: Indian drugmaker Wockhardt Ltd will supply millions of doses of multiple COVID-19 vaccines to the UK, including the one being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, it said on Monday. The company has reserved fill-and-finish capacity — the final manufacturing step of putting vaccines into vials or syringes and packaging them — as part of an agreement with the UK government, it said. Shares in Wockhardt jumped 10 per cent after the news in a downcast Mumbai market. The UK government has also reserved one fill-and-finish production line at a Wockhardt subsidiary in Wrexham, Wales for its exclusive use for the next 18 months to secure supply. More than 150 vaccines are being developed and tested around the world to stop the pandemic, with 25 in human clinical trials, according to the World Health Organization. Coronavirus cases globally have crossed 18 million, including more than 688,000 deaths.
Masks on as German children start new schoolyearROSTOCK: Thousands of children in northern Germany became the first in Europe to begin a new school year on Monday, with the rest of the country watching anxiously as full-time classes began after months of curtailed hours over the coronavirus pandemic. Masks will be a daily accessory for some of the 150,000 children returning to school in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region, Germany’s first state to reopen the school gates after the summer holidays. Education ministers of Germany’s 16 states had agreed that schools will reopen full-time after the summer break, after offering only partial hours in the weeks when the lockdown was eased. With infection numbers once again creeping up, fears are rising that the new school start could yet prove temporary. But officials warn that children cannot afford to miss more school.
Arrivals to Singapore face electronic trackingBANGKOK: Travellers arriving in Singapore from abroad are to wear an electronic monitoring device if they are not self-isolating in a government-designated facility, the government announced on Monday. The requirement, which comes into force on August 11, aims to “reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 by incoming travellers to the local community,” the country’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a statement. The rule would apply to all incoming travellers, including returning Singaporeans, who “will need to activate the electronic monitoring device upon reaching their place of residence,” the ICA said. An alert would be sent to authorities if wearers tried to breach quarantine or meddle with the device, the ICA warned. Since March 21, arrivals have had to self-isolate for 14 days at home or in a government-designated facility, usually a hotel. — Agencies
MELBOURNE: Australia’s sec-ond-biggest city, Melbourne, already under night curfew, announced fresh restrictions on industries including retail and construction on Monday in a bid to contain a resur-gence of the coronavirus.
From Wednesday night, Melbourne, the capital of Victoria state, will close retail, some manufacturing and administrative businesses as part of a six- week lockdown. The new measures are expect-ed to double the number of jobs affected by coronavirus restrictions to around 500,000.
Having already imposed the strictest restrictions on move-ment, Victoria declared a “state of disaster” on Sunday, as a surge in community transmissions raised fears that the infection rate was going out of control.
Australia has fared better than many countries, with 18,361 coronavirus cases and 221 deaths from a population of 25 million.
“As heartbreaking as it is to close down places of employ-ment ... that is what we have to do in order to stop the spread of this wildly infectious virus,” Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews told a news confer-
ence.“Otherwise, we are not in for
six weeks of restrictions — we’ll be in for a six-month stint.”
The latest moves in Victoria, meant production at meat-works would be cut by one-third, while construction activities and staffing at distri-bution centres would also be scaled back and all schools would return to remote learn-ing.
Supermarkets will remain open along with restaurant takeaway and delivery servic-es, but many other retail out-lets will shut.
“This is a very tough day, and there are many more of those to come before we get to the other side of this,” Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told Nine News television.
The outbreak in Victoria, which makes up a quarter of the national economy, has scuppered hopes for a quick rebound from Australia’s first recession in nearly three dec-ades.
Andrews announced A$5,000 ($3,570) payments for affected businesses and flagged more announcements about penalties, enforcement and education on Tuesday.
— AFP
Melbourne clamps down in frantic bid to curb virus
8 Tuesday, augusT 4, 2020 www.omanobserver.om
ANALYSISIs the EU’s 30pc climate budget greenwashing?
When then-d e f e n c e minister for G e r m a n y
Ursula vonder Leyen ran for the European Union’s top job last year, she pitched herself as a climate enthusiast.
“We must go further. We must strive for more”, she said during her candidate speech at the European Parliament. “I want Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent in the world by 2050”.
She got the job, and has been serving as European Commission president since December.
Under her leadership, the commission — though the initial pro-posal pre-dates her presidency — suggest-ed spending 25 per cent of the European Union’s seven-year budget and the coronavirus recov-ery package on “climate targets”.
The EU governments pushed for even more, and committed to spending 30 per cent of the EU’s budget on cli-mate — a 10 per cent jump from the 2014-20 budget. With a total package of 1.8 trillion euros ($2.1 trillion), the climate tag comes in at 600 billion euros.
But while that might sound good on paper, e n v i r o n m e nt a l i s t s remain sceptical.
“The problem is right now it’s turned into
massive greenwash-ing”, said Berenice Dupeux, Senior Policy Officer for Agriculture at the European Environmental Bureau, a network of various environmental groups.
She said most of the spending that the EU counted under its cli-mate umbrella — about 50 per cent — isn’t actu-ally to be spent on the environment: Instead, they went to the union’s Common Agriculture Policy, without setting additional climate cri-teria. And a large chunk of that money was paid out as direct payment to farmers to support their income, she said.
Yet, as the commis-sion expects farmers to respect environmen-tal regulations the EU had put in place, it auto-matically counts 20 per cent of direct payments as going towards the climate target. But as standards were simply the bare minimum, Dupeux said, and no one checked what the farmers use the money for, the percentage didn’t reflect reality.
Dupreux alleged that much of this approach, which she said lacked scientific evidence, stemmed from political pressure. The commis-sion is often dependent on the approval of the 27 governments in the bloc, so its rules aimed at striking a balance between the different interests. — dpa
In the 72 years that televi-sion has covered nation-al elections, there has been one constant on the screen: Wall-to-wall peo-ple.
Jammed nominating conven-tion halls and flesh-pressing rallies are the signature images of every presidential campaign. Election night — the Super Bowl for TV news organisations — is a marathon vote-counting jam session where anchors, report-ers and commentators flow through the studios into the wee hours of the morning.
But those scenes familiar to political junkies will be obliterat-ed by the coronavirus crisis that has upended every aspect of American life. Social distancing has already changed the look of TV news, as many journalists have been broadcasting from their homes since mid-March, and it will drastically alter how viewers experience coverage of
the 2020 race for the White House as it heads into the home stretch. “It’s all going to look a lot different without us even know-ing what different is going to look like”, said Rick Klein, Political Director for ABC News.
Calibrating the number of per-sonnel needed to cover events while being mindful of health protocols has become the focus of TV news executives as they try to plan for what they con-sider the most consequential presidential election in decades.
“This was already going to be a fascinating and complicated election in all sorts of ways”, said Sam Feist, Washington bureau chief for CNN. “But Covid is what really changed it”.
The parties have scaled back their nominating conventions, which provide cable news out-lets with some of their largest audiences of the year. The Republican National Committee cancelled its plans to have President Donald Trump accept his nomination in Jacksonville, Florida, on August 27. — dpa
Virus is forcing networks to reinvent TV election coverage
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this page are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the opinion of the Observer.
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S t e p h e n B a t t a g l i o
l e o n i e K i j e w S K i
MUSCAT: Port of Salalah reported a 11 per cent decline in volumes handled at its General Cargo Terminal (GCT), which fell to 7.308 million tonnes dur-ing the first half of this year, down from 8.191 mil-lion tonnes during the cor-responding period of 2019 — a drop primarily atttrib-utable to shrinking demand for bulk minerals in key Asian markets impacted by the coronavi-rus pandemic.
Salalah is the Sultanate’s principal export gateway for Omani gypsum and limestone, the bulk of which are shipped to India as raw materials for its prolific cement and steel industries.
“The decline in general cargo volumes in the first six months of 2020 is mainly due to lower gyp-
sum and limestone exports as a result of lower demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This in turn contributed to a fall of overall revenue from oper-ations compared to the same period in 2019,” Shaikh Braik Musallam al Amri, Deputy Chairman, stated in the Directors’ report for the six months ended June 30, 2020.
Dry bulk cargoes, com-prising primarily lime-stone, gypsum and cement, represent the lion’s share of commodities handled at the General Cargo Terminal. While through-put levels of liquid bulk, bagged commodities, and other general cargoes broadened mirrored
trends in H1 2019, dry bulk component of the com-modity mix slumped to 5.783 million tonnes this year, down from 6.684 mil-lion tonnes during the same period of 2019.
However, an uptick in throughput volumes is anticipated in the third quarter of this year, aided in part by efforts to achieve a diversified cargo mix as well as to target new mar-kets, according to the port.
“New cargoes and cus-tomers have mitigated part of the revenue loss from the drop in aggregate vol-umes. However, focus con-tinues to be on customer diversification with the management continuing to engage customers for
securing additional busi-ness to offset volume de-growth of existing custom-ers. We are forecasting a slow recovery of volume in Q3, 2020 and a further improvement in Q4. However our ability to han-dle the volume in view of the impact of the pandemic remains a concern,” the Deputy Chairman further noted.
Container volumes, on the other hand, grew 13 per cent to 2.199 million TEUs during the first half of this year, compared to 1.941 million TEUs for the corresponding period of 2019.
“The growth of the con-tainer volumes compared to the first six months of 2019 is explained by the fact that the container ter-minal operations had not yet recovered from the impact of the cyclone in the first months of 2019,” the port added.
C O N R A D P R A B H U
www.omanobserver.om TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 9
BUSINESS
SOFTENING DEMAND: The decline in general cargo volumes in the first six months of 2020 is mainly due to lower gypsum and limestone exports as
a result of softening demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Port of Salalah.
Omani mineral exports slump as pandemic hits key markets
Ship-loaders in operation at Salalah Port’s General Cargo Terminal.
10 TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 www.omanobserver.om
BUSINESSMSM ends the week up despite lower volumes and turnover
MUSCAT: The MSM 30 Index closed the week up by 0.12 per cent despite lower volume and turnover as com-pared to the previous week. Shariah index was down by 0.07 per cent.
The turnover and volumes were lower than last week by 61 per cent each. Foreigners continued to remain net sellers last week as well. Omanis and GCC investors were net buyers of $1.73 million worth of securities.
Oman’s real estate activity has dropped as the value of real estate exchange by the end of June 2020 stood at RO 1.05 billion, compared to RO 1.24 billion by the end of June 2019, according to statistics released by the National Centre of Statistics and Information (NCSI).
The data shows that fees collected from all legal transactions dropped 33.1 per cent YoY and the exchanged value of 21,473 sale contracts declined by 27.3 per cent YoY to RO 354 million in June 2020. The value of mortgage contracts also dropped by 13.2 per cent YoY to RO 651.7 million.
The Ministry of Finance has issued a circular on the rules for preparing the state’s general budget estimates for 2021.
The foundations will include, among others, the following: Budget alloca-tions should be in accordance with the financial framework of the tenth five-year plan (2021-2025); Determining the budget ceiling for each agency, so that it does not exceed the amended budget in the year 2020; Continuing to implement procedures aimed at rationalising spending and raising its efficiency;
Controlling the deficit and maintain-ing its downward course; Searching for innovative financing methods to finance some government projects and services; and Enhancing the partnership between the public and private sectors in a manner that ena-bles accelerating the implementation of projects without disturbing finan-cial balances at the macroeconomic level.
Oman banking sector’s total credit stood at RO 26.54 billion (+0.6 per cent MoM and +3.3 per centYoY; YTD: +2.7 per cent). Total deposits stood at RO 24.08 billion (+0.5 per cent MoM and +5.7 per centYoY; YTD: +2.1 per cent).
Total private sector credit stood at RO 23.15 billion, (+0.5 per cent MoM and +2.6 per cent YoY; YTD: +2.1 per cent). Loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 110.2 per cent vs. 109.2 per cent in December 2019.
Furthermore, CBO’s foreign assets as at the end of May 2020 stood at RO 6.86 billion, having increased by 10.7 per cent YoY and 7.8 per cent MoM or RO 494 million in May 2020. The MoM increase is brought on by a 16.1 per cent MoM rise in placements abroad (which account for half of the total foreign assets), a 0.1 per cent MoM increase in securities held (48 per cent of total), 11 per cent MoM increase in RO reserve assets and 20 per cent MoM increase in bullion.
CBO’s foreign assets are above the trailing 12-month simple average of RO 6.36 billion. These assets include bullion, IMF reserve assets, place-ments abroad and foreign securities.
[Courtesy: U-Capital]
Oil edges lower on oversupply concerns as Opec+ set to raise outputTOKYO: Oil prices fell on Monday on concerns about oversupply as Opec and its allies, together known as Opec+, are due to pull back from production cuts in August while an increase in COVID-19 cases world-wide raised fears of slower pick-up in fuel demand.
Brent crude futures slid 8 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $43.44 a barrel by 0001 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 12 cents, or 0.3 per cent, at $40.15 a barrel.
Brent posted a fourth month of gains in July and US crude posted a third as both rose from depths hit in April, when much of the world was in lockdown due to the corona-virus pandemic.
“Investors are worried about sup-ply gluts as the Opec+ is due to start reducing production cuts this month and a recovery in oil prices from record lows is expected to encourage US shale producers to ramp up output,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Nissan Securities.
“Also, fears over a resurgence in the coronavirus cases are weigh-ing on oil markets,” he said, predict-ing that the prices will stay in low $40s this week.
Oil output by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose by over 1 million barrels per day in July as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf members ended their voluntary extra supply curbs on top of an Opec-led deal, and other members made limited progress on compliance. — Reuters
A 3D printed oil pump jack is seen in front of displayed stock graph and Opec logo in this illustration picture. — Reuters
NEW YORK: A record high percentage of US compa-nies are beating analysts’ forecasts this earnings sea-son, giving investors a glim-mer of hope in what is still expected to be the slowest profit period since the financial crisis.
More than halfway through second-quarter earnings, 82.1 per cent of companies reporting have surpassed profit expecta-tions, which would be the highest in the history of Refinitiv IBES data going back to 1994.
What’s more, the size of the beats is well above what is typical. S&P 500 compa-nies have beaten earnings expectations by a whopping 21.7 per cent, also set to be the highest on record since 1994, based on Refinitiv’s data.
The latest big boost to numbers came late last week, when results from
Facebook and trillion-dollar market value companies Apple, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet surpassed forecasts.
In many cases, estimates had been lowered so much ahead of earnings season that they were easier to beat, strategists said. Still, the results bolster the case
for investors betting that the impact of coronavirus-led lockdowns and layoffs on companies’ bottom lines may not be quite as dire as previously believed.
“What it’s saying is there are pockets of absolute strength in corporate America,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strat-
egist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
Tech results in particular suggest “there is spending going on globally,” she said.
The S&P 500 is up nearly 4 per cent since results began in mid-July, putting it 3.4 per cent from its February record closing high. — Reuters
HONG KONG: HSBC said on Monday profits for the first half of 2020 plunged by 69 per cent on year as the banking giant was ham-mered by the coronavirus pandemic and spiralling China-US tensions.
The lender reported post-tax profit of $3.1 billion while pre-tax profit was $4.3 bil-lion, a 64 per cent drop on the same period last year. Reported revenue was down nine per cent at $26.7 billion.
The figures missed ana-lyst forecasts and the bank also raised its estimate for 2020 loan losses from $8 billion to $13 billion.
Its shares plunged more than four percent on the Hong Kong stock exchange after the results were released in the lunch break, trading at HK33.55.
Chief executive Noel Quinn described the first six months of the year as “some of the most challenging in living memory”.
“Our first-half perform-
ance was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, falling interest rates, increased geopolitical risk and height-ened levels of market vola-tility,” he said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Even by the standards of the current economic mael-
strom engulfing global banks, HSBC has had a tor-rid time.
Before the coronavirus crisis it was beset by disap-pointing profit growth, ground down by US-China t r a d e w a r uncertainties and Britain’s departure from the
European Union.The Asia-focused lender
embarked on a huge cost-cutting initiative at the start of the year, including plans to slash about 35,000 jobs as well as trimming fat from less profitable divisions, pri-marily in the United States and Europe. — AFP
A man cleans the bronze lion statue outside HSBC bank headquarters in Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong. — AFP
BUSINESSwww.omanobserver.om TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 11
More than halfway through second-
quarter earnings, 82.1 per cent of companies
reporting have surpassed profit
expectations, which would be the highest
in the history of Refinitiv IBES data
going back to 1994.
US companies leap over low profit hurdle in coronavirus-hit quarter
HSBC profits plunge 69 per cent for H1 2020
George Washington is seen with printed medical mask on the one Dollar banknotes in this illustration taken. — Reuters
12 TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 www.omanobserver.om
LONDON: Euro zone manufacturing activity expanded modestly last month, its first growth since early 2019, and Asia’s pain eased as the contraction slowed in export-reliant nations, adding to hopes the sector is emerging from the hit of the corona-virus pandemic.
Just over 18 million people have been infected by the coronavirus and the hit from lockdowns and social dis-tancing policies to contain its spread have had a devastating impact on glo-bal growth and pushed many econo-mies into recession.
With still-rising coronavirus infec-tions — and the risk of renewed lock-downs increasing — the chances of any rebound reversing course have risen and the world economic outlook has dimmed again, according to polls of over 500 economists globally.
Still, while the euro zone economy contracted a record 12.1 per cent last quarter, a poll predicted 8.1 per cent growth during the current one.
Factories appear to be playing their part in the bloc’s potential recovery, and IHS Markit’s final Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ index bounced to 51.8 in July for the euro zone from June’s 47.4 — its first time above the 50 mark separating growth from con-traction since January 2019.
“It’s positive, they are going in the
right direction. But the very fact most of the European numbers are in the low 50s suggests there is an awful long way to go,” said Peter Dixon at Commerzbank. “With fears of a sec-ond wave of COVID-19 the headwinds to the European economy remain pretty strong.”
Manufacturers in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, saw an expansion for the first time since December 2018 and in France activity picked up a touch.
Meanwhile, British manufacturing output grew at its fastest pace in nearly three years as factories reo-pened and demand began to acceler-ate after a lockdown was eased.
Manufacturing activity in China expanded at the fastest pace in nearly a decade as domestic demand improved, a private sector survey
showed, suggesting the world’s sec-ond-largest economy would help cushion the pandemic’s blow to world growth.
China’s Caixin/Markit Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.8 from June’s 51.2, marking the sector’s third consecutive month of growth and the biggest jump since January 2011.
The upbeat findings echoed an offi-cial survey on Friday, adding to evi-dence China’s economy is getting back on its feet faster than expected.
But worries about a second wave of infections may weigh on global demand and business sentiment, keeping any rebound in factory out-put feeble, some analysts say.
Japan, for one, will enjoy only a “very gradual and protracted recovery” as concerns about a resurgence in COVID-19 cases will weigh on domes-tic and overseas spending, said Stefan Angrick, senior economist at Oxford Economics. “With the pace of recov-ery slowing in some of Japan’s key trading partners, exports and busi-ness spending are likely to continue to struggle,” he said.
Japan and South Korea saw factory activity shrink at a much slower pace, a sign pressures on manufacturers were easing and raising hopes the worst impact from the pandemic was over. — Reuters
A steel worker is pictured at a furnace at the plant of German steel company Salzgitter AG in Salzgitter,
Lower Saxony, Germany. — Reuters
BUSINESS
MANUFACTURERS IN GERMANY, EUROPE’S
LARGEST ECONOMY, SAW AN EXPANSION FOR THE
FIRST TIME SINCE DECEMBER 2018 AND IN FRANCE ACTIVITY PICKED
UP A TOUCH.
Strain on global manufacturing eases as euro zone returns to growth
SPORTSwww.omanobserver.om TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 13
NEW YORK: Richy Werenski made three birdies and an eagle in his final seven holes to surge past Troy Merritt and claim his maiden PGA Tour vic-tory at the Barracuda Championship on Sunday.
Werenski began the day seven points behind third-round leader Merritt but tallied 13 in the final round to notch a winning score of 39 points at the event played under the modi-fied Stableford format.
The format awards eight points for an albatross, five for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, and sub-tracts a point for bogey and three for double-bogeys or worse.
Werenski, 28, eagled the par-four 16th hole to move to within a point of fellow American Merritt before sinking a long birdie putt
on the final hole.Merritt had a chance to seal the
victory but his birdie putt came up just short and he finished on 38
points, having squandered a final-round lead at the Barracuda for the second consecutive year.
“I feel like I’ve been playing well for the last couple months. But to get a win, that’s huge,” said Werenski,
whose victory ensures a spot in next week’s PGA
Championship.“I’ve got a couple
seconds and every-thing, so this just
helps my confi-dence a lot. Now
I know I’m good enough.”
F a b i a n Gomez and M a t t h i a s
Schwab fin-ished in a tie for
third at 37 points. — Reuters
WERENSKIEARNS FIRST CAREER WIN
AT BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP
I feel like I’ve been playing well for the last couple months. But to get a win, that’s huge. I’ve got a couple seconds and everything, so this just helps my confidence a lot. Now I know I’m good enough.
RICHY WERENSKI
SPORTS14 TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 www.omanobserver.om
NEW YORK: Russell Westbrook sank four free throws inside the final 28.5 sec-onds and the Houston Rockets topped the Milwaukee Bucks 120-116 on Sunday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando.
Westbrook scored a team-high 31 points while adding eight assists, and his clutch effort at the charity stripe ena-bled the Rockets (42-24) to outlast the Bucks (54-13) down a back-and-forth clos-ing stretch. Danuel House Jr converted two free throws with 14 seconds left as the Rockets finished 27 of 31 from the line.
Giannis Antetokounmpo totalled 36 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists for his 15th 30-15-5 game this season while Khris Middleton (27 points, 12 rebounds) and Brook Lopez (23 points, 12 rebounds) posted double-dou-bles for the Bucks, who posted a 65-36 rebounding advan-tage and limited the Rockets to 34.4 per cent (21 of 61) shoot-ing from behind the 3-point line — yet lost the game. Milwaukee did commit 22 turno-vers — including a bad pass by Antetokounmpo that House picked off prior to his clinching free throws — which the Rockets convert-ed into 30 points in the victory.
James Harden off-set a poor shooting performance (5 for
WESTBROOK, ROCKETS GET BY BUCKS
14) with seven rebounds, seven assists and a game-high six steals to complement his 24 points. House pro-duced 16 points while Robert Covington chipped in 15 points, seven rebounds and three steals for the Rockets. Boston Celtics 128 - Portland Trail Blazers 124
Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 34 points and Jaylen Brown added 30 to lead Boston past Portland.
Brown scored 22 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 32.3 seconds left that
stretched Boston’s lead to 125-119. Gordon Hayward added 22 points for Boston, going 4-for-5 on 3-pointers.
Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic led Portland with 30 points each. Lillard added a season-high and game-high 16 assists.
The Blazers rallied from a 24-point sec-ond-half deficit, tak-ing a fourth-quarter lead, but they trailed by three points with three seconds left when Nurkic turned the ball over while attempting a long inbounds pass.
— Reuters
JAMES HARDEN OFFSET A POOR
SHOOTING PERFORMANCE
(5 FOR 14)WITH SEVEN REBOUNDS,
SEVEN ASSISTS AND A GAME-
HIGH SIX STEALS TO
COMPLEMENT HIS 24 POINTS
www.omanobserver.om TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 15
SPORTSALI AL HABSI
FATMA AL NABHANI
EMAD AL HOSNI
BARAKAT AL HARTHY
OMAN’S FOOTBALL
ICON ALI AL HABSI
LED THE OMANI
SPORTSMEN ON
SOCIAL MEDIA AT
TWITTER AND
PLATFORMS WITH
LARGE NUMBER
OF FOLLOWERS
A D I L A L B A L U S H I
DOMESTIC ATHLETES ACTIVE ON
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
MUSCAT: Social media channels are the best platforms for people where they express their thoughts, ideas and initiatives. Oman’s sports bodies as well as the athletes are registering good presence at different social media applications including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube etc. The content of each athlete differs from the others as some of them share their experience in his or her sports while the others prefer to share their daily stories.
Oman’s football icon, Ali al Habsi, led the Omani sportsmen at the social media at Twitter and Instagram platforms with large number of followers. At his twitter account (@Alialhabsi), he shared with
his followers all the decisions that he took with regards to his football career in different teams. Moreover, he retweeted and liked different tweets related to many society activities including the announcement of blood donation and other topics. The former national team player is an active member as well at Instagram as he has more than 688K followers. Eid al Adha greetings to all his friends and followers was the last post for him in his instagram account. Oman’s top goalkeeper’s account in Instagram featured variety topics including some posts for his hometown and family beside his hobby in equestrian and best moments as goalkeeper in video clips.
After his successful
journey in Saudi as professional player in Al Ahli, Al Riyadh and Al Nasr teams, Emad al Hosni had received a big boost in all his social media accounts. More than 400K are following him on his Instagram account. Emad’s providing a mixture of content from his memories as national team player as well as former player in different clubs. Also, he shared videos of his technical analysis at BeIN sports channel.
Oman’s athletics star, Barakat al Harthy, is another active star at Instagram and Snapchat channels. He is sharing different training sessions with his followers. During the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, Al Harthy was posting usually his home training and sharing the
experience with his team-mates and followers.
Top Omani tennis player Fatma al Nabhani has an audience of nearly 100K on her Instagram account. Her page content varies from technical to personal besides the marketing as she was selected as commercial ambassadors for some brands. Fatma is active on social media pages at different society initiatives as she took part in many social events.
Besides the above top names, many of the domestic sports persons are having an attendance in different social media including the national football players Ahmed Kanu, Hassan Mudhafar, Riders Sultan al Touqi, Paralympic star Mohammed al Mushihki and others.
LONDON: Rory McIlroy says the coronavirus shutdown has made him more focused on adding to his tally of four major titles, the last of which came in 2014.
The 31-year-old will compete in the PGA Championship at Harding Park starting on Thursday, before the US Open and the Masters in September and November. The British Open, the fourth men’s major, was cancelled earlier this year.
“Those were the three, even in quarantine, I was looking towards. Once the schedule was set it was those three events I was trying to get ready for,” McIlroy told The Guardian.
“Everything was normal then we had this massive gap where I had time to think: ‘OK, what are you looking forward to after this break?’ It’s a funny year... but I’ve three oppor-tunities from now until November to add to
my major tally.“Because of all that’s happened this year, it’s
made me focus a little more on just these weeks that are coming up.”
The US Open and PGA Championship will be held without fans present due to the virus outbreak but McIlroy is hopeful that might change for the Masters.
“I think if anyone can make it work with spectators, it’s them. Georgia is a state that’s maybe a little more open to having crowds, and on the ‘getting back to normal a little quicker’ side of things’,” the world No 3 added.
“But it’s up to Augusta National and gover-nor of Georgia. It’s not just about players when you bring fans back, it’s about keeping the community you’re playing in safe. If you can’t guarantee that you’ll do that, then it’s not worth it.” — Reuters
SPORTS16 TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 www.omanobserver.om
Those were the three, even in
quarantine, I was looking towards.
Once the schedule was set it was
those three events I was trying to get ready for
RORY MCILROY
MCLLROY TARGETS MAJORS WITH RENEWED FOCUS AFTER SHUTDOWN
17 TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 www.omanobserver.om
FEATURESA quick guide to minimizing indoor air pollution during lockdown
As the pandemic rages on and people continue to stay home for the fore-seeable future, a mount-
ing body of research, including several recent reports have raised concerns regarding the quality of air within our homes and the growing levels of indoor air pollution. In general, we spend around 90 per cent of our time indoors, and given the current situation, for many people this is now even higher, if not exclusive-ly the case. The lockdown means people are working, cooking, exercising, and sleeping within the confines of home, pushing up pollution levels indoors.
Poor indoor air quality can have serious effects on health, yet many of us are unaware of the pollutants circulating in our homes. Indoor air pollution has been linked to a wide variety of adverse health effects, including headaches, respiratory prob-lems, frequent colds, chronic cough, rashes, eye irritation, leth-argy, dizziness and poor sleep in people of all ages.
Fortunately, there are simple things that can be done to improve air quality indoor and ensure your home is the healthi-est possible environment to live and work in. Here’s a quick guide on what can be done towards ensuring clean indoor air during these unprecedented times.
START BY SIMPLY LETTING IN SOME FRESH AIR. Keep win-dows open during the cool early morning hours. Stale indoor air and the continuous use of air conditioners can increase the amount of allergy-inducing dust mites, pet dander and mold spores circulating through your house.
Indoor air quality tends to be worse during the hot summer months because there is often no flow of fresh air from the outside, meaning allergens stay trapped inside. One of the sim-plest and most effective ways to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) is to make sure your home
is properly and regularly venti-lated.
No matter how clean you think your home is, dust particles always find a way in. While you may not be able to totally elimi-nate them, REGULARLY WIPING DOWN SURFACES AND VACU-UMING CAN PREVENT DUST or organic matter from building up. Carpets and rugs tend to retain dirt, pet hair, fungus and other harmful particles that can cause and even aggravate allergic reac-tions and health conditions such as asthma. Clean carpets, drapes and sofas regularly to minimize dust and ensure that they are not worsening indoor air quality.
AVOID USING HEAVILY PER-FUMED PRODUCTS AND BLEACH while cleaning. Although very effective at cleaning sur-faces, bleach can cause more harm than good. When mixed with water, it creates hypochlo-rous acid that vaporises into air and irritates the eyes and nasal passages. Try organic products or baking soda for cleaning sur-faces and eliminating odours.
CLEAN THE FILTERS OF AIR CONDITIONING UNITS at regu-lar intervals. A dirty filter can actually make indoor air quality worse by acting as a reservoir for airborne irritants that get recirculated throughout the home. This not only impacts indoor air quality but can also cause chronic allergies and impact health negatively.
BRING PLANTS INDOORS not only for a soothing splash of green but also to improve air quality at home. Plants are not only natural absorbers of com-mon household pollutants; they also help inject oxygen back into the environment. Plants such as Aloe, Dracaena, Pothos and Sansevieria are very effective in removing toxins like benzene, formaldehyde and other irritants from the air.
Following these simple steps can help minimize airborne pol-lutants and markedly improve the quality of air at home, and you can breathe easy knowing that your home is truly clean and safe.
M A R Y O O M M E N
www.omanobserver.om SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 18
FEATURES
Ellen DeGeneres TV show to make workplace changes after probe of culture
LOS ANGELES: Ellen DeGeneres on Thursday sent an emotional message to the staff of her tel-evision talk show saying she was taking steps to improve the culture on set following accu-sations of a hostile working environment.
The email followed an internal investigation by Warner Bros. Television, which produces “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” of com-plaints ranging from bullying to racism among production staff.
Warner Bros. Television said in a statement that although “not all of the allegations were cor-roborated, we are disappointed that the primary findings of the investigation indicated some deficiencies related to the show’s day-to-day management.”
It said several staffing chang-es and other measures were being implemented, but did not give details.
The allegations, which were made by several former staff members in a BuzzFeed arti-cle earlier in July, painted a radically different view of life behind the cameras from the upbeat and positive vibe pre-sented by DeGeneres on the show.— Reuters
NAIROBI: Most of us have accepted COVID-19 face masks as an inconvenient, albeit necessary, safety meas-ure. For the style conscious like James Maina Mwangi, however, they are an unmiss-able fashion opportunity.
Mwangi’s brightly coloured suits and hats made him stand out even on the busy streets of Nairobi’s Umoja neighbour-hood, where nobody ever seems to sleep.
Since the pandemic hit and Kenya made face masks mandatory, his outfits have become even more eye-catching. This week, the 59-year-old jack of all trades modelled his collection of
face masks for Reuters.“Men knew how to wear
clothes in black, brown, grey or dark blue. Those were men’s colours,” he told Reuters while wearing a bright yellow suit with matching hat and face mask. “God gave me wis-dom and showed me all the different colours I can wear to be different from every-body else.”
Mwangi, who dropped out of school at 12 because he could not pay the fees, said he only had one shirt when he was a child, which he would wash it daily and put on still damp.
People would laugh at him, but he promised himself that “one day I will be a star.”
He now has about 160 suits, over 200 pairs of shoes, and 300 hats in colours ranging from saffron yellow to grass green, scarlet and plum. Mwangi said his clothes drew curiosity, then admirers when he first started wearing them 25 years ago.
“Now you can see me wearing all kinds of col-ours,” he said.
Mwangi, who earns a living as a jack of all trades, says he lends his suits to members of his church and street chil-dren who need them.
“Things have become hard-er now because of COVID-19. This country has no money,” he said. — Reuters
INSTAGRAM TOP PICKS
Snazzy face mask fashion reaches Nairobi neighbourhood
www.omanobserver.om TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020 18
Japan’s renowned artists find inspiration from pandemic
SOME OF JAPAN’S best-known artists are finding new avenues of expression in areas such as online com-munication and the envi-ronment, as the novel coro-navirus outbreak sparks ideas as radical as renam-ing the country’s “Reiwa” imperial era.
Five contemporary artists including Takashi Murakami were on hand on Thursday at Mori Art Museum for the unveiling of their “STARS” exhibition, which had been delayed by several months as the museum closed due to the pandemic.
Murakami, with works on display including his iconic
life-size sculptures “Miss Ko” and “My Lonesome Cowboy” as well as two new 20 metre length paintings, said expansion of his online business since lockdown was helping him communi-cate more closely with fans.
“The museum exhibition was delayed and we’re still not in a situation where a lot of people can gather, but I think human beings need communication through art,” Murakami told report-ers outfitted in mandatory masks and face shields.
“So I’m conveying various messages in detail online,” he said.
South Korean-born Lee
Ufan, a resident of Japan since the 1950s and known for promoting the “Mono-ha” art movement, described the pandemic as a warning over the impact that human development was having on the environment.
He highlighted the improvement in air quality and freedom for wild ani-mals to roam while the world was locked down.
“This is the turning point where we need to go back to nature,” Lee said.
Photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, active in the United States since the 1970s, suggested turning the page on the pandemic
by renaming the current Reiwa era, which began in May last year with the enthronement of a new emperor.
He noted that Japan in ancient times changed era names when there was a disaster or epidemic.
“We should immediately change the name Reiwa,” he said.
“It’s like a calling from the gods - Reiwa is not a good name!”
The exhibition, open to the public from Friday, also features works from Yayoi Kusama, Tatsuo Miyajima and Yoshitomo Nara.— Reuters
