News Hour with Jennifer Rogers 21 Oct 2020

2020 AFC Champions League: Qatar steps up as a premier footballing destination in Asia

When Qatar was declared as the host by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the East Zone matches of the 2020 AFC Champions League and the final as well, not many would have been left surprised.

Qatar's meticulous planning and execution while hosting the West Asian matches of the elite continental club competition from 14 September to 3rd October meant there was a certain inevitability about the East Zone matches being held in Doha too.

Amid a global pandemic that had virtually stalled the sport, AFC were finding it tough to complete their club and national team competitions. As a result, the 2020 AFC Cup (the secondary club competition) was scrapped altogether while the international window had to be postponed beyond 2020.

However, the 2020 AFC Champions League was its flagship club competition and the AFC wanted it completed within the year in order to ensure the 2021 calendar is not affected. It was also necessary for the financial health of the game in Asia to complete the continent’s premier club competition.

Around 40 matches had to be staged in the West Zone leg of the AFC Champions League with most of the group stage matches yet to take place when the pandemic halted the competition. The AFC had a challenge on their hands. And it was Qatar who rose to meet it.

In line with what the top European competitions including the UEFA Champions League had done, Qatar established Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and protocols to implement a bio-secure bubble for the players and officials alike.

The measures were strict and included mandatory Covid-19 testing, safe transportation, regular sanitisation of all venues, training and media facilities, as well as the presence of medical staff throughout the competition.

Movement outside the bubble was restricted for players and staff and social distancing procedures like wearing masks, utilising sanitisers and limited capacity transportation were all strictly enforced.

Katara International Hunting and Falcons Expo opens today

S’hail is a globally recognized platform of Qatar best known for being strongly dedicating to preserve and promote the art of hunting and falconry.

The 4th S’hail - Katara International Hunting and Falcons Exhibition, opens today at the Katara and will last till Saturday, 24 October. The timings are Saturday to Thursday - 9 am- 1 pm and Friday- 3 pm- 10 pm. No tickets are needed to be purchased and the general entry is free, according to a Kataraqatar twitter post.

Established in 2017, S’hail is a globally recognized platform of Qatar best known for hunting and falconry and under the guidance and leadership of the Higher Organizing Committee is strongly dedicated to preserving and promoting the art of hunting and falconry.

The aim is to preserve and create awareness about Qatar’s rich cultural legacy by organizing world class exhibition, larger than life events and activities, awareness programs and supporting educational and environmental initiatives at both national and global level.

Furthermore, the vision is to promote the hobby of hunting as well spreading awareness of Qatar's rich Arab heritage which the nation is keen on transforming into a global message through attracting participation of different countries from around the world.

In this exhibition, the needs of Qatari falconers and hunters are met, so that they can enjoy their hobby at the highest level of luxury.

Katara- the Cultural Village is the best tourist and cultural destination in Qatar. It include stores for selling falcons, hunting equipment, hunting guns, hunting vehicle outfitting and supplies for outdoor sports plus it also features all advanced technology tools needed to serve the hobby of hunting and showcases hunting-related ancient artifacts from different countries.

We will continue efforts to end Gulf crisis and support GCC: Kuwait Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Kuwait HH Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah on Tuesday reiterated that Kuwait will continue its efforts to end the Gulf crisis and support the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

“Kuwait is committed to its foreign policy principles, which were laid down by the late Amir HH Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah,” the Kuwaiti News Agency quoted Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled as saying in a speech before the Kuwaiti National Assembly.

He added, “We will continue good endeavours to end the dispute that arose between the brothers in the Gulf, which weakened our unity and damaged our gains. We will continue to work to support the GCC and constructive interaction with its mechanisms as it is a framework that fulfils our interests and meets the aspirations of our people.”

He affirmed Kuwait’s commitment to stand by the Palestinian people, support their choices and support all efforts aimed at reaching a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue.

Earlier in the day, His Highness the Amir of State of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, called for national unity to face the challenges in a speech he delivered during the opening of the fifth regular session complementary to the fifteenth legislative term of the National Assembly.

“Our national unity has proven over the years that it is our strongest weapon in facing challenges, dangers and crises,” the Kuwait Amir said.

Covid-19: China's Sinovac vaccine to be included in Brazil immunisation plan

Brazil plans to use a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine as part of a national immunisation programme, officials have announced.

São Paulo Governor João Doria said the federal government had agreed to buy 46 million doses of the vaccine CoronaVac.

He said the immunisation programme could begin as soon as January 2021, making it one of the first such efforts in the world to fight the pandemic.

Brazil has been one of the countries worst affected by coronavirus.

It has had nearly 5.3 million confirmed cases - the third highest tally in the world after the US and India - and is second only to the US in terms of deaths, with nearly 155,000 registered so far, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.

If approved by the country's health regulator, CoronaVac - developed by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech - will be one of two vaccines included in Brazil's immunisation programme.

The country also plans to administer a vaccine being created by England's Oxford University and the drug giant AstraZeneca.

Mr Doria has previously touted Sinovac's experimental vaccine, announcing plans to use it to inoculate residents of São Paulo.

The Chinese vaccine is being tested by São Paulo state's research centre Butantan Institute.

The institute announced on Monday that the two-dose vaccine appeared to be safe in a late-stage clinical trial.

However, it warned the result was only preliminary, with testing ongoing. It said data on how effective the vaccine is will not be released until the trial is over.

Trials are also being conducted in Turkey and Indonesia.

Not just in India, PUBG Mobile is banned in these countries as well

The Indian government recently banned PUBG Mobile in the country under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The ban stated that the app is engaged in activities that are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity, defence and security of the country. Since then, a lot of developments have taken place, including PUBG Corporation revoking distribution rights for the game in India from Tencent. Still, there is no sign of the popular game making a return in the country any time soon.

India is just one of the many countries that have banned the battle royale game. Other countries where the game is banned include China, Jordan, Nepal, Israel and Iraq. Many other countries have plans to ban the game in the near future, according to various reports.

The strangest of all is the China ban of the game, considering Tencent Holdings is based out of China. The reason behind PUBG Mobile ban in its origin country is the amount of bloodshed in the game. Tencent has found a workaround for this and created a separate version of the game called Game For Peace. In this version of the game, the blood has been totally removed and killed characters say goodbye and fly off.

Other countries like Jordan, Nepal, Israel and Iraq have also removed the game due to similar reasons like India or China.

According to a report by InsideSport, there are three reasons as to why most countries are deliberating on banning PUBG Mobile. These reasons include that PUBG Mobile is too addictive, PUBG Mobile does not care about its users’ health, thus not warning them about the ill-effects of the screentime, and that PUBG propagates violence.

All the problems stated by the government could be fixed if earlier reports of PUBG Corporation looking for a partnership in India are believed to be true.

Earlier reports stated that the company is in talks with Reliance and Airtel to bring the game back, this would allow partial Indian ownership and local servers with data being stored, according to the countries laws.