Borneo Bulletin Digital

News Update

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

Prayer Times

From Page One

In the Deep Knowledge Group

report,thetopspotwenttoGermany

followed by New Zealand and South

Korea. Switzerland, which was irst

in June, has dropped to fourthplace.

The most dangerous nations are

Somali, South Sudan, Afghanistan,

and Mali.

The report said the point is it is

not so much whether a country has

been hit hard by COVID19 yet or

not — although that does matter —

but also whether there’s political will

and social acceptance of quarantine

and lockdown measures, whether

the national and local governments

cooperate well, if a nation has good

monitoring and detection and a

strong medical system and how

vulnerable a country is to economic

dislocation due to COVID19, plus

how well-equipped a country is to

handle emergencies.

The Deep Knowledge Group

irst released a ranking of the

safest countries for COVID19 in

June 2020. The think tank has

updated its data and methodology

and re-issued a report on the safest

countries and regions.

“Deep Knowledge Group’s

new COVID-19 special analytical

case study is designed to

classify, analyse and rank the

economic, social and health

Brunei among top 50 places

to live during COVID-19

Signs instructing visitors to conduct temperature check before entering at

a shopping centre in Brunei Darussalam. PHOTO: BAHYIAH BAKIR

CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese authori-

ties declared their country a natu-

ral disaster area and imposed a

three-month state of emergency

across the country after rising

loodwaters and heavy rainfall

killed around 100 people and in-

undated over 100,000 houses

since late July.

The announcement was made

yesterday following a meeting of

the country’s Defence and Secu-

rity Council which is headed by a

top government oficial General

Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

Flooding caused by seasonal

heavy rainfall, mostly in neigh-

bouring Ethiopia, led the Nile

River to rise about 17.5 metres

late in August, the highest level

it has reached in about a century

according to the Sudanese Irriga-

tion Ministry.

The ministry said water levels

of the Blue Nile are higher than the

1988 lood levels that destroyed

tens of thousands of homes in sev-

eral parts of Sudan and displaced

over one million people.

Labour and Social Develop-

ment Minister Lina al-Sheikh said

the looding had killed some 100

people, as well as injured at least

46 people and affected more than

500,000 people across the coun-

try. More than 100,000 houses

across the country were totally or

partly collapsed, she said.

The United Nations (UN) Hu-

manitarian Agency has warned

that the situation is expected

to get worse over the com-

ing weeks, as above-average

rains are forecast until the end

of September.

The capital of Khartoum was

hit hard in the past two weeks.

Residents in several districts of

the city were seen erecting barri-

cades and other shields as water

from the Nile swept through sev-

eral neighbourhoods, in footage

circulating online.

The military deployed troops

to help evacuate people and build

barricades in Khartoum as well

as distribute food, after looding

there cut roads and swept away

houses and belongings.

Earlier this week, the UN Of-

ice for the Coordination of Hu-

manitarian Affairs (OCHA) said

access to clean water, which is

critical amid the coronavirus pan-

demic, has also been reduced,

with the loods knocking out

or contaminating some 2,000

water sources.

ELDORADO PARK, SOUTH AFRICA

(AFP) - Dozens of mourners

yesterday attended the funeral

of a disabled teenager who was

allegedly gunned down last week

by police, setting off protests

against racism and police brutality

across the country.

Nathaniel Julies, a 16-year-old

with Down syndrome, was shot

dead on August 26 near his home in

Eldorado Park, a township ravaged

by drugs and crime.

Wearing T-shirts branded with

Julies' face, angry mourners sang

apartheid struggle songs and

demanded justice.

"We knew that Nathaniel would

at some time have to pass, but not in

that fashion," his uncle Cyril Brown

told local television station

eNCA

His family said the boy, whose

speech was impaired, was out to

buy biscuits from a shop when he

was shot by police on patrol.

Community members claim

Julies was killed by police after

they became frustrated with his

responses to their interrogations.

The teenager's death sparked

outrage inbothEldoradoPark, south

of Johannesburg, and around the

country, renewing calls for tougher

action against police brutality.

But Brown appealed to the

community to refrain from rioting

in protest.

"Today is about Nathaniel Julies,

the justice will come after that,"

he said.

Three police oficers have

been charged in connection

with the boy's death and will

make their second appearance

in the Protea magistrate’s court

on Thursday.

Police presence was especially

high during the funeral ceremony, in-

creasing agitation among mourners.

"It's like a gangster is being

buried here," bemoaned MP and

opposition party leader Kenneth

Meshoe who was in attendance.

"It is insulting and provoking."

Hundreds attend funeral of teen allegedly shot by S African police

Community members hold a placard with an image of Nathaniel Julies during his funeral service in Eldorado Park,

near Johannesburg. PHOTO: AFP

stability achieved by each of

the 250 countries and regions

included in its analysis, as well

as the strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats or

risks that they present in the

battle against the global health

and economic crisis triggered by

COVID-19,” the group said.

Deep Knowledge Group stated

that they looked at more than 140

parameters and considered more

than 35,000 data points, both up

signiicantly from June’s report.

Sudan declares state of

emergency over deadly floods

Sudanese stand amidst lood waters in Tuti island, where the Blue and

White Nile merge. PHOTO: AFP

KABUL (AFP) - The Taleban's

negotiating team has arrived in

Qatar, a spokesman said yesterday,

in a sign that long-delayed peace

talks with the Afghan government

are inching closer to starting.

A date for the talks, to be hosted

in Doha, has not been set but the

warring sides have this week made

signalsthatnegotiationscouldlaunch

soon, including efforts to wrap up a

drawn out prisoner exchange.

"All members of our negotiating

team have arrived in Doha. The

talks will begin once some small

technical issues are resolved,"

Taleban spokesman Suhail Shaheen

told

AFP

The Taleban team had recently

been in Pakistan discussing the

peace process with the government

in Islamabad.

Qatar authorities have been im-

posing a seven-day quarantine period

on all arrivals to the country, but have

made exemptions for some delega-

tions who undergo regular testing.

Taleban say team in Qatar for Afghan peace talks