Middle East Experience

Saudi Aramco purchased 2.1 billion shares, or 70 percent, of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) for 259 billion riyals ($69.1 billion) in four special transactions on Sunday.As previously announced, the price per share was 123 riyals ($32.8).“The deal completion is on-track with expectations to be finalized before the end of the second quarter. All necessary pre-closing regulatory clearances have been obtained. We will make a completion announcement in due course,” Saudi Aramco told Al Arabiya English in a statement.Saudi Aramco closed 0.31 percent down on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) at market close, while SABIC closed 0.56 percent down, following the news.The market’s headline index, the TASI, closed 0.2 percent down.The oil giant signed a deal last year with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), to take the majority shareholding in the petrochemicals company.The payment for SABIC, the world’s fourth-largest petrochemicals firm, will be funded in part by four bonds issued by Aramco to the PIF, reports indicated late last year.Aramco indicated that 36 percent of the purchase price – which could be adjusted for certain expenses – will be paid in cash, while 64 percent will be paid in the form of a seller loan. Therefore, the proceeds to the PIF in the form of cash will amount to $500 million, and the five additional bonds will be worth $2.5 billion.In March, Aramco received unconditional clearance from the European Commission for the acquisition, the last clearance required for the transaction.The company reported a 25 percent fall in first-quarter net profit in May, below analyst estimates, as the coronavirus pandemic slashes global demand for petroleum products.Net profit fell to 62.48 billion riyals ($16.64 billion), down from 83.28 billion riyals the year before.The company said at the time that the net profit fall was a reflection of “lower crude oil prices, as well as declining refining and chemicals margins and inventory re-measurement losses.”SABIC also warned the same month that it expected a more significant impact on its business as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in the second quarter of the year.The company reported a net loss of 950 million riyals ($252.89 million) for the first quarter, citing lower demand for petrochemical products in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and impairment losses as the reasons for the fall.Read more:Saudi Aramco receives unconditional clearance from EU on SABIC purchaseCoronavirus: SABIC expects more significant impact in second quarter earnings amid coronavirusSaudi Aramco, PIF amend terms of payment for SABIC acquisition
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco buys 70 pct of SABIC for .1 billion in mega-deal

Saudi Arabia reported 4,233 new cases of coronavirus and 40 COVID-19 deaths, raising the total number of cases in the Kingdom to 127,541 and the virus-related death toll to 972, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The new cases were the highest number of daily reported cases in the country so far.The capital Riyadh saw a total of 1,1735 new infections in the last 24 hours alone, according to the ministry.The recent surge in coronavirus cases in city has mainly been detected among young people who may not have been following precautionary measures, an official at the Kingdom’s health ministry said on Saturday.Health ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Abd al-Ali on Sunday said that 90 percent of the total confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in Riyadh, adding that citizens and resident in the area must adhere to social distancing measures.The second largest number of new cases was confirmed in Jeddah, where a total of 352 infections were reported.The other cases were detected in cities and provinces around the Kingdom.Meanwhile, the number of recoveries rose to 84,720 after 2,172 people recovered from the virus in Saudi Arabia.Al-Abd al-Ali advised the public to follow all preventative measures to ensure that everyone in the country is protected against the virus.Read more:Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia official says youth spreading COVID-19 in RiyadhSports to resume in Saudi Arabia without fans from June 21
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia reports 4,233 new cases, highest daily rise so far

The rate of infection of the novel coronavirus is rising in Saudi Arabia once again due to a lack of adherence with social distancing measures, the Kingdom’s health ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Abd al-Ali said on Sunday.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The increase in the rate of infection, which had dropped to a low of one percent in May, is an indication that some citizens and residents have not been following preventative measures and avoiding large gatherings, al-Abd al-Ali said. Saudi Arabia reported Sunday its highest daily number of new cases, with 4,233 infections detected in just 24 hours. Most new cases were found in the capital Riyadh, where officials say hundreds have failed to comply with public health measures.“We have two paths in front of us. This rate could increase, infections may rise, and its spread could rise if members of the public continue to not adhere to preventative measures in several places, especially in places where there is a number of people around them,” he said.“The public could also take matters into their own hands and follow the preventative measures and return to our normal lives with caution so that the rate of infection decreases again,” al-Abd al-Ali added.The plan to ease restrictions in most areas in the Kingdom is being implemented as expected, according to the spokesman. However, some areas are falling behind, but are being closely monitored by authorities to determine a better suited plan to ensure the situation does not worsen, he said.Read more:Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia reports 4,233 new cases, highest daily rise so farCoronavirus: Saudi Arabia official says youth spreading COVID-19 in Riyadh
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus rate of infection in Saudi Arabia on the rise, warns health ministry 

The United Arab Emirates reported a drop in the number of daily new cases, with 304 infections reported since Saturday, the Ministry of Health announced on Sunday, according to WAM.The total number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 42,294.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The new cases were discovered after more than 43,000 tests were conducted across the UAE, according to the ministry.One person died of the virus in the UAE on Sunday, which brings the virus-related death toll to 289.Meanwhile, 27,462 people have recovered from the virus so far.The UAE has begun loosening restrictions in some of its emirates, except in the capital Abu Dhabi, where a ban on entry and exit has been imposed.Dubai on Friday allowed public swimming pools to reopen and the ban on water sports activities was lifted, according to a statement issued by the Dubai Sports Council.The mandate, based on the directives of Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management, is limited to hotel establishments, health club and gyms, recreation clubs as well as residential and commercial facilities.However, individuals, groups and businesses must adhere to a detailed list of preventative measures issued, according to the statement.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: UAE detects 304 new cases as rate of infection continues to decrease

The video was featured in Stern's New Year’s Rotten Eve Pageant, which aired on pay-per-view in 1993.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Howard Stern under fire, video resurfaces of shock jock donning blackface

Grades 7-10 will end school on July 1 – 11th and 12th graders will complete their matriculation exams during the last week of June.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: The decision is final: Israeli elementary schools to be extended by 9 days

Attack was broken up by IDF soldier.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Police investigate assault on Palestinian man by Jewish mob in Hebron

“Now we have 160 patients a day, but during the winter we may have 1,600,” he said.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Health official to ‘Post’: Here's what we need to survive COVID in winter

PA official: We're not calling for Third Intifada
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Will a Palestinian 'popular resistance' lead to an Intifada?

Coronavirus may not just be a respiratory disease but could also be a blood vessel disease, doctors have suggested, which could help explain why COVID-19 patients have experienced heart attacks, blood clots, and other ranging symptoms – and may also suggest that the disease is currently being treated the wrong way.COVID-19, the official name for the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has been commonly described as a respiratory disease – one that primarily affects the lungs, and kills in a similar way to pneumonia.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.But as doctors became more familiar with the disease, many noticed that COVID-19 patients suffered damage to a worrying range of vital organs across the body including the heart, brain and kidney.Now, doctors say that the evidence is growing that coronavirus is also a vascular infection – one that can infect blood vessels – which would explain the range of symptoms it causes.Read more: Remdesivir, favipiravir, famotidine: Discover coronavirus vaccines, drugs in progress“All these Covid-associated complications were a mystery. We see blood clotting, we see kidney damage, we see inflammation of the heart, we see stroke, we see encephalitis [swelling of the brain],” said Dr. William Li, speaking to Medium’s Elemental+.“A whole myriad of seemingly unconnected phenomena that you do not normally see with SARS or H1N1 or, frankly, most infectious diseases,” added Dr. Li, who is the president of the Angiogenesis Foundation, a nonprofit organization that studies how to fight disease through the process of developing new blood vessels.Dr. Mandeep Mehra, medical director of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, told Medium that these symptoms suggest that the virus is probably a “vasculotropic virus, meaning that it affects the [blood vessels].”“The concept that’s emerging is that this is not a respiratory illness alone, this is a respiratory illness to start with, but it is actually a vascular illness that kills people through its involvement of the vasculature,” Dr. Mehra told Medium.Read more: Coronavirus: Up to 80 percent of people can’t catch COVID-19, says leading scientistCoronavirus: What counts as a death from COVID-19?Coronavirus patients who took heartburn drug famotidine less likely to die: StudyImplications: ventilators not enoughIf COVID-19 is a vascular infection, it could explain why people with pre-existing conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease are at greater risk from a virus that is supposedly meant to target the lungs and respiratory system.The re-classification of coronavirus could change the way the scientific community approaches the disease, and may help drive new forms of treatment.Healthcare workers have focused on providing ventilators to patients to ensure they can breathe while their lungs are infected, leading to respirators becoming a prized commodity at the heart of a global competition.Read more: Coronavirus: Inside the global war for ventilatorsBut understanding the disease as infecting blood cells could help explain why ventilators have often not been enough to ensure patients can breathe – ultimately key to their survival.Dr. Li recently co-authored a study that found widespread evidence of blood clots in the lungs of COVID-19 patients. These blood vessels are essential to providing the rest of the body with oxygen, and would not be affected by a respirator.“If you have blood clots within the blood vessels that are required for complete oxygen exchange, even if you’re moving air in and out of the airways, [if] the circulation is blocked, the full benefits of mechanical ventilatory support are somewhat thwarted,” explained Dr. Li to Medium.Implications: statins, ACE blockers could work as treatmentVascular diseases can also be treated in different ways to respiratory diseases.A recent study titled “Cardiovascular Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in Covid-19,” authored by a range of doctors including Dr. Mehra and Dr. Desai Sapan, found that statins and ACE inhibitors – treatments for blood vessel diseases – were associated with a better survival rate.“Most of their benefit in the continuum of cardiovascular illness — be it high blood pressure, be it stroke, be it heart attack, be it arrhythmia, be it heart failure — in any situation the mechanism by which they protect the cardiovascular system starts with their ability to stabilize the endothelial cells,” Dr. Mehra told Medium.Dr. Mehra's conclusions could influence the wider debate over how best to treat the coronavirus. She recently led a study that found that the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine provided no benefits and may even cause harm to the heart, despite being widely touted by US President Donald Trump.Instead, he argues that identifying COVID-19 as a blood vessel disease could open up the pathway to a better focus on more effective, alternative treatments.“The best therapy might actually be a drug that stabilizes the vascular endothelial. We’re building a drastically different concept,” she said.Read more: Coronavirus: New study ties malaria drug to greater risk of death, heart problemsOther explanationsDespite Mehra’s optimism, the study she co-authored noted that, “these associations should be considered with extreme caution. Because our study was not a randomized, controlled trial, we cannot exclude the possibility of confounding.”Scientists have also put forward other explanations to explain COVID-19’s irregular behavior that do not see it as a vascular disease.The main alternative theory suggests that COVID-19 causes damage to organs and blood clotting indirectly, by provoking the body’s immune system into an over-reaction known as inflammation.Other respiratory illnesses including pneumonia can provoke similar responses, explaining why doctors were not surprised when they first noticed COVID-19 patients with other symptoms.Researchers have also tied COVID-19 to a specific inflammatory disease in children.In April, doctors reported that children in the UK had died from a rare inflammatory syndrome which researchers believe to be linked to COVID-19.On May 14, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) was associated with coronavirus.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: New research suggests doctors are treating COVID-19 patients wrongly