The number of coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia approached 120,000 on Friday following a rise in new infections over the last week.
The Saudi Ministry of Health reported 3,901 new cases during the last 24 hours, taking the total to 119,942, with 893 deaths.
Most of the new cases are in Riyadh, with 1,584 reported there, followed by 391 in Jeddah and 197 in Makkah.
The number of daily cases has exceeded 3,000 for the last week.
Saudi Arabia, which has a population of 30 million, has taken strict measures to contain the spreading of the contagious disease since its first recorded case in early March.
Health officials warned in April that the number of infected cases could reach between 10,000 and 200,000 people in the country.
The kingdom exceeded 50,000 cases on May 16.
It comes as the religious authorities brought forward the re-opening of mosques from Friday around the country expect for the cities of Makkah and Jeddah.
Mosques will open 40 minutes before the call for Friday prayers in efforts to prevent overcrowding, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs said in a statement.
Since late May, nearly 90,000 mosques in Saudi Arabia have reopened, with government officials arranging for prayer rugs, washrooms and shelves to be sanitised before use.
Other countries in the Gulf also recorded a high number of infected cases.
Kuwait reported 520 new cases and six more coronavirus related deaths on Friday.
Health authorities said the total number of infected individuals in the country is 34,952 and the death toll is 285.
The health ministry announced the recovery of 911 patients during the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 25,048 since the outbreak began earlier this year.
Qatar's ministry of health recorded one Covid-19 death and 1,517 new cases in the past 24 hours.
The death toll now stands at 70.
Health officials also announced 1,965 new recoveries in the country.
Some 76,588 people have been infected and the country has highest per capita caseload in the world with 27,277 infections per one million people.
Bahrain's recorded two new coronavirus deaths, raising the total number of fatalities to 36.
The health ministry announced 600 new infected cases and 414 recoveries during the last 24 hours.
"There are currently 137 cases receiving treatment, of which 10 are in a critical condition," the ministry tweeted.
Oman, which has the lowest number of infected cases, recorded seven new deaths.
The new deaths raised Oman's total to 96 as health officials registered an additional 1,117 new cases.
The health ministry also reported 866 recoveries in the country, bringing that total to 7,489.
Coronavirus in the Middle East
T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
Results
UAE beat Nigeria by five wickets
Hong Kong beat Canada by 32 runs
Friday fixtures
10am, Tolerance Oval, Abu Dhabi – Ireland v Jersey
7.30pm, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi – Canada v Oman
Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
MATCH DETAILS
Liverpool 2
Wijnaldum (14), Oxlade-Chamberlain (52)
Genk 1
Samatta (40)
Key fixtures from January 5-7
Watford v Bristol City
Liverpool v Everton
Brighton v Crystal Palace
Bournemouth v AFC Fylde or Wigan
Coventry v Stoke City
Nottingham Forest v Arsenal
Manchester United v Derby
Forest Green or Exeter v West Brom
Tottenham v AFC Wimbledon
Fleetwood or Hereford v Leicester City
Manchester City v Burnley
Shrewsbury v West Ham United
Wolves v Swansea City
Newcastle United v Luton Town
Fulham v Southampton
Norwich City v Chelsea
MEYDAN RESULTS
6.30pm Baniyas (PA) Group 2 Dh125,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner ES Ajeeb, Sam Hitchcock (jockey), Ibrahim Aseel (trainer).
7.05pm Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Galaxy Road, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
7.40pm Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner Al Modayar, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh170,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner Gundogdu, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.50pm Rated Conditions (TB) Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner George Villiers, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
9.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh175,000 (D)1,200m
Winner Lady Parma, Connor Beasley, Satish Seemar
10pm Handicap (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner Zaajer, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions:
SHAITTAN
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVikas%20Bahl%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAjay%20Devgn%2C%20R.%20Madhavan%2C%20Jyothika%2C%20Janaki%20Bodiwala%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
SEMI-FINAL
Monterrey 1
Funes Mori (14)
Liverpool 2
Keita (11), Firmino (90 1)
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
MATCH INFO
Al Jazira 3 (O Abdulrahman 43', Kenno 82', Mabkhout 90 4')
Al Ain 1 (Laba 39')
Red cards: Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain)
Gulf Men's League final
Dubai Hurricanes 24-12 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays
4.5/5
