From the Editors: Dubai's Global Village reopening to COVID impact on US elections

Don’t lower your safety guard while visiting Global Village: Dubai’s Global Village is the most popular shopping, leisure and entertainment destination in the region. The special Silver Jubilee season this year is even more special and challenging at the same time. The management has carefully planned events to ensure COVID-19 protocol. The biggest virtual rock concert was held to mark the grand opening of the Global Village on Friday with the participation of 2500 performers and musicians from 80 countries. Though the show was streamed live on Global Village’s YouTube channel, thousands also turned up at the venue. The show give the message of hope as the world reels from the effects of pandemic. Now, it is responsibility every visitors to follow COVID-19 precautions to make the event a big success. [COMMENT by Ashfaq Ahmed, Senior Assistant Editor]

Record Q3 US GDP and a statistical blindspot: The third quarter US GDP report, the last major piece of data before the election showed the economic output grew 7.4% and 33.1% on an annualized basis, the biggest since 1950. Trump's campaign was quick to attribute the big gain as the validation that the economy is on its way to a full recovery. The rebound was fueled in part by trillions of dollars in federal assistance that has now dried up. The Q3 GDP numbers itself points to the deep recession in the first two quarters and the inevitability of a rebound as the economy reopened. Now, what remains to be seen is how these record numbers are sustained in the coming quarters. [COMMENT by Babu Das Augustine, Banking Editor]

COVID-19 will impact US elections as cases cross 9 million: Even as all eyes in the United States are focused on Tuesday’s presidential election, the country passed another grim milestone in its losing battle against COVID-19: nine million reported coronavirus cases, with a new record for daily new infections. Such has been the scale of COVID-19 disaster in America - with over 225,000 deaths - that it could well work against President Donald Trump in the elections on Tuesday. The pandemic has also severely impacted the US economy, with many of the jobs Trump was credited with creating disappearing as the economy took a major hit. [COMMENT by Omar Shariff, International Editor]

Kings XI Punjab’s renaissance in this year’s Indian Premier League may have taken a hit with their defeat against Rajasthan Royals last night, but one man who will not be too down will be renaissance man himself Chris Gayle. The West Indian rolled back the years to bludgeon eight sixes in a splendid 99 to bring his total to 267 runs in just six matches, having joined the action late due to a stomach issue. The record-breaking ‘Universe Boss’ also brought up another landmark on Friday, hitting his 1,000th T20 six, showing he still has plenty to offer and may still play a part in the destiny of this year’s title. [COMMENT by Matt Smith, Sports Editor]

Actor Sacha Baron Cohen has donated $100,000 to the church of a woman who believed she was taking part in a documentary but instead was being featured in his mockumentary comedy film ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’. Cohen has over the years pranked many public figures. It begs the question, where is the line between art and intrusion? The protagonists in Cohen’s humourous, and sometimes warped, skits aren’t asked beforehand if they want to be part of it. Many of them might be able to brush it off and find the funny side of it. But what happens when some innocent bystander suffers from it? [COMMENT by Jennifer Barretto, Assistant Editor - Features]