From the Editors: Sharjah school fee decision a reprieve for parents

SHARJAH SCHOOL FEE DECISION A REPRIEVE FOR PARENTS: In a much-needed reprieve, the Sharjah Private Education Authority has issued a circular explaining that students must not be dismissed, denied entry to exams, or stopped from exercising their right to education, due to the delay in paying fees. This move will help several parents of school-going children, many of whom have suffered due to the adverse economic impact of COVID-19. As the school year comes to an end, the timely decision allows for clarity in the situation, thus allowing the children to continue their studies.[COMMENT BY: Somshankar Bandyopadhyay, Assistant Editor]

IT LOOKS LIKE GAME-OVER FOR NETANYAHU: An anti-Netanyahu coalition of right-wing and centrist parties is all but certain to oust the long-term leader who has dominated Israeli politics for over a decade. Centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid, and former Benjamin Netanyahu ally Naftali Bennett will lead a power-sharing government. According to Israeli media reports, Bennett, an extreme right-winger, will become prime minister first, and will be replaced as PM by Lapid at a later date. Netanyahu has taken a dim view of the arrangement, branding it the ‘fraud of the century’. One of the issues that will be weighing on Netanyahu’s mind is the bribery, fraud and breach of trust cases against him pending in Israeli courts. So far, he has avoided prosecution due to the immunity that his post as PM affords him. This is perhaps one reason Bibi is so determined to stay in power. [COMMENT BY: Omar Shariff, International Editor]

STRICT MEASURES WILL HELP VIETNAM BATTLE COVID-19: Vietnam is planning to test all 9 million people for the coronavirus in Ho Chi Minh city after finding 145 cases of the infection among people with links to a church. Vietnam did well in the first wave to keep the cases down with a raft of measures. But since the end of April, a surge in COVID-19 has resulted in more than 4,000 cases, almost double the total number that the country reported since the beginning of the pandemic. What is alarming in Vietnam is that some patients were infected with a hybrid of the virus variants first found in India and the UK, according to the health minister. Strict measures and restrictions are needed to stop the further spread of the virus - measures that the country is implementing now. [COMMENT BY: Alex Abraham , Senior Associate Editor]

SERENA IS BACK FOR ANOTHER GO: American tennis superstar Serena Williams will be part of history again on Monday when she plays in the first French Open night-session match, while her fellow veteran Roger Federer also starts his bid to upset the odds at Roland Garros. The 39-year-old Williams is again looking to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, but she faces a tall task as the opponents keep getting younger and she arrives in Paris having lost two of her three matches on clay so far this season. Should either she or Federer go all the way at Roland Garros and it would go down as one of the most famous wins in Grand Slam history.[COMMENT BY: Matthew Smith, Sports Editor]

THE CURIOUS CASE OF KARTIK AARYAN IN BOLLYWOOD: If news reports are to be believed, Kartik Aaryan has pitched up his tent in Bollywood but no camp is willing to take him in lately. After the self-made star’s dramatic ouster from Karan Johar’s ‘Dostana 2’ earlier in the year, there is now talk that Aaryan has been dropped from a Shah Rukh Khan production, along with a gangster film that was in the works with Anand L Rai. The actor has maintained his silence through the headlines but if any of this is true, it definitely does not bode well for Aaryan who has struggled his way up the ranks in a film industry that thrives on camps and nepotism. One only has to look at Sushant Singh Rajput’s tragic death to understand how hard it can get for outsiders to carve a path to fame in Bollywood. [COMMENT BY: Bindu Rai, Entertainment Editor]