TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012
@alwatandaily
Issue No. 1461
12 PAGES
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Minister Al-Rujaib submits resignation
Mohammed Al-Salman, Mohammed Al-Khaldi, Osama Al-Qatari and Ahmed Al-Shemmari Staff Writers
KUWAIT: As the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Ahmad Al-Rujaib tendered his resignation on Monday amid reports that he is adamant about the decision, parliamentary circles circulated reports of mass Cabinet resignation, which the government neither confirmed nor denied. Informed sources indicated that Minister Al-Rujaib tendered his resignation to His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, complaining about the difficulties he has been facing in dealing with the current Parliament, particularly in the wake of the motions filed to grill him. Reportedly, the minister bemoaned the government’s inability to counter these motions or defend its ministers who face them.
The sources stated that Al-Rujaib left the Cabinet meeting after tendering his resignation on Monday, while expressing gratitude to the premier and his colleagues. Observers have interpreted this as a signal that he is unwilling to continue in public service. According to the sources, certain ministers have advised Al-Rujaib against facing the two interpellations filed against him, in light of the possibility of passing a no-confidence vote in him, which will make him meet the same fate as the former finance minister Mustafa Al-Shamali. The latter resigned following a marathon interpellation session over alleged financial irregularities. A ministerial source revealed that there has been dismay among members of the Cabinet over increasing instances of personalization involving certain MPs, and urged that the situation be corrected. The source also sug-
At least 100 feared dead in Afghan earthquake
KABUL, Afghanistan: As many as 100 people are feared dead in an earthquake and landslide that buried more than 20 houses in northern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said. Rescuers have so far pulled two women’s bodies from the rubble of the landslide in Baghlan province, said provincial Gov. Abdul Majid. The UN confirmed one other death and said houses were destroyed across five districts. A massive landslide of mud and rocks buried houses so deep in the remote mountain village of Sayi Hazara that rescuers gave up trying to use shovels to dig through the buried buildings, said Jawed Basharat, a spokesman for the provincial police chief who was part of a team that examined the village after the slide. There were no visible signs of the buildings underneath. “We need bulldozers or other machinery to remove all this earth and get the bodies out, or the survivors if there are any,” Basharat said. They knew how many houses were buried only from information provided by area residents, who said between 25 and 30 houses disappeared in the landslide.An earthquake measuring a magnitude 5.4 struck the Hindu Kush region Monday morning, followed by a 5.7 quake, the US Geological Survey said. Both were felt as far away as the Afghan capital, Kabul, where buildings shook. Baghlan province’s Burka district, the site of the landslide, is a remote collection of mountain villages. It takes more than two hours to drive the approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the provincial capital of Pul-e-Khumri to th area. -AP
gested that the government changes its approach in dealing with the Parliament, saying that the current state of affairs is intolerable. “Attending parliamentary sessions and committee meetings will become a burden on ministers if the status quo persists,” the source lamentably said, adding that the ministers have previously expressed disquiet during the interpellation of the former minister of finance Mustafa Al-Shamali over what he described as government’s soft approach toward the MPs. A number of MPs have linked the minister’s resignation to the likelihood of a Cabinet reshuffle that will seek to address loopholes and head off a possible pursuit of other ministers. Meanwhile, a source within the Majority Bloc affirmed that members of the Bloc will convene toward the end of the week, in the presence of the National Assembly Speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun,
to discuss the Bloc’s performance in the face of accusations that it makes up crises and overuses interpellation tool to eliminate certain ministers. On the other hand, an MP within the Minority Bloc has called on the Cabinet to stay on, rather than resign, in order to ‘expose the real motives of the Majority Bloc’ to the people of Kuwait. The lawmaker added that the government should find out the difficulties it has been encountering in dealing with the National Assembly and the obstacles hindering cooperation between the executive and legislative authorities. In the same vein, MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaie expected that the current Cabinet is likely to resign following Al-Rujaib’s decision to quit. The lawmaker expressed the Majority Bloc’s readiness to cooperate with a new Cabinet in the event that the incumbent resigns, stressing the need for a resolute and decision-making Cabinet.
Israel in mass round-up of migrants for deportation
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agreed to lend Spain up to $125 billion to help its troubled banking system. Spain is the fourth European country after Greece, Portugal and Ireland to request financial help since the debt crisis began. If Spain’s banks fail, traders worry that Europe’s broader financial problems will hurt demand for oil while the U.S. and China are coping with slower economic growth. It’s not yet clear whether the region’s ongoing efforts to put the financial crisis to rest will result in an economic turnaround. “It just doesn’t seem like that’s very close,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. Meanwhile, oil supplies continue to build despite ongoing weak demand around the world. -AP
Climate change rate could be faster than thought, study suggests Data indicate China’s carbon emissions could be 20% higher, prompting fears Earth is warming at a much faster rate
A Pakistani boy Imran Khan, 12, who earns 290 rupees ($ 3.07) in an eight hour work shift to feed their family, sorts onions at a stall in a fruit and vegetable market in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, June 11, 2012. The World Day Against Child Labor will be observed on June 12 across the world including Pakistan to raise awareness and contribute to end child labor. Hundreds of millions of girls and boys throughout the world are engaged in work that deprives them of adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedoms, violating their rights. Of these children, more than half are exposed to the worst forms of child labor such as work in hazardous environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labor, illicit activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement in armed conflict. (AP)
US Supreme Court turns down new Guantanamo appeals
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take a new look at the rights of foreign prisoners held for the past decade at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. Four years after pronouncing that detainees who face no charges have a right to challenge their ongoing confinement, the justices rejected appeals arguing that the federal appeals court in Washington has largely ignored the high court’s command. The appeals court has not ordered the release of any detainee and has reversed several lower court release orders. In addition, some appellate judges have been unusually critical of the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in Boumediene v. Bush. There are 169 foreigners remaining at Guantanamo, including the five men who are facing military trials for their roles in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The justices offered no comment on their orders Monday in appeals from seven detainees. Lawyers for the detainees criticized the court for refusing to take up the appeals. “By refusing to hear these cases, and any Guantanamo cases since its 2008 Boumediene decision, the court abandons the promise of its own ruling guaranteeing detainees a constitutional right to meaningful review of the legality of their detention,” said Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. “Today’s decision leaves the fate of detainees in the hands of a hostile DC Circuit Court of Appeals, which has erected innumerable, unjustified legal obstacles that have made it practically impossible for a detainee to win a habeas case in the trial courts.” -AP
LONDON: China’s carbon emissions could be nearly 20% higher than previously thought, a new analysis of official Chinese data showed on Monday, suggesting the pace of global climate change could be even faster than currently predicted according to The Guardian. China has already overtaken the US as the world’s top greenhouse gas polluter, producing about a quarter of mankind’s carbon pollution that scientists say is heating the planet and triggering more extreme weather. But pinning down an accurate total for China’s carbon emissions has long been a challenge because of doubts about the quality of its official energy use data. It is used to compute how the planet’s climate will change, helping plan for more extremes of drought, flood and the impact on crops. “The sad fact is that Chinese energy and emission data as primary input to the models will add extra uncertainty in modeling simulations of predicting future climatic change,” say the authors of a study in the journal Nature Climate Change. The team of scientists from China, Britain and the US, led by Dabo Guan of the University of Leeds, studied two sets of energy data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics. One set presented energy use for the nation, the More on 8 other for its provinces.
More progress made on artificial pancreas for diabetes patients
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England 1
Sweden 1
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Ukraine 2
MORE ON 12
Today’s Matches:
Poland vs Russia and Greece vs Czech Republic
‘They want to kill me’ in prison: Mubarak Mubarak defibrillated twice following heart failure
Oil prices fall on global economic concerns
WASHINGTON: An early 2 percent gain in the price of oil evaporated Monday on the realization that a solution to Europe’s debt crisis remains a long way off. A multi-billion dollar bailout loan for Spain’s banks generated initial enthusiasm in the global stock, bond and energy markets. But by noon in New York, the good feeling had given way to skepticism that the financial lifeline given to Europe’s fourth-largest economy would do much good long-term. Benchmark oil fell 74 cents to $83.36 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, dropped 81 cents to $98.66 per barrel in London. The broad S&P 500 stock index fell about 0.6 percent. Leaders of European countries have
France 1
CAIRO: Egypt’s ailing ousted president Hosni Mubarak, now serving a life sentence in a Cairo prison over the killing or protesters, said the authorities “want to kill” him in jail, his lawyer told AFP on Monday. “He says: ‘They want to kill me. Save me, Mr Farid, find me a solution,” said Farid Al-Deeb, his chief lawyer in the murder and corruption trial which ended this month with his sentencing. Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who has been in critical condition since moving to prison, was defibrillated twice after his heart stopped
on Monday, a prison hospital source told AFP. Mubarak’s “heart stopped twice. Doctors had to use a defibrillator. He has been in and out of consciousness and has been refusing food,” the source said. Earlier, an interior ministry source told AFP his condition was “critical but stable”, as officials weigh transferring him to a Cairo hospital. The 84-year-old former strongman was sentenced to life behind bars for suppressing a revolt against his rule in early 2011 during which nearly 850 protesters More on 3 were killed. -AFP
China unearths over 100 new terracotta warriors
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Rafael Nadal wins record seventh French Open
PARIS: Rafael Nadal clinched a record seventh French Open title on Monday, defeating world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 and shattering the Serb’s dream of Grand Slam history. In a fractious final pushed into a third week for only the second time because of Sunday’s rain, the Spanish world number two, playing in his 16th Grand Slam final, also took his Paris record to a staggering 52 wins against just one loss. Victory, which was achieved on a Djokovic double fault, allowed him to break the tie for six French Opens he shared with Bjorn Borg. It was the 26-year-old’s 11th Grand Slam title, taking him one behind Roy Emerson, three off Pete Sampras and five away from the record of 16 held by Roger Federer. For five-time major winner Djokovic, the Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champion, it was the end of his dream of emulating Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 More on 11 and 1969) by holding all the Grand Slams at once. -AFP
Syria rebels deny Kuwaiti fighters with them
KUWAIT: Syrian rebel army chief, Colonel Riyadh Al-Asaad, denied in comments published Monday that Kuwaitis were fighting alongside his men against forces of President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. “Reports indicating the presence of Arab fighters (in Syria) are totally baseless,” Al-Asaad was quoted as saying by Kuwait’s Al-Watan newspaper. “There are no non-Syrian members in the Free Syrian Army (FSA) which consists only of Syrian soldiers and of-
ficers fighting to protect the revolution,” the Turkey-based commander of the Free Syrian Army said. The Syrian regime is trying to spread such reports to show that “there are jihadists, members of Al-Qaeda and armed groups active in Syria which is harmful to the revolution,” he said. On Sunday, Kuwait’s Al-Qabas newspaper reported that dozens of Kuwaitis have crossed the Syrian-Turkish border to fight alongside the FSA, citing relatives of More on 2 the fighters. -AFP
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Russian police raid opposition’s homes ahead of rally
MOSCOW: Russian police searched opposition leaders’ homes on Monday in morning raids intended to disrupt plans for a protest rally against President Vladimir Putin’s rule and show he has lost patience with demonstrations that are undermining his authority. The searches before Tuesday’s rally were an aggressive turn after months of opposition rallies, signaling a tougher approach designed to crush dissent at the start of the former KGB spy’s new six-year term as president. Several lead-
ers were also summoned for questioning on Tuesday about violence at a rally on the eve of Putin’s May 7 inauguration, almost certainly stopping them from attending the first big planned protest since he returned to the Kremlin. Armed police stood guard as investigators searched the apartments of anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny, leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov and other opposition figures, rifling through rooms and seizing computer drives and More on 5 disks. -Reuters
This handout artist’s impression released by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) on June 11, 2012 shows the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) in its enclosure on Cerro Armazones, a 3060-metre mountaintop in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The 39.3-metre E-ELT will be the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world. Operations are planned to start early in the next decade. (AFP)