FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2012
@alwatandaily
Issue No. 1368
20 PAGES
www.alwatandaily.com
150 Fils with IHT
Defaulters’ Fund may reopen for new beneficiaries
Mohammed Al-Salman, Mohammed Al-Khaldi, Osama Al-Qatari, Ahmed Al-Shemmari and Jarrah Al-Mutairi Staff Writers
KUWAIT: As demands increase for a solution to the issue of loans and the associated interests, sources within the Ministry of Finance revealed that the Finance Minister Mustafa AlShamali gave instructions for the reexamination of the defaulters fund law. Reportedly, the move seeks to include more beneficiaries by other segments of defaulters. Sources have indicated that the pressure being mounted on the government to drop loan interests will not yield any results considering the high cost involved; adding that the idea goes contrary to social justice and is considered to be detrimental to the country’s banking system. The sources also noted that the government will look into the issue of loans through the Defaulters’ Fund that has been opened for defaulters on two occasions, adding that “For this reason, we see no problem in reopening the fund for a third time if the National Assembly agrees.” Meanwhile, the sources maintained that “dreams” by MPs for the loans and the interests to be dropped should stop because the government is not inclined to such a notion. The sources added that the Defaulters Fund eases the plight of citizens and prevents them
from facing legal cases filed against them, noting that a team of the Finance Ministry will carefully review the provisions of the Defaulters’ Fund. A parliamentary source commented on the issue, saying that the fund’s failure is attributed to some of the conditions the law includes, including one that prevents defaulters from taking new loans. He also cited inaction toward violating banks as another reason for the failure of the fund. The source regarded the opening of the fund as a preemptive government measure to thwart parliamentary proposals calling for the loans to be dropped. He added that the cost of dropping loans does not exceed 1.5 billion Kuwaiti dinars. In the same context, MP Osama Al-Munawer addressed a question to the Finance Minister asking for the required experience and job description for the positions of the Governor and Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK). Further, the head of the Justice Bloc MP Mohammad Hayef announced that the bloc has officially proposed the amendment of Article 79 of the Constitution as an alternative to the Islamization of laws. The lawmaker stated that the bloc had decided to collect the signatures of MPs to pass the amendment in Parliament. Hayef explained that the new amendment will be applicable to the subsequent and new laws and not on the previous ones.
Unionists announce March 19 strike
According to the proposed amendment, “no new law should be promulgated unless it has been passed by the National Assembly, endorsed by the Amir and is consistent with Sharia (the Islamic law). The original provision stipulates that “No law may be promulgated unless it has been passed by the National Assembly and endorsed by the Amir. “We will consider the amendment of Article 2 of the Constitution in the future. But as for now, we will be focused on the amendment of Article 79 because Kuwait is mainly run by man-made laws so there are a lot of laws which are inconsistent with the Islamic law in the penal code or others,” Hayef was quoted as saying. The lawmaker insisted that the Constitution is not like the Quran which is unalterable, noting that all nations have amended their constitutions. In another development, MP Shaye Al-Shaye urged His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Cabinet ministers and MPs to end the plight of layoffs within the public and private sectors. He added that the matter needs to be fundamentally tackled rather than have interim solutions. Furthermore, MP Mubarak Al-Waalan has dismissed reports being circulated on social networking sites that he had assaulted an Asian lady as unfounded. The MP explained that what happened was a traffic accident which will take due process.
Karzai under fire on Afghan women’s rights
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Fahad Al-Loban Staff Writer
KUWAIT: Labor Union Federation announced that there will be a sit-in on March 19th if their salary increases and allowances are not approved by the Civil Service Commission. Several unions from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Civil Service Commission, and other governmental authorities and ministries said that they will support the sit-in and will take part in it. On Wednesday evening, amid tight security and support from many members of the Parliament, the Kuwaiti Labor Union Federation held a strike with the participation of other unions, to protest the tactics of the Civil Service Bureau and its policy of postponing the issue of granting increment for the past three years. The Head of the Kuwaiti Labor Union Fayez AlMutairi said that the proposed increment is “worthless” and doesn’t meet the requirement and demands of the More on 2 people.
New terms for non-nationals entitled to driving licenses: MOI
Jassem Al-Tannib Staff Writer
KUWAIT: Assistant Traffic Department Manager for Licenses Affairs Brigadier Ehsan Al-Owaish announced that the terms for issuing driving licenses for non-Kuwaitis have changed, where they will be granted to university students in Kuwait, legal councilors, judges, experts, lawyers, professors, teachers, engineers, journalists, managers, accountants, pilots, gym trainers, representatives, bedouns (stateless Arabs), nurses, lab technicians, librarians, and translators working at governmental authorities. Women married to Kuwaiti men can also be issued a driving license, in addition to widows and divorcees.
Libyan militia hands Tripoli airport to government
Britain’s Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge (left), and Queen Elizabeth II are pictured as they visit the city of Leicester in central England, on March 8, 2012. Queen Elizabeth II was welcomed by a cheering crowd of thousands Thursday as she began her diamond jubilee tour of Britain accompanied by Prince William’s wife Catherine. (AFP)
Kenya sacks 25,000 striking health workers
NAIROBI: Kenya’s government said on Thursday it had sacked 25,000 public health workers after they refused to end their week-long stoppage over pay. Unemployed or retired health workers in the east African country were asked to report to their nearest health facility on Friday morning to be interviewed for the vacant posts, a government spokesman said. The striking health workers’ union said the government was trying to blackmail them and they would not back down from their demands for higher allowances. The protest is the latest in a string of strikes to grip Kenya in the past year after consumer prices soared, fanning widespread discontent. “We are ignoring the sacking threat,” Alex Orina, spokesman of the 40,000-strong Kenya Health
Professionals Society, said. “These are cat-and-mouse games, you cannot sack an entire workforce. It is a ploy to get us to rush back to work, but our strike continues until our demands are met,” Orina told Reuters. Doctors, university lecturers, primary school teachers and employees of the state broadcaster have also taken strike action. The government said the health workers were acting unethically. “Twenty five thousand of these officers (health workers) have by this morning been deleted from the payroll. Letters of dismissal are ready and are being issued,” government spokesman Alfred Mutua told reporters. “The government has taken this firm action to alleviate further suffering of innocent Kenyans.” -Reuters
BENGHAZI: A powerful Libyan militia that took over the country’s busiest airport when Moammar Gadhafi was deposed said Thursday it will hand over responsibility for the airport to the government, which is struggling to assert its control over militias across Libya. The decision by the Zintan forces to relinquish such a powerful symbol, the airport in the capital of Tripoli, represents a victory for Libya’s central government, which has been heavily criticized for failing to rein in the various militia groups operating across the country. The test, however, will be whether government forces will be able to ensure the security and safety of airport operations. A spokesman for the Zintan militia, Khaled Kar, said Thursday that commanders will hand over the airport to the Ministry of Interior within a week in an official ceremony. He vowed the handover would be permanent. “When we get out, we will never come back,” Kar said. “Everyone is saying unless the militia leaves the airport, the state has no presence in the ground,” he said. “We don’t want to be a stumbling block in the path of restoring state institutions.” The Zintan militia were part of the Libyan revolutionaries who swept through Tripoli in August, toppling Gadhafi after months of fighting by citizens-turned-fighters against the regime. Since then, their well-trained and well-equipped fighters from the mountain city in western Libya have been running the airport in addition to various other institutions, chipping away at the government’s power and control. The leader of Libya’s National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, admitted Wednesday that his government doesn’t have enough power to deal with militias refusing to allow the army and police to take over vital border crossings and airports. -AP
F1 team Marussia signs female test driver
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International Women’s Day demonstrators demand equality
(Photo by Michael A. Kolarov)
MP Hayef proposes amendment to Article 79 of constitution
Women participating in a gathering held at Determination Square on March 8, 2012 marking International Woman’s Day. Michael A. Kolarov Staff Writer
KUWAIT: Kuwaiti women gathered at Determination Square yesterday evening to demonstrate and express their various issues, drawing a crowd estimated at just over a hundred. The women carried banners demanding, among other things, equal opportunities, the right to pass citizenship onto their children, the right to government housing, and make loud and clear that they believe their demands are constitutional. The gathering marks International Women’s Day. The most notable issues was the lack of women in the
Parliament, Government, and Diplomatic Services, as well as Kuwaiti women being married to foreign men not being granted equal rights. Among the gathered crowd was artist Shurooq Amin, who took the time to speak to Al Watan Daily about her issues and the issues of the women around her. “We’re standing up for our rights, very simply. We want our basic human rights and women’s rights and freedom of expression as was promised to us in our Constitution. We’re not asking for any more. Everything in our Constitutions says we can express ourselves in literature, in writing, in art and in science,” She More on 2 explained.
Syrian official defects to protest Al-Assad crackdown
BEIRUT: Syria’s deputy oil minister announced his defection in an online video that emerged Thursday, making him the highest ranking official to abandon President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime since the country’s uprising erupted a year ago. The defection of Abdo Husameddine, who said he was joining the opposition because of the “brutal” crackdown on dissent that has claimed the lives of thousands of Syrians, came as the UN’s humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said she was “struck” by the devastation she saw in a shattered district of the central city of Homs. Amos is the first independent outside observer to be allowed in Hom’s Baba Amro since the military overran the district, wrestling it from rebel control on March 1 following a month-long assault that brought international condemnation. She was allowed a brief tour in the ravaged district on Wednesday.
“The devastation there is significant. That part of Homs is completely destroyed and I am concerned to learn what happened to the people in that part of the city,” she said in Damascus, after meeting with Syria’s education and health ministers on Thursday. In Cairo, former UN chief Kofi Annan said his top priority as special envoy to Syria is to end the violence and deliver badly needed aid. Annan, who has been appointed joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, said his mission was to start a “political process” in Syria to resolve the one-year conflict there. The uprising began with largely peaceful protests but faced with a vicious regime crackdown, became increasingly militarized.The UN says more than 7,500 people have been killed in the yearlong violence. Activists put the death toll at more than 8,000. More on 4
Antimatter atom measured for the first time NEW YORK: Scientists have taken the first-ever measurement of an atom made of antimatter. This measurement, though not very precise, represents a first step toward being able to study antimatter atoms in detail - a goal necessary for understanding why the universe is made of matter and not antimatter, its mysterious sibling. All particles of matter are thought to have antimatter partners with the same mass but opposite charge. When these pairs meet, they annihilate each other to become pure energy. Scientists think the universe contained equal parts of matter and antimatter just after the Big Bang, which is believed to have started everything
13.7 billion years ago. But early on, most of the matter and antimatter destroyed each other, leaving behind a slight surplus of matter that became the stars and galaxies that exist today. In a previous study, physicists at Switzerland’s CERN laboratory succeeded in trapping antihydrogen atoms for several minutes by using magnetic fields to keep them suspended in one spot. An antihydrogen atom is the analog of hydrogen, the simplest atom among the elements. Where hydrogen contains one proton and one electron, antihydrogen is made up of one antiproton and one positron (the antimatter More on 15 partner of the electron).
Thousands of livestock farmers march the street to protest against Taiwan government’s plan to allow beef imports from the United States in Taipei March 8, 2012. Taiwan government plans to lift a ban on most US beef containing ractopamine, a drug that is used as a feed additive to promote leanness in pigs and cattle, according to local media. (Reuters)