MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012
@alwatandaily
Issue No. 1434
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Majority undecided over Al-Shamali’s interpellations
MP Al-Juwaihel swears on Holy Quran, denies spitting, drunkenness Mohammed Al-Salman, Mohammed Al-Khaldi, Osama Al-Qatari and Ahmed Al-Shemmari Staff Writers
KUWAIT: Apparently undecided over the two interpellations filed against the Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali, the Majority Bloc is to meet on Saturday at MP Khaled Al-Tahous’s diwaniya to hammer out a proper mechanism for questioning the minister. It has been gathered that the bloc is considering two options regarding the questioning of the minister and will accordingly decide whether to defer it or merge the two interpellation motions. A source close to the bloc revealed that members of the majority are making concerted efforts to agree upon a specific mechanism to deal with the two motions to grill the finance minister.
One of the options on the table, according to the source, is to enforce Article 37 of the Parliament’s Internal Charter which provides for the merger of interpellations. The source further noted that certain MPs within the majority are engaged in efforts geared toward bridging differences concerning the motions, considering that continued rifts may undermine the bloc and the desired results of the interpellation will not be achieved, accordingly. In the meantime, the source expressed concerns that the government may take an approach that can shatter all the efforts exerted to pursue and topple Al-Shamali. Moreover, sources have indicated that the Majority’s scheduled meeting at Al-Tahous’ diwaniya will also discuss the best approach to deal with the Minority Bloc and MP Mohammad AlJuwaihel. The sources added that the stance of the
31 suspects arrested in connection with Amghara fires
Minority Bloc during the last Thursday session, which saw Al-Juwaihel spitting on MP Hamad AlMattar, paves the way for reviewing the relationship between the Minority and Majority Blocs. Members of the Majority have disproved and condemned Al-Juwaihel’s action. The participants will also deliberate over proposed constitutional reforms, including the transformation of electoral constituencies, as well as the endorsement of bills for integrity and financial disclosure. In other news, the Parliamentary Legislative Committee assigned its advisors to scrutinize proposed penalties aimed at penalizing MP Mohammad Al-Juwaihel due to his misbehavior in Parliament last week. The penalties were approved by the Parliament in the wake of the incident and referred them to the committee to express opinion on such irregularities.
Amazing City seal Premier League title
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Embassy in Beirut denies shooting at building
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Staff Writer
KUWAIT: Thirty-one suspects were arrested in connection with the Amghara junkyard fires, Interior Ministry announced here Sunday. Undersecretary for Public Security Affairs at the Ministry Major General Mahmoud Al-Dousiri told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) after a meeting that 30 suspects were Asian nationals while one was an illegal resident. He affirmed that security was tightened around the junkyard to prevent more similar incidents from occurring, adding that interrogations were carried out with the suspects to determine who was behind the fires. Meanwhile, Minister of Commerce and Industry Anas Al-Saleh said, “The fire set in Amghara was deliberate and is a systematic sabotage of public and private interests, but we still do not know the motive or the reason.” This came in a press conference held Sunday morning at the Public Authority for Industry, located in South Surrah, in the presence of Director of Kuwait Municipality Engineer Ahmad Al-Soubaih, Director of the Public Authority for Industry Dr. Ali Al-Modaf, Director of Kuwait Environment Authority Dr. Salah Al-Mudhi, Assistant Undersecretary for General Security Major General Mahmoud Al-Dousari and Jahra Chief of Staff Major General Ibrahim Al-Tarrah. Al-Saleh said that a committee was formed upon the instructions of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah to discover the reasons behind the fire of tires in Rahiya area and to submit recommendations and suggestions which help to avoid the occurrence of such incidents. He said that the committee did not issue any decision however another fire erupted last Friday, which gave the impression that somebody is trying to tamper with genMore on 3 eral security.
Bonuses worth KD 100 million for oil sector employees Staff Writers
KUWAIT: Following a meeting between His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak and the Head of the Oil Labor Union the cabinet approved paying the bonus entitled “Success Bonus” for oil sector employees worth KD 100 million. Furthermore, the bonus equals the basic salary of employees multiplied four times.The cabinet approved payment of the bonus after considering an item of the opinion of Fatwa and Legislation Department which stipulates that Kuwaiti Petroleum Company can pay such bonuses to its employees without requirement for approval from the Civil Service Commission (CSC). On his part, the Executive Chief of Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) Farouq Al-Zanqi expressed his congratulations to all employees of the oil sector following the approval of the payment of the bonuses, which is also synchronized with the decision of raising the salaries of oil sector employees as well as raising some allowances.
Agility victim of Congress pressures
Police officers carry a demonstrator as he and others are evicted during the early hours from Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, Spain, May 13, 2012. (AP)
Syrian troops raid farming village in continued crackdown BEIRUT: Syrian forces killed at least five people in a raid on a farming village in the country’s northwest on Sunday while continuing to crack down on rebellious areas near the capital Damascus, activists said. The continuing violence further undermines a UN-backed peace plan that is supposed to bring an end to the country’s 14-month-old crisis. The first step of the plan, a cease-fire that began on April 12, has had only a limited effect. This throws into doubt the rest of the plan, which calls for talks between the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad and those seeking to end his rule. Sunday’s deaths followed a raid by regime forces on the impoverished farming village of Al-Tamana, about 55 kilometers (35 miles) northwest of the city of Hama. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five people were killed in the raid and that forces were torching homes. Speaking via Skype from Hama, activist Mousab Alhamadee, said one local rebel leader was killed alongside five civilians. “He was a hero in the Free Syrian
Army who was trying to defend the civilians,” he said, referring to the umbrella group of local, anti-regime militias. The area, a plain of farmland along the Orontes River, is dotted with villages of Christians, Sunni Muslims and Alawites, the offshoot sect of Shiite Islam to which Assad belongs. Alhamadee, who is from a village near Al-Tamana, said sectarian tensions were low before the uprising, but had gotten worse as Sunni villages like AlTamana joined the anti-Assad uprising. He said most of the village’s residents had fled and regime forces were setting fire to houses and looting shops. He and the Observatory also reported shelling in a nearby village, Hayaleen. “The regime is trying to punish these villages and to put an end to this revolution as quickly as it can,” he said. Syria’s uprising started in March, 2011, with protests calling for political reform. The government brutally cracked down on dissent, and many in the opposition have since taken up arms to defend themselves and attack government More on 4 troops.
KUWAIT: Agility and its Kuwait-based subsidiary Agility Defense and Government Services (DGS) filed more than 20 memos to the US Department of Justice in response to the charges brought against the company by the US Court claiming that the company had overcharged for supplying food to US troops and contractors in Iraq, two reliable sources told the Financial Times. The sources said that a memo confirmed that the allegations put forward by the Department of Justice were legally invalid, because the US government failed to prove fraud, and that the prosecutor relied on preferential translations to vague conditions of a contract, which cancels any charges about fraud. In the second memo, according to Financial Times, the company demanded the dismissal of the case filed against it and its subsidiaries, based on an error in the proceeding of filing the case. The memo argued that the US government resorted to a series of unjust tactics which aims to distort, and in some cases to create, the evidence which support the translation of the contract by the government, in order to transfer the case from a More on 9 conflict over a contract to a crime.
LONDON: Manchester City’s captain Vincent Kompany (center) surrounded by team members, lifts the English Premier League trophy after their match against Queens Park Rangers, May 13, 2012. Manchester City were crowned Premier League champions on Sunday after an incredible fightback which saw them score twice in injury time to beat QPR 3-2 and seal the title on goal difference. City’s dreams of a first title
in 44 years appeared to be in tatters as 10-man Rangers led 2-1 after 90 minutes courtesy of goals from Djibril Cisse and Jamie Mackie following Pablo Zabaleta’s opener. But as Manchester United prepared to celebrate snatching a 20th league title following their 1-0 win at Sunderland, Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero struck twice in two minutes to seal the most enthralling title duel in years. - AP More on 20
Gulf leaders expected to announce unity plan
DUBAI/RIYADH: Gulf Arab leaders meeting on Monday are expected to announce closer political union, starting with two or three countries including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, a government minister in Bahrain said. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain might initially seek closer union, local newspapers have reported, as both countries have accused Shiite giant Iran of fomenting discontent among Shiite Muslims against the Sunni dynasties that rule in both nations. Tehran denies the charges. “I expect there will be an announcement of two or three countries. We can’t be sure but I have a strong expectation,” Samira Rajab, minister of state for information affairs, said on Sunday. “Sovereignty will remain with each of the countries and they would remain as UN members but they would unite in decisions regarding foreign relations, security, military and economy.” The leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which also includes Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, meet in Riyadh as they grow increasingly concerned over Iran and Al-Qaeda after the Arab uprisings. The protest of majority Shiite Muslims in Bahrain against the monarchy that is allied with the United
States has not gone away after a year. Saudi security forces entered Bahrain in March 2011 before a crackdown on the revolt, which Riyadh fears has the potential to spill over into Saudi Arabia’s Shiite-populated Eastern Province region, where major Saudi oilfields are located. The Saudis also accuse Tehran of instigating protests among their Shiite minority. Bahrain’s prime minister, Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who has close ties to the Saudi ruling family, is already in Riyadh, where he was quoted as urging closer integration. “The great dream of the peoples of the region is to see the day when the borders disappear with a union that creates one Gulf,” he told Bahrain News Agency. Gulf leaders also fear the Arab uprisings last year created more opportunities for Al-Qaeda to gain a foothold in Yemen, where the discovery of another alleged bomb plot was revealed last week. Rajab said, however, that there were reservations among some GCC members over the idea of a closer union, and that it was too early to say if any agreement taken among Gulf leaders would require a referendum in Bahrain or not. Some members of the GCC fear a closer union might grant too much sway to the body’s largest member, Saudi Arabia. -Reuters
North Korea warned amid fears of nuclear bomb test
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Top Joseph Kony commander captured says Official KAMPALA, Uganda: A Ugandan army official says Ugandan forces have captured a senior commander of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army after a brief fight with rebels near the CongoCentral African Republic border. Lt. Col. Abdul Rugumayo said Sunday that Caesar Acellam was captured Saturday with two other rebel fighters. Rugumayo said they were in a group of about 30 LRA rebels. The others es-
caped. Although Acellam is not one of the LRA commanders indicted along with Kony in 2005 by the International Criminal Court, Ugandan officials say he was Kony’s top military strategist. Kony recently became the focus of international attention after the US advocacy group Invisible Children made an online video seeking to make him famous. US forces are helping Ugandan troops find Kony and his top lieutenants. -AP
Gunman kills Afghan peace council member
KABUL, Afghanistan: An assassin on Sunday shot dead a former highranking Taliban official working on reconciling Afghanistan’s insurgency with the government, a fresh blow to peace efforts on the day Kabul announced it was gradually taking the lead from the US-led coalition for providing security in much of the country. A gunman with a silenced pistol killed Arsala Rahmani as he was riding in his car in one of the capital’s most secure areas near Kabul University, police said. The death of Rahmani, a top member of the Afghan peace council and a senator in parliament’s upper house, dealt another setback to efforts to negotiate a political resolution to the decade-long war. Rahmani was a former Taliban official who reconciled with the government and was active in More on 5 trying to set up formal talks with the insurgents.
Shaven-headed young boys put their hands together under the lanterns during a service to celebrate Buddha’s upcoming birthday at Jogye temple in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, May 13, 2012. (AP)