May 19, 2012

Page 1

SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2012

@alwatandaily

Issue No. 1439

12 PAGES

www.alwatandaily.com

150 Fils with IHT

Motions filed against Al-Shamali may be merged

Staff Writers

KUWAIT: The Majority Bloc will meet today (Saturday) at the diwaniya of MP Khaled AlTahous to discuss the interpellation intended to be filed against the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali, as well as other issues. MP Mohammad Al-Kandari told Al Watan that he would propose that one of the three MPs MusallamAl-Barrak, KhaledAl-Tahous and Abdulrahman Al-Anjeri, who filed the interpellation against Al-Shamali, would step away to be replaced by Dr. Obaid Al-Wasmi, who filed another interpellation motion against the same minister in order to merge the two motions. MP Abdulletif Al-Omairi said that the attendees will discuss the interpellation motion and laws on anti-corruption, financial disclosure, protecting the informants, and preventing conflict of interests, which were approved by the bloc and are intended to be approved by the parliament within the coming two weeks. Al-Omairi said that the Majority Bloc does not seek to prevent any MP from filing interpellations, stressing that any decision will be made unanimously after discussions. He stressed that

the coming phase is important and that the Parliament and the government should not pay attention to rumors surrounding the Parliament, which is aiming to set achievements and enact important laws. For his part, MP Abdulrahman Al-Anjeri asked the Board of Directors of the Public Authority for Social Securities to resign immediately and to open an investigation. He said that the State Audit Bureau (SAB) rejected investigating the investments of said authority by parliamentary committee under the pretext that it contradicts the law. Informed sources said that the Majority Bloc meeting will discuss a number of interpellations intended to be filed. They said that the government is required to take steps to reshuffle certain posts, especially as the government expressed its willingness to cooperate with parliament on several occasion. In a related development, MP Salem Al-Namlan said that no interpellations will be submitted without the approval of the Majority Bloc, which has the required number of votes to approve any law which is in the interest of the country. Speaking to Al Watan, Al-Namlan said that he

Bus plunges into Vietnam river bank, kills 34

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Zuckerberg kicks off Facebook IPO

CAPITALS: Mark Zuckerberg, wearing his trademark hooded sweatshirt, remotely rang the bell to open the Nasdaq Friday, marking a historic share offering for Facebook that confirms the growing importance of the social network giant. Amid a crowd at Facebook’s California headquarters, Zuckerberg and hundreds of employees cheered as the 28-year-old co-founder rang the bell via video for the New York-based Nasdaq. Facebook shares were to start trading later in the day in the richest-ever initial public offering for a technology firm. Zuckerberg wore a dark hoodie, unfazed by criticism from some on Wall Street about his casual attire. And most

of those on hand for the ceremony were wearing similar sweatshirts or T-shirts. The company’s stock, priced at 38 US dollars per share, was to begin trading under the symbol “FB” on the Nasdaq, giving the leading website a dizzying value of $104 billion at its market debut. The initial public offering (IPO) raised more than $16 billion, making it the richest after that of financial giant Visa in 2008, according to Renaissance Capital. The addition of a possible stock “overallotment” could boost the total to $18.4 billion. Facebook itself is selling 180 million shares and early investors in the company the remaining 241 million. More on 5

Police detain 400 ‘Blockupy’ activists in Frankfurt

is all for the five constituency system, and rejects the one-constituency system as well as allowing the establishment of political parties, as they will divide the society. In another development, the Minister of Health Dr. Ali Al-Obaidi reshuffled certain posts within the ministry and had certain officials retire. The decisions will come into force as of May 25. Head of Human Resources Mezid Al-Mezid and Head of Budget and Censorship Mohammad Al-Ruwaih are to retire. Meanwhile, Dr. Adel Al-Asfour was appointed Director of Sabah Health Zone, replacing Dr. Abdullatif Al-Sahli, who was appointed adviser for the ministry. Dr. Tariq Al-Jassar was appointed Director of Capital City Health Zone, replacing Dr. Adel Al-Khatrash who was appointed adviser for the ministry. Dr. Khaled Al-Abdulghani was appointed Director of Hawally Health Zone replacing Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Farhous who was appointed Director of Jahra Health Zone. Al-Obaidi told Al Watan that the decisions he has made aim to replace old directors with those of a younger workforce. He added that other reshuffles will take place in central directorates and within the nursing staff.

France names first South Korean-born minister

PARIS: President Francois Hollande has named 38year-old technocrat Fleur Pellerin as France’s first South Korean-born minister, in charge of small and medium enterprises and the digital economy. Pellerin, born in Seoul and adopted by French parents at the age of six months, is a classic product of France’s elite education system as opposed to the hierarchy of Hollande’s Socialist Party. She had a brilliant academic career, entering the International Business School in Europe aged 17, followed by the Sorbonne and the elite Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) – which also educated Hollande and much of France’s political class. Pellerin, who told AFP she does not see herself as Asian, was raised in a family “with left-wing values” and only joined the Socialist Party in 2006, before becoming Hollande’s advisor on the digital economy, which she calls a “lever of growth.” She also worked for the campaigns of the last two Socialist candidates, Lionel Jospin and Segolene Royal. Pellerin says that she declined an offer to stand for an easy seat in next month’s parliamentary elections. In France, ministers are not required to hold elected office.While resisting being pigeonholed as a young, nonwhite woman, Pellerin admits that “ticking all those boxes” bettered her chances of joining the new government. Previously little known in France, Pellerin was feted by the Asian media during the grueling campaign. She told AFP that in Korea “there is a kind of collective guilt about having sent away children for adoption during the 1970s. Now, they’re trying to renew their links and to see what these children have become.” Her passport still carries what was her first name at birth - Jong-Sook - which she for a long time thought meant “perfect woman.” -AFP

4,700 potentially dangerous asteroids lurk near Earth: NASA

Protesters march during an anti-austerity demonstration in Frankfurt May 18, 2012. The demonstration is part of a four-day-long “Blockupy” protest, due to run until Saturday, against capitalism and austerity measures implemented to tackle the euro zone crisis. (Reuters)

FRANKFURT: German police said they detained 400 anti-capitalist protesters in Frankfurt on Friday for defying a ban on demonstrations against austerity policies implemented to tackle the intensifying euro zone debt crisis. The demonstration in the German financial capital was part of a four-daylong “Blockupy” protest, due to run until Saturday, against capitalism and swinging austerity measures. “Hungry? Eat a banker,” read one banner protesters held up outside the Messeturm skyscraper housing Goldman Sachs’ offices. Reuters’ Frankfurt office is also in the building. Police closed several main roads in Frankfurt - including a main artery into the city that passes by the Messeturm - and flooded the centre with officers. There was no violence. The protesters are angry at the misery they say governments are inflicting on people with their response to the crisis, which has intensified since inconclusive elections in Greece this month fueled concerns about its future in the euro zone. “The Greek austerity measures are making Greece go kaputt even faster,” said protester Leonard Loch, 37, from Hamburg. The European Central Bank reported no trouble on Friday and commercial banks, many of whom have made contingency plans to cope with the protests, said their operations were running smoothly. “Our operating business is not curtailed. We were well prepared,” said a Commerzbank spokeswoman. Police sealed off Deutsche Bank’s headquarters. Germany’s biggest bank said its business was unaffected. The ECB is at the centre of the policy response to the crisis and has faced calls from politicians, investors and protesters to do more. The central bank says it has already headed off a major credit crunch with unprecedented funding operations in December and February that unleashed over 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) into the financial system. It is pressing governments to act. “The ECB shouldn’t give the cheap money to banks but rather to countries,” said Guenther Stamer, 62, a social worker from Kiel. -Reuters

WASHINGTON: A new NASA survey has pinned down the number of asteroids that could pose a collision threat to Earth in what scientists say is the best estimate yet of the potentially dangerous space rocks according to SPACE. The survey found there are likely 4,700 potentially hazardous asteroids, plus or minus 1,500 space rocks, that are larger than 330 feet (100 meters) wide and in orbits that occasionally bring them close enough to Earth to pose a concern, researchers said. To date, only about 30 percent of those objects have actually been found, they added. Potentially hazardous asteroids, or PHAs in NASA-speak, are space rocks in orbits that come within 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) of Earth and are large enough to cause damage on regional or global scale if they were ever to hit our planet. The new study was based on observations from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), an inMore on 9 frared space telescope.

Regime forces fire on massive Syria protests

Syrian anti-government demonstrators shout slogans during a protest in Atareb in the northwestern province of Idlib on May 18, 2012. (AFP)

DAMASCUS: Regime forces fired on protesters who took to the streets of Aleppo on Friday, wounding several people at the biggest rally seen in Syria’s second city since a revolt erupted last year, a watchdog said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said demonstrators also suffered gunshot wounds in Douma, a key protest hub near Damascus, but did not provide any casualty figures. “Thousands of people demonstrated in various districts (of Aleppo) despite the repression,” said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “These are the most important events in Aleppo since the beginning of the revolt,” he told AFP in Beirut. The government said its forces foiled a suicide bomb attack in Aleppo last Friday, a day after twin bombings in Damascus killed 55 people and wounded nearly 400. It has repeatedly blamed such attacks on “terrorists”.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday he believes Al-Qaeda committed the Damascus attack. “Very alarmingly and surprisingly, a few days ago, there was a huge serious massive terrorist attack. I believe that there must be Al-Qaeda behind it. This has created again very serious problems,” Ban said. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, as well as the United States and Russia, has already pointed to an Al-Qaeda presence in the country since the revolt against his regime began. The Observatory said at least seven died in violence across the country on Friday, including two children and a woman killed by regime forces. Besides Aleppo, protests demanding the ouster of Al-Assad also took place in Damascus, the eastern city of Deir El-Zor, northeastern Hasaka, Homs in central Syria, and northwestern Idlib, said the Britain-based Observatory. See also 2

Students defiant as Quebec unveils law to quell strikes

MONTREAL: Angry Quebec student leaders on Friday vowed to fight a tough new law being proposed to quell 14 weeks of strikes and sometimes violent mass protests against tuition hikes in the Canadian province. The Quebec government, seeking to end demonstrations it says could harm the economy, wants to make anyone organizing a protest of more than 10 people give the police eight hours’ advance notice. The new law, unveiled on Thursday night, would also ban demonstrations in the immediate vicinity of universities and colleges and impose large fines on those who disobey. The students, who pay some of the lowest tuition fees in North America, say the price hikes would leave them facing thousands of dollars in debt. “When laws become unjust sometimes you have to disobey them and we are thinking seriously about this possibility,” Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, head of the

militant CLASSE student group, told a news conference held jointly with major trade union leaders in Quebec City. Asked whether he would be prepared to go to prison, he replied: “We’ll see.” Leo Bureau-Blouin, head of the more moderate Quebec College Student Federation, said the law would be appealed and called on the public for support. About 155,000 students - more than a third of Quebec college and university students - are striking against plans to increase annual tuition fees by 1,625 Canadian dollars (1,595 US dollars) over the course of five years, a 75 percent hike. The proposed law would ban protests either on, or within 50 meters (yards), of the grounds of a university or college. Individuals breaking the law could be fined up to C$35,000 while student associations face penalties of up to C$125,000. -Reuters

UN talks take first steps on 2015 climate deal

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Demonstration in Tehran over Bahrain-Saudi union

TEHRAN: Thousands of people demonstrated in Tehran on Friday to protest a proposed union of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, in the first step toward closer links among six Arab monarchies across the Gulf. The authorities had urged citizens to protest what was called an “American plan to annex Bahrain to Saudi Arabia and express their anger against the lackey regimes of Al-Khalifa and Al-Saud,” the dynasties ruling the two countries. Media reports said demonstrators in the capital, many brandishing the Bahraini flag, shouted “death” to America, Israel, the “traitors” Al-Saud and AlKhalifa. Official media also reported protests in other cities. The planned union between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia has triggered a war of words between Shiite-dominated Iran and the Sunni rulers of Shiite-majority Bahrain. This weeks Tehran Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi said the “US-Zionist plot” to create a union between will fail. “Recently ... (Riyadh and Manama) came up with this plot to annex Bahrain to Saudi Arabia ... They call it a union but they want Bahrain to lose its identity instead of giving in to its people’s demands,” the cleric said on state radio. “This is US-Zionist conspiracy and they should know that the Muslim people of the world and the Iranians will not tolerate this plot ... Saudi Arabia did not prevail by its military presence there, and will gain nothing in this plot except See also 2 disgrace,” he added.

Fans wear wigs with colors as they wait for the cast of the movie before the screening of “Madagascar 3 Europe’s Most Wanted” presented out of competition at the 65th Cannes film festival on May 18, 2012 in Cannes. (AFP)


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