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THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013 / RABEE’A AL-THANI 10, 1434 AH
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Assembly agrees to delay grillings MPs allow period of progress By Nihal Sharaf
Interior to the next round of the 14th legislative term in October upon the request of the Cabinet.
Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The National Assembly on Tuesday agreed to postpone the grilling motions against the Minister of Communications and the Minister of
The Assembly, however, assigned the Interior and Defense Affairs Committee to investigate a security contract between Kuwait and “‘Senstar’ security company based in Canada which is entirely owned by the Israeli security company ‘Magal’ in violation of a law (21/1964) on the boycott of Israel”.
Saudi women sit in ‘Shura’
MPs Hussein Al-Qallaf and Faisal AlDuwaisan argued that their grilling motions contain vital arguments and grave evidence of violations committed in both ministries that should be discussed. They stressed that their intentions are unlike the “annulled Majority Bloc” and that the interpellations truly seek to “ensure that the country’s interests, security and dignity are safeguarded”. Al-Duwaisan especially stressed that “the people can never accept any dealings with the Zionist entity”. The government, meanwhile, assured that it will look into and address the matters cited in the inquires and that it respects the right of lawmakers to file such motions. Absent from the session was Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud AlSabah who is out of the country for medical
RIYADH, Feb 19, (Agencies): Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah on Tuesday swore in the country’s first female members of the Shura Council, an appointed body that advises on new laws, in a move that has riled conservative clerics in the Islamic monarchy. Abdullah, who has not been seen on television since shortly after a back operation in November, was shown on state media sitting in a palace chamber to give a short speech as he swore in the new council members. King Abdullah is seen as having pushed to cautiously advance the role of women in Saudi society. The health of the king, who turns 90 this year, is closely watched in the world’s top oil
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Court upholds Sabah death sentence
Opinion
Saudi King Abdullah gladdens our hearts By Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
THE point of view of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz always serves as a safe haven for Arab-Gulf citizens. His magnanimous speech during the inauguration of the Shura (Advisory) Council gladdened the hearts of the people. The Arab and expatriate observers regard the council as a landmark in the history of the Kingdom due to the commendable initiative taken by the monarch who has granted women the right to join the institution. The appointment of 30 women to the council is an unprecedented step that reflects the commitment of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to work towards building a modern nation. This means the King acknowledges the essential role that women play in nation-building. He believes women deserve fair treatment, because “they are virtuous mothers, sisters, daughters and wives.” He was once quoted as saying that the woman is a lifepartner, so he took a historic decision to honor women by putting them in their rightful position within the Saudi society. The achievements, which were made possible through the Continued on Page 12 Email: ahmed@aljarallah.com
A handout picture released by Syria’s opposition-run Aleppo Media Centre (AMC) shows Syrians inspecting destruction following an apparent surface-to-surface missile strike on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Feb 19. Fourteen children were among at least 31 people killed in an apparent surface-to-surface missile strike on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo late on Feb 18, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. (AFP) — See Also Page 12
Burgan Bank posts ’12 profit Details Page 39
Kidnappers from Nigeria: Hollande
7 French tourists abducted YAOUNDE/DAKAR, Feb 19, (RTRS): Islamist militants from neighbouring Nigeria abducted a French family of seven, including four children, in northern Cameroon on Tuesday, French President Francois Hollande said. The risk of attacks on French nationals and interests in Africa has risen since France sent forces into Mali last month to help oust Islamist rebels occupying the country’s north. “They (French family) have been taken by a terrorist group that we know and that is in Nigeria,” Hollande told reporters during a visit to Greece. Armed men on motorcycles intercepted the family in their car at 0700 GMT and forced them to drive to the nearby Nigerian border, an aide to the governor of the province told Reuters, and the four-wheel drive vehicle was later found abandoned. Islamist radicals in northern Nigeria now pose the biggest threat to stability in Africa’s top oil-producing state. Western governments are concerned that Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamists may link up with groups elsewhere in a region with poor-
ly secured borders, especially al Qaeda’s North African wing AQIM given the conflict in nearby Mali. The seven French nationals were abducted in Dabanga about 10 km (six miles) from the Nigerian border near the Waza national park, where they had spent the night in the extreme north of Cameroon, an area where Westerners often go for holidays. The parents of the family, which included two boys and two girls, worked in a French firm based in Cameroon, Hollande said. It was the first case of foreigners being seized in the mostly Muslim north of Cameroon, a former French colony. “I see the hand of Boko Haram in that part of Cameroon. France is in Mali, and it will continue until its mission is completed,” Hollande said. France intervened in Mali last month when Islamist rebels, after hijacking a rebellion by ethnic Tuareg MNLA separatists to seize control of the north in the confusion following a military coup, pushed south towards the capital Bamako. Eight French citizens are already being Continued on Page 12
Sixth victim dies
New SARS-like virus is well adapted to infecting humans LONDON, Feb 19, (Agencies): A new virus that emerged in the Middle East last year and has killed five people is well adapted to infecting humans but could potentially be treated with drugs that boost the immune system, scientists said on Tuesday. The virus, called novel coronavirus or NCoV, is from the same family as the common cold and as SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. There have been 12 confirmed cases worldwide — including in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain — and five patients have died. In one of the first published studies about NCoV, which was unknown in humans until it was identified in September 2012, researchers said it could penetrate the lining of passageways in the lungs and evade the immune system as easily as a cold virus can. This shows it “grows very efficiently” in human cells and suggests it is well-equipped for infecting humans, said Volker Thiel of the Institute of Immunobiology at Kantonal Hospital in Switzerland, who led the study. NCoV was identified when the World Health Organisation issued an international alert in September saying a completely new virus had infected a Qatari man in Britain who had recently been in Saudi Arabia. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that includes those that cause the common cold as well as the one that caused SARS —
which emerged in China in 2002 and killed about a 10th of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide. Symptoms of both NCoV and SARS include severe respiratory illness, fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. Of the 12 cases confirmed so far, four were in Britain, one was a Qatari patient in Germany, two were in Jordan and five in Saudi Arabia. Scientists are not sure where the virus comes from, but say one possibility is it came from animals. Experts at Britain’s Health Protection Agency say preliminary scientific analysis suggests its closest relatives are bat coronaviruses. What is also unclear is what the true prevalence of the virus is — since it is possible that the 12 cases seen so far are the most severe, and there may be more people who have contracted the virus with milder symptoms so are not picked up. “We don’t know whether the cases (so far) are the tip of the iceberg, or whether many more people are infected without showing severe symptoms,” said Thiel, who worked with a team of scientists from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark. “We don’t have enough cases to have a full picture of the variety of symptoms.” Thiel said that although the virus may Continued on Page 12
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The Court of Appeals presided by Counselor Anwar Al-Anzi recently upheld the verdict of the Criminal Court and sentenced Sheikh Faisal Al-Sabah to capital punishment for murdering Sheikh
Basil Al-Sabah, reports Al-Rai daily. Case papers indicate the accused had shot to death from close range the wheelchair-bound victim in his home. The Criminal Court on Oct 13, Continued on Page 12
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