CR IP TI ON BS SU 40 PAGES
NO: 15738
150 FILS
TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013
www.kuwaittimes.net
RABI ALTHANI 23, 1434 AH
Ummah Party pulls out of opposition coalition Islamist party suspends two • Shamali shuns panel meet
Max 27º Min 14º High Tide 05:29 & 16:20 Low Tide 10:42
By B Izzak
Kerry talks Syria, Iran on Gulf tour RIYADH: US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Riyadh yesterday that Washington will work to “empower” Syria’s opposition, while warning arch-foe Iran that time for talks on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions could run out. Kerry, on his first tour to the region since taking up the post, also met over lunch with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who flew in to Riyadh unannounced late on Sunday. Kerry stressed that there was no question of arming the Syrian opposition, even as his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud Al-Faisal insisted on the right of Syrians to selfdefence. The United States will continue to work with its “friends to empower the Syrian opposition,” Kerry told reporters during a joint press conference with the Saudi foreign minister. Asked about reports of arms being sent to Syria’s rebels from countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Kerry replied: “The moderate opposition has the ability to make sure that the weapons are getting to them and not to the wrong hands.” However, he added, “there is no guarantee that one weapon or another might not fall in the wrong hands.” The US has so far refused to arm rebels locked in a two-year war against President Bashar Al-Assad’s loyalists. Several oil-rich monarchies of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, notably Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have supported the rebellion against Assad, a staunch ally of their regional arch-foe Iran. The GCC members are dissatisfied at the refusal of President Barack Obama’s administration to arm Syrian rebels and its perceived lenient attitude towards Tehran, analysts say. Continued on Page 2
Arbitrator sets PIC’s payout to Dow at $2.48bn NEW YORK: Dow Chemical Co said an arbitrator has ruled it is owed $2.48 billion by a Kuwaiti firm that scuttled a 2008 joint venture, though it is not clear when the funds will be paid. The company had expected at least $2.16 billion, and yesterday the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce ruled at least $318 million in interest and other fees should be added to the amount, Dow Chemical said in a statement. In late 2008 Dow planned a $17.4 billion joint venture with Petrochemical Industries Co (PIC) of Kuwait, spinning off its basics plastics business into a standalone company called K-Dow. PIC pulled out of the deal in Dec 2008, citing a deteriorating global economy. An arbitrator ruled last year that PIC was at fault and owed Dow Chemical $2.16 billion, plus interest and costs. Dow said the decision finalizes the amount in interest and fees Dow Chemical can expect, but it is unclear when the company will receive payment. PIC, a unit of the Kuwait Petroleum Corp, was not immediately available to comment. “We are resolved to take appropriate action to ensure timely payment,” Dow spokeswoman Nancy Lamb said. She would not elaborate on what action Dow Chemical could take. — Reuters
RIYADH: US Secretary of State John Kerry meets Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled AlSabah at a hotel in the Saudi capital yesterday. — AFP
HIV cured in baby for first time
WASHINGTON: Researchers say they have, for the first time, cured a baby born with HIV - a development that could help improve treatment of babies infected at birth. There is an important technical nuance: researchers insist on calling it a “functional cure” rather than a complete cure. That is because the virus is not totally eradicated. Still, its presence is reduced to such a low level that a body can control it without the need for standard drug treatment. The only fully cured AIDS patient recognized worldwide is the so-called “Berlin patient ”, American Timothy Brown. He is considered cured of HIV and leukemia five years after receiving bone marrow transplants from a rare donor naturally resistant to HIV. The marrow transplant was aimed at treating his leukemia. But in this new case, the baby girl received nothing more invasive or complex than commonly available antiretroviral drugs. The difference, however, was the dosage and the timing - starting less than 30 hours after
her birth. It is that kind of aggressive treatment that likely yielded the “functional cure”, researchers reported Sunday at the 20th annual Conference on Retroviruses and Oppor tunistic Infections (CROI) in Atlanta, Georgia. What researchers call dormant HIV-infected cells often re-start infections in HIV-infected patients within a few weeks after antiretroviral treatment stops, forcing most people who have tested HIV-positive to stay on the drugs for life or risk the illness progressing. “Prompt antiviral therapy in newborns that begins within days of exposure may help infants clear the virus and achieve long-term remission without lifelong treatment by preventing such viral hideouts from forming in the first place,” said lead researcher Deborah Persaud, of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Mar yland. I t appears to be the first time this was achieved in a baby, she said. Continued on Page 12
UAE tries 94 over ‘coup’ plot Kuwaiti lawyer denied entry ABU DHABI: The trial of 94 Islamists accused of plotting to seize power in the United Arab Emirates kicked off yesterday in the absence of rights activists and foreign reporters, who were barred from the court. The state security court, part of the Federal Supreme Court, convened in Abu Dhabi to tr y the activists arrested between March and December last year, the justice ministry said in a statement carried by WAM state news agency. Ten of the defendants are being tried in absentia, while 13 are women, it said, adding that the first hearing was “procedural”, and was attended by representatives of local press and Emirati civil society groups. The accused are said by prosecutors to be linked to the Al-Islah group, which has ties with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. UAE attorney general Salem Kobaish last month said the defendants would be tried for “having created and led a movement aimed at opposing the basic foundations on which the state’s political system is built and at seizing power”. The group had formed a “secret organisation” which was in contact with individuals and organisations “abroad”, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Kobaish said. The attorney general said they had also created or invested in Continued on Page 12
KUWAIT: Less than a few hours after the official launch of the Opposition Coalition, the Ummah Party, which initially said it was joining the new alliance, pulled out and suspended two senior officials who took part in the opposition meetings to form the new body. The Islamist party said in a statement that it had suspended its president Awwad Al-Dhafeeri and senior official Faisal AlHamad, who agreed to the party’s joining of the coalition, and then elected Hakem Al-Mutairi as new president. The party had maintained that it is not willing to join the opposition coalition because it wanted more radical reforms, especially the emphasis on an elected government and accused parts of the opposition of being too complacent towards the government. The Ummah Party was the first political party to be publicly established in Kuwait several years ago, although the government has refused to recognize it. It had no MPs in the previous assemblies but only a number of sympathizers. The Opposition Coalition was officially launched late Sunday night following weeks of negotiations between the various components who included Islamists, liberals and nationalists in addition to trade and student unions, youth activists, former MPs and well-known opposition figures. The coalition said it will work to achieve a full parliamentary system in Kuwait under which the government will be formed in accordance with the outcome of the elections and on the basis of a multiparty system. It also called for dissolving the existing National Assembly, scrapping the controversial single-vote law and holding fresh polls on the basis of the old electoral constituency law. The coalition will later appoint members of its general assembly and political bureau. Separately, the Assembly’s financial and economic affairs committee yesterday agreed to a new formula for the debt relief scheme that according to some Continued on Page 2
CAIRO: In this Jan 14, 2013 file photo, a Muslim Brotherhood supporter stands in front of a banner that reads “What did the Egyptians do in order to arrest them? Freedom for the honorable men” during a protest in front of the UAE embassy. — AP
BALTIMORE: Dr Deborah Persaud is seen at the Johns Hopkins’ Children’s Center. — AP
Oman orders retrial for 8 jailed activists MUSCAT: Oman’s Court of Cassation ordered yesterday a retrial in the case of eight out of 11 activists sentenced to between six and 12 months in prison for taking part in protests in 2011. The court ordered the appeals court, which had upheld the jail sentences, to reexamine their cases, but with a new panel. The top court rejected appeals lodged by the other three activists, citing “procedural mistake”, lawyer Qais Al-Qassimi told AFP. He said their appeals will be filed again soon. Qassimi said he will request bail for the eight defendants. “It is a victory and we hope there will be a dismissal after the review,” said another lawyer, Khalifa Al-Hinai. No date has been set for the retrial, he said. The 11 activists, including writers, bloggers, a female lawyer and a female journalist are jailed in a prison outside Muscat. They were part of a group of activists who staged last month a 15-
day hunger strike until the supreme court agreed to examine their appeals. Several groups of activists and bloggers are facing trials for taking part in proreform protests or defaming Sultan Qaboos, who has ruled the Gulf state for 42 years. The usually calm Oman was hit by a wave of protests in 2011 demanding political reforms. Riot police dispersed the demonstrations with force. Sultan Qaboos responded by reshuffling the cabinet and increasing the powers of the consultative assembly. Oman, which sits astride the Strait of Hormuz where some 40 percent of the world’s sea-borne oil exports pass, has sought to placate demonstrators by pledging to create tens of thousands of public sector jobs. But delays in implementing the promises have kept the protests simmering and some popular anger was directed against the once-sacrosanct figure of the sultan. — Agencies