CR IP TI ON BS SU
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2014
Iraqi Airways launches direct flights to Kuwait
Interest in yoga rising in Kuwait
40 PAGES
NO: 16065
150 FILS
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www.kuwaittimes.net
RABI ALAWWAL 29, 1435 AH
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Valencia stun Barcelona in five-goal thriller
KGOC to execute largest seismological surveillance
20 21 Truffles, wildflowers bring whiff of Spring Kuwait desert blooms after heavy rains KUWAIT: The truffle season has begun with the onset of Spring, and the potatolike fungus is already on the stands of makeshift local markets. However due to short supplies now, its price is as high as
KUWAIT: A man holds truffles being sold at an outdoor market. (Inset) Nuer flowers are in bloom across the country. — KUNA (More pics on Pages 2 & 5)
Syria magnet for Muslim French youth PARIS: Two high school classmates, both French Muslims, headed off to Syria this month instead of going to school. They were located, brought home - one fetched by his father - and are now being investigated on terrorism-linked charges. The unfolding drama of the teenagers, aged 15 and 16, highlights how Syria has become a magnet for a vulnerable fringe of young Muslims in the West. It is among a small wave of cases that are putting French authorities, and some families, on edge. The bloody three-year-old conflict in Syria has drawn thousands of Muslims to join the ranks of battalions trying to topple the regime or other fighting groups looking to conquer the region in the name of Islam. French authorities say that more than 600 French have gone to Syria, are plotting to go or have returned, and more than 20 French have been killed in fighting. As of mid-January, a dozen French adolescents were in Syria or in transit, according to authorities. Many of the alleged would-be jihadis are clearly amateurs. “He’s a victim. He’s not a terrorist,” said the father of the 15-year-old before his son was handed a preliminary charge linked to terrorism on Friday - a rare event for a minor. “He never touched a weapon,” said the father, calling his son’s trip “an error of youth”. As the boys from France’s southern Toulouse region were questioned Friday by a judge Friday, the trial of three French Muslims caught heading to Syria was concluding in another wing of the Palace of Justice in Paris. The three, ages 21 to 26, had made a long list of purchases, from camouflage hoods and vests to gun holsters and night vision goggles. But their trip in 2012 ended before they boarded the plane, aborted by their arrest at a French airport. French intelligence is in close contact with western nations, from European neighbors to the US and Australia, to try to spot would-be jihadis and track those who return and present a potential danger. French Interior Minister Manuel Valls plans to present a series of measures to President Francois Hollande in coming weeks aimed at stemming the tide of French Muslims to Syria. France feels especially vulnerable. It has the largest Muslim population in western Europe, estimated at 5 million, and Syria, once under French rule, is familiar to some citizens. For Alain Chouet, a former intelligence director at France’s DGSE spy agency, youth looking for a cause are attracted by Internet battle videos or recruitment forums, media attention and easy access from Turkey, a vacation destination for many French people. The western support for the Syrian National Coalition fighting Assad may have further legitimized Syria as a destination. “It is considered a Continued on Page 13
KD 15 per kilogram. At the start of spring, truffle prices are generally very high, but they drop once imported supplies reach the local market from the Levant, Egypt, Iran and north Africa. However, favored species of the tuber are those from the deserts of neighboring countries, namely Saudi Arabia and Iraq, because they reach the local market within a short period of time after being unearthed and remain relatively fresh. The price of truffles is forecast to drop this season after a bumper local crop,
Max 17º Min 8º High Tide 04:48 & 14:07 Low Tide 07:55 & 19:59
resulting from abundant rain that watered the Kuwaiti desert. Truffles grow across Kuwait’s arid land after the winter season, and it is commonly understood that strong sunlight after heavy rain is ideal for their healthy growth, provided the land is undisturbed. The Kuwait Municipality holds a temporary bazaar annually for trading in truffles and other seasonal plants, traditional food and products. Meanwhile, wild plants, especially nuer flowers, are blooming heavily on the roadsides, sandlots and the desert in the various areas of Kuwait. Astronomer Adel Al-Saadoun said that the spread of these plans since October is due to the heavy rain, which prepared the ground for the emergence of annual spring plants and perennial shrubs. The fruits of the rain has begun to show these days, Saadoun told KUNA, noting that open tracts of land, which saw an ample amount of rain, are now full of shrubs, nuer (local yellow flowers) and other colorful flowers. Crowfoot, another name for the nuer flowers, appears in the month of January until the beginning of May, and has a strong aromatic lavender-like smell as it is a medicinal plant used in anti-stress, emetic and diuretic medicine, he said. Its leaves and petals are also used to treat wounds, inflammations and intestinal bloating, as well as in foods as a substitute for saffron, Saadoun added. — KUNA
Indonesia volcano eruption kills 14
KARO, Indonesia: A resident runs away to escape from hot volcanic ash clouds engulfing villages in this district during the eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano on Sumatra island yesterday. — AFP
Morsi back in court CAIRO: A lawyer for Egypt’s ousted president yesterday told a Cairo court that it lacked jurisdiction to tr y Mohamed Morsi, saying the Islamist leader remained Egypt’s legitimate president because there has been no official decree removing him from office. The
claims by Mohammed Salim El-Awah came as the trial of Morsi and 14 others on charges of inciting the killing of protesters in 2012 resumed amid tight security in a makeshift courtroom in the national police academy in an eastern Continued on Page13
CAIRO: A supporter of the head of Egypt’s military Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi (left), wearing a t-shirt with his image, scuffles with Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Ahmed Kamel after she struck him outside a makeshift courtroom at the national police academy yesterday. — AP
KARO, Indonesia: Fourteen people, including four schoolchildren, were killed Saturday after they were engulfed in scorching ash clouds spat out by Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung in its biggest eruption in recent days, officials said. Dark, searing clouds rolling down the mountain left apocalyptic scenes of ash-covered bodies scattered by a roadside in Sukameriah village, just 2.7 km from the volcano’s crater, an AFP witness who helped with the evacuation said. Officials fear there could be more fatalities from yesterday’s eruptions, but due to the high potential of lethal heat clouds spewing from the mountain, a search and rescue mission has been grounded, officials said. “We suspect there are more victims but we cannot recover them because the victims are in the path of the hot (ash) clouds,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency. All 14 bodies have been identified. Four of them were high school students on a sightseeing trip to the volcano on the western island of Sumatra, he added. “The bodies were in a state where, even though their skin did not peel, their faces were swollen and the tongues were sticking out,” an AFP reporter on the ground said. Three other people - a father and his son who wanted to pay respects at the graves of their relatives, and a man who came to the village to check his long-abandoned house - were also trapped and injured by the deadly Continued on Page 13
Officers, not gentlemen: Pentagon’s naughty list Bad apples at Arifjan too WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has tallied reports of a shameful litany of bad behavior among its officers and employees in a voluminous tome entitled “ The Encyclopedia of Ethical Failures”. From bribery to kickbacks to falsifying travel expenses, the document is designed as a guide - and a warning - to teach troops and civil servants about ethics laws. Written in a breezy style free of bureaucratic jargon, the annual catalogue is updated every year with fresh examples of poor judgement and scams gone wrong. Published by the General Counsel’s Standards of Conduct Office, this year’s edition includes the story of three generals and an admiral who extended an official trip to Tokyo by a day so they could enjoy a round of golf - at a cost to taxpayers of about $3,000. That case was listed under the heading: “A Swing and a Miss for Senior Officers Using Government
Funds on Golf Outing.” In another entry dubbed “The Ultimate Deceit”, one submarine officer tried to end an extramarital affair by staging his own death, arranging for his mistress to receive a false notice that he had died while on duty. “Upon receipt of the letter, his mistress showed up at the Commander ’s house to pay her respects, only to be informed, by the new owners, of the Commander ’s reassignment and new location,” it said. The officer lost his command. Much of the 163-page encyclopedia is devoted to bribery, usually involving a civilian or officer with authority over lucrative government contracts. In a case at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, a US Army Major James Momon took $5.8 million in bribes from five firms in return for awarding them major contracts for supplying bottled water and other items to various bases. Continued on Page 13