Kuwaittimes 10-6-2019.Qxp Layout 1

SHAWWAL 7, 1440 AH MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2019 28 Pages Max 49º Min 29º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17852 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Amir receives Qatari, UAE officials who Divided G20 admits trade wars Chechen women going places History man Nadal sweeps to 12th 2 paid respect over PM mother’s passing 11 pose a risk to world economy 19 with female-only taxi service 28 French Open and 18th Grand Slam MP proposes evening work amid soaring temperatures Minister questioned over delays in payment of salaries to contract workers By B Izzak Arabia. Soaring temperatures have also lawmaker said a number of studies and caused a spike in the consumption of researches on climatic change have con- KUWAIT: MP Faisal Al-Kandari yester- power, as the load register hit 13,500 cluded that temperatures are forecast to MP calls on govt day proposed a draft law stipulating that megawatts on Friday. Informed sources rise rapidly in the Arabian Gulf to the government departments dealing with the said it is expected that power consump- brink of 60 degrees Celsius in the future. to establish new public work in the evening to avoid the tion will go over the 13,800-megawatt He said the law is important for the scorching heat of the sun. The draft law, limit in the next three days. Temperatures health of both the employees and the which must be passed in the Assembly are expected to reach 50 degrees Celsius public. Several previous attempts to mobile operator and accepted by the government to today and 51C tomorrow. change working hours in the summer By B Izzak become effective, states that government Government offices currently open months had failed. offices, especially those dealing with the from around 7.30 am to around 2.00 pm Meanwhile, MP Osama Al-Shaheen KUWAIT: MP Majed Al-Mutairi submitted a draft public, must open from 5.00 pm to 10.00 for almost all departments throughout the yesterday asked Minister of State for law yesterday calling on the government to estab- pm in the summer months. The bill also year, except in Ramadan, when working Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel about lish a fourth telecom company that offers mobile states that the summer evening timing hours are reduced. Kandari said in his government measures to force contrac- and data services. The bill states that 50 percent of should start from June 1 and continue until proposal that during the summer months, tors pay the salaries of their workers. The MP Faisal Al-Kandari the new company’s shares will go to Kuwaiti citi- the end of August, a period when the temperatures rise to over 50 degrees, lawmaker said the United Nations select- zens, 24 percent to the government and the temperature soars in Kuwait to around 50 posing a threat to people’s lives and con- ed HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad ernment projects fail to pay the salaries remaining 26 percent to be sold to a strategic degrees Celsius. stituting a huge pressure on services - Al-Jaber Al-Sabah as a humanitarian of their workers on time, which could investor in a public auction. According to an Al-Qabas report yes- especially electricity - sometimes result- leader and Kuwait as an international lead to strikes and social unrest. The law- Kuwait has one of the highest mobile penetra- terday, Kuwait recorded the highest tem- ing in major fires. humanitarian center. As a result, the gov- maker asked the minister about measures tion rates in the world, and while this has led to perature in the world on Saturday - 52.2 The bill provides flexibility to the Civil ernment must live up to this honor by being used currently to guarantee and market saturation, the three operators - Zain, degrees Celsius in the shade - in Mitribah Service Commission to decide which preserving the image and reputation of ensure that salaries of workers are paid Ooredoo and Viva - are combating this by building in the north of the country, according to departments should open in the evening the country, he said. on time, and inquired if the ministry and extensive 5G networks and developing mobile member of the Arab Union of Space and and can exclude some departments Shaheen added that it has been the manpower authority have any plan to broadband content and services. Astronomy Dr Khalid Al-Zaaq of Saudi which do not deal with the public. The noticed that many contractors with gov- eliminate any delays in salary payment. said Sulaiman bin Salim Al-A’adi, director general of Oman to impose survey and tax agreements. Oman has been slow in implementing fiscal reforms aimed at limiting the widening of its budget deficit, while it has increasingly new excise tax to relied on external funding - through bonds and loans - to refill its coffers. boost revenues The sultanate had originally planned to introduce a 5 percent value-added tax in 2018, which is now expect- DUBAI: Oman will impose a new tax on sugary drinks ed to start in 2020. “Further delays in implementation, and tobacco products starting on June 15, as the small along with a scenario of lower oil prices, pose down- Gulf oil producer seeks to boost state revenues side risks to our assumption of narrower fiscal deficits strained by years of low oil prices. A 100 percent relative to 2015-2017,” S&P Global Ratings said in excise tax will be introduced for tobacco products, April, adding that it expected fiscal gains in 2019 com- energy drinks, alcohol and pork meat, while a 50 per- ing from the implementation of excise taxes on tobacco cent tax will be applied on carbonated drinks, accord- and energy drinks. ing to a statement from an official at the Secretariat Oman said at the start of the year it expected its General for Taxation published by Oman’s state news budget deficit to be 2.8 billion rials ($7.27 billion) agency on Saturday. this year, or 9 percent of gross domestic product. “The excise tax is a consumption tax and is consid- Sources told Reuters last month that to cover part of ered to be indirect taxes. Thus, the final charge is on the the deficit, Oman is expected to issue a new interna- consumers, but it is collected in advance at a stage of tional bond soon in a deal likely to go up to $2 billion the supply chain, notably through the business sectors,” in size. — Reuters Civil disobedience campaign empties streets of Sudan KHARTOUM: Four people were killed in Sudan yesterday as protesters launched a civil disobedience campaign against the military after a bloody crackdown on a sit-in demonstration calling for civilian rule. The campaign got underway nearly a week after the assault on KHARTOUM: Residents walk by barricades on a desert- demonstrators at the sit-in outside army headquarters in ed street yesterday on the first day of a civil disobedi- central Khartoum, which followed talks breaking down ence campaign across Sudan. — AFP between protest leaders and military rulers over who should lead a new governing body - a civilian or soldier. terday in unrest that rocked Khartoum and two others in Following the call for the campaign of civil disobedi- its twin city of Omdurman, just across the Nile river. ence, protesters set about building roadblocks in The Central Committee for Sudanese Doctors Khartoum while markets and shops were closed in sev- blamed forces of the ruling military council and paramil- eral other towns and cities. A doctors committee linked itary “militias” for the four deaths, which it said took the to the demonstrators said two people were killed yes- Continued on Page 24 Modi visits bombed Sri Lankan church COLOMBO: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unexpected visit yesterday to a Colombo church bombed during the Easter suicide attacks on his first trip to neighboring Sri Lanka since his election tri- umph. Modi’s cavalcade made a detour to St Anthony’s shrine on the way to President Maithripala Sirisena’s seafront office in the capital, where a red carpet military parade awaited. “I am confident Sri Lanka will rise again,” Modi said on Twitter where he posted photos of COLOMBO: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays himself at the church. “Cowardly acts of terror cannot respects to victims of the Easter Sunday attacks at St defeat the spirit of Sri Lanka. India stands in solidarity Anthony’s Church yesterday. — AFP with the people of Sri Lanka.” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who received and 500 injured. “The two leaders discussed the collec- Modi at Colombo’s airport, said the two of discussed tive steps to stamp out international terrorism,” ways to combat militant attacks like the assault on the Wickremesinghe’s office said in a statement. three hotels and three churches which left 258 dead Continued on Page 24 2 Local Monday, June 10, 2019 Amir receives Qatari, UAE officials who paid respects over PM mother’s passing Sheikh Sabah congratulates Jordan’s King Abdullah II on 20th Anniversary KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Sabah Family members received Emirati Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Chief of Kuwait Minister of Tolerance Sheikh Nahyan Mubarak National Guard (KNG) His Highness Sheikh Al Nahyan and his accompanying delegation, Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown who paid their respects to Al-Sabah Family Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- over the passing away of the mother of His Sabah, senior sheikhs, His Highness the Prime Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak.

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