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SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2014 JAMADA ALTHANI 1, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Cabinet resents Pakistan ‘Anyone but Dutch double US official’s court indicts Modi’: Many down on remarks against Musharraf Indian Muslims England’s justice 2minister for11 treason fear14 the worst T2020 misery Oil tanker attacked Max 27º Min 12º in Strait of Hormuz High Tide 00:53 & 12:52 Low Tide Gulf region still risky for investors 07:07 & 19:33 40 PAGES NO: 16122 150 FILS conspiracy theories Media-sense By Badrya Darwish [email protected] edia, media, media and its effect and role on our lives. That was the topic at a Mdiwaniya I attended last night hosted by KHASAB, Oman: A cargo ship cruises towards the Strait of Hormuz off the shores of Khasab in this Jan 15, 2011 file photo. — AFP Osama Al-Duaij and his wife Elvisa Al-Duaij in Qadsiya. The moderator and speaker was well- DUBAI: Assailants on a speedboat near Oman opened fire known German TV host and journalist Ali Aslan. I on an oil tanker in a rare attack in the strategic Strait of am sure that many Europeans, and especially MP threatens to grill Hormuz, a seafaring body said. In Sunday’s attack, “six per- those who watch German channels, are familiar sons in a skiff armed with machinegun approached a with his international talk show. tanker underway and fired twice towards the accommo- Ali touched upon humanitarian issues and tol- information minister dation and bridge,” said the International Maritime Bureau. erance between cultures and nations. Ali, who is The crew sounded the alarm and activated fire hoses of Turkish descent, has initiated a program called before altering the vessel’s course, the IMB said on its web- German Islam Conference that is dedicated to By B Izzak the ministry. In other developments, the National Assembly’s site, adding the assailants then aborted their attack. the integration of Muslims into German society. Continued on Page 13 Anyone who thinks that the media does not KUWAIT: MP Abdulkareem Al-Kandari yesterday stateless or bedoons committee yesterday discussed shape the world we live in is naive. I did not have threatened to use “all constitutional tools” against with officials from the public authority for the handi- time to debate with Ali, due to limited time and Information Minister Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al- capped a proposal to include bedoon handicapped Kuwaiti embassies many guests. The fact is that the media nowa- Sabah over allegations that he has demoted and dis- people under the authority. Head of the committee days is our life. It is both a useful and a very dan- missed a number of senior officials at the ministry. MP Abdullah Al-Tameemi said the director general of to issue visit visas Kandari, who provided no names, said that the meas- the authority Jassem Al-Tammar informed the com- gerous tool. Just like Ali mentioned, the media KUWAIT: In collaboration with the Foreign Ministry and the ures against these officials had been taken while the mittee that the inclusion of bedoons requires amend- can have a constructive or destructive role. Just hospitality sector, Deputy PM and Interior Minister Sheikh like what we have been watching since 9/11 on ministry has been waiting to undergo a new organi- ments to the law, specifically the clause that restricts Mohammed Al-Khaled Al-Sabah authorized his undersecre- how the Western media attacks Islam and zational structure. The lawmaker also accused the coverage to Kuwaiti nationals and foreigners whose tary Lt Gen Suleiman Al-Fahd to contact the citizenship and Muslims and portrays them in an ugly way. They minister of giving contracts to private production mothers are Kuwaiti. Tameemi said that it was agreed passports department and the immigration departments to companies although the ministry has an army of that the authority’s officials will provide committee depict Islam as a savage and terrorist religion. allow Kuwaiti embassies and consulates abroad to issue young Kuwaiti employees specialized in these fields. members with all necessary amendments to the law The media can spoil nations or educate tourism, commercial, family and other types of visas. The The MP however did not set an ultimatum for any so they can present a request to the Assembly to make nations. It depends on the agenda it has. Rarely authorization includes granting embassies the responsibili- possible action against the minister, but urged him to the amendments. you see independent media corporations. Most ty to issue visas according to standard laws, procedures, rectify the decisions that harmed senior employees in Continued on Page13 conditions and documents needed. of them are either commercialized or politicized. Either way, you can question the objectivity of such media. It is simple mathematics. Look at us. We are Erdogan targets enemies after thumping win affected by the ads we see on TV although we ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip tone of his balcony address suggested are educated and well-travelled. The media Erdogan looked a step closer to a presi- he felt he now had a mandate for strong decides for us which food to eat and which dential bid and to gaining the upper action against his enemies. “From tomor- detergent to use. Which shampoo to use for my hand in a bitter power struggle yester- row, there may be some who flee,” he hair and which lotion to put on my face and day, casting strong local election results said. what chips and chocolates my kids should eat. It as a mandate to hunt down enemies The election campaign has been could be worse than that. The media decides for within the state “in their lair”. His AK dominated by a power struggle us the trips we take, the venues we go and in Party swept the electoral map in between Erdogan and US-based cleric which resort we spend our holidays, what airline Sunday’s polls, retaining control of the Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of to fly and which hotel to stay in. Even the food two biggest cities Istanbul and Ankara using a network of followers in the you give to your cat or dog is influenced by ads and increasing its share of the national police and judiciary to fabricate graft and commercials. vote as his pugnacious leadership style, smears in an effort to topple him. Leave alone politics. I am only focusing on the beloved by a loyal, conservative voter Erdogan, who has long drawn support commercial aspect of things. The list here goes base, trumped a stream of corruption from the same Muslim professional class on and on. I do not think my editor will give me allegations and security leaks. that reveres Gulen, has purged thou- the space to mention it all because my list will be From a balcony at AKP headquarters sands of police officers and hundreds of as long as the distance from Kuwait Times’ offices at the end of a long and bitter election judges and prosecutors since anti-graft in Shuwaikh to the Al-Duaij diwaniya in Qadisiya! that became a referendum on his rule, raids in December targeted business- CAIRO: Al-Jazeera English producer Baher Mohamed (center left), bureau What if we move towards the politicized Erdogan told thousands of cheering men close to the premier as well as the chief Mohammed Fahmy (center) and correspondent Peter Greste appear in media? Tell me which media is independent of supporters that his enemies in politics sons of some government ministers. court along with several other defendants during their trial on terror political influence and is 100 percent free from and the state, whom he has labeled “trai- Investors, who have been unnerved charges yesterday. — AP political influence? Maybe CNN or Al Jazeera or tors”, “terrorists” and “an alliance of evil”, by the turbulence, took solace in the BBC for instance? Or maybe TV 5 has no political would pay the price. “We will enter their election result, seeing it as a sign of issues? How about our local channels in the Gulf lair,” he said, before a huge firework dis- political continuity. The lira rallied to its Court rejects Jazeera or the Middle East, all across from Oman to play lit up Ankara’s midnight sky. “They strongest in two months and stocks hit a Mauritania? Can we really boast and say that we will be brought to account. How can you 3-month high. journalists’ bail plea have a free media source? I will tell you which TV threaten national security?” The harsh Continued on Page 13 does not have any political issues - the Israel TV CAIRO: An Egyptian court yesterday installed authorities. Australian news channel. They bomb people in Gaza, kill rejected a plea for bail by jailed Al- reporter Peter Greste also pleaded to hundreds of children and women and the broad- Jazeera journalists, who denied links be released on bail, telling the judges caster presents an Israeli victim whose balcony with the blacklisted Muslim “we only desire at this point to contin- was destroyed. Brotherhood in a trial that has sparked ue to fight to clear our names outside Switch on CNN. Does Fox news ever talk international condemnation. The jour- prison”. “We would like to emphasise about the peace process or Palestine? Even nalists, who have spent nearly 100 days that we are more than willing to social media has its own agenda depending on in jail since their arrest, are charged with accept any conditions that you impose the source of financing and interests. The chan- spreading false news and supporting on us,” he added.

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