Kuwaittimes 21-1-2018.Qxp Layout 1
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
JAMADA ALAWWAL 4, 1439 AH SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 2018 Max 21º 32 Pages Min 04º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17436 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net The state of Kuwait’s Women’s March draws thousands FedExpress steams on as 5 educational system 11 as Trump term enters second year 13 Sharapova grinds to halt Manila says Filipino workers’ ban in Kuwait ‘long overdue’ Govt regrets Duterte’s remarks • Envoy awaiting instructions By Ben Garcia and Agencies ments and opinions by a team of observers that visited Kuwait, but failed to get a response. “We followed up in MANILA: President Rodrigo Duterte has banned August, but got no reply. Perhaps now, after the ban, Philippine citizens from travelling to Kuwait to work they’ll notice it. We are hoping for their positive appre- following reports of widespread abuse and exploitation, ciation of the note,” Villa said. his spokesman confirmed yesterday. Duterte ordered Asked if the ban would be applied to all Filipino the ban after reports emerged about the deaths of sev- workers, Villa said he is sure that it will only be applied eral Filipinas in the state, his spokesman Harry Roque to domestic helpers as they are the most vulnerable. “I said. “In line with his presidential pronouncement, think it will only be applied to household service work- Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello has ordered the sus- ers. We have been trying our best to make the Kuwaiti pension of the deployment of workers to Kuwait,” authorities sign a memorandum of agreement, and Roque told reporters. “There is really excessive suffer- hopefully they’ll settle this issue with us soon.” ing over there,” Roque said, adding that the ban was In his speech before overseas workers on Thursday, “long overdue”. Duterte said he would urge the Kuwaiti government to Kuwait expressed surprise at the move and said it act against the abuses. “My advice is, we talk to them, was in touch with Manila to try to resolve the issue. An state the truth and just tell them that it’s not acceptable estimated 10 million Filipinos work overseas and the anymore. Either we impose a total ban or we can have money they send home is a major pillar of the (disagreements),” Duterte said. “I do not want a quarrel Philippine economy. It was not immediately clear how with Kuwait. I respect their leaders, but they have to do long the ban, which does not affect workers already in something about this,” he added. Kuwait, would last. There are more than 250,000 Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah Filipinos in Kuwait, the Philippine foreign ministry esti- expressed “surprise and sorrow” over Duterte’s mates, most working as domestic helpers. remarks, saying that legal proceedings had been taken Speaking to Kuwait Times on Friday, Philippines in the cases of the four domestic workers mentioned by Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa said he is awaiting the president. “We have begun immediate contacts with instructions from Manila regarding the ban. “The news Filipino authorities to examine the extent of this state- was released by the media and we have no official ment and to try to refute the erroneous information that MANILA: Residents rest on a wooden bridge over a garbage-filled waterway on Jan 17, instructions yet. If that’s the order from the president came in it,” state news agency KUNA quoted Jarallah 2018. - AFP and the department of labor and employment, we will as saying. Kuwait enjoys “a bright image over its treat- comply,” he said. ment of expatriate workers and has laws that preserve Kuwait has faced criticism in the past over its kafala system prevents workers from moving to a new He noted that in June last year, he had sent a letter to their rights and organize their relations with employ- “kafala” system for foreign workers which has been job before their contracts end without their boss’s con- Kuwait’s interior ministry stressing some points, com- ers,” he added. likened to a form of bonded labor or even slavery. The sent, resulting in a wide range of abuses. Turkey launches MoI gets access offensive against to addicts’ info; Syria Kurd militia foreign missions HASSA, Turkey: Turkey yesterday launched a new air and ground operation to oust a Kurdish militia from its northern Syrian enclave, defying US warnings that the only by Kuwaitis action risked further destabilizing the area after almost seven years of civil war. President Recep Tayyip KUWAIT: Laboratories of the interior ministry will Erdogan had repeatedly vowed that Turkey would root have digital access to labs of the addiction treat- out the “nests of terror” in Syria of the People’s ment center and the health ministry for securing Protection Units (YPG) militia which Turkey deems a data of patients’ blood samples. The automated sys- terror organization. tem linking the computer systems of the three enti- The launch came despite warnings that the opera- ties’ laboratories has been set up for the first time in tion could be militarily tough against an already battle- Kuwait, said Du’aa Al-Khaldi, director of the med- hardened foe and complicate relations with both ical laboratory services department, in a statement Washington and Moscow. The foreign ministry of yesterday. The electronic linkup is designed to avert Russia, whose opinion is seen as crucial in determining TALL MALID, Syria: Turkish-backed fighters from the Free Syrian Army fire towards “manipulation of the addicts’ (blood) samples,” she how far the operation goes, said it had received the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) positions in the village of Um Al-Hosh in the area explained. news of the campaign with concern and urged restraint. of Afrin yesterday. — AFP Separately, an official foreign ministry source Turkey’s army said operation “Olive Branch” began at said yesterday all staff at the ministry are Kuwaiti border saw two war planes launch air strikes inside seek to oust the YPG from Manbij, a town to the east 1400 GMT and was aimed at the YPG and Islamic State Syrian territory, sending huge white plumes of smoke that the Kurdish militia also holds. citizens and are solely tasked with missions abroad. (IS) militants. Among the targets in hit in air and The source, in a statement, was reacting to a report up into the early evening sky. Units of pro-Ankara In a delicate diplomatic situation, the top diplomats artillery strikes was the YPG-held Minnigh military air- rebels known by Turkey as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) of Russia, Iran and the United States in Ankara were published by a local newspaper in the context of port, which lies north of Aleppo, the state-run Anadolu replies by Deputy Prime and Foreign Minister also began moving into the Afrin area of Syria which is invited to the foreign ministry to receive a briefing on news agency said. It said 108 targets were hit, with the controlled by the YPG, Anadolu said. There were no ini- the operation, the ministry said. Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Hamad Al-Sabah to an casualties all Kurdish militants. Continued on Page 11 tial reports of Turkish ground troops crossing the bor- Mevlut Cavusoglu held telephone talks with US An AFP correspondent on the Turkish side of the der. Erdogan said that after Afrin, the forces would also Continued on Page 11 US govt shuts Pence meets Sisi down as Trump amid Arab anger feuds with Dems over Jerusalem WASHINGTON: The second year of Donald Trump’s CAIRO: US Vice President Mike Pence met Egyptian presidency began yesterday with the US government in President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi yesterday as he began a shutdown mode while lawmakers gathered in hopes of delayed Middle East tour overshadowed by Arab anger finding a compromise that would fund federal agencies. over Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s For the first time since Oct 2013 - when a similar stand- capital. Controversy over President Donald Trump’s deci- off that lasted 16 days kept only essential agency opera- sion to move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem tions running - federal workers were being told to stay WASHINGTON: Capitol Hill is seen against a had led to the cancellation of a number of planned meet- CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi at home or in some cases to work without pay until new blue sky while the government begins a shut- ings ahead of the trip originally scheduled for December. (right) welcomes US Vice President Mike funding is approved. down yesterday. — AFP While the deadly protests that erupted at the time Pence at the Presidential Palace in the capital Facing a political crisis that could have an impact on have subsided, concerns are mounting over the future of yesterday. — AFP November’s congressional elections, the Republican-con- before discussions could advance on immigration - a the UN aid agency for Palestinians after Washington trolled Senate and House of Representatives were holding main sticking point that led to the impasse. Democrats’ froze tens of millions of dollars of funding. The Palestinian Pence, who is accompanied by his wife Karen on the rare weekend sessions yesterday. But House Republicans, demand of securing permanent legal protections for leadership, already furious over the Jerusalem decision, trip, held talks with former army chief Sisi in Cairo that who gathered for closed meeting before their open session, 700,000 young, undocumented immigrants as a condi- has denounced the US administration and had already were expected to focus on US aid and security, including were taking a hard line against Democrats, which could tion for new government funding, Walden said, was refused to meet Pence in December.