MUHARRAM 14, 1439 AH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2017 Max 41º 32 Pages 150 Fils Established 1961 Min 25º

ISSUE NO: 17346 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net

Astronomy journal uses US trio wins physics Nobel for Tom Petty, heartland rocker Qatari female jockey gallops 4 Kuwaiti’s pic of eclipse 23 spotting wrinkles in cosmos 32 with dark streak, dead at 66 16 into male-dominated world

30% drop in expats visiting public medical facilities Domestic workers, bedoons exempt from new health charges By B Izzak and A Saleh

KUWAIT: Public hospitals recorded a 30 percent drop in the number of expatriate patients since new charges for health services were introduced at public medical facilities on Sunday, Health Minister Dr Jamal Al-Harbi said yester- Zain, Nuqat to day. He added domestic helpers and bedoons whose secu- rity IDs have expired have been exempted from the new introduce creative medical charges. Harbi said the old medical charges for domestic helpers will remain, but the new fees will not be applied to them. new education Bedoons or stateless people whose security identification cards have expired by not more than one month will also program for children be exempted along with other bedoons who carry those IDs, the minister said. The ministry of health raised medical fees for expatri- KUWAIT: Zain Group, the leading mobile telecom inno- ates from the beginning of October. In some cases, the vator in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, increase is more than fivefold. Expatriates have already announced the establishment of an innovative new edu- been paying fees for a wide range of medical services at cational program in collaboration with Nuqat, a not-for- public hospitals and clinics, but the government decided to profit organization established in Kuwait in 2009. impose the huge increase in the face of slumping oil prices. Together, the two organizations are set to introduce Kuwaitis continue to receive medical services completely a development initiative dubbed IN•DIG•GO, which is free of charge. an alternative thematic-based educational program for Harbi also said expatriate children under 12 years of age children between the ages of 6 and 11 years. The pro- KUWAIT: Zain Vice-Chairman and Group CEO Bader Al-Kharafi is seen with IN•DIG•GO Program suffering from cancer or birth defects will be treated free of gram is aimed at strengthening the understanding of Director Maha Al-Essa, Head of Youth Empowerment, Zain Group, Maryam Saif and Knowledge charge, and that spouses of Kuwaitis and their children are the participants, expanding their knowledge, and devel- Director of Nuqat Hussa Al-Humaidhi. also exempt. Directors of hospitals and head of concerned oping their soft and learning skills. sections can also exempt expatriates suffering from cardiac The program, the first-of-its-kind in the region, will diseases and intensive care unit charges, the minister said. initially be launched as a pilot supporting children of methodologies necessary to face the challenges that lie enthusiasm of young people in Kuwait and across the Meanwhile, MP Rakan Al-Nasef said the National Zain employees in Kuwait. The initial engagement will ahead is pivotal. region, and wherever we can lend a hand to improving Assembly report on the deal to buy around 28 Eurofighter last for 12 weeks from January until April 2018 and this Commenting on the collaboration, Bader Al-Kharafi, their circumstances and prospects, we shall do. We are jets at a cost of around $9 billion will be completed next will act as a learning platform for all stakeholders. Zain Vice-Chairman and Group CEO said, “Youth pleased to be cooperating with an organization with month. The lawmaker made the comments after a parlia- Thereafter the intention is to roll out the program on a development and education are central themes to our the passion and foresight of Nuqat, and together I am mentary committee following up issues raised in the larger scale. corporate sustainability and building capacity activi- confident we shall be able to achieve remarkable results grillings of the prime minister met yesterday with the The collaboration is a result of the shared belief ties, and we are firm believers that preparing youth for in sowing the seeds to create future entrepreneurs and defense minister to discuss the deal. between Zain and Nuqat that an educational program the future is not just our responsibility, it is our duty.” business leaders.” Continued on Page 11 capable of equipping future generations with skills and Al-Kharafi continued, “Zain believes in the talent and Continued on Page 11 Defiant Qatar Kurdish leader emir meets and ex-Iraqi Kuwait workforce Iran’s Zarif president up 3.6% in June DOHA: Iran’s foreign minister held talks with the emir of Qatar yesterday aimed Talabani dies KUWAIT: The Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) at strengthening “co-operation,” nearly said yesterday the workforce in Kuwait, exclud- four months into a Saudi-led blockade SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq: Ex-Iraqi pres- ing housekeepers, hit 2,009,071 in June. The fig- against the Gulf emirate. Sheikh Tamim ident and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani ure reflects an increase by 70,828 or 3.6 percent bin Hamad Al-Thani and Iran’s died on Tuesday in Germany, officials in from the corresponding month last year, accord- Mohammad Javad Zarif met at a time of his party told AFP. Talabani, 83, was ing to the CSB’s quarterly report that surveyed heightened Gulf tensions, with Qatari Iraq’s president from 2005 to 2014 and a the period ending on June 30, 2017. officials warning the ongoing Arab key figure in Iraqi Kurdistan, where vot- Jalal Talabani The total workforce, including housekeepers, blockade would only drive Doha towards ers last week overwhelmingly backed hit 2,684,334, increasing by 83,929 or 3.2 per- regional powerhouse Iran. DOHA: Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin independence in a disputed referendum. paid tribute to Talabani as “the only cent in this period, with the private sector Qatar’s state news agency said the Hamad Al-Thani greets Iran’s Foreign “Our leader died in Germany,” an official president whose death saddens Arabs, remaining the main employer. The private sector pair discussed the impasse in the region, Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif yes- with Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurds and all other ethnicities”. “We absorbed 60.3 percent of the total workforce, which has seen Saudi Arabia, the United terday. — AFP Kurdistan (PUK) said. pray to God that his death will help to but Kuwaiti workers represented only 4.4 per- Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut A family member said Talabani’s bring back good relations between the cent of such workers. The Kuwaiti workforce ties with Doha over its ties with Iran and from Qatar News Agency. health had taken a turn for the worse brothers of Iraq.” grew from 348,792 to 358,854, an increase of 2.9 accusations that it supports extremists. The meeting also comes as a new and had been transported to Germany, Talabani’s death, following a decades- percent from June 2016, with the public sector “During the meeting, they reviewed rela- academic survey published this week along with his wife and two children, old struggle for Kurdish statehood, came employing 80 percent of them. The number of tions of cooperation between the two suggests that the average citizens in the before the referendum. “We pray to God after Iraq’s Kurds voted 92.7 percent in Kuwaitis employed by the public sector went up countries in various fields as well as Arab nations of the now-fractured Gulf that his death will help to bring back favor of independence in the Sept 25 3.3 percent from 277,935 to 287,236 in the peri- exchanged views on the current situa- Cooperation Council do not see Iran good relations between the brothers of referendum. od surveyed. tion in the region,” read the statement Continued on Page 11 Iraq.” Iraqi Kurdish lawmaker Zana Said Continued on Page 11 The number of female workers rose by 3.9 percent and male workers by 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, the ratio of Kuwaiti workforce to the total workforce went slightly down - from 18 per- cent in June 2016 to 17.9 percent in June. The US mourns Las Vegas massacre number of non-Kuwaiti workers went up by 3.8 percent from 1,589,451 to 1,650,217. The report victims as shooter motive sought noted that there were no remarkable changes in the structure of various groups of nationalities LAS VEGAS: America mourned the vic- Trump, questioned by reporters as he working in Kuwait. tims of the worst gun massacre in recent left the White House to survey hurricane Expats from Asian non-Arab countries con- US history yesterday as investigators relief in Puerto Rico, was not ready to tinue to be the largest group of workers in probed the motive behind a so far appar- suggest answers. “What happened in Kuwait, accounting for 50.3 percent, followed by ently senseless attack on Las Vegas con- Las Vegas is in many ways a miracle,” he those from the Arab countries, who represent certgoers. US President Donald Trump said. “The police department has done 30.1 percent. The number of Indian workers in branded the attacker - who raked a crowd such an incredible job, and we’ll be talk- Kuwait went up by 6.6 percent, from 519,466 in of thousands with gunfire from a 32nd- ing about gun laws as time goes by.” US June 2016 to 553,781 in June 2017, while the floor hotel room, leaving 59 dead and at officials have reacted cautiously to a number of Egyptians grew by 2.4 percent to least 527 injured - a “demented man”. claim by the Islamic State jihadist group 463,804. The percentage of Kuwaiti workers But beyond that diagnosis, authorities that the shooter, Stephen Craig with bachelor degrees went up from 35.1 to 36.8 were at a loss as to why a 64-year-old Paddock, had carried out Sunday night’s percent, while the percentage of non-Kuwaiti gambler and retired accountant had massacre on its behalf. workers with bachelor degrees rose from 20.5 to hauled a vast arsenal of weapons to the Experts cautioned that the group - 22.7 percent. hotel and launched his assault. under pressure in its Syrian and Iraqi According to the latest statistics of the Public Meanwhile, a grim parade of victims heartlands - may be trying to rally its Authority for Civil Information, expatriates make began to be identified in the media, each supporters with a false claim. In a state- up 69.7 percent of the total population of Kuwait new name stirring emotions as America ment, IS claimed Paddock was one of its of 4.5 million with 3.1 million residents. Kuwaitis once again grappled with calls for “soldiers” but the FBI said it had found LAS VEGAS: People attend a candlelight vigil at Las Vegas City Hall on form 30.2 percent of the populace with 1.3 million reforms to its permissive firearm control no such connection so far and the local Monday after a gunman killed at least 59 people and wounded more citizens. — KUNA laws and angst over its pervasive gun sheriff described him as a lone “psy- than 500 others when he opened fire on a country music concert late culture. chopath”. (See Page 8) Oct 1, 2017. — AFP