Interior Minister Under Fire Over Israeli Contract
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SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013 SHAWWAL 7, 1434 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Bahrain activists Stosur, Venus to test demo ban advance to 2nd at US embassy7 round20 in Ohio Interior Minister under Max 48º fire over Israeli contract Min 28º High Tide 03:48 & 16:50 Lawmakers warn premier over electoral law Low Tide 10:48 & 22:44 40 PAGES NO: 15897 150 FILS By B Izzak KUWAIT: MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan said yesterday he would grill new Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah if he does not terminate an alleged contract signed by the ministry with an Israeli company. Duwaisan had raised the issue in the previous National Assembly, alleging that the Interior Ministry has pur- chased a security system for the borders with Iraq from a Kuwaiti company which acquired it from a Canada- based firm that is a subsidiary of an Israeli company. Duwaisan had even filed a request to grill the former Interior Minister over the issue but the grilling was post- poned for several months by the National Assembly. The debate of the grilling was supposed to take place in the term starting in October but the Constitutional Court nullified the election process in a key ruling in June. The Interior Ministry has repeatedly denied the alle- gations and insisted that there have been no dealings with any Israeli company and the former Interior Minister said he was prepared to face the grilling. But Duwaisan renewed his allegations following last month’s general elections and yesterday he warned the new Interior Minister that if he did not scrap the contract he will file to question him. The next Assembly term is due to open on October 29. In the meantime, controversy is growing over claims that a plan is underway with the help of the government to change the controversial amendment to the electoral law with a number of MPs warning the premier not to get involved in the issue. MP Safa Al-Hashem claimed that attempts are being made to get the single-vote law changed after it had been upheld by the Constitutional KUWAIT: Kuwaiti pearl divers prepare for the upcoming of the Pearl Diving Festival in Kuwait City yesterday. Pearl-diving trips are held annually under the patronage of the Court in June. Kuwaiti Amir in order to keep alive traditions that accompanied the once important national trade of pearl diving, prior to the discovery of oil. -— Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat Continued on Page 13 Saudi feud too bitter for Kuwait pulls new Iran president to fix cleric off TV Rivals back opposing forces across the region KUWAIT: Kuwait’s government officials yesterday pulled a prominent cleric off tel- RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah’s dis- evision over previous comments they say dain for Iran leaps from US embassy cables - stoked sectarian tensions and promoted “May God prevent us from falling victim to an Al-Qaeda-linked rebel group in Syria. their evil,” he told US officials, according to a Shafi Al-Ajmi’s show, “Following the Path cable released by WikiLeaks. According to of the Prophet,” premiered Monday on another, he told his own diplomats he want- state television in Kuwait. ed Washington to “cut off the head of the Information Minister Salman Al- snake”. Homood said that the show had been can- On the other side of the Gulf, Iran’s con- celled and that an investigation had tempt for Saudi Arabia crackles through a begun into determining those responsible report on its hardline Mashregh website. The for putting the cleric on the air. “The kingdom’s ruling family, it said, was “drown- Ministry of Information does not approve ing in corruption and prostitutes”. Into this of airing episodes for any individual who toxic environment steps Iran’s newly inaugu- instigates hatred and promotes such rhet- rated President Hassan Rouhani, promising to oric,” Al-Homood told journalists. Al-Ajmi improve what may well be the single most declined to speak when contacted yester- venomous and destructive relationship in the day. Kuwait, one of OPEC’s top producers, entire Middle East. has been battered by political unrest for It is almost impossible to overstate the the past two years. A variety of groups hatred between Sunni Saudi Arabia and inspired by the Arab Spring have stepped Continued on Page 13 Saudi’s King Abdullah Iranian President Hasan Rouhani Continued on Page 13 Shafi Al-Ajmi Autism linked to induced labor Mideast talks resume under WASHINGTON: A US study out this week has found that pregnant women who take drugs to speed up their labor may have a higher cloud of Israel construction risk of bearing children with autism. The study in JAMA Pediatrics is the largest of its kind on the matter, but stops short of stating that JERUSALEM: A 10-minute drive from where negotiators within blocs it intends to keep in any future peace deal induced labor is a cause of the developmental disorder which will sit down today to resume long-stalled Middle East with the Palestinians. The settler numbers are imposing. affects as many as one in 88 children in the United States. peace talks, Israeli bulldozers are busy reshaping land In 2010, when the Palestinians quit negotiations over Instead, it points to the need for more research, said senior that Palestinians want for their future state. Settler settlement building, some 311,110 Israelis were living in author Marie Lynn Miranda, dean of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. “The scientific com- homes are popping up across East Jerusalem and major the West Bank. Today, according to Israel’s Army Radio, munity has long looked for environmental contributors to the ris- roads are being built to burgeoning Jewish settlements this has surged to 367,000. Adding in East Jerusalem, ing rates of autism in the United States,” she said in a statement. in the occupied West Bank. Israel has just approved then the number of Israelis living beyond the 1967 lines “This study provides preliminary evidence of an association plans for 3,100 new homes on the territory it seized in rises to nearly 600,000. Few, if any, would willingly quit between autism and labor induction/augmentation, especially the 1967 Middle East war. their homes as part of a peace deal. among male children.” The non-stop building on the land that is at the heart After an initial round of meetings in Washington at The study examined records for 625,000 births in the state of of the conflict raises serious doubts about whether the the end of last month, the real discussions start today, North Carolina over an eight-year period, and found that labor that latest round of US-brokered talks can result in a deal to with Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni facing Palestinian was both induced and augmented was associated with a 35 per- create an independent Palestinian state alongside chief negotiator Saeb Erekat in Jerusalem’s King David cent higher risk of autism in boys, compared with labor that Israel. “The two-state solution by now is unobtainable,” Hotel. The negotiations will be moderated by US envoy received neither treatment. A small increased risk was seen in girls said Dani Dayan, a former chairman of the settler move- Martin Indyk, with the next encounter already pencilled born to mothers who had induced, but not augmented, labor. ment, arguing that any accord palatable to the in for later this month in the West Bank city of Jericho. Women may have their labor induced with drugs for a number of Palestinians would involve removing so many settlers Bowing to a Palestinian condition to get the talks going, reasons, including a baby past its due date, or medical conditions that it would be impossible to enact. and eager not to antagonise an anxious Washington, like an infection, high blood pressure or diabetes. US Secretary of State John Kerry, the driving force Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed Researchers said the higher risk linked to induction was similar behind the resumption of talks following a three-year to the staggered release of 104 Palestinian prisoners, to that seen in other known risk factors for autism, such as being hiatus, agrees it is a major problem, but says there is many convicted of murder. an older mother or giving birth before 34 weeks. Michael time for a final push. “What this underscores is the The first 26 are due to go free today, and political BEERSHEBA: Iron Dome intercept a rocket fired by Rosanoff, associate director of public health research at Autism importance of getting to the table, getting to the table analysts say the recent splurge of settlement moves was Speaks, said the “next step is for research to better understand the Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, in the quickly,” he told reporters in Colombia on Monday when a bid by Netanyahu to placate his legion of supporters possible mechanisms behind this relationship.” He added: “It is southern city of Beersheba in this photo. The asked about the series of Israeli building announce- who reject the so-called two-state solution. But the important to note that this study does not demonstrate a causal Israeli military shot down a rocket launched ments in the run-up to the new negotiations. sheer quantity of planned new homes has stunned out- relationship between induced or augmented childbirth and toward the Red Sea resort town of Eilat, near the Israel has rejected criticism of its construction plans, siders and led the Palestinians to issue a clear warning.