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SUBSCRIPTION MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2016 RABI AL-AWWAL 6, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net MoH issues Suu Kyi must Sami Yusuf: Kuwait Times 12 licenses stop Rohingya Art alone can infographic: for drug ‘genocide’: portray how NBA Power factories Malaysia PM peaceful Islam is Rankings 5Clear11 divisions39 appear18 in Max 22º newly-elected Assembly Min 11º High Tide 01:53 & 16:27 Opposition MPs press to block return of some ministers Low Tide 09:33 & 21:35 40 PAGES NO: 17071 150 FILS By B Izzak Joint oilfields KUWAIT: Early divisions surfaced yesterday among newly- elected lawmakers as only 20 MPs attended a meeting expected to called by pro-government MP Saadoun Hammad, which was completely boycotted by the opposition. The meeting was attended by former speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem, for- restart soon mer communications minister Essa Al-Kandari, Safaa Al- Hashem, Hamad Al-Harshani and the six Shiite lawmakers, DUBAI: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are expected to among others. agree this month to resume oil production from the Hammad said he had invited all Assembly members to jointly operated oilfields in the Neutral Zone that the event, but only 20 attended and seven others sent their lies between both countries, industry sources told apologies including opposition MPs Jamaan Al-Harbash Reuters yesterday. The closure of the Neutral Zone’s and Waleed Al-Tabtabaei. Last week, a group of 25 opposi- fields, mainly Khafji and Wafra, has become a politi- tion MPs held a meeting to discuss the election of the cal sticking point between the two Gulf OPEC allies speaker and agree on a number of priority issues. Two more and senior officials have been trying to resolve the MPs who did not attend expressed their support. issue for months. The meeting formed a committee to try to convince Khafji was shut in Oct 2014 for environmental one of two MPs ñ Abdullah Al-Roumi and Shuaib Al- reasons and Wafra has been shut since May 2015 Muwaizri ñ to withdraw from the speakership race in due to operating difficulties. The restart would come favor of the other. Roumi also attended yesterdayís at a sensitive time for the oil markets after OPEC gathering, but left before the meeting ended. He later agreed last week to reduce output by around 1.2 said he had left to attend a funeral.† million barrels per day (bpd) from January in a bid to Hammad said that nothing political was discussed reduce global oversupply and prop up prices. A during the meeting - especially the election of the speak- resumption of production from the joint oilfields er - which should be decided in the Assembly chamber, would not be immediate and would be gradual, adding that he plans to contest the deputy speakerís industry sources said. post. He said that if divisions persist in the Assembly, “It will take some time,” said one industry source, there will be a major problem over cooperation. Hashem adding that the decision to restart the fields was said it is sad to see the start of the new Assembly with likely to be made in December. KUWAIT: Lawmakers including (from left) former speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem, Safaa Al-Hashem and Abdullah divisions, adding that she hoped to see all members at Continued on Page 13 Al-Roumi gather at the diwaniya of pro-government MP Saadoun Hammad yesterday. Both Ghanem and the meeting because people are fed up of divisions. Roumi are expected to vie for the speakership of the National Assembly. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat Continued on Page 13 Fake US embassy Fidel Castro laid shut down, issued visas for a decade to rest in Cuba ACCRA: Authorities in Ghana have busted a fake US SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba: Fidel Castro’s marble plaque bearing just his first name - embassy in the capital Accra run by a criminal network ashes were entombed in a massive stone “Fidel” - was placed over the niche at the that for a decade issued illegally obtained authentic visas, next to national heroes yesterday, as Cuba Santa Ifigenia cemetery. the US State Department said. Until it was shut down this opens a new era without the communist Raul Castro gave a military salute at the summer, the sham embassy was housed in a run-down, leader who ruled for decades. President private ceremony attended by his family pink two-storey building with a corrugated iron roof and Raul Castro placed his brother’s cedar urn and some foreign dignitaries, including flew a US flag outside. Inside hung a portrait of President inside the tall round monolith near the Latin American allies from Venezuela and Barack Obama. mausoleums of 19th century independ- Nicaragua, according to official photos. “It was not operated by the United States govern- ence icon Jose Marti and comrades of “There were no speeches. It was very sim- ment, but by figures from both Ghanaian and Turkish Castro’s rebellion in the eastern city of ple. There were just the ashes that were organized crime rings and a Ghanaian attorney practic- Santiago de Cuba. Capping a week of interred, the family, the government ing immigration and criminal law,” the State Department massive tributes, a simple, dark green Continued on Page 13 said in a statement released late on Friday. Turkish citi- CHENNAI: All India Anna Dravida Mennetra Kazhagam party members yesterday zens, who spoke English and Dutch, posed as consular pray in front of a hospital where Chief Minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu officers and staffed the operation. Investigations also Jayaram Jayalalithaa is being treated. — AFP uncovered a fake Dutch embassy, the State Department said. Officials in the Netherlands were not immediately reachable for comment yesterday. Popular head of south India The crime ring issued fraudulently obtained but legiti- mate US visas and false identification documents, includ- state suffers cardiac arrest ing birth certificates at a cost of $6,000 each, the state- NEW DELHI: The ailing chief minister of cardiologists, pulmonologist and critical ment said. During raids that led to a number of arrests, southern India’s Tamil Nadu state, care specialists,” the statement added. authorities also seized authentic and counterfeit Indian, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, yesterday suffered a The hospital gave updates about the South African and Schengen Zone visas and 150 pass- cardiac arrest only days after she handed chief minister’s health in a series of tweets, ports from 10 different countries along with a laptop and many of her responsibilities to a deputy also asking all to pray for her “good health smartphones. because of illness. “CM (Jayaram), who is and well being”. Indian President Pranab The statement did not say how the gang obtained the undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospitals, Mukherjee too wished for her speedy recov- authentic visas. And the State Department did not say suffered a cardiac arrest this evening,” doctor ery. “Distressed to hear about CM how many people were believed to have illegally entered Subbaiah Viswanathan from the hospital Jayalalithaa suffering a cardiac arrest, my the United States and other countries using visas issued said in a statement to the Press Trust of India prayers for her speedy recovery,” he posted by the crime ring, which used bribery to operate news agency. “She is being treated and on Twitter. Continued on Page 13 SANTIAGO DE CUBA: Cuban President Raul Castro places the urn with the ashes of monitored by a team of experts, including Continued on Page 13 his brother Fidel Castro in his tomb at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery yesterday. —AFP Austria far-right president hopeful soundly defeated VIENNA: The candidate vying to become Europe’s first had a clear lead over Hofer, according to a projection by freely elected far-right head of state since World War Two pollster SORA for broadcaster ORF that included a count of conceded defeat in Austria’s presidential election soon 69 percent of votes. The projection showed Van der Bellen after polls closed yesterday evening. The result is a blow to on 53.3 percent and Hofer on 46.7 percent, with a margin populists who had hoped a wave of anti-establishment of error of 1 percentage point. “Should this projection real- anger sweeping Western democracies would carry ly be true, at which point we can be pleased, it is a good Norbert Hofer to power after Britain’s Brexit referendum day for Austria,” Van der Bellen’s campaign manager Lothar and Americans’ election of Donald Trump as president. Lockl told ORF minutes after polls closed. Hofer, of the anti-immigration and anti-Islam Freedom Continued on Page 13 Party (FPO), conceded he had been soundly beaten by for- mer Greens leader Alexander Van der Bellen. “I am infinite- ly sad that it didn’t work out,” Hofer said in a posting on his Facebook page less than an hour after polls closed and the first projections were broadcast. Austria’s president tradi- tionally has a largely ceremonial role. But the election, a re- run of a May vote that was overturned due to counting irregularities, had been seen as another test of populist sentiment in Europe ahead of elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands next year. Voters may have heeded Van der Bellen’s increasingly VIENNA: Austrian far-right presidential candidate Norbert GAZA CITY: Palestinians are silhouetted by the sunset at Gaza port yesterday. The harbor is one of the few open strident warnings that Hofer wanted to follow Britain’s lead Hofer (left) and his victorious rival Alexander Van der public spaces in this densely populated city. — AP and pull Austria out of the European Union. Van der Bellen Bellen attend a post-election TV talk yesterday.