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SUBSCRIPTION SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2013 SHAABAN 14, 1434 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Rescuers race Istanbul Gaza Neymar against time as protesters singer gives strikes again India monsoon dispersed with Palestinians a as Brazil toll11 nears 600 water15 cannon reason36 to smile beat20 Italy Freeze on issuance of new Max 44º driving licenses for expats Min 29º High Tide 10:37 Exception only for household drivers Low Tide 05:07 & 18:22 40 PAGES NO: 15848 150 FILS By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Interior Ministry Assistant Undersecretary Maj Gen Abdulfattah Al-Ali has ordered a halt on the issuance of new driving licenses to all expatriates until further notice. The only exceptions will be for house- hold drivers on Article 20 visas. The freeze will be in place until changes are made to current regulations for expats to obtain new driving licenses, Ali added. Since his appointment a few months ago, Ali has led a cam- paign in which hundreds of expatriates have been deported without a court order for committing “grave” traffic offences such as driving without a license and jumping red lights. Kuwaiti citizens who commit similar traffic offences can have their vehicles impounded, but only under a court order. The Interior Ministry is also revoking driving licenses of foreign students who have graduated and working housewives, tightening already strict rules for expats. Ali has stressed that all traffic violation-related deportations are in accordance with the law. “We have filed over 70,000 traffic citations including 43,000 seri- ous ones such as running red lights, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving on the wrong side of the road and many others,” he told reporters earlier this month. Ali also warned last week that travel bans may be slapped against violators to force them to pay their traffic fines, especially since the amount of all fines has reached KD 24 million. For nearly a decade, Kuwait has imposed strict conditions on the eligibility of its 2.6 mil- lion expats to drive. Most foreigners are required to hold a university degree, earn KD 400 a month and have lived legally in the country for at least two years before being able to drive legally. Man dies after Saudi shootout RIYADH: A Shiite man was shot dead late on Friday in the fractious Qatif district of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern A rebel tries to locate a fighter plane as he stands on top of an anti-aircraft gun in the village of Province, home to many of its Shiite minority. The Al-Rami near the town of Ariha in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib yesterday. (Inset) shooting brings to 19 the death toll since early 2011 US Secretary of State John Kerry points while joking with a reporter during a news conference during protests by Shiites demanding equal rights about Syria in Doha yesterday. — AFP with the Sunni majority, and in clashes with police in the towns and villages around Qatif. Shiite activists said the 19-year-old Shiite was shot in his car by a stray bullet fired by police when they fired at another Syria rebels to get ‘urgent aid’ person on a motorbike. An Eastern Province police spokesman said in a statement carried on state media he was shot when they exchanged fire with unknown gunmen, US warns Taleban as envoy heads to Qatar adding he was found in his car at dawn yesterday DOHA: World powers supporting Syria’s rebels decid- “Friends of Syria” had taken “secret decisions about and Doha had called for increasing aid to end what US but was dead before reaching hospital. The shoot- ed yesterday to provide them with urgent military aid, practical measures to change the situation on the Secretary of State John Kerry called an “imbalance” in ing happened at around midnight on Friday, he some of it secretly, so that they can counter “brutal ground in Syria”. Assad’s favour. said. Saudi Shiites complain of entrenched discrimi- attacks” by the regime and protect the Syrian people. They agreed to provide rebels “urgently all the nec- Kerry said the United States remained committed nation in the birthplace of Islam, which follows the Yet even as they prepared to step up their own essary materiel and equipment... each country in its to a peace plan that includes a conference in Geneva rigid Wahhabi Sunni school that views the minority involvement in a war that has killed nearly 100,000 own way in order to enable them to counter brutal and a transitional government picked both by Assad sect as heretical. people, they demanded that Iran and Lebanese attacks by the regime and its allies and protect the and the opposition. But he said the rebels need more Continued on Page 15 movement Hezbollah stop supporting President Syrian people,” a final communique said. Ministers support “for the purpose of being able to get to Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. Speaking in Doha, top from Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Geneva and to be able to address the imbalance on Qatari diplomat Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates the ground”. said a meeting there of foreign ministers of the and the United States attended the talks. Washington Continued on Page 15 Brazil bracing New intel leaks emerge, for more unrest Snowden faces charges SAO PAULO: Brazil girded for more street protests yesterday despite President Dilma Rousseff’s concil- iatory remarks pledging to improve public services and fight corruption, while warning against further US hacking China texts • UK tapping cables violence. Rallies coordinated via social media were LONDON/HONG KONG: Britain’s intelligence services Government data shows almost 900 billion text mes- called in several cities, including Sao Paulo, Brasilia, are tapping cables that carry the world’s phone calls sages were exchanged in China in 2012. Belo Horizonte and Salvador as the country’s intelli- and Internet traffic and are gathering vast amounts of A US justice department official meanwhile con- gence services warned of an escalation in the data, according to leaked documents from US ex-intelli- firmed that a sealed criminal complaint has been protests against shoddy public services and sloppy, gence technician Ed Snowden, who faces spying lodged with a federal court in the US state of Virginia corrupt government. As the Rousseff administration charges in the United States. The claims, published yes- and a provisional arrest warrant has been issued. fought to deal with the ever rising tide of dissatisfac- terday by The Guardian newspaper, sparked a fresh out- Snowden faces charges of theft of government proper- tion, former football star-turned Socialist politician cry from privacy campaigners and surfaced as the ty, unauthorised communication of national defence Romario joined the debate, praising the demonstra- United States filed criminal charges against 30-year-old information, and wilful communication of classified tors and dubbing world football body FIFA “Brazil’s Snowden and asked Hong Kong - where he has fled to - communications intelligence information to an unau- real president.” to detain him. In a sign of growing international ten- thorised person. Two of the charges were brought In an address to the nation late Friday, Rousseff sions, Germany said Saturday that Europe would need under the 1917 Espionage Act. offered Brazilians a “great pact” between the govern- Britain to clarify the latest allegations. Justice Minister The Guardian reported that Britain’s Government ment and the people to improve underfunded pub- Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, who made the Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has started pro- lic services and stressed the need for “more effective comments, added that the accusations would be a “cat- cessing vast amounts of personal information - includ- ways to fight corruption.” Her remarks came a day astrophe” if they are true. ing Facebook posts, emails, Internet histories and after more than one million people marched in cities Snowden also told the South China Morning Post in phone calls - and is sharing it with its US partner the across the country to slam the huge cost of hosting a report published yesterday that the United States gov- National Security Agency (NSA). In reaction, however, next June’s World Cup, put at some $15 billion, while ernment is hacking Chinese mobile phone companies GCHQ said it was “scrupulous” in its compliance with the public services such as schools and hospitals are to gather data from millions of text messages. US spies law and declined to comment further. The Guardian lacking. The protests began over a transport fare hike have also hacked China’s prestigious Tsinghua reported that GCHQ was able to tap into and store data but spread to include a bevy of gripes. University in Beijing and Asia Pacific fibre-optic network from the cables for up to 30 days, under an operation Rousseff’s intervention left the protesters operator Pacnet, the Post quoted Snowden as saying. codenamed Tempora. “It’s not just a US problem. The UK unmoved, judging by a torrent of comments on “The NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cell has a huge dog in this fight,” Snowden told the newspa- social media sites. phone companies to steal all of your SMS data,” per. “They (GCHQ) are worse than the US.” Continued on Page 15 Snowden said in the interview conducted on June 12. Continued on Page 15 SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2013 LOCAL ‘Discover America Festival’ In Kuwait from June 27 Five-day event to be held at Avenues Mall By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: The United States of America ranks second on the list of countries being considered by Kuwaitis as their preferred medical travel destinations, according to the US commercial attachÈ to Kuwait.

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