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RABI ALAWWAL 13,1440 AH WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2018 23º 28 Pages Max 150 Fils Established 1961 Min 14º ISSUE NO: 17688 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net FM receives credentials of The science of how cats’ Xi visits Manila to cosy India’s Kom marches toward 2 new Iranian ambassador 15 tongues keep them clean 24 up to historical US ally 25 record 7th world champ medal Govt activates contingency plan to deal with heavy rain Panel debates rain damage • Met: Wet weather till Monday • Dozens of mines defused By B Izzak and Agencies tracts with the government. Unprecedented heavy rains Kuwait’s meteorological office has warned of the renewed warnings to citizens and expatriates to avoid lashed Kuwait in November, causing severe damage to likelihood of more unstable weather starting tomorrow. any unfamiliar objects that might appear in desert KUWAIT: The government is activating a contin- several residential areas and main roads that lawmakers The inclement weather gripping the country is likely to areas. Such uncovered objects and items may turn out gency plan in full in anticipation of further rainfall, claim was due to bad infrastructure because of corrup- persist with a chance of intermittent downpours of to be abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO), the min- Minister of State for Housing Affairs Jenan Bushehri tion in executing contracts. The government and the varying intensities, meteorologist Abdulaziz Al-Qarawi istry warned. announced yesterday, as the National Assembly’s Assembly have formed investigation committees to find told KUNA yesterday. Friday’s weather will see spo- It added that it has received, during the past three housing committee discussed with the government out what happened and who is responsible. radic rainfall during the day with wind speeds of 60 km days, numerous reports of military remnants in the extensive damage caused by torrential rains to Sabah Head of the housing committee MP Faisal Al- per hour, leading to a seven-foot rise in sea levels and desert areas of Jahra governorate. The explosives Al-Ahmad residential area. Bushehri said she told the Kandari said the committee held a general debate on low visibility in some areas, he indicated. Unpredictable squad immediately rushed to the area and handled the panel that she ordered the formation of a committee to the destruction in Sabah Al-Ahmad and insisted that weather patterns are expected to continue until objects, the statement said, noting that its personnel investigate what happened in that area, which is rela- the Assembly wants all those responsible be held to Monday morning, Qarawi added, urging people to visit discovered 48 mines. The ministry called on citizens tively new. She promised to announce the results of the account and not only suspend their contracts. On com- www.met.gov.kw for all the latest weather details. and residents, namely desert campers, to call 112 when investigation committee and to take legal action pensating citizens whose properties were damaged in Meanwhile, the interior ministry said yesterday that finding any strange objects that may appear following against those responsible. the recent deluge, Bushehri said the Cabinet decided in it had received 20 reports of the appearance of mines sand drifts due to the recent heavy rains. It also urged Bushehri also announced that the government has its session on Monday to task a team chaired by due to the heavy rainfall in the desert over the past them to take extra precaution and refrain from touch- suspended dealings with six contracting companies and Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Al-Sabeeh to days. The relations and security information department ing any of these objects, which might be dangerous an engineering office involved in road and housing con- follow up on the issue and receive complaints. at the ministry, as part of an awareness campaign, military leftovers. News in brief After Airbnb, Dumped body identified Booking.com KUWAIT: Security sources said a dead body thrown from a taxi in Jabriya on Monday night belongs to Bangladeshi male, noting that criminal investigations asked to remove managed to identify the body by checking its finger- prints. Detectives were informed that a taxi driver had W Bank listings dumped the body in a Jabriya street and fled the scene. On examining the body, it was found to be ADEI AD: Rights activists yesterday urged bloodied. However, a passerby managed to jot down Booking.com to follow the example of Airbnb and with- the taxi’s license plate number. — A Saleh draw listings for rentals in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, even as Israel called the move “disgusting” and threatened legal action. Airbnb said Nod to Shiite personal law Monday it will remove such listings, just ahead of the release of a Human Rights Watch report criticizing the KUWAIT: The National Assembly’s legal and legisla- inclusion of settlements. Israel strongly denounced tive committee yesterday approved a draft personal Airbnb’s decision and threatened legal action against status law for Kuwaiti Shiites after making small the company, while Palestinian officials welcomed it. amendments to the bill, head of the committee MP The US-based rights group HRW issued its report Khaled Al-Shatti said. The bill has been languishing in yesterday and called on Booking.com to follow Airbnb’s the Assembly for the past several years. If approved “positive step”. “By ending its brokering of rentals in AL MUGHAYYIR: Nati Rom, the founder of Israel’s Lev Haolam organization which is active against the Palestinian- by the Assembly, it will be used in courts to rule on illegal settlements on land off-limits to Palestinians, led boycott movement, walks next to an Airbnb apartment in the Esh Kodesh outpost near the Jewish settlement of personal status matters like marriage and divorce for Airbnb has taken a stand against discrimination Shilo in the occupied West Bank yesterday. — AFP Shiite Muslims. — B Izzak Continued on Page 24 $500m Saudi, UAE aid to Yemen late Monday with children unpacking With Sufi rituals, new clothes and plastic toys under RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which lead a strings of colorful lights. The buildings military coalition against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, around them are marked with bullet announced yesterday $500 million in aid to the sweets, Muslims holes and craters - scars of the violent country on the brink of famine. They will each give years since the 2011 ouster of dictator $250 million in response to the food crisis to support mark ‘mawlid’ Muammar Gaddafi - but holiday cheer more than 10 million people, said Abdullah Rabeeah, seems to overcome that. general supervisor at King Salman Humanitarian Aid AKRA, Iraq: From Sufis in Iraqi In Egypt, candy shops prepare the and Relief Centre. He added that donations will go Kurdistan shaking their hair to rhythmic traditional “mawlid (birth) bride,” a fig- through the UN as well as other international and drumbeats, to Libyan children receiving urine made of sugary paste that is then local aid groups. — AFP toys and Egyptians swapping sweets - dressed in paper skirts, sparkles, and Muslims across the world celebrated fabric flowers. According to tradition, the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) birthday dolls must be offered by young men to yesterday. Nearly 1,450 years after their betrothed along with other tradi- Ivanka used personal email Muhammad (PBUH) was born in Makkah tional sweets made of dried fruit, nuts in modern-day Saudi Arabia, Sunni and nougat. WASHINGTON: The US president’s daughter and Muslims marked the anniversary with And in Iraq’s northern town of Akra, a senior advisor Ivanka Trump used a personal email ancestral customs and new traditions Sufi ritual takes precedence. Men account for government business in violation of fed- yesterday, a few days ahead of the date dressed in loose pants, matching jackets JERUSALEM: Palestinian scouts play music during a ceremony commemorating the eral records rules, The Washington Post reported recognized by Shiites. and wrap-around belts stand in lines and birth of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) outside the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa Monday. A spokesman for Trump’s attorney con- In the Libyan city of Benghazi, the semi-circles for the “dhikr”, or religious Mosque compound yesterday. — AFP firmed that she did use a private email account celebration has been underway since Continued on Page 24 before she was informed of the rules, and said that all her government-related emails had been turned over months ago. President Donald Trump has repeatedly pilloried Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email Muslim lawmaker More than 50 dead server for government business while she was secre- tary of state. — AFP proposes to end in attack on Kabul head-cover ban Saudi Arabia announces new projects religious gathering in US Congress KABUL: More than 50 people were killed in a sui- DUBAI: Saudi King Salman announced $3 billion in WASHINGTON: A Muslim congresswoman-elect has cide attack on a religious celebration in Kabul yes- investment projects yesterday, the latest in a royal terday, officials said, in one of the deadliest assaults spending spree. King Salman inaugurated 151 proj- co-authored changes to a longstanding rule banning the wearing of head coverings on the US House floor, WASHINGTON: Incoming Representative Ilhan Omar speaks to strike Afghanistan this year. It follows a wave of ects in the northern province of Tabuk valued at more an effort supported Monday by the nation’s largest to a reporter while arriving for a House of Representatives bloody violence across the war-torn country in than 11 billion riyals ($2.9 billion), of which 4.9 billion Muslim rights group. Ilhan Omar, a Somali refugee who member-elect welcome briefing on Capitol Hill.