Kuwaittimes 14-11-2019.Qxp Layout 1
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
RABIA ALAWWAL 17, 1441 AH THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2019 28 Pages Max 30º Min 11º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17984 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Crown Prince, defense minister meet Protests heat up as Iraq Lebanon protests flare as Kuzma clicks into late gear as 3 commander of US Central Command 7 faces renewed pressure 24 president shuns demands 28 LeBron’s Lakers eclipse Suns MPs call for end to govt infighting after grillings 10 opposition MPs file no-confidence motion against interior minister By B Izzak filed at a time. MPs needed 25 votes to dismiss the minister out of office and parliamentary sources said KUWAIT: Lawmakers and activists yesterday the number was ready. demanded an immediate halt to what they claim is Later in the same session, 10 opposition MPs filed infighting within groups in the Cabinet exposed by the a no-confidence motion against Interior Minister outcome of grillings on Tuesday that forced a minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah following a grilling to resign. The grillings exposed what MPs and activists over violations. The voting is scheduled to take place say is a clear struggle among factions within the on Nov 20. MP Yousef Al-Fadhalah said what hap- Cabinet, while some MPs accused their colleagues of pened in the session clearly shows that there is corruption. infighting in the government, adding that the resigna- Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for tion of Bushehri was more to do with issues related to Housing Jenan Bushehri reiterated her defense over her the grilling of the interior minister than her own decision to resign after she was grilled by MP Omar Al- grilling. He called for infighting among government Tabtabaei over alleged financial and administrative irreg- factions to stop immediately. ularities. The minister said on Twitter that she confronted MP Khaled Al-Shatti charged that the session the “MPs of companies and interests” in the ministries of exposed a number of MPs who work for contractors public works and housing. “Yesterday I confronted them and companies to boost their bank accounts. He said in the National Assembly and to me they looked like the minister paid the price for reforms, adding that tools who sold the nation,” the minister said. “we should be cautious of corrupt MPs who pretend Following the grilling on Tuesday, Bushehri said she to be reformists”. refuted all the allegations but the “lawmakers of con- Opposition MP Mohammad Al-Mutair said that after tracting companies” were more powerful in the last week’s protest and what happened in the Assembly Assembly, adding that she was happy to pay the price session, the government must revise its calculations and for defending the nation and Kuwaiti citizens. The should wisely read what is happening. He said the first minister announced her resignation after she complet- step the government should take is to reconcile with ed her arguments and sent it to the prime minister, the people by excluding those who sow divisions and apparently after two groups of lawmakers, each con- only serve their interests. He said the government KUWAIT: Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and MP Riyadh Al-Adasani, who grilled him in parlia- sisting of 10 MPs, filed no-confidence motions against should work to pardon former MPs and activists who ment, walk hand-in-hand after the session at the National Assembly late Tuesday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat her. But according to the law, only one motion can be were jailed for fighting corruption. veyed damage and mourned the dead Gaza death outside a mortuary and at funerals. UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov was to hold Saudi, Bahrain, talks in Cairo on halting the fighting, a toll hits 23 as diplomatic source said, but a source UAE to play in close to the discussions aimed at medi- violence rages ating a truce warned that the risk of fur- ther escalation remained high. Qatar Gulf Cup GAZA CITY: Exchanges of fire trig- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin gered by Israel’s targeted killing of a top Netanyahu said Islamic Jihad must stop RIYADH: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates militant in Gaza raged for a second day its stop rocket attacks or “absorb more and Bahrain will participate in this month’s Gulf yesterday and showed little sign of eas- and more blows”. He reiterated his warn- Cup football tournament in Qatar, organizers said ing as the Palestinian death toll shot up ing that “this could take time” and said yesterday, signaling a thaw in their bitter two-year to 23. Fresh rocket barrages were fired at Israel would respond to attacks “without feud with Doha. The three Gulf states as well as Israel, which responded with strikes on mercy”. Islamic Jihad spokesman Musab Egypt cut relations with Qatar in June 2017, accus- what it said were Islamic Jihad militant Al-Barayem said the group was not inter- ing it of bankrolling Islamist extremist groups and sites and rocket-launching squads in the ested in mediation for now as it retaliated of being too close to regional rival Iran. Doha Gaza Strip. Yesterday afternoon, it said it to the killing of one of its commanders. denied the accusations. targeted two Islamic Jihad militants Israel killed senior Islamic Jihad com- In a U-turn, Saudi, Bahrain and the UAE preparing to fire anti-tank missiles. mander Baha Abu Al-Ata and his wife announced they would accept their invitations to Air raid sirens wailed and fireballs Asma in a targeted strike early Tuesday, travel to Qatar to take part in the tournament. It exploded as air defense missiles inter- prompting barrages of tit-for-tat rocket GAZA CITY: A man carries the body of Amir Ayad, a Palestinian boy who was killed will now be held from Nov 26 until Dec 8, the Arab cepted rockets, sending Israelis rushing fire and air strikes. in an Israeli strike yesterday, at the mortuary of Al-Shifa Hospital. — AFP Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF) said at a to bomb shelters. In Gaza, residents sur- Continued on Page 24 briefing in Doha, having been delayed by two days to accommodate Saudi players. The trio will join hosts Qatar and visitors Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and impeachment inquiry, the US president Yemen for the tournament which will be redrawn Trump meets met Erdogan on the White House’s Thursday to cover the extended line-up. South Lawn, together with a military The announcements signal a possible easing of honor guard, before heading straight to the bitter rift between Doha and the Riyadh-led Erdogan, hails the Oval Office. group, which in 2017 imposed bans on shipping, In the run-up to Erdogan’s arrival, trade, direct flights, overflights and land crossings long friendship Trump did not tune into the nationally with Qatar. “Gulf soccer may be giving Bob Dylan’s televised impeachment hearings, 1964 hit, ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’, a new WASHINGTON: US President Donald because he was “too busy”, he told lease on life,” said Gulf analyst James Dorsey. “The Trump greeted his Turkish counterpart reporters. If Trump was ignoring the decision not to boycott is the latest indication that Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White drama on Capitol Hill, he was also turn- Continued on Page 24 House for a high-stakes meeting yester- ing a deaf ear to opposition from many day that underlined his claim to be in Congress, including in his own ignoring the impeachment drama Republican party, to rolling out the red unfolding simultaneously in Congress. carpet for Erdogan. The US-Turkish The two leaders were to hold several relationship has been under severe strain Impeachment hours of meetings, including lunch, following Erdogan’s ordering of an before giving a joint news conference. October offensive against US-allied WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump meet While Congress listened to evidence Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and First Lady Emine Erdogan in the Oval hearings open against Trump from two diplomats in the Continued on Page 24 Office of the White House yesterday. — AFP on live TV WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives delayed barrier protection system which launched momentous televised impeachment hearings Venetian anger could have prevented the disaster. yesterday as Democrats seek to make the case to the “The city is on its knees,” Venice’s American public that President Donald Trump abused the after historic mayor Luigi Brugnaro said in an inter- powers of his office. “There are few actions as conse- view with national broadcaster RAI. quential as the impeachment of a president,” said House “There’s widespread devastation,” he Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, the flood hits city said in the famed St Mark’s Square, California congressman overseeing the historic inquiry in which bore the brunt of the flooding. the Democratic-controlled House. VENICE: Venetians woke yesterday to Tourists lugging heavy suitcases waded “The questions presented by this impeachment inquiry devastating scenes after the highest tide in thigh-high galoshes or barefoot are whether President Trump sought to exploit in 50 years washed through the historic through the submerged alleys, as water (Ukraine’s) vulnerability and invite Ukraine’s interference Italian city, beaching gondolas, trashing taxi and gondola drivers baled sewage- in our elections,” Schiff said. “If this is not impeachable hotels and sending tourists fleeing tainted water out of their trashed vessels. conduct, what is?” The 73-year-old Trump faces the most through rapidly rising waters. The exceptionally intense “acqua perilous challenge of his tumultuous three-year tenure in Shopkeepers on the Grand Canal raged alta,” or high waters, peaked at 1.87 m.