Oil Union Rejects Govt Appeal to Cancel Strike
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SUBSCRIPTION SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2016 RAJAB 10, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Union chief Pope returns Surging oil Villa relegated hails move to with 12 refugees production, as Aguero shift nurseries after visit to low prices to treble takes under MoE Greek island challenge meet Man City third 5Oil union7 rejects21 govt20 Min 19º Max 33º appeal to cancel strike High Tide 08:12 & 19:33 Low Tide Saleh urges workers to renegotiate • Firms begin contingency plans 01:01 & 13:46 40 PAGES NO: 16847 150 FILS By A Saleh and Meshaal Al-Enezi Yemen talks KUWAIT: The oil sector employees’ union reiterated its determination to go ahead with its strike today, turning to begin amid down an appeal from the acting oil minister to call off the total strike in protest at alleged pay cuts and to accept negotiations, adding all preparations had been made. The shaky truce union explained that all employees would show up as usu- al wearing their official uniforms to sign in and out. “The strike will start from 7:00 am till 3:00 pm or during official KUWAIT: A concerted United Nations effort aimed at working hours,” explained the union, adding employees ending nearly 13 months of war in Yemen sees peace and workers working morning or afternoon shifts would talks resuming tomorrow, but with a ceasefire barely go on strike according to their working hours. holding. Previous attempts have failed to stop the Minister of Finance and acting oil minister Anas Al- fighting which has killed thousands of people, forced Saleh yesterday urged oil workers’ unions to uphold almost 2.8 million from their homes and raised public interests, rationality and wisdom to avoid caus- regional tensions. A ceasefire that came into effect ing damage to the Kuwaiti oil sector, and consequently last Sunday at midnight to pave the way for the talks pushing the country into disputes that could harm its in Kuwait has been violated numerous times. reputation, both at home and overseas. The critical But the Iran-backed rebel Houthis, the govern- stage the Kuwaiti economy is experiencing due to the ment, and the United Nations, which sponsored the fall in oil prices prompts unity and working according to ceasefire, have avoided talk of it collapsing, as hap- a joint vision to keep away causing any harm to the oil pened with three earlier truces. The ceasefire does sector and the development process it is going through, not apply to jihadist groups, which have exploited Saleh said in a statement yesterday. the chaos to strengthen their hold in the south. The KPC and its affiliate companies reiterate preservation coalition led by Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia ear- of workers’ rights, wages, bonuses and indemnities, and ly this week described ceasefire violations as the way the latter is calculated, as well as other advan- “minor”. The coalition began air strikes in March last tages they have gained through labor agreements and year to support Yemen’s government. KUWAIT: A general view shows the Shuaiba oil refinery yesterday. Oil workers plan to go on strike today in protest the arbitration authority, the minister added. Continued on Page 13 against what they call the government’s plan to cut their annual benefits and bonuses. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat Continued on Page 13 Two nights of Japan quakes kill 41 KUMAMOTO, Japan: Scores of people counted for over a wide area. News were feared buried alive yesterday after “We are aware of multiple locations two powerful quakes hit southern Japan where people have been buried alive,” in Brief a day apart, killing at least 41 people, as a Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga forecast storm threatened more devas- told a press conference. “Police, firefight- Saudi factory tating landslides. Homes, roads and rail- ers and Self Defense Force (military) per- way lines were swept away when huge sonnel are doing all they can to rescue fire kills 12 hillsides collapsed as thousands of them.” More than 90,000 people have RIYADH: A fire at a petrochemicals plant in the eastern tonnes of mud were dislodged by the been evacuated, including 300 from an Saudi city of Jubail killed 12 workers yesterday, the offi- thunderous seismic tremors. Buildings area near a dam thought to be at risk of cial SPA news agency reported. The fire broke out dur- were reduced to rubble, including a uni- collapse. A hospital was left teetering by ing maintenance work at the Jubail United versity dormitory and apartment com- yesterday morning’s 7.0-magnitude Petrochemical Co, a spokesman for the Jubail and plexes, with dozens of people unac- Continued on Page 8 Yanbu industrial zone, Abdel Rahman Al-Abdel Khader, told the agency. The victims suffocated from fumes of burning chemicals, he said. Another 11 employees were AGRA: Britain’s Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of injured, six of them left in a “serious state”. United is a Cambridge pose at the Taj Mahal yesterday. — AFP subsidiary of Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp (SABIC). Spokesmen for SABIC and United could not immediate- Will and Kate end India ly be reached for comment. trip with Taj Mahal visit Petrol bomb kills Bahrain policeman AGRA, India: Prince William and his wife William told reporters after the couple DUBAI: A petrol bomb attack in a village in Bahrain Kate arrived at the Taj Mahal yesterday, spent about half an hour inside the mau- yesterday killed a policeman and gravely wounded wrapping up their weeklong trip to India soleum, famous for its pure white mar- two more, the Gulf state’s interior ministry said. “A and Bhutan with a visit that carries ble. The Duchess said it had been “incred- policeman was martyred in a terrorist Molotov poignant echoes for Britain’s royal family. ible learning about the romance of the cocktail attack in Kerdabad” village, a tweet from When the late Princess Diana was pho- building and its really beautiful architec- the ministry reported. It said an enquiry had begun tographed sitting alone outside the trag- ture”. Their visit to India’s most recogniza- into the attack which also seriously injured two offi- ic monument to love in 1992, it sparked ble landmark follows a whirlwind week cers. Locals said a large security presence had gath- much media speculation and later that saw the young royals feed baby rhi- ered around the area. The Gulf kingdom has been became a symbol of her failing marriage. nos in northeastern Assam and trek to a rocked by sporadic violence since an uprising in The Taj Mahal was cleared of tourists mountain monastery in Bhutan - retrac- MIMAMI-ASO, Japan: Rescue workers try to save people from a collapsed house 2011 demanding political reform was suppressed. minutes before the Duke and Duchess of ing the footsteps of Prince Charles. in this town in Kuammoto prefecture yesterday. — AFP Cambridge arrived, after flying in earlier Also waiting for the royal couple in to Agra, its streets decked out in fairy Agra was a 73-year-old fan whose family lights and flowers to welcome the high- memories stretch back even further, to Iran, Turkey vow to cooperate profile visitors. the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1961. “I As temperatures soared, workers have been dreaming of meeting the sprinkled ice water on the famous “Diana Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ever ANKARA: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and tions with Moscow cooled after Turkey shot bench” in front of the monument, before since I got to know they would be com- Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan down a Russian warplane. the pair posed for a photo, Kate wearing ing to the Taj,” Surendra Sharma told AFP. vowed to boost trade between their two coun- Despite their rapprochement, Turkey and Iran a white-and-blue dress and her husband Sharma’s late uncle Kailash Nath Sharma, tries at talks yesterday following the lifting of remain on opposing sides of the five-year civil in a matching blue blazer. “It’s a beautiful a keen photographer whose studio in most international sanctions on Tehran. They war in Syria. Tehran backs Syrian President place, stunning designs in there,” Prince Continued on Page 13 also agreed to cooperate in the fight against ter- Bashar Al-Assad, while Ankara sees Assad’s rorism during their meeting at Erdogan’s lavish ouster as key to any resolution of the conflict palace near Ankara, just a day after Iran was and supports rebels fighting to overthrow his accused of supporting extremists at a summit of regime. Rouhani said stability in Syria, Yemen Muslim heads of state in Istanbul. and Iraq would benefit the Islamic world. Rouhani boycotted the closing meeting of Erdogan said despite their differences on region- the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in al issues, Turkey and Iran agreed on the need to protest at the rebuke. His meeting with Erdogan stop the bloodshed in the region. focused on the Syrian conflict and trade The war in Syria has pitted Shiite-majority between the two neighbors. In a joint press con- Iran against Turkey’s ally, predominantly Sunni ference, Erdogan said he hoped bilateral trade Saudi Arabia, with both aiming to increase their would reach $30 billion annually. It currently influence in the region. stands at just $10 billion after years of sanctions. Iran and Saudi Arabia have been embroiled in After being brought in from the cold follow- a diplomatic crisis since a mob set fire to ing last year’s nuclear deal with world powers, Riyadh’s missions in Tehran and Mashhad in Iran is being courted by both Europe and Turkey January in protest at the execution by Saudi as a potentially lucrative market for trade and Arabia of a prominent Shiite cleric.