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SHAABAN 16, 1439 AH WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2018 Max 35º 32 Pages Min 23º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17521 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Ahead of polls, apathy and Chaos and color in May On home turf, everyone Benzema scores twice against 11 disillusionment in Tunisia 11 Day rallies across globe 16 wants a piece of Salah 16 Bayern to send Real into final 10 MPs file no-confidence motion against oil minister Assembly debates premier’s grilling in closed session KUWAIT: (Left) HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah speaks during a grilling session at the National Assembly yesterday. (Center) MP Abdulwahab Al-Babtain speaks as MP Omar Al-Tabtabaei looks on. (Right) Oil Minister Bakheet Al-Rasheedi speaks during the session. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat By B Izzak Rasheedi, who has been in office for less than five Al-Kandari, Faisal Al-Kandari, Hamdan Al-Azemi, officials on retirement, saying this violated the law. months, was grilled by opposition MPs Omar Al- Babtain, Tabtabaei, Adel Al-Damkhi, Salah Khorshid, Tabtabaei charged that only 42 percent of the new KUWAIT: Ten lawmakers yesterday filed a no-confi- Tabtabaei and Abdulwahab Al-Babtain, who accused Safa Al-Hashem and Khalil Abul. refinery has been completed, although the oil sector dence motion against Oil and Electricity Minister the minister and top oil executives of causing billions of During the lengthy debate, the two MPs blasted the has announced that 80 percent has been completed. He Bakheet Al-Rasheedi following an 11-hour marathon dollars in losses for the oil sector, which provides the minister and the top oil executives of the national oil claimed that a foreign businessman paid bribes to get grilling over allegations of corruption and squandering majority of Kuwait’s revenues. The minister denied the conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) and other an oil project which eventually cost public funds close public funds. After the oil minister’s grilling was com- allegations and explained that there were no delays in oil companies. Babtain accused the minister of causing to $500 million. Tabtabaei claimed that CEO of KPC pleted, the Assembly began the debate of the grilling mega oil projects underway and that the alleged losses hundreds of millions of dollars in losses by delaying the Nezar Al-Adsani convinced the prime minister to against HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al- in the oil sector were not based on material evidence. opening of the joint venture refinery in Vietnam, saying establish a new oil company worth $6 billion and a year Mubarak Al-Sabah, and later it was scheduled to Ahead of the no-confidence motion, the Assembly that Kuwait pays annual interest of $52 million for the later called for scrapping it to cut spending. debate a grilling against Minister of Social Affairs and rejected a proposal by 16 MPs to form a committee to delay. In addition, the oil sector has loaded nine oil ves- The minister denied the allegations and in particular Labor Hind Al-Sabaeeh. investigate allegations in the grilling and submit its find- sels worth $900 million for the refinery, which did not denied the bribery case. He also denied that there is The prime minister said he was prepared, although ings to the Assembly after two months. Five MPs later start on time and caused the losses, he said. any plan to scrap the $6-billion company. Rasheedi also “we all know the motives and the aims” of the grilling. submitted the same proposal but said the findings of He also said that the oil sector paid end of service stressed that he has answered 151 questions out of 153 The government immediately demanded the debate to the committee should be submitted in just one month compensation totaling KD 3.4 million to 25 expatriate questions he received from MPs. A number of MPs also be held behind closed doors and speaker Marzouq Al- instead of two. The Assembly was likely to vote on the employees, alleging irregularities. Babtain also accused defended the minister, saying he has been in the post Ghanem ordered spectators to leave the chamber to proposal later. The lawmakers who signed the no-confi- the minister of being responsible for lucrative retire- for only a few months and should have been given more allow lawmakers to debate the government’s request. dence motion are: Al-Humaidi Al-Subaei, Abdulkarim ment packages of millions of dinars given to senior oil time to be evaluated. News in brief crisis after Duterte said on Sunday that Manila moves he was making permanent the departure ban in place since February, when a mur- Morocco severs ties with Iran dered Filipina maid was found in her to halt Kuwait employer’s freezer. Kuwait’s Deputy RABAT: Morocco has severed diplomatic ties with Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Subaih said Iran over Tehran’s support for the Polisario Front, a labor dispute on Monday the row was “largely a mis- Western Sahara independence movement, the understanding” and “we do not believe Moroccan foreign minister said yesterday. Foreign in escalation”. Minister Nasser Bourita accused Iran and its MANILA: The Philippines yesterday Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Lebanese ally Hezbollah of training and arming welcomed an olive branch from Kuwait Polisario fighters via the Iranian embassy in Algeria. over their migrant labor row, days after Peter Cayetano welcomed that concil- Bourita said he had just returned from Iran after President Rodrigo Duterte announced a iatory message yesterday. “This ges- informing it of Morocco’s decision to sever relations. permanent ban on Filipino workers ture on the part of Kuwait, a country Rabat’s ambassador has already returned home and going to the state. The dispute, simmer- with which we have a shared history Iran’s charge d’affaires will be expelled with immedi- ing for months, erupted last week when and strong people-to-people ties, will ate effect, he said. — Reuters Kuwait expelled the Philippine ambassa- allow us to move forward,” Cayetano dor over videos of embassy staff helping said in a statement. “We affirm our Filipino workers flee allegedly abusive friendship with the government of bosses in Kuwait. Kuwait and its people. KUWAIT: Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah meets Philippine Presidential Abe pledges not to move embassy But the Kuwaitis sought to calm the Continued on Page 11 Adviser on OFWs Abdullah Mamao yesterday. — KUNA RAMALLAH: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday marriages in the United States start his country would not move its Israeli embassy to Facebook to online-and that some 200 million Jerusalem, official media reported, two weeks before Facebook users identify as being single. the United States completes its controversial reloca- Under the new feature, users will be able tion. Meeting in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, Abe launch new to create a separate “dating” profile not told Abbas his country “will not move its embassy to visible to their network of friends, with Jerusalem”, a readout on Palestinian official news potential matches recommended based agency Wafa said. It said the Japanese premier dating service on dating preferences, points in com- reasserted his country’s support for the creation of an SAN JOSE, California: mon, and mutual acquaintances. independent Palestinian state within the framework of Facebook chief Zuckerberg did not specify whether the two-state solution. — AFP Mark Zuckerberg announced yesterday the world’s largest social network will the feature would be free of charge, in soon include a new dating feature - line with Facebook’s core offer - but the while vowing to make privacy protection announcement was enough to send Iran calls Bibi ‘infamous liar’ its top priority in the wake of the shares in the online dating giant Cambridge Analytica scandal. Match.com tumbling by 17 percent. The TEHRAN: Iran yesterday branded Israeli Prime Zuckerberg unveiled the plans as he 33-year-old CEO also said the dating Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an “infamous liar” over addressed Facebook’s annual developers offer was built from the ground-up with his allegations of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons conference in San Jose, California - privacy and safety in mind, as he under- program. Foreign ministry spokesman Bahram emphasizing that the focus would be on scored the firm’s commitment to boost- Ghasemi called the accusations that Tehran lied about helping people find long-term partners. ing privacy protections. its nuclear ambitions “worn-out, useless and shame- “This is going to be for building real, Facebook’s closely-watched develop- ful”. Netanyahu’s comments came from a “broke and long-term relationships, not just hook- er conference comes as the giant faces infamous liar who has had nothing to offer except lies ups,” Zuckerberg said in presenting the intense global scrutiny over the mass SAN JOSE: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the F8 Facebook and deceits,” Ghasemi said in a statement. — AFP new feature, noting that one in three Continued on Page 11 Developers conference yesterday. — AFP 2 Established 1961 Local Wednesday, May 2, 2018 Kuwait shows remarkable engagement with Iraq: Germany Minister stresses need to support Iraq after defeat of IS KUWAIT: Kuwait has shown a remarkable “pattern of warfare by the Syrian regime” engagement with Iraq, offering multifaceted which was following a policy that starve peo- assistance and recently hosting a reconstruc- ple, bombarding populated areas with cluster tion conference pledging billions of dollars to bombs and recently the use of chemical the fellow Arab country, in addition to contri- weapons, triggering global outrage. UN butions and commitment to regional stability Security Council failed, due to a Russian veto and security, a German official said.