Government Steps up Deportation of Expats
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2016 RAJAB 23, 1437 AH No: 16860 MPs: No human Former US House Villarreal strike rights violations, speaker: Cruz is late to dent no political ‘Lucifer in the Liverpool prisoners4 in GCC flesh’ 7 hopes48 Government steps up deportation of expats Min 24º 150 Fils Max 36º Most deportations ‘administrative’ • Traffic offenders includ- KUWAIT: Kuwait has stepped up deportations of expatriate workers this year, a newspaper reported yesterday, with most expelled for outstaying their residency permits but others sent home for traffic offences. In the first four months of the year, authorities deported 14,400 expats, compared with 26,600 in the whole of 2015, Al-Anbaa newspaper reported. Expatriates make up some 70 percent of Kuwait’s 4.3 million population, greatly outnumbering its 1.3 million citizens. In April 2013, then labor minister Thekra al-Rashidi announced plans to deport around 100,000 expatriates each year for the next decade to reduce the number of foreigners living in the state by one million. The government made a string of traffic offences punishable by deportation, including skipping red lights and driving without a license, a document difficult for many expats to obtain. Al-Anbaa said most of the deportations were carried out without trial, known as admin- istrative deportations, using controversial powers given to senior interior ministry officials that have drawn criticism from human rights groups. — AFP Copter crash off ALEPPO: A Syrian family runs for cover amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following an airstrike on the rebel- Norway kills 13 held neighborhood of Al-Qatarji in this northern Syrian city yesterday. — AFP OSLO: A helicopter transporting North Sea oil workers crashed off the coast of western Norway yesterday, killing all 13 people Violence rocks Aleppo on board, rescue services said. The Super Puma chopper went down around midday in the archipelago off the coast of Bergen, Norway’s second-biggest city. Eleven bodies have been recovered and the two remaining people are presumed City left out of ‘freeze’ • ‘Loveliest doctor’ killed dead, rescue services said. “We presume that all 13 are dead,” ALEPPO: Regime aircraft yesterday pounded rebel areas of Syria’s ing dental services and treatment for chronic illnesses for about five Sola rescue centre spokesman Borge Galta told AFP. Search second city Aleppo, which was left out of a deal to freeze fighting years, was badly damaged. Medical equipment lay scattered across and rescue operations were called off late yesterday afternoon. despite international outrage over renewed violence. Shelling and the clinic’s floor, covered in debris and dust, an AFP correspondent The aircraft was carrying 11 Norwegians, one Briton and air raids in the city over the past week have killed more than 230 there said. “We serve civilians in this establishment, there were no one Italian, rescue services said. The cause of the accident civilians and brought a landmark February 27 ceasefire to the verge fighters here,” said Hassan Al-Ahmad, who heads the clinic. was not immediately known. The helicopter broke into of collapse. Despite the carnage, Aleppo has been excluded from a It was the second time this week that an air strike hit one of the pieces near a small island and debris was found scattered fresh “freeze” in fighting brokered by the United States and Russia. few medical facilities still operating in rebel areas. Late Wednesday, on land and at sea. Part of the chopper was resting on the Syria’s armed forces said that the freeze would begin at 1:00 am air strikes hit the Al-Quds hospital and a nearby block of flats in the seabed under five to seven metres of water, around 20 m today and last for 24 hours in Damascus and the nearby rebel bas- Sukkari neighborhood, killing 30 people. Dr Mohammad Wassim from land, rescue officials said. tion of Eastern Ghouta, and 72 hours in the coastal Latakia province. Maaz, known as the most qualified pediatrician in eastern Aleppo, Another Sola rescue center spokesman, Anders Bang A Syrian security source said the deal was brokered by the US and was among the dead. “He was friendly, kind and he used to joke a Andersen, told AFP the chopper had been on its way to Russia, but that Moscow had refused a request by Washington to lot with the whole staff. He was the loveliest doctor in our hospital,” Bergen’s airport when it crashed with 11 passengers and two include Aleppo. US special envoy for Syria Michael Ratney said yes- Dr Hatem, a colleague, wrote in a letter published by The Syria crew members on board. It was returning from the Gullfaks B terday the agreement was a “general recommitment” to the origi- Campaign advocacy group. platform, in one of Norway’s biggest offshore oil fields, which is nal truce, “not a new set of local ceasefires”. US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Moscow to press its operated by state-owned Statoil. Several witnesses described Violence shook Aleppo for the eighth consecutive day yesterday, Damascus ally “to stop attacking civilians, medical facilities, and first seeing the aircraft spiral downwards, followed by a powerful as crude barrel bombs crashed into residential neighborhoods amid responders, and to abide fully by the cessation of hostilities.” Al- explosion, and people were seen in the sea. wailing ambulances. At least 17 people were killed in regime bom- Quds was supported by both Doctors Without Borders and the “There was an explosion and a very peculiar engine sound, bardment of the city’s eastern districts, the Syrian Observatory for International Committee of the Red Cross. so I looked out the window. I saw the helicopter falling quickly Human Rights said. Rebel groups fired a barrage of rockets on gov- The UN’s rights chief yesterday slammed world powers into the sea. Then I saw a big explosion,” an island resident told ernment-controlled western neighborhoods, killing at least 13 peo- backing opposing sides in Syria. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the local daily Bergensavisen. “Pieces (of the helicopter) flew into ple, the monitor said. “The earth is shaking beneath our feet,” one renewed violence showed a “monstrous disregard for civilians the air,” she said, adding that she saw the rotor detach. The resident of the densely populated Bustan Al-Qasr district told AFP. lives by all parties to the conflict”. “In the minds of many, the crash was the deadliest helicopter accident in Norway since One raid hit a local clinic in the rebel-held Al-Maja neighborhood, world’s great powers have in effect become accomplices to the 1978, when a chopper plunged into the sea, killing 18 people. wounding several people including a nurse, the civil defence group sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of human beings, and the “Horrible reports of a helicopter crash,” Prime Minister Erna known as the White Helmets said. The clinic, which had been provid- displacement of millions.” — AFP Solberg tweeted. — AFP LOCAL SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2016 Kuwait to sign educational cooperation agreement with South Korea: Minister KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education intends to sign some agreements with South Korea on boosting educational cooperation, including an agreement to dispatch Kuwaiti students to study at the Korean universities, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr Bader Al-Essa announced. The agreements will be signed during His Highness the Prime Minister of Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al- Education Hamad Al-Sabah’s visit to South Korea, Dr Bader Al-Essa the minister said on Thursday. During the visit, Essa would discuss with Korean officials sharing His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expertise and dispatching of Kuwaiti students for studying there, he said. The visit reflects the desire of the two sides to promote constructive cooperation between the two friendly UN Secretary-General lauds countries in scientific fields, he added. He noted that Kuwait is keen on benefiting from successful experiments of South Amir’s humanitarian efforts Korea in developing education. — KUNA KUWAIT: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hailed Kuwait for hosting intra-Yemen peace talks that aimed Defense Minister appreciation to support given by His Highness the Amir at ending a war that brought havoc to the country for many Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to various humani- years. He hoped that after these talks, a reconstruction and commends drill tarian causes. Ban made this remark during a phone call he rebuilding process will begin in Yemen, with the help of the made to His Highness the Amir yesterday. The UN chief also international community. — KUNA KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Khaled Al- Jarrah Al-Sabah applauded the efforts made by participants in Al-Bayrak-6 (flag-6) maneuver to reach the set goals Premier returns home and enhance the preparedness of the Armed Forces. He thanked the military KUWAIT: After representing His top brass for planning and setting the Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- stage for the war games, according to a Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in signing the statement released by the Defense Defense Minister Paris Climate Agreement (PCA) in New Ministry’s Public Relations and Moral Sheikh Khaled York, His Highness the Prime Minister Guidance Department on Thursday. Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al- During his visit to the command Sabah and his accompanying delega- staff of the drill, Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah was briefed on the sce- tion returned home late Thursday. narios of dealing with emergency situations and coordinating Upon arrival, His Highness the Premier the efforts of the defense and, logistics and public mobilization was received by First Deputy Prime departments.