SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016 SAFAR 8, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Legislations May lays Delhi shuts Veteran needed to groundwork schools as smog Evra called address key for post-Brexit sparks health up to France issues: 3Sour India21 trade deal ‘emergency’28 squad19 Ruling family, leading figures Min 27º urged to stay away from polls Max 16º High Tide 03:58 & 18:36 Reform initiative also calls for change in voting system Low Tide 11:11 & 23:25 40 PAGES NO: 17044 150 FILS KUWAIT: A group of leading personalities that include for- mer ministers and lawmakers, calling itself the Reform and Clinton, Trump in frenzied campaign finale National Consensus Initiative Group, yesterday launched a political reconciliation initiative to end the deterioration in the country’s affairs. The initiative called on “competing members of the ruling family and other leading figures” to stop interfering in the election through “political money” and other means that could influence the outcome of the parliamentary polls, allowing them to ensure the success of their “candidates” in the election. The initiative did not provide further details, but there have been increasing accusations that some influential fig- ures, in a bid to influence the outcome of the polls to serve their interests, have pumped millions of dinars into the process. Allegations of vote-buying and other forms of bribery and corruption have been repeatedly made, but very few people have been sent to court over such claims. The group consists of 20 personalities representing vari- ous political schools of thought and includes people like for- mer justice minister and deputy speaker Meshari Al-Anjari, veteran politician and former minister Yousef Al-Nasef, for- mer minister and MP Abdulwahab Al-Haroun, former minis- ter Abdulwahab Al-Wazzan and several other dignitaries. The initiative also called on the next Assembly and gov- ernment to review the one-vote voting system, which was unilaterally introduced by the government in late 2012. The initiative said the outcome of the single-vote system led to social fragmentation on sectarian, family and tribal bases, which is incapable of building true national unity. The cur- (Left) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds a mask of himself which he picked up from a supporter during a rally in the Robarts Arena of the rent election is being held on the basis of the single-vote Sarasota Fairgrounds yesterday in Sarasota, Florida. (Right) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gestures as she takes the stage during a campaign system for the third time in a row. rally on Sunday in Manchester, New Hampshire. — AFP/AP Continued on Page 13 WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump launched into the frenzied final day of their historic fight Road to 270 for the White House yesterday, with blowout rallies in the HILLARYHILLARRYY The latest AP analysis of the DONALD handful of swing states that will decide who leads the CLINTCLINTONON 2016 electoral landscape TRUMP United States. Clinton, the front-running Democrat, aimed 274 Updated Nov.5 190 to nail down her narrow lead with stops in three battle- ground states, as President Barack Obama covered for her STRONG LEAN TOSSUP:TOSSUP: LEAN STRONG elsewhere before they joined up at a star-studded grand DEM: 200 DEM: 74 74 GOP: 46 GOP: 144 finale in Philadelphia. GEOGRAPHIC ELECTORAL ANALYSIS MEME Trump, the billionaire Republican nominee, was setting AK VT NH out from must-win Florida on a five state swing, the culmi- NY nation of a dramatic run for the presidency as a rightwing WA MA MT ND nationalist vowing radical change in America’s relationship MN RI OR ID WY SD WI PA CT with the world. “I want the entire corrupt Washington MI NJ NV UT NENE IA establishment to hear the words we are all about to say: DE IL IN OH VA MD when we win tomorrow, we are going to drain the swamp,” CA MO AZ CO DC he told cheering supporters in Sarasota, Florida. Chants of KS TN NM OK AR KY WV NC “Drain the swamp! Drain the swamp” rose from the crowd. LA MS AL Despite his outward confidence, the 70-year-old GA SC TX mogul’s last best hope of winning today may be to break HI through a wall of Democratic support in industrial north- In Maine and Nebraska, two electoral votes are allocated to the FL ern states like Michigan, and Trump, Clinton and Obama all statewide winner and one to the winner of each congresscongressionalional district, raising the possibility of a split vote in those states. focused precious final efforts campaigning there. SOURCE: AP Election Research AP Continued on Page 13 Qatar raises govt salaries Saudi Arabia to hike municipal fees DOHA/KHOBAR: Qatar will raise the salaries of govern- in 2015 at Qatar Petroleum. Cutbacks have hit Qatar’s ment employees next year in a rare spending hike by a vast migrant workforce the hardest but locals - for Gulf state at a time when low oil and gas prices are whom affluence and stellar economic growth have been weighing on state finances. Some Qataris’ basic salaries the norm - have also been affected. will double, under a law to be passed in January that was Some government employees have been annoyed published in Al Sharq newspaper late on Sunday. Salaries by being told to fly economy class, share offices and for non-Qataris remain the same. Gas-rich Qatar is the cancel journal subscriptions. Qataris on social media wealthiest country in the world per capita and its rough- yesterday applauded the law as supporting citizens ly 300,000 citizens enjoy free healthcare and education. through difficult economic times. Neighboring Saudi But plummeting energy prices since mid-2014 have Arabia in September cut ministers’ salaries by 20 percent forced the country to rein in lavish public spending at a in one of the most drastic measures yet by the energy- time when it is having to fund a $200 billion infrastruc- rich kingdom which racked up a record budget deficit of ture upgrade for the 2022 football World Cup. State sub- nearly $100 billion last year. In 2011, Qatar raised state sidies have been slashed and jobs cut at state institu- employees’ salaries by 60 percent. tions, including more than 1,000 foreign workers let go Continued on Page 13 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016 LOCAL KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with those in charge of Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Center project with advisors Khaled Salem Ali Mohammed and Adel Buresly, in the presence of His as well as the artists whoparticipated in the center’s opening ceremony. — Amiri Diwan and KUNA photos Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. New court officials swear in before Amir Sheikh Sabah praises cultural center KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah, with the attendance of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, received yesterday at Bayan Palace Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Acting Justice Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah. His Highness the Amir also met with Advisor Khaled Salem Ali Mohammed where he was constitu- tionally sworn in as Vice-President of the Court of Cassation and Advisor Adel Buresly where he was constitutionally sworn in as President of the Court of First Instance. Landmark Russian Ambassador to Kuwait Alexey Solomatin presents to His Highness His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah meets with artists who participated His Highness the Amir also the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah the Kuwaiti copy of in the center’s opening ceremony. the silver replica stamps allocated for Hajj. received Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al- center’s opening ceremony. ed in the center’s opening ceremo- Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al- for Hajj in Holy City of Makkah. The Earlier, His Highness the Crown Sabah, the Amiri Diwan During the meeting, His ny, wishing them luck and success. Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. meeting was also attended by Prince met with Minister of Administrative and Financial Chief Highness the Amir praised efforts The participating artists mean- Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Education and Minister of Higher and Chairman of the Executive made to accomplish this project, while expressed their honor to par- Ambassadors Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah. Education Dr Bader Al-Essa, Minister Committee for the establishment of and expressed his gratitude for the ticipate in the opening of this archi- In other news, His Highness the Meanwhile, His Highness the Crown of Commerce and Industry Dr cultural centers of the Amiri Diwan hard work done by the team that tectural edifice, and expressed their Amir received Russian Ambassador Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al- Yousef Al-Ali, Sheikh Homoud Abdulaziz Saud Ishaq and those in has completed this cultural land- happiness for meeting His Highness to Kuwait Alexey Solomatin. The Jaber Al-Sabah received the newly- Sabah Al-Salem Al-Homoud Al- charge of Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad mark in record time with global the Amir, wishing Kuwait more Russian Ambassador presented to appointed ambassadors of South Sabah and National Security Cultural Center project as well as specifications. His Highness also progress and prosperity. The team His Highness the Kuwaiti copy of Sudan, Bangladesh and Yemen to Apparatus Chief Sheikh Thamer Al- the artists who participated in the thanked the artists who participat- later met with His Highness the the silver replica stamps allocated Kuwait.