SAFAR 7, 1441 AH SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2019 28 Pages Max 41º Min 23º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17950 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Kuwait aspires to more India clampdown hits Beatles classic ‘Abbey Road’ Muhammad sets world record as 3 flights with India: Envoy 10 Kashmir Silicon Valley 21 tops charts again after 50 yrs 28 Barshim soars for Qatar gold Protesters flood Iraq streets anew as death toll nears 100 Authorities lift Baghdad curfew • Sadr bloc boycotts parliamentary session BAGHDAD: Renewed protests took unleashed into the air - and in Nasiriyah, place under live fire in Iraq’s capital and AFP correspondents said. A curfew in the country’s south yesterday as the Baghdad had been lifted yesterday government struggled to agree a morning. Parliament had been due to response to days of rallies that have left meet at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) but could nearly 100 dead. The largely sponta- not reach quorum, after firebrand cleric neous gatherings of demonstrators - Moqtada Al-Sadr’s bloc of 54 lawmakers whose demands have evolved since they and other factions boycotted the session. began on Tuesday from employment and The former militia leader threw his better services to fundamental govern- weight behind the demonstrations on ment change - have swelled despite an Friday with a call for the resignation of Internet blackout and overtures by the Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi. Sadr’s country’s elite. movement has the power and organiza- Among the 94 dead across the coun- tion to bring large numbers of support- try since Tuesday, 55 were killed in ers onto the streets, but at the risk of Baghdad while 250 others in the capital alienating many of those whose protests were treated for sniper wounds, the Iraqi in recent days have been based on parliament’s human rights commission rejecting all of Iraq’s feuding political said. Nearly 4,000 people have been factions. Parliamentary speaker wounded since the protests began in Mohammad Al-Halbusi had extended a Baghdad and spread to cities across the hand to protesters saying “Your voice is south, it added. Yesterday, dozens gath- being heard”, and he had been hoping to ered around the oil ministry in central discuss job creation and social welfare Baghdad, facing live rounds fired in their schemes with lawmakers in the session. direction, an AFP photographer said. But the mainly young, male protesters Thousands also descended on the have insisted their movement is not linked BAGHDAD: Iraqi protesters take part in a demonstration against state corruption, failing public services and unemployment in the Iraqi capital’s governorate buildings in the southern to any party or religious establishment central Khellani Square on Friday. — AFP cities of Diwaniyah - where gunfire was Continued on Page 24 impeachment investigation against Trump News in brief Pompeo slams came as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Democratic-led congressional Health insurance online only committees leading the inquiry of having ‘harassment’ as “harassed and abused” State Department KUWAIT: The interior ministry’s PR and security employees by contacting them directly media department said as part of the ministry’s Dems subpoena for documents rather than going through efforts to automate services provided to expats, it department lawyers. “That’s harassment,” decided to automate health insurance services and White House Pompeo said during a visit to Athens, make them available only online. Accordingly, effec- “and I’m never going to let that happen tive today, Oct 6, 2019, all health insurance paper- to my team.” work will be halted in favor of online payment at all WASHINGTON: The Trump administra- The House committees leading the residency affairs departments, it said, noting that tion complained yesterday of harassment probe issued their subpoenas as evidence paper slips will be accepted at various citizen serv- by Democratic lawmakers who issued mounted that Trump abused his powers by ice centers until Oct 28, when all health insurance subpoenas for White House documents attempting to use US military aid to pres- transactions completely go online on the health regarding President Donald Trump’s sure Ukraine President Volodymyr ministry’s website www.moh.gov.kw. alleged pressuring of Ukraine for political Zelensky to seek damaging information on favors. And in a key development, a poten- 2020 Democratic rival Joe Biden. The tial second whistleblower was reportedly investigations were touched off by reports ATHENS: Communist-affiliated protesters hold placards as they take part in a demonstra- Foreigners can share Saudi hotel rooms weighing whether to come forward. that an original whistleblower - reportedly The latest explosive turns in the Continued on Page 24 tion to protest against the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday. — AFP RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is allowing foreign men and women to rent hotel rooms together without prov- ing they are related, after the kingdom launched a thousands of followers on Facebook, new tourist visa regime to attract holidaymakers. Aussies held Instagram and YouTube, were alleged to Women, including Saudis, are also permitted to rent have used a drone to take pictures of “mil- hotel rooms by themselves. The Saudi Commission in Iran return itary sites and forbidden areas”, an Iranian for Tourism and National Heritage confirmed a judiciary spokesman said last month. report on Friday by Okaz newspaper, adding: “All Australian Foreign Minister Marise Saudi nationals are asked to show family ID or home in swap Payne said they were released after “very proof of relationship on checking into hotels. This is sensitive negotiations” and had been not required of foreign tourists. All women, includ- SYDNEY: An Australian travel-blogging reunited with their family in Australia. “We ing Saudis, can book and stay in hotels alone, pro- couple held in Iran on spying charges are extremely happy and relieved to be viding ID on check-in.” — Reuters have been freed and returned home, safely back in Australia with those we authorities said yesterday, in a possible love,” the couple said in a statement swap for an Iranian student wanted in the issued by the foreign ministry in Canberra. No health insurance, no entry US. Perth-based Jolie King and Mark “While the past few months have been Firkin had been documenting their jour- very difficult, we know it has also been WASHINGTON: The US will block the entry of ney from Australia to Britain on social tough for those back home who have been immigrants without health insurance or the ability media for the past two years, but went worried for us.” to pay for medical bills, President Donald Trump silent after posting updates from Hours later, state media in Tehran said TEHRAN: An image grab shows Reza Dehbashi, a PhD student at the University of revealed Friday. Consular officers will only be Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan about three an Iranian student held in Australia for 13 Queensland in Brisbane, talking to relatives after arriving at Imam Khomeini International allowed to issue visas to prospective immigrants months ago. The pair, who have tens of Continued on Page 24 Airport yesterday. — AFP who can prove they “will not impose a substantial burden” on the US healthcare system, according to a proclamation authored by Trump. “Lawful immi- and I don’t eat at all” to make sure the children have grants are about three times more likely than Families survive some food, she said. Zimbabwe is experiencing one of United States citizens to lack health insurance,” the worst droughts in history, blamed on the effects of PayPal abandons Trump said in the proclamation. — AFP the El Nino weather cycle. In addition, the former on one meal amid regional breadbasket is in the throes of its worst eco- Facebook’s Libra nomic crisis in a decade with inflation estimated to be Edible sensor helps TB patients Zimbabwe drought over 900 percent. Because of the combined effect of drought and an cryptocurrency BUHERA, Zimbabwe: In eastern Zimbabwe’s parched ailing economy, more than five million rural PARIS: An ingestible sensor that allows doctors to SAN FRANCISCO: Pioneering digital payments Buhera district, Omega Kufakunesu’s family has been Zimbabweans, nearly a third of the population, are going remotely monitor tuberculosis patients’ intake of firm PayPal on Friday said it is abandoning an forced to scale down daily meals to just a portion of to face food shortages before the next harvest in 2020. medication has the potential to save millions of lives alliance intended to oversee the Facebook-backed vegetables and sadza, a thick maize-meal porridge. In A disturbing feature of this year’s food shortages is the and revolutionize treatment for the world’s most Libra cryptocurrency, which has come under attack the morning only the children get the porridge, and increase in the number urban poor who are vulnerable. deadly infectious disease, researchers said Friday. A by regulators. “PayPal has made the decision to for- everyone skips lunch. “During the day we have wild fruit The government estimates that up to 2.2 million people randomized trial of 77 patients in California, pub- go further participation in the Libra Association at collected by the children, and at night we have smaller in towns and cities are struggling to feed themselves. lished in the journal PLOS medicine, found that 93 this time,” the California-based company told AFP. portions of sadza with vegetables,” harvested from the WFP country representative Eddie Rowe said there percent of patients using the sensor were taking “We remain supportive of Libra’s aspirations and communal village garden, said Kufakunesu, sitting out- are “more hungry people than ever before in their daily treatment doses, compared with 63 per- look forward to continued dialogue on ways to work side her thatched round hut.