JAMADA ALTHANI 23, 1439 AH SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 2018 Max 28º 32 Pages Min 18º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17477 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Syria army cuts off main towns in rebel enclave Regime gains ground in intensified assault on Ghouta DOUMA, Syria: Syrian regime forces yesterday cut off the largest town in Eastern Ghouta from the rest of the opposition enclave in a blow to beleaguered rebels Battered maid defending their last bastion near Damascus. Government troops and allied militia have recaptured half of the besieged region in a blistering assault presses charges launched on Feb 18 that has left nearly 1,000 civilians dead and prompted global outcry. They have pursued a against sponsor divide-and-conquer strategy, eating away at rebel-held towns and successfully isolating Ghouta’s main town of KUWAIT: The Douma yesterday. Philippines Embassy Regime fighters seized control of the road linking has initiated legal Douma with the town of Harasta further west, and also action against the captured the town of Misraba, according to the Syrian sponsor of a Filipina Observatory for Human Rights. “Regime forces have maid, who said she therefore divided Eastern Ghouta into three parts - has been facing Douma and its surroundings, Harasta in the west, and abuse since she the rest of the towns further south,” the Britain-based started working with monitor said. the family a year ago. A security source said the vic- Shelling and air strikes slammed into Douma yester- tim’s sponsor - who is a police officer - attempted to day, trapping residents inside cellars transformed into resolve the problem by going to the embassy to urge makeshift bomb shelters, an AFP correspondent in the the victim to drop charges, but his request was reject- town said. Rescue workers and medics were struggling to ed. The maid was able to escape while the officer and navigate the town’s rubble-littered roads to bring wound- his family were at a camp and headed to the embassy. ed residents back to field clinics. Douma’s opposition-run The source said instructions were given to the local council issued an urgent “distress call” yesterday to domestic help department to investigate the incident, international organizations. “The bomb shelters and base- which revealed inhumane treatment by the family. The ments are full, and people are sleeping in the streets and interior ministry is expected to take legal action and will in public gardens,” the statement said. “For three days, it refer the person who caused the injuries to court. The has been hard to bury the dead because of the intense ministry added it also reviewed a video clip on social DOUMA, Syria: Syrian men check the damage following Syrian government shelling on this town in the rebel-held bombing on the cemetery,” it added. media about the attack on the Filipina. — Al-Anbaa enclave of Eastern Ghouta yesterday. — AFP Continued on Page 11 the 2016 US presidential election to News in brief Putin: Maybe undermine Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign and boost Republican Donald BAE inks Saudi deal for 48 jets Trump. Last month US Special Counsel Jews meddled Robert Mueller, who is conducting a LONDON: Britain has signed a multi-billion-pound widespread probe into Russia’s role in the preliminary order from Saudi Arabia for 48 in US election campaign, indicted 13 Russian nationals Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, military equipment and three Russian companies for alleged- Russian President maker BAE Systems said on Friday. The lucrative WASHINGTON: ly backing Trump, maligning Clinton, and Vladimir Putin suggested in a US televi- deal was unveiled on the third and final day of Saudi engaging in other election interference. sion interview that Ukrainians, Tatars or “So what if they’re Russians?” Putin Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Jews could have meddled in the 2016 US said of the allegations, according to tran- Britain. BAE Systems added in a statement that the presidential election - but not the scripts of the NBC interview released late order would help Riyadh modernize its armed Kremlin. “Why have you decided the Friday. “There are 146 million Russians. forces under the kingdom’s ‘Vision 2030’ economic Russian authorities, myself included, gave So what?... I don’t care. I couldn’t care plan. The news comes after Qatar inked a deal late anybody permission to do this?” Putin less... They do not represent the interests last year to buy 24 Typhoon jets for some $8 billion. asked in the often-combative interview of the Russian state. Maybe,” Putin said, Friday’s blockbuster announcement follows long- with NBC television. “they are not even Russians but running discussions with Saudi Arabia, which The leading US intelligence agencies MOSCOW: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin speaks with US NBC news network Ukrainians, Tatars or Jews, but with concluded last year that Putin personally already has a total of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon anchor Megyn Kelly at the Kremlin on March 1. — AFP Russian citizenship, which should also be planes in its fleet. The news also comes just two directed an intelligence effort to influence Continued on Page 11 weeks after BAE posted sliding annual net profits - but forecast improving defense budgets across its major markets. — AFP can no longer go to wells to collect Madagascar’s water, or into the fields. Even our own Kim an enigma land has been sold by our relatives.” Qatar reforms labor complaints Despite winning the battle against hidden battle the infection, having been cured, for Washington DOHA: Qatar yesterday said it will introduce a Ralaiharo continues to live in the labor panel to assess grievances by migrant work- against leprosy colony, such is the lifelong stigma. He WASHINGTON: Kim Jong Un has been ers later this month, a major reform agreed by the came to Ilena in Madagascar with his accused of executing generals, murdering 2022 World Cup host with the United Nations. A FIANARANTSOA, Madagascar: mother when he was just 13 years old relatives, presiding over global criminal government spokesman confirmed that the panel Joseph Ralaiharo has lived cut off from after becoming infected with leprosy, operations and has threatened the United would begin its work on March 18. Labor disputes society in a remote village in central also known as Hansen’s disease. He has States with nuclear Armageddon. But a have, until now, been dealt with inside the court Madagascar for more than half a century. not left the village since. Ilena lies at the string of surprising diplomatic openings - system, but the panel will be overseen by the labor His battle with leprosy, an infection that top of a small hill, surrounded by trees, including Thursday’s stunning offer to ministry. The panel was part of a package of causes unsightly sores, nerve damage as miles from the nearest town, meet US President Donald Trump - has wholesale reforms agreed by Qatar last November well as eye and respiratory problems, has Fianarantsoa, and was built in 1892 as a only deepened the enigma surrounding as it sought to head off an enquiry being launched left him shunned by society. “I can’t go dedicated community for those with the North Korean leader. At a lengthy din- Kim Jong-Un by the UN’s International Labor Organization home anymore because nobody wants to leprosy. ner he hosted for South Korean officials (ILO). Doha says the proposed reforms will dis- see me,” said 65-year-old Ralaiharo. “We Continued on Page 11 on Monday, the man once dismissed by mantle the “kafala” sponsorship system and place the West as irrational and paranoid pre- workers on a contractual system instead. — AFP sented himself as gracious and confident. With Trump now planning to meet Kim possibly in May, US officials are working overtime to get a better under- Turkey-Arab ties ‘not in best state’ standing of what makes him tick. The prince-like Kim, 34, and his isolated DUBAI: A senior United Arab Emirates official country, remain one of the most impene- said yesterday Turkey’s policy towards neighbor- trable targets for US intelligence. The ing Arab states was not reasonable and advised it most prominent American to have met to respect their sovereignty. Relations between the him is former NBA star Dennis Rodman, two countries have been strained by Ankara’s sup- who has visited the basketball-mad Kim port for Qatar after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain several times. and Egypt imposed sanctions on Doha last year. “It Kim’s determined push to gain a long is no secret that Arab-Turkish relations aren’t in range nuclear ballistic missile capability their best state,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Donald Trump to threaten not only Japan but the United Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted. “In order to return States, and his threats to use it, made US to balance, Ankara has to respect Arab sovereignty know the kind of danger he was putting intelligence officials concerned last year and deal with its neighbors with wisdom and his country in, they said. In December, MORAMANGA, Madagascar: Leprosy diagnosed Vololonirina Ranorovelo poses for a that he had a precarious understanding of rationality,” he said. — Reuters CIA Director Mike Pompeo openly photograph at a leprosy treatment center on Feb 28, 2018. — AFP the world outside Pyongyang. Kim didn’t Continued on Page 11 2 Established 1961 Local Sunday, March 11, 2018 Kuwait works hard to continue reducing newborns’ mortality rate Third Jahra Hospital International Conference on Pediatrics underway KUWAIT: Officials pose for a group photo during the opening of the Third Jahra Hospital International Conference on Pediatrics yesterday.