Hunt for Survivors After Quake Kills 415 Near Iran-Iraq Border Amir Sends Condolences to Iranian, Iraqi Leaders
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SAFAR 25, 1439 AH TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2017 Max 29º 32 Pages 150 Fils Established 1961 Min 14º ISSUE NO: 17381 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Alghanim Industries concludes Trump hails ‘great relationship’ ALAFCO finalizes $2.2bn Resurgent Rams roll 2 Tmkeen Symposium sponsorship 9 with Duterte at Asia summit 17 deal for 20 Boeing aircraft 16 on as Cowboys stall Hunt for survivors after quake kills 415 near Iran-Iraq border Amir sends condolences to Iranian, Iraqi leaders TEHRAN: Teams of Iranian rescuers dug thousands of Iranians were forced to through rubble in a hunt for survivors sleep outside in the cold for a second yesterday after a major earthquake struck night as authorities scrambled to provide the Iran-Iraq border, killing at least 415 them with aid. Some had spent Sunday people and injuring thousands. The 7.3- night outdoors after fleeing their homes in magnitude quake rocked a border area the mountainous cross-border region, 30 km southwest of Halabja in Iraqi huddling around fires at dawn as authori- Kurdistan at around 9:20 pm (1820 GMT) ties sent in help. “People’s immediate on Sunday, the US Geological Survey needs are firstly tents, water and food,” said. Many people would have been at said the head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary home when the quake hit in Iran’s western Guards, Major General Mohammad Ali province of Kermanshah, where authori- Jafari. “Newly constructed buildings... ties said it killed at least 407 people and held up well, but the old houses built with injured 6,700. Across the border in more earth were totally destroyed,” he told sparsely populated areas of Iraq, the state television during a visit to the health ministry said eight people had died affected region. and several hundred were injured. Iraq’s Hundreds of ambulances and dozens of Red Crescent reported nine dead and army helicopters reportedly joined the more than 400 injured. rescue effort after Iranian supreme leader HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the gov- Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent a cable ernment and armed forces to mobilize “all of condolences to Iranian President their means”. Foreign media organizations Hassan Rouhani on the deaths inflicted by had not received authorization to visit the the earthquake. HH the Amir appealed to scene of the disaster yesterday. Officials His Almighty to bestow great mercy upon said they were setting up relief camps for the souls of the victims and wished the the displaced. Iran’s emergency services injured quick recovery. Sheikh Sabah also chief Pir Hossein Koolivand said land- sent condolence cables to Iraqi President slides had cut off roads to affected vil- Fuad Masum and Prime Minister Haidar lages, impeding the access of rescue Al-Abadi over the victims of the quake. workers. But by late afternoon, officials HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al- said all the roads in Kermanshah province Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the had been re-opened, although the worst- Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak affected town of Sarpol-e-Zahab Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables to remained without electricity, said state Rouhani, Masum and Abadi. television. A woman mourns as she holds the body of her daughter who died in an earthquake in Sarpol-e-Zahab in western Iran yesterday. — AP As dusk approached yesterday, tens of Continued on Page 11 News in brief “we need to reduce that - which means there is a Oil producers to potential for extension”. Mazrouei said there was near-unanimity among the Online license renewal eyed 24 OPEC and non-OPEC producers which agreed a extend cuts to year ago to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day. KUWAIT: Acting Interior Ministry Assistant The minister said that he had “not heard anyone” talk Undersecretary for Traffic Affairs Major General rebalance market about allowing the cuts deal to expire, although the Fahd Al-Showai told Al-Anbaa daily about a project duration of the new extension would be “subject to dis- to renew driving licenses online, where the applicant ABU DHABI: Oil producers are expected to unani- cussion”. “I am hopeful that we will reach an agreement applies on the interior ministry website and submits mously extend a production cut accord later this month that will lead to more stabilization in the market and the required documents, then receives the license but its duration is still under discussion, the UAE ener- more investments coming to the market,” he said. from machines similar to civil IDs. He added the gy minister said yesterday. “I think this group of com- Mazrouei said an escalating dispute between weekly income of the traffic department is KD 1.2 mitted and responsible producers came together... and regional powers and OPEC members Saudi Arabia and million from traffic fines, hoping this drops by 50 I think they will continue to do what it takes to take us Iran will not prevent a new extension. As a result of the percent due to compliance with the traffic law. to the next level,” United Arab Emirates Energy cuts, oil prices have rebounded to more than $64 a bar- Minister Suheil Al-Mazrouei told the ADIPEC interna- rel from $40 a year ago, and huge stocks of crude built tional oil conference in Abu Dhabi. He said 158 million up over the past three years have reduced. ABU DHABI: UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei, barrels of surplus crude oil remain on the market and speaks during the ADIPEC event yesterday. — AFP Tenants evacuated due to crack Continued on Page 11 KUWAIT: Some occupants of an apartment build- Iraq, Hezbollah has matured into Iran’s ing in Sabah Al-Salem have been evacuated due to a Hezbollah crown most useful “tool” - drawing the ire of crack, said Kuwait Fire Services Directorate (KFSD) Tehran’s regional rival Riyadh, analysts in a statement yesterday. The residents were evacu- say. Hariri’s surprise resignation sparked ated at dawn today due to the crack in one side of jewel of Iran’s worries that Lebanon would be caught in the building, the KFSD said indicating that only the crossfire of the bloody, decades-long occupants of the part where the crack was located rising influence power struggle between Saudi Arabia had to leave their houses. The crack might have and Iran. “This resignation indicates been caused by yesterday’s tremors. (See Page 3) BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah, blamed by Saudi’s will to put a stop to Iran’s expan- Saad Hariri for his shock resignation as sion,” said international relations expert premier, has grown over the three Karim Bitar. Hezbollah had become Iran’s Banks examine Saudi accounts decades since its founding into a mighty “trump card” in the Middle East, added army used by Iran to project regional Bitar, of the Paris-based Institute of NABATIEH, Lebanon: This photo taken on Nov 08, 2017 shows members of International and Strategic Affairs. Hezbollah saluting behind the coffins of three comrades killed in combat in Syria KUWAIT/DUBAI: Kuwaiti banks have been told influence. Hariri criticized the powerful Since its founding in the 1980s during during their funeral. — AFP by the Central Bank to provide account details Shiite movement for its meddling across the Middle East during a televised inter- Lebanon’s grinding war, Hezbollah has relating to some Saudi Arabian nationals, sources relied heavily on Iran for financial, politi- branded a “terrorist” organization by the important Iranian tool in the region is said yesterday. The move follows the freezing of view from Saudi Arabia on Sunday, his first media appearance since he stepped cal and military support. It is the only United States and Gulf countries and Hezbollah,” said Hilal Khashan, political more than 2,000 domestic bank accounts in Saudi faction to have retained its arsenal of targeted with economic sanctions, science professor at the American Arabia after the detention of senior business figures down on Nov 4. Hezbollah has participat- ed in Hariri’s government for almost a year. weapons after the end of Lebanon’s 15- Hezbollah has risen to play a decisive University of Beirut. and officials in a campaign against alleged graft. year civil conflict in 1990. Despite being role in regional conflicts. “The most Continued on Page 11 Kuwait’s Central Bank had asked banks if they had From Lebanon to Syria, Yemen, and exposure to any of the Saudi citizens who were arrested, one of the sources said. Banks had also an accomplice to murder.” been asked to provide information about the com- Geldof returns More than 600,000 Muslims from Myanmar’s panies linked to the individuals. A second Kuwaiti Rakhine state have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh banking source said some Kuwaiti banks had been after military operations described by the United asked by the regulator to provide details on their Dublin honor, Nations as ethnic cleansing. Their plight has drawn out- total exposure to Saudi Arabia. rage around the world. But Suu Kyi, long seen as a cham- slams Suu Kyi pion of human rights, has been criticsed for failing to speak out against violence. There have been calls for her Erdogan to discuss Gulf crisis DUBLIN: Irish musician and activist Bob Geldof called to be stripped of the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991. Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi “a hand maiden to Suu Kyi was given the Freedom of Dublin in 1999 while ISTANBUL: Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan genocide” yesterday as he returned his Freedom of the she was held under house arrest by Mayanmar’s then mil- said yesterday he will discuss a solution to the five- City of Dublin award in protest over his fellow recipient’s itary government.