SAFAR 22, 1441 AH MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2019 28 Pages Max 38º Min 21º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17963 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Kuwait bird watchers Security operatives arrest, India and Pakistan trade Ronaldo hits 701st goal 3 soar to a new height 5 question a ‘Kuwaiti Joker’ 24 barbs over deadly clash 27 as Juventus pull clear ‘No signs of dissolution’ of Kuwait National Assembly MP Tabtabai files to grill Public Works Minister By B Izzak KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem yesterday down- played speculations that the Assembly could be dissolved, especially with more grilling - saying that there were no indi- cations for the Assembly dissolution. Ghanem said reports about an imminent plan to dissolve the Assembly are mere baseless rumors and something we have become accustomed with ahead of the start of the new Assembly terms. Speaking after he and a group of law- makers met with the Amir HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Speaker said that the source of the rumors is almost one and is known, adding “there is no dissolution”. He said MP Omar Al-Tabtabaei the Amir has cautioned us against regional dangers and the need to be united in the face of regional challenges. ed about four years ago over a dispute The Speaker also confirmed that the between the two countries over environ- row between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia mental and administrative issues. Before over oil production from the neutral zone stoppage, the area was pumping over shared equally between the two coun- 500,000 barrels per day, equally shared tries. He said the issue has been resolved by the two countries. through cooperation between the lead- Ghanem also said that he received KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received the National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem and a erships of the two countries. Production yesterday a grilling from MP Omar group of lawmakers yesterday. —KUNA at Al-Khafji and Wafra oilfields was halt- Continued on Page 24 More than a quarter of Lebanon’s Lebanese take population lives below the poverty line, the World Bank says, while the political World’s oldest pearl class has remained relatively unchanged over streets as since the end of a devastating 15-year found in Abu Dhabi civil war in 1990. In Beirut, protesters protests grow yesterday called out the names of specific politicians from across the country’s sec- BEIRUT: Hundreds of thousands of tarian system, with the crowd responding Lebanese took to the streets to condemn with swear words. Beleaguered Prime political stasis and corruption yesterday, Minister Saad Hariri has urged govern- the largest in four days of demonstra- ment members from different blocs to tions that have crippled the country and support him but four ministers from a threatened the coalition government. The Christian political party quit Saturday. capital Beirut, second city Tripoli in the In Tripoli, Nazih Siraj, 50, said he lost north and the southern port of Tyre his job after the government removed came to a standstill, with streets filled stalls from the roads. “I can’t afford to with protesters waving the national flag, rent out a place because of the high chanting “revolution” or “the people prices and unfair taxes,” he said, saying ABU DHABI: A handout picture shows a pearl demand the fall of the regime” - a com- he was demonstrating for the future of recovered from an archeological site on Marawah mon refrain of demonstrations in other his four daughters. “Its time for a change. Island. — AFP parts of the Arab world. There is no going back from the streets Protests have grown steadily across after today.” Lebanon ranked 138 out of ABU DHABI: An 8,000-year-old pearl that the Mediterranean country since public 180 in Transparency International’s 2018 archaeologists say is the world’s oldest will be dis- anger first spilled onto the streets corruption index, while citizens suffer played in Abu Dhabi, according to authorities who Thursday evening in response to a pro- chronic electricity and water shortages. said yesterday it is proof the objects have been posed tax on calls via WhatsApp and Lebanon’s political system was set up traded since Neolithic times. The natural pearl was other messaging services. While the to balance power between the country’s found in the floor of a room discovered during government quickly dropped the plan, religious sects, including Christians, excavations at Marawah Island, off the capital of the leaderless protests morphed into Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims and the United Arab Emirates, which revealed the earli- demands for a sweeping overhaul of the Druze. But critics say it entrenches polit- est architecture found in the country. political system, with grievances rang- ical patronage and pits citizens against Continued on Page 24 ing from austerity measures to poor each other along sectarian lines. BEIRUT: Lebanese protesters wave national flags during a rally in downtown Beirut on infrastructure. Continued on Page 24 the fourth day of demonstrations against tax increases and official corruption. — AFP Egypt unveils biggest ‘No improvement ancient coffin find in maids working in over a century conditions’ By Ben Garcia LUXOR: Egypt has unveiled the details of 30 ancient wooden coffins with mummies inside discovered in the KUWAIT: There have been no changes on the ground southern city of Luxor in the biggest find of its kind in in the treatment and conditions of many Filipino more than a century. A team of Egyptian archaeologists domestic helpers in Kuwait despite a new working discovered a “distinctive group of 30 colored wooden arrangement between the Philippines and Kuwaiti gov- coffins for men, women and children” in a cache at Al- ernment. A dispute between Kuwait and the Philippines Asasif cemetery on Luxor’s west bank, the Ministry of was triggered last year over allegations of abuse and Antiquities said in a statement on Saturday. mistreatment of housemaids which made the “It is the first large human coffin cache ever discov- Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to temporarily ered since the end of the 19th century,” the Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany was quoted as suspend the deployment of Filipinos to Kuwait. saying during a ceremony in Luxor. The intricately The suspension followed the murder of a young carved and painted coffins, three thousand years old, Filipino maid whose body was found in a freezer in February 2018. The row was aggravated when videos were closed with mummies inside and were in “a good LUXOR: Egyptian archeologists open a wooden coffin belonging to a man in front of Hatshepsut Temple at Valley of the condition of preservation, colors and complete inscrip- Kings in Luxor on October 19, 2019. — AFP surfaced on social media showing Philippine embassy tions,” the statement added. officials trying to help domestic helpers abscond from They were for male and female priests and children, Egyptian Museum, due to open next year next to the since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. their allegedly abusive employers. Philippine said Mostafa Waziri, the excavation team leader, dating Giza pyramids, the ministry said. Earlier this month, Egypt unveiled two archaeological Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa was expelled and back to the 10th century BC under the rule of the 22nd The discovery is the latest in a series of major finds discoveries in Luxor including an industrial zone at the some embassy employees were arrested. About Pharaonic dynasty. The coffins will undergo restoration of ancient relics that Egypt hopes will revive its tourism city’s West Valley, also known as the Valley of the 260,000 Philippine citizens live and work in Kuwait, before being moved to a showroom at the Grand sector, which has been badly hit by political instability Monkeys. — Reuters most as domestic servants. (See Page 5) 2 Local Monday, October 21, 2019 Kuwait’s Amir receives Crown Prince, Premier, Ministers at Bayan Palace Sheikh Sabah receives cable from First Deputy PM on recuperation His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with Cabinet ministers. KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with His Highness the Crown Prince His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. — Amiri Diwan photos Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- Jaber Al-Sabah on His Highness’s recovery from the His Highness the Amir also received a cable of con- being and more progress. Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Bayan Palace recent health setback. In the cable, Sheikh Nasser gratulations from Bahraini Crown Prince Salman Bin Furthermore, His Highness the Amir was congratulat- yesterday His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh wished His Highness lasting well-being with “our Hamad Al-Khalifa on His Highness’s recovery from the ed by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Moqrin bin Abdulaziz Al- Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. His Highness the beloved Kuwait” experiencing further progress and recent health setback. His Highness the Amir sent a reply Saud on his safe return home after undergoing success- Amir also received His Highness the Prime Minister prosperity under His Highness’s sagacious leadership. cable, expressing deep gratitude for the Bahraini Crown ful medical check-ups abroad. His Highness expressed Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy His Highness the Amir sent a reply cable to the senior Prince on his sincere sentiments, as well as wishing him gratitude and appreciation for the noble gesture, deliv- Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled government official, expressing deep gratitude for his and the brotherly people of Bahrain lasting wellbeing ered in a telephone call, saying it embodies the close Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Premier and Interior sincere sentiments, as well as wishing him and Defense and more progress under the wise leadership of King bond between the two neighboring countries.