SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015 RABI ALTHANI 29, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Car insurance transfer Min 12º Max 25º fees raised 100 percent High Tide 12:08 & 23:10 Some companies hike charges without ministry approval Low Tide 05:48 & 17:33 40 PAGES NO: 16437 150 FILS By Meshal Al-Enezi and Faten Omar KUWAIT: Some car insurance companies in Kuwait have Saudi king, Qatar emir discuss ties increased transfer fees despite not having approval from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. When a RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman held talks in driver transfers insurance from one car to another (for Riyadh yesterday with Qatar’s emir, in what an analyst instance in the case of buying a new or used vehicle), sees as part of a regional effort to strengthen ties insurance companies typically charge a fee of KD 3 for against the Islamic State (IS) group. Qatar’s Sheikh the transfer. Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani is the latest Gulf leader to Now, however, several companies have upped this visit Riyadh this week, after Abu Dhabi Crown Prince fee 100 percent to KD 6. They have done so without pri- Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and HH the Amir of or approval from the commerce ministry. “The union of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. He and the insurance companies agreed to increase the transfer fee Saudi monarch discussed the enhancement of their to KD 6 [from KD 3] as the fee for the issuance of new relations, as well as international developments, the documents,” explained a manager at a local car insur- official Saudi Press Agency said. ance company who asked that his name be withheld. A Saudi official said yesterday’s talks between King “Yes, we have increased the service fees to KD 6, Salman and Sheikh Tamim also focused on the Shiite because there is no specified price set by the Ministry of rebel takeover of Yemen’s government, which Saudi Commerce,” the manager told Kuwait Times. He noted Arabia sees as a threat to its own stability and as that “There was no coordination between the union of regional interference from rival Iran. insurance companies and the ministry of commerce.” Anwar Eshki, chairman of the Jeddah-based Centre But two other car insurance companies told Kuwait for Strategic and Legal Studies, said the visits continue Times that they have not yet raised the fees from KD 3 efforts begun under Saudi King Abdullah, who died to KD 6 because there was no circular from the ministry last month, to reconcile Egypt and Qatar amid the ris- of commerce or the General Traffic Administration at ing IS threat. “I believe they are trying to push Qatar the Interior Ministry to change the scheduled fee. and Egypt to talk together,” he said. Saudi Arabia, the Several citizens and residents were surprised by the UAE and Kuwait are the main financial backers of RIYADH: Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani (left) meets Saudi King Salman at Riyadh airport unexpected price hike. The commerce ministry did not Continued on Page 13 yesterday. — AP immediately comment on the issue. US hides spying software deep within hard drives SAN FRANCISCO: The US National Security Agency has onage operations. figured out how to hide spying software deep within Kaspersky said it found personal computers in 30 hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba countries infected with one or more of the spying pro- and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the grams, with the most infections seen in Iran, followed means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world’s com- by Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Mali, Syria, puters, according to cyber researchers and former oper- Yemen and Algeria. The targets included government atives. That long-sought and closely guarded ability was and military institutions, telecommunication compa- part of a cluster of spying programs discovered by nies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security software media, and Islamic activists, Kaspersky said. maker that has exposed a series of Western cyberespi- Continued on Page 13 News in brief Raids turn MEW denies naming, Sisi into key shaming defaulters KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water yesterday strongly denied in a statement allegations on social anti-IS ally media about the ministry’s intention to publish the names of consumers with unpaid water and electricity bills. CAIRO: By targeting the Islamic State group with air strikes in Libya, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, having crushed Islamist opponents at Chopper crash kills home, has become a key ally of the West against four Saudi soldiers jihadists, experts say. His warplanes bombed IS RIYADH: A Saudi military helicopter crashed dur- camps and weapons stores in the Libyan city of ing a night training exercise in an area near the Derna hours after the Sunni extremists released a kingdom’s border with Iraq and Kuwait late on gruesome video showing masked jihadists Monday, killing its four-member crew, the defence beheading 21 Egyptian Christians on a Libyan ministry said. The short ministry statement issued beach. early yesterday and carried by the official Saudi The raids were the first time Egypt has Press Agency did not offer a cause for the crash of announced military action against Islamist targets the US-made Black Hawk helicopter in a training in its western neighbour, having previously denied zone west of the King Khaled military base in Hafr it targeted militants there. “The air strikes in Libya Al-Batin. It said authorities already have launched are an important new factor,” said Zack Gold of the an investigation to determine the cause of the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security crash. The ministry identified the dead crew mem- Studies. “Egypt and President Sisi have emerged as bers as Lt Col Ali Al-Arfaj, 1st Lt Majid Al-Fifeefi, 1st a key ally of the West in the fight against IS.” Lt Jadie Qablan and technician Raed Al-Jahni. Egypt had steered clear of a direct fight with IS outside of the country, although US officials say Cairo previously allowed the United Arab Emirates Indian millionaire to use its air bases to bomb Islamists in Libya. Sisi charged with murder has regularly said Cairo is fighting its own “war on NEW DELHI: An Indian millionaire has been charged terrorism,” in the restive Sinai Peninsula, where an with murder in the southern Indian state of Kerala after Islamist insurgency has killed scores of policemen police said he rammed his SUV into his security guard and soldiers. Officials blame the blacklisted Muslim he accused of being too slow. Mohammed Nisham Brotherhood of president Mohamed Morsi, who slammed his Hummer into the guard and hit him with was ousted by then army chief Sisi in July 2013, for an iron rod after pinning him against a wall as the gates deadly attacks in the country. These attacks have were slow to open when the businessman returned been claimed by jihadist groups such as IS-linked home late one night two weeks ago, police official Biju Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis. Kumar said yesterday. The 50-year-old guard, K The Brotherhood has been a target of a brutal Chandrabose, died Monday after being in a hospital on crackdown overseen by Sisi since Morsi’s ouster. life support. Nisham was in custody in a jail near the More than 1,400 people, mostly Morsi supporters, town of Thrissur where he lives, Kumar said. Nisham has have been killed, thousands imprisoned and hun- had several police cases filed against him, including one dreds sentenced to death after speedy trials which for allowing his 9-year old son to drive a Ferrari on a the United Nations says are “unprecedented in public road in 2013. Nisham has a thriving tobacco and recent history”. Global rights groups have con- real estate business in Kerala. When he was charged demned the crackdown against the Brotherhood, with allowing his son to drive the car, police records which made strong electoral gains after the 2011 showed that he owned 18 high-end cars worth an esti- revolution that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni mated $4 million, including a Bentley and a Mubarak. Lamborghini. Continued on Page 13 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015 LOCAL KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah receives a gift from MP Dr Abdullah Al Turaiji, chairman of the Arab Scout Organization (ASO). The historical picture, taken circa 1939, shows (from left) Sheikh Khaled Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and HH the late His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah receives a book from Kathem Haji Marefi, Abdulelah Mohammad Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. Marefi, Mohammad Taqi Marefi, and Abdulfatah Mohammad Marefi. —KUNA photos Amir receives Arab Scout Organization delegation PM highlights youth education to face challenges, shun extremism KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah becoming an easy prey to extremist groups potential of youth to contribute to society- Mohammad Rafee’ Ma’rafi,’ and ‘National then received Dr Majed Meseihij Mefarrej Al- Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at and ideologies. building. He warned that extremism is a seri- Private School: history full of achievements”, Delmani who presented him with a copy of Bayan Palace yesterday a delegation from the For their part, the delegation members ous threat to the security and the stability of and ‘March of Struggle.’ his doctoral thesis entitled ‘Emotional Arab Scout Organization (ASO), which is cur- briefed HH the Amir on the ASO activities and the region.