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SUBSCRIPTION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 THULHIJJA 23, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Activist Israel leader Singapore gets Messi finally denounces endorses first female conquers Buffon anti-expat independent president as Barcelona campaign3 Kurdish7 state without9 a vote crush16 Juve 3-0 Regional dispute hurting Min 26º Max 47º GCC economies: Moody’s High Tide 04:29 & 19:12 Low Tide ‘Business as usual’ for Qatar’s $300bn sovereign fund 11:03 32 PAGES NO: 17330 150 FILS DUBAI: A boycott of Qatar by a Saudi-led bloc of Arab states is hurting the economies of all the countries Kuwait’s PM, Turkish president hold talks involved, with Bahrain and Qatar the most affected, Moody’s Investor Service said yesterday. The row has trans- ANKARA: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh lated into a credit negative for the entire six-nation Gulf Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah yesterday met Cooperation Council (GCC) - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, Moody’s said Presidential Palace in Ankara. Emerging from the in a report. meeting, His Highness the Premier said that he Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and handed over a written message from His Highness Egypt on June 5 severed diplomatic ties and imposed eco- the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah nomic sanctions on Qatar, accusing it of backing radical to President Erdogan - dealing with means of boost- Islamist groups. Doha has denied the charges. “The severi- ing bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern. ty of the diplomatic dispute between Gulf countries is His Highness the Premier indicated that the meeting unprecedented, which magnifies the uncertainty over the touched on regional and international issues. ultimate economic, fiscal and social impact on the GCC as The Kuwait premier, accompanied by a delegation a whole,” said Steffen Dyck, Moody’s vice president. of ranking officials, arrived in Ankara yesterday. The Qatar faces large economic, financial and social costs delegation was received at the airport by Turkish stemming from related travel and trade restrictions, it said. Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci and Kuwaiti The impact on Qatar so far has been most acute for trade, diplomats. Kuwait, which views Turkey as a key eco- tourism and the banking sector. Sizeable capital outflows nomic partner, has always sought to deepen the in the vicinity of $30 billion flowed out of Qatar’s banking bonds with Ankara, enhancing commercial system in June and July, with further declines expected as exchanges and creating new joint investment GCC banks opt not to roll over their deposits, Moody’s said. opportunities. His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al- It estimates that Qatar used $38.5 billion-equivalent to Mubarak confirmed that his talks with Turkish lead- 23 percent of its GDP-to support the economy in the first ers would tackle means of cementing the bilateral ANKARA: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah held talks with two months of sanctions. Moody’s said it does not expect relations and cooperation at diverse levels. — KUNA Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara yesterday. — KUNA that Qatar will have to borrow from the international Continued on Page 11 Kuwait investing in oil profits Government backs renewable energy KUWAIT: Kuwait is investing in oil and marking the launch of “Mapping the oil gas revenues to achieve His Highness the and gas industry to the Sustainable Amir’s vision to turn the country into a Development Goals: An Atlas” at the UN Saudis urged to regional financial and commercial hub, House, aka (also known as) Sheikh Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s report on each Al-Sabeeh said yesterday. Such a pio- Building. Since its independence, neering role is carried out through Kuwait has linked the oil industry to the other’s activity implementing the government’s national sustainable development goals, and development plans, including diversify- also harnessed its resources to enhance RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has urged its people to report ing the Kuwaiti economy’s production infrastructure and social development, subversive comments spotted on social media via a base, Al-Sabeeh added. said the minister. phone app, a move denounced by a human rights She made her remarks in a speech Continued on Page 11 watchdog as “Orwellian”. The appeal, announced on a Twitter account run by the Interior Ministry late on Tuesday, coincides with an apparent crackdown on CALIFORNIA: An AirPower mat is seen charging multiple devices during a media potential government critics and a call by exiled event at Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino, California yesterday. Apple Inc on opposition figures for demonstrations. Tuesday rolled out its much-anticipated iPhone X, a glass and stainless steel device “When you notice any account on social net- with an edge-to-edge display that Chief Executive Tim Cook called “the biggest works publishing terrorist or extremist ideas, please leap forward since the original iPhone.”- (See Page 17) report it immediately via the application #We’re-all- security”, it said, referring to a mobile phone app launched last year to enable civilians to report traf- fic violations and burglaries. Hours later, the public prosecutor tweeted a section of the kingdom’s ter- Morocco’s tourists make rorism law which states: “Endangering national uni- ty, obstructing the Basic Law of governance or some of its articles, and harming the state’s reputa- tracks on ‘desert express’ tion or status are terrorist crimes.” Exiled Saudi critics have called for demonstra- BOUARFA: Edouard Kunz knows time- known as Edi, blaming sandstorms for tions tomorrow to galvanize opposition to the royal keeping is important but the former frequent delays. His passion for trains family and prominent clerics, intellectuals and Swiss watch precision mechanic put him in the driver’s seat more than KUWAIT: Photo shows an external view of the facade of the Four Seasons Hotel activists, including prominent Islamist cleric Sheikh Kuwait, in the capital Kuwait City. The 284-room Four Seasons Hotel Kuwait is admits that James Bond’s Oriental 10 years ago when he persuaded Salman Al-Awdah, have been detained this week, Desert Express in remote eastern Morocco’s National Office of Railways located within the new, two-tower Burj Alshaya development. The hotel features activists say. Activists circulated lists of people 217 guest rooms plus 67 suites. The Four Seasons Hotel Kuwait at Burj Alshaya is Morocco never runs on schedule. The to let him run a tourist train on a dis- detained on social media showing the number had part of a growing collection of Four Seasons hotels and resorts in the Gulf region, train, made famous in the 2015 Bond used railway line. The track that runs risen to around 30, including some with no clear including award-winning hotels in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, and three movie ‘Spectre’, trundles tourists near the border with Algeria was origi- Continued on Page 11 between the town of Oujda and the nally built nearly 100 years ago when properties in the United Arab Emirates. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat former mining city of Bouarfa along a Morocco was a French protectorate. It 350-kilometre-long stretch of desert. was part of an ambitious project, the “It takes between eight and 12 Mediterranean-Niger railway, to link hours to make the trip, sometimes the sea to inland Africa. History of Syria’s war at risk even more,” says Kunz, 70, who is Continued on Page 11 YouTube moves to rein in violent content BEIRUT: Syria’s civil war has been one of the Activists are rushing to set up alternative videos. But about 150,000 videos remain in modern world’s most brutal conflicts and one archives, but they also recognize nothing can jeopardy, pending a decision from YouTube, of its most heavily filmed. Hundreds of thou- replace YouTube because of its technological which is still reviewing whether to reinstate sands of amateur videos uploaded to YouTube infrastructure and global reach. “It is like we them, he said. document every heartbeat of the war over are writing our memoirs - not in our own book “Nothing is lost forever yet,” Al-Khatib said, the past seven years, from momentous events but in a third party’s book. We don’t have con- speaking from Berlin. “But this is very danger- like cities under bombardment to intimate trol of it,” said Hadi Al-Khatib, co-founder of the ous, because there is no alternative for scenes like a father cradling his dead children. Syrian Archive, a group founded in 2014 to YouTube.” YouTube, which is owned by Syrian activists fear all that history could be preserve open source evidence of crimes com- Google, says it will correct any videos improp- erased as YouTube moves to rein in violent mitted by all sides of the Syrian conflict. erly taken down and that it is in dialogue with content. In the past few months, the tech Based on his database and review of the activists on a solution. But many activists giant has implemented new policies to around 900 groups and individuals, Al- fear a repeat or a permanent loss. The shut- remove material considered graphic or sup- Khatib said some 180 channels connected to downs were chilling for a community that had porting terrorism, and hundreds of thousands Syria were shut since June, when YouTube just celebrated a possible precedent for Syria of videos from the conflict suddenly disap- began using machine learning protocols to when the International Criminal Court in peared without notice.