SUBSCRIPTION MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017 THULHIJJA 20, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Rohingya rebels Anger brews Messi hat trick De Boer under call for ceasefire over Indian sex puts Barcelona more pressure as exodus6 grows attack10 murder in15 La Liga lead as16 Palace lose Sixteen years after 9/11, Min 28º Max 46º New Yorkers on edge High Tide 02:29 & 15:16 Low Tide ‘If you see something, say something’ 09:08 & 21:29 32 PAGES NO: 17327 150 FILS NEW YORK: It’s a typical late summer weekend in New York’s Times Square, and tourists from around the world are snapping pictures beneath the commercial hub’s Deadly Irma plows into Florida iconic neon billboards - watched closely by a heavy con- tingent of police. Four cruisers are parked in the middle MIAMI: Hurricane Irma’s eyewall slammed into the of the busy intersection, and pedestrian zones have Florida Keys yesterday, lashing the island chain with been surrounded by barriers to stop cars from ramming fearsome wind gusts as it bears down on the state’s the crowd, a mode of attack favored by violent extrem- west coast where a mass exodus has turned cities ists in recent years. into ghost towns. Irma, packing maximum sustained “I don’t like to come to places like this,” says Sue winds of 130 miles per hour, was upgraded overnight Garcia, a massage therapist from Brooklyn. “Or any- to a Category Four storm as it closed in on the Keys, where where incidents have happened repeatedly the the National Hurricane Center said. Six million people fear comes to mind.” Fear of an attack. Fear of another - one third of the state’s population - have been 9/11, the deadliest terrorist assault in history, when ordered to evacuate their homes ahead of the mon- almost 3,000 lives were extinguished, many in the rub- ster storm. ble of the World Trade Center. For New Yorkers who lost The eye of the hurricane was 20 miles east-south- loved ones, narrowly survived or just witnessed the east of Key West as of 8 am local time, threatening event, memories remain fresh and old wounds are re- dangerous storm surges up to 15 feet - enough to opened on its anniversary. And a perpetual state of high cover a house. “Everyone in the Florida Keys... It is alert is the new normal. time to hunker down,” the NWS warned before the Garcia, now 33, was a high schooler when the planes hurricane rammed into the tropical islands popular as slammed into the Twin Towers. She saw them burn then a destination for fishing, boating and scuba diving. collapse, and walked all the way home like hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers that day after metro services For those still at home, it was too late to flee the were suspended.”I was there, I saw it over and over wrath of one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to again, I don’t need to think about it,” she says. But her slam storm-prone Florida, after cutting a path of dev- mind always drifts toward the horrors of that day, when- astation across the Caribbean. In Key West, police ever it is mentioned on TV, or even “when I hear an air- opened a “shelter of last resort” for those who had plane: it is like the trigger to the thought. It has sub- ignored evacuation orders. The cities of Naples, Fort sided over the years but it is still there,” she adds. Or Myers and the densely populated peninsulas of while waiting to meet her sister in Times Square, “The Tampa Bay on Florida’s west coast were in the Crossroads of the World,” that symbolizes the spirit of crosshairs of the historic storm, which was churning New York. slowly northwest at eight miles per hour. “It’s going Twice in recent years, catastrophe loomed. In May to be horrible,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said of 2010, police discovered a car packed with explosives Irma on NBC television yesterday morning. “Now we and primed for carnage. In May, a mentally-ill ex-soldier have to hunker down and watch out for each other.” FLORIDA: A tree is seen toppled onto a pickup truck after being knocked down by the high winds as deliberately drove his sedan into 23 pedestrians, killed a Continued on Page 11 Hurricane Irma arrives in Miami, Florida yesterday. — AFP young American tourist. Continued on Page 11 Russian FM in Saudi for Syria, Gulf talks RIYADH: The Saudi king and Russia’s foreign Saudi Arabia’s state news agency said minister met in Saudi Arabia yesterday the monarch and Lavrov discussed the wars Egypt, once the top ahead of a possible visit by the monarch to in Syria and Yemen, as well as an Arab Russia next month. King Salman greeted diplomatic crisis with Qatar. Russia and Hepatitis C sufferer, Sergey Lavrov at his summer palace in the Saudi Arabia back warring sides in Syria’s draws cure seekers Red Sea city of Jiddah before the Russian conflict, with the kingdom supporting envoy’s meeting with Crown Prince Sunni rebel groups fighting the Syrian gov- CAIRO: Like millions in Egypt, Ahmed Nada suffered Mohammed Bin Salman. The king’s 32-year- ernment, which is backed by Moscow and silently from Hepatitis C. But the country is turning old son and heir to the throne, who over- Shiite-ruled Iran. from the world’s most afflicted by the disease to a sees Saudi energy and defense policy, visit- In a brief press conference with Saudi global destination for those seeking a cure. Nada, ed Russia in May to boost ties between the Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir 31, only learned that he carried the virus when he world’s two top oil producers. Continued on Page 11 tried to donate blood. “At first I was very angry,” he said. “I kept thinking whether it was from my previ- ous work as a dentist, or from the barber or from what? I didn’t know.” Previously, a Hepatitis C infec- Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Center (JACC) tion, even when diagnosed, would have gone untreated or simply been managed. But a cheap Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural new drug produced in Egypt since 2015 and a gov- ernment program to eliminate the condition meant Center wins distinguished prize Nada could be easily cured. He registered on a government website and was DUBAI: Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural The project also won the best interior directed to the nearest treatment centre. Now Center (JACC) was announced by design, considering the modern decora- International Property Award ‘winner’ of tions that reflect Kuwait’s cultural her- cured along with more than 1.3 million other the Arabia and Africa for best project and itage and resembles the designs of the Egyptians, Nada says the entire process was simple best interior design. The Amiri Diwan’s most famous cultural centers in the “from the moment I filled in the application”. Egypt Financial and Administrative Affairs world. JACC, after winning this prize, will has the highest prevalence of Hepatitis C infection Director Abdulaziz Ishaqq received the qualify to compete for the international in the world, an epidemic that started with a gov- prize at a ceremony held in Dubai, UAE. prize offered by International Property ernment program for mass vaccinations with He said that JACC is considered one of Award to be held in a special ceremony unsterilized syringes in the 1950s. Seven percent of the biggest cultural projects in the in London, UK by December. Ishaq people aged between 15 and 59 have an active region, which was built in a record time expressed thanks to all those who con- infection, according to Egypt’s 2015 Demographics according to the latest techniques - tributed to the success of this project, and Health Surveys. JIDDAH: Saudi King Salman (right) receives the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey being the most innovative and architec- which saw light after exerting efforts Continued on Page 11 Lavrov at Al-Salam Palace in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia yesterday. — AP turally- distinguished project. Continued on Page 11 Warplanes hit Deir Ezzor, killing 34 BEIRUT: Russian air strikes yesterday killed 34 raids according to type, location, flight pat- backed forces press their own assault on IS in civilians on ferries fleeing violence in Syria’s terns and munitions used. Deir Ezzor. eastern province of Deir Ezzor, where jihadists Moscow intervened in Syria in September The province borders Iraq and is a strategic face separate assaults by US-backed forces 2015 in support of its ally President Bashar Al- prize for both the US-backed Syrian and Russian-backed government troops, a Assad. Yesterday’s reported raids came as Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance and govern- monitor said. The Britain-based Syrian Syrian troops with Russian air cover pressed ment troops. The SDF announced on Observatory for Human Rights monitor initial- an offensive against Islamic State group Saturday it had begun clearing IS from areas ly reported 21 deaths but later raised the toll jihadists across Deir Ezzor province. On east of the Euphrates, which cuts diagonally to 34, saying that “more bodies have been Saturday, government forces broke a nearly across the province. Yesterday, fighters from found in the river” Euphrates. three-year jihadist siege of a Syrian airbase on the SDF’s Deir Ezzor Military Council (DEMC) Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the southern edges of Deir Ezzor city, the seized much of the province’s northeast, the nine children were among those killed fleeing provincial capital.