SUBSCRIPTION MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2016 THULQADAL 5, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Companies with Egypt bids Jailed Pistorius Ibrahimovic less than five farewell to treated in fires Man Utd workers can pay Nobel winning hospital for to Community staff in 3cash chemist29 Zewail wrist16 injuries Shield20 win MPs again discuss petrol Min 32º price hike, mull options Max 48º High Tide 03:23 & 15:01 Lawmakers demand comprehensive economic reforms Low Tide 09:23 & 21:40 40 PAGES NO: 16956 150 FILS By B Izzak World Bank hails KUWAIT: Lawmakers yesterday again called on the gov- petrol price hike ernment to apply the economic reforms package and not the petrol price hike alone in order to provide protection as ‘bold move’ to citizens. The call came following a meeting by MPs at the speaker’s office to study the implications of the price KUWAIT: Kuwait’s partial deregulation of gasoline hike and ways to convince the government to take meas- prices represents a politically and economically ures to compensate Kuwaiti citizens. bold move in a country where subsidies are MP Abdullah Maayouf said that a scheduled meeting amongst the highest in the world at a per capita with the prime minister and the government today has level, said Firas Raad, World Bank Country Manager been postponed till the following day because the minis- in Kuwait, yesterday. Energy subsidies in Kuwait ters will be engaged in the weekly Cabinet meeting. MP represent a major burden on public finances with Ahmad Lari said the government is required to imple- estimates ranging from 1.3 to 5.7 percent of GDP, ment economic reform recommendations made by the with the higher estimates taking into account the National Assembly’s financial and economic affairs com- costs of energy subsidies to public health and the mittee in February. environment, Raad told KUNA. He acknowledged that Kuwait is facing a tough eco- These significant energy subsidies in Kuwait nomic situation, but its position is better than other oil- have resulted in major distortions in the economy, exporting countries, although “we need to be more cau- including staggeringly high levels of energy con- tious to prevent the budget deficit from increasing”. Lari sumption, much higher than those expected, given said it was agreed to hold a meeting between lawmakers the demographic and economic growth trends of this week to discuss the petrol hike decision, which was the country, he said. The adoption of an automatic issued last week and becomes effective from the start of mechanism by Kuwait should be viewed as the first September. He said that among the options to face the stage of a transition to a fully liberalized pricing and impacts of the decision is either to provide citizens with supply regime. Such a regime has typically been a more effective approach to avoiding subsidies and direct compensation or offering them a limited quantity protecting the budget. of petrol every month at the current prices. But the law- The current environment of low oil prices repre- maker insisted that the issue of delaying the implemen- sents an opportunity to reform energy subsidies tation of the decision is not one of the options. with minimal impact on consumers, while generat- Maayouf said MPs agree on the general framework to ing fiscal savings at a time when fiscal pressures are RIO DE JANEIRO: An overview shows France’s Kevin Le Roux serving the ball during the men’s qualifying vol- compensate citizens, but there is no agreement on all increasing. leyball match between France and Italy at the Maracanazinho stadium yesterday during the Rio 2016 details, adding that if the government insists on the Continued on Page 13 Olympic Games. — AFP (Full coverage on Pages 17-20) increase, it must provide aid to citizens. Continued on Page 13 Iran executes nuclear scientist TEHRAN: Iran executed a nuclear scien- Embassy in Washington and demanded tist who defected to the US and returned to be sent home. UAE warns youth to the Islamic Republic under mysterious In interviews, Amiri described being may be radicalized circumstances a year later, an official said kidnapped and held against his will by yesterday, acknowledging for the first Saudi and American spies, while US offi- via video games time that the nation secretly detained, cials said he was to receive millions of tried and convicted a man authorities dollars for his help in understanding DUBAI: Authorities in the United Arab Emirates once heralded as a hero. Shahram Amiri Iran’s contested nuclear program. He was have warned the public that “criminal groups prop- vanished in 2009 while on a religious pil- hanged the same week as Tehran execut- agating radical ideologies” could spread violent grimage to Muslim holy sites in Saudi ed a group of militants, a year after his ideas and rebellious behavior among young people Arabia, only to reappear a year later in a country agreed to a landmark accord to through video gaming. The Telecommunications series of contradictory online videos limit uranium enrichment in exchange Regulatory Authority (TRA) issued the warning in a filmed in the US. He then walked into the for the lifting of economic sanctions. statement carried by the state news agency WAM Iranian interests section at the Pakistani Continued on Page 13 ALEPPO: Rebel fighters fire towards positions of regime forces in Ramussa on the late on Saturday. It urged parents to prevent southwestern edges of this northern city on Saturday. — AFP teenagers from establishing relations with strangers through chat channels in games. Criminal groups “are trying to recruit young peo- Syria army redeploys after ple and adolescents through some electronic games”, WAM quoted Mohammed Al-Zarooni, the rebels break Aleppo siege TRA’s director for policy and programs, as saying. He said the groups identified weaknesses in their tar- BEIRUT: Syrian regime forces redeployed areas of the divided city of food and fuel gets through conversations and then exploited yesterday to try to avoid being surrounded shortages. them by directing them to commit crimes. In partic- in neighborhoods they control in Aleppo, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian ular, some criminals used war games to encourage after a rebel alliance said it had broken a Observatory for Human Rights, said the the use of weapons. three-week government siege. A coalition rebel action was one of the most signifi- The TRA did not identify the criminal groups or of rebels and jihadists surged through cant setbacks for government forces since elaborate on their intentions, and violent crime in regime territory on Saturday to open a new the conflict erupted in March 2011. the UAE is rare. But in 2013 the UAE jailed dozens of route into the northern city’s besieged “Despite more than 600 Russian strikes, the local citizens for plotting to overthrow the govern- eastern neighborhoods, home to an esti- regime forces were not able to hold on to ment, and it has launched a series of trials against mated 250,000 people. The operation trig- their positions,” he said. Steadfast regime suspected sympathizers of the Muslim TEHRAN: In this file photo taken on July 15, 2010, Shahram Amiri, an Iranian gered celebrations in eastern districts and ally Moscow has provided air support for Brotherhood. — Reuters nuclear scientist, attends a news briefing while holding his son Amir Hossein as he sparked fears in regime-controlled western Continued on Page 13 arrives at the Imam Khomeini Airport from the United States. — AP Erdogan stages rally in show of strength ISTANBUL: More than a million Turks gathered The parade ground, built to hold at least a way transport to yesterday’s rally. The slogan in Istanbul yesterday for a rally called by million people, was overflowing, with access adorns banners hung from bridges and build- President Tayyip Erdogan to denounce a failed roads clogged by crowds. The events were ings across the country. Erdogan, a polarizing coup - a show of strength staged in the face of broadcast live on public screens at demonstra- figure seen by opponents as intolerant of dis- Western criticism of widespread purges and tions across Turkey’s 81 provinces. Erdogan has sent, has invited the heads of the secularist and detentions. The “Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally” vowed to rid Turkey of the network of US-based nationalist main opposition parties to address at the Yenikapi parade ground, built into the cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers in the the crowds in a display of national unity in defi- sea on the southern edge of Istanbul’s peninsu- security forces, judiciary and civil service he ance of Western criticism. la, marks the climax of three weeks of nightly accuses of orchestrating the attempted power “The only way to eliminate coups is to revive demonstrations by Erdogan’s supporters, many grab and of plotting to overthrow the state. the founding values of the Republic. These val- wrapped in the red Turkish flag, in squares Gulen - an ally of Erdogan in the early years ues that make our unity should be spoken out around the country. Banners read “You are a gift after his Islamist-rooted AK Party took power in loud at Yenikapi,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader from God, Erdogan” or “Order us to die and we 2002 - denies the charges and has denounced of the secularist opposition CHP, in a tweet will do it”. the coup, which came at a critical time for a ahead of the rally. Turkey’s top Muslim cleric But it was also the first time in decades that NATO “frontline” state facing Islamist militant and chief rabbi also attended. But the pro- major opposition parties joined a rally in sup- attacks from across the border in Syria and an Kurdish HDP, the third-largest party in parlia- port of the government in the nation of almost insurgency by Kurdish rebels.