SUBSCRIPTION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2015 MUHARRAM 9, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Kuwait, France sign Min 24º Max 36º High Tide €2.5bn chopper deal 03:38 & 18:42 Low Tide A slew of other joint agreements also inked 11:23 & 23:33 40 PAGES NO: 16674 150 FILS PARIS: Kuwait signed €2.5 billion ($2.8 billion) worth of military fixed and provisional deals led by the purchase Gulf should of 24 Airbus-built Caracal helicopters, the French gov- ernment said yesterday. Paris said Kuwait would pur- adjust to oil chase 24 helicopters for a billion euros with an option for a further six. The Caracal, which is deployed on com- bat rescue missions and long-distance troop transport, price ‘reality’ is fitted out with radar missile protection, while its DUBAI: Gulf economies need to adjust to the “new weaponry includes air-to-ground and air-to-sea mis- reality” of oil prices expected to remain low for some siles. The agreements came a month after Kuwait time, the International Monetary Fund says, recom- agreed to buy 28 Typhoon combat warplanes from the mending spending cuts and income diversification. Eurofighter consortium. But the oil-rich monarchies remain in a strong position Kuwait is looking to upgrade its firepower amid to make the necessary increased security concerns in the region linked to the adjustments thanks to the rise of the jihadist Islamic State group. Further deals large financial reserves included provision of French light armored vehicles and they have built up during patrol boat maintenance. A source familiar with the years of firmer prices, negotiations indicated that the patrol boats would according to the IMF’s include the revamping of eight P37 craft that France regional outlook published sold to Kuwait after Iraq’s 1990 invasion that sparked yesterday. the first Gulf War in 1991. After the conflict the two “Not only this year, but countries signed a defence agreement and today Masood Ahmed for the years to come, Kuwaiti’s military hierarchy is largely French-trained. The these countries will need to make an adjustment to French defense ministry has yet to confirm whether better balance their spending to the new reality of Paris will ultimately also supply new vessels. the oil prices,” said IMF Middle East and Central Asia Yesterday’s accords were signed by a slew of minis- chief Masood Ahmed. The budgets of Gulf ters including French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius Cooperation Council members Bahrain, Kuwait, and Finance Minister Emmanuel Macron in the pres- Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab ence of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Kuwaiti Emirates are facing an average deficit this year of 13 PARIS: French Prime Minister Manuel Valls stands next to Kuwaiti Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al- counterpart HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al- percent of gross domestic product (GDP), Ahmed told Mubarak Al-Sabah as France’s Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (right) signs an agreement with Kuwaiti Sabah. Kuwait also indicated readiness to create a €450 AFP in an interview. (See Page 22) Deputy Premier and Defense Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah during a meeting at the Hotel million fund to invest in French small and medium-sized Matignon yesterday. — AFP Continued on Page 13 Assad meets Putin in surprise trip Texas teen arrested over DAMASCUS: Syria’s embattled President Secretary of State John Kerry and their Bashar Al-Assad has made a surprise visit Turkish and Saudi counterparts to dis- clock is moving to Qatar Bibi slammed to Moscow in his first known trip over- cuss Syria. seas since his country’s conflict erupted, Putin and Assad’s talks focused mainly DALLAS: A 14-year-old Muslim boy who Young Innovators Program. over remarks meeting key ally President Vladimir on military developments, with the was arrested after a homemade clock he Ahmed, who along with his family Putin. Assad thanked Putin for launching Russian leader pledging ongoing support brought to school was mistaken for a will relocate to Qatar, received a full air strikes in Syria against opponents but also urging a political solution to end possible bomb will be moving with his scholarship for his secondary and on Holocaust seeking his overthrow, with both leaders the war, the Kremlin said. Assad, who last family to the Middle East so he can undergraduate education. Ahmed said also agreeing during the talks late visited Russia in 2008, told Putin that the attend school there, his family said. he was impressed with the program and JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Tuesday that military operations must be three-week-old Russian air war - which Ahmed Mohamed’s family released a thinks he’ll “learn a lot and have fun, Netanyahu provoked a Holocaust controversy yes- followed by political steps. As part of a has prompted an outcry in the West - had statement Tuesday saying they had too”. Ahmed took a homemade clock to terday, hours before a visit to Germany, by saying flurry of diplomacy, Russia announced helped to stop the spread of “terrorism” in accepted a foundation’s offer to pay for his high school to show a teacher, but that the Muslim elder in Jerusalem during the afterwards that Foreign Minister Sergei his country, the Kremlin said. his high school and col- another teacher thought it 1940s convinced Adolf Hitler to exterminate the Lavrov would meet tomorrow with US Continued on Page 13 lege in Doha, Qatar. He could be a bomb. The school Jews. In a speech to the Zionist Congress late on recently visited the coun- contacted police, who hand- Tuesday, Netanyahu referred to a series of Muslim try as part of a whirlwind cuffed the boy and took him attacks on Jews in Palestine during the 1920s that he said were instigated by the then-Mufti of month that included a to a detention center. The Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini. Monday stop at the White school suspended him for Husseini famously flew to visit Hitler in Berlin in House and an appearance three days. 1941, and Netanyahu said that meeting was Tuesday at the US Capitol. A police photo of the instrumental in the Nazi leader’s decision to “We are going to move device shows a carrying case launch a campaign to annihilate the Jews. “Hitler to a place where my kids containing a circuit board can study and learn, and and power supply wired to a didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, Ahmed Mohamed he wanted to expel the Jews,” Netanyahu said in all of them being accepted digital display. Police ulti- the speech. “And Haj Amin Al-Husseini went to by that country,” Ahmed’s father, mately chose not to charge Ahmed with Hitler and said, ‘If you expel them, they’ll all come Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, told The having a hoax bomb, and the police here (Palestine).’ ‘So what should I do with them?’” Dallas Morning News before boarding chief has said there was no evidence the Netanyahu said Hitler asked the mufti, who an airplane from Washington back teen meant to cause alarm. His parents responded: “Burn them.” home to Texas on Tuesday. The state- later withdrew him from the school. US Netanyahu, whose father was an eminent his- ment said the family has been “over- President Barack Obama joined a surge torian, was quickly harangued by opposition whelmed by the many offers of support” of public support by congratulating the politicians and experts on the Holocaust who said since Ahmed’s arrest on Sept 14 at his teen on his skills, in what was seen as a he was distorting the historical record. They noted school in Irving, a Dallas suburb. The pointed rebuke to school and police offi- the meeting between Husseini and Hitler took family said it accepted an offer from the cials amid accusations of Islamophobia. place on Nov 28, 1941. Qatar Foundation for Education, Science “Cool clock, Ahmed. Continued on Page 13 MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) meets Syria President Bashar and Community Development to join its Continued on Page 13 Al-Assad in the Kremlin on Tuesday. — AP E-media bill Injury-hit Real guarantees hold PSG 0-0 rights of in Champions organizations3 League20 LOCAL THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2015 DOHA: Kuwaiti Minister of Health Dr Ali Al-Obaidi seen during the second meeting of the GCC Committee of Health Ministers in Doha. — KUNA GCC approves joint guidelines for medical reserves Saudi Minister promotes healthy lifestyle DOHA: The GCC countries approved a joint terday. The meeting discussed several health bin Abdulaziz Al-Faleh urged Arab Gulf coun- gested building a partnership between pub- Qatar, are in the top 10 nations globally for guideline for strategic medical reserves topics, including the equality in providing tries to increase their efforts, especially lic and private institutions in the region to the highest prevalence of the disease. There including medicines and equipment, said medical services to all GCC citizens, proce- awareness campaigns, to help curb the curb the spiral of the obesity and its related are more than 34.6 million people in the Kuwaiti Minister of Health Dr Ali Al-Obaidi. dures of receiving medical treatment abroad, spread of obesity and diabetes in the region. diseases. According to figures of the Middle East and North Africa have diabetes, The guideline aims to create further coopera- strategic cooperation between the Gulf coun- Speaking at the opening of a conference on International Diabetes Federation (IDF), which accounts for 10.9 percent of people tion between the GCC states during disasters tries with Turkey, Jordan and Morocco and controlling obesity and diabetes in the Gulf roughly one in five people has diabetes in the world-wide with the disease, and costs gov- and crises, the minister said after heading the further participation in regional and interna- Cooperation Council states, Al-Faleh under- Arabian Gulf region.