SUBSCRIPTION SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2015 RAJJAB 21, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Man killed, Britain in Ten-man United close in two injured new era after Bayern on Champions in Salmiya Cameron’s suffer fourth League, Burnley shooting3 shock13 victory straight18 defeat out20 despite win Jahra flooded as rain Min 26º Max 37º and storms hit Kuwait High Tide 04:10 & 15:20 Sea navigation suspended • Weather warnings issued Low Tide 09:50 & 15:20 40 PAGES NO: 16516 150 FILS By Meshaal Al-Enezi and Agencies GCC adopts KUWAIT: Heavy rain and strong wind hit Kuwait yesterday as a result of a sudden low pressure. Jahra was particularly affected by heavy rains that caused flooding in certain accord on areas, while there were reports that a mosque in Saad Al- Abdullah was completely flooded, while leaks were recorded at Jahra Hospital. There were also reports about VAT: Saleh ‘severe sandstorms’ in the northern parts of the country. Meanwhile, traffic jams caused by heavy rains and flood- DOHA: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) officials ed streets were reported in different locations around the have adopted a value-added tax (VAT) draft agree- country. ment, Kuwait’s minister of finance said yesterday. The unstable weather also suspended navigation at Every GCC member state will endorse the agree- Shuwaikh Port after wind speed reached up to 35 knots ment in accordance with its and visibility dropped below three nautical miles, the own regulations, Anas Al-Saleh Kuwait Ports Association announced. “There are four ships told KUNA on the sidelines of anchoring in the waiting area, while three other ships are the 100th meeting of the GCC in the exit area waiting until the weather improves,” said financial and economic cooper- Abdullah Al-Mansour, an official at Shuwaikh Port. ation committee. The Kuwait Meteorological Center had released a The agreement is to be put warning yesterday afternoon about thunderstorms and into effect once the document strong winds reaching 50 kilometers per hour. The weath- of the endorsement is deposit- er changes are a feature of the Sarayat season, which con- ed at the GCC Secretariat. He tinues until mid-May. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry’s Anas Al-Saleh noted that the agreement spec- Public Relations and Security Media Department as well ifies that each GCC country as the Kuwait Fire Services Directorate issued a general should issue its own local law of the VAT, provided warning urging the public to stay indoors during the that common principles of the agreement are unstable weather conditions. They also urged drivers to involved. stay extra cautious on the road, and called people to dial Continued on Page 13 KUWAIT: Cars navigate a flooded roundabout in Jahra yesterday after heavy rains. — Photo by Joseph Shagra (See Page 3) 112 in cases of emergency. Mubarak, sons get 3 years for graft CAIRO: An Egyptian court yesterday sen- decades in power. State news agency tenced ousted president Hosni Mubarak MENA later reported that prison authori- to three years in prison on corruption ties contacted the prosecution to inquire Regional wars accusations, after he was cleared of mur- about how much time the three had der charges in another case. Mubarak already spent in jail. They had initially push Turkey, and his sons Alaa and Gamal, also sen- been sentenced to three years on the tenced to three years, were present in same charges but an appeal court over- the caged dock, wearing suits and sun- turned the original verdict. Saudis closer glasses. Their lawyers may try to appeal. Mubarak, who waved at his support- It was not immediately clear whether the ers in the benches before the judge read ANKARA: Turkey is cultivating closer relations with sentencing took into account time his verdict, was taken to the military hos- Saudi Arabia’s new leadership, putting aside long- served. pital where he has spent much of his standing differences over political Islam and aligning The three had all been arrested in time since his detention in 2011. He and efforts to solve regional crises including the war in 2011, months after Mubarak was toppled his sons were fined 125 million pounds Syria. The rapprochement between two of the Middle in a popular 18-day uprising after three Continued on Page 13 East’s biggest powers already appears to be paying dividends in Syria, helping to drive advances by Islamist rebels fighting side-by-side with Western- backed groups against President Bashar Al-Assad’s MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin (second right) carries a portrait of forces. his father as he takes part in the Immortal Regiment march during Victory Day Turkey, which has the second-largest army in celebrations yesterday. — AFP NATO, has also offered logistical support to a Saudi- led coalition carrying out air strikes against Houthi Putin brushes off snub rebels in Yemen, part of the Kingdom’s more muscu- lar regional strategy under new monarch King at WWII victory parade Salman. The thaw in ties reflects a realization in Ankara and Riyadh that differences over the Muslim MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin Addressing thousands of foreign guests Brotherhood, a pan-Arab Islamist movement champi- shrugged off a boycott by Western leaders and veterans, Putin chose to ignore the oned by Turkey but deemed a terrorist organization at a huge military parade yesterday to mark boycott, thanking Britain, France and the by Saudi, should not hinder a joint response to the the 70th anniversary of victory in WWII US for their “contribution” to the defeat of crises threatening the wider Middle East. before joining mammoth crowds for a Germany. “Our fathers and grandfathers “The region is in need of change,” said a senior commemorative march. In what is seen as went through unbearable suffering, depri- member of Turkey’s ruling AK Party who is close to punishment for Kremlin meddling in vation and losses,” Putin said, feting the President Tayyip Erdogan, asking not to be named so Ukraine, Western countries led by Russia’s country’s veterans and the “grandeur of as to speak more freely. “Following the change in World War II allies snubbed the May 9 fes- Victory over Nazism”. “We are grateful to leadership in Riyadh, Turkey and Saudi Arabia will tivities, leaving Putin to mark the day in the the people of Great Britain, France and the push to overcome regional conflicts ... A new frame- CAIRO: Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak sits in the defendant’s cage company of the leaders of China, Cuba and United States for their contribution work is being formulated,” he said. between his sons Gamal (left) and Alaa as they listen to the verdict in their hear- other Moscow-friendly figures. Continued on Page 13 Continued on Page 13 ing in a retrial for embezzlement yesterday. — AFP More than 100 strikes hit Yemen CAIRO/ADEN: A Saudi-led coalition hit northern The coalition has bombarded the Houthis and army provinces of Yemen with 130 air strikes in 100 locations units loyal to Saleh since March 26, but eased back on over the past 24 hours, its spokesman said yesterday, in a the strikes in late April and on Friday offered a five-day response to the country’s Houthi rebels shelling Saudi truce starting on May 12 if other parties agreed. The border areas this week. The coalition had called on civil- Saudis and nine other Arab countries, backed by the ians to evacuate Saada, the city in northern Yemen United States, Britain and France, hoped to force the where Houthi support is strongest, but in the absence of Houthis back to their northern heartland and restore the working communication facilities and with a severe exiled government of President Abedrabbo Mansour shortage of fuel, it was unclear how they could leave. Hadi, who is in Riyadh. The air strikes targeted bases of Houthi leaders across The Houthis are mainly drawn from the Zaydi sect of Saada and Hajja provinces, said Brigadier General Shiite Islam that predominates in Yemen’s northern high- Ahmed Asseri, the coalition’s spokesman, as well as hit- lands. They took advantage of political chaos to seize ting the group’s tanks and other military vehicles. Other Sanaa and then advance further south over the past strikes targeted Sanaa airport’s runway, a Yemeni official year, aided by Saleh. Riyadh fears the Houthis will act as there said, and Houthi targets in the Al-Sadda district of a proxy for their main regional rival, Shiite Iran, to under- Ibb in central Yemen, residents there said. mine Saudi security, and that their advance into Sunni In the southern port city of Aden, clashes continued regions will add a sectarian edge to the civil war, on Friday and yesterday in the central Crater, Khor strengthening an Al-Qaeda group in Yemen. Maksar and Mualla districts as the Houthis and forces Iran and the Houthis deny there are funding, arming loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh shelled local or training efforts by Tehran, and regional analysts say militias trying to oust them from the city. However, the the rebel group is unlikely ever to become an all-out Houthis were pushed back from parts of Dar Al-Saad in proxy for the Islamic Republic in the mould of Lebanon’s the city’s north into Lahj Province, local militias said, and Hezbollah. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said yester- TAEZ, Yemen: Armed Yemeni tribesmen gather in this southern city as they mobilize support and declare to faced fighting in Al-Dhala Province. In Shabwa province, day the Saudi-led campaign was the work of an “inexpe- join fighters loyal to Yemen’s Saudi backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in the battle against Shiite east of Aden, four men including a suspected al Qaeda rienced” government that did not understand the Houthi rebels yesterday.