RAJAB 20, 1440 AH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2019 28 Pages Max 27º Min 15 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17792 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net US recognition of Israel’s sovereignty Pentagon authorizes $1bn Pakistan’s Khan fears conflict risk McGregor again announces 28on Syrian Golan fuels tension: Kuwait for Trump’s border wall 24 while India in election mode: FT 28 his retirement from MMA New recruits with 21 diseases on MoH list to be denied entry Cross-eyed, pregnant expats barred • Residents exempt, except for contagious diseases By A Saleh has the right to override the government’s rejection forged university degree. The lawmaker questioned Govt rejects raising by approving the law again by a two-thirds majority, how someone who has committed forgery can inves- KUWAIT: In a bid to cut expenses, achieve health or waiting until the next term to pass it with a simple tigate a multibillion-dollar deal suspected to be security and prevent the entry of unfit people, the majority. Lawmakers had said the main purpose of marred by corruption. He said that an Assembly health ministry announced a new list of 21 diseases and annual leave; call the law is to lure more Kuwaitis to the private sector, committee found some big names in a list of those ailments that will prevent newly-recruited expatriates which is dominated by expatriates. The amendment suspected to have fake university degrees, including from entering Kuwait, said informed sources. for debt write-off would have reduced the gap between benefits some who were appointed members in the municipal The sources said the new list includes brittle dia- offered by the public and private sectors. council and another leading a department in the betes, irregular high blood pressure, cancer, strabismus By B Izzak Meanwhile, MP Majed Al-Mutairi said yesterday information ministry. He said the government silence (being cross-eyed), weak eyesight, kidney failure, lame- ness, contagious diseases, HIV, hepatitis B and C, that five lawmakers have submitted a request to the on the issue is suspicious. microfilaria, malaria, leprosy, pulmonary tuberculosis, KUWAIT: Head of the National Assembly’s health Assembly urging speeding up the approval of a draft Meanwhile, a number of MPs agreed that more and labor committee MP Humoud Al-Khudhair said tinnitus, fibrosis and calcification of the lungs, inflam- law calling on the government to write off bank debts cooperation is needed among Gulf Cooperation Council mation of the pleura, hypertrophy contractions, preg- yesterday that the government rejected amendments on Kuwaiti citizens. The lawmaker said his proposal (GCC) member states, particularly on the legislative to the labor law to raise annual leave in the private nancy (for women applying for jobs) and other condi- has so far received strong positive response by MPs front. Kuwaiti lawmakers Rakan Al-Nisf and Ouda Al- tions due to which an expat applying for a visa to enter sector from 30 to 35 days. The law had been and the public, and as a result he and other MPs have Ruwaei made the remarks after taking part in a meeting Kuwait will be deemed unfit and rejected. approved by the Assembly in the first reading last urged the Assembly for a quicker debate to approve yesterday in Jeddah of a GCC parliamentary committee The sources justified the measure by the health min- month with the government’s approval, but the sec- the legislation. The proposed law calls for writing off dealing with coordination and foreign affairs. istry as an attempt to prevent overburdening the min- ond and final vote on the legislation was delayed consumer and housing loans taken by Kuwaiti citi- The talks covered several major issues a week istry budget, as expats with such conditions will cost a without any reason. zens from local banks to help them meet the increas- before top lawmakers from across the Gulf are due lot to be treated at a time when the ministry is cutting Khudhair did not say when the government made ing cost of living, according to Mutairi. to meet here, Nisf said. The main objective of the its expenses. Notably, the sources stressed that expats the rejection, which is expected to block its passage MP Ahmad Al-Fadhl said yesterday that a mem- talks is to seek better foreign relations, according to with valid residencies in Kuwait who are diagnosed in the Assembly. The government has the right to ber in a committee formed by the defense ministry to Ruwaei, who revealed that the meeting also finalized with any of the abovementioned diseases will not be reject laws approved by the Assembly, which also probe the Eurofighter jet deal was found to hold a a number of development and youth-led projects. deported, except those with infectious and contagious diseases like AIDS, hepatitis B and C and tuberculosis. News in brief Army chief calls Uber confirms Careem acquisition for declaring DUBAI: Global ride-hailing giant Uber will acquire its Middle East rival Careem for $3.1 billion in the region’s Bouteflika unfit largest technology industry transaction, the two com- panies announced yesterday. “Careem and Uber are ALGIERS: Algeria’s army chief called yesterday for joining forces. We have reached an agreement in President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to be declared unfit to which Uber will acquire Careem for $3.1 billion,” a govern, in a rare direct intervention by the military after joint statement said. Careem will retain its branding, weeks of mass protests demanding the ailing leader services and separate app in the greater Middle East step down after two decades in power. The move would region, and expand its services to include mass trans- potentially clear the way for elections to be organized portation, delivery and payments. — AFP in the coming months unless the president recovers. “It is necessary, even imperative, to adopt a solution to get out of the crisis which responds to the legitimate Dubai allows increase in school fees demands of the Algerian people, and which guarantees the respect of the provisions of the constitution and DUBAI: Dubai will allow a modest increase in safeguards the sovereignty of the state,” General school fees for the majority of students in the 2019- Ahmed Gaid Salah said in a televised speech. 2020 academic year, after last year’s freeze trig- The armed forces chief of staff, considered loyal to gered a delay in the London listing of a major school Bouteflika, added that the solution “is in article 102” of operator. The Dubai government said it will allow an the constitution, under which parliament could declare increase in school fees for 90 percent of students by the president unable to perform his duties due to seri- a maximum 2.07 percent from the 2019-2020 aca- ous illness, a decision that members of parliament’s demic year. Schools in which the quality of educa- lower and upper house need to ratify by a two-thirds tion is declining according to the government’s index majority. ALGIERS: Algerian students demonstrate in the capital yesterday against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. — AFP will not be allowed to increase their fees. — Reuters Continued on Page 24 US approves F-16 sale to Morocco Manuel Lopez Obrador called Monday on Spanish King Mexico demands Felipe VI and Pope Francis to apologize for the conquest WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday and the rights violations committed in its aftermath. approved the sale of 25 F-16 fighter aircraft to “I have sent a letter to the king of Spain and another Morocco for $3.8 billion, the State Department Spain apology for to the pope, calling for a full account of the abuses and announced. Besides the new Block 70/72 F-16s, urging them to apologize to the indigenous peoples (of equipped with state of the art electronic systems colonial ‘abuses’ Mexico) for the violations of what we now call their and weaponry, Washington also approved the mod- human rights,” Lopez Obrador said. He made the ernization of 23 F-16s already in the Moroccan air MADRID: The 500-year-old wounds of the Spanish remarks in a video, filmed at the Mayan ruins of the force fleet, for $983 million. The State Department conquest have been ripped open afresh with Mexico’s indigenous city of Comalcalco and posted on Facebook said the sale would not affect the balance of forces president urging Spain and the Vatican to apologize for and Twitter. “There were massacres and oppression. The in the region. — AFP their “abuses” - a request Madrid said it “firmly rejects”. so-called conquest was waged with the sword and the Spain’s centuries of dominance in the New World, cross. They built their churches on top of the (indige- MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Andres Manuel backed by the Catholic Church, leapt from the history nous) temples,” added the anti-establishment leftist. Lopez Obrador speaks during his daily morning press Sharif gets bail on medical grounds books to the headlines when Mexican President Andres Continued on Page 24 conference at the National Palace yesterday. — AFP ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court agreed yesterday to release jailed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on bail for six weeks to receive med- ical treatment but said he would not be allowed to Small sums spell success leave the country. Sharif is serving a seven-year sentence imposed last year for failing to disclose the as kids go back to school source of income that allowed him to acquire the Al- Azizia Steel Mills in Saudi Arabia. The sentence ADANA, Turkey: Like many students of family benefits from monthly supplements would be suspended for six weeks from the date of her age, 16-year-old refugee Fatmeh aimed at keeping school-age children in Sharif’s release.