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SAFAR 3, 1439 AH MONDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2017 Max 34º 32 Pages 150 Fils Established 1961 Min 19º ISSUE NO: 17362 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Conocarpus tree: Harmless ‘Braid-chopping’ cases add Mugabe removed as WHO Warriors come unglued, 59plant or legitimate threat? panic to trauma in Kashmir 23 goodwill envoy after outrage 14 Cavs flat against Magic Tillerson woos Gulf allies in push to undercut Iran Top US diplomat demands Iranian militias leave Iraq RIYADH/DOHA: Top US diplomat Rex Tillerson pursued efforts to curb Tehran’s influ- Amir meets Sudan president ence in talks with his country’s Gulf allies yes- terday, demanding that Iran pare down its involvement in Iraq as the fight against the Islamic State group draws to a close. The ques- tion of Iranian influence in the region - including in Iraq and Qatar - is at the center of Tillerson’s visit to Riyadh and Doha, which comes just weeks after President Donald Trump refused to certify the Iran nuclear deal and declared an aggressive new strategy against Tehran. The US secretary of state appears focused on boosting Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia’s clout in Iraq, where Shiite forces backed by Tehran are fighting in the north, as part of a wider regional battle for influence that extends from Syria to Yemen. “Certainly Iranian militias that are in RIYADH: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is received by Saudi King Salman bin Iraq, now that the fighting against (the Islamic Abdulaziz Al-Saud in the Saudi capital yesterday. — AFP State group) is coming to a close, those militias need to go home,” Tillerson said at a press con- ference in Riyadh. “All foreign fighters need to official. “The position of the Iraqi government Abadi hailed as an “important step toward go home.” and the position of our government is that there enhancing relations”. Saudi Arabia cut ties with The Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) - should be a single Iraqi security force answer- Iraq in 1990 following Saddam Hussein’s inva- powerful paramilitary units dominated by able to the Iraqi state,” the official said on con- sion of Kuwait, but Riyadh and Baghdad have Iranian-trained Shiite militias - have been part dition of anonymity. “What happens to the rekindled diplomatic and commercial relations KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah receives at Bayan of the fight against IS and continue to battle dif- PMFs is they go home or they integrate into the this year. Palace yesterday visiting Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir. The talks reviewed ferent factions in Iraq. But Tillerson’s remarks Iraqi security forces.” Tillerson told the Saudi king and Abadi that bilateral ties and means of promoting them in all fields for broadening cooperation were also aimed at Iran’s elite Revolutionary Tillerson sat in on the first meeting of a joint the event highlighted the improving ties between the two sister countries and achieving expectations of their people for Guards (IRGC) and their foreign operations Saudi-Iraqi coordination council in Riyadh yes- between the longtime rivals and showed “the mutual interests. The leaders also discussed issues of common interest. — KUNA wing, the Quds Force, according to a senior US terday, which Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al- Continued on Page 11 News in brief Saudis crave Egypt agro ban lifted revival of night CAIRO: Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to lift a ban on imports of Egyptian agri- out at movies cultural products, Egypt said yesterday, as the country works to step up exports to narrow its budget deficit. The series of bans were said to have been on concerns RIYADH: The lights go out, the projector whirls and over pesticide residues. The three Gulf countries had entertainment-starved Saudis sink into plush seats to banned various agricultural imports from Egypt, soak up an experience they have been denied for including pepper, lettuce and onion, earlier this year. decades - a trip to the cinema. The rare movie night this Egypt has asked an agricultural quarantine body to week in Riyadh was a precursor to an expected formal advise on shipments and warn of exporters who violate lifting of the kingdom’s ban on cinemas, long vilified as agreed-upon international standards, an Egyptian agri- vulgar and sinful by religious hardliners. Following a culture ministry statement said. decree allowing women to drive, authorities have hinted cinemas would soon be permitted as part of ambitious reforms for a post-oil era that could shake up the aus- tere kingdom’s cultural scene. RIYADH: Saudi women attend the “Short Film Competition 2” festival on Oct 20, 2017 at the Fines for discarding butts “Cinema is like the soul of Saudi society,” said Faisal King Fahd Culture Center. — AFP Alharbi, director of “National Dialogue”, one of three KUWAIT: The municipality warned motorists against short films screened to an audience packed into the flinging cigarette butts out of their vehicles or stubbing capital’s King Fahd Cultural Centre. “It makes people ban ends, medical student Sultan expects cinemas with in the kingdom, which is promoting entertainment as them out on pavements, parks or in public places, see reality, a reflection of their own lives on screen.” The all the trappings of the modern movie experience, part of a sweeping reforms plan dubbed “Vision adding that violators will be fined up to KD 200. The cavernous hall was segregated by gender at the free including vending machines churning out popcorn and 2030”, despite opposition from conservatives. Capital municipality emergency team leader Zaid Al- screening - the latest in a series of shows since July. cotton candy. “I expect the movie theatres will be Hardliners, who see cinemas as a threat to cultural and Enezi said article 1 of the municipality services law A food truck hawking grilled burgers was parked crowded all the time,” the 19-year-old audience mem- religious identity, were instrumental in shutting them 9/1987 stipulates that discarding cigarette butts on outside and the audience was offered servings of ber told AFP. down in the 1980s. pavements, streets, squares, yards, parking lots, parks Arabic coffee in thimble-sized plastic cups. Once the Reviving cinemas would represent a paradigm shift Continued on Page 11 and public places is punishable with fines ranging from KD 5 to KD 200. More than 1.1bn Facebook post leads to arrest ‘invisible people’ Opposition MPs JERUSALEM: Israeli police mistakenly arrested then released a Palestinian who posted “good morning” in lack identification warn govt over key Arabic on Facebook after software mistranslated it as “attack them”, police and a media report said yester- WASHINGTON: More than 1.1 billion people world- day. According to a report in Haaretz newspaper, the wide officially don’t exist - going about their daily lives laws, citizenship Palestinian man posted a picture of himself leaning without proof of identity. The issue leaves a significant against a bulldozer at the Israeli settlement of Beitar fraction of the global population deprived of health and By B Izzak Ilit, where he works, in the occupied West Bank. education services. Among these “invisible people” - Along with the picture, an Arabic phrase meaning many of whom live primarily in Africa and Asia - more KUWAIT: Opposition MPs yesterday reviewed the “good morning” was also posted. Facebook’s transla- than one third are children susceptible to violence main issues that need to be debated and approved in tion software interpreted the post to mean “attack whose births have not been registered, the World the National Assembly’s new term opening tomor- them” in Hebrew and “hurt them” in English. Bank’s “Identification for Development” (ID4D) pro- row and warned the government over its failure to gram recently warned. cooperate with them. MP Abdulwahab Al-Babtain, who hosted the meeting of 13 lawmakers, said the The problem is particularly acute in geographical meeting insisted that seven important issues should areas whose residents face poverty, discrimination, epi- Saudis deny visit to Israel be tackled in the first month of the new term. demics or armed conflicts. Many families are also sim- These include reducing the duration of preventive ply not informed about the importance of birth regis- RIYADH: Saudi Arabia yesterday denied that any of detention (to just 48 hours from 10 days now), early its officials had visited Israel, after Israeli media tration - and the consequences of non-registration, retirement, scrapping the petrol price hike, the Rohingya Muslim children, who crossed over from reported that a senior prince had made a secret diplo- which can include the denial of basic rights and bene- Kuwaiti army law and the municipal council and the Myanmar into Bangladesh, play football at the Kutupalong matic trip there. “Reports of a secret visit to Israel by fits, or an increased likelihood of marrying or entering anti-corruption authority legislation, Babtain said. a Saudi official which have appeared on some media into the labor force underage. These children can also refugee camp in Bangladesh yesterday. — AP Other major issues that opposition lawmakers want are unfounded,” a spokesman for the Saudi foreign fall victim to human trafficking. to be resolved include amending the electoral sys- ministry said. “Saudi Arabia has always been transpar- And even if parents are aware of the need to declare tem, the cybercrime law, audiovisual law, judiciary national exams. And in many countries, births of chil- ent as regards contacts and visits” to foreign coun- a birth, costs can be crippling. As a result, millions of independence law and a legislation calling to shield dren born out of wedlock or as a result of rape are tries, the spokesman said in a statement carried by the children in Africa and Asia first encounter the adminis- the National Assembly against dissolution, he said.