JUMADA ALTHANI 26, 1441 AH THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2020 28 Pages Max 26º Min 15º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18066 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Erdogan threatens ‘imminent’ Sick Kashmiris feel deadly Afghan artist brushes aside Pens top Leafs, jump 7 Turkish operation in Syria 9 consequences of blackout 19 disability to open arts center 28 Caps for first place Assembly launches probe into Airbus deal in subdued session Finance minister says govt keen to protect public money, fight corruption By B Izzak to raise the issue, said the names of Kuwait and a number ment’s keenness to protect public money and fight cor- of personalities were mentioned in the British court judg- ruption. He added if the probe results revealed any suspi- KUWAIT: In a quiet session yesterday - contrary to the ment, and accordingly “we must investigate the allega- cions, the government will not hesitate to take all legal previous day - the National Assembly formed a fact-find- tions”. “The Airbus deal case involves suspected financial measures and refer all those responsible to face justice. ing committee to investigate allegations of bribery in a crimes, conflict of interests, financial transactions and a In the settlement struck by Airbus in the British deal Kuwait Airways signed six years ago with aircraft suspicious involvement of an Arab middleman with court, it agreed to pay €3.6 billion ($3.9 billion) in fines manufacturer Airbus. The move comes as Airbus faces a Kuwaiti officials. Therefore we have to investigate and to Britain, France and the United States to settle cor- string of allegations from several countries of having paid probe with all government bodies related to the deal,” ruption probes into some of its aircraft sales. Days kickbacks to secure deals, three weeks after agreeing to Adasani told a special debate held at the Assembly. after the settlement, Sri Lanka ordered an investigation pay a $4 billion fine for a settlement in a British court over The Assembly selected MPs Saleh Ashour, Bader Al- into a multibillion-dollar aircraft purchase from Airbus allegations of bribery. Mulla and Khalil Al-Saleh as members of the fact-finding after the deal was named in the settlement. The former Kuwait Airways in 2014 signed a multibillion-dollar committee and gave it three months to complete its mis- chief of Sri Lankan Airlines, Kapila Chandrasena, was deal with Airbus for the purchase of 15 Airbus 320neo sion. MPs also voted to ask the Audit Bureau, the state arrested on Feb 6 for allegedly receiving bribes relat- aircraft and 10 Airbus 350-900. The deal was later accounting watchdog, to launch a comprehensive investi- ing to the deal. modified to include a number of A-330neo aircraft. gation into the deal and report back to the Assembly Earlier this month, two senior officials of the Malaysia- Delivery of the planes began in September last year and within one month. MPs called for obtaining a copy of the based AirAsia stepped aside while authorities probe is expected to continue until next year. The deal also British court verdict on alleged kickbacks by Airbus. MP unusual payments at the carrier, as the fallout from the included leasing 12 small and large planes for several Mohammad Al-Dallal said the Assembly must also launch Airbus scandal reverberated across the industry. Kuwait KUWAIT: Finance Minister Barak Al-Shitan speaks during a years until the new aircraft are delivered. its own investigation into the deal. has also initiated criminal investigations into two large National Assembly session yesterday. — KUNA Opposition MP Riyadh Al-Adasani, who was the first Finance Minister Barak Al-Shitan stressed the govern- Continued on Page 24 the plane remains unknown. Jet ‘downing’ The rebels, once dismissed as a rag- tag militia, said they hit the jet with an UAE loads fuel “advanced surface-to-air missile”. The stirs alarm over claim followed recent UN reports that the Houthis had received weapons bear- rods at Arab world’s Houthi arsenal ing signs of Iranian origin. Tehran has RIYADH: Claims that Yemeni rebels long denied arming the rebels. Following first nuclear plant shot down a Saudi warplane have spot- the crash, a Houthi spokesman said lighted the increasingly potent Houthi Yemeni airspace was off-limits and not a ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates has start- arsenal - cause for alarm in Riyadh as “picnic” spot for its enemies. ed loading fuel rods into the first reactor at its fighting escalates amid faltering efforts “This is definitely a cause for alarm Barakah nuclear plant, operators said yesterday, to end the five-year conflict. The Iran- for the coalition,” Becca Wasser, a policy two days after regulators gave the green light. On aligned Houthi rebels said they downed analyst at the US-based RAND Monday, the national nuclear regulator announced the Tornado aircraft on Friday over the Corporation, told AFP. “They need to it has issued the operating license for the first of volatile northern province of Al-Jawf, in plan as though this is the new normal the plant’s four reactors, opening the way for com- a setback for the Riyadh-led military and that the Houthis have the capability mercial operations to begin. The plant, the first in to shoot down more aircraft, which is coalition that has always enjoyed air SANAA: This file image grab taken on July 23, 2019 shows ballistic missiles on display the Arab world, had been due to go online in late going to affect their operations and how supremacy in the conflict. The fate of the during an exhibition of various missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. — AFP 2017 but faced a number of delays that officials two Saudi crewmen who ejected from Continued on Page 24 attributed to safety and regulatory requirements. “The Nawah Energy Company has commenced loading the first nuclear fuel assemblies as the ini- ple passing nearby, who filmed him on cell phones. public speaking in large auditoriums with usually tial step in the process towards safely and gradual- A woman in a hooded coat pushed through and carefully orchestrated questions, he rarely goes out ly commencing operations and subsequent genera- Woman asks Putin: immediately asked Putin: “Please tell me, is it possible on the street for unpredictable encounters with tion of clean electricity,” Nawah said in a state- to live on 10,800 rubles ($170)?” “I think it’s very members of the public. ment. The statement added that Unit 1 will begin ‘Could you live hard,” Putin said quietly in video footage posted by Yesterday, Putin referred to recent policy initia- commercial operations after a “series of tests” Russian media. “Your pay is probably about 800,000 tives to improve lives of families with children, includ- leading to the start-up process. Continued on Page 24 on $170 a month?’ rubles, I imagine,” she says. “Well yes,” Putin says, ing enhanced child benefits and payouts for the birth while adding that some in Russia earn far more and of a child. “Of course you are right, we still have a lot SAINT PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir “the president doesn’t have the highest salary.” of social problems that the government has to solve,” Putin yesterday faced what appeared to be a rare The woman, who said she is studying book-keep- he said. “Why don’t you solve them then?” the unscripted grilling from a Russian woman who asked ing and lives on disability benefits, went on to talk woman retorted. “We are solving them,” Putin said. him how much he earns and whether he could live on about everyday costs, apparently doubting Putin The woman then asked Putin to pose with her for a Infertile cancer her income of $170 a month. While visiting his native knew the figures. A trip to the grocery store costs at photo. Putin was in Saint Petersburg to mark twenty city of Saint Petersburg, Putin had laid a wreath at a least 1,000 rubles, she said, while utility bills for a years since the death of his early political mentor, for- patient has baby political mentor’s grave and was approached by peo- flat cost at least 4,000 rubles. While Putin shines at mer city mayor Anatoly Sobchak. — AFP using frozen egg her hearty laugh is set off by the sinister PARIS: In a world first, a woman rendered infertile by Syrian dad and thunder of a bomb dropped by a war- cancer treatment gave birth after one of her immature plane. “Tell me Salwa, what did the plane eggs was matured, frozen, and then - five years later - daughter laugh do,” the father asks his daughter. “The thawed and fertilized, researchers in France reported. A plane came and I laughed a lot. The study in the journal Annals of Oncology published yes- plane just makes us laugh, it tells us: terday describes how the baby boy was born to a 34- off the shelling Laugh at me, laugh at me,” she says. year-old French woman who had been treated with An AFP reporter met the 32-year-old chemotherapy for breast cancer. SARMADA, Syria: In Syria’s Idlib, there’s father in Sarmada, a town in Syria’s last Before the treatment began, doctors removed seven no escaping the war, so Abdullah Al- rebel pocket, which Russian-backed immature eggs from her ovaries and used a technique Mohammed says the only way he found to regime forces are trying to crush. He and called in vitro maturation (IVM) to allow the eggs to reassure his daughter Salwa was to turn his family fled from Saraqeb, another town develop further in the laboratory.