SUBSCRIPTION MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2016 RAMADAN 22, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Jaber Hospital: For Trump and Griezmann Rare surgery Ramadan TImings Major medical Brexit voters, double sends performed Emsak: 03:05 complex in echoes of same France into Euro at Kuwait’s Fajer: 03:15 Shrooq: 04:50 Middle East frustrations 2016 last eight Chest Hospital Dohr: 11:51 Asr: 15:24 Maghreb: 18:51 2 9 20 3 Eshaa: 20:24 Accept peace plan, Ban Min 33º Max 47º urges Yemeni factions High Tide 04:53 & 15:59 Low Tide Amir receives UN chief, delegation 10:35 & 11:08 40 PAGES NO: 16917 150 FILS KUWAIT: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Yemen’s warring sides here yesterday and urged them to accept a peace plan in a bid to push forward talks that have made no headway even after two months. Ban, who arrived in Kuwait City late on Saturday, met the del- egates from the rebel and the government factions in a joint session yesterday, according to a UN spokesman. Earlier, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received yesterday at Bayan Palace, visiting United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his accompanying delegation. The meeting reviewed the progress of ongoing Yemeni peace talks that aim to bring a political solution to the conflict in the war-torn nation, in addition to dis- cussions of regional and international developments. HH the Amir presented the UN Secretary General with a ribbon emblazoned with the country’s colors as a token of appreciation for his efforts to promote peace all over the world. The meeting was attended by First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah. The UN Secretary General appealed to the warring parties to accept a roadmap for peace and quickly reach a comprehensive settlement to the 15-month-old con- flict. UN special envoy Ould Cheikh Ahmed has repeat- edly urged both sides to make concessions to end the conflict, which has cost more than 6,400 lives since March 2015 and displaced 2.8 million people. KUWAIT: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki- The peace roadmap proposed by Ahmed calls for the moon (left) receiving a medal from His Highness the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah yes- and disarmament of the rebels. KUWAIT: UN Secretary General Bani Ki-moon addresses delegations of Yemen peace talks currently being terday at Al-Sief Palace in Kuwait. — Amiri Diwan Continued on Page 13 held in Kuwait yesterday. — KUNA Ramadan Kareem British politics in turmoil as talks loom Thoughts on Ramadan By Arnold Ali Cender Scottish leader may try to block ‘Brexit’ ugust 1st 1980. The daytime temperature is LONDON: Britain’s political crisis deep- new threat to the global economy. around 45 degrees Celsius and the humidity is ened yesterday amid party infighting in Schulz told the German newspaper A90 percent. This is the eastern Gulf and I am here London and new polls showing bol- Bild am Sonntag that a summit of EU for my first-ever job in the Middle East. It is also the Kuwait, Gulf stocks stered support for Scottish independ- leaders tomorrow, which Cameron will middle of Ramadan and, when I arrive at the airport, ence, even as Brussels seeks a quick attend, was the “right time” to begin exit my suitcases are nowhere to be seen. So I start my first divorce after a seismic vote to leave the proceedings. German Chancellor Angela day in my new job wearing the same clothes I traveled dive on Brexit vote bloc. Two days after Prime Minister David Merkel’s chief of staff said however that in, which are by now a little crumpled and anyway Cameron announced his resignation there was no rush to show Britain the more suited to a British “summer”. KUWAIT: Stock markets in the energy- dropped 4.1 percent at the opening after losing Thursday’s referendum, the door, and indicated that the process I spent most of that first day retrieving my baggage rich Gulf states dropped yesterday in but recovered to close down just 1.1 race to succeed him and a revolt in the might not start for months. the first trading session after Britain percent. All 15 sectors were in nega- (which had mysteriously re-appeared) from the airport opposition Labor party left the political “The political leadership in London voted to leave the European Union. All tive territory. The Qatar Exchange fell and got my first experience of Ramadan. Or to be more classes locked in infighting. should have the chance to reconsider seven Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) 1.25 percent and the Abu Dhabi precise - my first experience as a non-religious, non- US Secretary of State John Kerry was once again the consequences of a with- stock markets were closed for the Securities Exchange dropped 1.85 per- Arabic speaking, uncomfortable, irritated, thirsty west- due in London and Brussels for crisis drawal,” Peter Altmaier told the RND Muslim weekend on Friday when the cent. erner trying to retrieve his possessions. talks today, while the leaders of media group. Merkel herself, who will result of the British referendum was The tiny bourses of Oman and Germany, France and Italy are also meet- host French President Francois Hollande, To a lifelong atheist like me, what Ramadan meant announced. Share prices in most Gulf Bahrain ended the day down 0.6 per- on that hot and tiring day was a string of negatives: No ing in Berlin. EU powers have called for a Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and markets dropped sharply at the start cent and 0.7 percent respectively. swift divorce amid fears of a domino EU President Donald Tusk in Berlin today, food; no drink; no smoking; slow response from airport of trading yesterday, but had recov- The six GCC states-Bahrain, Kuwait, officials and a general feeling of aggravation. My new effect of exit votes in eurosceptic mem- has said there is “no reason to be nasty in ered some of the losses by the close. Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the ber states that could imperil the integrity the negotiations”. Western colleagues in the office, who had found all The Kuwait Stock Exchange dropped United Arab Emirates-have hundreds of the 28-nation alliance. During a stopover in Rome yesterday, sorts of ingenious ways around the restrictions, quickly 1.1 percent. of billions of investments in Britain But Cameron has said negotiations on Kerry expressed regret at Britain’s deci- reinforced this view. Fortunately, it was possible to min- The Dubai Financial Market began and other members of the European Britain’s departure must wait until a suc- sion to become the first EU nation to imize the hassle by bringing your own food to work, the day by sliding 5.0 percent, but the Union. They have large interests in the cessor is chosen from his Conservative leave the bloc-and vowed Washington and brewing up your own tea or coffee, so long as you index-the Gulf bourse most exposed British real estate market and thou- party, which could be as late as October. would maintain close ties with the 28- didn’t eat or drink in the presence of Muslims. Thus I to international markets-finished the sands of Gulf citizens own homes in The head of the European Parliament, country alliance. “Brexit and the changes was able to survive the remaining couple of weeks. day down 3.25 percent. Britain. Britain also has sizable real Martin Schulz, warned yesterday that a that are now being thought through That was my first Ramadan. The religious and spiri- At one stage, investment compa- estate interests in Dubai and more period of limbo would “lead to even have to be thought through in the con- tual aspects of the holy month passed me by, as it nies fell 8.0 percent and real estate than a million British tourists visit the more insecurity and thus endanger jobs”. text of the interests and values that bind was with most of my colleagues. Indeed, many peo- dropped 5.0 percent. Saudi stocks UAE annually. — AFP (See Page 22) The vote wiped $2.1 trillion from global us together with the EU,” he said. ple seemed to go to great lengths to avoid being in equity markets Friday amid fears of a Continued on Page 13 the Gulf during Ramadan. Although I was to spend the next five Ramadans in the Gulf and managed to pick up some minimal infor- Kuwait mosque hit mation about Islam, nothing really changed those first impressions. I returned to England in 1986 and spent the next eight years in a Ramadan-free environ- by IS bomb reopens ment until another opportunity arose to return to the Gulf - this time to Kuwait. KUWAIT: The wood paneling bearing fears about possible further attacks by IS As chance would have it my new job in Kuwait also Quranic verses gleams inside the Imam linger. “Kuwait is certainly not immune to Sadiq Mosque and the carpeting is soft the sectarian tension in the area,” Kuwait started in the middle of Ramadan, but luckily for me, underfoot for worshippers who come to University political science professor in 1994 the holy month occurred in February and pray in what is one of Kuwait’s oldest Shafeeq Ghabra said. “Sectarianism is one March.