SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2016 JAMADA ALAWWAL 2, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net A heartfelt New Hampshire War-scarred Fairytale title appeal to votes in first US ruins of bid is piece help save presidential Syria’s Homs of cake for Q8Books3 primary9 inspire36 artists relaxed19 Ranieri Kuwaiti woman slain Min 05º Max 21º in her sleep by maid High Tide 00:16 & 13:46 Low Tide Alleged killer tries to commit suicide 07:31 & 19:29 40 PAGES NO: 16782 150 FILS By Hanan Al-Saadoun MPs break agents’ monopoly, discuss subsidies KUWAIT: A 24-year-old Kuwaiti woman was allegedly killed by the family’s maid at her home in Andalus yester- By B Izzak day. The maid, an Ethiopian, slit the throat of the woman, Fatima Al-Otaibi, while she was sleeping. She then tried KUWAIT: The National Assembly yesterday passed to commit suicide by also slitting her throat. in the second reading the commercial agencies law, The victim’s body was recovered and the assailant was but after introducing a crucial amendment that sent to Sabah Hospital. Unconfirmed reports indicate allows more than one agent or dealer for commodi- that the young Kuwaiti woman worked as an investigator ties in the country, officially breaking the monopoly at the Ministry of Interior. The maid was planning to trav- of agents over imports. el to her home country within a week’s time after the MPs, led by Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem, also family had booked her a ticket. There was no immediate called on the government to present a specific pro- information available on the motive behind the attack. gram for economic reforms as they debated plans Kuwait has witnessed several similar violent attacks in to cut subsidies on fuel and electricity. The debate recent years. In March 2014, an Ethiopian domestic work- on the issue will continue today. MPs were disap- er stabbed her employer’s teenage daughter to death in pointed that Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh did not Sulaibikhat. Twenty-two-year-old Rabiya Mahmoud stabbed 19-year-old Seham Al-Shemmari, daughter of former Kuwaiti national football team defender Hmoud SEE PAGE 3 Flaiteh Al-Shemmari, while she slept. Mahmoud was later sentenced to death. In 2011, an Ethiopian maid killed a present a specific plan on economic reforms, and 25-year-old Kuwaiti woman Aisha Al-Failakawi. Ghanem called on the government and the Assembly’s financial affairs committee to work out such a plan before the next meeting on March 1. The minister however told the house that he submitted a comprehensive plan for reforms to the Assembly bureau on Monday, adding that the gov- ernment does not plan to completely lift subsidies but to “rationalize” them. Saleh said the cost of sub- sidies on fuel, electricity and water alone consti- tutes 70 percent of total subsidies amounting to KD 2.9 billion in the 2016/2017 budget. The minister complained that between the 2004/2005 and 2014/2015 fiscal years, spending rose from KD 6.3 billion to KD 21.4 billion, more than threefold. KUWAIT: MPs take part in a parliament session yesterday at the National Assembly. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat Continued on Page 13 Blood is seen at the scene of the crime. News in brief Kuwait won’t send troops to Syria DUBAI: Kuwait backs international efforts Kuwait’s Minister for Cabinet Affairs, in an Nine dead in IS against hardline Islamist groups in Iraq interview in Dubai. Speaking late yester- Damascus blast Kuwait to raise output, and Syria although the state’s constitution day, he said this could be “intelligence- BEIRUT: A suicide car bombing killed nine people yes- prevents it from sending troops to fight sharing, the provision of establishments terday at a police officer’s club in the Syrian capital, a sees new Europe deals abroad, a senior Kuwaiti official said. required by the coalition to facilitate their monitor said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State Kuwait, a US ally and neighbor of Saudi activities”. He did not elaborate. group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at Arabia and Iraq, is part of a 34-nation Diplomats in the region have said least 20 people were also wounded in the Damascus KPC to sell loss-making assets alliance announced by Riyadh in Kuwait has permitted some foreign air blast, adding that policemen were among the dead and DUBAI: Kuwait plans to raise its crude Meanwhile, KPC plans to sell loss- December aimed at countering Islamic forces participating in the US-led coalition injured. The monitor said the suicide bomber had been oil production by 150,000 barrels per making assets to cut costs as low oil State and Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Syria, Libya, to use airfields in its territory. Major OPEC wearing a police uniform, a tactic used in the past by IS. day (bpd) in the third quarter and aims prices pressure its finances, KUNA also Egypt and Afghanistan. oil producer Kuwait, which was invaded by The jihadist group said one its members had detonated to sign new export deals with European reported yesterday. Nizar Al-Adsani, Several Gulf Arab states including Iraq in 1990, can declare defensive war if an explosives-laden car at the club. customers soon, a senior Kuwaiti official chief executive of KPC, was quoted as Kuwait also provide varying kinds of sup- under direct threat but offensive war is pro- was quoted as saying yesterday. New saying the company had started efforts port to a US-led coalition that has been hibited by the constitution. Home to sever- contracts are to be signed soon with a to sell its Europoort refinery in the fighting Islamic State in Syria since 2014. al US military bases, Kuwait suffered its Dubai presses ahead number of European companies “with Netherlands and had decided to shut a The issue of Gulf Arab participation in Iraq deadliest militant attack in decades in June with largest mall good prices and in large volumes”, Nabil fertilizer plant of Kuwaiti unit and Syria has come to the fore because when a Saudi suicide bomber blew himself DUBAI: Dubai said yesterday it would press ahead Bouresli, managing director of interna- Petrochemical Industries Co. KPC’s affili- Saudi Arabia said last Tuesday it was open up inside a packed Shiite mosque, killing 27 with plans to build the world’s largest shopping mall tional marketing at Kuwait Petroleum ates, including Kuwait National to sending special forces to Syria, and the people. Islamic State claimed responsibility. despite an economic slowdown looming in the Corp (KPC), told state news agency Petroleum Co and Kuwait Oil Co, have United Arab Emirates has said it would be “It’s very difficult to stop a lone, deranged region, but would assess market demand before KUNA. Kuwait currently produces 3 mil- already cut costs by 15-20 percent, he willing to send troops to train and support person from doing something like that,” proceeding with the project’s later stages. The Mall lion bpd and plans to boost its output added. As part of the exercise, KPC a US-led coalition against Islamic State. Sheikh Mohammad said, when asked about of the World project, encompassing 745,000 sq m of to 3.15 million bpd in the third quarter plans to set up a company to manage “Kuwait stands shoulder-to-shoulder security measures since the attack. “However shopping space connected to a theme park, 100 of 2016, he said. He said KPC is currently the integration of its new refinery at Al- with our brothers in Saudi on all fronts. many new procedures have been put in hotels and serviced apartment buildings with focusing on the European market Zour and a petrochemical complex and We are always ready and able to provide place in public areas in order to make it more 20,000 rooms, was announced in mid-2014, just as which is facing “fierce competition” liquefied natural gas facilities, Adsani what is needed to our Gulf partners with- difficult ... be it religious venues or commer- oil prices began a precipitous plunge. among producers. said. — Agencies in the confines of our constitution,” said cial or social venues.” Sheikh Mohammad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Continued on Page 13 UAE tries ‘Hezbollah’, ‘Qaeda’ cell members 10 killed as trains ABU DHABI: Separate trials have opened in the United Arab Emirates of three men accused of links to Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and 23 others for ties crash in Germany to Al-Qaeda, newspapers reported yesterday. The three Lebanese men charged with “forming and managing a BAD AIBLING, Germany: German pened shortly after 7:00 am. “I am dis- group linked to Hezbollah without obtaining a permit” authorities were investigating how two mayed and saddened by the serious train appeared Monday before Abu Dhabi’s state security, commuter trains fitted with automatic accident this morning at Bad Aibling,” Emarat al-Youm newspaper said. One of the men is a braking systems to prevent accidents Merkel said in a statement. “My sympathy Canadian. In the other trial, 23 mostly Yemeni defen- collided in southern Germany yesterday, goes out especially to the families of the dants have been charged with forming a cell linked to leaving at least ten dead and dozens nine people who have lost their lives.” injured. Rescuers were still searching for Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt Al-Qaeda as well as forgery. one missing person in the mangled said the rail track was fitted with an auto- wreckage in a wooded area near Bad matic braking system aimed at preventing Aibling, a spa town about 60 km south- such crashes, and that investigators were GCC debt to double, east of Munich, although police said probing if there had been “a technical there was now little hope of finding the problem or human error”.