SUBSCRIPTION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016 RABI ALTHANI 25, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net HRW: Limited China’s biggest The Real Fouz: Panthers beat progress for overseas buy A healthy Capitals 5-2 in human rights seen in $43bn body and mind clash of East in Kuwait3 Syngenta21 offer come38 first division20 leaders Obama slams bigotry in Min 07º Max 21º first visit to US mosque High Tide 09:23 & 19:37 President thanks Muslim-Americans, decries political rhetoric Low Tide 02:42 & 13:35 40 PAGES NO: 16776 150 FILS BALTIMORE: US President Barack Obama yesterday conspiracy theories offered an impassioned rebuttal of “inexcusable” Republican election-year rhetoric against Muslims as he made his first trip to an American mosque, seven years The only solution ... into his presidency. Obama, whose grandfather con- verted to Islam, made the short trip to the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque, where he met community leaders and called on Americans not to be “bystanders to bigotry”. Invoking Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and hailing By Badrya Darwish the tolerance shown by American political icons from Thomas Jefferson to Dwight Eisenhower, Obama hit out at anti-Islamic sentiment that is “not who we are”. “We’ve heard inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim- Americans that has no place in our country,” he said, [email protected] lauding Muslim-Americans who were sports heroes, entrepreneurs and the architect behind the skyscrapers of Chicago. s I cannot lately write freely about many His comments comes as a shrill election debate has things in Kuwait like faux budget deficits, sullied America’s image abroad, and jihadist attacks in rising prices and inflation, subsidy San Bernardino and Philadelphia threatened to shatter A post-9/11 religious solidarity at home. Six days after the removals and the effects on the nation, school 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, then tuition fees, foreign relations and many other Republican president George W Bush visited the Islamic topics, I’ve decided to focus on our beautiful Center of Washington, declaring “Islam is peace”. Today, Kuwait environment. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has In a recent report I read about the global envi- wooed conservative voters by demanding a ban on ronment, Kuwait ranked very poorly in all indica- Muslim immigrants, while frontrunner Ted Cruz has tors. I was not surprised to see that the report advocated Christian-only admissions and championed noted we have poor air quality, pollution and “Judeo-Christian values”. other environmental problems. Actually, I didn’t WINDSOR MILL, Maryland: US President Barack Obama speaks at the Islamic Society of Baltimore yesterday. — AFP Continued on Page 13 need the report to tell me this. When you live in Kuwait, you know very easily the problems with the environment including the savage heat, dust storms from our neighbors’ lands which land on Americana acquired Blast on Somalia our heads, pollution from the oil industry, etc. Of course we have bad quality of air due to the above-mentioned reasons, but in my opinion by Gulf consortium jet points to bomb there are solutions that we could consider. DUBAI: A Gulf-based consortium will The value of the deal has not been dis- MOGADISHU: A blast that ripped a hole an emergency landing on Tuesday. One Forestation or the greening of Kuwait, which can acquire Al Khair National for Stocks and closed, but the company’s estimated val- be easily done by the government and private in a commercial airliner shortly after man was killed by the blast, officials said. Real Estate Company’s stake in Kuwait’s ue in 2014 was $6 billion. According to takeoff from Somalia’s capital was proba- Local authorities north of Mogadishu companies in partnership. It will firstly help Americana food company. Al Khair has the company’s last annual report, also in reduce the heat and dust and create more oxy- bly caused by a bomb, aviation experts said the body of a man, believed to have notified Americana about its deal, and 2014, it saw annual sales of $3.2 billion. and the pilot who landed it safely said been sucked out through the hole in the gen and beautify the country. And I don’t think asked Americana’s board to cooperate Al Khair has been in numerous talks yesterday. The plane, operated by Daallo fuselage made by the blast, was found in it’s beyond our reach financially or scientifically. with the consortium led by UAE-busi- over the past years to sell its almost 69 Airlines and flying from Mogadishu to their area. There are concerns about water resources, but nessman Mohammad Al-Abbar. The deal percent stake in Americana, starting in Djibouti with 74 passengers, safely made Continued on Page 13 there are plenty of trees and plants that can sur- must still be approved by Kuwait’s August of 2014. By Jan 2015, Savola vive in semiarid climates and we seem to have Capital Markets Authority. The consor- Group Company, along with private plenty of water for the oil industry. We can also tium said it is planning to offer a manda- equity funds KKR and CVC, were seen as use to some extent brackish water like they do at tory acquisition of Americana as per the the main bidders for the company. Wafra farms mixed with potable water. rules and regulations of the Capital Saudi’s Kingdom Holdings Company Before the invasion, Kuwait was working on a Markets Authority and Kuwait Stock also made an offer in 2014. According to plan to develop green spaces. Unfortunately, Exchange. its website, American is active in 13 that plan was halted after the liberation and nev- In a statement, Abbar said: countries and employees over 63,000 er revived in earnest. If we have serious inten- “Americana is a leading food group with people. Americana Group’s main busi- tions, we can find solutions. This affects not only a long and successful history, and we are ness includes KFC, Pizza Hut, Costa our health, but our children’s health too, be they delighted to have the opportunity to be Coffee, Krispy Kreme outlets throughout nationals or expats - the weather does not differ- part of Americana’s rich legacy that was the Middle East. It is one of the largest entiate. I think this issue should be taken serious- built over the past five decades.” He operators of restaurant chains in the added: “We see a bright future for MENA region, with 23 in total. It also ly to change Kuwait’s environment for future Americana, and we look forward to the manufactures food products, including generations - our future generations won’t only development of the group in the future.” the California Garden and Koki brands. need money, but a place to live as well. MOGADISHU: In this photo taken Tuesday, a hole is seen in a plane operated by Daallo Airlines as it sits on the runway of the airport. — AP Saudis commute Syria textile industry Palestinian poet’s hangs on for survival death sentence BEIRUT: At a stall in a Beirut exhibition sanctions hampering trade. hall, Syrian businesswoman Reem Abu The migrant crisis and outflow to DUBAI: A Saudi court has commuted the death Dahab displays her workshop’s lacy pink Europe have also depleted its workforce. sentence against a Palestinian poet convicted of and white nightgowns, hoping to attract “Buyers used to come from all around the apostasy, to eight years’ jail and 800 lashes, his increasingly elusive buyers. Syria’s textile world but the war has scared them and lawyer said. Ashraf Fayadh was detained by the industry was once one of the country’s now very few come to Syria,” said Abu religious police in 2013. His conviction was based economic bright spots, with its products Dahab, surrounded by products made in on evidence from a prosecution witness who coveted throughout the region and a small workshop in Damascus. Abu claimed to have heard him cursing God, Prophet beyond. But the sector, like the economy Dahab’s family once owned a factory in Muhammad (PBUH) and Saudi Arabia. He was also in general, has been devastated by the Harasta, a Damascus suburb ravaged by prosecuted for the contents of a poetry book he war that erupted in March 2011, with fac- fighting between rebels and the regime. had written years earlier. Rights campaigners say tories destroyed, workers displaced and Continued on Page 13 he was targeted for speaking out on political and LONDON: George Bingham, the only son of the infamous British aristocrat Lord social matters. Lucan, and his wife Anne-Sofie Foghsgaard, leave the High Court in central Fayadh’s lawyer, Abdul-Rahman Al-Lahim, said London yesterday. — AFP that while the new court ruling had commuted the execution, it had reconfirmed Fayadh’s guilt for the crime of abandoning his Islamic faith. “The Earl declared dead accused is sentenced to a punishment of eight years in jail and 800 lashes divided into install- ments, 50 lashes for each installment,” the ruling 42 yrs after killing said, according to Lahim on a Twitter posting. A LONDON: A British judge declared the to obtain a death certificate for his father spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s justice ministry infamous Lord Lucan officially dead yester- last year, bringing to an end one chapter in could not be reached for comment. day, four decades after he disappeared fol- a story full of unanswered questions that Human Rights Watch said the new sentence lowing the murder of the family’s nanny in revolves around London high society of was still inappropriate. “No one should face arrest a lurid tale that has gripped Britain.