SAFAR 27,1440 AH MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2018 27º 28 Pages Max 150 Fils Established 1961 Min 22º ISSUE NO: 17675 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Roche opens new diagnostic Sacked Lanka PM residence Pakistani porters: Unsung Unseeded Khachanov stuns 3 center in Symphony complex 9 a symbol of power struggle 22 masters of the mountains 28 Djokovic to win Paris Masters Election of Assembly legislative panel chief leads to resignations Controversy continues over membership of Harbash, Tabtabaei By B Izzak and reviews all proposed laws to establish if they are in line with the constitution, before sending them to the KUWAIT: Two opposition members of the National concerned Assembly committees. But like other Assembly’s legal and legislative committee resigned from Assembly panels, its decisions are not final as the the panel yesterday, barely a few days after their elec- Assembly can change them. tion, after the panel elected a pro-government lawmaker Meanwhile, controversy over the membership of to lead it. The seven members of the panel were elected opposition MPs Waleed Al-Tabtabaei and Jamaan Al- during the new Assembly term’s opening day on Tuesday Harbash continued, with new constitutional and legal - four members were pro-government, including three opinions. In an unprecedented decision, the Assembly Shiites, and three others were opposition Islamists. on Tuesday voted to keep the membership of the two On the day of the election, Islamist MP Mohammad lawmakers even after they were jailed in a final ruling Hayef said he is quitting the panel and did not attend its by the court of cassation for storming the Assembly first meeting yesterday when the panel met and elected building in Nov 2011. MP Khaled Al-Shatti, a pro-government Shiite lawmak- Several constitutional experts and lawyers have er, as its chairman. Shatti secured four votes against insisted that even after the vote in the Assembly, the MP Mohammad Al-Dallal’s two. Following the results, two MPs, who have been living abroad, should be another Islamist member Adel Al-Damkhi said he was arrested and jailed immediately after they return to the quitting the panel. country. The constitutional court’s advisory body is due The resignation of the two members will be taken up to meet on Nov 14 to decide whether a case filed by the Assembly on Nov 13. New secretary of the com- against the Assembly’s decision is serious enough to be mittee MP Khaled Abul said it will be meeting weekly heard in the court. The case was filed last week by a to finalize a large number of draft laws and issues on its Kuwaiti citizen contesting that article 16 of the KUWAIT: Kuwait yesterday witnessed thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in some parts of the country. The interior agenda. He said the panel will meet on Monday and Assembly’s internal charter, on the basis of which the ministry cautioned motorists to drive carefully, urging citizens and residents to call the hotline 112 in case of Tuesday every week when there is no session of the voting was held, is unconstitutional. If the case goes emergency. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat Assembly and on Monday only when there is a session. before the court, it is likely that the article will be The committee is one of the key panels in the Assembly declared not in line with the constitution. market. Outages in Libya, Venezuela, Nigeria, he told the Russian news agency Tass last week. Riyadh readies to Mexico, Angola and others forced OPEC and In addition, there are potential declines in Libya, non-OPEC producers in June to abandon an Nigeria, Mexico and Venezuela, he said, also agreed cut in output and boost supplies. “We pointing to uncertainty over US shale oil pro- boost oil supplies are entering a very crucial period for the oil duction. Falih said the kingdom could turn to its market,” the International Energy Agency said in huge strategic reserves of around 300 billion as Iranians march a September report. “Things are tightening up.” barrels to meet global demand. Saudi Arabia is the only producer with signif- Anas Al-Hajji, a Houston-based oil expert, icant spare capacity of around two million bpd said the fall in Iranian exports was tough to on sanctions’ eve that can be tapped into to compensate for the assess but he expected “less than what most loss of Iranian supplies. The kingdom has been analysts are talking about”. “The Iranians have TEHRAN: With Washington poised to curtail under scrutiny after Saudi journalist Jamal perfected their game working under sanctions. Iran’s oil exports, OPEC heavyweight Saudi Khashoggi - the former royal court insider- There will be a black market for Iranian crude,” Arabia and its partners stand ready to ramp up turned-critic - was killed in his country’s con- Hajji told AFP. Saudi Arabia’s neighbors the supplies even as market conditions remain sulate in Istanbul in October. Even as relations United Arab Emirates and Kuwait can also raise uncertain, analysts say. The renewal of sanctions soured between the West and Riyadh over the their output by up to 300,000 bpd if needed. on the Islamic republic comes at a time of major murder of the Washington Post contributor, Kuwaiti oil expert Kamel Al-Harami said he supply disruptions in several producer nations Saudi Arabia said it had no plans to wage a doubts Riyadh can sustain production of 12 mil- and as US President Donald Trump aims to pre- retaliatory oil embargo. lion bpd for a prolonged period. “It is very vent an oil price hike. Analysts expect that Iran’s Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said unlikely... They never even did 11 million bpd on a oil exports, which reach around 2.5 million bar- his country, which raised output by 700,000 sustainable basis... Its unsustainable,” Harami rels per day in normal times, to plunge by one bpd to 10.7 million bpd in October, was pre- said. OPEC is constrained by low spare capacity TEHRAN: On the eve of renewed sanctions by Washington, an Iranian protester million to two million bpd when sanctions take pared to further bump up production to 12 mil- in a tight market under threat from unplanned burns a dollar banknote during a demonstration outside the former US embassy effect on Nov 5. lion bpd. “We have sanctions on Iran and outages, low investment and unpredictable in the capital yesterday. — AFP That is expected to strain an already tight nobody has a clue what Iranian exports will be,” Continued on Page 24 raised fears of a fourth war since 2008. News in brief After years in The deal emerged amid ongoing indi- rect negotiations between the strip’s Wefaq chief gets life in jail Islamist rulers Hamas and Israel, mediated the dark, Gaza by the UN and Egypt, in hopes of reaching DUBAI: Bahrain sentenced the a long-term truce. The fuel agreement, head of the country’s Shiite power woes ease whose first deliveries arrived on Oct 9, has opposition movement to life in provided the most power to Gaza resi- prison yesterday for spying for GAZA CITY: The lights are going back on dents in years. The tentative results are rival Gulf state Qatar. Sheikh Ali in the Gaza Strip, in a rare piece of positive showing in the enclave’s beleaguered Salman, who headed the now- news from the blockaded Palestinian economy: companies able to work longer, banned Al-Wefaq movement, enclave. In recent days, residents say they restaurant costs falling, and even an and two of his aides had been acquitted by the high have received up to 16 hours of mains increase in ice cream. criminal court in June, a verdict the public prosecu- electricity a day, compared with as little as Margins are tight for Kamal Fattoum’s tion appealed. The public prosecutor said in a state- four previously. UN humanitarian officials two-man box factory in Gaza City and his ment that the three had been unanimously sentenced report an average of between nine and 11 meager profits would evaporate if he were by the appeals court for “acts of hostility” against hours per day since Oct 25. It is the result to run a generator. He only uses the heavy Bahrain and “communicating with Qatari officials... to of a landmark six-month deal, part of equipment needed for the hours he has overthrow constitutional order”. The cleric is cur- efforts to end unrest along the border mains electricity, so his work day had GAZA CITY: In this file photo taken on Sept 11, 2017, Palestinian children do their rently serving a four-year sentence in a separate between Israel and the Gaza Strip that has Continued on Page 24 homework during a power cut in an impoverished area. —AFP case - “inciting hatred” in the kingdom. — AFP Energy boss in Qatar cabinet militant rule. Iraqi authorities, fearing Money moves that free flows of money could help DOHA: Qatar, one of the world’s biggest energy sup- finance an IS comeback, have not pliers, surprisingly announced yesterday it had drafted authorized even simple transfers. the head of the country’s state-run oil and gas compa- again in Mosul, So Mosul banks, exchange offices, ny into the cabinet. Saad Al-Kaabi, the president and and money transfer companies have chief executive officer of Qatar Petroleum, was made a but not via banks watched helplessly as more rudimentary minister of state for energy affairs in the first compre- methods fill the gap. Abu Aref said he hensive reshuffle since the start of a Gulf diplomatic MOSUL: Since militants were ousted typically carries anywhere between crisis.