MP Raises Possibility of Indian Manpower
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SUBSCRIPTION SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2014 SAFAR 8, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Organ Pygmies and Chef Udo: Welbeck donation Bantus flee Thinking maintains gift of life: war caused out of Arsenal Chiramel4 by10 tryst the38 box revival20 MP raises possibility of Min 10º Max 20º Indian manpower cut High Tide 04:25 & 16:29 Awadhi outraged over maid guarantee Low Tide 11:46 40 PAGES NO: 16358 150 FILS By B Izzak Egypt drops murder charge against Mubarak KUWAIT: A senior lawmaker yesterday asked the foreign minister about the possibility of reducing the number of CAIRO: An Egyptian court dismissed yesterday a mur- Indian workers in Kuwait in protest against the imposition der charge against ousted president Hosni Mubarak of a $2,500 (KD 730) bank guarantee for the employment over the deaths of protesters during a 2011 uprising, of Indian domestic helpers. “Is it possible to adopt a policy sparking celebrations among supporters but fury from to reduce Indian manpower that has reached 720,000 in opponents of the former strongman. Mubarak, who various sectors in response to the decision of the (Indian) ruled Egypt for three decades until he was toppled in a embassy?” MP Kamel Al-Awadhi asked in a question to the popular revolt, was also acquitted of a corruption foreign minister over the issue, which he strongly criti- charge but will remain in detention because he is serv- cized. ing a three-year sentence in a separate graft case. Awadhi, the former director of the immigration depart- Seven of his security commanders, including the ment, said in the question that he had learned of a state- feared former interior minister Habib Al-Adly, were ment by the Indian embassy in Kuwait about the imposi- acquitted in connection with the deaths of some of the tion of the bank guarantee to secure the rights of Indian roughly 800 people killed during the revolt. Cheers maids. He said the decision is illegal and contradicts broke out in the courtroom and Mubarak’s two sons Kuwaiti laws and international norms. The lawmaker said kissed his forehead when the judge read out the verdict the Kuwaiti law already imposes a KD 20,000 deposit from in the retrial as the ex-president, 86, lay in an upright domestic worker recruitment offices in order to guarantee stretcher inside the caged dock. But relatives of those the rights of workers. killed expressed dismay. Dozens of protesters later In addition, Kuwait has presented a tripartite contract gathered at an entrance to Cairo’s Tahrir Square the hub for maids to a Geneva conference that was welcomed by of the anti-Mubarak revolt - chanting: “The people all countries and adopted by the Gulf states. Awadhi said demand the toppling of the regime.” that the Foreign Ministry should have probed the new Earlier in court, the usually stone-faced Mubarak, Indian decision and asked for a clarification because the wearing his trademark shades, allowed himself a faint decision presumes that the Kuwaiti employers are always smile after the verdict was read. Corruption charges at fault. The decision should have been instead imposed against his sons, Alaa and Gamal, were also dropped. An on recruitment agencies dealing with the Indian govern- appeals court had overturned an initial life sentence for ment and Indian embassy in Kuwait, he said. The Indian Mubarak in 2012 on a technicality. Saturday’s verdict embassy has said that the bank guarantee decision applies may also be appealed. Mubarak was later transported to 17 countries including all the six-member Gulf back to a Cairo military hospital where he is serving his CAIRO: Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 86, greets medics, army personnel and his supporters as he Cooperation Council (GCC) states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, sentence, appearing in a wheelchair from a balcony leaves a helicopter ambulance after it landed at Maadi Military Hospital following his verdict yesterday. — AP Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, he said. Continued on Page 13 Continued on Page 13 Pope reflects in Istanbul mosque ISTANBUL: Pope Francis yesterday The centrepiece of his morning tour stood alongside a top Islamic cleric in a was a closely scrutinised visit to the Kuwait urges moment of highly-symbolic contempla- great Sultan Ahmet mosque - known tion at an Ottoman mosque, as he visit- abroad as the Blue Mosque and one of ed Istanbul on his first trip to the former the great masterpieces of Ottoman cooperation capital of the Christian Byzantine world. architecture. The pope paused for two On the second day of his visit to over- minutes and clasped his hands in reflec- whelmingly Muslim but officially secular tion, a gesture remarkably similar to to prop oil Turkey, Francis toured key religious and that of his predecessor Benedict XVI historical sites in the city once known as who visited the mosque on the last KUWAIT: Kuwait Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair yesterday Constantinople that was conquered by papal visit to Turkey in 2006. The pope urged non-OPEC crude producers to cooperate to the Ottoman army in 1453. The visit of closed his eyes, clasped his hands in help stabilize the oil market and prevent sharp fluc- the pope is seen as a crucial test of front of his chest beneath the cross he tuations in prices, official KUNA news agency said. Francis’s ability to build bridges between wears around his neck and bowed his The minister called on producers from outside faiths amid the rampage by Islamic State head, as he stood next to Istanbul Mufti OPEC to “cooperate with the Organisation of (IS) jihadists in Iraq and Syria and con- Rahmi Yaran who performed an Islamic Petroleum Exporting Countries to guarantee stabili- cerns over the persecution of Christian prayer. ty of the market and prevent major swings in oil minorities in the Middle East. Continued on Page 13 prices.” He was speaking from Vienna, where on Thursday the 12-member OPEC cartel decided to keep its production ceiling unchanged sending oil prices crashing. Omair insisted the OPEC decision KANO: Residents look at burnt motorcycles outside the central mosque in north- was “right” and the “best solution at the present ern Nigeria’s largest city yesterday, a day after twin suicide blasts hit the time,” adding it was based on market information. mosque during weekly Friday prayers. — AFP (See Page 8) He said OPEC members agreed to hold their next meeting in June and decided against convening an emergency session unless necessary. Nigerian president vows Global oil prices plunged Friday to new multi- year lows after the OPEC the decision despite an oversupplied market. US benchmark West Texas to hunt mosque attackers Intermediate for delivery in January closed at $66.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Kano emir visits blast scene Exchange, down $7.54 from the closing price Wednesday. It was the lowest WTI close since Sept KANO, Nigeria: Nigerian President been planning this for at least two 2009. Brent oil for January delivery sank below $70 Goodluck Jonathan vowed yesterday to months,” Sanusi told reporters at the air- for the first time in four and a half years, to $69.78 a hunt down those behind “heinous” port without elaborating. “I have directed barrel. Brent settled at $70.15 a barrel, down $2.43 attacks that killed at least 120 at the that the mosque be washed and cleaned from Thursday’s close. — AFP ISTANBUL: Pope Francis (left) joins Grand Mufti of Istanbul Rahmi Yaran to pray mosque of an Islamic leader who issued and prayers should continue here,” the in the Sultan Ahmet mosque yesterday. — AP a call to arms against Boko Haram. At emir said. “We will never be intimidated least 270 others were also wounded into abandoning our religion, which is when two suicide bombers blew them- the intention of the attackers.” India scraps gold curbs selves up and gunmen opened fire dur- The attack, though, was widely seen ing weekly prayers on Friday at the inside Nigeria as revenge for the emir’s NEW DELHI: Leading gold buyer India has rent account deficit ballooning to previous lev- Grand Mosque in Kano, the biggest city call against Boko Haram. “It was death announced it has eased controls on imports of els is slim,” Shah said. in the mainly Muslim north of the coun- and blood all over. People lay dead and the yellow metal after its current account But import duty on gold imposed by the try, according to a toll given to AFP late others shrieked in horror and pain,” one deficit narrowed sharply. India, the world’s sec- government remains at a record 10 percent. Friday by a senior rescue official. survivor, Muhammad Inuwa Balarabe, ond-biggest gold buyer after China, imposed India imports around 90 percent of its gold Jonathan “directed the security agen- told AFP from his hospital bed yesterday. the import restrictions last year to avert a trade needs and its 1.2-billion population is believed cies to launch a full-scale investigation “I was inside the premises of the mosque. deficit crisis that pushed the rupee to record to have one of the world’s biggest private gold and to leave no stone unturned until all As soon as the prayer started, a bomb lows. “Restrictions placed on import of gold... hoards of up to 20,000 metric tons. In the third agents of terror... are tracked down and went off. They just started shooting peo- stand withdrawn with immediate effect,” India’s quarter, Indian jewellery demand rose almost central bank said in a statement on its website 60 percent to 182.9 tonnes in the months to brought to justice,” said a statement from ple,” said the 32-year-old tailor, who yesterday.