Kuwait's Tire Dump Troubles Remain Despite New Location
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
MUHARRAM 22, 1443 AH MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2021 16 Pages Max 44º Min 29º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18519 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Over 2,000 sites inspected over Hurricane Ida grows Japanese giant wants soy Son shines as Spurs go 3 outdoor labor ban compliance 5 to Category 4 storm 13 sauce to be ‘ketchup of India’ 16 top of Premier League Kuwait’s tire dump troubles remain despite new location Arhia cleared of millions of tires • Salmi tire graveyard grows By A Saleh smoke adding carbon monoxide and sulfur oxide to foul Kuwait’s already KUWAIT: Kuwait marked a mile- variable air quality. An average car stone in its tire dump saga yesterday tire produces two gallons of oil when with the removal of tons of old tires burned, according to EPA estimates. from a dump in Arhia, near Mutlaa This means that the 2012 fire, when now complete. Speaking at an event the tires were located in Sulaibiya, celebrating the end of the removal, likely released as much as 10 million Mohammad Al-Fares, Minister of Oil, gallons of toxic chemicals into the Minister of Higher Education and lands around the tire dump, not to Minister of Environment Public mention the air pollutants. Authority, said that the removal pro- Kuwait ranked last in environmen- gram took three years and relieved tal security in the ‘Safe Cities Index the residential district of South Saad 2021’ report, released recently by The Al-Abdullah of serious health and Economist Intelligence Unit. Kuwait environmental hazards. managed a score of only 22 out of 100 In 2019, the director general of the in environmental security, and is the Kuwait Environmental Public Authority only city in the list with a ‘Low’ score said there were around 20 million to in this category, designated for cities 40 million tires. Most of these have with scores between zero and 25. The now been moved to Al-Salmi tire report is based on the fourth iteration dump. It is one of the largest tire of the index, which ranks 60 cities graveyards in the world and is visible across 76 indicators covering digital, from space. But the move has done lit- health, infrastructure, personal and tle to alleviate the longer term environ- environmental security. The report mental problem for Kuwait. focus on matters of environmental There have been several massive concern for Kuwait City but speaks to fires at the tire graveyard. In October the much larger issue of Kuwait’s 2020, an estimated 1 million tires environmental policy and future. caught fire in a blaze that took days to Al-Fares said the tires are being KUWAIT: Environment Public Authority General Director Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah explains as to how Kuwait has com- control. In 2012, an estimated five mil- handled according to international pleted the huge task of removing old tires from a dump (inset) in Arhia, near Mutlaa. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat ( See Page 3) lion tires burned for days in a massive standards. blaze that released plumes of black Continued on Page 2 gency session to discuss “regional developments” MPs) to hold an emergency session of the Assembly MP calls for following the latest events. to discuss the regional developments following the Matar was referring to the reports that pro-Iran latest events” after the Kuwaiti army found parts of a US destroys militias in Iraq fired three Katyusha missiles into the Katyusha rocket near the joint borders, MP Matar emergency Iraqi-Kuwaiti borders and said they were targeting said on Twitter. explosive-laden US military bases in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti army initial- The Assembly is currently in summer recess which Assembly session ly denied the reports early Saturday but later added ends in late October and for it to convene urgently, at that the army and the interior ministry found pieces least 33 MPs must sign the petition. The session car in Kabul By B Izzak of one of the Katyusha missiles “which fell near the could end in one or more days. area” of the joint borders. The statement did not pro- Earlier, Matar had said that Defense Minister KABUL: The United States said it destroyed an KUWAIT: Opposition MP Hamad Al-Matar said vide a precise location of where the missile had fall- Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah told him that explosive-laden vehicle with an air strike in yesterday that he has started collecting signatures to en, but said there were no damages or losses. nothing had penetrated or crossed the Kuwaiti Kabul yesterday, hours after President Joe force the National Assembly to convene an emer- “I will start today collecting signatures (of other Continued on Page 2 Biden warned of another terror attack in the capital as a massive airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans entered its last days. A Taleban allow the international community “to spokesman confirmed the incident, saying a car Macron calls maintain pressure on the Taleban,” bomb destined for the airport had been who are now in power in Afghanistan, destroyed-and that a possible second strike had the French leader added. The five hit a nearby house. for Kabul permanent members of the UN The US said it had only struck the vehicle, Security Council-France, Britain, the but added that secondary blasts indicated “a ‘safe zone’ US, Russia and China-will meet today substantial amount of explosive material”. Local to discuss the Afghanistan situation. media reported there may have been civilian MOSUL, Iraq: France and Britain Macron yesterday visited the casualties, which the US said it was assessing. Islamic State jihadist group’s former The strike comes after a suicide bomber will today urge the United Nations to work for the creation of a “safe zone” Iraqi stronghold Mosul, a day after from the Islamic State group on Thursday tar- vowing to keep troops in the country. geted US troops stopping huge crowds of peo- in the Afghan capital Kabul to protect humanitarian operations, French In a speech at the devastated city’s ple from entering Kabul’s airport, from where Church of Our Lady of the Hour, about 114,000 people have been evacuated President Emmanuel Macron said. “This is very important. This would which the UN’s cultural agency since August 15 when the Taleban swept back UNESCO is working to restore, into power. More than 100 people died in the provide a framework for the United Nations to act in an emergency,” Macron urged Iraq’s religious com- attack, including 13 US service personnel, slow- munities to “work together” to ing down the airlift ahead of Biden’s deadline Macron said in comments published MOSUL: French President Emmanuel Macron (center) is welcomed upon his in the weekly Journal du Dimanche. rebuild the country. arrival at the Al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq’s second city of Mosul yesterday.— AFP for evacuations to end by Tuesday. The opera- Continued on Page 2 tion is winding down despite Western powers Above all such a safe zone would saying thousands may be left behind. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said some 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Yemen’s up to drop off casualties. some 300 Americans still in Afghanistan were 30 loyalists die second city Aden in the south of the conflict-riven An official from the hospital said it was all seeking to leave the country. “They are not country. The airbase served as the headquarters for hands on deck. “We have called on the entire staff, going to be stuck,” he told ABC, adding the US US troops overseeing a long-running drone war surgeons and nurses, to come in,” Mohsen had “a mechanism to get them out”. in strikes on against Al-Qaeda until they pulled out in March Murshid told AFP. “We also know that there are The Pentagon said Saturday that retaliation 2015, shortly before the Houthis overran the area. still bodies under the rubble”. Naqib had in an ear- drone strikes had killed two “high-level” IS Yemen airbase “More than 30 have been killed and at least 56 lier statement accused Yemen’s Houthi rebels of jihadists in eastern Afghanistan, but Biden were injured” in the strikes on the airbase in the carrying out missile and drone strikes on the facili- warned of more attacks from the group. DUBAI: Strikes on Yemen’s largest airbase yester- government-held southern province of Lahij, ty. There was no immediate comment from the “The situation on the ground continues to be day killed at least 30 pro-government troops and armed forces spokesman Mohammed Al-Naqib rebel side. A military medic confirmed the death extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist wounded scores more, said medical and loyalist told AFP. Video footage from the scene showed toll after it jumped from seven fatalities earlier in attacks on the airport remains high,” Biden said. sources who blamed Houthi rebels for the attack. dozens of people gathered in front of Lahij hospi- the day. Continued on Page 2 The strikes were carried out on Al-Anad airbase, tal, where one ambulance after another was pulling Continued on Page 2 2 Established 1961 Monday, August 30, 2021 Local Kuwait’s Amir congratulates Iraqi leaders on success of conference Sheikh Nawaf hopes conference goals help region overcome challenges KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah meets His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al- His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.