37 Lawmakers Back Humaidhi As Next Assembly Speaker
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RABIA ALTHANI 25, 1442 AH THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020 16 Pages Max 22º Min 10º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18305 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Health minister inspects Boeing 737 MAX returns Longest-running TV soap, PSG and Basaksehir walkout 2 COVID vaccination site 8 to sky with Brazil flight 13 Coronation Street, turns 60 16 deepens football racism row 37 lawmakers back Humaidhi as next Assembly speaker MPs to meet again to select deputy speaker, determine priority issues By B Izzak KUWAIT: As many as 37 newly-elected lawmakers agreed at a meeting yesterday to vote for MP Bader Al-Humaidhi as the next Assembly speaker, which is more than the required number to elect the new head of parliament. Opposition MP Abdulkarim Al- Kandari, host of the second meeting of new law- makers, said MPs will announce on their Twitter accounts their pledges to vote for Humaidhi, a for- mer Cabinet minister. If all lawmakers comply with their pledges, MP Marzouq Al-Ghanem, speaker since 2013, will not be re-elected even if the 16-member Cabinet decides to vote for him. There has been no comment by Ghanem since he retained his seat in the Assembly from the second constituency. Following the meeting, a large number of MPs made the pledges on their Twitter accounts. MP Bader Al-Dahoum said MPs will hold a third meet- ing in Jahra on Saturday to agree on electing a deputy speaker. The meeting will also focus on set- ting priority issues for the next Assembly. Opposition MP Thamer Al-Suwait said after the meeting the message which must reach authorities is that “the people do not want Marzouq Al- Ghanem as the speaker of the Assembly”. KUWAIT: Newly-elected lawmakers meet at opposition MP Abdulkarim Al-Kandari’s house yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat Continued on Page 2 (DGCA) issued a circular yesterday allowing health Passengers who are first-degree relatives (husband, News in brief MoH employees, ministry employees and their first-degree relatives to wife, children) of health ministry employees are travel directly to Kuwait. Passengers from 34 coun- allowed to travel to Kuwait via direct flights or tran- World set for 3C warming tries are banned from flying directly to the country, sit, provided they have a valid residency or valid dependents can fly and instead have to spend at least 14 days in a third entry visa. PARIS: Earth is still on course to warm more country before travelling to Kuwait. The circular assured the Kuwait Mobile ID app than 3 degrees Celsius by the century’s end directly to Kuwait Yesterday’s DGCA circular was addressed to all can be used at all ports and airports, adding preven- despite a dip in greenhouse gas emissions caused airlines operating at Kuwait International Airport. It tive health measures in force by the health ministry by the pandemic and pledges to curb pollution, By Nawara Fattahova said all health ministry employees who have valid will be applied to all abovementioned categories. the UN said yesterday. In its annual assessment residency or hold valid entry visas are allowed to Kuwait Times confirmed the issuance of this circular of emissions levels, the UN’s Environment KUWAIT: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation travel to Kuwait via direct flights or transit. by DGCA Director General Yousef Al-Fouzan. Program found that 2020’s 7-percent fall in car- bon pollution would have “negligible impact” on warming without a broad and rapid shift away from fossil fuels. — AFP (See Page 2) Gaza’s ‘only Family-to-work visa NCDs 7 of top 10 killers Iranian’ wants transfers eyed; 1-yr GENEVA: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for seven of the top 10 causes of death to go home limit on residencies before the coronavirus pandemic, the World KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Manpower is Health Organization said yesterday, with heart RAFAH: There is only one known Iranian in Gaza - an ageing former bodyguard to longtime Palestinian contemplating allowing transfers of dependent visa disease killing more people than ever before. to work permits after they were suspended for two COVID-19 is likely to figure in the 2020 top 10, leader Yasser Arafat who dreams only of returning home, but finds himself stuck in the enclave. “I just months, Al-Qabas Arabic daily reported. Sources WHO officials said, with the death toll having GAZA: Iranian Qassem Sheyasi holds his Iranian said the decision was made for humanitarian rea- passed the 1.5 million mark on Dec 3. — AFP want to get out of here and die in Iran,” Qassem Sheyasi - known by his Arabic nom-de-guerre Abu passport and a photo of himself with longtime sons, as a large number of expats, particularly Hashem - told AFP, making it clear that he is no longer Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in his house in women, are in need of article 18 residencies with in the Gaza Strip by choice. Khan Yunis on Nov 11, 2020. — AFP which they entered the country for the first time. Democracy under threat Feeble, impoverished and sitting on a mattress laid They said that the transfer requires the approval on the floor, Abu Hashem flicked ash from his cigarette join Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization, then of the labor affairs secretary at the manpower STOCKHOLM: More than six in 10 countries into a tin can with a gentle tap of his index finger as he based in Beirut, which was one of several armed authority and a fee of KD 300 the applicant must around the world have adopted measures during recounted how he became trapped. Long before he actors in Lebanon’s civil war. “In Beirut, I met Abu pay in case the period of transfer from work to fam- the COVID-19 pandemic that threaten democra- found himself forced to beg outside Gaza’s mosques Ammar (Arafat), who asked me to stay with him,” ily visa is less than six months, in addition to sub- cy or human rights, a report by democracy insti- on Fridays, Abu Hashem was a young Tehran resident said Abu Hashem, who sometimes sprinkles his mitting a residency sequence history from the inte- tute International IDEA said yesterday. The drawn to the Palestinian cause. Arabic with Farsi. rior ministry. study concluded that 61 percent of nations He said he left the Iranian capital 40 years ago to Continued on Page 2 Meanwhile, informed sources said the interior “implemented restrictions that were either illegal, ministry has stopped issuing residencies of two or disproportionate, indefinite or unnecessary” in at in an ever-growing range of colors and fillings, more years and decided to limit them to one year least one area of democratic freedoms. — AFP the doughnut takes pride of place among dishes for wives of citizens, children of female citizens, Baker offers expat mothers of citizens, and wives and children of traditionally eaten over the week-long Jewish expats, reported Al-Rai Arabic daily. The sources holiday of Hanukkah, which begins today. Over 80m people displaced said the reason behind granting one-year residency ‘Abu Dhabi’ The Emirates in September signed a land- is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hin- GENEVA: Despite calls for ceasefires and com- mark US-brokered deal to formalize relations dered work. passion amid the COVID-19 pandemic, violence doughnut with Israel, the first such agreement by a Gulf They said granting expats of the abovemen- and persecution have continued to force people Arab state and only the third by any Arab tioned categories more than one year of residency from their homes, with record numbers now dis- JERUSALEM: An enterprising Israeli baker is country. “We want to pay tribute to Abu Dhabi requires medical examinations, review of security placed, the UN said yesterday. By the end of trying to tempt customers with a date-flavored and to peace in the region,” Kadosh told AFP. restrictions and other technical matters. The sources 2019, 79.5 million people were living uprooted doughnut from the Jewish state’s new regional Each year Kadosh and his wife Kerem try to added the suspension of granting more than one and displaced, including nearly 30 million partner, the United Arab Emirates. Pastry chef create new pastries for Hanukkah during which year of residency applies to all expats except those refugees - more than one percent of the world’s Itzik Kadosh is offering the “Abu Dhabi” the Jews commonly eat foods fried in oil, espe- working in the private sector who are in Kuwait and population. — AFP doughnut, with its Emirati dates, nougat and cially the doughnut, or “sufganiya” as it is have work permits of two or more years. cream filling, topped with a golden leaf. Coming called in Hebrew. — AFP Continued on Page 2 2 Established 1961 Thursday, December 10, 2020 Local Amir receives Crown Prince, Speaker, PM KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Sabah meets His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al- Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. — Amiri Diwan photos meets National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem. Hamad Al-Sabah. KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al- Marzouq Al-Ghanem and His Highness the the Crown Prince received Ghanem and His Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al- Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled yesterday at at Bayan Palace yesterday His Highness the Amir also received National Assembly Speaker Hamad Al-Sabah.