SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2015 JAMADA ALTHANI 19, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Minister vows Kenyans march FedEx to buy TNT Duke top to support for national for $4.8bn to Wisconsin ambitions of security after expand Europe 68-63 for talented4 youth massacre10 deliveries21 national20 title Kuwait fund to lend Egypt Min 21º Max 34º $1.5bn, help rebuild Gaza High Tide 02:15 & 14:00 Low Tide Arab cooperation crucial for development: FM 08:05 & 20:50 40 PAGES NO: 16484 150 FILS KUWAIT: The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development plans to lend Egypt $1.5 billion over the next MoI database down after blaze five years, extending $300 million each year, the fund’s director-general Abdulwahab Al-Bader told Reuters yester- day. He did not give details of the loans. The fund is the Kuwaiti government’s agency for aiding developing coun- tries in areas such as agriculture, transport and energy. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have provided billions of dollars of aid to Egypt in the past two years to support its economy and help it maintain political stability. KFAED will also administer a $200 million grant offered by Kuwait to the Reconstruction Program of the Southern Provinces in Palestine (the Gaza Strip). Bader and Palestinian Prime Minister’s Advisor for Arab and Islamic Funds affairs Jawad Naji Hirzallah yesterday signed an agreement for the utilization of the Kuwaiti grant, the fund said in a press state- ment. The program aims at alle- viating the impact of the most recent Israeli aggression on Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Gaza through reconstruction of destroyed housing units and rehabilitation of affected infrastructure, roads and water and sanitation networks, it added. It also includes reconstruction of economic activities’ infrastructure in the building, contract- ing, and agriculture sectors. KUWAIT: (Left) Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, accompanied by Undersecretary Suleiman Al-Fahd, The program, expected to be completed over three inspects damage at the Information Systems Directorate after a fire broke out in a room of the building the previous night (right). — KUNA years, includes consultancy services. According to the state- ment, KFAED is a longstanding development partner of By Hanan Al-Saadoun tions and security information department said in a announced a citizen arriving from Iraq was arrested with Palestine, and previously supported the peace process in statement that the fire did not cause any human casual- 108.450 kg of hashish and 100,000 psychotropic pills at the Middle East in the year 2000 through a grant totaling KUWAIT: A fire broke out at the Information Systems ties, and no information was lost. Two people suffered the Abdaly border. The director general of the customs $25 million, fully disbursed. It is also managing three Directorate of the Interior Ministry early yesterday, knock- from smoke inhalation. The main computer and data- directorate Khalid Al-Saif said Kuwait was under a vicious Kuwaiti grants totaling $315 million, out of which $155 mil- ing out servers and causing disruption at border cross- base systems of the interior ministry were not affected, attack from drug dealers and that his men were fully vigi- lion that was disbursed on March 29, 2015. In addition, the ings. Hundreds of travelers were stuck, forcing officers to but were shut down as a precaution, the statement said. lant to foil their attempts at various land, marine and air fund represents Kuwait in the committees responsible for register information manually. The ministry’s public rela- Separately, the customs department yesterday border exits. managing the Aqsa and Holy Jerusalem Funds established Continued on Page 13 News Assembly passes military service law in brief IMF endorses Islamic Govt gets nod to build power stations finance as less risky By B Izzak WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund has endorsed the principles of Islamic finance, saying it KUWAIT: The National Assembly yes- could prove safer than conventional finance, but the Saudi troops terday passed a law requiring Kuwaiti multilateral lender warned Islamic bankers that they men when they reach the age of 18 to must tighten rules and follow them more consistently. A undergo compulsory military service track Houthi report released by the IMF this week showed the for one year and remain members of a lender’s growing interest in Islamic banking, which is reserve army until the age of 45. The movements expanding in much of the world. The IMF’s report noted law, approved by 41 MPs and opposed that because Islamic banking forbids pure monetary JIZAN, Saudi Arabia: Far from war-damaged Sanaa by eight, will be applied after two speculation and stresses that deals should be based on and Aden, Lieutenant Colonel Hamed Al-Ahmari years and stipulates a two-year jail real economic activity, it could pose less risk than con- stood atop a Saudi border post and gestured across a term for those who prevent or evade ventional banking to the stability of financial systems. valley to a Yemeni mountainside held by the Houthi draft. This will be the first time Kuwait IMF plans a global conference on the subject in militia, whose positions the kingdom’s jets have reintroduces military service after November alongside Kuwaiti authorities. (See Page 22) bombarded for 12 days. “We are on the frontline,” said stopping it for more than 20 years. Ahmari, wearing the grey camouflage fatigues of the The law states that the military serv- Border Guards, a force whose uniform has been aug- ice applies to all Kuwaiti males after Power outages affect mented since the air strikes started on March 26 with reaching the age of 18, but men who White House, Capitol a flak jacket and helmet. WASHINGTON: Widespread power outages in the will be 35 when the law is enacted will What once may have been a debatable point - US capital and its suburbs yesterday cut electricity be exempt. The 12-month period Yemen’s messy war has many frontlines - has gained to a number of government buildings, including the includes both training and military KUWAIT: (From left) Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair, Speaker Marzouq Al- credibility as the war has ground on: Three Saudi bor- White House and State Department, and at several service in Kuwait army units. Ghanem and MP Roudhan Al-Roudhan attend a parliament session at der guards have been killed along the frontier in that of the Smithsonian museums. The State Continued on Page 13 the National Assembly yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat period, as the kingdom’s air strikes and artillery fire Department’s daily news briefing was suspended targeted Houthi positions near its territory, as well as after power was lost. A department announcement forces elsewhere in Yemen. Concerns about the bor- said State and other nearby buildings were affected der with Yemen were central to the kingdom’s cam- because electricity feeders were down. The US Erdogan in Iran amid paign to stop the Houthis controlling its southern Capitol complex was operating using a backup gen- neighbor, something Riyadh fears would strengthen erator, a congressional aide said. A US official said its main foe, Iran, and heighten security risks. the White House was without power for a few min- tensions over Yemen Saudi Arabia believes the Houthis, who follow the utes. That daily press briefing was delayed because Zaydi Shiite sect, will incite sectarian violence as they of the outage. Power also went out as media tycoon TEHRAN: Turkey and Iran agree on the need for a politi- in Yemen, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said during a advance into Sunni areas, strengthening support for Oprah Winfrey was speaking at a US Postal Service cal solution to end Yemen’s war, which has raised ten- joint press conference broadcast by state television. Yemen’s Al-Qaeda wing, which last July raided a ceremony marking the issuance of a stamp honor- sions between them, Iran’s president said yesterday Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made no Saudi border town, killing 12. The mountaintop Al- ing poet Maya Angelou. after talks with his visiting Turkish counterpart. “We remarks about Yemen, but he talked at length about Mushareq post has not been attacked since the talked about Iraq, Syria, Palestine... We had a long dis- bilateral relations with Iran. strikes began, Ahmari said, but while it is out of US speeds up arms to cussion about Yemen. We both think war and blood- Iran, which supports the Houthi rebels in Yemen, has range of the light assault rifles most common in Saudi-led coalition shed must stop in this area immediately and a complete condemned air strikes by an Arab coalition led by Saudi Yemen, it could be hit by more serious weapons that RIYADH: The United States is speeding up arms supplies ceasefire must be established and the strikes must stop” Arabia and supported by Turkey. Rouhani said he hoped the Houthis possess. All appeared quiet on Monday, to a Saudi-led coalition battling Houthi fighters in Yemen, the two countries, “with the help of other countries in but distant artillery fire had sounded throughout who are supported by Iran, Deputy Secretary of State the region” would contribute to “peace, stability, a Sunday night, said a Reuters photographer staying Antony Blinken said yesterday. Speaking to reporters on a broader government and dialogue” between Yemenis. near the frontier. visit to Riyadh, Blinken called for all political parties to com- “We agree on the fact that instability, insecurity and war Saudi Arabia has strongly reinforced its southern mit to what he called a consensus political solution, and must cease throughout the region,” he said.