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SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015 SHAWWAL 6, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Trafficked Jailhouse death Jordan battles Sterling scores domestic helper of US black to rescue quick debut beaten for woman stirs tourism, its goal as Man taking 3day off suspicions9 key40 earner City20 win Zour refinery budget upped Min 32º Max 46º as most bids top estimates High Tide 02:38 & 14:08 Dashti still under fire for meeting Mughniah’s parents Low Tide 08:56 & 21:00 40 PAGES NO: 16586 150 FILS HRW says Kuwait By B Izzak KUWAIT: Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair said yesterday that the Supreme Petroleum Council, the country’s highest oil decision- DNA tests violate making body, has approved a request to raise the budget for the new Al-Zour refinery. Omair told reporters the SPC approved right to privacy additional funds of KD 871 million on top of the initial estimates of KD 4 billion, so the total cost is now estimated at KD 4.871 bil- KUWAIT: A new Kuwaiti law imposing mandatory lion. The new funding was approved after the bids for most of the DNA tests on citizens and foreigners violates the tenders of the five packages forming the refinery came in higher than initial estimates. right to personal privacy and should be amended, Kuwait National Petroleum Human Rights Watch said yesterday. Parliament Company (KNPC) had requested the endorsed the law in early July, less than a week after new funding, which was approved an Islamic State jihadist blew himself up in a Shiite by Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) mosque in Kuwait killing 26 people and wounding about two weeks ago. The awarding more than 200 others. of the tenders is now expected to go The new counter-terrorism law has made Kuwait ahead as scheduled for next month. the only country to demand nationwide compulsory KNPC in February last year awarded DNA testing, HRW said. “Many measures could contracts to upgrade two of the potentially be useful three refineries in the clean fuel proj- in protecting against ect at a cost of around KD 4 billion. terrorist attacks, but When the two projects are complet- ed by 2018-19, Kuwait’s total refining Ali Al-Omair potential usefulness capacity will increase to around 1.4 is not enough to jus- million barrels per day from the current 930,000 barrels per day. tify a massive Omair said that the two projects besides a heavy oil project and infringement on building new gathering centers are estimated to cost around $60 human rights,” said billion over the next five years. The projects are part of Kuwait’s Sarah Leah Whitson, strategy to raise its production capacity to 4 million barrels per day Middle East director FRANKFURT: Hamad Al-Marzouq, Board Chairman of Kuwait Finance House, and Kemal Uzan, Kuveyt by 2020, which has become doubtful after the halt of production at the New York- Turk General Manager, are seen during the opening ceremony of the branch yesterday. — KUNA at the neutral zone with Saudi Arabia in which Kuwait lost an out- based HRW. put of 250,000 barrels a day. The legislation Continued on Page 13 calls on the interior ministry to establish a database Eurozone’s first Islamic on all Kuwait’s 1.3 million citizens and 2.9 million foreign residents. Under the law, people who refuse to give samples for the test face one year in jail and bank starts operations a fine of up to $33,000. Those who provide fake samples can be jailed for seven years. DNA gathering systems like the one Kuwait Kuveyt Turk opens Frankfurt branch intends to apply have been outlawed by the European Court of Human Rights, several US FRANKFURT: Kuwait Turkey Bank (Kuveyt Turk) opened a for the German side, which seeks to boost Germany’s domestic courts and others on the grounds of pri- branch in the German city of Frankfurt yesterday to be financial position, but for millions of clients wishing to vacy rights, HRW said. “To serve the interests of the first Islamic financial institution in the eurozone. use banking services offered by the bank in three Kuwaiti national security and comply with Kuwait’s Hamad Al-Marzouq, Board Chairman of Kuwait Finance German cities,” Marzouq said in a statement to KUNA. obligations under international human rights law, House (KFH), which owns the largest share in Kuveyt Kuveyt Turk seeks to encourage “five million Muslims the bill should be amended and narrowed exten- Turk, said he was proud to see the first Islamic bank oper- in Germany to use our services”, he said. The bank, he sively,” it said. Kuwait has charged 29 men and ational in the eurozone. added, also sought non-Muslim clients who might be women in connection with the mosque bombing “We are proud to have this license. Exercising banking attracted by the “moral commitment” of Islamic banking. and their trial is scheduled to start on Aug 4. — AFP in line with the Islamic sharia is very important not only Continued on Page 13 Family decimated in camel-car crash Saudis mull own nuke RIYADH: Four members of a Saudi family were killed yesterday when their car hit a stray camel in the desert kingdom, the Red Crescent said. The accident took options after Iran deal place in the southwestern region of Jazan, Red Crescent spokesman Bishi Al-Sarkhi said in a state- RIYADH: One likely Saudi Arabian nuclear deal will free Tehran from inter- ment carried by SPA state news agency. A father, response to the deal its biggest enemy national pressure and sanctions, giving it mother and their two daughters died on the spot, Iran has struck with world powers is to more room to back allies in proxy wars. while their three sons suffered serious injuries, it said. accelerate its own nuclear power plans, So far its response has been lukewarm A picture published by SPA showed a dead camel lying creating an atomic infrastructure it could, public praise for the deal coupled with in a pool of blood in the middle of a road blocked by one day, seek to weaponize. But while it private condemnation, a reaction that police vehicles. Legal experts have called for penaliz- has recently made moves to advance its follows a more muscular approach to ing owners of camels that cause road accidents, Arab nuclear program, experts say it is uncer- Iran evident in its war against allies of News reported in March. — AFP tain whether it could realistically build an Tehran in Yemen and more help for atomic bomb in secret or withstand the Syrian rebels. However, some Saudis political pressure it would face if such close to the ruling family have also plans were revealed. warned that if Iran still manages to “I think Saudi Arabia would seriously weaponize its nuclear program, then the try to get the bomb if Iran did. It’s just kingdom will have to follow suit despite like India and Pakistan. The Pakistanis the cost of becoming a pariah state and said for years they didn’t want one, but rupturing ties with the US. when India got it, so did they,” said Jamal Analysts who follow Saudi Arabia are Khashoggi, head of a Saudi news chan- divided as to whether it really does con- BEIRUT: Cars and motorcycles pass by a large pile of garbage on a street in the nel owned by a prince. The conservative stitute a proliferation risk, given its newly Lebanese capital yesterday. — AP kingdom is engaged in a contest for assertive stance towards the US and the power with the Islamic republic stretch- life-and-death import it places on the Trash piles in Beirut ing across the region and fears the Continued on Page 13 JAZAN, Saudi Arabia: Handout pictures show a Sacre bleu! Scrabble champ severely damaged car after it hit a stray camel in the raise fears of crisis desert in this southwestern region, resulting in the death of four members of a Saudi family on the BEIRUT: Garbage piled up yesterday on company kept collecting trash until can’t speak word of French spot. — AFP the streets of cosmopolitan Beirut amid a Sunday night, when their facility in Beirut BRUSSELS: Think you need to speak the growing dispute over tiny Lebanon’s could not take any more garbage. Nassar language to win a top Scrabble match? largest trash dump, picketed by residents said Sukleen is waiting for authorities to Think again. Nigel Richards, a 48-year- Becoming a as it should have closed permanently offer them guidance on what to do. old New Zealander who was crowned days earlier. The main company in charge Lebanon’s notoriously gridlocked gov- the champion of francophone Scrabble of picking up the trash, Sukleen, had its ernment has yet to take any action on on Monday, doesn’t speak a word of dad? Expect workers sweeping Beirut’s streets, though the issue ahead of the next Cabinet French. Bushy-bearded, bespectacled not picking up any of the garbage. meeting on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Richards is already a celebrity in the Typically, the refuse would have gone to trash pile grows as workers spray them English version of Scrabble, winning its weight gain the Naameh landfill, just south of Beirut, with white powder to knock back the world championship in 2007 and again which has been functioning since 1997. smell and spread of pests. Environment in 2011. But this is the first time in history But Naameh was scheduled to close Minister Mohammed Machnouk said that a player who cannot speak the lan- NEW YORK: Many men gain a new sense of responsibil- July 17.