N IO T IP R C S B U S TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2014 RABI ALTHANI 18, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Court postpones UN probe Slave epic Venus takes Barrak’s trial demands justice big BAFTA revenge to summon for N Korea winner as on Vesnina premier2 atrocities7 ‘Gravity’36 soars in18 Dubai MoI reassures residents Max 21º Min 09º amid rising crackdowns High Tide 01:23 & 14:18 Low Tide Seatbelt, phone violations drop by half 08:10 & 20:23 40 PAGES NO: 16081 150 FILS Foreign worker By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Faced with rising complaints of an increased number of checkpoints in various areas, high-handed recruitment to behavior of some policemen and impoundment of vehi- cles for trivial reasons, a senior Interior Ministry official open on April 1 reassured yesterday that anybody who feels he has been treated unfairly has the right to complain. KUWAIT: Local companies can start recruiting for- “We aim to preserve safety and security in the coun- eign workers in less than two months, while the try, and through these checkpoints we have arrested Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is expected to many violators of traffic and other laws in addition to make an official announcement in this regard some- time before then. The Ministry of Social Affairs and criminals. Policemen are doing their job, but they are Labor announced last month that transferring visit humans and can make mistakes. Any citizen or expat can visas to work permits in the private sector was sus- complain at the ‘Control and Inspection’ department of pended in order to introduce better regulations to the Ministry of Interior if he feels a policeman has over- organize the operation, amid complaints that it con- stepped his authority,” Lt Gen Sulaiman Al-Fahd, tains flaws that allow violations including visa traf- Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior, said during a ficking and issuance of visas illegally. meeting with the local media at his office yesterday. The ministry has closed foreign labor recruitment “When there is security, people will live in comfort, multiple times in the past few years in a bid to curb which is our goal. The ministry has certain priorities that the state’s increasing demographic imbalance, with we are working on achieving, such as solving the traffic exception given to companies that have contracts problem. This is not a problem unique to Kuwait - it signed with the government to carry out develop- exists all over the world - but we lack a traffic culture mental projects. There is currently a list of nearly 50 such as leaving the house earlier, respecting traffic rules job categories where employers can receive permis- and others,” he pointed out. “We aim to improve services sion to recruit foreign labor forces. and paperwork at all departments of the ministry. According to sources quoted by Al-Qabas yester- Furthermore we aim to eliminate drugs in the communi- day, the ministry plans to open the door for foreign ty and increase the quantities of narcotics seized. The labor recruitment by April 1. It allows private compa- media plays a key role in fighting criminality and increas- nies to hire staff freely as long as they meet a set of ing awareness among the public of cooperating with Continued on Page 13 KUWAIT: Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani meets HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber security forces,” stressed Fahd. Al-Sabah yesterday after he arrived on an official visit to Kuwait. — KUNA Continued on Page 13 in the news Co-pilot hijacks own plane to Geneva GENEVA: The co-pilot of an Ethiopian police “he felt threatened in his country Indian pupil jumps Airlines plane hijacked his aircraft yester- and wants to seek asylum in Switzerland,” to death in Dubai day while the captain was in the bath- Grandjean said. A total of 202 passengers DUBAI: A 14-year-old Indian schoolgirl jumped to room and forced it to land in Geneva so and crew were on board the Boeing 767 her death from the 17th floor of a Dubai tower he could seek asylum, police said. The as the drama unfolded. “The co-pilot told after her father scolded her for cheating in an Ethiopian was swiftly arrested after scal- air transport authorities he had a prob- exam, local media reported yesterday. A cleaner ing down a rope out of the cockpit win- lem with his plane and needed to fill up alerted police after he found the girl’s body lying dow, and prosecutors said the chances of with jet-fuel. He then set off a distress on the ground in the Jumeirah Lake Towers neigh- his demands being met were slim. The signal indicating the plane was hijacked, borhood, Khaleej Times reported. Police investiga- co-pilot said he seized his chance to take before saying he had engine trouble,” tors found that a teacher had caught the girl cheat- over flight ET-702 from Addis Ababa to Grandjean said. Rome by locking himself in the cockpit Head of operations at Geneva airport, ing in an exam and warned her that she would be when the pilot went to the bathroom, Xavier Wohlschlag, told the ATS news expelled if it happened again. At home, her father police spokesman Eric Grandjean told agency the hijacker’s request to land was scolded her when he found about the cheating AFP. initially denied. The green light was not incident, the paper said. “Her parents told us that Addis Ababa identified the man as 31- given until around 5:30 am (0430 GMT), as when she returned home, she was distraught and year-old Hailemedehin Abera Tagegn, the passenger jet, which was first escort- very upset. Her father, who came to know about who had been working for the airline for ed by Italian fighter jets and later report- GENEVA: Police stand around the aircraft after passengers were evacuated from the cheating, also chided her. She went to her five years, and said he was “medically edly by French ones, circled the region. a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane at the airport yesterday. The rope (left) used room and locked the door,” the daily cited a police sane”. The co-pilot-turned-hijacker told Continued on Page 13 by the co-pilot to scale out of the cockpit window can be seen. — AP officer as saying. The parents only found out about their daughter’s suicide when police informed them. 450 Indian migrants die in Qatar in 2 yrs NEW DELHI: More than 450 Indian migrants work- ing in Qatar have died in the last two years, accord- ing to new data from the Gulf state which is under pressure over its rights record ahead of the 2022 World Cup. In response to a Right to Information request filed by AFP, the Indian embassy in Qatar gave figures detailing the number of deaths in 2012 and the first 11 months of 2013. On average about 20 migrants died per month, peaking at 27 in August last year. There were 237 fatalities in 2012 and another 218 in 2013 up to Dec 5. The embassy did not give any details about the circum- stances of the deaths, but the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) said the data showed an “exceptionally high mortality rate”. The embassy in Qatar says that the exact number of Indians in Qatar is unknown, but it was estimated at close to 500,000 at the end of 2012, about 26 percent of Qatar’s total population. Female editor wants others to follow her RIYADH: Somayya Jabarti, the first female editor of a Saudi national daily, hopes to see more women take up top media posts in the ultra-conservative Muslim state. She was named at the weekend as editor-in-chief of the Saudi Gazette, one of the two main English-language dailies in the Gulf kingdom. “The success will not be complete unless I see my peers who are also Saudi women in the media take other roles where they are decision-makers,” Jabarti said in an interview posted on Al-Arabiya News website. “There’s a crack that has been made in the glass ceiling. And I’m hoping it will be made into a door,” said Jabarti, who served as deputy edi- tor since 2011. “Being the first Saudi woman (news- paper editor) is going to be double the responsibil- ity... One’s actions will reflect upon my fellow Saudi women,” she said. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2014 LOCAL Court postpones Barrak’s trial to summon premier MP queries oil minister over clean fuel project By B Izzak order to summon the senior officials said the project’s value will certainly for the April 7 hearing. be less if it does not create a good KUWAIT: The court of appeals yes- After leaving the Palace of Justice number of jobs for Kuwaitis. terday postponed its hearing in the where the hearing was held, Barrak Kuwait National Petroleum Co Service Hero reaches trial of former MP Musallam Al- strongly lashed out at National (KNPC) last week awarded the proj- Barrak until April 7 after justice staff Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al- ect in three separate contracts to failed to summon the prime minis- Ghanem over his position towards nine foreign companies with work partnership with ACSI ter to testify in the case. The court the controversial Gulf security pact. expected to commence in April. The had in December agreed to Barrak claimed that Ghanem had project aims at upgrading two of By Ben Garcia demands by Barrak’s defense to initially supported the pact and col- the three existing refineries at Mina KUWAIT: The Service Hero awards summon Prime Minister Sheikh laborated with the government to Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah to coincided with the announcement Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, the ratify it in the Assembly but had to boost production and make them of their partnership with the finance minister and other officials change his mind after a strong pop- environment-friendly.