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SUBSCRIPTION MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 RABI ALAWWAL 17, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Sharm still Rouhani: It’s Hitler’s ‘Mein Trail Blazers top tourist up to Muslims Kampf’ returns humble Cavs, destination, to correct to Germany 76ers nab city of peace4 Islam’s 8image in14 new form rare20 win Lawmakers reject proposed Min 05º measures to reduce welfare Max 20º High Tide 00:31 & 14:44 Low Tide New anti-corruption law to be approved on Jan 12 08:14 & 20:03 40 PAGES NO: 16739 150 FILS By B Izzak KUWAIT: A number of MPs expressed their strong Iraq declares victory over IS in Ramadi opposition to proposed government measures to reduce subsidies in a bid to cut spending in the face of a BAGHDAD: Iraq’s army said yesterday it had defeated sharp fall in oil revenues. The lawmakers vowed that Islamic State fighters in a provincial capital west of they will not allow the government to introduce the Baghdad, the first major victory for the US-trained proposals, which will negatively impact the standard of force since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the living of Kuwaiti citizens. militants 18 months ago. Victory in Ramadi, capital of The MPs were commenting on reports that an inter- mainly Sunni-Muslim Anbar province in the national consultancy has advised the government to Euphrates River valley west of the capital, deprives take a number of austerity measures mainly focused on Islamic State militants of their biggest prize of 2015. reducing subsidies. MP Fares Al-Otaibi said the propos- The fighters captured it in May after government als are totally rejected, adding that any plan to make cit- troops fled in a defeat which prompted Washington izens bear additional financial burdens to boost govern- to take a hard look at strategy against the militants. ment revenues is not accepted and will be rejected out- After encircling the city for weeks, the Iraqi mili- right. Otaibi said lawmakers will not accept the govern- tary launched a campaign to retake it last week, and ment undermining the housing policy by making some made a final push to seize the central administration cuts in this policy, especially the housing loan or complex yesterday. “By controlling the complex this monthly allowance. means that we have defeated them in Ramadi,” said MPs will also reject any government plan to cut a KD Sabah Al-Numani, a spokesman for the force leading 2,000 government grant given to Kuwaitis on their mar- the fight on the government side. “The next step is to riage. MP Saleh Ashour said that the government must clear pockets that could exist here or there in the first stop the squandering of public funds, especially by city.” ministers and top officials, before they resort to overbur- State television broadcast footage of troops, dening the people. MP Askar Al-Enezi vowed that MPs Humvee vehicles and tanks advancing through will not allow the passage of any measures that could Ramadi streets amid piles of rubble and collapsed undermine the income of the Kuwaiti people. Enezi said houses. Some districts appeared to have been com- MPs reject the findings and recommendations by the for- pletely destroyed by the advance. Television also eign firm on reducing or cutting subsidies. showed nighttime celebrations in mainly Shiite cities Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al- south of Baghdad, for the victory in Anbar, with peo- Ghanem said yesterday that the Assembly will approve the ple dancing in the streets and waving Iraqi flags from new Anti-Corruption Authority law on Jan 12 to replace a sim- cars. Officials did not give any immediate death tolls ilar legislation scrapped by the constitutional court two weeks for the battle. The government says most civilian resi- ago. Ghanem said the Assembly was scheduled to pass the dents of the city were able to evacuate before it new law last week, but the sudden death of MP Nabil Al-Fadhl launched its assault. RAMADI: An Iraqi pro-government forces’ member watches smoke billowing in Ramadi’s Hoz neighborhood forced the cancellations of Assembly sessions until Jan 12. Continued on Page 15 during military operations conducted by Iraqi forces against the Islamic State (IS) group yesterday. — AFP Continued on Page 15 11 killed in Texas tornadoes Wild weather lashes US DALLAS: At least 11 people lost their lives of deadly weather across the South to at as tornadoes tore through Texas, authori- least 28. An infant was reportedly among News ties said yesterday, as they searched home the latest casualties. in brief to home for possible more victims of the The extreme weather, fueled by unsea- freak storms lashing the southern United sonably warm air, is likely to continue for States. The rare December twisters that the next few days, the National Weather Saudi seizes 5 million flattened houses and caused chaos on Service warned, complicating search and amphetamine tablets highways raised the death toll from days Continued on Page 15 RIYADH: Saudi authorities said yesterday that they had seized more than five million amphetamine tablets and BARMER, India: In this photograph taken on Dec 11, 2015, a worker cycles by arrested 11 people in one of the kingdom’s largest drug machinery at a Cairn India oil and gas exploration plant in Rajasthan. — AFP busts. The suspects - nine Saudis and two Sudanese citi- zens - were arrested in Riyadh as an illegal deal was being completed, state news agency SPA quoted an India pumps desert oil, interior ministry spokesman as saying. Three grams of heroin, a machine gun and a pistol were also seized from seeks energy security the suspects, the spokesman said without elaborating. BARMER, India: The deserts of an offshoot of Scotland-based Cairn Rajasthan may be the showcase for Energy that churn out nearly a quarter of KNPC halts production India’s solar revolution but the oil explor- all domestic crude. Each day the world’s at Mina Ahmadi units er that struck gold beneath the same longest heated pipeline funnels 176,000 KUWAIT: Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) sands insists the country needs to pump barrels from the remote Barmer region has halted production at some units of its Mina Al- out more fossil fuels to wean itself off near the Pakistan border, bound for the Ahmadi Refinery, with the suspended units imports. Ahead of this month’s climate refineries of Reliance Industries, Essar Oil expected to be restarted after “some time”, a com- negotiations in Paris, India sought to and Indian Oil Corporation. Exploration pany statement carried by KUNA said yesterday. deflect criticism by pointing to the solar continues apace, with less than half the The parts affected were “some manufacturing panels and wind turbines sprouting state’s 150,000 sq km thought to contain units and other units”, the statement said without across the sparsely-populated princely crude deposits developed so far, and mil- elaborating. Khalid Al-Sousi, company spokesman state. lions more barrels likely still trapped in for KNPC, was quoted as saying the suspension Yet deep in the desert, and less well- the rock. was due to a seawater cooling outage. DALLAS: People run as weather sirens sound as a severe storm passes over publicized, are four oil fields operated by Continued on Page 15 downtown Dallas on Saturday. —AP Queen of a controversial US industry HEMPSTEAD, New York: Michelle Esquenazi the United States, writing bonds for about $14 hunters -Hollywood, Mr T and Jizo - to haul tosses her mane of flaming red curls, kicks her billion a year in a private industry unmatched them back into jail. feet clad in five-inch stilettos onto her desk anywhere but the Philippines. Critics com- She loves recounting the tales of her most and hollers for her assistant. Meet the Bail plain they take billions from low-income peo- famous clients: Michael Mastromarino, the Bond Queen, a New York mother of four with ple, with no return on investment in terms of dentist who illegally harvested bones from a “Master’s degree from the streets of public safety. Esquenazi says she’s doing soci- people’s bodies, sold them on the black mar- Brooklyn” who worked her way up from being ety a favor. “We do what governments don’t ket and replaced them with PVC piping. When a paralegal student on welfare to company have the resources to do. We do everything at he was arrested in 2006, his bail was set at CEO. She’s the woman who can get you out of no taxpayers’ expense,” she explains, sipping $1.5 million, which at the time was the jail and calm your tearful mother - for a price - milky coffee. biggest bond she had ever written. She sent and she’s the one who is going to put you Anyone arrested in New York state must him fresh bagels - a reminder of the comforts back behind bars if you do a runner. “I always appear in court within 24 hours when the of freedom - and then a bologna sandwich say I’m a b****, but I’m not a stupid b****,” judge sets bail. Defendants can either pay and a carton of milk, a reminder of lunches Esquenazi tells AFP in Hempstead, a town on cash or purchase a bond to secure their behind bars on Rikers Island. Long Island about an hour’s train ride east of release. Those who can afford to pay bail get “I had eyes on his ass. I didn’t trust him, and New York. all their money back if they keep all their I knew he had the ability to run and I wasn’t Her company, Empire Bail Bonds, is the court dates, even if they are eventually found letting my family go out of business,” she said.

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