RABI ALTHANI 29, 1439 AH TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018 Max 21º 32 Pages Min 06º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17432 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Health minister operates Trump denies he’s a racist Lebanon bans Spielberg film CoCo goes bananas as US 3 on girl to implant cochlea 6 as Americans honor King 28 and Israeli adventurer biopic 16 players slip at Aussie Open Panel votes to refer scores of health officials to prosecution MPs vow to grill Assembly minister over false info By B Izzak tary and top officials at the foreign medical treatment The committee also recommended referring a former by opposition MP Adel Al-Damkhi in the grilling, which department to the public prosecution and the anti-cor- undersecretary, a former director of nursing services and will be submitted only after the grilling against the minis- KUWAIT: A probe committee investigating alleged ruption authority. former directors of companies that signed contracts with ter of social affairs and labor is completed. He said that corruption and financial and administrative violations at Regarding alleged violations at health offices abroad, the ministry between 2013 and 2017 to the public prose- Khorafi submitted a proposal signed by a former defense the health ministry yesterday approved recommenda- the committee called for referring a former health ministry cution and the anti-corruption authority for investigation. minister, which is against the constitution, adding he will tions to refer former health ministers and a large num- undersecretary, top officials and officials at the Frankfurt It also called for referring a former minister and former write to the prime minister to dismiss the minister. ber of present and former officials to the public prose- and Washington health offices to the prosecution and the top officials for investigation regarding an expansion Adasani also called on the minister to step down, adding cution and the anti-corruption authority for investiga- anti-corruption authority for investigation. Hammad said project at Adan Hospital. The committee also asked the that if he is not sacked or does not resign, he will file to tion into alleged corruption. the committee called for referring a former health minister National Assembly to extend its mandate for another year grill him. Rapporteur of the panel MP Saadoun Hammad said to the ministers’ trial court for investigation related to to follow up the implementation of the recommendations. Also, MP Thamer Al-Suwait yesterday submitted a the committee issued recommendations regarding seven alleged corruption in the recruitment of nurses from Meanwhile, MP Riyadh Al-Adasani yesterday said he draft law to amend the Kuwaiti nationality law to grant issues it investigated. In the first issue regarding sending abroad. It was reported that ministry officials had received will file to grill new state minister for national assembly stateless or bedoon wives of Kuwaiti nationals Kuwaiti citizens for medical treatment abroad, the committee millions of dinars from foreign nurses, mainly from India, to affairs and ex-MP Adel Al-Khorafi over allegations he citizenship five years after the marriage without waiting called for referring a former health ministry undersecre- secure employment at the health ministry. provided false information. Adasani said he will be joined for them to apply. Erdogan threatens to spokesman Raveesh Kumar said on Friday. Indian Activists slam passports, barring official and diplomatic passports, destroy US-backed are navy blue. The government’s plan was roundly criticized. Syria ‘terror army’ orange Indian “You cannot divide people on the basis of educa- tional qualifications; it’s discriminatory,” said S ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan passports, digital Irudaya Rajan, professor at the Centre for yesterday threatened to destroy a planned US-backed Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram in the 30,000-strong border security force in northern Syria, describing it as an “army of terror”. Turkey fears that southern state of Kerala, from where many migrant identity project the mooted new force will be comprised of the Kurdish workers originate. “An orange cover shows a person People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, whom Ankara MUMBAI: India’s plan to introduce orange-colored is not well educated, and makes them vulnerable to accuses of being terrorists and have been a constant passport jackets for some migrant workers is dis- exploitation. These are already vulnerable people bone of contention in Turkey-US ties. criminatory and could increase the vulnerability of who need more protection, not discrimination,” he The new upsurge of tensions between Ankara and workers often duped by middlemen who promise told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Washington also comes as Erdogan has repeatedly them jobs, said legal experts and campaigners. The There are an estimated six million Indian migrants threatened that Turkey could launch a cross-border Ministry of External Affairs said last week migrant in the six Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi operation to oust the YPG from the Kurdish-held town workers who need emigration clearance - those who Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman, many of of Afrin in northern Syria. “America has acknowledged it have not passed 10th grade at school - to travel to a them trafficked and exploited. Many are duped by is in the process of creating a terror army on our border. group of 18 countries, mostly in the Gulf region, job agents, and trapped in low paying jobs with few What we have to do is nip this terror army in the bud,” would soon be issued orange passports. benefits or protections. “Treating India’s migrant Erdogan said in a televised speech outside Ankara. “Passport holders with ECR (Emigration Check workers like second class citizens is completely The YPG played a key role in the Syrian Democratic Required) status would be issued a passport with unacceptable,” Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposi- Forces (SDF) alliance that last year ousted Islamic State ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip orange color passport jacket and those with non- tion Congress party, said in a tweet. jihadists from their stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria. Erdogan (right) and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim ECR status would continue to get a blue passport,” Continued on Page 11 American officials said at the weekend that the new force bin Hamad Al-Thani meet at the Presidential Continued on Page 11 Complex yesterday. — AFP correspondent attending the meeting. “I told myself I News in brief Ancient Omani would lodge a complaint at the sabla, where the owner of the sheep would be present.” In Ghala, just outside the capital Muscat, the sheikh humbly brings breakfast UAE: Qatar ‘intercepted’ planes mediation method for meetings of the council. The youngest serves coffee. The fellowship broke the ice for the mediation Temtemi ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates accused gets a makeover sought. rival Qatar of “intercepting” two Emirati passenger Acknowledging a problem needed to be solved, the planes en route to Bahrain yesterday in the latest GHALA, Oman: Omani Mahmoud bin Yousef Temtemi men filed over to the meeting hall - a sparse room with incident between the Gulf rivals. Qatar denied that found himself in a pastoral predicament this autumn - little more than benches built into the walls. The elders the first plane had been intercepted, but there was his neighbor’s flock of sheep had overrun his farm and listened to the farmer’s story, discussed, then decided no immediate denial from Doha for the second gobbled up his crops, threatening his income. Rather on compensation from the sheep owner. “He will pay incident. The UAE “General Civil Aviation than make a scene or turn to the police, Temtemi chose 150 riyals ($390) and keep an eye on his sheep,” said a Authority received a message from a national car- to raise his complaint in Omani tradition: Through the satisfied Temtemi. rier yesterday morning that an aircraft on a routine local “sabla”, or council. Dressed in a robe and embroi- Oman’s sabla is a unique form of consensus building flight to Manama was intercepted by Qatari fighter dered cap, Temtemi took his place on a sunny Friday that many see as central to the Gulf nation’s traditions, GHALA, Oman: Omani men chat in the meeting jets”, it said in a statement carried by the state morning at his neighborhood sabla in the village of and which some want to see adapted to the age of the room of the traditional local council known as news agency. The authority said it was “a flagrant Ghala - held outdoors on a patch of sidewalk. smartphone. the “sabla” in this small village near Muscat on and serious threat to the safety of civil aviation and “The farm is our livelihood,” Temtemi told an AFP Continued on Page 11 Oct 27, 2017. — AFP a clear violation of international law”. The authori- ty later said a second Emirati passenger plane bound for Bahrain was also intercepted by Qatari fighter jets. A spokeswoman for Qatar’s foreign Qattan heads UK’s Guardian ministry denied as “completely false” the first inci- health committee goes tabloid dent had occurred. KUWAIT: The Advisory Technical Committee at the to reduce costs Ritz-Carlton Riyadh to reopen Arab Health Ministers’ LONDON: Britain’s Guardian newspaper adopted a new RIYADH: The luxury Riyadh hotel used as a Council selected Kuwait’s tabloid format and a redesigned masthead with simple prison during Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on corrup- representative, Assistant black lettering from yesterday as part of a drive to cut Undersecretary for General costs. The left-leaning newspaper previously had a blue tion will reopen for business next month, according Health Dr Majida Al-Qattan, and white masthead and in 2005 had adopted a Berliner to a company employee and its website, suggesting as president of the committee format, midway between a broadsheet and a tabloid.