Govt Mulling Raising Fees on Services to Cut Deficit
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SUBSCRIPTION MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015 SAFAR 11, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Education Trump calls Southeast Asia McIlroy reaps development for return of bangs the massive plan to be waterboarding drum for payday after set by 20192 by13 US single21 market Dubai16 double Govt mulling raising fees Min 10º on services to cut deficit Max 23º High Tide 09:37 & 21:47 Assembly demands mechanism for hiking charges Low Tide 03:05 & 15:31 40 PAGES NO: 16706 150 FILS By B Izzak and Agencies conspiracy theories KUWAIT: The government is studying whether to raise fees for its services, Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh said in Chaos creates comments published by the local Al-Rai newspaper yes- terday. Saleh said the study was part of a project to ration- alize spending, review subsidies and diversify sources of opportunities revenue. “It is not intended only to plug the (budget) deficit resulting from low oil prices - it will be permanent whether oil prices continue to drop or increase,” Saleh told the newspaper without specifying the fees that might be raised. He also said that any increase in service fees or gaso- By Badrya Darwish line prices would be decided by the Cabinet rather than through parliamentary legislation, but that the Cabinet would consult lawmakers on issues that required legislation, according to Al-Rai. The minis- [email protected] ter said increasing service fees is a complex issue that needs careful economic and technical t’s a disgrace what happened in Paris. Killing studies, adding that the goal is innocent people anywhere in this world is a to secure stability, whether oil Icrime. It’s a disgrace for humanity and these peo- prices continue to fall or rise. ple should be chased to the end of the earth and But the National Assembly’s destroyed. Terrorism, as everyone knows, has no financial and economic affairs Anas Al-Saleh KUALA LUMPUR: US President Barack Obama holds a press conference yesterday, following his partici- committee yesterday told the color, no race, no religion, no morals, no ethics and pation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit. — AFP no nothing. Unfortunately, the terrorists in Paris, in government that it wants a clear mechanism for the pro- Mali and in Lebanon in recent weeks pinned them- posed increase in charges on public services and rejected selves to Islam. Obama: World must not that low income people be targeted by the increase. The But we’re used to this. Islam has been hijacked committee however kept the door open for serious gov- for years by terrorists and people who are not ernment proposals in this regard as it began debating a Muslims and don’t know anything about Islam. They succumb to terror fears two-decade old law that requires the consent of the belong to terrorist and militant groups and just use Assembly to raise service charges. the banner of Islam as a camouflage. Sadly, the KUALA LUMPUR: US President Barack Obama called violence. Rapporteur of the committee MP Mohammad Al-Jabri media in Europe have turned all their forces - be it yesterday for resolve in the face of heightened The perpetrators of the Paris attacks were not said the committee discussed with representatives of the traditional or social media, TV or radio, and newspa- jihadist threats, insisting panicked citizens must not “masterminds” he said, but rather “a bunch of killers finance ministry the issue of raising service charges and pers - to pinning what happened in Paris on succumb to fear and urging world leaders not to with good social media”. “It’s absolutely vital for every insisted that it rejects any raise without upgrading the lev- refugees. Already, Europe is sick of the word abandon a climate summit in Paris. With Brussels in country, every leader, to send a signal that the el of the services. He said the ministry informed the com- refugee. Already, some governments and people lockdown, cities from Beirut to Bamako reeling from viciousness of a handful of killers does not stop the mittee that a specialized company is studying the issue of are rejecting refugees. attacks, and Americans jittery that they too may come world from doing vital business,” he said. They must subsidies provided on around 5,000 commodities and the But this is unacceptable. And it needs coura- under assault, Obama said the world must show steel. also show that “Paris, one of the most beautiful, entic- committee asked the ministry for a copy of the study. geous people to speak up in their name. They are That starts, he said, with leaders who are scheduled to ing cities in the world, is not going to be cowered by Jabri said the committee is aware that the state is fac- running from IS. Actually, the reason why they are attend climate talks later this month in Paris, where the violent demented actions of a few”. ing a huge budget deficit of around KD 25 billion over the refugees is because of IS, so how can you pin the 130 people were killed in one night of blood-soaked Continued on Page 13 next five years. acts of IS on them? Many of them die on the way, Continued on Page 13 risk the lives of their children and drown in the sea in eternal hope of reaching a safe haven away from the bloodshed and terrorism in Syria. Scores dead in Myanmar jade landslide They are not having a five-star journey. Who would risk their lives and the lives of their children YANGON: Around 100 people have died in scale local gems trader whose village over- and families in severe, life threatening conditions, a huge landslide in a remote jade mining looks the devastated area in the Hpakant except desperate people? Now, anti-refugee politi- area of northern Myanmar, officials said mining area. “Even people living in villages cians and media are exploiting the situation to push yesterday, as search teams continued to further away could hear the cries of those their agenda. In the chaos, people are scared and find bodies in one of the deadliest disasters who rushed to the scene,” he told AFP. can be vulnerable to believing that refugees pose a to strike the country’s shadowy jade indus- Video footage of the area shot on threat. Some politicians have even suggested try. Those killed were thought to have been Saturday shows men carrying several recruiting the refugees, training them and giving mainly itinerant miners, who scratch a liv- bodies slung in blankets watched by a them arms and sending them back home to fight IS. ing scavenging through mountains of crowd of local people in a dusty plain I’m sure there are amongst the refugees men who waste rubble dumped by mechanical dig- near the village of Sai Tung. Nilar Myint are willing, if given the chance, to go back and fight gers used by mining firms at the centre of a an official from the local administrative for their country. But is this really the solution to secretive multi-billion dollar jade industry authorities in Hpakant told AFP that res- stopping IS? in war-torn Kachin state. cue teams have so far found 97 people I have a suggestion for you. Whoever is supplying Saturday’s massive landslide crushed killed in the landslide. IS with arms, technology, weapons and money: dozens of flimsy shanty huts clustered on Rescue operations continue with the Stop it. IS will finish itself in no time. No need to the barren landscape, home to an Myanmar Red Cross, army, police and local send any troops from anywhere, neither Europe nor unknown number of people. The disaster community groups, but officials say they the refugees. happened at about 3.30am local time have little hope of pulling people alive Have a peaceful day. (2100GMT) and lasted just a couple of min- from the rubble. HPAKHANT, Myanmar: The bodies of miners killed in a landslide are placed on utes, according to Zaw Moe Htet, a small Continued on Page 13 the ground in a jade mining area in Kachin state yesterday. — AFP News Cheating charges mar in brief ‘Mister Ugly’ contest KNPC to shut Shuaiba refinery by April 2017 HARARE: Pageant judges have crowned a new winner of - which incidentally also brought down her predecessor. KUWAIT: Kuwait National Petroleum Co will shut its Zimbabwe’s 4th annual “Mister Ugly” contest, upsetting Sere dismissed the critics as just “sore losers” as he pock- Shuaiba refinery permanently by April 2017, before its clean supporters of the crowd favorite and prompting rioting eted the $500 in winnings. “They should just accept that I fuels project starts operating by mid-2018, its spokesman at the event. Judges on Saturday chose 42-year-old am uglier than them,” he said. “I hope to get a TV contract. said at a news conference yesterday. The clean fuels project is an upgrade and expansion of the country’s two largest Mison Sere, citing his numerous missing front teeth and a I already moved around schools performing and show- existing refineries, with a focus on producing higher-value wide range of grotesque facial expressions, over William casing my ugliness so this is a chance to make it on TV.” products such as diesel and kerosene for export. Work on Masvinu, who had held the title since 2012. Masvinu and The complaints of Masvinu and the other contestants the clean fuels project is 36.7 percent complete, and it is his supporters mobbed the judges upon hearing their may have a degree of validity. Organizers had previously expected to be finished by mid-2018, the spokesman said.