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SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016 RAJAB 26, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Expat oil Emotional return Egypt killings Leicester workers strike as first US cruise deepen mystery striker Vardy over unpaid in decades over death of gets top salaries4 reaches Cuba7 Italian14 student award20 Freedoms make austerity Min 21º Max 41º campaign tricky for govt High Tide 07:55 & 19:44 Low Tide Parliament, public staunchly against welfare cuts 00:52 & 13:46 40 PAGES NO: 16863 150 FILS KUWAIT: A three-day strike by oil workers in Kuwait last month over pay reforms shows the government faces con- Champions Leicester turn tables on elite siderable opposition as it prepares to push through painful and controversial cuts to longstanding welfare LONDON: Leicester City’s against-the-odds Premier benefits. Oil-exporting states around the Gulf are reducing League title success is a story of belief, dogged graft and subsidies for fuel, public utilities and food, and freezing or inspirational leadership prevailing against the money- slowing the growth of public sector wages, as they try to inflated complacency of England’s leading clubs. curb big budget deficits caused by low oil prices. Exploiting the frailties of the presumed title favorites, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman the 5,000-1 outsiders surged to the summit and then and Bahrain have all taken such steps in the past six held their nerve over four long, giddy months to com- months. But Kuwait has been slower to act; reforms were plete one of the most improbable upsets in sporting his- still being discussed in parliament last week and no tory. In the words of the club’s genial Italian manager timetable has been set. In mid-March, Finance Minister Claudio Ranieri, it was a triumph of “players who were Anas Al-Saleh said the cabinet had approved in principle a considered too small or too slow for other big clubs”. “It “re-pricing” of some commodities and public services, but gives hope to all the young players out there who have he gave no details and did not mention a date for the changes. One reason for the delay is that Kuwait has more SEE PAGE 20 of a history of industrial action than the rest of the Gulf, where unions are banned or tightly controlled. been told they are not good enough,” Ranieri said. In recent years, brief work stoppages over pay and con- Kasper Schmeichel left Manchester City aged 22 and ditions have also hit Kuwait’s national airline and the cus- spent five seasons rattling around in the second and toms administration. More broadly, Kuwait’s political envi- third tiers before Leicester enabled him to emulate his ronment is freer - in contrast to the other wealthy Gulf father, the Manchester United great Peter, by keeping states, members of its rambunctious parliament routinely goal in a title-winning side. criticize government policy, and citizens are not shy about Right-back Danny Simpson and central midfielder complaining on social media. Danny Drinkwater were released by Manchester In 2012, thousands of Kuwaitis demonstrated repeatedly against a new electoral law which they said disadvantaged United, but both have been Leicester mainstays this the opposition. Such protests are almost unheard of in the season, the latter earning a first England cap in other Gulf states. The result is that Kuwait’s government is March. German centre-back Robert Huth spent four having a harder time imposing austerity policies than its years as a bit-part player at Chelsea. LEICESTER: Leicester City fans celebrate their team becoming the English Premier League champions in counterparts, and the extent of those policies is still uncertain. Continued on Page 13 central Leicester in eastern England yesterday after Chelsea held Tottenham Hotspur to a 2-2 draw. — AFP Continued on Page 13 News Binladin Group lays off 77,000 workers in Brief RIYADH: One of Saudi Arabia’s most pow- construction giants struggling to survive erful firms, the Saudi Binladin Group, has while they await their salaries. However, New e-passport system Iran criticizes US laid off 77,000 foreign workers and plans Saudi Binladin Group was also sanctioned to be launched by Sept to cut thousands of jobs held by Saudi by the government after a deadly crane nationals, a Saudi daily reported yester- accident in Makkah last September. “The KUWAIT: A new electronic presence in Gulf day, citing an anonymous company offi- size of our workforce is always appropri- passport system is expected to cial. Saudi Binladin Group confirmed to ate to the nature and size of projects and be launched in mid-September, TEHRAN: Iran’s Supreme Leader criti- say that Iran must not hold war games AFP that some staff have been let go, but the timeframe they are to be carried out Ministry of Interior (MoI) cized the US presence in the Arabian in the...Gulf. What a foolish remark! gave no numbers. The unnamed compa- by the group,” Yaseen Alattas, a Saudi Undersecretary for Citizenship Gulf region yesterday, saying American They come here from the other side of ny official cited by Al-Watan said that as Binladin Group spokesman, told AFP. and Passport Affairs Gen Sheikh forces should go back to the Bay of the globe and stage war games. What of Sunday, 77,000 Binladin Group workers Mazen Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah Pigs, state media reported. Ayatollah are you doing here? Go back to the Bay had received exit visas. He added that announced yesterday. In a of Pigs. Go and hold exercises there. they were among 200,000 expatriates speech at the 31st meeting of What are you doing in the...Gulf? employed by the company, one of the Sheikh Mazen Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) The...Gulf is our home,” said Khamenei. largest builders in the world. Director Generals of Passport State TV broadcast part of his speech. In addition, 12,000 out of the 17,000 Authorities, which runs until tomorrow, Sheikh Mazen His remarks were an apparent refer- Saudis working for the firm as engineers, said that the new system would take precedence over all ence to the 1961 failed invasion of administrators and inspectors were other issues to be discussed at the meeting. Director Cuba by 1,500 CIA-trained exiles. expected to be let go, the source said. General of Public Relations and Security Information at Muslims also view pigs as unclean ani- While Saudi construction companies reg- the MoI Adel Al-Hashash revealed that the new electron- mals as the Holy Quran prohibits fol- ularly cut or expand their foreign staff in ic passport system will contain the passport holder’s lowers of Islam from eating pork. response to changing demand in the He said workforce changes would be complete details, making any form of forgery unfeasible. Khamenei also urged education offi- industry, they rarely lay off large numbers normal “especially when some projects cials to add other languages to their of Saudis, partly because it is legally diffi- have ended or are about to end”. Most of GCC may apply VAT foreign language programs, saying lim- cult and expensive. the jobs eliminated “are on specified term iting the curricula to English was a mis- The report in the Al-Watan newspaper contracts” for particular projects, Alattas law in 2018-2019 TEHRAN: Iranian Supreme Leader take. “The language of science is not is the latest alleging tens of thousands of said in an email. “We understand that the KUWAIT: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) mem- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses a English alone. Insisting on promotion layoffs, unpaid salaries and unrest by reduction of the workforce isn’t easy on ber states are most likely to apply the value-added group of teachers yesterday. — AP of English alone is unhealthy,” said employees of the firm which built some everyone. But the Group will continue to tax law between 2018 and 2019, an accounting Khamenei. “Other languages like of the Gulf country’s landmarks. Sources implement its obligations towards every- expert said yesterday. Kuwait, for example, issued a Ali Khamenei told a group of teachers Spanish, French, German and Eastern in March told AFP that delayed receipts one including the employees it has let go ministerial decree in 2015 obliging financial compa- yesterday that American military drills languages are the languages of sci- from the government, whose oil rev- of. They have received their full dues” nies and institutions to comply with the Foreign in the region were proof of US arro- ence, too.” enues collapsed over the past two years, under the law, said Alattas. Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) which gance. “They sit together, scheme and Continued on Page 13 have left employees of the kingdom’s Continued on Page 13 enforces Americans including those living outside the US to file yearly reports on their non-US finan- cial accounts to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), Sharif Shawqi, a partner at Scientists discover Australian Craig PricewaterhouseCoopers/Al-Shatti Co told a VAT conference. Banks, financial institutions and invest- ‘habitable’ planets Wright says he ment firms which are subject to FATCA are required to file their reports in the current quarter, or the sec- PARIS: An international team of scientists said yester- created Bitcoin ond quarter at most, he said. day they had discovered a trio of Earth-like planets that are the best bet so far for finding life outside our solar LONDON: Australian entrepre- system. The three orbit an ultracool dwarf star a mere neur Craig Wright yesterday iden- Saudi women get copy 39 light years away, and are likely comparable in size and temperature to Earth and Venus, they reported in a tified himself as the creator of of marriage contracts study, published in Nature.