Speaker Weighs in on Durra Gas Field
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SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 THULQADA 11, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Imam Al-Sadiq Micro-sensors Iranian epic Arsenal, Mosque repair stuck to honey film aims to Liverpool will take bees to solve change image share spoils six months3 mass28 deaths of40 Islam in20 slugfest Speaker weighs in on Min 30º Max 48º High Tide Durra gas field row 07:45 & 22:05 Low Tide Kuwait had ‘summoned’ Iran diplomat over dispute 01:10 & 15:00 40 PAGES NO: 16621 150 FILS KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al- Ghanem yesterday called the government, represented by the foreign and oil ministries, to provide clarifications Fish boycott campaign a roaring success over the issue of the Durra gas field with Iran. In a press statement, he sought the government’s explanation on KUWAIT: A consumer boycott in Kuwait has forced the ongoing dispute over differences with the Iranian down the retail price of fish in a sign of the difficulties side over the field. The government was urged to clarify which Gulf governments may face as they try to save the circumstances with full transparency and clarity. money by cutting food subsidies. After the price of Such files are utterly sensitive and it is absolutely pomfret, known to Gulf Arabs as zubaidi or the “king of unacceptable to leave them open to interpretations by fish”, rose to KD 15 ($49.60) a kilogram, outraged con- public opinion, Ghanem said. The speaker stressed the sumers launched a campaign on Twitter last week to necessity of issuing an official boycott fish sellers. statement based on clear facts, The campaign, named “Let It spoil”, left markets so that all can bear due respon- such as Souq Sharq, Kuwait’s main fish centre, almost sibility. Earlier, media reports deserted and has succeeded so well that the price of said Kuwait had summoned the pomfret has fallen back to about KD 9, Kuwaiti shop- Iranian charge d’affaires to keepers and consumers said. “It began with five guys protest against a bid by Iran to on Twitter,” Abdullah Al-Anzi, a 33-year-old Kuwaiti unilaterally develop the disput- with two children, said yesterday. “Kuwaiti zubaidi had ed offshore gas field. never risen to this price before. We used to say we Kuwaiti daily Al-Jareeda would rely on the government and parliament to reported that Iran has invited ensure fairness in food prices, but now the Kuwaiti tenders to develop its oil and people have taken control - you can see it from the size gas fields after the lifting of Marzouq Al-Ghanem of the reaction on the street.” international sanctions. The The price of pomfret is not subsidized, but Kuwait Durra field, at the core of regional negotiations and other Gulf Arab governments subsidize basic between Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iran, is among the foods such as sugar, rice, cooking oil and meat to keep areas Iran plans to develop, the daily said. The three prices low for consumers. With low global oil prices countries have yet to reach an accord on demarcating slashing state revenues, governments are now consid- their sea borders in the northern Arabian Gulf. ering cutting those subsidies. Bahrain, for example, Kuwait News Agency did not mention the Kuwaiti plans to remove meat subsidies next month. Kuwait, protest as it reported that Foreign Ministry which has projected a state budget deficit of $27 bil- Undersecretary Khaled Suleiman Al-Jarallah on Sunday lion this year, has said it is reviewing its subsidy system. KUWAIT: A vendor selling Kuwaiti fish waits for customers at the fish market in Sharq as the ‘Let it Spoil’ campaign continues. — Photo by Joseph Shagra met Iranian Embassy’s Charge d’Affaires Hassan Zarinkar Continued on Page 13 and discussed bilateral ties. Continued on Page 13 PAGE PAGE News Hashtag fuels online France opens terror in brief dialogue on unity probe in train attack 6 days off for Eid Al-Adha KUWAIT: The Civil Service Commission issued a circular stating the Eid Al-Adha holiday will be for six days from Gulf bonds no longer safe havens Tuesday, Sept 22 until Sunday, Sept 27. Most fiscal, current account surpluses are now gone Boy damages $1.5m painting DUBAI: International bonds from the Gulf’s wealthy account surpluses and currency pegs to the US dollar weeks of global market turmoil, GCC bonds have not TAIPEI: A 12-year-old boy accidentally punched a energy-exporting countries are losing some of their protected the GCC from currency devaluation jitters escaped a general emerging markets sell-off. hole through a $1.5 million centuries-old Italian oil safe-haven status as an era of low oil prices looms. For elsewhere. “The sharp drop in oil prices, especially if it persists painting when he tripped and fell into the piece several years, bonds from the six-nation Gulf But as oil hits new six-year lows, most of those sur- for too long, will lead to a re-pricing of GCC credit risk” during an exhibition in Taiwan. The painting, enti- Cooperation Council appeared almost immune to pluses have vanished. A Reuters poll last week found as economic growth slows, said Apostolos Bantis, tled “Flowers” by Italian artist Paolo Porpora, dates global instability, handily outperforming debt from economists expect all GCC states to post fiscal deficits Dubai-based credit analyst at Commerzbank. Sergey back to the 1600s and is part of a collection of 55 other emerging markets. Unlike most of the world, this year, and half of them to post current account Dergachev, senior portfolio manager for emerging artworks on show in the country’s capital. Video GCC governments enjoyed big budget surpluses that deficits. So investors are starting to re-examine their market debt at Union Investment Privatfonds in footage released by the organizers shows the boy let them spend their way out of trouble. Current assumptions about the Gulf, and during the last two Germany, noted that while GCC bonds outperformed on Sunday trip over a platform in front of the art- work and then brace himself against the painting to break his fall. He then looks around helplessly before walking away. “The child fell and pressed onto the painting, putting a fist-sized tear in it,” an employee at TST Art of Discovery, which organized Qatar hails Stocks, oil, dollar rise The Face of Leonardo exhibition in Taipei, told AFP. The organizers have decided not to seek damages from the boy’s family, according to Central News success of after China cuts rates Agency. The painting was restored on site Monday and is now back on exhibition. A self-portrait by NEW YORK: Markets rebounded yes- Leonardo Da Vinci worth €200 million ($231 mil- veggie trial terday with world stocks, oil prices lion) is also being exhibited at the show, according and bond yields all rising after China to the exhibition’s website. Other museum acci- DOHA: Desert nation Qatar will use “cutting-edge cut interest rates and banks’ reserve dents include when a British man in 2006 technology” to grow up to 70 percent of its own veg- requirements in a bid to kick-start its smashed a set of 300-year-old Chinese vases after etables by 2023 - a four-fold increase, officials from wavering economy. Wall Street tripping over his shoelaces at a museum in Doha’s biggest agricultural group said yesterday. The opened more than 2-percent higher, Cambridge. prediction comes after a successful two-year trial of recouping some of its losses from the the Zulal Oasis hydroponics project, which saw toma- previous day’s selloff, its worst in four toes grown in greenhouses without soil and using years, which had put the S&P 500 and Zimbabwean lion recycled irrigation water, by Hassad Food on farmland Nasdaq composite indexes in correc- kills tourist guide west of the capital, Doha. A spokesperson for Hassad tion territory. The dollar motored HARARE: A Zimbabwean tourist guide was killed yes- said the scheme could now be rolled out and could ahead against most major currencies, terday by a lion in a pride he was tracking with tourists allow the country to register the huge increase in pro- rising 1.2 percent against the yen and in Hwange National Park, the home of the country’s duction of its own vegetables within eight years. 1.3 percent against a basket of major Currently, between 11 and 16 percent of vegeta- most prized lion Cecil, who was killed last month, the currencies as the stimulus boost to bles are grown locally, depending on the season. The park said. Last month’s killing of Cecil, a 13-year-old, rare China economy renewed focus on US trial focused on tomatoes but could be used to grow black-maned lion by American hunter Walter Palmer, economic data and a potential other popular vegetables in Qatar, including cucum- NEW YORK: Specialist Michael O’Mara works on the floor of the New was met with global outrage and triggered a backlash Federal Reserve rate hike this year. bers, aubergines and courgettes. “We are pleased to York Stock Exchange yesterday. — AP against Africa’s lucrative hunting industry. The Global markets had been pum- announce that this pilot project has achieved great Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority melled on Monday after Chinese growth on track, was still willing to rush for safety reversed, US Treasuries success,” said Nasser Mohamed Al-Hajri, chairman and (ZPWMA) said that professional guide Quinn Swales was shares fell almost 9 percent, prompt- intervene. prices fell yesterday as China’s move managing director of Hassad Food. “The technology on a walking safari with six foreign tourists in Hwange ing investor calls for remedial action But as asset prices eased back fol- reduced investor anxiety about its proved to be perfectly suited for Qatar’s climate; it park yesterday when he was attacked by a male lion from authorities that grew louder lowing the initial euphoria, some economy and sparked selling of US also exceeded expectations regarding the yield and overnight after the Shanghai questioned whether the measures government debt and other per- wearing a GPS collar.