Kuwaittimes 5-9-2019.Qxp Layout 1
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
MOHARRAM 6, 1441 AH THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 28 Pages Max 47º Min 31º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17924 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Ministers approve draft banning Co-ops to replace plastics Walmart halts ammunition Another heartbreak for 3 forced labor and discrimination 3 with echo-friendly bags 24 sales for assault-style rifles 28 Federer at the US Open Draft law grants Bedoons full humanitarian and civil rights Assembly-government meeting nods to Bedoon law By B Izzak and approval in the new term. The Speaker reiterated that the pro- KUWAIT: An expanded meeting led by posed solution will not undermine the National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al- national identity of Kuwait and aims at Ghanem and attended by top govern- providing a fundamental and lasting ment officials including ministers yester- solution for Bedoons whose unofficial day approved a draft law for a durable count stands at 120,000. Bedoons claim and fundamental solution for tens of the right to Kuwaiti citizenship but the thousands of stateless people or government insists that a majority of Bedoons living in the country, the Bedoons or their forefathers crossed the Speaker said. border from neighboring countries and Ghanem told reporters that Minister destroyed their identification documents of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al- to claim the right to Kuwaiti nationality. Saleh, the Justice Minister in addition to The government however has repeat- top representatives for the foreign and edly acknowledged that around 34,000 interior ministries attended the meeting - of the Bedoons qualify for consideration the first of its kind at this level to look for citizenship but the rest belong to into a solution for the decades-old other countries. Bedoons problem. Head of the govern- Authorities have stepped up pressure ment agency for Bedoons Saleh Al- on the Bedoons to force them to reveal Fadhalah and the head of the UN their original identity. A majority of the refugees body also attended. Bedoons however rejected government Ghanem revealed no details on the claims. nature of the solution or any details Just before the National Assembly about the draft law but said another went into summer recess some two meeting for NGOs and activists will be months ago, its human rights panel held later in the Assembly to discuss the approved a draft law to grant Bedoons issue. He said the law will be finalized full humanitarian and civil rights that before the new term of the National include free education, medical services KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem (center) and top government officials including ministers are pictured during an Assembly opens next month and will be and allow them to get jobs in the private expanded meeting yesterday. submitted to the Assembly for debate and public sectors. Kuwait dismisses Iran gives Europe 2 more Iraqi protest over months to save nuke deal DUBAI: Iran’s President Hassan powers were moving forward, raising Rouhani gave European powers another hopes of at least a pause in a diplomatic a border platform two months to save a 2015 nuclear deal confrontation between Iran and the West KUWAIT: Kuwait has dismissed Iraqi objections yesterday, but warned that Tehran was that has stoked already heightened ten- that a platform installed within Kuwait’s territorial still preparing for further significant sions across the region. Iran emerged waters would affect demarcation of maritime bor- breaches of the agreement if diplomatic from years of economic isolation after ders, affirming that the country was exercising its efforts failed. His statement came as agreeing a deal with world powers in full sovereignty. A Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry source Iranian officials appeared to give a 2015 to curb its nuclear development was reacting to a reported Iraqi memorandum sub- guarded welcome to a French proposal program in exchange for sanctions relief. mitted to the UN Security Council (UNSC) to to save the atomic pact by offering Iran However, US President Donald Trump protest Kuwait’s installation of a platform over about $15 billion in credit lines until the pulled out of the deal last year, arguing it Fisht Al-Eij - a piece of land located within end of the year if Tehran comes fully did not go far enough, and reimposed Kuwait’s territorial water, claiming it would back into compliance. sanctions. TEHRAN: President Hassan Rouhani (center) chairs a cabinet meeting in the capi- Continued on Page 24 Rouhani said talks with European Continued on Page 24 tal Tehran. — AFP The register, initially feared to be a stalking horse for pot have at times boiled over into violence with 2,000 India ‘citizenship the ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bengali Muslims butchered in one day in 1983. to expel Muslims, has in fact ensnared many people from These tensions have increased pressure for a lasting both religions. Whether it be from the Muslim or Hindu political solution, which local Hindu politicians said Facial recognition list’ causes anger perspective, there is much anger, confusion and despair would come in the form of the citizens’ register. The reg- with many people insisting they have been unfairly made ister is intended to omit everyone unable to prove they becomes an opt-in and confusion stateless. “There is a complete mess somewhere,” Saha were in the state before 1971, when millions fled into told AFP, adding that his two daughters, who used the India during Bangladesh’s war of independence. Those feature: Facebook GUWAHATI: After living in India all his life, father-of- same property document to prove their Assam connec- born in Assam after 1971 have to prove that their parents two Gokul Chandra Saha woke up last weekend to learn tions for the list, had been deemed citizens. “It’s harass- or grandparents entered India before that. he was among almost two million people in the religious- ment, I have not able to sleep for the past two nights.” With the BJP vowing to pursue its pro-Hindu agenda ly diverse state of Assam that the government had sud- Assam, a poor and isolated state in India’s far north- on many fronts, Muslims - which make up 13 percent of denly deemed to be foreigners. Saha, 68, a Hindu, insists east neighboring Bangladesh, has long seen large influx- India’s 1.3 billion population - feared they would be the he has the documents to prove his Indian credentials and es of migrants from elsewhere. Bengali speakers make up main targets for exclusion on the register. Prime Minister is hoping to appeal against the decision, one case among around 30 percent of Assam’s 33 million population. Narendra Modi’s government had also flagged expand- many in what has proved to be a highly controversial and About two-thirds of the Bengalis are Muslim, the rest ing the register nationwide, fuelling fears it would be confusing effort to roll out of a “National Register of Hindu. Assamese speakers, the largest community, are used to evict Muslims. But when the list of citizens was Citizens” in Assam. mostly Hindu. Tensions in the ethnic and religious melting Continued on Page 24 British PM demands October 15 Facebook logo is seen on a computer in Washington, DC. SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook said facial recog- election after defeat over Brexit nition technology applied to photos at the social LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris them to try to pass a law which would network will be an opt-in feature. The change that Johnson yesterday demanded an Oct 15 force a three-month extension to began rolling out to users around the world came snap election after lawmakers seeking to Britain’s EU exit date. Johnson vowed as the leading social network remains under pres- prevent a no-deal Brexit dealt him a never to delay Brexit beyond Oct 31 and sure to better protect privacy and user data, humiliating defeat in parliament which he challenged opposition Labour Party including biometric information. cast as an attempt to surrender to the leader Jeremy Corbyn to agree to an Oct Nearly two years ago, Facebook introduced a European Union. Parliament’s move 15 election. face recognition feature that went beyond sug- leaves Brexit up in the air, with possible “Can I invite the leader of the opposi- gesting friends to tag in pictures or videos but outcomes ranging from a turbulent no- tion to confirm, when he stands up could let user know when they were in images deal EU exit to abandoning the whole shortly, that if that surrender bill is they had permission to see elsewhere on the serv- endeavor - both outcomes that would be passed, he will allow the people of this ice. Facebook is doing away with a “tag” sugges- unacceptable to swathes of the United country to have their view on what he is tion setting in favor of an overall facial recognition Kingdom’s voters. proposing to hand over in their name setting which will be off by default, according to a An alliance of opposition lawmakers with an election on October the 15th?” post by artificial intelligence applied research lead backed by 21 rebels from Johnson’s Johnson told parliament. However, he LONDON: Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he reacts to main Srinivas Narayanan. Conservative Party defeated the govern- needs the backing of two-thirds of law opposition Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn during his first Prime Minister’s Continued on Page 24 ment on Tuesday on a motion allowing Continued on Page 24 Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons yesterday. — AFP 2 Established 1961 Local Thursday, September 5, 2019 Crown Prince receives top Kuwaiti officials, outgoing ambassadors Prime Minister meets KRCS, IFRC delegation KUWAIT: His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al- His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al- Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with National Assembly Speaker Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with His Highness the Prime Minister Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with Deputy Prime Minister and Marzouq Al-Ghanem.