Israel Claims Secret Talks with Kuwait to Forge Ties
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SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014 JAMADA ALTHANI 15, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Govt to amend Mass DNA ‘Hunger Games’ Pistorius Silk City, tests at French wins big accused of Boubyan Island school to at MTV fake tears by decrees2 find rapist9 Movie38 Awards prosecution16 Israel claims secret talks Max 35º Min 26º with Kuwait to forge ties High Tide 11:59 Low Tide Saudi Arabia, Kuwait deny any contacts 06:05 & 18:33 40 PAGES NO: 16136 150 FILS JERUSALEM: Israel is holding secret talks with some Arab states that do not recognize it, looking to establish Study calls to diplomatic ties based on a common fear of Iran, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said yesterday. end subsidies Amongst the countries he was in contact with were Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Lieberman told newspaper for expatriates Yedioth Ahronoth - the first such disclosure by a senior Israeli official. The two nations swiftly denied the exis- KUWAIT: Expatriates in Kuwait could soon find tence of any talks with Israel. themselves paying triple for petrol and up to 22 Both these states, along with most other Arab times as much as they currently pay for electricity, if nations, have traditionally been highly hostile towards the government approves a recent study to remove Israel, which has only signed peace deals with two access of foreigners to subsidized services. The study neighbours - Egypt and Jordan. However, anti-Israeli proposes eliminating subsidies on fuel used by sentiment was being superseded by a growing concern expatriates and sharply reducing electricity subsi- over Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran’s regional allies, and dization to make foreigners pay the market price for the menace of Islamist militancy, Lieberman said. the majority of their energy consumption, Al-Rai “For the first time there is an understanding there reported yesterday, quoting ministerial sources that the real threat is not Israel, the Jews or Zionism. It is familiar with the proposal. Iran, global jihad, (Lebanese Shiite guerrilla group) The study is one of many currently reviewed by a Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda,” the foreign minister said. ‘ministerial committee’ formed earlier to study ways “There are contacts, there are talks, but we are very by which subsidies can be rationalized. Kuwait has close to the stage in which within a year or 18 months it been mulling ways to reduce current expenditure will no longer be secret, it will be conducted openly,” amid concerns that the state could face a budget added Lieberman, who is a far rightist in the coalition deficit by 2021 as a result of its spending policies. government. Kuwait’s generous welfare system is regularly Lieberman said he was in touch with “moderate” mentioned in debates about finding ways to ration- Arabs - a term Israelis often use for Sunni states in the alize spending. Cutting subsidies, which currently Gulf and elsewhere in the Middle East that align with US reach KD 7 billion in the national budget, or limiting interests. He also said he would have no problem visit- access to subsidized goods and services only for ing Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. “I have spent more than a Kuwaitis, have been proposed in recent months as a few years of meetings and talks with them. As far as way to help reduce spending while at the same time JERUSALEM: Israeli riot police arrest a Palestinian at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem yester- they are concerned, there is only one red rag and that is maintain a sustainable welfare program for citizens. day, as Israeli police limited Muslim access to the compound, fearing new violence after clashes at the week- Iran,” he said. Continued on Page 13 end. — AFP (See Page 8) Continued on Page 13 Sane wants probe into PM grants Duwaisan warns against sectarianism in grilling By B Izzak mediated for the beneficiaries who received the assistance themselves. The Riyadh imposes KUWAIT: MP Yacoub Al-Sane yesterday grants included cash payments to hus- submitted a proposal to form an investi- seiniyas, Shiite places of worship. fines, jail terms gation committee to probe revelations The revelation caused outrage among by MP Abdullah Al-Tameemi who said he several MPs, who demanded an investi- for visa lapses had mediated to secure cash grants for gation. MPs Riyadh Al-Adasani, husseiniyas and needy people from the Abdulkarim Al-Kandari and Hussein RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will punish people who office of the prime minister. Sane said the Quwaiaan have said they will file a employ foreigners illegally or break the terms of investigation should find out if the reve- request next week to grill the prime min- their visas, in an effort to encourage local employ- lations are true and if cash was paid to ister over the issue and the deteriorating ment. Punishment ranging from fines and jail terms the said lawmaker and others. He said situation in the country. to confiscation of assets and deportation may be the probe should investigate all the Shiite MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan warned imposed, escalating a year-long crackdown on visa issues surrounding the case, the objec- yesterday of inciting sectarianism while irregularities that have been overlooked for tives behind making the issue public and dealing with the grilling because some of decades. The Interior Ministry decision was carried if there are plots from outside the the alleged payments were given to hus- on the official Saudi Press Agency yesterday. National Assembly to destabilize the leg- seiniyas. Duwaisan said that he has infor- ABUJA: Bystanders look at dead bodies after twin blasts rocked a bus station Police raids and an amnesty on fines for immigra- islature. mation that certain quarters from out- yesterday. — AFP tion violations last year caused over a million for- The call comes a day after three MPs side the Assembly are trying to turn the eigners to leave voluntarily. Their departure was fol- said they plan to file a request to grill case into a sectarian issue. He also lowed by the deportation of hundreds of thousands Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al- warned the government against com- of others, mostly Ethiopians and Yemenis. It is not Mubarak Al-Sabah following the pletely trusting the positions of some Bomb attack kills 71 clear how many people with invalid visas remain in announcement by Tameemi that he MPs, saying they may change. Saudi Arabia. Some economists estimate it might arranged the cash payments from the MPs Kandari and Adasani however stretch to millions of people. premier’s office. Tameemi explained in a insisted that the grilling is not sectarian at Abuja bus station Continued on Page 13 statement on Sunday that he had never but aims to uncover the facts. received the money personally but only Continued on Page 13 ABUJA: Seventy-one people died in a bomb have previously set off bombs in and around blast in a packed bus station in Nigeria’s capi- the capital, including a 2011 car bombing at tal Abuja yesterday - the deadliest attack ever the United Nations headquarters that killed to strike the city - with the president blaming at least 26 people. Sisi makes a splash the explosion on Boko Haram Islamists. The Yesterday’s explosions at the bus station bomb, which also injured 124 people, rocked left a hole roughly 1.2 m deep and spread CAIRO: A huge poster of former army than 1,400 people. the Nyanya station on Abuja’s southern out- debris across the compound, an AFP reporter chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi stands tall near Under Egypt’s electoral law, any candi- skirts at 6:45 am (0545 GMT) as it was filled and witnesses said. “I saw bodies taken away in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square, one of thou- date hoping to run for president needs with morning commuters, leaving body parts open trucks,” said witness Yakubu Mohammed, sands that have sprung up across Egypt. to collect at least 25,000 signatures. scattered across the terminal and destroying describing grisly remains that “were burnt and Less than three weeks before the launch Egyptian media say Sisi has already dozens of vehicles. in pieces”. A second witness, Suleiman Aminu, of official campaigning for the May 26-27 raised 10 times the required number of Previously, much of the recent violence by said he believed the initial blast came from a presidential election, supporters of Sisi, backers, with his campaign offices still the Boko Haram insurgency has been in the minibus parked near larger commuter vehi- the odds-on favourite, are raring to go. being swamped with more offers. remote northeast, though some have target- cles, and that commuters who had queued up On television, social media networks “People keep coming. We won’t spoil it ed the central capital. This major bombing, to board were the likely target. or stands selling election merchandise, for them and turn down their signatures,” just a few kilometers from the seat of govern- Nyanya is a densely populated suburb of Sisi is omnipresent, with no stone said accountant Khaled Al-Shafei, who ment, will raise further doubts over Nigeria’s Abuja, filled with government and civil socie- unturned in unofficial campaigning. has made his office in downtown Cairo ability to contain the Islamist threat it is bat- ty workers who cannot afford the city centre’s Callers to television talk shows have even available for Sisi’s campaign. Shafei said tling. The explosion “emanated from a vehicle” exorbitant rents. Bus parking zones have recited poems in honour of the clear he has relocated his staff to make space parked within the station, said Charles been among Boko Haram’s preferred targets, frontrunner.