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RAJAB 9, 1439 AH MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2018 Max 35º 32 Pages Min 19º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17490 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Saudi king assures Amir of Pakistanis distressed as Uighur Apps run tuk-tuks off Smith banned; Australia’s day 2 strong bilateral relations 9 wives vanish in China dragnet 22 the road in Indonesia 16 of shame ends in humiliation One in three illegals avail of amnesty in two months 4,000 Filipinos leave during grace period • Amnesty expires April 22 By Ben Garcia and Nawara Fattahova days to complete all necessary paperwork and procedures. “Those who are still working KUWAIT: Nearly one in every three illegal because they want to make money must decide residents in Kuwait has availed of a govern- now - come forward and be ready. Anyway, Panel in favor ment-backed amnesty. A total of nearly 47,000 you are not going to spend money on plane illegal residents have either left the country or tickets, as the Philippine government is paying of taxing expat legalized their status since the amnesty period the tickets of all amnesty takers. I appeal again began on Jan 29, 2018, according to interior - come forward, leave the country via the ministry officials. Although specific numbers of amnesty program and return to your family,” money transfers each nationality are not made public, the interi- Villa urged. By B Izzak or ministry has confirmed that the top five The interior ministry has warned that a nationalities with residency violators include (in crackdown will follow after the amnesty period KUWAIT: The National Assembly’s order of the number of violators): India, and those who are caught will be deported and financial and economic affairs commit- Philippines, Egypt, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. blacklisted. The director of the residency tee yesterday appeared headed to The Philippines Embassy yesterday con- department at the interior ministry said the firmed that around 4,000 Filipinos had left the number of expats who benefited from the approve proposals to impose taxes on Salah Khorshid money transfers by expatriates despite country under the amnesty program and that amnesty reached 46,737 as of March 22, 2018, approximately 6,000 Filipinos remain illegally of whom 30,052 left the country without pay- financial and constitutional objections. suspicions, as it discriminates between Head of the committee MP Salah in Kuwait. “We would like to appeal to illegal ing fines, while the rest corrected their status. citizens and foreigners. Justifying a Filipinos to leave and take advantage of this Those who availed of the amnesty are allowed Khorshid said the panel decided to possible decision to tax expats, postpone the voting on the issue until amnesty program,” Philippine Ambassador to to come back to Kuwait. The deadline for the Renato Villa Khorshid said some Gulf states impose Kuwait Renato Villa said. “In the past few days, amnesty period set by the ministry is fast a future meeting, after members agree similar taxes on expatriates’ transfers, on one of the four proposals that have very few Filipinos have applied for the approaching - April 22, 2018. Some embassies issues like illicit visa trading, human trafficking without naming any state. In fact, none amnesty. We hope that they take this seriously however are struggling to convince their reached the panel. of the five Gulf Cooperation Council and illegals living in Kuwait. It has also imple- Khorshid rejected claims that and we want them to leave via the amnesty nationals to go home. mented policies like additional certification (GCC) member states - Bahrain, Oman, program,” he said. Kuwait is working to reduce the country’s imposing taxes on expatriates’ remit- Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab requirements for engineers in order to renew tances would tarnish Kuwait’s image The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait has set a expatriate population - including both illegal their work permits. Kuwait has a population of Emirates - impose such taxes. deadline of April 12 for accepting amnesty and legal residents - and has adopted increas- abroad and may involve constitutional Continued on Page 11 more than 4 million, with foreigners accounting applications, noting that it needs at least 10 ingly stricter measures to clamp down on to nearly 70 percent. ny. The tweets, which come at a time of height- Store - allows users access even in a guest Furor over Modi ened sensitivity around the alleged misuse of mode that does not require them to grant any personal data amid the unfolding Facebook- permissions. “The permissions required are all Cambridge Analytica controversy, triggered a ... cause-specific,” the BJP tweeted. app amid Aadhaar stir in India on social media. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg took out “Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India’s full-page ads in nine major British and US ‘security lapse’ Prime Minister. When you sign up for my offi- newspapers yesterday to apologize for the cial App, I give all your data to my friends in huge data privacy scandal. “We have a respon- MUMBAI: Allegations that Indian Prime American companies,” wrote opposition sibility to protect your information. If we can’t Minister Narendra Modi’s official mobile appli- Congress Party Chief Rahul Gandhi in a Twitter we don’t deserve it,” he said. The ads ran in cation was sending personal user data to a message yesterday. The BJP quickly responded prominent positions in six British nationals, third party without their consent caused a furor on Twitter, saying Gandhi was trying to divert including the best-selling Mail on Sunday, The on social media in India and drew criticism attention. The BJP has accused the Congress of Sunday Times and The Observer - which from the leader of the main opposition party engaging Cambridge Analytica in India, a helped break the story - as well as the New yesterday. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party charge the opposition party has denied. York Times, Washington Post and the Wall denied the allegations and said the data was Alderson, who initially pointed out that the Street Journal. There was no mention of the being used only for analytics to offer all users Narendra Modi app was sharing data with a British firm accused of using the data, the “most contextual content”. third party without the consent of users, earlier Cambridge Analytica, which worked on US A security researcher, who has previously yesterday posted a new tweet saying the app President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. highlighted some vulnerabilities in India’s had “quietly” updated its privacy policy after Meanwhile, tech news site ZDNet said yes- national identity card project and who tweets his previous tweets. Reuters could not inde- terday it stood by its report that identified a under the pseudonym Elliot Alderson, posted a pendently verify Alderson’s claim. Prime security vulnerability in data-linked to Aadhaar series of tweets on Saturday stating the app Minister Modi has not commented on the issue. - India’s national identity card project, after a RIPON, England: A man reads a full-page advertisement taken out by Facebook was sending personal user data to a third-party BJP said the app - which has seen about 5 mil- semi-government agency that manages chief Mark Zuckerberg to apologize for the large-scale leak of personal data on the domain that was traced to an American compa- lion downloads on the Google Android Play Continued on Page 11 back page of a newspaper yesterday. — AFP Tearful Syrians in rebel enclave begin new evacuation HARASTA, Syria: Several thousand Syrian rebels and civilians began leaving a ravaged pocket of Eastern Ghouta yesterday, in fresh evacuations that further emptied the former rebel bastion. Five weeks since the Syrian regime launched an all-out assault on Ghouta, it holds more than 90 percent of the onetime opposition stronghold on the edge of Damascus. To help it capture the rest, key backer Russia has held talks with various BARCELONA: A protester holds a mask of Catalonia’s for- rebel groups to negotiate withdrawals from the three mer president Carles Puigdemont during a demonstration remaining pockets. yesterday after he was arrested by German police. — AFP One area was emptied in recent days under such a deal and evacuations began late Saturday for a second part, held by the Islamist Faylaq al-Rahman rebel faction. That German police agreement is set to see some 7,000 rebels and civilians bussed from the towns of Arbin and Zamalka and the dis- arrest ex-Catalan trict of Jobar to the rebel-dominated province of Idlib in ARBIN, Syria: Civilians evacuate from this town in the Eastern Ghouta region following a deal with the regime northwestern Syria. Around 980 of them quit Ghouta late yesterday. — AFP Saturday, travelling overnight on buses and ambulances to leader Puigdemont northwest Syria. Evacuations resumed yesterday, with more than 3,700 Some civilians stepped out to smoke cigarettes and “They have no money, no houses, no furniture or even BERLIN: German police yesterday arrested fighters, relatives, and other civilians boarding dozens of were given biscuits to eat. “I fled the bombs. I decided to clothes to take with them because of this bombardment.” Catalonia’s former president Carles Puigdemont as he buses to leave Ghouta, state news agency SANA said. The leave to save the lives of my wife and children,” said Abu As part of Faylaq al-Rahman’s deal with Moscow, crossed the border with Denmark by car, after Spain’s vehicles snaked their way through Ghouta neighborhoods Mohammad, a 27-year-old fighter. Residents of Arbin, residents had been offered the option to stay in Ghouta Supreme Court vowed to prosecute key separatists that had been reduced to ruins, as residents who chose to Zamalka, and Jobar had been bidding tearful farewells to as it fell to the regime, but Abbas declined.