THULHIJJA 20, 1441 AH MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2020 16 Pages Max 47º Min 32º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18201 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Nagasaki marks 75 years Pandemic demonstrated Bangkok’s superrich purr Messi helps Barca sink 5 since atomic bombing 10 NBK’s digital strength 12 through virus pandemic 16 Napoli to reach last eight Assembly committee reviewing measures to cut expat numbers Proposals focus on ‘marginal’ laborers, ‘bachelors’, nationality quotas By B Izzak by 30 percent in government jobs. In its presentation, the government admits a mas- KUWAIT: The National Assembly human sive imbalance between expats and Kuwaitis, saying ‘Back to school’ for 12th graders resources committee has started reviewing govern- that between 2005 and 2019, the population of ment and parliamentary proposals aimed at adopt- Kuwait more than doubled to 4.42 million. It said ing policies to cut the number of expats in the during the same period, citizens grew by just 55 country. Head of the panel MP Khalil Al-Saleh said percent - from 860,000 to 1.335 million - while the committee plans to meet Minister of Social expats grew by more than 130 percent from 1.33 Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel, who will submit the gov- million to 3.08 million. ernment plan on the issue that calls to reduce hun- The government plan acknowledges that the dreds of thousands of expats. population imbalance has negative security, social, The committee will also review seven proposals economic and cultural consequences on the coun- submitted by MPs, with one of them calling to try. Certain communities have “inflated” numbers impose quotas for each expat community in the and are concentrated in specific areas, in addition to country, while another proposes to substitute some the rise in the number of single uneducated men, 100,000 expat employees in the government with which poses a security risk, the government states. Kuwaitis. According to the government plan, pub- It also said that the number of expat men far lished by Al-Rai newspaper, the government pro- exceeds that of women by three to one, which could poses to gradually replace as many as 160,000 result in undesirable practices, while the government expat jobs in the public sector with Kuwaitis, but policy of subsidies is impacting the domestic econo- did not provide timeframes. my as the large number of expats benefit from it. The plan also states that as many as 370,000 Meanwhile, MP Abdullah Al-Kandari proposed expats who have a “negative impact” on the country the formation of a government team from various or are illegal residents can be cut by taking short- concerned departments to inspect stores for dan- term measures. The government is also proposing to gerous chemicals to prevent destructive explosions KUWAIT: Education Minister Saud Al-Harbi (right) visited a number of schools yesterday to inspect work on reduce the number of “marginal” laborers by 25 like the one in Beirut. He said the team must ensure the first day of school for grade 12 students. Classes are being held via remote learning. — Photo by Fouad percent by adopting a “smart recruitment” system, that these dangerous materials are stored properly Al-Shaikh (See Page 3) but also provided no specific timeline. It also and to ensure that such stores are not present in expects to reduce temporary employment contracts Kuwait City or its suburbs. Taiwan airlines Furious Lebanese offer ‘flights vow new protests to nowhere’ over deadly blast BEIRUT: Lebanese protesters enraged by official TAOYUAN, Taiwan: Faced with the coronavirus negligence blamed for Beirut’s enormous and deadly collapse in travellers, Taiwanese airlines have explosion vowed yesterday to rally again after a night begun offering sight-seeing “flights to nowhere” of street clashes in which they stormed several min- on their passenger jets - including flight attendant lessons for children. At the headquarters of istries. “Prepare the gallows because our anger doesn’t Taiwan’s China Airlines in Taoyuan on Saturday, end in one day,” warned one message circulating on 50 children took a morning course on how serve social media in response to Tuesday’s earthquake- passengers aboard a mock cabin. Cheng Yu-wei, strength blast of a huge pile of industrial chemicals. who works in the fashion apparel business and The calls for renewed protests came as French enjoys travelling abroad, came with his wife and President Emmanuel Macron in Paris was to oversee a six-year old daughter to “revive that old feeling of UN-backed virtual donors conference to raise aid for travelling”. “Maybe it’s because we have been Lebanon, a country already mired in a painful eco- bored for too long,” Cheng said to AFP. nomic crisis. In Beirut, the fury on the streets has fur- Later in the day, the excitable gaggle of kids ther shaken the embattled government of Prime took to the skies in their new uniforms for a two Minister Hassan Diab, which saw its first cabinet resig- hour flight over the island and the soaring moun- nation when the information minister, Manal Abdel Samad, quit yesterday. BEIRUT: A Lebanese protester speaks to soldiers at the headquarters of the Lebanese association of banks tain range that runs down its spine. The flights are late Saturday following a demonstration against the political leadership. — AFP part of an innovative attempt by airlines to scram- Continued on Page 2 ble up some extra cash at a time when their busi- ness has all but dried up. Like most airlines around burial chambers provide shelter for the world, both China Airlines and its main com- Egypt highway thousands like her. Many built exten- petitor Eva Air have had to mothball a huge chunk sions to the original mausoleums, of their fleet as international travel evaporates dur- eking out a largely tranquil, if bizarre, ing the pandemic. The two also have a limited uproots homes existence side-by-side with dead sul- domestic business to fall back on. tans, singers and saints in the sprawl- On Saturday, an Eva A330 from Taoyuan ing east Cairo cemetery. International Airport flew over Taiwan’s northeast in City of Dead But Menna said her peace - and cape, circled Japan’s Ryukyu Islands before CAIRO: Egyptian mother-of-three that of the dead - was shattered by returning home via the picturesque and rural Menna said she was caught off guard the arrival of workmen. “It was awful. southeast coast. The total flight time was two when a bulldozer clearing space for a We moved the dead on straw mats,” hours and 45 minutes. — AFP controversial highway flattened much she said. She and her husband shifted of a mausoleum that doubled as her several bodies, including the remains home in a sprawling cemetery. “The of her father, to a segment of her earthmover suddenly hit the wall and home still intact. Menna is now living we found ourselves throwing our with neighbors in part of the cemetery things in a panic” outside, she told that is not in the demolition area. AFP. “They kicked us out on the Dozens of bodies were displaced by street,” she said, surrounded by rub- the construction work in the second ble and dust in the UNESCO-listed half of July, according to local media, world heritage site. to make way for the 17.5 km Al- Menna’s parents and grandparents Ferdaous, or Paradise, highway. had made their home among the Ferdaous, connecting major Cairo TAOYUAN, Taiwan: Flight attendants take part in graves of the City of the Dead, the road arteries, is the latest installment a ‘fly to nowhere’ event for children at China oldest necropolis in the Muslim world. of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s CAIRO: This picture taken on July 22, 2020 shows a view of a cemetery undergoing Airlines’ campus on Saturday. — AFP For those unable to afford prohibitive- urban vision. demolition amidst ongoing roadworks in the historic City of the Dead necropolis of ly high rents in Egypt’s capital, the Continued on Page 2 Egypt’s capital. — AFP 2 Established 1961 Monday, August 10, 2020 Local Deputy Amir receives state officials at Seif Palace KUWAIT: His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al- His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al- Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with National Assembly Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with His Highness the Prime Minister Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with Deputy Prime Minister, Interior Speaker Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanem. — KUNA photos Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Khaled Al-Saleh. KUWAIT: His Highness the Deputy ed contributions of Ally in promoting Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf bilateral relations. The meeting was Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received attended by Assistant Foreign Minister at Seif Palace yesterday National for the Minister’s office Saleh Al- Assembly Speaker Marzouq Ali Al- Loughani. Ghanem. His Highness the Deputy Amir Separately, Sheikh Dr Ahmad Al- also received His Highness the Prime Sabah cabled US Secretary of State Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al- Mike Pompeo on Saturday, expressing Hamad Al-Sabah, as well as Deputy condolences on the death of the former Prime Minister, Interior Minister and US national security adviser General Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Brent Scowcroft. In the cable, the for- Anas Khaled Al-Saleh. Furthermore, His eign minister eulogized General Highness Sheikh Nawaf received Scowcroft who robustly stood on Foreign Minister and Acting Defense Kuwait’s side in the face of the 1990 Minister Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.