THULHIJJA 5, 1442 AH THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2021 16 Pages Max 47º Min 31º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18486 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Remains of 10 Kuwaiti Taleban claim control of key Boubyan Bank launches NOMO, A greener Olympics? Tokyo 3 martyrs laid to rest 7 border crossing with Pakistan 10 world’s first Islamic digital bank 15 2020’s environmental impact KD 2,000 fee for residents aged 60+ to renew iqama Visa transfer ban re-imposed • 62,000 work permits canceled • Health insurance amended By B Izzak exempt from the ban. Also yesterday, the interior ministry, in cooperation KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Manpower yes- with the health ministry, amended procedures for Zain Group Q2 2021 net profit terday re-imposed a ban on the transfer of residences granting health insurance to residents. Assistant to other activities for residents working in certain sec- Undersecretary for Residency Affairs Maj Gen Anwar grows 17% to reach $138m tors, a statement said. Meanwhile, local newspapers Al-Barjas said residents under article 18 (private sec- and news sites reported that the authority has allowed tor) will be granted health insurance for a period of KUWAIT: Zain Group, a leading telecommunica- expats over 60 without a university degree to renew two years inside the country and one year outside it; tions innovator operating in seven markets across their residency, provided they pay an annual fee of residents under article 20 (domestic helpers) will be the Middle East and Africa, announced its consol- KD 2,000. granted health insurance for a period of three years idated financial results for the six months to June The authority said in a statement that workers who inside the country and one year outside it; and resi- 30, 2021. Zain served 48.3 million customers at the were recruited by sectors like industry, agriculture, dents according to article 22 (dependents) will be end of the period, a 1 percent increase year-on- fishing, free trade zones and cooperative societies granted health insurance for a period of two years year (Y-o-Y). were earlier allowed to transfer to any other job, pro- inside the country and one year outside. For the first six months of 2021 (H1) Zain Group vided their sponsors agreed. In related news, PR Director and spokesperson of generated consolidated revenue of KD 750 mil- It added that this permission was given on a tempo- Public Authority for Manpower Aseel Al-Mezyed said lion ($2.5 billion), a decrease of 3 percent Y-o-Y. rary basis due to the circumstances amid the coron- 61,975 work permits were canceled during the first avirus pandemic to provide these sectors some flexi- half of the current year. She said the authority EBITDA for the period reached KD 310 million bility and allow employers to hire workers from the processed over 940,059 transactions online, including ($1.03 billion), down 6 percent Y-o-Y, reflecting domestic market. The authority said it has decided to 38,873 cancellations of work permits of residents who an EBITDA margin of 41 percent. Net income cancel this permission and revert to imposing the ban are abroad, in addition to canceling 20,011 work per- amounted to KD 86 million ($285 million), up 5 on the transfer of workers in these sectors. The deci- mits due to death or permanent cancelation or trans- percent Y-o-Y, reflecting earnings per share of 20 sion comes into effect today. fer to family visa, domestic help or the government fils ($0.07). The authority also reportedly decided to allow sector. Mezyed added 402,000 work permits were Commenting on H1 2021 results, Chairman of expats over 60 years of age without a degree to renew renewed, while 99,000 were transferred within the the Board of Directors of Zain Group, Ahmed Al- their work permits and residencies against a payment private sector. Sixty-four work permits were also Tahous said: “The board’s key focus during these of KD 2,000 annually, local newspapers said. The issued to bedoons. challenging times has been to support manage- Zain Vice-Chairman and Group CEO Bader Al-Kharafi authority had banned elderly expats from renewing Meanwhile, MP Osama Al-Shaheen yesterday denied ment in its endeavors to be future-ready to fully their residencies and asked them to leave the country, that people over 75 years of age are banned from leaving exploit the next phase of growth in driving share- of the pandemic on society by implementing digi- which stirred a campaign on social media against the the country. MP Bader Al-Humaidi however called on holder value. We remain focused on providing talization initiatives to better serve communities, decision. The newspapers said the manpower authority authorities to abolish the Kuwait Mosafer app registration meaningful connectivity and minimizing the impact businesses, and governments.” ( See Page 9) will issue an official decision in the next few days. for people returning to Kuwait, saying having a PCR test Expats above 60 who hold university degrees were certificate is sufficient. ment decision to open a new exam center for the ty, loss of opportunities and financial burden. News in brief Joy and relief as National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in They also expressed their gratitude to Indian Kuwait to help the Indian student community in the Ambassador Sibi George who exerted considerable Alcohol linked to cancer India opens NEET Middle East. efforts to get a NEET exam center for Indian stu- “It is a big relief for students like me,” said dents in Kuwait. Interestingly, Kuwait is the only PARIS: Alcohol consumption was linked to 4 Sidharth Fernandez, an Indian student who com- center for the NEET exam outside India. percent of all new global cancer cases last year, center in Kuwait pleted his 12th grade this year. Heaving a sigh of “Registrations for the NEET (UG) 2021 has according to a study published yesterday. The relief, he said the decision has lifted his anxiety started on http://ntaneet.nic.in from 5 pm today. For study estimated that there were more than 6.3 By Sajeev K Peter about travelling to India during this pandemic to the first time in the history of NEET (UG) exam and million cases in 2020 of mouth, pharynx, voice write the entrance exam. Many other students in order to facilitate the Indian student community box larynx, esophageal, colon, rectum, liver, and KUWAIT: Indian students, teachers and parents in shared the sentiments of Fernandez, saying the in the Middle East, an examination center has been breast cancer - all of which have established Kuwait greeted with joy and relief an India govern- decision has put an end to their concerns over safe- Continued on Page 2 links to alcohol. — AFP organizations had pressed in vain for Virus strikes twice Scores mourn her release for her daughter’s burial. Suha Jarrar was found dead in her THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: India’s first coron- Palestinian Ramallah home on Sunday, according avirus patient, a student who was in the Chinese to the advocacy group Al-Haq where city of Wuhan, has tested positive for a second she worked. Al-Haq director Shawan time, a medical official told AFP yesterday. The 21- rights activist Jabarin told AFP the cause of death year-old woman from the southern state of Kerala was not known and the family was has no symptoms but is in isolation at her home, RAMALLAH: Thousands of waiting for autopsy results. Thrissur district medical officer Reena KJ told AFP. Palestinians marched through A statement from the group said The woman tested positive again during a routine Ramallah Tuesday to bury rights Suha Jarrar would remain “a role check ahead of a trip to New Delhi. — AFP activist Suha Jarrar, 31, as the Zionist model in her strength, patience, gen- entity refused to release her mother, erosity and defiance in the face of lawmaker Khalida Jarrar, from prison extreme injustice and adversity of (the Fossil fuel power has peaked for the funeral. “We are all your Zionist entity’s) prolonged military daughters, oh Jarrar,” the crowd occupation and apartheid”. Khalida PARIS: Electricity generation from fossil fuel chanted. Khalida Jarrar, 58, has been Jarrar was sentenced to two years in arrested and jailed many times and prison in March 2021 for belonging to has peaked worldwide as emerging markets opt BEITUNIA: Palestinians demonstrate in front of the Zionist Ofer prison near Ramallah often held without charge in what the the Popular Front for the Liberation of for cheaper renewable technology as part of a in the occupied West Bank on July 12, 2021, demanding the release of the detainee Zionists call administrative detention. Palestine, which the Zionist entity and global shift to cleaner energy, analysis showed Khalida Jarrar after the death of her daughter. — AFP yesterday. Renewable options such as solar and Palestinians and human rights Continued on Page 2 wind are already the cheapest source of new power generation in 90 percent of the world’s markets, meaning developing nations can avoid Islamabad is Beijing’s closest region- oil and gas as they seek to meet growing elec- Pakistan bus al ally, but the security of Chinese work- tricity demand. — AFP ers has long been of concern in Pakistan. Large numbers of them are blast kills 12 based in the country to supervise and Struggle to afford period supplies PESHAWAR: Beijing said nine Chinese build infrastructure projects. Pakistan’s workers were among 12 people killed foreign ministry in a statement said the BEIRUT: Three quarters of women in Lebanon yesterday by a bomb attack on a bus in bus “plunged into a ravine after a are struggling to afford period supplies amid a mechanical failure, resulting in leakage deep economic crisis, forcing many to resort to northwestern Pakistan and called for impractical or unsafe alternatives, non-govern- severe punishment, but Islamabad of gas that caused a blast”.