SUBSCRIPTION SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 2017 SHAWWAL 1, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net EID GREETINGS Kuwait Times Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan wishes HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Cabinet members, heads of states around the world, Kuwaitis, expatriates and our valued readers Eid Mubarak. Kuwait Times will not be published from June 26 to 28. Our next issue will be published on Thursday, June 29. Suicide bomber blows himself Min 32º up as Saudi foils Makkah plot Max 45º High Tide 01:10 & 11:40 Low Tide Amir condemns terrorist plot; Iran, Qatar voice support for Saudi 06:25 & 19:27 40 PAGES NO: 17265 150 FILS RIYADH: A suicide bomber blew himself up near the Amir congratulates citizens, Grand Mosque in Makkah as police disrupted a plot to target the holiest site just as the fasting month of expatriates, calls for peace Ramadan ends, Saudi security forces said yesterday. The Interior Ministry said it launched a raid around Jeddah, as KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh well as two areas in Makkah itself, including the Ajyad Al- Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Masafi neighborhood, located near the Grand Mosque. congratulated all citizens and expatri- There, police said they engaged in a shootout at a ates on Eid Al-Fitr, said the Amiri Diwan. three-story house with a suicide bomber, who blew him- The Amiri Diwan, on its part, congratu- self up and caused the building to collapse. He was killed, lated His Highness the Amir Sheikh while the blast wounded six foreigners and five members Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince of security forces, according to the Interior Ministry’s Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- statement. Five others were arrested, including a woman, Sabah and His Highness the Prime it said. Saudi state television aired footage after the raid Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al- Friday near the Grand Mosque, showing police and res- Hamad Al-Sabah on the occasion. The cue personnel running through the neighborhood’s nar- Diwan also extended its congratula- row streets. tions to the whole Islamic World. The blast demolished the building, its walls crushing a Meanwhile, His Highness the Amir parked car. Nearby structures appeared to be peppered expressed hope a rift among Arab and with shrapnel and bullet holes. The Interior Ministry said Gulf countries would be mended to the thwarted “terrorist plan” would have violated “all pave way for security, stability and sanctities by targeting the security of the Grand Mosque, prosperity in the GCC countries. He His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah the holiest place on Earth.” “They obeyed their evil and expressed his hopes during phone calls Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah corrupt self-serving schemes managed from abroad with Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. whose aim is to destabilize the security and stability of Hamad Al-Thani, Abu Dhabi Crown His Highness the Amir and the Gulf this blessed country,” it said. Prince and Deputy Supreme leaders discussed developments in the The ministry did not name the group involved in Commander of UAE Armed Forces region, particularly the tension in rela- the attack. The ultraconservative Sunni kingdom bat- Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al- tions between Saudi Arabia, the UAE, tled an Al-Qaeda insurgency for years and more Nahyan and Saudi Crown Prince, Bahrain and Egypt on one side and recently has faced attacks from a local branch of the MAKKAH: A handout picture shows Saudi security forces inspecting the site of a Deputy Premier and Defense Minister Qatar on the other. — Agencies Islamic State group. Continued on Page 13 foiled attack in the Holy City of Makkah. — AFP MAOXIANG: Chinese military police and rescue workers are seen at the site of a landslide in Xinmo village, Sichuan province yesterday. — AFP Landslide buries a village 15 die, over 100 missing in China BEIJING: Rescuers pulled 15 bodies from an avalanche of rocks that buried a mountain village in southwest China yesterday as an increasingly bleak search for some 100 people carried into the night. Only three survivors - a couple and their one-month-old baby - have been found so far after 62 homes in Xinmo village vanished under a mass of mud and rocks in Sichuan province. Heavy rain caused the side of the mountain to col- lapse onto the riverside village in the early morning, according to authorities. Qiao Dashi, the baby’s father, Learning Arabic said he had woken up after 5:00 am to change his crying son’s diaper when he “heard a big noise coming from the By Tony Braun back”. “The house shook,” he told state broadcaster CCTV from his hospital bed. “Rocks were in the living room. he Quran was revealed in the Arabic lan- My wife and I climbed over, took the baby, and got out.” guage. Millions of Muslims around the world “I have superficial injuries. Overall, I’m okay. But psy- Tset their hearts on learning this language so chologically, it’s hard. The entire village, with dozens of that they will have a better understanding of their families, was flattened,” he said, with a bandage around faith. Learning Arabic can be a struggle for English his head. The rescue operation’s headquarters reported speakers. On the bright side, Kuwait has a lot to that 15 people had been found dead by the late offer an expat who wishes to learn the language. In evening, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The Maoxian, or Mao county, government said earlier Kuwait, there are plenty of chances to practice and that six people died and 112 people were missing. study. Language acquisition normally begins with Xinhua had reported that more than 120 were buried. repetition, which is why a learner must be exposed The landslide blocked a two-kilometer stretch of river to the language as much as possible. There are dif- and 1.6 kilometer of road, according to state media. As ferent approaches to learning Arabic, which are night fell, authorities shined lamps onto the rubble while described below. rescuers wore lights on their helmets as they sifted Formal classes: The TIES Center, the IPC, and the through the rocks, aided by sniffer dogs, according to Aware center offer part time classes for people who photos from the official Xinhua news agency. During the wish to learn Arabic. Formal classes are very useful day, rescuers and local residents used ropes to move a when quick progress is made at the beginning of boulder while others lifted rocks with their bare hands, the course because it will keep the students moti- according to videos broadcast by the Maoxian govern- vated. In this regard, it is vitally important to have a ment and CCTV. good teacher that keeps the students engaged. Nearly 2,000 police, soldiers and civilians were taking This is not an easy task for teachers because the part in the rescue. Bulldozers and excavators that were attention span of the average person is shrinking used earlier in the day stopped their work due to bad dramatically as more and more flashy electronics lighting as night fell, according to CCTV. No sign of the are introduced into our lives. village could be seen in aerial footage, which showed a grim and grey rock-strewn landscape covering the area Continued on Page 13 Continuecd on Page 13 LOCAL SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 2017 Wataniya Airways Local spotlight commissions its IS destroying first Airbus history KUWAIT: Wataniya Airways, one of three national carriers of Kuwait, said Thursday its first Airbus (A- 320) arrived at Kuwait International Airport to joint its fleet. The move opens a new chapter of the air- line’s operations on the local market after a five-year hiatus, said Lana Al-Rashid, director of the informa- By Muna Al-Fuzai tion and public relations dept. of the company. “This is a historic moment on Wataniya’s march; it is the fruit of a whole year of preparations,” she said in a press release, appreciated the support offered by shareholders over the last years. Rashid also thanked leaders of the Directorate [email protected] General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), notably DGCA Kuwait International Airport President Sheikh Salman Hamoud Al-Sabah, Director General Eng. Yousef Suleiman Al-Fouzan and Deputy ivilization, heritage and history have distin- Director General Emad Al-Jalawi for facilitating the Huge 65% rise in travellers during guished the Arab world for thousands of years resumption of the airline’s operation. The new air- Cand even before the advent of Islam, many civ- craft will fly to short and medium range destinations long Eid holiday: Airport official ilizations appeared and left their print. So why does in the coming few days, she added. —KUNA the so-called Islamic State (IS) destroy temples and KUWAIT: Kuwait International Airport during the festive occasion which northern Gulf Arab country. The large museums? When Islam arrived, it did not destroy his- expects a 65.46 percent rise in people marks the end of the holy Islamic volume of travellers has caused huge torical monuments in any area, but retained and pre- flying abroad within the Eid Al-Fitr lunar month of Ramadan. A signifi- delays and malfunctions throughout served them as part of human history. Today, with holidays in comparison to last year’s cant factor in this year’s rise in num- the airport, which has a capacity of six the emergence of IS, a new crime has been added to figures.