RABIA ALAWWAL 15, 1441 AH TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019 28 Pages Max 31º Min 13º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17982 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net British backer of Syrian White What slowdown? Shoppers set Louvre Abu Dhabi marks Seattle defeat Toronto 6 Helmets found dead in Turkey 11 ‘Singles’ Day’ spending record 24 2 years, without da Vinci 25 to capture MLS Cup Airport workers strike for better working conditions, allowances Civil aviation authority says operations unaffected by stoppage KUWAIT: Hundreds of workers at Kuwait’s interna- two-hour strike tomorrow and a 24-hour strike on tional airport held a one-hour strike yesterday to Sunday if their demands are not met. Of 4,500 civil demand better working conditions, threatening to stage aviation employees, 1,500 took part in yesterday’s longer walkouts in the coming days. Ahmed Mohammed strike, he said. Al-Kandari, a union representative, said workers were The DGCA had announced two days ago that shift calling for improved treatment and to be compensated payments were unified for personnel working at the air- for daily exposure to pollution and noise. The right to port and air traffic control. DGCA Director Yousif Al- strike is guaranteed for citizens in Kuwait, but such Fauzan has said the Civil Service Commission (CSC) actions remain rare in the country. Foreign workers do issued a resolution on Thursday explaining that shifts not have the right to strike. would be of eight hours and every air traffic control staff Yesterday’s strike by Kuwaiti staff did not affect member will work morning, afternoon and evening shifts flights, officials said, but the workers’ union said the on three consecutive days, followed by two days off. strike disrupted six flights. “Airport traffic is very nor- Fauzan added airport staff will work the same eight mal,” said Sheikh Salman Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah, head of hours for three consecutive days followed by one day the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Another offi- off instead of the old system of working a full 24 hours cial, Saleh Al-Fadaghi, the airport’s director of opera- followed by 48 hours off. But the DGCA employees tions, also said flights were not affected. “During the syndicate chairman Jaber Al-Azmi said the CSC only one-hour strike, 19 flights were operated as scheduled. approved allowances for air traffic control staff and There were five departures and 14 arrivals,” he said. that the union insists on unified allowances for all staff Fadaghi praised all personnel and employees at the air- members working shifts. “We have the minutes of a port who maintained regular operations, affirming previous meeting between the union and civil aviation keenness on “enhancing employees’ skills and preserv- and it was agreed that the unified allowance is ing their rights”. deserved by all employees of the directorate,” he said Kandari said the purpose of the strike was not to yesterday, adding the union is defending the demands disrupt operations but “to make our voices heard”. He and rights of workers who were deprived of the KUWAIT: Civil aviation employees stage a walkout at the airport yesterday. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh added that Kuwaiti workers would hold a further allowance. — Agencies tation, acute and chronic diseases, dental health ministry and streamline the system. We Dhaman opens services, digital x-ray, ultrasound, laboratory are partners with Mayo Clinic in the US, so we and pharmaceutical services. Dhaman was set are bringing high quality and efficiency,” said up by a public private partnership (PPP) Tina Baramakian, Dhaman Corporate Director. first primary established through a ministerial decree as Baramakian affirmed the cost of health part of Kuwait’s development plan. insurance premiums in the coming years will clinic for expats The hospital is part of a government push be a bit higher. “But expats should not be ter- to segregate healthcare, limiting access for rified, since we will be charging only a minimal expatriates to the public system. Already, amount - it won’t be too high compared to in Hawally some clinics offer Kuwaiti-only timings, and services in private clinics. I assure you prices By Ben Garcia priority for certain clinics and medicines are will be competitive. At government health unavailable to residents, who are also paying centers, you have to pay KD 2 or KD 5 - we KUWAIT: The Health Assurance Hospitals higher fees for visits. are only seeing an increase of 500 fils or Company (Dhaman) opened its first primary “Healthcare is one of the main pillars of the maybe a dinar, but the good thing is that labo- healthcare center in Hawally in Cairo Complex 2035 New Kuwait vision. The main objective ratory, radiology, pharmacy and other basic on Ibn Khaldoun Street yesterday. The center, is to target residents in Kuwait, as we have tests will be free,” she added. spread over an area of 3,079 sq m, has 20 more than 2 million expats. The aim is to pro- Dhaman Chairman Mutlaq Al-Sane, Acting clinics covering family medicine, pediatrics, vide them with high quality healthcare, while CEO Dr Mohammad Al-Qinae, board KUWAIT: Dhaman officials open the company’s first primary healthcare center preventive services, health education, consul- at the same time decrease the load on the Continued on Page 24 for expats in Hawally yesterday. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh Jordan king tours 11 French citizens, two Irish and at least Turkey starts two additional Germans were also being processed. enclave after end repatriating Turkey has criticized Western coun- tries for refusing to repatriate their citi- of Israel lease deal zens who left to join the Islamic State IS detainees group (IS) in Syria and Iraq, and strip- AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah paid his first visit yester- ping some of them of their citizenship. day to an enclave fringing its northern border with Israel a ISTANBUL: Turkey deported three for- Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said day after the expiry of a 25-year special regime that allowed Israeli farmers access to the area, official sources eign jihadists yesterday, with more than last week that Turkey had nearly 1,200 said. The king on Sunday declared an end of the arrange- 20 Europeans including French and foreign members of IS in custody, and ment, which many Jordanians saw as a humiliation that per- Germans in the process of being had captured 287 during its recent oper- petuated what they regarded as an Israeli occupation of expelled to their countries of origin. ation in northern Syria. It was not clear Jordanian territory. Turkey’s interior ministry said it had whether those being deported were cap- Under the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty, two territories deported an American and a Dane, while tured in Syria or Turkey. “There is no straddling the border were recognized as under Jordanian sov- Germany confirmed that one of its citi- need to try to escape from it, we will ereignty but with special provisions allowing Israeli farmers to zens had also been expelled. Seven more send them back to you. Deal with them work the land without visas. But in 2018, Jordan said it did not Germans were due for deportation on how you want,” Soylu said on Friday. want to renew the arrangement, in what was widely seen as a BAQOURA, Jordan: King Abdullah II of Jordan and his son Crown Prince Hussein pray Thursday, the Turkish ministry said, while Continued on Page 24 sign of increasingly strained bilateral relations. — Reuters with army officers during a ceremony at this Jordan Valley site yesterday. — AFP Power vacuum in Bolivia Egypt discreetly after Morales steps down marks Suez Canal’s LA PAZ: Bolivia’s Evo city’s cable-car network 150th anniversary Morales called yesterday remained paralyzed and ISMAILIA, Egypt: Since the Suez Canal was inaugu- on the opposition that buses were scarce. rated amid pomp and ceremony 150 years ago, it has ousted him to “pacify the The police - largely con- become one of the world’s most important waterways. country” after his shock fined to barracks since riots But its anniversary will only be discreetly marked in resignation following broke out on Friday, with Egypt. The man-made canal was excavated between weeks of protests over his many units joining the 1859 and 1869, in an ambitious project to connect the disputed re-election left a protests - were returning to Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and cut shipping times power vacuum in the coun- the streets, police chief for growing international trade from Europe to Asia. try. Shops and offices in La Vladimir Yuri Calderon The Suez Canal is “not a prerogative of one nation”, Paz were shuttered early said. “The Bolivian police declared Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat yesterday after looting Evo Morales will be acting,” Calderon credited with masterminding the project, drawing from broke out late Sunday in told ATB television. Tweeting the dreams of the pharaohs who dredged a similar some parts of the capital and the from the central coca-growing region channel 4,000 years earlier. “It owes its birth to, and neighboring city of El Alto. Thousands of Chapare, where he fled on Sunday, belongs to, the aspirations of humanity,” he said in an of commuters were forced to walk to Morales called on the opposition to 1864 speech. A million Egyptians, using camels and ISMAILIA, Egypt: A cargo ship sails through the Suez Canal in this Egyptian port work in the morning drizzle as the Continued on Page 24 mules as beasts of burden, labored over the city on Oct 14, 2019.