SHAWWAL 29, 1442 AH THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2021 16 Pages Max 45º Min 32º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18456 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Kuwait key regional mediator and Ultraconservatives eye easy Pandemic shakes up rankings Jazz overcome slow start, 3 humanitarian donor: UK Ambassador 5 victory as Iranians to vote 12 of world’s most livable cities 15 Embiid shines for Sixers More than 50,000 grade 12 students take paper exams MoE urges unvaccinated private school students to take PCR test at Jaber Hospital KUWAIT: Students of grade 12 yesterday began their paper-based final exams with full compliance with health measures and strict precautions against COVID-19 across the country. In a press statement yesterday, Education Minister Ali Al-Mudhaf said the total number of public and private school students who took the general secondary exams is 50,743. The minister, who visited a number of high schools, affirmed that education is the foundation of any country’s development, pointing out that exams are the true measure and evaluation of students and the educational process. Therefore, the ministry decided that grade 12 tests be held in schools with commitment to the utmost health precautions before, during and after conduct- ing the exams. Mudhaf praised the efforts of the teaching and administrative staff and all the ministry’s employees, calling on students to exert efforts and study hard to achieve their goals. The education ministry yesterday urged private KUWAIT: Grade 12 students sit for their final exams yesterday. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat and Fouad Al-Shaikh (More pics on Page 4) school students who have not been vaccinated Continued on Page 2 The suicide attempt comes a few days after a Opposition MP Shuaib Al-Muwaizri yesterday MPs demand rights young bedoon boy died while selling flowers under blamed the authorities for causing the bedoon cri- the scorching heat of the sun. The number of sui- sis, saying that the government should produce evi- Long, difficult path cide cases among bedoons, many of whom are dence that some of the bedoons have citizenship of after bedoon man denied essential humanitarian rights to force them other countries. He said authorities should show to reveal their original identity, has been on the rise that such bedoons are either Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian, to political equality sets himself ablaze in recent months in protest against their treatment Saudi or of other nationalities and must produce by authorities. clear evidence, or should grant them Kuwaiti citi- for Iranian women By B Izzak Many bedoons, who number more than 120,000, zenship. This will end the crisis, he said. are denied the right to education, health, jobs and Meanwhile, MP Ahmad Al-Hamad yesterday KUWAIT: TEHRAN: Iranian women’s poor political repre- Five lawmakers yesterday submitted a even marriage certificates in order to force them to submitted amendments to the law calling to grant sentation could be set to worsen under an ultra- draft law stipulating basic rights for thousands of reveal their original identities. Bedoons claim they children of Kuwaiti women from foreign husbands conservative poised to win next week’s presiden- stateless people or bedoons, several hours after a have the right to Kuwaiti citizenship because they or residence under article 24 (self-sponsorship). He tial election. Ebrahim Raisi, who heads Iran’s judi- bedoon man in his 60s tried to immolate himself. The their forefathers had come to Kuwait decades ago, said these children should be treated like Kuwaitis ciary, is the clear favorite from an all-male field of man poured petrol on his body and set himself ablaze but the government says only 34,000 of them quali- with free education and healthcare and employ- seven candidates to replace President Hassan for unknown reasons. He was taken to hospital for fy for consideration for citizenship, while the rest ment. If the Kuwaiti mother dies, the residency Rouhani, a moderate elected on promises of treatment of deep burns and is in critical condition. dumped their passports to claim Kuwaiti citizenship. should remain valid, he said. social and cultural reform. Women’s rights campaigners in Iran have criti- cized Rouhani for breaking his promises to create lars to drive 24 hours straight. a women’s ministry and appoint three female min- How Mumbai “I cannot ever repay my debt to isters - instead presiding over a decrease in this city,” the 29-year-old told AFP, women’s representation over his two terms in recounting an ordeal that saw him office. Only two women - Massoumeh Ebtekar, beat the odds, spend five days fruitlessly searching vice president for women and families, and Laya for a bed across several cities, includ- Joneydi, vice president for legal affairs - are rep- and the virus ing Delhi. “I don’t know if my wife resented in Rouhani’s outgoing executive. would be alive today if it weren’t for Unlike ministerial positions, the posts of vice MUMBAI: When COVID-19 arrived Mumbai’s health facilities.” president do not require parliamentary approval, in India, few places looked as vulnera- The bodies began turning up early and critics have accused Rouhani of not daring to ble as Mumbai. But a year on, South in India’s financial capital during the submit female ministerial nominations to parlia- Asia’s most crowded city has sur- first wave of infections last year - a ment for approval, even when moderates held a prised many by tackling a vicious sec- man collapsing on a busy road, a rick- majority. Now, after conservatives and ultracon- ond wave with considerable success. shaw driver slumped over the wheel, a servatives swept last year’s parliamentary elec- Gaurav Awasthi even travelled hun- corpse lying in the street - in a grim tions, the chances of an ultraconservative presi- dreds of kilometers from his home on echo of the 1918 flu pandemic. By MUMBAI: In this picture taken on June 1, 2021, Mumbai’s municipal commissioner dent doing so seem even less likely. the outskirts of Delhi to get his ailing May 2020, Abhignya Patra was work- Iqbal Chahal talks with his colleagues in their disaster management room at the “The biggest challenge for Iranian women is wife a hospital bed there, paying an ing 18-hour days at the massive municipal headquarters. — AFP linked to their total absence from decision-mak- ambulance more than a thousand dol- Continued on Page 2 ing bodies,” Elaheh Koulaei, a former reformist lawmaker, told AFP. Women’s representation does not appear to be a priority for any of the seven city of London. candidates vying to replace Rouhani on June 18. ‘Model family’ The lives of three generations were Ultraconservative Raisi has paid little attention to snuffed out in a moment: Madiha women’s issues, criticizing Rouhani’s broken Salman, age 44, who was doing post- promises without revealing his own intentions. cut down on graduate work in civil and environ- Observers see little difference between mental engineering; her 46-year-old pledges from ultraconservative Mohsen Rezai, evening stroll husband, Salman Afzaal, who loved to who has promised to have “at least two women greet people at the mosque; their 15- ministers” if he wins, and reformist Abdolnasser LONDON, Canada: A mother who year-old daughter, Yumna Salman; Hemmati, who has pledged “at least one”. But was a “brilliant scholar,” a cricket-lov- and Afzaal’s 74-year-old mother, who with parliament having the last word, those ing father with “a welcoming smile,” a has not been named. The couple’s son, promises may count for little. nine-year-old Fayez, was instantly The number of female lawmakers today is just teenage daughter who was “a friend to many”; a doting grandmother: The orphaned. He remains in hospital with 17 out of 290, compared to four in the parliament serious injuries but is recovering, rela- elected a year after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, victims of Sunday’s truck-ramming attack in Canada, all Muslims with tives said. said Zahra Shojaei, an academic who heads the What had been an ordinary Reformist Women’s Party. The path towards the roots in Pakistan, were a “model fami- evening for the Afzaals was brutally recognition of women is “long and difficult”, said ly”, friends say. The attack, dubbed a cut short when a black pickup truck, Shojaei, who served as reformist president “terrorist” act by Prime Minister driven by a 20-year-old suspect, took Mohammad Khatami’s counsellor for women’s Justin Trudeau, came out of the blue deliberate aim at them, jumping a curb LONDON, Canada: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses members of the affairs from 1997 to 2005. as the Afzaal family, taking one of the and mowing them down. Muslim community and supporters during a vigil at the London Muslim Mosque on Continued on Page 2 evening strolls they so loved, pre- pared to cross a street in the Ontario Continued on Page 2 Tuesday. — AFP (See Page 5) 2 Established 1961 Thursday, June 10, 2021 Local Amir receives Kuwait’s new Int’l Swimming Federation chief KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Sabah. — Amiri Diwan and KUNA photos Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanem. Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir President Sheikh Fahad Nasser Sabah Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and Kuwait Sabah received yesterday at Bayan Olympic Committee Secretary Palace His Highness the Crown Prince General and Executive Director of the Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Olympic Council of Asia Hussain Ali Sabah.