SUBSCRIPTION THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017 RABI AL-THANI 14, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Pope Francis Nazi Brunner French chefs Egypt look lauds HH ‘died in Syria hooked on fish to rekindle the Amir’s basement killed the footballing peace efforts3 in10 2001’ Japanese28 way glory19 days MPs call for fundamental Min º changes to constitution Max 20º High Tide 12:40 & 23:10 Low Tide Sports row intensifies • Law seeks to scrap petrol hike 06:08 & 17:50 40 PAGES NO: 17108 150 FILS By B Izzak KUWAIT: Several MPs called yesterday for fundamental Trump rejects ‘phony’ Russia dossier changes to the country’s 1962 constitution as an essen- tial requirement to resolve the ongoing crises in the NEW YORK: US President-Elect Donald Trump yester- country. The call came during the debate on the Amiri day berated the media and US intelligence agencies address delivered at the opening session of the new as he denied explosive allegations about his ties with National Assembly on Dec 11. Opposition MP Russia - while admitting for the first time that Abdulkarim Al-Kandari said the real requirement for Moscow had likely meddled in the US election. Just reforms is amending the constitution, which was issued over a week before he takes office, Trump confirmed 54 years ago and has never been amended. he had ceded “complete” managing control of his “We have been encountering constitutional problems global property empire to his two sons, seeking to and dilemmas and failed to find solutions simply dispel fears about possible conflict of interests. because we still believe that the constitution cannot be Trump also said he rejected a $2 billion deal in changed. This democratic system has become ineffec- Dubai last weekend, demonstrating he was putting tive,” Kandari, a professor of law, told the house. He his business behind as he prepares to move into the called for immediately setting up a committee to revise White House. “Over the weekend, I was offered $2 bil- and suggest amendments to the constitution, adding lion to do a deal in Dubai with a very, very, very that the main issues that need change is to increase the amazing man, a great, great developer from the number of MPs, amend the article that deals with dis- Middle East,” he told the press conference. “I didn’t solving the Assembly and several other articles, to acti- have to turn it down,” he said. “But I have a no-con- vate the constitution. flict-of-interest provision as president.” He said that there is no democratic system in the But the focus of the hour-long press conference - world that is so greatly under the influence of the gov- his first in six months was firmly on the unsubstanti- ernment like the Kuwaiti system, and the only way out of ated claims that his aides colluded with the Kremlin this is to increase the number of lawmakers. Kandari said to win the US election, and that Russia has compro- that dissolving the Assembly should not remain so easy mising sexual material on Trump. The 70-year-old bil- to do and without conditions. This makes lawmakers live lionaire angrily accused CNN of being “fake news” under the fear of the dissolution of the Assembly, and and called BuzzFeed - which published a dossier with therefore are not able to perform. “After 54 years, we the allegedly incriminating material drawn up by a need to change the system, which is not working. The former British intelligence agent hired to do “opposi- system is old and needs to be amended,” Kandari said. tion research” on Trump - a “failing pile of garbage”. He also called for legalizing political parties. “It’s all fake news. It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen,” MPs Mohammad Al-Dallal and Osama Al-Shaheen he said, referring to allegations of lurid behavior in a NEW YORK: US President-Elect Donald Trump holds a press conference yesterday, his first in nearly six months, amid explosive allegations over his ties to Russia, a little more than a week before his inauguration. — AFP also called for the need to amend the constitution to Continued on Page 13 Continued on Page 13 Yes we did: Obama bids farewell UAE mourns five diplomats killed in Afghan blast Amir sends condolences KANDAHAR: The killing of five diplomats from the United Arab Emirates in a bombing in southern Afghanistan marks the deadliest attack ever for the young nation’s diplomatic corps, though it’s too soon to tell who was behind it or if the Gulf envoys were even the targets. The federation of seven WASHINGTON: (From left) Secretary of State John Kerry, former Secretaries of State sheikhdoms, founded in 1971 on the Arabian Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell attend a reception celebrat- Peninsula, said it would fly the nation’s flag at half- ing the completion of the US Diplomacy Center Pavilion at the State Department staff for three days in honor of the dead from the on Tuesday. — AP attack Tuesday in Kandahar. The Taleban denied planting the bomb, even as CHICAGO: US President Barack Obama cries as he speaks during his farewell the insurgents claimed other blasts Tuesday that address on Tuesday. — AFP Top US diplomats open killed at least 45 people. No other group immedi- CHICAGO: Barack Obama addressed by Donald Trump’s shock election. ately claimed responsibility for the attack in America and the world for the last time Obama urged them to pick up the new diplomacy museum Kandahar, a province in Afghanistan’s Taleban as US president yesterday, in a speech torch, fight for democracy and forge a heartland. The bomb targeted a guesthouse of that was both a tearful goodbye and a new, fairer, “social compact”. “For all our Kandahar Gov Homayun Azizi, who was wounded call to arms. Capping eight years in the outward differences, we are all in this Kuwait among supporters in the assault along with UAE Ambassador Juma White House, Obama returned to his together,” he said, warning that naked WASHINGTON: Four current and former US true to those values like the best of the Mohammed Abdullah Al-Kaabi. The attack killed adopted hometown of Chicago to recast partisanship, racism, and inequality all secretaries of state, including Hillary men and women whose leadership and 11 people and wounded 18, said Gen Abdul Razeq, his “yes we can” campaign credo as “yes threaten democracy. “We rise or fall as Clinton, gathered at the State Department service will be commemorated here, then Kandahar’s police chief, who was praying nearby at we did”. Surveying the staging posts of one. All of us, regardless of party, should on Tuesday to mark the ceremonial open- our country will weather every storm on the time of the blast. his presidency - from the Iran nuclear throw ourselves into the task of rebuild- ing of a museum on American diplomacy. the horizon.” Continued on Page 13 deal to reforming healthcare - the ing our democratic institutions.” The privately funded US Diplomacy Center Former top US diplomats Madeleine speech sought to lift supporters shaken Continued on Page 13 will formally open in 2018. It includes an Albright, who will donate her personal col- exhibition hall named after Clinton, who lection of more than 200 pins to the center, lost the November presidential election to and Colin Powell also spoke at the ceremo- Republican Donald Trump. Other halls in ny. Supporters of the center include private the nonpartisan center are named for US American companies Boeing Co, Intel Corp Secretary of State John Kerry and predeces- and FedEx Corp; the Kuwaiti, Qatari, United sors Henry Kissinger and James Baker. Arab Emirates and Brunei governments; In the light-filled hall named in Clinton’s and the Clinton Family Foundation, accord- honor, marked by glass walls and a glass ing to a panel in the exhibition hall. Nearly roof, she joked that it “is the most transpar- $48 million in private sector funds have ent part” of the center, an apparent refer- been raised for the center, and $18 million ence to the controversy over her use of a more is needed, according to the website of private email server which dogged her the Diplomacy Center Foundation created presidential ambitions. In her brief to support the museum. remarks, Clinton did not mention Trump or Clinton has kept a low profile since the the campaign. She said that democracy, election, popping up at a Broadway shows freedom and the rule of law were under and in selfies snapped by supporters who attack around the world and that the run into her at bookstores and hiking near world faced “a rising tide of authoritarian- her Chappaqua, New York home. In her last ism and illiberalism.” public appearance, an event last month “The longstanding bipartisan goal of a thanking campaign donors, Clinton blamed Europe that is whole, free and at peace is Russian interference for her defeat in the under enormous pressure,” she said. “We presidential race, casting her loss as part of should remember that the world looks to a long-running strategy by Putin to discred- America as the indispensable nation not it the fundamental tenets of American gov- just because of the size of our military or ernment. Trump’s choice to head the State the strength of our economy,” she said. “It Department, Exxon Mobil chief Rex looks to us because America stands for uni- Tillerson, was facing the Senate in his con- versal values and aspirations. And if we stay firmation hearing yesterday. — Agencies KUWAIT: A commercial airliner is seen after taking off from Kuwait International Airport yesterday.