RAJAB 1, 1439 AH SUNDAY, MARCH 18, 2018 Max 33º 32 Pages Min 16º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17483 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Presidential polls open Russia expels 23 UK diplomats, Morocco desert stallion race Super Salah hits four as 2 for Egyptians abroad 6 halts British Council activities 32 pushes limits of endurance 16 Liverpool crush Watford Kuwait, Philippines reach deal on domestic helpers Workers to retain passports • Kuwait calls to lift labor ban, Manila in no hurry KUWAIT: Kuwait and the Philippines signed a draft ties will not allow anyone with a record to recruit Kuwait. The officials agreed to allow Filipino workers deal to regulate the work of domestic helpers, a workers, said the foreign ministry official. Hamad to keep their own passports, or give them to the Kuwaiti diplomat said yesterday. Foreign Ministry affirmed that the Kuwaiti side requested that the Philippine Embassy for safekeeping, to prevent Undersecretary for Consulate Affairs Sami Al-Hamad doors for labor recruitment should be reopened for employers from withholding the document. The work- told KUNA that the deal, which was signed on Friday Kuwaiti agencies, especially the government-backed ers will also get to keep their cellphones. Employers night, came as a result of a meeting between a visiting Al-Durra company. He assured that those interested will not be allowed to transfer workers from one Kuwaiti ministerial delegation and Filipino authorities in employing domestic workers will be able to do so employer to another without the workers’ consent. in Manila. The deal will ensure the rights of both by paying reasonable fees. But the ban on sending Both parties also agreed to provide a $400 (KD 120) employers and employees, said Hamad. Filipinos to work in Kuwait will remain in place, monthly salary. The employer will open a bank account The deal may end a two-month crisis sparked by Philippines Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said where salary will be deposited, as proof the worker is reports that abuse by employers in Kuwait had driven after the sides engaged in two days of talks resolved being paid. several Filipinos to suicide. The Philippines stopped their last remaining issues over dinner. Workers in many Gulf states are employed under sending workers to Kuwait in January after a Filipina President Rodrigo Duterte has said the ban won’t the kafala (sponsorship) system, which gives employ- maid was found dead in a freezer, the latest incident in be lifted unless Filipinos get better protection in ers the right to keep their passports and full control what Manila called a pattern of abuse in the state. Kuwait and justice is served for the Filipina woman over their stay in the country. Rights groups say this Hamad said the two sides agreed that domestic found in the freezer, Joana Demafelis, whose death system leaves millions of workers in the Gulf region workers from the Philippines will have the right to sparked outrage in the Philippines. Bello said earlier open to exploitation. There are more than 250,000 retain their passports as well as the right to refuse that even if a pact was reached, Duterte wanted to see Filipinos in Kuwait, the Philippine foreign ministry esti- being transferred to other employers. A Filipino justice served in her case before lifting the ban. mates, with most working as domestic helpers. There request to obtain any criminal records that employ- Bello said the pact would be signed at an agreed are also large numbers in the United Arab Emirates, Sami Al-Hamad ers might have was denied, because Kuwaiti authori- time and venue in the near future, most likely in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. — Agencies rebel bastion on the capital’s doorstep yesterday, the Thousands of Britain-based monitor said. Regime forces have retaken 70 percent of Eastern Ghouta since Feb 18, carving it up into three shrinking Syrians flee as pockets held by different rebels. The regime assault has killed more than 1,400 civilians in the enclave, accord- two battles rage ing to the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground. Around 50,000 civilians have ARBIN, Syria: Thousands of terrified Syrian civilians poured out of Eastern Ghouta since Thursday, fleeing fled for their lives yesterday, as they sought to escape air strikes and advancing troops, the Observatory said. two raging offensives in a rebel bastion outside The Russian defense ministry said more that 44,000 Damascus and a northwestern Kurdish enclave. Syria’s have left the enclave in total. civil war this week entered its eighth year with world Yesterday, Syrian state television showed dozens of powers unable to stem a complex conflict that has civilians - men, women, children and the elderly - killed more than 350,000 people and displaced at least trudging along a road leading into regime-held territo- half the country’s population. Tens of thousands have ry. Some dragged suitcases while others carried chil- taken to the roads, as Russia-backed regime fighters dren on their shoulders, kicking up dust from the road advance against rebels in Eastern Ghouta outside the as they marched. Several clutched blankets or wore capital and Turkey-led forces press an assault in the thick winter coats. Some civilians who have arrived in Kurdish enclave of Afrin. government-controlled territory have complained of Air strikes killed 36 civilians in Eastern Ghouta yes- having nowhere to sleep. terday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights “Women and children are on the floor,” said Abu reported, most of them in the town of Zamalka as they Khaled, 35, who used to run a clothing shop in Ghouta. prepared to flee. An AFP reporter in the nearby town of Since 2013, Eastern Ghouta’s estimated 400,000 resi- Arbin heard intense bombardment. The fresh violence dents had lived under government siege, facing severe JISREEN, Syria: A Syrian girl uses a walker as she evacuates with other civilians from this town in the southern came as around 20,000 people streamed out of the last Continued on Page 11 Eastern Ghouta on the way to areas under government control yesterday. — AFP Rosenstein would follow the lead of was a foregone conclusion, but all eyes Trump hails FBI official’s the FBI Office of Professional Xi gets second had been on whether his former anti- Responsibility and “bring an end to corruption enforcer, Wang Qishan, alleged Russia Collusion investiga- would become his deputy. firing, critics slam ploy term with ally as tion manufactured by McCabe’s The National People’s Congress has boss James Comey based upon a widely expanded Xi’s already consider- WASHINGTON: Donald Trump Robert Mueller, the special counsel fraudulent and corrupt Dossier.” VP; Amir sends able authority during its annual session, has hailed the firing of a senior FBI investigating Russian influence in McCabe, who has endured a adding his name to the constitution and agent as a “great day for democra- the 2016 election. year of withering attacks from the congratulations lifting the two five-year term limit for cy”, a move his attorney said he Andrew McCabe, who was the president, was fired by the Justice the presidency and vice presidency. Xi hoped would bring an end to a FBI’s deputy under former director Department late Friday, just two received a standing ovation after win- probe into alleged collusion James Comey, sacked by Trump last days before he was to retire after 21 BEIJING: China’s rubberstamp parlia- ning all 2,970 votes for the presidency between the president’s campaign year, is potentially a key witness in years with the FBI. The firing threw ment unanimously handed President Xi and Central Military Commission chair- and Russia. But critics slammed the that probe. Trump’s personal attor- new fuel on the fire raging over the Jinping a second term yesterday and man. In 2013, Xi had received 2,952 axing as a “dangerous” ploy to dis- ney, John Dowd, told the Daily investigation, with critics saying elevated his right-hand man to the vice votes, with one against and three credit the top law enforcement Beast yesterday that he hoped Trump might be planning to presidency, giving him a strong ally to abstentions, a 99.86 percent share. Only agency as well as the work of Deputy Attorney General Rod Continued on Page 11 Andrew McCabe consolidate power and handle US trade one delegate voted against Wang’s threats. Xi’s reappointment by the appointment, with 2,969 in favor. Communist Party-controlled legislature Continued on Page 11 Afghan baby Donald Trump causes a stir KABUL: Donald Trump flops over his pink and white baby walker and rolls it around his family’s modest home in Kabul, blissfully unaware of the turmoil his “infidel” name is causing in the deeply conservative Muslim country. The rosy-cheeked toddler’s parents named him after the billionaire US President in the hope of replicating his success. But now he is at the center of a social media firestorm in Afghanistan after a photo of his ID papers was posted on Facebook. A self-confessed fan of the American tycoon turned leader of the free world, Sayed Assadullah Pooya said he and his wife have been inundated with “vulgar and BEIJING: Wang Qishan (left) shakes hands with China’s President Xi Jinping insulting” comments attacking their choice of name for their third child. Some Facebook users have gone as far after Wang was elected as China’s Vice President during the 13th National KABUL: Afghan Sayed Assadullah Pooya looks on alongside his son Donald People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People yesterday.