THULHIJJA 7, 1440 AH THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019 28 Pages Max 48º Min 32º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17903 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Kuwait’s PIC acquires 49% of Row over female violinist at Hordes of Earth’s toughest Top-ranked Barty bounced, 4 South Korea’s SKC operations 20 Karbala match reveals rifts 24 creatures may be on Moon 28 Stephens falls in Toronto Saudi Arabia readies for hajj as tensions persist in Gulf 88,550 Iranian pilgrims due to take part in the pilgrimage this year MAKKAH: More than 2.5 million traffic on the high seas. Saudi, the Gulf’s Muslims will tomorrow begin the annual leading power, and its ally Washington hajj pilgrimage in the Islamic holy city of accuse Iran - Riyadh’s regional rival - of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, against a back- being behind the attacks and sabotage drop of tensions in the Gulf. Crowds of operations against commercial shipping. worshippers have already begun to Tehran has denied responsibility. gather in Makkah in the days ahead of Despite the absence of diplomatic ties the hajj, the focal point of the Islamic between Saudi and Iran, some 88,550 calendar. “It’s the first time I’ve felt Iranian pilgrims are due to take part in something so strongly - it’s striking,” the hajj this year, according to the said 40-year-old Indonesian pilgrim Tasnim news agency. Sobar in rudimentary Arabic. More than Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam 1.8 million visitors had arrived by midday and Muslims must perform it at least local time on Tuesday, authorities said. once in their lives if they can afford to. Crowds of faithful from across the “There are all nations of the world, all world wore flowing white robes as they languages. There are no differences descended on the holy city located in the between us,” said Nurul Jamal, a 61- west of the ultra-conservative kingdom. year-old pilgrim from India. Makkah, The pilgrims will undertake religious closed to non-Muslims, is home to the rites that have remained unchanged Kaaba - a cube structure draped in since the founding of Islam 14 centuries black cloth embroidered in gold located ago. “Islam united us. We are all togeth- at the heart of the mosque. er... so that’s why I’m very happy,” said The Great Mosque of Makkah with its Leku Abibu, 46, a Ugandan mechanic Ottoman minarets sits amid skyscrapers who wore a beige salwar kameez. “I’m that host upmarket malls and luxury hotels. enjoying it here.” Muslims face toward the Kaaba when This year’s hajj takes place amid ten- praying the prescribed five times daily. sions in the Gulf region exacerbated by a Pilgrims circle the Kaaba seven times and series of attacks on oil tankers, drone perform a number of sacred rites. strikes and interceptions of maritime Continued on Page 24 MAKKAH: Pilgrims perform prayers around the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque yesterday, prior to the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage. — AFP Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have News in brief Pak expels Indian twice waged war over Kashmir and in February engaged in an aerial clash. India, which has Martyrs’ remains arrive today been battling insurgents there for 30 years, said envoy as Kashmir the special status had hindered Kashmir’s KUWAIT: Informed sources said remains of several development and it wanted to fully integrate the Kuwaiti prisoners of war and missing persons will dispute escalates region with the rest of the country. Moin-ul- be handed over by Iraq to Kuwait today through the Haq, Pakistan’s newly appointed ambassador to Safwan border and onboard an Iraqi military air- ISLAMABAD/SRINAGAR: Pakistan said yes- India, has yet to take up his post but will now craft. The sources said several officials from the terday it would expel India’s ambassador and not move to New Delhi, while Indian International Red Cross will be present alongside suspend bilateral trade with its archrival after Ambassador Ajay Bisaria will be expelled, Kuwaiti officials to receive the martyrs’ remains. The New Delhi stripped its portion of the contested Islamabad said in a statement yesterday. Iraqi defense ministry announced a military aircraft Kashmir region of special status. Neighbors “It is very obvious that our ambassador was allocated to bring the remains of Kuwaiti mar- China and Pakistan, which both claim parts of wouldn’t be in Delhi, and obviously the man who tyrs directly to their country. — A Saleh Kashmir, have voiced fierce opposition to is here will also leave,” Foreign Minister Shah India’s removal of a constitutional provision that Mahmood Qureshi said in a telephone interview had allowed the country’s only Muslim-majority with Pakistani TV channel ARY News. SRINAGAR: Policemen move barbed wire on a street during curfew yesterday. — AFP MPs threaten to grill ministers state to make its own laws. Continued on Page 24 KUWAIT: Opposition MP Riyadh Al-Adasani yesterday reiterated threats to grill the prime min- For decades, the once tax-free petro- ister, the interior minister and the entire Cabinet if Housing woes state dished out interest-free housing needed over alleged violations in various sectors, loans. But Saudi Arabia is now pushing while MP Mohammad Al-Mutair, another opposi- to boost mortgage lending in a con- tion lawmaker, threatened to hold the premier testing Saudi tentious policy shift that is squeezing the accountable. Mutair tweeted another employment middle-class as it chips away at its cra- wrongdoing happened in admitting prosecutors reform drive dle-to-grave welfare in an era of low oil like the one that happened several months ago at prices. For many like Abdullah, a 39- the government’s legal department. Adasani contin- RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is building a year-old father of three with a rented ued his sharp criticism of the interior minister over futuristic megacity with promises of apartment in Riyadh, this has delayed the what he claims is a biased report by the police talking robots and flying taxis, but for dream of building his own home on the against him in a case against him by a former law- hundreds of thousands like academic city’s outskirts. maker. — B Izzak (See Page 4) Abdullah a simple dream remains elusive After more than a decade on a wait- - owning a home. Housing is a potential ing list for an interest-free loan from the lightning rod for public discontent in a kingdom’s Real Estate Development Two UAE-backed fighters killed country where affordable dwellings are Fund, Abdullah says it referred him to a beyond the reach of many, posing a key commercial bank to take out a mortgage ADEN: Two members of an Emirati-backed force challenge for Crown Prince Mohammed worth 445,000 riyals ($119,000). He in Yemen were killed yesterday in clashes with bin Salman as he seeks to overhaul the used the money to start building a house RIYADH: Foreign laborers work on the construction of new luxury houses in the pro-government fighters in the southern city of oil-reliant economy. Continued on Page 24 Saudi capital on April 13, 2019. — AFP Aden, security officials said. They said the fighting broke out after the funerals of police personnel killed last week in the government-held port city. Tensions have often run high in Aden between the Security Belt force and forces backing the Aden- Shipping sheep in summer based government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. — AFP heat, Romania defies EU MIDIA, Romania: Under the burning activists have labelled the livestock Saudi, UAE offer Sudan wheat sun in Romania’s Midia port on the Black transport vessels - about 100 of which Sea, the Lady Maria stands ready to leave Midia every year - as “death RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab embark its passengers - thousands of ships”. “The question is how many sheep Emirates are providing Sudan with 540,000 tons sheep to be shipped to Libya for the Eid will die during this journey,” says Gabriel of wheat as part of aid promised following long- Al-Adha holiday. Despite a warning from Paun of Animals International. time leader Omar Al-Bashir’s overthrow, their state the EU and shock footage released last Denouncing “undue suffering”, he media said yesterday. Both countries “allocated year of heat-stricken sheep struggling to recalls a 2015 incident when thousands 540,000 tons of wheat to the Sudanese people, breathe on ships travelling from Australia of sheep exported to Jordan by Romania meeting the population’s basic food requirements to the Middle East, Romania continues died from thirst or literally were cooked for three months”, the Saudi Press Agency and the to export livestock during the height of alive during the transport. The journey UAE’s WAM news agency said. “The first and sec- summer. from Romania to the Gulf can take sever- ond batch comprising of 140,000 tonnes of wheat A Midia port operator official insists al weeks, comparable to the trip from have already been shipped.” The wheat was part of conditions aboard the Lady Maria, which Australia. The risks this year are particu- flies a Tanzanian flag and has been trav- larly high since Eid, the Muslim festival $3 billion worth of aid pledged by the oil-rich Gulf STOENESTI, Romania: A picture taken on Aug 2, 2019 shows sheep in a field on states in April after Bashir’s ouster. —AFP elling the seas for more than 50 years, which sees the ceremonial slaughtering are “similar to a five-star hotel”.