SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015 RABI ALAWWAL 18, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Deputy Amir S Korea, Japan Cameron visits Messi, Barca receives strike deal flood-hit win big Dr Saleh on ‘comfort British city at Globe Al-Ujairi2 women’7 of York9 Soccer18 Awards Saudis raise fuel, utility Min 05º Max 20º prices amid $98bn deficit High Tide 01:10 & 15:20 Kingdom vows reforms after record budget shortfall Low Tide 08:48 & 20:42 40 PAGES NO: 16740 150 FILS RIYADH: Saudi Arabia announced a record budget deficit and cuts to fuel and utility subsidies yesterday as the oil Bahrain cabinet powerhouse suffers from the drastic fall in crude prices. Petrol prices in the kingdom were to rise by more than 50 OKs new diesel, percent on some products from today, authorities said, after the world’s largest crude exporter said it had posted kerosene prices a deficit of $98 billion in 2015. Riyadh also projected a shortfall of $87 billion in next year’s budget, the first since King Salman took over the country in January. UAE cuts fuel prices The finance ministry said in a statement that revenues DUBAI: Bahrain’s cabinet has approved a new pricing in 2015 were estimated at 608 billion riyals ($162 billion), system for diesel and kerosene that is set to begin in the lowest since 2009 when oil prices dived as a result of January, state news agency BNA reported yesterday. the global financial crisis. Income for 2015 was 15 percent The new pricing system is expected to result in a lower than projections and 42 percent less than in 2014, “gradual increase” in the cost of both fuels to domes- after oil prices fell by more than 60 percent since mid- tic customers in the coming years, as Bahrain adjusts 2014 to below $40 a barrel. The dive is largely due to its prices to reflect expected rises in other Gulf Saudi Arabia’s own policies and those of other OPEC Cooperation Council (GCC) states. nations, who are refusing to cut oil production as they “Bahrain continues to preserve its competitiveness seek to drive less-competitive players, including US shale with the GCC even after the adjustment of prices in producers, out of the market. diesel and kerosene and will observe the gradual Spending this year came in at $260 billion, the min- increase in diesel fuel and kerosene over the coming istry said, almost equal to 2013 expenditures and down years,” said the statement, attributed to the kingdom’s 6.6 percent from 2014. The 2015 deficit is the highest in energy minister, Abdul Hussein bin Ali Mirza. The the history of Saudi Arabia, which relies on oil for 90 per- pricing system comes after a detailed study with the cent of public revenues, but was not as big as some relevant authorities and parliamentary committees in expected. The International Monetary Fund had project- the kingdom “tasked with looking at subsidies and ed the 2015 deficit to be around $130 billion and other reports also put it above $100 billion. The 2016 budget growing government revenues”, said the statement. projects revenues at $137 billion, the lowest since 2009, The decision will benefit Bahrain’s national economy A Saudi man walks past a pump at a petrol station yesterday and spending at $224 billion, slightly below 2015 projec- and, at the same time, preserve the interest of citi- in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. (Inset) Saudi King Salman bin tions of $229 billion. Saudi Arabia normally overspends zens, the statement added. Abdulaziz heads the Council of Ministers meeting in the capi- its budget projections by around 20 percent. Continued on Page 13 tal Riyadh. — AFP Continued on Page 13 Syria towns see rare evacuations Deadly blasts hit Homs BEIRUT: A rare UN-backed deal between pursue wider efforts to resolve a conflict Syria’s warring sides saw hundreds of that left more than 250,000 dead and Outrage after fighters and civilians evacuate three forced millions from their homes. towns yesterday, as bomb blasts in the More than 450 fighters and civilians, regime-held city of Homs killed at least including the wounded, began leaving Egypt troops 19 people. President Bashar al-Assad’s three flashpoint areas in Syria as part of a regime has agreed to several ceasefires six-month truce reached in September. kill Gaza man with rebel groups in the past but yester- At least 120 people, including rebels and day’s evacuation plan was one of the some civilians, crossed from the last Turkey cautions Israel most elaborate in the nearly five-year rebel bastion on the Syrian border into war. The United Nations has been push- Lebanese territory yesterday, an AFP GAZA: Palestinians in Gaza and on social media ing for such local deals as global powers Continued on Page 13 have expressed outrage over the death of a naked RAMADI: Members of Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service place the national man who was shot as he crossed from the Gaza flag yesterday on the roof of a building of the government complex after they Strip into Egypt. Video has spread online purporting recaptured this city. — AFP to show the man walking in the Mediterranean surf and crossing the posts and fencing marking the border between the Palestinian enclave and Egypt. Iraqi flag raised above Egyptian guards open fire, while someone who appears to be part of the Gazan security forces appears to wave and signal to those shooting to Ramadi govt complex stop because the man is mentally unstable. RAMADI: Iraq declared the city of Ramadi armed forces of the counter-terrorism The video, taken on Thursday, later shows the liberated from the Islamic State group yes- service have raised the Iraqi flag above the man’s body on the shore. The Egyptian army has so terday and raised the national flag over its government complex,” Brigadier General far not commented on the incident. Officials from government complex after clinching a Yahya Rasool announced on state televi- Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza landmark victory against the jihadists. sion. The former government headquar- Strip, say he suffered from mental illness, though Fighters brandishing rifles danced in the ters in Ramadi was the epicentre of the the father of the Gazan man has been quoted as saying he did not. The hashtag “Why did they kill Anbar provincial capital as top command- fighting but Iraqi forces did not rush in him?” has since spread on social media and several ers paraded through the streets after when IS pulled out because the entire area dozen Gazans demonstrated on Sunday to demand recapturing the city they lost to IS in May. was rigged. “Daesh has planted more than Egypt return the man’s body to his family. Pockets of jihadists may remain but the 300 explosive devices on the roads and in Gaza has been under an Israeli blockade since army said it no longer faced any resistance the buildings of the government complex,” 2006, while its sole crossing with Egypt has been and that its main task was to defuse the said Brigadier General Majid al-Fatlawi of MASNAA, Lebanon: Syrians and Lebanese wave and flash victory signs as a con- largely closed since the summer of 2013, when voy carrying wounded Syrian opposition fighters leaves this Lebanese border countless bombs and traps IS left behind. the army’s 8th division. Continued on Page 13 “Ramadi has been liberated and the Continued on Page 13 crossing point yesterday. — AP Wild US weather kills 43 CHICAGO: Floods and tornadoes killed at least 43 peo- where freezing rain and gusting winds grounded over ple in the southern and midwestern United States dur- 450 flights, according to FlightAware. The National ing the Christmas holiday, with forecasters warning yes- Weather Service said more than 20 states - from Texas to terday that blizzards and freezing rain would add to the as far north and east as Maine - were under a weather misery. Hundreds of people in Texas were struggling to watch or warning. Over a foot 30 cm of snow was rebuild homes damaged or destroyed by rare but expected in some areas and flash flooding and freezing extremely powerful December twisters as residents of rain in others. The powerful storm system fueled by Alabama and Florida were warned they could be next. unseasonably warm air that began in the deep south Millions of people trying to get home after Christmas Wednesday had already dumped as much as 104 cm of were stranded by the bad weather, which grounded snow in parts of New Mexico and 10 inches of rain in flights and buried major highways and roadways in parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas the snow, ice and floodwaters. weather service said. Officials pleaded with people to be wary of flash The governors of New Mexico, Texas and Missouri flooding after several cars were swept off roadways declared states of emergency for all or parts of their and to be wary of slick conditions following freezing states Sunday to better handle storm damage. Alabama, rain. Over 1,100 US flights were canceled and another Mississippi and Georgia also took similar measures. At 1,650 were delayed yesterday morning, according to least 11 people were killed over the weekend as torna- tracking service FlightAware. Airports were already does struck the heavily populated Dallas area in Texas. overwhelmed by frustrated travelers after some 1,640 The rare December twisters flattened homes, knocked flights were scrapped and more than 6,400 delayed cars off highways and flipped big-rig trucks like toys.