SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 RABI ALAWWAL 29, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Zalzalah Deadly Israeli Argentinean Messi hat-trick urges PM strike deals prosecutor who keeps Barca to form new painful blow accused prez in sight Cabinet3 to Hezb,7 Iran found dead9 of19 Madrid Fighting shakes Sanaa as Min 05º Max 20º Houthis accused of coup High Tide 12:38 & 23:14 Low Tide Militia attacks PM’s convoy, seizes state media 06:08 & 17:48 40 PAGES NO: 16408 150 FILS SANAA: Yemen’s powerful Houthi movement fought conspiracy theories artillery battles with the army near the presidential palace in Sanaa yesterday, throwing the fragile Arab state deeper into turmoil and drawing accusations that the militia fighters were mounting a coup. Explosions echoed I call it across the city and smoke hung over downtown build- ings as the most intense clashes since the Shiite Houthi extortion movement seized the capital in September brought everyday life to a halt. The Houthis had seized the state news agency and tel- evision station, but by evening a ceasefire was in force, government ministers said. Medical sources said five people had been killed and more than 20 wounded. Final numbers were likely to be higher. The battles marked a By Badrya Darwish new low for Yemen, plagued by tribal divisions, a sepa- ratist challenge in the south and the threat from a region- al wing of Al-Qaeda, which claimed a deadly Jan 7 attack in Paris on a satirical journal known for mocking Islam. The Houthis’ September takeover made them the [email protected] country’s de facto top power, a development that has scrambled relationships and raised tensions across the political spectrum ever since. Information minister Nadia Al-Saqqaf, a critic of the Houthis, told Reuters the presi- respect rules. I respect regulations. I respect a dential palace had come under “direct attack” in what she country of institutions. But all rules are written described as an attempted coup. “If you attack the presi- Iby human beings and sometimes some of these dential palace ... This is aggressive, of course it is an rules are misconceived or misapplied. For instance, attempted coup,” she said. Saqqaf did not specify who a friend called me grumbling and shouting and had attacked the palace, but said the Houthis, friends nearly banging the phone. I tried to cool him down with Shiite power Iran, were now in control of the state and find out what was going on. Why was he boil- news agency, Saba, and state television. ing? He told me simple mathematics - he applied SANAA: Houthi militants raise their weapons during clashes near the presidential palace yesterday. — AP Continued on Page 13 for a visit visa for his friend to come for the Hala February festivities. I asked what happened - did they reject it? He said due to a misdemeanor his company has with the Municipality, the application Fadhl calls for was rejected. My friend didn’t even know he had a court case ties with Israel with the Municipality over this misdemeanor. He only remembered a small dispute over some com- By B Izzak pany paperwork two years ago, and according to him, it was resolved with the chief of the depart- KUWAIT: Controversial MP Nabeel Al-Fadhl said yester- ment and he thought, khalas, it ended. But some- day that he intends to submit a proposal to normalize one forwarded the case in the courts and my friend ties with Israel. He said he knows that the proposal will was never even informed. If he hadn’t gone to be rejected in the National Assembly, but said that apply for a visit for his friend, he would never have Kuwait should follow in the footsteps of countries like known that he had a problem at all. Egypt and Jordan that have full diplomatic ties with This is not the issue. The issue is why does the Israel. government link trivial commercial cases - whatev- Kuwait has repeatedly maintained that it will be the er their type, whether licenses or penalties or con- last Arab country to recognize Israel and will establish tract disputes, HR and social affairs stuff - to your ties with the state only after achieving a peaceful solu- personal life? In every country, businesses have dis- tion to the Palestinian cause by establishing an inde- putes, complaints, legal issues and matters that pendent Palestinian state. have to be resolved and which often take time. But should that mean that the company principal faces a travel ban or cannot finish any other personal Shoot on sight paperwork? Suppose he wants to get married in the court - order for Saudi will they tell him no, he has a misdemeanor in the court, and go fix it first? Or suppose he has an important business meeting in Dubai and delayed border guards paying his landline bill? RIYADH: Saudi border guards have been given In every modern advanced society, travel is an orders to shoot infiltrators on sight after three troop- important and necessary aspect of business and it ers were killed on the Iraqi frontier earlier this month, is not linked to whether you paid your electricity a spokesman said yesterday. The orders apply to bill or forgot to clear your phone bill or have traffic guards patrolling the southern border with Yemen as fines you did not pay. What is this mixture? What well as the northern frontier with Iraq, Major General does this have to do with the other? Mohammed Al-Ghamdi told AFP. Senior commander I don’t say people should not pay their bills. But General Odah Al-Balawi was among the three border this is not the way to handle it. The Ministry of guards killed in the Jan 5 clash with four Saudi infil- Electricity and Water or the Municipality or traffic trators, two of whom blew themselves up. “After that, department should have a system to collect its bills we will not negotiate with anyone,” Ghamdi said. “We from customers without having the power to stop will shoot them directly without any warning, with- all your paperwork in Kuwait. If they put in place a out any negotiation.” He said security officers on the proper system and follow it and apply it without Iraqi side had been told of the new orders. wasta. Otherwise this is just blackmail and extor- No group has claimed responsibility for the border tion against the average citizens. clash but Saudi Arabia is among Arab countries tak- I think it’s high time our honorable gentlemen in ing part in US-led air strikes against the Islamic State the parliament wake up and try to solve these mul- jihadist group in Syria, raising concerns about possi- tiple issues that seem trivial, but affect our lives on ble retaliation inside the kingdom. a daily basis. Continued on Page 13 Bahrain charges oppn chief DUBAI: Prosecutors yesterday groups abroad who offered to back charged Bahrain’s Shiite opposition an armed uprising. Shiite-dominat- chief with attempting to overthrow ed Iran has been accused of inter- the regime and sent him to trial fering in Bahrain since its Sunni gov- despite international calls for his ernment crushed protests led by Al- release. Sheikh Ali Salman will stand Wefaq in 2011 seeking a constitu- trial from January 28 on charges of tional monarchy. Salman was given “promoting the overthrow and “all legal guarantees” such as assis- change of the political regime by tance from a team of lawyers and force,” prosecutor general Nayef family visits during his questioning, Mahmud said in a statement. Ali Salman Mahmud said. Salman, head of the influential Al- inciting disobedience and inciting In an emailed statement, Al- Wefaq bloc, has been in custody hatred against a part of the popula- Wefaq rejected the accusations since Dec 28 and his detention has tion in public statements. The pros- against Salman which it described sparked near-daily protests across ecutor said Salman had confessed as “unrealistic” after he himself “cate- the Shiite-majority but Sunni-ruled under questioning to making the gorically rejected” them during kingdom. statements in speeches in which he investigations. Salman was also charged with allegedly referred to meeting with Continued on Page 13 TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 LOCAL MoE confirms Filipino Crime Report Hoax bomb suspect school closure remanded in custody Students won’t be allowed to re-enroll KUWAIT: The man who made a hoax bomb call on a flight recently was sent to the central prison for 10 days. A security source said that the citizen, who was running By Ben Garcia late, claimed there was a bomb onboard an aircraft heading to Beirut. The aircraft was searched and noth- KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education confirmed yesterday ing was found. The suspect admitted that he made the the closure of the Kuwait Philippine International School call because the captain refused to let him board. (NKPIS) in Jleeb Al-Shoyoukh. Speaking with the Kuwait Times yesterday, Abdullah Ali Al-Basri, General Manager, Ministry of Education at the Public Administration for Fugitive nabbed Private Education said, the matter has already been con- A citizen was arrested while driving the wrong firmed to the NKPIS, noting that it had been informed prior way with three absconding girls. A security source to the Ministry’s publication of three notices in local news- said patrols spotted the man driving the wrong papers. way in Fintas, so they asked to stop, but he “Yes, the school has only until April to operate,” attempted to escape and collided with another explained Al-Basri.