SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2015 SHAABAN 8, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net US federation Iran to scrap Cannes winner Platini says reassures monthly puts refugee Blatter US beef is subsidy issue up on lied about certified5 halal on21 petrol the38 screen quitting19 FIFA 33,000 iqama violators Min 31º Max 44º get 60-day grace period High Tide 06:20 & 17:00 MP asks about stolen funds Call to reinstate KAC as national carrier Low Tide • 12:10 40 PAGES NO: 16532 150 FILS By Mesh’al Al-Enezi and B Izzak Saudi Shiites hold mass funeral KUWAIT: More than 33,000 residency violators who are registered with suspended companies will be granted a grace period of 60 days from June 1 to Aug 1 to legalize QATIF, Saudi Arabia: Tens of thousands of Saudi their status. According to Abdullah Al-Motoutah, direc- Shiites yesterday held a mass funeral for the victims tor of the Manpower Public Authority, the grace period of a mosque bombing which authorities called an coincides with the approach of the holy month of attempt by Sunni extremists to sow sectarian strife. Ramadan and would allow violators to either transfer Mourners from the kingdom’s minority community their work permits to other sponsors or cancel them to crowded streets in the mainly Shiite Qatif district of leave. Eastern Province to show their respect for the 21 “This grace period was given for both humanitarian dead, who included two children. A Shiite imam led reasons as well as to give employers a chance to make the funeral prayer in a marketplace under a cloudless use of the expertise of those laborers who are already in sky, as a breeze carried the fragrance of green herbs Kuwait instead of recruiting new ones and waiting for placed on prayer mats upon which the bodies lay. their arrival, needless to mention the time new recruits Volunteers in fluorescent orange vests carried the would wait to gain enough experience,” he explained. victims in, one by one, on wooden litters draped with Motoutah added that his organization was coordinating flowers. The crowd, some of them weeping, shouted with the interior ministry to halt the arrest of violating the name of Imam Hussein, a revered figure in Shiite laborers in this category to give them a chance to use Islam. Memorial banners and flags flew at the sprawl- the grace period. ing outdoor market where pictures of the dead were Meanwhile, independent MP Ahmad Al-Qudhabi displayed. They included a boy wearing a bow tie, inquired yesterday in a series of questions about the and a bearded man in uniform. Everybody “is very government’s efforts to trace hundreds of millions of much anxious to participate... to express their sup- dinars in public funds allegedly stolen by the former port,” one organizer said ahead of the funeral, asking chief of the pension agency. In questions to Minister of not to be named. Mourners were expected from Justice Yacoub Al-Sane, the lawmaker asked about the Saudi Arabia and abroad, he said. legal measures taken following a Swiss court judge- The suicide bombing, during the main weekly ment to freeze 15 bank accounts related to the former Muslim prayers in nearby Qadeeh, was the second mass director general of the Public Institution for Social killing of Shiites in the kingdom since late last year. QATIF, Saudi Arabia: Saudi men take part in a mass funeral in this mainly Shiite Gulf coastal town yesterday, Security Fahd Al-Rajaan. Continued on Page 13 held for the victims of a mosque bombing carried out by Islamic State group earlier in the week. — AFP Continued on Page 13 8 killed in Tunis rampage TUNIS: A Tunisian soldier the authorities say had psy- chological problems seized a gun at a barracks yesterday and killed seven comrades before being shot dead him- self. The interior ministry said the rampage was not linked to “terrorism”, but a defense ministry spokesman did not rule this out before an investigation reports on the incident. Defense ministry spokesman Belhassen Oueslati said the corporal, whose name was not given, “had family and psychological problems”. Because of this, he had been “forbidden from carrying arms” and given “non- sensitive duties”. “He attacked one man with a knife and took his gun before shooting at his comrades who were saluting the flag,” Oueslati said. The incident “caused the deaths of seven soldiers and also of the shooter. Ten sol- diers were wounded, and one is in a serious condition,” he added. Yesterday’s shooting was at the Bouchoucha barracks in Tunis, not far from parliament and the Bardo National Museum where jihadist gunmen killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman in March. It triggered a security alert across the Bardo district, AFP correspondents reported. One heard two volleys of gunfire from inside the barracks at around 8:45 am (0745 GMT), before an ambulance emerged, its siren blaring. The interior min- istry’s elite counterterrorism brigade deployed in force TUNIS: A member of Tunisian special forces stands across the area. Police with sniffer dogs also checked guard outside the Bouchoucha army barracks yester- parked vehicles for fear of car bombs in the district, day after a soldier opened fire at his colleagues. — AFP which also houses two police barracks. — AFP UAE lays out space strategy ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates yesterday laid out a strategic framework for a newly created space agency that aims to integrate various arms of the Gulf federa- Iranian general: tion’s burgeoning space industry. The seven-state federa- tion, perhaps best known for its oil wealth and extrava- US did ‘nothing’ gant attractions like Dubai’s Palm-shaped islands and record-breaking Burj Khalifa skyscraper, is fast establish- to save Ramadi ing itself as the Arab world’s leader in the space sector. The UAE Space Agency, created last year by presidential TEHRAN: The United States has done “nothing” to decree, aims to regulate and support the country’s space help Iraq’s army battle jihadists in Ramadi, according sector, which includes existing Earth-orbiting satellite to a senior Iranian general involved in the fight programs and plans for a mission to Mars in 2020. against the Islamic State group. Qassem Soleimani, Agency Chairman Khalifa Mohammed Thani Al- the Revolutionary Guards’ commander of foreign Rumaithi said the space industry will help diversify the operations, hit out at Washington after Pentagon country’s economy and create highly skilled jobs for a chief Ashton Carter said Iraqi forces growing youth population. “The United Arab Emirates is “failed to fight” in Ramadi, which seeking to confirm its status as a spacefaring nation in has fallen to IS. “Mr (Barack) Obama, which the industry plays a key role in sustainable eco- what is the distance between nomic development,” he told a gathering at an event Ramadi and Al-Asad base where US rolling out the federal body in the capital, Abu Dhabi, planes are based?” Soleimani said in that featured models of existing Emirati satellites and a speech late Sunday in the south- ern province of Kerman carried by waiters serving space-themed canapes including hum- Soleimani mus in metal squeeze tubes. state news agency IRNA. “How can Space technology is one of several high-tech indus- you be in that country under the pretext of protect- tries the OPEC member nation is championing as a way ing the Iraqis and do nothing? This is no more than to create jobs and diversify an economy still heavily being an accomplice in a plot,” said Soleimani. dependent on oil. Thuraya, an Emirates-based satellite Shiite Iran has military advisers in Iraq and Syria phone operator, was responsible for the country’s first and provides financial and military support to the commercial satellite, launched in 2000. The Emirates’ first governments of both countries in their battle government-backed satellite, an Earth-observation satel- against Sunni extremists. According to Iranian lite known as DubaiSat-1, blasted into orbit atop a media, Soleimani has been active in Iraq, particularly Continued on Page 13 Continued on Page 13 LOCAL TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2015 KUWAIT: (From left) Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr Yousef Mohammad Al-Ali, HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, HH the HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah meets IBM’s director general of Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah are pictured during the Amir’s reception of the research and intellectual property Dr William LaFontaine. newly appointed minister. — Amiri Diwan photos Amir receives newly appointed minister Prime Minister receives IBM official KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah attended the meeting. US Ambassador Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) for the 6th session Jaber Al-Sabah received at Seif Palace yesterday in the pres- to Kuwait Douglas Silliman had announced recently that IBM (2014-2015) today. Minister of Education and Minister of ence of HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al- will launch a subsidiary office in Kuwait next week. Higher Education Bader Hamad Al-Essa will attend the cer- Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al- In other news, HH the Crown Prince is set to patronize emony at KISR headquarters on behalf of HH the Crown Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, the newly appointed Minister the honoring ceremony of distinguished workers at Kuwait Prince. — KUNA of Commerce and Industry Dr Yousef Mohammad Abdullah Al-Ali, who took the oath before HH the Amir.