SUBSCRIPTION MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016 THULQADA 26, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Hasawi: KFA’s 10,000th Syrian Youth Man City next phase is to reaches US movement: go top with develop local this week for Gazans take up win over sports activity3 resettlement9 rollerblading40 West20 Ham Govt to settle hospital bills Min 28º amid treatment abroad row Max 47º High Tide 08:23 & 22:52 11 controllers to be questioned • Paris health office ‘still open’ Low Tide 02:40 & 16:25 40 PAGES NO: 16977 150 FILS By A Saleh Qatar to levy Sheep prices up ahead of Eid KUWAIT/PARIS: The government has approved a special budget estimated at KD 320 million to pay bills of hospi- $10 airport tax tals in countries where citizens are sent for treatment as part of the state’s overseas treatment program. This step on passengers came to honor Kuwait’s agreement with foreign hospitals as part of the program, and to protect the state’s reputa- DOHA: Qatar’s government will levy a new airport tax tion, according to informed sources. The government on passengers from Tuesday as the country seeks new stepped in at a time when the foreign and health min- revenue streams amid falling oil prices. Every passen- istries are at odds with regards to delayed payments that ger leaving Qatar from Doha’s Hamad International the latter says are yet to receive approval for from the for- Airport, including transit passengers, will be charged mer. The standoff between the health and finance min- 35 riyals ($9.61) for using airport facilities, according to istries has caused Kuwait to struggle to pay dues owed to a statement by the airport. The charge will apply to European and American hospitals where citizens are tickets issued after Aug 30 and for any travel starting being treated under the treatment overseas program. on Dec 1 onwards and would be used to “further Meanwhile, 11 financial controllers will be questioned increase the airport’s capacity and invest in new infra- over accusations of delinquency and irregularities in the structure”, the statement said. Children under two treatment abroad file, said sources familiar with the issue. years old without a seat will be exempted. The finance ministry had accused the health ministry of Airport fees, while common elsewhere in the mismanagement, which led to squandering in the budg- world, have until recently been avoided by Gulf states et allocated for treatment abroad. However, the health as they seek to gain a competitive advantage for busi- ministry responded by saying that all funds were spent ness and become regional hubs. Some 1.33 million after receiving approval from independent financial con- passengers travelled through Hamad International trollers. As a result, an investigation was opened and 11 Airport in June. Airports in the United Arab Emirates controllers were identified to be questioned, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. announced similar taxes earlier this year. Interest rates Health ministry officials had warned in earlier reports are rising in the Gulf as low oil prices pressure govern- that several hospitals could resort to legal action to ments’ finances, so Qatar has been looking at ways demand a total of KD 150 million that Kuwait reportedly other than borrowing to fund its projects, including KUWAIT: Sheep are seen in a pen at the livestock market in Shuwaikh. With Eid Al-Adha just around the cor- ner, the market is witnessing an unreasonable hike in prices. — Photo by Joseph Shagra (See Page 4) still owes them. raising local gasoline prices. — Agencies Continued on Page 13 Iraq requests Saudi envoy be changed Uber, Careem halt services in Abu Dhabi DUBAI: Ride-hailing service Uber said yesterday that it and competitor Careem have abruptly sus- pended services in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi due to “unforeseen circumstances”, suggesting potential difficulties with local regula- DOHA: Kenyan runner Michael Douglas Ongeri poses for a photo on Aug 16, 2016 tors. San Francisco-based Uber described the move in the Qatari capital. — AFP as temporary and said it hopes to have more infor- mation in the next two days. It declined to say what prompted the suspension. Qatar security guard “We want to let you know that this was a deci- sion taken by both companies, and our goal is to resume operations in Abu Dhabi as soon as possi- BAGHDAD: Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari (right) meets the new Saudi in the race of his life ble,” Uber said in a statement. The company has Ambassador to Iraq Thamer Al-Sabhan in the Iraqi capital in this Jan 14, 2016 file photo. — AFP DOHA: Kenyan security guard Michael Aspire Park, in the shadow of the city’s operated in the Emirates since 2013. Local regula- Douglas Ongeri has a dream - and won’t Khalifa Stadium that will host the World tions mean that only licensed limousine drivers in BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said Iraq’s internal affairs and that Sabhan has be daunted by poverty, a 13-hour work- Athletics Championship in 2019. In tem- the seven-state Emirates federation can drive for the government yesterday formally not provided the ministry with any proof day or training in Qatar’s searing heat, peratures of over 40 degrees C and sti- ride-hailing services such as Uber, which let passen- requested that the Saudi ambassador in or evidence of these claims. far from his family. Nor will he let the 11 fling humidity, the Kenyan puts on his gers users order rides and pay through a smart- Baghdad be replaced after he claimed Iran and Saudi Arabia are regional km he has to walk from work to the track training gear and, sweat pouring, runs phone app. that Iranian-backed militias are plotting rivals and broke off diplomatic ties in then back home slow him down. “You up to 12 km through Aspire’s green Christian Eid, vice-president of marketing and to assassinate him. Foreign Ministry January after several years of frayed rela- get used to it,” Ongeri tells AFP matter- expanses. communications for Careem, a Dubai-based compa- spokesman Ahmed Jamal told AP that tions. In 2011, US authorities said they had of-factly. “I have to do it, it is something If it is close to his payday - 1,400 ny, said many of its drivers were being stopped by the government sent a formal request to disrupted an Iranian plot to assassinate which is me, I like running, I have to run.” Qatari riyals a month ($385) - it is possi- authorities in Abu Dhabi, apparently over licensing Saudi Arabia to replace the kingdom’s the Saudi ambassador to Washington at While many dream of becoming an ble Ongeri will go without food as he issues, and as a result had become nervous and ambassador in Baghdad, Thamer Al- the time. Sabhan was quoted as telling international track star, the 22-year-old has no cash left, sleep for five hours in a were staying off the roads. This had forced Careem Sabhan. Jamal said Sabhan’s reported the Saudi-owned Al-Hayat newspaper Kenyan may actually have a chance. Six room he shares with five others and to halt services there, he said. comments are untrue and harm relations that Iraqi intelligence provided him with days a week, he leaves work around 5 then start all over again. Continued on Page 13 between the two countries. He said the information about the assassination plans. pm and heads to Doha’s biggest park, Continued on Page 13 allegations are considered interference in Continued on Page 13 Turkey ramps up Syria offensive BEIRUT: Dozens of people were killed in fighters had been killed and 15 injured in force against IS. Ankara considers the YPG a Turkish bombardment in Syria yesterday as Turkish bombardment of the two areas. A “terrorist” group and has fiercely opposed its Ankara ramped up its unprecedented offensive spokesman for the local Kurdish administration bid to expand into areas recaptured from IS to inside the country against the Islamic State said 75 civilians had been killed in both vil- create a contiguous autonomous zone. On group and Kurdish militants. The Britain-based lages. But the Turkish army said it had killed 25 Saturday, a Turkish soldier was killed and three Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at Kurdish “terrorists” from Turkey’s outlawed more wounded in a Kurdish attack south of least 40 civilians had been killed in Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Syria’s YPG, Jarabulus. Turkish media named the dead sol- shelling and air strikes on two areas held by state-run Anadolu news agency said. “All possi- dier as Ercan Celik, 28, and said a funeral for pro-Kurdish forces in northern Syria, the first ble measures are being taken to prevent harm him would be held on Sunday in Gaziantep, report of significant civilian casualties in to the civilian population living in the area and which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkey’s operation. the maximum sensitivity is being shown on is currently visiting. But Ankara said its raids had killed 25 this issue,” the army said, quoted by Anadolu. Turkish forces carried out their first air Kurdish “terrorists” and that the army was The Observatory said the bombardment tar- strikes on pro-Kurdish positions on Saturday as doing everything to avoid civilian casualties. geted an area south of the former IS border part of what Ankara is calling “Operation The bombardments came after Ankara suf- stronghold of Jarabulus, which Turkish-led Euphrates Shield”. Turkey says that the YPG has fered its first military fatality in the offensive forces captured on the first day of the incur- broken a promise to return across the against IS and the Syrian Kurdish People’s sion.