SUBSCRIPTION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017 JAMADA ALAWWAL 5, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Chinese India boosts Alghanim Chahal sinks naval fleet spending on Industries England as arrives in rural poor as opens flagship India clinch Kuwait3 cash21 ban bites Wendy’s31 store series20 2-1 Emirati foreign minister Min 06º Max 12º defends Trump visa ban High Tide 02:83 & 14:40 Russia calls for Syria’s return to Arab League Low Tide 09:35 & 21:52 40 PAGES NO: 17129 150 FILS ABU DHABI: US President Donald Trump’s travel ban on Delays in health Amir attends Janadriyah fest in Riyadh citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations is not anti- Islam, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister said insurance to end yesterday. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, whose country like neighboring Saudi Arabia is a close ally of after key meeting Washington, said it was “wrong to say” that the decision by the new US administration was “directed against a KUWAIT: The health ministry finally responded to particular religion”. calls to act and end the crisis resulting from halting “The United States has made... a sovereign decision,” quick services at health insurance departments that he said at a joint press conference with his Russian had resulted in unbearable crowds and long queues counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, pointing out that it was outside these departments. The delay has affected “provisional” and did not apply to “the large majority” of transactions of thousands of companies, Al-Rai said the world’s Muslims. In his defense of the ban which has in a report published yesterday. During a meeting stirred widespread protests across the globe, Sheikh held on the instructions of Health Minister Jamal Al- Abdullah also said that some of the countries on the Harbi, who is currently aboard, on Tuesday evening blacklist had “structural challenges” on the security front between the health ministry and the Public Services that they still had to overcome. “This is a temporary ban Company (PSC), both sides agreed to resume swift and it will be revised in three months, so it is important services for companies’ transactions. that we put into consideration this point,” he added. Health Ministry Undersecretary Dr Khaled Al- Trump’s controversial executive order on Friday sin- Sahlawi stressed that although the minister was gled out citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, abroad to attend WHO meetings and was checking Syria and Yemen to prevent “radical Islamic terrorists” on Kuwaiti patients receiving medical treatment in from entering the United States. But the 90-day ban, various countries, he was very keen on resolving the which could still extend to other states, has exempted problem and contacted both the health ministry Muslim-majority nations associated with major attacks in the West. and the company’s officials to reach a legal solution. Of the five major Gulf oil monarchies, the only one to Sahlawi said he met PSC CEO Musaed Al-Saeedi express even mild disapproval in public was Qatar, and agreed on resuming the quick services from whose foreign minister was quoted during a visit to yesterday at the Jabriya health insurance center. Serbia as saying he hoped Washington would reassess Sahlawi strongly commended PSC, noting that, as a it. Some Gulf officials even backed it openly. Dhahi Kuwait Finance House subsidiary company, it has RIYADH: (From left) HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Saudi King Khalfan, a senior Dubai police official, tweeted on been providing the service for 14 years without Monday “complete support” for Trump’s ban. “Every costing the ministry or the state budget anything. Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa attend the Janadriyah festival yesterday. — SPA (See Page 2) country has the right to protect its security ... Trump, Continued on Page 13 what you’re doing is right.” Continued on Page 13 Trump names pick for top court Gorsuch to shift Supreme Court balance WASHINGTON: Donald Trump has nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, seizing an unusual early opportunity to put conservatives back in the majority on America’s top court. In a primetime address late Tuesday that was part jurisprudence, part reality show, Trump tapped the 49-year-old appeals court judge from Denver, Colorado. If confirmed by the Senate, he will fill the seat made vacant by the death of Antonin Scalia nearly a year ago and tilt the balance of the court five-to-four in conservatives’ favor. The elegant, silver-haired jurist with a flair for writing incisive rulings is the youngest nominee in a genera- tion. His appointment could have a major impact on cases ranging from business regulation to gender rights to gun control. After unprecedented hyping of the Israeli police clash with settlers in the West Bank outpost of Amona yesterday. announcement, Trump invited Gorsuch and his wife to Israeli forces began evacuating this controversial settlement, which is the largest emerge dramatically before an audience in the East of about 100 unauthorized outposts erected in the West Bank without permission Room of the White House. “Here they come. Here they but generally tolerated by the Israeli government. — AP (See Page 8) come. So was that a surprise? Was it?” said Trump, ever the showman. “He could have had any job at any law firm for any For Israeli settlers, amount of money, but what he wanted to do with his career was to be a judge, to write decisions, and to make an impact by upholding our laws and our Kushner’s their man Constitution,” Trump said. Despite the razzmatazz, Gorsuch was a remarkably orthodox pick for a president BET EL, West Bank: For many in the Israeli sparked particular enthusiasm in the com- who has scythed through norms and precedent during settlement of Bet El, deep in the occupied munity: David Friedman, who chairs the his brief time in office. Like Scalia, Gorsuch is considered West Bank, Donald Trump’s choice of Jared American Friends of Bet El Institutions an “originalist” - guided in his legal thinking by the con- WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump applauds as he stands with Judge Neil Kushner as his senior adviser on the Middle fundraising group. The White House did not stitution’s original intent and meaning. Gorsuch in East Room of the White House on Tuesday after announcing Gorsuch as East is a sign of politics shifting in their immediately respond to requests for com- Continued on Page 13 his nominee for the Supreme Court. — AP favor. They regard Kushner, whose family’s ment from Kushner and Friedman. Kushner, charitable foundation has donated tens of a businessman who built his career on real thousands of dollars to their estate and publishing, has said settlement, as part of a diplo- little about his views about one matic rebalancing after what of the world’s most intractable UN chief calls for lifting US ban they view as eight years of anti- conflicts, either during the cam- Israel bias under the US admin- paign or since Trump took office. NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who served as UN refugee chief for 10 groups for failing to quickly condemn the travel istration of Barack Obama. The big question for the Guterres yesterday called for lifting a US ban on years before his election as secretary-general. “I ban and make a pressing appeal to Trump to “He will stand up for our Palestinians is whether he can travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, strongly hope that the US will be able to re-estab- scrap it. His first formal statement on the issue interests. I suppose he will lean be an impartial actor given his saying the measures would not prevent terrorists lish its very solid refugee protection in resettle- came on Tuesday, four days after the ban was in our favor,” said Avi Lavi, 46, family foundation’s past financial from entering the United States. “I think that ment and I hope that the Syrians will not be enacted. The UN chief met with new US ambassa- who has lived in Bet El for more ties to Bet El. Palestinian these measures should be removed sooner rather excluded in that process.” dor Nikki Haley on Friday for what he described as than 40 years. “He’ll be fair, as President Mahmoud Abbas has than later,” Guterres told reporters. “Those meas- Trump’s decision triggered protests and chaos a “very constructive” conversation about the rela- opposed to Obama, whose poli- Jared Kushner been careful to say he looks for- ures indeed violate our basic principles and I at airports while UN human rights chief Zeid bin tionship between the new administration and the cy leaned always towards the Arabs.” New ward to working with the Trump adminis- think that they are not effective if the objective is Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein declared it illegal and United Nations. US President Trump says his son-in-law tration, but others are less optimistic. Wasel to, really, avoid terrorists to enter the United “mean-spirited”. Guterres, who took over from Asked about the US threat of a major funding Kushner, 36, is capable of brokering the Abu Youssef, a senior official at the Palestine States,” he said. South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon on Jan 1, argued that cut, Guterres declined to comment, saying he did “ultimate deal” to deliver peace between Liberation Organization, the main The appeal to end the travel ban came amid a banning citizens from Muslim countries would not want to speculate on what possible decision Israelis and Palestinians.