SAFAR 16, 1441 AH TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2019 28 Pages Max 39º Min 24º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17958 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Municipal Council approves Saied set for landslide Baby buried alive highlights Texans beat Chiefs as Niners 5 Entertainment City project 7 in Tunisian presidency 24 India’s battle to protect girls 28 stop Rams to stay unbeaten Putin in Saudi, deepening Russia’s Mideast influence First trip in 12 years comes amid heightened regional tensions RIYADH: President Vladimir Putin signaled Moscow’s and head of Russia’s wealth fund, met King Salman at growing Middle East clout yesterday by visiting Saudi his palace along with de facto ruler Crown Prince Arabia for the first time in over a decade, buoyed by Mohammed bin Salman, with whom Putin says he has Russian military gains in Syria, strong ties with Riyadh’s friendly relations. regional rivals and energy cooperation. Moscow Deepening ties have seen non-OPEC Russia, once accrued power in the Middle East in 2015 by sending regarded as a rival in oil markets, join OPEC kingpin troops to Syria, where it and Iran have been key back- Saudi Arabia in forming an alliance known as OPEC+ ers of President Bashar Al-Assad amid civil war, while to support crude prices by restraining output. At a the United States pulled back. Saudi Arabia sided with morning forum convening 300 Saudi and Russian Syrian rebels. CEOs, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin On the eve of Putin’s trip, US troops were abruptly Salman said OPEC+ countries were showing high com- retreating from northern Syria as Russian-backed gov- mitments to the deal, and his Russian counterpart said ernment forces deployed deep inside Kurdish-held ter- there were no talks underway to change it. ritory under a deal to help fend off a Turkish cross-bor- Ahead of the visit, Putin, who offered to provide der offensive. Russia has also strengthened ties with Russian defense systems to the kingdom after Sept. 14 both Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, which attacks on its oil facilities, said he could also play a are locked in a decades-old contest for influence that positive role in easing tensions with Tehran given good veered towards open conflict after a recent spate of ties with both sides. Any progress on long-mulled Saudi attacks on oil assets in the Gulf that Riyadh and plans to purchase the Russian S-400 surface-to-air Washington blame on Tehran. Iran denies the charges. missile systems would cause disquiet in Washington, Tensions with Iran, which is locked in several proxy which is sending 3,000 troops and additional air wars with Saudi Arabia, have risen to new highs after defense systems to Saudi Arabia. Washington last year quit a 2015 international nuclear US President Donald Trump has resisted pressure to RIYADH: Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman (right) attend a meeting in accord with Tehran and re-imposed sanctions. The sanction Riyadh over human rights abuses, including Riyadh yesterday. — AFP Russian president, accompanied by his energy minister Continued on Page 24 his decision to file the new grilling after the EPA rebukes fears over MP Hayef to file outcome of the Assembly’s Financial Committee meeting held on Sunday. He said that the committee virtually made dangerous air quality grilling, targeting no change to the previous system which is By Nawara Fattahova based on taking a high interest on cash taken Finance Minister by pensioners for exchanging a part of their KUWAIT: The quality of Kuwait’s air pensions. A number of lawmakers have has become a topic of concern in recent By B Izzak pressed the minister and the government to days, especially as humidity has risen change the system to abolish interest and and air quality indexes have signaled the KUWAIT: Islamist opposition MP provide pensioners a new system in compli- air entering an ‘unhealthy’ state. To clari- Mohammad Hayef said yesterday that he will ance with Islamic Sharia law. fy the matter, Kuwait Times visited the file to grill Finance Minister Nayef Al-Hajraf Hayef said that statements issued by the Environment Public Authority to learn today over his insistence to use usury or head of the financial committee clearly indicate more about what the air index means, interest rates in loans given to pensioners. The that the Finance Minister has refused to how it relates to pollution, air quality and lawmaker went to the Assembly Speaker’s change his mind and accordingly he is breach- to warnings from local, regional and office yesterday to file the grilling but the act- ing the country’s constitution and laws. The international environmental groups. ing Speaker MP Awdah Al-Awdah arrived at grilling will be listed on the agenda of the According to an official from the the Assembly only after the official hours, opening session of the Assembly’s new term on Environment Public Authority (EPA) who raising constitutional constraints for submit- October 29. The grilling could be debated on asked that his name not be published, ting the grilling. that day or delayed for the next session based the air index monitor utilized by the US Hayef told reporters that he will file the Embassy in Bayan is a relevant air quali- on the readiness of the Finance Minister. grilling today and that it will be based on two ty monitor (AQM) - in other words, the Hajraf has been threatened to be grilled by index is accurate. According to the US issues both related to the use of interest by several lawmakers including one by MP embassy in Kuwait, the condition the Public Institute for Social Security which Riyadh Al-Adasani over a variety of issues. observed on October 14, 2019 at 3:00pm is under the Finance Minister. The lawmaker, Adasani described the grilling as one of the by the Air Quality Index (AQI) was 159 who grilled the Finance Minister just before biggest in Kuwait’s history that would tackle which is an unhealthy PM2.5. the close of the previous Assembly term in major financial issues like the budget and the Continued on Page 24 June over the same issues, said that he made country’s sovereign wealth fund. MP Mohammad Hayef mosque.” The Dome of the Rock is built Saudi players where the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is said to have ascended to heaven and it Japan searches for encompasses the Foundation Stone, a visit Muslim rock holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians. Jordan has custodianship of the holy sites. survivors; Hagibis holy site The area is one of the most sensitive sites in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It death toll hits 56 JERUSALEM: Players from Saudi is revered by Jews as Temple Mount, the Arabia’s national soccer team travelled site of two biblical Jewish temples, and is to Jerusalem’s Old City yesterday to situated in a part of Jerusalem captured pray at one of Islam’s holiest sites. The by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war players visited the Noble Sanctuary, a and annexed in a move that has not been compound that houses the Golden Dome recognized internationally. of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Saudi football fans are delighted third holiest shrine in Islam. “This is the about their national team’s historic most beautiful day in my life,” said match today against their Palestinian Yasser Al-Mishal, the president of the “brothers” in the occupied West Bank, Saudi Football Federation. but dismiss suggestions it marks a grad- “Really, it’s hard to express my feel- ual normalization of ties between the JERUSALEM: Saudi Football Federation chief Yasser Almisehal (center) and mem- ings. I thank God that I could visit al- kingdom and Israel. bers of the Saudi football delegation visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old MARUMORI: A vehicle is buried in mud after a City of Jerusalem yesterday. — AFP heavy flood caused by Typhoon Hagibis in Aqsa mosque and pray inside the Continued on Page 24 Marumori, Miyagi prefecture yesterday. — AFP TOKYO: Tens of thousands of rescuers worked into the night yesterday to find survivors of a pow- Trio wins economics Nobel erful typhoon in Japan that killed at least 56 peo- ple, as fresh rain threatened to hamper their efforts. Typhoon Hagibis crashed into the country on for fighting poverty Saturday night, unleashing high winds and torren- tial rain across 36 of the country’s 47 prefectures, STOCKHOLM: US-based economists history, as well as the youngest at 46. triggering landslides and catastrophic flooding. Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and She shared the award equally with The death toll from the disaster has risen steadi- Michael Kremer won the 2019 Nobel Indian-born American Banerjee and ly, with national broadcaster NHK saying that 56 Economics Prize yesterday for work in Kremer, also of the United States. The people had been killed and 15 were still missing. It fighting global poverty that has helped Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited its own tally based on local reporting. The millions of children by favoring practical said their work had shown how poverty government has given lower numbers but is still steps over theory. French-American could be addressed by breaking it down Continued on Page 24 Duflo becomes only the second female into smaller and more precise questions economics winner in the prize’s 50-year Continued on Page 24 2 Local Tuesday, October 15, 2019 Oil industry faces major challenges; Kuwait committed to maintaining prices’ stability Prime Minister sponsors, attends 4th Kuwait oil, gas conference KUWAIT: Senior officials led by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al- His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah receives a memento during Sabah attend the opening ceremony of the fourth Kuwait Oil and Gas Show and Conference.