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THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAITEstablished in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com
emergency number 112 NO. 16626 36 PAGES 150 FILS
Arab states to take Iran to UNSCLeague chief says Lebanon should be spared
CAIRO, Nov 20, (Agencies): First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah renewed on Sunday Kuwait’s condemnation of the ballistic missile fired from Yemen towards the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and the bombing of an oil pipeline in Bahrain.
This came in Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled’s speech during an emergency meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers, upon a request by Saudi Arabia. The State of Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain have supported the Saudi request.
The Kuwaiti minister affirmed that his country stands fully in solidarity with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in all mea-sures taken to maintain their security and stability.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled is leading Kuwait’s delegation to the meeting that includes Assistant Foreign Minister for the Affairs of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister’s office Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Mohammad Al-Sabah, Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab League Affairs Ambassador Azeez Al-Daihani, Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the Arab League Ahmad Al-Bakr and other ministry officials.
Arab foreign ministers have, meanwhile, decided to take the Iranian interferences in Arab internal affairs to the Unit-
KUWAIT RENEWS CONDEMNATION OF SAUDI, BAHRAIN ATTACKS
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A picture taken on Nov 19, shows the recently opened suspen-sion bridge in the southern city of Basra. (AFP)
HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah standing next to the Iraqi President Fuad Masum upon the latter’s arrival at Kuwait International Airport on Nov 20, on an official visit. Also at the airport to meet the Iraqi President were, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanim, Dep-uty Chief of the Kuwait National Guard Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Defense Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Minis-ter of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Anas Al-Saleh, Minister of State for Cabi-net Affairs and Acting Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, senior officials at the army, police, Kuwait National Guard (KNG) and Kuwait Fire Service Directorate (KFSD). Advisor at the Amiri Diwan Yousef Hamad Al-Ibrahim heads the mission of honor that ac-companies the visiting president.
KUNA photo
Panels prep draft laws
Legislative back-and-forth on impounds
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2017 / RABEE’A 3, 1439 AH
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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 20: Bankers around the world disclosed there is an international trend to globalize the Foreign Account Tax Com-pliance Act (FATCA) on foreign accounts of the Americans under the name Global Account Tax Compliance Act (GATCA), so most countries in the world, including Kuwait, can apply it on the income and investments of their citizens overseas, reports Al-Anba daily.
GATCA cannot nullify FATCA but extends it in a manner that there will be automatic exchange of information at world level and the Europeans will be able to control the application of the law.
According to banking sources, the European Union countries, notably France, Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal, are steadily preparing for the implementation of the GATCA, which has gone a long way in stopping the tax evasion of citizens of these countries abroad.
According to sources, Europeans have put forward an agreement with Kuwait on this issue, similar to the US FATCA — indicating about 16,000 Europeans in Kuwait will be subjected to this law, according to the Public Authority for Civil Information.
The sources added this will add a burden on the Kuwaiti banks when GATCA comes into force by 2020. This will be a new chal-lenge facing the banks in achieving their goals in terms of increas-ing the customer base and increasing the number of bank accounts,
ed Nations Security Council.In a statement following
their extraordinary meeting at the Arab League Headquar-ters in Cairo Sunday, the Arab foreign ministers assigned the Arab delegates to the UN to demand the UNSC to tackle the Iranian violation of the UNSC resolution No. 2231 on the de-velopment of ballistic missiles.
They stressed the Iranian ballistic missile development is an offensive and not a defen-sive program and it poses a real menace to the Arab national security.
They asked the Arab del-egates to submit a request to the UNSC president to clarify Iran’s breaching of the UNSC resolution No. 2216 through supplying terrorist militias in Yemen with weaponry, notably ballistic missiles.
They condemned the Ye-meni terrorist militias’ firing of Iranian-made ballistic mis-sile at the Saudi capital Riyadh, considering it a hostile action from Iran against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a threat to the Arab and international se-curity and stability.
The foreign ministers urged the UNSC to shoulder its re-sponsibility towards such a threat to the international secu-rity and stability.
They voiced unequivocal backing to the Saudi Arabia’s right to defend its security and to any other Saudi measure to counter the Iranian violations in accordance with the interna-tional laws.
They denounced the Iran’s training and provision of weap-ons to the terrorists in Bahrain as well as its continued occupa-tion of three Emirati islands.
They slammed the Leba-nese Hezbollah’s spreading of extremist ideologies, in-stigating of sectarian con-flicts and support to terrorist
By Abubakar A. IbrahimArab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 20: The parliamentary Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee on Monday discussed two pro-posals on amending the Audio Visual Law, says committee member MP Ahmad Al-Fadel.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Al-Fadel pointed out that the current law con-tradicts constitutional stipula-tions on freedom and it was approved at a time the country was experiencing unusual cir-cumstances.
Commenting on the Interior Ministry’s decision to impound a vehicle if the driver uses mo-bile phone by hand while driv-ing or if the driver and front seat passenger are not wearing seat belts, Al-Fadel said he sup-ports the decision, adding that everyone has seen the effect of this move on the behavior of road users.
He cited recent reports stat-ing that 94 percent of accidents are caused by the driver’s lack of focus on the road, especial-ly when using mobile phone while driving. He said the driv-er’s lack of focus on the road caused 1,282 deaths and the av-erage in Kuwait is five deaths per day.
He asserted the Interior Min-istry is not under pressure to cancel the decision — affirm-ing that the lawmakers who are pressuring the ministry to take such a step will not succeed.
On the other hand, MP Ri-yadh Al-Adsani said the gov-ernment was not happy with
Bid to globalize FATCA
DUBAI, Nov 20, (RTRS): Kingdom Holding’s plan to borrow money to fund new investments has stalled because owner Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has been de-tained in Saudi Arabia’s anti-corruption crackdown, according to four banking sources familiar with the matter.
Kingdom had approached banks to obtain the loan, but the financing plan has been held up because the lenders are worried about potential repercussions if they lend to the prince’s company, the sources said.
One of the sources, who was approached for the loan, said it would have been worth roughly 5 billion riyals ($1.3 billion).
A financing hold-up for Kingdom – a leading Saudi investment firm with stakes in prime real estate includ-ing New York’s Plaza Hotel and London’s Savoy Hotel – would suggest the crackdown this month is slowing new Saudi business activity.
Asked for comment, Kingdom’s Chief Financial Officer Mohammed Fahmy said his company had not asked any bank for a formal loan commitment. He said that terms of any financing deal were never finalised.
More than 200 people were questioned and dozens of princes, officials and top businessmen detained in the anti-corruption purge. Over 2,000 bank accounts have been frozen by investigators, commercial bankers told Reuters.
The Riyadh government has said the economy will not suffer because investigators are targeting only in-dividuals, not their companies, which can continue to operate as normal.
In a statement issued soon after Prince Alwaleed was detained two weeks ago, Kingdom also said it was con-tinuing to operate normally, and that it had the support of the government.
But a loan hold-up would suggest some damage to the economy may be inevitable as banks, uncertain of the fate of majority owners of companies and unsure how far the crackdown will extend, become reluctant to extend new financing.
Banks wary of loansin corruption probe
Newswatch
KUWAIT CITY: His High-ness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent a cable of condolences to Mo-roccan King Mohammad VI on victims of a stampede in Sidi Boulaalam, which killed and injured many people.
His Highness the Amir prayed to Allah the Al-mighty to bestow bless-ing upon the deceased and wished a speedy recovery for the injured.
His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah also extended condolences to King Mohammad VI over the victims of the Sidi Bou-laalam stampede.
His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent a similar cable. (KUNA)
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KUWAIT CITY: The Minis-try of Social Affairs and La-bor has requested the Minis-try of Foreign Affairs to take necessary action against the Iranian Embassy in Kuwait and has also asked the Cen-tral Bank of Kuwait to stop the donation accounts an-nounced by the Iranian em-bassy in the country, reports Al-Jaridah daily.
This came following the announcement by the Em-bassy of the Islamic Re-public of Iran in Kuwait its readiness to collect cash assistance for victims of the earthquake that hit Ker-manshah on Nov 12, which killed hundreds of people and injured several thou-sand.
According to the offi cial letter sent to the foreign ministry, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor
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Opinion
By Ahmed Al-JarallahEditor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
LEBANON has been known for its press freedom since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Whenever someone from any party attempts to violate or touch the press body, he ends up experiencing major political and security tremors.
One of the incidents that sparked war was the assassina-tion of journalist Naseeb Al-Natni. In 1980, the assassina-tion of Riyadh Taha, and later, Saleem Al-Louzi, in the hands of occupying Syrian agents were attempts to restrict freedom of expression and opinion. Despite the major game of war which prevailed at the time, press free-dom stood firm and solid. No force managed to shake it off.
Today, as the authority lifts the cover of moral political protec-tion on a journalist of the stature of Marcel Ghanem through the Justice Ministry which is affili-ated to Michel Aoun’s faction, the long gone era of oppression returns. This pushes the crisis in Lebanon into confrontation level which makes every Lebanese journalist fear for his life due to assassination and oppression practiced by ‘Hezbollah’ and its allies publicly.
With that, truth became the prelude to Marcel Ghanem’s statement in his famous pro-gram, ‘Kalaam Al-Naas’ (People Talk), in which he said “Those influencing the country’s deci-sion want the people to be a herd of sheep, moving in accordance with the mood of the shepherd – ‘Hezb Al-Shaytan’.
Lebanon has never lived in a grim condition similar to the current one — threats against its journalists and even those hosted by Lebanese press media among Arabs, just like what happened to Ghanem and his guests in the famous episode.
This indicates that the terror-ist threat of ‘Hezb Al-Shaytan’ is ‘transboundary’. It has also reached the Arab press with everyone wondering if ‘Hezb’ will send assassination teams to murder Arab journalists who op-pose its position — the reason why they killed several Lebanese politicians and journalists such as Rafik Al-Hariri and Gebran Tueni; and their attempts will not
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They are slaughtering Lebanese freedomSee Page 17
