Gulf dispute over Qatar ends, envoys to return
Transcription
Gulf dispute over Qatar ends, envoys to return
CR IP TI ON BS SU TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014 War makes Kuwaiti kid ask ‘Tell Me Why?’ www.kuwaittimes.net MUHARRAM 25, 1436 AH As fears rise in Myanmar, Rohingya exodus grows Ronaldo aims to outshine Messi on return to Manchester Artist Wedad Al-Mutawa living her passion ends, envoys to return 40 PAGES NO: 16346 150 FILS 3Gulf14 39 20 dispute over Qatar MPs hail Amir’s success in resolving spat Min 11º Max 29º High Tide 08:23 & 21:14 Low Tide 02:46 & 14:40 By B Izzak and Agencies News i n b r i e f Saudis to open stock market to foreigners RIYADH: Foreign institutional investors are expected to begin direct trading of Saudi Arabian stocks before April next year, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported yesterday, quoting unnamed sources. In August, the Capital Market Authority proposed rules for opening the market to direct investment sometime in the first half of 2015, including a 10 percent cap on combined foreign ownership of the market’s value. At present, foreigners are limited to investing indirectly through swaps and exchange-traded funds. Under the draft rules, foreign institutions would have to qualify for permission to invest. For example, they would usually need to have at least $5 billion of assets under management, and investment experience of five years. The final rules are expected to be announced before the end of this year, the Asharq Al-Awsat reported yesterday. Islamist group rejects UAE terror designation DUBAI: A group of Islamist scholars led by an influential Qatar-based cleric expressed “astonishment” yesterday that their organisation had being designated a terrorist group by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The International Union of Muslim Scholars urged the UAE to remove it from a list of 85 banned groups that the country, one of several Gulf Arab states that view political Islam as a security threat, had named on Saturday. The inclusion of the group was “not based on any analysis or investigation, whether legal, logical or rational”, the scholars said in a statement, which was co-signed by the union’s chairman, Egyptian-born Youssef AlQaradawi. “The Union expresses its complete and extreme astonishment of its inclusion by the UAE among the terrorists groups and rejects this description completely,” said the group, which says it seeks to promote scholarship and awareness of Islam. London attacker jailed for 18 years LONDON: A British judge yesterday handed out a life sentence with a minimum of 18 years in prison for a thief who brutally attacked three sisters from the United Arab Emirates in a London hotel room with a claw hammer. Drug addict Philip Spence, 33, attacked the tourists as they slept with their children at the four-star Cumberland Hotel on April 6, in an incident that raised concern about the safety of visitors from the Gulf. Afterwards he made off with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, before dumping the claw hammer near the crime scene. The Emirati sisters - Ohoud, Khulood Philip Spence and Fatima Al-Najja - were sharing adjoining rooms in the hotel and had left their doors open to allow a fourth sister to return later. Spence crept in and was seen by Khulood shortly before 1:30am, rifling through handbags. His subsequent sustained and ferocious attack left all three women unconscious. He hit Ohoud, 34, so hard that her skull split open. She now has only five percent brain function, has lost one eye and cannot speak. Khulood, 37, and Fatima, 31, still require medical treatment for their injuries. Vienna’s Saudi school accused of anti-Semitism VIENNA: Vienna’s school board is investigating the city’s Saudi Arabian school for reportedly teaching antiSemitism in a history class. The probe is linked to a report by an Austrian news magazine. The magazine said a history book used by the school contains antiJewish material. It quoted the book as allegedly describing Freemasons as “a Jewish, secret, subversive organization focused on guaranteeing control of the world by Jews”. School board official Matias Meissner said yesterday the board is looking into the allegations. A woman answering the phone at the school refused to comment. The school could lose its status as a recognized educational institution if the allegations are proven. RIYADH: HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (center) takes part in a meeting with Saudi King Abdullah (right), Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani (left) and other Gulf leaders late Sunday in the Saudi capital. — KUNA (See Page 2) Western jihadists in IS beheading video PAGE Screaming fans dub Modi a ‘rock star’ PAGE India urges higher pay for Gulf workers NEW DELHI/DUBAI/RIYADH: India is pressing rich countries in the Gulf to raise the wages of millions of Indians working there, in a drive that could secure it billions of dollars in fresh income but risks pricing some of its citizens out of the market. Over 5 million Indian nationals are believed to be employed in the oil exporting states of the Gulf, the single largest group in a migrant worker population of more than 20 million. Migrants do many of the dirty and dangerous jobs in the region, from construction to the oil industry, transport and services. They account for nearly half of the roughly 50 million population of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. So India’s campaign for much higher pay could have an impact on economies around the region, especially if it leads to a general increase in wages for workers from other big labour-supplying countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. Over the past seven months, Indian diplomats in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have sharply increased the minimum salaries that they recommend for Indian workers at private and public firms in those states. “We want the Indian workforce to be paid higher salaries. Inflation, the value of the Indian currency and a rise in the cost of living in the Gulf were the factors that led to the decision,” Kuwait to let banks trade in derivatives DUBAI: Kuwait’s dinar rose sharply against the US dollar in the forwards market yesterday in response to news that the Kuwaiti Central Bank would allow local banks to deal in derivatives with foreign banks. Al Rai newspaper in Kuwait quoted an unnamed source as saying the central bank had “informed treasury managers at banks that it no longer objects to Kuwaiti banks dealing in derivatives with foreign banks, as long as they deal in products approved by Central Bank regulations”. A trader at a Kuwait-based bank, contacted by Reuters, confirmed the report, saying the central bank had communicated its new policy at a meeting with banks on Sunday. A senior trader at another Kuwaiti bank said his institution had not yet received any formal communication from the Central Bank, but was making preparations for such trade. Contacted by Reuters, the Central Bank made no immediate comment. One-year dollar/dinar forwards dropped to 130 points, their lowest level since November last year, from 265 points on Friday. Continued on Page 13 Doctor with Ebola dies at US hospital WASHINGTON: A surgeon who was infected with Ebola while working in his native Sierra Leone died yesterday, becoming the second patient in the United States to succumb to the hemorrhagic virus. Martin Salia, 44, a legal US resident, was infected with Ebola while treating patients in his home country. The virus has killed thousands in West Africa since the start of the year. Salia was flown to Nebraska for treatment on Saturday, but doctors said he was unresponsive by the time he arrived, struggling to Martin Salia breathe and his organs were failing. “Dr Salia was suffering from advanced symptoms of Ebola when he arrived at the hospital Saturday, which included kidney and respiratory failure,” the Nebraska Medical Center said in a statement. (See Page 29) DUBAI/KUWAIT: A spat over Qatar’s alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood that alienated other members of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council appears to have been resolved because of major regional challenges. Possible concessions by Doha may also have paved the way to overcoming the unprecedented dispute. After a surprise mini-summit late Sunday in Riyadh, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain agreed to return their ambassadors to Doha, eight months after withdrawing them in protest at gas-rich Qatar’s “interference” in their affairs. Sunday’s reconciliation, which means the annual GCC summit will now go ahead as planned in Doha next month, comes amid security fears over the rise of radical jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq. Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have all joined a US-led coalition against Islamist insurgents in Syria. Oman is the only GCC member not to have done so. “What is important now is that the worst crisis to hit the GCC in its 33 years of existence is over,” Emirati political science professor Abdulkhaleq Abdulla said. Qatar was accused of destabilising the region by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood - branded a “terrorist” organisation by Saudi Arabia and the UAE - and other Islamist groups, notably in Syria and Libya. Yesterday, Qatar’s foreign ministry hailed the outcome of the summit, including the decision to return the envoys to their posts. Continued on Page 13 RIYADH: Kuwait’s Talal Al-Enezi (center) fights for the ball with UAE’s Amer Abdulrahman during their Gulf Cup Group B football match at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium yesterday. The match ended in a 2-2 draw. — AFP Y S Kataria, a spokesman for the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) in New Delhi, told Reuters. The success of India’s strategy is not yet clear, however. Officials in at least some GCC nations have expressed displeasure, and the strategy could backfire if those countries end up hiring more workers from elsewhere in the world. “Of course it will encourage companies to look at Bangladesh and Pakistan as more viable options to get migrant workers,” said Mohammed Jindran, managing director of UAE-based recruitment agency Overseas Labour Supply. Continued on Page 13 Rights group: Tackle Qatar labor abuses DOHA: It took less than a year for Murali Velayudhan’s dream to shatter. The Indian construction worker came to Qatar in October last year, hoping to be one of thousands of migrant workers to benefit from a $200 billion building boom related to the country’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and other projects. Landing in Doha, Velayudhan was aware that Qatar, like other Gulf Arab states, stood accused of encouraging modern slavery with its treatment of migrant workers prompting international outrage. But he was determined to save money for his family. But six months later the 42-year-old was heading back to India with no money and a debt that will take him a lifetime to repay. “It’s a dream that became a nightmare,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, as he departed from Doha International Airport with other co-workers who said they were abandoned by their employers without visas or salary. Despite global pressure on Qatar to address reports of exploitative working conditions, 29,400 people, or 1.4 percent of Qatar’s population, are estimated to be working as slaves, in forced labor or domestic servitude, a report said yesterday. Only Mauritania, Uzbekistan and Haiti had a higher prevalence of slaves per head of population, according to the second annual Global Slavery Index by Walk Free Foundation, an Australian-based human rights group. In the inaugural index last year, Qatar ranked 96th out of 160 countries surveyed for prevalence of modern slavery by percentage of the population. This year it was listed as the fourth worst country in a larger survey of 167 nations. “Qatar’s changed ranking reflects the fact that this year for the first time, we have survey data from returned Ethiopian and Nepali migrant workers,” said Fiona David, executive director of global research at Walk Free Foundation. Continued on Page 13