THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAITEstablished in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021 / JUMADA AL THANI 14, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17598 16 PAGES 150 FILS

basketball soccerPages 15 & 16 Page 14

His Excellency the Minister of Finance, Khalifa Hamada

Photo by Qatari Society of Al-GannasFawaz Al-Noon at the 12th Qatar International Falconry and Hunting Festival (Marmi). Two Kuwaiti falconers won top places at the 12th Qa-tar International Falconry and Hunting Festival, which began on Jan 3rd and will continue until the 30th. Al-Noon and Ahmad Aba Al-Qloub placed amongst the top three in the falconry competition, qualifying to the masters’ category of the tournament.Speaking to KUNA, Al-Noon, who came first and third in two categories, said that he was proud of the achievement. He affirmed that it was important to continue the tradition of falconry in the region, saying that such competition would highlight the

importance of maintaining heritage and culture.

US eyes Saudi basingamid tension with Iran

Former North Korea acting envoy to Kuwait defects

Breakeven crude $90/barrel

Bid to amend Nazaha

Financial disclosure bill set

CABINET SUBMITS BUDGET BILL FOR ASSEMBLY APPROVALKuwait ups spend; deficit at KD 12.1bnNBK posts KD 246.3mn net profi t for 2020

DUBAI, Jan 26, (AP): The U.S. mili-tary is exploring the possibility of us-ing a Red Sea port in Saudi Arabia and an additional two airfields in the kingdom amid heightened tensions with Iran, the military said Tuesday.

While describing the work as “contingency” planning, the U.S. military said it already has tested un-loading and shipping cargo overland from Saudi Arabia’s port at Yanbu, a crucial terminal for oil pipelines in the kingdom.

Using Yanbu, as well as air bases at Tabuk and Taif along the Red Sea, would give the American military more options along a crucial water-way that has come under increased attack from suspected mine and drone boat attacks by Yemen’s Irani-an-backed Houthi rebels.

However, the announcement comes as Saudi-American relations remain strained by the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the kingdom’s ongo-ing war in Yemen in the first days of President Joe Biden’s administra-tion. Deploying - even temporarily - American troops to bases in the king-dom, which is home to the Muslim holy city of Makkah, could reignite anger among extremists.

U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for Central Command, said the evaluation of the sites had been going on for over a year, sparked by the September 2019 drone-and-missile attack on the heart of the Saudi oil industry.

Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have blamed that attack, which temporar-ily halved Saudi oil production and saw a spike in oil prices, on Iran. Tehran has denied being involved and the Houthis claimed the assault, though the drones involved appear to be Iranian-made.

“These are prudent military plan-

ning measures that allow for tempo-rary or conditional access of facilities in the event of a contingency, and are not provocative in any way, nor are they an expansion of the U.S. foot-print in the region, in general, or in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in par-ticular,” Urban wrote.

U.S. Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, visited Yanbu on Monday. Defense One and the Wall Street Journal, which traveled with McKenzie to Yanbu, first reported on the American planning. Saudi officials did not respond to re-quest for comment Tuesday.

Already, Saudi Arabia paid for im-provements at the sites and are con-sidering more, Urban said. Tabuk is home to King Faisal Air Base, while Taif is home to King Fahd Air Base.

The Gulf Arab states are home to a vast array of American military bases, the legacy of the 1991 Gulf War that saw U.S.-allied forces expel Iraq from Kuwait, and the later 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. America pulled its forces out of Saudi Arabia after the 9/11 attacks. Osama bin Laden had cited their deployment in his attacks targeting the U.S.

Already, U.S. Central Command has a forward headquarters in Qatar. The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet operates from the island kingdom of Bahrain off Saudi Arabia’s coast. Kuwait hosts the U.S. Army Central’s forward headquarters, while the United Arab Emirates hosts American aviators and sailors.

Those locations also don’t in-clude the American troop presence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. For-mer President Donald Trump also deployed the first troops into Saudi Arabia since 9/11 over concerns about Iran. Some 2,500 American troops now man fighter jets and Pa-triot missile batteries at Prince Sultan Air Base southeast of Riyadh.

SEOUL, Jan 26, (AP): A North Korean diplomat who served as the country’s acting ambassador to Kuwait has defected to South Korea, according to South Korean lawmakers who were briefed by Seoul’s spy agency.

Ha Tae-keung, a conservative opposition lawmaker and an executive secretary of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee, said Tues-day he was told by officials from the National Intelligence Service that the diplomat arrived in South Korea in September 2019 with his wife and at least one child.

That would make him one of the most senior North Koreans to defect in recent years. North Korea, which touts itself as a socialist paradise, is

extremely sensitive about defections, especially among its elite, and has sometimes insisted that they are South Korean or American plots to under-mine its government.

Ha said he was told that the diplomat, who changed his name to Ryu Hyun-woo after arriving in the South, had escaped through a South Korean diplomatic mission but that spy officials didn’t specify where. Ha said spy officials didn’t provide specific details as to why Ryu decided to defect.

The office of Kim Byung-kee, a lawmaker of the ruling liberal party and the intelligence committee’s other executive secretary, said he was also told that Ryu was now living in South Korea. Kim’s aides didn’t elaborate further.

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: The Kuwait Ministry of Finance today announced the draft government budget for the State of Kuwait for the coming fis-cal year, which starts April 1, 2021 and ends on March 31, 2022.

The budget forecasts 10.9 billion in revenue (+45.7% vs cur-rent budget), plans 23 billion in expenditure (+6.9% vs current budget), and projects a deficit of KD 12.1 billion (+13.8% vs the budgeted deficit for the current year ending on March 31st of KWD14.0 billion).

The Kuwait Minister of Finance H.E. Khalifa M. Hamada said: “The country’s balance sheet is exceptionally strong, bolstered by

our Future Generations Fund and one of the lowest debt to GDP ratios in the world. However, the State’s budget is not immune to the global challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and lower oil prices. We are in a transitional phase that requires concerted efforts for eco-nomic recovery and growth.

However, the cabinet is committed to implementing its development projects, with capital expenditures amounting to 3.9 billion KD, an in-crease of 20% from the current budget. We look forward to more co-operation and collaboration with Kuwait’s Parliament to introduce and amend more laws that will benefi t and improve our fi scal framework, and to empower Kuwait’s economy.”

21/22 Budget highlightsRevenue:Total projected revenue: KD10.9 billion, representing an increase

of 45.6% compared to the current year’s budget.Non-oil revenue: 17% of total revenue.Expenditure:Budgeted expenditure: KD23 billionExpenditure breakdown: Salaries and Subsidies: 71.6% of total expenditureCapital Expenditure: 15% of total expenditure, representing a 20%

increase compared to the current year’s budget.Other Expenses comprise 12% Fiscal Balance:KD12.1 billion fi scal defi cit, representing a decrease of 13.8% com-

pared to the forecasted defi cit in the current year’s budget.Break-even point: USD 90/barrel.The Ministry of Finance said Monday, that the expected deficit for

the fiscal year 2021-2022 is estimated at KD 12.1 billion (around US 39 billion), down 13.8 percent from the current budget, which ends on March 31.

In a press release on the country’s budget, the ministry noted that total expenditures for the next fiscal year are estimated at KD 23 billion (about US 75 billion) is based on an average price estimated at USD 45 per barrel of Kuwaiti oil.

The ministry added that the total expected revenues during the 2021-2022 budget are estimated at KD 10.9 billion (about USD 33 billion), of which about KD 9.12 billion dinars (USD 29.7 billion dollars) are oil revenues, 62 percent higher than the current budget, which ends on March 31, while Non-oil revenues amounted to KD 1.8 billion (about USD 5.9 billion).

By Saeed Mahmoud SalehArab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: MP Osama Al-Shaheen submitted a bill to amend Law No. 2/2016 on the establishment of Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) in order to obligate the prime minis-ter, ministers, National Assembly speaker and MPs to submit their financial disclosures to Nazaha and make them available to the citizens.

Al-Shaheen pointed out that the current law obligates the above-mentioned individuals to sub-mit their financial disclosures in sealed envelopes to Nazaha and the contents can be revealed only if requested by the judicial author-ity in case the relevant individual is subjected to investigation. He said the bill aims to provide citi-zens with facts about the financial status of the prime minister, min-isters, Assembly speaker and MPs for citizens to follow up and ques-tion them any time.

MP Mubarak Al-Arow Al-

Mutairi forwarded a bill to amend Amiri Decree No. 61/1976 on social security. It allows a natural-ized citizen working in the public sector to add the years he worked before obtaining citizenship to the total number of years in service, provided he pays the social securi-ty contributions for the additional years either once or maximum of five years installment.

He also proposed the amend-ment of Law No.116/1992 on the administrative structure and specifying specializations to limit the period of delegating em-ployees to leadership positions in an acting capacity for six months and this term is nonrenewable.

He submitted a proposal to transfer supervision of the Crimi-nal Evidence General Depart-ment from the Ministry of Inte-rior to the Public Prosecution.

MP Abdulkareem Al-Kandari proposed revision of all build-op-erate-transfer (BOT) contracts and rent contracts for State properties.

See Also Page 2

— Details Page 8 —

Opinion

Prime Minister ... hunger is the best sauceBy Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

HIS Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled, kindly pardon me for not being able to attend the meeting you called for the editors-in-chief of local newspapers, which is scheduled for to-day. I am still under quarantine after my recent return to the country.

Nonetheless, the Arab Times and Al-Seyassah newspapers will be represented by the Deputy Editor-in-Chief Sulaiman Abdulaziz Al-Jarallah.

By the way, we hope that His Highness will be alerted to a very important mat-ter, which is that those who travel for one week and return to the country have to un-dergo a 14-day quarantine period. Those coming from certain countries spend 15 days of quarantine in a “transit” nation, and are still subjected to a similar period of quarantine upon arrival in Kuwait.

Undoubtedly, hotels and service sec-tors are flourishing in those countries while our hotels remain empty due to the consequences of the crisis, when those ar-riving in Kuwait may be obligated to un-dertake institutional quarantine and spend such money locally.

Until the officials pay attention to this matter, we return to the most important issue.

In our editorial yesterday, we advised His Highness the Prime Minister to offer the olive branch to the people instead of the MPs. This is to protect the govern-ment from being exposed and appearing weak in front of the people. The MPs are sprinkling populist slogans, and when the government yields to the MPs’ calls, the credit goes unfairly to the MPs.

Your Highness the Prime Minister, we have said this again and again. Kuwaitis are not asking for the impossible. All they want is the elimination of injustices that are the outcomes of procrastinations in solving their simple problems.

For instance, the successive govern-ments did not take any serious step to solve the housing issue despite its simple solution. In the neighboring countries where population density is much higher than Kuwait and those in need of houses could be more than the Kuwaiti popula-tion, their government came up with re-alistic projects.

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the state resorted to allocation of enough land area, and the construction of houses was entrusted to major companies. It also guaranteed the interests of loans offered to citizens payable for a period of 40 years.

The same happened in the United Arab Emirates, where new cities have been built, and homes are more luxurious than in Kuwait.

In Morocco as well as the Sultanate

of Oman, the state guaranteed the inter-est of loans, and launched a large urban workshop.

Your Highness, you could send del-egations to those countries to study their experiences. As you know, there is “no greater support than consultation”. As for letting the situation remain as it is, it would mean turning around a vicious circle and the worsening of the crisis.

The second issue is loans, something that we have talked a lot about. This is because the government’s ears only hear the voice of the beneficiaries of the con-tinued suffering of 120,000 Kuwaitis who are victims of obstinacy in the legal pro-cedures that are in the interest of the cred-itor. The government has left the matter under the influence of parliamentary in-terests such that candidates use it as a ride to reach the National Assembly.

The solution to this issue is also sim-ple. The government must agree with the banks to reduce or drop interests and reschedule the principal debt for twenty years with its guarantee, as well as recon-sider the legal procedures.

In the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, there is no longer such a thing as “suspending services”. However, Kuwait continues to cling to it. If a citi-zen owes KD 10, his transactions will be suspended until he pays that small sum, and such complicated procedures cost the state ten times the amount.

His Highness the Prime Minister, yes-terday the Minister of Finance announced the draft budget for the year 2021/2022, stressing that the budget deficit has reached KD 12.1 billion, and a large pro-portion of the budget goes to salaries.

The state continues to implement the Kuwaitization plan, which involves pro-viding jobs in the public sector for the citizens... This is merely disguised unem-ployment. It can work with the common saying - “Hunger is the best sauce”, that is, instead of random employment and use of wasta, the government should stop supplementing salaries, and force every-one to go to work in the private sector. Whoever is qualified to work in the public sector should apply for a job in it, pro-vided he/she is productive.

These issues only need a legal revolu-tion, and the opportunity is now available to you, Your Highness. Do not resort to compromises with the MPs who suck the blood of the people with slogans. It is only then the government will get rid of the bur-den of absurd parliamentary pressure.

Email: ahmed@aljarallah.com

Follow me on:

ahmedaljarallah@gmail.com

Newswatch

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait listed 505 new coronavirus infections and three virus-related deaths on Tuesday to raise the total to 162,282 and 957 respectively, the health ministry said.

The number of people hospitalised with the virus currently stands at 6,022 with 49 of them in intensive care units, accord-ing to ministry spokesman Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad, who revealed that some 8,426 swab tests were conducted over the last day out of a total of 1,479,530.

The ministry had earlier reported that some 537 more people had been cured from the virus over the past day, raising the total of those to have overcome the disease to 155,303. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑

KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Tuesday, sent a cable of con-dolences to the Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud over the passing of Princess Tarfa bint Saud bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

His Highness the Amir extended his deepest sympathies over the loss, wishing the family solace in this time of grief.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables to the Saudi King. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑

KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent Tuesday a cable of congratu-lations to Indian President Ram Nath Kovind on his country’s national day, wishing him good health and for the Re-public and the Indian people further pro-

gress and prosperity.His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh

Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑

KUWAIT CITY: Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait Yousef Al-Obeid on Tuesday affi rmed the CBK standing policy of protecting clients from fraud and high-risk investments.

Speaking at a news conference mark-ing a campaign themed “Let’s be aware,” Al-Obeid added that the CBK measures in this respect have drastically cut number of such acts of deception. Moreover, they have protected banking institutions and individuals against high risk investments such as suspicious transactions in the digi-tal currency, the bitcoin.

Elaborating, he has mentioned that the CBK as a standing policy educate the public against excessive consumption and guide them toward saving. (KUNA)

❑ ❑ ❑

KUWAIT CITY: The concerned offi cials at the Directorate General of Civil Avia-tion (DGCA) recently issued a directive to airlines operating at Kuwait International Airport to exempt Kuwaiti families, elderly and students stranded abroad and in transit destinations from the decision to reduce the number of arriving passengers daily and al-low them to immediately return to Kuwait on humanitarian grounds, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting a reliable source.

Speaking to the daily, the source re-vealed the proposed excluded cases will be studied and considered separately based on the statement of the airlines; tak-ing into consideration the health regula-tions and their current destinations.

Continued on Page 4

ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021 2

Source: Ministry of Finance, The State of Kuwait(Pending Parliamentary approval)

ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021 3

Fajr ................ 05:18Sunrise .......... 06:41Zohr ............... 12:01

Asr .................. 15:00Maghrib .......... 17:21Isha ................ 18:41

Prayer TimingsExpected weather for the next 24 hrs:

By Day: Fair and partly cloudy with light variable wind to light to moderate south easterly wind with speeds of 06-28 km/h.

By Night: Rather cold to cold and partly cloudy to cloudy with light to

moderate south easterly wind with speeds of 10-35 km/h.Station Max Exp Min Rec Kuwait City 21 12Kuwait Airport 22 06Abdaly 23 06Bubyan 19 09

Jahra 23 09Failaka Island - -Salmiyah 21 14Ahmadi 19 14Nuwaisib 22 09Wafra 24 07Salmy 22 06

Weather

VACCINE REGISTRATION WEBSITE: https://cov19vaccine.moh.gov.kw/SPCMS/CVD_19_Vaccine_Registration.aspx

KIPCO climbs 4 fi ls, Humansoft Holding retreats

Kuwait takes a breather after winning spree, volume surgesBy John MathewsArab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Kuwait stocks were lit-tle changed as the market took a breather after the six-day winning spree. The All Shares Index eased 2.99 points to 5,727 pts even as the broad-er sentiment turned mixed.

The Premier Market inched 0.77 pts higher to 6,256.49 points whereas Main Market gave 10.87 points. The BK Main 50 was down 19.25 points at 4,857.80 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile soared past the 400 million mark to hit a four month high. Over 495 million shares changed hands – a 29 pct surge from the day be-fore.

The sectors closed mostly in green. Basic Materials outshone the rest with over 1 pct gain whereas Consumer Goods shed 0.95 percent, the worst performer of the day. Financial Ser-vices topped in both value and volume with 319 million shares traded for KD 17.62 million.

SharesIn the individual shares, investment conglom-

erate KIPCO rose 4 fi ls on back of over 5 mil-lion shares to 167 fi ls whereas National Invest-ment Co clipped 2 fi ls after pushing 1.5 million shares. Boubyan Bank added 3 fi ls while Com-

mercial Bank gave up 9 fi ls to close at 501 fi ls. Zain inched 1 fi l higher to 632 fi ls with a vol-

ume of 3.4 million shares and Ooredoo took in1 fi l. stc scaled 6 fi ls before settling at 911 fi ls and Agility dialed down 2 fi ls after pushing 2.2 million shares. Humansoft Holding shed 11 fi ls and Boursa Kuwait Securities slipped 4 fi ls to KD 1.168.

SectorIn the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait

eased 1 fi l to 864 fi ls after moving 6.4 million shares and Kuwait Finance House followed suit to end at 705 fi ls. Kuwait International Bank and Burgan Bank dialed up 1 fi ls each to close at 211 fi ls and 218 fi ls respectively whereas Warba Bank and Ahli United Bank clipped 1 fi l each. Al Ahli Bank stood pat at 208 fi ls.

The market opened fi rm and edged higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 5,737 pts and headed south as selling roiled some of the counters after the recent gains. It bot-tomed at 5,711 points half way into the session and drifted higher thereafter to close nearly fl at.

Top gainer of the day, Ektittab Holding soared 21.7 pct to 18.5 fi ls while First Takaful jumped 15.4 percent to stand next. Osoul Invest-ment skidded 4.9 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and ALOLA topped the volume with

over 85 million shares. Despite the day’s tame fi nish, the winners

slightly outnumbered the losers. 69 stocks ad-vanced whereas 57 closed lower. Of the 138 counters active on Tuesday, 12 closed fl at. 13,305 deals worth KD 46 million were trans-acted during the session.

Kharafi Group’s fl agship company, National Industries Group was unchanged at 191 fi ls with a volume of 2.9 million whereas Mezzan Holding ticked 1 fi l into green. Boubyan Petro-chemical Co gave up 2 fi ls and Al Qurain Petro-chemical Co gained 9 fi ls to close at 360 fi ls. In-tegrated Holding added 1 fi l and Aznour stalled at 272 fi ls with a volume of 1.5 million.

DroppedJazeera Airways dropped 13 fi ls to 707 fi ls

whereas ALAFCO gave up 5 fi ls before settling at 214 fi ls. KCPC took in 1 fi l before closing at 438 fi ls whereas KPPC added 1.6 fi ls. Energy House and Gulf Petroleum Investment added 0.2 fi ls each whereas Mashaer Holding trimmed 1 fi l. IFA Ho-tels and Resorts rose 3 fi ls to 26.4 fi ls.

Kuwait Cement Co erased 2 fi ls and Kuwait Portland C closed 3 fi ls in red. Gulf Cable and NICBM tripped 1 fi l each to end at 774 fi ls and 154 fi ls respectively whereas Kuwait Foundry Co was up 3 fi ls at 291 fi ls. ACICO Industries

eased 0.7 fi l to 89.2 fi ls while Metal and Recy-cling Co whittled down 0.9 fi l.

Kuwait National Cinema Co dipped 14 fi ls to 756 fi ls whereas Educational Holding Co paused at 334 fi ls. Burgan Company For Well Drilling fell 5 fi ls to 144 fi ls while United Pro-jects Co dialed up 2 fi ls. Oula Fuel and Soor Fuel trimmed 1 fi l each whereas Combined Group Contracting Co held ground at 215 fi ls.

Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co edged 0.8 fi ls higher to 54 fi ls while Automated Sys-tems Co took in 0.7 fi l. Inovest crept 1.9 fi ls higher to 72.9 fi ls and Al Manar Financing di-aled up 2.3 fi ls.

TradingKuwait Investment Co eased 1 fi l to 126 fi ls

whereas International Financial Advisors edged 0.9 fi l up on back of 9.5 million shares. Arzan Financial Group rose 2.3 fi ls to 71 fi ls with heavy trading while Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) tripped 0.5 fi l. KMEFIC dialed down 0.5 fi l and First Investment gained 4.4 fi ls. KFIC closed 1.3 fi ls higher at 44.2 fi ls.

The market has been largely positive so far during the week gaining 39 points in last three sessions. It has rallied 180 points from start of the month after shedding 736 points during whole of 2020.

Mubarak Al-Arow Al-MutairiSunni

Third Constituency

MUBARAK AL-AROW AL-MU-TAIRI obtained Bachelor of Law in 2001. He was an officer at the Military Judiciary in the Ministry of Defense.

He was a lawyer in the Constitutional Court and Cassation Court, legal re-searcher at the Ministry of Finance and lawyer of Kuwait Public Transport Company (KPTC). He is a member of Kuwait Law-yers Society.

He contested the parliamentary elections for the first time in 2020; during which he got 2,982 votes and ranked seventh in the Third Constituency.

StatementAl-Mutairi disclosed that his

priorities in the 2020 Assembly include amendment of the Audio-

Visual Law in order to cancel the imprison-ment penalty. He also intends to propose revi-sion of the law on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to ensure pro-tection of these enter-prises, especially dur-ing emergencies. He is keen on amending the law on judicial miscon-duct appeals as well.

He said: “As a Kuwaiti citizen, I share the hopes and suffering of my compatriots. I am willing to tackle their issues and address popular de-mands.”

Voting Record

Al-Mutairi has no voting record as he is a first-time MP.

mp profile getting to know you

Al-Mutairi

Second batch to get jobs soon

MoH hires Pakistani medicalteams to help battle CoronaKUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: According to reliable sources, the Ministry of Health has appointed a large number of Pakistani medical personnel who arrived in the country last October to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Kuwait, reports Aljarida daily.

They explained that 208 of them have been appointed as doctors, nurses and technicians. They were part of the first batch of the Pakistani medical delegation that arrived in the country on October 22 with 15 specialized doctors, 41 technicians and 152 nurses.

The Ministry of Health is now working on completing the pro-cedures for appointing the second batch of Pakistani medical person-nel, that arrived in Kuwait late last December, in order to use their ser-vices and expertise in the ministry’s facilities. Their number is estimated at 196 doctors, nurses and techni-cians.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has provided the “Ask Me” service at the Kuwait Vaccination Center in the International Fair Grounds with a supervisor to respond to inquiries

and questions related to COVID-19 vaccination prior to receiving the vaccine.

The “Ask Me” platform provides the opportunity for the public to communicate with preventive health doctors, and get answers to the in-quiries and questions of those wish-ing to receive the vaccine, especially whether the vaccination will have side effects after receiving the doses.

A member of the organizing com-mittee at the Kuwait Vaccination Center Dr. Hussein Al-Shakhs said this service helps guide the elderly about the method to pre-register through the preventive vaccina-tion platform, and answer questions about the minor side effects of the vaccine and how to deal with them.

He said this platform also allows the elderly and others to know the methods and mechanisms of reg-istration on the platform for COV-ID-19 vaccination, and for consult-ing the doctor about the side effects of vaccination, whether these minor symptoms occur from the first or the second dose, and other such inqui-ries and questions.

KUNA photoThe Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Mohammad Al-Sabah holds talks with the Iranian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

for Political Affairs Dr. Abbas Araghchi.

‘Chinese vaccine safe, low-cost’We respect Kuwait’s choice: Ambassador Li Minggang

Kuwait FM meets Iranian Deputy FM

By Shawqi MahmoudAl-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: The Chinese Ambassador to Kuwait, H.E. Li Minggang, confirmed the exist-ence of cooperation between Kuwait and China regarding the vaccines proposed to confront ‘Co-rona’ with their participation in the ‘Covax’ initia-tive launched by the World Health Organization to reach the best vaccines and support their fair dis-tribution globally, pointing out that the vaccine is very important to confront this pandemic and that

the option of Kuwait importing the Chinese vaccine is up to the Kuwaiti authorities.

This came during the virtual press conference held by Minggang at the Chinese embassy premises. China and Kuwait have been cooper-ating in a team spirit, the Chinese President Xi Jinping had exchanged documents with the late Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Jaber and HH the Amir, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad, to express mutual support.

In this regard State Counselor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi have also met with Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Al-Nasser Al-Mu-hammad.

The Chinese envoy said, in critical times to combat the pandemic in China, the Kuwaiti side donated supplies worth 3 million dollars to the Chinese side, while the Chinese side opened several times the special corridor for the Ku-waiti side to import supplies from China, organized 5 virtual meetings be-

Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Mohammad Al-Sabah received Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ab-bas Araghchi, at the Foreign Ministry on Tues-

day. The meeting was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah, Kuwait’s Ambassador to Iran Majdi Al-Dhefeeri, Assistant foreign Minister for Deputy Foreign Minister’s of-

fi ce Ayham Al-Omar, Assistant Foreign Minister for the Minister’s offi ce Saleh Al-Loughani and Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for the Minis-ter’s offi ce Ahmad Al-Shuraim. (KUNA)

tween medical experts, and sent a team of medical experts to Kuwait to help fi ght the pandemic.

He stressed the Chinese vaccine is safe and affordable, pointing out that more than 40 countries have submitted their requests to import the Chinese vaccine and 20 countries have agreed to use it.

He stated more than 10 million people have been vaccinated with the Chinese vaccine around the world after scientifi c tests were conducted on humans in three stages and showed no seri-ous negative symptoms for this vaccine, and this confi rms that the Chinese government always makes the safety of the vac-cine user its priority.

PointedHe pointed out that the Chinese companies involved in the

production of this vaccine are developing it according to the scientifi c rules and regulations, and “we must respect the sci-entists who carry out this development in all parts of the world, and thank their efforts because of which vaccines have become available in the world.”

When asked to what extent the Chinese vaccine is effec-tive with the new strains, the Ambassador stressed he does not have confi rmed data on this subject, and the results will be announced as soon as they are made available. However, he stressed China’s commitment to what the Chinese President said that Chinese vaccines will be for public benefi t after their development, and this is a serious commitment from China as a responsible country.

On the feasibility of the Chinese vaccine, with the resur-gence of the epidemic in some Chinese provinces, he ex-plained that China has started vaccination in some sectors and for groups of people and will continue the vaccination process at various stages in an orderly manner.

The Chinese envoy said 2020 was a very exceptional year for China, Kuwait and the whole world, as China succeeded in achieving double important results in both the prevention and control of the epidemic and in terms of economic and social development, and has accomplished the historic tasks of rid-ding extreme poverty according to the set timetable.

MoI launches site Iraqi Speaker,team ‘depart’Online transfer for Art. 18

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: The Ministry of Interior announced the launch of its on-line sponsorship transfer service for private sector workers who come under Ar-ticle 18 visa through its website www.moi.gov.kw, starting from Tuesday, reports Al-Rai daily.

The Public Relations and Security Media General Department in the ministry explained in a press statement that the service is made available through the tremendous efforts ex-erted by the ministry

to digitally transform all services in order to save time and effort as well as speed up the completion of transac-tions.

The service was launched through the concerted efforts of the Information Systems General Department and Residency Affairs Sector.

This is just one of many electronic ser-vices that the ministry launched recently in a bid to facilitate and simplify procedures for citizens and expa-triates, the statement added.

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26, (KUNA): Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammad Al-Hal-bousi and his accompanying delegation departed Kuwait on Monday after two-day visit.

Upon departure, Al-Halbusi was seen off by the National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim and head of the Honorary Mis-sion Member of Parliament (MP) Ahmad Al-Hamad.

Earlier, Al-Halbousi met with His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and se-nior state officials. During their parliamentarian meet-ings, the Iraqi lawmakers discussed means of boosting cooperation at various levels in addition to diverse region-al and international issues.

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LOCALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021

4

KUNA photo

HH the Amir with HH Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad.

Amir receives Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad

Mishref co-op organizes special training course

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Bayan Palace Tuesday His Highness

Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. (KUNA)

The Mishref Cooperative Society announced it organized a special training course in computer skills at the Mishref Training Center, saying the training was totally ‘self-contained’ with the help of trainers from among the experi-enced employees, as part of its keenness to continuously develop all fi elds in general and adminis-trative In particular

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association, Ali

Al-Fahd, said during the honoring of the employees that the current training course is the fi rst step in a wide plan that has been devel-oped and will be implemented throughout the year whose aim is to impart more technical skills and support and develop employees’ capabilities through specialized training courses in all fi elds ac-cording to different specializations and according to needs of each department.

He said the administration courses vary from marketing, in-formation systems, security and safety and other courses.

Al-Fahd stated that human re-sources are the basic building block of any successful system and its permanent development supports the continuation of suc-cess with distinction, saying the Mishref Co-operative Society does not hesitate to pursue self-develop-ment, especially for its employees.

DGCA, MoH coordinate to chargeairlines for passengers’ PCR tests

Decision to allow expats from banned countries faces difficulties

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been coordinating with the Ministry of Health to implement in an orderly man-ner the Cabinet’s decision to charge airlines the cost of PCR tests for all arriving passengers in the country upon their arrival and during the quarantine period, reports Al-Anba daily.

According to reliable sources, DGCA, in coordination with the Ministry of Health, is studying the establishment of a health platform

for carrying out health procedures and providing information to all ar-riving passengers in the State of Kuwait so that the health registration step in the passenger terminals is canceled.

DGCA is also coordinating with the Ministry of Health to agree on a mecha-nism for providing the service and fi xed the costs of the PCR tests to be incurred by the airlines, which in turn will charge the passengers for it in order to ensure good service delivery and not to exploit passengers and exaggerate prices. The coordination will also include a medical personnel affi liated with the Ministry of Health for the exit process and private laboratory staff to conduct PCR tests in the entry process.

DGCA has informed the Ministry of Health to urgently report on the fi xed cost of the PCR test with the need to specify the quarantine period inside Kuwait, and the date for the second test that will be performed by pri-vate laboratories under the supervi-sion of the Ministry of Health, as well as the completion of the prep-aration of the health platform and the linking of all current platforms and programs with it.

A plan will be prepared to train the medical teams from private laboratories on the mechanism of work to conduct the necessary tests inside the passenger build-ings, and to keep the medical staff affi liated with the Ministry of Health until it is confi rmed that they perform

the test process in accordance with the conditions and controls of the ministry.

PlatformThe sources said the decision to

charge airlines the cost of conduct-ing PCR tests for all passengers upon arrival and during the quar-antine period will not be imple-mented until the health platform is established and the prices of the tests are determined by the DGCA and the Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, implementing the decision to allow passengers from the banned countries to enter Ku-wait after spending 14 days of quarantine in a transit country is facing diffi culties due to the lim-ited passenger seats and cancella-tion of thousands of travel reser-vations by some airlines, reports Al-Qabas daily.

This is due to the Cabinet’s de-cision to limit the number of expa-triates entering the country by ban-ning several countries and setting the operating capacity for arrival fl ights at 35 passengers per fl ight.

Sources in the tourism and travel sector explained that ex-patriates traveling through tran-sit countries will have to stay in those countries for additional pe-riods due to the unavailability of fl ight tickets during this period.

Some expatriates, several hours prior to the implementation of the decision, had booked new “transit” tickets and crossed through several stations, most notably Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, in order to return to Kuwait. The cost of tickets for ex-patriates traveling through transit countries reached about KD 850.

Chairman of Mishref co-op society in a group photo with the honored employees.

New project launched to develop market: Sheikh Talal

Power supply restored to Saffafeer MarketKUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: The Gov-ernor of the Capital, Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled, has issued instruction to restore power supply to the Al-Saffa-feer Market in the East Industrial Area after ensuring all violations have been rectifi ed, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

The governor said a new project has been launched to develop the mar-ket and preserve its heritage character as per the plans drawn by the Ministry of State for Municipal Affairs.

He said this in a press statement, on the sidelines of his fi eld tour of the

Al-Saffafeer Market and as part of his efforts to follow up on the commit-ment of those working at the ensure they abide by law and dismantle all violations.

He toured the area along with the Director-General of the Public Au-thority for Industry, Abdul Karim Taqi, the Deputy Chief of the General Fire Brigade for the Prevention Sec-tor, Major General Khaled Abdullah Fahd, as well as the Deputy Director General of the Municipality for the Capital and Al-Jahra governorate’s

sector of, Engineer Faisal Sadiq Al-Jumah, and the Deputy Director Gen-eral of the Specifi cations Sector in the Public Authority for Industry, Mu-hammad Al-Adwani and other senior offi cials of concerned institutions.

Al-Khaled explained the Public Au-thority for Industry will undertake the actual procedures regarding the imple-mentation of the project after receiving its plans from the Ministry of State for Municipal Affairs and indicated this project will serve as a heritage land-mark in the Eastern Industrial Zone.

HH Amir sends congratulations toPortugal president on re-election

PAM, KUDLO discuss recruitment of newdomestic workers through ‘Belsalamah’

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26, (KUNA): His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ah-mad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Tuesday sent a cable of congratulations to the President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on his re-election for a new term in the top offi ce.

In the cable, His Highness the Amir

wished president de Sousa good health and further promotion for the good ties between the two friendly countries.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah sent similar cables.

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: The Department for Organizing Domestic Labor Recruit-ment at the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) recently met with Kuwait Union of Domestic Labor Offi ces (KUDLO) in view of the Cabinet’s recent announcement to al-low the recruitment of new domestic work-ers as part of the domestic labor return plan through ‘Belsalamah’ platform, reports Al-Jarida daily quoting KUDLO Chairman Khaled Al-Dakhnan.

Speaking to the daily, Al-Dakhnan re-vealed that they discussed several topics related to resumption of the recruitment of new domestic workers and the diffi culties that domestic labor offi ces are currently facing, especially in light of the current health situation – the continuous spread and mutation of coronavirus.

He said the union proposed reduction of quarantine period for arriving workers from 14 days to fi ve days, considering the work-ers are required to undergo three PCR tests before and upon arrival in the country to en-sure they are free from the virus. He added this procedure will reduce the cost of re-cruiting domestic workers for citizens and expatriates who want to hire such workers.

He affi rmed the recruitment fees are spec-ifi ed in accordance with the decision of the

Ministry of Commerce as follows: KD 990 for one single worker, in addition to KD 490 for the platform and quarantine of workers from the Philippines, while the additional fee is KD 390 for workers from India.

He disclosed the union also demanded for review of air ticket prices, particularly since the entire recruitment cost is taken from the pockets of citizens and expatriates who want to hire domestic workers and the ticket price is included in the recruitment cost.

He said the union stressed the need for the concerned government agencies to quickly take action to ensure there is enough room for the recruitment of domestic workers from several countries, instead of limiting it to two or three countries. He pointed out this will increase supply and reduce the recruitment cost specifi ed by the Ministry of Commerce (KD 990), in addition to re-ducing the monthly salary of workers from KD120 to KD 80.

He added that “lack of cooperation be-tween government agencies resulted in the severe shortage of domestic manpower that the country is currently witnessing. It also delayed the memorandum of understanding for the recruitment of Ethiopian domes-tic workers, which has been locked in the drawers for months now.”

Four recently-appointed co-op members ‘resign’

By Fares Al-AbdanAl-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 25: Four members of the recently-appointed board of directors for the Sulaibikhat and Doha Cooperative Society have resigned, while informed sources indicated that the board of directors could be completely dis-solved after these resignations.

The sources told Al-Seyassah daily that the treasurer has submitted what it called a ‘reasonable’ resignation due to the inconsistency in the board of directors, which prevented the translation of the confi dence of the Minister of Social Affairs and the leadership of the Ministry into a practical reality that results in the development of work and raises the level of performance in the society and all its branches and facilities.

Financial disclosureContinued from Page 1

He explained the aim of the proposal is to increase the rent fees and value of BOT contracts to match the current prices and contribute to the public budget.

On the other hand, MP Marzouq Al-Khalifa forwarded queries to interim Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Dr Rana Al-Fares about the Jahra coastal project. He said Kuwait Municipality signed a contract for this purpose with foreign and na-tional contractors at a total cost of KD880,000. He asked for the names of the local and foreign contractors, copy of the contract, stages and components of the project, and schedule of implementation.

MP Badr Al-Humaidi asked interim Minister of Justice Nawaf Al-Yasseen about the delayed implementation of the decisions issued by the Public Prosecution to freeze the bank accounts of two companies — TEMAS and Star Neighborhood Real Estate Company and an individual from Sudan identifi ed as Ahmed Moneer Dahab - as they are implicated in money laundering Lawsuit No. 993/2016.

Al-Humaidi also forwarded queries to interim Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Nasser Al-Muhammad about the appointment of a retired citizen to a senior diplomatic position with the title of extraordinary ambassador even if he never worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has never been part of the diplomatic corps. He wants to know the truth about the allegation that the citizen was granted two suites in a fi ve-star hotel and other privileges, institu-tion that nominated the citizen to such position, and meas-ures that will be taken to recover the money he received in case it is proven he obtained the amount illegally.

MP Hamad Al-Matar submitted questions to interim Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Thamer Ali Al-Sabah about the number of employees in the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI), their qualifi cations, number of vacant senior positions, number of employees who have been in service for more than 30 years and promoted to supervisory posts, and factors con-sidered in their promotion.

MP Soud Bu Sleeb asked interim Minister of Social Af-fairs, Awqaf and Isamic Affairs Essa Al-Kandari about the employees nominated for supervisory positions at the Public Authority for Handicapped Affairs (PAHA), results of exams taken by the applicants, directors who were not nominated to senior positions, criteria used in classifying the degrees of disabilities and number of lawsuits fi led against PAHA.

LOCALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021

5

‘Should life stagnate because of govt’s resignation?’“A FEW days ago, I went to one of the government agencies to complete a legal transaction and I was surprised that the assistant undersecretary stopped that transaction, so I met him to know the reason. He told me to wait for the forma-tion of a new government, and that he will conclude my transaction after know-ing who the next minister is and what his agenda is,” columnist Oweid Al-Sulaili wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“The government institutions stop working and stop serving the citizens under the pretext of the government’s resignation and this is unacceptable because the citizens lose their rights and their work suffers. These are fl imsy excuses for senior offi cials in state ministries whose aim is to know the orientation of the new minister in the event that the citizens’ transactions are completed, so that the offi cial does not come in line with the fi ring line or face dismissal.

“In European countries, especially in Italy, we see the in-stability of successive governments, which is a political situ-ation similar to the situation in our country but the differ-ence between us and them is that their development never stops and life is not disrupted by successive political crises unlike our unacceptable and unreasonable reality. “The minister is primarily a politi-cal position and therefore there are undersecretaries, assistant undersecretaries and directors of institutions whose positions are semi-fi xed and they are directly respon-sible for the work of those institutions and they have all the powers to accomplish, plan and develop without any infl uence of the political crises that occur between the legislative and executive authorities.

“The development and achievement in the state facilities are disrupted under the pretext of the resignation of the government and the existence of the care-taker government is never justifi ed and therefore the prime minister must hold those authorities accountable because of their inaction and the association of those authorities’ offi cials with political agendas related to the minister’s ap-proach and his family, tribal and sectarian affi liation.

“In civilized countries they separate between political confl icts and serious work and development which is required to be present in the country, because everyone now, unfortunately, is subject to and works within the plans of the confl icting parties in the political scene without a real commitment to the work entrusted to those parties and their offi cials.”

Also:“The health authorities are responsible for managing the scene in which we

are living due to the Corona pandemic, and they are the ones that develop plans and perceptions to present them to the Council of Ministers in preparation for their implementation on the ground,” columnist Khaled Al-Arafah wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“Every day we are surprised by shocking decisions about these numbers of infected people due to the lack of a fixed, clear vision to deal with the crisis since its inception, and we still live in a state of confusion that prevails over the situation for decision-makers, sometimes we find them suspending flights, sometimes allowing the airspace to open, and finally warning citi-zens not to travel with the airport opening in apparent contradiction, we did not find an answer for.

“Whenever the health conditions in the country stabilize, and infections are controlled, we fi nd decision-makers, some of the offi cials in the health ministry shock us by their moody decisions that lack careful study that is based on evi-dence, proof to implement them.

“Last week, I addressed a question to the offi cials in the ministry about the reasons behind the increase in the number of infections during the past days, and I wished them to clarify the real reasons for this in a press conference if the matter was related to opening the airspace especially after the discovery of cases infected with the mutated virus on board the recent fl ights, or are there other reasons that we do not know.

“A response came in an indirect way that answers these questions that there are instructions from the health authorities and the General Administration of Civil Aviation issued to the Kuwait Airways to reduce the number of passengers on fl ights to Kuwait from January 24 to February 6, with the exception of do-mestic workers and transit passengers.

“The reduction according to what is mentioned included the number of pas-sengers, what is meant by transit passengers? Are they the arrivals or what? The question that raises itself is why this exception if most of the arrivals on those fl ights are from the affected countries and have a high risk of infection rates, and if the reduction procedure is applied to all lines or only to Kuwaiti airline and why? There are other lines that travel from countries with very high infection, and we have not heard about their inclusion in the decision of reduction.

“In my view, such instructions exhaust our medical cadres who have already endured a lot because of these confusions that we have witnessed since last March until today.

“Before issuing such circulars, the health authorities should have reviewed their plans and take advantage of their previous mistakes that had previously allowed opening the way for the entry of a number of fl ights with the beginning

of the crisis and after the street anger, they closed the airport after it was proven that the number of cases increased by those coming to the country, and the ques-tion which arises is:

Why they always held us responsible because of the ideas, plans, and fail-ures of some of you, how do you allow transit flights to enter Kuwait in full numbers and reduce the number of regular passengers despite the fact that the virus is one and its danger is more with the coming flights through transit especially from the affected countries? Please think a little, because your unhealthy behavior will bring us back to square one and this is a message to whom it may concern.”

❑ ❑ ❑

“His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled was appointed Prime Minister for the third time with great success. His Highness reiterated more than once his com-mitment to fi ght against corruption, theft of public funds and all kinds of fi nan-cial and moral corruption. His Highness requested everyone to cooperate with him. After the recent appointment, he confi rmed once again his commitment to fi ght against corruption in his fi rst speech,” columnist Yousef Al-Jalahma wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“On this occasion and with my participation in eliminating corruption in Ku-wait, I propose the following to His Highness the Prime Minister:

• Request all governmental and public institutions specialized in investigating and prosecuting cases related to fi nancial corruption, theft of public funds and money laundering to submit the names and fi les of investigations to His High-ness personally.

• Delegate a group of interior investigators and prosecutors to the offi ce of His Highness.

• The Offi ce of His Highness the Prime Minister must put its hand on the ‘Pilgrims Rest House-North Kuwait’ and equip it with all means of comfort, as long as the purpose of its establishment is no longer valid (according to the information I obtained, the goal is to revive the path of Zubaydah, the husband of Caliph Haroun al-Rashid, for Hajj!).

• Summon each fi le owner to the ‘Pilgrims Rest House’ as guests with His Highness to investigate them for a period of 10 days. His Highness shall present to the corrupt person this offer: recover all the money, impose 10 percent interest on the thief and seize the public money.

• As for those involved in money laundering: recover the whole amount plus fi ve percent interest.”

— Compiled by Ahmad Al-Shazli

Oweid Al-Sulaili

Other Voices

Murder cited in remains found of Nepalese manKUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Per-sonnel from the Criminal Evi-dences Department (CED) say the skeletal (bones and skull) remains that were in the desert of Abdali about two kilometers from the mainland belong to a Nepali, and the person was re-ported missing several months ago, reports Al-Anba daily.

According to CED sources

the man was allegedly killed and his remains were covered with sand and that the wild dogs might have played a role in un-covering the crime.

The daily added personnel from the Criminal Investiga-tion Department (CID) are now at work to identify the alleged murderer while at the same time saying the suspect may still be

in Kuwait or might have left the country.

According to the security sources, the Operations Room of the Ministry of Interior had received a call from an expatri-ate working for a contracting company, saying while he was on his way to work he saw a hu-man skull and gave police the location.

Other Voices

‘Stem the rot with will-power’By Ahmad Alsarraf

‘The area of Kuwait is 18,000 km square and the population does not exceed a million and a half by far, and communities from different countries of the world live in peace, working is easy, and the authority enjoys the re-spect and love of everyone, and there are no dangerous issues facing the state as its resources are enormous and it has huge fi nancial re-serves but it suffers from several semi-permanent causes, including, but not limited to – the insistence of relying on a single source of income, refusal to impose taxes on the income of in-dividuals and companies.

It also suffers from serious failure to hold the accused senior personnel accountable, refusal to exploit alter-native sources of energy, refusal to reform the political system or reform the administration. Refuse to amend demographics; random appointments go on unabated in highest positions, rejection to the Civil State and open-ness to the world.

Because of all these matters, the Ministry of Awqaf has become more powerful and more important than the ministries of Education, Culture, Literature, Arts and Information combined. Because of this, the gov-ernment has been unable to address a petty issue such as getting rid of a mountain of old tires for more than ten years.

Because of the diseases of the gov-

ernment administrative apparatus, we were unable to appoint a director for the Anti-Money Laundering De-partment for many years. Due to our chronic illnesses and misfortune, the reopening of a market for vegetables has become news, and connecting electricity to a cooperative society is news that tops the local news.

Because of all this, it was not sur-prising that, years ago, the govern-ment announced that it had suddenly discovered that the stock of passports had expired, followed by another an-nouncement that it ran out of license plates. Because of that, it became a normal matter to search, in the few hours preceding the announcement of the ministerial formation, a comple-mentary minister, in any way, as if all the time we had to choose them was not enough.

In a fi re that contaminated large parts of the country as a result of burning large quantities of damaged vehicle tires in the Rehya area, it was surprising, as if we did not expect this to happen for a thousand times.

We are no longer surprised if mobs surround a police vehicle and severe-ly beat the police personnel despite the recurrence of such incidents and everything ends the next day amica-bly with intervention of some (infl u-ential people).

Our situation is really miserable, and adjusting it does not require much effort but rather will power and strength in decision-making: Our eco-nomic situation needs to be rescued, and our trading position is on the de-cline, and morals at clear risk, never-theless, the policy of procrastination and delay prevails.

❑ ❑ ❑

e-mail: a.alsarraf@alqabas.com.kw

Verdict overturned: The Court of Appeals overturned the verdict issued by a lower court which sentenced an individual to four-year impris-onment with hard labor on charges related to forgery of bank cheque. The court instead refrained from punishing the de-fendant.

According to the case fi le, the defendant at-tempted to with-draw KD 18,700 from the victim’s ac-count through falsifi cation of signature on a bank cheque that belonged to the victim, says Al-Seyassah.

Representing him was Lawyer Ali Al-Baridi who said the accusation was incorrect and that the verdict was wrong in inferring the absence of the material element of the crime of for-gery against his client.

He stressed that his client showed no criminal intent as he did not cash out the money but instead requested it to be transferred to his account, creating suspicion of malicious ac-cusations filed by the alleged victim against his client.

❑ ❑ ❑

Four years jail upheld: The Court of Cassation upheld the ruling of the First Instance and Appeals courts that sen-tenced a citizen to four years in prison with hard labor and immediate imple-mentation of the sentence for endan-gering the lives of passengers on board an aircraft and causing the emergency landing of the airplane at an airport in the Republic of Iran, reports Al-Jarida daily.

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Four young men – three Kuwaitis and a bedoun have been arrested for chopping off the fi nger and caus-ing permanent disability to a young Kuwaiti, reports Al-Anba daily.

The incident happened in the parking lot of a famous park after the four youths agreed among themselves to infl ict permanent disability on the victim.

The case has been referred to the Public Prosecution after the investi-gation report concluded that all four suspects participated in committing the crime. A medical report attached to the case fi le states the victim was beaten and that his fi nger was cut off with a knife.

During interrogations the sus-pects admitted that they were in-volved in a quarrel with the victim and another person inside a park in Shaab and following the verbal altercation they started assaulting each other and ended up severing the fi nger of the victim.

The bedoun who allegedly at-tempted to escape fell on the staircase of a building and injured himself.

At a time when the Ministry of Interior agencies are making great efforts to reduce quarrels and fi ghts, whether inside the mar-kets or complexes or at any other place, it is becoming possible for the Ministry to put a policeman behind every individual, who in-evitably requires concerted efforts from various State institutions and agencies, reports Al-Anba daily.

‘Revenge’ of fourFinger sliced

News in Brief

Swords, machete out in drugs rowKuwaiti stabs compatriot to death

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Police are look-ing for an unidentifi ed person for attacking a Kuwaiti youth with a machete due to which he lost four of his fi n-gers, suffered an injury on the nose and a hit on the head, reports Al-Anba daily.

According to security sources personnel from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) received a report from the Adan Hospital that a Kuwaiti youth was admitted to the hospital bleeding profusely because of the injuries on his body.

Police investigations revealed he was attacked by the father and son duo over ‘drug traffick-ing’ and that the suspect’s uncle and brother have been taken into custody for allegedly abetting the crime.

Further investigations show the victim was invited or lured for lunch to the house of a young man who had a dispute with him, and after the young man arrived at the place, a verbal altercation occurred between the victim and the perpetrator and the dispute developed into an assault on him with a sword and a machete.

The source stated the main suspects after committing the crime fled from the house. In the meantime, the security sources said a travel ban has been slapped on the two men and all police patrols and out-posts have been provided with the details and pictures of the two men.

A case of attempted murder has been filed against the two men.

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Stabbed to death: The securi-ty authorities have arrested an unidentified young Kuwaiti (born in 1995) for stabbing to death a 35-year-old compatriot in front of a pastry shop in Qadsiya, Block 4, yesterday evening, reports Al-Anba daily.

The daily added, the victim was rushed to the Amiri Hospital but doctors could not save his life. The daily quoting security sources said this happened fol-lowing a quarrel between them and the suspect stabbed him with a knife.

The daily did not give more details.

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Firemen’s uniforms: The Directorate-General of Fire Department (DGFD) held a meeting recently, in the pres-ence of the DGFD chief Lieutenant General Khaled Al-Mukrad and senior officials from all fire-fighting units and centers, including officers and non-commissioned officers, in order to inform them of the fire-fighting clothing specifications and new administrative and field instructions, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

During the meeting high qual-ity and specifications were taken into account in conformity with the international standards and requirements and taking into account their opinions and sug-gestions on it before its adop-tion.

alsarraf

Al-Baridi

LOCALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021

6

Governor of the Capital, Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled, received French Ambassador to Kuwait Anne Claire Legendre in his office.

IMA webinar poster

IMA webinar Jan 29Indian Muslim Association Kuwait is organizing a webinar on the occasion of Indian Republic Day.

Eminent personalities from Indian community will join and address this gathering. The main topic “Harmonious and Inclusive Society: the Spirit of Indian Constitution” will be delivered by a renowned speak-er in Kuwait, Sharafuddin B.S.

Dr Vinod Grover, Ex-President Indian Doctor Forum, will be our chief guest of the event.

All Indian community members are requested to join this event on Jan 29, 2021 07:30 PM Kuwait

Zoom Meetinghttps://bit.ly/2MmJX0WMeeting ID: 854 3704 8205 -

Passcode: 596810

MoE not competent to terminate teachers stranded overseas: CSC

Dubai, Turkey flights to Kuwait fully booked until Feb 20

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has informed the Ministry of Education that it is not competent to take measures to terminate the services of 372 non-Kuwaiti teachers who are stuck abroad and whose residency has expired, reports Al-Qabas daily.

It insisted that it does not bear responsibility for the consequences of the decisions taken by the ministry in this regard.

In a letter sent to the Ministry of Education, the CSC stressed that the terms of the second contract concluded with non-Kuwaiti teachers specified the procedures for terminating the contract, taking into account the legally prescribed warning period.

It highlighted that the jurisdiction in this matter is convened by the Ministry of Education based on its discretionary observance of the terms of the concluded contract.

Last December 31, the Ministry of Education had addressed CSC with the request for its opinion on the plan to not renew the residency of 372 teachers who are stuck abroad and whose residency has expired, and to end their services. This request was sent to CSC in a letter by the Assistant Undersecretary for Public Education Osama Al-Sultan, justifying it with the presence of job applications from Kuwaitis and children of Kuwaiti women, in light of the validity of their contracts, taking into account the fourth clause of the concluded contracts (the second contract) and ensuring the min-istry does not claim any consequences from the termination of their services.

IssueIn this context, informed sources

explained that Ministry of Education’s confusion in handling the issue related to the termination of the services of those stranded abroad due to its con-cerns about the illegality of the deci-sion.

The teachers had resorted to the judiciary and received ruling in their interest, especially since the termina-tion of their services came under exceptional circumstances in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which pre-vented their return to the country and consequently, their residencies expired.

The sources stressed that the minis-try has the right to terminate the ser-vices of any non-Kuwaiti teacher, pro-vided that he is notified before the date of implementation of the decision with a three-month notice period, in accor-dance with the requirements of the second contract concluded between the two parties.

They affirmed that it is not permis-sible in the current exceptional cir-cumstances to terminate any employee who is outside the country and without a notice period.

ProcedureThe sources said the ministry is

studying the possibility of allowing entry for these non-Kuwaiti teachers whose residency has expired, and then terminate their services in accordance with the legal frameworks that guaran-tee the safety of the procedure.

They indicated that this is the safest and humane procedure so that they can receive their dues and dispose of their personal belongings such as cars or houses or deal with loan payments and other responsibilities.

Meanwhile, flights from Dubai and Turkey to Kuwait are fully booked until Feb 20, reports Al-Anba daily quoting official sources from various airlines, travel and tourism offices.

Sources disclosed some flights were rescheduled and others cancelled as per the decision of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to limit the number of passengers arriv-ing in Kuwait to not more than 1,000 daily.

AAW Chairman and CEO Faisal Al Mutawa and Dr Hilal Al-Sayer with a delegation from Hoffmann-La Roche dur-ing the signing of the cooperation agreement between Ali Abdul-Wahab Al-Mutawa Commercial Company and

Kuwait Red Crescent Society.

‘Our aim is to support tireless efforts of KRCS’

AAW donates $2.1m worth of breast cancer medication to KRCSKUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Ali Abdulwahab Al Mutawa Commercial Company (AAW) and Hoffmann-La Roche, the Swiss multinational health-care company, announced today the donation of US$ 2.1 million worth of Herceptin, the curative breast cancer medication provided by Hoffmann-La Roche, to the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS). The initiative was announced during a meeting held on Sunday, January 24, at AAW head-quarters, between AAW Chairman and CEO Mr. Faisal Ali Al Mutawa, KRCS Chairman Dr. Hilal Musaed Al-Sayer, and Hoffmann La Roche Country Manager at Gulf Countries Mr. Ahmed Tawfik.

The meeting was attended by KRCS Counselor of the Board of Directors, Director of Youth and Volunteering and Legal Department, Mr. Musaed Rashed Al-Enizi, AAW Pharmaceuticals General Manager, Dr. Sherif Younan, and representatives of Hoffmann-La Roche.

AAW Chairman and CEO, Mr. Faisal Ali Al Mutawa said: “Our aim with this donation is to support the tireless efforts of the Kuwaiti Red Crescent and their plight to protect at-risk breast cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is our social responsibility to support at-risk patients in this precarious period with any challenges they may face, particu-

larly their treatment expenses.” Dr. Hilal Al-Sayer thanked Mr.

Faisal Al Mutawa for his generous contribution and expressed his appre-ciation for AAW’s on-going commit-ment towards the society and the com-pany’s efforts in supporting KRCS national and humanitarian programs.

Dr. Ahmed Tawfik extended his appreciation and gratitude to AAW and their social commitment to the State of Kuwait and praised the role of the Kuwaiti Red Crescent in support-ing charities both locally and region-ally. Dr Tawfik further reiterated that the needs of patients and the health-care system is a vital part of La Roche’s company ethos.

Bid to boost cooperation

Governor of the Capital meetsFrench Ambassador LegendreKUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: The Governor of the Capital, Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled, received the French Ambassador to Kuwait, Anne Claire Legendre, in his office on the occasion of her assuming the duties of her new position as the country’s ambas-sador to Kuwait.

The two sides exchanged cor-dial talks and discussed issues of common concern between the two sides and ways to develop mutual cooperation to broader horizons.

For his part, the governor wel-comed the “push for the frame-works of bilateral cooperation with the French Republic at vari-ous levels,” hoping for Ambassador Legendre, more suc-cess in her new duties.”

For her part, the French Ambassador emphasized the “strength of the French-Kuwaiti relations,” and expressed her “sin-cere thanks and appreciation for the warm reception that she received from the governor.”

LOCALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021

7

View of the Embassy Ambassador paying fl oral tributes to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

Singing of national anthem following the unfurling of the ‘Tricolor’.

Director of the Environment Public Authority Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah during his participation in the conference.

Indian Ambassador addressing the invited guests at the Embassy Audito-rium.

Photos by Iehab QurtalFlag hoisting at the Indian Embassy.

Bid to alleviate suffering

Kuwait Food Bank launchescampaign for 1,301 familiesKUWAIT CITY, Jan 26, (KUNA): Kuwait Food and Re-lief Bank launched a project, in collaboration with General Secretariat of Awqaf, to pro-vide food and supplies to about 1,301 deprived families, part of its role in alleviating suffering of all segments of society that need support during COVID-19 pan-demic.

In a Tuesday press statement to KUNA, Deputy Chairman of the Kuwait Food Bank Mishaal Al-Ansari said that the project refl ects the strategic cooperation between the General Secretariat of Endowments and Kuwait Food Bank in order to help needy families countrywide, as this is a continuation of its charitable pio-

neering role.The project aims to provide

food and basic food supplies through coupons to buy and dis-tribute them to the target groups, also to establish the principle of social solidarity, along with cohesion among the nation’s people while carrying a sincere message of aiding poor families, Al-Ansari added.

The General Secretariat of Endowments and Kuwait Food Bank supports all charitable and voluntary activities, as well as efforts undertaken by the Bank to serve society, he underscored, saying success of these activi-ties, campaigns and charitable projects benefi t all parts of the country.

Completion of KIMS project by Aug 2022

Building vital to medical staff

By Muhammad GhanemAl-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: The engineer who is in charge of the permanent headquarters project of the Kuwait Insti-tute for Medical Specializa-tions (KIMS), Engr Reem Al-Dhayaf, said based on the decision of the commit-tee formed by Administrative Resolution No. 756 of 2020, the building was initially received by the Ministry of Health which is the benefi ciary on Aug 13, 2020, and the mainte-nance period began from this date and all work is expected to be completed in two years except for the water treatment plant, for which maintenance will begin after the laborato-ries become operational.

Al-Dhayaf indicated that the building is one of the important projects implemented by the Min-istry of Public Works due to its im-portance to the medical staff, as the fi rst batch of doctors was graduat-ed from the College of Medicine at the Kuwait University in 1983, and accordingly the Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations was established by an Amiri Decree on July 16, 1984 to raise the level of doctors with the continuous in-crease and the accelerating need for medical services due to the in-crease in the population of Kuwait which became an urgent national necessity to develop the perfor-mance and training of doctors.

Due to the increasing number of doctors at the present time, the institute has organized its training programs and activities such as conferences and lectures in the medical students’ hall sometimes or different places and for this reason the need for this project was felt.

She added, the building is distin-guished because it provides all the requirements of the Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations, including laboratories, lecture halls, exhibition halls, a theater for holding seminars

Engr Reem Al-Dhayaf

Inside view of the building

‘India-Kuwait relations deep-rooted, multifaceted’

Embassy of India celebrates 72nd Republic DayBy Paul Francis X. Fernandes

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Unfurling the Indian ‘Tricolor’ at the Indian Embassy in Kuwait on the 72nd anniversary of India’s Republic Day, the Indian Am-bassador to Kuwait His Excellency Sibi George extended his greetings to all In-dians in Kuwait, more than 1.3 billion Indians and millions of Indian diaspora abroad and billions of our friends across the world on this occasion.

Ambassador George began his ad-dress by thanking HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, for hosting the large Indian community. He also thanked the Gov-ernment of Kuwait and Kuwaiti friends of India for their efforts and support in further strengthening “our deep-rooted and multifaceted bilateral relations.”

Along with the President of India Ram Nath Kovind and the entire na-tion, the ambassador paid homage to “Our soldiers who laid down their lives protecting our borders and fi ght-ing cross-border terrorism.” He also conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their dear ones in Kuwait, in India and across the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also thanked the many commu-nity members and various associations who individually and in coordination with Indian Community Support Group (ICSG) helped Indians in need during the most diffi cult days of the pandemic.

“I salute our doctors, nurses and medical professionals,” he said, “who made many sacrifi ces here and all across the world to save lives. I com-mend our students, schools, teachers and parents in facing the challenges of Covid 19 with determination and adapt-ing to the way education is now being digitally administered. I also thank our media friends who helped us to reach out to Indian community in Kuwait and also to our Kuwaiti friends.”

He went on to say, “It is a matter of great pride to each one of us to see how our India has emerged as the pharmacy of the world in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic at home and in helping sever-al countries by supplying medicines and other healthcare items. India has not only developed its own indigenous vac-

cine but also supplied vaccines to sev-eral countries including most countries in our neighborhood and in countries as far as Brazil. This is refl ective of the economic and scientifi c transformation that India witnessed in recent years.”

“We value our partnership with the State of Kuwait. Kuwait is a key part-ner in our extended neighborhood. We will continue to work with all stake-holders to strengthen our partnership with Kuwait for the prosperity and wellbeing of the people of our two countries. We will endeavor to make 2021 a vibrant year of activities in partnership with our Indian commu-nity and Kuwaiti friends,” he said.

Before addressing the invited guests at the embassy auditorium, the ambassador read the message of the Indian President on the eve of the 72nd Republic Day.

The Indian President began by thanking the farmers, soldiers, and healthcare workers for their contribu-tions. He also lauded the scientists for their work during the pandemic and urged the Indians to take part in the Covid-19 vaccination program.

VibrantThe President called India the larg-

est and most vibrant democracy, a land enriched by diversity and faith in its Constitution.

“Seventy-one years ago, on this very day, we the people of India adopted, enacted and gave to ourselves a unique Constitution. For all of us, then, this is the day to also pause and ponder over the core values that the Constitution propounds. These values — Justice, Lib-erty, Equality, and Fraternity — outlined in the Preamble of our Constitution are sacred to all of us. Its abiding adher-ence is meant not only for those who are mandated to govern but for the people at large,” the President told the Indians at home and those living abroad.

Every Indian salutes our farmers, who have made our vast and populous coun-try self-reliant in food-grains and dairy products. Despite adversities of nature, numerous other challenges and the Cov-id-19 pandemic, our farmers sustained the agricultural production. A grateful nation is fully committed to the welfare of our farmers, the President added.

He also lavished praise on the brave armed forces who ensure security of our national boundaries amid sever-

est conditions — from freezing cold of Siachen and Galwan valley in Ladakh to the scorching heat in Jaisalmer.

Last year, as humanity almost came to a halt in the face of a calamity of gigantic proportions, the Indians have lived like a close-knit family, making exemplary sacrifi ces to protect each other in the face of the common enemy of Coronavirus.

He said the Indians live and die for humanity. This Indian ideal was ex-pressed by the great poet Maithili Sharan Gupt when he said, “It is the benevolent whose glory lives on in songs eternal; It is the generous whom the world reveres forever; Whose spirit of oneness fi lls the boundless universe; They truly are hu-man who die for fellow beings.”

“I am sure that this love for human-ity and the spirit of sacrifi ce will take us to great heights,” the President said.

He said India remains confi dent in the face of the pandemic. The slow-down has turned out to be transitory as the economy has regained its dyna-mism. A self-reliant India has manu-factured its own vaccine for Covid-19, and is now undertaking a mass vac-cination drive, which will be the larg-est exercise of its kind in history. The administration and health services are working with full readiness to make this exercise a success.

He reminded, the past year was a time of adversity, and it came from many fronts. We faced an expansionist move on our borders, but our valiant soldiers foiled it. To achieve this objective, 20 of them had to lay down their lives. The na-tion shall remain grateful to those brave soldiers. Though we reiterate our com-mitment to peace, our defence forces — Army, Air Force and Navy — are ad-equately mobilized in a well-coordinated move to thwart any attempt to under-mine our security. Our national interest will be protected at all costs. We have also ensured a widespread understanding in the international community of India’s fi rm and principled stand.

India is moving forward and taking its rightful place in the world. During the recent years, its arc of infl uence has been expanding and encompassing the larger part of the world. The manner in which India got overwhelming support of the international community for its entry as non-permanent member in the Security Council this year is indicative of that infl uence.

Conference tackles role of sustainable energy

Environment, health, human life top priority: EPA chiefBy Abdel Nasser Al-Aslami

Al-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Chairman and Director-General of the Environ-ment Public Authority (EPA), Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah, said one of the top priorities of the EPA is the environment, health and human life while at the same time call-ing for a comprehensive environmen-

tal renaissance that changes the face of the world, hoping to achieve the goals towards the deployment of alternative energy and the development of geo-graphic information systems.

Sheikh Al-Ahmad said this during the opening of the ‘Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development’ virtual conference, which was organized by the Kuwaiti Geographical Society.

The aim of the conference was to shed light on the role of sustainable energy and providing it for all while enhanc-ing and supporting ways to access it in future at reasonable prices in light of the emergence of a disastrous Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, in addition to its di-rect health, economic and social effects, in destabilizing global energy markets.

Sheikh Al-Ahmad said, “the immedi-ate challenges caused by the epidemic have not and will not discourage us to move forward with our efforts by explor-ing a variety of options to ensure a stable and uninterrupted supply of wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, marine, and bio en-ergy, which must be adopted to provide clean environment and achieve the de-sired and targeted economic growth.”

He added, getting alternative energy with regular supplies has become a lifeline to prevent and respond to the pandemic, accelerate recovery from it, rebuild better and provide a more sus-tainable future for all.

Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmad indi-cated everyone must redefi ne the pri-orities and put the health, environment and human life at the forefront.

and conferences, in addition to ad-ministrative offi ces, as this building is equipped with a smart communica-tion network and is linked with the latest advanced systems — computers, telephones, cameras, an audio-visual system.

Al-Dhayaf indicated the project

is located in the Al-Sabah Medical District and covers an area of 15,000 square meters; the construction area is estimated at 73,000 square meters. The building consists of a wing for the Secretary-General and his assistants, a multi-purpose hall, a conference room and 8 laboratories on the second fl oor.

Market Movements 26-01-2021

Business Change Closing ptsAUSTRALIA - All Ordinaries +32.45 7,111.39GERMANY - DAX +227.04 13,870.99FRANCE - CAC 40 +51.16 5,523.52EUROPE - Euro Stoxx 50 +39.69 3,592.83PAKISTAN - KSE 100 +199.74 46,287.38 Change Closing ptsJAPAN - Nikkei -276.11 28,546.18S. KOREA - KRX 100 -170.51 6,796.55PHILIPPINES - PSEi -94.34 6,977.16INDIA - Sensex -530.95 48,347.59CHINA - Shanghai SE -54.81 3,569.43

Delta plans to return 400 pilots to active flying by summer

Delta Air Lines plans to return 400 pilots to regular flying duties by this summer in a sign that it expects travel to increase over the peak vacation season from cur-rent, low pandemic levels.

The airline’s senior vice president of flight operations, John Laughter, said in a memo that the airline is bringing back pilots to active flying “well ahead of when we originally estimated.”

The 400 are not new hires; through March, they are being paid with taxpayer money that Delta received as part of $15

billion in additional federal aid to the airline industry. Delta had threatened to furlough about 1,700 less-senior pilots last fall but backed down after their union agreed to concessions including reduced pay and removal from active flying.

Union spokesman Chris Riggins said the Air Line Pilots Association was en-couraged by Delta’s decision.

U.S. passenger traffic so far in Janu-ary is down 61% from a year ago. Delta and United are forecasting continued weak travel demand through March, but

industry officials expect improvement as more people are vaccinated against COVID-19.

Delta shares were down 2%, and oth-er airline stocks fell even more in after-noon trading as countries tightened trav-el restrictions to curb the spread of new COVID-19 variants. The White House announced Monday that President Joe Biden will ban travel of non-U.S. citizens from Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom and more than two dozen other Europe