Egypt's Sisi Eying GCC 'Membership'

SUBSCRIPTION SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014 RAJAB 11, 1435 AH No: 16161 MERS death Massacres of Sharapova, toll rises to Muslims darken Nadal storm 126 in Saudi immigration into Madrid Arabia 9 debate13 in India semi-finals48 Egypt’s Sisi eying Max 40º 150 Fils GCC ‘membership’ Min 27º Sisi turns Islam on the Islamists KUWAIT: Field Marshal Abdel Fattah El-Sisi later this month, has cast himself as a defender plans to negotiate with the Gulf Cooperation of religion and taken aim at the doctrinal foun- Council (GCC) on the possibility of exempting dations of Islamist groups the state is seeking Egyptian workers from the sponsorship provi- to crush. sions, in addition to boosting military and eco- Striking a pious tone that sets him apart nomic cooperation, a Kuwaiti newspaper from former president Hosni Mubarak, Sisi also reported yesterday. Sisi’s priorities include giv- appears to be taking on the mantle of a reli- ing Egypt an observer position into the six- gious reformer. He has blamed outdated “reli- member GCC and allowing Egyptians to work gious discourse” for holding back Egypt. “I see in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United that the religious discourse in the entire Islamic Arab Emirates and Oman (without sponsors). world has cost Islam its humanity,” Sisi said in Egypt also hopes to increase the trade and an interview televised on May 5. “This requires tourism activity with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait us, and for that matter all leaders, to review and Bahrain by eliminating visa requirements if their positions.” With references to God and Egypt becomes an observer-member of the morality, Sisi may turn out to be the most out- GCC according to a ‘high level sources’ in the wardly pious of any of the military men to have Field Marshal’s elections campaign. “Helping governed Egypt since the republic was found- Egypt economically is the main objective ed in 1953. behind Sisi’s proposal,” said the sources. This does not mean he will inject more Sisi is considered the favorite ahead of this Islam into the government of a state whose month’s Egyptian presidential elections. If laws and culture have long been shaped by elected, Sisi plans to visits UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait religion. Sisi has said there is no such thing as a and Saudi Arabia in order to discuss the idea of “religious state” - challenging a central Islamist establishing a Gulf-Egyptian lobby that guar- concept. But he seems certain to encourage antees investments. “The lobby would be eco- the role played by religion in the public life of ALEXANDRIA: Egyptian protesters hold a portrait of Egyptís former army chief and lead- nomic and military oriented and includes acti- this conservative society. And as the authori- ing presidential candidate Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during a rally in support of his decision to vating the joint defense treaty between Egypt ties try to curb Islamist influence by tightening run for president yesterday. — AFP and the Arab states,” the sources added. control over mosques, Sisi’s presidency could bring a sustained effort to reinforce state- Showing religious side backed, apolitical Islam, providing clerical cov- North Korea rains As the Egyptian state presses its crackdown er for destroying his Islamist foes. on the Muslim Brotherhood, the man expected “He is trying to replace the Islamists and to become president has deployed a new counter the Muslim Brotherhood’s argument weapon in the battle with the Islamists: his that he is anti-Islam,” said Khalil Al-Anani, an insults on Obama own vision of Islam. Sisi, the former army chief expert on Islamic movements based at Johns who deposed the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Hopkins University in the United States. SEOUL: After bombarding South Korea’s female the rhetoric ... It’s disgusting,” she told reporters Morsi and is expected to be elected president Continued on Page 9 president with sexist invectives, North Korea’s at the Foreign Press Center in Washington. Yoo state news agency has fired off racist insults Ho-yeol, professor of North Korea studies at against President Barack Obama that US officials Korea University in South Korea, said North condemn as “disgusting.” North Korea is notori- Korea is trying to get attention by publishing ous for inflammatory, warlike rhetoric against its such comments through its state-run news rivals South Korea and the US but had rarely agency. But he added that it tried to distance the used racial slurs in its verbal attacks. Pyongyang’s government from the remarks by attributing tone has grown angrier in recent weeks as it them to a citizen. threatens to conduct a fourth nuclear test. “If it was to publish such a report in the voice In a lengthy May 2 dispatch released only in of the authorities it would entrap them, whereas Korean, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News reporting the story under some ordinary citi- Agency published comments from a factory zen’s name will give them leeway,” Yoo said. worker who said Obama has the “shape of a The North’s rhetoric against Obama and South monkey” and made many other crude insults. “It Korean President Park Geun-hye intensified would be better for him to live with other mon- after they held a summit in Seoul late last keys at a wild animal park in Africa ... and licking month. During his visit, Obama said at a joint bread crumbs thrown by onlookers,” worker news conference with Park that it may be time Kang Hyok at Chollima Steel Complex was quot- to consider further sanctions against North ed as saying. Korea, and that the US will not hesitate to use its Marie Harf, a State Department spokes- military might to defend its allies. Recent state woman, said that the North Korean dispatch was media dispatches criticizing Park are full of sex- MAKKAH: Vehicles are submerged in water following flash floods in the holy city of “offensive, ridiculous and absurd.” “I don’t know ist tirades such as “old prostitute coquetting Makkah yesterday. Heavy rainfall flooded the road to Makkah, causing traffic jams how many words I can use up here to describe with outside force.” — AP and leaving cars abandoned in the streets. — AFP LOCAL SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014 Woman injured while escaping rapist in Nugra Suicide probe in maid’s death KUWAIT: A woman was severely injured rushed to the Adan Hospital after para- when he lost his balance over his vehicle after she fell from an apartment’s win- medics and police responded to an which ran into a sign and flipped over dow while escaping from a rapist, emergency call, reporting the discovery several times, according to preliminary according to her statements. of a man motionless inside his car. He investigations. The man was pro- Paramedics and police rushed to a build- was pronounced dead inside the hospi- nounced dead on the scene before crim- ing in Nugra in response to an emer- tal after several attempts to revive his inal investigators took his body to the gency call, and found the woman lying heart beat failed. The body was taken for forensic department. A case was filed. motionless on the ground. She was tak- an autopsy to determine whether the KUWAIT: Body of the child which was found near en to the Mubarak Hospital and admit- man died of natural causes or foul play is Drug offender Abu Al-Hasaniya area. ted inside the intensive care unit with involved. A drug offender returned to jail short- severe broken bones. The Filipina ly after the court acquitted him of previ- Body of child national explained during preliminary Maid’s death ous charges, after police found narcotics investigations that she accompanied her Hawally prosecutor classified a hidden in his underwear. The discovery boyfriend, a Kuwaiti man, to his friend’s domestic worker’s death reported last came during routine check as the man found in sea apartment. There, she discovered that October as suicide following extensive was being prepared to be set free after she was lured to a trap, as the apart- investigations in the case. The decision the court found him not guilty of drug By Hanan Al Saadoun ment’s owner tried to persuade her to was based on statements of eyewitness- possession charges. He was placed have sex. The woman refused, then es, including the Indian woman’s friend. under arrest and taken to the proper KUWAIT: Ahmadi prosecution asked detectives to identify a locked herself inside a room after the The Nepalese national said that the vic- authorities for questioning. person who threw a child into the sea. The coroner will deter- suspect tried to rape her, according to tim applied pesticides on her body, then mine whether the child was killed or thrown alive. The child’s body was spotted by a Syrian while swimming near Abu Al- her statements. She then tied bed used bakhour (incense) matches to set Officer detained Hasaniya area. sheets together as a rope and tried to herself on fire inside the bathroom. The A policeman was arrested for selling descent down the window, but lost bal- victim had died of severe burn injuries weapons online. The man was arrested Asians robbed ance on the way and fell to the ground. according to the forensic department’s after he was lured to a trap in which sold Detectives are working hard to arrest unknown persons A case was filed for investigations as report. Investigations are still ongoing in a firearm to an undercover agent. The who were riding a Range Rover who robbed an Indian expat detectives are looking to locate and the case.

Load more