Egypt Govt Resigns Ahead of Election Move Paves Way for Sisi to Run
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SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014 RABI ALTHANI 25, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Max 24º Min 16º High Tide 09:08 & 18:57 Low Tide 01:59 & 13:16 40 PAGES NO: 16088 150 FILS Egypt govt resigns ahead of election Move paves way for Sisi to run CAIRO: Egypt’s military-installed government as the country’s most popular political figure resigned en masse yesterday in a surprise after ending Morsi’s divisive one-year rule, has move ahead of a presidential poll likely to not yet announced his candidacy, but aides say bring defence minister and army chief Abdel he has already decided to run and will make Fattah Al-Sisi to power. A limited reshuffle to the announcement soon. The field marshal, allow Sisi to step down as defence minister and who is the defence minister and first deputy enter elections had been expected, but the en prime minister in the outgoing cabinet, has to masse resignations led by the increasingly resign from the government and the army unpopular prime minister Hazem Al-Beblawi before he can officially announce his candida- surprised even some in the cabinet. Appointed cy. in July after the military ousted Islamist presi- Beblawi defended the government’s per- dent Mohamed Morsi, Beblawi’s government formance in an address announcing the resig- came under pressure to step aside amid a nations. “The government assumed its respon- worsening economy and a spate of militant sibilities and duties... the government did not attacks and labour strikes. spare any efforts to get Egypt out of a bad KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (right) meets HH The resignations might lead to a new cabi- phase,” Beblawi said in reference to the security the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah as he left for New net without the baggage of Beblawi’s govern- and economic problems. “This is not the time York yesterday to undergo routine medical tests. — KUNA ment ahead of Sisi’s expected run in the presi- for personal interests. dential election this spring. Sisi, who emerged Continued on Page 13 Hazem El-Beblawi New visit Yanukovycc sought for ‘mass murder’ KIEV: Ukraine issued an arrest warrant yesterday for its ousted pro-Russian president over “mass murder” and visa type appealed for $35 billion in Western aid as Moscow denounced Kiev’s new reformist team as illegitimate. The dramatic announcements by the ex-Soviet nation’s in works untested but enthusiastic Western-leaning ministers - approved by parliament over a chaotic weekend that saw president Viktor Yanukovych go into hiding - came By A Saleh as a top EU envoy arrived in Kiev to buttress Ukraine’s sudden tilt away from Russia. KUWAIT: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor Three months of relentless protests over announced a new type of work visa for visitors valid Yanukovych’s shock decision to spurn an historic pact for a few days that allows a foreigner to carry out a with the European Union in favour of closer ties with its specific task and which cannot be transferred into a old masters in the Kremlin culminated in days of car- residence visa. The visa, called ‘work visit visa’, while nage last week in Kiev that claimed almost 100 lives. be different from the traditional ‘commercial’ visit Russia reacted with outrage to the “mutiny” in a country visa that is valid for a month and can be renewed with centuries-old roots to Moscow that President for three months. Visa transfer is currently closed Vladimir Putin views as an integral part of an economic - while reports suggest that foreign recruitment will and possibly even military - alliance counterweighting be reopened at the beginning of April. the EU and NATO blocs. Meanwhile, chairman of the National Assembly’s But Western powers have been cautiously throwing human rights committee MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan their weight behind the overthrow of a democratically demanded that the government discuss a compre- elected leader by a parliamentary action whose consti- hensive report on human rights with panel mem- tutional legitimacy remains open to debate. Ukraine’s bers before it presents it to the United Nations new leaders hit the ground running on Monday by Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Oct MEERUT, India: A leopard squeezes through a hole in the wall of the Meerut Cantonment Hospital as a holding Yanukovych and about 50 other senior state 27, 2014. “The government is constitutionally obli- policeman approaches on Sunday. — AFP and security officials responsible for the protester gated to discuss this issue with the legislative deaths. “A criminal case has been launched over the authority since it tackles a domestic issue despite mass murder of peaceful civilians. Yanukovych and a the fact that the report is sent to a foreign organiza- Leopard in Indian number of other officials have been put on a wanted tion,” Duwaisan said in a statement yesterday. list,” acting interior minister Arsen Avakov said in a state- “Furthermore, the UNHRC had requested that ment. Kuwait’s delegation includes members from the Avakov said Yanukovych had tried to flee the country parliament and the judicial authority.” Duwaisan city triggers panic Saturday out of the eastern city of Donetsk - his political also announced that the committee prepared a power base and bastion of pro-Russian support - before report “that points out the government’s failure to escaping to Crimea with a team of guards and a cache NEW DELHI: A leopard sparked panic in a north S K Dubey. of weapons the next day. He said the deposed head of address faults mentioned in the UNHRC’s 2010 Indian city when it strayed inside a hospital, a cinema The cat was found inside an empty ward of an report”. state and his powerful administration chief Andriy and an apartment block while evading captors, an army hospital on Sunday before wildlife officers were Klyuev had since “travelled by three cars into an official said yesterday. Authorities closed schools and called and managed to fire a tranquiliser dart into it, unknown direction, having first switched off their colleges in Meerut, 60 km northeast of the Indian Dubey told AFP. “But despite that he managed to modes of communication”. Ukraine has been reeling TO OUR READERS capital, after the leopard was discovered prowling break (out through) the iron grilles and escaped. He from both political and financial crises that have seen the city’s streets on Sunday, a senior city official said. then sneaked into the premises of a cinema hall the nation of 46 million face the threat of splintering Kuwait Times offices will be closed today on the occa- “Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to before entering an apartment block. After that we between its pro-Western and more Russified regions sion of National Day. Hence there will be no issue of track the leopard down. We have launched a massive lost track of the cat,” he said. and having to declare a devastating default. the paper tomorrow (Feb 26, 2014). Happy holidays! hunt for the beast,” said additional district magistrate Continued on Page 13 Continued on Page 13 Dodgy data obscures reality of Gulf boom DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s economy chugged along at mod- Bahrain has not announced its monthly money supply est annual growth rates of around 2.5 percent in the data since November. Some data series have been sus- first three quarters of 2013. Then in the fourth quarter it pended for a few months before resuming. Other data soared, with gross domestic product jumping 10 per- just does not exist. Kuwait, for example, does not regu- cent from a year earlier. That is the picture delivered by larly publish GDP growth figures, making it almost data from the government’s statistics office. But it is not unique among the world’s rich countries. a picture which would be recognised by many Saudi Because of the region’s oil wealth, economies have companies, which saw their profits crimped by a crack- so far grown without many visible ill effects. But the down on illegal workers late last year, and it is not in line costs of having such poor data may increase as the Gulf with private surveys of business activity. states develop their financial markets and diversify their So many economists have concluded that the official economies in an effort to become less vulnerable to the data is faulty in some way, and that actual Saudi GDP in next big drop in oil prices. “The regional central banks the fourth quarter may be billions of dollars lower than have to understand that timeliness and consistency, the statistics office suggests. But it is not clear when, or and scientific production of data, are a necessity if they whether, the mystery will be solved. As the wealthy Gulf want to show they are open for investment and busi- Arab oil exporters boom and open wider to foreign ness,” said John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist investment, investors are operating in something of a at MASIC, a Riyadh-based investment firm. fog: they must base their judgements on patchy and A lack of reliable figures for government spending erratic macroeconomic data. In many cases the data is can hurt investment because many firms base their less reliable than numbers provided by emerging decisions on the level of that spending, he added. Abu economies in Asia and Africa. Dhabi, which accounts for some 70 percent of state In the Gulf, preliminary figures for economic indica- spending in the United Arab Emirates, does not publish KUWAIT: A giant Kuwait flag is displayed at 360 Mall yesterday to mark the national and liberation days.