SUBSCRIPTION SUNDAY, JANUARY 25, 2015 RABI ALTHANI 5, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Huge turnout at 4 years after Obama’s India Chelsea rocked Saudi embassy Egypt revolt, trip aimed at by Bradford to mourn jails clogged boosting Saudi King2 with activists8 partnership11 20 World leaders arrive in Min 04º Max 24º Saudi after king’s death High Tide 02:33 & 15:35 Obama cuts short India trip to pay respects Low Tide 09:25 & 21:46 40 PAGES NO: 16413 150 FILS RIYADH: World leaders converged on Saudi Arabia yes- terday to offer condolences following the death of King Abdullah, with US President Barack Obama cutting short a trip to India to pay respects. President Obama has cut short his visit to India, can- celling a planned trip to the Taj Mahal, to “pay respects” to new King Salman in Saudi Arabia, the White House said yesterday. Obama was scheduled to go to India’s famed monu- ment to love accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama at the end of a three-day visit to the country, during which he is to be chief guest at tomorrow’s Republic Day celebrations. Instead, the White House said Obama would travel to Riyadh from New Delhi on Tuesday morning to meet the new monarch after the death of Salman’s half-broth- er King Abdullah on Friday. “The president regrets that he will be unable to visit Agra during this trip,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest in a statement, referring to the town where the Taj Mahal is located. One after another, foreign aircraft landed at a Riyadh military base where leaders from Africa, Europe and Asia descended a red-carpeted ramp to be welcomed KUWAIT: The Kuwait Towers are lit up with the portrait of Saudi Arabia’s late by Saudi officials and served a traditional tiny cup of King Abdullah (left) and the color of the Saudi flag (right) yesterday as a trib- Arabic coffee. ute to the ruler of the world’s top oil exporter and the spiritual home of Islam Others who came included French President Francois who passed away on Friday.— Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat Hollande, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani, Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla, and Spain’s King RIYADH: Saudi’s newly-enthroned King Salman (center) receives oaths of loyalty Felipe VI. British Prime Minister David Cameron and in a traditional Islamic investiture ceremony that bestows his legitimacy yester- Images of late King Continued on Page 13 day. —AP adorn Kuwait Towers KUWAIT: The Kuwait Towers, Kuwait’s ernmental bodies over the death of the major landmark, were seen adorned by a Saudi King Abdullah. Iran FM in rare Saudi visit special light projection by night yesterday His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- depicting images in honor of the late Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah HH the Amir RIYADH: Iran’s foreign minister arrived in declined a Saudi invitation to visit the king- Iran’s neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia. Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al- sent a congratulatory cable to Saudi Saudi Arabia yesterday for a rare visit to the dom, citing continued negotiations between Since the June 2013 election of Rouhani, Saud. Arabia’s newly-enthroned King Salman bin regional rival, bringing condolences after the his country and international powers over regarded as a moderate, Iran has engaged in a A portrait of the influential ruler lighted Abdulaziz Al-Saud. death of King Abdullah, television pictures Iran’s disputed nuclear program. diplomatic push with Riyadh but relations up the medium-sized tower - which carries In his cable, HH the Amir wished the showed. Saudi officials greeted Foreign In August last year Iran’s Deputy Foreign have soured in recent months over the falling one globe - illuminating the waters of the new king success in continuing develop- Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif after he land- Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held talks global price of oil. Both countries are mem- Arabian Gulf, which both neighboring ment, progress and prosperity in the king- ed at a military airport in the capital Riyadh. with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al- bers of the Organization of the Petroleum nations share, and emphasizing the close dom, and in serving the issues of both Arab Iran and Saudi Arabia, the region’s foremost Faisal in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. That was Exporting Countries but Iranian officials have ties between the two brotherly peoples. and Muslim nations. His Highness the Shiite and Sunni Muslim powers, have had the first high-level Iranian visit to the kingdom expressed frustration at Saudi Arabia for not The color green, symbolizing the Saudi Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al- troubled relations in recent years after taking since Hassan Rouhani became the Islamic taking steps to cut supply. Iran has been flag, lighted up the main globe in the Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime different sides in the Syrian civil war. republic’s president a year earlier. They dis- among the oil exporting countries worst hit tallest of the three towers. Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al- Tehran has backed Syrian President Bashar cussed the fight against Islamic State group by the price fall. Rouhani expressed his condo- Meanwhile, Kuwait lowered the flags Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar congratulato- Al-Assad while Riyadh supported Sunni rebels jihadists, who both nations oppose. Rouhani lences after the death on Friday of Saudi King for three days all over the countries’ gov- ry cables to the new Saudi king. — KUNA trying to topple him. Zarif has previously has stated his wish to improve relations with Abdullah. — AFP Japan scrambles to verify video on hostage murder TOKYO: Japan was scrambling today to verify a video posted online claiming that one of two men held hostage by Islamic State jihadists had been executed, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe con- demned the militant’s “intolerable violence”. Abe called an emergency meeting of senior ministers that began at around 1.20am (1620 GMT Saturday) as his government demanded “the remaining” hostage be immediately set free. “A photograph apparently showing Mr Yukawa had been murdered has been posted on the Internet,” Abe said. “The pain the family is feeling DUBAI: Birds are pictured resting on a tree at the Ras Al-Khor Wildlife Sanctuary on must be beyond what what we imagine. This is an the outskirts of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates yesterday. The sanctuary which is act of terrorism and intolerable violence. “I am Dubai’s only desert wetland occupies about 2.4 square miles on the banks of Dubai infuriated. I condemn it absolutely. Again I strongly Creek and comprises of mudflats, lagoons, pools, and mangroves. — AFP demand they not harm Mr Goto and release him.” SANAA: A Shiite Huthi rebel threatens Yemeni protesters during a rally against “The images show Kenji Goto holding a photo the control of the capital by Huthi rebels yesterday.—AFP of Haruna Yukawa apparently dead has been post- ISIL on defensive, but ed on the internet,” Abe’s chief spokesman Yoshihide Suga told a press conference shortly Mammoth anti-Houthi after midnight. still a potent force The government is currently working to confirm protests across Yemen the authenticity of the video, added defence chief WASHINGTON: While there are signs of kilometers roughly assessed as dominated Gen Nakatani. The video was not posted on any of SANAA: Thousands of Yemenis took to shouted, using a nickname for former progress in the campaign against ISIL with or controlled by the Iraqi government out of the IS group’s official channels and it the streets yesterday in the biggest President Ali Abdullah Saleh who was the group more on the defensive, “they are Baghdad, and 56,000 square kilometers does not bear the group’s black and white flag. demonstrations yet against the Houthi toppled in a 2011 uprising against his 33- still a potent force inside Iraq and in Syria,” assessed to be under Kurdish control, Kirby The purported execution of Yukawa is also not group that dominates the country, two year-rule. Saleh had been cited by the Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon said. shown. days after President Abd-Rabbu Mansour UN Security Council for aiding the spokesman, said on Friday. “We have said These numbers fluctuate over time and Several supporters of the IS group on social Hadi’s resignation left the country in Houthis to capture Sanaa, capital of the this is going to take several years-three to will continue to change, he said, as will the media channels have contested the veracity of the political limbo. Houthi gunmen shot and predominantly Sunni country, in five, probably,” Kirby said during a briefing. estimate of 20,000 to 30,000 ISIL fighters, video, while Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the wounded four people at a protest in the September. From a military perspective, he said, the real Kirby said. Those fighters are no longer out in Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said negoti- Red Sea port of Hodeida, residents said. Hadi, who stepped down on Thursday, goal is good governance in Iraq and Syria, the open, and one reason there are fewer ations for the two men’s release are still ongoing. In Sanaa, two intelligence agents were blamed the Houthis’ control of Sanaa for “options for people so they do not have to ISIL targets for the coalition to strike is “We have seen the video purporting to show that shot dead by gunmen on a motorbike, scuttling his attempt to steer Yemen be attracted to this ideology.” The center of because “they are hiding more.