SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2016 RAMADAN 24, 1437 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Iceland heroes MEW: Electricity Lebanon reels The new V-Class Ramadan TImings after multiple Mercedes-Benz leave England consumption hit Emsak: 03:06 suicide attacks redefining MPV in Euro turmoil a new record Fajer: 03:16 Shrooq: 04:51 Dohr: 11:51 Asr: 15:25 Maghreb: 18:51 7 25 20 3 Eshaa: 20:24 Election law changes Min 33º Max 50º ‘target coup plotters’ High Tide 06:23 & 18:46 Low Tide MPs hit back at critics; Cabinet endorses amendments 00:01 & 12:52 40 PAGES NO: 16919 150 FILS By B Izzak Ramadan Kareem KUWAIT: A number of MPs who voted on controversial changes to the election law to deprive those insulting reli- The Battle gion and the Amir from contesting polls, yesterday lashed back at critics of the law, with one lawmaker saying the amendments target those who plotted a coup detente of the Soul against the regime. The new amendments bar those con- victed in a final court ruling of insulting the Almighty Allah, the prophets and the Amir from contesting parlia- By Hatem Basha mentary polls. This would amount to barring dozens of opposition leaders and activists, including former MPs, from running asting represents a unique form of worship that is for office. Political groups and activists have criticized the found in all religions. The Quran says that fasting change as a breach of the constitution and as an attempt Fhas been commanded to Muslims as it was com- to stifle democracy and freedom. To become effective, the manded to all other faith communities prior to them “O new amendments must be endorsed by the government you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was and signed by the Amir. prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard Al-Anbaa newspaper said yesterday that the Cabinet against evil.” (2:183). has endorsed the amendments in its meeting on Monday. It is not just a physical practice of endurance and MP Hamad Al-Harashani said in a statement that those self-restraint, but its real significance lies in the spiritual opposing the new law means they support insulting the side. The human makeup of two different parts that are Almighty and the Amir. The lawmaker said that Islam, the utterly disparate in nature and needs leaves most peo- constitution and the law explicitly call against violating the ple in an inner conflict. We usually side ourselves with Sharia law or disobeying the leader of the nation. one at the expense of the other. Islam teaches us how He said that a ‘deviant group’ has exploited the so-called to balance the needs of the body and the soul. Arab Spring protests in several Arab countries and tried to Fasting is an effective way to redress the balance agitate the people to take to the street in an attempt to and give the spirit a real opportunity to release itself carry out a coup detente. He said the wisdom of the Amir and others has foiled their plot. Harshani said that approv- from the fetters of the bodily desires, lusts and bad ing the law came to safeguard the security of the country habits that draw us down to earth. Fasting is not and strike those who may plot to disrupt national security restricted to refraining from eating and drinking, but or instigate people against the regime by organizing also from every kind of selfish desire and wrong-doing. demonstrations for the aim of scoring political gains. In essence, the fast encompasses not merely the body, Meanwhile, Islamist Salafi MP Abdulrahman Al-Jeeran but basically that of the spirit as well. The physical fast is blasted a statement by the Muslim Brotherhood-linked a symbol and outward manifestation of the real, inner KUWAIT: Dhows sail off Kuwaiti beaches as Kuwait temperature soars above 50 degrees Celsius. —KUNA Islamic Constitutional Movement for criticizing the amend- fast. ments, saying the change aim at stability in the country. Muslims scholars assert that fasting has three levels; the fasting of appetites, the fasting of the senses, the fasting of the mind and the heart. Muslims are encour- aged to ascend the ladder in a spiritual path to reach Jaber Hospital ‘exclusive for Kuwaitis’ God. The highest level of the fast is the fast of the heart, which is the peak of spirituality. KUWAIT: The highly anticipated Jaber accessed by both Kuwaiti and expatriate Continued on Page 13 Hospital will be allocated for Kuwaiti cit- patients. izens once it opens later this year, Jaber Hospital is considered the Health Minister Dr Ali Al-Obaidi con- largest hospital in the Middle East with News firmed. The top-notch facility will be run a total of 1,168 beds. The hospital also in brief by an international administration “to has three helipads, a parking lot with a guarantee a more ideal way to manage 5,000 car capacity in addition to 50 this international hospital,” he said in a ambulances. It also has a protective Kuwait’s banks to be statement. shelter. The hospital covers an area of Meanwhile, the minister reiterated 220 meters squared with a construction closed July 5-9 for Eid that a tender has been awarded to a area reaching 725 meters squared. The KUWAIT: All local banks will be closed starting Tuesday company to build three hospitals minister said the hospital is considered July 5th to Saturday July 9th for the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, accessed only by expatriates covered by an integrated health center. Kuwait Banking Association (KBA) announced yester- medical insurance. He said that the hos- It has five towers of patients rooms at day. According to a notice by the Central Bank of Kuwait pitals will finish ‘soon’ without giving a a height of nine floors and each tower (CBK), all banks will resume their normal operations on date. Works to build the Jaber Hospital can be expanded in the future. He Sunday July 10th, KBA Secretary General Hamad Al- started in 2009 as Kuwait looked to added that the hospital has eight Hassawi said in a press statement. The Civil Service expand its free-of-charge medical serv- entrances, 150 elevators, a catastrophe Commission (CSC) had announced that the Eid Al-Fitr ices provided to Kuwaiti citizens at its center which is considered the first of its holiday starts on July 5th and ends on July 9th, irrespec- overcrowded public hospitals that are Continued on Page 13 Photo shows a model of Jaber Hospital tive of whether Ramadan totals out to be 29 or 30 days. Yemen counter-terrorism Bahrain’s oppn defense lawyers quit in protest mission shows UAE ambition DUBAI: Defense lawyers for Bahrain’s main Shiite ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates, the southern coastal city in April, militant opposition bloc Al-Wefaq withdrew yesterday one of Washington’s closest allies in the threats persist - the latest attack was from court proceedings to dissolve it in protest at Middle East, is deploying its military claimed by Islamic State, in Yemen a less- the government’s push to accelerate the process. against Al-Qaeda in Yemen, and in the er force than Al-Qaeda. The Emiratis The Administrative Court had already suspended process providing what some see as a deployed initially against a different foe - all of Al-Wefaq’s activities on June 14, ordering its badly-needed new template for counter- Yemen’s Houthi group, joining a Saudi- offices closed and assets frozen in a move that terrorism in Arab lands. UAE Special led campaign last year to try to reverse a drew concern from the United Nations and the Forces are orchestrating the hunt for Al- bid for national power by a group seen United States. The bloc was the largest in parlia- Qaeda in remote deserts and mountains, by many Gulf Arabs as a proxy for region- ment before its lawmakers resigned in protest at adding the capability of Arab troops sea- al arch-rival Iran. the crushing of 2011 protests calling for an elect- soned in war zones like Afghanistan and The war weakened the Houthis, but in ed government. “The defense team is finding it Somalia to a campaign long the preserve the resulting turmoil Al-Qaeda swept impossible to carry out its duty legally and profes- of the US and Yemeni militaries. across the eastern side of the country, sionally in light of the very short period” given to Suicide attacks killing 38 in Mukalla seizing more land than it had ever held prepare, the three lawyers said in a joint state- on Monday show the challenge. While and raising tens of millions of dollars ment. They said the authorities had also refused to the UAE helped to eject Al-Qaeda from Continued on Page 13 allow them access to documents at the bloc’s headquarters. Egypt deports Lebanese political talk show host CAIRO: Egypt on Monday arrested and deported popu- lar talk show host Liliane Daoud, security and airport sources said, hours after the Lebanese journalist announced the cancellation of her TV program. Daoud’s deportation comes amid a growing crackdown on media that has seen scores of journalists tried in court and jailed. Her show, on the privately owned OnTV net- work, disappeared from airwaves after the channel was sold by billionaire Egyptian investor Naguib Sawiris in May. “This is a campaign against respectable media and free journalism ... all we were doing was presenting a respectable show ... so we don’t know what we are SANAA: Yemenis sell goods and offer to wash car windscreens on the street in the being punished for,” said Amer Tamam, the program’s capital Sanaa.