SUBSCRIPTION SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2014 RABI ALTHANI 23, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Joint efforts Chelsea to identify, stretch lead prosecute visa with last-gasp traffickers winner 2 20 INSIDE Protesters take Kiev, Max 24º Min 09º president slams coup High Tide 02:42 & 14:58 Low Tide Opposition icon Tymoshenko walks free 09:05 & 21:39 40 PAGES NO: 16086 150 FILS KIEV: Protesters took control of Ukraine’s that assertion. capital yesterday, seizing the president’s But Yanukovych vowed flatly to fight office as parliament voted to remove him any attempt to topple him. “They are try- and hold new elections. President Viktor ing to scare me. I have no intention to Yanukovych described the events as a leave the country. I am not going to coup and insisted he would not step resign; I’m the legitimately elected presi- down. After a tumultuous week that left dent,” Yanukovych said in a televised scores dead and Ukraine’s political des- statement, clearly shaken and with long tiny in flux, fears mounted that the coun- pauses in his speaking. “Everything that try could split in two - a Europe-leaning is happening today is, to a greater west and a Russian-leaning east and degree, vandalism and banditry and a south. Parliament arranged the release of coup d’etat,” he said. “I will do everything Yanukovych’s arch-rival, former Prime to protect my country from breakup, to Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was on stop bloodshed.” her way to Kiev to join the protesters. Ukraine, a nation of 46 million, has She promised to run for president, and huge strategic importance to Russia, said she will “make it so that no drop of Europe and the United States. The coun- blood that was spilled will be forgotten”. try’s western regions, angered by corrup- Yanukovych said he would not recog- tion in Yanukovych’s government, want nize any of the lawmakers’ decisions as to be closer to the European Union and valid. He left Kiev for his support base in have rejected Yanukovych’s authority in the country’s Russian-speaking east, many cities. Eastern Ukraine, which where lawmakers questioned the legiti- accounts for the bulk of the nation’s eco- macy of the newly empowered legisla- nomic output, favors closer ties with ture and called for volunteer militias to Russia and has largely supported the uphold order. “This is a political knockout president. The three-month protest for Yanukovych,” charismatic former-box- movement was prompted by the presi- er-turned-opposition-leader Vitali dent’s decision to abort an agreement Klitschko said in a statement yesterday. with the EU in favor of a deal with “Yanukovych is no longer president.” Moscow. Newly-elected parliament speaker “The people have won, because we Oleksandr Turchynov said Yanukovych fought for our future,” said opposition “tried to take a plane to Russia but... was leader Vitali Klitschko to a euphoric Protesters celebrate as they ride atop of a truck in central Kiev yesterday. (Inset) Ukraine’s jailed pro- blocked in doing so by border police”. crowd of thousands gathered on Kiev’s Western opposition icon Yulia Tymoshenko leaves a hospital in Kharkiv yesterday. — AP/AFP There was no immediate confirmation of Continued on Page 13 Morsi slams Ailing Bouteflika PAGE Venus wins first PAGE ‘void’ trial to seek reelection title in16 months CAIRO: Egypt’s deposed president Mohamed Morsi yesterday rejected the right of a court to try him and Security flags over WhatsApp urged supporters from a courtroom dock to contin- ue their “revolution”, as a protest movement demanding his reinstatement shrinks before a fierce WASHINGTON: The Facebook deal for that when they send messages, the police crackdown. The defiant call came during WhatsApp drew attention for its whop- recipient’s device may not be secure. But Morsi’s trial on charges related to jailbreaks and ping price tag, but has also brought out it says it does not store any chat history attacks on police, as a separate court acquitted six Mexico drug kingpin fresh criticism over security for the bil- and that messages are wiped off its sys- police officers of killing protesters during the 2011 lions of messages delivered on the plat- tem after delivery. uprising against his predecessor Hosni Mubarak. ‘El Chapo’ captured form. WhatsApp, which is to be acquired Yet security researchers and others Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood still stages diminish- for $19 billion, says on its website that point out that there may be vulnerabili- ing weekly protests despite a crackdown that has MEXICO CITY: The reign of the world’s without a shot fired, the official said. “communication between your phone ties in the system used by some 450 mil- killed more than 1,400 people since the military most notorious drug trafficker came to The United States had offered a $5 mil- and our server is fully encrypted”. The lion people globally. Paul Jauregui at the overthrew him in July, after just one year in office. an abrupt end yesterday when Mexican lion reward for information leading to company warns users need to be aware Continued on Page13 “The revolution of the people won’t stop - continue marines swooped on Sinaloa cartel the arrest of Guzman, who is accused of your peaceful revolution,” said Morsi during the sec- leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, a US being behind much of the drug vio- ond hearing of the trial, one of three under way for security official told AFP. After 13 years lence that has plagued Mexico for years. the deposed leader. “As far as I’m concerned, these on the run, Guzman was captured at His arrest deals a major blow to procedures are void and I don’t accept them,” he around 6:00 am local time in a hotel in Mexico’s biggest drug cartel, an empire said. Speaking from inside a glass cage, Morsi also Mazatlan, a resort city located on the that stretches along the Pacific coast insisted that he remains the “president” of Egypt. “I Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, apparently and smuggles drugs to the United am present here by force,” he said. States, Europe and Asia. Mexican forces He also blamed Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, were acting on a tip-off from the US the army chief who led his overthrow and who is Drug Enforcement Agency and US expected to stand in and win presidential elections Homeland Security intelligence, the this spring, for the bloodshed across Egypt. “The official said on condition of anonymity. head of the coup, the defence minister, has killed “We’ve been actively tracking him for more than 3,000 people in the streets. He is the one five weeks. Because of that pressure, he who killed them and it was not investigated, but he fled in the last couple of days to will be held accountable,” said Morsi. Defence lawyer Mazatlan,” the official told AFP. “He had a Kamal Mandour demanded that Sisi be investigated small contingent with him,” the official for “toppling the regime” of Morsi and for detaining said. him. Another defence lawyer, Mohamed Abu Leila, Guzman was believed to have been asked the panel of judges to withdraw from the trial. hiding in a house in Culiacan, Sinaloa’s Morsi and 130 other defendants including largest city, but had fled as Mexican Palestinian and Lebanese militants are charged with troops hunted for him. The house had organising jailbreaks and attacking police stations extra-thick walls and escape tunnels, during the 2011 revolt against Mubarak. the official said. NEW YORK: The logo of WhatsApp, the popular messaging service bought by Continued on Page 13 Joaquin Guzman Continued on Page 13 Facebook for $19 billion, is seen on a smartphone. — AFP (See Page 27) Bomb kills 3 at Lebanon army post HERMEL, Lebanon: A massive suicide car to the war raging in neighbouring Syria. eastern Lebanon and southern Beirut have bomb targeting an army checkpoint in the Yesterday’s suicide car blast ripped through been targeted by a wave of violent attacks eastern Lebanese town of Hermel near war- the checkpoint which lies at the main in recent months, since the Shiite group torn Syria killed a civilian and two soldiers entrance of Hermel, and at which cars are acknowledged it sent fighters to support yesterday. The bomb is the latest in a string routinely stopped and searched by army President Bashar Al-Assad’s troops in Syria’s of blasts, many of them suicide attacks, tar- troops. Immediately after the attack, mili- war. Until yesterday, the attacks had all geting areas where Lebanon’s powerful tary police imposed a security cordon on killed civilians. Shiite movement Hezbollah is a dominant Hermel, as they searched for suspects and Hezbollah television channel Al-Manar force. A medical official who spoke to AFP evidence, said the National News Agency broadcast amateur footage showing a on condition of anonymity said two sol- (NNA). The agency also said Lebanon’s judi- huge fire rise above the checkpoint. The diers and a civilian were killed in the latest cial authorities ordered the collection of sound of people screaming can be heard. attack, and that 16 others, five of them sol- evidence at the scene of the blast, as well The blast comes just four days after three diers, were wounded. as a DNA test on the remains of the attack- people died in a twin bomb attack target- Hermel, in the Bekaa Valley, has seen er’s body. ing the cultural centre of Hezbollah backer KUWAIT: Popular Kuwaiti singer Abdullah Al-Ruwaished performs during a Hala multiple attacks in recent months related Areas under Hezbollah domination in Iran.