Egypt govt to quit, Sisi to make cabinet changes: media

CAIRO: Egypt´s military-installed government was due to resign Monday, with new President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expected to make changes to the cabinet on his first day in office, media reported.

The ex-army chief was sworn in on Sunday, nearly a year after ousting elected president Mohamed Morsi after millions protested against the Islamist´s divisive one year rule.

"The cabinet ended its last meeting on Monday morning ... during which it prepared its letter of resignation to be presented to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi," state news agency MENA reported.

Egyptian newspapers reported that Sisi is expected to ask interim prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab to continue in his post, but could make minor changes to the cabinet.

The government installed by Sisi, who has been the de facto leader since he ousted Morsi, has carried out a brutal crackdown on the former president´s Muslim Brotherhood in which more than 1,400 people have been killed and thousands more jailed.

Hours after his inauguration, Sisi, in a warning to the now blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood, said there will be "no leniency and truce with those who resort to violence".

"I am looking to a new era built on reconciliation and tolerance.. except with those who committed crimes or used violence as a tool," he said on Sunday in his first national address as president.

"I am saying clearly that those who shed the blood of the innocent and killed ... the sons of Egypt, they don´t have a place in (our) march."

At his inauguration, Western countries alarmed by the brutal police crackdown on dissent were represented mostly by low-level representatives.

Sisi becomes Egypt´s second elected president since a popular uprising overthrew longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011, unleashing more than three years of political turmoil.

Syria’s Assad sweeps 'non-election' US says changes nothing

DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has won a new seven-year term with nearly 90 percent of the vote but Washington said the "non-election" changed nothing and activists said it would spell only more war.

Tens of thousands took to the streets in government-held areas even before the results were announced on Wednesday evening, waving portraits of Assad and the official Syrian flag.

Celebratory gunfire erupted in the capital and in loyalist areas across Syria. At least 10 people were killed as the bullets fell back to earth, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In opposition-held areas where no election was held on Tuesday, activists reacted with the Arab Spring slogan of 2011 that has been the rally cry of their uprising -- "The people want the fall of the regime."

Pro-government newspapers all carried front-page photographs of the re-elected president. Images of Assad in suit and tie, or more rarely military uniform, filled the programming of state television.

The ruling Baath party´s newspaper vowed that Syrians would show the same steadfastness against rebel attack in rebuilding their country that they displayed on polling day.

"After the historic vote, Syrians will accomplish a military, political and social mission, as well as the reconstruction of the country, by defying the mortars that are launched every day by the terrorists," Al-Baath said in an editorial.

Some 11.6 million of the 15.8 million eligible voters turned out in government-held areas, according to official figures, despite attacks that killed 24 people on polling day, according to the Observatory.

Critics charged that many of those who voted did so more out of fear than commitment to Assad, whose family has ruled Syria with a rod of iron for four decades.

 

Imran changes viewpoint on daily basis

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has termed Imran Khan’s sit-ins as a move to put pressure on judiciary and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for getting favorite decisions, Geo News reported.

Speaking to media outside the parliament here Tuesday, Saad Rafique asked Imran Khan not to take revenge from democracy if his dream to become prime minister did not come true.

The minister said judicial officers were appointed as returning officer on the pressure of Khan as the then chief justice had refused to do so. He added: “Imran Khan changes his viewpoint on daily basis which is not a sign of leader.”

He also advised Imran Khan to keep himself away from a former Railway minister.

Obama in Saudi as changes test decades-long alliance

ROME: US President Barack Obama will aim Friday to reassure his Saudi hosts on the strength of their alliance, frayed by Washington´s diplomatic opening towards Iran and reluctance to use force in Syria.

Obama is expected late on Friday in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, the fourth and final stop of a tour this week after the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.

The White House was late to announce Obama´s stop in Riyadh, following his European tour, fuelling speculation on the motives of the US president´s second visit since his election in 2009 to Washington´s decades-old ally in the Middle East.

Dating back to the end of World War II, the relationship was founded on an agreement for Washington to defend the Gulf state in exchange for oil contracts.

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia is the world´s top producer and exporter of oil. In 2012, it was still the second largest exporter to the United States, after Canada.

But relations have soured, with Riyadh openly criticising US policy on regional issues, which are to be discussed at a meeting followed by dinner between King Abdullah and Obama.

At the Arab League summit in Kuwait on Tuesday, Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz accused the international community of "betraying" Syrian rebels, outgunned in their war against President Bashar al-Assad´s regime.

According to the Syrian opposition, Washington has imposed a veto on its allies against arming rebels with anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons, over fears they could fall into the hands of Islamist extremists.

And the Saudis were bitterly disappointed by Obama´s 11th-hour decision last year to back down from military action against the Syrian regime over chemical weapons attacks.

Saudi Arabia, long wary of Iran´s regional ambitions, is also sceptical of the interim nuclear deal reached by world powers and the Islamic republic in November, viewing it as a risky venture that could embolden Tehran.

The agreement would curb Iran´s controversial nuclear activities in exchange for limited sanctions relief, and is aimed at buying time to negotiate a comprehensive accord.