Kuwait began a three-day mourning period yesterday following the death of former emir Sheikh Saad Abdullah al-Sabah, and campaigning for Saturday’s general election was suspended.
Sheikh Saad, 78, who was emir for just nine days, died late on Tuesday after a long illness. He was to be laid to rest early yesterday.
The 274 candidates standing in the legislative election suspended their campaigns for three days, which means no more election rallies will be held before Kuwaitis go to the polls.
Banks, the stock market and most of private sector institutions were also closed.
The government however stressed that the election, called after a new political crisis in the oil-rich emirate, would not be postponed.
Sheikh Saad succeeded to the throne in January 2006 after the death of his predecessor, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah. But he was deposed by parliament after only nine days on health grounds.
He was hailed by Kuwaitis as a “liberation hero” for the key role he played during the occupation of Kuwait by Iraqi troops in August 1990 and the liberation of the emirate by a US-led coalition seven months later.
Born in 1930, Sheikh Saad was the eldest son of the late Sheikh Abdullah al-Salem al-Sabah, the 11th emir of Kuwait, known as the father of independence and the Constitution.
He served as Kuwait’s crown prince for more than 30 years, and as prime minister for 25 years before he relinquished the post in 2003 because of poor health.
In January 1962, Sheikh Saad was appointed interior minister in the first Kuwaiti Cabinet after independence from Britain the previous year. In 1964, he was also put in charge of defense.
He underwent colon surgery in early 1997. He had traveled repeatedly to Britain and the US for tests and treatment as his health deteriorated.
He was married to his immediate cousin Sheikha Latifa. He has one son, Fahd, and three surviving daughters. Two other daughters have died.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of