Iran seized Saudi boats that lost their way

Source: Arab News (Read full story)

 A spokesman for the Saudi Coast Guard in the Eastern Province has confirmed news reports that two fishing boats from Saudi Arabia were seized by Iran.
Speaking to Arab News, Khaled Al-Arqubi said: “They were fishing vessels … Fishermen do lose their way in the high sea because of sudden change in wind direction and weather … They then find themselves in a foreign country; this is quite normal.”According to him, there is a general convention to deal with such issues. “The intruding boats are seized, investigated and then released,” Al-Arqubi said. “This can and does happen to any vessel in the Arabian Gulf.”

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New-look Shoura to have 15 women

Source: Arab News (Read full story)

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According to informed sources, the new Shoura Council will have at least 15 women members or 10 percent of its total number of members. Prominent personalities have been nominated to take up the challenging position. They are Al-Jowhara Al-Anqari, Asiya Al-Asheikh, Maha Al-Muneef, Mee Al-Eissa, Fatma Jamjoom, Jowhara Bubsheet, Mahasin Flimban, Noura Al-Asqa, Elham Hasanain, Wafa Taiba, Baheeja Baha Ezzi and Nihad Al-Jashi. All of them hold doctorate degrees in various specializations and work as consultants at the Shoura.

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Special GCC panel examines confederation of member states

Source: Kuwait News Agency (Read full story)

A special panel of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) tasked with examining process of establishing confederation among the six member states of the council started a meeting here on Monday. The committee is studying “movement from the phase of cooperation to the stage of confederation and this is a demand of many citizens of the council states,” said the head of the commission, Dr. Mohammed Bin Ahmad Al-Rashid, also the chairman of the Saudi consultative authority, in a statement. He also noted that the fourth article of the GCC statute stipulates that the member states should coordinate for sake of reaching integration and unity.

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Analysis | Saudi Arabia’s 2013 Budget – Jadwa

Source: SUSRIS  (Read full story)

Budgeted spending is at another all-time high in 2013, as the government continues with its program to upgrade the human and physical infrastructure and spurring economic growth. One highlight of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) budget announcement is the 18 percent jump in revenues. With no new initiatives announced, we think this is a sign that the government has maintained the less conservative approach with its oil price assumption since last year. For the second consecutive year, the Kingdom has budgeted for a surplus which set to reach SR9 billion this year (0.3 percent of expected GDP).

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US fiscal cliff crisis ‘will impact the Gulf’

Source: Arabian Business (Read full story)

As US lawmakers pushed the country to the edge of the “fiscal cliff” and struggle to reach a last-minute deal that could protect the world’s largest economy from a politically induced recession, a former US secretary of defence has warned that the failure of talks will have an impact in the Gulf. “If we go off the fiscal cliff, it impacts the Gulf, it impacts China, it impacts the world — because of the integration of the various economies; we’re globalised,” William Cohen, Secretary of Defence from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton, told Arabian Business in an interview. “What happens in the United States will have a major impact elsewhere. The price of oil, if that goes down, what does that do for revenues for the region?”

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