Weekend shift: A welcome change

Source: The Saudi Gazette (Read full story)

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Saudi Arabia, the biggest Arab economy, had been the only member of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to have a Thursday-Friday weekend after Oman shifted to a Friday-Saturday weekend last month. However, some Saudi companies, including food producer Savola had already announced they would change their own weekend to Friday and Saturday to improve their coordination with regional partners. The decision aligns Saudi Arabia’s work schedule with everybody else, John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at MASIC, a Riyadh-based investment company, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “It will make the Saudi market more aligned with regional markets,” he said.

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Opposition to boycott polls, Awazem to take part – Constitutional court to explain ruling on June 26

Source: Kuwait Times (Read full story)

Twenty-seven former opposition MPs yesterday signed a statement in which they vowed to boycott the forthcoming elections, but the opposition’s attempt to garner popular support for the boycott was dealt a heavy blow after the Awazem tribe, the largest in the country, decided to participate. The Awazem announcement was made by the tribe’s chief Falah bin Jame’ at a large gathering of the tribe. Jame’ told his tribesmen that he believes that “after the court ruling, we should participate”. Former opposition MP Falah Al-Sawwagh, a member of the tribe who is boycotting, appealed to the tribesmen not to change their opinion, especially since the single-vote amendment does not serve the interests of the tribe.

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World powers to provide ‘urgent aid’ to Syria rebels

Source: Khaleej Times (Read full story)

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Speaking in Doha, top Qatari diplomat Shaikh Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani said the meeting of foreign ministers of the ‘Friends of Syria’ had taken “secret decisions about practical measures to change the situation on the ground in Syria”. Ministers from Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States attended the talks. Washington and Doha called for increasing military aid to end what US Secretary of State John Kerry called an “imbalance” in Assad’s favour. Kerry said the United States remained committed to a peace plan that includes a conference in Geneva and a transitional government picked both by Assad and the opposition. But he said the rebels need more support “for the purpose of being able to get to Geneva and to be able to address the imbalance on the ground”.

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Arab Ministers of justice mull draft protocol against firearms

Source: Kuwait News Agency (Read full story)

The executive office of the Arab justice ministers’ council met on Sunday to discuss a draft protocol for curbing the spread of firearms in the Arab countries. The State of Kuwait was represented by Minister of Justice and Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Shareeda Abdullah Al-Mousherji. The agenda of the meeting included topics such as the plan to launch an Arab tribunal to try the cases of ill-gotten funds, the draft treaty against human trafficking, a protocol against maritime piracy, the treaty for aviation safety. The ministers discussed the report of the secretariat of the council on the implementation of the results of the former ministerial meeting, the treaty against terrorism, the treaty against money laundering and the treaty against religion slandering.

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Clean energy to be growth industry in MENA

Source: The National (Read full story)

A global renewable energy body has released a report claiming that the clean energy sector in the Middle East and North Africa will grow 60-fold by 2030. The findings were presented at a meeting between the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (Ren21) in Abu Dhabi yesterday evening. Factors that have already contributed to the “massive” potential growth include regional investment that topped US$2.9 billion (Dh10.6bn) in 2012, up 40 per cent from the previous year and 650 per cent since 2004. “From Irena’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, we have been uniquely placed to witness renewable energy become a multi-billion dollar industry within the Mena region,” said Adnan Amin, the director general of Irena.

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