Arab League backs Kerry’s push to revive Mideast talks
Source: Gulf Times (Read full story)
The Arab League endorsed the drive to relaunch Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations led by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who said gaps between the sides had been greatly narrowed. The encouraging rhetoric after Kerry met an Arab League delegation and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan yesterday suggested that Kerry, on his sixth such peace mission to the Middle East in as many months, might have found a path to ending an almost three-year deadlock. The main sticking point has been Israel’s continued building of settlements on occupied land where Palestinians want to found a state. Israel approved new settlement yesterday.The 22-nation League also confirmed a recent compromise on its 11-year-old peace proposal to Israel; it said old borders could be redrawn.
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Iran frees Emiratis and Asian crew after two months
Source: The National (Read full story)
Five Emirati fishing boat captains and 21 Asian crew are back in the UAE after being held in custody by Iran for two months. They were aboard three boats seized by the Iranian coastguard after sailing into waters off Kish island on May 12. The men were released on Wednesday after the Emirati owners of two of the boats agreed to pay fines totalling Dh55,000. “My captain and the fishermen are very special to me and that is why when I was asked to pay the fine by the Iranian authorities, I paid it immediately to win their freedom,” said owner Jomaa bin Khalfun, who paid Dh25,000.
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Court says EU wrongly froze assets of Saudi man
Source: Arab News (Read full story)
The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday that EU authorities unfairly froze assets of a Saudi businessman who was accused of financing Al-Qaeda, by failing to explain why he was targeted. The European Court of Justice upheld a lower European court ruling in the case of Yassin Al-Qadi, rejecting an appeal by EU and British authorities. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Al-Qadi’s charitable Muwafaq foundation was identified by the US Treasury Department as an Al-Qaeda front and placed on a terror list in October 2001.
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Kuwait woman jailed for anti-Amir tweets
Source: Kuwait Times (Read full story)
The Appeals Court yesterday upheld a 20-month jail term against female opposition activist Sara Al-Darees on charges of writing tweets deemed offensive to the Amir. The Criminal Court last month issued the sentence against Darees on charges of insulting the Amir’s status and for misusing her mobile phone but she was asked to pay a bail of KD 200 to suspend the implementation of the jail term until the case has been reviewed by the Appeals Court. Under Kuwaiti law, the sentence must be carried out immediately after the Appeals Court confirmed it although the convict can still challenge the sentence to the Court of Cassation whose rulings are final.
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Security forces attacked
Source: Gulf Daily News (Read full story)
Security forces came under attack across Bahrain yesterday – with video footage showing thugs firing a homemade rocket launcher at police in Sitra. Authorities confirmed a mobile phone tower in A’ali was damaged after saboteurs broke into a control room and burned tyres at 2am. “This caused a brief disruption of service for customers of that telecom provider, but full service has been restored,” said an official, who did not reveal which company was affected. Minister of State for Telecommunications Affairs Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa condemned the attack.
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Qatar real GDP growth may contract by 0.5% over 2013–16: S&P
Source: Gulf Times (Read full story)
Qatar’s real GDP per capita growth may contract by 0.5% on average over 2013 – 16 as the large investment programme to enhance LNG production capacity to 77mn tonnes per year tails off, S&P has said in a report. In its recent country assessment Standard & Poor’s said Qatar is one of the wealthiest economies, with GDP per capita estimated at $98,000 in 2013. Relative to peers, real GDP per capita growth has been strong in recent years, but slowed sharply in 2012.“We project population growth to average around 6% per year until 2016,” the report said. S&P said it views Qatar’s macroeconomic policy flexibility as “adequate overall”.
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