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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Praise for the UAE security agencies

Yemen’s president restructures armed forces

Source: CNN International (Read full story)

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“We are working towards a unified army under a unified leadership, and this needs to take place now,” the presidential aide said, asking to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The changes came as protests continued in front of Hadi’s residence. Demonstrators said they wouldn’t participate in the upcoming National Dialogue Conference unless Saleh’s relatives and loyalists who hold key military and security posts are removed. Yemeni officials have been hoping all the political factions in the country would meet at the conference.

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GCC Union may be delayed…

Source: Gulf Daily News (Read full story)

Differences  of opinion on the formation of a Gulf Union – which would supersede the existing GCC and bring member states even closer together – mean the project will not happen overnight, Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa told MPs yesterday. The plan was first mooted by Saudi monarch King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the GCC Summit in Riyadh last December. Talks have already taken place on increased military, economic, political and security ties, Shaikh Khalid said as he appeared in parliament.

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