Shoura set to welcome women members

Source: Arab News (Read full story)

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King Abdullah also announced that women would have the right to run and vote in the 2015 municipal elections. Women in the GCC countries and elsewhere have warmly welcomed the king’s initiative.
The Shoura Council has set up an ad hoc commission to look into the measures and procedures to be taken to ensure a smooth welcome and an adequate working atmosphere for the women members in 2013.
At present the Shoura has 12 women advisers whose work is related mainly to the issues of women, families and children. According to a report carried by Al-Sharq newspaper, authorities have started efforts to pick qualified women. A special commission, headed by the king, will look into the nominees to finalize the list.

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Top priority to Kuwait security, stability – Interior clarifies stand

Source: Kuwait Times (Read full story)

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It expressed hope that those activists would take into consideration the higher interests of Kuwait, and place them higher than personal ones. Some young men have been incited to carry out riots and violence and promote such acts on the social networking sites with the aim of portraying an inaccurate image abroad about conditions in the country. It warned these young activists that they would find them alone facing justice, while their supporters would back off. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry denied rumors about the refusal of some members of the special forces to participate in breaking up the riots and stop violence caused by the demonstrators in the square opposite of the National Assembly.

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Bahrain summons Iran’s charge d’affaires

Source: Gulf News  (Read full story)

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The Bahraini official also demanded an end to the Iranian interference in Bahrain’s domestic affairs and to incitement through its media and relations and contacts with some forces in the country.

Iran should also be committed to international diplomatic rules, international relations, the principle of good neighbourliness and the United Nations charter which reject all forms of direct or indirect interference in the internal affairs of other countries under any form. They also ban any form of political, religious or media incitement, including lies, allegations and jamming radio and television programming.

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Cyberattack on Mideast energy firms was among most destructive, Panetta says

Source: The Washington Post (Read full story)

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Panetta’s remarks on the Middle East incidents were the first from any administration official acknowledging them. In the attack on Aramco, the virus replaced crucial system files with an image of a burning U.S. flag, he said. It also overwrote the files with “garbage” data, he said.

The Middle East cyber-incidents have prompted great concern inside national security agencies, with the military’s Cyber Command adding personnel to monitor for the possibility of follow-on attacks. U.S. intelligence and Middle Eastern diplomats have said they believe Iran carried out those attacks in retaliation for a Western oil embargo against Tehran, but other experts have expressed skepticism.

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Iran’s threat to cut ties with UAE ‘flimsy’, experts say

Source: Gulf News (Read full story)

Analysts have called Iran’s threats to sever diplomatic relations with the UAE “flimsy and lacking respect and value”.

They also warned Tehran not to test UAE’s resolve over the issue of its three occupied islands, as Iran’s foreign ministry reportedly warned it could look at cutting diplomatic ties with the UAE because of a festering dispute over the islands.

Dr Ebtisam Al Katbi, professor of political science at the UAE University, said on Tuesday that Iran will be “the biggest loser of such a move, especially at this time when Tehran severely suffers from sanctions and pressures from the whole world.

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IFC to boost investments in Yemen

Source: Saudi Gazette (Read full story)

The World Bank’s financial arm International Finance Corp (IFC) plans to increase its investments in Yemen, Iraq and North Africa next year to help support development and job creation, a senior IFC executive said.
“MENA needs to create 50-70 million jobs in the next decade. Recent events in the MENA region have created the urgency to address the fundamental conditions required to revive growth and support human development,” Dimitris Tsitsiragos, the IFC’s vice president for Europe, Middle East and North Africa, said in an interview Monday.

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GCC HEADING TOWARDS UNION BUT NEEDS TO SOLVE KEY ISSUES 

Source: Kuwait News Agency (Read full story)

Talks between the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to establish a union have made large strides but there are some issues to needed decisive decisions and common conviction Kuwait Foreign undersecretary Khaled Al-Jarallah said on Tuesday. ” The GCC statute affirms that coordination between the GCC countries lead to unity and this is the destiny of GCC countries,” Al-Jarallah told reporters on sidelines of a reception by the Korean Embassy marking its national day and armed forces day.

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