Search results

Selected filters:

Type

Sector

Regions

Sort options

1,809 results found for your search

Issue 936 - 22 November 2012

King Abdullah’s back operation

Free

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) announced on 18 November that King Abdullah had undergone successful back surgery at a hospital in Riyadh. The SPA said the operation tightened a loose ligament in his upper back. The king has had several back operations.

Saudi Arabia
Issue 936 - 22 November 2012

Saud Al-Faisal’s meetings abroad

Free

Foreign minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal has resumed his busy schedule after returning to the Kingdom on 2 November following months abroad after surgery.

Saudi Arabia
Free

Heir apparent Sheikh Tamim held meetings on 19 November with several foreign defence ministers, who were in Doha to attend the ‘Rapacious Hawk-3’ exercises.

Qatar
Free

Yemen is nine months into a transition period envisaged to last two years and intended to steer the troubled state towards multi-party democratic elections. But the country remains wracked with violence. A strong Al-Qaeda presence in the south, tensions within the military, immense poverty and malnutrition are just some of the challenges facing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi,who took over in February after 33 years of rule by Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Yemen
Free

It has been more than a year-a-half since the start of Syria’s conflict.What began as a popular uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad has deteriorated into a bloody conflict; in June, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) declared it a “non-international armed conflict” – in lay terms, a civil war.

Free

Established in 1971, the federation of the seven emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al- Quwain is a liberal and progressive state as far as the economy goes, but remains one of the region’s most politically conservative.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Free

The Al-Thani has ruled Qatar only since the mid-19th century. Its rule became entrenched with the end of Ottoman dominance in the Gulf and British recognition of both the Al-Thani and Qatar’s borders, in the face of fierce Saudi claims. With an estimated 7,000 to 20,000 members, the Al- Thani is thought to be the second largest ruling family in the Gulf, after the Al-Saud.

Qatar
Free

The threat of another British-Saudi row hung in the air this week, as news emerged that Saudi Arabia was “insulted” by a UK parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) decision to review London’s relations with Riyadh. Saudi Arabia was “re-evaluating… historic relations with Britain”, the BBC said on 15 October, quoting Saudi ambassador to London Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Al-Saud. “All options will be looked at,” he ominously stated

Free

Based on its huge hydrocarbons and financial resources, Saudi Arabia is the giant of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) and dominant regional player. While the past decade has seen heavy spending on education, health and social development, the Kingdom faces many problems, not least a fast-growing population, soaring energy consumption and high unemployment among young males.

Saudi Arabia
Free

On 7 October, Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah dissolved parliament again, meaning that elections must be held within 60 days – the second this year. The move was widely expected, following months of political limbo.The date for the polls has yet to be set.

Kuwait
Free

Oman is expected to hold nationwide elections for municipal councils in the next few months. The polls were originally expected to take place in October, but the government has not yet announced a date. Momentum is building, however, and on 26 September, the election committee adopted a preliminary list of 1,653 candidates, including 50 women.

Oman
Free

Plans for a causeway linking Qatar and Bahrain remain dead in the water, despite hopes they might be revived before the 2022 soccer World Cup.

Bahrain | Qatar
Free

The internet has made news more opinionated than ever. With the tools of propaganda so close to hand, every story has become a chain of claim and counter-claim, of accusation and denial. On partisan news channels, in press releases emailed to inboxes across the globe, in the deceptively informal forums of social media, it is possible not only to peddle one’s version of history, but to spread it wide. Nowhere is the conflict of recorded histories more evident than in countries where governments seek to keep a lid on freedom of expression.

Bahrain
Free

Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki continues his campaign to establish total control over Iraq’s political institutions, including parliament, the judiciary, security forces, electoral oversight mechanisms and the economy.

Iraq
Free

The faultline between Erbil and Baghdad has widened into a chasm in the past year. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki seems determined to thwart Kurdish political objectives, while the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) – further emboldened by a strengthening relationship with Turkey – seems confident enough to persist with its secessionist rhetoric and plans to develop an autonomous energy sector, despite federal objections.

Iraq