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Issue 940 - 07 February 2013

Iraq: UK visa centre in Baghdad

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The UK has officially opened a new visa application centre in Baghdad, meaning that Iraqi citizens can apply for British visas from their capital, rather than from Amman or elsewhere as was previously necessary.

Iraq
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The US has spent $5.6trn on its wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan and related security initiatives over the past 16 years, according to newly released research by the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University. The figure is far higher than previous official estimates: the Department of Defense (Pentagon) has estimated the combined cost of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria at $1.5trn to date.

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Iraq’s financial situation is far from satisfactory. The Gulf states and Saudi Arabia have provided the country with something like $30bn but there are some signs of a growing reluctance to lend any more.

Iran | Iraq
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Kuwaiti legislators adopted a law giving domestic workers enforceable labour rights on 24 June, which Human Rights Watch (HRW) described as a “major breakthrough” for the region. Kuwait has more than 660,000 domestic workers, most of them Asian and African women. The new law grants domestic workers the right to a weekly day off, 30 days of annual paid leave, a 12-hour working day with rest, and an end-of-service benefit of one month a year, among other rights. HRW urged Kuwait to rigorously enforce the law, and other Gulf states to follow Kuwait’s lead.

Kuwait
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Sarko meeting; SEC reshuffle; Swine flu; Yemen crisis, foreign meetings; Term extended

Saudi Arabia
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Two new domestically-produced military vehicles have formally entered service with the UAE Armed Forces. The Nimr N35 – which comes in both 4x4 and 6x6 configurations – and the Ajban special operations vehicle were both displayed for the first time during the UAE’s National Day parade on 5 December. The N35 is based on the RG35 model which Nimr bought from South Africa’s Denel Vehicle Systems in September 2015.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)
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On 23 April, Qatari foreign minister Khalid Bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah declared the rift between Doha and other Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states “over”. “For the brothers in the Gulf Co-operation Council the dispute is over,” he told a news conference in Kuwait, after a meeting with his Kuwait counterpart Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Sabah, during which several memorandums of understanding were signed. “Brothers in the GCC states arrived at understandings which are not considered to be concessions by any party.” The dispute he referred to was that surrounding the 5 March withdrawal of ambassadors from Doha by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. Two months on, there has been no official word on the return of the diplomats, but Qatar appears keen – as it has since the spat began - to play down Gulf differences.

Issue 1035 - 28 April 2017

Region: Cross-border power trading

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The six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries have joined with Iraq, Yemen and six other countries to sign a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a joint electricity market. The agreement was signed in Cairo on the sidelines of the 12th session of the Arab Ministerial Council for Electricity and also involves Algeria, the Comoros, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Sudan.

Issue 882 - 31 July 2010

MBZ: Funeral prayers for cousin

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Funeral prayers for cousin

United Arab Emirates (UAE)
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Turkey is coming to play a central role in strategic thinking in the Arab/Islamic world, as well as in the West and Eurasian zones. Regional trade is booming, Ankara’s relationship with Israel has become strained while Turkey has emerged as a key player in Iraqi Kurdistan; and as a nuclear Iran emerges, Turkey’s relations with the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states may well become central to regional strategies.

Issue 1013 - 23 April 2016

Saudi Arabia: Sarah Bint Saud funeral

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Funeral prayers were held on 12 April for Princess Sarah Bint Saud Bin Abdelaziz Al-Kabir from the Saud Al-Kabir branch. Senior royals attending included Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef. Princess Sarah’s father was the famous Saud Al-Kabir (1881-1960) who was a key supporter of Ibn Saud during his later campaigns to unite the kingdom and married his favourite sister Nura. Because the Al-Kabir line is considered to rank second in protocol, funerals of family members are usually attended by leading members of the main Al-Saud branch; when Sarah’s brother died in 2010 King Salman (then Riyadh governor) led the funeral.

Saudi Arabia
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An ex-wife of King Abdullah, Alanoud Daham Al-Bakheet Al-Fayez, and two of her four daughters have made complaints to the western press about their poor treatment in Saudi Arabia. Al-Fayez started a campaign to publicise the situation of her children in autumn 2013 (including an active Twitter campaign using the hashtag #freethefour); their story has now been covered by the UK’s The Sunday Times, Channel 4 News and The Economist, Spain’s El Pais and the US’ Fox News among others. Al-Fayez, who lives in London, and her daughter Princess Sahar (42) claim that Sahar and her sisters Maha (41), Hala (39) and Jawaher (38) have been trapped in their royal compound in Jeddah for the past 13 years, unable to leave without armed guards and watched over at all times.

Saudi Arabia
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Fiscal and monetary issues may seem irrelevant while (according to most external narratives) Iraq’s very existence within Sykes-Picot borders is being challenged by Islamic State (ISIL or ISIS) and Kurdish calls for independence. But Baghdad’s response to the challenge of restoring its depleted finances and tackling astonishing shortfalls in governance could prove just as important in shaping the region’s future.A senior, federalist-inclined Kurdish policymaker observes that an “almost empty” treasury in Baghdad will be incapable of providing the funds Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi needs, if he is serious about rebuilding Iraq.

Iraq
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The High Court in London on 20 June ruled that an action brought by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade and others to stop the issue of new licenses for the export of military equipment to Saudi Arabia should be upheld. Trade secretary Liam Fox subsequently told Parliament the issuance of new licences would be suspended while the government appeals the ruling.

Saudi Arabia
Issue 977 - 19 September 2014

Governments seek response to drug trade

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Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) and other regional trading centres have long been at the centre of the narcotics trade’s financial links to the world’s number one opium producer, Afghanistan. According to international organisations, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body set up to combat money laundering, drug money is being laundered in jurisdictions such as the UAE, and opiates traded through the most open trade points – Dubai among them. The UAE – a stopover point for regional air passenger traffic – is also identified as a transit point for Asian cocaine.