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Qatar’s popular Arabic satellite television station Al-Jazeera has again provoked a regional government, this time the US-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.
Twenty-four males, including a 17-year-old, who say they are Kuwaiti bidoon, are claiming asylum in the UK after the UK Border Agency (UKBA) found them at the Port of Harwich, Essex, in the early hours of 10 January.
The status of stateless Arabs in Kuwait, whom the government calls ‘illegal residents’, has been highlighted by human rights organisations for many years. Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa researcher Priyanka Motaparthy told GSN: “People who have lived in Kuwait their whole lives have no legal status there.
Sarkozy has been forced to admit that Paris was too close to a tyrant, and other European and Arab states have been embarrassed by their relations with Ben Ali – even though, usually in private, many expressed distaste for his methods of rule.
Five people appeared before the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance in early January charged with corruption-related offences at the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (Adwea). One of the five, an Emirati woman (MGH) who had been with Adwea
The political environment has deteriorated. King Hamad seems to believe that his regime can survive only if it recovers popular consent. But he is troubled by deteriorating communal politics, and faces opposition from within Al- Khalifa ranks.
Since the granting of universal suffrage in 2003, all adults are eligible to vote and women have the right to seek public office. But civil liberties remain constrained. Media freedoms are heavily restricted, there is limited news flow from the country and the government reserves the right to censor.
After a year of turbulence and widespread civil unrest following disputed presidential elections, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government has consolidated its position with the support of the president’s powerful backer, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC or Pasdaran).
Opposition is not well tolerated, and the prime minister has again been grilled by MPs, this time over the heavy-handed police crackdown on a rally in December that left five people injured. The protest was against a ‘government plot’ to amend the constitution, and lift the parliamentary immunity of maverick Islamist Faisal Al-Muslim
Catering not only to his love of classical music, but also to the genre’s reported popularity among Omanis, Sultan Qaboos has ordered the construction of a 16th century Italian-style opera house due to open in October 2011, according to Agence France-Presse.
Sheikh Abdullah, a son of Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani has been in Jordan to offer condolences to King Abdullah II
WikiLeaks’ publication of US diplomatic documents sheds light on a well-known but secretive relationship
The global prominence given to leaked US diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks is deeply embarrassing for Gulf leaders in a region where even the most anodyne revelations about ruling elites remain taboo. The WikiLeaks affair could damage US strategic interests in a vital region long after the initial headlines have faded
Uncertainty over Kurdistan’s production-sharing agreements as the weakness of its negotiating position is exposed in process of government formation
The Kuwaiti authorities’ relentless pursuit of an outspoken parliamentary critic of Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah is now alienating potential supporters of the government’s reform plans.
