Ambassador Huseyin Dirioz, the top foreign policy aide to Turkish President Abdallah Gul, is likely to be appointed deputy secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Turkish sources said on Tuesday. Dirioz is among four candidates seeking the position, but Ankara is optimistic that he will be chosen to the high position....
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Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has rejected Israeli anti-Semitism accusations, arguing that his country “has never been anti-Semitist throughout its history, and it would never be so.” Dautoglu’s objection was uttered after an Israeli report targeted Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyup Recep Erdogan for backing efforts to end Gaza sufferings and openly criticising Israel’s deadly...
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Kuwaiti women married to foreigners could be given houses by the government if a motion filed by MPs is endorsed. The draft law motion calling upon the government to provide “appropriate” houses to all Kuwaiti women who are married with non-Kuwaiti men was endorsed by the parliament’s Women’s Committee and will be discussed by...
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Two Bahraini men accused of planning attacks in Bahrain and neighbouring countries, including US navy ships, were on Tuesday sentenced to five years in prison. The two men, a 21-year-old customs officer and an employed, 22, were arrested on April 26 based on information obtained by the National Security Agency (NSA) that the one...
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Israel on Tuesday accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of inciting anti-Semitism. Israeli daily Haaretz, quoting a report on Israel-Turkey relations prepared by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said that Erdogan was accused of crossing the “redlines” in Turkish-Israeli relationship. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon’s humiliation of the Turkish ambassador earlier this month...
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Egyptians living in Bahrain have scorned allegations that their national football team is an exclusively Muslim formation where only pious players are selected. Reports published last week claimed that Egypt’s coach Hassan Shehata selected only players with religious piety and football skills, and that those who did not observe Islam were ruled out. The...
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Two watchdog groups said that they were forming a joint committee to monitor the parliamentary and municipal elections to be held this autumn. The six-member committee will mark the third time Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) and Bahrain Transparency Society (BTS) team up to observe the elections and draft reports distributed nationwide. Legislative elections...
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The cases of women filing for divorce made up one fifth of the total cases in Kuwait in 2009, statistics indicate. “Last year saw the highest number of divorce cases filed by women, reaching 20.3% of the 5,447 cases in Kuwait, according to the figures of the justice ministry,” Kuwaiti daily Awan reported. Most...
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The US Navy has again encouraged commercial and civilian vessels to incorporate anti-piracy “best practices” to prevent acts of piracy when operating in dangerous waters. “Best practices include maintaining a 24-hour lookout for suspicious activity, reporting any suspicious activity to authorities, engaging in evasive maneuvering and speed during a pirate attack, and contracting civilian...
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