Habib Toumi

Ambassador Jamie Bowden

Angry lawmakers from two major parliamentary blocs have criticized both the country’s largest bloc and the British ambassador to Bahrain for holding a meeting allegedly on the political situation in Bahrain.

MPs from Al Asala accused Al Wefaq, which has 17 of the 40 seats in the lower chamber, of plotting a constitutional coup after it called ten days ago at its general assembly for a change in the constitution mechanism of the cabinet.

“Urging the formation of government in a way other than stipulated in the constitution amounts to an open call for a constitutional and political coup,” said Al Asala Society, the flag bearers of the Salafi movement in Bahrain. “The reactions that followed the conference reflect the deep chasm between Al Wefaq and other mainstream official and national forces regarding the constitution, the National Action Charter and the legitimacy of the political regime,” Al Asala said.

Al Menbar, the third largest bloc in the parliament, said that there was a need to “respect the constitution fully and to foil any attempt to foment sedition in the country.” continue reading…

Kuwait’s government is reported to announce an end to the recruitment of foreigners in the public sector, a local paper said.

The move is attributed to a keenness to control expenditures and to offer greater employment opportunities to Kuwaitis wishing to join the government sector, Al Jareeda daily said on Monday.

Kuwait, like the other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, has been recently pushing for replacing expatriates in several sectors.

Faced with a steadily ominous increase of unemployment among their young citizens and wary of social and security issues related to the presence of millions of foreigners on their soil, the Arabian Gulf countries are gradually adopting new legislation and taking measures to limit the number of expatriates.

Last month, a report from Kuwait’s parliamentary information and research committee called for changes to public sector employment legislation and suggested that around 60,000 expatriates working in the public sector could be replaced by Kuwaiti nationals. continue reading…

Michael Aron - Daily Mail

The former UK ambassador to Kuwait had been recalled to London following news that he had an affair with a married junior colleague and that she was pregnant, a British newspaper has reported.

Michael Aron, 50, a married father of four, had been in the Kuwait job for only a year when he abruptly went back to a new desk job in Whitehall, the Daily Mail said.

His sudden exit from his post coincided with growing rumours that he had been in a relationship with his junior colleague Victoria Cumming, 35, who is now pregnant.

According to the report, Cumming, who worked at the embassy in Kuwait City, was living in the northern Arabian Gulf state with her husband of nine years David Fisk, a banker, but is now back in Britain alone.

The paper quoted the concierge at the apartment block where they lived as saying: “Oh yes, I know her, she is the very pregnant English lady. She has returned to the UK, but her husband is still living here.” continue reading…