GCC
Political Front: Yemeni President has issued a directive on cessation of hostilities against the Shiite Houthi rebels in the
northwestern part of the country.
Geo-strategic Front: GCC and EU officials held a meeting to discuss ways of activating cooperation. Meanwhile GCC Secretary General has categorically rejected the International Criminal Court's (ICC) charges of genocide against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has denied apologizing to a senior Saudi diplomat before a rare public handshake between officials of the two states. Meanwhile UAE’s police Chief has expressed the intention of seeking arrest of Israeli PM if evidence of Mossad's involvement in the killing of a senior Hamas official is found.
Social Front: Human Rights Watch has accused Bahrain of torturing detainees saying that prisoners in three cases mostly linked to protests in 2007 and 2008 in Shi’ite Muslim villages had been beaten and abused during interrogations. In response Bahrain has promised to investigate the situation.
Kuwait has reiterated its commitment to international Human Rights Legislation. All the while Bangladeshi PM during her visit to Kuwait stressed greatly on the need to strengthen ties between the two countries.
Economic Front: Bad managers, lack of adequate investment in scientific and technological research initiatives, near-absence of technical and vocational training for local manpower and the private sector ignoring manufacturing ventures have been identified as major challenges in steering the Gulf economies away from their dependence on hydrocarbon resources. In addition to this Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry would for the first time allow local firms to bid to supply basic materials excluding arms, with the long-term goal of encouraging a domestic military industry.
Massive renewable energy projects undertaken by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries are expected to turn them into solar energy exporters along with their large hydrocarbon exports. Meanwhile Saudi Armco has concluded supply deals to purchase up to 7.14 million barrels of gas oil for delivery in 2010 from private trading firms and international oil companies.
Oman and Iran signed the minutes of the consultative meeting of the Joint Technical Committee regarding implementation of memorandum of understanding on tourism.
FERTILE CRESCENT
Political Front: Amnesty International has condemned Egyptian government for launching a crack down against its main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Lebanese Cabinet approved the adoption of pre-printed ballots in the upcoming municipal elections scheduled for June but ministers have failed to reach an agreement over other disputed reforms. Meanwhile a discussion is to start over a bill presented in Israeli legislature by Yisrael Party allowing expatriates to vote in elections. Likud Party however opposes the bill.
The campaign for Iraq's parliamentary elections has officially started amid a continuing controversy over a ban on scores of candidates. Many of those on the blacklist were banned for links to the Ba'ath party of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The ban has raised tensions between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims.
Social Front: Egypt has offered soft loans and other incentives to encourage polluters to clean up. Meanwhile the Lebanese government is making plans to cope with natural disasters that have plagued the nation this past year.
Economic Front: Egypt’s economy recorded its fastest growth in more than a year in the fourth quarter, boosted by tourism, construction and manufacturing, Economic Development. Meanwhile an agreement changing the price of Egyptian natural gas exports to the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) signifying a 45 percent rise has come into force.
The Institute of International Finance (IIF) revised its estimate for economic growth in Lebanon to 8.7 percent in 2009. Lebanon has enjoyed a surprisingly countercyclical growth pattern, as its economy grew faster than China and India last year.
Iraq has urged Iran to implement a memorandum of understanding under which Iranian firms are required to implement big housing and construction projects in the country.
CENTRAL ASIA
Political Front: About 1,000 protesters gathered in a southern Kyrgyz village to demand the release of former Defense Minister Ismail Isakov. Meanwhile registration for Tajikistan's parliamentary elections has ended, with 150 candidates officially allowed to run.
Geo-strategic Front: Azeri President, during his visit to Germany, held meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister. Turkish Foreign Minister also paid visit to Kazakhstan. Meanwhile the Israeli Foreign Minister started a three day visit to Azerbaijan. Turkmen President too paid visit to France despite strong criticism from Rights groups.
Korea has announced to provide US$12 million in aid to Uzbekistan this year in line with its effort to boost the two countries’ strategic partnership.
Kazakh government has been struggling to get its airlines removed from the EU Blacklist. Meanwhile about 150 Afghans imprisoned in Tajikistan have been transferred to Afghan officials.
Social Front: An Azerbaijani parliamentary committee has started working on a draft law on the de-Russification of Azeri last names. Meanwhile a Kazakh court has struck down a ruling blocking the press from printing potentially damaging material about the president's son-in-law.
A group of women engaged in recruitment for Hizb ut-Tahrir have been arrested in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Meanwhile Tajikistan's Supreme Court has sentenced a suspected Al-Qaeda member to eight years in jail. Also the activities of a Baptist Church in Tajikistan were suspended following failure to register with the government.
An Uzbek photographer and film director was found guilty by a Tashkent court of portraying her country as "backward" in a collection of photographs and a documentary depicting the daily struggles of people in rural Uzbekistan. Some 20 supporters of the photographer held a rally outside the Uzbek Embassy in Moscow.
Economic Front: The SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state-run oil firm, has built a gas pipeline to the Lanchkhuti region of Georgia. Having become one of the largest (16.81%) shareholders in the North-Caspian project, Kazakhstan has started taking greater interest in its development and costs.
Uzbekistan has cut off natural gas import to the south region of Kyrgyzstan. Also only Uzbekistan has a higher index due to a 28.3% increase of investments inflow in 2009. Meanwhile the volume of investments in fixed capital in Kyrgyzstan has grown up by 19.7% in 2009.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has completed its microfinance systems development program in Tajikistan, facilitating the development of a vibrant and growing microfinance industry in the country. Meanwhile Turkmenistan and UAE have signed an agreement to enhance cooperation. Also last year’s trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Russia amounted to US $ 1,247 billion (excluding deliveries of natural gas), including exports to Russia totaling U.S. $ 51 million, and imports to Turkmenistan totaling US $ 196 million.
INDIA
Political Front: Rahul Gandhi has appealed for public mobilization against extremist policies of Shiv Sena. Meanwhile BJP has welcomed the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court invalidating State legislation on reservation for minorities.
The Left Front government in West Bengal has announced the implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission’s recommendations by deciding to reserve 10 per cent of government jobs for the economically, educationally and socially backward sections among Muslims.
Maoists blasted railway tracks and a train in Orissa and Bihar. Meanwhile the Maoists government of Jharkhand has demanded an end to deprivation to deal with insurgencies.
Geo-strategic Front: India has successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile, with a range of more than 3,000 km. Meanwhile Pakistan has accepted India’s proposal for negotiations without any preconditions.
Social Front: According to UNESCO India figures among the four countries that have seen a marked increase in systematic attacks on schools, students and teachers between 2006 and 2009. In India, nearly 300 schools were reportedly blown up by Maoists in this span.
Economic Front: Despite claims of having survived the economic crisis unscratched, some reports clearly indicate that poverty has increased in India. Job losses in India were primarily in export-oriented industries.
The Orissa government has refused to accept any financial assistance from the European Union for rehabilitation of victims of Kandhamal riot.
CHINA
Political Front: Senior Chinese leader He Guoqiang has stressed the country's determination and efforts in fighting corruption in a lengthy report published recently.
Geo-strategic Front: Chinese PM has urged enhanced mutual trust and cooperation with Japan. Meanwhile China intends to strengthen ties with India, South Korea, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Australia, Costa Rica and the US.
China has called for increased diplomatic efforts and an early agreement for an internationally-backed nuclear fuel proposal for Tehran following its higher-grade uranium enrichment program.
Despite strong opposition from China the US President has announced his plan to meet the Dalai Lama.
Social Front: China has published Chairman Mao Ze dong's manuscripts on military theory and strategies and national defense, parts of which were made public for the first time. Meanwhile the country’s drive to curb overseas trips by officials using public money has produced significant results.
China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin has urged religious groups in the country to pool the wisdom and strength of believers to explore ways of helping promote economic and social development.
China's central government has earmarked 3.17 billion Yuan (463.9 million U.S. dollars) to cover tuition fees of city-born children in primary and junior high schools nationwide. Meanwhile central government has allocated 37.2 billion Yuan (5.45 billion U.S. dollars) to subsidize nationwide medical reforms.
The Islamic Party of Turkestan (IPT), and Uighur jihadist organization, released a video on February 10, 2010 claiming responsibility for a number of attacks in China last year.
Economic Front: A top Chinese think tank forecasted the nation's economy would experience a mild rebound this year, with gross domestic product expanding around 10 percent year on year. Meanwhile production of 68 Chinese large and medium steel and iron industries has observed sharp decline. All the while its auto sales doubled in January.
Taiwan's January exports to the Chinese mainland reached 9.54 billion U.S. dollars, the highest figure in 17 months. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia, Iran and Angola remained the top three oil suppliers to China. Last week the Stock exchange of China as well as Hong Kong witnessed a remarkable boost.
EAST ASIA
Political Front: Indonesians have started looking for mature democracy in their country amidst various reforms being introduced by the government.
Thai opposition’s inability to avoid political crisis in their controlled states has clearly evinced weakness. Meanwhile an anti-government group in the country has started mobilizing masses to launch demonstrations later this month.
Geo-strategic Front: Cambodia has hit out at Google over what it called a “radically misleading” map of the disputed Thai-Cambodia border, accusing the world’s biggest search engine of being “professionally irresponsible”.
Economic Front: Indonesia remained at the top in terms of its economic growth in the region in the last quarter of the year 2009. Meanwhile inflation in Philippines has increased remarkably.
Officials from Cambodia and Laos have expressed positive hopes regarding improvement of bilateral trade. §
Political Front: Yemeni President has issued a directive on cessation of hostilities against the Shiite Houthi rebels in the
northwestern part of the country.Geo-strategic Front: GCC and EU officials held a meeting to discuss ways of activating cooperation. Meanwhile GCC Secretary General has categorically rejected the International Criminal Court's (ICC) charges of genocide against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has denied apologizing to a senior Saudi diplomat before a rare public handshake between officials of the two states. Meanwhile UAE’s police Chief has expressed the intention of seeking arrest of Israeli PM if evidence of Mossad's involvement in the killing of a senior Hamas official is found.
Social Front: Human Rights Watch has accused Bahrain of torturing detainees saying that prisoners in three cases mostly linked to protests in 2007 and 2008 in Shi’ite Muslim villages had been beaten and abused during interrogations. In response Bahrain has promised to investigate the situation.
Kuwait has reiterated its commitment to international Human Rights Legislation. All the while Bangladeshi PM during her visit to Kuwait stressed greatly on the need to strengthen ties between the two countries.
Economic Front: Bad managers, lack of adequate investment in scientific and technological research initiatives, near-absence of technical and vocational training for local manpower and the private sector ignoring manufacturing ventures have been identified as major challenges in steering the Gulf economies away from their dependence on hydrocarbon resources. In addition to this Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry would for the first time allow local firms to bid to supply basic materials excluding arms, with the long-term goal of encouraging a domestic military industry.
Massive renewable energy projects undertaken by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries are expected to turn them into solar energy exporters along with their large hydrocarbon exports. Meanwhile Saudi Armco has concluded supply deals to purchase up to 7.14 million barrels of gas oil for delivery in 2010 from private trading firms and international oil companies.
Oman and Iran signed the minutes of the consultative meeting of the Joint Technical Committee regarding implementation of memorandum of understanding on tourism.
FERTILE CRESCENT
Political Front: Amnesty International has condemned Egyptian government for launching a crack down against its main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Lebanese Cabinet approved the adoption of pre-printed ballots in the upcoming municipal elections scheduled for June but ministers have failed to reach an agreement over other disputed reforms. Meanwhile a discussion is to start over a bill presented in Israeli legislature by Yisrael Party allowing expatriates to vote in elections. Likud Party however opposes the bill.
The campaign for Iraq's parliamentary elections has officially started amid a continuing controversy over a ban on scores of candidates. Many of those on the blacklist were banned for links to the Ba'ath party of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The ban has raised tensions between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims.
Social Front: Egypt has offered soft loans and other incentives to encourage polluters to clean up. Meanwhile the Lebanese government is making plans to cope with natural disasters that have plagued the nation this past year.
Economic Front: Egypt’s economy recorded its fastest growth in more than a year in the fourth quarter, boosted by tourism, construction and manufacturing, Economic Development. Meanwhile an agreement changing the price of Egyptian natural gas exports to the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) signifying a 45 percent rise has come into force.
The Institute of International Finance (IIF) revised its estimate for economic growth in Lebanon to 8.7 percent in 2009. Lebanon has enjoyed a surprisingly countercyclical growth pattern, as its economy grew faster than China and India last year.
Iraq has urged Iran to implement a memorandum of understanding under which Iranian firms are required to implement big housing and construction projects in the country.
CENTRAL ASIA
Political Front: About 1,000 protesters gathered in a southern Kyrgyz village to demand the release of former Defense Minister Ismail Isakov. Meanwhile registration for Tajikistan's parliamentary elections has ended, with 150 candidates officially allowed to run.
Geo-strategic Front: Azeri President, during his visit to Germany, held meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister. Turkish Foreign Minister also paid visit to Kazakhstan. Meanwhile the Israeli Foreign Minister started a three day visit to Azerbaijan. Turkmen President too paid visit to France despite strong criticism from Rights groups.
Korea has announced to provide US$12 million in aid to Uzbekistan this year in line with its effort to boost the two countries’ strategic partnership.
Kazakh government has been struggling to get its airlines removed from the EU Blacklist. Meanwhile about 150 Afghans imprisoned in Tajikistan have been transferred to Afghan officials.
Social Front: An Azerbaijani parliamentary committee has started working on a draft law on the de-Russification of Azeri last names. Meanwhile a Kazakh court has struck down a ruling blocking the press from printing potentially damaging material about the president's son-in-law.
A group of women engaged in recruitment for Hizb ut-Tahrir have been arrested in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Meanwhile Tajikistan's Supreme Court has sentenced a suspected Al-Qaeda member to eight years in jail. Also the activities of a Baptist Church in Tajikistan were suspended following failure to register with the government.
An Uzbek photographer and film director was found guilty by a Tashkent court of portraying her country as "backward" in a collection of photographs and a documentary depicting the daily struggles of people in rural Uzbekistan. Some 20 supporters of the photographer held a rally outside the Uzbek Embassy in Moscow.
Economic Front: The SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state-run oil firm, has built a gas pipeline to the Lanchkhuti region of Georgia. Having become one of the largest (16.81%) shareholders in the North-Caspian project, Kazakhstan has started taking greater interest in its development and costs.
Uzbekistan has cut off natural gas import to the south region of Kyrgyzstan. Also only Uzbekistan has a higher index due to a 28.3% increase of investments inflow in 2009. Meanwhile the volume of investments in fixed capital in Kyrgyzstan has grown up by 19.7% in 2009.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has completed its microfinance systems development program in Tajikistan, facilitating the development of a vibrant and growing microfinance industry in the country. Meanwhile Turkmenistan and UAE have signed an agreement to enhance cooperation. Also last year’s trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Russia amounted to US $ 1,247 billion (excluding deliveries of natural gas), including exports to Russia totaling U.S. $ 51 million, and imports to Turkmenistan totaling US $ 196 million.
INDIA
Political Front: Rahul Gandhi has appealed for public mobilization against extremist policies of Shiv Sena. Meanwhile BJP has welcomed the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court invalidating State legislation on reservation for minorities.
The Left Front government in West Bengal has announced the implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission’s recommendations by deciding to reserve 10 per cent of government jobs for the economically, educationally and socially backward sections among Muslims.
Maoists blasted railway tracks and a train in Orissa and Bihar. Meanwhile the Maoists government of Jharkhand has demanded an end to deprivation to deal with insurgencies.
Geo-strategic Front: India has successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile, with a range of more than 3,000 km. Meanwhile Pakistan has accepted India’s proposal for negotiations without any preconditions.
Social Front: According to UNESCO India figures among the four countries that have seen a marked increase in systematic attacks on schools, students and teachers between 2006 and 2009. In India, nearly 300 schools were reportedly blown up by Maoists in this span.
Economic Front: Despite claims of having survived the economic crisis unscratched, some reports clearly indicate that poverty has increased in India. Job losses in India were primarily in export-oriented industries.
The Orissa government has refused to accept any financial assistance from the European Union for rehabilitation of victims of Kandhamal riot.
CHINA
Political Front: Senior Chinese leader He Guoqiang has stressed the country's determination and efforts in fighting corruption in a lengthy report published recently.
Geo-strategic Front: Chinese PM has urged enhanced mutual trust and cooperation with Japan. Meanwhile China intends to strengthen ties with India, South Korea, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Australia, Costa Rica and the US.
China has called for increased diplomatic efforts and an early agreement for an internationally-backed nuclear fuel proposal for Tehran following its higher-grade uranium enrichment program.
Despite strong opposition from China the US President has announced his plan to meet the Dalai Lama.
Social Front: China has published Chairman Mao Ze dong's manuscripts on military theory and strategies and national defense, parts of which were made public for the first time. Meanwhile the country’s drive to curb overseas trips by officials using public money has produced significant results.
China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin has urged religious groups in the country to pool the wisdom and strength of believers to explore ways of helping promote economic and social development.
China's central government has earmarked 3.17 billion Yuan (463.9 million U.S. dollars) to cover tuition fees of city-born children in primary and junior high schools nationwide. Meanwhile central government has allocated 37.2 billion Yuan (5.45 billion U.S. dollars) to subsidize nationwide medical reforms.
The Islamic Party of Turkestan (IPT), and Uighur jihadist organization, released a video on February 10, 2010 claiming responsibility for a number of attacks in China last year.
Economic Front: A top Chinese think tank forecasted the nation's economy would experience a mild rebound this year, with gross domestic product expanding around 10 percent year on year. Meanwhile production of 68 Chinese large and medium steel and iron industries has observed sharp decline. All the while its auto sales doubled in January.
Taiwan's January exports to the Chinese mainland reached 9.54 billion U.S. dollars, the highest figure in 17 months. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia, Iran and Angola remained the top three oil suppliers to China. Last week the Stock exchange of China as well as Hong Kong witnessed a remarkable boost.
EAST ASIA
Political Front: Indonesians have started looking for mature democracy in their country amidst various reforms being introduced by the government.
Thai opposition’s inability to avoid political crisis in their controlled states has clearly evinced weakness. Meanwhile an anti-government group in the country has started mobilizing masses to launch demonstrations later this month.
Geo-strategic Front: Cambodia has hit out at Google over what it called a “radically misleading” map of the disputed Thai-Cambodia border, accusing the world’s biggest search engine of being “professionally irresponsible”.
Economic Front: Indonesia remained at the top in terms of its economic growth in the region in the last quarter of the year 2009. Meanwhile inflation in Philippines has increased remarkably.
Officials from Cambodia and Laos have expressed positive hopes regarding improvement of bilateral trade. §
________________________________________________________
Business and Politics in the Muslim World (BPM)refers to the project entitled, "Globalized Business and Politics: A View from the Muslim World.' The blog development project has been undertaken and developed jointly by the Gilani Research Foundation and BPM as a free resource and social discussion tool.
Please Preview your comments before posting.
Business and Politics in the Muslim World (BPM)refers to the project entitled, "Globalized Business and Politics: A View from the Muslim World.' The blog development project has been undertaken and developed jointly by the Gilani Research Foundation and BPM as a free resource and social discussion tool.
Please Preview your comments before posting.
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