Presidential mission: Headquarters agreement between the State of Kuwait and the ICRC

1991 ◽  
Vol 31 (285) ◽  
pp. 608-609

A headquarters agreement was signed on 30 October 1991 between H.E. Sheikh Sabah Salem al Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait, and Mr. Cornelio Sommaruga, President of the ICRC, to pave the way for the opening of an ICRC regional delegation for the Arabian peninsula. In addition to Kuwait itself, the delegation, which will have its headquarters in Kuwait City, will cover Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The agreement will enter into force once it has been ratified by the Council of Ministers in Kuwait.

Author(s):  
Salma AlHajri ◽  
Donat Agosti

The State of Qatar is a small peninsula located in the northeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. It is classified as a subtropical desert with an extreme harsh climatic conditions in summer and mild winter. Information on Formicidae of Qatar as well as its insect fauna is poorly documented. So far only six species of Formicidae (ants) belonging to five genera have been recorded from Qatar. At least 300 ant species have been recorded from the Arabian Peninsula (Collingwood et al., 2011). For instance, Collingwood and Agosti (1996) reported a list of 265 ant species in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Collingwood et al. (2011) published a list of 126 ant species in UAE and Sharaf et al. (2018a) recorded 123 ant species from Oman. This indicates a significant gap regarding our knowledge of the ant fauna and their diversity in Qatar. This study provides the first taxonomic survey of the ant fauna of Qatar. Ant specimens were collected by using aspirator, direct hand collection, litter sifting and pitfall traps during the period of April 2015 to March 2019 from 43 sites around the country. In the present study, 45 species are newly recorded for the ant fauna of the state of Qatar increasing the total number of ant species from Qatar to 51 species, including one additional subfamily, and 16 additional genera.


1951 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 619-620

On May 14, 1951 meetings were held of the Council and Political Committee of the Arab League in Damascus. Press reports indicated that the meeting of the Political Committee concerned the question of whether or not the Arab states should put into effect a real military alliance. On the same day the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Egyptian Chamber of Deputies had discussed the ratification of the Arab collective security pact. Egypt had been the originator of the pact which although initialled by six of the seven Arab nations had only been ratified by Saudi-Arabia. The press deduced from these reports that Syria wanted to know where it stood in case the Israeli-Syrian conflict became more serious. Iraq had already offered any support Syria asked for and sent some military detachments and an anti-aircraft unit through Syrian territory to the Israeli border. The Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Israel (Sharett), however, in an address to the Knesset Parliament in Jerusalem, warned the Political Committee that Israel was firmly resolved to defend every inch of her territory against encroachment or domination by Syria.


Author(s):  
Roel Meijer

Saudi Arabia’s counter-terrorism strategy of the first decade on the twenty first century has been widely acclaimed as highly successful and presented as an example for other Muslim countries. The strategy was developed after the bomb attacks of AlQaida on the Arabian Peninsula in 2003. The program is however deeply religious and is based on the reconversion of terrorists from a Jihadi-Salafism to a quietist and law abiding version of Salafism. The chapter goes into the religious terminology Saudi counter-terrorism program by labelling terrorism as religious “deviation,” radicals as people who have been led by their “passions” and are no longer rational and have diverted form the “middle way”. The article also shows how prominent religious scholars have become deeply involved in the state counter-terrorism program of “intellectual security”.


Asian Survey ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Ganesan

In 2002, the Malaysian government underwent significant political consolidation. Despite Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's sudden announcement in June of his resignation, he will remain in office until October 2003, after which Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi will replace him as prime minister. The government's political consolidation derived partly from its war on terrorism, which allowed it to marginalize the mainstream opposition. Additionally, opposition parties themselves are in disarray. Economically, the country performed well, and unorthodox measures introduced after the Asian financial crisis have begun to pay off. In foreign affairs, Malaysia achieved good accommodation with the U.S. but suffered from hiccups in its bilateral relations with regional neighbors.


Zootaxa ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 1157 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
FABIO PENATI ◽  
PIERPAOLO VIENNA

The histerid fauna of the Arabian Peninsula is evaluated. As a result of the study of specimens recently collected in Oman by the scientific expeditions of the Museum of Natural History and Territory of Calci (University of Pisa, Italy), and compiling new data from 15 public and private collections, and literature records, the total number of Histeridae known from the Arabian Peninsula now stands at 67 species, without taking into account dubious species and undetermined taxa (9).Of these 67 species, in total 18 are reported for the first time: 4 for the Arabian Peninsula [Teretrius (Neotepetrius) parasita Marseul, Saprinus (Saprinus) flexuosofasciatus Motschulsky, Chalcionellus hauseri (Schmidt), Hypocacculus (Nessus) hosseinius (Théry)], 9 for Oman [Pachylister luctuosus (Marseul), Hister castus Lewis, Atholus bimaculatus Linnaeus, Atholus scutellaris (Erichson), Saprinus (Saprinus) splendens (Paykull), Hypocacculus (Colpellus) praecox (Erichson), Hypocacculus (Hypocacculus) harmonicus (Marseul), Hypocacculus (Hypocacculus) metallescens (Erichson), Hypocaccus (Hypocaccus) fochi (Auzat)], 2 for Yemen [Saprinus (Saprinus) tenuistrius tenuistrius Marseul, Chalcionellus tunisius (Marseul)] and 3 for Kuwait [Saprinus (Saprinus) moyses Marseul, Pholioxenus mesopotamicus Olexa, Paravolvulus syphax (Reitter)].Histeridae are now known for four national states (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and Kuwait), while there are no records for Qatar or United Arab Emirates. An updated comprehensive catalogue of the histerid fauna of the Arabian Peninsula is provided.Analysis of faunal affinities shows that it mostly consists of Palearctic species (24 species, equal to 35.9%), followed by Afrotropical and Afrotropico-Mediterranean species (22 species, 32.8%), and cosmopolitan/subcosmopolitan species (7 species, 10.4%); endemics stand at 5 species (7.5%), while species of undefined chorology at 9 (13.4%). On the whole these numbers fit well the largely accepted biogeographical assumption that indicates the Arabian Peninsula as a transitional zone between the Regions Palearctic, Afrotropic and, to a lesser degree, Indo-Malay (e.g., Büttiker 1979). Moreover, a distinctive distributional pattern has been recognised: “Afrotropical” Histeridae are almost exclusively present in the southern and south-western parts of the peninsula, while “Palearctic” Histeridae are mostly present in the inner central and south-eastern parts of the peninsula.Finally, the synonymy Saprinus (Saprinus) osiris Marseul, 1862 = Saprinus (Saprinus) ornatus Erichson, 1834 stated by Müller (1933), but neglected by Mazur (1976, 1984, 1994, 1997), is considered valid.


Subject Outlook for Pakistan-Gulf relations. Significance Pakistan's parliament last month voted against joining the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen. Since then Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif have visited Riyadh to clarify the decision, reassuring Saudi Arabia of Pakistan's support in case of any external aggression against the kingdom. The Yemen intervention has exposed some faultlines in the relationship between the two allies, as well as in Pakistan's ties with other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), some of whom -- most notably the United Arab Emirates (UAE) -- described Pakistan's decision as "dangerous and unexpected". Impacts Pakistan will lose leverage in GCC states as the latter opt to provide aid via multilateral, international mechanisms. Islamabad will be reluctant to share nuclear technology with GCC states -- primarily for fear of provoking Washington. China will increasingly become Pakistan's preferred diplomatic and economic partner, despite a degree of mutual suspicion.


Significance The deployment of Turkish troops to protect the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and intervene in Libya’s civil war looks increasingly likely. GNA Prime Minister Fayez Serraj met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on December 15. Serraj and the Turkish authorities have created a detailed legal and institutional framework for partnership affecting not just Libya but also Turkey’s disputes with its neighbours over rights in the Eastern Mediterranean. Impacts A new round of EU sanctions on Libya could be on the way. United Arab Emirates and Egyptian support for Haftar will probably grow. A swift military resolution in Libya is unlikely, with Turkey preferring to deploy air power, including drones.


Author(s):  
Shaimaa F. Mouftah ◽  
Tibor Pál ◽  
Paul G. Higgins ◽  
Akela Ghazawi ◽  
Youssef Idaghdour ◽  
...  

AbstractTo understand the reasons of successful spread of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ST14 (CRKP-ST14) in countries of the Arabian Peninsula, the resistome, capsular locus, carbapenemase carrying plasmid types, and core genome of isolates from the region were compared to global isolates. Thirty-nine CRKP-ST14 strains isolated from 13 hospitals in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia were selected for whole genome sequencing on Illumina MiSeq platform based on the variety of carbapenemase genes carried and plasmids bearing these genes. Their resistome, capsular locus, and core genome MLST were compared to 173 CRKP-ST14 genomes available in public databases. The selected 39 CRKP-ST14 produced either NDM-1, OXA-48, OXA-162, OXA-232, KPC-2, or co-produced NDM-1 and an OXA-48-like carbapenemase. cgMLST revealed three clusters: 16 isolates from five UAE cities (C1), 11 isolates from three UAE cities and Bahrain (C2), and 5 isolates from Saudi Arabia (C3), respectively, and seven singletons. Resistance gene profile, carbapenemase genes, and their plasmid types were variable in both C1 and C2 clusters. The majority of CRKP-ST14 had KL2, but members of the C2 cluster and two further singletons possessed KL64 capsular locus. Based on cgMLST comparison of regional and global isolates, CRKP-ST14 with KL64 from four continents formed a distinct cluster, suggesting a recent emergence and spread of this variant. Our findings confirmed clonal transmission coupled with likely horizontal gene transfer in carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ST14. Dissemination of this genetically flexible, highly resistant clone warrants further monitoring.


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