Egypt
political front One hundred independent and opposition MPs held a joint press conference in front of the People’s Assembly calling for the discussion of a new law they drafted which lays the foundations for the elections. The draft Political Rights Law was discussed at the event that brought together politicians and political activists. The law lays the foundation of an election process that is full of integrity, freedom and democracy said MP Gamal Zahran.
Egypt’s government is seeking to severely restrict the work of non-governmental organizations, including preventing them from monitoring elections, three dozen NGOs said Monday. Draft legislation to curtail local NGOs will be brought before parliament in the coming months, the groups said in a letter of protest. An official at the government ministry responsible for overseeing the work of NGOs confirmed there was new legislation but refused to discuss its contents because it has yet to be sent to parliament. The 36 groups that protested the draft say it is intended to prevent the monitoring of a parliamentary election to be held by the end of the year and a presidential election next year. In a separate step, 100 opposition lawmakers introduced a bill of their own aimed at allowing free and transparent elections, but this stands virtually no chance of clearing a parliament firmly under the control of President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling party.
Geo strategic front Egypt's foreign ministry summoned Israel's charge d'affaires in protest at its "provocative measures" in occupied East Jerusalem, a day after hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police. Egypt delivered "a clear message to the effect that Israel must immediately stop all provocative and illegal measures that feed the cycle of conflict," the ministry said in a statement.
Economy
Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros Ghali said Egypt’s budget deficit for fiscal year 2009/10 will come in at 8.5 percent of GDP, predicting that the figure will fall to 7.9 percent for the coming financial year beginning in July. Ghali said the total budget deficit is expected to reach LE 109.2 billion, with revenues at LE 258.4 billion.
MSEs account for 40 percent of total employment. Earlier this month the World Bank announced a $300 million loan to Egypt to finance micro and small enterprises (MSEs). The Enhancing Access to Finance for Micro and Small Enterprises Project is expected to boost job creation and economic growth in the poorest layers of Egyptian society. The loan matures over 28.5 years with a grace period of seven years. “Micro and small businesses are a primary driver for job creation and economic growth in emerging economies,” said Shamshad Akhtar, World Bank vice president for the Middle East and North Africa. “In several countries of this region they contribute to economic diversification and play an important role in private sector development.
Egypt has banned international calls made through mobile Internet connections, one of Egypt's top three mobile phone operators said on Tuesday, which would include internet Skype calls.
Internet telephony firm Skype has questioned Egypt's move to ban international calls made through mobile internet connections and said markets should be left open for consumers to choose. National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority head Amr Badawy told it will ban international calls through mobile internet connections. Skype, which has more than 500 million users worldwide, said in an email statement that it was "seeking clarification" from the regulator about the reported ban. "In general, we believe it should be up to consumers, not regulatory authorities, to choose the winners and losers in the communications space. That is what happens in competitive markets," it said.
Social front The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) demanded in a statement earlier this month, issued on the sidelines of the favorable Constitutional Court ruling that said women can be appointed to the country’s top advisory court, the immediate issuing of a law to combat discrimination in the country in order to secure “equality, citizenship and efficiency for all Egyptians.” Their calls for a law against discrimination comes only weeks after the controversy over the State Council voted to bar women from standing on the top court. The Constitutional Court, which has a woman sitting on it, said that the vote to ban women was unconstitutional in over turning the earlier decision. The women’s center also expressed “relief and satisfaction” with the Constitutional Court’s ruling and considered it a “tool for establishing justice and law, which ensures women’s equality
Transparency International reported that regulations and poor law enforcement are part of the problems in Egypt toward the fight against corruption, which the organization says is increasing. According to the Berlin-based organization, corruption fighting in Egypt is on the rise. It said that efforts by the government to combat corruption have been curtailed by poor regulations taken and a law enforcement community who continues to take bribes and allow those with money to get off from their crimes.
workers at the influential Muslim website IslamOnline.net said that they would launch an alternative website where they could demonstrate their ability to separate what they call “editorial policies from money”. Prolonged strike continues: Employees at the IslamOnline website protesting at their 6th of October City premises of the website, west of Cairo. They have been on strike for 11 days now.
Iraq
Political front
Elections
One hundred independent and opposition MPs held a joint press conference in front of the People’s Assembly calling for the discussion of a new law they drafted which lays the foundations for the elections. The draft Political Rights Law was discussed at the event that brought together politicians and political activists. “The law lays the foundation of an election process that is full of integrity, freedom and democracy,” said MP Gamal Zahran, spokesperson of the independent bloc at the PA. The MPs called on Parliament Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour to discuss the draft law at the PA so that it could be passed before the end of the final session of the current PA, which concludes this year.
With nearly 80 percent of the votes counted from Iraq's March 7 parliamentary elections, the main winners appear to be Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and challenger Iyad Allawi. But the two front-runners are neck and neck. The vote count so far shows Allawi's Al-Iraqiyah coalition narrowly ahead of Maliki's State of Law alliance by less than 9,000 votes.
Iran has congratulated Iraqis over an election that is likely to keep a bloc led by its Shi'ite ally, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in power after a campaign in which Tehran's influence was a divisive issue. Maliki's main challenger, former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who headed a secular list mixing Shi'ite and Sunni Arabs, made a high-profile visit to Saudi Arabia during the campaign to improve ties with Iran's biggest Sunni rival in the Persian Gulf region. "All international supervision has confirmed the soundness of the Iraqi elections. This is a success and we congratulate Iraqis," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at a weekly press briefing on English-language state television.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has issued a statement urging a recount in some areas of votes from the country's March 7 parliamentary elections. The request suggested that ballots be counted anew "to ensure justice and absolute transparency." But Iraq's Independent High Election Commission rejected the idea, saying final results would be issued on March 26.
Geo strategic front
Lebanon's ambassador to Egypt will attend the Arab summit in Libya after President Michel Sleiman decided not to go amid a spat over the suspected disappearance there of a prominent Lebanese cleric, the government said. The cabinet "unanimously agreed that Khaled Ziyadeh, Lebanon's ambassador to Cairo and representative to the Arab League, will represent Lebanon at the Arab summit" on Saturday and Sunday, Information Minister Tarek Mitri told reporters.
Economy Iraq has agreed with Turkey to renew an accord to operate an oil pipeline from its northern oil fields near Kirkuk to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, a senior Iraqi oil official has said. "Iraq has approved to renew the Kirkuk-Ceyhan agreement after agreeing on some changes and amendments", Iraq's deputy oil minister, Ahmad al-Shamma, told Reuters. Shamma said the two sides had agreed on new transit fees and upgrades to the pipeline.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have requested an extra $37.5 billion from Congress to fund military and civilian operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. The Pentagon is seeking $33 billion of the request, and most of the total amount would go toward funding operations
Social Iraqi women demonstrators protest lack of security and basic services [EPA]
Prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq, women working in the public and government sectors were entitled to receive a year's maternity leave under family laws enforced by the former Saddam Hussein leadership. In the seven years since the US-led invasion which ousted Saddam, however, maternity leave has been cut to six months. Since the Personal Status Law was enacted on July 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women have enjoyed many of the rights that Western women do.
Lebanon
Tawheed Movement head former minister Wi’am Wahhab reiterated Saturday calls for Lebanese President Michel Sleiman to resign. “The late Egyptian President Jamal Abdel-Nasser resigned, so why doesn’t Sleiman?” asked Wahhab, who is a close ally of Syria. “Where is the problem if he wasn’t able to fulfill his promises of eradicating corruption and guaranteeing transparent administrative appointments?” Wahhab’s Saturday comments sparked a new wave of criticism from politicians of the parliamentary majority.
Lebanon and Jordan signed 16 agreements, protocols and memoranda of understanding in Beirut on Friday, Lebanese PM office announced. The agreements include cooperation between the Jordanian Institute for the Development of Economic Projects and the Lebanese Trade Information Center for the years 2010-2011, a technical program to activate the mutual recognition agreement on conformity certificates and quality marks, and administrative cooperation agreement on customs procedures. They also include cooperation on animal health and production, cooperation in the agricultural sector, and the executive program for tourism cooperation for the years 2010-2012
Barclays Capital projected economic growth in Lebanon at 6 percent in 2010, down from 8 percent in 2009, adding that initial indicators point toward sustained growth this year but at a slower pace than last year, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. It expected private consumption to slow down but to be offset by a pick-up in private and public investment, and by continued strength in services exports in line with gradual recovery in the GCC.
The UN’s Electronic Participation Index for 2010 ranked Lebanon in 45th place among 179 countries worldwide and 6th among 19 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. Lebanon came in 28th place globally and in second place regionally in the previous 2008 survey. Also, Lebanon ranked 8th among 36 upper-middle income countries (UMICs) included in the 2010 survey and 5th in the previous survey. The index is an assessment of 21 public informative and participatory services and facilities in e-information, e-consultation and e-decision making across 6 general, economic and social sectors such as education, health, social welfare, finance and employment.
Tourism Minister said that the tourism activity in Lebanon would improve by 10 to 20 percent in 2010 and assured that there would not be an Israeli war on Lebanon. “During the past two months, the number of tourists increased by 22 percent which is a very good indicator and we expect this number to exceed 2 million in 2010,” he said.
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