Weekly Summary #106

Human Rights Front
Bahrain will investigate allegations by the Human Rights Watch group that interrogators are again using torture in the Gulf Arab country after a lull of several years, the foreign minister said on Wednesday. Human Rights Watch said in a report on Monday that detainees in three cases mostly linked to protests in 2007 and 2008 in Shi’ite Muslim villages had been beaten and abused during interrogations.
Kuwait is fully committed to international human rights legislation, with any human rights violations that take place in the country being an "individual" matter that will be tackled as such, said a cabinet member.
Freedom of Expression
Bahrain has been accused of stifling political debate after a series of high-profile seminars was allegedly cancelled because authorities deemed them too sensitive. The KitSon, a Paris-based non-governmental organisation, was planning to hold monthly debates in Bahrain to address a variety of topics. Its first dinner-debate on March 8 was due to focus on GCC counter-terrorism, but organisers have been told that local laws prevented it from taking place.
Labor Front
The government of Oman will extend the amnesty deadline of March-end granted to overstaying expatriates to leave the country without paying fines. This will facilitate the repatriation of the large number of expatriate workers who have registered themselves in their respective diplomatic missions in Oman.
Social Front
A Saudi appeals court upheld a verdict against an airline sales clerk sentenced to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes for boasting on a television programme about his sexual exploits. In the meantime The Shoura Council approved on Sunday a proposal requesting a full report of the rights and duties of the members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia). The Shoura’s Islamic Affairs and Human Rights Committee presented the proposal last week after listening to an annual report by the Haia’s umbrella, the General Presidency for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
International Front
US President Barack Obama’s charm offensive on Muslim states comes to a weekend forum in Qatar, where he will send a video message and his chief diplomat will give a speech, organizers said Thursday. Obama will deliver his message to the seventh annual US-Islamic World Forum in the Qatari capital.
GCC and EU officials held a meeting here Tuesday to discuss ways of activating the cooperation agreement. Meanwhile GCC Secretary General Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah categorically rejected Sunday the International Criminal Court's (ICC) accusation of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir of genocide in Darfur. The ICC took the decision while the Arab League and African Union (AU) were making progress in the Darfur peace talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, Al-Attiyah said in a statement.
In Saudi Arabia, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has said that no complaints have been received from Saudis concerning tightened security inspections and searches at US airports.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon denied apologizing to a senior Saudi diplomat before a rare public handshake between officials of the two states. Prince Turki al-Faisal had said he shook hands with Ayalon at a security conference in Munich, but only after the Israeli apologised for actions Turki objected to giving Turkey’s ambassador a public dressing down. However, Ayalon said it was not true he said sorry to Turki. “Everyone who was present at the conference knows there was no apology from the deputy minister to the Saudi prince,” said a statement from his office. To those who did not take part in the conference we suggest they check the video recordings to verify what really happened.

In UAE, Dubai would seek the arrest of Israel's prime minister if it found evidence intelligence service Mossad was behind the killing of a senior Hamas official, its police chief was quoted as saying in a newspaper report. Hamas has blamed Israel for killing Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, one of its top military commanders, in a Dubai hotel last month. Israel has declined to comment.

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed stressed on the strength of ties between Bangladesh and Kuwait in all fields, during her visit to the state.
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 are hurting the diversification effort in the GCC. These are the major challenges in steering the Gulf economies away from their dependence on hydrocarbon resources, experts said at a key conference. Banks in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economy are expected to return to profit growth in 2010, benefiting from higher oil prices and a sharp recovery in regional economies because of expanding public spending and rebounding confidence, analysts said.
The Saudi Arabian insurance industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing insurance industries across the world. While the global economic crisis has severely hit other industrial sectors, the insurance industry posts 25-30 percent annual growth rate on the back of compulsory insurance lines, research report. In addition to this Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry will 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, officials said.
In UAE, Abu Dhabi is spending more on infrastructure development than any other capital in the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), said a senior municipality official. Giant infrastructure projects are being undertaken in the city and its suburbs in line with Abu Dhabi Vision 2030.
Oman and Iran signed the minutes of the consultative meeting of the Joint Technical Committee regarding implementation of memorandum of understanding on tourism.
Renewable Energy Front
Massive renewable energy projects undertaken by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries could turn them into solar energy exporters along with their large hydrocarbon exports, according to a veteran Arab energy analyst. "After oil, Arab countries could start exporting solar energy.
Oil and Gas
Global demand for crude oil this year is expected to rise by 170,000 barrels per day (b/d) to reach 86.5 million b/d, an increase of 1.8 percent over 2009 levels, due largely to a pick-up in the world economies, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report.
Saudi Aramco 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, industry sources said.
Yemen Turmoil
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has issued a directive on cessation of hostilities against the Shiite Houthi rebels in the northwestern part of the country. The presidential decree was announced in a press release after Saleh presided over a meeting of the higher security commission tasked with the implementation of the government's six-point ceasefire proposal accepted by the Houthis.Yemen’s Shia rebels said Saudi warplanes intensified attacks on northern Yemen on Tuesday, and that the insurgents had surrounded a Yemeni paratroopers unit.