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Barisan Nasional components should look at new approaches and strategies to keep abreast with the demands of the younger generation, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

The Prime Minister said these were measures that Barisan members could take in adapting to the new political landscape while strengthening the ruling coalition.

One of Indonesia’s major political parties says problems related to poor preparations for next year’s elections are threatening the country’s democracy.

“It is clear that the 2014 legislative and presidential elections will repeat all the weaknesses of the 2009 election,” Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secretary general Tjahjo Kumolo told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.

Les Algériens célèbrent l’Aïd Al Adha, dans la tradition. Le sacrifice du mouton a commencé dans les maisons et les cités immédiatement après la grande prière de l’Aïd. La tradition est respectée. Sauf pour le président Bouteflika qui a manqué, comme lors de l’Aïd El Fitr, le rituel officiel de la prière de l’Aïd Al-Adha.

About 230,000 delegates from the three UMNO wings - Wanita, Youth and Puteri - will choose their leadership at the divisional and national levels when the delegates' meeting and election of the respective wings are held simultaneously at 191 divisions Saturday.

The meetings-cum-elections will definitely be keenly watched by party members and political observers as for the first time, it will involve a large number of party grassroots members who are given the right to chooose who to lead them for the next three years.

The participants of protest meeting in Issyk-Kul oblast on October 7-8, 2013 demand immediate termination of the Memorandum between the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic and Centerra Gold Inc., as well as free of two suspects in extortion of 3 million U.S. dollars from the leadership of Kumtor Operating Company. 

The king “has just appointed the new government” at a ceremony at the palace in Rabat, said Justice Minister Mustafa Ramid, a member of the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party whose leader, Abdelila Benkirane,
remains prime minister.

The cabinet shake-up sees Saad-Eddine El Othmani replaced as foreign minister by Salaheddine Mezouar, who heads the National Rally of Independents and whose agreement to join the government effectively prevented it from collapsing.

The National Constituent Assembly (NCA) administrative office is preparing to take “punitive measures” against absentee members, according to state news agency TAP.

Independent NCA member Hatem Klai told TAP on Monday that the measures will also apply to withdrawn NCA members and will only tackle absences recorded during the months of July, August, and September.

The disciplinary action would “ensure the commitment of deputies in order to finish the assembly’s mission,” Klai said to TAP. 

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has warned members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) against meddling in the country’s politics and advised they remain neutral ahead of next year’s general elections.

Yudhoyono made the call in his speech delivered during the celebration of the 68th anniversary of the TNI.

“The outcome of [the TNI’s] internal reforms must be visible during next year’s elections. Please make sure the military’s position is in the best interests of the state,” Yudhoyono said in a ceremony at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force base in Jakarta on Saturday.