News

KUWAIT: Newly-nominated National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim said he would be working on “opening a new page” with the government and putting past wounds behind them. Al-Ghanim was voted speaker in the parliament’s first session yesterday by a huge majority of 36 votes, ahead of rivals ex-speaker in the void parliament Ali Al-Rashed (18 votes), Roudhan Al-Roudhan (eight votes) and Ali Al-Omair (0 votes).

KOTA KINABALU, Aug 6 (Bernama) -- Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman today clarified that "everyone in Umno has the right to contest in the upcoming party elections".

Anifah was quoted as saying yesterday that he was optimistic that Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman would receive strong backing from Sabah Umno should he decide to run for one of the three posts of Umno vice-president in the party elections in October.

Tunisia's embattled Constituent Assembly has been suspended indefinitely, ahead of planned mass protests calling for the body to be dissolved, its speaker said.

The latest twist came on Tuesday as hundreds of demonstrators started to gather outside the assembly building for a mass rally called by the opposition aimed at pressuring the government to step down.

The head of the Constituent Assembly and Secretary General of the centre-left party Ettakatol Mustafa Ben Jaffar announced to the nation on Tuesday that the constituent assembly or parliament would be suspended.

KABUL (PAN): One of the new Independent Election Commission (IEC) members is a doctor of philosophy, six have master’s degrees and another is a graduate.

Last week, President Hamid Karzai appointed Abdul Rahman Hotaki, Gulalai Achakzai, Sharifa Zurmati, Ahmad Yousaf Nuristani, Sareer Ahmad Barmak, Laila Ihrari, Qazi Suleman Hamid, Mohammad Aziz Bakhtiari and Mohammad Hussain Garziwani as IEC members.

The reactions against the court's verdict on the Ergenekon trial are “emotional,” Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said Aug. 5 during a press conference after a Cabinet meeting in Ankara. Arınç added that the government "could not have an opinion" on the rulings.

While the Parliamentary Constitution Conciliation Commission introduced constitutional assurances against domestic violence, it also concluded the article about political party memberships. 

In its Friday meeting, the Parliamentary Constitution Conciliation Commission introduced a constitutional guarantee against domestic violence under the article “The right to marry and form a family.” The clause “The state protects children and women against domestic violence and prevents girls from being married at an early age and by force” was added to the article. 

Turkey’s ruling party AKP and opposition party MHP want to keep an article on election threshold in new charter, while the other opposition parties suggests that the article should be changed

Members of Parliament’s Constitution Conciliation Commission have failed to agree on a new charter article regarding the election system in the country.

BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman called Saturday for an inclusive government that can garner the widest political support and stressed the need for a return to the Baabda Declaration which aims to distance Lebanon from the crisis in Syria.

“Sleiman stressed to his visitors on the importance of intensifying efforts in order to participate in a government that incorporates everyone and enjoys the broadest support,” his office said in a statement.