News

Les représentants de la société civile enfin conviés au débat sur le droit à l’accès à l’information. L’une des leçons des assises qui se sont tenues hier à Rabat.

The lengthening of Parliament’s mandate goes into effect next week because the Constitutional Council will be unable to meet for lack of a quorum to act on petitions challenging the extension, a key council member said Wednesday.

He accused Speaker Nabih Berri, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt of obstructing the council’s work by preventing the quorum needed to decide on petitions challenging the extension of Parliament’s four-year mandate, which expires on June 20.

President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday held a consultative meeting with jihadi leaders and political figures, his office said.

Recent developments in the Afghan-led peace process came up for discussion at the meeting, chaired by President Karzai.

A statement from the Presidential Palace said the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Afghanistan and the United States was also dicussed.

Other issues facing the country were also taken up by the participants, whose names were not given.

The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) elected a new president and a deputy this morning at its Zawiat Al-Dahmani headquarters on Tripoli’s Corniche.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahçeli urged the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan not to further polarize the society with his rhetoric and the recent rally decision the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has made. 

Mohammad Reza Aref has withdrawn his candidacy from Iran’s June 14 presidential election in order to give the reformist camp a better chance to win. The former vice president announced his decision to drop out of the election in a statement issued late on Monday, in which he said the decision was made after he received suggestions from former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who advised to stand aside.

The Constitutional Council will issue a final decision Wednesday on petitions contesting the extension of Parliament’s term amid controversial reports over whether the body is going to endorse or dismiss challenges put forth. The head of the Constitutional Council Judge Issam Suleiman presented Monday his report on the challenge to the 10-member body, a judicial source told The Daily Star. The half-Muslim, half-Christian council will issue a pronouncement on Suleiman’s report Wednesday.

Qatar is preparing to launch a leadership transition this summer that will see the emir relinquish power to his son, and his cousin, the owner of Harrods, step down as prime minister.

Senior figures in Qatar have briefed foreign counterparts that the time has come for Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, the 33-year-old crown prince to take over the leadership of the gas-rich Gulf state, the Daily Telegraph has learned.

L'association des avocats du royaume, réunie en congrès ce weekend à Saidia, estime nécessaire la mise en place d'un système où le roi règne sans gouverner.