Excerpts: UAE to outsource most govt. services. Saudi to try 27 spying for
Iran. No sleeper cells in Jordan February 08, 2016

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 8 Feb.’16:”UAE plans to outsource most govt.
services”, by Reuters
SUBJECT:UAE to outsource most govt. services

QUOTE:” ‘We will have a road map to outsource most government services to
the private sector’ “

TEXT:The United Arab Emirates plans to outsource most government tasks to
the private sector and cut the number of ministries, Prime Minister Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum said on Monday[8 Feb].

"We will have a road map to outsource most government services to the
private sector ... The new government will have a smaller number of
ministries and more ministers to deal with national and strategic issues,"
the prime minister said on his official Twitter account.

He announced the formation of a single education ministry, abolishing the
ministry of higher education, and fused several other state bodies into
related ministries. No time frame was given for the changes.

Gulf Arab oil exporters have for years subsidized food, fuel, electricity
and water, keeping prices very low in an effort to maintain social order,
though the UAE economy is less reliant than some of its neighbors on oil
revenues.


+++SOURCE:Saudi Gazette 8 Feb.’16:”27 to be tried for spying for Iran”
SUBJECT:Saudi to try 27 spying for UIran
Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Some 27 people — mostly Saudis — are to appear before the Criminal
Court in Riyadh for spying for Iran, Makkah daily reported on Sunday[7 Feb].
The accused were arrested in 2013 in Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah and the Eastern
Province.

The national security department of the Bureau of Investigation and Public
Prosecution (BIP) has already completed the list of charges against the
accused.

The bureau had sufficient evidence on the involvement of the accused.
The list of charges includes gathering data on a number of vital
installations in the Kingdom.

The Interior Ministry had announced on March 19, 2013, that it had captured
18 people accused of spying for Iran. The accused include 16 Saudis, a
Lebanese and an Iranian arrested in simultaneous crackdown in four regions.
The Lebanese was later released for lack of sufficient evidence against him.

Two months later the ministry announced that 10 more people were arrested
for spying for Iran including eight Saudis, a Turkish national and a
Lebanese raising the total number of the accused to 27. The ministry had
earlier said that 21 of them have confessed and legally documented their
confessions.

Meanwhile, a top official in the United Arab Emirates said Sunda[7 Feb] that
his country is prepared to send ground troops to Syria to fight the Daesh
militants as part of an international coalition.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash made the comments in the
federal capital of Abu Dhabi, days after Saudi Arabia said it is ready to
deploy ground forces if leaders of the US-led international coalition
fighting the group call for it.


+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 8 Feb.’16:” No sleeper cells in Jordan, says
minister”, by Omar Obeidat, Khetam Malkawi

SUBJECT: No sleeper cells in Jordan

QUOTE: “ ‘Jordan does not interfere with any other country’s affairs and
does not allow others to interfere in our affairs’ “

AMMAN — There are no terrorist sleeper cells in Jordan, but rather some
infiltrators who try to cross the borders, a senior government official
stressed on Sunday[7 Feb].

“We do not have sleeper cells as some say… We just see some individuals try
to cross the borders, but our security agencies are on alert,” said Minister
of Interior Salameh Hammad at a press conference held by Prime Minister
Abdullah Ensour and members of the Cabinet on the outcome of the recent
London conference on the refugee crisis.

The minister also stressed that Jordan’s stability is a result of the
“prudent leadership and the sound policy adopted in dealing with internal
and external challenges”.

“Jordan does not interfere with any other country’s affairs and does not
allow others to interfere in our affairs,” he said, adding that such a
policy has contributed much to the Kingdom’s stability.

He noted that Jordan’s security agencies are closely following developments
in the region, and particularly in Syria.

Their understanding of the situation has helped the country provide “full”
accurate information to Russia and other countries of the world about the
situation in the neighbouring country.

On the domestic front, Hammad stressed that the Jordanian people’s
“awareness of their duties towards the country” is also key to the country’s
internal stability.
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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA