Turkey’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee will work through the summer recess to speed up its ratification of Sweden’s accession to Nato.
Parliament voted to keep the committee on standby before it went into a recess that will last until October 1, according to the Official Gazette on Saturday.
The decision effectively clears the way for deliberations on Sweden’s Nato application without delay if asked by the government.
Turkey, the only Nato member along with Hungary that has yet to ratify Sweden’s bid, agreed to support its membership on Monday while Stockholm made pledges to Ankara after months of negotiations.
Sweden’s accession would increase Nato’s presence in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic region – both gateways for Russia.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week that his government would submit the bill after Stockholm shares a new plan about dealing with Kurdish separatist groups and alleged supporters of a failed 2016 coup attempt against his government.
Mr Erdogan spoke on Wednesday at the end of the Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
He was originally scheduled to attend a ceremony in parliament on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
Hundreds were killed while attacks also took place on the parliament building and several other government offices.
Instead, he will attend a similar ceremony in Istanbul later Saturday, according to his staff.
Brief scoreline:
Al Wahda 2
Al Menhali 27', Tagliabue 79'
Al Nassr 3
Hamdallah 41', Giuliano 45 1', 62'
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff
By Sean Penn
Simon & Schuster
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
