News From Saudia

Saudi Royal family
Apartheid in Saudia Arabia
Saudi Human Rights
US treatment of Saudi
Haj & Umra
Saudi women
Treatment of Women

News & Issues From Saudia Arabia

We try to publish untold News from our own sources and perspective

Aug.27, 2007: Over 2000 camels has died in the last month. report suggest food poisoning.
Camel owners have complained and were promised compensation from King Abdullah. Camels cost thousands of dollars each and are used for racing as will as a source of meat.

Sept.28, 2006: Saudia Arabia is planning to build a fence along the Iraqi border to block any terrorist crossing. The fence will be 560 miles long and cost 12 billion dollars including electronic sensors, security bases and physical barriers to protect the oil-rich kingdom from external threats. this shows the concern over the civil war which might spell over to the neighbors of Iraq.
Sept.9, 2006: Municipal authorities in the Saudi Arabian cities of Mecca and Jeddah have banned the sale of cats and dogs as un-Islamic. Saudi's religious police, the Muttawa, have been instructed to prevent the sale of cats and dogs in order to prevent the spread of Western ideas into the highly Islamic country. What kind of fanatics , who can suggest such a rule is required by the religion of Islam!!??

This rule has nothing to do with Islam , but made by some fanatic persons who is in a authority position to make such a ridiculous rule.
May 13, 2006: Despite religious deterrents and anti-smoking campaigns, there are nearly six million smokers in the Kingdom who puff out SR30 million every day, according to the director of the Charitable Society to Enhance Public Awareness Against Smoking and Drugs in the Makkah Region. The estimated number of deaths in the Kingdom as a result of smoke-related diseases is 23,000 annually. A large number of people suffer from chronic diseases, including cardiac ailments and different types of cancer every year as a result of smoking.
Feb.11, 2006: There is no written law against women driving in Saudi Arabia. So , why women are not allowed to drive in Saudia Arabia? It is all because of the Wahabi influence on the government.
Feb.11, 2006: Shiites make up around 10 percent of Saudi Arabia's native population of 16 million and complain of being marginalized by a government allied to Wahhabi Sunni scholars who consider Shiism a heresy.
Feb.11, 2006: Two young men who started a fistfight following a road accident on Saudia Arabia, did not know they were brothers with same father and different mothers. According to Al-Watan, the traffic police-man found that the young men’s father was the same , while investigating the case. The father had married another woman secretly some years ago. The two hugged each other and relinquished their claims after the surprise reunion.
Feb.5, 2006: A Saudi court has sentenced 11 men convicted of harassing two women in Riyadh to jail and ordered them to be flogged. One of the men, whose ages range between 17 and 26, was given 10 years in prison and 600 lashes for using his mobile phone to record the incident.
Ja.18, 2006: For the first time Saudi Arabia is to allow female fans to attend a football friendly match. Saudi authorities had made an exception for Swedish women football fans who live in the ultraconservative kingdom to attend the game between Sweden and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday night.
Jan.16, 2006: Work on the new multilevel Jamrat Bridge in Mina, which was the scene of a deadly stampede that killed over 360 pilgrims during this Haj, began Saturday. The project, which is designed to accommodate more than three million pilgrims at a time, will cost SR4 billion
Jan.16,2006: Haj pilgrims returning to Dubai International Airport have complained that their luggage was delayed or lost, and are blaming ground staff for mishandling it. Most people got their luggage 2 days after arrival. The problem can be also blamed in Jedda airport, which was in complete disorder and lacks any management or organization.
Jan.16, 2006: A newly-wed couple in the southern Saudi town of Bisha had bad luck on the first day of their marriage. Their decorated car, a luxury model, disappeared from outside the wedding hall
Jan.12, 2006: Thousands of Muslims surging to complete a stoning ritual before sunset stampeded Thursday after some pilgrims tripped over dropped luggage, causing a pileup that killed at least 345 people in the second tragedy to hit this year's hajj. The problem is that there are ignorance among the people and 2^nd. The Saudi Authority did not put enough and large signs. Also the human traffic is obstructed by Peddlers selling food and souvenirs also some people camp near that sight. Another problem is the fact the holy places in Mecca and doing all the rituals in 4days have limitation in the number of people. Saudi government have put a limit on the number of people coming from other countries , however it failed to control the number of people coming from within the country, as over 1 million people from inside Saudia Arabia perform the Hajj every year. The problem with the stoning is that over 2.5 million want to do it at the same time in a place that can only hold a few thousands people. Religious authorities must point out the stoning can be performed at any time. The Saudi government has to act. Another point is the people through all kind of miss around these holy places that it looks like a big garbage area and that garbage create health problem and also impede traffic. Saudi authority does not doe daily cleaning of these areas in Mena. The cleaning is done after the Hajj!!!!
Dec.21,2005 : Dr. Nahed Taher has been appointed CEO for the Gulf One Investment Bank, making her the first Saudi woman to head a bank in the Gulf region. Gulf One, headquartered in Bahrain with $100 million in capital, will become operational in the second quarter of 2006. Nahed was a senior economist at the National Commercial Bank, the first woman to hold such a position in a bank in Saudi Arabia. That is a great step for giving women their status and their rights in the Saudi Arabia.

Dec.21,2005 : Saudi Arabia has released about 400 detainees held for security reasons over the past few months.
Nov.29, 2005 : A Saudi girl crashed a car she was driving into three parked cars in a main street in Qatif, Okaz reported. The girl was driving at a high speed at night when she lost control of the car and crashed into the three parked cars. Police arrested the girl and held her in the police station for questioning. She was later taken to the women’s prison to be held there until the investigation is completed. It is to be noted taht Women are not allowed to drive in Saudia Arabia, the girl might be frustrated with such a law.
Nov.29, 2005: Four Saudi women teaching in a remote village school have married their driver so they can live closer to work. The women from Al-Baha were impressed with the man’s “good morals” and decided to marry him and live together in the village where they teach avoiding a tiring daily commute. They were married in a short ceremony, and have agreed to pay the driver a share of their monthly salaries. This must be a lucky driver, having 4 wives, at the same time!!!
Nov.22, 2005 : A woman in Saudia Arabia has demanded a divorce from her husband because he accepted a job as a chef in a five-star restaurant in Riyadh, Al-Watan reported. She said that she refused to be married to someone who was a cook in a restaurant. Her family said that the man would bring shame on their daughter because the job was not up to their standards.
Oct. 31^st., 2005 : Seven people died and more than 40 were injured in a stampede in Makkah after prayers in the Grand Mosque as many hundreds rushed to grab charity cash handouts early yesterday.
Oct.31, 2005: A man lost his mind when he discovered that his cell phone was missing. He locked his family inside a room and threatened to kill them if he did not find his phone. Police and teams from the special forces managed to calm him down and take his weapon away before he injured himself or his family. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
May 23, 2005: The Shura Council (consultative body) has, for the first time since its creation in the 1990s, been presented with a proposal to allow Saudi women to drive. It is about time to let women drive in Saudia Arabia.
May 6, 2005: Saudi Arabia is offering investment projects worth SR2.3 trillion ($613 billion) to American companies. A 50-member Saudi delegation begins a visit to five US states tomorrow to introduce the projects in petrochemicals, natural gas, electricity generation, water desalination, telecommunications and other vital sectors. The Saudi government plans to privatize state-run corporations and institutions with a total value of SR3 trillion ($800 billion) within the next 10 years.

May 5, 2005: Saudi Arabia said Wednesday that it was ready to sign key nuclear safeguards agreements, including a protocol which the UN nuclear watchdog is considering eliminating as it could help a country avoid inspections. Saudi Arabia is among the 27 NPT non-nuclear-weapons states, which as of January had failed to sign comprehensive safeguards agreements. Saudi Arabia, for instance, is not believed to be a direct non-proliferation threat but there have been reports that in a crisis it could use its financial clout to get nuclear technology, or even weapons, from abroad, or from countries it backs such as Pakistan which does have nuclear arms.

April 25, 2005: Saudi star Hisham Abdel Rahman, winner of this year's Star Academy was reportedly arrested for causing a commotion in a shopping mall in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia's religious police apparently escorted the star out of the shopping mall to the offices of the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice for interviewing, according to Arab news sources.

The religious police have overwhelming power that exceed the power of police authorities. In fact everyone is afraid of them.

April 24, 2005: Saudi Arabia has detained 40 Pakistani Christians for holding prayers at a house in the kingdom, where practicising any religion other than Islam is illegal.

April 7, 2005: Saudi security forces have killed 16 militants in the past week, including three on a list of top wanted Al Qaida members. One of those killed was the Moroccan Abdul Kareem Al-Majati who was suspected of masterminding Al-Qaeda bombings in Casablanca two years ago. Only three militants on the list of 26 remain at large.
March 27, 2005 : Many Saudi families have installed secret cameras in their homes in order to monitor the behavior of their maids. The families are supposedly interested in seeing how the maids treat their children, especially since violence against children is increasing in the Kingdom.
March 26, 2005: An Indonesian housemaid who failed to finish cleaning the house faces amputation of several limbs after being tortured by her angered Saudi boss, a newspaper reported yesterday. Nour Miyati was rolled into a Riyadh hospital on Saturday by her boss as gangrene spread to several parts of her body after having being tightly bound for a month, the English-language daily Arab News said. It will take "amputation of fingers on both hands, part of her right foot and toes on her left foot in order to save her life," the paper reported. Miyati said her employer, a military man, tied her hands and feet and imprisoned her in a bathroom for a month. He also beat her severely, injuring her eye and knocking out several of her teeth, it added. Police said they were investigating the matter. The accused will be imprisoned at his workplace if found guilty, as he is a military employee. New York-based Human Rights Watch alleged last July that foreign workers in Saudi Arabia were systematically abused and exploited, some of them living in slavery-like conditions.
March 23,2005: The Kingdom has banned import of Canadian beef and beef products following reports of cases of mad cow disease in Canada.
March 22, 2005: A young Saudi set a record of sorts when he sent 3,331 SMS messages in two months. All messages were recorded in one bill and the total charge was SR832. The young man stated that he sends more than 55 messages every day to friends and relatives in the eastern and southern provinces. In return he receives more than 70 messages a day. According to him he wants to stay in touch with all his relatives and friends through SMS messages since he does not have the time to call them. All his messages are funny jokes.
March 22, 2005: Motorists were stunned to see an old woman driving a car in the streets of Hail in the middle of Saudi Arabia’s traffic awareness week. Her husband and their grandchildren accompanied the old woman in the car. And when her car broke down, many people came to her help.
March.15, 2005: Four Filipinos were beheaded in a public square in the western city of Taif yesterday after being convicted of murdering a fellow Filipino, the Saudi Interior Ministry said. The four men were found guilty of stabbing to death and robbing a man identified as Gami De La Cruz.
Feb 27, 2005: Saudi leaders will be looking for information about the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, who made his fortune in Saudi Arabia, when Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara visits the kingdom, an official said Sunday.
Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz led thousands of people on Tuesday to offer condolences in Riyadh to the family of the slain former premier and construction tycoon, who held Saudi citizenship.
Feb.2005: With an estimated six million smokers among Saudis and expatriates, the Kingdom ranks fourth in the world in terms of the import and consumption of tobacco. Smokers spend up to SR1 billion ($267 million) annually on buying cigarettes and tobacco. Riyadh alone accounts for 35 percent of the Kingdom’s total cigarette consumption.Despite both official and private efforts to combat the habit, an estimated 23,000 people die annually in Saudi Arabia of smoking-related diseases, according to published figures.
May 30, 2004: Saudi commandos stormed a residential complex on Sunday to rescue most of some 50 foreigners held hostage by suspected Al Qaeda militants who killed 16 people in an assault on Saudi Arabia ’s oil industry. Saudi forces arrested the leader of the militant group and other gunmen in the raid to end a more than 24-hour drama in the eastern oil city of Khobar in Saudi Arabia , the world’s biggest crude exporter.
May 9, 2004: Saudi Arabia relies heavily on 6 million expatriate workers, including about 30,000 Americans, to run its oil industry and other sectors. The Yanbu region is home to oil refineries and petrochemical plants that employ many foreigners.
May 2, 2004: Gunmen opened fire Saturday at an oil refinery co-owned by Exxon Mobil and the Saudi company SABIC in northwestern Saudi Arabia, killing at least three Americans, two Britons, an Australian and a Saudi, company officials and diplomats said. The attack killed at least three American engineers working for oil services company ABB.

April 20, 2004: A group that says it is sympathetic to the aims of al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a car bombing that ripped through the Saudi capital Riyadh , killing four people and wounding 148 others. The bombing area is near the Saudi Information Ministry and the headquarters for the security forces that guard the Saudi royal family. The group, called The Brigade of the Two Holy Shrines, has claimed responsibility for two other attacks in Saudi Arabia , both of them assassinations of security forces. Saudi authorities had recently defused five other bombs, and that simultaneous bombings are an al Qaeda trademark. Saudia Arabia is facing a wave of terrorism that can not be controlled. The religious fanatic must be stopped. The Wahabi radical sect must be eliminated.
March 10, 2004: Saudi's King Fahad Ben Abdul Aziz has approved the establishment of a non-governmental national human rights advisory panel, the official Saudi Press Agency reports. In a related development, the Saudis also are working on removing all anti-Christian and anti-Jewish materials from their schoolbooks, a source told CNN Wednesday. The apparent thaw comes after the kingdom's human rights record has been widely criticized and as the Iraqi Governing Council approved an interim constitution with Western democratic ideals as its cornerstone. However will this human right panel makes any difference in improving the atrocities committed inside the Kingdom. The first question will be the women rights.
March 5, 2004: The Saudi government has launched an investigation into why its tourism Web site posted a notice that travel visas to Saudi Arabia would not be issued to people of the Jewish faith, according to the spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington . Adel Al-Jubeir, the embassy spokesman, said the information was posted by mistake and that tourist visas are not denied to people based on their religion. The information posted on the Web site said visas would be denied to "Jewish people." The language was removed Friday morning, after Weiner complained. It now tells visitors to check with Saudi consulates in order to obtain visa information. To clarify the issue , Saudi government was meaning some one with an Israeli passport.
Feb.21, 2004: The Saudi government began enforcing yesterday a decision to bar foreign workers from gold and jewellery shops in a move a leading economist said sends "a strong signal" that the retail sector will be "Saudised" to provide jobs for nationals. Saudia Arabia is facing a hue un-employment problem that could affect the political future of the country.
Feb.2, 2004: Saudi Arabia's King Fahad has ordered "overall plans" to be drawn up to modernize the holy cities of Makka and Madina after 251 pilgrims died in a stampede on Sunday. The Makka development plan, to be completed over several years, will enable the area to accommodate more than 1.2 million people, compared with under half a million today. The plan also envisages an increase in car-parking capacity from today's 585 spaces to a massive 45,000 vehicles, and to expand the pedestrian area from 6000 square meters to 120,000 square meters. Traditional souqs (markets) around the Grand Mosque are today scattered over an area of 180,000 square meters. Ultra-modern malls and markets are planned to cover 660,000 square meters. It is always noted that when large numbers of Muslims are killed, due to poor services , the saudi government will then react. Will such construction accommodate the future rising pilgrim's and what about the organization of the rituals and existing Fatwa , that previous Sheikh has issued , and can be altered to help Muslims do their Haj. One such Fatwa, is prohibiting the constructions in Mena and Arafa , which resulted in having no hygienic toilets , only a whole in the ground. The need for public facilities and increase of toilets and hygienic places are required to prevent the spread of disease.
Feb.2, 2004: This year’s Eid revived memories in a Saudi family of their five-year-old child, lost at Arafat 30 years ago during the Haj of 1393 AH. Since then his family members have searched for him everywhere — in Jizan, the Gulf States and even in far-away Peru .
Feb.1, 2004: A stampede during a stoning ritual at the annual Muslim pilgrimage Sunday killed 244 worshippers and injured over 240, Saudi Hajj Minister Iyad Madani said. The stampede occurred during the devil-stoning ritual, the most difficult part of the annual pilgrimage. The Haj has witnessed deadly stampedes almost every year. In 1990, 1,426 pilgrims were crushed to death in a pedestrian tunnel at the holy city of Mecca. In 1994 - a stampede kills 270 pilgrims.Last year 14 people were trampled to death. In 2001, 35 people died in a stampede at the bridge and 119 were killed in a similar incident in 1998. The Saudi authority still are not able to handle the big crowd and organize the Haj ritual.
Jan.31, 2004: Six Saudi security men were shot dead by unknown gunmen Thursday as they searched for arms and explosives in a wanted militant’s home in Riyadh , 700 kilometers (435 miles) from Mecca . The man was arrested in the operation, and his father killed. The interior ministry said security forces in the capital subsequently arrested seven suspected members of a group planning a ”terror attack” and seized large amounts of arms and explosives. Security forces have clashed repeatedly with suspected Islamist militants in recent months as they hunt for extremists linked to the Al Qaeda network.
Jan. 16 2004 : There is “tremendous interest” among Saudi students to pursue higher studies in the United States , US Consul General Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley says. That is true , but the US government is not making it easy for these students to attend to school in the US.
Jan.13, 2004: Police in Bahra city rescued a doctor from the enraged relatives of a Saudi patient who allegedly died because of a medical mistake on Wednesday night, Al-Madinah newspaper reported. The doctor mistakenly gave the 20-year-old patient two shots of an unknown substance instead of oxygen in an asthma emergency. When Fayez Abdullah Al-Mabadi, a high school student, suffered a small asthma attack on Wednesday night, his brother Musfer took him to a nearby clinic to give him oxygen as they had done in the past. According to the brother, the doctor insisted on giving Fayez two shots in the arm instead of oxygen. He lost consciousness soon after: “I asked the doctor to do something to save my brother’s life,” Musfer said. “He told to me to be quiet. When the doctor saw that there was no hope, he asked me to take my brother to another hospital. He then left the room with the nurses and locked himself inside his office and called the police. We tried very hard to save my brother’s life but there was no ambulance at the clinic to transfer him. He died even as the doctor remained locked up in the adjacent room. ”An eyewitness, Fayea Al-Bagamy, who was taking his sick daughter to see a doctor, confirmed the story of the two shots. “The doctor threatened the victim’s brother and then escaped with his medical crew, leaving the young man to fight death alone,” Fayeh said. More than 20 police cars and emergency forces arrived on the scene to prevent dozens of the deceased’s relatives from entering the clinic and retaliating against the doctor. Residents of Bahra city also surrounded the clinic to complain about several cases of negligence. Fahd Al-Harthy, another resident, said that the clinic was responsible for the death of five other people; the last case was a patient with a throat infection during Ramadan. The clinic and its owner have never been held accountable and all complaints are ignored. The police are still guarding the clinic in case of a possible attack from relatives of the victim.
Jan.9, 2004: In a development that signals a sea change in Saudi information policy, the Saudi Ministry of Information has, for the first time in the nation's history, allowed an international television news organization to open a permanent news bureau in Saudi Arabia .
CNBC Arabiya, the region's leading business news channel, has opened a fully-fledged news bureau in Riyadh, becoming the first international news channel to be granted a business license that permits newsgathering and reporting from the Kingdom. Are these signs that the Saudi government is slowly opening up the country?
Jan.8, 2004: The Saudi Arabian security forces yesterday detained a Saudi girl, after they opened fire at her wile driving a car on Monday late night in Tabouk ,to the north of the Kingdom, where females are forbidden from driving a car.
Jan.8, 2004: The head of Saudi Arabian charity organization al-Haramain, which was accused by the United States of funding terrorism, has been dismissed. . The decision was made by Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs Salih al-Shaikh, who chairs al-Haramain's board of directors, the Saudi-owned, pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper said.

Jan.6, 2004: Saudi security forces defused a bomb in a telephone booth in a Riyadh neighborhood that has seen several confrontations between police and alleged terrorists, a security official said Monday.
Jan.5, 2004: A group of Saudi women demanded in a petition signed by more than 300 Saudi women, from various parts of the Kingdom, for 8 demands, mainly to "recognize woman as eligible, without the need to have the escort of the legal supervisor (such as a father, husband or brother), to be present in case a trade registration record is needed for a woman to start business." The petition read that "the woman is in need to get her own legitimate and civil right, starting from her right to learn, work, and health care, but not to be conditioned on the permission of "the legal supervisor.. to her rights to transfer her property after her death to her inheritors under the rule of civil service on equal footing with man." The women signatories of the petition, academics, intellectuals, and employees from various parts of the Kingdom called for the system of "compulsory education for both boys and girls, and to open up new fields and specializations for the woman in universities, faculties and technical and technological faculties, as well as correcting the image of the woman in the educational programs and in audio-visual media." The petition also called for opening the doors before women in government ministries and commissions, and to "appoint qualified women in leading posts and decision making centers, and to open work markets in all its fields without exception before those qualified for working." The women signatories in the petition "for permits to form civil society groups, trade unions, and cultural and scientific clubs and encouraging women to join them." The women also demanded "to deal with Saudi women married to non-Saudis and their children on equal footing with Saudi men married to non-Saudi women."
Jan.1, 2004: Saudi security authorities have arrested three men in connection with an explosion that targeted a senior security official, a newspaper reported Wednesday. Islamic extremists have detonated four car bombs in Riyadh in 2003, killing 52 people, including the assailants, and wounding more than 100 others. The attacks on May 12 and Nov. 8 targeted housing compounds for foreigners, and Saudi and U.S. officials have blamed Saudi exile Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network.
Dec.29, 2003: Saudi Arabia 's only English-language newspaper published from the capital Riyadh is closing down on January 1 because of huge losses and lack of readership.
December 24, 2003 : Some 800 Air-India passengers bound for various destinations in India were still unsure last night if they would be able to leave after being stranded in Riyadh for over two days. The passengers, who had been on their way to Bombay , Hyderabad , Trivandrum and Calicut , were shunted around since Monday by the airline, which blames “foggy weather in Delhi .” V. Senthil Kumar, Air-India’s country manager, told Arab News that Delhi-bound flights from Bombay en route to Riyadh could not take off because of the fog, in turn apparently causing flight delays in Riyadh for passengers traveling to different destinations in India . Air-India has committed 145 flights for its Haj operations, which begin today, and says it does not have sufficient spare aircraft when something goes wrong on this scale.
Dec.21, 2003: Two Saudi Arabian reforming activists announced in Bahrain yesterday that 53 of their activists colleagues and intellectuals, including 10 women, are waiting for the reply of the Saudi government to its request to announce a Saudi national committee for human rights they had applied for nine months before. Saudia have a bad human rights record.
Dec.9, 2003: The Saudi government on Saturday published the names and photographs of its 26 most wanted people, they were “connected to the terrorist events in the kingdom over the past months.” The list included one Yemeni citizen, two Moroccans and 23 Saudis. In a release aired on state television and released on the official Saudi Press Agency, the Interior Ministry said Saturday it was offering a reward of $267,000 to information leading to the arrest of one of the 26 wanted. The reward would rise to $1.3 million for information leading to the arrest of more than one wanted person, and to $1.9 million for actions that foil an attempted terrorist attack. The Saudi government launched a widespread crackdown on Islamic militants and al-Qaeda cells on its soil following the May suicide bombings, which killed 35 people, including nine attackers. Hundreds of suspects have been arrested. On Nov. 8, a new suicide attack on a Riyadh housing compound killed 17 people. Both attacks have been blamed on al-Qaeda.
Nov.29, 2003:A well-known Saudi prince and poet has been shot and killed by suspected Islamist fighters in an ambush on his hunting party in the Algerian desert. Algerian newspapers on Saturday said Talal Ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Rashid died in an ambush on Thursday in which nine people were killed and several others injured. The attack is believed to have been carried out by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (SGPC).
Nov.19,2003: Saba Abu Lisan, a young Saudi woman, rescued seven people, including her two sisters, after the Al-Muhaya Compound bombing in Riyadh on Nov. 8. Wounded and bleeding herself, she transported the victims to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in her father’s Mercedes. Her actions — a conflict between following human instinct and violating Saudi law stirred a mixture of reactions.
November 16, 2003: A US district court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit against both Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, and Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi ambassador to Britain, brought by victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington. “The claims against them for acts allegedly done in their official capacities will be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction,” Columbia District Court Judge James Robertson said.
“The claims against Prince Sultan for acts allegedly done in his personal capacity will be dismissed without prejudice for lack of personal jurisdiction,” the judge said in his written opinion.
Nov.13, 2003: Saudi Arabia, reeling from a deadly bombing in Riyadh, has tightened security in Makka to thwart any possible attacks on Islam's sacred city during the month of Ramadan.An extra 5000 police have been deployed in Makka for the last 10 days of Ramadan, which runs until around 25 November, a particularly favourable period for Muslim pilgrims visiting the birthplace of Islam, said officials this week.
Nov. 9, 2003: Three explosions rocked a residential compound in the Saudi capital Saturday night in what a government official said was a suicide car bombing. Although there were widely conflicting reports of the death toll immediately after the explosion, a Western diplomat told Reuters between 20 and 30 people were estimated to have been killed and up to 100 injured. Saudia government is faced with a serious terrorist attacks in many cities , including Mecca , last week. Just how the government will deal with extremist and terrorist is not clear yet.
August 26, 2003: The Saudi government decision to increase the price of gasoline in 2007 has already begun to affect the automobile market. According to many car dealers in the Eastern Province, demand for Japanese cars is increasing while that for American cars is slipping.
August 21, 2003:The menace of beggary is increasing in Saudi Arabia. Both expatriates as well as Saudi nationals are involved in the trade. A recent survey conducted by Dr Abdullah Al Yousif of Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud University of Riyadh indicates 69 per cent of child beggars in Riyadh are Saudis - 56.6 per cent of child beggars are girls.
Saudi Arabia, otherwise a rich country by most standards with per capita income of $8,000 plus, is faced with the menace, which many say is an indication of growing poverty in the Kingdom.
High unemployment rates among nationals coupled with an increasing population has brought a segment of the Saudi population face to face with poverty. Even Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz himself admitted that poverty is growing in the Kingdom and that poverty was a reality here.
August 15, 2003: The military announced that Saddam’s former interior minister — No. 29 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis — is in U.S. custody. Mahmud Dhiyab Al-Ahmad surrendered to coalition forces , U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
August 1, 2003: The head of the Passports Department in Saudi Arabia, said that passports departments all over the Kingdom would start fingerprinting all those who enter Saudi Arabia whether by sea, land or air. This measure is taken to eliminate the problem of overstayers in the Kingdom , and the problem of faked passports.
July 25,2003 :The new regulations for women’s passports will take effect next Saturday. The Passports Department said pictures must show 70 to 80 percent of the face and must measure 6cm x 4cm. The background should be white. Usually passports of Saudia Arabia women have the women face covered up.
July 22 ,2003: Saudi authorities arrested 16 suspected terrorists and a cache of bomb making material, foiling a number of plots to attack “vital installations,”. The arrests took place in the capital, Riyadh, in the town of al-Qasim to the north, and in the Eastern Province, an unidentified ministry official told the official Saudi Press Agency. During the arrests, security forces seized weapons hidden underground that including rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, nearly 160 pounds of explosives, detonators, and more than 20 tons of chemicals used to make explosives.
July 18, 2003: In the continuing downturn of the travel trade sector, one more carrier, Swiss International Air Lines, has decided to discontinue its services to Jeddah from Oct. 26. Switzerland’s national carrier is the latest to join the ranks of airlines including Singapore Airlines, Olympic Airways, Alitalia and KLM who have stopped flying to Jeddah.
July12, 2003 : Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahad recently appointed Prince Faisal Ibn Abdullah Ibn Muhammad Al-Saud assistant national intelligence chief, the Royal Court said in a statement. Prince Faisal becomes assistant to Prince Nawaf, who took over national intelligence shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
July12, 2003: A college student recently discovered that his father’s marriage to his second wife was illegal under Islam because she was too closely related to the first wife. The couple had been married for 22 years.The father, a Saudi citizen of Taif, married a Saudi woman who bore four daughters. The man hoped for a son, but his wife presented him with daughter after daughter. Believing that his wife was the reason he did not have a son, he decided to marry another woman, a relative of his first wife’s. The second wife was the daughter of the first wife’s nephew. No one in the family realized that the first wife was actually the aunt of the second and that it was therefore forbidden for a man to marry them both. Ironically, to the man’s disappointment, his second wife’s first baby was a girl. His first wife, on the other hand, finally gave birth to the healthy son the man had always wanted.Years passed and the man was happily married to both women. His first wife had five girls and three boys and his second wife three girls and two boys. After being married for 22 years, the man’s first son by his first wife discovered that his father’s marriage to his second wife was not permitted according to Islamic law. The student consulted several religious scholars and sheikhs and told them the full story, revealing the relationship between his father’s two wives. The religious authorities assured him that his father’s marriage to his second wife was illegal. After the family had learned the shocking news, the man’s first wife, who had been married to him for 35 years , decided to sacrifice her happiness for her husband’s happiness with his second wife. She asked him to divorce her so that he could then remarry his second wife once the conditions for it to be legal under Islam had been fulfilled.
June 26,2003 :A father was surprised to discover, on renewing his daughter’s passport, that the 16-year-old had an outstanding traffic fine to her name. The traffic department insisted she pay the fine, incurred for driving with an expired license. Saudi women are forbidden to drive, so how could this happen!!?? Just until when The Saudi will not allow women to drive.
June25, 2003: Unknown attackers stabbed and wounded a leading Saudi dissident at his London home on Sunday night, in an attack he blamed on the Saudi government.
June 25, 2003: Saudi Arabia yesterday said more than 40 Saudis had been detained in Iran, as they may have links with Al Qaeda.
June 25, 2003: Saudi Arabia just announced it would hike petrol prices in the domestic market by 13 percent in three years’ time. The decision to raise the price of petrol was announced during the weekly Cabinet meeting held on Monday in Jeddah and chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahad. The decision, to be effective at the end of 2006, will increase petrol process for consumers from SR0.9 (24 cents) to SR1.02 (27.2 cents) a liter. The profit margin for service station owners has been increased to SR0.9 per liter from SR0.7.
June21, 2003 : A survey reveals that 69 percent of child beggars in Riyadh are Saudis. But it also shows that 68 percent of child street vendors are foreigners. 56.6 percent of child beggars are girls.The study was conducted by Dr. Abdullah Al-Yousif of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University of Riyadh. It found that 88 percent of the mothers of begging children are illiterate, while nine percent did not go beyond elementary education. Sixty percent of the children’s fathers are married to another woman, while 50 percent of fathers are unemployed, 62 percent are illiterate and 34 percent did not go further than elementary school, the survey found. The study also showed 90 percent of families with children who beg live in public housing. None of the fathers cared about their children’s education. Dr. Al-Yousif in the study said the children’s age ranged between six and eight years. The majority of the beggars are Saudis, a majority among them girls who beg with their mothers. The researcher warned that young beggars were at risk of turning to crime if their plight and that of their families were not addressed. Beggars from various poor countries come to the Kingdom particularly in the holy month of Ramadan in the guise of pilgrims.
June 22,2003: Saudi security forces in the holy city of Makkah have arrested four Saudi women after raiding a flat rented by a suspected militant, local newspapers said yesterday.
Al Watan newspaper said the security forces found three rifles, a pistol and live ammunition, as well as a bag full of gold, when they stormed the flat on Friday. Other newspapers reported that police also found a handmade bomb.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz has said that more than 40 suspects have been killed or arrested since the May 12 bombings, including 12 suspected militants arrested after a shootout with police in Makkah a week ago.
June 16, 2003 : Frequent interruptions of the water supply have led to acute water shortages in different parts of the city during the seasonable hot weather. In some areas residents have left their homes because of undependable supplies of water.
June 16, 2003 :A gunfight late Saturday night in the holy city of Makkah between police and suspected Islamic militants left seven people dead, including two members of the Saudi security forces. Five security officers and two civilian bystanders were also injured in the gunbattle in Makkah’s Khaldiya district, while security services arrested seven people on a government wanted list. Police seized 72 locally made bombs of various sizes, in addition to several automatic rifles, guns, ammunition, communication devices, cleavers, chemicals for use in the manufacture of bombs and masks.
June 12, 2003: The spread of SARS in some Asian countries had not affected the traffic of Umrah pilgrims to the Kingdom, according to Haj Minister Iyad Madani. He said he expected more than three million Umrah pilgrims this year. The minister told Arab News that about 800,000 Egyptian pilgrims would start arriving for Umrah within the next two weeks. Five countries including Pakistan and Egypt stopped Umrah package trips in protest against an SR3,000 guarantee imposed by the Haj Ministry on each pilgrim from these countries.
June 3, 2003: Saudi Arabia stepped up security measures Monday following a deadly battle with two fugitive terror suspects who killed two security men, and the bust of a terror cell in the holy city of Madina. Roadblocks and checkpoints manned by Saudi police and the national guard, which all but disappeared from Riyadh's streets over recent days, reappeared in even larger numbers on Sunday night and Monday, eyewitnesses said.
Security men armed with automatic rifles carefully checked motorists in the capital and other main cities at randomly erected roadblocks. Security has also been beefed up at the capital's Diplomatic Quarter, which houses all foreign embassies and missions, and around main commercial centers and residential compounds used by foreigners. Two Saudi security men and a terror suspect wanted by authorities were killed on Saturday night in a shootout in the northern province of Hail, according to the interior ministry.
June 2,2003: Two or three al-Qaeda terrorist cells still operate in Saudi Arabia despite a major investigation and at least 20 arrests since the May 12 Riyadh bombing.
June 2,2003: Two Saudi security men died and at least two others were wounded, one seriously, in a shootout with two armed men in the northern province of Hail, the regional governor said in remarks published Sunday. Prince Saud bin Abdulmohsen told Al-Watan newspaper of KSA,that trouble erupted late Saturday at a checkpoint in Turba, 200 kilometers (125) miles from Hail city, close to the border with Jordan. The suspects are believed to be Al Qaeda members.
May 21,2003:Fearing that more attacks in Saudi Arabia could be “imminent,” the United States and other Western nations said Tuesday that they would close their embassies and major consular offices in Saudi Arabia for a few days.
May20,2003: The U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it would close some missions in the kingdom Wednesday over fears of more attacks against unspecified targets after devastating suicide bombings in Riyadh last week. "In response to information that some strikes may be imminent, the embassy and consulates general in Jeddah and Dhahran will be closed on May 21, 2003," the embassy said in a statement. It said they would not reopen before May 25.
May20,2003: Interior Minister Prince Naif announced yesterday that five of the nine terrorists who carried out suicide bombings in Riyadh last week, killing 25 and injuring nearly 200, had been identified. Among them were three men whose pictures the government released following a raid on an Al-Qaeda cell in Riyadh on May 6, when all 19 of its members — including 17 Saudis — managed to escape.
May20,2003: The Ministry of Education has approved a decision to ban cigarette sales to those under 18 in shops located near schools. The decision came in response to parents’ complaints that there were too many students smoking.
May 19, 2003: Saudi authorities are investigating suspected illegal arms sales by members of the country's national guard to al Qaeda operatives in the country, U.S. and Saudi officials said. The weapons were seized in a May 6 raid on an al Qaeda safe house and were traced to National Guard stockpiles, the officials said.
May7, 2003: A group of thieves made off with the automatic teller machine of a local bank by using a bulldozer here on Monday but did not get any money, according to police sources.
May7, 2003: Saudi Arabia will soon have its first ever human rights organization acting independently from the government but with full government sanction. Will this organization accomplish anything in a society full of human rights violations , specially against women.
May5, 2003 :A vast number of animals in captivity in the Kingdom are in a pitiful state. Many exotic species are kept in substandard conditions, often undergoing operations that render them less dangerous to humans and can encourage the development of physical or psychological conditions that kill them. Snakes, used as status symbols by young men, have their fangs broken off with pliers and their mouths crudely stitched shut to render them harmless to their owners. Both commercial and underground sources exist to supply the market for exotic pets, putting the health of the animal second to commercial gain. Ostriches, used to running scores of kilometers a day, are cooped in cages of a few square meters. Lions, rotting with skin infection, lie listlessly in concrete pens. The woman shown is Deborah Zahid, managing director of the Tahlia International Veterinary Clinic, plays with Lilly, a one-year-old North American Black Bear cub in her clinic in Jeddah
May 5, 2003:The new Cabinet ministers were sworn in yesterday at a ceremony during which Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd welcomed the ministers and urged them to work for the Kingdom’s development and the prosperity of its people.
May4, 2003 : A 40-year-old Saudi woman has accused three Khamis Mushayt-based officials of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of beating and humiliating her, Al-Watan daily , Saudi newspaper ,reported yesterday.
May3, 2003 :Education Minister Dr. Muhammad Al-Rasheed has not ruled out the possibility of appointing a woman as deputy minister for girls’ education. However, he said the matter would be finally decided by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd. It is about time to make such a decision!?
April 22,2003:Umrah bookings from the world over have been hit by the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Travel agents in Jeddah report hardly any confirmed Omrah bookings, and pilgrim numbers are down significantly against this time last year.
April 22, 2003 : Two families, traveling in southern Saudi Arabia in the same vehicle, were killed in a collision with a fuel tanker, Okaz newspaper reported yesterday. Eight Sudanese and four Egyptians died in the smash on Thursday on the road to Abha in the southern Asir province, the daily said.
April 20,2003:The authorities here have publicly flogged 11 men convicted of offenses ranging from pick pocketing to harassing women, Al-Riyadh reported yesterday. The paper said the 11 offenders were flogged near a mosque in Makkah. Three convicted of pick pocketing received 50 lashes. Another three received between 50 and 80 lashes for consuming alcohol and selling narcotic drugs. Five men were flogged for harassing women.
April 19,2003:Two families, traveling in southern Saudi Arabia in the same vehicle, were killed in a collision with a fuel tanker, Okaz newspaper reported yesterday. Eight Sudanese and four Egyptians died in the smash on Thursday on the road to Abha in the southern Asir province, the daily said.
April 5,2003: Recent false bomb alerts in the Jeddah headquarters of Saudi Arabian Airlines and at the Mahmal Commercial Center in the downtown area of the city and at the northern terminal of King Abdul Aziz International Airport were all the result of people making false calls using unauthorized prepaid SAWA mobile phone cards.
March 29 2003: Women can now work in beauty shops in the Kingdom, according to Saudi Manpower Council regulations, provided they depend on the job for their livelihood and are not distracted from their household duties. What a great civilized progress in this Information age…way to go Saudia.
March 28, 2003: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Ivory Coast, Mohamed Ahmed Rachid, has been found murdered in his residential building in the main city Abidjan.
March 24, 2003: Saudi newspapers voice their anger over US & Britain and call war against Saddam an aggression and an invasion of Iraq and demand that Jihad and Arab revolt against Americans...This view which we find quite disturbing and in fact demonstrate the sick minds of some Arab journalist , as they support a dictator , like Saddam against the freedom of the Iraqi people and against the Allied forces who are actually protecting the Kingdom against the like of Saddam Husain. It is either those Journalist are paid by Saddam Husain or have been asked by the government to voice their opposition to war against Iraq , so to undermine the democracy and freedom movement that the US & its allies wish the Arab world could change to , for the well being of their citizens.
March 21, 2003: No one knows how many Saudis have married their maids. But while there are no statistics, the phenomenon is clearly widespread.
March 19, 2003: Saudia Arabia offer a safe exile for Saddam Husain.
March 11, 2003: Over 100 FBI agents raided the graduate student housing unit of the University of Idaho early Friday morning and arrested Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a 34-year-old Saudi graduate student. Al-Hussayen, a computer science student at the university since 1999, is facing an 11-count federal indictment for alleged visa fraud and making false statements to the government.
Feb.26,2003:The secondhand car market here is revving up again, with prices of certain brands dropping by as much as 25 percent. One reason is the threat of war, which has caused some expatriates to leave and sell their cars.
Feb.23,2003: Western nationals are taking precautionary steps in the Kingdom to guard against a possible terror threat after the death of a British employee of the British Aerospace (BAE) in Riyadh recently.
Feb.23,2003: Police in Makkah have confiscated two trucks carrying spoiled food and expired fruit juice, Al-Madinah reported yesterday. The owners, who planned to sell the food and juice to children in a Makkah neighborhood.
Feb.23,2003: King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah is very crowded & outdated and is in urgent need of expansion to cater for the increasing number of travelers. The airport, a gateway to millions of Haj and Umrah pilgrims every year, will undergo massive expansion in the next three years at a cost of SR5.5 billion ($1.5 billion).
Feb.22,2003: Despite the variety of marriages that exist in the Kingdom — from weekend to secret marriages — hundreds of thousands of young women remain single. And many of them are now prepared to marry men who are already married and have children.
Feb.19,2003: It is rumored that Saudia Arabia will finally allow Cinema and theatres in the country. Saudia government have banned cinema for many years and Saudi are used to satellite and Video rental . Saudi only experience watching a film in a Cinema , when they travel to other countries , such as Bahrain , U.A.E and Kuwait.
Feb.19, 2003: Wife beating is a widespread phenomenon in Saudi society. There has been no proper investigation into the problem and hence no reliable statistics are available. When this problem can be addressed and solved?
Feb.18,2003:Revenue from this year’s Haj is estimated at SR5 billion and the entire revenue is to be plowed back into Haj services such as housing and transport. SR2 billion was made from renting out 6,000 apartment buildings accommodating more than 1.5 million pilgrims. Transport companies ferrying pilgrims between Jeddah, Makkah and Medina earned an estimated SR609 million. Still Saudi government need to improve many services for the pilgrims.
Feb.12,2003: Fourteen pilgrims, including seven women, were killed and several others slightly injured in a stampede on Souk Al-Arab Street yesterday morning.
Feb.12,2003:Travel agencies reported a 50 percent reduction in the number of Saudis traveling abroad this Eid because of the growing threat of a US-led war against Iraq.
Feb.11,2003:Disruption of water supply in Mina for several hours put many people in a difficult situation on Sunday. Water supply was cut for pilgrim tents between Jowhara Street and the Pedestrian Bridge and between Souk Al-Arab Street and the New Street. The pilgrims held the Water Ministry’s office in Makkah responsible for the problem. Such a problem is a clear demonstration of Saudi Authorities lack of proper management of resources for Haj Pilgrimage.
Feb.11,2003: More than 50 people were admitted to hospital emergency rooms in Madinah on Friday night after being exposed to insecticide in the city’s fruit market. The insecticide was sprayed in the market by the Environmental Health Department of the Madinah municipality.
Jan.5,2003: The Ministry of Health has blacklisted 742 doctors of different nationalities whose educational certificates were either fake or otherwise found not to be in order.
Jan2,2002: A massive fire destroyed a large section of Mahmoud Saeed Commercial Center, one of the most extensive and popular souqs in Jeddah, in the early hours of the New Year.The fire spread rapidly because of a strong wind, smoldering for four hours before being brought under control by a contingent of over 15 fire trucks, water tankers and a number of cranes. Firefighters managed to prevent the raging fire from spreading to businesses on the south side of the complex.

Nov.29,2002:Abdul Raouf Khalil Museum stood in Jeddah’s Al-Andalus district as the most famous antiquities museum in Saudi Arabia.

Its unique facade and vast content made it famous throughout the Middle East, and it was a source of pride for the city of Jeddah. However, in June this year a fire engulfed the four buildings and within hours they were reduced to ashes, along with their over 16,000 unique artifacts. Due to neglect other important buildings might face similar ordeal.

Nov.23,2002: Saudi authorities have arrested a Kuwaiti policeman accused of shooting two US soldiers in Kuwait, and plan to hand him over to Kuwaiti authorities.
Nov.17,2002: The number of beggars in the Kingdom increases by 50 percent during Ramadan, according to Awadh Al-Radadi, deputy minister of labor and social affairs. It is estimated that 80 percent of beggars are non-Saudis. Saudi authorities have so far arrested 13,580 beggars including 11,848 foreigners in Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah, Dammam and Abha.
Nov.16,2002: The Haj Ministry has fired a number of employees for exploiting their authority and negligence in providing services to pilgrims. Great that is a good way to improve the service , including some other required organization and facilities that are badly needed.
Nov.15,2002: Women have temporarily been banned to enter, approach or pray at the Prophet’s chamber and the rawdah (the area between the Prophet’s chamber and his mimber) at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.
Nov.14,2002: Saudi Arabia’s plan to privatize 20 vital sectors will help reduce pressure on the state budget and pay off the government’s huge public debt.
Oct.26,2002: October — The International Monetary Fund has called for the acceleration of economic reforms in the Kingdom, warning that inaction would swell an already large public debt, put pressure on public finances and discourage investment.
Oct.22,2002:The Kingdom yesterday started implementing new rules and regulations to provide visas to foreign businessmen and investors to visit their counterparts in the Kingdom.
Oct.22,2002:A Saudi man and woman convicted of the murder of a man who had offered them a ride were executed yesterday. the two Saudis repeatedly stabbed Falah ibn Shuqair Al-Duwaish before strangling him with a wire and burning his body. They also stole his money and car. Talking about crazy criminal , they exist everywhere..
Oct.20,2002:Saudi students already residing in the United States have been informed by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia that they need to visit immigration centers in their state to be fingerprinted and interviewed.

Oct.16,2002:

Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, and Sheikh Hamad, king of Bahrain, yesterday jointly commissioned the third phase of Alkhobar desalination plant and drinking water distribution system.The plant, with a total capacity of 500,000 cubic meters of water and 800 megawatt electricity, will supply water to Eastern Province cities of Alkhobar, Dhahran, Dammam, Seehat, Qateef, Safwa and Ras Tannura. The project includes a 155-km pipeline. There are 30 desalination plants in the Kingdom with a daily capacity of 2.8 million cubic meters of water and 5,000 megawatt electricity.

Oct.16,2002:According to U.S. and Saudi intelligence sources, a terror attack was planned on an oil pipeline that feeds Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura terminal, the biggest oil-loading point in the world's biggest oil exporter. The attack was thwarted late last summer when several dozen Saudi citizens were arrested, according to intelligence sources. The United States and Saudi Arabia, however, kept the existence of this plot a secret because of its potential to embarrass the Saudi government and its possible impact on oil prices.
Oct.16,2002: A drunken Saudi motorist accidentally hit a gate of the US Consulate in Jeddah on Monday night and was taken into custody.
Oct.16,2002: Security officers aboard a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight from Khartoum to Jeddah foiled a hijacking attempt by a Saudi gunman yesterday.
Oct.6,2002: Within the past two months, in Hail, 11 young people have died and a 12th been blinded. They drank a cheap after-shave (eau de cologne) which is available in almost every shop in the Kingdom. The Kingdom should ease on alcohol drinks to save the life of the young population who are eager to drink anything to get the feeling.
Sept.29,2002: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahad has extended royal clemency to Greek captain George Sideris, who was serving a three-year jail term in Saudi Arabia after being convicted on charges of trading alcohol. The Saudi coastal guards intercepted and nabbed the Greek captain who was sailing with three Kuwaitis along the Saudi waters in late 2000.
Sept.25,2002: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Pakistan have been added to an INS list that will require US immigration inspectors to register and fingerprint men from these countries, ages 16 to 45, when they enter the United States.
Sept.20, 2002: — A nationwide screening of newborn babies has brought to light high incidence of genetic disorders in the Kingdom compared to Western countries.
Sept.20,2002: There are no PE classes in girls school in Saudia Arabia , as girls in government schools are not allowed to have physical education classes. Of course no reason are given for such deprivation..
Sept.19,2002: A Saudi convicted of murdering a woman compatriot was executed in the southwestern province of Asir yesterday.
Sept.15,2002: Saudi Arabia's foreign minister signaled Saturday that his country would be willing to allow its territory and facilities to be used for military action against Iraq -- but only if such action is backed by a U.N. Security Council resolution.
Sept.10,2002: September — Police have arrested an African gang involved in stealing money and other valuables from residential villas and rest houses in Madinah.
Sept.10,2002: A top European biomedical expert has hinted at the possibility of an increase in liver diseases in the Kingdom as a result of inhalation of toxic gases. The issue of toxic gases assumes special significance in the context of Jeddah’s current problem of stinking garbage piling on in every residential district, spawning diseases such as hepatitis.
Sept.8,2002: The United States and Saudi Arabia have frozen the assets of Saudi national Wael Hamza Julaidan, for his alleged association with Osama Bin Laden, the US Treasury Department announced yesterday. Julaidan, who was involved in Saudi charitable activities in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo, has run the Rabita Trust Islamic charity since February 2000.
Sept.5,2002:Saudi Arabian Airlines will resume regular flights to Libya next month following a break of 10 years due to Lockerbie-linked sanctions
Sept.5,2002: A Saudi businessman has filed a lawsuit against a fugitive Bahraini intelligence officer in a Manama court for embezzling SR100 million from the Saudi and his Qatari business partner
Sept.2,2002: Eight truckloads of pirated CDs, playstations and video cassettes, films, posters and fake paintings worth millions of riyals in street value were destroyed in a series of synchronized raids carried out yesterday by Ministry of Information. During the last six months the ministry confiscated 625,000 items consisting of CDs, films, video cassettes and computer accessories. Saudia Arabia is trying to protect copyrights and to close down the black market for illegal copies of software& movies.
Sept.2,2002: Saudi Telecom Company (STC) slashed rates for international phone calls by up to 63 percent to most countries from yesterday. The cuts range from 8.3 percent to Germany and the Netherlands, to 63 percent to some other countries.
Sept.1,2002: Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah is prepared to allow a 19-year-old American woman, allegedly being held against her will, to leave the country, a U.S. official said Saturday. Radwan was born in Houston but raised in Saudi Arabia by her Saudi father. Her mother has fought for years for her daughter's return to the United States.
August 29, 2002: Saudi Arabia has helped stop funds worth between $70 million and $90 million from reaching Al-Qaeda network in the past few months, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal announced yesterday.
August 25 , 2002: Dozens of Saudis who were detained in the United States following the September 11 attacks will sue the US government, police and the media for alleged maltreatment and abuse, their lawyer said on Thursday. Around 300 Saudis, a majority of them students, were arrested in the United States for different periods mostly for immigration and visa violations. Some of them claimed they were maltreated and psychologically abused while in detention. A number of them were also wrongly accused of links to the September 11 terror attacks
August 24,2002:A Saudi family has handed over to Saudi authorities one of its sons wanted by the United States on suspicion of being an associate of the September 11 hijackers, Saudi newspapers reported on Saturday. They quoted Abdel-Aziz Saud al-Rasheed as denying his 21-year-old son Saud was linked to terrorism, saying Saud had never visited the United States or any European country. The FBI has issued a worldwide alert seeking the arrest of or information about Saud.
August 23, 2002: Saudi Arabia has appointed a new chief for its powerful religious police, a force that came under criticism earlier this year. The new director of the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is Sheik Ibrahim Abdullah al-Ghaith, said a royal decree published by the official Saudi Press Agency on Wednesday night. Al-Ghaith succeeds Sheik Abdul Aziz al-Sayed, whose four-year term recently ended. The post is equivalent to that of a minister. The religious police, or muttawa, are charged with ensuring that women are covered in black robes outside their homes, the sexes do not mix in public, shops close five times a day for prayers and men go to mosques for prayers. The force came under unprecedented attack in March after 15 girls died and 50 others were wounded in a fire at a girls' school in the western city of Mecca. Newspapers accused the muttawa of blocking rescue attempts by male firefighters and paramedics at the girls' school because some of the girls were not wearing the long dresses and head coverings required in public under Islamic sharia law.
August 19,2002: A prominent Saudi lawyer has warned against the growing number of divorce cases in the Kingdom, where more than 18,000 weddings ended in separation last year. A total of 16,725 weddings out of 81,576 ended in divorce between March 2000-2001. This represent 20.5 percent of all marriages solemnized and finally broke up in Saudi Arabia, indicating a threat to society. A major study conducted by King Abdul Aziz University found that the main causes of women breaking away from their husbands were ill-treatment, violence and hot temper.
August 19,2002: The Interior Ministry yesterday appealed to citizens to surrender unlicensed firearms or risk punishment after an extended amnesty for registration has expired.
August 18,2002: Several Saudi banks and Islamic charities named in a lawsuit by families of Sept. 11 victims vehemently denied Sunday any role in funding terrorism and blasted the case as an attempt to extort Saudi wealth abroad. In a civil suit filed in a Washington court Thursday, relatives of some 900 people killed in the attacks by hijacked jets accused three senior Saudi princes, several Saudi and other foreign banks and Sudan's government of funding Osama bin Laden, the prime U.S. suspect in the attacks. The lawsuit seeks damages of over $100 trillion.
August, 15, 2002: Hundreds of Saudi students currently vacationing in the Kingdom are worried about returning to the United States and resuming their studies as they have not yet been issued visas. The Saudi Ministry of Higher Education has announced that steps are being taken to help such students continue their studies in some Arab universities if they are not issued US visas in time. One hundred students sponsored by the Saudi Aramco to study in the United States are also worried about their future as they have not yet been issued visas while the date to report at their universities is fast approaching.
August 4, 2002: The United States, stung by domestic criticism of its visa policies, has abandoned the practice of letting travel agencies in Saudi Arabia collect and pass on visa applications to the U.S. Embassy, the State Department said. The U.S. consulates in the Saudi cities of Riyadh and Jeddah had already tightened procedures for visas, increasing the proportion of applicants whom U.S. officials interview in person to test their eligibility.
July 19, 2002: A Saudi transport company plans to employ about 250 Saudi women to accompany their husbands who work as bus drivers in girl schools in the capital Riyadh.
The company sources said that if the driver's wife is unable to accompany him, he can be accompanied by a muhram, who by relationship cannot get married to – like daughters or sisters.
These women would be tasked with maintaining order in the bus. Each of them will be paid an average monthly salary of 1,000 riyals, while the driver gets 2,000 riyals.
What a way to waste money??!!
June 21. 2002: A boycott of U.S. goods by Saudis angered by Washington's Middle East policies has led to a sharp fall in U.S. exports to Saudi Arabia, diplomats and economists said yesterday.
Official U.S. figures show exports plunged 33 per cent to $2.8 billion between September, the month that suicide-bombers attacked U.S. cities, and March.
In the first quarter of 2002, exports fell 43 per cent to $986 million from $1.74 billion a year earlier. Many Saudi consumers have shifted to European and Japanese products
June 20,2002: Baghdad and the United Nations have reached agreement on the reopening of the main Saudi-Iraqi border crossing at Arar.
June 19, 2002: Saudi authorities have arrested 13 people linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, including several tied to a failed attempt to shoot down a U.S. military jet, sources in the Saudi Interior Ministry said. The individuals were plotting other missile and bomb attacks, the sources said. The arrests were made over several months and included two groups who were planning attacks using explosive materials and two shoulder-fired missiles that were smuggled into Saudi Arabia, according to the sources.
June 18, 2002: Saudi males under 18 will be barred entry to coffeehouses as part of the official crackdown on smoking and other immoral activities that are believed to be taking place there. What kind of law is that...??!!!
June 18, 2002: The volume of Saudi-US trade dropped considerably in the first two months of this year, according to an official American report. While US exports to the Kingdom fell by 30 percent, the Kingdom’s exports to America dropped by 39 percent in the same period.
June 17, 2002: Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide new loans worth $156 million (SR585 million) to Yemen to establish electricity projects and to finance construction of technical and vocational training institutes in the country. The loan agreements were signed on the sidelines of a meeting of the Saudi-Yemeni. Coordination Council on Saturday.
June 17, 2002: A Saudi man convicted of murder was beheaded in the southern province of Najran yesterday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Mohammad ibn Ali Al-Khorim had been found guilty of stabbing Mohammad ibn Yahia Al-Humama, also Saudi, during an argument after a car crash.
May 9,2002: Hussein Rashid Al-Sowaikat Al-Baqami, one of the oldest men in the Kingdom, died on Tuesday in a village 35 kilometers from Turbah in the Makkah Province. He was 133, according to official records. Al-Baqami is survived by the last of his nine wives, 23 sons and 113 grandchildren. He was enjoying good health until three years ago. His wife of 43 years is now 77. He married her after the death of eight other wives. Al-Baqami’s eldest son is 93 years and youngest 37.
May 9,2002: Two Saudi men were beheaded yesterday after being convicted of abducting a woman at gunpoint and raping her in the desert. The woman and her husband were walking down a Riyadh street when Faleh ibn Saad Al-Qahtani and Saad ibn Malees Al-Baqmi abducted her after threatening the couple with a gun. They then put her in the trunk of their car and drove into the desert, where they raped her.
May 5,2002: The population in Saudia Arabia is fast growing and young, as is the case throughout the rest of the Arab world. The last census in 1992 put the total population at almost 17 million, last year it was estimated at 22 million and in 2010 it is estimated to be 30 million, with a population growth rate at something over 3.5 percent a year.
March 20,2002: Saudi government cracked down on some overseas operations of a large Muslim foundation based in the desert kingdom.
March,18,2002: Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has accepted an invitation from U.S. President George W. Bush to visit Washington, nine months after he snubbed a similar invite over perceived U.S. pro-Israel bias.
March,18,2202: Saudi Arabia is expected to tighten its belt this year to slash actual budget deficit. The kingdom forecasts a shortfall of 45 billion riyals this year, so that means more borrowing
March 16,2002: 14 girls are killed and over 50 were injured due to a fire in a girls school in Mecca. The tragedy is that the Religious Police ( Mutaween) did not allow the Fire Dept. to save the girls in the pretext that girls should be covered up and that Men can not e