Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will arrive here tomorrow for talks with the Saudi leadership on a range of bilateral, regional and international issues. Iranian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mohammad Hosseini said that Ahmadinejad will mainly “discuss avenues for bolstering bilateral relations, the situation in the Middle East and the latest developments in the region and the world of Islam.”
RIYADH, 23 February 2007 — A major nationwide campaign to improve the socio-economic conditions of Indian Muslims in line with the recommendations made by the Sachar Committee will be launched in India on March 11. This fortnight-long campaign in the form of an “All India Caravan-e-Insaf (AICI)” (march for equality and justice) will pass through thousands of cities, towns and villages including 24 prime cities across India.
RIYADH, 16 February 2007 — Saudi Arabia and India are to set up a permanent panel to boost cooperation in sports and youth welfare sector. This joint committee is within the framework of the Saudi-Indo cooperation announced by Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, president of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW) and Mani Shankar Aiyer, the visiting India’s minister of sports and youth affairs, here yesterday after their official talks.
Somnath Chatterjee, India’s Lok Sabha speaker, is an experienced parliamentarian who has spent 37 years as the people’s representative. Chatterjee’s name is now doing the rounds as the next occupant of India’s president house (Rashtrapati Bhavan). He may replace President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as India’s first citizen when his current term ends in July. But Chatterjee refused to speak yesterday when asked whether he is a candidate for the highest job.
RIYADH, 2 February 2007 — The Saad Al-Sanea Center, a Saudi charity organization, announced yesterday that it would cover the cost of 60 kidney transplant operations on poor patients that will be performed at the 700-bed Saad Specialist Hospital (SSH) in the eastern city of Alkhobar. “The Saad hospital and the Saad charity organization, both owned by a Saudi philanthropist, are working on this humanitarian project,” said a hospital source. “The cases of kidney patients are first studied by a board at the charity before being referred to the hospital.”
RIYADH – Two prominent Arab professors from Egypt and Morocco, Mustafa A. Nasif and Muhammed A. Al-Omari, respectively, shared the 2007 King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) for Arabic Language and Literature, while two cancer experts from the US and Canada were declared co-winners of the prize for medicine.
Prince Muqrin, chief of General Intelligence, said yesterday that the Kingdom, as part of its SR3 billion e-government initiative, would lay down a full-fledged foundation for the system well before the target year of 2010. The initiative, dubbed Yesser (Arabic for “Simplify”), aims to make Saudi society more digitally literate and to streamline government bureaucracy.
Capt. Hanadi Zakariya Hindi, the first Saudi woman pilot, will start flying one of the jets belonging to Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal, founder and chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), in mid-2007 following her completion of an advance pilot proficiency training program.
More than 300 farm workers have run away from their employers during the last six months. Many farm owners have lodged complaints about the sudden disappearance of their workers. Many are making the rounds of labor offices, embassies and deportation centers to find their laborers, local farm owners and businessmen said here yesterday.
RIYADH, 5 January 2007 — Top jobs, especially in the ministries of education and higher education are to be reserved for women. The Education Ministry, which announced the plans two weeks ago, has already appointed more than 27 women in top positions. Five posts for deans have been reserved for women as part of the government’s efforts to place women in top positions and give them more autonomy concerning girls’ education.