RIYADH, 25 March 2003 — The Kingdom has put in place an emergency plan to protect its people and environment against any nuclear accident or doses of high radiation from industrial disasters or bombardment. “We have set up 14 radiation monitoring stations and early warning systems in the country, which have so far not detected any abnormal levels of radiation because of the war on Iraq,” said Dr. Ahmad Ali Basfar, director of the Institute of Atomic Energy Research at King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) here on Sunday.
RIYADH, 22 June 2003 — In a move to privatize the Kingdom’s education sector, the government has given permission to private organizations to set up two new universities and 36 colleges. Government incentives will include land for campuses at subsidized costs as well as soft loans for construction of buildings.
RIYADH, 20 March 2003 — More than 40 digital earthquake monitoring stations located around the Kingdom will measure the movements and aftershocks of bombs and missiles which will strike Iraq. Dr. Abdullah N. Al-Rajhi, director of tectonic studies at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), said that the earthquake monitoring stations in the Kingdom under the Saudi Arabian National Digital Seismographic Network (SANDSN) project are capable of differentiating between artificially-produced earth movements and the natural ones of earthquakes.
RIYADH, 18 March 2003 — Three illegal residents, a man and two women, have been arrested for possessing and distributing pornographic films in Abha. In another development, officials confiscated 3,036 bottles of liquor when a truck driver tried to smuggle them into the country.
RIYADH, 9 January 2003 — On behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd, Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, yesterday inaugurated the 18th National Culture and Heritage Festival at Janadriah village, 45 kilometers north of the capital Riyadh.
RIYADH, 8 January 2003 — On behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd, Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, will inaugurate the annual National Culture and Heritage Festival at Janadriah, 45 kilometers north of Riyadh, today.