RIYADH, 19 November 2005 — Saudi Arabia is planning to institute helicopter mounted border controls along the country’s frontier with Iraq. They will help check infiltration by illegal immigrants and the smuggling of arms and narcotics along the 830-kilometer border. More than 50,000 illegal immigrants including criminals are arrested every month while they try to cross into Saudi Arabia from Iraq, Yemen and other countries bordering the Kingdom.
RIYADH, 11 November 2005 — Fears of bird flu outbreak have hit chicken sales in Riyadh. All poultry retail shops, mainly manned by Bangladeshi, Asian or Arab expatriates, are experiencing a sharp decline in sales. “Our sales have dropped by 15 percent and as a result we have cut down orders for live poultry and poultry products,” said Mobin Chowdhury, who runs a poultry shop in the city center, here. Chowdhury said that “the avian flu fears or a possible outbreak would hit the local poultry sector very badly and the losses would be in the vicinity of millions of riyals.”
RIYADH, 10 October 2005 — A Saudi scientist said yesterday that the Gulf region would not experience any tremors but warned of possible aftershocks in South Asia, which may cause further destruction. Dr. Khaled S. Al-Damegh of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), said: “Aftershocks generally follow earthquakes and sometimes they are more devastating and can continue for several weeks.”
MANAMA, 8 October 2005 — Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Pakistan will participate in a meeting to be held in Bahrain on Nov. 11 within the framework of the Group of Eight (G-8) Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) initiative. The BMENA plan, launched by the G-8 member states including the United States, seeks to promote reform and peace initiatives in individual BMENA countries as well as in the Middle East region as a whole.
RIYADH, 25 September 2005 — A new oil database, prepared with the help of seven major energy organizations and nearly 95 oil producing and consuming countries, including Saudi Arabia, will be published periodically after being released to the public near the end of this year. The database is prepared as part of a Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI) by the International Energy Forum Secretariat (IEFS) and other energy organizations.
RIYADH, 16 September 2005 — Six Saudi students, who recently returned from a 15-day expedition to the Arctic island of Svalbard, were greeted at a reception in Riyadh on Wednesday. The trip was part of a project — supported by Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the new Saudi ambassador to the US and the Kingdom’s leading express and logistics provider SNAS/DHL — to promote cultural understanding between Riyadh and London.
RIYADH, 7 September 2005 — Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said here yesterday that the Kingdom was seeking UN endorsement of its proposal for an international center to combat terrorism. “Saudi Arabia has presented a proposal to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and governments who participated in the international anti-terrorism conference held in Riyadh last February calling for the General Assembly to issue a resolution endorsing the Riyadh Declaration,” Prince Saud said.
RIYADH, 22 August 2005 — An SR75 million project to induce artificial rains by injecting and seeding moisture-heavy clouds will be launched before the end of this year. The successful test run carried out in the Asir province last summer encouraged the authorities to design a national artificial rain project to cover all regions of the Kingdom, Naif Selhu, director of environmental awareness at the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME), said here yesterday.
RIYADH, 11 August 2005 — The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MOMRA) has increased efforts to constitute all 178 municipal councils and make them functional across the Kingdom as early as possible. The MOMRA has also created a separate department within the ministry which will work to provide a broad framework within which the municipal councils will function, said Dr. Ibrahim ibn Hamad Al-Quayid, an elected member of the Riyadh Municipal Council.
RIYADH, 4 August 2005 — A cross-section of Saudis from different walks of life expect the new leadership to carry forward the reforms program set in motion by King Fahd in the economic, political and administrative fields. “As crown prince, King Abdullah was instrumental in moving the Saudi nation toward social and political reforms, while giving a stable government in the Kingdom,” said Dr. Selwa Al-Hazzaa, chairwoman of the “Friends of Saudi Arabia” — a forum set up at the initiative of then Crown Prince Abdullah.