March 24, 2006

IN BRIEF ***** Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, will allow non-Saudi residents to invest directly in the stock market and not only through funds, a statement posted on the Saudi Capital Market Authority website said, adding that the measure would begin Saturday. Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf met with representatives of the Saudi private sector, as per a directive of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz. The minister briefed the representatives on the meeting of the Supreme Economic Council (SEC), which focused on the sudden sharp decline of the Saudi stock market. The Council stated that the recent decline is not based on economic indicators, which reflect balanced growth. Al-Assaf said that the SEC discussed various factors affecting the Saudi stock market and ways to help investors benefit from opportunities, especially in companies with sound financial statements. These factors include allowing non-Saudi expatriates to invest directly in the stock market instead of being restricted to mutual funds, as well as cutting the nominal value of shares, which paves the way for share splits. King Abdullah directed that all these ideas be studied and the necessary measures taken, Al-Assaf said. King Abdullah also stressed that investing in the Saudi economy and Saudi companies in an investment in the country's future, and urged the business sector to do so, Al-Assaf added. ********** The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz will patronize the first international meeting of the Muslim scholars in Makkah next month. The secretariat general of Makkah-based Muslim World League (MWL) has made the required arrangements for convening the first international meeting of the Muslim scholars in Makkah next month. MWL's secretary general Dr Abdullah al-Turki said the participants of the 3-day meeting will review a number of topics including religious and cultural unity of the Muslims, political relations among the Muslim countries, and means for the development of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Dr al-Turki hoped that the meeting would yield positive results and lead to a joint Islamic vision. ********** The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz has sent a cable of congratulations to president of Tunisia Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali on the occasion of his country's independence day. In his own name and on behalf of the people and government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah wished the president continuous good health and happiness and his people steady progress and prosperity. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz has sent a cable of congratulations to Bosnia and Herzegovina's Presidency Chairman Sulejman Tihic on the occasion of his assumption of the presidency. In his own name and on behalf of the people and government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah wished the chairman continuous good health and happiness and his people steady progress and prosperity. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz has sent a cable of congratulations to Gabon's President Haj Omar Bongo Odimba on the occasion of his re-election to the presidency. In his own name and on behalf of the people and government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah wished the president continuous good health and happiness and his people steady progress and prosperity. ********** Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General has sent a cable of congratulations to president of Tunisia Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali on the occasion of his country's independence day. The Crown Prince wished the president continuous good health and happiness and his people steady progress and prosperity. Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General has sent a cable of congratulations to Bosnia and Herzegovina's Presidency Chairman Sulejman Tihic on the occasion of his assumption of the presidency. The Crown Prince wished the chairman continuous good health and happiness and his people steady progress and prosperity. Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General has sent a cable of congratulations to Gabon's President Haj Omar Bongo Odimba on the occasion of his reelection to the presidency. The Crown Prince wished the president continuous good health and happiness and his people steady progress and prosperity. ********** A Royal Court statement said that starting from 5/4/2006 , the Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, will pay an official visits to Japan. The visit aim is to boost bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and Japan During the two days visit the Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz will meet with the Emperor of Japan and his Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. ********** Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister, Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, received a telephone call from King Hamad bin Eisa al-Khalifa of Bahrain. The Bahraini King congratulated Prince Sultan on the occasion of his return to home safely. King Hamad also reviewed with Prince Sultan the regional and international developments. ********** Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister, Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, received a telephone call from Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti Emir. Al-Sabah congratulated Prince Sultan on the occasion of his return to home safely. He also reviewed with Prince Sultan the developments of the situation at the Arab and international arenas. ********** Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, has sent a cable of thanks to King Mohammed VI of Morocco for the warm welcome and generous hospitality accorded to him during his several day private visit to Morocco. In his cable, Crown Prince Sultan wished the Moroccan king continuous health and Happiness and the people of Morocco steady progress and prosperity. ********** In line with the royal directive that the Saudi Charity Campaign finance the building of two centers for sheltering orphans in the region of Panda Aceh in Indonesia with a total cost of SAR22,5 million, Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Interior Minister and General Supervisor of Saudi Charity Campaign for the Relief of the Victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami in Eastern Asia, directed that a cooperation agreement be signed between the campaign and the Islamic Development Bank under which the campaign will finance the building of the two centers. President of the bank Dr. Ahmad Mohammad Ali and head of the campaign Dr. Saed Ala'rabi Alharthi signed the agreement. Dr. Alharthi said the work in the project will begin immediately and will take 18 months. The campaign will finance the operation of the project for three years and will be handed over to local authorities in Indonesia to continue caring for the orphans. ********** Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, Minister of the Interior and Chairman of the Saudi Committee for the Relief of Palestinian people has received a letter from the Palestinian Minister of Health Dr Ghassan Al Khateeb who expressed deep thanks for the help the Committee provides to the Palestinian people. He said the donations help provide hospitals and clinics with their requirements. ********** Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said Syria has cooperated with the international investigating into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. Moussa in an interview the Arabiya satellite channel said the Arab League could play a role in developing the Syrian-Lebanese ties. Over the situation in Lebanon, he said the Lebanese dialogue constitutes an excellent step and he had wished it would lead the Lebanese into an agreement on dispute issues. Regarding Iraq, Moussa said any approach to the situation there might be emerged from all Iraqi parties interest without allowing reaching the point of Iraq's division. On the Palestinian cause, Moussa noted peace cannot be accomplished without solving main files of Jerusalem, the refugees, the land, borders and state. On the other hand The Egyptian foreign ministry notified the Arab League on Egypt's nomination to the post of the Arab League secretary general for a second term after consultations and consent of the Arab states for this nomination. Ahmad Bin Hali, the Arab League assistant secretary general for political affairs said that no Arab state had applied to assume this post, stressing that the door is open to all member states until the convening of the Arab Summit in Khartoum on March 28th. Worthy mentioning that Algeria had proposed to have the post of the AL secretary general a rotating one among the member states instead of having the occupier of this post always be from Egypt, but it withdrew this request. Amr Moussa who was born in 1936 worked as Egypt's foreign minister from 1991 to 2001 and was elected as a secretary general for the Arab League in May 2000 and still continues to occupy this post. ********** Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, separately received South Korean 's Ambassador to the Kingdom Kang Gwang-Won who bade the Prince farewell at the end of the ambassador's term of office in the Kingdom. Prince Saud also received United National secretary general's personal envoy charged with the implementation of UN Security Council resolution number 1559 ambassador Terry Rod Larsen and the accompanying delegation. During the meeting, they discussed UN efforts on issues of concern to the Middle East and topics of mutual interest. The meetings were attended by a number of officials of the Foreign Ministry. ********** Prince Khalid Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation for Military Affairs, patronized a graduation ceremony of cadets of the Technical Studies Institute of the Air Forces in Dhahran. Following the graduation ceremony, Prince Khalid bin Sultan praised the great capabilities enjoyed by the institute and described its graduates as the backbone of the air forces. The ceremony was attended by a number of officials. ********** Yemen Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al Qirbi unveiled that the preliminary investigations into al-Qaeda elements who surrendered after their escape from prisons has proved that some security elements were involved. He added that Yemen does not have the intention to deliver any prisoners either to the US or any other country. ********** Several terror suspects were arrested in security raids. Major General Mansoor Al-Turki, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, told Okaz Arabic daily that those arrested in the raids were not on the wanted list. Security raids are conducted for the safety of the public and country, he said. Security authorities surrounded a residential building located on the Makkah Commercial Road in Thaqba in Al-Khobar and arrested a man and two women. Residents of the building and those adjoining were warned not to come out while traffic was stopped on the road at around nine in the morning. One of the residents Hani Hammad said patrol cars sealed all roads leading to the building and asked the neighbors not to leave home. No exchange of fire was heard during the raid, he said. In another raid, security authorities cordoned off plot number 8 in Dammam and sealed all exit points for four hours. Two suspects were arrested. Eyewitnesses said students were unable to return home until the security operation was over. Mohammad Al-Hajri, a resident of the area, said the suspects used to play football with their colleagues but for the last six months they had cut themselves off with the neighbours. ********** Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that an urgent meeting was held in Tel Aviv to discuss a mechanism to solve the crisis of getting food supplies into Gaza Strip. Abbas told a news conference held at Rafah crossing on the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt that the meeting would be attended by Palestinian, American, European, Israeli and Egyptian representatives. "In the meeting, a permanent solution to all outstanding questions related to the protocols of operating crossings and terminals, also export and import will be discussed," said Abbas. He, meanwhile, noted that the EU monitors at the crossing "are our guests" who "came here to help us and we would never allow anyone to obstruct their mission." For the Palestinian people's interests, "we have to protect this crossing and our guests," he added. ********** Dr Youssef Ibn Ahmad Al Otheimin Secretary General of King Abdullah Foundation for his parents has toured the housing project in Al Ahsa governorate which is being implemented in Al Tarf and Al Garn villages, where 380 housing units will be built in Al Tarf while 300 units will be built in Al Garn. ********** Member of Palestinian Legislative Council, Head of the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, Saeb Ereikat, called on the international community to stop Israeli aggressions against the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Ereikat revealed, over a phone call with WAFA, that the Israeli violations to the international resolutions and military campaigns in different cities and areas of West Bank, including Jericho City and Jordan Valley, are aimed at annexing more lands to trace new border-lines in a serious violation. He considered the Israeli measures as an open war against the Palestinian people, saying that such acts will lead to a humanitarian crisis in the OPT. Earlier, Israeli soldiers, backed up by helicopters, tanks and armoured vehicles stormed, amid intensive fire, Aqbat Jabber refugee camp, in Jericho city, and instantly killed Nayef al-Muqeiti 20. The Head of Negotiation Department at PLO, Dr. Saeb Ereikat, said that the Israeli Government is not authorized to re-try any Palestinian who put to trial by Palestinian National Authority (PNA). In a press conference held at Presidency HQ in Ramallah, Ereikat asserted that according to Oslo Accord 1995 between the Israeli Government and PLO, the Israelis have no power to put any Palestinian citizen to trial as long as he was tried by the PNA. Ereikat statement has come as the Israelis declared that they will try the Palestinians who were captured during the Israeli attack on Jericho prison on March 14. He revealed that he sent two letters to Consul Generals of US and UK assert that according to annex IV of Oslo 2 "no person can be tried twice for the same offense. Ereikat affirmed that as long as the international community and Israel calls on the coming Palestinian government to respect the signed agreements, PLO called on US and UK to pressurize Israel to abide by the signed agreements and not to try the illegally captured Palestinians from Jericho prison. He wondered on some countries who claim helping President Mahmoud Abbas, questioning if the Israeli attack on Jericho prison was a help for President? ********** U.S. President George W. Bush dampened hopes for a speedy withdrawal of his troops from Iraq and said the decision to end the United States' military presence completely will be for "future presidents" to make. Despite growing domestic pressure to end the war before he leaves office in early 2009, Bush said a precipitous pullout from Iraq would destabilize the country and turn its nascent democracy into a haven for terrorists. "Failure in Iraq, which isn't going to happen, would send all kinds of terrible signals to an enemy that wants to hurt us and people who are desperate to change the conditions in the broader Middle East," he said at a White House news conference. ********** The third anniversary of the U.S.-British invasion of Iraq saw hundreds of Britons take to the streets in London demanding an end to the occupation. Protesters, waving anti-war placards and raising slogans against the continued presence of foreign troops in Iraq, marched through central London in a show of solidarity with war victims and ordinary Iraqis. Parliament Square, normally out of bounds for protests, wore a festive look as peace activists and people from different walks of life many of whom had come from outside London gathered there in freezing cold. Amid a sea of placards saying "Freedom for Iraq'' and "Bring back the troops'' the protesters walked past Whitehall and held a rally at Trafalgar Square addressed by prominent peace campaigners, trade union leaders and political figures including Labour Party MPs. The protest, organised by the Campaign against Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the Muslim Association of Britain and Stop the War Coalition, coincided with similar demonstrations in other countries. ********** The Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot unveiled that there are no confirmation that the US has not transferred prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay to other prisons in Europe for torture. He said the Netherlands did not take part in such practices, but it is difficult to be sure whether the US has implemented secret practices in Guantanamo Bay. He added that he believed Condoleezza Rice at their NATO meeting but if her confirmation were contrary to the truth then other European allies should reconsider the US credibility. ********** The Madinah-based King Fahd Holy Quran Printing Complex has so far produced more than 200 million copies of the Holy Quran. The project of the complex is implemented on an area of 250,000 square meters. It includes a mosque, administration offices, the printing press, stores, housing units, a clinic, restaurants and other utilities. The productive annual capacity of the complex amounts to about ten million copies. If there is a need, its annual capacity can be increased to 30 million copies. The publications of the complex are issued in 23 Asian languages, 11 European languages and 11 African languages. These languages include Albanian, Indonesian, Urdu, Bengali, Bosnian, Turkish, Somalian, Chinese, French, English, Spanish, Korean, Persian, Kashmir, Greek, Burmese, ,Thai, Vietnamese, Portuguese and Swedish as well as Russian. As many as 1800 persons, including Ulema (Muslim scholars), technicians and administrators are working at the complex which works under the supervision of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance. Out of these employees, 70 percent of them are Saudis. The center of Sunnah and the Prophet's Biography at the complex is concerned with the collection and preservation of manuscripted and printed books as well as the documents and data pertaining to the Sunnah and the Prophet's biography. The center of Research and Islamic Studies is concerned with scientific researches and studies pertaining to the Islamic sciences. The center of translation is concerned with scientific translations, particularly the translations of the meanings of the Holy Quran to various languages In line with the directives of Late King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz, the complex has been providing the pilgrims with copies of the Holy Quran when they leave the Kingdom for their countries. ********** Dr Gamal Al Khodri Chairman of he board of directors of the Islamic University stressed that Saudi aid has provided great help to the PA in light of the Israeli embargo. Al Khodri pointed out to the importance of the Saudi aid that helps in the implementation of several projects in the occupied territories especially in the field of education. He said the Israeli embargo hits directly the field of education. ********** Sultan Qaboos bin Said has received a written message from President Fidel Castro of Cuba dealing with existing bilateral relations. The message was handed over to Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs, when he received the special envoy of the Cuban President. The meeting was attended by Talib bin Miran al Raisi, Head of International Organisations and Conferences, Salim bin Rajab Ba Omar, Deputy Head of the Minister"s Office Department, and Foreign Ministry officials. ********** Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, minister responsible for foreign affairs in the Sultanate of Oman, has received a written message from his Kenyan counterpart dealing with bilateral relations and ways of developing them. The message was handed over by the envoy of the Kenyan foreign minister when he was received by the minister at his office. The meeting was attended by Mohammed bin Ali Al Khusaibi, head of African Department and other ministry officials. ********** Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Qatabi, president of the Majlis Al Shura, received Ibrahim Abdul Raheem Al Haydoos, chairman of the Qatari Central Municipal Council and his accompanying delegations, currently visiting the Sultanate. During the meeting, aspects of cooperation, and methods of enhancing the relationship between the officials at the two brotherly countries were discussed. The meeting was attended by Eng. Abdullah bin Abbas bin Ahmed, Muscat Municipality president, chairman of the Municipal Council, and Abdul Qadir bin Salim Al Dhahab, secretary-general of the Majlis Al Shura. ********** Egypian President Hosni Mubarak said that the IDF operation in Jericho and the arrest of Ahmed Saadat are an overt violation of an agreement between Israel and the PA. In an interview to the Egyptian paper "Akhbar Alyoum," Mubarak also encouraged both sides to stop violence and give the peace process a chance. He told reporters that he had warned acting PM Ehud Olmert against harming Saadat and other detainees and demanded their release into Palestinian custody. The Egyptian president called on Israel not to increase pressure on the Palestinians following the founding of a Hamas government, since such pressure will intensify violence. Instead, Mubarak said, Hamas must be given the time and opportunity to prove its peaceful intentions. **********