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Posts Tagged ‘Jeddah’

Saudi rulers looking for ‘another Musharraf’ in place of ‘rotten head’ Zardari as Pak ruler

December 2nd, 2010 | No Comments

pervez musharraf4879The leaked US cables posted on whistle-blower website Wikileaks highlight how, in recent years, Saudi rulers have played favourites with Pakistani politicians, wielded their massive financial clout to political effect and even advocated a return to military rule in Pakistan. “We in Saudi Arabia are not observers in Pakistan, we are participants,” The Guardian quoted [...]

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Ranchi, Mangalore added as embarkation points for Haj

October 20th, 2009 | No Comments

Pilgrims undertaking Haj this year will have two more embarkation points, up from 17 last time, and will have to pay Rs 16,000 instead of Rs 12,000 lastyear.
These decisions in relation to the month-long Haj pilgrimage beginning from Tuesday were taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at New Delhi [...]

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Haj to cost more this year Pilgrims going for the month- long Haj this year will have to shell out Rs.4,000 more for air fare from the existing Rs.12,000. Altogether 1,60,491,people will undertake the Haj this year. Of this, 1.15 lakh pilgrims will go under the aegis of the Haj Committee and get the benefit of government subsidy while the remaining will be through private tour operators. Under the government scheme, each pilgrim will have to pay Rs 16,000 for air fare and rest of the ticket cost will be borneHaj to cost more this year ina.

October 20th, 2009 | No Comments

Pilgrims going for the month- long Haj this year will have to shell out Rs.4,000 more for air fare from the existing Rs.12,000.
Altogether 1,60,491,people will undertake the Haj this year. Of this, 1.15 lakh pilgrims will go under the aegis of the Haj Committee and get the benefit of government subsidy while the remaining [...]

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Wife and son bare secrets of terror kingpin Osama bin Laden

October 13th, 2009 | No Comments

After years of hiding and social oztracisation, the wife and son of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden have come out with a no-holes barred book that reveals quite candidly the harsh life the family led under the gaze and zealous Islamic authority of the terror kingpin.
According to the New York Post, Osama bin Laden’’s [...]

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First Saudi women work as maids

August 3rd, 2009 | No Comments

Laundry basket (generic)

The first group of Saudi housemaids has begun work under a government scheme, say reports from Saudi Arabia.

Until now, the job – which is regarded by many Saudis as demeaning – had been mostly restricted to Asian women.

The Saudi Ministry of Labour permitted Saudi women to work as maids two years ago, but there has been strong resistance to the move.

Thirty Saudi women aged between 20 and 45 have started work in Jeddah, according to the al-Madina newspaper.

Housemaids can face harsh conditions, including long hours, broken contracts and sexual abuse.

Intensive training

The women are contracted to work eight hours a day for a monthly wage of 1,500 Saudi riyal (£238; $400).

None of them is reported to have a primary school certificate.

Hana Uthman, an employment agency manager, told al-Madina that they had been selected after a series of interviews and intensive training.

He said another 100 women had applied for housemaid posts and were awaiting interview.

Mr Uthman added that the women were supposed to carry out their duties when the male heads of household were out.

Their employers are reported to have signed forms pledging to treat the housemaids in accordance with the law.

The labour ministry’s decision two years ago to allow Saudi women to work as maids provoked controversy.

There is a strong social stigma attached to the work, but supporters, such as impoverished widows, argue they need opportunities for honest work.</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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Saudi TV sex boast man arrested

August 1st, 2009 | No Comments

map

A Saudi Arabian man who went on an Arabic television talk show to boast about his sex life has been arrested.

The man, named as Mazen Abdul Jawad, prompted more than 200 complaints from Saudi viewers.

He was arrested for "publicising vice", police said, after he spoke about his experiences and displayed sex toys and a sex guide at his home in Jeddah.

Mr Abdul Jawad had publicly apologised, saying producers at the TV station had tricked him into some of his accounts.

During the show on Lebanon’s LBC, the father-of-four told how he first had sex with a neighbour when he was 14.

He also described how he used the Bluetooth function on his mobile phone to pick up women in the kingdom.

A police spokesman in Jeddah said Mr Abdul Jawad’s appearance had violated Saudi Arabia’s Islamic sharia law code and was against Saudi customs.

He was detained at his apartment at the Red Sea port city before being fingerprinted and turned over to criminal investigators, according to media reports.</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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Sabria Jawhar: Saudi Women’s Empowerment Can Be Found at the Bank, so Enough with that Oppression Business

July 29th, 2009 | No Comments

Saudi businesswomen carry tremendous influence in the Kingdom despite the disadvantages they face.

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Mazan Abdul Jawad, Saudi Man, Arrested After Boasting About His Sex Life On TV (VIDEO)

July 25th, 2009 | No Comments

Sometimes it truly is better not to kiss and tell. At least, it seems, when you live in Saudi Arabia, where a man by the name of Mazen Abdul Jawad has been arrested for boasting about his sex life on television. As CNN reports:

Jawad appeared…

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Bin Laden son ‘killed in US drone attack’

July 23rd, 2009 | No Comments

Saad bin Laden was not targeted, but likely to have been in wrong place at wrong time, US intelligence report claims

One of Osama bin Laden’s sons was probably killed in a US drone strike on a target in Pakistan’s tribal areas earlier this year, according to a US report.

Saad bin Laden, who was in his late 20s, is believed to have been hit by a Hellfire missile fired by a CIA-operated Predator unmanned aircraft.

US intelligence officials cannot confirm Saad’s identity without a DNA test but are “80 to 85%” certain he is dead, according to a US counter-terrorism official quoted by National Public Radio.

In Islamabad, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, said it was trying to confirm the report. “We’re aware of it, and we’re seeking independent confirmation,” he said.

Bin Laden, who is believed to be sheltering along the mountainous tribal belt along the Afghan border, is believed to have at least 12 sons. While some returned to Saudi Arabia, at least six – including Saad – stayed at his side to fight.

Saad is thought to have been mostly in exile in Iran since 2001, highlighting the murky relationship between the Shia state and al-Qaida, which is dominated by Sunni extremists.

In 2003 he was accused of orchestrating a series of largely ineffectual bombings in Saudi Arabia against government offices, oil installations and the US consulate in Jeddah.

He and his brother Mohamed were once groomed for future leadership of al-Qaida, according to the The Bin Ladens, a book by the veteran US journalist Steve Coll. Some reports say he moved from Iran to Pakistan in 2008.

The US counter-terrorism official quoted by NPR said Saad was not senior enough in the al-Qaida ranks to be personally targeted, and was probably “in the wrong place at the wrong time”.

“We make a big deal out of him because of his last name,” he said.

The US has carried out almost 50 drone strikes in the tribal belt, mostly in north and south Waziristan, since the beginning of the year. Casualties are notoriously difficult to estimate but one news agency puts the toll at 470.

The dead include several al-Qaida figures as well the families of those sheltering them.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds


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Sabria Jawhar: If Saudi Women Are Not Permitted to do Anything, at Least Let Them Exercise

July 22nd, 2009 | No Comments

For generations the Saudi female has been denied the right to physical exercise, a key aspect of living an active and happy life that benefits not only the woman but her entire family.

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Curtain closer

July 20th, 2009 | No Comments

(File picture 18 December 2008) A Saudi man holds up his entrance ticket to see the Saudi comedy film Manahi at a theatre in Jeddah

By Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East analyst

Directors, writers and cinema buffs had arrived in Jeddah for what had been billed as a week-long festival of films from Saudi Arabia and neighbouring states.

The festival was due to begin on Saturday. But an hour before midnight on Friday the organisers were told by the Jeddah municipality to cancel it.

The only official explanation was that the event had not been sufficiently prepared.

But it is widely believed the ban is the latest victory for religious conservatives, who regard cinema as a form of Western moral pollution.

Jeddah – the Red Sea city which is also the Saudi business hub – has long been more liberal and open than the desert capital, Riyadh.

Its film festival started in 2006, as a conscious attempt by Saudi liberals to push the boundaries of cultural freedom.

Family feud

Behind closed doors, Saudis are avid consumers of movies – and there is no shortage of budding directors, actors and actresses.

Yet cinemas and theatres are banned, and conservatives are wary of efforts to get round the ban – for example, through officially sanctioned cultural festivals.

Prince Waleed bin Talal with his wife Amira al-Taweel

Conservatives are particularly hostile to the wealthy Prince Waleed bin Talal, whose Rotana entertainment group was the main sponsor of the Jeddah film festival.

The 54-year-old prince has been outspoken in his support for easing cultural restrictions and for greater women’s rights.

This has made him the target of conservative criticism.

Last month, in an unusually public display of discord within the ruling family, one of Prince Waleed’s brothers, Prince Khalid bin Talal, denounced his efforts to introduce cinema into Saudi society.

He even went as far as calling for his brother’s assets to be frozen.

Prince Khalid wants all film festivals to be banned.

Those who favour reform initially pinned their hopes on King Abdullah, who ascended the throne in 2005.

The king has been a cautious advocate of change. In February he removed the head of the religious police, in a re-shuffle that brought in the country’s first female junior minister.

But Abdullah has faced opposition from within the religious establishment and from his half-brother Prince Nayef, the powerful minister of the interior.

An anonymous official is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying the Jeddah film festival "was cancelled upon indirect instructions from the interior ministry".</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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Crude guess

July 14th, 2009 | No Comments

Andrew Walker
Economics correspondent, BBC World Service

Oil pump

The oil market is volatile at the best of times. But the last year has been extraordinary even by those standards.

A year ago the price came close to $150 a barrel. At that price even many oil producers thought the commodity overpriced.

And yet, some analysts were forecasting $200 a barrel before long and oil producers were under international political pressure to do something.

Producers, however, had such little spare capacity that there was not very much they could do.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, hosted a conference in Jeddah in June to discuss the problem.

He needn’t have worried, at least not about high prices.

In the event, a recession undermined demand for energy and sent the price diving. Since then it has dipped below $40 and is now back to about $70.

Oil’s impact

Oil prices have been a factor, sometimes the most important one, in several recessions over the last few decades.

But was oil the reason for the recession this time

While the oil price was high it added to business costs and left consumers with less to spend on other items, including perhaps mortgage repayments.

So the price of oil might have contributed to the financial crisis, or at least exacerbated it.

Price rebound

The subsequent partial recovery in the price reflects several developments.

Recent news suggests the economic situation might have stabilised (or at least is deteriorating more slowly), which suggests demand for oil might do so too.

TAKING THE PULSE OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

  • The BBC is Taking the Pulse of the Global Economy, looking at a range of subjects this summer
  • Food prices – which remain a concern particularly in many developing economies
  • Highly volatile energy prices – which have been a major issue in the past year
  • The plight of migrant workers – as the global recession takes hold in many economies
  • Housing markets – which have turned from boom to bust in many countries
  • Rising unemployment levels – as firms cut back because of falling orders

BBC World Food Price Index

Taking the pulse explained

Central banks policies to expand the money supply and heavy government borrowing have begun to raise concerns about future inflation.

Buying oil and other commodities could provide some protection against that for investors.

Opec, the oil cartel, has recently cut production and member countries – unusually – implemented many of those cuts.

Member states are often tempted to produce more than their allocation to get the extra cash.

The relatively high compliance by Opec this time round probably reflects the alarm they felt as the price dropped rapidly.

"It’s amazing what a good dose of fear can do," says analyst Julian Lee, at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.

Reason why

There is also a view that the wild swings in prices are due to speculation in the commodities markets.

Oil pipelines

It is a perennial complaint from Opec.

This may be partly a position intended to deflect attention from Opec at times when prices are rising, whose line is "don’t blame us it’s those speculators."

But it is not just Opec. Some analysts think there is something to it, others says the price swings largely reflect what they call fundamentals.

However it is certainly true to say that there is speculation in the oil market. But does speculation really explain the big price swings Opinion is divided.

Where next

Opec’s Secretary General Abdallah Salem el Badri said recently that $70 was a price that didn’t damage the economy, but did allow Opec members to invest and get a reasonable income from their oil.

But many analysts think that some countries need a higher price – $80 or more – for the government spending they want to implement.

There is also a question of whether a lower price provides sufficient incentive for investment in exploration and exploitation of new oil fields.

Forecasting the oil price is a risky business.

But it is reasonably safe to say that one of the key factors will be when and how strong is the global economic recovery. Opec’s actions will also be important.

Click here for more from BBC World Service on Taking the Pulse of the Global Economy
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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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