SUMMARY
International Front
Yemen said on Monday it needed not only assistance from donor countries to finance development programmes but also jobs for skilled and semi-skilled Yemenis in the Gulf, according to a senior Yemeni official.
Saudi King Abdullah has ordered treatment of the Palestinian Siamese twins, two girls named Rittal and Retag Bint Yasser Abu Assi.
Pakistan welcomes Saudi mediation for the restoration of meaningful composite dialogue with India, says visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Qureshi arrived in Riyadh Saturday on a two-day visit to the Kingdom.
King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has made history with his call for dialogue among religions, TV network CNN said.
Bahrain has contributed $1 million to recovery efforts in Haiti, the United Nations has said.
Bahrain and Thailand have agreed to bolster their cooperation on food security, Islamic finance, education, culture and construction. In a joint communiqué at the end of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's two-day visit to Manama, the two countries said that they had convergent ideas and views on bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the situation in the Middle East and on closer consultations and ties between the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Association of Southeast Asia Nations.
Oman is in talks to buy Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from the UK in a deal potentially worth billions of pounds and which could help ease the budget crisis at the Ministry of Defence. Downing Street said yesterday the Gulf state had indicated its intention to buy the aircraft for the Royal Air Force of Oman.
Social Front
Around 30 prisoners escaped after a bomb explosion at a prison in southern Yemen yesterday, police said, identifying the fugitives as sympathisers of a secessionist movement.
In Saudi Arabia, land and homeowners in unplanned districts across the province of Makkah are seeking a raise on compensation packages which have already paid out SR32 billion for 2,000 properties demolished by the Mayor’s Office.
In Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Al-Rabeah, Minister of Health, said Friday that the ministry handles 60 percent of all health services in the Kingdom, with the private sector responsible for 20 percent and the remaining covered by other sectors.
Two men and two women were killed when their car veered into a roadside farm after being allegedly chased by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Al-Khalil area in Madina early Monday. Firefighters extracted three bodies from the wreckage of the vehicle, said Madina Civil Defense spokesman Col. Mansour Al-Juhani.
The newly set up Facilities Security Force has taken all necessary measures to protect oil and power installations, and water desalination plants throughout the Kingdom in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, the National Guard, and the Ministry of Defense and Aviation, said Maj-Gen Sa’ad Al-Majed, Chief of the Facilities Security Force in Makkah Saturday night.
In Bahrain, drivers of cars with Gulf licence plates will no longer be able to register them in Bahrain, a traffic source has said. "We have noted that some people bring in cars from Gulf countries, but do not change their licence plates into Bahraini ones as required by the law," Shaikh Abdul Rahman Bin Sabah Al Khalifa, the head of traffic directorate, said.
More than 135 children suffered abuses in Bahrain in 2009, the social development minister has said.
The bitter standoff between conservatives and liberals in Bahrain is likely to deepen amid news that a municipal council is pushing for the closing of restaurants and cafés at midnight.
Kuwait's information ministry has pledged a zero-tolerance policy towards satellite channels that broadcast programmes that could "erode national unity or undermine social cohesion.
Kuwait will limit the current transfer of business visit visas to residence permits at the end of this month, a senior labour official has said.
A 23-year-old Kuwaiti woman was on Tuesday sentenced to death for causing a fire that killed 57 women and children attending a wedding party in a tent in Al Jahra, 45 kilometres west of Kuwait City.
Kuwaiti media criticised the participation of three Kuwaiti athletes in an international track meet where Israelis also participated.
In Oman, Smokers lighting up in commercial centres and other closed public areas face stiff fines as smoking curbs come into effect in the sultanate's capital city today.
The first batch of Omani women earned residential plots of land in a draw on Monday at the Minsitry of Housing.
Labor Front
In Saudi Arabia, More and more Nepali workers are taking jobs in the service sector in the Eastern Province. Since Saudi Arabia opened up recruiting workers from Nepal, a trend has developed that could tilt the balance of foreign workers in the Kingdom, possibly even dislodging Filipinos, who are still very much entrenched in the service industry.
Economic Front
Yemeni imports from Pakistan have reached USD 200 million during the past year, said Deputy Ambassador of Pakistan in Yemen.
Saudi stocks rose to the highest since 2008 after Dubai said it would support the restructuring of state-owned Dubai World with $9.5 billion. The Tadawul All Share Index increased 0.66 percent to 6,801.64 Saturday closing, rising for a third day – the highest since October 2008.
Share sales in new Saudi Arabian export refineries will offer investors alternatives to listed downstream companies in developed countries — likely to remain exposed to chronically weak margins and high operation costs. The kingdom plans initial public offers (IPOs) for two plants in coming years, following the listing of PetroRabigh in early 2008. These, along with export refineries in India, are likely to attract investors' money away from refinery stocks in the industrialised countries. They may also make it even more difficult to find buyers of relatively old downstream assets, most of which are up for sale in Europe, analysts said.
The government has decided to pay the difference of the customs fees applied under the Gulf Cooperation Council unified customs tariff on 180 major food items and construction materials to help curb inflation in the Kingdom that reportedly surged to a 27-year high of 8.7% in February.
New guidelines aimed at clearing up religious doubt over the booming Sukuk (Islamic bond) market - the world’s fastest growing financial instruments - are to be debated at the premier international Islamic finance event in Dubai next month.
In UAE, holiday traffic has been gradually picking up pace since the end of last year as the need to de-stress from work is on a high, an Emirates Holidays official said. "People worked really hard last year.
Bahrain's Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG) said it had changed the name of Egyptian Saudi Finance Bank and will invest 3.4 billion Egyptian pounds (Dh2.25 billion) to expand its operations.
Qatar is offering to invest $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) in France's heavily indebted CMA CGM, the world's third-biggest shipping group, a report said yesterday. The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which manages investments for the gas-rich nation, has offered the equivalent of 740 million euros (Dh3.6 billion) in the form of loan guarantees, French business magazine La Lettre de l'Expansion reported.
