The reason is that it is the sensibility of the one who is offended that triggers action and that truth is no defense. All that is necessary is that one’s feeling are hurt. Judges will not have a hard time determining that someone’s feeling were hurt: the victim is standing in front of them. There’s no way to disprove hurt feelings.

To be safe, Saudi bloggers or users of Facebook and Twitter had simply best be quiet. That, in fact, may be the goal of this law, to simply shut down social commentary. If the law were to be applied uniformly, across society, Saudi Arabia would become a very silent place.

Shariah press courts awaits Cabinet reading
Omar Elmershedi | Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Special draft legislation to deal with media activities has been approved by the Lajnah Al-Khubra (Experts Committee), a source at the committee told Saudi Gazette recently.

The legislation, which refers all disputes and claims to a specialized branch of courts under the existing Shariah court system, awaits its first reading by the Council of Ministers, the source said.

The legislation was drafted in response to a Shoura (Consultative) recommendation made a year and a half ago.

The Shoura Council had first suggested establishment of specialized Shariah courts to deal with compensation for the maligned or injured parties in areas such as public rights in traffic violations, sports contracts, violation of building codes, and the import of substandard material and products.
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The criminal potential of prepaid cell phones is now the focus of the government of Saudi Arabia. Arab News reports that the government will be proceeding with regulations that require positive identification when one purchases a prepaid mobile phone. Prepaid cell phones – known to law enforcement as ‘burners‘ or ‘throw aways’ – are handy. To buy one involves minimal cash outlay and no long-term service contract, both of great utility to people of modest means. In most instances, purchase also does not require any identifying information: all you need is the cash.

Unfortunately, because they can be bought anonymously, these phones can also be readily used for nefarious purposes. Viewers of the HBO TV series ‘The Wire’ should be well-acquainted with the concept. Anonymous phones are used in criminal and terrorist activity, such as being used to detonate bombs.

Is it an invasion of privacy to require people buying phones to provide identification? Off hand, I don’t think so. There are many other ways to be involved in politics anonymously.

CITC firm on use of ID number to recharge prepaid SIM cards
ARAB NEWS

RIYADH: Abdullah Al-Darrab, governor of Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), said the commission would go ahead with its earlier decision to enter the user’s ID number, together with a prepaid card number, to use a prepaid cell phone SIM card.

The telecom regulator aims to end the practice of misusing SIM cards by anonymous persons, including criminals, Al-Watan newspaper reported on Sunday.

Al-Darrab said, “We are still resolved to implement the decision. Telecommunications companies operating in the Kingdom had asked for a time period to make the necessary changes in their system to support the regulation.”
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Punishment for thieves of Haram steel upheld
ARAB NEWS

MAKKAH: The Court of Appeal in Makkah rejected a plea by two men convicted of stealing steel. The metal was being used for the expansion of the Masaa — the stretch between the mounts of Safa and Marwa in the Grand Mosque.

Informed sources told Arab News that the court saw no reason for a retrial, since the crime was sacrilegious against the House of God — Islam’s most sacred shrine.

“Anyone who dares commit such a heinous crime should be severely punished to deter other people from ever daring to do such a thing,” the court said.

It considered the rulings issued by a general court to be final and never to be appealed. The court sentenced three members of the gang to 10 months imprisonment and 200 lashes each.
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Electricity is cheap in the KSA; it is heavily subsidized. According to reports in 2010, the cost of generating electricity was SR 0.372/kWh, but the price, on average, is only SR 0.135/kWh (US$0.04/kWh, compared to US rates ranging from $0.12-$0.50/kWh). Things that are ‘free’, or close to it, aren’t valued by consumers. Wasting it doesn’t seem like much of a big deal, so it is wasted.

Requiring that air conditioning machinery, for example, be high-efficiency equipment could certainly help – air conditioning is the largest user of domestic electricity. Requiring the use of double-glazing of windows or the use of thermal glass, at least in new construction, would also reduce demand. Traditional construction methods, with thick walls to provide insulation, were developed to reduce the transmission of heat. They were more efficient than newer construction methods, but had notable flaws like the expense of building and maintaining them. Using better materials for traditional methodology might be worth examining, too.

Power demand to grow by 8%
ARAB NEWS

RIYADH: A major challenge faced by the Kingdom’s electricity sector is that the demand for power in the country is growing at the rate of 8 percent annually, the highest in the world, according to the President of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) Muhammad Al-Suwayyil.

He added that the challenge would be tackled with the help of the newly established Saudi Energy Efficiency Center. “The center will help the government’s efforts to rationalize power consumption by increasing efficiency of consumption and consolidating efforts of related departments,” Al-Suwayyil said while opening an international workshop on Kingdom’s energy efficiency and energy policies at the KASCT on Monday.
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Simply building urban transport isn’t enough, of course. Whatever is developed must address the needs of potential passengers. The routes need to go where people will actually use them. And use will depend on both the convenience and cost to the rider. Will the new system address the need for women to, say, take a child to school or a doctor’s appointment? Or will the haphazard nature of private schedules go unaddressed? Will the system be designed to bring workers – Saudi or foreign – to and from work, to and from shopping? These are all questions that need to be answered before any ground is broken.

New public transport for Jeddah and Riyadh
Saudi Gazette

RIYADH – A light rail train in Jeddah and a bus service and metro train in Riyadh have been approved by the Ministry of Transport, said Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Awhali, Undersecretary for Transportation Affairs at the Ministry of Transport.

Al-Awhali was quoted in Al-Watan newspaper on Saturday as saying that this approval forms part of the ministry’s overall transport plan for the entire country.
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The borders are problematic for several reasons. The first is the infiltration of terrorists and weaponry, particularly now that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has moved out of the Kingdom and into Yemen. Then there is general smuggling, of contraband like alcohol and drugs into the country and petroleum products, foodstuffs, and animal fodder out. Undocumented laborers from Yemen as well as East Africa have used the southern border as points of entry that are now being closed.

The shorter, northern border is less problematic in terms of terrorists entering, but its porosity has been an issue when it came to young would-be jihadis traveling to Iraq either directly across the border or by traveling through Jordan and Syria en route. The northern border is of concern, though, for the smuggling of contraband and weapons into the Kingdom.

812-km northern border fence to be completed ‘within days’
Saudi Gazette

RIYADH – Construction will be completed in the next few days on the 812-kilometer security fence along the Kingdom’s northern border with Iraq and Jordan, said Lt. General Zamim Bin Juwaiber Al-Sawat, Director General of the Frontier Guard.

Al-Sawat was quoted in Al-Watan newspaper on Saturday as saying that the fence will help the authorities tackle drug smuggling and infiltration attempts by Al-Qaeda operatives.He said the northern fence will provide protection for Arar, where the Frontier Guards’ command center is located, in addition to 18 administrative centers in the region inhabited by 371,000 people.

The Frontier Guard will soon start working on a border fence for the Kingdom’s southern border with Yemen and Oman.
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In the US, federal employees above certain ranks are required to file financial disclosure statements. These statements are considered ‘confidential’, that is, they are not made available to the general public. They can be reviewed in-house by ethics officers and can be the object of legal subpoenas by courts or Congress if necessary. The Saudi approach seems similar, but until the details are published, that is not certain.

Top govt officials to disclose assets
ARAB NEWS

RIYADH: The means and ways to be followed by senior government officials in disclosing their holdings and properties have been submitted to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for final approval, chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Authority Muhammad Al-Sharif announced.

Local Arabic daily Al-Madinah Friday quoted Al-Sharif as saying that all government employees who are in positions to make decisions and are holding jobs that might affect public funding will be asked to declare their holdings and properties.

“Directors of financial departments in government ministries, accountants, cashiers and all other employees involved in dealing with public funds will have to disclose their holdings,” he explained.

Al-Sharif expected such a move to curb corruption and said any senior government official who might have an “unjustified rise” in his bank deposits or properties would be questioned.
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Not terribly surprisingly, black marketers have descended. Cement is available, at a price, but without any paperwork. That leads to a situation fraught with the potential of problems. Not all cement is created equal or is to be used in the same way in all uses. Cutting corners or using the wrong materials leads to catastrophic failure, as we’ve seen in countries ranging from the US and Canada to Nigeria, S. Korea, and Egypt. Venality and short-term profits, though, have a way of taking precedence over safety.

Cement crisis worsens
ARAB NEWS

JEDDAH: A cement crisis resulting from illegal trading and a steep hike in prices is spreading from Jeddah and Madinah to other major cities and regions in the Kingdom.

In Jeddah a bag of cement now costs over SR25 and most dealings take place through middlemen whereas in Madinah the prices of cement per bag have shot up by SR20.

Subsequently, prices of ready-mix concrete shot up 30 percent in Jeddah and other parts of the western region. Ready-mix concrete manufacturers attributed the steep hike in prices to a five-week long crisis in cement supply. According to a report in Al-Eqtisadiah business daily, a number of ready-mix concrete factories in the Eastern Province hiked the prices of liquid cement Wednesday.
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Cabinet changes signal employment reform
Andrew Torchia

RIYADH — In a cavernous exhibition hall on the outskirts of Riyadh, dozens of young Saudi women, clad in full-length black abayas and veils, stroll between corporate booths in search of jobs.

Each has completed a 3-1/2 hour aptitude test that gives her scores for 10 behavioral characteristics and two types of cognitive ability. The results are shown to as many as 81 potential employers which schedule job interviews using a centralized, online system.

It is Women’s Day at the first of a series of job fairs launched by the Saudi government this year to find employment for its citizens. In coming months the scheme aims to arrange interviews for 15,000 men and women out of 100,000 applicants, holding similar fairs in the cities of Jeddah and Dammam.

“In the past, finding a job was an uncertain process,” said Mohammed Mosly, a former investment banker who manages the scheme. “We’re using technology to make it predictable.”
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Instant communications have been a blessing in many ways, but they’ve also been a bane. They’ve made it harder to discern fact from non-fact, wishful thinking, or outright lies. Often, the best one has to go on are feelings, not the most reliable of senses. Because feelings don’t have to go through any process of reason, they are particularly susceptible to becoming pure emotion, where hatred and disdain are all too easily communicated.

Gulf News reports on agreement between the Pope and Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti about the caution necessary to avoid the dangers of social networking…

Saudi Mufti, Pope urge caution with social media
Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti and Pope Benedict XVI have urged people to “exercise proper discernment in the face of the surfeit of stimuli and data” that they receive on the internet
Habib Toumi

Manama: Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti and Pope Benedict XVI have urged people to “exercise proper discernment in the face of the surfeit of stimuli and data” that they receive on the internet.

In Riyadh, Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh said people cannot take the social-networking website Twitter as the source of their knowledge if they do not really know who is behind the posted comments.

“Twitter is used to issue fatwas [religious edicts] without evidence or substantiation,” the mufti said. “It is used as a platform to spread lies by some people who seek fame by insulting and denigrating other people,” he said in his Friday sermon in Riyadh.

“People should be well aware of such dangers. The site should not be used to exchange accusations or to misquote people. Muslims should be careful not to be drawn into wrong acts and must instead engage in constructive criticism,” he said.
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