SUSRIS Daily News – Excerpts from International Media Reports
Prince Naif Chair Sets Up Female Extremism Research Team [Jun 18]
“The Supervisor of the Prince Naif Chair for Intellectual Security Studies at King Saud University has said that a female team has been set up to research ‘signs of intellectual extremism in women’. Khaled Al-Durais told Al-Watan Arabic daily on Tuesday that the move would represent a ‘practical study of a sample of families who have among them ideological extremists’ and that it came in response to ‘recent events revealing the role of women in Al-Qaeda’. The government announced earlier this month the arrest of Saudi woman Haila Al-Suqayyer in Buraidah on charges of funding and recruiting for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.. ..Abdul Mun’im Al-Mushawwah, the supervisor of the ‘Al-Sakeena’ – ‘Tranquility’ – program to combat terrorism through the internet, meanwhile, has said that 80 percent of terrorist recruitment is conducted through the worldwide web and that the medium represents a ‘particular threat’ to women. ‘Women are the most easily influenced by extremist websites’..” [Complete Report]
Saudi Regulator Shortlists Eight Groups for Airport Contract [Jun 18]
“Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation, the industry regulator, shortlisted eight groups for the contract to develop the first phase of an airport at Medina, Islam’s second holy city. Khalid al-Khaibary, the authority’s spokesman, said in a phone interview today that the winner of the tender will develop, own and operate the airport, the cost of which is estimated at 6 billion riyals ($1.6 billion), for 25 years before transferring it to the government. The authority designed the airport, which will replace an existing one, to handle as many as 8 million passengers a year. The aim is to attract more pilgrims to Medina.. ..The airport authority plans to spend $10 billion to $20 billion on developing and upgrading airports by 2020, with private investors set to contribute as much as $10 billion to the projects..” [Complete Report]
Haj Pilgrims Face Accommodation Crisis [Jun 18]
“Tens of thousands of Indian pilgrims intending to perform the Haj this year are threatened by a looming crisis as they may find no accommodation in the holy cities in Saudi Arabia when they reach there in November. Diplomatic sources said almost all available accommodation at Mecca and Medinah have been taken over for pilgrims from other countries, and the 1,16,000 pilgrims who would go through the Haj Committee of India this year would find it difficult to find convenient buildings. Normally, accommodation arrangements are done 10 months before the Haj commences. But following a Delhi High Court stay order restraining the two top office-bearers of the Haj Committee of India from functioning, all work has come to a standstill..” [Complete Report]
Islamic Development Bank to Start Fund for Affordable Homes [Jun 18]
“The Saudi Arabian-based Islamic Development Bank plans to start a $500 million fund to provide financing for developers of affordable houses in Muslim countries, an executive at the bank said in an interview. Khalid al-Aboodi, chief executive officer of the Islamic Development Bank’s Islamic Corp. for the Development of the Private Sector, said the fund would be started in the third quarter and by the end of the year at the latest. The fund will invest only in the 56 member-countries of the Islamic Development Bank. In early stages the fund will invest in 10 countries, and later it will expand into the rest of the bank’s membership, he added. Al-Aboodi didn’t specify which countries but said they are distributed between the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. ‘We have chosen the 10 countries carefully and we already identified a couple of projects that we will invest in,’..” [Complete Report]
History Rode The Horse to Victory in New Exhibit [Jun 18]
“On the back of this noble beast, wars were lost and won, brides were delivered to royal weddings and the words of the Prophet Mohammed were spread. On its swift feet, the strong pushed past the village and created the nation. The role of the horse in history is the focus of ‘A Gift from the Desert: The Art, History and Culture of the Arabian Horse,’ an exhibit at The Kentucky Horse Park’s International Museum of the Horse in Lexington, which runs through October 15. ‘The horse had more impact than any other animal in the story of culture, politics and religion. It affected the cradle of civilization,’ said Sandra Olsen, co-curator of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and a curator of the exhibit. Many of the 408 works in the exhibit have never been displayed outside of Saudi Arabia, or the 19 countries which contributed to the landmark study of a single animal on human history.. ..The exhibit is sponsored by The Saudi Arabian Equestrian Federation, which is headed by Prince Faissal bin Abdullah bin Mohammad and Prince Nawaf bin Faisal bin Fahad. The Saudis donated more than $2.3 million to bring the exhibit to the United States. According to Prince Nawaf, his grandfather was the last of the knights who united the country on horseback..” [Complete Report]
{ 1 trackback }