800,000 Saudi men and women waiting for Jobs

JEDDAH: More than 800,000 Saudi men and women with various qualifications are waiting to be employed by the government, local Arabic daily Al-Madinah reported Friday, quoting an official source at the Ministry of Civil Service.

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3 counterfeiters arrested in Riyadh with Fake Iqamas

Published: Jun 29, 2010 23:10 Updated: Jun 29, 2010 23:10

RIYADH: Police arrested three men and seized a number of items used to forge government documents at a photocopy shop in the Malaz district of Riyadh.

The three men — two Arabs and an expatriate — were involved in forging iqamas, driving licenses, car registration certificates, health certificates and other government documents.

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Enough about Saudiazati

JEDDAH: The Health Ministry on Tuesday announced its plan to recruit a large number of medical staff, especially highly qualified consultants, to work in hospitals across the Kingdom. Some of these medical personnel would be hired to work for a few months as per requirements, it said.

“The recruitment is planned as part of the ministry’s strategy to improve the health services provided to citizens in different parts of the country and reduce the difficulties faced by patients while visiting central hospitals,” the announcement said.

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Govt fees can now be paid via all ATMs, Internet

Saudis and expatriates can now pay fees for various government services, including those related to Traffic, Civil and Passport departments, via the Internet, mobile phones and all bank ATMs.

The new payment methods follow the introduction of a new system that has been developed by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance.

More of the story...

5,000 SAR if you hit a tree in KSA

Imagine you have a road accident in which you hit a tree on the sidewalk. You would be fined SR5,000 whereas if the opposite happened in that the tree fell on your car, you would not get anything.

According to Hussein Al-Boloushi, PR manager of the Eastern Province Municipality, if a tree fell on one’s car because of strong wind or rain then the driver would not be compensated. Citizens should believe in destiny and since citizens believe in destiny they should not claim compensation. This story is not fictional but totally real

Believe it or not?

“By the power of law, every child born in the Kingdom must have the right to obtain Saudi nationality,”

JEDDAH: A youth symposium organized here recently by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) has called for abolishing the sponsorship (kafeel) system in Saudi Arabia and to allow anyone born in the country to be given Saudi nationality.

“The sponsorship system has a number of loopholes that have not observed either the rights of the government or the foreign workers,” said Hussain Sharif, a human rights activist and a lawyer.

Sharif reiterated that public education is a universal human right, but proof of legal residence and/or citizenship by parents is required for the children to be enrolled. Sharif says loosening the rules to grant citizenship to any child born in the Kingdom would help resolve this issue. “By the power of law, every child born in the Kingdom must have the right to obtain Saudi nationality,” he said.

This is an Arabnews Article!

More Jobs in Saudi than in any GCC members

Expatriates are more likely to secure a new job in Saudi Arabia than in any other country in the GCC, the latest data by GulfTalent.com has found.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/586353-saudi-found-to-be-top-spot-in-gcc-for-expat-jobs

Some IPAD + Saudi Must Links

Apple iPad: Bigger Than Life

What you need to know about the iPhone 3G in Saudi Arabia

Increase in Cases of Dengue in Jeddah

JEDDAH – An official at the Mayor’s Office in Jeddah has said that the increase in cases of dengue fever could be down to “job insecurity leading to poor performance” on the part of staff tasked with eradicating the illness.

Saudi Gazette - Temporary staff ‘cause’ dengue spread

In Riyadh the government has established a Dengue HOTLINE, so you can call about your mosquitoes problem in your area..

Read the link here.

Over 15,000 medical “professional" Banned - Mostly Fake Certificates

Dr. Hussein Al-Firaiji, secretary general of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, said 15,202 people had been banned and that his organization had uncovered 1,093 fake medical certificates since November.

Al-Firaij said most of the forged certificates were from Southeast Asian countries and that the commission started scrutinizing certificates about 11 years ago. “Since then, we’ve been thoroughly checking papers. However, some government organizations and many private health establishments do not make it obligatory on their medical personnel to have their certificates attested by the commission,” he said.

Read more, Arabnews.com

12 Billions Saudi Riyals Spent by Six Millions Smokers in Saudi Arabia

Yes it is official: 6 Millions Smokers in Saudi Arabia and 12 Billions (not millions) worth of Cigarettes are burned every every year..

Six million cigarette smokers in Saudi Arabia spend SR12 billion each year and the number steadily grows, said Dr. Ashraf Abdul Gayoom Amir, consultant, Family Medicine and medical director at the International Medical Center. He warned that the size would likely increase to 10 million without proper education and counseling as to the bad effects of smoking.

http://saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2010020662505

Expat Keep Your Job for Saudis Will Be Paid for Being Unemployed (1000/Monthly)

A new proposal brought by Shoura member Salem Al-Mari two years ago for monthly unemployment benefit of SR1,000 until such a time as work is found is going around the news this past few days. And the proposal is now in limbo.

Saad Mareq, who voted against the move, said the real problem was “not in who pays the unemployed, but instead in how to create jobs”, while Zain Al-Abedeen described unemployment in Saudi Arabia as “unemployment by choice”. “Many unemployed people refuse to take certain types of jobs,” Al-Abedeen said.

What this proposal means is that a Saudi who does not want to work will be paid a 1,000 monthly allowance. I say does not want to work quite literally because with all types of jobs in the expatriates hand, i smile at the logic that there are no jobs for Saudis. There is a glaring difference between unemployment by circumstances and unemployment by choice.

Another opposer to unemployment benefit, Abdulrahman Al-Yami, described the whole proposal as “skipping over the main problem.”

More like adding insult to injury :)

Source: SaudiGAzette

Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain

The story of “this monumental historical crime” is the subject of Matthew Carr’s new book, “Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain” (The New Press, 2009). Matthew Carr is a noted British writer, broadcaster and journalist. He is the author “The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism” (2007) and “My Father’s House” (1998).

Matthew Carr’s excellent book on the Moriscos should be widely read and studied. It is a haunting and original account of one of the most disturbing episodes of religious persecution in Spanish history. “Blood and Faith” will be a work of enduring significance. - SG

Read Full Review at SaudiGazzete, Click Here!

52% of Saudi Female Students Obese According to A Study

The King Abdul Aziz National Guard Hospital in the Eastern Province organized an “obesity awareness day” in which students both males and females were tested.

The regional head of Health Affairs, Ahmed Al-Oraifij, said that the studies showed 20 percent of the Kingdom’s males to be obese compared to 52 percent of females.

"The rate is continually going up", He added.

“The study showed that obesity was predominantly caused by either hereditary conditions or poor lifestyles, which included a lack of exercise and poor eating habits,” Al-Oraifij said. – Okaz/SG

Camel Beauty Contest - 60 Million SR in Prizes

If you are camel, here is a grea t piece of news for you. 60 millions Saudi Riyals worth of prizes are waiting for you at the King Abdul Aziz camel beauty contest in Um Riqaiba near the northern town of Hafr Al-Batin. Aside from cash prizes, various cars will also be given to the winners. A camel race is also slated to take place according to the organizer.

That means, it will a beauty and strenght competetion for you camel out there.

SR60m sales at contest

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“The sponsorship system ... doesn’t work.."

In a Saudi Gazette article today, a executive of Manpower, a global employment services provider, emphasized the importance of Saudi Arabia overhauling its labor market.

“Saudi (Arabia) is developing a lot of individual bilateral treaties to bring the right kinds of skilled workers,” Arkless said. “But the 19th century labor construct in the country is doing the country no favors from a competitiveness point of view.”

“The sponsorship system ... doesn’t work, so we need to reform the labor policy,” Arkless said at Fourth Global Competitiveness Forum in Riyadh.

David Arkless is a speaker in the just concluded Fourth Global Competitiveness Forum in Riyadh.

For More of the Article, Read Here!

Graduates with foreign degrees have better openings in job market

Many companies complain that Saudi employees, especially those educated in the Kingdom, are not properly educated and have little work ethics. However, as far as recruiters and human resources developers are concerned, having a foreign degree is useful on a personal level rather than an educational one.

Graduates with foreign degrees have better openings in job market

$800 Billion Dollars Investment Abroad

Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Sultan, professor of economics at Imam Mohammad bin Sa'ud University in Saudi Arabia, has estimated Saudi investments abroad at $800 billion. He said that this amount would discourage foreign investors from coming to Saudi Arabia on the assumption that if the Saudis cannot find enough opportunities to invest in their own country there is no reason for a foreign investor to try.[Al-Sutan may have ignored the fact that at least part of the Saudi investments abroad is in the form of capital flight by senior officials, including members of the royal family. It is a form of an insurance policy.]Source: Al-Jazirah, Saudi Arabia, January 24, 2010The MEMRI Blog - Full Blog Entry
Source: Al-Jazirah, Saudi Arabia, January 24, 2010

Eating Time in Saudi Workforce!

From SaudiGazette
http://saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.Cartoons&cid=201001261384

Growing up with a mother of non-Saudi origin

In a study that appeared in the 2004 issue of the American Journal of Psychology and Aging, researchers said that bilingualism or multilingualism may counter the effects of aging and that it helps keeps the mind young. “People who are bilingual have an advantage over the rest of us, and not just in terms of communication skills. The bilingual brain develops more densely, giving it an advantage in various abilities and skills”, reported WebMD which provides health information. A slightly more tricky situation for children of non-Saudi mothers is when the mother comes from non-Islamic Western background.

You can peruse more on this article...Here

Rape cases, Domestic abuses and Drug addictions

The title may shock someone who have spent some times in Saudi Arabia and found it peaceful and free of heinous crime that are normal incidents in some countries. But an Arabnews article today says otherwise, just read it for yourself and be sure to have your breakfast first

“The father who lost all the means of parenting, wisdom and good judgment was sleeping with his daughter without the knowledge of her mother,” Dr. Rajab Brisali, head of the Psychological Health Department in Taif said about the case of a father who raped her 5 year old daughter.


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Jameel Prize on Tour at Riyadh Museum

Jameel Prize is the first award of this kind to be made for contemporary work inspired by Islamic traditions of art, craft and design.

Nine artists and designers were short-listed for the 2009 Jameel Prize, and on July 7, 2009 the judges selected New York-based Iranian-born artist Afruz Amighi as the winner.

To mark the award, the V&A presented an exhibition of work by the nine finalists (July 8-Sept. 13, 2009). It is this exhibition that will now tour.

The artworks exhibition is under the patronage of the Ministry of Information and Culture, in cooperation with Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services Programs (ALJCSP).

Very Interesting, Read it here

Some of the winners personal site;

http://www.camillezakharia.com/
http://www.rezaabedini.com/
http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/59035-popup.html

Hoping for a cancellation of your marriage, then get tested

Some marriages are "made in heaven", as other people claimed, but others marriage are gateway to hellfire. If you are in a situation that does not want this gateway open, go to a “Healthy Marriage” program that is conducted in the Eastern Province.

According to their statistics, 65 percent of engaged couple they tested as "incompatible" has canceled their marriage plans. That means you are getting more than 50% chances of not getting tied up for the rest of your life. Make sure you fail the test though, otherwise your in for a bumpy rides. According to the report;

The “Healthy Marriage” program which conducts premarital medical tests for engaged couples has revealed that 65 percent of those classified as “incompatible” in 2008 cancelled their marriage plans.

The program, made obligatory for engaged couples since its introduction following Cabinet approval in 2004, provides tests for hereditary and contagious illnesses and couples are afterwards free to proceed with the union whatever the outcome, except in the case of HIV/AIDS patients who are only permitted to contract marriage with other persons with HIV/AIDS.

Read the article in full...

Saudi Arabia gets approval for Arabic Web address

An announcement on Thursday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, paves the way for an entire domain name to appear in Cyrillic or Arabic by the middle of this year. Applications for strings in other languages are pending.That means Internet users with little or no knowledge of English would no longer have to type Latin characters to access Web pages targeting Russian or Arabic speakers.Although search engines can sometimes help users reach those sites, companies still need to include Latin characters on advertisements.Users may still need Latin characters for e-mail addresses, though, as Internet technicians finalize standards for e-mail applications that can understand domain names entirely in Cyrillic or Arabic.

Saudi Arabia gets approval for Arabic Web address

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