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JEDDAH – The risks of a serious shortfall of global demand have risen, commensurate with policymakers in some countries tightening fiscal policy too aggressively for their own good and that central banks have used up most of their ammo, Barclays Wealth said in its latest quarterly economic outlook report “Signpost” released on Wednesday.

In the report sent to the Saudi Gazette, chief economist at Barclays Wealth Michael Dicks, said “the first big issue facing the global economy is the reluctance of the US consumer to spend, with real household disposable income well below what it normally is at this stage of the economic cycle. The outlook here is worrying: the recovery could easily stall or peter out in 2011.”

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JEDDAH – The Japanese government agreed to enhance its cooperation on technical curriculum through Japan Cooperation Center for the Middle East (JCCME) in the second academic year of SEHAI, providing a series of Japan-made tools and equipment which consist of 64 different items.

The move on SEHAI is a manifestation of further cooperation as JCCME and Nippon Engineering College (NEEC) already prepared curriculum and textbooks and at the same time dispatched three Japanese specialists under the support of Japanese government.

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MAHAYIL ASIR – The body of a 14-year-old boy has been recovered after he drowned Thursday while swimming at a small lake left by floodwater. Rescue services were called by the father of the teenager but were unable to resuscitate him after divers located the body. “The body has been taken to hospital and initial investigations have determined death by drowning,” a Civil Defense spokesman said. – Okaz/SG

JIZAN – Police in Jizan are trying to identify the thieves responsible for stealing a service vehicle belonging to Ahad Al-Masarah Hospital on Wednesday. The car was reportedly stolen while parked in front of the hospitals services unit. A police spokesman merely said: “Police are looking into it.” – Okaz/SG

DHULUM – The body of a young man missing from his home in Al-Muweihiya in the Mahd Al-Dhahab region for two days was found in a well on Wednesday, police said. Officials said that the site was close to the mans family home, and that investigations have begun into the circumstances behind his death. – Okaz/SG

AL-QUNFUDAH – A driver was arrested here Friday for trying to smuggle to Jeddah a group of illegal aliens in his vehicle. Twelve women and a boy were also arrested, an official source in Al-Qunfudah Traffic Department said. The source said security patrols became suspicious of an SUV carrying a large number of women. On stopping the vehicle and questioning the occupants, it turned out that the driver was trying to smuggle them to Jeddah from the south of the Kingdom. – Okaz/SG

JEDDAH – Two housemaids and two drivers have been arrested for plotting to steal gold and jewelry from the womens sponsor in Madina and escaping from the country via Jeddah. Police said that the maids were responsible for carrying out the theft while the drivers devised the escape plan, with all four sharing in the proceeds. Fingerprints from the crime scene and descriptions of the women provided by the family along with joint work between police in the two cities led to locating and arresting the four suspects. “Dozens of sites were identified as possible locations for the thieves, and they were finally discovered in a hideout in north Jeddah,” said Jeddah Police spokesman Nawwaf Al-Bouq. “They were planning to leave the country undetected by claiming they had overstayed Umrah visas.” – Okaz/SG

MAKKAH – Security patrols here arrested four Pakistani nationals for begging in the vicinity of the Grand Mosque. The gangs modus operandi, according to the police, was to gain the sympathy of pilgrims by “narrating tales of being robbed”. The four, including a woman, would pose as a Saudi family which coming for Umrah from Riyadh had been robbed along the way. Maj. Zaki Al-Rehaili, acting spokesman of Makkah Police, said security patrols nabbed the gang in Al-Aziziya District and found two cars, two mobile phones, three bank cards and SR975 in cash in their possession. – Okaz/SG

NAJRAN – A 14-year-old Saudi died and two persons were injured in a car accident on the King Abdul Aziz Road in Najran on Thursday.

A Civil Defense spokesman said that a Mercedes driven by a foreign resident and a jeep driven by a 20-year-old Saudi collided, leading to the death of the teenage boy who was a passenger in the jeep.

The drivers of the two vehicles were taken to hospital. – Okaz/SG

RIYADH – The Commission for Investigation and Prosecution has informed the Ministry of Commerce and Industry that prosecutors general will not argue cases concerning bounced checks because “their posts are semi-judicial and they do not plead in cases except before the Administrative or General courts, whereas the Committee for Settlement of Disputes on Commercial Papers is not a judicial body”.

Informed sources said a new system established to investigate cases of bounced checks was recently assigned by the Council of Ministers to the CIP, which will file cases before the Committee for Settlement of Disputes on Commercial Papers, which is part of the Ministry of Commerce.

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