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DUBAI – Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) rose on Thursday after its quarterly profit met expectations, lifting Egypts broader index, while other Middle East markets were mixed in subdued trade.

Dubai resumed its rally ahead of an imminent Dubai World debt offer. Qatar was flat at 7,315 points after Wednesdays surge while Abu Dhabi and Kuwait fell in the absence of any new catalysts. Kuwait measure fell 0.03 percent to 7,414 points.

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CAIRO – Egypt, the Arab worlds most populous country, has emerged from the global economic slowdown relatively unscathed, Credit Suisse said in a report on Tuesday.

Though rising unemployment and slower revenues from tourism and the Suez Canal have weighed on growth, the 4.7 percent real GDP growth in FY2008/09 was strong in global context.

Credit Suisse expects real GDP growth of 5.5 percent in FY2009/2010 and 6.0 percent in

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CAIRO – Dana Gas said Sunday it had made two new gas discoveries in Egypt, finds that will further boost the United Arab Emirates-based producers extensive holdings in the country.

The company said the first discovery in the West El Manzala concession produced 10 million standard cubic feet per day of dry gas, with preliminary estimates of recoverable reserves of 8 to 13 billion cubic feet of gas.

The second find, also in the same concession, produced 16.3 million standard cubic feet per day of gas with condensate and preliminary recoverable reserves are 27 to 57 billion cubic feet of gas with associated condensate.

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RIYADH – A hot air balloon carrying the statement: “King of Humanity” imprinted with King Abdullahs picture will take off for a world flight from Janadriya Village on March 17 marking the opening of the 25th National Heritage and Culture Festival.

The hot air balloon, sponsored by a private company, is designed to take the humanitarian works of King Abdullah to the people of the world as it flies to countries in Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, South Africa, the Middle East, and North and South America.

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TABUK – A Passports Department patrol at Dhiba seaport arrested an Egyptian wanted by Al-Khurmah Police. Maj. Mansour Al-Nasser, spokesman of the Passports Department in Tabuk, said officials at the seaport arrested the Egyptian expatriate who was attempting to flee the country and return to Egypt. The culprit has been handed over to Dhiba Police in preparation for handing him over to Al-Khurmah Police in Taif. – Okaz/SG

JEDDAH – National column writers have termed the attack on Al-Jouf Literary Club as “intellectual terrorism” and expressed concerns at threats to cultural activities.

Writing in Okaz Tuesday, Abdu Khal, a member of literary clubs in Jeddah and Jizan, described the attack as “a sign of the presence of intellectual terrorism, just as it exists at the social level”, saying it represented an “early warning” that events could occur similar to those in Algeria and Egypt “when terrorism turned on individuals directly instead of protected organizations with security measures”.

Hamoud Abu Talib, also in Okaz, writes Wednesday that although the state is “capable of protecting the public and national organizations, we had hoped that we wouldnt reach the point where organized cultural work would require guards”.

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AL-KHOBAR – Saudi women lawyers qualified to practice law in the Kingdom will be allowed to establish their own law firms, according to legal experts.
“Like their male counterparts, Saudi women lawyers can set up their own law offices and hire legal assistants,” said Dr. Ahmed A. Audhali, a leading lawyer in the Eastern Province. He said women lawyers can also join existing law firms managed by male legal advocates.
Mohammad Al-Issa, Justice Minister, recently announced that the ministry intends to issue a new draft law that will license women lawyers to practice their profession and represent other women in personal status cases pertaining to divorce, alimony and child custody. The new law will also allow women to perform basic procedures with notaries, such as registering and mortgaging property and authorizing corporate sponsorships and gifts.
“We in the legal profession are waiting for the minister of justice to issue the guidelines licensing women lawyers to practice. Until such time, women lawyers will continue working in jobs inside the women’s section of law and government offices,” Audhali said.
As part of ongoing judicial reforms, family courts will be established in which women lawyers will be allowed to practice.
The number of qualified women lawyers to be licensed is not known, according to Audhali. “We will know which lawyers are qualified to practice after the list of licensed women lawyers is released by the Ministry of Justice,” he said.
Most Saudi women lawyers are graduates of foreign universities, such as those in the United States, UK and Egypt, because no university in the Kingdom offers law courses for women.
“Based on their educational background, many Saudi women lawyers are good and we therefore expect a good performance from them,” Audhali said.
Another lawyer, who specializes in labor and civil laws, said interaction between women lawyers and judges who are all religious clerics could pose a problem. The appointment of women judges in family courts would be the solution, he said. – SG

RIYADH – Over 650 publishing houses from 30 countries are participating in the 10-day Riyadh International Book Fair starting here Tuesday.
On behalf of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Dr. Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, will inaugurate the fair in which over 250,000 books in Arabic, English and French will be on display. The event will also host a wide range of cultural activities with Senegal as the guest of honor.
This year the book fair will witness the participation of publishing houses from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, other Arab countries, the USA, Britain, France, Sweden, Cyprus, Germany, India, Japan, Turkey and Iran. Several criteria were taken into consideration in accepting the participation of publishing houses. These include the number of publications, date of publication, subjects, specialization and the status of the publishing house in cultural circles.
Starting from Wednesday, the book fair will be open to all visitors from 10 A.M. until 10 P.M. with morning and evening sessions, except for Friday, Sunday and Tuesday when the evening sessions are reserved for men only.
Abdullah Al-Jassir, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture and Information, said that all preparations were in place for the launch of the fair. “We’ve been working as part of a team from government and non-government bodies to make this an impressive event reflecting the Kingdom’s cultural progress, and not just a place to buy and sell books. It should be a cultural forum that reflects the cultural growth of the Kingdom,” said Al-Jassir, who is also the Supervisor General of the fair.
Al-Jassir said the cultural program for this year will take into consideration maintaining balance and diversity. It will include an evening on national dialogue in the Kingdom and its role in boosting the concepts of moderation and tolerance. – Okaz/SG

RIYADH – Sheikh Qais Aal Al-Sheikh Mubarak, a member of the Board of Senior Ulema, has said that it is not permissible to pronounce “takfeer” – accusing Muslims of unbelief – on those who permit “disputable issues” on which scholars are not unanimous. A judge from the Ministry of Justice has also said that “takfeer rulings” may only be issued by the courts of the judiciary.

The scholars have spoken on the issue in response to a fatwa earlier this week from Sheikh Abdulrahman Bin Nasser Al-Barrak in which he deemed lawful the killing of anyone permitting “ikhtilat” – mixing of the sexes – in the workplace or in education.

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JEDDAH – “Extreme fatwas have come to the fore once again, but this time theyve been met with condemnation in religious and cultural circles”.

So began a report in Al-Watan Arabic daily on Wednesday following the publication of a fatwa the previous day by Sheikh Abdulrahman Bin Nasser Al-Barrak on his official website deeming lawful the killing of anyone permitting “ikhtilat” – mixing of the sexes – in the workplace or in a place of education.

Al-Watan said that “observers were surprised to see the fatwa issued in his name, in which he says: anyone permitting ikhtilat – or ikhtilat that leads to forbidden things – is permitting these forbidden things, and anyone who permits them is a kafir (unbeliever), making him an apostate, and he should be tried and if he doesnt retract his words then it is a duty to kill him”.

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