A1SaudiArabia.com

RIYADH – Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari, Minister of Higher Education, Sunday opened here an international symposium on Curriculum Issues of Linguistic and Literary Studies – Theory and Application. The symposium is being organized by Faculty of Literature of Arabic Language Department at King Saud University with the participation of professors from the Kingdom and abroad. Working papers will be presented in the four-day-symposium. – SPA

RIYADH – Abdul Aziz Al-Uqail, the manager of the Riyadh International Book Fair, has warned publishers that any “price fixing” will lead to the closure of their stands at the fair and a ban on any future participation.

Al-Uqail issued the warning after reportedly receiving “numerous” complaints from visitors to the fair concerning a general rise in the prices of titles offered by some publishers, in contrast to other fairs around the world which offer reductions on books.

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RIYADH – A total of SR20 million in sales is expected from the Riyadh International Book Fair, according to observers.

The observers expect the value of book purchases to exceed SR3 million in the first few days. They estimate that at the end of the book fair this total will exceed SR20 million. They also expect more than 900,000 visitors over the 10 days of the event.

The average purchase of books per individual ranged between SR200 and SR300. There was a high demand for religious, literary and history books. Science books attracted fewer people.

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MADINA – The price for examinations questions went up from a phone card to a whopping SR3,000, said a student who has unmasked a foreign professors previous involvement in bribery.

Riyadhs King Saud University (KSU) has suspended the Egyptian professor at its Faculty of Tourism and Antiquities after student Ashraf Al-Sarani revealed that the professor was the same man he helped bring to justice eight years ago for selling examination questions to students at the Technical College in Madina.

The professor used coded language to make a deal, Al-Sarani said. A SR100 phone card could buy some general information of an exam, but the more cards received, the more of the exam was revealed, he added.

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RIYADH – Indian workers in Saudi Arabia are serving as building blocks for ever-improving bilateral relations between India and Saudi Arabia, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said here Monday.

Addressing the Indian community at the Embassy of India Auditorium here, Singh said he was delighted to have an opportunity to meet them. “You represent a microcosm of the 1.8 million Indians in Saudi Arabia,” he told around 200 Indian nationals gathered in the auditorium. Most of them later had the rare opportunity of shaking hands with the prime minister.

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NEW DELHI – Two new treaties with India for convict extradition and prison inmate exchange are expected to strengthen security ties with the Kingdom which is host to approximately 1.6 million Indian expatriates, according to Faisal Hassan Bin Tarad, the Saudi Ambassador to India.

The treaties will be signed during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the Kingdom which begins on Saturday, in the light of which Ambassador Tarad, speaking in his office here, described the countries relations as going back to the time of the Silk Routes linking Arabia to India.

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RIYADH – The 13th International Saudi Dentistry Conference organized by King Saud University here concluded on Tuesday by reiterating the importance of continued education in dentistry and recommended introducing international quality systems.

The conference said that dentistry in the Kingdom should be governed by international standards through the countrys various educational centers, universities, hospitals and clinics.

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RIYADH – Mondays weekly Cabinet meeting, chaired by Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, was briefed on King Abdullahs recent meetings and communications, reiterated its stance on Middle East issues, and looked at the progress of the workshop currently being held in Riyadh on the fight against terrorism and terrorism funding.

Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, said Prince Sultan briefed the Cabinet on the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques meetings with Chadian President Idris Deby, former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Alawi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and First Lt. Gen. David Batrous, Commander of the US Central Forces.

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JEDDAH – The marriage of young girls to elderly men in the Kingdom has been in the media focus recently, provoking public discussions and encouraging officials and associations to launch campaigns for setting up a legal minimum age of marriage.

However, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Teraifi, a researcher in the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, told Saudi Gazette that he was critical of media campaigns that call for disallowing marriage of young girls to elderly men.

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DAMMAM – International Indian School Dammam (IISD) Career Guidance Cell is organizing a Career Fair & Seminar on Thursday at the Boys Section campus.

Leading educational institutions like BITS PILANI – Dubai, RAK Medical & Health Sciences University -Dubai, RAK Medical & Health Sciences University – Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE, Sikkim Manipal University, and Indira Gandhi National Open University, etc. are set to participate in the fair.

Also a Career Awareness Seminar will be held the same day. Professor Sadiq Sait, (Director Information Technology Center at King Saud University) will inaugurate the seminar. Dr. John Mason (Former Principal, Doon School in India ) will deliver the keynote address. – SG