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NAJRAN – The public in Najran has been warned not to respond to telephone calls from persons “posing as census officials in order to obtain personal information”.
“This is not part of our regulatory procedures as it is not a reliable form of collecting information,” said Ali Al-Duwaisan, the National Census Supervisor General in the region, in a press statement Saturday. “Census information is acquired directly from the head of the household via an official visit to each house.”
The statement, Al-Duwaisan said, was prompted by numerous reports from the public concerning telephone calls asking for wide-ranging information on their households, and he urged people to check the credentials of unknown persons claiming to be part of the census operations. “All census officials carry official identify cards,” Al-Duwaisan said.

Bedouin beginnings
Abdullah Al-Batil, the General Manager of the National Census, said Sunday that the process would begin at the end of this week with a survey of the numbers of Bedouin in the Empty Quarter and Nafoud deserts in Najran, the Eastern Province, and Hail.
The process, according to Al-Batil, is expected to take 40 days. Al-Batil added that the entire census would begin proper on April 28 with 45,000 census officials dispatched across the Kingdom.
The national census covers Saudi nationals residing in the Kingdom and abroad, as well as residents and persons living in the country illegally. Offshore oil platform workers and all persons aboard sea vessels inside the Kingdom’s sea borders are also to be included.
Census officials have reassured the public, particularly persons living in the Kingdom illegally, that all information obtained will remain strictly confidential.
The 2010 census is the fourth in the Kingdom’s history, with the first in 1974 putting the total population at 7,009,466, of whom 6,218,361 were Saudi nationals, and a second in1992 which counted a population of 16,948,388, with 12,310,053 Saudis.
The Kingdom’s third census in 2004 revealed a total population of 22,678,262 people, 16,527,340 of them Saudi nationals. – Okaz/SG

ARAR – A fire at a book store room in a girls school in Arar on Saturday led to a rush out of the building in which 11 pupils were injured, Al-Hayat Arabic daily reported Sunday. School authorities called the Civil Defense who ordered an evacuation of the school complex, while a Red Crescent official said out of 11 pupils who suffered smoke inhalation six were treated at the scene and five were taken to hospital. All five were reported as in a stable condition. – SG

MAKKAH – Health Affairs has said that a new 300-bed mental hospital is to be built in the northern Makkah district of Al-Umrah.

Khaled Dhafar, regional Health Affairs chief, said that work on the building would begin next year. The bed-shortage at Makkah hospitals in general was on the way to being resolved with the opening of King Abdullah Medical City and another new hospital in the Al-Sharai District with 300 beds, the official said.

“Al-Jumjoum Hospital and Ajyad Hospital will be completed next year as will renovation works at other older hospitals such as the King Abdul Aziz and King Faisal hospitals, bringing the number of beds up to 2,000,” Dhafar added. – Okaz/SG

AL-KHOBAR – OPEC is not expected to make any fundamental change in output at its next meeting, Qatars oil minister was quoted Saturday as saying by Al-Hayat newspaper.

“I do not see any fundamental change in output during this meeting. I think the decision would be to extend OPECs current decision, and a decision on close monitoring of the oil market would be taken,” Qatars Abdullah Al-Attiyah said. “It is true that global inventories are high but oil prices are fluctuating in such a way that … does not allow taking a new decision at this stage,” he said.

Separately, the Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh quoted an unnamed senior OPEC official as saying the producers group is expected to maintain its production ceiling unchanged at the meeting.

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AHAD RUFAIDAH – Border Guard patrols in the area of Dhahran Al-Junoub foiled Thursday an attempt to smuggle into the Kingdom 80kg of hashish near the town of Al-Ruboua. An official said that patrols observed two smugglers on foot who fled when they were asked to stop by police and managed to cross the border into Yemeni territory. The pair abandoned the drugs before crossing the border in their efforts to escape. – Okaz/SG

WASHINGTON – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday it will help 16 African nations trying to stop their gold and diamond sectors from being misused to fund terrorism.

Expressing concern on increased “links between the trade in precious minerals and illicit financial flows, corruption, drug trafficking, arms smuggling and the financing of terrorism,” the IMF said “a range of technical assistance programs and seminars” will be offered.

The programme will be funded with contributions from Britain, France, Kuwait, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Switzerland, a statement said. “Better regulation and oversight of the precious minerals sector will not only help these countries combat these phenomena, but also boost revenues and improve their fiscal situation,” said Emmanuel Mathias, a senior IMF official.

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MAKKAH – The Kingdoms national census will include citizens and all residents, including those who are living illegally in the country.

This is according to Deputy Supervisor of the National Census in Makkah, Yasser Al-Budaiwi. Census officials will conduct their work at unplanned areas where many foreigners live. “It is not about a persons legal state of residency but about knowing the true count,” he said.

Al-Budaiwi said that there are 4,000 supervisors and data collectors in Makkah.

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RIYADH – Saudi Arabia is planning to launch tenders worth more than SR17 billion ($4.5 billion) this year to modernize two airports in the Kingdom, an official said.

Traffic at Saudi airports has reached 30 million passengers annually and is expected to double to 60 million over the next 10 years, said Alaa Samman, director of business development at the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).

In order to cater for this growth, the government wants to launch projects costing at least SR55 billion to overhaul airports to be completed over the next 20 years, he added. For this year alone, GACA wants to launch tenders to build a new airport in the holy city of Madina and a commercial center near Jeddah airport.

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RIYADH – The Supreme Judiciary Council has approved the establishment of commercial courts in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam and judiciary circuits within the General Courts consisting of three judges to look into commercial cases in Makkah, Madina, Hail, Buraidah, Tabuk, Abha, Najran, Baha, Arar and Sakaka.

Sheikh Abdullah Al-Yahya, Secretary General, said the Council reviewed the study conducted by the Courts Administration recommending the timetable to set up specialized commercial courts as part of the judicial reforms process initiated by King Abdullah, Cusdodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

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JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia is considering building a new port in the Red sea city of Jeddah to handle rising imports such as wheat and barley under a food security plan, an official said Wednesday.

Food security has topped the policy agenda in the Gulf Arab region following rampant inflation in 2008 that underscored the peninsulas dependence on imports and forced countries to invest abroad to ensure supplies of staples like rice and wheat.

Saudi Arabia has emerged as global buyer of wheat and is also trying with the help of private Saudi investors to secure farmland in Africa and elsewhere abroad to import more food.

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