Saudi King Orders Grace Period for Illegal Foreign Workers

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Foreign workers violating labor and residency laws will get three months to rectify their situation or face deportation, the official Saudi Press Agency said today.

“King Abdullah has ordered the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Labor to give workers in violation of labor and residency regulations in the Kingdom a chance to rectify their situation during a period of three months maximum,” SPA reported in a brief statement.

Saudi Arabia has begun in recent weeks a camping to crack down on illegal workers, part of a push to create more jobs for its citizens. Local media reported that inspectors have raided many places around the country where they suspect illegal workers are employed.

Day in the Life of King Abdullah→

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As narrated by his son Prince Miteb:

King Abdullah wakes up early in the morning and performs Fajr prayer then supplicates Allah for a long time before reading the Holy Qur’an. Afterwards, he sleeps and wakes up around 8:30 a.m. Then he performs Al-Dhuha prayer and has his breakfast and asks for the day’s business. The Chief of the Royal Court, Khalid Al-Twaijri, brings the list of the day’s activities to the King.

After performing Dhuhur prayer, the King signs files and takes decisions. This continues until Asr prayer. In between, he sometimes answers phone calls or receives visitors. This depends on his schedule. In the evening, he gets back to work. Later he tries to walk for a long time. This is how the King spends his day.

King Abdullah Swears In First Women Members of Shoura Council→

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Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah on Tuesday swore in the country’s first female members of the Shura Council, an appointed body that advises on new laws, in a move that has riled conservative clerics in the Islamic monarchy.

Below is a video from the Saudi state television of the swearing-in ceremony:

Saudi Clerics Arrested Outside the Royal Court As King Abdullah Makes First Public Appearance in Month

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King Abdullah has made his first public appearance in four weeks when he received senior princes and clerics in his palace Tuesday afternoon in the Saudi capital Riyadh. The state television played footage showing members of the royal family greeting the elderly monarch and kissing his hand. Crown Prince Salman and the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Alsheikh sat next to him.

This was the first time the King appears in public since December 29 when he chaired the cabinet meeting to announce the annual budget. Earlier Tuesday, a group of clerics were reportedly arrested after they gathered outside the royal court to protest. Asim al-Mashaali, one of the protesters, said on Twitter that they were stopped by the security forces and taken into buses. Lawyer Abdulaziz al-Hussan said he went to the police station in Sahafa district where 13 protesters were detained, but the police refused to tell him the reason for the arrests.

The clerics have staged a similar sit-in outside the royal court earlier this month to protest what some of them described as “recent changes in the country” including the King’s decision to appoint 30 women to the advisory Shoura Council.

Saudi Officers Told to Shape Up→

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Officers at the Saudi Royal Guard have been ordered to be physically in shape if they wanted to receive promotions and avoid punitive action, local daily al-Sharq reported Wednesday. The newspaper said King Abdullah has issued an order giving the officers three months to shrink their waist to the ideal sizes according to military standards. Those who fail to lose weight will face punitive measures, including losing their right to promotion, the newspaper said. Elaph journalist Sultan al-Qahtani posted a photo on Twitter that seems to show the order signed by Khaled al-Tuwaijri, royal court chief and private secretary of the King.

Saudi Arabia Approves Record Budget→

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Reuters:

Saudi Arabia has set a record state budget for next year as high oil prices allow it to spend heavily on welfare and infrastructure projects, helping it avoid the severe social unrest seen in other parts of the Arab world.

The government plans to spend 820 billion riyals ($219 billion) in 2013, state television reported after Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf presented the budget to King Abdullah on Saturday.

That amount is 19 percent higher than the 690 billion riyals that the world's largest oil exporter budgeted for 2012, although it is below the estimated 853 billion riyals that the government actually spent.

This was the first time for King Abdullah to chair the cabinet since he has undergone back surgery in November. The meeting to announce the budget was held in a room in his palace instead of the cabinet chamber where such meetings are usually held. In the footage below, aired by state television, the King asks in a frail voice about the surplus. “The surplus is around 386 billion,” Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf responds. Crown Prince Salman appears briefly at the end of the video speaking to the King, but it seems that his mike was not turned on.

Saudi King Makes First Appearance After Surgery

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King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia appeared on state television Wednesday, making his first public appearance since he has undergone a back surgery on November 17. The official Saudi Press Agency said the King has received members of the royal family who came to visit him at the National Guard Hospital in Riyadh. The footage shown on television showed the King drinking coffee and chatting with his visitors.

Saudi King Meets Old Teacher Who Hit Him

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This looks like an old video but it has only been uploaded to YouTube recently and it has been circulating widely among Saudi Twitter users today.

In the video, King Abdullah can be seen listening to an elderly man. As the elderly man finishes talking, King Abdullah thanks him then says: “This Sheikh was my teacher,” says the King of the man. “Should I tell them what you have done to me or not?” the King asks. The audience laughs, and the man begins to praise the King, apparently because he knows what the King is about to say would be embarrassing. His attempt to make the King forgo telling the story miserably fails.

“I want to ask you something,” the King says to the man. “Do you remember that hit that you gave me, huh?”

The attendees immediately burst into laughing, and the embarrassed elderly man responds quickly with a famous Arabic proverb, saying: “Being hit by a by a loved one is like eating raisins.”

The response makes the King chuckle, then he thanks the elderly man again, gesturing that the friendly conversation has come to an end.

Prophet’s Mosque Expansion→

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After nearly a month-long private trip to Morocco, King Abdullah arrives to Madinah Monday to break ground for a new expansion project at the Prophet’s Mosque. The latest expansion will increase the capacity of the mosque to 1.6 million worshippers, according to local media reports. It seems that the iconic green dome (red arrow points to its location in the rendering) will be overshadowed by a bigger dome as part of the epxansion. Also, it looks like the current 10 minarets, built in different Islamic eras, will be replaced by four bigger ones. Oh, and no ugly clock towers! ♦

Rendering of theProphet Mosque expansion project.

National Day Concerts Canceled→

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SPA:

In solidarity with brothers of Syrian people, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ordered to cancel the opera singing that would have been held across the regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia within the framework of its celebrations of the 82nd anniversary of its National Day.

Conservatives are relieved that there will be no music conert in Makkah. Cancelling the scheduled celebrations also means that the King won’t need to cut his vacation in Morocco and be in the country to attend. ♦

 

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