The following are examples of the “good” news published recently by various media organs. A Saudi woman was reported to have “forgotten” her SR1 million ($300,000) ring in the bathroom of a hotel in an Arab country.
A local singer said he would contribute to the fight against terrorism by releasing a new romantic song. A Saudi businessman filed a suit against the owner of an Arab bank accused of robbing the businessman of $150 million.
A Saudi university professor was charged with financing and providing electronic communication facilities to a group who carried out terrorist acts in a neighboring Arab state.
An Arab reformist told a television station that the July 12 bombings in Riyadh, in which many were killed and injured, can be classified as an act of jihad.
The chairman of a local tourism promotion board was reported to have traveled with his family to Malaysia and Indonesia on vacation. Unconfirmed reports put the money spent by Saudis vacationing abroad at $7 billion.
A local tourism promotion program features lectures on jinn and demons.
A Muslim imam issued two contradictory fatwas in six months; one approving suicide bombings against the enemy, the other saying they are strictly forbidden by Islam.
A repentant terrorist told a reporter terrorism begins in the school summer camps organized by education departments where students are taught the basics of violence.
A group of Saudi businessmen lost $15 million because our embassies delayed the issuing of visas for Iraqi businessmen to travel to the Kingdom to conclude deals with the Saudis.
Saudi Arabia ranks as the world’s fourth largest importer of tobacco.
Three Arab nationals were to appear in court later in the month accused of stealing an airplane from its owner who happens to be of the same nationality.
“I don’t know the figure of unemployment in the Kingdom,” read a statement by an official at the Saudi Ministry of Planning.
“He loved his country so much. On a hot summer day he saw a weak and thirsty cat in the street. Touched by its condition, the man took the cat home to care for it.” That was part of a businessman’s obituary published in a local newspaper. The man was never known to have invested in any project in his country.
At a news conference on the May 12 bombings in Riyadh a reporter asked the speaker: “Do you think the Guantanamo (Cuba) prisoners played a role in the Riyadh bombings?”
Arab News From the Local Press 21 July 2003
