As part of its social responsibility activities, Al-Faisaliah Hotel, A Rosewood Hotel, in Riyadh hosted an iftar for 50 children suffering from Down syndrome and their families at its Lantern hall. It is at this hall, which is decorated in a traditional Islamic style befitting the occasion, companies and families organize Ramadan events. The Down syndrome affected children are adopted by the DSCA charity society. Secretary-General of the society Souzan Salman Al-Ghanem said the DSCA’s service to the children included helping their families on the children’s rehabilitation programs and offering cash and non-cash assistance for those who need them. She said the society currently took care of 200 families. The hotel also hosted a number of members of the Zahrah Charitable Society for Breast Cancer at the Lantern Hall. Director of the Zahrah Society Henadi Al-Oudha thanked the hotel management for hosting the event. She said Zahrah is at the forefront of the 61 charitable health societies in the Kingdom in organizing awareness campaigns for early detection of breast cancer. She added that the society also organized 121 lectures and workshops to enlighten women on the dreaded disease in five provinces and issued 12 booklets on early detection.
 

Global Finance, a specialized banking and finance magazine, has presented four awards to Samba Financial Group in appreciation of its leading role in Internet banking services across Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in 2011. The awards were for Best Consumer Bank Site in the Middle East and Africa, Best Information Security Initiatives in the Middle East and Africa, Best Integrated Corporate Bank Site in the Middle East and Africa and Best Consumer Internet Bank in Saudi Arabia. Winners were chosen from entries evaluated by the magazine and the results are to be declared in the upcoming September edition. The evaluation includes a list of the best banks in Middle East and African markets. The evaluation, supervised by a team of senior analysts, editors and experts in Internet technology and the banking industry, was based on the strength of the strategy to attract and service online customers, success in getting clients to use web offerings, growth of online customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from Internet initiatives, and website design and functionality. Eisa Al-Eisa, chairman of Samba Financial Group, said: “The awards given to the group confirms our leading role with respect to Internet banking services for consumers and corporates. This achievement comes as Samba continues to strengthen its local and regional role in compliance with the highest international standards.”
 

Savola Makeen, a Savola CSR program continues its drive to develop the skills of persons with disabilities paving their way to enter the workforce. Makeen launched a series of training courses and programs held in Jeddah and Qassim, allowing them to showcase their capabilities and develop themselves. During this stage, 38 trainees benefited from the Makeen program where 30 of the 38 trainees have taken part in intensive courses for three months in graphic design, advertising, and computer skills in office work in cooperation with Massar Women’s Training in Qassim. On the other hand, 18 trainees took English courses, computer skills and work ethics, principles of professional behavior and ethics, and effective communications skills for a period of two full months in cooperation with the Professionals Institute for Training and Development in Jeddah. Faten Al-Yafi, executive director of CSR, PR and office services at Savola, said: “Making people who are dependent on others, to become more independent is the vision which the Makeen program aims to achieve. We at The Savola Group have made a commitment to support and help this segment of the society by availing them with all the tools they need until we reach our objective of providing 2,000 disabled people with job opportunities during the next three years.” The Makeen program trains and employs persons with disabilities within the group, its subsidiaries and private entities and assists them in securing appropriate jobs.
 

Bupa Arabia, described as the Kingdom’s first specialized health insurer, has signed its second agreement with Women’s Welfare Center to provide free health insurance cover services for additional 36 of the orphans being cared for by the organization. Louay Nazer, chairman of Bupa Arabia, and Hala Al-Shaer, VP, board of Women’s Welfare Center, inked the deal. Nazer said: “Women’s Welfare Center is considered to be one of the best and most experienced at taking care of orphans and we are delighted to establish this strategic partnership as part of Bupa Arabia’s intention to provide all of the Kingdom’s orphans with free health insurance that guarantees them the best health care services.” The new partnership agreement is the second step in Bupa Arabia’s long-term plan, which started last April by signing an agreement with Al-Rafeef Home orphanage. Nazer, whose vision is to cover 7,000 orphans in the Kingdom over the next few years, starting with all the orphans registered under the Ministry of Social Affairs, launched the initiative. Hala said: “Caring for orphans is a great service that is highly regarded by the community and it is also one of the most important commandments in Shariah. On behalf of all my colleagues at the Women’s Welfare Center, I extend our thanks to Bupa Arabia for this generous initiative that guarantees that the orphans in our care will receive the best medical services available, which will surely improve their lives and strengthen their future.”
 

Research In Motion (RIM) has announced three new BlackBerry smartphones featuring the BlackBerry 7 Operating System (OS). The all-new BlackBerry Curve 9350, BlackBerry Curve 9360 and BlackBerry Curve 9370 smartphone are exciting additions to the popular BlackBerry Curve series. These new models are designed to address a large and important segment of the global mobile phone market where customers are looking to upgrade their existing feature phone or existing BlackBerry Curve with an affordable, easy-to-use, full-featured and socially-connected smartphone. “These new models will build on the incredible success of the BlackBerry Curve line and further expand the largest global launch of BlackBerry smartphones in our history,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO at RIM. “The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones are absolutely stunning and offer a significant performance upgrade with an unmatched mobile social experience for the millions of feature phone users in the market as well as our existing Curve customers.” The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones are slim, stylish and simply beautiful. They are ergonomically designed with a comfortable and iconic keyboard for fast, accurate typing and an optical trackpad for easy, one-handed navigation. GPS and Wi-Fi support are also included, as well as a 5MP camera with flash and video recording so that memories can be captured and instantly shared on social networks. The microSD/SDHC slot supports up to 32 GB memory cards for additional media storage.