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Value of SR-500-banknotes dress by Saudi designer estimated at SR 1 million

rockingSTAR34 — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:09:49 +0000

Rania Ghamrawi, a Saudi fashion designer, used SR 500 currency notes worth SR 1 million to design a unique dress that wowed many young designers, local media reported.

She said that it took 3 weeks to stud the money on the fabric, sew the crystal beads on the chest and line the fabric. The dress was intended for display in celebration of the Saudi National Day and was much appreciated, making it all worthwhile, Rania said.

She explained that her design which comprises of Saudi currency is a traditional dress that represented the cultural and heritage identity of the Kingdom in a trendy modern way; rather than the traditional costume of green or shemagh- traditional headdress.

Her idea came within her graduation project to design a dress of a material that is not meant to be worn. She designed two different dresses; the one with the 500 Riyal bills and a low value one made of black garbage bags. The former design hugely impressed her professors who consider it a unique and valuable cultural piece.

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Ragini — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:25:25 +0000

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Saudi woman makes history by reaching Mount Everest summit

rockingSTAR34 — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:09:53 +0000

25 year old Raha Moharrak made history not only by becoming the first Saudi woman to attempt the climb but also the youngest Arab to make it to the top of Mount Everest, BBC reported.

Raha is part of a 4-person expedition that also includes the first Qatari man and the first Palestinian man attempting to reach the summit.

Together , they are trying to raise 1 million dollars (£660,000) for education projects in Nepal.

Raha Moharrak, originally from Jeddah, is a university graduate presently based in Dubai. Apparently, it took a lot of persuading before Raha Moharrak’s Saudi family agreed to let her climb. However they now support her fully.

I really don’t care about being the first,” Raha says. “So long as it inspires someone else to be second.”

Futuristic metro station planned for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

rockingSTAR34 — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:42:33 +0000

Zaha Hadid Architects are designing a new metro station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia described as “a 3-dimensional lattice defined by a sequence of opposing sine-waves (generated from the repetition and frequency variation of station’s daily traffic flows) which act as the spine for the building’s circulation.”

This means means that the station has a unique, undulating facade that mimics the daily flow of traffic for Riyadh’s 5 million residents, dvice reported.

The King Abdullah FInancial District (KAFD) Metro Station will become a focal point for the city, not only as a hub for commuters, but also as a celebrated public space. The KAFD is scheduled to be completed by 2017 and will help ease the traffic congestion in the area.

Second Saudi Film Fest on Rotana movie channel

Ragini — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:18:49 +0000

The second Saudi Film Festival will kick off Sunday on Rotana Movies channel, Al-Riyadh daily reported. Around 35 films have been selected; two documentaries —

“Our Identity” and “A Story of an Administration” — directed by Al-Botool, addressing social issues, will be screen at the film festival.

For eight consecutive weeks, the movies will be shown on the channel while a panel of judges including columnist Abdo Khal, and actors Abdul Elah Al-Sinani and Fahd Al-Yehya will judge the movies.

Saudi man dies after setting himself on fire in protest

rockingSTAR34 — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:29:45 +0000

A Saudi man has died after setting himself on fire in protest at his treatment by local authorities, BBC reported.

More than hundred people gathered outside the police department in the capital city of Riyadh , angered at Ali Jabiri Alhouraysi’s death.

Alhouraysi, who was a vegetable seller died Thursday morning in Riyadh, after succumbing to injuries incurred after he poured gasoline on his body and lit himself on fire.

Sources say that Alhouraysi, who was previously stripped of his Saudi citizenship, was unable to present his identification papers when searched by the police. His family is refusing to receive his body from the hospital.

Hackers strike at Saudi Arabia government websites

rockingSTAR34 — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:38:05 +0000

The Saudi government said that several government websites were heavily attacked by hackers in recent days, shortly disabling them before the websites were restored.

According to SPA, an investigation traced the ‘coordinated and simultaneous attacks’ to several IP addresses in many countries.

The interior ministry website crashed on Wednesday after it received a large number of service requests, but was back online in less than two hours later after technical restoration. No possible motive has been found yet.

Last year, an attack on Saudi Aramco – the World’s biggest oil company – damaged nearly 30,000 computers and is said to be one of the most destructive cyber strikes conducted against a single business.

-Reuters

Saudi health workers infected by SARS-like virus after patient-to-nurse spread

rockingSTAR34 — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:06:02 +0000

2 Saudi health workers became infected with a potentially fatal new SARS-like virus after catching it from patients in their care in eastern Saudi Arabia, health officials said Wednesday. The death toll from the Sars-like virus in the Kingdom has hit 15.

Known as novel coronavirus, or nCoV, the new virus is from the same family of viruses as those that cause common colds and the one that caused the deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that emerged in Asia in 2003.

The infected health workers have been identified as a 45-year-old man, who became ill on May 2 and is currently in a critical condition, and a 43-year-old woman with a coexisting health condition, who fell ill on May 8 and is in a stable condition, as reported by WHO.

The novel coronavirus like SARS and other similar viruses, can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia. WHO experts that visited Saudi Arabia to consult with the authorities on the outbreak said on Sunday that it seemed likely the new virus could be passed between humans, but only after prolonged, close contact.

Saudi Arabia has so far had most of the cases – with 30 patients infected, 15 of them fatally. The novel coronavirus like cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, Britain, France and Germany.

Fearing Saudi penalty, Asian family keeps dead body in apartment

rockingSTAR34 — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:04:20 +0000

A family from Asia kept the dead body of a relative in their flat, fearing penalty for violating immigration laws in Saudi Arabia, Sabq newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Building residents of the western Makkah town informed police after foul smell of the dead woman’s body pervaded their apartments.

After police raided the apartment, the body was taken to the hospital morgue. Investigations showed that no criminal act was involved. The family decided to keep the dead body in their home , fearing penalties after violating the residence laws of Saudi Arabia.

Female presence in a stadium in Saudi Arabia for the first time

rockingSTAR34 — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:17:14 +0000

For the first time, a woman made an appearance in a sports stadium in Saudi Arabia, Arabic daily Alyaum reported. Although a proposal has been submitted by the Saudi Football Federation in 2011 to competent authorities to give females access to packed stadiums during football matches and other events, nothing has been implemented yet. Women in Saudi Arabia are still banned from entering sport stadiums.

The lady accompanied her husband to attend the Fourth National Championship of Arabian Horses at the “Prince Faisal Bin Fahad” stadium in the Saudi city of Al-Ahsa.

Saudi female fans earlier showed support to their country’s Al-Fateh team against Kuwait’s Al-Arabi in a UEFA Cup and requested the right to enter Saudi sport stadiums to cheer their favourite teams.

Such incidents are expected to be the start of a new revolutionary change that will allow the presence of women in Saudi sport stadiums in future.