OSAC EARLY BIRD06 JUNE 2011

Use of these articles does not reflect official endorsement.Reproduction for private use or gain is subject to original copyright restrictions.

(CTRL + Click on Title to Go To Story)

From Arab NewsWOMAN DRIVER APOLOGIZES TO TRAFFIC POLICE

From CNNOfficial: Powers transferred to VP after attack on President Saleh

From The New York TimesIsrael clashes with protesters on Syrian border

From The Washington PostEgyptians say economy tops their list of concerns, not democracy

From ReutersBritain says rebels must plan for post-Gaddafi Libya

From Yahoo NewsMALAYSIA 'OBEDIENT WIVES' CLUB: GOOD SEX IS A DUTY

From Gulf NewsQATAR SUSPENDS VEGETABLES IMPORT FROM SPAIN, GERMANY AMID E. COLI OUTBREAK

From Arabian BusinessSAUDI PRIVATE SECTOR JOB CREATION AT 18 MONTH PEAK

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BRUCE KENDALL

Woman driver apologizes to traffic police

Wajnat Al-Rahbini, a Saudi female actress who was arrested after driving her car Saturday along Jawazat Street in Jeddah expressed regret for her

actions and apologized to the Interior Ministry.

"I apologize for driving my car while I was aware that this action was against rules and regulations. I regret what I have done and hope that the officials will accept my apology," she said after she was released from detention at Al-Kandara police station, according to local daily Al-Madinah.

Al-Rahbini said she was traveling the passport department and the labor office to complete some paperwork concerning her late husband who died about a month ago. "I have no one to complete these procedures for me.

My driver has traveled abroad and will not be back before three days. I did not like to sit in the same car with a non-mahram. For these reasons I drove my own car and I am sorry for what I did," she said.Al-Rahbini said some one reported her to the police but when the police arrived she was standing beside the car and was not behind the wheel.

" I parked my car near the building of the passport department and the labor office in Al-Kandara district. When I got out of the car, the police were surrounding me.

They wrote in their report that when they caught me, I was not actually driving," she said.

Al-Rahbini said she was asked to sign a pledge never to do this again and was released without bail. She, however, recalled that this was not the first time she drove her car in Jeddah.

"My late husband was suffering from blood clots and many times he would faint. Each time I drove him to the hospital. This happened about seven times," she said.

The actress admitted that she had committed a blunder by driving her car but said she was obliged to. "I committed a grave mistake by breaking the rules.

I want the police and the officials to pardon me. I swear that the security

were very nice to me and treated me very politely," she added.

However, some local reports said Al-Rahbini was caught while driving on King Abdullah road near the Oasis mall. Though she was released, the car was impounded.

Official: Powers transferred to VP after attack on President Saleh

Effective Saturday night, Yemeni Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi took over Ali Abdullah Saleh's responsibilities as president, Yemeni government spokesman Abdu Ganadi told CNN.

The power transfer comes as a source close to the Saudi government said that the long-time Yemeni ruler arrived in Riyadh around midnight Saturday, a day after being hurt in an attack on a mosque in his palace.

Some Yemeni officials continue to insist that Saleh, who for months has resisted calls to step down, is still in Yemen. Yaser Yamani, Sanaa's deputy mayor, told Yemeni state TV Saturday night that "Saleh is still being treated in the military hospital in Sanaa."

Yet the Saudi source said that Saleh was immediately taken to a nearby hospital after his plane landed in Saudi Arabia. A senior Yemeni government official had told CNN that Saleh was fine after sustaining a slight head injury in Friday's attack, and he gave a nationally broadcast speech later that night.

But Saleh's medical condition is worse than originally thought, according to the Saudi source.

In response to that attack, Yemeni security forces on Friday pounded the home of Sadeq al-Ahmar, the tribal leader whose supporters are suspected of being behind the presidential palace offensive.

The flurry of shelling left 10 people dead and 35 others wounded, according to Fawzi Al-Jaradi, an official with Hamil al-Ahmar, a Hashed tribal confederation led by Sadeq al-Ahmar.

The Saudi government source said Saturday that the Riyadh government has helped to broker an open-ended cease-fire aimed at ending spiraling violence in Yemen. Demonstrators have demanded Saleh's ouster for months, and fighting between Yemeni government forces and Hashed tribesmen has spiked considerably in recent weeks.

Key members of all pertinent parties agreed to the deal, with the signatories including Brig. Gen. Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, who defected to the opposition; Sadeq al-Ahmar, the Hashed and Hamil al-Ahmar leader; and Saleh's sons, representing the government.

The Saudi source said that King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud have been heavily involved in setting up the framework for the cease-fire.

This is not the first time that the opposition and Saleh, who has led Yemen for 33 years, have seemingly agreed to a peace deal.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, which consists of representatives from six neighboring nations, helped broker a pact that involved Saleh stepping down from power -- but that agreement ended up breaking down weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the popular unrest in the impoverished Arab nation continued Saturday.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators congregated Saturday in Sanaa's Change Square.

Meanwhile, in the flashpoint town of Taiz, protesters retook an iconic square in the city's center Saturday after government forces cleared it out last week. Eyewitnesses said security forces tried to disperse crowds of anti-government demonstrators by shooting at them and that at least two were injured.

Yemen's tough crackdown against peaceful protesters in Taiz prompted a new denunciation by Human Rights Watch, an international organization that monitors human rights violations.

"First the security forces kill and wound protesters, then they keep medical workers from treating the wounded and raze the protesters' camps to wipe out all traces of them," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Foreign countries need to respond.

They should freeze the assets of the president and other top officials until these horrendous abuses stop and those responsible are brought to account," said Stork, whose group also called for the export bans on arms and security equipment to Yemen.

Friday's presidential palace attack illustrates the escalating violence. A Yemeni official who asked not to be named told CNN that Saleh was in the mosque when two "projectiles" were fired during Friday prayers.

He confirmed the death of Sheikh Ali Mohsen al-Matari and four bodyguards. State-run news agency SABA, citing a source in Saleh's office, said three guards and the sheikh were killed.

Others taken to Saudi Arabia for treatment include Prime Minister Ali Mujawar; deputy prime ministers Rashad al-Alimi and Sadeq Amin Abu Rasand; Shura Council Chairman Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani; parliament speaker Yahya Al-Raee; and Shura Council Chairman Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghan.

In a televised speech Friday night, the president said the attack occurred as talks were taking place between himself and affiliates of Sadeq al-Ahmar, the Hashed tribal leader whose break with Saleh has been followed by spiraling violence.

Eyewitnesses, residents and government officials say Hashed tribesmen were responsible.

But the spokesman for Sadeq al-Ahmar insisted this was not true."The Hashed tribesmen were not behind these attacks on the presidential palace and if they were, they would not deny it," Abdulqawi al-Qaisi said.

In his speech, the president said those behind Friday's attacks were not connected with the youth-led movement in Sanaa's Change Square. Rather, he said that "gangsters" perpetrated the strike as part of their bid to overthrow his government and destroy Yemen's economic achievements.

"I salute the armed forces everywhere and the courageous security forces who are keen on combating the attacks by a criminal gang that is acting outside of the law and is not affiliated with the youth's revolution present in Change Square," Saleh said.

Mohammed Qahtan, the spokesman for the Joint Meeting Parties, Yemen's largest opposition coalition, said "the attack on the palace was preplanned by President Saleh to make people forget about the attacks that he has committed over the last two weeks."

Qahtan said Saleh's forces have "bombarded most of the al-Ahmar family properties after the palace attack" and have killed hundreds over the past two weeks.

According to the independent International Crisis Group, tensions escalated May 23 when fighting erupted between military forces controlled by "Saleh's son and nephews and fighters loyal to the pre-eminent sheikh of the powerful Hashed confederation, Sadeq al-Ahmar."

While Saleh has been unpopular among many inside his country, he has been a longtime ally of the United States in the war against terror.

The United States has counted on his government to be a bulwark against militants, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but it believes he should transfer power in order to maintain stability in the country.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said on Friday that John Brennan, the president's homeland security adviser, traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for meetings with government officials to "discuss options to

address the deteriorating situation" in Yemen.

Human Rights Watch has confirmed the deaths of 166 people in attacks by security forces and pro-government assailants on largely peaceful protesters since February. It said at least 130 people have died in heavy fighting since May 23, though it could not confirm how many of those were civilians.

Israel clashes with protesters on Syrian border

Wave after wave of Syrian and Palestinian protesters from Syria approached the frontier with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

Israeli soldiers opened fire at activists who crossed a newly dug trench and tried to breach the border fence near the Golan town of Majdal Shams. The Syrian news agency SANA reported that 19 protesters were killed and more than 270 were wounded.

Citing the director of a Syrian hospital in the border town of Quneitra, the agency said that two of the dead, aged 19 and 29, had been shot in the chest and the head respectively.  

An Israeli military spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity under army rules, said that “despite numerous warnings, both verbal and later warning shots in the air, dozens of Syrians continued to approach the border.”

She said the soldiers tried to disperse the crowds with non-lethal means, including teargas, but that did not deter them. The Israeli forces were “left with no choice,” she said, “but to open fire at the feet of the protesters in order to deter them from further actions.”

In the West Bank, there were clashes between Israeli soldiers and scores of Palestinian youths who tried to march on the Qalandia checkpoint, the main gateway between Ramallah and Jerusalem. Some of the youths had slingshots and hurled stones at the soldiers.

The soldiers fired tear gas and, according to some reports, rubber bullets. But the borders with Gaza, Lebanon and Jordan were quiet as governments there prevented protesters from reaching the frontier. Conversely, the thousands of protesters at the Syrian border, which cannot be approached without government acquiescence, appeared to reflect a calculated strategy to divert attention from the uprising there.

President Bashar al-Assad, who is facing the greatest challenge to his family’s rule in four decades, also opened the border three weeks ago; four Syrian protesters were killed then.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed “extremist elements” for trying to break through Israel’s borders.

“We will not allow them to do so,” he said at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, adding, “I have instructed the security forces to act with determination, with maximum restraint, but with determination to maintain our sovereignty, our borders, our communities and our citizens.”

In Gaza, only a few dozen Palestinians tried to walk to the Erez checkpoint on the border with Israel, but Hamas forces stopped them well before the crossing and they dispersed peacefully.

Israel had braced for clashes after Palestinian activists in the region called for protest marches on Sunday to mark the anniversary of the June 1967 Middle East war, which Palestinians call the “naksa,” or setback. The Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza were among the territories Israel captured in that war.

There were also calls for Palestinians in Lebanon to march at the Israeli border, but activists there canceled those plans after the Lebanese authorities declared the border area a closed military zone.

The confrontations on Sunday echoed the events of May 15, the day Palestinians mark as the “nakba,” or

catastrophe, of Israel’s establishment in 1948.

Taking a cue from the so-called Arab Spring movement, organizers in multiple countries and territories called for a coordinated action against Israel, and huge crowds of Palestinians responded.

They clashed with Israeli troops on four fronts, and breached the border between Syria and the Golan Heights for the first time in more than 30 years.

At least 14 protesters from Lebanon and Syria were killed, stoking outrage in Palestinian camps across the region and intensifying pressure on Israel to create the conditions for a return to peace talks.

The Israeli military had been preparing for a repeat of the May 15 protests, and Israeli television reports showed soldiers repairing and fortifying fences and bulldozers digging trenches and laying barbed wire along the borders in the north.

On Saturday, Palestinian officials signaled another possible source of pressure on Israel, saying they would accept a French proposal to attend a peace conference in Paris next month with the aim of restarting negotiations based on the broad principles laid out by President Obama last month.

Mr. Obama said that talks should be for a future Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps.

He also suggested that talks should focus first on the issues of borders and security, and deal later with the contentious issues of the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees of the 1948 war and their descendants.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said that in principle, the French proposal was acceptable.

He told the Reuters news agency on Saturday that under the plan, neither Israel nor the Palestinians would carry out “unilateral actions.

” The Palestinians have demanded a freeze in Israeli settlement building, while the Israelis oppose Palestinian plans to bypass negotiations and seek recognition for statehood at the United Nations this fall.

There has been no public response to the French plan from the Israeli side, but Israel has previously rejected talks based on the 1967 lines.

Moshe Yaalon, the minister for strategic affairs in the Israeli government, told Israeli television on Saturday that Israeli leaders would discuss the French proposal this week.

In a sign of growing frustration in Gaza, travelers tried to force their way through a crossing on the border with Egypt that was temporarily closed Saturday, a week after the new Egyptian government declared it open permanently in a move hailed by Palestinians.

As an end of the Israeli-led blockade of the coastal enclave. Officials of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, said they had not been told in advance about the closing.

Egypt said it was a result of delays in renovation work that should have been completed on Friday.

Dozens of Palestinian travelers gathered in front of the closed gate leading to the Egyptian side of the crossing in the morning.

Peering through barbed wire next to the gate, they realized that it would be impossible for buses to pass through because of the work on the other side.

After waiting for three hours, the travelers forced open the gate and entered the Egyptian section.

The Egyptian police persuaded them to return peacefully.

After Hamas took full control of Gaza in 2007, Israel responded by cutting off the territory, and Egypt kept the crossing mostly closed. In June 2010, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt ordered the crossing to reopen on a

regular basis, but conditions for travel remained tightly restricted.

The border was sealed again in January, when Egypt was rocked byprotests that eventually ousted Mr. Mubarak.

The re-opening of the crossing last Saturday was seen as a sign of a new approach, giving Gazans a gateway to the world that bypassed Israel. But complications have already emerged.

By Tuesday, Hamas officials were complaining that the movement of travelers was being limited and that dozens had been returned from the Egyptian side.

Egyptians say economy tops their list of concerns, not democracy

A majority of Egyptians who supported this year’s revolution did so mainly because of their poor economic situation, not because they yearned for democracy, according to a U.S. government-funded poll released Sunday.

The survey also underlines Egyptians’ sky-high expectations for their next government. Eight in 10 respondents said they anticipated their economic situation would be better in the coming year.

That presents a daunting challenge for whomever takes office, with a recent drop in tourism and foreign investment exacerbating the country’s already severe economic problems.

The survey was carried out for the International Republican Institute (IRI), a pro-democracy group that is close to prominent U.S. Republicans.

The poll’s mere existence is a sign of the change that has swept Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular revolution in February.

Previously, U.S.-funded groups promoting democracy faced strict limits on their activities here.

The poll, obtained in advance by The Washington Post, offers a glimpse of a nation in uncharted political waters. Seven in 10 respondents said they had

never voted in past elections, which were riddled with fraud.

In contrast, almost everyone surveyed 95 percent said they were very or somewhat likely to cast ballots in parliamentary elections scheduled for September.U.S. lawmakers and secular Egyptian politicians have expressed fears that the long-banned Muslim Brotherhood could make a strong showing in the upcoming elections because of its extensive grass-roots network.

But most of those surveyed 65 percent said they had no idea which party they would back.

Only 15 percent said they support the Muslim Brotherhood, which favors a government guided by Islamic sharia law. Less than 1 percent of respondents favor an Iran-style Islamic theocracy.

And only 15 percent said their political opinions were strongly influenced by religious figures, with many more citing family members and military leaders.

Scott Mastic, the Middle East director for IRI, said the poll would help Egyptian political parties, civil society groups and others understand the public mood.

The survey captured Egyptians’ enormous enthusiasm for the revolution and the resignation of Mubarak. But, Mastic added, “the poll shows some very practical real-world issues, like the economic situation,” at the top of citizens’ list of concerns.

Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said they supported the protests in January and February because of unhappiness over low living standards or a shortage of jobs. In contrast, just 19 percent named a lack of democracy.

Anxious to respond to the public’s anger, Egypt’s interim military government has increased subsidies for consumer goods such as fuel and food. It has also supported the prosecution of several senior officials from the Mubarak regime.

In the most recent case, former finance minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali was convicted in absentia on corruption charges Saturday and given a 30-year sentence.The poll found that two-thirds of respondents wanted Egypt to be closer to the United States than to Iran. But that result does not reflect the ambiguity many Egyptians feel about the U.S. government, which was a strong backer of Mubarak.

A poll earlier this year by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that only 20 percent of Egyptians had a favorable view of the United States.

Britain says rebels must plan for post-Gaddafi Libya

Libya's rebel leaders must plan in detail how they would run the country if Muammar Gaddafi stood down and should learn from Iraq after the 2003 invasion, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday.

Western governments and the Libyan rebels say a combination of NATO air strikes, diplomatic isolation and grass-roots opposition will eventually end the Libyan leader's 41-year rule.

But they are worried that his departure could leave a vacuum that leads to violence and instability, as happened in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein.

The rebel National Transitional Council, based in the eastern stronghold of Benghazi, has a plan for how it would act if Gaddafi left but it is only embryonic, Hague told the BBC.

"We're encouraging the National Transitional Council to put more flesh on their proposed transition -- to lay out in more detail this coming week what would happen on the day that Gaddafi went -- who would be running what, how would a new government be formed in Tripoli?"

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said "it's only a matter of time" before Gaddafi stood down. "Day by day Gaddafi is seeing the people that are closest to him walking away," Gates

told troops in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in answer to questions.

"Clearly the continuing pounding he's taking, the international isolation, is all having an effect. The entire international community is basically saying he's got to go," Gates said.

Britain and France were the driving force behind NATO's military intervention in Libya. Hague visited Benghazi on Saturday and was greeted by crowds shouting "Libya free!" and "Gaddafi go away!"

GADDAFI TECHNOCRATS

He said the rebels planned to bring technocrats from Gaddafi's ruling circle into the new leadership, a lesson learned from Iraq where the decision to bar members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party from government posts fueled instability.

"No de-Baathification, so certainly (the rebels are) learning from that," said Hague.

"They now need to publicize that more effectively, to be able to convince members of the current regime that that is something that would work."

Gaddafi says he has no intention of stepping down. He says he is supported by all Libyans -- apart from a minority whom he has described as "rats" and al Qaeda militants -- and says NATO has intervened to steal Libya's oil.

The government condemned Hague's visit to the rebel headquarters as a violation of Libya's sovereignty.

"The sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people is the Libyan state, not a group of people representing themselves only," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Four months after thousands of Libyans rose up against his rule, and his security forces responded with a fierce crackdown, Gaddafi remains in control of most of western Libya.

The rebels control the east, the western city of Misrata and a mountain range near the Tunisian

border. But Gaddafi's better-equipped forces blocked their advance on the capital.

The British defense ministry said its Apache helicopters were in action for a second day, using missiles to destroy a multiple rocket launch system on the coast near the eastern town of Brega.

The ministry also said its Tornado aircraft, with other NATO warplanes, had attacked a surface-to-air missile depot in Tripoli on Saturday.

In Tripoli, government media officials took reporters to St Mark's, a Coptic Christian church next door to a military facility destroyed by NATO bombing.

Media minders would not let reporters film the bombed-out facility and would not explain its purpose. From the road, reporters could see rows of aluminum-covered hangars that had been blasted to pieces.

DIVINE PROTECTION

The daughter of the church's priest, Father Timothaus, said she was sleeping in living quarters at the church when the bombers struck, breaking panes of glass in the church.

"I cried the first time, but the next time I did not cry," Mora, 9, said in English. "My father was always telling me: God will take care of you, God will take care of you."

A rebel spokesman in the town of Nalut, part of the Western Mountains range near Tunisia, asked why NATO was not doing more to protect civilians in the region.

"Gaddafi's forces have been shelling Nalut for about 24 hours. Twelve people were wounded yesterday," said the spokesman, called Kalifa.

"We do not know why NATO has not hit the (pro-Gaddafi) brigades positioned in our area," he said.

Rebel fighters have pushed Gaddafi's forces out of Misrata after weeks of fighting that killed hundreds of people.

Youssef, a rebel spokesman, said three rebels were killed in continued fighting in the suburb of Dafniyah on Saturday, but that Misrata was quiet on Sunday.

Malaysia 'obedient wives' club: good sex is a duty

As a new bride, 22-year-old Ummu Atirah believes she knows the secret to a blissful marriage: obey her husband and ensure he is sexually satisfied.

Ummu and some 800 other Muslim women in Malaysia are members of the "Obedient Wives Club" that is generating controversy in one of the most modern and progressive Muslim-majority nations, where many Muslim Malaysian women hold high posts in the government and corporate world.

The new club, launched Saturday, says it can cure social ills such as prostitution and divorce by teaching women to be submissive and keep their men happy in the bedroom.

"Islam compels us to be obedient to our husband. Whatever he says, I must follow. It is a sin if I don't obey and make him happy," said Ummu, who wore a yellow headscarf.

The club, founded by a fringe Islamic group known as Global Ikhwan, has been dismissed by politicians and activists as a throwback to Medieval times and an insult to modern women of Malaysia.

But the group's activities, which previously included the setting up of a Polygamy Club, show that pockets of conservative Islamic ideas still thrive in Malaysia.

Groups such as Global Ikhwan are unlikely to gain much popularity beyond generating shock value.

Still, there is concern that radical groups could garner support among other Muslims, who make up 60 percent of the 28 million population, and upset decades of carefully nurtured racial and religious harmony.

"Unfortunately even today, there are still many Muslim women who are ignorant of their rights or culturally inhibited to exercise their rights in full," said Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, a female Muslim minister in charge of family policy.Despite the group's conservative Islamic background, Rohayah Mohamad, one of the founders of the club, openly talks about the virtues of marital sex even though most of her colleagues are shy about the topic.

"Sex is a taboo in Asian society. We have ignored it in our marriages but it's all down to sex. A good wife is a good sex worker to her husband. What is wrong with being a whore ... to your husband?" she said.

"This way, the family institution is protected and we can curb social ills," said Rohayah, the club's vice president who is also a trained physician.

She said wives must go beyond the traditional roles as good cooks or good mothers and learn to "obey, serve and entertain" their husbands to prevent them from straying or misbehaving.

Indirectly, "disobedient wives are the cause for upheaval in this world" because men are not happy at home and their minds and souls are disturbed, she said.

Authorities recently said Malaysia's divorce rate has doubled from 2002 to 2009 with higher rates among Malay Muslims.

"When husbands come home, wives do not welcome their husbands with warm alluring smiles and sexy dressing ... That is the reality today," she said.

The Global Ikhwan group is an offshoot of former members of the Al-Arqam sect outlawed in 1994 after its teachings were found to have deviated from Islam. It is funded by the group's restaurants, grocery stores, poultry and other businesses abroad.

Most of the 800 women who are members of the new club, including

Ummu the new bride, also belong to Al-Arqam.

Expectedly, the club has faced intense criticism. Some Malaysians started a Facebook page called "We do not want sexist nonsense from Global Ikhwan." One Muslim man, Amirul Aftar, wrote: "I do not want a wife to submit to my every beck and call. I want a wife who understands me. We are not your masters, we are your equal."

Women's group, Sisters in Islam, said Islam advocates marriages based on mutual cooperation and respect.

It said domestic violence happens regardless of women's behavior. "Communication, not submission, is vital to sustain any healthy relationship," it said.

Qatar suspends vegetables import from Spain, Germany amid E. Coli outbreak

Qatar has banned the import of cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce from Spain and Germany amid an E. coli outbreak that has killed 19 people.

The Supreme Council of Health (SCH) said it decided to impose a temporary ban on the three products, but would not "hesitate to ban all vegetables from all European countries if necessary", an official said, Qatari media reported.

All but one of the fatalities since the outbreak of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) poisoning began last month have been in Germany. A patient who died in Sweden had recently returned from Germany.

The decision to ban the imports was taken on the recommendations of the Joint Human Food Control Committee at an emergency meeting, a SCH source said.

A health certificate must attest that fresh vegetable and fruit shipments coming from other European countries are free from EHEC.

The SCH called upon all food importers to abide by the ban and urged residents to wash all vegetables

and fruits thoroughly before consuming them.

The SCH also reminded doctors and health workers at Hamad Medical Corporation and the Primary Health Care to investigate closely any patient who suffers from diarrhea with blood in stool accompanied by stomach colic, especially those who had recently come to Qatar from the European countries that had reported EHEC cases.

The Department of Public Health at the SCH advised passengers who are travelling to the infected countries to avoid having fresh and raw vegetables until things settled down.

They are also advised to wash their hands repeatedly, especially before preparing and eating their food, and after using the bathroom. Children's caretakers were particularly advised to observe these precautions.

The SCH said it would, in co-operation with the Joint Human Food Control Committee, "monitor the situation closely on the basis of the regular reports issued by competent international organizations.”

Saudi private sector job creation at 18 month peak

Job creation in Saudi Arabia accelerated to its fastest rate for a year and a half in May, according to the latest Saudi British Bank HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI).

PMI data for May signaled a further improvement in business conditions across the Saudi Arabian non-oil private sector.

Output and new business continued to grow sharply, the index showed, while job creation accelerated to the fastest rate for a year-and-a-half.

The Index registered 62.6 in May, almost unmoved from April's reading of 62.7, signaling a strong improvement in non-oil private sector operating conditions.

Total new orders taken by Saudi non-oil private sector firms continued to increase during the latest survey

period, linked to better economic conditions, advertising campaigns and company expansions.Despite slowing on the month, growth remained above the series trend while new export work rose at an accelerated rate due to an improvement in foreign demand, particularly from GCC countries, the index said.

Charges rose again in May, and at a near-survey record pace. Anecdotal evidence suggests that tariffs were increased principally to pass through input cost inflation to customers.

Total costs also rose at an unprecedented rate in May, with the acceleration reflecting a sharper rise in staff cost inflation.

Salaries and wages increased as firms both rewarded employees for good company performance and compensated them for rising living costs, the index added. However, overall input cost inflation picked up to an unprecedented rate.