Kingdom Fears Shortage Of Sand--Saudi Arabia/ New World Media Watch

[Gloria]

Full excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR NOVEMBER 5, 2003

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--AFGHAN ALLIES TURN ENEMIES (Almost two years since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's writ barely runs in the country. While in the Pashtun-dominated south his government remains under pressure from a resurgent Taliban, the situation in the north, though less reported by the media, is far from secure. In the northern provinces it is not the Taliban who are stirring trouble, but militias, which in some cases are nominally loyal to the government.)



2//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--DELEGATES OFF TO U.S. FOR DISPATCH TALKS (A high-level South Korean delegation left for Washington on Tuesday for talks with U.S. officials regarding Washington's request that Seoul send additional forces to Iraq…Reportedly, Seoul plans to propose during the meeting that it send 3,000 soldiers, comprising infantry, medical, engineering, communications and transportation personnel. But the figure could change according to the results of the consultations.)



3//The Moscow Times, Russia--PRESIDENT FLIES INTO FIRESTORM IN ROME (President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday moved to calm growing unease in Europe over the jailing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, saying he considers the tycoon "innocent until proven guilty" and that he is "categorically opposed" to overturning the privatizations of the mid-1990s. Putin, speaking to Italian journalists before flying off to Rome to meet with Pope John Paul II and attend the EU-Russia summit, admitted that some officials may have been a little over-zealous in their attack of Khodorkovsky and his Yukos empire…Reiterating his dictatorship-of-the-law line, Putin said the Yukos investigation was "nothing extraordinary" and likened it to the recent corporate scandals in America, including Enron. He also hit back at the United States for what the Foreign Ministry has called Washington's "double standards.")



4//The Independent, UK--MURDOCH SEEKS TO CALM INVESTOR FEARS (James Murdoch was today preparing to meet key investors in BSkyB in an effort to quell the growing storm of protest surrounding his appointment as chief executive of the company. The 30-year-old former Star TV chief takes over from Tony Ball as head of the pay-TV giant today with major investors in the company furiously claiming they "can't live" with the prospect of a father and son management team with Rupert Murdoch as chairman…"He is now in charge of a £13bn plc which Mr Murdoch does not own. He owns 35% of it. The rest of us own the majority of it and although he may do quite a good job because his father's going to hold his hand all the time, what it means is that no matter how smart you are, no matter how good you are at BSkyB - if your name is not Murdoch you don't get the top job."



5//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--KINGDOM FEARS SHORTAGE OF SAND (Perhaps surprisingly, Bahrain is short of sand. Very short. So dire is its need that the country’s construction industry is casting around for sources to import the rare commodity. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia has banned export of sand and started strict checks on the borders. Increased construction activity in the Eastern Province has already put several construction materials on the endangered list, and the authorities fear that if sand continues to trickle into foreign markets, very soon a shortage will be felt here as well.)

[stevedeshazer]

1. A shortage of sand?

Amazing. Thanks for your regular posts here.

[Gloria]

2. Thank you for posting and letting me know someone checks this stuff...

I thought the shortage of sand story was pretty incredible, too!! LOL

[stevedeshazer]

5. I read 'em a lot

And know others who do, too. They just don't post much.

[Aidoneus]

3. ah.. Bahrain is short on it

From the headline it sounded like the Saudis were, and, well.. that just made no sense (their "Empty Quarter" being nothing but sand).

As it says in the piece, much of Bahrain is marshy land, the land is probably needed to keep/make lands suitable for the construction projects.

[aquart]

4. YES, Saudi Arabia.

Read it again. They've banned the export of sand. They check trucks at the borders to see if they're carrying out sand.

Obviously, there's something about sand we westerners don't understand. It's not like the Saudis have nude beaches as a major industry or anything.

I would have thought they'd be relieved.

[Aidoneus]

7. I did read it

Not sure why they banned the export of sand (unless it's the wrong kind and they need all they can get, as the poster below suggests), but it goes on to say that there's not much of an industry in the peninsula, particularly the Empty Quarter, because it's not profitable to do so.

Whether there's another reason or not, I don't know :shrug:, but it does sound a little strange taking things at face value.

[Resistance Is Futile]

6. Not a joke

Not all sand is created equal: the vast majority of sand in the Saudi desert is too fine to be of any use in construction. The Saudis have frequently had to import rougher sand for construction use.

[Zhade]

8. Funny how one forgets the oddball things.

Thanks for the sandy update, Gloria! Good stuff!

[SoCalDem]

9. Sand theft is BIG NEWS all over the world..

http://news.google.com/news?num=20&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&edition=us&q=sand+stealing

State files suit over sand
The Argus, CA - Nov 3, 2003
... suit against three Bay Area mining companies, claiming they defrauded taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars in royalty payments by stealing state-owned sand ...

Hanson Denies Stealing Sand
Los Angeles Times, CA - Oct 28, 2003
1 producer of crushed rock for the construction industry, denied on Monday that it stole sand from San Francisco Bay — days after being sued for $200 million ...


Bay Area companies accused of sand theft
Times-Herald, CA - Oct 30, 2003
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer says "pirates" are stealing sand from the Suisun and San Francisco bays, and demands millions in damages and penalties ...


Suit alleges `sand pirates' stealing from bay waters
San Jose Mercury News, CA - Oct 24, 2003
Calling them sand pirates, the state today filed a $200 million lawsuit against three Bay Area sand mining companies, accusing them of stealing sand from the ...


Hanson to fight $200m 'sand pirate' allegations
Independent, UK - Oct 27, 2003
The construction and building materials company Hanson yesterday denied stealing sand from the bottom of San Francisco Bay after being landed with a $200m ...


Lawsuit accuses East Bay companies of 'pirating' sand
Tri-Valley Herald, CA - Oct 26, 2003
... sued three Bay Area mining companies Friday, claiming they defrauded taxpayers of
tens of millions of dollars in royalty payments by stealing state-owned sand ...

Attorney general says bays' extractors fleeced state coffers
San Francisco Chronicle, CA - Oct 25, 2003
Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a $200 million suit Friday accusing the world's largest sand company and two affiliates of stealing sand from San Francisco ...

California sues 'sand pirate' Hanson for $200m
Guardian, UK - Oct 27, 2003
... These sand pirates have enriched themselves by stealing from the
state and ripping off taxpayers," Mr Lockyear said. This is not ...

Hanson hit with US sand lawsuit
Reuters, UK - Oct 27, 2003
... These sand pirates have enriched themselves by stealing from the state and ripping off taxpayers," Lockyer said in a statement on the California Attorney ...

Detainees suffer illegal treatment in US camps
Billings Gazette, MT - Nov 2, 2003
... as shouting over to the next tent or stealing food, was "The Gardens" - a razor-wire enclosure where prisoners were made to lie face down on the burning sand ...

Law and order : Truck driver is accused of stealing $463885.60
St. Louis Dispatch, MO - Oct 27, 2003
Lowes, 46, a truck driver from Perryville, Mo., has been charged with stealing ... Authorities said Lowes regularly delivered sand or lime to the plant and would ...

A sting in the tale
The Age, Australia - Oct 29, 2003
... Shimmering below lay the vast blue-green ocean, red earth and white sand beaches of Australia's ... Children were no longer incarcerated for stealing felt-tip pens ...


Lockyer sues firm, alleging tax evasion
Contra Costa Times, CA - Oct 25, 2003
... Ramon. "These sand pirates have enriched themselves by stealing from the state and ripping off taxpayers," Lockyer said. The lawsuit ...



Executives tentatively pleased
Raleigh News, NC - Oct 31, 2003
... And Zelnak said his company, which sells gravel, sand and other materials ... for construction
equipment and for industrial use, instead has prospered by stealing ...

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

10. move the sand, git dat oil !!

How did our oil git under their sand anyway?