News from Saudi Arabia Saudi Manpower Ministry Create Fund from Expatriate Residence Fees. New Computer Aided Driving License to fight fake licenses Saudi Arabia's oldest Newspaper in Crisis. New Computer Aided Driving License to fight fake licenses. Riyadh; Saudi Government has been fed up with the number of fake driving licenses is introducing a new miniature driving license with the help of computer aided design. Approximately more than 10,000 driving licenses are issued every month in Jeddah and Riyadh alone. Under the new system, the duration of training to obtain a driving license varies from one category to another. Saudi nationals will be classified in Grade A and asked to undergo only one day's training , while an expatriate in the same grade will require five days' training. A new compulsory insurance scheme is also being worked out. Drivers of all vehicles, including private cars, coaches and trucks, entering the Kingdom from neighboring countries will be asked to furnish insurance documents. The Kingdom has one of the highest road accident rates in the world. Traffic accidents kill at least 3,000 people and injure more than 26,000 annually and result in a loss of more than SR7 billion. Surprisingly only 21 percent of motorists are insured. A number of people are in detention because they are unable to pay high compensation for damages caused by accidents. After a new driving license-linked insurance plan will be introduced, motorists have to buy insurance policy from one of the companies specified. Saudi Manpower Ministry Create Fund from Expatriate Residence Fees. Riyadh: The Saudi Manpower Development Fund has approved two new schemes to help create employment opportunities for Saudi youths. The fund will subsidize the salaries of well-qualified Saudis who join private companies directly after finishing their training. The fund will match the amount received by each employee as a salary as well as their allowances - or a minimum of SR2,000, if that figure is higher - for each Saudi recruited directly by private firms. Saudis who have completed a training course from approved centers and have not yet been employed will be eligible for the scheme. The second scheme encourages youths to join a company which will train them and during this period the fund will cover 75 percent of their salaries and allowances. During the training, which should not last more than two years, the fund will pay a maximum of SR1,500 a month to each trainee. Private companies will meet the training expense. After the two-year training, the fund will pay 50 percent of the salary and allowances-not exceeding SR2,000 per month --for a period of one more year. The creation of the fund is another step toward the development of human resources to ensure sufficient qualified manpower through training. Some of the money to train Saudis will come from the SR150 additional fee introduced by the government for iqamas (residence permits) for foreign workers. According to the Manpower Council there are about 360,000 jobless Saudi youths. The Government plan is to create additional 817,300 jobs for Saudis over the next five years through a mixture of Saudization and new job creation. In the travel industry, 90 percent of workers are expatriates. Recently Saudi Arabia introduced Saudiazation in jewllery shops. Saudi Arabia's oldest Newspaper in Crisis RIYADH, 10 January -Al-Bilad newspaper, the oldest newspaper in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been in dire financial straits for several years, causing work disruption by employees through strikes. A crucial shareholders meeting has been called to decide the fate of the newspaper. The option is either to liquidate the company or support it with a SR109 million injection to settle overdue bills, including SR12 million in salary arrears. Al-Bilad's losses have reached 250 times its capital, which stands at SR850,000. Evem though the management offered workers SR 500 as temporary advance -less than one per cent of the arrears, it was rejected. The journalists and non journalist staff of the newspaper have threatened to sttop working indefinitely if the management follows indifferent attittude. The newspaper has requested emergency financial assistance from the Saudi Ministry of Information. Banks are also being approached for SR25 million loan. The wealthy Saudi businessmen, who own the newspaper are also requested to invest SR25 million to revive the newspaper. The newspaper has piled up losses in the last 12 years.