By ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Foreign workers contracted by various government bodies will by paid the 15 percent cost-of-living allowance on equal footing with their Saudi colleagues, local daily Al-Watan reported Friday, citing the Ministry of Finance. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah recently ordered a 15-percent increase in […]
By MD HUMAIDAN | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The Haj Ministry has said that between Jan. 19, the start of the Umrah season, and last week the number of pilgrims was 34 percent higher than the same period last year. About 2.84 million pilgrims have come for the lesser pilgrimage so […]
By GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN | ARAB NEWS RIYADH: Human rights officials and social workers have called for increased police patrols to prevent abductions and other crimes. They also called for a review of laws to ensure speedy trials of suspected rapists. “About 200 cases of child rape are reported annually […]
The Federal Court says the humanitarian situation in most regions of Afghanistan is too critical to send back asylum seekers whose requests were rejected by Switzerland. A court statement said security had deteriorated in all regions of Afghanistan over the past few years. It added the return of an asylum […]
By SYED FAISAL ALI | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Pilgrims coming through the Haj Committee of India are likely to get mobile SIM and debit cards. The Indian Consulate is trying to obtain as many SIM cards as possible with important numbers uploaded on them for pilgrims this year, Consul General […]
By Taylor Luck AMMAN – Iraqi refugees are at risk of being overlooked as victims of a forgotten conflict, a UN official in Amman warned on Wednesday. As the international community marks World Refugee Day – observed annually June 20 – donor countries and the greater global community risk suffering […]
ROME (AFP) – Upheaval across the Arab world is causing capital flight of up to $500 million a week, Finance Minister Mohammad Abu Hammour said on Thursday at an Arab banking conference in Rome. “There is capital flight. Five hundred million dollars a week are leaving the Arab world. Tourism […]
http://www.toronto.com/article/689492 Long before India had information technology or outsourcing services or a booming economy, it had Bollywood — older and bigger than Hollywood. But when I was growing up in India, Bollywood was thought of as a purveyor of “pageant for peasants,” a view my parents shared. I got to […]
By MD RASOOLDEEN | ARAB NEWS RIYADH: A Sri Lankan housemaid was kept against her will by her Saudi sponsor and not paid since she came to the Kingdom in 1997, sources from the Jazan governorate said on Tuesday. According to the sources, the authorities rescued 45-year-old Weerawardena Hettiarachchilage Indrani […]
By DIANA AL-JASSEM | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Prices of gold have continued to rise across the Kingdom because of the summer season. The summer is considered the perfect time for gold retailers to make a profit, as it is also the wedding season. For Saudi families, gold is the perfect […]
By GALAL FAKKAR | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: A number of expatriates, especially laborers, drivers, masons and salesmen have said they would cancel their plans to travel home this summer following strong rumors that exit and re-entry visas would be converted into final exit visas at the airports. Though passport officials […]
By REUTERS UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly on Wednesday elected as its next president veteran Qatari diplomat Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, who UN diplomats say is unlikely to cause trouble for Western powers. Nasser, who has been Qatar’s ambassador to the United Nations since 1998, will replace Joseph Deiss of Switzerland. […]
By Khetam Malkawi AMMAN – The tourism industry in Petra will organise a festival next month and provide discounted offers on hotel accommodations in an bid to attract more Jordanian and Arab visitors to the Nabataean city, an industry representative said on Wednesday. Fawwaz Hasanat, head of Petra Hotel Association […]
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq’s parliament speaker, who is on a visit to Washington, will query American officials about $17 billion in missing oil money, a lawmaker in Baghdad said on Wednesday. Osama Al Nujaifi, who left for Washington on Tuesday, will bring up the question of the missing billions, which […]
The Jakarta Post | Sat, 06/18/2011 11:27 PM| MAKASSAR: South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo has approved a proposal to ban Ahmadiyah activities in his province. A gubernatorial bylaw will be deliberated together with representatives of Muslim community organizations in the province, the governor said Thursday. The approval apparently responded […]
see here for an interesting report: http://www.guidetoaction.org/parker/ahm-aff.html just one extract for your information: 17. In 1985, I worked with the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to bring to its attention the widespread violations of human rights in Pakistan, especially the clear persecution of Ahmadi […]
Telling the Human Story, 15 June 2011 © UNHCR/K. McKinsey Pakistani refugee Muhammmed Zakaria handing over his family’s passports to UNHCR’s Severine Weber to process them for resettlement. They left China for Canada in May. YANJIAO, China, June 15 (UNHCR) – Not many people can remember precisely what they were […]
Saudi Arabia has signed a $1.7 billion direct commercial sales contract with Raytheon Company to upgrade the Kingdom’s Patriot Air and Missile Defense System to the latest Configuration-3. The award includes ground-system hardware, a full training package and support equipment upgrades. The announcement came last night at the Paris Air […]
An Iranian diplomatic thrust to bring Afghanistan and Pakistan onside against the United States – benefiting already from the countries’ fury at US efforts to isolate them from Taliban talks – lends greater significance to an anti-terrorism summit in Tehran being attended by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. The […]