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 […]
Indonesia, which has come under fire from abroad for its use of the death sentence, has decided is to bar its citizens from Saudi Arabia to work after an Indonesian maid was beheaded for murdering her Saudi employer. There are about 1.2 million Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, most […]
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 […]
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 […]
By ROBERTA FEDELE | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: During a conversation regarding the venture of Manal Al-Sharif — the 32-year-old computer consultant arrested on May 22 for having uploaded on YouTube a video of herself driving — one young Saudi woman perceptively noticed: “What if all women here were aware of […]
By ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The International Islamic Relief Organization-Saudi Arabia (IIROSA) has called on governments and international aid agencies to pay greater attention to the plight of displaced people around the world. In a statement issued on the occasion of the World Refugee Day on Monday, which is being marked […]
By ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has agreed to give a SR75 million loan to Mauritania, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Saudi Ambassador to Nouakchott Saud Al-Jabiry presented a letter from Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf to his Mauritanian counterpart approving the loan from the Saudi Fund for Development. “This loan […]
Could Ruyati Binti Sapubi have been spared from the gallows in Saudi Arabia? The government must now explain to the public yet another failure to protect its citizens abroad. The 54-year-old Ruyati was hanged on Saturday for the 2010 murder of a Saudi woman who employed her as a servant. […]
By MD RASOOLDEEN | ARAB NEWS RIYADH: A group of young Saudi philanthropists has launched an e-portal in Riyadh on Monday to help Saudi and expatriate women to find employment in the Kingdom. Glowork (www.glowork.net) is the first website in the GCC that aims to provide fully-fledged career guidance to […]
By SIRAJ WAHAB | ARAB NEWS DAMMAM: Rumors of expatriates having their exit-re-entry visas switched to exit-only visas at airports have no basis, said Passport Department officials across the Kingdom. “There is absolutely no truth to it,” said Mohammad Al-Husayn, spokesman for the Passport Department in Makkah province. “If it […]
By ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has ordered the allocation of SR476 million annually to support the public education of poor students in the Kingdom, Education Minister Prince Faisal bin Abdullah announced on Sunday. Prince Faisal, chairman of the board of trustees of the […]
By GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN | ARAB NEWS RIYADH: The British government has appointed Mohammed Shokat as the UK special envoy to the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in a major bid to boost ties between the two. The OIC and the UK have also announced plans to develop a […]
By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The Ministry of Labor has given private companies and establishments three months to comply with the Nitaqat program, which aims to improve employment opportunities for Saudis. Ministry spokesman Hattab Al-Anazi said companies would have until Sept. 10 to ensure they are fully compliant […]
By ARAB NEWS MAKKAH: On behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Prince Naif, second deputy premier and minister of interior, inaugurated a scientific forum for Haj research, which is attended by nearly 1,000 speakers, experts and delegates. Prince Naif commended the efforts of King Abdullah to […]
By ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Work is under way to establish the first global Islamic historical encyclopedia of its kind on the Haj, Makkah, the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. Involved in the preparation of the encyclopedia are Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute for Haj Research […]
Khashoggi, one of the outspoken intellectuals of Saudi Arabia openly says, “The Saudi absolute monarchy is obsolete,” “Democracy is the only solution.” Others in Saudi Arabia would be interrogated and locked up for such words. But he has the cheeks and guts to say so as he is linked […]
By P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The Haramain Railway, which will link the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah with Jeddah, will cost about SR42 billion, according to a report circulated by the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO). The high-speed rail project will bring about dramatic improvement in transportation of pilgrims between the two […]