Middle East

Jeddah, Jan 2: The multibillion-riyal expansion of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah has seen several hotels demolished, resulting in the loss of 12,000 jobs, a local Arabic daily newspaper reported Thursday. Ghani Al-Ansari, the head of the tourism committee at the Madinah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was quoted as saying that the government must address the issue of men and women losing their

Cairo, Jan 1: An Egyptian court Thursday accepted an appeal against the sentence handed out to three Al-Jazeera journalists and a retrial will be scheduled, media reported. The three journalists -- Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste -- of the Qatar-based news network in English were sentenced in June last year. Fahmy and Greste were sentenced to seven years in prison, while Mohammed got

Jeddah, Dec 31: Major modifications will be made to the Saudi Payment Network System (SPAN) in 2015 to increase efficiency and reduce costs for banks, merchants and consumers, and counter the smuggling of cash. It would eventually also allow for withdrawals at point-of-sale (POS) terminals, and getting money from ATMs without cards. The new system, to be renamed Mada, will connect ATMs and POS

Jeddah, Dec 29: Expatriate workers pay nearly SR100 million for their dependents’ medical insurance as some employers only cover their staff and not families, according to an insurance expert Abdullah Al-Banawi, a member of the insurance committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), told Arab News that the new decision to provide medical insurance to families of the expatriate

Jeddah, Dec 26: The Passport Department has issued new regulations stating that family visitor visas would now be limited to only six months, or 180 days, an online paper said, quoting an official spokesman. The period would start once a visitor arrives in the Kingdom and registers on the passport department’s computerized system, Lt. Col. Ahmed bin Fahad Al-Luhaidan was quoted as saying. He said

Jeddah, Dec 22: The Jeddah municipality closed down this month more than 100 restaurants and eateries across the city due to poor hygienic conditions as part of a campaign to ensure compliance with hygiene and safety specifications, Assistant Mayor for Branch Municipalities Nasser Al-Miteb said. “The most common violations noticed were the sales of rotten food, items with expired validity dates or

Jeddah, Dec 21: Saudi security forces killed four terrorists in a clash in the Awamiyah region on Saturday, according to the Interior Ministry. The troops raided a terrorist hide-out in Awamiyah town and killed the four in an exchange of fire. The dead were behind the killing of a member of the security forces and wounding of another last Sunday, a ministry spokesman said, quoted by the SPA. They

Jeddah, Dec 20: The multibillion-riyal Riyadh metro project has already seen hundreds of Saudi graduates employed and trained, said Riyadh Gov. Prince Turki bin Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. Prince Turki said those employed had graduated from universities abroad where they had studied under the King Abdullah Scholarship Program. Speaking at the 10th meeting of the project’s contractors, he also said

Jeddah, Dec 17: Saudi Arabia will not allow illegal foreigner workers to stay in the Kingdom at any cost, said Labor Minister Adel Fakeih on Tuesday. “We’ll intensify the ongoing campaign to drive out all illegal workers,” he added. He said there is no justification for keeping violators of the Kingdom’s laws inside the country. “Only those people who respect and abide by the country’s laws and

Riyadh, Dec 15: The Passport Department has expedited the fingerprint registration of sponsors and residents accompanied by dependents above 15 ahead of the Jan. 21 deadline. “Those who have failed to get their fingerprints registered risk denial of access to all passport department services including the request for an exit-re-entry visa during an emergency,” said the spokesman of the department