Middle East

Jeddah, Aug 18: The Haj Ministry is all set to hand over accommodation blocks in Mina to low-cost Haj operators ahead of the annual pilgrimage. The ministry, however, has still not announced the names of the operators who have been allotted the housing, which enables local pilgrims to perform Haj at reduced costs. The Civil Defense, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), National Water Company (NWC) and

Makkah, Aug 17: The Kingdom’s top religious scholar has called for a global code of conduct for leaders, intellectuals and young people to halt a dangerous slide into chaos and violence. Addressing a large congregation at the Grand Mosque in Makkah during Friday prayers, Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais said there was an urgent need for an international charter to protect the youth from being

Baghdad, August 17: Kurdish forces backed by U.S. airstrikes on Saturday were attempting to regain control of the strategic Mosul Dam from insurgents in northern Iraq. Islamic State militants meanwhile killed around 100 Yazidi men near the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, after they refused to convert to Islam. The men were killed on Friday, while women and children were detained and taken to an

Makkah, Aug 17: The Makkah Clock Tower, the second tallest tower in the world, is to open for tourists after Haj 2014, according to officials. Tourists will have to buy tickets to visit the tower top. The gigantic Makkah Clock project was constructed on top of Tower No. 5 of the King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project, which consists of seven towers. The tower includes hotels on which the clock is

Riyadh, Aug 16: Four new passenger trains will join the current fleet between Riyadh and Dammam beginning November this year. Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) President Mohammed Al-Suwaiket said the Riyadh-Al-Kharj rail service would be commissioned during next year. The first of the four trains is to arrive in the Kingdom toward the end of November and the others would follow a month after, said

Jeddah, Aug 15: More than 20,000 seasonal jobs are available for Saudis during the upcoming Haj season, said Marwan Zubaidi, secretary-general of the General Syndicate of Cars and official spokesman for Haj transport companies. Zubaidi confirmed , however, that many Saudis are still reluctant to take on such jobs, which were announced by the union more than two months ago. “Drivers and technicians

Gaza, Aug 14: An extension of a ceasefire agreement between Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and Israel is so far in place, despite its shaky beginning. Sources on both sides said early Thursday, the new ceasefire is still holding. The Israeli army said that there had not been any fighting for several hours. According to a Palestinian Interior Ministry official, Israel had fired four

Jeddah, Aug 14: The Ministry of Labor has said it will not make any exceptions to its decision not to allow private firms falling in the yellow level of the Nitaqat Saudization program to keep their foreign manpower for more than four years even as top industry officials questioned the viability of the decision, which they said will be difficult to implement. "Not even the manpower with

Riyadh, Aug 12: Haj operators in Riyadh have come up with competitive travel packages for domestic pilgrims for Haj 2014. Around 200,000 pilgrims from within the Kingdom are expected to perform Haj this year. The Passport Department is expected to begin issuing Haj permits to local pilgrims soon. The Dawah Center in Rawdah is offering an eight-day package for SR2,500 for singles, which includes

Jeddah, Aug 11: The “Umrah-plus” tourism program, which will allow pilgrims to visit the Kingdom’s tourist resorts, will be implemented following the end of the upcoming Haj season, said Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA). He said pilgrims from more than 65 countries would benefit from the program, which would be introduced with the